Best Weapon Load-out For a Group of Allied Battle Servitors?

[Kolonel Grotsnik]

I'm looking to get some more firepower for my Imperial Guard, I was considering some of the FW artillery units but then I thought about the options Battle Servitors would bring to the table. So here are my own thoughts on the weapons and the formation, I'm hoping so of you are experienced in using them on the board and can recommend a good load-out from your experience of using the different weapons?

 

Heavy Grav-cannon -  As mentioned this seems a solid choice due to it's sheer number of shots, probably going to take one unit of these. After all grav-weapons are the best anti-monster weapon in the game.

 

​Torsion Cannon - An amazing weapon on paper however the BS3 could be a deal-breaker for a 1 shot weapon?

 

Heavy Arc Rifle - A great anti-tank weapon, perfect for the more heavy armour that the majority of my weapons have trouble with.

 

Plasma Culverin - No very interested in this weapon as I already have a plasma russ plus 'get's hot' with a 4+ save will decrease it's life-span even more on the board.

 

Holy Requisitioner Formation - Tempting but for 3 things 1) they'd be in reserve instead of shooting, 2) They'd be closer to the enemy which can be dangerous and 3) Can't take the grav cannons.

So what are your suggestions for an allied detachment of battle servitors?

[MoGuy]

Keep in mind that you have to buy the Tech-Priest Dominus too (either with a single unit of Servitors for an allied detachment or with two units for a minimum CAD). 

 

You can build two flavours of Servitors from the kit:

 

1.) Kataphron Destroyers. These come stock with Plasma Culverin and Phosphor Blasters and you can exchange the Plasma for the Grav variant (for free). You can also exchange the Phosphor for a flamer that always does 3 hits when fireing overwatch. 

 

2.) Kataphron Breachers. Come with the Heavy Arc Rifle or the Torsion Cannon and a claw for CC. 

 

Since we have no information about your main army, I think our advice will be limited, since we have to speculate. I would either go for Grav Destroyers or Arc Rifle Breachers.

[Kolonel Grotsnik]

Difficult to say as I have a ton of guard and my list varies, I have enough firepower to deal with the majority of infantry and vehicles. However it's dealing with heavy vehicles like knights and land raiders or monstrous creatures where I sometimes struggle, which is what attracted me to the idea of an allied mechanicus detachment in the first place. 

I've also seen and read the rules for the guns in the White Dwarf and looking for options on which to take over how they work, I will ask is there any wargear to help that BS3 aside from the re-roll 1's once per game rule?

[MagicHat]

Grav annihilates standard vehicles and most MC alike.

 

Arc have nicer range though, and I think is a bit better versus SH. A bit cheaper and durable as well, but I would still prefer grav. 

 

Or take both.

 

I don't rate the plasma or torsion gun that high, but they are fairly easy to magnetize and rules can change...

[Dawnstrider]

Grav is terrible when it comes to killing super-heavy things, so there is that. Meanwhile the Hvy Arv rifles have the range and power to kill knights. Especially in the Holy Requisitioner formation since you can deepstrike without scatter you can put them on another face of the knight compared to the rest of the army and avoid the shield. If killing knights is your goal, 

Another thing to consider is that this formation can set down inside a voidshield bubble and destroy the generator itself without having to deal with the shields. If you play an alpha strike list then may be something to consider. 

P. S. The Elimination Maniple is an expensive formation is dollars and points but will raise you ballistic skill with its bonus. And the robots can handle infantry pretty well with all the shots they can put out, letting you use your IG for killing armor.