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As I'm sure most of you know, I've been playing with power blob list for awhile now. One of my chronic weaknesses has been one of my PCSs, which I've always been willing to sacrifice at the altar of "I need those points elsewhere". After having them do basically nothing for over 20 games now, I'm actually considering getting rid of the squad alltogether and taking my second power blob and just scooting it over into the first troops choice. I lose 1 "go go go!" order per turn, but I gain 2 fewer KPs offered, and 55 points.

So here's what my list looks like with the extra PCS taken out:

CCS, 4x melta, astropath
Lord Commissar, carapace, power fist
3 eviscerator priests

Marbo
6 Ogryn

PCS (al'rahem) 3x melta
PIS, meltabombs, commissar, 2x power weapons
PIS, flamer, meltabombs, power weapon
PIS, meltabombs, commissar, 2x power weapons
PIS, flamer, meltabombs, power weapon

PCS 3x melta, meltabombs
PIS, meltabombs, commissar, 2x power weapons
PIS, flamer, meltabombs, power weapon
PIS, meltabombs, commissar, 2x power weapons
PIS, flamer, meltabombs, power weapon
HWS, 3x missile launchers
HWS, 3x missile launchers

So, the question is what to do with the 55 points? Out of the above list, I'd also be willing to drop the PCS meltabombs, Marbo, and one of my priests for a total of 185 points, max.

The problem is that I don't know what to cut, and what would be better.

If I'm just dropping the PCS, I was thinking...

- 1 more ogryn, and a few more meltaguns: This keeps me at -2 KP while giving a general boost to stuff

- with the meltabomb, a mortar HWS: not that useful, but neither was my sniper rifle loadout.

- a 5x unit of rough riders: My biggest problem with this is that I don't have the models, and with all of the scratchbuilding I've been doing as of late, I'm not particularly stoked to do another whole project at the moment.

- with the meltabomb, another priest: Don't exactly know where I'd put him, though.

- another power weapon commissar and another meltagun: cheap, easy, but not necessarily all that useful.


Or, with dropping marbo or a priest

- a psyker battle squad: I dont' really know what I'd do with this, honestly. I usually dont' start winning combats with my power blobs until after awhile, and I question how useful the big blast will be. I can think of a few situations, though where they would have been handy over the past couple of games.

- a 10x rough rider squad: probably the most ideal option, but the idea of quick scratchbuilding 10 riders in a week or two is far from appealing to me.

- 2 more priests: I could fill out my max. The problem is that, being one-wound models now, I haven't been able to play as aggressively with them as I used to. Now, instead of 3 rerollable eviscerator attacks, they're usually doing 2 non-rerollables, or I risk losing rerollability on my power weapons.


Or, with dropping all of them...

- 4 more Ogryn! Unfortunately, I only have 1 lord commissar to go around. I suppose I could bulk my ogryn up to a 10-brute squad, which would be pretty loltastic.

- a big wad of plasma stormies: would fit will with my astopath and outflanking thing. Basically, it would act as a teleporting power blob.


Anyways, I've got a lot swirling in my head, and I don't really know what to do. Ideally, the changes would be small and easy to model (because ideally, I'd be adding a 5th power blob in some how, but that would take forever to model). Any input would be much appreciated.

10 ogryns would be awesome. Rough Riders are decently easy to scratch build with fantasy marauders and the cadian infantry kits. The addition of one ogryn and a few meltas appears to be a good option because as you pointed out it keeps down your available kill points.

I would say go with the outflanking plasma stormies as they add more punch to your outflanking unit.

Drop all of them, add CREED to get your "go go go" back and bulk up the Ogryn.

Thanks for the input!

how would creed bulk up my ogryn? It would be kind of funny to outflank them with al'rahem, though.

as for the stormies, the question is if 2 plasma guns and 8 hot-shot lasguns are worth the Marbo deathsplosion and the meltagun or two of firepower that the priest dishes out.

As for the riders, all I've got are the bases. I have a plan for them, but the mount itself is going to be scratchbuilt, with about a third of the rider as well. I just don't have time at the moment to do that. The real question then is in regards to how cool it would be to play riders with just a couple of bases on the field.

I would suggest the rough rider route as well, but I never like to rush conversions they always pay for it in the end if you do.

Why not add a third missile launcher heavy weapon team? Drop one priest, and with the 55 for the other platoon that leaves you with 115pts to play with. The missile launcher heavy weapon team is 90, which leaves you with 25. You can buy 2 melta guns for your other pcs's and give out another melta bomb to someone.

I should have elaborated more - if after Creed is added, there are points left over, add another Ogryn or two... I too like the addition of rough riders but understand your constraints on them.

I noticed you dont use a Regimental Standard....is it because the Lord Commissar offsets the need for one?

Warmaster wrote:Why not add a third missile launcher heavy weapon team? Drop one priest, and with the 55 for the other platoon that leaves you with 115pts to play with. The missile launcher heavy weapon team is 90, which leaves you with 25. You can buy 2 melta guns for your other pcs's and give out another melta bomb to someone.

Hmm... that's not a bad idea. I don't feel like I need a third missile launcher team, but the ML covers for some of the priest and all of the snipers, and preserves the -2KP. I don't have any more missile launcher guys made, but I do have enough other heavy weapons teams to proxy...

kaiservonhugal wrote:I noticed you dont use a Regimental Standard....is it because the Lord Commissar offsets the need for one?

I used to consider a regimental standard as flat-out necessary. And then I started taking PCS commissars. Once it became clear to me that the standard and summary execution don't mix, the only reason to keep the flag was to prevent HWSs from running due to shooting casualties. Needless to say, that made it not worth taking.

The only reason you've seen it at all recently was because I was under the impression that a rerollable Ld8 was good enough to keep stubborn ogryn on the table, but given my luck with morale tests, that roughly 16% chance of running was actually playing out at 100%. With the inclusion of the lord commissar directly into the ogryn squad, I once again have a conflict with summary execution, and I once again have no reason to take the standard.

Honestly, this much-beloved piece of wargear actually has less purpose in the new guard. If you're infantry, you have commissars, and if you're mech, you're relying on chimeras to keep troops on the field. Not really as much purpose to it any more...

Ailaros, do you have any HWT's in your Power Blobs?

I like the third Missile squad idea. More fiewpower is always a good thing to distract the opponent while you get up the table.

Rough Riders also a good idea. They get cover saves from Ogryn and Power Blob, and can go vehicle hunting later.

Stormies would be ok, but I'm not so sure they fit with the list right now. I think the above two choices would both be much better fits for you.

mrfantastical wrote:Ailaros, do you have any HWT's in your Power Blobs?

No.

They would just encourage me to use the blobs wrong. I know that they can help get more dudes into close combat, but it's not my abblative wounds that do the damage

So, the more I ponder this, the more I'm actually being drawn towards stormtroopers. If I drop a priest and the PCS I get exactly the number of points for a 2x plasma 5-man stormie squad. To compare it to the missile launchers...

Wraithlord:
Stormies - .9
ML (no BiD) - .75
ML (BiD) - 1.12

Tervigon:
Stormies - 2.5
ML (no BiD) - 1.26
ML (BiD) - 1.89

MEq:
Stormies - 3.5
ML (no BiD) - 1.26

Chimera (destroyed or immobilized):
Stormies (hitting side or rear)- .71
ML (hitting front, no BiD) - .29
ML (hitting front, BiD) - .43

As such, we see that in a single round of shooting, stormies are likely to do more damage. Of course, missile launchers will undoubtedly get more turns to fire, but missile launchers also have to deal with cover and LOS problems, while the stormies very likely don't.

So, given that they're roughly equal to each other, why like stormies? It has to do with the rest of my list. On the one hand, a third ML squad would well-compliment my other two. That said, there are other factors. For one, heavy weapons teams have big footprints, and I've got a lot of dudes. This is especially a problem given that HWS need clear firing lanes from the get-go. Secondly, the ML's will provide a momentum drag on my list. It gives me more incentive to leave my CCS in the backfield to dish out orders. But their Ld is kind of low, so maybe I should keep the lord commissar around, which means I need to keep my ogryn back...

Thirdly, I like the idea of getting more out of my astropath, doing more to add punch to my generally successful Al'Rahem platoon, and having another uber harassment unit to go along with Marbo (what he doesn't kill outright with the demo charge can be polished off by the stormies).

I think my biggest problem with this list is that it's starting to get thin on anti-tank. I don't face off against a lot of tanks in my local meta, but still...

Well, if you are worried about AT, why not make one of the ST squads a melta squad? This would also allow a few more melta bombs.


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I misread your last post, my suggestion doesn't make as much sense now. Though it could still work, but I think the Plasma is a better choice.

Why not use lascannons and bolter teams? Just wondering...
You have better antitank and more efficeint anti infantry.
the maximum amount of little men you can hit is 2 (3 if your lucky ) if your opponent doesn't forget to space them out.

You also get hight strength and better AP

are you against penal legion squads...scoring units and can outflank with your power blob that outflanks...and are stubborn without a commisar...a priest can join them after the fact if they outflank on the same side as your other IS...or they add some shooting punch...rending power...etc...just my two cents...

Thanks for all of the great battle reports...I am running a power blob myself now cuz of it...but I use grey knight termies to cover the front with straken behind them...anyway...thanks again...

Cadichan Support wrote:Why not use lascannons and bolter teams? Just wondering...

I don't consider the missile launcher to be an anti-light-infantry weapon. Small blast templates are likely to hit just ONE model if your opponent spreads out properly (I consider your estimate an overestimate). The only time I'd ever consider it is with mortars, which are both cheaper, and get the multiple barrage rule.

I also don't consider the missile launcher a serious anti-tank weapons. Lascannons are also not all that great for the role. Pay more for AP2? Meh.

So then why do I have the missile launchers? Because, for their points, they are just as good against light vehicles as the hydras that they replaced. They lose the ability to ignore SMF, but they gain AP3. Basically, they're a good-enough alternative to the autocannon while being much better against MCs and run of the mill multi-wound Sv3 and ASv4 models.

In short, the reason that I'm taking missile launchers is because I want sniper rifles that wound on 2+ instead of 4+, and always ignore armor, rather than just a sixth of the time. That and I have little investment in absolutely stopping transports on their side of the board, so it's more of a pleasant occasional bonus.

Widowsbane wrote:are you against penal legion squads...scoring units and can outflank with your power blob that outflanks...and are stubborn without a commisar...a priest can join them after the fact if they outflank on the same side as your other IS...or they add some shooting punch...rending power...etc...just my two cents...

Meh. They're only slightly better than 10 dudes with lasguns, in my opinion. If I wanted that, I'd just add more dudes to Al'Rahem's platoon. Plus, with 48 dudes coming in off of one flank, I've noticed that it's getting a little crowded when reinforcements arrive.

Widowsbane wrote:Thanks for all of the great battle reports...I am running a power blob myself now cuz of it...but I use grey knight termies to cover the front with straken behind them...anyway...thanks again...

No prob. I'm glad that it's all working out for you.

I'm votin for the stormies. Gives alot of tactical flexibility, what with being able to choose the special operation at deployment, after you know the tactical situation (opponent/terrain/mission) and plasma is the best choice for keeping them versatile. A sharp cookie like Daxos should be able to get the most out of them. Although melta is tempting, considering your AT concerns.

I'd also point you toward the LC's for this reason.


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One AC one LC?