So here’s my general game plan for this army. When it comes to set up, the Master of the
Forge goes in with the Sternguard in their Drop Pod and the tactical squads
split, the heavy bolters manning some reinforced scenery along with the
Thunderfire Cannon and the Centurions. The forward combat squads with Meltaguns
and Sergeants start inside the Razorbacks and either hid behind reinforced
scenery or ready themselves to gun the engines and head upfield. The Scouts in their storms normally start on
the board, infiltrated far forward. If I
can Scout closer, I do (depending on quantity and disposition of enemy units in
their area). The Ironclads are prepped
to go in on Turn 1. Basically, I start
aggressive from the off. It’s one of the
many advantages of Drop Pods. I try to
get as much stuff as I can into the face of the opponent from turn one. This usually means a combo of combat scouts
and Ironclads. Although they can’t get
into combat in the first turn, the wealth of heavy flamers in close is there to
target backfield guns and objective holding troops, plus anyone arming gun
emplacements. The Drop Pods are also
handy for obstructing fire lines and hampering movement, especially as you can
disembark so much further from them now.
Supporting fire is obviously provided by the Thunderfire and Razorbacks
primarily and sometimes the tacticals may get lucky with the heavy bolters.
What are the Centurions doing though? Probably not much in the first turn; the
Cannons are woefully short range for that kind of thing. The guy I bought them from found that they
couldn’t accomplish much as they were massive fire magnets and tended to get
killed by anti-tank fire before reaching decent weapon range. So I’m trying a different tactic with them
and using them primarily as board control.
Having gone against them a couple of times, I was always anxious about
getting anywhere within that 24” firing range and so they seem like an ideal
deterrent for anyone thinking about getting rid of my objective scorers. Plus, the lack of an Invulnerable save seems
less of a big deal when you’re tanking with 3+ Cover. However, I may want to take a more aggressive
stance with them and rely on the Ironclads to take most of the high Strength
low AP shooting for a turn or two and buy the Centurions time to advance. Time will tell as to which tactic seems the
best use for the big guys.
The big down side with turn one is that most of the time
I will probably be giving away first blood.
However, as I see it, it’s a sacrifice that’s worth making if I can
strip objectives from an opponent.
Nevertheless, most of the time, I’ve just got to weather the return
fire. The Ironclads will probably die
and if I position them wrong, the scout will take quite a few casualties as
well. They’re really not meant to be
encountering massed firepower, aiming instead for backfield or outlying units
to harry and distract. The other
downside with this initial rush attack is that I have woefully little decent
anti-tank in it. Make no mistake, the
Dreads and Scouts can definitely deal with vehicles, but they need to be in
assault in order to do so. My first turn
has to be about putting the opponent on the defensive, but also bearing in mind
that I need to assault stuff a keeping targets in mind for that next turn. This has worked fairly well versus more
manoeuvrable opponents, as I have enough stuff with enough freedom of movement
(or at least a free choice of where they drop) to cover most of the board with
threat.
The second turn is when some more punching arrives
(hopefully) as I have two Talons and my Sternguard in reserve to turn up and
they can provide some effective shooting. The Talons in particular have managed to
achieve a great deal with their relatively cheap loadouts and BS 5 (versus most
targets). Never underestimate Strafing
Run! They are primarily for dealing with
light-medium armour that I can’t get to normally, or for deshelling troops
inside a transport. In my last game
against the Eldar, the were to blame for three dead Wave Serpents, so they
definitely paid for themselves in terms of effect rather than raw points. Once the Guardians and Aspect Warriors are
out of their cans, they are very easy to remove… The Sternguard are pretty much just as good
as they ever were, but a few points cheaper, which is not something I’m going
to complain about! I have different
views on the Master, unfortunately, but I’ll save that for a different
post. He can definitely work well, but I
feel they’ve taken quite a few downgrades in this new book. He in there for the fluff and feel of it more
than anything. Plus I really like the
conversion I’ve done for him!
I don’t really have much else to write about my tactics
beyond turn 2 though mainly because from that point onwards for me, the game
becomes about adapting to the battle and the opponent more than any set
plan. Plans 1 & 2 don’t always go to
plan either. Regardless, I am trying
to train myself to play to the
objectives, or at least keep one eye on them throughout the game, as ages of DE
play made me too complacent in grabbing stuff at the last second and not all
armies can keep up with that lack of planning!
I’ll go more in depth into a couple of things from the SM
Codex later, mainly focusing on a few rules queries I’ve noticed and the
strengths and weaknesses of some of the units I use.
So long!
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