Dealing with heavy armor...without RBTs.

How to beat those cowardly High Elves?

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Saragos
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Dealing with heavy armor...without RBTs.

Post by Saragos »

Howdy everyone. I've been doing some thinking about ways to deal with heavy armor, as I have an upcoming game against Chaos Mortals. I have a very mobile army, based around shades and 2 hydras. What I'm looking for is some general thoughts on ways to deal with heavily armored cavalry without using RBTs. Any advice is appreciated, as I played my first game ever on Saturday against Lizardmen. (I lost, but only allowed my opponent a minor victory. I made several mistakes.)
Valvet
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Post by Valvet »

When dealing with heavy armoured opponents there are a few effective ways to get through in the druchii arsenal. Here's a short list of all that i can come up eith:

1. Attacks with a high strenght value. This is the obvious answer we have to any good AS and it explains itself. Str 6 should be doing reducing a 2+ save to a 5+.
The best unit that come to mind here are execs, COK and Master/Dreadlords either mounted with lance or on foot carrying great weapons.

2. Killing blow. This is a typical druchii answer and we have many ways to get it. First there are execs (together with their high strenght they are ideal armour-killers) and mantis. Also the CoB ican grant the KB-blessing to any unit in 24", preferably units that come with many attacks, making those dangerous to heavily armoured foes. The units i would recommend for KB from a cauldron are Corsairs (especially with the frenzy banner), witchelfs, BGs and Hydras.
Also Assassins can get an upgrade from the temple that gives them KB (this applys to Death Hags too), together with the Rune of Khaine and the poison that allows to reroll every 1 on the to-wound roll deserves to be mentioned here as well as the Dethpiercer, that grants killing blow to a mounted hero.

3. Magic Weapons. In this section you find a few helpful goodies that take care of your opponents AS, either by completely negating it, increasing your strenght or adding the armour-pearcing rule to your attacks. Many of these weapons have their uses, which one you end up taking comes down to personal preference, my favorites would be the Deathpiercer, the Crimson Death and the Potion of Strenght ( that can be combined with a magic weapon)

4. The Banner of Murder. This banner offers a unit the armour pearcing special rule, for 25 points any unit that can take a magic banner is able to take it. If you are expecting heavily armoured enemies this is one you should definately consider.

And now for the unit that deserves to win the award for best anti-armour: Execs with the Banner of Murder supported by a cauldron giving them an extra attack, this unit will cut trough almost any armour with ease. Though they might struggle taking charges from cavalry they make for excelent counter-chargers and against the slower warriors on foot, they should always get the charge.

Well thats all that i can come up with for the moment, i hope some of it might help you a bit. So good luck with the Chaos.
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Dyvim tvar
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Post by Dyvim tvar »

RBTs aren't the best bet for shooting at Chaos Knights anyway. At long range with volly fire, you have a pretty good chance of dealing no wounds at all!

Valvet runs down a list of some good ideas. I think #2 is especially imprtant to take note of. Dark Elves have a lot of ways to get Killing Blow, and it really helps against heavy armor.
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Post by Dark Alliance »

Some other thoughts are:

Magic: Lore of Metal, Lore of Shadow and Dark magic all have no armour save spells.

Static Combat Res: ranks, flanks, outnumber, banner, war banner etc...
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Lakissov
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Post by Lakissov »

For me, RBTs are there not for dealing with heavy armor but for dealing with high toughness.

Against armor, I use KB (on assassin and any unit with many attacks - the latter gaining KB from the cauldron) and COKs with the Armor Piercing banner.
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Post by Dyvim tvar »

Dark Alliance wrote:Magic: Lore of Metal, Lore of Shadow and Dark magic all have no armour save spells.


DA has a good point. Forgot about magic, which I shouldn't have, since my last game was against Bretonnians. I went heavy-magic (3 casters) with Lore of Metal and got Spirit of the Forge with 2 of them. It was pretty brutal for the Brets.
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Calisson
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Post by Calisson »

Adding to Valvet's 1: Chariots on the charge. Hydra. Dragon.
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Post by Valvet »

Ok, i admit i forgot about a few important points.

Especially magic is a very good weapon since we have access to the lore of metal, but also our own lore can be destructive against armor, Black Horror comes to mind here.

And as others have pointed out, RBTs are not that reliable against armored enemies, i recall my first game in my first tournament ever, where i played against Brets, and my 2 RBTs together managed to take out 1 knight in the whole 6 turns. They shot every round, and i tried single bolt as well as the multiple shots. It was terrible, but since that they, i tend not to rely on them anymore and usually field something that is more reliable at cutting down armors.
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Dyvim tvar
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Post by Dyvim tvar »

Dark Alliance wrote:
Magic: Lore of Metal, Lore of Shadow and Dark magic all have no armour save spells.



So does Lore of Death -- Steal Soul and Drain Life. They are both short ranged though, and so would work best for a caster on a flying mount who can hop around and get into position to cast.
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