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Hey all,

First time trying to get back into the hobby after a few years and wanted to run a proposed 1850pt "end goal" army past some of you before I buy all the models and realize it dies to a single termagaunt! Planning on using either Iron Hands or Imperial Fist doctrine and painting my own color scheme (because it's so much better that way!). C&C is appreciated on any front!

Complete Gladius Strike Force - 1850pt total

BDC 1 - 643 pt

Chaplain: Melta Bombs, rest=stock.
Tactical Squad: 4x Marine, 1x Srg, 1x Plasma Cannon, Rest Bolt Gun.
-Free Razorback with Twin Linked Lascannon Upgrade
Tactical Squad: 4x Marine, 1x Srg, 1x Plasma Cannon, Rest Bolt Gun.
-Free Razorback with Twin Linked Lascannon Upgrade
Tactical Squad: 5x Marine, 1x Srg, 1x Plasma Cannon, Rest Bolt Gun.
-Free Razorback with Twin Linked Lascannon Upgrade
Devastator Squad: 5x Marine, 1x Srg, 4x Missile Launcher, Armorium Cherub
-Free Razorback with Twin Linked Lascannon Upgrade
Land Speeder(1): Hvy Bolter, Secondary Weapon (Hvy Bolter)

BDC 2 - 672 pt

Captain: Power Axe, Melta Bombs.
Tactical Squad: 4x Marine, 1x Srg, 1x Plasma Cannon, Rest Bolt Gun.
-Free Razorback with Twin Linked Lascannon Upgrade
Tactical Squad: 5x Marine, 1x Srg, 1x Plasma Cannon, Rest Bolt Gun.
-Free Razorback with Twin Linked Lascannon Upgrade
Tactical Squad: 5x Marine, 1x Srg, 1x Plasma Cannon, Rest Bolt Gun.
-Free Razorback with Twin Linked Lascannon Upgrade
Devastator Squad: 5x Marine, 1x Srg, 4x Missile Launcher, Armorium Cherub
-Free Razorback with Twin Linked Lascannon Upgrade
Land Speeder(1): Hvy Bolter, Secondary Weapon (Hvy Bolter)

Armoured Task Force - 535 pt

Techmarine: Servo Harness, rest stock.
Predator: Twin Linked Lascannon, Side sponson lascannon.
Vindicator: Stock.
Vindicator: Stock.
Whirlwind: Stock.

Total Points: 1850

Obviously focused on ranged combat more than close combat and I expect it to be a weakness should armies be able to make it there. All told there are 8 "free" Razorbacks to make use of the full Gladius bonus and right now I am leaning towards Twin Linked Lascannon on them all but am also considering Lascannon/Plasma gun combos. None of the units are very large and in take and hold style scenarios I foresee an issue with that but with this much shooting do you think I could make do? Anyways this is what I've come up with so far and would appreciate some C&C!

Thanks for the time!

Personally, I would drop the extra marines from the 6 man squads, the cherubs, and maybe downgrade a razorback or two to HBs. Then add a dread or another vindi or re-kit the land speeders.

Sounds resonable, I'll take a look at some point shuffling in that regard to maybe grab a dread with (X) weapon/Power fist for at least a minor defensive CC unit, or another vindi. Thanks for the thought!

First, Welcome to Dakka.

I’d avoid plasma cannons. I think you might want to consider going for special weapons (with matching combis on the sarges) on at least a few, if not all, of the tacs. It would be a good spot to splash some melta into your list at the very least. For the razors that plan on going out to grab objectives, you might want TLAsC or las/plas on them.

If you can shake the points free to upgrade the speeders to THL/HB you will get a lot more use out of them. Alternatively, going double melta is worth it.

MLs are very mediocre these days. I’d try to upgrade the devs to LCs.

Thanks for the thoughts on the list,

Currently all 8 razorbacks have TLAsC, though I'm leaning more towards turning 2-3 into las/plasma.

The landspeeders I am currently thinking of as "throw away" units to soak shooting from a squad for a turn since they are the cheapest option to gain the free razorbacks. If I could find points somewhere I think upgrading the missile launchers to Las in the devestator squads might go further?

Do you think taking the 1 extra marine out of the dev squads to get points to upgrade 5 total to lascannons is worth it? Lose the damage soak in the squads but gain the +1 str -1 AP.


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Oh, and thanks for the welcome!

In general I’m not a big fan of tax units. If you are going to take a unit, make sure you give it what it needs to function properly. While I can see a use of a 2xHB speeder, I think the platform deserves better then that. For a modest amount of points, you can either go 2xMM or TML/HB which will both provide a much greater impact on the battlefield. Also, if you really just want a warm body to fill the slot, a HB attack bike is 40 points.

Alternitively, swap them out for assault squads. More free razors. And a good spot to put your HQs, 2xFlamer squads work well in a MSU spam list.

To shave points I’d drop all your squads down to 5 men. While the extra guy can be nice, you need more points. You could also drop one of the tanks.

I think the upgrade is very important for the devs. I regret every frag missile I toss downrange. So if I’m just shooting kracks, why not upgrade to the LCs. The extra S and AP are well worth it. If you do end up running Imp. Fists, the 4xHB dev squad looks like it could be fun. (and cheep)

no gorgons chain smash captain? you fall on ur head boy?

Smashfrakker is only useful when you have a dedicated CC squad to put him with - choppy command bikers, Vanguard Vets, etc. For a dakka-centric list like this, no, I'd skip him.

You've got six tac squads with plasma cannons - that seems excessive to me. I can see the use of a few, but what are you planning to see that would make six a good buy? I'd go with three of them with grav-cannons instead, or with plasma guns (or maybe meltaguns) if you want to steer clear of grav.

Agreed on giving lascannons to the devs - it's probably their most effective choice outside grav, unless you pay for flakk missiles. Though, since you have little if any other anti-air and lots of lascannons, that might not be a terrible idea.

Because you have so many LCs, you might consider making that Pred an autolas build instead of a tri-las. Cheaper, and generally still effective. Also, outfitting some of the Razorbacks with assault cannons could be some useful emergency AA and anti-horde while still being useful against MEQ/TEQ and light to medium vehicles. Opinions are a bit divided on las/plas Razorbacks. I like them because of their versatility, but some people would rather have the reliability of the TLLC. I'd vote 4 las/plas, 4 AC Razors if you take lascannon devs, but 4 las/plas, 4 TLLC Razors if you go with missile launchers with flak. Can't think of any good reason to favor MLs without flak.

Thanks for all the responses everyone.

So based on many of the critiques, I removed the whirlwind & lowered all squads to 5-marines to free points for changes.
-Switched 2 ML in each Dev squad to LC and gave the other two in each flakk missiles.
-4 razorbacks with TLLC, 2 with LasPlas, 2 with assault cannon.
-grouped the two land speeders together (with hvy bolters) and added one with 2 multi-meltas.
-Switched 2 different tac squads from plasma cannons to meltaguns. With enough points to give one of the srg a combi melta.

Changes seem to cover most of the items said in some part, thoughts?

Drop the plasma cannons IMO. 7th is more about getting your objectives then killy like in 5th/6th. plasma guns are a good replacement then if you're really focussed on having plasma's. The moment you move the plasma cannons they can't fire due to being a heavy weapon and blasts. maybe switch out the Missile launchers on the Devs for the plasma's and give the tac squad something to get close and personal with i.e. melta, plasma or grav.
solid list though. Maybe if you can get the points freed get a stormraven with vanguard or assault marines w/ char so you can get some obj on your opponents side (or captain smashbane w/ comm squad on bikes?)