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Does anybody ever run bane blades or their variants in 1500pts? If so what are some tactics to use and which of the bane blades are appropriate for their points costs? It seems like it may be a little too many points but I have been seeing more and more lords of war in small point games. I bought one but more or less to round out my points for a starter army before I can buy boat loads of tanks and men.

mbedford2308@gmail.com wrote:
Does anybody ever run bane blades or their variants in 1500pts? If so what are some tactics to use and which of the bane blades are appropriate for their points costs? It seems like it may be a little too many points but I have been seeing more and more lords of war in small point games. I bought one but more or less to round out my points for a starter army before I can buy boat loads of tanks and men.

Of all the LoWs, Baneblades are probably the least obnoxious. They're relatively expensive points-wise, and they're relatively easy to destroy with some close-in meltas or with a monstrous creature or two. At 1500 points, my biggest concern would be all those points tied up in a fragile vehicle, and I'd be leaving the door open for my opponent to bring his own LoW, which might be way more OP than my own.

Tactics mainy involves keeping them standing still, deep in your deployment zone, and bubble-wrapping them with infantry to create a buffer zone between you and the many things that will want to destroy it.

mbedford2308@gmail.com wrote:
Does anybody ever run bane blades or their variants in 1500pts?

Frequently. But only ever by appointment - while yes it's a big point sink and some are even borderline balanced, you're still changing the 'structure' of the game in a way that your opponent might simply not be able to handle, turning it into a waste of time for both players. the 2k mark is about when they cease to be a factor, simply due to how much else is going on.

mbedford2308@gmail.com wrote:

If so what are some tactics to use and which of the bane blades are appropriate for their points costs? It seems like it may be a little too many points but I have been seeing more and more lords of war in small point games. I bought one but more or less to round out my points for a starter army before I can buy boat loads of tanks and men.

Fully decked Shadow Sword with heavy bolters and targetters is possibly the best all rounder, it's going to cost more than a third of your army but it's probably the only variant that will punch to it's points cost at that game scale. Yes the big guns are all kinds of fun, but even if you wipe out a land raider every other turn (which you'll never fight at 1.5k), you're only breaking even by turn 5. Instead, 15 twin linked bs 4 heavy bolter shots + 2 lascannons gives you much more threat to throw about causing your opponent to have to position, and think, instead of simply throw everything at it secure in knowing you can't kill all of it before it gets there.

Beyond that i'm a big fan of the Hellhammer which is almost as bad points wise, but has so many good guns that it can feasibly threaten two fronts at once, despite being stuck at BS3.

Final thought is give serious consideration to a sky shield. The BB chassis fits on it quite easily and even has space for 2-3 chimera/russ chassis. The psychological effect of a 4+ save on 9 av14 hull points is not to be underestimated, to the point that it can completely discourage your opponent to try and tackle it at all and instead focus on the rest of your army, which if you handle it well can easily secure an Imperial victory.

I mean, if you want to be really cool, use the Emperor's Fury Superheavy Company.

Three Stormswords and a Techpriest with Meltabombs is exactly 1500 poiints, and gets you 3 Str 10 AP1 ignores cover apocalyptic blasts.

malamis wrote:

Final thought is give serious consideration to a sky shield. The BB chassis fits on it quite easily and even has space for 2-3 chimera/russ chassis. The psychological effect of a 4+ save on 9 av14 hull points is not to be underestimated, to the point that it can completely discourage your opponent to try and tackle it at all and instead focus on the rest of your army, which if you handle it well can easily secure an Imperial victory.

Please don't take this advice unless you want to be labelled TFG.

 the_Armyman wrote:

malamis wrote:

Final thought is give serious consideration to a sky shield. The BB chassis fits on it quite easily and even has space for 2-3 chimera/russ chassis. The psychological effect of a 4+ save on 9 av14 hull points is not to be underestimated, to the point that it can completely discourage your opponent to try and tackle it at all and instead focus on the rest of your army, which if you handle it well can easily secure an Imperial victory.

Please don't take this advice unless you want to be labelled TFG.

There are far, far worse things to put on a skyshield landing pad. Strangely enough, the skyshield landing pad may be the easiest and cheapest way to get a +4 invul save on a slew of vehicles, MCs, artillery, anything! Yet I rarely ever see people take it, even TFGs never bring it. I really wonder why.

I do agree, it is a very nasty tactic, and will bring your reasonably priced lord of war into a large block of swiss. I feel that the baneblade is a good example of what lords of war should be. It has the ability to deal large amounts of damage, however good tactics and strategy can counter it, avoid the damage, and eventually beat it. It is also reasonably costed. Running one at 1500 just depends on your local meta, its sort of like running a knight at 1500pt. I wouldn't call it fragile by any means, 9hp is still a lot to get through, and if you build your army around it, you can prevent a drop pod from getting within melta range with a single cheap unit (conscript bubble or something)

 Unit1126PLL wrote:
I mean, if you want to be really cool, use the Emperor's Fury Superheavy Company.

Three Stormswords and a Techpriest with Meltabombs is exactly 1500 poiints, and gets you 3 Str 10 AP1 ignores cover apocalyptic blasts.

Indeed. A superheavy tank company would actually be quite interesting to play against - yes, you have the OMG SUPERHEAVY in your favour, but when you actually take away the bubblewrap it becomes quite a tactical challenge to play with - you're faster than a lot of enemy units but can't afford to get bogged down. Saving points to rack out the sponsons will help a lot as - as noted - it's the sheer amount of dakka from secondary weapons and pintle-mounts that help make them effective.

For the sake of aesthetics I'd pick one 'command tank' as a stormlord or similar transport-capable variant for the techpriest to sit inside.

Locarno, you and I need to talk sometime. I routinely run superheavy companies in 30k and I never have met anyone to talk about the unique tactical challenges present.