Death Korps for Shadow Wars? (total newb)

[Chaplain Gunzhard]

Hey guys, I've never played any sort of IG/AM army before. I wanted to build a Death Korps of Krieg kill team for SW, but I have no idea where to even begin.

 

Regarding the "Skills" - At first I thought that I would use the Steel Legion rules since they appear similar, long coats and respirators - but I wonder if regular Cadian (or even Catachan?) Skills would be more appropriate?

 

Also the unit... better to for 10 guys and spend less on weapons? or?

 

Any and all help here would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[grailkeeper]

I'd worry less about skills- odds are it wont make much of a difference till you have advanced a fair bit. Generally go boys over toys. I'd recommend starting with 8/9 dudes as you get cash to buy more after your first battle. Wyswyg is important so go for equipment that matches what your models have.

[N1SB]

Ya, I agree with Brother Grailkeeper, Boys Before Toys.  Literally, in this case, imho.

 

It just happens to be how the missions and campaign are set up.  Guardsman and their Gear are relatively cheap, but they also cap out at 10 guys.  With the 100 points to Rearm in every post-game, it's more beneficial to get a full-sized squad 1st, then arm them up later.

 

My suggestion for your starting 1000 point list (so you know in advance for painting/modeling) to begin with, considering aiming for:

 

 

1 lightly geared Leader, perhaps with the Free Knife and a Laspistol or a cheap 5 point knife even (he'll be using his Command rule usually)

 

3 Weapon Specialists, with the cheap (yet surprisingly effective) options of Sniper Rifle(s) or Flamer(s)*

 

The Veteran Guardsmen and Recruit Guardsmen with Lasguns (maybe Laspistol) for 50% Recruit model limit

 

Then after that, you probably have some points left over to play with.

 

*Note - Weapon Specialist with even the cheapest Special Weapons is 110 points...just over the 100 points Rearm threshold, so best bought at list creation.

 

 

Example of a very generic list: Vet Sgt with Laspistol, 3 Specialists with Sniper Rifle or Flamers, 1 Vet Guardsmen with Lasgun, 5 Recruit Guardsmen with Lasguns, comes up to 925 pts on my Excel.  Then you can play with other options to better fit WYSIWYG even, like if you happened to have modeled your Sgt with a Chainsword!

 

 

What else is good is actually Camo Gear in Shadow War...one of the cheapest upgrades and exclusive to AM/Scouts/CSM.  It doesn't enhance cover saves, but reduces enemy range by 4".  Considering that's the movement of most units, it kind of lets you kite enemies with even simple Guardsmen with just Lasguns.  I'm actually using it with CSM now and it's kind of surprising how effective it is for its low cost.

 

I was toying with my own narrative-yet-effective imho AM list...and found this is super-easy to do under 1000 points.  I'm wondering if you're thinking of expensive items like Grenade Launchers, Plasma and Meltaguns.  It turns out, high costs aside, they're not the most ideal; I really wouldn't bother with the Grenade Launcher, maybe I'll toy with Plasmaguns with Rearm points later on.  Flamers and Sniper Rifles are more suited for the meta of Shadow War imho.

 

Heavy Flamers, on the other hand, are very, very interesting indeed, and I think it's only available to AM.  But it also happens to be exactly 100 points, so it's something I'll save for a later Rearm action.  However, I can entertain that notion because I already bought my Specialists at the start.  This example actually shows a lot of the thinking behind Shadow War; list-building accounts for list-growing.

 

Regarding Skills, tbh, I would prefer the Steel Legion skillset because of its accessibility to Guerilla skills (which IMHO should really be named "Survivalist" to better more intuitive to most players)...but like Brother Grailkeeper said, it really won't make much of a difference.  It works out, you'll probably choose Shooting skills initially if you get the chance (both Cadians and Steel Legion get this).  Later on, maybe Guerilla.  I think Cadian (being the most generic) or Steel Legion (since I do think it fits Kriegers better) are good for you.

[Chaplain Gunzhard]

Thank you very much, this is very helpful. :)

[Chaplain Gunzhard]

Stupid follow-up question ...where do you guys get Sniper Rifles that work with Death Korps?  Would the SM Scout rifles be too big?

 

Thanks.

[WarriorFish]

Scout sniper rifles may look a little large on the skinnier DKoK models, but should be ok. An alternative is to mod some, as the longlas is basically a longer lasgun with a scope ;)

[N1SB]

Yeah, a long-las is part of the lore, in fact it's the go-to sniper rifle in 40k RPGs like Dark Heresy.

 

And iirc the Krieg models have 2 soldiers that's kneeling, looking down the eyes of the sight?  Even if you don't convert a long-las rifle, that's a pretty good proxy for it imho, that they're assuming a sniper's position.

[robofish7591]

You could always get some of the little scopes that come in the tactical marine boxes.  Those plus a barrel extension on a regular lasgun should make a convincing sniper rifle.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Or, if you don't have tactical marines, the square scope that comes with the heavy weapons box (I think its for the mortar and missile launcher) plus a barrel extension.

 

Inquisitor Psychologis Ruminahui

[robofish7591]

Those little sights mounted on the bottom or side of the gun make perfect laser sights for WYSIWYG too!

[Chaplain Gunzhard]

Ok excellent, thanks guys, I know exactly what I have to do!