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For a laugh i'm trying to put together a 2000 point CAD centered around this formation. However, I've never run one of these bombs before.

How would you all suggest kitting them out & which of the choices for a leader works best? None? Shadowsun for that stealth/shroud +3d6 thrust move warlord trait? Or Shadowsun +Farsight for stealth/Shroud+No scatter WT but without the 3d6 Thrust move?

These days, you want Shadowsun and a Commander outfitted with all the buffing gear and signature systems, including iridium armor and stims. Farsight is a relic of the past since you can now get 9 Crisis Suits in a unit without his help. The 3d6 JSJ helps you way more than the precision DS would, anyway.

As for armament, I go with either all CIB or a mix of CIB and fusion. Target locks all around, too. If you really feel like splashing points into this unit, there are fewer better buys in the game than the BS5, stealth/shrouded gun drones that can come with your suits. They're great for extra ablative wounds, and that volume of S5 tank/monster hunting, cover ignoring firepower is tough to beat. You might make your opponent punch you in the throat by JSJing a unit that large every turn, but if he doesn't have a load of cover ignoring weaponry, he's in for a long day.

MilkmanAl wrote:
These days, you want Shadowsun and a Commander outfitted with all the buffing gear and signature systems, including iridium armor and stims. Farsight is a relic of the past since you can now get 9 Crisis Suits in a unit without his help. The 3d6 JSJ helps you way more than the precision DS would, anyway.

As for armament, I go with either all CIB or a mix of CIB and fusion. Target locks all around, too. If you really feel like splashing points into this unit, there are fewer better buys in the game than the BS5, stealth/shrouded gun drones that can come with your suits. They're great for extra ablative wounds, and that volume of S5 tank/monster hunting, cover ignoring firepower is tough to beat. You might make your opponent punch you in the throat by JSJing a unit that large every turn, but if he doesn't have a load of cover ignoring weaponry, he's in for a long day.

Right on, solid advice, couple of questions in that regard.


What else would you run to avoid getting alpha striked off the board? I've got a couple of riptides, a bunch of fire warriors, kroot, broadsides, a pair of hammerheads, a devilfish, a culexus, and a vindicaire.

It's never a bad idea to use early warning override to protect your other units that would be targeted by alpha strikers. You can use the secondary systems on broadsides and riptides (or primary if need be) to cover your big suit-star with EWO. Kroot can also make a nice bubble wrap.

I would avoid the vehicles for now unless you can fit them in (as much as I love the hammerhead/devilfish)

Culexus is also good if you are facing an army with an opposing psychic deathstar.

 digital-animal wrote:
It's never a bad idea to use early warning override to protect your other units that would be targeted by alpha strikers. You can use the secondary systems on broadsides and riptides (or primary if need be) to cover your big suit-star with EWO. Kroot can also make a nice bubble wrap.

So if i'm understanding your message you would suggest running them on the board rather than deep striking them?

You could do it either way, really. I just feel like it's a ton of points tied up in reserves waiting for a chance to come on unless you do the Retaliation Cadre. With Shadowsun granting stealth/shrouded it helps the unit survive a bit better. If you did plan to deploy them initially then I would kit them with missile pods perhaps. Otherwise if you are going to DS them CIB/FB would work just fine.

 digital-animal wrote:
You could do it either way, really. I just feel like it's a ton of points tied up in reserves waiting for a chance to come on unless you do the Retaliation Cadre. With Shadowsun granting stealth/shrouded it helps the unit survive a bit better. If you did plan to deploy them initially then I would kit them with missile pods perhaps. Otherwise if you are going to DS them CIB/FB would work just fine.

Yeah, that absolutely makes sense. And I would hate to have to invest more points into getting them in more reliably (comms relay, etc). Maybe i'll run them that way with missile pods, and have some DS'ing flamer suits and FB suits.

The other list I've been tooling with is bringing this down significantly and DS shadowsun with her drones, and a pair of FB bodyguards with the system jammer and the repulsor field. Less eggs in one basket that way.

EWO is always your first line of defense against things getting in your face before you want them to be. You can have a sizable bomb and still squeeze in a Riptide Wing or a Stormsurge and marker support without issue. That should be plenty of firepower to prevent anything but some lucky cult ambush hijinks from getting to your bomb.

Always start the bomb on the table unless there's some overwhelming reason not to. That's far too many points to have off the board, even if just for a turn. They're super mobile, so they should be very able to get out of the way of anything heading their way. Psychic defense is a must, and with Sisters of Silence, there's no reason not to have it, honestly. You don't want your bomb going rogue and wasting your own stuff.

MilkmanAl wrote:
EWO is always your first line of defense against things getting in your face before you want them to be. You can have a sizable bomb and still squeeze in a Riptide Wing or a Stormsurge and marker support without issue. That should be plenty of firepower to prevent anything but some lucky cult ambush hijinks from getting to your bomb.

Always start the bomb on the table unless there's some overwhelming reason not to. That's far too many points to have off the board, even if just for a turn. They're super mobile, so they should be very able to get out of the way of anything heading their way. Psychic defense is a must, and with Sisters of Silence, there's no reason not to have it, honestly. You don't want your bomb going rogue and wasting your own stuff.

Truth. At the moment my FLGS league is CAD only, so no ritpide wing or drone net for this list. But I do have a unit of 2 riptides (one HBC one IA) along with a trio of broadsides all ith EWO.