[redbeard]

Considering what to bring to an 1850 point 100+ person tournament at Adepticon. I know it's going to be mechanized.

I got ahold of some banshees recently, and could paint them in time for the tournament, question is, are they worth bringing. I'm at about 1500 (a little over) with 3 serpents, 2 prisms, and a falcon, plus carried troops.

I don't have the points to add two more skimmers, and running any sort of static element dilutes the strength of the list, doubly so if they're hurt by heavy bolters. Part of the synergy here is that I can completely ignore anything S5 or lower when necessary, which often renders parts of my opponent's army useless.

The other options are to add another Dire Avenger serpent (possibly bulking one of these squads up with a bladestorm exarch), or a full scorpion squad, but I'd be more concerned with the scorpions ability to hop out of the bus and into combat because they don't get the extra fleet move. Starting behind your bus, the extra d6 inches has often made the difference between getting my harlequins into combat or leaving them out to dry.


Standard Serpent = Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Vector Engines & Spirit Stones


HQ:
Autarch - power weapon, mandiblasters (90) - Much better than a farseer in a mech list simply because you can't use half the good spells when you're in a transport, plus he helps with the escalation mission.

Elites:
Shadowseer + 5 harlequins - kisses all around, 2 fusion pistols. (182)

5 Fire Dragons, + Exarch w/ Flamer - Standard Serpent (263)

9 Banshees + Exarch w/ Executioner - Standard Serpent (337)

Troops
5 Dire Avengers, Serpent w/ Brightlances, Vector Engines, Spirit Stones (225)

6 Dire Avengers, Standard Serpent (227)

Heavy Support
Fire Prism w/ Holofield, Spirit Stones (160)
Fire Prism w/ Holofield, Spirit Stones (160)
Falcon w/ Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holofield, Spirit Stones, Vector Engines (205)

[derfderf]

Have you thought about Vibrocannons? They're static but out of LOS, and can help out with anti-tank. Another possibility is Jetbikes, if you use those. I would personally bring those DA squads to at least 8 including the exarch.

Another thing that plagues my mech experiences is deployment - do you know if your tables will be big enough for you to hide all your skimmers?

Anyhoo, if you've already played, lemme know how it goes!

[redbeard]

Actually, after some more thought, I've decided to add another serpent's worth of Fire Dragons instead of Banshees, as they'll give me a little more punch against monstrous creatures, and will hold their own versus MEQs.

So, the revamped list is:

Autarch w/ Power Weapon, Mandiblaster
5 Harlequins + Shadowseer, kisses & fusion pistols
2x 7 Fire Dragons + Flamer Exarch, in Scatter-laser Serpents
5 Dire Avengers in brightlance serpent
6 Dire Avengers in starcannon serpent <- or scatterlaser, not sold on this yet
2x Fire Prism
1x Scatter laser Falcon


I won't use vibrocannons cause they involve guardians, and I don't bring civilians to battle.

Deployment may be an issue - the autarch is there to help with that. Most of the scenarios at Adepticon use strategy ratings for picking deployment zones, so I should do ok with 4 dice.

As for bulking up the dire avenger squads - they're only really there to allow me to take more serpents, and to hold objectives. I've found, through experience playing larger squads, that anything they're effective against, the scatterlasers and shuriken cannons are equally as good against, while having a bunch of infantry running around only allows my opponent to use their anti-infantry guns. Keeping everyone safe in their transports until the moment that they need to strike seems like a better idea to me.

[Guitardian]

Originally Posted by Redbeard

I won't use vibrocannons cause they involve guardians, and I don't bring civilians to battle.

Deployment may be an issue - the autarch is there to help with that. Most of the scenarios at Adepticon use strategy ratings for picking deployment zones, so I should do ok with 4 dice.

Keeping everyone safe in their transports until the moment that they need to strike seems like a better idea to me.

You are so funny with that dogma bro. Too bad they have to pilot your serpents and prisms and falcon anyways...

Way to think like Eldar.

So far as I have read on the forum, banshees are not considered competative when the math is done, and the extra dragons seems like a more solid garaunteed kill when they hop out. Avoiding anything less than S6 will be a HUGE advantage considering how prolific and overused the heavy bolter is (or its equivalent - almost every army has something along those lines).

Keep them all nice and safe until YOU make the call where to hit... and the amount of MEQs you are likely to face off with and vaporise with dragons will increase massively over the questionable s3 power weapon kills in close combat. Banshees look cool but they aren't very reliable and anything the banshees can do the harlequins can do better.

If I were you I would take the Scatterlaser over the Starcannons. You have enough armor penetration as it is.

I am curious... are you planning on running the Autarch in the Falcon with the Harlequins, or with the avengers in the brightlance Serpent? And... are the 2 fusion pistols necessary when you already have so much AT?

Dump fusion pistols, dump the overpriced shuriken cannon hull mounts, and you have enough points to squeeze in another squad or a HQ. Just something to think about...

BTW I wanna tag along as a cheerleader.

[redbeard]

Pilot is a different path all by itself, there are no guardians in my falcons.

If I drop the shuriken cannons off all 4 vehicles that have them, and the 2 fusion pistols, that gives me 60 points. I can get 5 dire avengers for that? Trading... 6 S6 hits/turn for 6 S4 hits/turn.

Not sure that's a good exchange.

Besides, the hull mounts aren't that overpriced. They make it so that, statistically, you win exchanges with other skimmer players who didn't take them. They give extra good shots vs. monstrous creatures too.

The fusion pistols actually are worth it against monstrous critters too. It's not about anti-tank, it's about anti-godzilla armies with 8 MCs, each with T6 or better, 3+ save or better, and four wounds or better. Statistically, six harlies charging will get four rends, but we all know you can't trust that. If I can knock a wound or two off a hive tyrant before charging it, I'm a lot more likely to down it without losing a clown than if I have to depend on getting those four rends.