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Does anyone have any suggestions on how to use a 10 man PBS, more specifically, on how to use the weaken resolve power? Any advise would be welcome. Thanks in advance

mebobsayhi9 wrote:Does anyone have any suggestions on how to use a 10 man PBS, more specifically, on how to use the weaken resolve power? Any advise would be welcome. Thanks in advance

What do you want to use it against?

Assuming the target is fearless, your other concerns are,

1) Does the target have ATSKNF?
2) If 1 = no, is the target below 50%?

If the target has ATSKNF or is above 50%, then it will need to be "escorted" off the board once it fails the morale check. So ideally, in your movement phase you put one or more of your own units in its fallback path to its table edge, use the power on the unit, shoot it in your shooting phase to force a morale test, then watch it run. It should run around 7" give or take. If it's within 6" of your unit, it CAN NOT regroup, and so must fall back again. Like this you can escort a unit off the board completely.

If it's below 50% and doesn't have ATSKNF, then you can just watch it run away.

I have used this and then fired at the offending squad with a squad of 2 hydras and it worked really well though if they have ATSKNF its a lot harder to keep them running.

They won't be making Marine armies run that often.

And their is a lot of Fearless stuff running around, so you often won't have more than 1 or 2 targets.

That said, they are a great utility unit and I am very pleased with their performance so far.

although squads of 9 are a bit much; I run mine with 6 psykers each. Soulstorm still sounds on a 2+ against MEQ and LD10 is reduced to 4 before modifiers. It's just a more efficient choice IMO.

"weaken resolve" is the PBSs secondary power. With SO much fearless and stubborn out there, not to mention ATSKNF, you're going to have a tough time on relying on this against all armies. Really, you're bringing the PBS for the S10 blast template it puts out, with the sneaky ace in the hole of being able to pick off targets of opportunity with weaken resolve.

i used them a little but found them to be mostly worthless. the only time they ever really work on marines is when they are right on the table edge and then they run away. There are so few instances when the PBS can be used they really arent worth taking. Im not sure why people think they get a S10 blast the max it can be is 9.

EDIT: Ninja'd

True about the fearless bit. Soulstorm hasn't been anything to write home about though.

for 135 points, they add a lot of utility, and nothing else in the IG elites section is remotely as good as them. Rarely I take Stormtroopers, but never in a serious list.

One idea is to decrease a non-fearless unit's LD to 2 and then pin it with Ratlings.

i've been wondering if a maximised PBS's ordinance weapon is s9 or s10. when capped, only 9 psykers are present. does the overseer count as a psyker?

Nope, strength 9 is the maximum. Sorry.

CommissarCandlestick wrote:One idea is to decrease a non-fearless unit's LD to 2 and then pin it with Ratlings.

Who have to hit, wound, and fail armor saves. You generally need a fair number of ratlings to accomplish this, which not only wastes points, but competes for the PBS over slots.

Plus, your opponent is still only pinned. They still score, and they can still get back up next turn (or right away if it's another guard player).

Really, it seems to me like PBSs are a way of taking russes while still taking infantry.

:-) On paper at least it looks like it would work well with a gunline/artillery list as just another way to keep something big in place to get hit again, etc... Not sure I'd try to pin with Ratlings/snipers, Barrage weapons seem the better choice... Just seems like it's a really situational thing... The whole lack of a psychic defense there hurts them a lot...

I've found them useful in conjunction with basilisks to pin units, or to help run pesky devastator squads near the board edge. Also, considering that a pinned unit doesn't get back up till the end of their turn iirc, that means one turn they can't do much, which gives you another turn to deal with them.

how is it only S 9 instead of S 10. The overseer is a psyker himself. He can even help prevent heavy damage for powers of the warp.

No the Overseer is like a unit specific commissar designated to relieve psykers who become overwhelmed by the warp. He is not a psyker, just their watchdog.
Psykers are a pretty flexible unit as they can use their power against light vehicles if taken as a larger squad or well against infantry or they can act as a debuffer in conjunction with pinning weapons or even witch hunter Inquisitors. The power that causes a moral test works pretty well with weaken resolve. Heck a Mortar HWS is a cheap addition if you have a platoon in the list that can work well with the PBS. And the combo with the calidus assassin is pretty fun if your target doesn't have eternal warrior.
Cheers,
~Volkan

the codex states in the pbs entry that the psyker rule is only conferred to the sanctioned psykers, not the overseer himself


Automatically Appended Next Post:
in theory, wouldn't it work to have the psyker squad reduce a squad's leadership, then have a heavy flamer get rid of half the squad, and then have a chimera escort them off the board?

Ailaros wrote:"weaken resolve" is the PBSs secondary power. With SO much fearless and stubborn out there, not to mention ATSKNF, you're going to have a tough time on relying on this against all armies. Really, you're bringing the PBS for the S10 blast template it puts out, with the sneaky ace in the hole of being able to pick off targets of opportunity with weaken resolve.

You actually have it completely reversed. Their main utility is for Weaken Resolve, if you don't have any good targets, then you use the blast power. Even against marines with ATSKNF, there's still a lot you can do. Move a unit out of assault, rapidfire, or melta range by making them fall back, making a dev or LF squad in a building fall back behind the building and maybe out of LOS, making that hard as nails terminator squad or TWC fall back and then escorting them off with a hellhound or Valkyrie/Vendetta, or getting a unit off of an objective late in the game. If, and only if, there are no good targets for Weaken Resolve do you use the blast power.

I think they are incredibly useful for their points and an auto-include in my guard force.

I would field a PBS probably against IG, Tau, and Orks. Against Marines (all flavors) they are generally ineffective due to the fact that most marine armies are now lead by a Librarian of some variation, especially SW (Rune Priests are scary!). With that said, Orks generally run in big numbers, so Weaken Resolve against fearless is useless, although I do find it effective against Lootas, and a must for any IG player against a Loota heavy Ork list!

It's good to bear in mind that modern psychic hoods have a range of only 24", whereas the PBS' powers are 36" and can be used on the move.