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No I'm not talking about Starbucks coffee. I'm talking about Strike Force Ultima. I haven't seen any discussions on this yet, does anyone have any thoughts on it. It seems like a rather nasty formation. Compared to other SM formations I would say it's about middle of the road, but compared to other factions formations it seems really good. On top of that, the box set army seems like a really good deal.

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2016/10/40k-strike-force-ultima-formation-confirmed.html

The rules are nice. Potentially very nasty.

But it’s got some bad taxes. Tactical terminators and the Land Raider are not exactly competitive. You’ve also got nothing worth sticking in the LR.

And the whole think is a massive chunk of points. Moderately well balanced chunk, but still.

If someone had all the parts, I could see them playing it in a friendly game. But it’s nothing to write home about.

Hooray, another null-deployment space marines formation. Guaranteed turn 1 deep strike. So i can either get first turn, deploy, try to score 'grab objective x" cards, have no one to shoot, and generally waste a turn because maelstrom cards aren't all tax objective x. Then the space marine players "perfectly" counter deploys because he knows exactly where all my units are, gets extra melta shots from his combi-melta/etc, absolutely wrecking (shy of bad rolling), and guaranteed turn 1 flyers...

Or go 2nd, have that all drop in (again "perfectly" placed) before moving, and basically end the game.

Yup, fair and balanced. It will sell boxes/models/lots. SO GW is happy.

So.. just a kind of run down on how I am understanding the formation.

In a nutshell: Null deployment, everything comes in automatically on turn one, everything (including vehicles and combi-weapons) gets to fire an extra shot with all their weapons.

So this could potentially mean combi-weapons being even more worth the points, the land raider firing 4 TL lascannons when it comes in, and termies actually causing some damage before they inevitably get nuked?

Naked, it’s a bit over 1,000 points. And you are going to want to buy upgrades. Just on a first pass, rough HIWPI I came up with 1,235.

The nastiest thing here is the extra shot sternguard. Who are going to take the pod, and probably be a full 10 man strong. They are going to drop, combat squad, and mangle two units. The pod was coming in first turn anyway, so no real boost from that. If you go full melta spam, you were probably popping two tanks anyway. The extra shot is just gravy. If you do a mix (like 5 c-meltas, and 2xHFs) double shotting the flamers is going to do a lot more harm to a blob them before.

Putting the tacs in a razor, geared with melta is how I would go. Roll up, hop out, double shot. 4 shots is much more reliable for popping tanks then 2. Assuming the paper razor doesn’t get trashed in the backfield. Remember: It’s starting in reserves, and coming in from the table edge. So it’s not going to be lined up on the 12” line, ready to go.

In objective missions, this can be an issue. You are basically going to be an extra turn of movement behind.

The guaranteed fist turn DS and extra shot is going to help the terminators, but I’m not sure it’s going to be enough to get them above “meh” on the power scale.

First tun flyer is nice. Normally I want to show up second in a dogfighting scenario, but it’s got interceptor on it’s chin gun IIRC, so getting on early helps it get it’s points back. Nice boost, but nothing game breaking.

So this formation locks you into about 1,250 points worth of your army, for one very nice trick (sternguard) and an handful of minor boosts for mediocre units. If you had a way to outflank all the stuff coming in from reserves, I might be a bit more worried. But driving everything in from the table edge is a big drawback.

IMHO, YMMV, etc.

Has the 6 Bodies 5 Spots problem with the captain and the terminators if you wanted to put them together in the Land Raider, but you'll probably want to deep strike them with an assault cannon anyways. Would be a lot better if there was a second drop pod instead of the razor or if you got a stormraven instead of the hawk

Annoying null deployment, sternguard, and I guess the land raider a bit too. But, that's really all it seems to have of note.

I'm new to the game, does the LR and Razorback arrive from your table edge? and Could you field a different variant of the LR with this or just the lascannon version?

It's a kind of bizarre combination of units. As mentioned the double-combi-melta is a strong alpha strike, but I'm just not seeing how the rest of it synergyzes up into something that's reliably effective. I don't think it has good staying power.

If the opponent can manage to keep his juicy targets off the table and effectively counterattack, I think the Ultima list is going to get stomped.

 pumaman1 wrote:
Hooray, another null-deployment space marines formation. Guaranteed turn 1 deep strike. So i can either get first turn, deploy, try to score 'grab objective x" cards, have no one to shoot, and generally waste a turn because maelstrom cards aren't all tax objective x. Then the space marine players "perfectly" counter deploys because he knows exactly where all my units are, gets extra melta shots from his combi-melta/etc, absolutely wrecking (shy of bad rolling), and guaranteed turn 1 flyers...

Or go 2nd, have that all drop in (again "perfectly" placed) before moving, and basically end the game.

Yup, fair and balanced. It will sell boxes/models/lots. SO GW is happy.

You clearly must be jocking. A formation with a tactical termies and a bogstandard land raider now sound broken to you? You know how laughable that is? Let's be honest, it's nice but far from great as it has plenty of taxes. The only good things are the sternguard and the interceptor, as the others only have a marginal increase in their firepower (seriously, more 5 stormbolter shots IS something to sneeze at).

honestly the godhammer landraider needs a buff, it's got, proably the worst weapons AND the worst infantry capacity.

One plus it is looks pretty cool. And it's an army in a box, that's always good.

Wayniac wrote:
One plus it is looks pretty cool. And it's an army in a box, that's always good.

The problem is that half the army consists of things you don't really want: tactical terminators aren't great, the godhammer is the worst of the three variants (and land-raiders ain't exactly great, to be honest) and you generally want your officers in artificer armor and bikes rather than terminator armor.

I prefer the Godhammer, actually. Putting a bunch of Bolters on a Land Raider seems like a total waste to me. The Godhammer benefits the most from the Land Raider Spearhead, IMO.

But that doesn't stop the Ultima from being a weird combination of units though.

Less good about bolters, more about having big transport capacity and less incentive to stand back and just get contents in combat. With godhammer you can't really move fast or you are wasting those lascannons.

Strike Force WeNeedToSellTerminatorsAndLandRaiders

Just write some better rules for feth's sake, geedubs...