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The following unit is something that we have been toying with and I was wondering if others have been using it with the new book.

Legion of the Damned: 5 man w/plasma gun, plasma cannon and combi plasma 165 points

The unit can land accurately or deploy depending on preference, has SNP for deep striking shooting plus Ignore Cover. So far its proven rather effective against its chosen targets in light testing (one/two game plus Vassal), even the bolters of the squad can prove devastating against GEQ.

Thoughts?

They can only deploy via deep strike, so their ability to re-roll scatter is quite useful.

SJ

My next game is going to have 2 5 man units with Melta, Multi-Melta, Combi-Melta paired with Vulkans ability. I think it will do very well for only being 145 points for each squad. That's dirt cheap for what they can do now, and the Melta will ignore cover. This may be my answer outside of grav weapons to really hurt Wave Serpents. 3 master crafted meltas should be able to wreck it without much hassle.

In fact, I think Legion will be some of my next purchase. They are 1 unit I've never owned or used before and now that they seem viable I think I'll need to get some.....

 NickTheButcher wrote:
My next game is going to have 2 5 man units with Melta, Multi-Melta, Combi-Melta paired with Vulkans ability. I think it will do very well for only being 145 points for each squad. That's dirt cheap for what they can do now, and the Melta will ignore cover. This may be my answer outside of grav weapons to really hurt Wave Serpents. 3 master crafted meltas should be able to wreck it without much hassle.

In fact, I think Legion will be some of my next purchase. They are 1 unit I've never owned or used before and now that they seem viable I think I'll need to get some.....

Hmm, very good loop. Legion of Damned do not benefit from any chapter tactics. But Hulkans rule says it benefits anyone in his detatchment, his rule for twin linked melta is not a chapter tactic.
Pretty good find

I have always enjoyed using lod they are amazing models and they wreck havoc on anything in their way.

I would work in a grav and combi grav into the unit(depending on list needs) to take advantage of that relentless. Basically get 4 reliable wounds against 2+ armor save targets.

Throw in a heavy weapon to taste.

Melta guns can work on non relentless targets and so to take the most advantage of the LOTDs ability.

I played in a 1350 tourny the other night and I ran two groups of 8 LotD with Vulkan. It was almost free Linebreaker every game if I played them smart.

I gave them: Melta, MM, and Combi-Grav. It pretty much give all my Tacticals this same layout because I can mastercraft my Tacticals Combi-Gravs and I think Grav are a must have against the Riptide meta.

Unfortunately, LotD don't get the Mastercrafted Combi because they don't have CT but they are relentless. The 2 reliable melta shots and the 3 shots from the Grav on Turn2 that ignore cover is brutal. I landed two squads of Legions within 12" of a Tervigon. He wasn't worried at first because he had the Tervigon behind a line of Hiveguard and when I told him how many wounds without Armor, he quickly pointed to the HG and asked "5 up, right?". Let's just say there wasn't a Tervigon by the end of the turn. T8 with Iron Arm Tervigon with 6 wounds... 4 Meltas and 6 Grav shots later. Poof.

They DO get Master-crafted because Vulkan's ability isn't limited to his own group, nor is it a Chapter Tactic.

Multi-Melta, Melta and Combi-Grav would be my thing too.

Kangodo wrote:
They DO get Master-crafted because Vulkan's ability isn't limited to his own group, nor is it a Chapter Tactic.

Multi-Melta, Melta and Combi-Grav would be my thing too.

I think he meant without Vulkan and the ability to master-craft any weapon on a Character for the Salamander Chapter Tactic.

 NickTheButcher wrote:

Kangodo wrote:
They DO get Master-crafted because Vulkan's ability isn't limited to his own group, nor is it a Chapter Tactic.

Multi-Melta, Melta and Combi-Grav would be my thing too.

I think he meant without Vulkan and the ability to master-craft any weapon on a Character for the Salamander Chapter Tactic.

Except he said he was using Vulkan, so doubtful.

Actually Vulkan just states all characters in this detachment and makes no mention of Salamanders, or that this is a chapter tactic so combi grav seems to be ok.

Godless-Mimicry wrote:

 NickTheButcher wrote:

Kangodo wrote:
They DO get Master-crafted because Vulkan's ability isn't limited to his own group, nor is it a Chapter Tactic.

Multi-Melta, Melta and Combi-Grav would be my thing too.

I think he meant without Vulkan and the ability to master-craft any weapon on a Character for the Salamander Chapter Tactic.

Except he said he was using Vulkan, so doubtful.

Reading comprehension fail -- you are correct

lazarian wrote:Actually Vulkan just states all characters in this detachment and makes no mention of Salamanders, or that this is a chapter tactic so combi grav seems to be ok.

But to take Vulkan you have to use Salamander Chapter Tactics - and he directly affects Combi-Meltas only, not Combi-Grav.

LoTD also do not benefit from any chapter tactics -- so in the end, no master crafted combi-grav

Multi-melta, grav, comb-grav. One of the best grav platforms I can think of.

Not too many (bikes, 3+, helldrakes?), not too few (tacticals, Salvo ) but juuuuust right

This combo... this is quite nice.

They can't take full grav weapons, just a combi on the sarge.

I think plasma might be a good load for them. AP2 plus ignoring cover is just going to kill whatever you are shooting. Might be worth going plasma gun, plasma cannon, combi-grav. Grav and plas have enough in common to work well together, and on a S&P marine, I think you get more bang for your one shot with the c-grav.

Razerous wrote:
Multi-melta, grav, comb-grav. One of the best grav platforms I can think of.

Not too many (bikes, 3+, helldrakes?), not too few (tacticals, Salvo ) but juuuuust right

Legion can't take grav guns, meltagun is probably best.

All Melta or all Plasma sound pretty cool. Good use of the Heavy Plasma and Multi Melta thanks to SnP.

Henshini wrote:

Razerous wrote:
Multi-melta, grav, comb-grav. One of the best grav platforms I can think of.

Not too many (bikes, 3+, helldrakes?), not too few (tacticals, Salvo ) but juuuuust right

Legion can't take grav guns, meltagun is probably best.

Though the combi-grav on the sarge along with a meltagun and multi-melta is pretty nasty if I do say myself. Has anyone use LotD in an all drop-pod army list?

Kangodo wrote:
They DO get Master-crafted because Vulkan's ability isn't limited to his own group, nor is it a Chapter Tactic.

LotD don't get Master-crafted Combi-Grav. LotD don't have CT. Nothing to do with Vulkan. LotD's Melta and MM work with Vulkan's detachment. But I was referring to my Combi-Grav on the Legions.

LotD combo well with Vulcan, as he makes their melta guns/MM twin linked.

Do you think a combo of plasma gun MM and combi grav on one squad could be viable? or is there not enough synergy between the PG and the MM

 labmouse42 wrote:
LotD combo well with Vulcan, as he makes their melta guns/MM twin linked.

Yeah; combo the melta*; mm. c-grav (good spot) with ignore cover & vulkan TL. In addition grab salamander infantry for twin-linked flamers, additional high damage ignores cover weapons.

I would think you would want a plasmagun instead of a melta for the legion of the damned.

On the turn they drop they are going to have a difficult time getting within 6 safely(even with the re-roll). However if they land within 12 they are still getting 2 shots with a plasmagun, which(especially with wave serpents) I would take over a meltagun.

So without a cover save against AV 12:
meltagun is gonna remove .333 hull points 11% destroy
Multimelta is gonna remove .611 hull points 28% destroy
plasma gun is gonna remove .444 hull points 7.4% destroy
grav shot is going to remove .666 hull points 2.7% destroy

So you are looking at about .111 hull point difference but a drop of 4 percent chance for destroy. So a meltagun would be better against most vehicles, but worse against Wave Serpents(with shield up). Also a plasmagun is going to be better against heavy infantry.


Now if you feel comfortable landing within 6 it is a different story.

I agree that Plasma gun in general is better overall as deep striking and double-tapping into the back of an vehicle which is likely AV10 can help strip those hull points (bar the risk of overheating of course).

Plasmaguns ignoring cover is pretty nice too.

Question though, Plas / Multimelta or Plas / Plascannon? The Multimelta that can move and fire is really handy and can get into the 12" range, but moving and shooting the blast marker that ignores cover and armour is also very tasty.

Multi-melta.
I prefer to use the Plasma Cannon on stuff like Tactical Marines.
The strength of LotD (to me) is that they can Deep Strike close to the enemy and unleash all the weaponry that needs a close range.

What do people think of a powerweapon/fist on the sarge to give them a bit more close combat bite? Waste of points even with the 3++?

 Leth wrote:
I would think you would want a plasmagun instead of a melta for the legion of the damned.

On the turn they drop they are going to have a difficult time getting within 6 safely(even with the re-roll). However if they land within 12 they are still getting 2 shots with a plasmagun, which(especially with wave serpents) I would take over a meltagun.

So without a cover save against AV 12:
meltagun is gonna remove .333 hull points 11% destroy
Multimelta is gonna remove .611 hull points 28% destroy
plasma gun is gonna remove .444 hull points 7.4% destroy
grav shot is going to remove .666 hull points 2.7% destroy

So you are looking at about .111 hull point difference but a drop of 4 percent chance for destroy. So a meltagun would be better against most vehicles, but worse against Wave Serpents(with shield up). Also a plasmagun is going to be better against heavy infantry.


Now if you feel comfortable landing within 6 it is a different story.

In general you are correct leth, it is risky trying to DS within 6 inches of your target, even with reroll. What I have been planning to try to counter this is running 5-7 pods, the first 3 with locator beacons. With so much stuff DS first turn i believe the enemy will have a hard time focusing on the drop pods, with so much other targets to deal with, my 2 tac squads and my sternguard. I will be running aegis with comm systems and so starting second turn my LotD with most likely be coming in and with 3 locator beacons on the DP the odds are they won't scatter.

The argument can be made that maybe my target won't be within the drop pod range with locator beacon, which is possible. But with 3 DP, each with a locator beacon that creates a 6 inch radius and not including the hull size of the DP, the locator beacon diameter is HUGE.

Now I have been playing semi serpent spam since the codex came out for my eldar. I am truly scared of the LotD. Their ability to ignore my +4 jink save is crazy. Remember also their shields don't work from behind. The LotD have a good chance of DS behind the serpent. The eldar player has two choices when they are playing against LotD, play defensive with their shields, using them as the shield, which will increase the survivability of the tank, but greatly reduces its damage output. Or the player can be agressive, use the shields as weapons, but that almost guarantees the tank will be destroyed when the LotD hit the table.