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I will be facing a friend's army very soon, not sure whether he will be bringing his Nids horde army with a Tervigon spawner and a few flying MCs, or his markerlight heavy Tau army with a Riptide and Crisis Suits, has a pretty even spread of coverage of strength and AP levels.

I plan on taking some of my favorites, accepting the fact that I will be outnumbered regardless of how I kit out the list, but I end up with about 17 points unused and don't know where to place them effectively.

Here is the list:

1833 pts

HQ:

Chaos Lord - 155pts
-MoS
-Bike
-Lightning Claw
-Combi-Melta
-Sigil of Corruption
-Melta Bomb

Elites (All count as Troops):

Noise Marines - 170pts
-4x NM w/ Bolters, 1x Blastmaster (totals 4)
-1x Champion w/ Melta Bomb
-Rhino w/ Dirge Caster

Noise Marines - 170pts
-4x NM w/ Bolters, 1x Blastmaster (totals 4)
-1x Champion w/ Melta Bomb
-Rhino w/ Dirge Caster

Noise Marines - 170pts
-4x NM w/ Bolters, 1x Blastmaster (totals 4)
-1x Champion w/ Melta Bomb
-Rhino w/ Dirge Caster

Noise Marines - 170pts
-4x NM w/ Bolters, 1x Blastmaster (totals 4)
-1x Champion w/ Melta Bomb
-Rhino w/ Dirge Caster

Fast Attack:

Chaos Bikers - 180pts
-MoS
-4x Bikers, 2x Meltaguns, 1x Icon of Excess
-1x Champion w/ Melta Bomb

Heldrake - 170pts
-Baleflamer

Heldrake - 170pts
-Baleflamer

Heavy Support:

Maulerfiend - 125pts
-Magma Cutter

Maulerfiend - 125pts
-Magma Cutter

Obliterators - 228pts
-MoN

Notes:

With a potential of 8 objective secured units, though each are tiny and very susceptible to a quick death (5-man squads and Rhinos), I'm hoping to overwhelm him with targets, and I will outnumber his objective secured units by double or more. I know for a fact that he is terrified of Heldrakes, so I'm hoping that will work to my advantage as he will probably be firing/sending everything he has in either army their way in hopes of wrecking them the moment they appear. The Noise Marines will be set up in the most advantageous firing positions possible, while also sitting near home base objectives, to get as many Blastmaster blast shots as possible early on, with the Rhinos running around giving cover or snagging objectives as necessary (aka, being a nuisance). At least 2 Rhinos will likely be used to escort the Maulerfiend(s) and Bikers to their targets to give cover and/or provide the lovely over watch denial, which is more important against the Tau than the Nids, but still useful in either scenario. If he brings Tau, I might hold the Oblits in reserve to deepstrike as close as possible to his super valuable targets and light them up (either a hammerhead or a riptide), then follow up with more gun annoyance in his backfield as needed. They are Nurgle marked to make them only instant-death-able by way of his best guns, which gives him a difficult choice for target practice.

I've considered bringing an Aegis Defense Line with a Quad Gun Emplacement, but that's 100 points I need to make room with, but it would help against either list with all the skimmers with the Tau and the numerous flyers in his Nids; also gives a nice and cozy place for one of the Noise Marines units to hang out.

Then again, I could be way off and be going into either of these matches with a list not suited for the job; let me know what y'all think!

Well, you could split the Oblits into 3 units of 1 to reduce risk of them running off board once one dies- or you could give one unit of Noise Marines a few Somic blasters for a little added firepower.... There's always the "cross your fingers" and hand out a gift of mutation... It has the possibility of being good- but is so random it's not usually worth the points...

OMG! Finally! Someone gets it! MSU Noise Marines with 1 blast master in a rhino. I have seen so many noobs waste points on sonic blasters and IoE on small squads.

You get an :thumbs_up :

KhorneontheCobb wrote:Well, you could split the Oblits into 3 units of 1 to reduce risk of them running off board once one dies- or you could give one unit of Noise Marines a few Somic blasters for a little added firepower.... There's always the "cross your fingers" and hand out a gift of mutation... It has the possibility of being good- but is so random it's not usually worth the points...

If I did, then I would have to sacrifice my NM objective secured, or get rid of the Maulerfiends, which I feel I should keep for their tank busting/MC smashing abilities as well as threat levels to detract from the lord/NM getting shot up.

I've been considering buying the gift for the lord, just seems odd that there isn't much to do with those remaining 17 points =/

Filch wrote:OMG! Finally! Someone gets it! MSU Noise Marines with 1 blast master in a rhino. I have seen so many noobs waste points on sonic blasters and IoE on small squads.

You get an :thumbs_up :

To be honest, this is the first time I'm going to try MSU NM, but the strategy seems sound (no pun intended). If I'm going up against an army with a lot of target capability, I don't want to hand him two large targets that will get easily eaten, but rather many smaller targets so that he doesn't get the bang for his buck.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you need 10 Noise Marines in a squad to get access to the Blastmaster. Just load them up with Sonic Blasters, better fire output and lower overall cost. The Salvo will punish anyone who tries to take an objective from you while they close.

EDIT: After rereading the entry I see where you get that. My bad, the wording is a bit odd and misleading. I don't understand that hate for the Sonic Blasters though, especially for objective holding.

 purplkrush wrote:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you need 10 Noise Marines in a squad to get access to the Blastmaster. Just load them up with Sonic Blasters, better fire output and lower overall cost. The Salvo will punish anyone who tries to take an objective from you while they close.

FAQ'd a long time ago: Blastmasters can be taken 1 at 5-man, and 2 at 10-man.

Salvo is rough for it's cost, can't really take advantage if you move, and doesn't really share the same targets your blastmaster will; by the time you move your Sonic Blasters where you want them, they may already be dead before they get all those sweet additional bolter shots.

Don't use your Blastmaster strictly for AT because it can glance AV14. It's very good at suppressing heavy infantry also while Sonic blasters utilize volume of shots. But, I wouldn't invest heavily on Sonic weaponry without a Sorcerer to augment their firepower.

 Aurelian wrote:
Don't use your Blastmaster strictly for AT because it can glance AV14. It's very good at suppressing heavy infantry also while Sonic blasters utilize volume of shots. But, I wouldn't invest heavily on Sonic weaponry without a Sorcerer to augment their firepower.

But this is why I take the BM, for versatility! It can glance AV14, pen anything else, ignore cover saves for both vehicles and infantry, and can pin enemy infantry down a mile across the board. Because of this, in an ideal world his nids won't be advancing as much as he would like, and his Tau will be firing snapshots more frequently; this is something the SB blaster just cannot do with it's depressingly short 24" range and no way of pinning. Only thing that the BM really isn't all that good for is against flyers, something the Sonic Blaster isn't any better for (actually worse for glancing/pinning). In fact, that's the ONE thing I'm most nervous about are his flyers in his Nid list, as he doesn't have any flyers for Tau.

To be honest, I intended on using the BMs for long range pinning of infantry out in the open while the melta bikers and maulerfiends run up the field/flank to munch on the valuable vehicles and MCs.

I would take a sorcerer if I could guarantee the boost in sonic weaponry, but that is a HUGE investment in one model that doesn't guarantee I will get what I'm hoping for. And then, what do I give up to get this?

Hmm, thanks for the informative discussion. This is all going to be very helpful as I craft my own list. You guys rock!

Drop the dirge casters. If you're trying to use the s8 mode of the blast master you're holding still. Holding still means you're not advancing to support the fiends and bikers with the dirge casters.

I'd try to get your lord a power fist for being able to deal with the monstrous creatures and for the extra attack.

I have run a very similar list many times recently, with great results! Thumbs up!

bogalubov wrote:Drop the dirge casters. If you're trying to use the s8 mode of the blast master you're holding still. Holding still means you're not advancing to support the fiends and bikers with the dirge casters.

I'd try to get your lord a power fist for being able to deal with the monstrous creatures and for the extra attack.

I have the dirge casters for the bikers and the maulerfiends. Nothing more upsetting than a lucky high strength overwatch shot when charging with your big daemon puppies. In theory, about 2 of the squads will be out of their rhinos sitting on home turf objectives while their dedicated rhinos ride as cover escorts for the assault units; with a 48" range, if placed right, these two units shouldn't have trouble hitting from their half of the table. The other 2 NM squads will probably ride to an ideal midfield position, then sit outside of the Rhinos so their transports can go grab maelstrom objectives as needed; and if not necessary, can sit inside of the rhinos for the free protection. Seeing as how the Dirge Casters are only 5pts each, 20 total, it's really a small investment in the long run.

Two problems with the powerfist:
-The model doesn't have a powerfist, and I am concerned about harming the model trying to repose/kit them.
-Sometimes I feel like a 5 point single attack with armourbane is worth more than a 25pt 3+ attacks without; my maulerfiends and oblits are more suited for taking out that riptide and all of his nid monsters, I think.

Then again, I could drop two dirge casters off of the two transports that would carry the NM, and use the points with the extra already remaining 17 points to "add" a powerfist; if my opponent is imaginative enough to believe that his claw can retract and become a fist that is.

Snorben wrote:I have run a very similar list many times recently, with great results! Thumbs up!

Thank you. Glad to hear that others are seeing success with similar lists. I recall a long time ago a bat rep with lots of MSU NM, but I can't remember how it was built, but that was back in 6th ed, so vehicles were a lot weaker then.

Seems like a good list. Let us know how it goes