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Jaynen wrote:
Where are you in NC I am in Raleigh.

I think I will just get going playing with what models I have an adjust from there. Ad Mech is still one of my favorite armies thematically. I have always liked the Tech Priest Aesthetic

I am trying to assembly line a bunch of vanguard. Ugh matching the legs to the torsos so the trenchcoats dont bind weird is annoying. And glueing the "off hand" to the weapon and the shoulder is also annoying for a newbie like myself

pro tip: though it's a pain to get all the flashing off, try priming on the sprue. allows you to paint as you go and assemble the skitarii as you paint them. if not, always paint the legs separate, learned that the hard way...

Week 6 is around the corner for my Escalation League and it culminates in a tournament as well. I am pondering this list for both:


Opting for Dragoons over Skitarii. The Dragoons can spread out to make a 10" line, while a 5-man squad of Skitarii can spread into a 13" line, but the Dragoons offer up 12W at T6 with Incense Cloud and better mobility. This gives me two 10" no-go zones for any T1/T2 shenanigans... in theory. They have the 6++ and under Shroudpsalm should be more survivable than the dudes. The Taser Lance isn't impressive, but I have yet to have my Skitarii to anything but die, so if the Dragoons can do literally anything - even wound something once - it is an improvement. Plus, probably will look pretty good on the table. The list is pretty self-explanatory and I know a lot of folks will be like "less Robots", but keep in mind I am stuck in-faction for this and can't do Knights or Conscripts or anything and lets be real, Blandguard aren't really all that impressive as a speedbump because they die to a stiff breeze. Dragoons seem better... no doubt I will learn the hard way otherwise! Plus, unless I want to eat the 135pt TPD tax, I am kinda stuck with my single Spearhead detachment as well (hence the squadrons of Dragoons over single units).

I did go for another Neutron, but I am torn there. I have so much volume of shooting from the Kastelans, I think that extra Neutron shot will be a boon to help knock out heavy armor. Though with my luck, I will get stuck in against a bunch of flyers!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Tiger9gamer wrote:

Jaynen wrote:
Where are you in NC I am in Raleigh.

I think I will just get going playing with what models I have an adjust from there. Ad Mech is still one of my favorite armies thematically. I have always liked the Tech Priest Aesthetic

I am trying to assembly line a bunch of vanguard. Ugh matching the legs to the torsos so the trenchcoats dont bind weird is annoying. And glueing the "off hand" to the weapon and the shoulder is also annoying for a newbie like myself

pro tip: though it's a pain to get all the flashing off, try priming on the sprue. allows you to paint as you go and assemble the skitarii as you paint them. if not, always paint the legs separate, learned that the hard way...

Painting on the sprue?! Blasphemy.

My protip on the matter - get a fine tip brush or brush pen and where the legs and torso join, write corresponding numbers. That way you know which legs go to which bodies. You will want to paint them separate anyhow to be able to get the underside of the robes a separate color, so this is a trick that might help.

Hi there!

Read the first post with the lowdown on all our units - is this still the case/accurate? Any list advice?

Yes. Nothing has changed, and the OP was purpose-written for 8th.

List advice - I'll leave it to others, because I haven't played a single game with 8th ex AdMech yet. Too busy painting.

So given how Vanguards/rangers are, is it better to run them min squads or larger squads? Min vanguard die to a stiff breeze, but max vanguards die to morale.

I am looking at what I can cobble together with the lot I am getting, and I am thinking of doing 5 Rangers with 2 Arquebus, and then maybe 2 units of 5 rangers with 2 Plasma, should I combine that into one unit of 10 maybe? For my own sake I don't want to run them with zero upgrades (feels cheesy), and the plasma dudes look badass.

minimum units to prevent morale losses check back a couple pages I asked a similar question and got some detailed answers

Wayniac wrote:
So given how Vanguards/rangers are, is it better to run them min squads or larger squads? Min vanguard die to a stiff breeze, but max vanguards die to morale.

I am looking at what I can cobble together with the lot I am getting, and I am thinking of doing 5 Rangers with 2 Arquebus, and then maybe 2 units of 5 rangers with 2 Plasma, should I combine that into one unit of 10 maybe? For my own sake I don't want to run them with zero upgrades (feels cheesy), and the plasma dudes look badass.

Min units are the most advised. As you said, morale is a problem, and anyway one shooting phase of a single unit of Necrons could wipe out your 10 men unit all the same as a 5 men one. As for the plasma, it's still a pricey weapon so I'd personally not use that much. I use one and it rarely does anything worth mentioning. Four ? That's risky, and that costs too many points. However I'd advise to use Vanguards to carry them, because they need to be at the same range as the Plasma Caliver does, whereas you'll want to be more distant with your Rangers most of the time. It all depends on how you want to use them in the end. It shouldn't feel cheesy because they are over-costed anyway, so running them bare is just a way to deal with their high price to keep it low. If you want cheap special weapons the Arc Rifle is the way to go. If you want more bodies you can also use a middle number, no need to use 10, 7 or 8 are a decent number to have a mix of disposable bodies and reasonable potential morale losses.

 Tiger9gamer wrote:
if not, always paint the legs separate, learned that the hard way...

This. It makes the inside of the robe so much more manageable as well.

 em_en_oh_pee wrote:
Opting for Dragoons over Skitarii. The Dragoons can spread out to make a 10" line, while a 5-man squad of Skitarii can spread into a 13" line, but the Dragoons offer up 12W at T6 with Incense Cloud and better mobility. This gives me two 10" no-go zones for any T1/T2 shenanigans... in theory. They have the 6++ and under Shroudpsalm should be more survivable than the dudes. The Taser Lance isn't impressive, but I have yet to have my Skitarii to anything but die, so if the Dragoons can do literally anything - even wound something once - it is an improvement. Plus, probably will look pretty good on the table. The list is pretty self-explanatory and I know a lot of folks will be like "less Robots", but keep in mind I am stuck in-faction for this and can't do Knights or Conscripts or anything and lets be real, Blandguard aren't really all that impressive as a speedbump because they die to a stiff breeze. Dragoons seem better... no doubt I will learn the hard way otherwise! Plus, unless I want to eat the 135pt TPD tax, I am kinda stuck with my single Spearhead detachment as well (hence the squadrons of Dragoons over single units).

I did go for another Neutron, but I am torn there. I have so much volume of shooting from the Kastelans, I think that extra Neutron shot will be a boon to help knock out heavy armor. Though with my luck, I will get stuck in against a bunch of flyers!

I run them in pairs as well. It makes them a bit harder to remove, and you can actually "trap" units with them (especially vehicles that get too close to a wall) like so:

---------
.\..o../.
..\..../..

The 'o' represents the vehicle and the Dragoons are the lines. Basically, just keep the "tails" of the Dragoons no more than 2 inches apart and have the "heads" overlap the edge of the vehicle. The vehicle cannot fall back and is thus stuck in CC with your Dragoons forever.

Dragoons also occasionally explode, which can do a surprising amount of damage given how big their bases are.

I do 1:1 Neutron to Icarus, with Neutrons taking priority. Remember that Kastelans do a lot of what Icarus already do against non-flyers.

Wayniac wrote:
So given how Vanguards/rangers are, is it better to run them min squads or larger squads? Min vanguard die to a stiff breeze, but max vanguards die to morale.

I am looking at what I can cobble together with the lot I am getting, and I am thinking of doing 5 Rangers with 2 Arquebus, and then maybe 2 units of 5 rangers with 2 Plasma, should I combine that into one unit of 10 maybe? For my own sake I don't want to run them with zero upgrades (feels cheesy), and the plasma dudes look badass.

Always minimum squads. Run Vanguard instead of Rangers for Plasma; the range and Assault characteristic do synergize. In higher point games though, naked Vanguard are your best bet.

Yeah I derped and put rangers instead of Vanguard for the plasma, rangers would be with the arquebus

On a side note, BAO finished over the weekend. It was a Guard spamfest. I mean, the Bay Area is a bit more cutthroat than other areas (in a super nerdy way), but Conscripts + Elysians/Scions seems to be the new army to beat now that flyers are (mostly) gone.

Snipers can't kill the Commissars fast enough to make a significant difference, so it seems the best way is to hunker down and protect the artillery from deep strikes.

It looks like I might have screwed something up or I was off on the models but with 2 starting boxes I ended up with

1 5 man ranger team that has 2 arquebus's and an alpha with omnispex

and 14 Blandguard with 2 Alphas

I thought I should have had 15 total for 3 groups of 5 but not sure what happened

So I guess I will run 2 groups of 7? Blandguard so 6 Vanguard 1 Alpha

1 TPD until I get cawl

1 Neutron Onager
1 Icarus Onager

Jaynen wrote:
It looks like I might have screwed something up or I was off on the models but with 2 starting boxes I ended up with

1 5 man ranger team that has 2 arquebus's and an alpha with omnispex

and 14 Blandguard with 2 Alphas

I thought I should have had 15 total for 3 groups of 5 but not sure what happened

So I guess I will run 2 groups of 7? Blandguard so 6 Vanguard 1 Alpha

1 TPD until I get cawl

1 Neutron Onager
1 Icarus Onager

5 man squads are plenty, if you want to run them at all.

Also, nerding out that Dakkastelan is now a thing on Dakka. Wondering if Blandguard will get there too!

Has anyone heard any rumblings/rumors on our codex? The last time I looked, nothing was available. The HQ tax blows and I'd like to be able to use my ,forge world> for something... Lol.

The only thing I heard before 8th released is that ad mech will get transports but no idea how good the source is...

bortass wrote:
Has anyone heard any rumblings/rumors on our codex? The last time I looked, nothing was available. The HQ tax blows and I'd like to be able to use my ,forge world> for something... Lol.

The only thing I heard before 8th released is that ad mech will get transports but no idea how good the source is...

Fires of Cyraxus is supposed to drag the 30k range (mostly) into 40k for us. I think it has been on hold this long due to the inevitable 8th transition. Allegedly, that will be out here soonish. Like maybe Q3 or Q4? Maybe the next FW event will shed some light on it, but the Triaros would be a fantastic transport to get access to.

And given the speed of the Codex releases, if we are up for it, we will not have to wait long it seems. I mean 8th Ed isn't that old and we have three Codices due out in less than a month. So hopefully we get ours this year and soon. I think the 4th releases is supposed to be Death Guard, but no rumblings on what is after.

I know this is a bit off-normal as we're all trying to flesh out the most competitive and/or dominant lists. However, I though I might propose a list I've been really enjoying and having good success with at a lower point value (1000). This has been for an escalation league that started at 500 points and has gone up 250 every two weeks, currently we're at 1000. I thought I'd post it in case someone out there was interested in a fun, dynamic, strong list that didn't leave opponents feeling abused by unit spam or an excess of super-units. The only true duplication in the list are 5-man, bog-standard vanguard squads which no one is going to complain about.

HQ: TPD
TP: 3x 5-man vanguard
EL: 5 infiltrators (pistol & PS)
EL: 5 infiltrators (pistol & tazer goad)
FA: iron strider (las cannons)
FA: iron strider (autocannons)
HV: dunecralwer (Icarus)
HV: dunecralwer (neutron laser)

I think there's a few points left over to play with war gear. In any case this army has been surprisingly versatile, tough to take down and really, really fun to play. It's also been very successful. If you deploy it right, you can deny your entire deployment zone in the end-to-end deployment map to infiltrators/deep strikers while still giving your dune crawlers access to the TPD's aura.

It won't win you any tournaments... but if you're looking for a solid list for friendly play that won't leave your opponents complaining about how cheesy your army build is or calling you "that guy"... you might give it a go.

Pray to the machine-god for FoC at the next Forgeworld event. We may hear word on August 14th.

 em_en_oh_pee wrote:

Jaynen wrote:
It looks like I might have screwed something up or I was off on the models but with 2 starting boxes I ended up with

1 5 man ranger team that has 2 arquebus's and an alpha with omnispex

and 14 Blandguard with 2 Alphas

I thought I should have had 15 total for 3 groups of 5 but not sure what happened

So I guess I will run 2 groups of 7? Blandguard so 6 Vanguard 1 Alpha

1 TPD until I get cawl

1 Neutron Onager
1 Icarus Onager

5 man squads are plenty, if you want to run them at all.

Also, nerding out that Dakkastelan is now a thing on Dakka. Wondering if Blandguard will get there too!

Just since I don't have more models to make up points with I might as well play the guys I have for now. As soon as it makes sense to drop them I would

I still run 2 10 vanguard squads at full for most my lists. I give one squad 3 palsma, the other 3 arc rifles, both omispex depnding on my opponent, I'll ran a 10 man ranger squad with only omispex, and probably 1 or 2 five man squads of of rangers with one or two snipers.

This would normally be a horrible idea, but I play a little of everything and I play for Rule of Cool and fluff over hyper competitiveness. But taking bigger squads isnt autolose, they can still work.

My lists always contain Breachers, Desyroyers, and Robots. These things often draw the most fire, due to the sheer amount of firepower they throw out. My Vanguard and Rangers often don't get shot till about turn three due to target priorities.

Its almost the same tactic I use with my Tyranids, they don't bother shooting my devilgaunts because the distratafex is only 8" away.

Two of my last games, my 10 man ranger squad was never even shot at. All fire was directed at my heavy guns. And the rangers did well, their long range and random AP-1 and omispex to ingore cover would pop rubrics and Chaos space marines every so often


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Though if you really wanted to be more competitive, you can still run those 10 man squads but only give them arc rifles. Their volume of shots and the cheapness of the arc rifles makes for a glass cannon of a unit.

 Tsol wrote:
Though if you really wanted to be more competitive, you can still run those 10 man squads but only give them arc rifles. Their volume of shots and the cheapness of the arc rifles makes for a glass cannon of a unit.

In my experience, Arc Rifles are worse than Radium Carbines and Plasma Calivers against the sorts of enemies that your Vanguard will face. Stuff like bikes, daemons, and conscripts. It's a shame too. I bought so many Arc Rifles during 7th.

So Robots are backordered and I won't get mine in time for my tournament. So, in an effort to mitigate my painting needs, I have a more diversified list that I am not totally tickled with, but it is all stuff I have and almost all of it is painted. I need to focus on my display board for the event, so I am really strapped for time.

Spearhead Detachment +1

HQ:
Cawl
[250]

Troops:
(5) Rangers
2x Arquebus
[100]

Fast Attack:
Sydonian Dragoon
Taser Lance
[68]

Sydonian Dragoon
Taser Lance
[68]

Heavy:
(3) Kastelan Robot
Triple Heavy Phosphor Blasters
[330]

(2) Kastelan Robot
Triple Heavy Phosphor Blasters
[220]

Onager Dunecrawler
Neutron Laser & Cognis Heavy Stubber, Broad Spectrum Data-tether
[143]

Onager Dunecrawler
Neutron Laser & Cognis Heavy Stubber, Broad Spectrum Data-tether
[143]

Onager Dunecrawler
Icarus Array, Broad Spectrum Data-tether
[130]

[1452]

Vanguard Detachment +1

HQ:
Tech Priest Dominus
[135]

Elites:
Cybernetica Datasmith
Gamma, Power Fist
[52]

(5) Sicarian Infiltrators
Tasers & Macrostubbers
[130]

(10) Fulgurite Priests
[160]

Fast Attack:
Sydonian Dragoon
Taser Lance
[68]

[545]

[1997]

So that is where I am at. It has a trio of Dragoons for screening which I am hoping will suffice. Fulgurites for counter-assault, Snipers to pick off characters. Infiltrators for "mobility". Only 5 Robots, but that should suffice for firepower. Icarus to drop flyers and twin Neutrons to help knock out threatening armor.

Sucks I have to pay the TDP tax to get a second detachment, but hey it is another guy to repair models and his bubble might help if I move off a small chunk of the army away from Cawl's main area.

Thoughts? Seems pretty stock.

Ill be watching to hear how you do as it sounds reasonable for what we have to work with

Yeah, Robots are sold out pretty much everywhere. They're going for above retail for poorly painted on eBay, and $150-$200 on Amazon. I haven't seen my local stores as of late, so not sure about physical copies.

Everyone is putting way too many in their lists anyway. I think 2x2 is the right number, 1x2 if you have a Crusader. Any more, and you will begin to have problems against assault armies; a third of your army pretty much is helpless in CC, especially if they manage to kill your Datasmith.

Agreed on that. We're not an army capable of spam-listing. Diminishing returns are very real.

Dang robots were not that crazy last week.

Robots will be available again when a container comes in to the US. That is per GW Customer service.

Also, if you datasmith dies, what were you doing? Robots can go double fight for CC, so they are not useless, just not great. But their overwatch is brutal with Cawl nearby.

I think 6 is probably the right amount for 2k. That puts enough firepower down to take a lot of steam out of assault armies.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Jaynen wrote:
Ill be watching to hear how you do as it sounds reasonable for what we have to work with

I will post about how it does. I am hopeful, but only 5 Robots isn't my ideal. C'est la vie.

 em_en_oh_pee wrote:
But their overwatch is brutal with Cawl nearby.

If I'm not mistaken, Cawl's rerolls only apply to the shooting phase. As overwatch is in the charge phase, Cawl does not benefit overwatch.

Jackal444 wrote:

 em_en_oh_pee wrote:
But their overwatch is brutal with Cawl nearby.

If I'm not mistaken, Cawl's rerolls only apply to the shooting phase. As overwatch is in the charge phase, Cawl does not benefit overwatch.

Good point. I haven't been charged thus far.

 em_en_oh_pee wrote:

Good point. I haven't been charged thus far.

Really? Never? Nobody plays Tyranids, Orks, Daemons, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, or hell, Grey Knights, where you're at? Because in my experience, when fighting assault armies, it's not a matter of IF they will get into CC, but when and where.

Suzuteo wrote:

 em_en_oh_pee wrote:

Good point. I haven't been charged thus far.

Really? Never? Nobody plays Tyranids, Orks, Daemons, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, or hell, Grey Knights, where you're at? Because in my experience, when fighting assault armies, it's not a matter of IF they will get into CC, but when and where.

I find it surprising too. Most of the time against experienced players I get charged turn 2. Now I'm learning how to position them better to avoid that but I tend to dislike having my 15 Skitarii out in the open for screening, they just get shot at and die immediately. And I built my two robots with twin HPB and Incendine Combustors back in the day, now I wish I hadn't but I just love playing WYSIWYG in 8th Edition.

Going to play a game at 2000 pts today against Chaos, going to borrow Cawl from a friend to be able to climb up to 2000 pts, and try him by the way. It also will allow me to make a full AdMech Battalion and so will be able at last to play with the Canticles Here's the list, made of all the models I've got save a Taurox and a Commissar that I don't play in this list: