I hope you’re all ready for the one-post guide to DeathWing Mark II. This should wrap up the differences we’ve had since the FAQ, and take into account the play testing we’ve had since the FAQ.
As always, the caveats come first:
1) This material is designed for armies in the 1500 – 2000 point bracket, larger or smaller than this & you’re playing a different game
2) This is my opinion, but if you disagree then you are wrong
3) This is a kind of distillation of the thread, mistakes are all mine, correct stuff is probably someone else’s work!
PURE DEATHWING ARMIES
The basics:
1) If you aren’t using Land Raiders, you are doing it wrong
2) If you go for all out assault, you will lose
Why is this the case?
Land Raiders are essential. If you aren’t using them then 2 things happen: Your small, elite army will be blasted off the table by the enemy’s long range guns; and you can’t get to where you need to be.
Assault is not where elite armies tend to want to be. Terminators are not assault specialists in a pure DeathWing army. THSS is rightly held up as the pinnacle of destructive death in a SM army, however, SM terminators have something we do not – support. Speeders, bikes, predators, devestators – all these will blow up other stuff while the terminators go and smash something up. If you have 4-5 squads of terminators running at the enemy, they will die because your enemy has run away (see Land Raider point), and their entire army is firing at yours. If you are walking towards the enemy, you can fire (8-10 missiles a turn – or as it is known, not enough), and you’ll never get into assault.
Now you could combine Land Raiders & an assault army. Then you have a twofold problem. The first is meltaguns, you have no option but to get into meltagun range & your tanks will die. The second is stuff that you don’t want to be in combat with, and this breaks down into 2 problems – hordes (see IG blob squad & orks) which will hold you up for the rest of the game while the enemy gets the objectives, and will likely have a hidden powerfist to mess you up more then them – and assault specialists which are better, or as good at you in combat, either they destroy you, or you destroy each other, while the rest of his army gets the objectives (see the theme?)
So in essence you will have Land Raiders and (predominantly) shooty terminators as your force. This allows you to have a good mix of shooting & assaulting in your list. This provides FLEXIBILITY, the mainstay of everything you need to take in a DeathWing list. The reason that this is important is because YOU WILL BE OUT NUMBERED, YOU WILL BE OUTGUNNED. Each choice you take needs to be able to do everything, and do it adequately, by itself, because for each unit/ vehicle you have, your opponent will have two.
Now, just because each unit can operate as an independent army, this doesn’t mean that it should. In fact the only way to win with DeathWing is to ensure your army acts as a single army, not a disparate collection of different choices. By having a number of similar, resilient, high damage potential models firing together, the DeathWing can overcome any force. The key, again, is FLEXIBILITY. An ork horde will not be destroyed as effectively in combat by 15 terminators as it will by 15 terminators shooting and moving backwards followed by an assault. A squad of power weapon toting jump-packers are not scared of you in combat, but you can shoot them at least twice before they get to you, when they are weak, they will be overcome.
The mantra is the summation of this; never forget the mantra:
CONCENTRATE your fire
ASSAULT on your terms
BELIEVE in the God-Emperor
With all this in mind, let us move to some specifics.
I) Which ICs should you take, and how should you equip them?
Before we talk about this, we need to explore how ICs are used in DeathWing army. Their first role is that of a bullet magnet. The first shot against a squad with an IC attached that doesn’t caused instant death should ALWAYS be taken on the IC. If the IC can catch a plasma shot (for instance as a non-instant death, AP2 weapon) then all the better, you’ve just saved a terminator. This should be used until the IC is down to one wound. Therefore your squads will be far more resilient to being shot. The second role of the IC is to do something that the terminators can’t, this gives your squad FLEXIBILITY.
Given that we will have at least two DeathWing squads in our army, and the ICs bring a lot to a squad, it stands to reason that we should bring as many as we can. So two.
Belail: We need to take him. He can be equipped three ways:
Twin lightning claws: Provides a high number of I5 attacks, which you terminators can’t do. Wounds fairly efficiently with the rerolls to wound.
Sword and storm bolter: gets I5 attacks, but not as many as with the twin lightning claws. Bolter is as the rest of the squad.
Thunder hammer & storm shield: does nothing the squad doesn’t already do, but makes his bullet catching role better.
On balance, the lightning claw option seems to be the best. His many I5 attacks will clear out some scary baddies, leaving less assault hits back on your terminators – especially as the opponent will have to split some of those fewer attacks to him. The THSS isn’t bad, but if you’re running land raiders, then the I5 is more useful.
Librarian: Has a good role in bullet catching, but his psychic power in this regard is poor due to his Ld9 and the prevalence of psychic hoods means that it’s unreliable. His force weapon is useful for instant death-ing things, but considering you’ll be hitting that same thing with a bunch of powerfists at I1, then really, who cares. His hood could be useful, but he’s Ld9, so it isn’t.
Chaplain: This is the default 2nd IC. A reliable bullet catcher with a 4++. He has I5 like Belail. But his main bonus is what he brings to the squad. He makes your terminators frightening in combat. You can now charge dedicated assault units which strike before you – they may take out half the squad, but Chaplain ensures that they hit back with the power of a full squad. Monstrous creatures, power weapon assaulting squads, and the like melt away to a chaplain delivered assault.
There we are we need two ICs, Belail with lightning claws, and a Chaplain.
Never spend points on your ICs – except terminator armour (or you aren’t playing DeathWing), they have limited options & the points are better spent elsewhere. The combi-melta may look exciting, but our squads get melta weapons that are much better as we’ll discuss later.
II) How many Land Raider Crusaders should you use?
Now, the leading question is out of the way, lets take a look at why the Crusader is THE tank for DeathWing. We have discussed previously that your terminators will be predominately shooty, therefore we need to look at the synergies the Crusader brings to DeathWing:
1) They both shoot 24": This means that you can keep your entire army together, focus fire, and protect your troops with your tanks, or tanks with your troops (depending on threats) whilst maintaining a 24" threat zone, and nothing gets left behind.
2) Troop movement: There are times when you simply need to get out of a situation & the LRCs allow you to load up an run for the hills should you need to. In addition, for your troops to be effective, they need to be within 24". Again the transport allows you to get to that area when the enemy refuses to come to you.
3) They're rock hard: Crusaders provide immunity from most weaponry on the 40k battlefield.
So why shouldn’t we be taking a Godhammer? (A quick point here – Godhammer refers to the original Land Raider. In some canon it is called something different, but in this thread, Godhammer is the name - after the lascannon mounts) Here are the reasons why a Crusader is better than a Godhammer:
1) Killing stuff: The Crusader is simply better. At killing light troops, the tank is a unit murderer, cover or not. Against heavy troops you put out so many shots that some are bound to die, and your troops can finish them off. Against tanks the assault cannon and multi-melta are far more effective (at the tank & troops shooting range of 24") than the Godhammer, at 12" it is even better. At 48" the Godhammer is obviously better at killing anything, but consider:
a) if your land raider is 48" from the enemy & your troops are 24" away from the enemy, neither is supported adequately & both will die
b) if your land raider is 48" away with your troops, your troops are firing 2 missiles and you kill less
c) 24" is a massive range in 40k. With 2 land raiders, you can drive into the middle of the board & dominate most of it, only the corners and extreme edges are safe, but you can move 6" and still shoot to cover most of this area.
2) Moving stuff: The extra capacity of the LRC is fantastic. At 1500 points, I'd always recommend 2 LRs & 2 IC. So if you need to move your army & you have 2 ICs - how do they get transported? The LRCs provide flexibility in that a squad can attach 1 or 2 ICs and still be able to load up & go where they like. This is useful where an IC has had a squad shot out from around them & needs to join another squad.
3) Assaulting: The Crusader is an assault tank, meaning it is the only way we can get I5 from our ICs whilst charging into cover.
Now that we know why the Crusader is better, we can go back to the question of how many to take. Fairly obviously, it depends on the points. However, the basic rule is that one is not enough. Two is sufficient at 1500, but above these points, things get exciting. Three Land Raiders are necessary at 2000 points, due to the increase in anti-tank weaponry available to you opponent. At 1750/1850 it’s more of a choice between having more scoring units or having all your units transported.
Either way, as a third tank, a Godhammer could be the tank for you. At this point you may be wondering why considering the amount of time I spent above extolling the Crusader. The reason is FLEXIBILITY. While the Crusader is better, the Godhammer has range on its side & as both of your ICs already have a transport, then the extra capacity of the Crusader isn’t so important. However, a third Crusader is never a bad choice due to its inherent multi-tasking role of anti-tank and anti-infantry.
The only option on the Land Raider worth considering is extra armour. Crusaders need this, however, loading out your squads correctly is more vital, therefore only add thisupgrade once your squads are rounded out & you have points left over.
III) How many Dreadnoughts should be used?
None. Every army in the game has multiple ways of dealing with AV12. You can’t saturate armour as you are limited to 3 AV12 chassis. Leave them at home.
IV) How should squads be equipped?
First of all, we need to consider the wound-wrapping mechanic in 5th edition 40k. See here:
http://www.warseer.com/forums/showpo...4&postcount=20 for details. Ignore the squad set ups, they relate to pre FAQ load outs.
As previously discussed, shooting is the way forward. But, this needs to be netted off against durability. We therefore need to add at least 1 THSS – sergeant, step up, you lose this round, the sargeant’s power weapon doesn’t add anything of real note to the squad, therefore it is replaced. You may be well served by adding a further THSS to the squad, it depends on your meta. If you have an IC attached, this probably isn’t necessary, but a squad without an IC probably should take this option.
The other option we have is the chain fist. 5 points you simply must spend. This is 5th edition and the melta gun is king. The chainfist is a 3 shot melta gun (think about it, with 6” it does double damage just like a melta gun and has a 12” threat range). With a Chaplain in the squad, it’s hard to miss with this weapon. Land Raiders and Dreadnoughts are no longer a threat to you.
Next up is the heavy weapon. We have real choice here, so a breakdown is required:
Heavy flamer: short ranged, but can kill a lot of enemies. This isn’t going to hurt vehicles. Pass on this option because it can only hurt troops, and if you are firing the flamer, you can assault. If the flamer kills the squad then you can’t charge, are open to counter charge, and are likely to be stood in the open. Not to mention you’ll look a putz.
Assault cannon: Has many attributes. It’s good at killing troops, it is exceptionally good at taking out armour and it has the same threat range as the storm bolters. The downside is the fact that it isn’t AP3, and it costs a whopping 30 points.
Cyclone missile launcher: The go-to weapon. If you aren’t using this, then you need to think about why you aren’t using this weapon. The same number of shots as the assault cannon (as you keep the storm bolter) but significantly cheaper. It has range should you find yourself without a transport and is the premier weapon for taking out rhino chassis.
Squads should therefore look like this:
THSS
PF SB (or THSS if without an IC)
PF SB
CF SB
PF SB CML
There are further items of bling which you can add to squads being the banner & apothecary. The banner really isn’t worth it - if you can’t kill something with 15 powerfist attacks on the charge then really, you should have shot it more.
The apothecary is a lovely bit of kit. However, I would rather add extra armour to the Land Raiders to ensure that the squads are where they should be than have a more survivable squad where it shouldn’t be. Add only if you have points to spare.
V) How do you play the army?
Castle & refused flank.
No really, that’s it. Never split you army up. You have a 24” main threat range, use it. Stay away from fast melta – use terrain & use the maxim “if it’s faster than me, it dies first”. If your missiles can cripple you opponent’s movement on turn 1, get out of your tanks use your CMLs and stop him moving. Once DeathWing control Movement, you will be in a far better position to win.
You WILL NOT WIN by trying to destroy your opponent. You will only win by playing the mission, never forget the mission. Look at your opponent’s army list & pick out the threats. Target them. Do not waver. A threat is a threat – kill it. Once the main threats are dead, then worry about everything else. Once you have got to this position play to the mission.
DeathWing control the Midfield. Once you are there, your 24” guns cover the field. That’s 3 squads & 2 Crusaders at 1500 points. That’s a lot of shots.
Ensure you pick a threat & kill it. No half measures, overlap your fire arcs, kill it dead, a dead enemy can’t sneak off & capture an objective. A dead enemy can’t hurt you.
Do NOT worry about cowardice. A ‘tactical rearward advance’ is not retreat, pick your battles, you can withdraw. Remwmber you can get back into your tanks - if you need to redeploy, or hide your terminators then get back in the tank. If your opponent can't hurt your tanks, then stay in them & laugh as his feeble weapons bounce from its admantium hull!
Know your distances. 6”, 12”, 21.5”, 24” are the ones you need to know about. Learn them, learn the size of all your models so that you can triangulate the distances.
NEVER EVER DEEPSTRIKE unless you have the most cunning plan, you can then regret it after the battle.
VI) How do you pick a list?
1) Pick ICs (in TDA)
2) Pick Tanks (no upgrades)
3) Pick Troops (no upgrades)
4) Pick Troop essential weapons upgrades
5) Pick extra armour
6) Add bling
Hope that helps. Not quite as passionate as the last attempt. But at least its up to date, and gives people something to whinge about
Given that this is no longer a pure DeathWing thread, who wants to step up to do the Double/TripleWing one-post tactica?
Originally Posted by Russell's teapot
)
starlight
. 
.
