One of the obvious problems with fielding an "elite" army at low points value levels is the paucity of models that are available to you to deploy on the board. Death Guard, Dark Angels' Death Wing and so forth, all share this problem. The main issue is that the "basic" troops cannot compete with a regular ork boy (etc.).
Consider this 1000 points list of Death Guard.
Daemon Prince, Mark of Nurgle, Wings, Doombolt (160 pt)
Chaos Dreadnought with Plasma Cannon (105 pt)
7 Plague Marines, 1 flamer, 1 melta, 1 champion with power fist, rhino with havoc launcher (266 pt)
7 Plague Marines, 1 flamer, 1 melta, 1 champion with power fist, rhino with havoc launcher (266 pt)
7 Plague marines, 2 plasma guns (191 pt).
Total = 988
Okay, so I could swap out a plasma gun and get warp time (maybe even Nurgle's Rot) on the daemon prince and other subtle points transfer. But check out the troops count -- there are only 21 troops, 2 rhinos, 1 monstrous creature and a dreadnought. In comparison, I could probably field circa 40 daemons in a mixed daemons army. And in a previous game at 1000 points, I faced nearly 70 orks! Clearly, quantity is a quality all of its own, and the more elite armies out there can really struggle.
In the above Death Guard army list, I've tried to help them out a little bit by having multiple template weapons (the havoc launchers and the plasma cannon) than can help take out multiple targets in one hit. This goes back to a previous philosophy that I built around my Death Guard -- they have deficiencies in firepower that must be compensated for somewhat. Yet they are still manoeuvrable, and can take on mechanized opponents with a choice selection of targets.
But is a Plague Marine worth more than 1 standard marine? They certainly are pseudo-terminators in a number of respects, but my experience when I've faced horde armies (orks, tyranids) at low points values is that they don't perform too well. At larger points values, they can certainly do well against both hordes and regular marine armies. But at low points value, horde beats my elite Death Guard army with frightening regularity. Perhaps I should simply try to go without any mechanization and march across the board as Mortarion intended? How does four plague marine squads with a daemon prince sound?
4 comments:
I'm not sure there is a good answer to this. Ditching the transports run counter to my kneejerk reaction, but a little more firepower, paired with some sort of castling doctrine might be the answer?
Hmm, I would consider dropping the Dred. for another DP. 2 DPs in 1000pts is insane.
loose the havocs and champs with fist and keep your troops in the rhinos, firing heavy weapons from the top hatches.
Numbers do have a quality all of their own. My suggestion: Stay together and try to channel any attack so you can defeat the enemy in detail. You are then in a target rich environment.
Hi Counterfett -- you're right in that more firepower is often necessary. Castling up is an excellent stratagem.
Hi SC John -- a second DP could be just the ticket. Very scary at 1000 pts.
Hi John -- Of course, the opposing view to the negatives of an elite army is that it provides the enemy with a target poor environment -- I like your way of thinking!
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