Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4.5/5 stars, rounded down. Although there is only one turret mounted weapon I like, there's a lot to like about it!
Background.
Many will suggest to you that the Kratos is the new tank on the block. It is. But I'd like to point out that it has been mentioned in the background fluff before second edition arose. It is classed as a line breaker tank - although slow, there's little it shouldn't be able to push through!
Strengths.
We have a choice of 3 main turret mounted weapons (but don't forget to fire the co-axial autocannon first whatever you choose). The battle cannon is okay, but it simply doesn't shine. It tries to be a swiss army knife, but it kinda feels like a let down overall, even with a variety of shells it can fire. The volkite cardanelle is an odd choice. Yeah, it is at S=7 with lots of shots, but you honestly won't need it. The best choice out of the three is the Melta Blast Gun. Take this choice over the others since there's nothing in the game that you wouldn't shoot it at.
The flare shield option deserves a special mention in the strengths here. With AV=14 all round, this makes the Kratos almost an effective AV=15 vehicle. Take it as a matter of necessity. Even if you argue with me that this is the Kratos "no friends" option, the fact that you're taking a Kratos means you're already there probably, so nothing lost.
Weaknesses.
It is fractionally slower than other tanks. There's only the Melta Blast Turret that you will want to take as well. But beyond that, who cares. My only real criticism is that the tank should / might have been considered for a Lords of War slot rather than Heavy Support? Shrug.
Builds.
Kratos, Melta Blast Gun Turret, Flare Shield, Dozer Blade (360 points).
This is the baseline build.
Kratos, Melta Blast Gun Turret, Sponson Las Cannons, Hull Mounted Las Cannons, Pintle Mounted Multi-Melta, Flare Shield, Dozer Blade (430 points).
The maximum upgraded model. Have a search light on some other model for goodness sake. Take a hunter killer missile to taste?
first build should be 405 points.
ReplyDeleteI love my kratos, it's a nice centerpiece model that brings the pain. I don't consider it a "no friends" option because most players include in their army a way to kill a spartan with a flare shield quickly, and a kratos is roughly the same. that's one of those things where if you don't build an army to at least take on a spartan with a flare shield, that's on you.
nvm, ignore my comment on the points for the first build, i mistaken it for having lascannons as well
ReplyDeleteI agree that army building should feature a "tool kit" of options to deal with threats, while also making threats of your own. For me, it depends on the points level and the opponent though - I might even ask before hand, but obviously that's not top level tournaments I'm speaking about ;)
ReplyDeleteagreed, I still want my opponents to enjoy the game. HH is one of the few that I feel comfortable asking my opponent if there's anything in my list that would be too oppressive to deal with and vice versa. I only get nervous when attending narrative events because you can't change the list you started with. At best with those, I might downplay some of the strategy a bit, and say out loud with my decisions in a dramatic voice, "Do I do it for the story? Or do I do it for the glory?" Usually gets a positive reaction from the opponent
ReplyDeleteI genuinely like 30k over 40k at the moment (this should probably be obvious from the blog though!). One of the main reasons is the one that you articulate: the player base is excellent!
ReplyDeleteAt my club we have a rule that NO Primarchs or Special Characters are allowed unless the narrative demands it e.g. we recently ran a Zone Mortalis campaign based on the defence of lions Gate so we had Fafnir Rann, Sigismund and Abaddon present.
ReplyDeleteCurrently we're painting up the interior of the Vengeful Spirit so we're going to have THREE Primarchs on the board. That's gonna be fun.