Night Lords Terror Assault Allies

[Nomadic Thunder]

I'm trying to collect a small force of VIIIth legion which i may expand on but for now will keep as an allied detachment.

 

It will consist of a Jump Praetor, 2 terror squads (volkite & meltabombs) and a night raptor squad (as many models and chainglaives as points allow)

 

I've not bought any additional models other than the 20 terror marines, 10 raptors with glaives and the praetor.

I do own 2 javelin, a contemptor, and some destroyers (unpainted and pondering which legion to allocate them to)

 

My question would be how to allocate the units to the froce org chart and what to add in as good options for exapnsion.

In terms of points i want to stay below 1500 but around 1000 for the required praetor.

 

Do people think it is better to have both terror squads in the troop slots and the night raptors in the fast slot? or 1 and 1 in the troops and the 2nd terror squad can go in the elites?

 

My thoughts on alternative options is either a javellin or land speeder squadron in the fast slot or a contemptor talon or destroyer squad in elites depending on what i did with the three units above.

 

Is a Fire Raport essential for the heavy slot (I've seen so many terror assault lists with them) or would a deredeo with boreas missiles get sufficient milage being present from turn 1 and providing anti-air/medium AV?

I'm not a very skilled modeller it must be said so i may struggle with the fire raptor although i do love the model for the raptor and storm eagle and plan on owning at least one of each.

 

I want to cover bases with this and feel as a starting point there is sufficient anti-infantry, with the terror marines covering some anti tank with meltabombs too. I'm a bit bamboozled by the amount of options i like the look of in the elite and fast slots.

 

I'm interested in what you guys think are appropriate and fit the theme of night lords.

[Eternal Despair]

Well it’s a little tricky to give out advice on an allied force without knowing what the main force is but I’ll try my best.

 

I would most likely take the two terror squads as troops if only for the fact that I find hq+bodyguard squads tend to die relatively fast as they usually present as massive targets because of this giving them scoring by being troops, the terror squads in the other hand are ever so slightly less scary and in turn less likely to be targeted, plus it’s always fun to infiltrate straight onto an objective.

 

Now a tooled up jump melee praetor, 10 raptors all with chainglaives and 2 10 man terror squads with volkite and meltabombs is 1020 points, if you normally play at 2500 that doesn’t leave heaps of points for your primary detachment  so I’d probably leave it there but if you had to add a single extra unit to them it would be a fire raptors, they will never not be useful to you in future lists and just an all round fantastic unit. it’s a bit of a bear to put together but with a lot of patience and a hairdryer handy it’s not too bad. 
 

As for why it’s so prevalent, if you can only pick one heavy choice you may as well make it a good one/your favourite unit. Now can a deredeo fulfill a similar role? Yes, but why don’t people go for the deredeo as often? Well up until very recently most people went for the ailos missles on their deredo with the auto cannons, it’s a solid unit for sure but for an extra measly 15 points you get a flyer that puts out more shots, some at a better ap or strength with the added bonus of jink and the fact most units snapshot against it. For most people 15 extra points and having it come on from reserves is a worthwhile trade off. 
 

So that pretty much covers my thoughts, it’s always good to see another heresy player in midnight clad

[Nomadic Thunder]

Thanks for the reply.

 

I'm mostly collecting for fun, but my other armies are mechanicum based around thallax, usurax, myrmidons (grav secutors, plasma secutors and photon destructors) and i've got a vulturax, a couple of moirax coming and some scyllax. I've also got some darkfire castellax.

 

I've also got some unbuilt dark angels i plan on getting going and some sons of horus reavers, plasma bikers and some unbuilt terminators which i also plan to expand with some justaerin and the like.

 

I've had a browse on the night lords forum and other lists and i see dreadnoughts and leviathans popping up a lot.

Would a leviathan be a worthwhile alternative? i like the nightlords specific model (except for the large manequin looking body) and it seems to be a solid option. It wouldn't help with the anti-air but as a centre piece and shock assault unit i like the look of it for a small detachment. does it have a similar output to the fire raptor in temrs of threat and longevity?

[Eternal Despair]

So leviathan Dreadnoughts to me are an entirely different unit in how they are used compared to fire raptors, granted I don’t use them very often,  but their fire power, even with 2 storm cannons is objectively worse than a fire raptor but that’s ok because It’s my belief that a dakka leviathan is a waste of a leviathan, and that any dreadnought should have either 2 shooting arms or 2 melee arms. My preference in running them is to have the drill, the claw, phosphex and then sticking it in a pod, it cost a lot of points but it’ll put the hurt on anything it does touch but it’s most useful trait is that it makes a brilliant distraction carnifex particulars against less experienced players. The thing that makes it such a great distraction unit is that it’s fairly durable, scary as all hell and in your face turn 2 guaranteed. But that’s just my take on it, I’d also recommend reading the leviathan dread load out thread over in the age of darkness section for other people’s takes on it.  

 

tl;dr fire raptor = greater sustained shooting fire power, leviathan = an expensive powerful podded melee distraction carnifex, 

[Nomadic Thunder]

I saw that post on leviathan loadouts which prompted me to think more on it. i love the spikes on the VIIIth legion specific model and would probably opt for grav, drill and volkites.

 

My concern and a point for the fire raptor is anti-air capabilities but it's something i can deal with in the primary detachment with a vulturax (if mechanicum) or another flyer if using a legion, i suppose.

 

would the night raptors cover the anti-teq requirements i am after with all the rending attack (and extra attacks afterward) or should they avoid assaulting terminators and the like?

Using the terror squads in the troop slot frees the elite slot for me. I'm wondering what is a typical night lord themed option.

 

I was actually inspired to make a night lords detachment from the description of the pacification of the Vhnori Resugence in book II massacre. So I think Destoryers fit the bill quite well with jump packs and flamers for rapid and indescriminate slaughter.

 

Again thanks for taking the time to share your thoghts and opinion!

[Eternal Despair]

No worries Nomadic Thunder, I always enjoy these sorts of discussions, Anti-Air is one of those funny things that really depends on what your local group is like, I know in my immediate group the only flyer that is brought with any consistency is one blokes IF Storm eagle so AA doesn't factor in nearly as much, moving out to the wider community in my area and theres a lot more armies that have either a lightning or a xiphon so its something I'm more mindful of when I build a list. 

 

Its not the rending that that'll put down terminators it'll be the shear volume of attacks, hammer of wrath and the bloody murder bonus attacks with talent for murder that does them in, I mean any one will roll enough ones if you hand them a bucket of dice for armour saves, with that said I'd still try and avoid terminators squads that are larger than 5+ a character and/or have a lot of power swords/claws until you whittle them down due to the fact raptors die just as easily as tacticals and you don't want a fair fight. 

 

As for Elite slots theres a lot of solid and fun units that you can take from the ever present twin kheres contemptor mortis, a Contemptor Cortus with fist, chainfist and dual grav in a pod. Another option and one I find myself always trying to pull off myself is a 5 man unit of tartaros terminators with axes and combi plas deep striking down, they don't always stick to assault but if your list has a lot of threats in the opponents face by the time they come down sometimes they can't dedicate enough firepower to kill them. But a destroyer unit with the new playtest rules are finally a nice choice to takeand between rad grenades and talent for murder you should either be insta killing them or wounding them on 2's which is awesome.