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I've been seeing it used in C&C lists and other discussion. There's a wide margin of their contents so I'm not quite 'getting' what a D-star list is supposed to be.

What is "DeathStar" meant to be for 40k lists? Lotsa fire power, but with an Achilles Heel? LRC fulla TH/SS termies?

the term "deathstar" is used to describe a insanely expensive unit that can dish out alot of hurt and has a good survival rate to run around the board wiping out unit after unit(and some dont usually last till the end of the game)...however this definition really depends on what codex you are using simply because for example a space wolves thunderwolf cav unit is a deathstar unit cuz it hurts alot with rending and can utilize the wound allocation rules to survive longer plus they are usually equiped with storm shields...while in the eldar codex you have the seer council on bikes which can reroll all armor saves when fortuned (which is every turn) and can pump out heavy flamer shots like crazy...and can allow your farseer and warlocks to reroll all leadership checks and can add 1 to ws and init.

what would the BA deathstar unit be?

It is one big expensive unit (up to half the total points or more), very hard too kill and putting out considerable damage. Every other unit is expendable, this one unit is meant to survive and win the game. Can be a super pimped up HQ or a really large elite unit. Typical examples are Cpt. Stern with Grey Knight Terminators in a Land Raider, a large Boss mob on bikes, a super large Death Company or something like that.

Sageheart wrote:what would the BA deathstar unit be?

Huge Death Company squad in a Land Raider with a bunch of CC nastiness and a Reclusiarch.

Or a full, 10-man squad of TH/SS Termies, + Sanguinary Priest + Land Raider (Either crusader/redeemer)
2+ Armour Save/3++ Inv save + 4+ Feel No Pain
Pretty goddam hard to get through IMO

Ah, so the LRC fulla termies *is* one of these. Okey-dokey. Thanks, guys.

Brothererekose wrote:Ah, so the LRC fulla termies *is* one of these. Okey-dokey. Thanks, guys.

Yup. Its also typified by being really excessive and expensive to buy/field.

A 'deathstar unit' is essentially one that's expensive, tough, capable of really making a mess of your opponent's forces, but losing it is really going to mess up your plans.

But keep in mind, just because they are called deathstars doesnt mean you need one. Deathstars are frowned upon for the possibility of meeting up with a unit designed to kill them. For example, a callidus assassin will cut a sizable hole in TH/SS termies. It will of course die, but not before it kills at least 2 and more likely 3 or 4 terminators. Passing all types of saves.

And TWC hate battlecannons I believe?

10 warriors with lashwips and boneswords have a good chance of being wiped off the table turn 1 by a manticore (small exageration).

Everything has its weakness. IMHO its better to take a well rounded list that works in synergy rather than a single deathstar, so nothing in particular will ruin you.

My "Deffstar" for my Orks is a deffrolla Battlewagon, 10 decked out nobz with a painboy, and a warboss. Very little survives contact with them.

Definitely have to be careful dumping so many points into a single unit. A couple of weeks ago my brood of 3 dakkafexes had a bad encounter with the skulltaker. He killed the lot in a single charge.

Arson Fire-I did that once in a tournament Skulltaker for the win! The Masque helped though-she Pavaned the 'fexes into range for him. Such a nice girl she is.

On the subject of the Blood Angels death star, I recommend 6 terminators-3 w/ TH/SS and 3 with LCs, a sanguine priest in terminator armor and a librarian in terminator armor w/ storm shield, upgraded to an epistolary, with the preferred enemy and +D3 attacks on any model in his unit living in a land raider crusader. It survived and beat down 108 ork shots, 2 ork charges of a grand total of 40 orks and lost a single model during all of that (after a lucky missile glanced my land raider into immobile land)

Sandyman11 wrote:Or a full, 10-man squad of TH/SS Termies, + Sanguinary Priest + Land Raider (Either crusader/redeemer)
2+ Armour Save/3++ Inv save + 4+ Feel No Pain
Pretty goddam hard to get through IMO

yea this, and the DC beefed up, is what i figured were the BA deathstar unit, just wanted to check.

can a 10man termie squad fit in a landraider since they each take up two spots in a tank?

Sageheart wrote:

Sandyman11 wrote:Or a full, 10-man squad of TH/SS Termies, + Sanguinary Priest + Land Raider (Either crusader/redeemer)
2+ Armour Save/3++ Inv save + 4+ Feel No Pain
Pretty goddam hard to get through IMO

yea this, and the DC beefed up, is what i figured were the BA deathstar unit, just wanted to check.

can a 10man termie squad fit in a landraider since they each take up two spots in a tank?

No they cannot.

What about a tau example:
farsight w/ 6 man xv8 bodyguard squad

No they can't. Max is 8 guys in termie armor in a crusader.

ninja'd.


And why not farsight with 7 bodyguards, all given hard wired shield drones, fusion blasters, another gun, hard wired multi trackers and target locks. Can deepstrike, shoot 8 different targets and take a lot of hits.

Monster Rain wrote:

Sageheart wrote:

Sandyman11 wrote:Or a full, 10-man squad of TH/SS Termies, + Sanguinary Priest + Land Raider (Either crusader/redeemer)
2+ Armour Save/3++ Inv save + 4+ Feel No Pain
Pretty goddam hard to get through IMO

yea this, and the DC beefed up, is what i figured were the BA deathstar unit, just wanted to check.

can a 10man termie squad fit in a landraider since they each take up two spots in a tank?

No they cannot.

thats what i thought, but everyonekeeps saying ten man squads of termies in LRs haha

Sageheart wrote:

Monster Rain wrote:

Sageheart wrote:

Sandyman11 wrote:Or a full, 10-man squad of TH/SS Termies, + Sanguinary Priest + Land Raider (Either crusader/redeemer)
2+ Armour Save/3++ Inv save + 4+ Feel No Pain
Pretty goddam hard to get through IMO

yea this, and the DC beefed up, is what i figured were the BA deathstar unit, just wanted to check.

can a 10man termie squad fit in a landraider since they each take up two spots in a tank?

No they cannot.

thats what i thought, but everyonekeeps saying ten man squads of termies in LRs haha

While we're on the subject, on the charge a Land Raider full of Death Company will absolutely whipsmack a Terminator Squad's cheeks.

The problem with the tau deathstar is people chew away at the shield drones and then tie it up with a sacraficial unit for two turns while they overtake objectives. Then those eight crisis suits aren't putting out shots. I've done it to opponents before, not that hard, you just have to chip away the shield drones before you engage. There won't be much else to worry about either as that unit takes up over 60% of their army usually.

skysky wrote:The problem with the tau deathstar is people chew away at the shield drones and then tie it up with a sacraficial unit for two turns while they overtake objectives. Then those eight crisis suits aren't putting out shots. I've done it to opponents before, not that hard, you just have to chip away the shield drones before you engage. There won't be much else to worry about either as that unit takes up over 60% of their army usually.

Null Zone and Terminators absolutely wrecks this.

It's frankly sad to watch.