Unit of the Week: Devastator Squad

[Fobzter]

I use two 5man squads with cherub, HB, ML and PC in each squad. Cheap and effective. Sitting with a stock lieutenant and one Smash captain who sheriffs and later uses UWoF to get into melee. Cherubs for 3d3 MW via flakk&hellfire. Signum for safe overcharged PC shooting.

 

For me this has been the most competitive choice since PC points drop.

;

Edited March 9, 2019 by Fobzter

[Majkhel]

I use two 5man squads with cherub, HB, ML and PC in each squad. Cheap and effective. Sitting with a stock lieutenant and one Smash captain who sheriffs and later uses UWoF to get into melee. Cherubs for 3d3 MW via flakk&hellfire. Signum for safe overcharged PC shooting.

 

For me this has been the most competitive choice since PC points drop.

;

That's 2d3 only if I'm not mistaken? Cherub allows 1 reload.

[Panzer]

 

I use two 5man squads with cherub, HB, ML and PC in each squad. Cheap and effective. Sitting with a stock lieutenant and one Smash captain who sheriffs and later uses UWoF to get into melee. Cherubs for 3d3 MW via flakk&hellfire. Signum for safe overcharged PC shooting.

 

For me this has been the most competitive choice since PC points drop.

;

That's 2d3 only if I'm not mistaken? Cherub allows 1 reload.

 

2d3 from either HB with Cherub or ML with Cherub and another 1d3 from the other weapon you didn't use the Cherub on. It's two different Stratagems so you can use both in the same phase. ;)

[Morticon]

My go to squad is las, missile, heavy bolter and cherub.

 

It's a work horse and is really a solid take all comers. I usually don't have the points, but I'd love to field this with two extra bodies. Would. E the perfect amount of resilience

[Karhedron]

I wouldn't say a vehicle is the prefered target of either of those weapons. Plasma and Grav are anti-elite infantry. Better compare it against something like Marines, Primaris, Custodes and such.

I disagree there. Against T7 vehicles, Overcharged plasma does more damage (4D) on overage than a lascannon (3.5) (both shots hitting on a 3+ and wounding on a 3+). Only against T8 target does the Lascannon pull ahead as it wounds on a 3+ vs a 4+ for the Plasma. Of course the Lascannon has longer range and does not overheat but it does show the plasma cannon is a really good all-round weapon.

 

The Grav Cannon actually does even better. Even though it only wounds on a 5+, it gets four times as many shots as a Lascnnon so will actually do more damage than a Lascannon, even vs T8 targets! It is also great at mowing down elite infantry as noticed. The downside of course is the 24" range.

 

What this shows is that there is no best weapon in the Dev squad, even for tank hunting. If you want a squad to camp in your deployment zone and take long-ranged shots, the lascannon is probably your safest best. But as soon as you add rerolls, the Plasma Cannon pulls ahead against everything less than T8 and is more flexible. If you add in some kind of Transport or alternative deployment, then Grav Cannons are better still. Of course you then have issues such as protecting them from enemy attention.

 

It occurs to me that Grav Devs could work really well with some of the new Vanguard units. Deploy a unit of Infiltrators to keep a dropzone clear and then deploy the Grav Devs in a Pod. At the same time, deploy a Vanguard Lt (using his Grav Chute) with the Target Priority WLT. He can give the Devs +1 to-Hit (which negates the move-and-fire penalty) and also allows them to reroll 1s to-Wound which will make their hits stick better.

 

Not sure if it is the best use of the WLT in a BA army but it is certainly an interesting option.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Karhedronuk

[The Unseen]

Plasma cannons are fine, until you factor in that to overcharge, you desperately want rerolls to avoid killing themselves, which means they need a babysitter, which costs points, making then less effecient than lascannons for tank hunting.

If you already were planning on having a reroll aura sitting with them, and don't mind the reduced range, their good.

 

But if you want self suffecient fire support, in my opinion, nothing beats 2 dev squads each with 2 lascannons and a heavy bolter, and 1 extra dude.

Gives you 3 ablative wounds, easy to deploy, isn't crippling if you have to move one of the units, and it's cheap.

 

I don't trust missiles, even with the flakk missile strat, I rarely wish I had it, and wouldn't want to use it during the same turn as hellfire since I'd only get 1 cherub per squad, and when you run up against T8 stuff you'll be cursing yourself for not packing the big old laser.

[Demoulius]

 

 

I use two 5man squads with cherub, HB, ML and PC in each squad. Cheap and effective. Sitting with a stock lieutenant and one Smash captain who sheriffs and later uses UWoF to get into melee. Cherubs for 3d3 MW via flakk&hellfire. Signum for safe overcharged PC shooting.

 

For me this has been the most competitive choice since PC points drop.

;

That's 2d3 only if I'm not mistaken? Cherub allows 1 reload.

 

2d3 from either HB with Cherub or ML with Cherub and another 1d3 from the other weapon you didn't use the Cherub on. It's two different Stratagems so you can use both in the same phase.

 

Would the 2nd shot from the Cherub also be dishing out mortal wounds though? I kinda assumed it dident....

[Panzer]

 

 

 

I use two 5man squads with cherub, HB, ML and PC in each squad. Cheap and effective. Sitting with a stock lieutenant and one Smash captain who sheriffs and later uses UWoF to get into melee. Cherubs for 3d3 MW via flakk&hellfire. Signum for safe overcharged PC shooting.

 

For me this has been the most competitive choice since PC points drop.

;

That's 2d3 only if I'm not mistaken? Cherub allows 1 reload.

 

2d3 from either HB with Cherub or ML with Cherub and another 1d3 from the other weapon you didn't use the Cherub on. It's two different Stratagems so you can use both in the same phase.

 

Would the 2nd shot from the Cherub also be dishing out mortal wounds though? I kinda assumed it dident....

 

 

Yeah it would. ^^

[Jolemai]

Not anymore, it was FAQ'd.

 

For the second shot you need to use the stratagem again in one phase which is fine in Open and Narrative Play, but prohibited in Matched Play.

[Demoulius]

Well tbh it makes more sense to me this way. I kinda felt the strategems were 'aha I activate this trap-card' thingy. So you replace one of your normal shots with the mortal wound effect. Would otherwise be a bit powerfull

 

Still, good that they clarified it. Avoids arguments that way.

 

Anyway how would you guys run them knowing that you cant get a 'freebie' mortal wounds from the cherub? Would you change anything or keep the mixed squad?

[Jolemai]

My 2k list still runs two five-man squads with a single ML, HB, and a cherub. I have two for redundancy and I use them in a castle setup, currently with a Lieutenant, quad-las Contemptor (for Wisdom of the Ancients) nearby. I also have a Tactical squad with plasma cannon in the same bubble and a Lastical nearby as this spread the heavy weapons out.

 

In other lists, I run other setups. It really depends on what list you are running and what role you want them to achieve. That said, Devastators remain one of the most reliable methods for us to get mortal wounds into our lists.

[Hintzy]

Does the cherub take up a slot in a drop pod?

[Majkhel]

I think this was FAQ'ed at one point, but I can't remember which one.

First of all it is a model and has stats. Remember also that you can allocate wounds to it and most importantly - it can fight in the fight phase. This means that you should be able to apply all fight phase rules, including movement. Which in turn means it has a board real presence and should count when checking distances for auras, charges, area denial etc. So yes - it takes up space in the Drop Pod, Rhino, Razorback, Land Rider,....  It also counts towards units' maximum size and of the purpose of combat-squadding

[SnorriSnorrison]

Usually I bring at least one squad with 2 lascannons and perhaps a cherub. 2 squads of 5 are relatively cheap and good to set up in cover in your DP.

 

Currently, they’re backed up and a bit replaced by my las predator though, but you can never have enough lascannons!

 

Solid unit, would take again. 120 points isn’t too much either.

[Arkhanist]

Cherubs and transports was covered in the 'stepping into a new edition' FAQ.

 

Q: Do models with profiles, such as Armorium Cherubs

and Ammo Runts, count as a model for the purposes of

embarking within transports or when measuring ranges

to and from the unit?

A: Yes – for all rules purposes they are part of the unit.

[Hintzy]

Thanks!

[Xenith]

Reopening this one for peoples advice on Dev squads in the current meta - I'm rounding out my company - my first squad has 4 lascannons, my second that I painted ages ago currently has 3 ML, there was going to be a lascannon for the signum, very 5 - 7th ed thinking, however ML's are pretty underwhelming now, right?

 

What's an effective loadout for a dev squad? Still 4 of the same, or now is mixed loadouts ok due to new targeting rules? Still 1x ML 1x HB for mortal wound stratagems?

 

4 heavy bolters would be fun, and cheap. 

[Karhedron]

I often chuck in a Plasma Cannon as it is a pretty good all-round weapon and the +1 to-Hit from the Signum makes overcharging safe.

Having 1-2 MLs and 1-2 HBs somewhere in your army for the respective stratagems can be handy. Can these stratagems still be double-tapped with the Armorium Cherub or has that been errated? I have rather lost track of that one. 

[Hintzy]

No, the Armorium Cherub no longer allows the stratagem double tap.

[Charlo]

Missile Launchers, now we get Doctrines are really cool. While you'll be moving out of Dev Doctrine turn 2, having AP3 Kraks and AP1 Frags turn one is really nice for the opening salvo and also very flexible.

[Dont-Be-Haten]

I still stand by the grav cannons with drop pod. If we get the grav stratagem then its icing on the cake.

[Karhedron]

Indeed, I would love me some Grav Devs. :D

[Dont-Be-Haten]

Turn 1 pinpoint placement with 16~32 S5 AP -4 D1(D3) rerolling to wound and damage weapons with the ability to add an additional 8 shots with cherubs all while having an additional 4 combi grav shots though pricey will definitely bring the rain.

[Jolemai]

In my last game I dropped a five man Devastator Squad (with gravcannons, Cherub, Captain, and Lieutenant) out of a Drop Pod and it wasn't as effective as hoped - although the target was IF Centurions in cover. Perhaps I need more practice with it to form a proper opinion.

 

(I also did the same with a MM Devastator Squad and it was underwhelming, sadly).

 

In my regular list I still quite enjoy a five man squad with a HB, ML, and Cherub. It's low priority (I have lascannons elsewhere), usually a Lieutenant and a Dreadnought (Wisdom of Ancients) are nearby for re-rolls, and I retain the mortal wound option for when I need it (though I've not used it lately, oddly enough).

 

- I also have a Company Ancient nearby for the out of turn shooting chance (which I adore), but this is subject to taste.

 

Note that the Cherub no longer permits two Flak Missiles/Hellfire Shells in Matched Play.

[Charlo]

Drop pod heavy weapons without re-rolls support just aren't that great imo.