Watching Out 7: Dedicated Transports & Corvus Blackstar

[Ordo Machinum]

Let's continue the "Watching Out" discussions with a focus on the Dedicated Transports of the Watch:

Rhinos, Razorbacks, Drop Pods, & Corvus Blackstars

 

I want to survey the boards opinions on their relevancy and useful weapon load-outs.

[Brother Captain Kezef]

I think DW will suit Drop Pods quite well.

 

The heavy weapons seem idealy suited for drop pod work. Both the Frag cannons and Infernus heavy bolters will work nastily out of a first turn drop pod assault.

The frags for instance can put downrange 8 str9 AP2 shots out of the pod, combined with the special ammo from the rest of the squad.

 

That makes a nasty hit squad that can be put down where you need them to be. I'm leaning towards a pod-heavy shooty list.

[Vel'Cona]

A quick synopsis:

   Rhino:  It's cheap and has 2 fire points, which is good.  Downside, it's squishy as heck and DW Vets are pricey.  It also can't carry anything other than Vets, making it all but useless for Kill Teams (unless you're going pure Vet KTs, which sort of defeats the purpose of KTs in general).  Mostly forgettable.

   Razorback:  Loses the Las/TLPlas build (for shame, GW) and gains nothing.  Expensive when upgraded, and HB are sort of pointless.  It shares all the same issues with the Rhino and doesn't even get any fire points, making it the worst overall transport for DW.  Just say no!

   Corvus Blackstar:  I have a lot to say about this one, though I've already gone on about it so I'll summarize thusly:  the Corvus Blackstar is a HUGE missed opportunity compared to the Storm Raven, lacking firepower, Skies of Fury/Blood, or indeed any synergy for Reserve manipulation which will get your unit on the table before turn 3 (or indeed, grant it consistency in doing so).  It can carry Bikes (thankfully) and so is the most KT friendly dedicated transport, so there's that at least.  Also, when taken as a dedicated transport in a CAD, this thing is an ObjSec Flyer.  How useful this will be will depend greatly based on how long you can keep it alive, though with the infernum halo-launcher it could be an extremely annoying late-game objective snagger, FWIW.

   Drop Pod:  As always, the premier Astartes dedicated transport.  10 capacity = a full Vet squad, which combined with Combat Squads gets us 3 ObjSec units per Troops choice.  You know your VERY expensive guys are gonna land safely, and you can stuff Terminators in there too (or TA equipped characters) if you want to run a somewhat limited KT.  Even better, they're super cheap and great for Dreadnoughts too (though not Venerables, because they're pointless).