How are you finding the Detachments?

[CCE1981]

The Codex has been out for a while now and I am curious how people are finding the Detachments.   
 

In my experience I went from s near 0% win rate with Gladius Task Force to nearly 100% win rate with Firestorm Assault Force.

 

To me the Gladius Task Force just didn’t accomplish anything, the three Doctrines were more like 1.65 Doctrines.  I used Devastator Doctrine every game, Assault Doctrine every other game, and Tactical almost never.  Then it seems to place all your eggs into what is now called Fire Discipline.  If your Fire disciplined squad is taken out before it can do significant damage, you lose.

 

I started playing Firestorm and instantly everything got better.  I am no longer beholden to a Deathstar, everything causes my opponent attrition, and I am ending games with north of 70+ victory points, and CPs remaining.  It was such a game changer to have enough decent threats on the board that are performing a variety of tasks.  Maybe it is just my playstyle, but constant Devastator Doctrine has been huge for me, every unit benefits from it.  Maybe not every unit every turn, but every turn benefits from it.  Sure I cant Advance a turn that I want to charge, but I was able to Advance to a position fire all my guns and the next turn I moved and Advanced.  

 

I am curious how the other Detachments are holding up.  I am having issues crafting lists outside of Firestorm that I like and work well.  I think mainly because Firestorm is closest to my playstyle.  
 

I am curious most I think about Anvil Siege Force, I know it is well lampooned.  I seem to get on the verge of making it good, but never quite coming together.  I think it is because the support units just don’t get any….well Support.  

[AutumnEffect]

Besides watching the Space Wolves have lots of fun with the Stormlance while I polish the bike in the garage waiting for the day?

Firestorm is good. It's easy to use and plays to a lot of strengths. Ironstorm is real good if you own all of the vehicles. Anvil can be solid in a narrative game but it's kinda lackluster in competitive.

Edited March 29 by AutumnEffect

[Wormwoods]

I've been playing Firestorm in Crusade, and while I'm certainly not winning very often, I am having a lot of fun. Nice to have that impetus to get mucked in, move my lads around, be aggressive. I do need to mess around with some of the others, though, if only for the sake of variety. 

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

I’ve only played 2 games with my angels, so can’t say too much one way or the other especially since they were a few months apart.

 

playing against wolves with the vanguard detachment was extremely annoying.

 

i played against salamanders w/ firestorm using my angels and SoS, and it was good, on both sides, was pretty even the first two rounds but between me being to hesitant to commit more troops to the midfield fight and forgetting I had jump intercessors in DS, the game snow balled very quickly in my opponent’s favor.

 

i think most if not all of our detachments are viable for both competitive and casual play.

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

2 hours ago, CCE1981 said:

The Codex has been out for a while now and I am curious how people are finding the Detachments.   
 

In my experience I went from s near 0% win rate with Gladius Task Force to nearly 100% win rate with Firestorm Assault Force.

 

To me the Gladius Task Force just didn’t accomplish anything, the three Doctrines were more like 1.65 Doctrines.  I used Devastator Doctrine every game, Assault Doctrine every other game, and Tactical almost never.  Then it seems to place all your eggs into what is now called Fire Discipline.  If your Fire disciplined squad is taken out before it can do significant damage, you lose.

 

I started playing Firestorm and instantly everything got better.  I am no longer beholden to a Deathstar, everything causes my opponent attrition, and I am ending games with north of 70+ victory points, and CPs remaining.  It was such a game changer to have enough decent threats on the board that are performing a variety of tasks.  Maybe it is just my playstyle, but constant Devastator Doctrine has been huge for me, every unit benefits from it.  Maybe not every unit every turn, but every turn benefits from it.  Sure I cant Advance a turn that I want to charge, but I was able to Advance to a position fire all my guns and the next turn I moved and Advanced.  

 

I am curious how the other Detachments are holding up.  I am having issues crafting lists outside of Firestorm that I like and work well.  I think mainly because Firestorm is closest to my playstyle.  
 

I am curious most I think about Anvil Siege Force, I know it is well lampooned.  I seem to get on the verge of making it good, but never quite coming together.  I think it is because the support units just don’t get any….well Support.  

I think the stealth one is the easiest to build around because it just straight up buffs the whole army’s survivability for most of the game.

 

Tough units get tougher, so terminators and aggressors and BVGs fit it pretty well imho.

[CCE1981]

Anvil and Vanguard seem to inadvertently support the opposite units.  In Anvil units that start out in position to hurt your opponent and do damage all game are best, this would be units like Infiltrator and Eliminator Squads.  A Phobos Captain attached to a 10-man Infiltrator Squad, and two Phobos Librarians attached to an  Las-fusil Eliminator Squad each would pretty crazy. Likewise -1 to hit perpetually in cover Gravis would be extra tough units to crack.

[L30n1d4s]

Vanguard Spearhead has been my go to and, overall, it has done quite well for me. If my opponent ever tries to go toe-to-toe with me in a fire fight (I generally run very shooting focused lists anyway), the -1 to hit and free Cover (even on vehicles, which I usually run several of) gives a definite advantage.

 

I particularly like the ability to redeploy my key infantry with  "Guerrilla Tactics" and to buff my shooting even further with "Strike from the Shadows," and I am finding the key to dealing with melee armies is lots of movement blocking units and Infiltrators. 

 

My current list has two Scout Squads, a Phobos Lt, and a Callidus, all if which can Infiltrate, plus two Incursor squads which (along with the Scout Squads and Phobos Lt) can Scout move, so I have lots of move blocking capability. Finally, I am running two Vindicators, which are very solid blockers as well, being T11 W11 and a 2+ save, so they can survive a lot of shooting and melee and I can afford to charge them into combat to tie my opponent up (their special rule us they still get to shoot their Demolisher Cannon even when in combat).

 

Just today I had a game against Orks and was largely able to pin my opponent in his DZ (or just outside it) pretty much the whole game, allowing my firebase units (Centurions, Predators, Hellblasters, and Vindicators) time to chew through his army... by the end of Turn 3, all he had left was a Battlewagon on 3W, a squad of Grots, a squad of Lootas/Big Mek (still in the Battlewagon), a Mek, and Kaptan Bandruk/Flash Gitz... I still had both squads of Centurions, a Vindicator, a Predator, a squad of Incursors, and Azrael... we called it at the end of Turn 3, but I was about to bounce my Centurions around the flank and very likely wipe out almost his whole army with shooting on turn 4. He didn't take any Infiltrator units (like Kommandos), so that helped a lot, but bottom line, as long as I can keep my opponent at arms reach, Vanguard Spearhead shooting is very potent!

Edited March 31 by L30n1d4s

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I've played a couple games with the Ironstorm and I'm generally content.  Between twinlinked, Oathed targets, and other sources of rerolls. . . that extra Ironstorm reroll just makes everything super consistent and reliable. 

[Triszin]

Looks at champions of russ.

 

Cries in the corner

[CCE1981]

Yeah, Champions of Russ is a bummer.  They could at least allow units that are led by a Character to gain the benefit.

[Karhedron]

Firestorm is working well for my Space Wolves as I tend to play a fairly mechanised force. This makes my close range shooting better and then the Wolves can generally handle any survivors in melee. I understand the popularity of Stormlance but I never went down the TWC road. Going to S5 on Hurrican bolters and the Repulsor defensive arrays gets a lot of work done and free Immolation protocols on my Flamestorm Aggressors to the Gravis Captain can be really nasty.

 

The changes to Sons of Sanguinius getting +2S on the charge makes a lot of difference. Units like Van Vets, BGVs and SG now hit at S7 with a lot of attacks meaning that with Red Rampage, they are wounding even Knights on a 4+. Shooty opponents can pose a problem but that was always true and my army feels Blood Angely with lots of fast (if slightly fragile) elites soaring over the battlefield to deliver death with assorted pointy implements.

 

Sadly Champions of Russ is still an absolute dog's dinner of a Detachment. The bonuses are decent but most of the trigger conditions are either very hard to pul off or too easy for your opponent to prevent. Some require you to play for activating the bonuses rather than the mission Objectives which is a sure way to lose. Basically there is nothing in there that you can count on or build around. GW rave about the potential to activate multiple buffs but ignore the fact that quite often you will get nothing. Even when you do activate buffs, it will never be on T1 and rarely be on T2. This means you will normally have to wait until T3 at the earliest to start getting detachment buffs by which time you will likely be facing an uphill battle against an opponent who has been leveraging their Detachment bonus for 2-3 Turns already. GW either need to make the buffs much easier to trigger or they need to provide the buffs already active in a "basic" mode (e.g. applies to a squad led by a Character) at the start of the game. Then if you meet the activation conditions the buff goes army-wide as per now.

[Helias_Tancred]

Currently I am the proud owner of one 40k collection, 6000 points of ... The knights of Dorn, Black Templars!

 

I have had no reason to even try out the Gladius strike force, which on paper I like. I keep it Righteous Crusaders 24/7, 365 days a year, "We Don't Close For !"

 

If I were a gambling man, I'd wager that after the Black Templar codex is released (hopefully 1 week before the end of 10th edition mind you ) I may get more motivated to try out the Gladius detachment? lol.