Smacked About By Cawl

[Gen.Steiner]

Righty-ho, so my (short) two-game winning streak came spectacularly to an end tonight when I faced my local GW manager's utterly brutal AdMech Spearhead Detachment at 52 Power Levels:

Cawl
Datasmith with melta pistol and power fist
4x Kastellan Robots with 3x heavy phosphor blasters each
Onanger Crawler with heavy stubber and Extermination Cannon thing
Onanger Crawler with heavy stubber and Extermination Cannon thing

 

I took:

Celestine + 2 Super Twins
Imagifer
Imagifer
Hospitaller
10 Celestians with flamer, combi-flamer, heavy flamer
10 BSS with 3x storm bolters
5x Dominions with combi-melta and meltas
5x Seraphim with power sword and 2x hand flamers

1x Immolator with Immolation flamer

 

I mis-used Celestine (I thought, for some reason, she could deep strike like Seraphim) but aside from that I did the following:

 

1 wound to an Onanger from bolt pistol fire
2 wounds to the Datasmith
1 wound to Cawl
9 wounds to the Robots (killing one).

I lost:

 

Celestine + 2 Super Twins (twice)

Dominions
Celestians
and had the Immolator reduced to 1 wound and a 3" move by turn 2 (it was on 3 wounds by the end of his turn 1).

It's the second time I have faced a version of that list; the last time was in 7th Edition.

It. Is. BRUTAL. As an example, the Robots can take a protocol that makes them stand still and shoot twice: that's 72 shots from that unit, hitting on 4s, with Cawl allowing them to re-roll all misses.

But I killed a Robot! So that was a vast improvement on the last time I played them. I think if I hadn't screwed up with Celestine and I'd not forgotten to move my Celestians and BSS on Turn 1 after their AoF moves I probably might have killed two Robots!

Damn good game though.

Edited July 13, 2017 by Gen.Steiner

[Jacinda]

Flamers are good for generate volume hits but not so good with high T armored units.  In a power level game it does not hurt to take some of the bigger weapons.  Seriously, with your squads carrying storm nolters and flamers while he's units take the biggest gun they can carry, you were probably a good 25% fewer point value than him.

 

Take a good mix of weapons.  Add some melta in there.  Inferno pistols for the Seraphim that back up Celestine.  Bolter flamer melta is not just the holy trinity of weapons, it's how you build a well rounded list.

[Gen.Steiner]

Yees, it was definitely 'sub-optimal'.

I think if I was going up against it again (and I probably will) with my army I would swap the Celestians for my BSS with meltas, drop Celestine and the Seraphim, and add in my Canoness, another Imagifer, and a MM Immolator.

Or something. To be honest I was planning on getting much closer much quicker but completely forgot to move my Celestians and BSS on turn 1 after their AoF moves... A durrr. I don't think it would have changed much but I might have got to flamer something.

 

EDIT:

OH GOD-EMPEROR

I forgot mention I also had my Dominion squad; they were what killed the Robot!

Edited July 13, 2017 by Gen.Steiner

[A.T.]

Cawl, dakka robots, and Onangers (a pair or more for the save reroll) are being touted as the absolute top of the admech totem pole early on, albeit more commonly with neutron lasers or ikarus arrays.

 

52 points is an odd number - set to fit his list? The admech actually works out at 998 so a solid 1k list by the looks of things. Sisters a little short but not too far back.

Edited July 13, 2017 by A.T.

[Gen.Steiner]

Yeah, it was meant to be 50 but it worked out at 52 so I chucked in the Hospitaller naively thinking I might get to bring someone back.

I got one chance to, she fluffed it, and then the Celestians all died on turn 2. :P

It is, as I said, a BRUTAL list.

[A.T.]

It is, as I said, a BRUTAL list.

 

I think it would bug me to be able to get so close to this in a 1k list, but be just a couple of points over to take the full on neutron lasers, with nowhere left to shave enough points :p

[Gen.Steiner]

The Eggbert Cannons or whatever they're called are powerful enough to be honest!

[Ammonius]

Consider bringing some fast-movers or deep-strikers to try and tie the Kastelans in melee. Without their Kastelan fists, they have a difficult time clearing units, and of course, they aren't putting out those Phosphor shots.

 

If your deep-strikers can bring Melta, all the better.

[A.T.]

If you can conspire to kill the datasmith while the robots are locked into their double firing mode you can pin them with scraps - they can't fall back if they can't change orders. But they do have a brutal round of overwatch (firing twice).

(alternatively with the datasmith alive - if your opponent changes them to a combat setting you can kill him and lock out their guns for the rest of the game)

 

Neutron lasers are overpowered, undercosted lascannons - which is saying something given how good lascannons are, but the neutrons are each worth a pair of them with the added benefit of a higher strength, better save mod, better damage, and a lower cost. On a unit that can move and shoot without penalty and may well be re-rolling to hit - they come in somewhat cheaper than exorcists.

[Gen.Steiner]

I deepstruck the Seraphim and tried to assassinate the Datasmith, failed, because bolt pistols and combat was not enough to do 4 wounds and Celestine failed her charge.

Most of the butchery was done by the 72-shot Kataphrons. Cawl, however, is insanely good in CC - 2d6 Mechadendrite Hive attacks and 4 power axe attacks?!