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Monday 4 June 2012

Infantry always in cover, yes but.....




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One of the mistakes I think I've been making with list building lately has been making the assertion that infantry are always in cover (which by itself is a fair statement if you play against competent players) and thus deciding that any high ap torrent weapons don't have a place in my lists. I think many people make a similar assertion. Especially when reading online, you often see people playing the cover card everywhere.

Things like plasmaguns (maybe even, dare I say, hot-shot lasguns) have taken a nose dive in popularity, but still have a place in armylists. Using a plasmagun to downgrade a 3+ to a 4+ is not very worthwile, and paying more points on your warrior acolytes for weapons that actually are just as effective against marines in cover as boltguns may seem just stupid. During gameplay you might not realise how useful they are. You're forcing your opponent to use cover. When playing against a list that doesn't really have a lot of high ap shooting (maybe just a couple of missile launchers) I'm not gonna use cover, I'm gonna maximize my range and rather move the sure 6" forward. The best spot for my unit might not be next to a crater. Situational, but just a couple of plasmacannons or plasmaguns might make movement more difficult for your opponent. He might pick cover and your plasma weapons won't do much damage, but you're already winning.

Some armies do this more naturally then others. lasplas razorspam already has that inbuilt plasma. Although I would rather take the plasmarifles on my broadside team leaders then crisis suits, a lot of tau armies have fireknife suits. On the other hand, a grey hunter spam SW list might not have that same kind of high ap torrent (but rather missile and melta which would be better off pointing in some other direction). Although grey knights don't really need that much of a buff, a couple of triple plasma warrior acolyte groups might be good just as a threat to your opponentm keeping their movement in check.

3 comments:

  1. Im a necron player who makes great use of a Ctan Shard with Withering Worldscape to force players NOT to use cover. Lots of lists take cover for granted. Take cover away start using template /blast weapons to instant hit.

    I agree it is always worth hoping to catch a squad out of cover. You can also use the threat of plasma gunners to keep squads in cover and prevent movement in one direction.

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  2. Thanks for the comment Rob. Do you have some high ap weapons to work with the ctan (like staffs of light or destroyers)? I'd certainly be interested to hear more about the list.

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  3. This is my current list

    Destroyer Lord with Mindshackle Scarabs and Resurrection orb

    Warriors x 15
    Warriors x 15
    Immortals x 5 (gauss)

    Deathmarks x 10
    Ctan Shard with Withering Worldscape and Gaze of Death
    Triarch Praetorians x 5

    Heavy Destroyer

    Tomb Blades x 5 with Particle Beamers
    Tomb Blades x 4 with Particle Beamers

    Doomsday Ark
    Doomsday Ark

    1990

    It does suffer mobility issues, but my standard tactic is to castle with the Arks, immortals and Preatorians. Lord goes off on foot/hoverthing. Warriors walk to the nearest objectives. Deathmarks land on a far objective to contest. Heavy destroyer aims for tanks and trys to contest if alive at the end.

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