Banshee Usefulness

[Prot]

Not a fancy title, I know but just out of the blue I'm wondering if any of you are using Banshees?

 

I have continued to use them in one medium sized squad, and think they do offer something in any sort of aggressive Aeldari army.

 

I stress that this kind of list might see Wraithblades, Wraithlords, Bikers/Shining Spears, etc. In those instances a real problem becomes hard core shooting armies. 

 

While banshees don't work on their own, I'm wondering if anyone else is slamming them into Admech, or Astra, or Tau... even Necrons, just to get past the Overwatch. I just don't see anything else that really gets around that issue, and Banshees aren't super expensive.

[Karhedron]

My hunch is that you would probably need multiple small squads for this to work and it has a couple of problems. Firstly plenty of armies have units that can fly meaning that the Banshees (who hit with all the force of a wet noodle) would pretty much bounce off. Even against armies that cannot do this, there is still the risk that the target unit withdraws and its nearby mates then shoot up the Banshees.

 

Whilst I agree that they are not very expensive, I am still not convinced that throwing these units at the enemy as a distraction is viable. Against Tau who really rely on their Overwatch, Banshees are a bit of a hard counter but against other armies, I am not sure it is viable. Indeed, aggressive armies would eat the Banshees for breakfast and then consolidate closer to you, thus gaining a movement boost.

[tychobi]

A large squad with a goal to take hostages has done work against me. Takes some finesse. War shout and lightning reflexes stack to make banshees really hard to shift.

[Karhedron]

True, if you can pull off a tri-lock, that can be useful.

[Prot]

A large squad with a goal to take hostages has done work against me. Takes some finesse. War shout and lightning reflexes stack to make banshees really hard to shift.

 

This is what I was thinking my next attempt might be.

When thinking about why this squad is so difficult to make functional I keep thinking it's not that they don't do any real damage (and they don't. It's like.. Admech with power swords.) It's not that they don't look good, or anything like that. It's that they die so incredibly easily.

 

I've tried Warshout, and tried the Feel No Pain, but I am starting to wonder if one 8-10 man squad with both might have some annoying staying ability. 

 

I've had games where I think their forte has been to do a multi charge on 3-4 tanks. It was a perfect opportunity as the tanks were closely grouped. Next thing I know a measily 10 Guardsman killed most of them in CC!