Monday, February 11, 2013

So is this list just SPAM? Fluffy? Both? You tell me...

o/

I don't normally do these sorts of posts, where I post a list and ask you, 'teh interwebz' for your collective opinions on the subject. In general, I don't care, I play what ever it is that I like and that's that.  Instead my usual format is either the: I painted this, this is week or I played these games this week or this is my new army idea that will never see the light of day and will later be quietly sold off on ebay or (the ever popular it seems) screaming nerd rage rants. Indeed, the rants do quite well according to my google stats...

However lately (and locally) we've been waging something of an ideological civil war on just why we want to play 40k. I've never made it a secret that I proudly wave the 'fluff bunny' flag, and will savagely beat the mathhammer/WAAC crowd over the head with that flag as I see as necessary (which is a frequent occurrence I might add). As such both sides of this argument are hunkered down in their respective trenches, hate  and vitriol are being fired across no-man's land, and the battle lines are not moving at all. Really all we need here is the Death Corps of Kreig.

Of course I didn't ask Permission to use this.
Anyways, onto my list idea. I finally have the new DA codex, and will field a small allied contingent of DA reserve companies to run with my Storm Wardens. However what if I were to  field an actual reserve company? First off, this is a mental exercise as really have no desire to buy & paint all of this up. That said, here goes:





Dark Angels, 6th Reserve Company, Dual Force Organization
 Army total: 2500 points
Model count: 105 Space Marines (including Rhino drivers),
3 Dreadnoughts,  3 Rhinos

Primary Detachment: 1285 Points

HQ:

Company Master w/Power Sword, Combi-Plasma, Artificer Armor
Command squad w/Apothecary, Banner of Devastation

Elite:

Dreadnought w/Twin-Lascannon, Missile Launcher

Troops:

Tactical Squad (10) w/Multi-Melta, Meltagun
Tactical Squad (10) w/Lascannon, Meltagun
Tactical Squad (10) w/Lascannon, Flamer
Tactical Squad (10) w/Plasma Cannon, Plasma Gun
Tactical Squad (10) w/Plasma Cannon, Plasma Gun

Secondary Detachment: 1215 Points

HQ:

Chaplain Bane w/Plasma Pistol

Elite:

Dreadnought w/Plasma Cannon
Dreadnought w/Twin-Autocannon, Missile Launcher

Troops:

Tactical Squad (5) w/Meltagun, Rhino w/Plow Storm Bolter
Tactical Squad (10) w/Missile Launcher w/Flakk, Plasma Gun
Tactical Squad (10) w/Missile Launcher w/Flakk, Plasma Gun
Tactical Squad (10) w/Heavy Bolter, Flamer, Rhino w/Stormbolter, Plow
Tactical Squad (10) w/Heavy Bolter, Flamer, Rhino w/Stormbolter, Plow

And that's 2500 points. Looks kinda spammy to me, yet is pretty-much follows the Codex Astartes to the letter. So actually its fluffy. I tried to get a good mix of heavy and special weapons just to balance things out a bit. I could give a hoot as to whether its competitive or not.

Pros:

• Aside from the yahoo holding the Banner of Devastation (which in this list it would live up to its name) there are really no priority targets. Redundancy FTW!
• 10 Scoring units, unless they're in combat squads, then there's 19!!!
• Heavy and special weapons are everywhere (especially with combat squads) making it hard for the enemy to keep the front armor facing my scattered big guns.
• Enemy deep strikers and flyers will have issues on where to go, as the table will be flooded with bodies.

Cons:

• Aside from sheer numbers, there really isn't shit to deal with hand-to-hand combat and especially Death Stars.
• Heavy and special weapons are all over the place, so maximizing your firepower is out the window as well.
• Aside from 3 Rhinos, its a slow and ponderous force.

Or for a variation (and the cinematic 'raining space marines' option) you could drop the rhinos and add 14 drop pods (7 of which would be coming in turn one if I understand the Drop Pod Assault rules correctly). That would bump it up to a 3K list, and have enough points left over to upgrade a few Sgts. to vets and pass out a few power weapons of various descriptions as well.

So there it is.

Now I leave it up to you my fine readers to offer me your opinions on this subject.  What is this:
SPAM?
Fluffy?
Both?
Or (as RTVoril will no doubt tell me) TL;DR?

Edit: In my opinion its both SPAM & Fluffy, so I guess what I'm asking is would this be any fun to play against? Especially as most SPAM players hate fluffy lists, while most fluffy players hate SPAM lists.

8 comments:

Hive Angel said...

I believe Defcon: Corey status is still in effect.

When does the Masta ever go beyond 1500? Its like the sweet 8000 in Battletech.

I think the list is kind of cool and when I read ten Tactical Squads I was amazed you got them all in there.

I see only one squad is below ten marines so it is the only squad to have an HQ unit ride with.

I like it. Some would call it boring, but as I have come to know your play style it fits. I would actually like to go against this army with what I can field to match. It would be a straight firefight and beat down.

You can modify this a bit by going with the Astartes somewhat. Drop six Tactical squads and add an Assault and Devastator squad. Plus command and scout squad. Rhino up, spice with dreadnaughts and maybe squeeze in an elite.

I'm going to go list build now.

neverness said...

He didn't add Assault or Devs simply because those units are not in the company list in the codex. Thus the "fluff" justification. I would definitely add Drop Pods to this. It would be murder.

Anonymous said...

IMHO, I'll add Drop Pod too for the cinematic-style. I don't think it coulb be said spamming, as for me, spamming is abused of a unit overpowered and rarely fluffy.

However, I was thinking that Reserve Companies serve were split in squad in other combat company?

Da Masta Cheef said...

Usually yes, reserve company squads are deployed along with battle companies to bolster needed units, make up for losses, etc. I don't think that they deploy enmass too often, but it does happen when (insert chapter here) deployed all 10 companies to defend vs. the 13th Black Crusade or the like.

Meltaburn said...

I dont think its 'spamming' if its a basic troops unit like tactical squads used in this manner. Effective or not imho it would be a pretty awesome looking game, especially as a drop pod assault! Id like to see more space marine armies with more troops centric lists.

Anonymous said...

Personally, I like it just because it's something different. If you're wanting to try it ... I got the models for the first version of your list. =D

I'm 10 shy of having the drop pods to try the second version of your list though so you'd have to go the Hive Angel route and buy a pack of party hats.

Kushial

Kushial said...

Oh, and as to the main starting point of the blog post, I personally enjoy the fluff side of the 40K universe. I enjoy fleshing out the history, lore, and beliefs of my chapter just as much as I enjoy getting them on the table top to play a game. I don't mind pointing up a "hard" list to hit a local tournament or upon Hive Angel's request, pointing up 5500 points for a big game of fun or anything in between. I don't think I've ever gone into the WAAC camp, but I have done some mathhammering before to try and make a list put the odds in my favor.

Kushial

Da Masta Cheef said...

While I have no ambition to filed something like this as I don't have near enough minis (unless I mixed loyalists with traitors), Hive Angel was wanting to play vs. this, or something similar. As I suspected, you're the man for the job!

As for fluff, the consensus on this list seems to be 'its just fluffy' which is cool. Also, yes, the detail you go into for your fluff & background on your Lions of Harlech is unreal! Makes my background stories look laughable by comparison!