TACTICA DEATHWING By Richard Chambers ( Annihilus ) |
TThis article has been reproduced with kind permission from the author. An edited version appeared in the Australian White Dwarf magazine, # 262. It's use here is not intended as a challenge to the original authors copyright and is reproduced here for the sole purpose of enhancing he Dark Angel spirrit and the warhammer 40,000 experience. |
Ahhh... the Deathwing. Ever since reading that supplement from the original Space Hulk game many moons ago, I have been enamoured with these elite warriors of the First Company of the Emperor's first (and therefore, in my humble opinion best!) legion, the Dark Angels. Legend tells us that a single unit of these super-hard marines, finding their homeworld under the sway of a Genestealer Cult, choose to root out the insurrection rather than see their world destroyed. To prepare for their expected imminent deaths, the marines painted their black Terminator armour bone-white. In the massive battle that followed they defeated the Cult and saved their planet. To honour the Deathwing's heroism the Emperor allowed the Chapter to retain this new colour on their Terminator armour. And so the legend was carried over to Codex:Dark Angels which provides us with an alternate army list, where the only troop type used are Terminators. The one such list available to gamers in all of 40K resulting in an extremely small, knife-edge balanced, thematically sound, surgically precise instrument of war capable of giving any enemy force a bloody-nose. Great drawcards for collecting and playing with a Deathwing Army. A Deathwing Army also presents the collector-player with a force that has a unique and compelling background, steeped in the mystery of the Chapter's terrible secret. If you enjoy delving into this aspect of gaming, again, you just can't go past the Dark Angels. Having a small army means you can afford to lavish time and attention on every model you field. A Deathwing Army with its bone-white colour scheme simply looks great on the tabletop and in my mind really suits an excellent paint job with flowing banners and detailed bases. However, gaming with a Deathwing Army is not for the faint hearted. You will always be outnumbered; you will have a limited army list, wargear, and tactical options. But, how great will be your joy when, despite all the odds, you still pull off a win. So let's discuss how to make this happen. For a small army to be successful it needs something that modern military planners call "force multipliers". What's that? Put simply it means taking a basic unit and providing it with something that will multiply its potency. In real world terms take a fighter plane for instance. By adding things like in-flight refuelling or airborne radar, you greatly add to its range and interception capabilities. In 40K terms take a basic unit (such as a small squad of marines) and add to it weapons, armour, special abilities, vehicles and more. Alone, this is still not enough. It is the correct and innovative exploitation of these multipliers that will lead to victory. Fortunately, marines of the Deathwing automatically come with many force multipliers, which I will briefly discuss throughout the article both in terms of force selection and tactics. The first place to start is with our three compulsory selections from the Standard Missions force organisation chart that is 1 HQ and 2 TROOPS choices. In the case of this army, these must be a Master of the Deathwing and two squads of at least five terminators each. So before we can even started thinking about the exact theme of our army, cool wargear add-ons, heavy weapons, vehicles, etc., we have already used about 630 points. That's 110 for a basic Master of the Deathwing with the remainder of the points going towards the 10 Deathwing Terminators at a hefty 52 points each. So if we were planning to build a standard 1500 point army, just taking our "must-have" choices means we have used up about 42 per cent of our available points. So let's look at what we can do to multiply these 11 models so we get the best bang for our buck. Firstly our HQ. We have to take a Master of the Deathwing as one of our HQ choices and he can be either a Master or a Grand Master. Every army needs a great leader and both the Deathwing choices are outstanding with little difference between them. I always choose a Grand Master over a Master. I know I end up with very few models in my army so I feel that having more than one HQ choice may be construed as being a little beardy. Therefore I like my one character to be pretty damn good. Everyone enjoys taking down their opponent's leader and as I always make sure my Grand Master is in the thick of the action having that extra wound is a must. His very durability becomes a force multiplier. This durability is backed up by his Terminator armour. This armour is the best armour available in the 40k universe with its 2+ save and 5+ invulnerable save. Having this armour means no Iron Halo can protect your commander from that well placed lascannon shot, but I have found that the Terminator armour's in-built invulnerability has saved not only my Grand Master, but many a member of the Deathwing at just the right time. It won't win you games, but it can frustrate your opponent. Much joy lies here! Now, how to arm your Master of the Deathwing. You do have a few choices, but what it comes down to is either having a commander that is simply a hand-to-hand monster, or a character able to shot as well as assault. If you want an all out close combat uberman I don't think you can go past lightning claws. When charging, this means six WS 5, Strength 4 attacks with re-rolls when wounding. Generally this will mean five or six dead opponents every turn. A pretty awesome result in anyone's book. However, the way I look at it, if you have a character with BS 5 and don't give him something to shoot with, then you are not using force multipliers effectively. So, here is the other reason I consistently use a Grand master the storm bolter/Sword of Secrets combo. The storm bolter is certainly one of the best "standard" infantry weapons in the game. With a range of 24" and two Strength 4 shots while moving it's also a bargain at 5 points. Now the icing on the cake. It's expensive, at 40 points, but a Sword of Secrets will provide your charging Grand Master with five Strength 6 hand-to-hand attacks. Generally this means you'll be rolling two's to wound. And on top of all that if you are fighting pesky Toughness 3 opponents the Sword of Secrets means Instant Death to their multiple wound characters. Ouch! So now I have my commander kitted out for a very nice 150 points. The Master of the Deathwing is not the kind of character who would cower at the back of the battlefield protected by legions of troops. He should be the focal point of the Deathwing Army, leading every attack and defending every breach. He is the hammer that smashes his foes against an anvil of supporting Terminators. Now to that anvil, our two compulsory squads of Deathwing Terminators. Originally we purchased two squads of 5 marines. With each of these units we are automatically gain 5 storm bolters, 4 power fists and a power sword. In simple firepower terms this means that at 24" one of these squads will fire as many shots as a basic 10 man Tactical squad, but unlike the Tactical squad, will have been able to move 6" beforehand, giving it an effective firezone of 30". If a target is assaulted by this squad, your foe's survival is unlikely with three power weapon attacks and twelve Strength 8 power fist attacks. But it is unlikely that such a squad would ever go into action, having taken none of the options available to it. Let's take a look at these options and how best to use them. Of all the Space Marine Chapters the Dark Angels have the most flexible Terminator squads. You have the opportunity to mix and match potent hand-to-hand weapons with three excellent heavy weapons. This flexibility as yet another force multiplier. There is no chance to build redundancy into a Deathwing force, so strict specialisation as seen in other armies is not so much an option when it comes to your TROOP choices. This means that each unit must be able to deal with any type of opponent in any situation. So, let's have a quick look at the three heavy weapon choices you have for each squad. These weapons are must-have force multipliers. My suggestion is that you should always take two heavy weapons in the squad if you can. Further to that, always take two of the same weapon. This is about as much specialisation as you can afford. It won't strictly limit the role of that unit on the battlefield, it will however, give that squad a theme and a role in your mind that will assist in the design of your battle plan and deployment. If you are fortunate enough to know you'll be fighting an enemy with a 4+ armour save, then heavy flamers can be a lot of fun. Toasting an entire squad of alien scum in one shot is enough to put a satisfied smirk on the sternest Dark Angel. Against a more powerfully armoured foe, however, it can prove a little frustrating. The heavy flamer also suffers from an extremely limited range, so if your best laid plan of attack goes pear-shaped, your flamer toting Terminator may spend much of the game walking, walking, walking looking for someone to barbeque. The assault cannon is my personal favourite. Not because it's the best Terminator weapon, but merely because it just looks the part and provides a theme in my army. Ever since Space Hulk I've just had this strange attachment to these things. Normally only Dreadnoughts and specialist tanks can have assault cannons, but a Terminator, yep, he can lug one around with the best of 'em. Having two of these babies in a squad can put a whole lot of pain down range and even though their AP is only 4, plenty of enemy marines have fallen before the assault cannon's spinning barrels of death. The other good thing about both of these two heavy weapons is that the Terminator using them will still get to use his power fist or even a chain fist in close combat. It means these marines are not only great at killing your opponent's troops and light vehicles, but can also take down big ticket items like tanks or objectives like bunkers during assaults. The cyclone missile launcher is "the" heavy weapon choice for many discerning Deathwing players who simply swear by it. The cyclone allows you to fire a frag or krak missile as well as the model's storm bolter. It means you can lay down an impressive amount of fire each turn and this weapon will kill enemy troops and vehicles with equal abandon. A Strength 8 krak missile means Instant Death to multiple wound Toughness 4 characters silly enough to get in its way. The only drawback to the cyclone is that the Terminator's power fist is replaced with a special targeting device and therefore these models will be the only marines in your army not making power weapon attacks during the assault phase. A small price to pay maybe. |
TACTICA DEATHWING |
