[1000] ZM Dark Angels

[em_en_oh_pee]

HQ:

Praetor

AA, IH, Terranic GS, PotL

 

Primus Medicae

Cataphratii, Calabanite Warblade

 

Elites:

Apothecary w/ AA

 

(10) Interemptors

2x Incinerators

 

Troops:

(6) ICK Cenobium

3x TH, 3x Terranic GS, Hunter of Beasts

 

First real foray into ZM, loving the DA models and this gets me almost all the ones I want. Praetor and Apoth joins the Interemptors, PM goes with ICKs. The idea was to make them more durable. Few vehicles expected, so I aim the THs at any dreads that come my way.

 

Thoughts? Any obvious issues I'm missing? Help is appreciated!

[Eternal Despair]

It’s certiainly an elite list you’ve got there but just a couple things you might want to bear in mind. The first is that a lot of groups I know ban praetors in ZM if there playing lower points values like say 1000 points as they tend to be a bit too rediculous and over centralising. That’s not to say all groups have this restriction but it might be something to check before hand. If that is the case however you can swap the praetor out for a Delegatus (so you can still run a rite of war) and spend the extra points you saved on more war gear or an extra terminator etc.

The second thing to factor in is that the ZM missions require you to split your force in half and keep 1 half in reserves, now while independent characters and their attached units count as one unit for the purpose of splitting your army it means that most games you’ll play you could be outnumbered 2 or even 3-1 especially in the beginning. Aside from a lack of board presence there’s the distinct possibility that you may lose the one unit you have deployed on the board in the first turn which would result in you losing as you’d have no models on the board. Now I’m not saying its easy for your opponent to achieve it or that it’ll happen regularly but it is something to consider.

There’s a few different solutions if you do want to change it up, the simplest would be splitting the interemptors into 2x 5 man units and freeing up 10 points to cover that. It doesn’t give you more bodies on the board but it does allow you to cover more ground/defend/assault more objectives. The other benefit to this is that you can start both the terminators and 5 of the interemptors on the board which is a bit better of a starting make up than just the terminator unit or just the interemptor unit.  Alternatively instead of 2x5 interemptors you can take a 10 man tactical squad instead of 5 of the interemptors, this would give you 5 more bodies on the board at the cost of some ranged fire power. That said a 10 man tactical squad with the extra chainswords, artificer on the seargent and a power fist or one of the DA blades isn’t a bad choice especially if you opt to use the cold void rules as all their shooting and close combat attacks suddenly become rending against 3+ and worse saves. 

One last thing to consider and its more because I love seeing them in ZM, but you could get a cheeky bare bones box dreadnought for the same points as the primus medicae, and if you go for the Delegatus over the praetor you could even afford a flamestorm cannon for even more fun. But that’s very much my own preferences sneaking in rather than something to really consider.

At the end of the day if your happy with your list at the moment run with it and if you need to change it up then for the most part its small tweaks here or there regardless I hoped this helps.

[em_en_oh_pee]

Thank you! Excellent feedback!

 

I was already thinking I had invested too much in force multipliers vs just dudes. I'm not entirely sure the Delegatus is vital since the RoW isn't that vital if I take a tac squad. So I can maybe bring a Warmonger or some other niche HQ.

 

Generally want to keep the max Interemptors, because they aren't too durable so numbers should help. Maybe a Contemptor (or -Cortus) with chainfist and grav? They seem potent in ZM.

 

With a Warmonger I can deep strike in the Terminators, so I can put in a Nuncio-Vox for scatter on the Tac squad. That seem viable or is deep striking too risky?

[Eternal Despair]

If your planning on running the tacticals then you don’t need the Delegatus, the warmonger is an interesting choice and the combo with the nuncio vox does work well in zm, the only thing to keep in mind is that because they are DS they can’t assault and since they are cataphractii they can’t opt to run in order to spread out so there’s going to be times where they really can’t do anything the turn they come in especially if you have to deploy them around a corner due to space etc. the only real risk is that they might take longer to come on than you want but considering half your army starts in reserve anyway I’d say the benefit outways the risk.

 

In regards to the dreadnought choice it depends on what you want to go after with it, if it’s other dreadnoughts then a cortus with a normal fist, chain fist and dual graviton guns is about the best load out you can run due to haywire on the grav and the ability to overcharge its initiative to strike before other dreadnoughts, but that load out comes out to 170 points or so. If you want to melt marines a box dread with a flamestorm cannon is 150ish from memory and does a great job due to the ap3. Both are a fun choice, it just comes down to what you want to go after.

[TrajantheGreat]

My advice would be you need some Anti-Vehicle to deal with a Dreadnought or Contemptor if someone brings one. I've had plenty of games where a single 2 Fist Contemptor has torn through units because it's S10 and I didn't have anything to touch it. Things like melta bombs are good, they also help with locked doors and such.

 

The other point would be with only 2 units once all the characters are in them you will struggle with any mission that has multiple objectives. The point about splitting the Interemptors in two is good, I would personally drop the 2 Plasma Incinerators as I haven't found them worth that much if you need more points.

[Kharash test dummy]

Interesting points on the value of close combat weapons on dreadnoughts. But I’m unsure whether it’s best to have them on a Cortus or a standard Contemptor.

 

On one hand you get the extra movement or Rage or Initiative boost for a Cortus.

 

But on the other hand you get better WS and S on the standard version, and I wonder if it’s better to strike second but have a better chance to hit and a better chance to wound?

 

Also, I’m struggling a bit on the rules for chainfists. From what I can understand a normal dreadnought fist should have the dreads regular strength x2. So that would give a standard contemptor a S14 attack and that would seem to be easily enough to damage an armour 13 dreadnought, without the need for that extra armourbane die. But as everyone says chainfists are good, I feel I’m missing something? Have I got the rules wrong there?

[Lautrec the Embraced]

It's S10, not 14. It's hard capped at 10, you don't go beyond it as you would in the current edition of regular 40k.

 

In many cases Chainfists on a dreadnought are not really necessary but it's a safe bet. It's absolutely needed on regular S4 marine if you intend to hunt vehicles though.

 

The complication with Cortus vs Contemptor conundrum comes down to Cortus being considerably cheaper. Often times this matters more than whether or not he is a better combatant than regular one (imo he's not but results may differ)

[Kharash test dummy]

Ah, that explains it, thank you!

 

And yes, good point on the points of the Corrus.