Advice needed. How to Defeat Deathwing

[tedlambb]

Hi Everyone!

So last night I played my first game with my Ravenguard, in a 3 way mission against my friends fielding Imperial Fists, and Deathwing. It was loads of fun and I’d almost tabled the Fists forces by the end of turn two which felt great.

….then the Deathwing turned up.

I got completely destroyed in two turns, and everything I threw at them just bounced off them. (The only wounding on 4+ with infantry is super frustrating, as well as an apothecary that just would not die!).

it was still a fun game and we’re not competitive players so I wasn’t too bothered, but I’ve got another game lined up against the same player (who also plays grey knights), and I’d love some advice from anyone with more experience than me!

my list is:

30PL

jump captain w/thunder hammer and storm shield, master of ambush and Ravens Fury

3 aggressors w/flame storm 

5 assault intersessors with thunder hammer and plasma pistol

5 man tac squads w/power fist, plasma pistol and meltagun

5 man Devastator w/ Heavy Bolters and cherub 

 

I was really pleased with how effective the redeploy on the aggressors and the captain were, and they performed incredibly well (smashed a venerable dread, a thunder fire canon and a termi captain before being destroyed). But when I sent them against the 3 models the Deathwing started with on the table the next game they just got tied up and wiped out, leaving the teleporting 5 man termi squad to just slowing erase my other units.

Any tips on list changes (preferably not too drastic as I’m trying to keep the spending down for a little while!)  or good use of Ravenguard tactics that I’ve missed would be really helpful!

Edited August 4, 2022 by tedlambb

[XeonDragon]

Aggressors hit hard, but die easy. Terminator or relic terminators hit a little less hard, but survive longer. That said, aggressors are still good for RG, if you go first. If you go second then with MOA and terminators with a teleport homer you to move them behind LOS blocking terrain, end of T1 put them up into the teleportarium and bring down T2.

My advice on your list:

1. Swap heavy bolters for grav cannon. Same price, extra shot and extra AP. Better all-round.

2. Consider swapping the assault intercessors or tactical marines for an assault squad with Eviscerator on one model, power fist on sergeant, plasma pistols + chainswords x 2 all for 100 points now jump packs are free. Makes for good generalist melee unit at that size game, and can run around with the smash captain. Alternatively, VGVs of any flavour (I love thunder hammers, but with AOC being such a thing, I think power-fists have the edge now).

3. Eradicators, inceptors (of any flavour) or attack bikes with multi-meltas could make an interesting alternative to the devastator squad :)

[Jacques Corbin]

Deathwing are great at dropping in and smashing the basket you put all your eggs into. That's why they are killer in smaller to mid games, where you cannot always afford redundancy. Instead of all your Heavy Bolters in one squad, spread them between Tactical, Scout, and Heavy Intercessor squads, and be sure to use Hellfire Shells. It's only d3 MW, and once a turn, but if your Heavy Bolters are spread all over the board, you should be able to make him work much harder to wipe them out.

 

Consider a Gravis Captain with Chainsword, upgrade to Teeth of Terra, give him Master of Ambush, use the Master of the Trifold Path stratagem, and have the second Warlord Trait be Master of Vigilance. You get his normal number of Power Fist attacks, extra attacks from the Relic Chainsword, and Mortal Wounds on 6s to hit.

 

Also, zone him out with Infiltrators, especially if you are playing on a smaller board. If he cannot teleport in, or charge, his deathwing lose so much of their value. 

[XeonDragon]

@Jacques Corbin they are really creative suggestions - love them :)