Anti-Titans: Eldar Revenant Titan

The Eldar Revenant Titan isn’t actually that hard to kill on it’s own. For 800 points, it is actually pretty fragile. However, it has three things that make it really hard to kill:

First, the guns. Four destroyer shots with 60″ range. And while that is not the highest range, it is enough to cause massive damage to most enemies.

Secondly, the holo-fields. A 4+ invulnerable save, whether hit with a S6 weapon or a SD weapon.

Lastly, the mobility. This thing is nearly impossible to get in combat, because of it’s mobility. If it want’s to, it can move 36″ in the movement phase, with no penalties that may cause it damage.

So what do we do about it? The destroyer weapons are too powerful to ignore, and it is difficult to lock it in combat, so I say shoot it. Blow it to pieces. Deffkoptas, once again, work great against rear armor. Five deffkoptas will destroy 1 structure point in the shooting phase, and half of the time the deffkoptas will also destroy a weapon, or cause a drive damaged result. It is best to use 2 deffkopta units, though, each a certain distance apart, so your enemy will have a harder time hitting rear armor. Also, any S8+ weapons nearby will help. However, don’t ignore the rest of the army. If the revenant titan is not much of a threat, (If both weapons have been destroyed, maybe,) focus your firepower elsewhere. No need to waste bullets.

Eldar: strengths and weaknesses

So, today I am going to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of Eldar, from my experience.

The Eldar can be a very effective army, if played well. One of their guns (nightspinner, I believe,) can pin an enemy unit, and then cause even more damage in the next turn. (First, it causes damage, and then the next time that unit moves, it is going through difficult and dangerous terrain.) They have a high number of barrage weapons, great firepower, and still have some units that are good in close combat. (Avatar, anyone?) However, they do have a couple of weaknesses which are easy to exploit:

First off, they tend to lack high strength/armor piercing weapons. Like all armies they can take some, but they cannot take a lot. That means well armored units, such as Nobz or Meganobz, are very difficult to kill, because small arms fire is rarely effective against them, due to good armor and large amounts of wounds. And it also means that tanks with good armor, such as Battlewagons, (Or, in other armies, land raiders, monoliths, and other super-tanks,) will be difficult to kill. Rear armor will help, but the tanks will have several turns more than an army such as Dark Eldar with a dozen brightlances. (On a side-note, every time I have used Nobz, Meganobz, or both against Eldar, I have won spectacularly.)

Nearly all of their units have either/both WS4 or BS4, so they are pretty elite in what they do, but they only have S3 T3, so they are not exactly marines. (Armor isn’t great most of the time either.) Anti-infantry weapons work very well against the. (Big shootas wound on 2’s and penetrate, bigbomms wound on 3’s and penetrate, even grot blastas wound on 4’s, so one unit of grots will kill 6-7 of them in a single shooting phase.)

The elite units that they have are either expensive or low in numbers. Not unlike most other elite units, but in this case they also have bad armor most of the time. There are exceptions, but for the most part a gun will kill the elites just as easily as the troops. So, killing them first, before they can cause much damage, is always smart.

One of my friends, (Hey, Patrick!) Always takes the Avatar, so I am going to put a word on him here:

The hardest part about killing the Avatar is that ork boyz hit on 5’s and wound on 6’s. And, not many weapons are good against him because they either don’t wound easily, don’t penetrate, or have a low number of shots. The one unit I have found effective is one you have heard of from me many times before. It isn’t deffkoptas, it isn’t ork hordes, and it certainly isn’t Mad Dok Grotsnik. I even mentioned them earlier in this very post! It is decked out Nobz. With a Waaagh! banner, they hit on 4’s instead of 5’s. With big choppas, they wound on 3’s or 4’s, depending on the charge. (Even regular choppas can wound on 5’s, if they charge.) With power fists, they wound on 2’s and remove the armor save, (so it is a 4+ invuln instead of 3+ armor.) And they are still effective against other units. Also, this unit is really really fun to play. And, since the Avatar is only S6, he doesn’t cause instant death, so he will have to cause 10 wounds to remove a model, if you assorted your wargear well enough.

1500 point Elites list

So, the other day I decided to build a quick list, and so here it is:

Warboss w/ Power Klaw, Attack Squig-100

10 nobz, 2 big choppas, 1 PK, 1 bosspole, 1 painboy, 1 waaagh! banner, cyborks and eavy armor all around

10 kommandos, 3 burnas, nob w/ PK, bosspole

24 ork boyz, PK bosspole nob

24 ork boyz, PK bosspole nob

10 Stormboyz, PK bosspole nob

3 Deffkoptas w/ rokkits

Battlewagon w/ armor plates, grot riggas, kannon, 4 big shootas, deff rolla

It is not a ‘standard’ ork list, (There are only 2 boyz hordes, and they are both small.) A total of 3 scoring units, including the Nobz. In many ways, this is just a collection of my favorite units. (The funnily converted Kommandos, the Nobz which I worked on for hours to convert the weapons, Deffkoptas are my favorite unit, I just finished modeling the battlewagon, ETC,) and a few boyz at the core. But, it will be very fun to play. And,of course, nobody will expect an ‘Elite’ ork list.

Kommandos: Tactic

So, today I am going to write about Kommandos.

Anyways…

Kommados have, in my opinion, two major advantages over ork boyz:

1. They can start/outflank very close to the enemy, which means they will have less time being shot at and more time killing.

2. They can take 3 ‘support’ weapons in a single unit.

They also have the ability to move through cover better and stuff, but that is really just trivial.

However, there are also two disadvantages:

1. Since they start close to the enemy, they will be within range of nearly all enemy guns, meaning they will be killed quickly.

2. They cost as much as ‘ard boyz, without being any more durable.

Out of these two disadvantages, the one that is most harmful is the first one. However, outflanking can take away from that somewhat, and even if they are shot at, that is a lot of firepower not going into your other elites.

Here is a list that I like to take:

8-10 Kommandos, PK bosspole nob, 3 Burnas. Total, 165-185points.

Any more kommandos, and the unit becomes too expensive. Any less, and it will die to quickly. What is great about this unit is that it is a very good tournament unit. It is equally good at taking out tanks, (Power Klaw,) Troops, (Burnas/assaulting,) or MEQ’s and TEQ’s, (burna in CC.) Against a tank, you will cause 2 penetrating and 2 glancing hits on the charge. Against a unit of Termagaunts, you will cause 11-12 wounds shooting and then cause 8 wounds assaulting, while taking 2 wounds (For a total of 20 wounds, if the Gaunt unit does not run after shooting.) Against a unit of terminators, you will cause 3 wounds and take 3. Next turn, you will cause 2 wounds and take 2. So, no matter what army you face, there is almost always a use for these guys.

Another option, (That I don’t like, because of the lack of PK and high cost,) is to take 15 kommandos, 3 rokkits/big shootas, and Boss Snikrot. This is a decent list, because it can outflank with an HQ, and it comes in reliably from any board edge, (Slightly better than normal outflanking.) The disadvantage is that you don’t have AT capacity, and it costs 265 points, which is a bit expensive, for the survivability of this unit. 250-265 points.

All in all, kommandos are a good tourney unit, but not as effective during 1on1 games that you have to plan for a specific army. They are not specialist units, which means they are extremely well rounded, but that comes at the cost that they are not incredible at any one thing.

Ork Transport Tactics

It was pointed out in a comment that it should be ‘Carnifices’ not ‘Carnifaxes,’ but I think that will be okay. I am still going to do written posts, but this format will also show up sometimes.

Iron Waaagh! Datasheet

Made this today, hope you like it:

Flash Gitz VS Nobz

So, in previous posts, I have strategized about Flash Gitz. I have also done many write-ups about Nobz. But point-for-point, which one is better?

Well, Flash Gitz have the same point value as Nobz in ‘eavy armor, (which should always be taken.) Flash Gitz may not have any CC weapons, (with the exception of the painboy,) but they do have awesome, (if slow firing,) assault weaponry. Lets look at both specifically:

Flash Gitz: these guys are probably more flexible. ‘More Dakka’ is a must, but the other two are not as nescessary. They may not have close combat weapons, but they still are ork Nobz, so they still have 3 attacks in close combat, 4 on the charge. Also, (assuming more dakka,) five of these guys will potentially be able to take down 2-3 marines, (or even terminators,) assuming they get a decent AP roll. The only disadvantage is BS 2, but as an ork player you should know that already. At thirty points each, (plus the cost of the looted wagon you WILL buy them to ride around in,) a unit of ten will come in at 335 points. However, that unit of ten, with a tiny bit of luck, can kill five space marines in the shooting phase, and then charge them and cause five more, easily. And even if the marines had 2 close combat weapons each, they will still not cause more than 1 wound. And, they will take 4-5 wounds on average. That means it is one dead space marine unit. Even if you shoot at terminators, 1/3 of the time, (1/2, if you take the -1 AP,) you will cause 3 wounds. (I don’t suggest charging this time around.)

Nobz: These guys are slightly less flexible, and weaker at shooting. However, in close combat, these guys annihilate. They could take combi-weapons, but that is sort of stupid, since they aren’t supposed to be a shooty unit anyways. Against marines, (assuming 6 choppa/slugga, 1 painboy, 2 big choppas, and a PK,) these guys will cause maybe 1 wound in the shooting phase. Then they will charge, and cause 8.5 wounds, and take a maximum of (assuming the marines have 2 CC weapons,) 1 wound. In the end, both results are pretty much the same. However, against other enemies, one will do better than the other. The nobz will cause more wounds against lighter armor, (4+ or higher,) and the Gitz would be slightly better against CC oriented armor-heavy units, because they have more effective ranged weaponry. However, against gun-based units, bring in the NOBZ!

Skullhamma’s and Squiggoths: Apocalypse Strategies

So today I am going to do a couple more strategies on Apocalyptic units.

Skullhamma:

The Skullhamma is not necessarily the most deadly of tanks. It’s range (Comparatively to other apocalypse guns,) is mediocre, it’s AP is only 3 (good, but not great,) and the armor and structure points are lower than the stompas, and it doesn’t have any other extremely good weapons. (the kannon/lobba is okay, but not great.) However, it has one main advantage over other super-heavies: It is cheap. At only 400 points, it is one of the cheapest super-heavy vehicles in the game. And, it is fast, and can carry a full horde of ork boyz. 24″ of movement is always handy. And, with 12″ movement that allows you to disembarks and assault, this tank will come in handy. Get across the board in three turns, and lay down firepower for the rest. Don’t take to many of these guys, though, because while they are cheaper than most, they still come with a hefty price tag. paying 400 pts for a transport vehicle is a bit expensive, even if you get to use a good gun for the rest of the game. Make sure you have some juicier targets so that they will be shunned, or perhaps ignored completely.

Gargantuan Squiggoth:

This thing is a BEAST! 8 wounds, ridiculous toughness, immune to instant death, and 5 attacks at S10. The only gargantuan creature outside of the tyranid army, as well. This thing is able to take down practically anything in close combat, with one main disadvantage: it only has WS2 I1.. So while it will shred through most anything, (especially awesome with the ‘stomp special attack’ against really large enemy units,) it can still be brought down (or at least hurt ) by such characters as the Avatar and the Hive Lord. however, they have the problem of low strength. what you really need to watch for is powerful ‘greater daemons’ and more importantly, tyranid gargantuan creatures. those are the close combat threats. The larger threat is shooting from your enemy. It doesn’t matter that this guy has 8 wounds, he will be brought down eventually, and when that happens, you are out 600 points. And remember, you can only be locked in combat with super heavy walkers and gargantuan creatures, every one else has to run away, so you are still vulnerable to shooting. So: Use this guy for ‘scare tactics’ and to bring down things such as powerful yet low-strength CC units. Remember, anything short of S6 can’t hurt you. you could take down a horde of boyz, and the only thing that would even potentially be able to damage you is a PK nob.

Fighting with an Eldar Army

Before we get started, many of you Ork players that are reading this will notice I have been doing more strategies with other armies recently. So, here are a couple of things you will want to know about all of these:

1. Most of the strategies will be general army strategies for a while. (until I have gone through every army.)

2. If there are any ‘Examples’ of results of shooting/combat, it will usually be against orks, (or space marines, because they are the most common,)

3. I will still be doing a lot of ork strategies.

4. All of these strategies are only mildly tested, through observation when I play against these armies.

With this in mind…

How to play with an Eldar Army.

First off, your troops are not overly cheap. While, (if you want too,) you could muster up a relatively large army of guardians, you are not a horde. Do not try and be a horde.

Eldar weaponry is strong, their troops are deadly, but the way I see it, most of eldar have one small problem. No matter how good their attacks are, they are fragile. a 5+ save a T3 all around. Not good. very few models have a better stat-line, (though some of them have a 4+, or even 3+ save.) That means that if you want your guys to live for long, you will desperately need to take advantage of cover. However, once you are in cover, autarch’s can severely help you. I can’t (or at least wont bother to count,) how many times I have seen a fortune cast on a unit, saving nearly all of it’s troops. Awesome. Also, avoid CC, unless the unit you have was specifically designed for it. you see, with only T3 and a 5+ save, as well as the fact that you don’t get cover in CC, and even with Fortune you probably won’t survive. (against CC units, that is. If you are facing a unit of tactical space marines, you will do better, because they only get 11 attacks total.

Also, your weapons are commonly powerful enough to blow a hole in the side of a squigoth. Shooting is normally the way to go. In many ways, your army resembles fragile space marines. They are cheaper, and the weapons are a bit more deadly. Stay back, use ‘shoot and run’ tactics, skirt around your opponents, and blow them to kingdom come.

Also, if I ever played Eldar, I would always use an Avatar. This guy is awesome, for only 155 points. A 3+ save, a 4+ invuln, immune to melta/flamers, WS10, (only S6, so not very much instant death…)  the wailing doom, and all special rules given to deamons.

Stompa Tactics

So, I decided that since I built a stompa, I should do a strategy on it!

The stompa is deadly, and relatively cheap. (Cheap for titans, that is.) The only disadvantage is AV 13, but if you throw in a Big Mek with a KFF and 3 grot oilers, you can repair it’s weapons, and the 4+ cover save on a 12″ model can come in handy. The way I see it, there are four things that is good at:

Anti-infantry. I mean ANY infantry. Whether it is a unit of Terminators or a unit of Grotz, the stompa’s main gun can kill it all. It can even kill HQ’s with ease, because with S10, it causes instant death against most units.

Anti-Vehicles. I am not referring to walkers. The chainsaw arm is SD, so it penetrates armor automatically and you get a +1 on the damage table, and with it the stompa has 4 attacks. So unless the vehicle moved at it’s maximum speed, (and even occasionally if it does,) your chainsaw will rend through vehicles and tear them to pieces. Even super-heavy vehicles will take huge amounts of damage. and if you happen to be facing a warlord battle titan, which will almost never have a titan close combat weapon, you will all hit at the same time, your stompa has one extra attacks, and the battle titan only has S10, instead of SD.

Anti-Air. Death to the air-based vehicles! now it is only good at AA once per game. When you fire your supa-gatla. You see, your BS is doubled because it is a pintle-mounted weapon. (well not actually doubled, but it will not be reduced to 1. All other weapons hit on a 6, and only on a 6. The supa-gatla hits on a 5.) and while it is only S7, that is still easily high enough to penetrate most Aerial Vehicles. (they usually have relatively low armor.)

Bullet absorber/terror aspect. The whole thought of bringing a 12″-14″ model will fill your opponents with shock and awe. Baneblades and other tanks are big, but they are also short and will not impose the same awesomeness as a stompa or a battle titan. Your opponents will either run in terror, or focus their firepower on it. If they run in terror, you should be fine. and if they focus their firepower, your Big Mek KFF will stop half of it, and with 3 grot oilers, you should have no trouble repairing it’s primary weapons.