Wednesday 18 May 2011

Drraaiiigo!!!! (And some Dreadnaughts)

Terminators with 2 wounds. We all thought this was amazing. Then we looked at the codex and saw they cost 55 points each base and had no access to decent invulnerable saves.
FNP? We thought this could be incredible! Then we saw it was 75 points. 75. wow.

Like a lot of players I have glazed over Paladin units in my Grey Knights force. I felt that scoring GKTs were better and cheaper. Better in a sense that a scoring terminator unit was far superior to one that didn’t.

I didn’t want to take Draigo because despite being very decent in combat, he offered very little else.
Except of course making Paladins a Troop choice.

This can of course be done by a regular Grand Master through the Grand Strategy option. This is 100 points cheaper before you add any upgrades. Likely upgrades? A set of Grenades (Psychotroke is my favourite for the amazing random effects) and perhaps an Incinerator or Psycannon. I love the Psycannon option, but it does get very expensive. 45 points for 4 shots that are highly accurate and relentless…well, it’s a lot of points. Grenades or perhaps an Incinerator..most likely the Grenades.

I have to thank Hulksmash (found in his Homeplace here) for opening my eyes to the possibility of running Paladins. Realistically, not in a Draigo army, but as a great little unit in a more ‘regualar’ Grey Knight army.

They can run pretty cheap for the bang you get for your buck.

5 Paladins at 55. = 275…
2 Psycannons at 20 points each…40
305 points is the base cost for these dudes.
With free upgrades to Hammers and Halberds we can create a unique unit for Wound Allocation shenanigans… This helps massively.

As anecdotal evidence to this, I played 2 games yesterday with a ridiuculous Driago-Dread army last night, and it took 2 turns of concentrated fire from an entire army of Grey Knights (built competitively, played well and thoroughly playtested for tweaks) to gun down one unit of Paladins. Crazy. That was without FNP…

So, Blog Wars is coming up in just a few short weeks… Draigo is a special character and most definitely unique.
A Draigo army could be viable as I would at least have it all painted due to its crazy small size. How would it look at 1750? Yesterday I ran:

Driago
Librarian – Shrouding, Might, Quicksilver…Halberd whatever (general assortment of powers and skulls can be used here)
Paladins x 5 – 2 MC Cannons, Bro Banner, Hammer, 2 Halberds, Sword
Paladins x 5 – 2 MC Cannons, Bro Banner, Hammer, 2 Halberds, Sword
Venerable Dreadnaught – TL Auto, Ass Cannon, Psybolts or for the same points in ‘Psyfle’ configuration
Dreadnaught – 2 TL Autocannon, Psybolts
Dreadnaught – 2 TL Autocannon, Psybolts
Dreadnaught – 2 TL Autocannon, Psybolts
This comes to 1750 on the nose.. And is stupidly cool.

Not truly a competitive list, but Blog Wars is not necessarily about that.. could even sack off the Librarian and one Bro Banner (the use of which I am not convinced by) and gain another Venerable Dreadnaught… just for laughs.
Can have a maximum of 5 scoring units. Have some outstandingly reliably long range shooting and once the enemy has approached and I likewise, the Paladins have some very good shooting due to MC’s relentless Psycannons..

Probably cannot handle hordes.
But I think can hold its own versus a lot of other archetypes that you are likely to see on the tabletop

In a more realistic setup?

Grand Master – Psychotroke
Paladins (as above but without Bro Banner)
10 Strike Knights, Psybolts, 2 Cannons, Hammer, Rhino
10 Strike Knights, Psybolts, 2 Cannons, Rhino
10 Strike Knights, Psybolts, 2 Cannons, Rhino
Psyfledread
Psyfledread
Psyfledread
Good bodies, solid troops. In this setup we don’t necessarily need to use Grand Strategy to make the Paladins or Dreads scoring. We can of course, but could get good use from counter attack or from Scouting on the Paladins…
I’m missing offensive psychic presence, but the offensive cover is there from the Enhanced Aegis web from 3 Dreadnaughts..
I have to admit, I think the Librarian is overall better than the Grand Master in terms of utility and army-wide buffs from Shrouding, Sanctuary etc… but this is sooo much fun!
What are your thoughts guys? Would you like to see this attend Blog Wars and trample people/get trampled for my arrogance at thinking this is even remotely viable?

13 comments:

  1. the first list is pretty funny. i would be worried about lists with lots of melta, low ap blasts, and stuff that reduces morale, since they are not fearless.

    the second list is much better, and is almost identicle to what Bully destroyed me with a few days ago. (i say destroyed, what i really mean is we drew, but i only had 4 models left, two on an objective, and only killed about 12 of his. i felt bad, genuiniely)

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  2. lol, it is pretty stupid...it is epic fun though!! Every saving throw after one of the dudes has taken a wound is an emotional roller coaster!! An receives a huge cheers when they save half a dozen wounds each lol...

    Second list is pretty realistic.. Bully told me about the hammering.. issue with the second one is it has no SC... not Blog Wars compliant lol!

    Reducing morale? so Fear of the Darkness and Weaken Resolve is pretty much it really... Both of which are taken at -4 to Leadership due to presence of Enhanced Aegis..that means PBS are getting it off on a roll of 4 or less on 2d6.....I'll leave that there...

    Honest opnion...can list 1 hang?

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  3. Would it be better with the 5th Dread or Libbie staying in? Would it be better with a 3rd Paladin sqaud instead of the Ven Dread and Libbie?

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  4. I've been playing about with a Draigo-Paladin list since the book 1st got leaked to quite a lot of success.

    The list I use is even more 'silly' than your 1st one:

    HQ 1: Draigo = [275]

    HQ 2: Librarian, Might of Titan, Quick Silver Sanctuary, Shrouding = [170]

    TROOPS 1: 10 Paladins
    1 = Apothecary Storm Bolter & Master-crafted Hammer
    2 = Master-crafted Psycannon Brotherhood Banner
    3 = Master-crafted Psycannon & Master-crafted Hammer
    4 = Master-crafted Psycannon & Halberd
    5 = Master-crafted Psycannon & Sword
    6 = Storm Bolter & Warding Stave
    7 = Storm Bolter & Master-crafted Hammer
    8 = Storm Bolter & Falchions
    9 = Storm Bolter & Halberd
    10 = Storm Bolter & Sword = [790]

    TROOPS 2: 1 Paladin, Storm Bolter & Sword = [55]

    TROOPS 3: 1 Paladin, Storm Bolter & Sword = [55]

    HEAVY 1: Dreadnought, 2 Twin-linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo = [135]

    HEAVY 2: Dreadnought, 2 Twin-linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo = [135]

    HEAVY 3: Dreadnought, 2 Twin-linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo = [135]

    [TOTAL = 1750]

    Yes the 2 lone Palandins spend most of the game in reserve or hiding whilst the massive deathstar and dreads do all the work.

    Does it work? Hell yeah!

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  5. Neil, I think I love you! lol

    Thats hilarious!!! I'm gonna try that! Single Paladins get some use from Holocaust at all? Or are they just hiding...

    Hordes? Combat squad the 10 man and use 4 Holocausts plus Psycannons to hit one horde mob at a time?

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  6. that has to be one of the funniest lists i have ever seen.

    and yes, i think List 1 CAN work, but there are going to be games were you just get destroyed due to bad rolling or a bad matchup. fun for Blog Wars, not so much for other things maybe xD

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  7. I think that is spot on Atreides.. fun for Blog Wars and I think I'd even get it painted to a reasonable standard lol!

    Think I'd probably go for more Halberds and MC them in the big unit, and the 2 single dudes how about both with Halberds and essentially just run them as one unit for all intents and purposes...maybe even MC their weapons?

    or keep them bare and in reserve to DS onto objectives using skulls?

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  8. Yeah list two is very similar to what I ran - I am looking at variants (will be up in my post in about 2 hours) - crowe / non-term lists will be in my next post.

    As for the first list, I love it.

    I actually really like both Draigo and Mordrak - which had me thinking, Draigo bomb. I am sure putting Draigo in that deepstriking unit is completely illegal - or is it? Would he nullify their rule or not? (That is - their 1st turn completely accurate DS - I wouldnt think so since its much the same as Dante's DS) - fill out with suitable scouting dreadknights and run rampant! :D

    Whats quite comical is I bet those dreads get zero fire at them, anything that can hurt them is probably trying to insta-kill/mass wound the paladins!

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  9. So far, 2 games only for evidence, but yeah...100% of fire at the Paladins...Dreads won me a kill point game by annihilating Razors and their opposite numbers...

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  10. Nice. How have you found them in combat? WS5 I6 is basically "pretty decent character" level - and theres quite a few of the buggers ...

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  11. I played in a team tournament with an all-Paladin/Draigo/Libby list and it was GREAT fun.

    If you care to read about the experience and my analysis:

    http://ultramarineblues.blogspot.com/2011/05/paladins-totally-worth-it.html

    Personally I think your second list is much more "realistic" in terms of doing damage and being more "competitive", but there's a huge amount of satisfaction playing with a pile (albeit a small one) of 2W Terminators. :)

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  12. Nice one - gonna have a read now :)

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  13. Cheers Crusher... I'll investigate... and you are spot on, there is something to be said for having a tiny band of hero's on the table!!

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