Spearmen - Adding ranks or new Units.

[Dante valentine]

Hey

As a Veteran Druchii General i have fought many battles and had my fair share of victories and defeats. Having spent the last 6 months collecting a space marine army and developing my painting skills, its time i went back to my beloved, nut case, killers.

So, my question - after recently buying a rather ridiculous amount of DE Warrior boxes, i am left with one vital question:

Should i field

2 x 20 Spearmen regiments with 2 x 12 RXB's Supporting them

OR

1 x 50 Spearmen Regi with 1 x 14 RXB Support.

My newest and most regular opponent is Warriors of Chaos and my army lists vary so wildly that i dont think its really worth while me saying what i "normally" take. The only exception is i very, very, very rarely take a CoB (start the screaming!).

This is purely a short term descision (next 2 months or so) until i can get these models painted up, move house, appease wife etc etc.

Kind Regards.

Dante

(i'm tempted with the 50 man, purely because of rank bonus, it looks scary, and the mind razor spell makes it so awesome it is just silly!)

[Guinea pig hydra]

How bout 40 Spearmen and 2x12 RXB?

When deciding between two choices create a middle choice.

[Markusswe]

Go for atleast 20 RXB to be able to field 2x 10 or one unit with 20. A unit of 50 spearmen is a little over the top imho. My suggestions:

20 RBX + 44 spearmen (or as your own idea since 40 spears is enough for one unit, 44 can be one smaller sorcbunker & one larger fighting one though)
30 RBX + 34 spearmen

It's good to have the option of playing two or even three units of crossbowmen. If you care less about them and rather want two units of spearmen, try 10 RBX + 54 spearmen.


I got (just as reference):
35 spears with shld with full command
24 spears without shld with full command
40 RXB with 4x std/mus & 30 with shields

+ another warriorbox not opened/decided =)

[Tethlis]

My rule of thumb:

Crossbowmen should be 20+

Spearmen should be 30+

If you can arrange your new purchases to meet those criteria, I think you'll be perfectly happy. Crossbowmen do very well in combat; you might surprise yourself when you find them holding their own in the late stages of the game. Similarly, Spearmen need to capitalize on their Steadfast ability to be effective, which requires having a lot of ranks. However, too many ranks and you end up with dead weight models who aren't contributing anything unless you're losing, or who make the unit too big and unwieldy to maneuver.

[A18no]

Depend on the type of tournement you play, but I always use one unit of 20 Rxb, shield, banner and musician. Just in case that I play the tower scenario. They are one of the best unit in the game to play that scenario.

That unit can fulfill many role too, so is not a unit there only for that purpose.

With 4 box (64 figs), I think that I would make 20 Rxb with shield, banner, musician, and 40 warriors, full cmdt.

And you can take the 4 extra to make more warriors/rxb, or convert a BSB, a master, an assassin, maybe even a sorceress (with a femelle chest)