Gladiators... worth it now?

[L30n1d4s]

So, with all the recent changes, are RG Gladiators (all variants) worth it now?

In terms of durability, outside of 18" they T8 12W with a 2+ save against shooting and Armour of Contempt (so a 2+ against AP0/AP-1, a 3+ against AP-2, a 4+ against AP-3, and even a 5+ against powerful anti-tank weapons with AP-4 like meltas). They also can make charges against them be taken an -2" with their Repulsor Fields (i.e. Doing units need an 11" charge to get to them), making them safer against melee units.

In terms of firepower, the Reaper can put out a literal storm of S6 AP-1 fire at 30", the Lancer can provide some highly accurate Lacer Destroyer (Hvy2 S10 AP-3 Dmg 3+D3) at a very reasonable price, and the Valiant can provide massed AP-3/AP-4 shots at 24"

Finally, with the RG Super Doctrine, they all get extra dangerous against any characters they can shoot at, be it unguarded Tau Commanders, Hive Tyrants, Imperial/Chaos Knight Walords, GK Dreadknights, or even the recently buffed Silent King.

While not perfect, I think Gladiators make a pretty solid counterpart to RG Infantry, providing some very durable (and decently affordable) backfield objective holders and "fire base" units to supplement the stealth troops sneaking forward.

 

[XeonDragon]

Maybe not worth it, but definitely more interesting? The issue is the 18" is, against most armies on most maps, only going to be in effect for turns 1 and 2. The smaller boards and speed of most armies (e.g. harpies). I also think that against other marine armies, AOC has turned many things into a slap/slug fest.

If I were going to take one, I would take at least 1 if not 2 other vehicles. Otherwise I can see it being a key focal point and evaporating very quickly. There might be merit in, for example, taking one in a list with a couple of dreadnoughts or taking one in a list with a couple of razorbacks with las cannons, target saturation and all :)

[Jacques Corbin]

Well, as much as everyone talks about how much the Valiant outperforms the Lancer in terms of output, the Lancer, with its ability to hide in the backfield, and the huge range on its laser destroyer, it will survive a lot longer, and require deep striking units to deal with.

With a valiant or a reaper, you really ought to deploy a screen squad to catch charges from melee armies. It would make great support for a squad and a character in an Impulsor. You take a squad of 5 Intercessors, a Primaris Techmarine, in an Impulsor with the Shield Dome and Storm Bolters, pair it with a Gladiator Reaper, and just push hard to an opponent's backfield objective. Does your opponent have enough antitank to take out both? Likely not. Which will they focus on? If they focus on the Reaper, the Impulsor will still be able to zoom forward, and threaten that objective. That's if the Gladiator was destroyed, otherwise it can still make some suboptimal shooting. Any canny player will certainly waste the enemy antitank, and then, instead of disembarking with the Intercessors, the Primaris Techmarine can stay embarked in the Impulsor and zoom back over to the damaged Reaper. He can both repair it, and boost its Ballistic Skill by +1. 

On the other hand, if they focus on the Impulsor, the squad will fall out, and still be able to move forward on foot. Your opponent will still have the Reaper to deal with, and if rhe offending antitank fire cam from infantry, it will make them melt. Will your opponent be able to cause enough damage to even bracket the Reaper after destroying or crippling the Impulsor? Likely not.

For me it's either the Lancer or the Reaper. The Lancer is a great finisher for whatever Eradicators fail to destroy, and can finish off squads of elites as well, in addition to requiring deep strikers to deal with. The Reaper will do a lot of damage to the enemy infantry before it goes down. The Reaper is something you really want to point at a horde, or cover-campers (Tau Pathfinders), but it also has the volume of fire to make heavy infantry (Ork Meganobz, Chaos Terminators, Tau Battlesuits) roll a bucket of dice and count failures. The Valiant has 8 antitank shots, is great for vehicles, okay versus elites, but useless versus infantry blobs.