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As the title says, what do people consider to be the best option of the two, and why? One one side the Macro-Cannon with Quake Shells seems nice for a little chance at taking out FMC and flyers, but it seems very tempting to have the vortex blast templates floating around several rounds.

And what sort of units are best to place inside it? I play CSM, so I'm considering to hide cultists in there, maybe place Havocs on top, possibly Obliterators.

Any input is appreciated, thanks

P.S - I plan on using it at a 1750 point game for a tournament, and there is a high chance of facing Revenant Titans and all sorts of other cheese.

1750 with escalation? Is the tournament called "Death of 40k"? On a serious note there is no real reason to use the vortex missile. Is Large Blast x1 where as the macro cannon is large blast x2, and has an amazing secondary firing mode.

The vortex missile scattering around doesn't make up for it firing half as many shots per turn.

The Macro cannon is devastating in Apoc. it took down Gargantuan creatures so fÅst. I can imagine what it does to superheavies. Plus, if that target is dead you can always use the Megablast to clear out troops.

Yeah, but it would be lots of fun to blow up the missile version in the first turn, and get really lucky on the detonation rolls and have all seven missiles go off.

Cannon it is! Thanks It did seem better but I wasn't sure if I had missed anything on the missiles.

None of the above. Massive fortifications are garbage if D-weapons are allowed (and if they aren't, no strongpoint) because D-weapons auto-kill them on a 2+ with a single hit and pretty much can't miss such a huge model. You're absolutely insane if you spend 500+ points on a unit that is just as fragile as a Rhino.

Yeah it is a massive downside for the strongpoint. Escalation makes it pop in seconds...

I think if i was going to play in an escalation tournament with one of the power armor armies, I'd just use the void relay network with the full 9 void shields and camp tri-las predators in there (spaced out as much as possible of course). It should take him enough time to chew through the shields and kill the preds for the predators to chew him up in return.

^^^ exactly. against d weapons, it is really nice, because it wont hit anyone underneath. And even if they take down all the sheilds, on average 3 will regen per turn.

It is true that it is at a big disadvantage since Escalation rules are allowed. I feel that the Lord of Skulls is a big gamble too, though, as it's a lot more expensive and it doesn't impress me too much (nor do I like the model).

It's an Escalation league (as in, esclating point sums, at 500 now and going up 250 points each round, to a final of 2000). It's meant as an inspiration to get a new army painted and for people to test what their armies can do to prepare for bigger, more serious tournaments, so I'll be using the opportunity to try out a lot of different units, including the Aquila at 1750. High chance of being "TFG" if my opponent ends up bringing a friendlier list, but I can also get ruined if I meet a titan.

I appreciate the feedback so far, I'll start painting the Macro-Cannon and see how it goes

Any suggestions for how to deploy units in, on and around it though?

Easy to kill as a rhino huh? Dat av 15 and void shield would beg to differ. If your strongpoint is getting popped that easily, you aren't playing it right.

ArcCaptain wrote:
Easy to kill as a rhino huh? Dat av 15 and void shield would beg to differ. If your strongpoint is getting popped that easily, you aren't playing it right.

You may want to re-read what D weapons do to buildings, which is what the statement was in reference to.

ArcCaptain wrote:
Easy to kill as a rhino huh? Dat av 15 and void shield would beg to differ. If your strongpoint is getting popped that easily, you aren't playing it right.

one hit (which is nearly guaranteed due to how big that monster is) means its

In our apoc games, Markus' obligatory Aquila strongpoint will get easily popped if its left unsupported. Otherwise, it can do a lot of damage (macro blast).

Yes it dies to one shot from a D weapon...

First off if your opponent is fielding a ranged D weapon than just put the thing up close to the middle of the field as ya can with a big "KILL ME FIRST!" sign on it and hope for the best on the blasts.

If he has a Melee D then you certainly need to take that thing out before it gets to ya.

All other threats are marginal at best..Melta needs to get close and since now you can assault when disembarking from fortifications your face ripping assault team you placed inside the annex will make them think twice.All other str 10 shooting needs 6` and except for DE and other special rules basic sub str 10 shooting need not even try.

Now for how those missiles work..yes one shot per turn however they scatter at the beginning of EACH player turn that means that on turn one you fire one out there..by the time you fire another in turn two that first one will have hit 3 locations within an average of a 14" square area.Get 2 or 3 of those Vortex`s floating around on your opponents side of the board and be certain you have forced some major changes in his game plan.

Overall the Cannon does seem like the more reliable choice but I do plan to try the missiles with my Orks soon..all that Vortex Mayhem potential sounds just too Orky to pass up.

FIrst though I need to find out how to trace LoS to fire the damn things!