Deathwing Knights - Squad Size

[GenerationTerrorist]

Hi all. Hope everyone is good.

 

I've been racking my brains about how to run my Deathwing Knights in my all 1st Company force.

How have your experiences been (if you have been lucky enough to get any games in!) in terms of running either 10 Knights in a single unit, or 2 units of 5?

 

For reference, they are planned to be the main beat-stick of my army, dropping in with a Terminator Chaplain (Rites of War as his Warlord Trait) whilst my main block of 10 Terminators (2*CML), Azrael (Warlord) and Apothecary (Selfless Healer) and Ancient (Pennant) act as an anvil.

 

The pro's I can see for a big unit of 10:

- More impact from squad-based Strategems or Aura's

- Even harder to shift

 

The pro's I can see for 2 units of 5:

- Less affected by Blast weapons

- 2 Watchers for Denying, rather than 1

 

With the Rites of War on the Chaplain, they can become Objective Secured, which will make them an absolute pain to deal with. I'm edging towards running a squad of 10 in my first game (hopefully late Spring!) of 9th. Though I am happy to hear your views and theories on which might be the better use.

[G8Keeper]

With DW being a very elites slot intensive army there's the added benefit of using 1 less slot with a unit of 10.

[Azrael9091]

2 squad give you the ability to have too deepstike instead of one, protect you from blast weapon, double the menace (because you will have two unit of deathwing knight in the battefield), and another flail and another watcher, one elite slot can be saved by taking a deathwing command squad.

 

that been said, a squad of ten save an elite slot and his litteraly a bulldozer that is unkillable, but their are slow and if the ennemy is smart enough he will never want to attack this unless he is perfectly sure to kill them. so pretty useful to play gatekeeper or sit on a objective. with skills and luck you could also use that 10 man squad to roll over the whole ennemy line, but that's pretty hard to do, at least you would have distured their plan

[GenerationTerrorist]

Thanks both, replies are very much appreciated.

As mentioned, I've been unable to play with them in 9th so far because of Lockdown/Distancing rules in the UK. I can't wait to test it all out.

(I've already pencilled in an all-dayer, over several beers, against a buddy and his Space Wolves as soon as we are able to do so!)

 

So many options to try with the new Codex/Supplement, though - Delighted I never sold my Dark Angels collection, and can now play 100% fluffy lists without getting destroyed on the table top every single time.

[Berzul]

In my experience, it depends on whether the units will start on deepstrike or on the board.

 

Deepstriking a 10 man terminator squad this edition is REALLY hard.

 

If you start them on the board, keeping them as a 10 man means its easier to buff them. Litanies, the Pennant of Remembrance, and the like, tend to be "one <core> unit within 6"", so, having them in one squad makes it easier to keep the buffed. And, with their Transhuman Physiology, 1+/4++ save, the whole "blast" thing is not that big of a deal

[Archaeinox]

I'm in Florida so we're crazy and game all the time. I have found 10man units of DWK to be quite effective. If we still had Combined Assault, I'd be running 5man units again for that precision teleport strike. Without that stratagem, I expect to be using a brick of 10 in most cases.

 

I have also found 10man units of DWK to be far too oppressive to bring against an opponent who isn't very competitive. Imo it is a bit much. In those cases, run 5man units and they will still be efficient.

Edited February 21, 2021 by Archaeinox