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Is it possibly to build a Death Company entire army? They're elites, but is there a way to make a whole army of them, short of painting up tacts and such?

Unbound.

There are formations for them. But they aren't that flexible.

I haven't really played enough, but isn't there a stigma about Unbound armies?

Look for the "Strike Force Mortalis"

The Flesh Tearers require just one Troop choice. The Death Company Dreadnought... what's his face. From Bloodstorm. Crassus maybe? Anyway, there's your troop. Max out your Death Company, take an empty Rhino, Razorback or whatever in the Fast Attack slot, take Stormravens in the Heavy. Add small Formations as needed for extra guys or a vanilla Formation involving vehicles.

HCMistborn wrote:
I haven't really played enough, but isn't there a stigma about Unbound armies?

I don't know about everywhere but where I am there is yes. But nobody would complain about you.

HCMistborn wrote:
I haven't really played enough, but isn't there a stigma about Unbound armies?

Yes, there is. No tournament allows them, and most players are wary of them.
However the stigma is mainly due to the potential of people abusing them to spam overpowered models. Cherry-picking the strongest models out of multiple codexes to build their army.
If you're just playing unbound to run a death company army, then I think most people would be ok with it.

HCMistborn wrote:
I haven't really played enough, but isn't there a stigma about Unbound armies?

No, not for what you want to do. There's an immediate and understandable difference between someone running an unbound, all-death company list, and someone whose unbound list is a mix of eldar scat bikes, tau big suits, and, grav-centurions.

Well, that is exciting, I haven't gone into my local FLGS yet, I just had a out of town buddy teach me and get me obsessed with it, so I will have to check with them about how they feel.

This is the formation:
3 death comp, 2 death dreads, Chaplain, Storm raven

And it gives
- Rampage ( who doesn't want to have more attacks)
- Crusader ( helps you get into combat more reliably )

So the unbound option might be just be the weaker option.

It really depends- as mentioned before, there's no flexibility to that formation if for points, available models, whatever, you want to run it some other way.

Man I miss the old way...when you "generated" Death Company from your other squads in the army (basically the guys who gave into the thirst on the eve of battle). Way cooler mechanic.

I believe you technically can.

Technically.

Aside from Strike Force Mortalis, the two Deathstorm Death Company units (one that's the Death Company Marines named Raphen's Death Company, the other is the DC Dreadnought Cassor the Damned) are still technically Troop Choices for a BA army, so they can fulfill the basic CAD requirement for a BA army. With Astorath or a generic Chaplain, this opens up the entire CAD for you to use.

However if you wanna adhere to the theme, it's still pretty restricting as you'll get some vehicles and...that's about it. Since both of the Death Company units (DCs and the DC dread) occupy the Elites slot, this still doesn't give you as much flexibility. In addition, Raphen's Death Company and Cassor the Damned cannot take any other options, so even your basic troops will be locked into their equipment. The rules for them are also in Shield of Baal: Deathstorm, so they might be hard to obtain. On the plus side, you get a DC Dreadnought and a squad of DCs with ObSec, so there is a tiiiiny incentive to take this over Strike Force Mortalis.

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This list suddenly seems to make the Strike Force Mortalis quite adaptable since you avoid the quite horrible kitted out"Troop 2 - Rafen's DC" tax. Making room for the option to add extra armour using the "Armoured Task Force" formation.

Arson Fire wrote:

HCMistborn wrote:
I haven't really played enough, but isn't there a stigma about Unbound armies?

Yes, there is. No tournament allows them, and most players are wary of them.
However the stigma is mainly due to the potential of people abusing them to spam overpowered models. Cherry-picking the strongest models out of multiple codexes to build their army.
If you're just playing unbound to run a death company army, then I think most people would be ok with it.

Or rather outdated fear from the time it was introduced. Now there's no bloody point playing unbound if you are aiming for maximizing power as you can get better army by playing bound army...

The stigma is still there. The first question players ask when they feel they are at an advantage against one of my unusually but cleverly put together battle-forged armies is always "Wait is this an unbound army ?".

Are foot slogging DC worth it?

Footslogging Death Company is one of the worst things you can do when they can just buy Jump Packs.

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
Footslogging Death Company is one of the worst things you can do when they can just buy Jump Packs.

I assumed this to be the case considering they get them super cheap.

The only reason I don't use Strikeforce Mortalis is because my army is suppose to be run with 2nd-3rd edition models only....and the Storm Raven didn't exist back then.

Cassor is effectively Moriar the Chosen in my army.

Yea I think the only real option is to run a FT strike force. Take Cassor the Damned as your troop choice and then take as many DC squads as you can in the elite slots.

Or even more so you could run the Baal force and take Cassor and Rafen's DC. That gives you an extra elite slot to pack more death company in.

Depending on points your looking at something like.

HQ
Librarian w/ JP
Tyco (DC) or Chaplain w/ JP

tyco and the Chaplain would be the most fluffy.

Troops
Cassor
Rafen's DC

Elites
4 Units of 5-15 DC w/ Jump Packs

Or some sort of variation of that. Perhaps drops pods or Rhinos etc.

I would build the following:

HQ 1: Chaplain w/ jump pack (Or Astorath the Grim)
HQ 2: Librarian or Chaplain w/ jump pack

Troops: Cassor the Damned

Fast Attack: Drop Pod (Add a Locator Beacon for deep strike assistance if desired) - Put Cassor Here

Elite 1: 5 to 15 Death Company w/ jump packs, (add one power fist for every 5 models, 10 models = 2 Power Fists, etc. If a model has a power fist, give it a bolter instead of a bolt pistol.) - Recommend at least 10, preferably 15 models and attach HQ 1 here.

Elite 2: 5 to 15 Death Company w/ jump packs, (add one power fist for every 5 models, see Elite 1) - Recommend at least 10 models here, run close to HQ: 1 + Elite: 1, so if Elite: 1 gets hit hard and loses too many models, HQ: 1 can move to join them.

Elite 3: 5 to 15 Death Company w/ jump packs, (add one power fist for every 5 models, see Elite 1) - Recommend 6 models to fit in the storm raven, or another 10+ model strong unit to advance with Elite: 1 and Elite: 2

Heavy Support 1: Storm Raven w/ twinlinked Assault Cannon & twinlinked Multimelta.

(Optional) Heavy Support 2: Storm Raven w/ twinlinked Assault Cannon & twinlinked Multimelta

(Optional) Fortification: Skyshield Landing Pad w/ Fueled For Takeoff upgrade. (Allows you to stat your Storm Raven on the board - on the landing pad - with a 4+ invulnerable save.)

Another fun alternative option would be a second drop pod in fast attack and instead of a Librarian running a Librarian Dreadnought as HQ:2.

That's my recommendation. Hope it helps. Take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

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daveh974 wrote:

 TheMostWize wrote:

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
Footslogging Death Company is one of the worst things you can do when they can just buy Jump Packs.

I assumed this to be the case considering they get them super cheap.

Foot slogging with drop pods isn't bad. I run a ten man with bolt guns and they do well, but supported with other types of an army.

Bolter DC!!! I'm not gonna lie something about death company with bolters is appealing and have been wanting to give it a shot. I guess they are still choppy they just lose the extra attack. Probably be decent at bogging down an enemy unit.

No tournament allows them

Every Warhammer World Throne of Skulls event allows them.


As noted, most of the really nasty tricks today involve the command benefits from detachments (like the Mechanicus War Convocation giving you free upgrades, or getting Objective Secured on free rhinos with marines, or whatever).

Footslogging Death Company aren't amazing, but if you can get a drop pod or rhino or something you can work around it.

The thing with Death Company is that they are a 'shock' unit. Charging with any unit gets you +1 attack. Charging with Death Company gets you +2 attacks, +1 strength, and (depending on detachment), +1 initiative as well; the difference between charging and being charged can almost double the combat power.

Jump packs make you faster, which makes it more likely that you'll get to charge - and potentially will give you even more 'impact' power in the form of Hammer Of Wrath.

You can play death company as fearless, feel no pain bolter infantry, but you're wasting their awesome melee potential when you do so.

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daveh974 wrote:

locarno24 wrote:

You can play death company as fearless, feel no pain bolter infantry, but you're wasting their awesome melee potential when you do so.

But this isn't entirely true. I play them so often that I feel I can make a fair assessment. One of 3 things happens with them:
A) They get shot to pieces. gak happens.
B) The get defensively charged. If you placed them well when they came in they get charged by what you wanted them to be charged by. Eventually they kill it, and then they go beat other stuff up.
C) You placed them well and your opponent either failed to deal with them or ran away.

You have to be smarter with them, and mistakes are usually more costly.

In my league it became a cliché between me and the Necron guy.
I would drop in > Rapid fire his wraiths > Kill one > He would charge me > I would eventually win the grind around turn 3 or 4 with 4-5 guys left out of 10.

Are you running them in a pod then? Or by dropping in do you mean Bolters and JPs?

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