Fatecaster Greatbows are going to be secret Anti-Vehicle Tech.

[Tawnis]

So, was doing a little Mathhammer on the Tzaangor Enlightened with bows and realized that if you can manage to get the full re-roll buff on a big unit, they can put out serious damage. With 30" Range, great movement and a reactionary move, it's not going to be too hard to keep these guys alive in your games and at only 80pts per 6 (assuming you can afford the $ to get 18 models) this is what their damage looks like against a big Knight. 

54 Shots hitting on 4's with Lethal Hits will get you an average of 9 Lethals, but since you're only wounding on 6's anyway, you re-roll all the non-lethals fishing for more. That gives you 7.5 more Lethal hits, then rolling 6's to wound on the remaining 15 hits (from he 4's and 5's), that gives you 2.5 more for a total of 19 wounds at AP -2 D:2 Ignores Cover. That will put even the toughest vehicles on a 4+ save taking off 18-20 wounds on average. Even the biggest Knights only have around 24 wounds, so it shouldn't be that hard to finish the job with a Doombolt, some grenades, a little fire from elsewhere, ect. And if your target doesn't have a 4+ invul,  you can put the AP spell into them as well for even more damage. 

 

That's 240 points of Tzaangor Enlightened with 1 spell buff taking out most or all of a 400+ point titanic unit in a single attack. 

Edit: So just realized I messed up the math, it's the melee ones that have three attacks, not the ranged ones which only have 2, so it's be more like 12-14 damage to a big unit, which is less impressive, but still not bad. Especially considering that these are also solid against MEQ units and and cheap enough to run around doing actions and screening things if needed too. I still think they're really strong, just a little less strong than I thought. 

Edited May 26 by Tawnis

[Trokair]

Looks like your Tzaangor have received some training from your Kroot.

 

While keeping a unit of 6 alive seems reasonable, three unties seem more awkward to me. Especially if you want to keep them in range of the same potential target. 

 

I haven’t hammered it out, but assuming the points don’t change much from the last Field manual would a Land Raider with its 4 Lascannon shots not get similar results?

[Tawnis]

3 hours ago, Trokair said:

Looks like your Tzaangor have received some training from your Kroot.

 

While keeping a unit of 6 alive seems reasonable, three unties seem more awkward to me. Especially if you want to keep them in range of the same potential target. 

 

I haven’t hammered it out, but assuming the points don’t change much from the last Field manual would a Land Raider with its 4 Lascannon shots not get similar results?

Against a big Knight at T13, Lascannons are only wounding on 5's since they are STR 12. Also, The Enlightened don't have to be anti-tank when you don't need them to be, they are fast and cheap for objectives, they are solid marine killers and their weapons are precision to be character snipers as well. 

 

They really feel like a jack of all trades unit that doesn't cost a lot. 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

By my math, for the Landraider:

 

 

Lascannons vs big (T 13) knight with 5+ inv. - 4 shots x 2/3 hits x 1/3 wounds x 2/3 unsaved x 4.5 wounds (which is average roll on d6+1) = an abysmal average 2.7 wounds without rerolls or other buffs.

 

Lascannons vs. a medium (T12) knight with 5+ inv. - 4 shots x 2/3 hits x 1/2 wounds x 2/3 unsaved x 4.5 wounds (which is average roll on d6+1) = is a not much better 4 wounds without rerolls or other buffs.

 

Lascannons vs. small (T10) knights with 5+ inv. - 4 shots x 2/3 hits x 2/3 wounds x 2/3 unsaved x 4.5 wounds (which is average roll on d6+1) = is a still not great 5.3 wounds without rerolls or other buffs.

 

Lascannons just aren't great this edition, at least not against things with an invulnerable save.  You would obviously get a few assorted other shots in (heavy bolter, combi, havoc) but I doubt they would change the math much.

Edited May 28 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Trokair]

1 hour ago, Dr_Ruminahui said:

By my math, for the Landraider:

 

 

Lascannons vs big (T 13) knight with 5+ inv. - 4 shots x 2/3 hits x 1/3 wounds x 2/3 unsaved x 4.5 wounds (which is average roll on d6+1) = an abysmal average 2.7 wounds without rerolls or other buffs.

 

Lascannons vs. a medium (T12) knight with 5+ inv. - 4 shots x 2/3 hits x 1/2 wounds x 2/3 unsaved x 4.5 wounds (which is average roll on d6+1) = is a not much better 4 wounds without rerolls or other buffs.

 

Lascannons vs. small (T10) knights with 5+ inv. - 4 shots x 2/3 hits x 2/3 wounds x 2/3 unsaved x 4.5 wounds (which is average roll on d6+1) = is a still not great 5.3 wounds without rerolls or other buffs.

 

Lascannons just aren't great this edition, at least not against things with an invulnerable save.  You would obviously get a few assorted other shots in (heavy bolter, combi, havoc) but I doubt they would change the math much.

 

Well that’s not as good as I thought it would be.... by quite a bit.  Never mind. 

Always wired to me when a 'jack of all' dose better than a more specialised unit. And yes I know the LR main purpose is safe delivery of its cargo, but you would think 4 Lascannons would still predispose the LR as a sort of anti big think specialist.  

 

Time to find some magical arrows to go with my guns.