DKoK Cavalry armament and tactics

[AstraWlad]

I'm going to include a cavalry detachment im my IG (AM) army and it seems that a best way to do it now is by taking DKoK Death Riders. It obviously will be an outrider detachment  with Squadron Commander, Command Squadron and 3 Death Riders Squadrons.

 

Can you give some advice on their usage? And what about their wargear? For example is it worht it's points to give hot-shot lasguns and power mauls to the Commander and Ridemasters? Or take one unit of 10 Death Riders to make a good use of grenade throwing stratagem? 

 

If you have some experience with them I'd be glad to learn .

[Withershadow]

I keep them to 5-man size, it means morale is basically irrelevant even in melee, and when you fail a charge it's not that devastating.

[Mitchverr]

min size units works extremely well with death riders, they are able to withstand a bit of small arms fire so it requires a heavy hit to actually make the unit weak and it means more units which means more chances to make a successful charge!

 

As for tactics, it all depends on your enemy, if your enemy is a more camp army or gunline, then having them outflank can be useful, if they are all CC and going to bullrush you, having them sitting in your line ready to charge through is also a very good use of them (i have had them countercharge ork and nid blobs, they can effectively smash like for like points in blob units so long as they get the charge). Though best usage imo is locking down rearline stuff and kicking some elite/heavy units into the dirt.

Edited January 7, 2018 by Mitchverr

[Hatarus]

Rough riders I've found are basically "faster guardsmen that can flank" your best bet is to take two five man teams bare bones as you can and just throw them into the side of the opponent they don't really have to do much more then cause the person you are playing to fumble around with them in the short game or if they make it to the late game get "MOVE MOVE MOVE" thrown on them to capture a point halfway across the map 

[Finkmilkana]

Rough riders I've found are basically "faster guardsmen that can flank" (...) make it to the late game get "MOVE MOVE MOVE" thrown on them to capture a point halfway across the map

Note that rough riders cannot be ordered, as they are not infantry. Death riders can be ordered though (as krieg allows orders to cavalry).

Overall it strangely enough holds rough riders with straken nearby > Death riders > unsurported rough riders.

Of all these I usually feel that only the Catachan rough riders with straken in range are really worth it point by point, though death riders can be a nice distraction. Unsurported rough riders only make sense to outflank plasma, and that is better done by tallarn guardsmen, with the dagger relict or with scions.

Edited January 7, 2018 by Finkmilkana

[AstraWlad]

Thank you for answers! But I have a question again: how can I outflank Death Riders if they do not have that ability in the Index? Command Squad can outflank but they are just a 4-man squad and Dagger of Tu'Sakh lets you outflank only an Infantry squad.

 

By the way, I used Death Riders today against DG and they have shown themselves as a resilient unit, very good for tarpits.

Edited January 7, 2018 by AstraWlad

[Harrowmaster]

The command squad lets up to 5 other cavalry units outflank

[AstraWlad]

The command squad lets up to 5 other cavalry units outflank

Many thanks!