We can't repel firepower of that magnitude!

[6262]

Hello there fraters & sorors. I've got a bit of a pickle I'm trying to puzzle out. I've got a buddy that runs a mevlchanicus force that usually consists of

 

1-2 Magos

0-1 Cawl

 

2 squads of skitarii vanguard

1 squad of rangers with sniper toys

 

6 shooty deathbots [the 1950s era ones not the half-tracks]

1-2 crawly tanks

2 baby knights with autocannons

Whatever else might fit

 

 

How how how do I render those deathbots into their component parts? I feel that in general I can do well against the rest of the list but the sheer volume of fire and the mortal wounds from this unit has a cascade affect on my force that leaves me 6 feet under.

 

I have access to most things in the dex as well as 2 leviathans (2/storm cannon and Claw/Gravflux) and a contemptor mortis 4 lascannon).

 

Basically I want to come down like a ten ton hammer and crush that fire base yet retain enough flexibility to go from there and adapt to an objective based game.

 

Would you recommend a game of keep away the first turn and then coming down with pods and teleportarium on turn 2? Usually the deathbots are in the center of his force so that charging and shorter ranged firepower are blunted tools.

 

Thanks for any suggestions or considerations.

[Black Knight]

Don't try to kill them, get them into CC and they are worthless, your opponent will have used the override stratagem to go into shoot twice mode and if they have done that they can no longer move. If that is not possible try to out manoeuvre them as they cannot move once that stratagem is used. The shooty variant was nerfed in CC when the codex dropped so the best thing you can do is neuter them, you will destroy them with a killteam up close with power weapons.

 

Apart from that Dreadnoughts for days or a smash captain.

[6262]

So just get a squad of Intercessors, a Reiver, and maybe some Aggressors and Punch faces till the problem solves itself?

[Mobius0288]

I wouldn't even say you need to load up on a particular unit to try and demolish those Kastellan robots. As stated, just get into close combat. He can't retreat, and if he does, he can't shoot the next turn. Same applies to the helverins if he brings them too close to your units. Using a reiver in an intercessor unit could work for some situations, but remember it only effects infantry.

 

You could do something like charge an empty rhino into them for an entire game, depending on what you bring.

 

I find plasma works decently well against both the Kastellans and the Dunecrawlers. Should do fine against helverins as well since they have even less toughness.

 

As far as out of the box solutions... a venator sicarian tank? Does -1 if getting a successful hit on one of them. Leviathan dual storm cannons will probably work as well. You could also explore a relic contemptor dreadnaught (assault and claw for example). High toughness against his S5 dakka and FNPs.

 

If he wants to camp with his robots, maybe grab a mortis dread with C-beams hiding in the back to fight fire with fire.

[Black Knight]

If I was fighting that I would plonk down my 5Intercessor/4Agg/1Inceptor at 9" shoot whatever I wanted to and then charge in. They will not last with all those power fists. As Mobius0288 said you could do the same and drop down a team with plasma as well at 15" and double tap into them.

 

If they are castling up you can really shut down half the army with a well placed charge, that is why smash captains are so popular they drop down and charge into the fray neutering a lot of squads even if they have screened. What is the current rules about flying over models now? I think they changed it back so you can charge over screens.

[GrinNfool]

As others have said tie them up in melee after they get into their desired position and pop a strategem.  Using kastellans means he is going to try to get them into a prime position and then probably pop the strat to double tap.  Try to give him very limited targets, just know you will probably still have to sacrifice something.  Melee shouldn't be too hard to accomplish here.  A barebones biker squad will probably be able to live a few rounds against an all shooty kastellan group.  VVs smash captains etc are all good choices too, killing them is unnecessary if they can't shoot.  If he isn't running any electro priests to try and clear up the melee at least.  Kastellans being expensive (thats over 600 points in 6) means tying up that squad with a 100-150 point unit is a fantastic trade for you.

[Mr4Minutes]

I tend to just ignore them. Each one has so many wounds that dedicated fire power is needed to remove them. That means you’ve not done damage to anything else.

 

If you’ve got enough LoS blocking terrain, you can out maneuver them while attacking everything else.

 

I tend to focus more on scoring and removing my opponents ability to score in these matches. Yes the robots will kill you, but if you can push that till turn 6, you should be getting ahead.

 

A good player won’t just drop them into double tap mode and leave them vulnerable to charging and CC:

[Duke Danse Macabre]

Best friend runs the same death unit with a slight different list, combat is the best way to deal with them.

Best thing to do is stay out of los to get close and charge them from out of loss to deny over watch or charge a unit next to them and consolidate into them, normally they can't change stance when they switch into double fire mode so it means they are now trapped, moo up the rest of the army and come back for these dudes at the end.

[Jukkiz]

To be honest, i´m still weirded out how DW can be whole army as i always thought them more extra elite part of bigger army.

But, CC/melee is your best option against admech units. They might have some good melee options but rarely rely on it. Dw can get hammers and other fun options to smash puny robots with ease. Also CP stragemens are useful, just remember to use right ones.

[GrinNfool]

To be honest, i´m still weirded out how DW can be whole army as i always thought them more extra elite part of bigger army.

 

But, CC/melee is your best option against admech units. They might have some good melee options but rarely rely on it. Dw can get hammers and other fun options to smash puny robots with ease. Also CP stragemens are useful, just remember to use right ones.

I never view a given battle on a table as representative of an entire battle for anything just as a piece of a much larger fight going on.  In that sense Deathwatch fighting in 1 section of a overall war works fine for me.  Can't mix fluff and game though, doesn't work.  By fluff 5 tacs could beat 2000 points of guard and MAYBE lose 1 marine.  Clearly that isn't the case on the tabletop.  Always important to separate fluff from game.  According to fluff you would see millions of guardsmen at any given engagement... you don't get that many models on the table either, but no one says ohh guard are so un fluffy and weird on the table.

[Mobius0288]

 

I never view a given battle on a table as representative of an entire battle for anything just as a piece of a much larger fight going on.

 

 

EXACTLY. Cause honestly, you'd be playing apocalypse every time for a true scale army vs army.

[6262]

Appreciate all the comments. I'll be trying a list a bit different than what I usually use for DW where 3 rhinos will try to disable the biggest guns and the twin Leviathans will try to rip everything else apart while veterans and intercessors try to get some scoring done.

[bluntpencil]

Rely on lots of Storm Shields to keep your boys alive, and teleport onto objectives.

 

He's only a few, very weak, units that do well on objectives. Regular Veterans, packing shields, are the way to go.