My current force of Shadow Crows are getting closer to completion! With the assault squads completed, I only have the Vanguard Veterans, Priest, and Librarian to get through. While I was originally keeping pace with a 200pt per month escalation, I have been inspired to complete them at a faster rate. With an elite force, this is not so difficult. I figured I would begin thinking through variants on my initial 1k list.
I have only managed a few kill team games and one 500 pt 2v2 match with them, and I am still learning the little nuances about assault that I could normally ignore with my Tau. My army is expending a lot of points for reliable deepstriking and fast movement. I am learning that I need to make use of this to the upmost of my ability if I want to make sure those points are not wasted.
With that said, here is what I have been building my models towards:
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Librarian x1 - Jump Pack, Shield and Bloodlance powers
Sanguinary Priest x1 - Jump Pack, Power Sword
Vanguard Veterans x6 - Jump Packs, and a few melta bombs
- Sergeant with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield
- Storm Shield Bolt Pistol
- Lightning Claw Bolt Pistol
- Lightning Claw Storm Shield
- Bolt Pistol Chainsword
- Bolt Pistol Chainsword
Assault Squad x10 - Jump Packs, Sergeant with Pow Fist, 2x Meltaguns
Assault Squad x10 - Jump Packs, Sergeant with Pow Fist, 2x Meltaguns
1000pts, 28 models, 5-7 Killpoints
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This leaves me with a pretty small force for 1k points, but also a good amount of flexibility with starting on the board vs a reliable deepstrike, and combat squadding for spreading melta hits if needed. One of the decisions to field a risky force like this is to aim for faster games, one way or the other :).
The lynchpin of the force is the vanguard veterans. If they mishap I am in serious trouble, and if they scatter out of charge range I am still in a tough spot. The storm shields can help them possibly weather a bad turn of shooting, but primarily to help them take on things that would normally rip through my regular squads. The problem is that it bumps up the price of the squad quite a bit.
I have to decide, at 1k points is deepstriking worth it? Lets look at a list without the vets that is more about jumping across the board to do their dirty work.
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Librarian x1
Sang Priests x2, chainswords
Assault Squad x10, Pow Fist, 2 meltaguns
Assault Squad x10, Pow Fist, 2 meltaguns
Assault Squad x10, Hammer, 2 meltaguns
~15pts leftover, apply meltabombs or a lightning claw on priest
1000pts, 33 models, 6-9 Killpoints
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This would be using my VV as normal marines, and opening up my other box of assault marines to make up the rest of that squad. This list focuses on weight of numbers in a deployed force. I could combat squad into 6 units to cover late-game objectives or hit more units with melta/assaults. I can stay full squads for killpoint efficiency and utilize the librarian squad to gain cover during the approach. But I am forgoeing deepstrike for the most part. I could always drop combat squadded melta-sacrifice units if really needed, but I cant expect to get a charge off without the van vets. I am gaining a second priest bubble which can be game-changing, but also sacrificing power weapons. If I can manage a claw on both ws5 priests it might even out, but on the other hand I do not want to draw more threat to them then they already have.
What do you all think? Keep it simple and efficient at such low points, or go for the gusto with expensive veteran badasses? Work the Librarian dread in?
As I work to finish phase one of my Shadow Crows, I'm planning for what needs to be done on my other projects coming down the pipe. In the meantime I've got some smaller projects that have seen some good progress.
I actually painted these burna boyz a long time ago, but completely missed taking a picture of them. I really liked how they turned out, but I could still use some better shots with proper lighting one of these days. I took this after turning them to green paste with my assault marines (who were in turn, rendered into grey paste :]) Also here is a shot of the infamous Shady Warboss from an angle to show what is going on behind him on the base. His palanquin has been replaced as well, it breaks a lot.
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