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What do you use and why? Best combo? Experiences?

Manticore. good all-around piece. 1-3 pie plates a turn is nice
Medusa. good as well, less pie plates, but AP 2.
Basilisk is good as well. indirect/direct fire, ap 3.
some people like the Griffon. i don't like that every time i hit,
which can be most of the time, it wasn't strong enough to prevent the CSM/SM from saving.

2 Pairs of Griffons, and a death strike kicked my ass.
Tank hunting was done by the Devil Dogs.

Seriously, fast tanks with multimeltas that use a blast marker? Awesome.

Anyhow, volume of hits and accuracy with the griffons made up for the lack of AP.

By the time I dealt with the devil dogs and griffons, that stupid death strike launched at put the hurt down.

I think next time, I'll just have to keep taking the hits from the griffons and kill the death strike.

On a side note, Griffon have a very low profile, so they are much easier to get obscured.

-Matt

Best combo? Whatever you need to round out your list. When I ran artillery, it was 2 manticores and a bassie. The bassie gave it that AP3 sting while still being good against vehicles, while manticores are good against vehicles and horde, so most of my bases were covered.

My experience? I found them kind of "meh" so I eventually downgraded them to hydras and then wound up getting rid of vehicles alltogether.

Artillery is nice because it allows you to concentrate firepower wherever you want on the board with no regard to movement on the field. The problem was that, due to it's poor accuracy, it wound up being more just for harassment, than for anything more serious. Plus, while artillery doesn't require good field position, artillery doesnt' help you with field position.

A couple of basilisks may be able to shoot your opponent wherever they are, but they don't have the same effect on your opponent's movement phase (and thus overall plans) as 6 ogryn being rammed down their throats.

Would 2 colossus and a grifon in a squadron work?

Kasrkin52 wrote:Would 2 colossus and a grifon in a squadron work?

Define "would work"? they both are Str 6. for 20 points more, you could get 3 Basilisks.
Str 9/ap3. fire indirect/direct, either way. if your targets get within the min range of what
you asked about, they're nerfed.

Oh, and I seem to recall a FAQ saying that the griffin couldn't be used to sight in other artillery if they were in the same squad. In any case, as alarmingrick mentioned, that's over 350 points being shot at just one target every turn.

Not only is that overkill against whatever you're shooting at, but it's a fair chunk of points spent on a unit that is rather specific in its application.

Seems like this topic came up a while ago with some insightful stuff in it, but I couldn't find it on a search. Maybe I just dreamed about it. Oh well.

On to Artillery:

The one I use exclusively is the Basilisk. It's cheap and effective. S9 ordinance side hits on vehicles are quite effective, and worst case, you can always fire directly. This means that if you have to reposition, you're not wasting turns not firing.

The Colossus is the only other one I'd consider using, though haven't yet. Wounds MEQ on 2s, ignores power armor and cover saves sounds really good, but then, it can't fire directly IIRC. It's also more expensive than a Bassie and has a fraction of the range. For as many people there are that complain about the 36" range of the Bassie, 24" min range is almost as bad, and lacks the luxury of being able to fire directly. In this day and age of fast moving armies, it's important to be able to hit them even if they close in. Maybe it's because I play against Xenos (and very occasionally IG) almost exclusively, but typically I only get one round of firing at the 24"+ range anyway, so it comes down to whether I think that 140 points worth of colossus will make up for it's points and FOC slot in one round of firing. Sometimes the answer would have been yes, but most times it's no.

Griffon is pretty weak in my mind. The most it has going for it is cheapness, but I'd rather have 3 mortar teams in a HWS, which is still cheaper. I could maybe see some use in a vet list, but I almost always have a platoon somewhere. It's S6, which means it could do something to MCs or side armor on a few vehicles, but the IG have things that do a better job of taking any of those out. If it was AP3, I could see a case for it. The accurate bombardment is nice, but it doesn't do enough to redeem this jack-of-all-trades amidst an army that allows for such effective specialization.

The Medusa... I have such a love/hate relationship with the Medusa, which is funny, because so many of the things I dislike about the Medusa are the things I like about the Basilisk. 36" range direct fire is exactly what I praise about the basilisk, for example, but the shortcoming of the Medusa is that it HAS to fire that way. It's also chimera-tough and open topped, and can only hit facing armor. It's just as effective firing at a Russ dead on, for example, as the Medusa would be firing at side armor. It's worse against Chimeras, Predators, and Battlewagons, just to name a few. Good thing no one uses those. So, at the end of the day, you have a Demolisher 30 points cheaper with the armor stripped off from it and the range extended 12". Any time I'd take one of these, I think I'd rather have the Demolisher. That way I could at least know that it's taking a beating, and depending on what I'm facing, maybe even wade it into the enemy.

End of the day, Basilisks are what do it for me. Solid devastation, cheap, the ability to hide them and they still be effective, and they're the only option for firing at any distance, but I agree with Ailaros, you should take artillery that rounds out your list, not the other way around.

I (dis)like the basilisk (i dont play guard, hence the dislike ). It just need one direct hit on a squad and your pretty much wiping that squad. FNP space marines do not like str9 AP3 artillery shells

3 Basilisk. Multiple Barrage rules and str 9 ordnance will deal with tanks, and ap3 is great for infantry. Can fire maingun while moving, and minimum range counts for nothing when you can fire direct. It will seriously smash apart a ork horde, I tried it in vassal. In 3 turns, they must have killed 100 orks.

a squadron of three basilisk is alot of fun, and only 375 points. if you squadron them, you dont have to worry about imolized/wrecks, you dont move them.

martin74 wrote:a squadron of three basilisk is alot of fun, and only 375 points. if you squadron them, you dont have to worry about imolized/wrecks, you dont move them.

But in a squad, immobilized tanks are dead tanks

Griffons can be quite good. People underestimate them, but that's probably because they haven't seen them much. The accurate bombardment really comes to shine when you take them in pairs. You will likely hit something with your first template, and then the second will hit A LOT! The impact is big enough to hurt all types of infantry. If there’s no infantry to shoot at, you will have a lot of AV10 or 11 vehicles to target. For its points, the Griffon is very good at that also.

The Colossus is another piece I like, and that’s not only because the FW model (Bombard) is awesome. This is not so much for what it actually does, but what my opponents think it does. The prospect of killing Marines on a 2+ and no saves is just terrifying, even if the chance of actually hitting is not that big. I have seen a number of opponents go to great lengths to kills the Colossus all the while I was missing shot after shot.

The Bassie looks nice on paper, but it’s not really good at anything. It’s too unreliable for tank hunting, and if your opponent lets you hit his Marines in the open you would probably win the game anyway. For every job you’d want the Bassie for, the Manticore does it better.

I'm still not feeling the Basilisk. Whether you're facing Space Marines, or bugs, or the new Dark Eldar, the vast majority of armies you face operate best in the <24" range, or more likely <12" to assault range.

The 36" minimum range is just too large, and they will be under your guns in no time. And yes, you can fire directly, but you just saved 10 points to give up 1S and AP? Meh.

I like them in super huge games on super huge tables. Also, since in those super huge games you can use the specialty shells for basilisks. Oh if only they transfered those to the codex. :(

I'll vote Manticore, the only draw back that it has is that you can't mix and match it with other artillary so in that sense I suppose it is a little dedicated. The limited ammo thing is a misdirect, how many games have you seen\played where by even the 4th turn artillary would have changed the outcome? By then everything that is going to be close is there already, unless a grave error was made with deep strike, and your other units are within the drift range of your artillary shots.

Since ATM you have less then 20 posts I want to make sure you've already filled your other Heavy Slot with Tanks. There is a reason that the LRBT is the signiture unit for the Imperial Guard. They will also make those game changing kills more often then artillary and are only lacking in the ability to shoot the first turn EVERY time.

Actually, the real way to think about the basilisk is to compare it to the Russ.

You sacrifice +2 armor on the front and sides, and in return, you get +1 S and the ability to hit side armor and ignore intervening cover while allowing you to shoot at your opponents without them being able to target you with long-range anti-tank in return. That and it's 25 points cheaper.

As such, the basilisk is always a better choice than a russ, except when you want your tanks to be charging up the field.

I'm a huge fan of the colossus in mech vet lists as it gives you a reliable way of silencing backfield infantry.

I use 2x Medusae and One Basil;isk. Plus One manticore, the rest of my heavy slot is for two hydras.

Why would you use two medusas and a basilisk in a squadron? That's silly.

Terminus wrote:Why would you use two medusas and a basilisk in a squadron? That's silly.

Slowly building my artillery collection to two more basilisks or one more medusa, but I see what you mean there. Silly or not,it's what I have now.

Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm all about expanding your collection and whatnot, but you don't necessarily have to use everything you own all at once. A pair of medusae, a pair of hydras, and a manticore make for an excellent heavy support load-out (though not a huge fan of medusae, but whatever), the basilisk isn't really needed in there.

Why the hell has no one mentioned Bastion Breachers yet? The Medusa without the Bastion Breachers doesn't fulfill a need better than any other choice. Demolisher's do the Demolisher better, and other artillery does the cost-effective-armor-stripped-gun better. No, what you need is a S10 Meltagun with a 48" range, and that's exactly what you get with the Medusa. It has a long enough range to avoid a lot of return fire, can fire on the move, and is effective against literally anything with an armor value. You get plenty of anti-infantry elsewhere, but between the Hydras and Medusas you can cover all your anti-tank needs effectively.

I don't know about "effective", as you really need to be firing at large targets like Russes and Monoliths to have a respectable accuracy.

If breachers were an optional shot, it'd be great. Otherwise, you end up with a very niche vehicle.

Actually, the Medusa is something like 85% accurate against the smaller chasis because it doesn't need to get the center over the hull. What's the average of 2d6? 7. Half of strength 10? 5. 7+5=12 which is often times greater than 11. Not to mention the thing is AP1, so even on a glance you've got a shot at killing the vehicle. The Medusa isn't as niche as it sounds.

I love my Griffon it usually has the luck of sending folks to the ground. Although minimal casualties and Re rolling your scatter MUWHAHAHAHA had a Space Wolves players jaw drop when he found that out. Anyway for the price slap a heavy flamer on that sucka when and if it gets closed in on and have some fun

Field Marshal Wiley wrote:I love my Griffon it usually has the luck of sending folks to the ground. Although minimal casualties and Re rolling your scatter MUWHAHAHAHA had a Space Wolves players jaw drop when he found that out. Anyway for the price slap a heavy flamer on that sucka when and if it gets closed in on and have some fun

Griffons are an obnoxious cheap shot that can very reliable drop a meq or 2 per turn with a pinning check to boot. Theyb are not bad against entrenched meq.

DarkHound wrote:Actually, the Medusa is something like 85% accurate against the smaller chasis because it doesn't need to get the center over the hull. What's the average of 2d6? 7. Half of strength 10? 5. 7+5=12 which is often times greater than 11. Not to mention the thing is AP1, so even on a glance you've got a shot at killing the vehicle. The Medusa isn't as niche as it sounds.

I had done extensive math at one point counting all the variables in deviation, and against something like a rhino, Medusa had a little better than 50% chance of tagging the vehicle.

Terminus wrote:

DarkHound wrote:Actually, the Medusa is something like 85% accurate against the smaller chasis because it doesn't need to get the center over the hull. What's the average of 2d6? 7. Half of strength 10? 5. 7+5=12 which is often times greater than 11. Not to mention the thing is AP1, so even on a glance you've got a shot at killing the vehicle. The Medusa isn't as niche as it sounds.

I had done extensive math at one point counting all the variables in deviation, and against something like a rhino, Medusa had a little better than 50% chance of tagging the vehicle.

50%? considering 1/3rd of that is a "hit" on the damage table, that doesn't sound right...

Well, given the dimensions of a rhino and assuming that you need a scatter of about 6" or less to tag it, that works out to roughly 60%. Add a few more percentage points if it scatters lengthwise, and you're a bit short of BS4 accuracy. Not bad, but not great either when you only get one shot per turn and cost 140 points and die to a stiff breeze.

The Medusa just has to get any part of the template over the tank. With a small blast, that's a 3" of scatter across, 4 length wise and 5 diagonally. Let's call that an average of 4. Then it gets to reduce its BS from the scatter, so you can roll as high as 7 and still have the template over the vehicle. 7 or less comes up 66% of the time. You stick the rolls 33%, and are touching the vehicle 44% of the time otherwise, for a total 77% accuracy. Alright, so not as high as 85%, but almost as good as BS5.