Yeah, its been a little while since my last post. Sorry, real life can be... well, you know what it's like. Anyway, I haven't gotten in very many games, which stinks. I have, however, managed to put together and revise my army list yet again. After having my vindicator singled out and blown to bits by every lascannon my opponent had, I decided to take an alternate approach yet again. My problem is that my opponents run way too much anti-armor, and I run way too little armor. Nobody likes loads of rhinos running toward you with angry troops, so, they bring enough las, plas, and melta to stop the "rhinospam" dead in its tracks.
I've been wondering how I would do if I ran without any vehicles whatsoever. Think about it for a minute. Every las, plas and melta my opponent spent their points on is now FAR less useful to them. So without vehicles, my opponent doesn't really know how to react. (Hopefully) I also decided to get some of those special characters. After all, they are incredibly deadly. As of now, my list:
HQ:
Commander Dante: 225 pts
Librarian, w/jump pack: 125 pts
ELITE:
Chaplain w/ jump pack: 125 pts
x2 Sanguinary Priests w/ jump packs and power swords: 180 pts (total)
Sanguinary Guard w/ Chapter Banner: 230 pts (Sidenote: chapter banner is perhaps the best 30 points you could ever spend! +1 attacks on all friendly units within 12" is very nice)
TROOPS:
Scout Squad (x10 men) w/ 8 sniper rifles, missile launcher, power fist, locator beacon, x10 camo cloaks: 230 pts
x2 Assault Squad (x10 men) w/ x2 meltaguns, powerfist, infernus pistol: 250 pts each
FAST ATK:
Vanguard Vets (x5 men) w/ jump packs, x5 storm shields, x3 power fists: 310 pts
GRAND TOTAL: 1925
THE PLAN: Infiltrate with the scouts, pray they survive until turn two, and start bringing in reinforcements via deep strike. I'm not really expecting the scouts to fare so well, but may as well do what killing they can sniping. Hopefully, they can pin groups like devastators or tac squads hiding in the back, or anything not inside a vehicle. With the beacon, I have the opportunity to set down troops a bit closer to my opponents than I otherwise normally would feel comfortable doing. Stuff like my Vets, who would love to heroic intervention and eat a nice juicy tank the first turn they land.
Anyway, this leaves me in the awkward position of being 75 points too many (1850) or too few (2k) for most battles. So, what to do with the points?
Option 1: Buy Scout Squad
Buy a 75 point scout squad with no extra modifiers whatsoever, and use it as a "speedbump" unit to protect the 10 man squad, outfitting it with 3 combat knives and two shotguns. They would infiltrate in front of the other scouts. Assuming the enemy moves their entire army to attack my 10 man scout squad, speedbumping some cheap scouts might be a good precautionary measure to ensure that my expensive scouts stay outta trouble, and keep the beacon operating. At the moment, this is my favorite option. This puts me at 2,000 points exactly.
Option 2: Upgrade the Vets
Buy more stuff for the vets. Purchasing three more soldiers, a power fist for the sergeant (cheaper than normal, don't know why I didn't see this earlier), and a meltabomb would make this unit even more fearsome. On the downside, they cost a whopping 385 points for 8 guys. On the plus side, 4 power fists and a meltabomb is probably enough hate to get through a land rainder. This puts me at 2,000 points exactly.
Option 3: Skimmer
I don't like this option at all, but I could pack along a skimmer and deep strike it with the free heavy flamer upgrade, and multi-melta upgrade for 20 points. This would give me a grand total of 1995, so I would probably buy a meltabomb for the vets just because.
So what do you think? Which option is best? Am I missing something obvious?
