Bjorn armament

[lowdog]

Just ordered the forgeworld space wolf venerable dreadnought to use as Bjorn, but I'm trying to decide what armament to give him.

I proxied a Bjorn for one battle with a plasma cannon, and found that his BS 6 means that even if he doesn't roll a hit on the scatter die, subtracting 6 inches means he almost always hits anyway (or scatters so little the template still catches the target). However I can see where 4 assault cannon shots at BS 6 will also have a high hit ratio leading to multiple rend chances.

Anyone used Bjorn more often that has a preference?

[Mr.Pickelz]

Plasma has always worked out for me, because of the extra threat, he will take more and more fire away from the Grey hunters/long fangs/wolf lord.

[blackarmchair]

I've always fielded him with a Lascannon. He's great at sticking near your long fangs and helping them do what they do best and if/when anything gets too close for comfort it has to go through the big guy first before it can get to your long fangs.

Plus, should he die (unlikely) he can become another objective waaay back in your deployment zone where you are far more likely to get your furry little paws on it.

He's a great model, maybe a little overpriced but still awesome. The only thing that ever bothered me was his I3.

[DarkLink]

And remember that even with BS 6, you only get 4 AC shots. That means that you're only getting .67 rends per turn.

[lowdog]

My concern with the lascannon is that you're paying points for twin-linked when his BS of 6 means you really don't need it. That and he's already expensive without upgrading him even further.

[DarkLink]

The lascannon also doesn't have that great of a chance of killing even light vehicles. Bjorn is just too expensive for you to be hoping to roll a 5+ on the vehicle damage table, just for some stupid Rhino or something. And for shooting at most anything other than vehicles the plasma cannon is a better choice than the lascannon.

[blackarmchair]

I take the lascannon primarily for range although the plasma cannon's range is considerable as well. He's just a big pretty model that I honestly want to kill one or two things, protect my long fangs and then die in my deployment zone.

[RealGenius]

I've played about 25 or 30 games with Bjorn, mostly with the Plasma Cannon. I've played about 10 with the Lascannon and I prefer the Plasma. YMMV. I back my Bjorn with 6 MLs and 2 Lascannons, so the Plasma helps get rid of Terminators and the like. I guess it depends on the rest of your army.

He seems to be most effective when he's in the middle of the action, able to get something in assault; either something that can't hurt him, or something tough he can easily destroy.

[lowdog]

He seems to be most effective when he's in the middle of the action, able to get something in assault; either something that can't hurt him, or something tough he can easily destroy.

Do you pod him in then or sit him back and trundle forward blasting away until something tries to step?

[Sir Biscuit]

Funny story, Bjorn can't take a pod.

Personally, I'm plasma all the way. BS6 makes misses VERY unlikely, S7 is high enough to threaten transports, and it means he can wipe infantry off the board, so there's less chance of him getting bogged down.

There are better platforms for long-range antitank, like long fangs. Leave the Laser at home.

[DarkLink]

In fact, there's a 61% chance that Bjorn won't scatter at all (1/3 chance of rolling a hit, and 15/36 chance of rolling a 6 or less on 2d6 the other 2/3 of the time). There's a 72% chance he'll scatter one inch or less. 82% chance of 2 inches or less.

[Tynskel]

The Assault Cannon on Bjorn isn't bad at tank bustin' either. at the high BS combined with the re-roll (doesn't sound like much) it ~equivalent to having the Lascannon. The only thing is that the Lascannon has range.

I think all three weapons work fine. It really comes down to this: What's the rest of your army? What is your overall plan?

If you are planning on having Bjorn hang with Long Fangs, the Lascannon is the way to go. If you plan on him up front, the assault cannon/plasma cannon are the way to go.