So this could well be more self indugent pap but still I would welcome opinions on this. Yesterday evening I was home alone so after putting micromachines on the landing and tin cans on the banisters to deter burglars I got to having yet another think about what I could have done better last weekend and it led me to look at 3++ and their how to articles most particularly the ones on Suppressing Fire and Anti tank. So what is the anti tank in my current list? Well it has to be my Thunderwolves who can glance a landraider with rending although that's unlikely and their strength ten thunderhammer, my long fangs and my meltas.
The problem with this is (and its a problem with my play style in general) is that there is a lack of synergy, I generally charge my Wolves towards a land raider while my long fangs have pot shots at anything else that grabs my fancy and it leads me to not be aggressive enough with my Grey Hunters. When you only have 3 Grey Hunter units its scary to run everything forward and if you are trying to hold an objective and you leave one unit back that's over 200 points that isn't doing anything. So what does that mean when it comes to anti tank in my army?
The fact is that I have a massive imbalance when it comes to dealing with mech and to an extent monstrous creatures and it was this that cost me this weekend the most. Troops in the open I can deal with, the only thing my grey hunters really failed against this weekend was a squad of nobs with a warboss and feel no pain. That wasn't down to the unit but my own unfamiliarity with that codex. Grey hunters are believed by many to be the best troops in the game, surely then I should be taking more instead of a 545 point deathstar unit.
This then brings me back to my starting point which was the points made on 3++ and it comes down to this. To be a good Space Wolf player you have to control the middle ground in everything you do. You aren't blood angels or Eldar/ Dark Eldar with their speed, you aren't Orks or Nids with the numbers and you aren't the ultra elite of the Grey Knights or Deathwing. You are neither a shooty army or an assault army. You have to do what I have known for a long time but not put into practice enough, control the middle ground, soften up you enemy and then hit them. When I look back to the games when I have done well in it is because of this not because of my deathstar unit eating everything infront of them and in the games I have particualary done poorly in its because I completely fail to do this, I fail to make any sort of movement await the enemy and pay for it because I don't have any room to maouvre into. My use of longfangs is all wrong.
Take a rhino for instance, is it important to blow each one up or do I really just need to stop the thing from moving? This leads me to start thinking about lascannons. I am one of the only people I know that bothers putting a 25 point lascannon in over the 10 point missile launcher, is the extra point of strength worth it for 15 points when instead of worrying about land raiders my long fangs should be trying to make sure I control the movement in the middle of the board? There should be other things in my army to worry about the high strength stuff namely melta guns. Melta was designed to pop high AV targets so I need to use it as thus. So its good bye to the lascannons (thinking about using those points for extra armour (what does everyone think) and hello extra missiles.
As normal comments are what will make my thought process go further. Thanks in advance.
you are quite right, lascannons are rarely worth it in my opinion. The extra point of strength is largely meaningless against troops or even MC,s. against vehicles, even Land Raiders, S9 is only barely more effective than S8, and it certainly isn't worth the extra 15 points.
ReplyDeleteThat 30 points would be better used buying some more meltas or combi-meltas if you are worried about Rand Raiders, as this is the only reliable way to damage them.
I've learned pretty much the same thing over time, Lascannons just aren't worth it anymore, certainly not worth the extra 15 points. In most cases you can pretty much ignore the Land Raider as a target (take it if you get a chance, but don't necessarily go after it) and wait for it to disgorge its cargo then take out those.
ReplyDeleteUse the extra points for dozer-blades instead of extra armour. Move all your Rhinos through cover, you've got next to no chance of immobilising with re-rolls on dangerous terrain, and the cover will be much more useful than the extra armour.
ap 2
ReplyDeleteThe long fangs are wonderful for the split fire while you have it, that is a lot of potential suppression.
ReplyDeleteWhen I use lascannons I tend to feel as though the missiles would have been a better buy.
Also something to consider, the lascannon at 25 points, costs as much as a longfang (15) with a missile launcher (10). More is almost always better than marginally stronger. Making terminators take saves is almost as effective as negating them.
Extra armor isn't what it once was. With only one stunned result on the table, it isn't really worth 15pts nowdays (4th ED I would have spent 30pts for it :-p)
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