1500 point AV13 'Crons, Tourney List, Please Critique

Stalkers are coming out, and that basically rounds out my AV13+ list.

Please rip this to shreds :-)

One Downside is 12 Killpoints
Another thing I could do is run another Surfboard Lord, maybe even Anrakyr. If that's the case, I might drop an Annihilation Barge. If I do that, I'd likely put 2 crypteks in each Ghost Ark. (Could take lightning dude, transmog dude)

HQ ---
1. Surfboard Lord, 180pts
1xDestro-Tek with Pulse = 55
= 235
Elites ---
1. Triarch Stalker = 150
2. Triarch Stalker, shredder = 155
3. Triarch Stalker, guass = 155 (I think this is 5 points???)
= 460
Troops
1. 10xWarriors in an Ark = 245
2. 5xWarriors in an Ark = 180 (Cryptek goes here)
= 425
Heavy
1. Annihilation Barge = 90
2. Annihilation Barge = 90
3. Monolith = 200
= 380

While I can see why the Twin-linked Heavy Gauss Cannon would be appealing, I personally favor the Heat Ray over it for versatility, the extra shots at range, and the +2 it gets on the damage chart. Heavy destroyers can always bring the Heavy Gauss Cannon back into the list, and they come with get-back-up, so long as you aren't doing squads of one, and are more mobile than a stalker, not to mention easier to hide.

Also, while I know you are going for AV 13 spam, I feel the troops are a bit on the weak side. As it stands, you only have 15 men with which to hold points (16 with attached Cryptek, but he doesn't count if he's a lone survivor), and they are all 4+ for armor. If you had point room/models for it, I would recommend having another small squad walk behind each of the Arks, giving you more objective takers, plus letting the Arks actually use their special Warrior-Vending-Machine rule.

Ya, the heat ray is amazing.

Troops I am worried about. I don't really want 3 arks, anything on foot is kinda breaking the theme, as for fixing warriors, that's more gimmick than good :-) Of course, you can use it on the guys inside.

Destroyers are terrible. They don't *really* get back up, usually because they're all dead :-) There's some jiggering I could do to get a 3rd Ark, but I think 2 troop choices is serviceable at 1500, if it was more, I think I'd be in real trouble. That's a good point though. You could, in theory, have one unit on foot. I'd drop the Guass Stalker to do that. Give them a transmog cryptek and have them camp an objective in cover.

Also, once Scythes become a thing, I think if you're going to have 5 man squads in a transport, a Scythe makes more sense to me. It is insanely faster, so it can turbo boost in from reserve to contest ANY objective, and is 15 points cheaper than the Ark, sporting the same big gun as your Barges.

If nothing else, I'd say try to massage an extra Warrior or two into that half-empty Ghost Ark, so that if it does get popped there will be enough survivors to do something.

I used to think that.

Night Scythe Pro's
- Super fast (move 12" shoot, turbo boost up to 36")
- Easy to disembark, 2" anywhere from the base portal thingy.
- Twin-Linked Tesla Destructor
- Holds 15 of anything, 7 big things (destroyer lord + 5 Praetorians), or 5 Tomb Blades. mmmm yummy
- Can carry Immortals and Lychguard
- Semi-Pro: Inside dudes don't get dropped where the thing gets blown up, so they can't be assaulted and killed
- Semi-Cheap 100pts

Ghost Ark Pro's
- AV 13 with Quantum Shielding
- Open-Topped, dudes can shoot out
- Guass Flux Arks, 5 shots from each side at 24", 10 at 12". Can hurt vehicles, kill things.
- Open-Topped, can assault out of the turn you disembark, handy if you've got H-H Lord & Court Members attached.
- Semi-Cheap 115pts

----

I love the Night Scythe. I would love to have one to move my Immortals or Lychguard around in, but other than that, Ghost Arks.

A Ghost Ark with 10 warriors in it can shoot 40 shots in a turn. 40 shots. 40 shots at BS4 that glance anything on a 6, and it's AV13. So good.

Night Scythes are Good, Ghost Arks are good, but they're different kinds of good :-)

Night Scythes don't fit into the AV13 theme though. At AV 13, I deny all shooting < S7

As shown today, it denies all non-gauss shooting less than str 7. Arks do not fair as well in a mirror match, it seems. Haywire got past the str requirement, too. I am starting to think about doing 5 Stormteks in an ark now. It would be like old crons, from what I understand, just glance all armor to death.

Back to the drawing board.

I really want to run a unit of 5xWraiths, and 3 stalkers might be overkill. Also, I really like 10 tesla immortals on foot, and the Destroyer Lord Praetorian squad.

Wraith Unit will be
2xWhip Coil Wraiths 90
2xPistol Wraiths 80 (the old guys)
1xNekkid Wraith 35
Total = 205

Wraiths are good, especially with that invuln save. They are a lot more resistant to my deathmark suicide squad than anything else in your army, save for your skimmers.

I will agree that three stalkers is overkill, though.

List updated...

I like the concept of a Stalker with a Shredder. S7 AP4 large blast, then the rest of shooting is twin linked. Good against light vehicles (av 10/11), great against troops, and with 2 surfboard lords, I really only need one more anti-tank gun. (Twin-Linked Time's Arrow! *laughs*) Also, marking a squad to allow the 10 Tesla Immortals to shoot twin-linked at it, anything on foot is not going to like 10 twin-linked tesla shots. (about 14 hits or so with a high std. deviation).

That's 7 AV 13 targets and then Immortals on foot.


HQ---

1. Anrakyr 165
Barge +80
Court
1xDestro Tek, Pulse = 55
1xLightning Tek = 25
Total = 245+80 = 325

2. Overlord Bronte 90
Barge +80, Scythe +10
Court
2xDestro Tek = 70
Total = 180 + 70 = 250

HQ = 575

Troops---

1. 5xWarriors in an Ark = 180 (Destro Teks)
2. 5xWarriors in an Ark = 180 (Destro Pulse & Lightning)
3. 10xImmortals (Tesla) = 170

Troops = 530

Heavy---

1. Annihilation Barge (Guass) = 90

Heavy = 90

Elites---

1. Stalker = 150
2. Stalker with Shredder = 155

Elites = 305

Third flipping time I have had to type this out now.

If you really, REALLY want to abuse the twin-linked, I would recommend starting your Traveller on foot with an attached Chronometron. Adam ran the math a while back, and even considering the fact that he forgot to add in the AP1's effect on the Pen chart, the numbers were favorable for killing Landraiders and Monoliths. Having the twin linked in there to start with gives you an extra no cost recursion stream to work with. It would also give you the free reroll for future turns.

No. Surfboard Lord win.

Anrakyr on Foot is a waste of points. Run something over, disembark (stupid FAQ), MitM, shoot / assault = 3 dead vehicles, and it's repeatable.

Chronometron is good, but I'm not doing 205 points for a 1 trick pony.

Also, I challenge the accuracy of Adam's math. I mapped out this problem and it would make a great final exam for a first-year stats class. THIS ONE QUESTION.

What is the probability of Destroying a Landraider with Anrakyr and a Chronometron. (Hint, it's less than 50%, but I erased it off my whiteboard and I'm not doing it again, that's over an hour I won't get back).

You have to calculate success at each point, then calculate failure at each point down the line and calculate re-success using the chronometron.

You start with 3 scenarios (hit v miss->hit(chrono spent) v miss)
and then it branches from there.

Alternatively, you could calculate each step of the shoot -> pen -> smoke / cover -> damage table with the chronometron and without, then multiply out all the failures... still takes forever.

It's less than 50%, that's all you need to know.

If you allow for Immobilized to be a favorable result, though, the numbers jump to over 50%, and now the Termies it was carrying now have to foot slog over to you, and the Monolith shouldn't ever be in a position to vacuum you now.

Tom,

The problem is the Penning on a 5 or 6. There's a 33% chance that you've already popped your chronometron. If you haven't, then you have a 55% chance to pen (assuming you re-roll the glance). There's an additional 16% chance that you'll glance on your re-roll...

ugh... I'm not doing this. *laughs* It's still not 50%, even with an immobilized. It'd be rare to get to the final roll (damage chart) with your Chronometron in place. Even then, only a 75% to pop it. (the chances of getting to this roll, and successfully using the chronometron to pop the raider is ... fah ... 16.335% ... That number is low for the overall problem though, because you have to add in the other threads.)

You can't count on Adam's cheating weighted dice either! *laughs*