THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE DEATHWING By Unknown Master |
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Unit Selection Choosing Terminators to fit into an army is always a difficult procedure, more so if the terminators are going to be the main troop complement, as in a Deathwing army. Therefore careful consideration must be put into the selection of terminators. Size: I have never fielded squads larger then 6 terminators, as the squad becomes too unwieldy when trying to fit your precious figs in cover. Besides the obvious movement impedance, you also have to consider that two squads can carry more heavy weaponry then one squad, thus doubling your heavy fire power. As a rule I would generally only deploy terminators in squads of 5, unless I am using them as a command squad, where their number would increase to 6. Weapons Outfit: These are you're most crucial decisions. Do you equip them for assault, or tank-hunting, etc. To decide this you must carefully consider the following: Who are you fighting? What type of battle are you fighting? Asking yourself these questions before you make weapons selections is a much better method of increasing the efficiency of a Terminator squad. NB: HTH weapons should only be fielded by a Terminator squad if there are more than 3 squads of Terminators or if it is a supporting squad in a standard army. HTH squads should be kept as pure HTH squads, try not to equip them with heavy weapons, as this adversely effect those models melee performance. (You will lose the bonuses of lightning claws or thunder hammers on a fig that is assaulting.) How to Move Around The most important thing to remember with a Deathwing army is cover. You want to keep you terminators in as much cover as possible, as this will still provide them with a save against those AP 1 - 2 weapons. Better than staying in cover, move behind cover. Run you terminators around buildings, through pipes, behind your Landraiders, etc. Try to keep them out of as much gunfire as possible. If one of your squads is stranded in the open, with no possibility of reach cover before the enemy releases the fusillade of fire towards them, charge them towards an enemy squad, so long as they do not have power weapons. Make sure you get at least one of your terminators in base to base contact with an enemy that turn, so that the squad is considered engaged in HTH and may not be fired upon. Deep Striking If you are allowed to deep strike, do it. Furthermore, see if your opponent will allow you to use the Drop Pod rules, (provided you are not fielding a Landraider.) A common mistake that beginners make when deep striking terminators is that they teleport them into the middle of a board, or wherever the enemy is concentrated the most. This is a very bad mistake, which will usually result in your terminator squad being mangled in one turn. The ideal location for you to drop your terminators is right on top of heavy weapons teams located away from the center of the army. I have heard stories of terminators deviating into HTH with Avatars and all other sorts of nasty things. The first thing I would like to know is why the terminators were even going remotely near enemies of that prowess. Creatures like Avatars and Hive Tyrants are usually in the center of their respective armies with hoards of troops surrounding them. To teleport into HTH with an avatar is not the result of bad luck, its the result of poor planning or inexperience. Had the terminators not landed on top of the Avatar, they would have been consumed by enemy fire the next turn, and if that wouldn't fell them, the Avatar would probably charge them. Bringing Support Always field Dreadnoughts (a plural suffix indicates more then one). Dreadnoughts are your tanks, and they are also your main assault troops. Use dreadnoughts to bust tanks, or rip apart infantry that are too powerful for you terminators to handle, such as Incubi or Genestealers. I usually field three Dreadnoughts when I am playing a Deathwing army. The first Dreadnought is the Dark Angel standard, twin linked lascannons and missile launcher. This dreadnought is included with the sole purpose of tank busting, therefore I call it the Devastator Dread. The second dreadnought I field is equipped with a plasma cannon and storm bolter. This is my Tactical Dread, as it is designed to destroy both heavily armored infantry and light vehicles. The last dreadnought is armed wit an assault cannon and a heavy flamer. This is a pure anti-infantry dreadnought, and therefore dubbed the Assault Dread. I will usually deploy the dreadnoughts in the center of the table, where they can spear head the assault. I keep the three dreadnoughts in tight cohesion so that they can defend themselves better. (I move them no more than 3 inches apart from each other. I will usually move them in a triangular formation, with the Devastator Dread staying behind the other two dreadnoughts. Once my dreadnoughts have reached assault range, I will usually send the tactical and assault dreadnoughts into HTH. The devastator dreadnought will usually continue to pummel tanks/bunkers or it will support one of the other dreads in the assault. Landraiders are also very important to a Deathwing army, as they are both your transports and your main battle tanks. I will field two of these when I play a Deathwing army. The most important reason to field Landraiders is to get your Terminators closer to the enemy faster, and to break them as you do so. I have had incredible success using Landraiders to transport assault terminators into battle. I would charge the Landraider towards the weakest part of my opponent's army, making sure to move the tank less then 6" on the turn they would reach the enemy. I would position the tank so that it was no more than three inches from the farthest enemy fig. I would then deploy my terminators, and charge them at the enemy. If the Terminators managed to destroy the squad, I would consolidate them back inside my Landraider. The greatest thing about Landraiders is that they are very hard to kill, and most players know this, consequently, the Landraiders become the targets for ever single heavy weapon in your opponent's army, especially if you have terminators inside the tank. You do not have to worry about your opponent destroying both your land raiders, as they only weapon that effectively destroys it is a Demolisher cannon or Earthshaker cannon, and they are both inaccurate. Simply destroy the Basilisk and avoid the Demolisher/Vindicator, and you have a tank that will drive you opponent to distraction. Most players will concentrate so much fire on these tanks that the rest of the army can proceed with relative ease. Choosing Characters The Master of the Deathwing must be purchased as a HQ selection, and is the only character that is allowed to be fielded with a Deathwing Command Squad. I use this as the perfect basis for an assault squad. The Master recieves a pair of master-crafted lightning claws, and I usually equip my command squad with lightning claws, unless the opponent is fielding units that require me to equip thunder hammers. (I never field assault squads against tyranids.) The reason why I equip the Master with master crafted lightning claws is because they remove almost all the probability of failed attacks. (you reroll to hit, and reroll to wound. For the second selection you could purchase another Master, a Librarian or an Interrogator-Chaplain. I usually field the Interrogator-Chaplain in the Deathwing Army as he comes with a rosarius and power weapon as default. I will tend to provide him with a storm bolter and field him alongside a squad. However if I am facing the Orks/Imperial Guard or Chaos, I tend to field a Librarian armed with a force weapon and storm shield. This characters role becomes pivotal in the battle. Against the Orks/Imperial Guard, I use the Librarian to cause havok amongst the troops, by deep striking him behind their lines and causing the squads to make leadership tests on 3d6, or head screaming towards my terminators and the crossfire. |
TACTICA DEATHWING |
