What's been working for you?

[Karhedron]

Do you have a hard time keeping him alive? Slam dies almost every game even when he has Gift of Foresight and a storm shield

Smash characters don't usually have a very long shelf life. I tend to run mine aggressively to try and take out a lynchpin unit early on to cripple my enemy which inevitably leaves Smash exposed to plenty of retaliation.

 

I have played one or two games where I have managed to keep him alive a lot longer. One was versus Tau and I started off by attacking some Broadsides on a flank. The terrain was such that my opponent has set his army up with good lines of sight at my deployment zone but less to set up crossfire in his own DZ. This meant Smash was able to roll up the line chewing up a unit per turn. While my opponent panicked and tried to redeploy to counter Smash, the rest of my army moved up. Needless to say, I won that game pretty handily but it is the exception rather than the rule.

[Fobzter]

Dual batallion with DC and SG has worked for me. Last game I ran: 

 

Mephy, cpt smash (angel's wing), priest with JP (icon of the angel), Lemartes

3x intercessors with fists, 3x scouts

12 DC with 3 fists, 10x SG with 5 fists and my warlord SG ancient (SoS) 

 

Like others have mentioned, FF still can suprise your opponent. Army is quite terrain dependant, but we play with dense terrain and can't shoot through first floor windows/gaps so those help me a lot. I also force me to save CP for 2-3 DoA / game and 1-2 UWoF. Psychological threat from my deepstrike/uwof units has so far forced my opponents to play cagey and let me take the board with my scouts and intercessors. 

 

Also our super doctrine is great, it has always helped me and make those wow effects with me and my opponents.

 

One thing I'm considering whether I should have 3x 6-7 man SG units instead of 2x 10man units, then I could start 1-2 on the table and even uwof one T1 and FF DC if my opponent miss-deploys.

[Indefragable]

Hero of the Chapter is a huge (YUGE!!!) boon for Capt Smash. Allows all of the punch with none of the regret.

[Morticon]

Hey guys - so I've started with some playtesting. 

Ive been so excited with the Quake Bolt/Corbs/Asty combos that Ive been trying out a heavy MSU list (12x small squads) - the downside is that I have NO shooting - and it basically puts me in a terrible position.  

I feel like we have plenty of good units, and our rules work well in a vacuum  - but I havent managed to click with the right balance yet.  I can easily design a BA list that if I'm going first, i will absolutely destroy (unless I'm playing GSC, I guess!! ) but, more often I find that in these cases, I dont have enough to fight back from going second.  I came up against an 18 hiveguard list -which just ripped me...

 

I've also played in 2 games on short board edges, so corbs has a had a real problem keeping up - especially if he rolls badly on his runs.   This was an expected problem, but considering I had played long board edge before, it wasn't as big a deal before.  

 

.

At the moment, Im still staying with MSU idea- but working on some things - likely impulsor/vet intercessor heavy. 

 

Will keep you all posted

[Karhedron]

I have been doing pretty well with an all-infantry list. Whilst playing to our strengths, it also denies my opponent valuable targets for anti-tank weapons.

 

In this setup, I normally run a mix of Devastators and Inceptors for fire support with a couple of MSU tactical squads for extra heavy weapons. I find about 25% of my points on long ranged shooting seems necessary. However well we hit things, there will be occasions when we need our melee units to go in a particular direction (to take objectives, kill key units etc) and the ability of fire support to reach and hit the enemy at range is vital.

 

I also find that my infantry fire support tend to last quite well in this setup as my opponent tends to prioritise my assault units meaning my ranged safe is generally left in peace to plink away at range.

 

Having crunched the numbers, I am tempted to try swapping out my Devastators for 2 squads of Eliminators with Las Fusils. They provide slightly better bang for their buck, are tougher in cover and can infiltrate. They are more vulnerable to multi-damage weapons though so I may do some testing here.

[Maxamato]

Ive been so excited with the Quake Bolt/Corbs/Asty combos that Ive been trying out a heavy MSU list (12x small squads) - the downside is that I have NO shooting - and it basically puts me in a terrible position.  

What does this Combo?

[Morticon]

 

Ive been so excited with the Quake Bolt/Corbs/Asty combos that Ive been trying out a heavy MSU list (12x small squads) - the downside is that I have NO shooting - and it basically puts me in a terrible position.  

What does this Combo?

 

 

 

Quake bolts gives the +1 to hit. 

Astorath drops Litany of Hate (rerolls) and Exhortation of Rage (exploding 6s). 

Corbs natural ability is exploding 6s. 

 

Whats interesting here, is that there is a difference in the exploding 6s wording from Rage and Corbs.  With Rage its natural 6s.  With Corbs, its 6 rolled.  So, a +1 means it is triggered on a 5+ (4+ if you drop astorath's mass of doom ;)) 

 

Basically its a way of multiplying attacks that stacks incredibly quickly.  If you do this combo with 5 incursors from turn 3 - you're getting well over 30 attacks a turn. 

 

For incursors, every 6 you roll is an additional hit, plus 2 additional attacks (which can subsequently generate additional hits - but not additional attacks.!!) Since you're hitting on 2s, just reroll all dice that arent 5s and 6s. 

 

Works great for Fists too, though without the +1 to hit, you're not getting Corbs' ability. 

 

 

So basically, the idea behind the MSU army is that any 5 man squad can become absolutley devastating with the buffs.  The issue is that its too finicky to get right and has too many moving parts. 

 

[Jolemai]

I have been doing pretty well with an all-infantry list. Whilst playing to our strengths, it also denies my opponent valuable targets for anti-tank weapons.

 

In this setup, I normally run a mix of Devastators and Inceptors for fire support with a couple of MSU tactical squads for extra heavy weapons. I find about 25% of my points on long ranged shooting seems necessary. However well we hit things, there will be occasions when we need our melee units to go in a particular direction (to take objectives, kill key units etc) and the ability of fire support to reach and hit the enemy at range is vital.

 

I also find that my infantry fire support tend to last quite well in this setup as my opponent tends to prioritise my assault units meaning my ranged safe is generally left in peace to plink away at range.

 

Having crunched the numbers, I am tempted to try swapping out my Devastators for 2 squads of Eliminators with Las Fusils. They provide slightly better bang for their buck, are tougher in cover and can infiltrate. They are more vulnerable to multi-damage weapons though so I may do some testing here.

Glad this is working for you but for me, it's not. Whilst I suppose it's because I don't use Primaris, I feel I need to evolve my list going forward if I am to remain on the infantry-msu route at 2k.

 

Instead I've been playing with my dual-LR list...

[Maxamato]

@Morticon: Thanks for the clarifiaction! How does you list looks like?

 

@Jolemai: Double LR? How it goes? WOuld be great, if you were sharing some expierence. :)

[Karhedron]

 

I have been doing pretty well with an all-infantry list. Whilst playing to our strengths, it also denies my opponent valuable targets for anti-tank weapons.

In this setup, I normally run a mix of Devastators and Inceptors for fire support with a couple of MSU tactical squads for extra heavy weapons. I find about 25% of my points on long ranged shooting seems necessary. However well we hit things, there will be occasions when we need our melee units to go in a particular direction (to take objectives, kill key units etc) and the ability of fire support to reach and hit the enemy at range is vital.

 

I also find that my infantry fire support tend to last quite well in this setup as my opponent tends to prioritise my assault units meaning my ranged safe is generally left in peace to plink away at range.

 

Having crunched the numbers, I am tempted to try swapping out my Devastators for 2 squads of Eliminators with Las Fusils. They provide slightly better bang for their buck, are tougher in cover and can infiltrate. They are more vulnerable to multi-damage weapons though so I may do some testing here.

Glad this is working for you but for me, it's not. Whilst I suppose it's because I don't use Primaris, I feel I need to evolve my list going forward if I am to remain on the infantry-msu route at 2k.

 

Instead I've been playing with my dual-LR list...

 

To be fair, I only have 3 Primaris squad in there currently, 2 Intercessors and 1 Inceptor. While I am pleased with them, they are not lynchpin units by any stretch of the imagination. The Intercessors hold midfield Objectives better than Tactical squads while the Inceptors supply mobile firepower. You could achieve something pretty similar with Tactical squads and Attack Bikes I suspect (especially now the bikes get 4 bolter shots at 24" range). Primaris can be a useful tool in the box but they are supplemental rather than essential to this list.

 

Interested to see your dual LR list. I have a pair of Land Raiders that haven't seen much play in 8th. They just seemed a bit too squishy for the points in a meta designed to burn down Knights in 1 turn.

[Jolemai]

It's just the current version of my 2k - heavy mech list. It's far from optimised at the moment and I've only used it twice in its current format against "normal" lists doing CA19 Eternal War missions.

 

What I'm enjoying is two LRs hitting on 2+ and I'm not entering the Assault Doctrine until T4. Oh, and I wont be using this against my local Imperial Fist player!

Basically, I just got fed up of my other list underperforming  - so I'm using something different until I can revamp it.

[Maxamato]

Thanks for that.

 

What I'm enjoying is two LRs hitting on 2

 

How this?

[Jolemai]

Thanks for that.

 

What I'm enjoying is two LRs hitting on 2

 

How this?

If the Excelsior is within 24" of any Rhino Primaris, it gains +1 To Hit.

During the Shooting Phase, a Rhino Primaris can use it's Servo Skull Hub to do one of three effects - one of which is to give a model +1 To Hit for that phase within 12"

Meanwhile, units within 6" of the Excelsior get to re-roll 1s To Hit...

[Kram000]

Edit: I don't think I'm allowed to put points cost in the post

 

Phobos Capt with quake bolts is easily worth his weight in points and the CP for the ammo.  The force multiplier he provides is monumental and I hope GW doesn't interfere with our special ammo.  Every marine that swings gets a flat +16.6% increase in accuracy.  Since we deal with volume of attacks in melee, this scales beautifully but almost to the point of overkill.

 

Supporting power fists and hammers helps get the damage throughput on high wound targets, and supporting single damage melee helps get volume of attacks through.

 

Some games I've made him WL and master of deception or whatever to allow me to re-deploy the incursors after setup.  Feints don't work very well in 40k, but being able to move 3 troops, re-deploy a jump unit, and in some cases FF a death company 14" to the other side of the initial deployment can work on strategically inept opponents.

 

How that works for me is a cheap point dude who helps all aspects of my army.  I have a nasty tendency to run two dual twin lascannon contemptor mortis, so hanging out just enough to have his 30" range be effective and give them a reroll 1 is pudding on the cherry.

Edited March 20, 2020 by Kram000

[Morticon]

@Morticon: Thanks for the clarifiaction! How does you list looks like?

 

@Jolemai: Double LR? How it goes? WOuld be great, if you were sharing some expierence.

 

It wasn't /isn't a serious list -just a fun one to test things out.  

 

Corbulo

Astorath

Phobos Cap (Quake) 

Sanguinor 

Priest - JP (Icon) 

 

4x 5 Incursors (mines) 

2x 5 Auto Intercessors - fists

 

1x 5 Rievers (chutes) 

1x 5 Vanvets - 5shield, 1hammer, JP

1x 5 Assault Term - 5shield/hammer

2x 5 Sang Guard - fists 

1x 7 DC - JP 

Sang Ancient (banner) 

 

 

I dont regard it as competitive, but it was cool to play will all these units - 6 squads of which (not counting the characters) have options to drop from reserve. (Although, you cant do all because of the PL limit).  

 

But, if you play them well, the priests can restore wounds or bring back guys, the aura buffs are huge, and every 5man squad can do something of value- especially with the auras and especially from turn 3. 

Edited March 21, 2020 by Morticon

[SnorriSnorrison]

Decided to give the QB Phobos captain a spin, so I impulsively ordered one. He’s very good on paper for the points, and an interesting force multiplier.

 

Too bad that all games will have to be postponed. :/

[Morticon]

Decided to give the QB Phobos captain a spin, so I impulsively ordered one. He’s very good on paper for the points, and an interesting force multiplier.

 

Too bad that all games will have to be postponed. :/

 

TableTop Sim / Vassal for the win!!! 

[Majkhel]

I've been having success with the Infantry lists.

- Eliminators (2 squads with sniper rifles) along with the Phobos Captain (with QB) worked really nice. They help cover ground and score on objectives, eat a ton of shooting and sometimes do manage to actually hurt something. hey are also great for cheap Heavy slots to fill a Brigade.

- our troop choices of Incursors, Intercesors and scouts. Each with a distinct role, each able to deal hurt

- Sanguinary Guard for killing stuff. As many fists as I can model (love Quake Bolts here). I've been using one bigger squad, but now I'm contemplating multiple squads with 6+ members.

- any JP Ancient with SoS

- Suppressors - often just a distraction carnifex, but with SoS and Transhuman Physiology if needed on T1 they are survivable enough. Another fantastic unit to fill a Brigade.

- Invictor

 

- DC has been a hit-or-miss unit for me. Great for applying early pressure but they usually don't work their points back, so I keep them cheap. Really important to wrap things. Sometimes I've been deliberately attacking with only few marines to ensure the unit I charged first survives and I'm able to wrap at least one model. Very often they will kill that unit in the enemy's phase, leaving them ready to charge again in my turn which is perfect for them.