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mathhammer
02-18-2013, 10:22 AM
So i reread the rulebook a few times last night and what I wanted to do was.

Buy 3 units of 20 each archer skeletons.

line the units up behind each other
-forming a block 10" by 8"
-1" between the units
-10 wide 2 deep formation

And then arrow anything in front of me to death.

- per LOS rules on page 10, I just need to be able to see the target unit,
yhea for skinny skeletons.
- per shooting the back 2 units would have -2 to hit per the target being in
hard cover.
- Skeletons always hit on 5+

There is nothing in the rules I can find for a unit blocking LOS or inability
to fire through or over you own units, just an increased cover
number (to hit modifier).


Comments thoughts???

Chronowraith
02-18-2013, 12:27 PM
Can you do it? Yes. Is it ideal? No.

First let's work out the math assuming you are shooting at T3 models with a 5+ save (light armor and shield being incredibly common for core troops).

You'd hit 20 times on average. You'd wound 10 times on average. They would make 3 saves. That's 7 models dead a turn for a rather large investment and that's only some mediocre T3 5+ Save models. Against things like Chaos Warriors, Ogres, Knights, etc your odds drop even more considerably.

Now, let's look at the down sides of this tactic;

1. Mega spells like dwellers or Pit of Shades will wreck havoc on such formations since you are densely packed. Magic Vortexes would be the bane of your existence.

2. Fast moving units will easily get a flank charge on this giant block.They don't even have to be fast really because the skellies are nehekaren undead and pretty easy to out manuever

3. Warmachines such as mortars, hellblasters, and even cannons will go to town on this tactic. Even smaller things like Skaven Warpfire Throwers and/or Doomfire Rockets would love it if their prey lined up perfectly like this.

Now, I'm not saying this isn't a valid tactic. Most tomb king armies will have something similar (smaller scale) to this in their lists as they need someplace for their heirophant to hide. But remember that the more you bunch up your units, the better target you are making that bunch for warmachines and uber spells.

Jordan F Braun
02-18-2013, 01:12 PM
To OP: It is a decent idea, realize though with 24" max range that the back unit will struggle to be in range of anything. I would probably go with 2 units instead of 3. Consider using some cav darts or carrion to keep these units out of combat as long as possible. Remeber that nehek has a lower toughness spell that can make archers decent.



To commenter:

Lets work out how bad at fantasy you are:

Tk archers 1st targets is probably not ranked infantry. Also, they have access to a toughness lowering spell in the nehek lore which takes archers from crap to ok.

Archers main targets are going to be no save infantry / to single models trying to sneak wounds in.

1. How does dwellers change this tactic at all. Its 3 different units, if anything this is better vs dwellers.
If someone is casting pit at my 3 units of 20 archers I will let them cause that is retarded. Please pit my archers over(sphinx/combat blocks/casket/skull chuckas)
Last time I checked I get dispel dice that I am allowed to use vs spells.

2. Fast moving units are the 1st target of archers. They are usually the easiest to kill w/ crap to no saves. Most people don't take these units anymore because they give up easy VP since 100VP victories.

3. Again just like the magic phase if you are shooting at my archers ROFL you are an idiot. Mortars are terrible now so no one takes them and would still need 5s to wound my ****ty skellies. Hellblasters only target 1 unit at a time and have a max range of 24" which maybe over a game would kill the front unit not the 2nd or 3rd. Rofl cannons ROFL wow you killed 6 archers ROFL... The chances of a warpfire thrower living with this many bows is pretty impossible. The doom rocket is your only legit point in this whole post.

4. I assume you are a 40k player. Please actually play fantasy before posting and thinking you know something.



Can you do it? Yes. Is it ideal? No.

First let's work out the math assuming you are shooting at T3 models with a 5+ save (light armor and shield being incredibly common for core troops).

You'd hit 20 times on average. You'd wound 10 times on average. They would make 3 saves. That's 7 models dead a turn for a rather large investment and that's only some mediocre T3 5+ Save models. Against things like Chaos Warriors, Ogres, Knights, etc your odds drop even more considerably.

Now, let's look at the down sides of this tactic;

1. Mega spells like dwellers or Pit of Shades will wreck havoc on such formations since you are densely packed. Magic Vortexes would be the bane of your existence.

2. Fast moving units will easily get a flank charge on this giant block.They don't even have to be fast really because the skellies are nehekaren undead and pretty easy to out manuever

3. Warmachines such as mortars, hellblasters, and even cannons will go to town on this tactic. Even smaller things like Skaven Warpfire Throwers and/or Doomfire Rockets would love it if their prey lined up perfectly like this.

Now, I'm not saying this isn't a valid tactic. Most tomb king armies will have something similar (smaller scale) to this in their lists as they need someplace for their heirophant to hide. But remember that the more you bunch up your units, the better target you are making that bunch for warmachines and uber spells.

Wildeybeast
02-19-2013, 04:08 AM
Given your skellies are the same size as each other and roughly the same size as most infantry, there are also going to be plenty of occasions where TLoS means your second 2 units can't see jack past the one in front of them. This tactic is going to require incredibly precise placement and manoeuvring to make it effective, for relatively little reward as Chrono points out. Yes you can do it but you probably shouldn't. If you want to go shooting with TK, just do what everyone else does and stick Khalida in a big block of archers. There's no need to reinvent the wheel here.