[Raving Bonkers]

So in the next couple of weeks I will be going up against a buddy of mine for the 3rd time. The first battle was 500 pts and I won, my Shas'O was amazing in defeating 3 SM sergeants and finishing off his tank which my fire warriors had immobilised while my Kroot sucked and ran off the table after his initial tank shock.

The second battle, 500 pts again, i chose to field more units in smaller numbers of squads. This time all my units fared well until his assault troops arrived and pretty much stormed through my army, but i still got a draw.

Now, honestly I have no idea what i would use to counter the assault troops with a 12 inch move and then 6 inch assault range, other than throwing kroot at them while firewarriors pull back and line up their sights.

So here's my list and i will follow up with my ideas to field them:

HQ Units:
Shas’O Commander: Total - 157 pts
Cyclic Ion Blaster
Fusion Blaster
Hard-Wired Multi Tracker
Iridium Armour
Drone Controller with 2 Shield Drones


ELITE Units:
Shas’ui XV8 Crisis Suit: Total - 72 pts
Twin Linked Plasma Rifles
Missile Pod
Hard-Wired Multi Tracker

Shas’ui XV8 Crisis Suit: Total - 72 pts
Twin Linked Plasma Rifles
Missile Pod
Hard-Wired Multi Tracker


TROOP Units:
Fire Warriors x 6: Total - 60 pts

Fire Warriors x 6: Total - 60 pts

Kroot x 11: Total - 77 pts

Kroot x 10: Total - 70 pts


HEAVY Units:
Broadside: Total - 90 pts
Shas’ui Team Leader
Smart Missile System
Multi Tracker
Advanced Stabilisation System

Broadside: Total - 90 pts
Shas’ui Team Leader
Smart Missile System
Multi Tracker
Advanced Stabilisation System

TOTAL: 748 pts


My Shas'O has always fared me well so with more points available I've decided to make him harder to kill by adding the 2 shield drones. One thing I'm not sure on is do they take on his 3+ save or the 2+ save gained from iridium armor?

The elites are new to my list. I wanted something with kick so i went for the plasma and missile pod combo. This gives a possible 4 AP2 shots which i need against those marines. I took them as separate units so i can have more tactical play.

The troops I'm never to sure about. But with kroot being a lot cheaper i do enjoy their 40 shots of rapid fire for a very cheap price and then 12 shots at 30 inches from my firewarriors. In an ideal world my Fire Warriors would never be in a situation to use their rapid fire.

I have added a second broadside to my army. Again as separate units. I have seen some of my mates models and i know he has some tanks and a commander unit. Not knowing wot he is fielding the range to hit with the railguns strength should help, but also both with a smart missile system is 4 shots each with no line of sight needed.

I am tempted to lose one of my troop units, not sure which, and get a targeting array for each of my broadsides and use the extra points to make my elites just a single plasma rifle so they may also be equipped with a targetting array or a shield drone each. Any remaining points would be used to bolster up the other troop squads.

[TipTop1987]

First off you have a bit of a problem with your list... You're not 2 points under, you're 8 points over. But I'll get to that in a minute...

A few suggestions, and take them as just that.
In 750, yes your Shas'o with a 2+ would be hard to kill, but he's already near impossible with two Shield Drones already. I'd drop the points on the Iridium Armour and spend them elsewhere. The Fusion blaster, though a good weapon, doesn't go well with the CIB in my opinion. A Plasma rifle is a better option, giving you 2 shots than the 1 that you're getting now. A little weaker in strength and you don't get your extra vehicle damage, but you're still neglecting FNP, and the more shots would help bring down more infantry.

Your Elites are well rounded. But this is where I found where the points didn't add up. They need to be Shas'ui Team Leaders in order to use the Hard-wired Multi-tracker. Also, if you're going to be running them shooting at the same target, you might as well make them one choice (This goes for all of your units). The option to split fire is nice, but the allocation of wounds all at once will help with making him loose models. Also, lacking the ability to allocate wounds will make it harder for them to survive. I usually run a squad like this as: XV8 x3; Shas'ui Team Leader with TL-Plasma gun, Missile pod, Hard-wired Multi-tracker, Bonding knife and Two Shield Drones; Shas'ui with TL-Plasma gun, Missile pod and Multi-tracker x2. Runs 236 points, but it works really well at taking out Md/Hv infantry and survives well with the Shield Drones. If you're hurting for points at that point, drop the Shield Drones. Still a good choice for the size of the game, though. This unit will be great at hunting his commander unit and still keeping good range on them.

Your Troops look good, though I might drop the 10-man squad of Kroot in order to spend those points on the above suggestion (With the points from the Iridium armour) and increasing your Fire Warriors. Adding a Shas'ui with a Bonding knife will save your butt more often than not when they run for loosing two guys and are unable to regroup after losing one more. Also increasing their size is never a bad idea. I always try to run a full squad of Fire Warriors in order to hold objectives and keep the rate of fire high. They have to lose quite a bit of models, and can pump out a good number of shots. Though I wouldn't count the Kroot out all together. You'll need their WS and S to keep the Marines off of you. If anything, they'll be a squishy distraction from other units.

Your Heavy's pretty good. I'd go for a Hammerhead, but that's only because I've always had trouble with my Broadsides having LoS on the targets I really wanted to shoot them at. If you wanna keep them as they are, then have at it, as I would consider taking this unit.

[Raving Bonkers]

ok, so i my design was based partly on my opponents tactics. he sees my commander as to tempting to miss out on. He likes the theatrics and taking out an armys leader just makes him smile. In the last 2 games he has tried hunting my commander down, and if i let him know he is even harder to kill it will more than likely spur him on to try and take out the commander who is turning out to be a very tough nut to crack with iridium armour. My commander has so far killed 11 tactical marines, 4 sergeants, 1 librarian and 2 assault marines...in just 2 matches of 500 pts in each. It dosnt leave him much left numbers wise lol.

thanks for noticing my over sight on my elites. so what im thinking is i lose my 10 man kroot squad giving me 72 points total. make elites to team leaders leaves 62 points. Shas'O gets stimulant injectors making survivabilty increase yet again. 52 remaining. add 3 fire warriors to 1 squad and make them bonded with 1 as a shas'ui leaves 7 points so make the kroot a squad of 12.

I plan to get a hammerhead into the mix. when the game boosts to 1000 points, possibly drop one of the broadsides at that time to get some real tank hunters into play as i have discovered my mate has just bought a landraider crusader where he would then have fire power and mounervability over the suits, but thats for future battles.

At this time i feel it better to field my elites seperately. they can still fire at the same target, but also if one kills a unit then the other can freely shoot at another. Add to that if i get one unlucky turn of rolls and score 4 or more wounds then i still only lose one suit where as if the 2 suits are 1 squad i would lose them both. Same goes for close combat, if 1 should happen to get caught by assault marines then the other is still on the move. If both get caught in that situation then i have done something severly wrong in my tactics.

I know fire warriors are good in high numbers, but the squad of 6 are simply there as a distraction. either they will be anoying enough to distract him for a turn of 2, or they will be small enough that he will ignore them and in the final moments of the game they can capture the objective un-noticed.

[Raving Bonkers]

so a revised list with a few small mods to make it legal:

HQ Units:
Shas’O Commander: Total - 167 pts
Cyclic Ion Blaster
Fusion Blaster
Hard-Wired Multi Tracker
Iridium Armour
Stimulant Injectors
Drone Controller with 2 Shield Drones


ELITE Units:
Shas’ui XV8 Crisis Suit: Total - 77 pts
Twin Linked Plasma Rifles
Team Leader
Missile Pod
Hard-Wired Multi Tracker

Shas’ui XV8 Crisis Suit: Total - 77 pts
Twin Linked Plasma Rifles
Team Leader
Missile Pod
Hard-Wired Multi Tracker


TROOP Units:
Fire Warriors x 9: Total - 105 pts
Shas'ui Team Leader
Bonded

Fire Warriors x 6: Total - 60 pts

Kroot x 12: Total - 84 pts


HEAVY Units:
Broadside: Total - 90 pts
Shas’ui Team Leader
Smart Missile System
Multi Tracker
Advanced Stabilisation System

Broadside: Total - 90 pts
Shas’ui Team Leader
Smart Missile System
Multi Tracker
Advanced Stabilisation System

TOTAL: 750 pts