Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I'm debating whether to invest in a Broadside team for my 2000 pt. list or to go for another Hammerhead.

The thing that has me leaning towards the Broadsides is the fact that I'll have twice as many railguns compared with just a Hammerhead. On the other hand the Broadsides would be the only static element in a mech army list (8 suits, team of stealth, 3 squads of firewarriors in fishes, 2 hammerheads).

Thoughts much appreciated.

I would go with something more mobile.
Otherwise the one broadside team you have will get murdered by everything that can't catch the rest of your army.
Although they are great.

You could give them the Advanced Stabilisation System (or whatever it's called) That allows them to move 6 inches and shoot.

It won't keep up with your army, but it's more mobile than a static team.

Sometimes I play with 2 hammers and a squad of 2 broadsides with ASS and throw shield drones/target lock on the TL for fun times, just keep a fish with warriors close by to protect em and plop em on an objective, even if you lose them, more often than not they will have made their points.

Last game I played using 2 HH and a squad of 2 broadsides.

I set my pathfinders in the middle, Broadsides to one side about 18 in away, in between I ran the devilfish and a FW squad.

Then the rest of the mobile army in a "static" line down the back edge. I let the DA charge at me for 2 turns while I worked his flankers over and just as he got his termies in range I packed up my FW and everything left through the hole except for the Broadsides and PFs.

My opponent got a puzzled look as I did this. When I explained the Kauyon and that the broadsides make good bait he understood.

hammerhead over broadsides in 5th edition

Thanks for the replies.

I'm not entirely sold on the Hammerhead just yet, right now the dual railguns are trumping over a mobile one with submunition. I'm also trying to convince myself that Broadside team could be used as a form of bait, though I'm not sure how that's working out just yet.

The way it works when I play is that people fear the rail gun. I run 2 Rail heads and then a squad of 2 broadsides w/2shield drones.

I set my pathfinders close to my broadsides and I set both squads fairly far from any objectives with as good of a field of fire as I can get. The rest of the army is mobile but out of their transports for the first 2 turns(thus looking static).
If I'm facing a complete mech army,depending on the level of Fire power and armorment, I start off with the troops loaded up.

How the bait works is percived threat. Use the PF/Broadside combo either first or last or both(its what people remember) and hit your opponents heaviest piece with them. You'll probably have a squad of troops there to hop into the PFs devilfish. With this much in one place and mech strung out people just tend to go for it.

(Off-topic on these last 2 a little and you probably already know them)
Don't be afraid to put PFs behind another unit, no coversaves from markers.

Also, am finding it useful to equip tanks and vehicles , aside from the must have Disrupt Pod,with flechettes in this age of easy assaults on vehicles.

Happy Hunting

I am a fan of triple Hammerheads, myself. Mobility is so good.

a friend of mine plays with 3 broadsides, i sniped them first turn, killed one, pinned them, and finished them off second turn. <3 eldar snipers

Those snipers do thier job for thier points - the broadsides do everything for the same sv & 2+T and about 5 x the cost.

As an SM player tempted to run an armored column if I ever get into a tourney; broadsides scare me, hammer heads, do not. Regular LR's will put some hurt on your skimmers, but the broadsides will be able to use cover to mitigate the damage done to them.

This might only really apply to armored units though, and I am not sure how the tau army has changed with their relatively new codex (yes I'm behind the times).

Just my 2c

Shrike78 wrote:As an SM player tempted to run an armored column if I ever get into a tourney; broadsides scare me, hammer heads, do not. Regular LR's will put some hurt on your skimmers, but the broadsides will be able to use cover to mitigate the damage done to them.

This might only really apply to armored units though, and I am not sure how the tau army has changed with their relatively new codex (yes I'm behind the times).

Tau for most (imo) have been struggling of late (for many reasons which I wont dive into). However I would fear both equally - broadsides for the tl railguns, and hammerheads simply for the fact that if you shoot at them over 12" away they will be obscured and recieve the 4+ cover save (one of the few underpriced pieces of tau wargear availible and probably the best vehicle upgrade). Rightfully so, a STR 10 AP 1 gun should strike fear into any piece of armor, however due the shear amount of armor a mech army could run I doubt tau could kill it all fast enough before you infliceted some losses or got into CC.

It really depends on your style of play.

A friend of mine plays tau, she ran broadsides [3] with a hammer, she had the hammer skim around and pop at whatever was a minor risk, how ever the broadside sat in abit of cover, with a shield drone and a good field of fire and was a real killer, took down my wave serpents, 2 war walkers and outright killed my seer.

The pros of broadside:
-wounds, these are great
-can take shield drones
-can sit and hide in cover, and guardians/imperial guard find it hard to kill them in assault
-have a good Sv
-twin linked railguns
-SMS

Would you care to post the respective pros of a hammer head?

Hammerhead pros:

-Mobile
-tough to kill
-disruption pod
-pricing
-versatility
-Large blast template
-variety of weapons
-able to properly respond to sarcasm

There is another aspect of the rampant fear of broadsides that hasn't been touched on yet and that is the inverse of charging them to kill them first. So many times have i watched my opponent deploy his entire army away from the broadsides and expend so much effort into hiding from them that he became easy pickings for the rest of my army. Set your broadsides down in a fire lane and watch his tanks never come near it corralling him into the rest of your armies firepower.

Also it should be noted 2 hammerheads and 3 broadsides is more than enough to deal with a sm mech army, Firewarriors can glance the gak out of incoming rhinos and markerlights can remove the cover save from smoke launchers, nevermind what Crisis missile pods can do, leaving the HH's and the BS's to hunt heavy armor.

I absolutely agree. I've been running the type of build you just mentioned since early 4th edition and its a great anti mech build that does pretty good against swarms, also.

When you can point at a land raider and reliably kill it in one turn of shooting, I think that's a bonus.

I don't think the hammer head is a better choice than 2-3 broadsides. It's perhaps a more 'versatile' choice, but it runs into problems of not being twin linked, and only having one shot for about 170 points? (I haven't played tau in a while).

I would go with 2x Broadsides, and two rail-heads for my Tau heavy support. I know that broadsides without targets can be caught in assault, blah blah, but you really should be acting before that. They just have to take out their points worth of vehicles in a few turns or stop a key action from going off (immobilizing a certain vehicle, stunning, destroying etc) to have also been useful.

The reasons I limit to one squad of broadsides is cost, lack of mobility, vulnerability to quick assault, and (this is just me)I roll better with the hammer heads.

Off-topic)I seem to roll a lot of double 1s when fielding broadsides. Don't know why, just do. So tired of seeing 6-1-1, then reroll 5-1 or 5-2. Its bad when 3 different consecutive opponents that you don't know(not counting every single friend) tell you to throw away your old dice and get new ones. Maybe it'll change now. Over the holidays the guys and my wife got me 7 sets of new dice.

broadsides are a very good thing to use, not only because of there long range but also because they are strong lol

BloodDeathAssault, your picture is awesome! A coloured in version of one of the pictures in the Tau Codex. WELL DONE!

on topic: I have no Idea. Sorry.

Note: The spell check is wrong, I speak English, not a mangled version stolen with independence!

Defiler nailed it...

Hammerheads are 'neat' little survivable packages that are really flexible in a good way.

Do NOT face a 3 land raider army that knows how and when to pop smoke with three hammerheads and expect to slow them down.

A hammerhead is a great 170ish point investment, but a single non-twin-linked Bs4 railgun should not be seen as a hard counter to heavy tanks. Look to use the submunition more.

The broadsides are just an excellent unit. Some people just have to move with their units, I'm not one of them. I like targeting arrays, but I lose a turn of shooting on dawn of war with them. (not that night fight wouldn't spoil that shot anyway) Advanced stabilization will let you scratch that move and shoot itch.

Also, the rest of your list would inform us more on what you should be adding. I'll go right back off of the broadsides if I find out you have 3x2 TL fusion blaster crisis suits in your elite slots.

dielie wrote:BloodDeathAssault, your picture is awesome! A coloured in version of one of the pictures in the Tau Codex. WELL DONE!

on topic: I have no Idea. Sorry.

Note: The spell check is wrong, I speak English, not a mangled version stolen with independence!

If you're going to bring back a three month old thread, at least pretend to add to the conversation.

(Sorry, Shep; gonna lock this thread.)