So my hatred of Space Marines was furthered after a slaughter house started by the Duke and Baron Sathonyx stalled and ended in a tie game. There was a Grey Knight leading a force of Black Templars who refused to die like a good boy. I may post some details next week, but first we must get back to the methods to my madness. Killin Space Marines. So let us start with one of the most feared and hard to kill units in the forces of the Emperors lamest. Terminators. Armed with a myriad of weapons, including the insanely overpowered and under priced storm shield, these guys are tough to kill because of their 2+ armor save with the option of a 5+ invulnerably save. So lets delve into how you kill these heavily armed and armored elites.
Vs Terminators
Most people solution to killing Terminators is to poor tons of fire into them. Granted massive sustained shuriken fire will force lots of saves and kill a couple, in theory anyway. If your dice and luck are anything like mine though, the Terminators will save every wound out of spite. There are much more efficient ways to kill off terminators though. The answer is quite obvious, force them to take their invulnerably saves. There are several ways for an Eldar and Dark Eldar army to wipe out Terminators even when they are sporting their storm shields. Craftworlders have a few methods at their disposal. Howling Banshees are an ideal choice to take out Terminators. They have power weapons and hit at initiative 10 on the charge. If the Terminator unit is not doomed though you run into the Banshees one real weakness, their strength of 3. This means you tend to force way fewer saves. A doom on the unit can help, but you still have to roll 5's and 6's to wound. Many Eldar players would default to massed scatter laser fire and cross their fingers, but this is inefficient. Although they are lamented and complained about I find the best solution is Star Cannons. At strength 6 and AP 2 they can cut through terminators with ease. The heavy 2 is what turns people off especially with the 25 point cost. War walkers and Vypers can be loaded with Star Cannons. Warwalkers Are the best method as you can have 6 of them in the unit. Guide should be used on the unit to ensure maximum amount of hits. Fire Prisms using the focused beam is an excellent method. 3 fire prisms combining fire for a large blast will give you more hits. Fire Dragons are an obvious choice, but can be risky as you have to be basically in charge range to hit the squad you are firing at. Wraithguard are in the same boat. Wraithcannons are ideal but suffer from the short range. Warlock squads are ideal due to their resiliency and access to enhancing powers. Witchblades forcing lots of saves thanks to the 2+ wounding helps as well. The main thing is to send in units that have staying power like Warlocks if you engage in hand to hand. Otherwise just keep your distance and hit them with the big guns.
Dark Eldar have lots of nice ways to kill Terminators. Some of them rather insidious. My favorite marine killing platform is the Ravager. Outfitted with 3 disintegrators you have basic marine and Terminator killing power. Incubi excel in killing tough armored targets. They have a raw ton of attacks in close combat, a high initiative and power weapons. The shattershard is a very insidious way to kill Terminators. No save is allowed of any kind after a failed toughness test.
Removing the ability to make the 2+ save is the key. Using weapons that force wound and toughness tests and deny saves are ideal for wiping out units quickly.
Vs Thunder wolves
Thunder Wolf Calvary is the new hot unit that many Space Wolf armies run now. They are tough, have multiple wounds and can take some nasty wargear. Much like terminators massed fire is a good method of dealing with them. The secret for these guys though is high strength and “remove from play” weapons. You also want to keep your distance as the 12 inch charge is a bugger.
Fire Prisms with combined beams are very effective in killing wolf cav. Two can use the small blast to insta kill models. Distortion cannons and wraith cannons are very effective as well. My favorite method of killing thunder wolf cav though is Mind War. The regular Thunder wolf cav only have a leadership value of 8 so they are pretty easy to pick off one by one. This lets you get rid of the ones without the storm shields. This lest you concentrate fire and force more wounds on these models. It also lest you avoid the wound allocation game. Pathfinders are effective at killing thunder cav as well. The ability to be AP1 and possibly rending is great especially at range. Of course a good brawl against some fortuned Warlocks is also quite effective.
Dark Eldar can use orbs of despair or dark gates and their blasty strength 10 goodness to eliminate the puppies to great effect. The shattershard also works well here because they would have to roll a 1 or 2 in order to avoid being killed with no save allowed. Just basic Dark Eldar warriors have a very good advantage against Thunder wolves as they always wound on a 4+. Scourges are very effective at killing thunder cav using the massed fire method as well because they can out pace them. Armed with Shard Carbines and lots of heavy weapons capable of tearing through armor makes them efficient killers of pretty much anything.
Basically when it comes to Thunder Wolves you can rely on the fact the unit will be small due to how expensive they are. Massed fire with heavy weapons mixed in can deal with them quickly. You have to stay out of combat with them. Use the terrain wisely and have units to screen your units doing the killing.
Well I have gone on enough. I know I promised Librarians, but they are a entry all their own. These guys can be very annoying and come in a variety of flavors. So next time Librarians. Also I delve into some list design for the Dark Eldar that does not involve The Duke.
So until then......
Death Wakes, War Calls, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
