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View Poll Results: What should I add to my list? (Please read post first)

Voters
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  • A bare bones Captain

    1 8.33%
  • A bare bones Librarian

    0 0%
  • A bare bones Chaplain

    0 0%
  • Upgrade Rhino/s to Razorbacks

    3 25.00%
  • A Scout squad

    3 25.00%
  • Extra Armour on all Dreadnoughts

    0 0%
  • A bare bones Assault squad

    0 0%
  • 2 bare bones Land Speeders/Attack Bikes

    2 16.67%
  • A bare bones Bike squadron

    0 0%
  • Increase the size of the 2nd Tactical Squad

    3 25.00%
Results 1 to 10 of 10
  1. #1
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    Cool Drop-Dreds; 1500 to 1750 points

    Hello Guys, girls and other more fell creatures of the tactics forum (we all know this is one of the darker corners of the Lounge )

    So, I gots me a tournament coming up. I have a 1500 point SM Dreadnought Drop Pod list that seems to be doing reaonably well, but I need to expand it to 1750 points and am a little at a loss as to where to spend my last 100 points. Here's the original list, then I'll go into my plans to expand and a little info about the tournament and what I'll be facing (slightly different from the regular tournament scene!)

    HQ
    Master of the Forge; 120 Points
    • Artificer Armour
    • Conversion Beamer
    • Frag and Krak Grenades

    Troops
    Tactical Squad; 205 Points
    • Space Marine Sergeant, Bolt Pistol and either a Boltgun or CCW
    • 7 Space Marines, Boltguns
    • Space Marine, Flamer
    • Space Marine, Missile Launcher
    • Rhino


    Tactical Squad; 125 Points
    • Space Marine Sergeant, Bolt Pistol and either a Boltgun or CCW
    • 4 Space Marines, Boltguns
    • Rhino

    Elites
    Chaplain Dreadnought; 230 Points
    • Flamestorm Cannon
    • DCCW with in-built Storm Bolter
    • Drop Pod with Storm Bolter


    Venerable Dreadnought; 205 points
    • Twin-linked Lascannon
    • DCCW with in-built Heavy Flamer


    Venerable Dreadnought; 175 Points
    • Assault Cannon
    • DCCW with in-built Storm Bolter

    Heavy Support
    Venerable Dreadnought; 210 points
    • Multimelta
    • DCCW with in-built Heavy Flamer
    • Drop Pod with Storm Bolter


    Dreadnought; 105 points
    • Multimelta
    • DCCW with in-built Storm Bolter


    Dreadnought; 125 points
    • 2 Twin-linked Autocannon



    Right, so on with the post. Let's face it, this isn't the most subtle of lists. Drop pods come down and bring either tank hunting or infantry killing Dreds on turn one (depending on the opposing army/deployment) with the rest marching inexorably across the field while the Rifleman stands at the back shooting anything resembling a transport or light armour. The other elements manouvre to take objectives toward the end of the game, hopefully with the Master of the Forge and half of the big tactical squad sitting in a ruin with a 3+ cover save while taking potshots with the conversion beamer and missile and (hopefully) holding my home objective. If all else fails I can use the empty rhinos and (if I decide to deploy all my dreds at the start) the drop pods for objective denial.

    Now the tricksy part: Expanding to 1750 points. My general idea is to add in 3 Lucius Pattern Drop pods (also known as Forge World Drop pods). These big beasites are great because you can assault on the turn they land. So Chaplain Dreadnought, Venerable Dreadnought with a multimelta and quite probably the Venerable Dreadnought with the Assault Cannon get those, whilst the Lascannon Ven. Dred and the remaining Multimelta Dred get the original Drop pods. The Plan, again being devious in it's simplicity, is to drop the three lucius pods on turn one, getting the chaplain to take on/out any unfortunate troops not expecting a dreadnought up their rear end on turn one. Hopefully melta-vets and the like, or anyone in a weak armoured transport I can toast open before assaulting in. The Venerable Dred with the Multimelta also comes down, determined to pop any heavier vehicles and/or anything in a squadron. Finally the Assault Cannon Dred mops up whatever else isn't expecting them quite so soon. Hopefully this will be quite the alpha strike, giving my opponant 3 immediate threats to deal with with whatever they don't splatter straight away while my other dread's do their thing.

    The rest of the Dreds will usually deploy on the table, shooting from the start; the empty pods being used for objective/movement denail later in the game. The troops and Master of the Forge get used in pretty much the same manor as before.

    Now, at 50 points each, taking three Lucius Pods leaves me with 100 points spare to bring me to 1750. What do I do with these? Taking an extra pod for the Rifleman Dred sounds like pure waste. I could top up the second Tactical squad to a full 10 men, leaving me with 20 points spare to add special/heavy weapons to the squads/Sergeants, or possibly up-arm the rhinos and/or give them Dozer blades.

    Alternatively;
    • A bare bones Captain to lead one of the combat squads
    • A bare bones Librarian for Psychic defence (and attack!)
    • A bare bones Chaplain to help add some punch in objective clearing
    • A bare bones Master of the Forge (no idea why, but it is a possibility)
    • Another combat Squad. Can't think of how this would be an advantage over increasing the other small squad, as would only leave me with 10 points that could only be spent on the sergeants, rather than 20 and I wouldn't be able to keep them as 2 squads to deny my opponant kill points.
    • Rhino/s could be upgraded to Razorbacks, given a few weapons and some other upgrades around the squads.
    • A Scout squad. Camo cloaks, sniper rifles and a 2+ cover thanks to the Bolstered Ruin sounds pretty fun to me.
    • Extra Armour on all Dreadnoughts. Getting to move is always fun, especially when the Venerables can force the re-roll on the damage chart, all but ignoring half of the shots that penetrate, and 8/9ths of glances!
    • A bare bones Assault squad of 5 men
    • 2 bare bones Land Speeders, either in a squadron or running around free. Or just one and a few upgrades to it and/or the big tactical squad
    • A bare bones Bike squadron, plus 10 points to upgrade them/one of the tactical squads
    • A couple of attack bikes. Again, I'd have 20 points spare for upgrades.


    Wow, didn't realise there were quite so many options until I started going through the Codex entry by entry. Of course, there is always the option of dropping something else from the list and getting a few more points to spend, but people seem to struggle with facing down 6 dreadnoughts, 4 of which make you re-roll the damage dice.

    A little about the Tournament
    As I'm sure you can tell from my list, FW models and lists are allowed. Anything. So long as it doesn't have structure points or is a gargantuan creature. That does mean yes to flyers (although if it is a fast skimmer in the codex, it will still be a fast skimmer), yes to more unusual tank types, yes to strange characters and unusual army builds (I'm looking at you, my beloved Armoured Company!) The guys who usually attend fair fairly well at local tournaments, and have even been known to take home prizes at the UK Throne of Skulls tournaments... That said there will always be the fluff bunnies (myself often included) who won't have a clue who to play against this.

    There will probably be something resembling a Leaf Blower. I'm fully expecting to see a table bristling with Hydra barrels like some steel forest. I know Mephiston will be in at least 3 of the 50+ armies that will be there on the day. Oh, and I believe a certain Doctor who frequents this hallowed space may take a list with multiple Eldar flyers that I possibly won't be able to do much about.


    Right, I appear to have prattled on for much longer than I meant to. Have at my plans with an eviscerator if you want, but I'd appreciate constructive criticism more than anything else. Ideas on what to do with those spare 100 points especially!

    Shades
    Always thinking 2 projects ahead of anything I've yet to finish
    http://instinctuimperator.blogspot.co.uk/

  2. #2

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    I think you need more scoring. As much as I've had no success with scouts, I torn between that option and another combat squad.

    Oh, and I believe a certain Doctor who frequents this hallowed space may take a list with multiple Eldar flyers that I possibly won't be able to do much about.
    I totally read that as Doctor Who frequents this place with Eldar. Damn Xenos.
    I'm thinking it'd probably turn out more like Daleks playing Quiddich. "It is the Potter!! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! " (someone I know on twitter)

  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by gwensdad View Post
    I totally read that as Doctor Who frequents this place with Eldar. Damn Xenos.
    So did I.
    caellachsector.blogspot.com
    This message made from 100% recycled electrons.

  4. #4
    Librarian
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    6 Dreads is something I've seen wipe tables in larger games, 4 of those being venerable is something that I'm not sure could be easily countered even with crazy lists like the Leafblower.

    the snipers sound like a really good idea, though it's a shame you can't also take Tellion with them for the extra BS. Snipers do a great job of dealing with a little of everything and simply refusing to die when in fortified cover.

    There is a landspeeder variant that counts as a flyer, it might have anti-aircraft guns. Could that be taken to give you a bit of response to others' flyer squadrons?

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by thecactusman17 View Post
    There is a landspeeder variant that counts as a flyer, it might have anti-aircraft guns. Could that be taken to give you a bit of response to others' flyer squadrons?
    I assume you mean the Land Speeder Tempest? Unfortunately it's a Fast Skimmer (though in one of the Apoc books it did have a datasheet that allowed it to act as a flyer... cant remember which though). Currently it costs 120 points and has AA mounted Frag and Krak Missile Launchers. And it's assault cannon of course.

    Still, unfortunately a little too expensive for this list, unless I drop something. On the other hand I don't own one and don't want to have to buy too much more to be able to field this list if I can help it. I do have pretty much everything else I mentioned though, or could easilly (and cheaply/freely) convert a spare turret if pushed
    Always thinking 2 projects ahead of anything I've yet to finish
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  6. #6
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    2 missile launchers and an assault cannon spotlight be too hard a mod and it would be decent vs. everything.

    Are the gun emplacement drop pods available, or are those apoc only too?

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by thecactusman17 View Post
    Are the gun emplacement drop pods available, or are those apoc only too?
    Deathwind Drop pods are availible, but are a Heavy Support option (so would mean dropping a dreadnought to take one drop pod) and cost 75 points for the Whirlwind pod, or 95 for the Assault cannon pod. Admittedly they will fire D3 shots at every unit within 12" until destroyed, but even the assault cannon, with between 4 and 12 shots will only hit a couple of times with BS2. Doesn't feel like a good tournament investment to me.
    Always thinking 2 projects ahead of anything I've yet to finish
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  8. #8
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    I think I will go with the majority here; an infiltrating scout squad with a potential 2+ cover save could quite happilly work as a mix role unit (with a mixture of Snipers and Missile Launchers) that is a safe bet to hold my home objective, freeing up the Heavy weapon combat squads for other objectives or to take greater advantage of other positions/firelanes. I'll let you all know how the army plays as I get to grips with it
    Always thinking 2 projects ahead of anything I've yet to finish
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  9. #9
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    Default Just for funnsies

    How would people go about expanding the 1500 point list, or 1650 list to 2000 points? There are a lot more variables there, so I won't list al the options, but the same general ideas apply
    Always thinking 2 projects ahead of anything I've yet to finish
    http://instinctuimperator.blogspot.co.uk/

  10. #10
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    Default Slight hiccough...

    Right, so small change to my financial situation (to the tune of £3500 debt) so I won't be able to buy the Lucius pattern Drop pods for this list. I think I have time to scratch build one, and only one, out of polystyrene, plasticard and the contents of my bitz box. However, that would still leave me with 200 points to fill.

    While I can't list everything I have in my SM collection (at around 15k points, it's a long list) suffice to say I can do the vast majority of options from the Codex, though not so much from FW. How would you lovely people suggest I go about filling up the rest of my FOC to 1750 points? More Troops? Some FA maybe?

    Comments on a postcard...
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