Cities of Death rules - viable forge worlds and units?

[MajorNese]

Greetings, fellow followers of the Motive Force.

 

As my club is planning a 1000p event with the CA City of Death rules, it got me thinking what type of AdMech list could be useful. Any feedback is appreciated, as this deviates considerably from regular ranged weapon mechanics.

 

A short summary of Cities of Death (rather similar to Killteam):

-obscured units (all models are slightly obscured, vehicles/monsters are 50% obscured) are -1 to hit. 6s always hit, regardless of modifiers

-cover is divided into soft cover (crater, woods) and hard cover (walls, ruins,...). Hard cover gives +2 to the Sv roll instead of the usual 1

-if a firing unit is at least one level (3" height difference) higher than the target, its AP is improved by 1

-pre-defined streets provide +3" movement

-dangerous terrain - each model that rolls a 1 suffers a MW (only when advancing/charging, not regular move)

-use considerably more terrain than usual

 

The first 3 are the most relevant, and make choosing a FW more complicated than usual. My best bets so far:

-Mars. Carl bubble should offset the -1 to hit for obscured targets. Combine with skitarii hordes for a rather slow-moving but highly accurate firebase. Also, deep striking infiltrators with Wrath of Mars and Carl rerolls will instagib even units with 1+ save

-Lucius. Every army will have more access to AP -1 due to height advantage, so their ignorance of AP -1 could come more handy than usual. Use deep strike strat/relic to deploy 30 plasma vanguard and dominus, and instantly tear a big chunk out of the opponent's army.

-Stygies. Use scout strat to occupy center ruins for a better deployment, and keep units obscured for that sweet -2 to hit. Everyone obscured has a Stygies dragoon grade bullet repellant now.

 

For units and wargear - ignoring cover is far more important than usual. Marines with a 1+ save in cover will negate even the better AP weapons considerably. Backfield rangers might use an omnispex (for the first time this edition), phosphor weaponry is worth it too.

 

With -1 armies being top contestants in this environment, my guess would be that kataphron and baymaxes are not reliable in any way. Shoot at a -1 army's obscured model, and they only hit on 6s. Skitarii on the other hand can boost BS with a strat, leading to a BS of 4+ (or 3+ with data tether) to still be rather reliable. Which in turn creates the question for frontline units - data tether for morale reroll and +2 BS in case of strat, or omnispex to ignore +2 save bonus for units in cover.

 

The downside for AdMech in general would be that we don't have anything that can fly, making it more of a hassle to reach cover and high ground. It's tempting to just use my Raptors chapter instead, and bring all the jump packs and bolters possible, but unearthing those for one event just seems wrong.

[Xisor]

I could see Lucius Breachers having some utility. They'll just go where they want to go, be rock hard but also cheap, and ObSec ish. Relentless. And can get a teleporting headstart.

 

Add some Infiltrators in for high volume targeted fire and maybe most of the work is done?

 

Rangers with TUA to put the fear into people?

 

Metallica could be useful for being fairly swift and up-close (aggressive Metallica Fistbustors and PlasmaFlamerDestroyers?), but the trick with City Fight is to be making use of denied access.

 

A lot of the time you're not just getting +2Sv and/or-1 to Hit, you're outright untargetable.

 

Whether the rules and terrain support that is another matter, of course.

 

But that is the idea: difficult to shift without going right up close, setting them on fire and/or punching them.

 

Mayve plasma-flamer Destroyers used aggressively is the answer?

 

Supported by Infiltrators clearing chaff.

 

Could Ruststalkers be useful for getting in and setting about people intimately? Maybe that's still best handled by elite Fulgurites?

 

Or Haters gonna hate swarms of Arc/hydraulic Breaches?

[gilt_imp]

Don’t forget to look through those new Cities of Death Stratagems too:

 

‘Grappling Hooks’: This could help you move to roof tops quickly.

 

‘Plasma Feed’: If you (or your group) use any mechanicus Thermic Plasma Regulators or Plasma Conduits and have any infantry units with multiple plasma weapons, this looks very tasty!