AM and Maelstrom missions

[Akrim]

Hey all, I wanted to open a bit of a think tank on this subject. I find AM to have a major uphill battle in Maelstrom missions. I find it's largely about mobility and take & hold which AM unfortunately struggles with.

 

Obviously deploying some objectives in an accessible location helps but there's always Behind Enemy Lines or Secure Objective X (deep in the enemy zone).

 

What do you find reliable to achieve these?

[duz_]

Multiple Tarouxes and deep striking scions!

 

Tarouxes one of those units that are relatively cheap (compared to chimera with a dozer blade) and a relatively benign that people don't want to shoot at. Which means you'll be surprised how far they can get behind enemy lines before they're shot at.

 

I've had games where I've literally just driven across the long edge of an opponents table edge with one because although they know it's scoring maelstrom points they're more concerned with other elements of my army.

 

Or for non guard options, imperial Knights they can cover a lot of the board each turn even through difficult terrain.

[Akrim]

Definitely good suggestions there Duz. i find Hellhounds or Banewolves to be decent in a similar role, harder armour but tend to get targeted more. I suppose theres nothing wrong with empty Tauroxes blitzing for objectives (or are you loading them?)

 

One sort of more abstract concept i was playing around with is objective denial. We play with the rule that if a card in unattainable (ie Scour the skies vs no flyers) you redraw. Im thinking that having a flyer, a psyker and prehaps a Bastion or bunker might be a good way to deny the opponent points they would normal discard for others.

 

I wish we had more in the way of infiltrators and outflankers besides Scout Sents. Theyre cheap but my god that AV10 doesnt hold up to much. Camo netting should be like a 5pt option but i digress.

 

Scion suicide squads are ok, so bloody pricy though.

[Carraigf]

Got to second duz on tauroxes - I usually de-bus my vets on near objectives then flat out tauroxes into the enemies dz - they're good in cover and so long as you keep front toward enemy surprisingly resilient and low on the threat radar so often stay into the late game - still a tin box though :)

[duz_]

It depends on my opponent and overall strategy generally I run them empty. I buy them as DTs for my infantry squads. If I have a vendetta my PCS will fly in that, otherwise they'll have a Taroux and just hide in there to deny kill points.

 

If I want a cheap CAD with vets I'll load them up. They still have 2 firepoints, albeit on the sides. Or if I don't want to blob my guard and I plan to essentially runaway from my enemy for as long as possible.

 

Another tactic I tried with the Emperor's wrath formation against a screamerstar was just having all my vehicles including wyverns flat out everywhere to claim objectives and board edges and deny being charged. It kind of worked but it was always going to be tough against a 2++ re-rollable army.

 

I employ hellhounds for similar tactics too. However have had limited success with it as it generally gets taken out by turn 3 because it is so much more scary than a taroux. However with the new grenade FAQ it might become more viable again as the scouts I fail to fry won't be able to krak them to death.

[WarriorFish]

It can be tough yes, but as mentioned I have good experiences with Fast Attack vehicles scurrying around after objectives. Otherwise a creep up the table is slow, but effective. It's hard for your opponent to contest an objective when you annihilate his units near it and sit some Guardsmen on their corpses :P

 

Maelstrom doesn't suit our codex very well, hopefully that will change, but until then having plenty of units helps you to more reliably take objectives as it gives you backups. Transports to zip about are probably the better reliable solution as long as you send support.

[Son_of_D0rn]

I don't seem to struggle all that much. Granted I play 1000 point games but I don't seem to have many issues grabbing and holding the points

[Akrim]

I'm leery of making deep thrusts with AM in vehicles, the casualties of a wreckage are often way more painful than would be sustained by SMs or Orks. Not a lot of ways to protect that vulnerable side armour.

[WarriorFish]

Indeed, your pushes are usually slow or isolated in certain missions that makes capturing objectives in time that aren't close difficult. Something like Scions can come in and nab stuff but that depends on reserve rolls and they may be better off striking a vital target instead.

[Frater Cornelius]

While the name escapes me, would that Formation with 3 Vet units in transports and one Hellhound variant be pretty decent for this? They are great at clearing objectives and potentially fast enough to score on top of OS for every unit.

[CyderPirate]

I really struggle with Maelstrom with the Krieg lot. I either take grenadiers in chimeras (assault brigade) or  Death Riders (Siege Brigade) but in both cases they're comparatively expensive and die really easily. My only hope is to get first turn and bloody my opponent enough that they also struggle to capture objectives.

[Akrim]

While the name escapes me, would that Formation with 3 Vet units in transports and one Hellhound variant be pretty decent for this? They are great at clearing objectives and potentially fast enough to score on top of OS for every unit.

Emperors Blade, Yeah its certainly one of the better ones. Ive had luck comboing it with a tank company. Ive found a large difficulty is breaking through into deep enemy zone, especially in hammer and anvil deployment. I love my Scions but the pts cost is colossal for a suicide unit.

 

I dont dislike Sentinels, i just wish you could reliably outflank them on the side you want.

[Frater Cornelius]

You don't have to play them as a suicide unit though. They can Deep Strike into terrain without worry, they can get the order to shoot and then run. You can choose to Deep Strike them defensively, kill a unit, while the rest of the army kills the units that could potentially threaten then Scions. And then there will be the new Get Started Formation, which supposedly replentishes your losses.

In short, there are plenty of ways you can mitigate their losses ;)