A list to beat AM - for the greater good

[Feral_80]

As I play both Astra Militarum and AdMech I am quite happy that both my codexes are out now. I am just slightly less happy that they both result in the same acronym, so I'll use AM and AdMech. I am much more annoyed by the fact that codex:AM is much better designed and inspired than codex:AdMech. I am not referring to raw (over)power at all, but just to the originality and variety of the rules, and overall to the enjoyability of the codex.

 

Anyway, this is my point: I have a good but extremely annoying friend (Eldar...they never change) who has become obsessed with claiming that AM is overpowered and auto-win. I have proposed him to use my own AM army and show him that I can beat the s*it out of it with AdMech, or at least put up a good challenge. So, help me out here  I need to devise a strong anti-AM setup. And, AM players feel free to contribute, it is for a very good cause after all.

 

What he'll likely field: based on a combination between his ravings and the AM models I have, he'll probably go with something like at 2.000 pts, Cadian doctrine:

 

3-4 Leman Russ, including 1+ Tank commanders

2 Basilisk

2/3 heavy weapons squads

20-30 conscripts

4-5 infantry squads, veterans, etc

10-15 deepstriking Scions

2-3 Primaris Psykers

1 Vulture

 

 

What I thought is the following. I would not normally play such an army because I don't like the fact that Mars is the obvious powerhouse, but ah well, he asked for it. At least I get to field my painted Cawl.

 

Mars Battalion:

Cawl

3x Breachers (arc) *maybe not very popular, but I find them decent. Also, no points for more Destroyers*

3x Destroyer (plasma)

5x Rangers (arquebus)

3x Dakkastelans

1x Datasmith

 

 

Stygies VIII Battalion:

Dominus

3x 5 Rangers (1 arquebus, 2 arc)

6 Fulgurite priests

2 Sydonian Dragoons

3 Onager (laser)

 

 

Simple but quite straightforward. I outrange all of his infantry and they get -1 to hit my own small infantry. Cawl builds his usual castle and hopefully pulverizes everything that gets in range. The Onagers are reasonably defended by the -1 to be hit and should deal with his tanks quite effectively.

 

The Priest, I'm a bit uncertain as they are few, but they are mean to infiltrate with the Stygies stratagem, and only a small unit will have a hope to stay out of sight. They should harass a flank along with the Dragoons which, at -2 being hit, should be quite a pain to deal with.

 

What do you think? Suggestions, improvements, etc.?

Edited October 16, 2017 by Feral_80

[Prot]

Take all of this with a grain of salt... I've been experimenting a lot.

 

The first question I have which is pretty relevant to this is what missions are you guys playing? I typically play Maelstrom or similar type missions where objective grabbing is paramount. AdMech have some real issues with this... and your list will probably change depending on this.

 

+++ I don't know if I'm reading your lists wrong, but I don't understand your Battalions. Am I missing the HQ's?

 

+++ I don't know if Mars is the obvious choice... I do think Mars has the most straight forward mechanism using "Wrath of Mars". The 'money' in Mars is just Cawl + LOTS of Kastelans + Wrath of Mars. I would take 4+.

 

+++ If I'm being competitive, no Destroyers. All testing so far I think the points are better spent on other units. Cheap Vanguard and Rangers get you better protection against certain playstyles (Even if this is being fine tuned for Astra).

 

+++ I would put the Dune Crawlers with Cawl. They can move and shoot effectively and I think they will actually be your long term strong unit since you will have range on T1, and your Kastelans will be ultimately the primary target. Just a personal experience here, but I believe re-roll to hit is greater than -1 to hit the Dunecrawlers.

 

+++ Priests are a lot of fun. They're one of my most dynamic units, but I really don't know if they will do much in this game.... I wish I had a better answer there, but I play mine perhaps... too aggressively.

 

+++ I love Dragoons in any FW/match up. They help fill a real void and no one wants to shoot at them. :)

 

 

Your match up is a tough one. I'm not saying AdMech is bad.... but this is not my favoured match up personally. I prefer seeing elite, marine type armies opposite of my AdMech!

 

Make sure you let us know how it goes!

 

PS. I know this is a one off, but I am seeing a lot of Culexus' again. Is it worth considering one with those Primaris psykers? Are they casting some potent stuff?

Edited October 16, 2017 by Prot

[Feral_80]

Thanks for that! Yes sorry, the Battalion thing was wrong - ignore it. I just wanted to figure out 2 separate detachments, and then see which kind to take.

 

As for the mission, we'll probably roll it randomly...4+ Eternal war, otherwise Maelstrom. Tough.

 

I too am not a fan of Destroyers, but I thought they could be worth it due to the Stratagem that combines them with a unit of Kataphron. It's a round of safe overcharging + bonus to hits for everyone...ideally, for the turn 1 volley it should be devastating. No?

 

For the Dune Crawlers, I was hoping in getting some protection from afar. They will be parked around their own Dominus anyway, which already gets them to reroll 1s. Now of course this means I'll roll a lot of 2s, but in theory that hit on 3+ rerolling 1s is not *too* different from a reroll all...hence I went for the Stygies bonus. Not worth it in your experience?

 

I could always turn those Destroyers into 3 more Breachers, and try to squeeze in a unit of Infiltrators to assist the Priests...taser goads should be quite good to spread panic in the Guard lines.

 

Vanguard, I'm ok with them but having only 18" range I thought they might be unsuited to face an AM gunline. I preferred Rangers because they'll force AM infantry to move towards them, also losing their Cadian reroll 1 ability for at least a turn.

 

I prefer to avoid external assets such as Assassins etc. I'll still play as fluffy as possible to AdMech. I was tempted to take a Knight Crusader, but honestly I cannot figure out how to fit it in, it really seems not worth the points.

Edited October 16, 2017 by Feral_80

[Xisor]

A tide of Vanguard/Rangers under Stygies wouldn't help, perhaps? Not even with special weapons, just sheer high rate of fire?

 

It's a head scratcher alright. My gastrointestinal heuristics dictate that Skitarii is the way to go. Cheap and cheerful rangers/vanguard, lots of Dragoons to run disruption, some Infiltrators perhaps, but the real meat comes with a War of the Worlds style array of creepy-ass walkers blowing everything up in the background.

 

So say:

~800pts Neutronagers

~600pts HQ/Elites/Fast Attack

~600pts cheap troops

 

Perhaps outwith your model range, and a bit one-note, but really pushes the machine zealotry of the footsoldiers of the Machine God...

[OnboardG1]

You need a few things to beat guard I think:

 

1. -1 to hit totally screws 4+ BS armies. Sygies is probably your best friend. This is especially nasty against the volume of fire approach that guard like because you can easily get 3+ saves with shroudpsalm. That means mortar spam, punisher spam and lasgun spam is going to struggle to clear out your long range elements. Rangers are probably your friend here.

 

2. You need chaff clearance. Kastellans are probably the best at this because of volume of shots. They also double as secondary anti-vehicle and annoying damage sponge.

 

3. You need to lock them in CQC at some point. Dragoons are going to be -2 to hit if stygies until they're in threat range so once you blast the chaff off the board you can push them into their parade ground and start locking things down.

 

4. Unsurprisingly Neutronagers and Icarus Onagers are going to help you make a hot mess of guard armour. 

[yellabelly]

For volume of dice against hordes, taser goad infiltrators and glove priests can generate a lot of shots and hits. Worth considering to deal with the numbers maybe.