Deathwing on a Shoestring part 3
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Bit of a delay in getting this post out, complete lack of fee time this week.
So my final game under the previous codex was a curb stomping, turns out 5 Imperial Knights as the Barron's Court (or whatever its call) was a rough match up to say the least. However, by some ballsy deepstriking I did deny my friend any use of their fancy shields, so claiming some small victory there!
My current tactics with Deathwing, and I can't see this changing under the new rules, is to go hell for leather on Objectives in the opening turns, at risk, and then attrition my opponents out in the closing turns, avoiding getting tabled.
I only deploy the Dreads on the table to start and they hold the ground until the cavalry arrives, this used to be my turn 1 (with a unit held in reserve) but now will be a turn 2 deployment of all the terminators.
A big plus for such a reactive army is generating objectives before reserves, this allows you to slam your units down where they are needed to get points early. I will admit to being risky with my deepstrikes but having discussed this with opponents after the games, if you don't go hard on the first turns you'll fall behind to more maneuverable or wide spread armies that can compete for the objectives better in the late game.
As you loose momentum and have to start footslogging, while losing very valuable and high points models to AP weapons or weight of fire, keeping up the points race is very difficult.
Now that I'll have to wait to turn 2 for the big drop I expect to give away First Blood more than I used to and will lose a bit of tempo without the turn 1 rush. So I am not sure if Deathwing can be considered 'competitive' as a standalone army. Coupled with losing Objective Secured, dislodging enemies from objectives will be tougher.
The new codex brings a lot of improvements however, most notably a 20 point drop per 5 man unit, this allows for more upgrades and options to be taken (as unit base costs are a bit high to get more terminators). Also the addition of 'Battle Focus' the turn you arrive will be a godsend versus armies with some nasty template weapons.
I am a little disappointed that the Knights lost their one turn kill anything ability but overall I expect them to be better with AP3 as standard and the ability to do some lighter smiting more frequently.
Overall the new codex looks great, I'm looking forward to getting in my first game with them and seeing how much difference comes out of it.
Please feel free to add any comments you have. Be interested to know if anyone else has seen the new rules in action.
Rich
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