|
DeathWing 2000
130 Belial: Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield It's a slight difference from my previous list. While the Chainfist could be useful against Heavy Tanks, the Apothecary's ability is much more useful to me. The ability to avoid a Terminator casualty every player turn is huge. 1's come up all too often, and if it even saves one terminator in a whole game, it will have paid for itself. The Next Step
There are a bunch of things that I could add, but I don't have a lot more models, and I don't have the spare cash to just go out and buy some new toys right now. I have 6 more Terminators and various weapons to give them. I have another LandRaider. I have a RavenWing Bike squad. I don't have any additional character models, but I could convert a Terminator into one if needed. While I'd like to add a couple of Multimelta/Assault Cannon Landspeeders, I don't have the models to use, or anything close enough to convert. Similarly, I'd like to include Sammael, as an AV14 skimmer with good firepower is nothing to sneeze at. Again, though, I have no model that would come close. Another Venerable Dreadnaught would also be nice, but I don't have one of those either. Okay, what would I like to add to the list with the extra 500pts? I'd like to add some more firepower to the list without sacrificing mobility. I'd also like to add some more antitank capability and resilience. Finally, I'd like to add some psychic defense, as many of the better armies now have some serious psychic powers to go with them. Let's take a look at what I could add without buying new models. 170pts Ezekiel (Conversion. A LD10 Psychic Hood is pretty useful, as are his Psychic powers and his Force Weapon.) A character isn't vastly useful to me for this army. They typically don't offer enough damage or resilience or mobility, but having at least _some_ psychic defense would be pretty nice. The RavenWing Bike squad gives me some good, highly mobile firepower, though it is shorter-ranged than the rest of the list, which could leave it stuck too close to the enemy if I'm not careful. I've already got two DeathWing Terminator squads transported in LandRaiders, and they work very well. Solid firepower, even better assault capability. Highly effective against both infantry and tanks, mobile without losing any of their bite. The addition of another squad and LandRaider would give me an additional (very resilient) scoring unit. I would like to give the LandRaider extra armor (like the others have) but I just can't squeeze in those extra 15pts, so this one won't be quite as resilient.
One concern that I have is that I need to augment my shooting with this 500pts. (My assault capability is pretty darn good already.) Let's take a look at what shooting the options can do. (You know how much I like my numbers :) ) Units -----------------------------------------12"---------------------------18"----------------------------------------------24" Well, looking at the numbers, the DeathWing Terminators and their LandRaider win the firepower battle at all ranges, though you could argue that Ezekiel's psychic powers give him and the bikers a slight edge at the 12" range. (You could also point out that the Godhammer pattern Lascannons are highly effective out to 48 inches of range.) I don't even need to look at the numbers to see how one-sided it would be when it comes to close combat. Even with Ezekiel's Mastercrafted force weapon and his statline, Terminators hit hard. It's interesting, now that I see it broken down this way, it's a much easier decision. I had thought the two options were closer to being equal. With that kind of firepower differential at range, coupled with the greater anti-vehicle capability of the Terminators and their LandRaider, and the utility of a third, tough-as-nails scoring unit, I'm pretty well sold on the DeathWing squad and their ride. While I'll still put together the bikers as a possible addition later on, right now I'll be concentrating on 5 more Terminators and their LandRaider to get this list up to 2000. If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know |
