Nerfing the Gunline

[Komosunder]

Nerfing the Gunline

The gunline list, it seems to be the easy choice. You have easy and cheep access to uncompromising cover to hide your list behind. There are fast accurate ways to deliver scoring units into your opponent’s lines. Big guns get even better. Snap fire makes those lascannons a bit more maneuverable, and the lack of half strength from blasts make those artillery only that much more dangerous.

Now look at your melee armies. A two D6 charge can be very random. It can send you flying down field or it can leave you dead in your tracks. When a dedicated unit fails a charge, you can bet they won’t get a second chance. Even if they make it they will need to push through overwatch shots.

Well folks the charge an’t dead. Your melee army still has a few tricks up its sleeve. The best friend of the assault army is Fleet. The ability to reroll one or both dice is invaluable. Fleet by itself changes your average charge range from 7in to 10in. not more importantly Fleet gives you a more controlled charge range. It’s likely a unit with fleet won’t botch an easy 5 in assault.

Now lets look at transports. It seems they are no longer the friends of the melee unit. Yes its true, rhinos can no longer deliver those Berserkers to your buddy’s frontlines, but the landraider has become much stronger by comparison. Transports with the assault universal special rule can move 6in unload move 6in and then charge the average 7in. giving he average assault range of 18in after taking the base size into account. That’s not so bad.

Last but not least are those new flying monstrosities. bloodthirsters and tyrants can both be relatively easy to deliver, and once there can cause havoc on even the most elite army.

So what about those defensive barricades, how do you deal with them. It’s easy; you just need to get into base contact with it. Don’t waist your time shooting at the units at the other side, unless of course you have little else to shoot at. I’ve found dark elder witches especially nasty. Load them out with haywire grenades (or nerf bats as I like to call them), and then launch a couple units downfield in raiders.

This only scratches the surface of melee possibilities. It still works, and it still works well. It will be interesting to see what lists people come up with assaults in mind

http://www.tomahawc.com/

[Filthspew]

I think you need to make a distinction between assault army and assault unit.

The bezerkers are the best example.

Yes, one unit in a raider still works.

But an entire bezerker army no longer works in rhinos.

Thus, as an assault army its dead. Or footslogging, in many cases the same thing.

Orks and Darkeldar are open topped, Tyranids only have the spore, so they are still viable as assault armies.

Eldar just got nerfed even more ;)

What has really happened is that mechanized power armor is no longer an assault army.

Suddenly, Assault Marines makes sense :)

[Mr.Pickelz]

My issue with 6th is that my ork army relied on getting into assault, which now is a lot, lot harder. With changes to wound allocation, Overwatch, random charge, changes to fleet, and premeasuring. Da Green Tide just ain't what it use to be. :(

Bye-bye slugga's and hello Shoota's...

[Filthspew]

Tell me about it :)

I used to have plague marines in rhinos, played like khorne bezerkers.

Now I am restructuring everything to make them CSM squads that rapid fire and plasma you to death.

Suddenly I need a LOT more men!

Orks still have good open topped transports though.

Fleet (waaaagh!) give you average charge about 10".

Warboss and deffkopta are no longer instant killed.

How about the burnaboy wall, assaulting them will be a hot day at the office.

Nobs get FNP on allmost everything now.

I just might borrow my sons Orkses a bit more :)

[thelion]

i realy have not had a huge issue with getting into assault with my army (although im not sure i am qulafide to make this statement since i play the death wing!) but what i have found to be the trick is to taylor your movements to put you within 3 to 4in of your target you can almost be sure that you will get there at that point. if you bring a harder to kill unit termys or multi wound charters work well for this you will get most of your troops into assault. this works well also to cut down on the amount of snap fire you will take. most of the players i have faced will chose to snap fire my 5 man term sqd instead of one of the 10 man vet or tack sqds that is also assaulting them that round, even though they have a much better chance of killing some of the softer 10 man sqd this gives that vet or tac sqd the chance to pile on alot of dmg in unison with the term sqd, when you concider this with the size of some of the units in bigger armys this can make the combat take multipuel turns giving you a chance to pile on another sqd that didnt take any snap shots since the unit being assaulted is already in close combat