Friday 31 January 2014

Preferred Enemy List Review

List Review

A number of things in my list worked well, and a number not so much.

What worked


·         Chapter Masters. These guys were amazing. In themselves they are rock hard, but their most important role is sheltering the rest of the bikes behind their 2+ save. They could be harder – in the 2 games against demon FMCs, lack of eternal warrior really let them down. A compromise might be to drop one to a captain, and use the points saved to buy a shield eternal (or Gorgon’s Chain) for the remaining Chapter Master.

·         Bikes. Tough, fast and deadly. They can be pretty fragile, but, at their lower points cost, they’re pretty good. More importantly, they’re fun to play.

·         White scars Chapter Tactics. The +1 jink save, ignoring dangerous terrain checks and hit and run are fantastic. Hit and run in particular is very good. II’m only beginning to explore its tactical application. It means you can manipulate assaults, and get to move even faster. It also allows you to “shelter” your bikes in an assault to avoid shooting attacks.

·         Grav Guns. Relentless Grav Guns are very effective (when they hit!).  A few times I wished I had Plasma Rifles (largely against light armour) but the number of times I’ve killed myself with overheating plasma always brings me back to Grav guns. On a few occasions I manages to get prescience on them from the Inquisitors, which makes them particularly effective, but usually I was out of range. A Divination Libby (or Rune Priest) on a bike would be a very good addition.

What was OK.

·         Scouts in Storms. These were OK. They did what they were supposed to do – stay in reserve, zoom on, beat up a squishy unit,  and take its objectives. They are of course pretty fragile, but for 100pts for the Scouts and the LSS, its pretty good. I’m debating with myself whether to kit out the Sergeant with a power first or lightening claw.

·         TFCs. I have mixed feelings about the TFC. When they hit, they are amazing … but if the first shell misses, then the whole thing is usually a bust. And if your opponent’s smart, he’ll hide his units underneath a roof and makes them completely immune to the TFC.  Prescience really helps, but 55pts for the Inquisitor makes the TFC 155pts. Still good, but verging on the “OK”!

·         Stalkers. Only in one game did they have no targets (game one). In all other games there was at least one target they could shoot at full BS. They are reasonably effective against FMC’s, (3++ saves and 4+ FNP notwithstanding), but struggle against AV12. If there was a way to give them Tank Hunter….! All in all, I think Stormtalons would be better.

·         Multi Melta Attack Bikes. In all my games I split my Bikes into 2 combat squads, with 2 Grav Guns and the sergeant and 2 bikes in one squad, with the MM Attack Bike and 3 bikes in the other. The Grav Weapons, and punching tanks was much more effective!

·         Inquisitors. They were good to OK. Making one of them my Warlord meant that I had no fear of throwing my Chapter Masters forward, and prescience on the TFCs was good. Maybe one for the servo skulls, but 2 was overkill.

What didn’t work

·         The theory hammer on Tech Marines fixing Stalkers. Never did it once. Not worth the hassle IMHO. The stalkers are not so crucial to the list that you need to devote effort to keeping them alive. Neither did I ever need to restore a hull point using IWND.

·         The Psyloccum. Never used it once! In this Tournament a waste of points…. but if I had gone against a screamer council…!

Changes

I think I would drop one Inquisitors, and the Psyloccum, together with one TFC. This would give me enough points to swap the Stalkers for 2 Storm Talons, and give one Chapter Master the shield eternal, and the other the Gorgons’ Chain.

However, the big question is whether I take my bikes or my Tau to Dark Millennium.

EYIG

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