pathwinder14
02-24-2012, 06:02 AM
I present to you an alternative to Deathstar, MSU, and Rainbow lists.
Hydra lists:
Many armies have a key unit. Sometimes it’s a death star unit, other times it’s the single unit an army build revolves around. This can be a great bonus due to its increased threat level, but it can also be a detriment for the very same reason. Many other armies operate with Multiple Small Units. These are good at creating multiple threats but are often beaten by capitalizing upon the weakness of one unit and repeating it for the rest. Still other players have taken to using rainbow lists that spread out redundancy but do not repeat the weaknesses of MSU. Rainbow lists can still fall into the trap of having a few large and expensive units that tie up a lot of points. What to do?
I have noticed something different. What if someone were to create a list that spreads out battlefield redundancy but limits the size/cost of units so as to even out the respective threat levels? For example, I have noticed people who take smaller death star units tend to have them survive longer. They are not perceived by the opponent to be as large a threat as the fully fleshed out version of the same squad. This change in perception often makes them target the unit less often. A small Death co. unit survives much longer than its larger counterpart because there are only a few models in the squad instead of a fully sized squad.
We can apply this idea to an entire army build. Most units in an army can be made to present a (roughly) equal threat level so the opponent does not know which one to target first. For example, let’s say you have a tac squad with missile launcher and meltagun standing by a hill next to their razorback with twin linked lascannon. Let’s also say you have a 10 man devastator squad with 4 missile launchers sitting on the other side of that hill. Which is the bigger threat on turn 1? The devastators are the bigger threat; of course. However, let’s say you drop 2 of their missile launchers and now they only have 2. Which unit is now the bigger threat? That’s hard to say. Which would you target early in the game?
If many of your squads are even in points cost/upgrades/threat levels your opponent will not be able to easily discern a "key" unit. In fact it may appear to them that you have no single key unit. This will make it harder for them to find the weakness to your army.
Hydra lists:
Many armies have a key unit. Sometimes it’s a death star unit, other times it’s the single unit an army build revolves around. This can be a great bonus due to its increased threat level, but it can also be a detriment for the very same reason. Many other armies operate with Multiple Small Units. These are good at creating multiple threats but are often beaten by capitalizing upon the weakness of one unit and repeating it for the rest. Still other players have taken to using rainbow lists that spread out redundancy but do not repeat the weaknesses of MSU. Rainbow lists can still fall into the trap of having a few large and expensive units that tie up a lot of points. What to do?
I have noticed something different. What if someone were to create a list that spreads out battlefield redundancy but limits the size/cost of units so as to even out the respective threat levels? For example, I have noticed people who take smaller death star units tend to have them survive longer. They are not perceived by the opponent to be as large a threat as the fully fleshed out version of the same squad. This change in perception often makes them target the unit less often. A small Death co. unit survives much longer than its larger counterpart because there are only a few models in the squad instead of a fully sized squad.
We can apply this idea to an entire army build. Most units in an army can be made to present a (roughly) equal threat level so the opponent does not know which one to target first. For example, let’s say you have a tac squad with missile launcher and meltagun standing by a hill next to their razorback with twin linked lascannon. Let’s also say you have a 10 man devastator squad with 4 missile launchers sitting on the other side of that hill. Which is the bigger threat on turn 1? The devastators are the bigger threat; of course. However, let’s say you drop 2 of their missile launchers and now they only have 2. Which unit is now the bigger threat? That’s hard to say. Which would you target early in the game?
If many of your squads are even in points cost/upgrades/threat levels your opponent will not be able to easily discern a "key" unit. In fact it may appear to them that you have no single key unit. This will make it harder for them to find the weakness to your army.