Scarab Occult: One big squad or two smaller?

[BrainFireBob]

As per the question.

 

I'll be getting my second box of these robo-zombies, and I'm thinking about whether I want to do the Sorcerer as the fifth guy (creates 2 squads) or do him as a regular Scarab Occult (creates a 10 man squad with 2 Hellfyre racks and two Hellreapers).

 

Advantage of the big squad, it can use the Webway Portal stratagem.

 

Advantage of the 2 smaller squads is another Sorc.

 

Farming for opinions.

[Re'Koleq't]

Terminators can teleport anyway so if that's your main reason go for 2 squads.

 

I would say though that you get more efficiency from stratagems on a bigger squad. I'm sure you'll make it work whatever you go with. :)

[Scammel]

My experience of a larger squad is that they are still fairly prone to getting tied up in combat against much lower value troops. A five-man squad isn't exactly old-school Termicide, but it's not far off; they drop in a hard-to-reach space and gut a problematic unit, anything else is gravy. I think the Sons have better options for massive damage output.

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

I used to use 10 man SOT, but my recent experiences with small squads have been favorable.

 

I tend to use 20 Rubricae as a "hammer" unit that delivers similar firepower, so all of my buffs go there.

 

Without the need to centralize buffs, 2 small squads would generally be better, especially since that gives you an extra Psyker.

[Skerr]

I have toyed with the idea of a larger squad maybe to 7 though if I roll with 10 I prefer the extra sorcerer and usually go 1 or 2 five man.

[BrainFireBob]

Allright, so consensus is buy the Terminator Lord box, do the conversion in the codex, and have one guy I can swap in/out for the Sorcerer leader of the second squad or run as a termie sorcerer lord?

 

Yes, I just put together I was looking at this inefficiently.

[BoomWolf]

I prefer a single squad to max out VotLW and buff spell effectiveness on the turn they drop.

I find that initial punch too valuable.

[Heliomanes]

Yeah, it depends on the list. If you have other units you want to center your buffing abilities around, then you can do worse than 2 5 man teams as support. If you want them to buff up and be a hammer, however, the 10 man squad is much better.

[Zodd1888]

I always find it helpful to write out what buffs are going to be a priority for what units at the list building stage. Based off of that I'll adjust my unit sizes, or my focus, for the list. My general rules is I don't want more than one unit per power.

 

With TS this isn't often an issue as most of our units are fairly expenaive so the bulk of buffs will land on the hammer most of the time. Since we have DS now I've found myself better able to manage powers into stages, ie. Beta strike builds with Tzaangors on turn 2 where Turn 1 I'm moving and buffing shooty portions first.

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

Yeah, it depends on the list. If you have other units you want to center your buffing abilities around, then you can do worse than 2 5 man teams as support. If you want them to buff up and be a hammer, however, the 10 man squad is much better.

Very much agreed, to the point that I suggest buying three boxes and assembling the third five-pack of guys as 1 Sorcerer, 2 Heavy Warpflamers, and 2 regular joes in case you need to swap in and out.

[Skerr]

 

 

Yeah, it depends on the list. If you have other units you want to center your buffing abilities around, then you can do worse than 2 5 man teams as support. If you want them to buff up and be a hammer, however, the 10 man squad is much better.

Very much agreed, to the point that I suggest buying three boxes and assembling the third five-pack of guys as 1 Sorcerer, 2 Heavy Warpflamers, and 2 regular joes in case you need to swap in and out.

I agree with the logic in these 2 posts. I have wanted to try the 10 man brick but I have not gotten in enough games to do so. Plus the type of list and opponent is going to influence just as Heliomanes explained

 

GreaterChicken offers great forward thought on unit building.

 

You could also get 2 boxes and and the extra bitz you need off Ebay for the sorcerer.

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

 

 

Yeah, it depends on the list. If you have other units you want to center your buffing abilities around, then you can do worse than 2 5 man teams as support. If you want them to buff up and be a hammer, however, the 10 man squad is much better.

Very much agreed, to the point that I suggest buying three boxes and assembling the third five-pack of guys as 1 Sorcerer, 2 Heavy Warpflamers, and 2 regular joes in case you need to swap in and out.

I agree with the logic in these 2 posts. I have wanted to try the 10 man brick but I have not gotten in enough games to do so. Plus the type of list and opponent is going to influence just as Heliomanes explained

 

GreaterChicken offers great forward thought on unit building.

 

You could also get 2 boxes and and the extra bitz you need off Ebay for the sorcerer.

 

I personally went with 2 boxes, and then hit eBay for both the Sorcerer and some Tartaros bits because they were much cheaper than a Scarab Occult box at the time (people were selling them from Burning of Prospero quite frequently). Extra bits from the "real Scarabs" were spread across the Tartaros pieces and it worked great. Nowadays, based on the prices I see, which are only about 13-14 USD cheaper, I'd just get a third box or bits order the sorcerer as you said.

Edited March 2, 2018 by GreaterChickenofTzeentch

[Archaeinox]

2 in Maelstrom, 1 in anything else. You will want the 2 for options during objective/maelstrom stuff.

 

4" movement makes me be very careful about where i deploy a single unit. 2 units lets me have more control over that (and helps me feel better about putting one in a bad position for the rest of the game)

Edited March 3, 2018 by Archaeinox

[Minsc]

Want to focus your buffs on them or not?

If no, go with 2x5.

If yes, go with 1x10.

 

I personally would always go with 1x10, as 1x10 gets much more mileage out of buffs like VotLW, Prescience, Weaver of Fates etc.