2+ armor saves struggle against two things at range: low AP and high volumes of fire. This gives me two ideas.
1) Increase the amount of low AP fire in my army. I can do this by switching around a few weapons and putting a lascannon or plasma cannon in each dev squad.
2) I can add another unit of devs and a 5 man squad of assault marines at the cost of my vanguard vets. This would increase my volume of fire by allowing me to have 3 units of 4 missiles and piling up wounds and hoping for 1s to roll out eventually. It would cost me my vanguard vets, which I loathe as they are really useful for jumping in and tying up units to support my army.
I kind of like option 2 the best because it beefs up my model count and against armies that don't have a ton of 2+ armor saves, it makes my ranged fire against armor fairly nice. There is nothing like throwing out 12 S4 templates into an eldar, imperial or orc mob to start the pain. Just ask my Space Wolf army.
Both options will eventually win out over 2+ armor saves, low AP weapons will more regularly remove models, but usually don't shoot as much. High volumes of fire hit more, but don't negate armor, so both options, in my mind, bear the same results. Is there anyone out there who has done the stats work to give me some help? I like how the army played and think I had a good control of the game, though I decided to play it safe instead of trying to throw my army against his in a risky maneuver. So, the army has lots of potential and I think I can wrap my head around it. I just need to work out this long range fire problem. Thanks for your help.
2 comments:
GK are at their best against other elite armies, especially BA who pay extra for mobility. You aren't going to beat them in combat much- every one of them is carrying a Power Weapon, you just can't stand up to that.
To beat the "all-Termies, all the time" army you need to take advantage of what you have over them: mobility. You have a Librarian, yes? Make sure you shut down their powers as much as possible. (Ld9 makes this a lot easier.) Split up and force them to chase you, then regroup and assault en masse. Make him choose between engaging you and going for objectives. If he clusters us, fine- shoot him at range and let the clock tick down while sitting on more objectives than him. (You DID spread the objectives as far apart as possible to take advantage of your mobility, right?)
I would not mix Devs and VV in the same army, and especially don't mix weapons on your Dev squads. Make sure you have those Meltaguns and PW/PF on all your ASM squads, but don't take Lascannons or Plasma, as you'll find yourself lacking against other armies. VV give you a stronger assault force, assuming you kit them out, which can somewhat compare to his if you engage on an uneven basis- I would avoid DSing, just start on the table and rush him. Devs give you a better "I will sit back and win this eventually" game, as 3x5 of those guys will bring him down eventually and if he advances on you he's basically playing into your game.
EDIT: Sorry, just saw your list. My recommendation would be to drop the ASM for more SG and drop the VV for another Dev squad. Adding another Infernus to each of your squads would also help. Strategy is similar to above, but you have some advantages- all PWs will chop through him on the charge, and you still have mobility. His Rending shots are more of a problem, though, so make sure you keep to cover when possible. Strategy should be similar- sit back and shoot with Devs, wear him down, and use your mobility to dictate where the engagements happen. His Termies and Paladins are very expensive, so any fight you win is a huge swing. On the other hand, any time he swings back at you is bad news, so only go in if you're SURE you can win. His GKM is a pain to charge, so try and wear him down if you can.
Blood Wing vs. GK is a tough fight for you, but it's winnable.
Thanks for the comment. I definitely hear what you are saying. The game I played was my first with this new version of the list and I felt like I stuck to the plan fairly well. Once I saw what those psycannons could do, I hugged cover and took objectives and waited for him to come to me. The game ended in an awkwards position. I feel that had it gone on to 7, I would have done exactly what you mentioned, a mass counter assault, but we didn't get to it. Otherwise, the biggest pain was that he stayed bunched up the whole time and I couldn't get to him. It definitely became a waiting game.
Thanks for the advice.
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