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Hi all,

I am currently planning to build up my Astra Militarum (hate that name) army to 2,000 points. I'm looking to make a fun list with a sprinkling of competitive and have so far come up with this list.

HQ

CCS
2x plasma guns
Autocannon
Carapace armour
MoO
Power sword on officer
chimera

Pask in punisher with heavy bolter sponsons
Executioner friend with plasma sponsons


Troops

Veteran squad
carapace armour
3x plasma guns
missile launcher
commissar

Veteran squad
carapace armour
3x plasma guns
missile launcher

Veteran squad
carapace armour
3x plasma guns
missile launcher


Fast attack

Armoured sentinel
plasma cannon

Hellhound
heavy flamer
camo netting
dozer blade
smoke launchers
search light

Vendetta
heavy bolters


Heavy support

Executioner
plasma sponsons

Executioners
plasma sponsons

Wyvern x2
camo netting on both

My main opponent plays orks and has a pool of about 2,500 points to build from.

Thoughts?

Ed

vendetta with HB makes no sense. can only fire 4 weapons anyways.

missile on veterans makes little sense, these guys need to be moving to take objectives.

power sword on commander is a waste of points. if your in melee, your already dead.

rest seems fine. with those extra points you should get a defence line or bastion.

Thanks for the reply. So, I dropped the heavy bolters on the vendetta and the power sword on my officer. Turns out I was 15 points short with my initial list anyway so with those 50 points I bought I Tourox for one of my vet squads to make them more mobile and add a little bit more fire power to my list. It's either that or add a commissar to my other two vet squads. Which do you think would be better?

Post-FAQ the Executioner with plasma sponsons becomes a little bit of a liability. I remodelled mine, who buddies with Pask, to an Exterminator. They're expensive, too. What I would consider doing is swapping the heavy support Executioners for standard LRBTs if you can, and maybe even drop the Vendetta. S8 AP3 pie plates are still good, or take Demolishers if AP2 is necessary. Another Punisher is also a good shout, with sponsons that gives you a total of 58 shots re-rolling 1s to hit and wound, some with potential rending.

You should have enough points spare to add an extra Wyvern and put all of the vets in Chimeras which is helpful if they're going to be going after objectives. Vets with two meltas in a Chimera is pretty much standard if you're not going down the platoon route. Wyverns are arguably the best thing in the codex, and more than make their points back. One of my regular opponents plays Orks, and he's terrified of Wyverns and pie plates.

Also, do you think it would be worth it to drop the hellhound for a vindicare assassin?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hmm, I haven't seen the FAQ about the executioner... I'll have to brush up on that

 edbradders wrote:
Also, do you think it would be worth it to drop the hellhound for a vindicare assassin?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hmm, I haven't seen the FAQ about the executioner... I'll have to brush up on that

Hope you don't mind me jumping in and answering some of these...

The Vindicate Assassin can be very useful, although it depends what you actually need it to do. The standard, and the one I regularly run, is the Culexus due to there often being a lack of psykers in Guard armies. Assassins should be taken to deal with something specific IMO. The Hellhound is underrated though, and is gold against infantry heavy/horde armies.

The FAQ, although a draft, states that the re-roll of 1s for Preferred Enemy granted by Pask doesn't count towards the gets hot roll of template weapons, therefore requiring five gets hot rolls per shooting phase for each Executioner. That builds up, and you end up needlessly stripping hull points. In most cases Executioners would be taken alongside Pask, following the split fire tank order and making the most of preferred enemy. Since the FAQ was introduced, the Executioner's inclusion in lists drastically diminished - mine included.

If you're going assassins, Culexus is the best.

I wouldn't drop the vendetta, it's your only true anti-air.

I am in favor of mixing up your tanks. A demolisher and a LRBT are gold.

Always take a chimera/taurox over a commissar.

Thats my 2 cents,
-DB

Definitely keeping the vendetta. I'll go for a taurox then instead of the commissars. Would a vanquisher be a good buddy for pask in a punisher?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I think I'll keep the hellhound over the assassin then, my ork opponent usually goes foot slogging hoard with a few vehicles so it would be good to thin his numbers a bit

Your best buddies for Pask are anything but the Vanquisher in my opinion. Granted, it would get preferred enemy and you can use the split fire order to take out tanks and MCs if necessary. Pask is best used for taking out infantry and light vehicles with massed fire power and re-rolling 1s, and something that also takes advantage of that is helpful. The Punisher Cannon is range 24", so something that works at a similar range is a common choice. Like I said above, I'm happy with an Exterminator with bolter sponsons as it's a good all-rounder.

If I run a Vanquisher, which is only in bigger games, I take a second Tank Commander with multi-melta sponsons and a lascannon and buddy up with another Vanquisher with a lascannon. The TCs BS4 is shared within 12" as part of the Emperor's Fist Armoured Company, which makes the Vanquisher a little more viable as you have a 2/3 chance of hitting rather than a 1/2 - similar stats to if it were to be buddied up with Pask.

I still stand by the LRBT for taking on Orks as there's going to be little on the table with a 2+ save, S8 will take on most vehicles without an issue and they're relatively cheap for the damage output. The 72" range means you don't have to move them much during the game too.

The LRBT does sound like a good option. Would it be worth while using a demolisher instead to keep the similar range and have S10 AP2 just incase some MANZ or a mega boss shows up?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And also have rear armour 11?

One way to look at it: there's no point in putting sponsons on either a LRBT or a Demolisher because they can only snap fire if you've used you're primary weapon due to them being ordnance. If you can, don't glue on the main weapon so you can switch between them without needing a whole new tank. Both work well with Pask for thinning out infantry, but moving a standard LRBT around the table is would put it at unnecessary risk.

I always magnetise my vehicles if I can so I can use any combination. I haven't tried magnetising the LRBT kit yet as I don't own one (one of the reasons I was asking about the vanquisher as pask's buddy) but I have done the demolisher kit and own 2 so far with plans to buy more.

Would the LRBT kit be relatively easy to magnetise?