Darkshroud. Modeling and Gameplay

[smbarne]

I've got a two part question regarding the Darkshroud; one for each aspect of the hobby :).

 

1) How do you keep your Darkshroud alive T1.  Or do you assume it will die early on.  Does it provide enough value for it's points as such a high priority target?

 

2) Is anyone familiar with reasonable conversions?  I'll be honest that I really dislike the model and I haven't found much inspiration online.  There was one with a regular land speeder front and the Darkshroud on back.  I'd also like to be conscious to keep the size relatively similar for gaming purposes.

[Inverse]

1. LOS as much as possible, especially if going second. If going first make sure to advance for jink save.  Also just consider the firepower used to take out the darkshroud turn 1 is not going into your more expensive units, which lets you get off your own turn 1 volley at their high priority targets.

 

2. I think for conversations you are going to have to make sure to remain true to the original size of the dark shroud model.  People won't be too happy with you if you are trying to play a regularly sized land speeder as a dark shroud that has an easier time hiding on turn 1 :)

[Interrogator Stobz]

1: no idea

2: FW LS Javelin as a base, just add darkness projection things

[Solrac]

I think it's safe to say that most people take Darkshrouds. They are relatively cheap and somewhat durable and have loads of utility.

 

A Darkshroud should be using jink every turn no exceptions. This is why you never take the Assault Cannon anymore. Jink is what makes it durable. T6, 9W, 3+/4++ is incredibly annoying to remove. If you are talking competitive lists you need to factor in that your opponent will take a couple of turns to try and kill it but also the odd opponent that will ignore it.

 

Now to your question. Keeping it alive T1 when you don't have first turn. You either use as much LOS blocking terrain to shield it from as much long range anti tank fire as possible (which can be hard to do cause the statue on the back is quite tall) or if your army is really dependent on having the -1 as much as possible then you should take two for redundancy.

 

I haven't seen any conversions myself. I don't mind the look of the hull. Being a bigger speeder and the only chapter to use the design is quite iconic. I just really don't like the statue on the back. If anything I would replace the statue with something else as my conversion maybe something the resembles a jamming device although when I picture it I just see a giant jar of Jam like in Spaceballs lol.

[ValourousHeart]

There are a couple of ways to help keep your Darkshroud alive.  First, deploying it last gives you some options on placement so that you can put it out of Line of Sight.  Second, you could just provide more options that are scarier than just a Dark Shroud.  And third, you could field more than 1.

 

Really it isn't any different from keeping anything else alive turn 1.  If your opponent wants something gone turn 1, then they generally can focus fire it down, with very few exceptions.

 

What is it about the Darkshroud that you don't like?

 

You'll want to keep the conversion similar size to the Shroud, so a normal Landspeeder is too small.  I'm hesitant to send you to Forge World, although the Javelin and Tempest are big enough, for the cost, I'd rather use those models with their FW rules.   You could start with a Landspeeder Storm and build some radio equipment or fog machines in the back.

[FlamingDeth]

The normal complaint about the model is usually that it's off balance. For some reason the normal seat for the gunner is enclosed and the gunner is pushed to a pulpit on the front corner. If they had just left the gunner where he is on eevery other land speeder it wouldn't look so "off".

 

I do conceptually like the darkshroud back/normal speeder front conversion since that habdily foxes things. The downside of that is that you're cutting two speeders in half, which is throwing away a lot of money.

[ValourousHeart]

If they had just left the gunner where he is on eevery other land speeder it wouldn't look so "off".

 

Well, the model was designed back when vehicle facings mattered and weapons had an arc of fire based on the model.

The arc of fire from the pulpit can shoot at any target not directly behind the Darkshroud.

 

The normal speeder, on the other hand, can't shoot at anything on the driver side of the vehicle, around the back, and up to beside the gunner.

 

So I get why people don't like it, but it is the sensible placement if you want to defend that vehicle with a single weapon.