Anyone ever try this strategy before?

[Helias_Tancred]

2 five man assault hellblaster squads.

1 primaris master.

1 primaris lieutenant.

2 Impulsors.

 

Drive them to mid field. Get out. Deal lots of death!

 

A friend of mine had this idea and I finally have the models to pull it off. Just wondering if anyone has ran this yet in 9th? 30 overcharged shots at S7 AP-4 DMG 2, re-rolling 1s to hit and to wound :)

 

 

[eternal_warrior12]

If you can get them where you want unhindered they will do work. I remember the day I found out what hellblasters could do and they rarely fail to perform.

[G8Keeper]

If you can get them where you want unhindered they will do work. I remember the day I found out what hellblasters could do and they rarely fail to perform.

 

They're just so darn expensive though.  Almost prohibitively so.

[dice4thedicegod]

 

 

If you can get them where you want unhindered they will do work. I remember the day I found out what hellblasters could do and they rarely fail to perform.

They're just so darn expensive though. Almost prohibitively so.

Yeah, the lack of cheap ablative wounds in the squad always worries me. I have some painted that have never seen the table due to it!

[eternal_warrior12]

Yes. Every wound reduces combat effectiveness greatly. An apothecary, darkshroud, Azrael. Anything to reduce incoming fire to transports and dudes is highly recommended

[L30n1d4s]

A more "all your eggs in one basket approach," but also an even more powerful combo, is to combine Azrael, 10 Hellblasters with Assault Plasma Incinerators, and a Chaplain, plus a nearby Apothecary and Dark Shroud.

 

After they move, you use the new Strat to make the Hellblasters count as not moving (so they are BS2+, with re-rolls of 1s from Azrael).

 

Add in the Chaplain Litany for +1 to Wound on the nearest unit and you are getting 30 x S7 AP-4 Dmg2 shots, about 29 hits, about 19-20 wounds on T7 or about 24-25 wounds on T6 and below.

 

Against enemy Eradicators, Heavy Intercessors, Aggressors, etc. you are killing about 12-13 Gravis models or volley, or about 6-7 Bladeguard per volley.

 

In terms of survivability, the 4++ from Azrael, -1 to hit from the Dark Shroud, and 6+++ FNP and resurrect ability from the Apothecary make them quite tough to deal with via enemy shooting.

[UtariOnzo]

Problem is, that is a big, slow, expensive castle in an edition that’s tilted towards playing for the objectives. It worked more when you could use weapons of the dark age to delete important centrepiece targets for your opponent, but now I’d rather just spend the points elsewhere

[Angel of Solitude]

Couldn't agree more, Utari0nzo. You could have all the Inceptors, Aggressors, Hellblasters and Eradicators you like sat on an objective, but all it takes is one single lowly Guardsman to deny you that objective. Doesn't matter that you'll obliterate him next turn, the important part is that at the start of your turn - which is when primary objectives are counted - that is an objective you no longer control. While 8th edition was possibly about paying the troop tax to max your CP, 9th edition is more about paying the troop tax to get those nice ObSec units.

 

Having said all that, I do think there is a role for Hellblasters to play in an army as I think they're a quite a versatile unit. WIth the right support, a 5-man squad can do some serious damage to a squad of marines, or it can take a good number of wounds off a vehicle, dropping it into a lower damage bracket. While we may have lost WftDA, the extra 6" range on turn 1 can help to force some suboptimal deployment decisions from your opponent. I'm not about to drop them any time soon.

[aura_enchanted]

A better combo would be a chaplain on a bike and an apothecary with standard incinerators

[bigtrouble]

I’m really on the fence about heavy vs. assault. The average damage math favors assault by a little bit, but they require so much support to be effective in terms of auras and transports, and are way more likely to die when overcharging. Heavy guys pair well with dreds and HQs because you can shift some of the buffs to the dred, offer more range turn 1, and are more reliable damage output when they overcharge than almost anything.

[Aeri]

2 five man assault hellblaster squads.

1 primaris master.

1 primaris lieutenant.

2 Impulsors.

 

Drive them to mid field. Get out. Deal lots of death!

 

A friend of mine had this idea and I finally have the models to pull it off. Just wondering if anyone has ran this yet in 9th? 30 overcharged shots at S7 AP-4 DMG 2, re-rolling 1s to hit and to wound :)

I combine this with a chaplain master of sanctity on bike for additional +1 to wound and +1 to hit.

I would prefer to have him ride in one of the Impulsors, but as we all know he is not allowed to sing indoors (company policy).

 

I don't like the heavy version as standing still is just not an option anymore.

Edited October 26, 2020 by Aeri