Deathstrike viable?

[Kavu]

I'm interesting about add one Deathstrike in small 1000p army. What do you think? Maybe Deathstrike is generally good for nothing .
Thanks!

[CoffeeGrunt]

Depends on what you define by viable. It's not going to kill Super Hard Meta-Busting Deathstars, but it'll put a hilarious hole in whatever it hits. 

[WarriorFish]

Yep, viable is a fairly broad term these days... If you can must the support to keep it trucking until the missile goes off then it can cause untold damage. As Coffee said it's not going to win games but when it comes to deleting swathes of the enemy it'll do the trick! It's mostly a case of finding the juiciest target and going from there, the more models you can remove the better.

 

At 1000pts it'll be a fair portion of your total, so it may be a case of how well it does dictating the flow of the battle. Expect your opponent to come gunning for it because if you get a good spot for it to hit you could cripple his army. Aggressive/assault armies will be a thorn in your side though.

[Frater Cornelius]

It is a hit or miss weapon. Either it destroys the opponent or it does absolutely jack. Expecting any kind of consistency is pointless. With that in mind, I would not bring it to a competitive match but I would like to field it every now and again just for the fun factor.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

It's kind of cool that the guard has a strategic ballistic missile (read; SCUD) to play. I've never used it, or been up against it, but having read the rules for it, it seems like it would be best relegated to Apoc games, or really large games where it isn't competing for heavy support slots. It's a uniquely useful tool, like a basin wrench, nothing does the job like it, but you'll use it maybe once every 10 years... (a deathstrike would probably get used much more than that, but you get my point).

[Kilofix]

At 1000 points, probably not.

 

But at 2000 points, I sometimes put my whole army in one corner, then put the Deathstrike in the other corner alone but completely behind LOS. Then I wait to see if my opponent takes the bait.

 

That usually gives my opponent a lot of anxiety.

[Toothbrush of Terra]

At 1000 points, probably not.

 

But at 2000 points, I sometimes put my whole army in one corner, then put the Deathstrike in the other corner alone but completely behind LOS. Then I wait to see if my opponent takes the bait.

 

That usually gives my opponent a lot of anxiety.

 

That's delicious. I need to try that.

[Emicus]

It's certainly going to either
a.) surprise your opponent, if he doesn't know it'll delete part of the board.
b.) have a psychological effect, where he will likely dedicate too much to kill it, thus saving other parts of your army.
c.) Nothing. You opponent is a godmode player and has all the 1377 sk1llz.​

[march10k]

It's a totally fun SCUD missile in a casual game...your opponent may even be entertained if it goes off successfully!  But in hardcore competition, it's a dud.  I'd use one in friendly pickup games, but if it's truly a competitive environment, leave it at home...all fun, not really a serious threat to hardcore enemy lists.

[SW1]

They make a great thematic game. Can the enemy cripple the missile before it goes off. Maybe even have a battery of them with the aim of getting as many fired (target being off the table) as possible. I can feel my creative juices flowing with a linked set of scenarios.

[Frater Cornelius]

What I do not get is that the Death Strike fires an intercontinental warhead, but the Imperium thinks that it is a good idea to use them as front-line tanks. Shouldn't you deposit them somewhere safe, where the enemy can not cripple them.

[WarriorFish]

But then you wouldn't need to buy the model :P It could easily represent a missile location being attacked by the enemy to stop it slaughtering their main battle lines :)

[Frater Cornelius]

But then you wouldn't need to buy the model It could easily represent a missile location being attacked by the enemy to stop it slaughtering their main battle lines

Hm, I wonder how the enemy got their Fortress of Redemption and Aquila Stronghold within melee range of the missile base :D

[WarriorFish]

The warp moves in mysterious ways...

Think I'll get a Deathstrike at some point. First because I don't have one and second because I want to try out that magnetising tutorial. Then I'd have a second Manticore too...

[Canadian_F_H]

But then you wouldn't need to buy the model :P It could easily represent a missile location being attacked by the enemy to stop it slaughtering their main battle lines :)

that's how I see them. The enemy is trying knock out scuds and their escorts.

 

A pretty cool scenario could be a 1k vs 1k where one player has 3 death strikes for free, as they launch you record what turn and the rockets go off table. Play till all three launch or die.

 

Second mission player with the scuds had a 1500 point army, other player has 2500 points. As the battle progresses the scuds land as if fired in the matching turn from the previous game as the scuds owning player wishes.

 

Something like that.

[WarriorFish]

It would be a great part of a narrative campaign :) Even more so if you upped the stakes and made it a Vortex missile :P

[Frater Cornelius]

I could bet that in the next book, that thing might be D. Maybe more people will play it then.

[Jolemai]

I could bet that in the next book, that thing might be D. Maybe more people will play it then.

 

Squadron, 3+ will see the weapon become STR D, Ignore Cover (similar to the Vindicator Linebreaker Squadron).

[Frater Cornelius]

That would be far too fragile and expensive, if you ask me. Sounds about right for GW-style squadron bonuses :D

[Jolemai]

Just looked up the Warzone Pandorax rules for the Deathstrike Formation. Each Deathstrike is equipped with a Vortex missile and instead of the T-Minus Five Minutes rule, you can fire them from turn two at a rate of one each turn... or you can skip a turn and fire two the following :D Of course, if one of the Deathstrikes collect a weapon destroyed result before firing their missile, a Vortex is spawned on top of it...

 

Any Codex Formation would probably be a watered down version of this.

[Frater Cornelius]

Well, if you consider that almost all of the SM tank squadron rules are copies from Apoc, then maybe IG will get a similar treatment.

[Bodacious2182]

I love my deathstrike.  It doesn't get used much and when it does it is a huge threat and gets focused.  Not a bad thing, though.

 

http://i.imgur.com/SOpbuJ9l.jpg

[Canadian_F_H]

I think scenario play would bring oddball units like that to the table more often.

 

We played a 2 table match once, ig and marines vs orks chaos etc. One table represented the front line and the other an ig artillery battery behind the line. The basilisk's could hit the front line table and that's where the bulk of the fighting occurred, but any do strikers and flankers infiltrators etc could arrive/deploy on the artillery table. It was fun but after the artillery table lost we hadn't figured what to do with the disorder guys who wanted to attack the front line table. Should have thought of it ahead of time... Lol

 

Any how, something like that with death strikes would be really rough on the front line table... A third table representing the other sides artillery would be cool to ... Iron warriors basilisks out the wazoo!

[SW1]

Maybe a large main table Apoc style with both sides having a second smaller table each with artillery. Then you decide weather your artillery wants to take the opposite sides out or smash the main table. Maybe if you aim for the main table next turn the land while if you fire at the enemy artillery then it takes an extra turn to hit?

 

So many different possible ideas!!!