GK Orbital Relays; Are they worth it?

[Proiteus]

I’ve started building my grey knight terminator army and because I’ve often been tempted to field 3 Manticores in my guard army just for the satisfaction of carpet bombing my opponent’s army I’m wandering if it would be fun to run a list with 3 to 5 Orbital Relays in it?

True there is no escaping that I’d be paying 140pts for a single wound model but in additional to be able to bombard enemy models with a variety of ordnance you get the ‘bolster’ and ‘repair’ rule, plus you can easily hide them in a squad. So does that make up for it? Also I’m unsure about equipping HQ choices with them and forcing them to be immobile for most of the game?

So does anyone have experience in using or facing Grey Knights with orbital bombardment relays and are they worth it?

[Shnerg]

I love them, but I'm a sucker for stuff like that.

[Proiteus]

I love them, but I'm a sucker for stuff like that.

So how many do you take and how have you gotten on with them?

[GodlessM]

No they aren't worth it. They always scatter, even on a direct hit, and always go 2D6", so on average you are going 7" wide. Only time they are really worth it is when using Karamazov but even then you have to to take a cheap sacrificial unit and have it survive long enough to get within 1" of an enemy, and in order for that to work well even the enemy has to be clustered in a circle with a big enough gap to run into them.

[sethorly]

If you like large pie plates: Coteaz, 6 units of psykers. Pretty explosions and lots of hostile plastic pushed in tears to the side of the table. More wounds than a techmarine too, and cheaper, and Assault rather than Heavy. Use a vindicare to take out hoods, and don't play other GK's with Reinforced Aegis lol. It only takes 4 of them to wound T4 on 2s and negate AP3.

[Akira]

How about BOTH?

[MagicHat]

Never seen it used.
The lance is only useful versus a parking lot, otherwise you are unlikely to hit anything(and they might still get cover save).
The bombs are inferior to two Griffons.
If I played GK, I might take one, but as this person puts it:

I'm a sucker for stuff like that.

WEEEE! BOMBS FROM SPACE!

[Wyked]

As has been said, and has been discussed in other threads: They are horrible for one reason. They ALWAYS scatter the full 2D6 inches. Even the D3 barrage large template is going to miss more often than it's going to hit.

You cannot rely on it for anything, ever. 50 points for something you cannot rely is a horrible investment. As was said above, psykers are very fun. 6 groups of 8(str 10 ap1) with an alcolyte in a rhino, thanks to coteaz. LOTS of templatey goodness, and way more reliable.

~dy

[Proiteus]

Sorry for the thread necromancy but I noticed Inquisitor Karamazov has one, he can also target friendly units both in and out of combat calidus assassin appears and soon after runs to catch D3 barrage plates in an enemy fortification, or a lance strike between vehciles. Or in my case take a chance and throw it on a terminator squad in combat it's only AP4 but if your heavily outnumbered it's worth the risk when facing a huge mob of ork boyz.

So what do you think is Inquisitor Karamazov's orbital relay a better option to the techmarine's given it ablity to not scatter (in certain circumstances) and his durablity (with cover or 3 T5 crusaders guarding him)?

[yarrickson]

Single paladin with a warding stave, add Karamazovs orbital strike.. Boom!

I've used a techmarine with orbital bombs in maybe half a dozen games. He's handy for giving the vindicare a 2 up cover save in a ruin. But in those 6 games his tally is only ten orks, a rhino, three grey knight terminators and a fire dragon. So its not the most effective trick. :-P

[shadekiller]

why a warding stave? it only works for wounds caused in close combat.

[bebe]

In close combat but not in assault necessarily. So move your warding stave into cc and then let the OSR loose.

[Elios Harg]

Draigo also makes a good target for Karamazov since he's 3++ and eternal.