I just spent over £100 on 10 models. Now to many of you that might not seem like much, but as things stand that is over half of my monthly free spending money. I have been saving it for months now and it feels pretty good to finally have all the expensive components required to finish the Desert Lions army that I began well over a year ago. So what are these super expensive models? Titans, whats what. Ok so they are epic scale titans but titans nonetheless. The reason for this ludicrous splurge of money is that I have been struggling for a long time with trying to work out how to build the Legio Cybernetica robots I need to represent my Grey Knight terminators. Plasticard just didn't cut it at that scale, and apart from looking clunky, replicating the same complex design 10 times just doesn't appeal to me right now. Therefore I started looking for existing models that could be used or altered. After many weeks of fruitless searching I realised I was an idiot, because the Forge World epic scale Warhound Titan is almost identical in size to a terminator, and looks fantastic to boot. All they require is a head swap to something more 40k scaled and 'robotty', and arm swaps to represent the storm bolters/psycannons/nemesis weapons they should be armed with.
However, herein lies my problem. What is the best way to arm a unit of 10 Grey Knight Terminators? I want to make these guys look fantastic. They are the centerpiece to the whole force, the unit that really ties the theme together and makes people go wow. Therefore I want to build each robot individually, and not be messing around with magnets and weapon swaps at a later date. In short, I have one chance to get this right. In the list I am building the termies can be used in a few ways. Firstly, they can deep strike in, either as a block of 10 or as 2 blocks of 5, giving me a 'safe' way of getting up close and personal, or of threatening hard to reach objectives. Secondly they can plod up the centre of the table laying down fire and absorbing a disproportionate amount of enemy attention before beating face in combat (hopefully).
My Initial idea was this setup.
1 Justicar with storm bolter and master crafted hammer
1 brother with psycannon and sword
1 brother with psycannon and halberd
1 brother with storm bolter and hammer
3 brothers with storm bolter and sword
3 brothers with storm bolter and halberd
How does this sound? Based on any experiences you have had are the weapon choices ok? Is it worth paying for any further upgrades? Psybolts? a few Falcions?
Moreover, how should I be using this unit?
At a Parents Evening and in a gap between parents..
ReplyDeleteTitans as Termies! What a cool idea! I think it'll fit with the Desert Lions theme that you have worked up very well.
On the assumption that having spunked so much (relatively speaking) on these models that they are being included in the army no matter what...then I have found a few things:
1) Halberds work and work very well.. often the ability to swing first has the same defensive property as the +1 to invul. from sword...logic being there are less enemy units available to swing and kill you dead back!
2) Strength in numbers. Typically I run large termie groups in Coteaz spammy lists that mean I still have a large number of threat vectors.. resultingly, I do not need to split the unit up into more manageable chunks, because often, that is what you do with combat squadding - make your units easier to deal with.
3) Psybolts are very good, but don't give up other options to take them.. if it fits naturally then brilliant, but i genuinely wouldn't go too far out of my way to fit them in..
just some thoughts..if this is what you are looking for, say so and I'll add more..
exactly what i was after, thanks mate. any more would be appreciated.
DeleteYou certainly need to gear with combat squad in mind.
ReplyDeleteWhat will you be running, splitting the psycannon's down the middle or running two of - as you might want to think about allocation with that.
Like Ven says, Halb's are just incredible, I'd say shortly followed by hammers and then swords for mere wound allocation.
Psy ammo - I like the idea of S5, but I do think with an already pricey unit your going to be dropping stuff, though if your in the 1730 region its a solid add.
I think there is an argument that swords are very useful to have, especially if you are dropping in close to enemy lines, likely to be some counter assault elements..the 4++ can be useful indeed, but only perhaps 2 total..one per combat squad maybe..
ReplyDeleteok with that advice in mind i will go with the following:
ReplyDeleteJusticar with Master Crafted Hammer
2x Psycannon with Halberd
1x Storm Bolter with Hammer
2x Storm Bolter with Sword
4x Storm Bolter with Halberd
this gives me 6 Halberds, 2 Swords and 2 hammers, which seems like a good balance.
The Titans arrived today, and they are perfect. cant wait to get stuck into building them!
Looks solid to me
DeleteI would also advise a banner. It's often overlooked as being a waste, but the efficiency of attacks outweighs the loss of the 1 force weapon. Secondarily, it really helps not having to roll the force weapon test against things like Tyranids. The point cost for the psycannons makes me cringe every time I look at it.
ReplyDeletethanks for the reply man, i had looked at the banner myself, but i just cant find the points for it in my list! i will playtest with removing some other stuff and see how it goes.
DeleteThanks for replying as well. I seen this was an older post and usually when I come by to post my thoughts it just gets overlooked.
DeleteBack on topic: I think it really comes down to either psycannons OR banner for the cost. You just have to look at how you play them and how you like it. I use my terminators as a rounded hammer, much like my Strike squads; hitting things where THEY are weakest, not where I am, so more often than not I find them in assault where the banner is better.