Deathwing 1750 List – Tournament Changes And Future Plans

Image from The Dark Fortress

Building The List

You know that you’re not supposed to change your list the day before the tournament, right?  And if that is true, changing your list on the drive to the tournament is probably some kind of capital offence.  Off with my head, I guess, because that’s what I did

EDIT:  My original list was:

• Belial with TH/SS
• 5 Deathwing Terminators w/ TH/SS, Cyclone Missile Launcher and an Apothecary
• 3 x 5 Deathwing Terminators w/ 2 TH/SS, 1 Twin Lightning Claw, 1 Cyclone Missile Launcher,  1 Storm Bolter/Power Fist and 1 Storm Bolter/ Chainfist
• 3 Dreadnoughts w/ TL Autocannon and Missile Launcher
• 3 Ravenwing Landspeeders w/ Typhoon Missile Launcher and Heavy Bolter

After spending all that effort getting the Autocannon and Missile Launcher arms for three dreadnoughts, I decided not to use them at all.  Let us explore my fail and see if we can learn anything

What happened was, I was taking a look at my list, and I realised I had made a Tau list out of Deathwing: I was maxing out the shooting potential and, just like Tau, was light on Troops as a result.  Not as bad as my regular “Two Troops” Tau lists, but still a bit light for an army that can legitimately field Troops and nothing but and still hope to compete.  So, in an effort to de-Tau my thinking, I dropped two Dreadnoughts entirely and used the spare points to get myself another Deathwing squad.  Then I started to play around with things.

My original list had one squad (essentially a command squad) with all TH/SS.  The remaining three squads were all the same, with 2 TH/SS apiece and then a mix of shooting and Lightning Claws.

I decided that I was going to have to play more adventurously than I was used to with my Tau, and so I would need a more durable forward line.  I took two TH/SS models from the 4^th squad and put one each into the 2^nd and 3^rd squads.  Then I made the 4^th squad shooty, with four Storm Bolters and Power Fists, one set of paired LC and a CML.  They would stand behind the TH/SS squads, gaining cover saves to make up for the invulnerable saves they had lost, and would provide supporting fire.  They could hold home objectives and, with their 24″ range, still contribute to the fight.

After dropping the two Dreadnoughts, I decided that my 5^th squad would be identical to the 4^th.  Nothing like a little redundancy!

With what seemed to be sufficient shooting in the list, there did not seem to be much need for a fire support Dreadnought any longer.  I decided I would rather have one that could shoot and be a threat in close combat, so I gave it back a DCCW.  I put on the heavy flamer to deal with hordes just that little bit better.  For the main weapon arm, I had the option of TL Autocannon, Assault Cannon or Multi-melta.  I always miss with one-shot weapons, and while 2 S7 shots are very useful, I thought the 4 Rending shots of the Assault Cannon might seem more dangerous to an opponent, so Assault Cannon it was.

With this being the only Dreadnought in the list, it would be a target, and so making it Venerable seemed like a good option at +20 pts.

That left points for either Extra Armour or for a Deathwing Banner to go in the 1^st squad.  I reckoned that I didn’t want to put too many points into defensive upgrades, so opted for the Banner, making Belial and his squad even more killy than before

I did all this re-thinking the night before, made three variant lists, put the models for all three into a case and picked one on the way to the tournament.  The list I played with was:

• Belial with TH/SS
• 5 Deathwing Terminators w/ TH/SS, Cyclone Missile Launcher, Deathwing Banner and an Apothecary
• 2 x 5 Deathwing Terminators w/ 3 TH/SS, 1 Twin Lightning Claw, 1 Cyclone Missile Launcher and  1 Storm Bolter/Chainfist
• 2 x 5 Deathwing Terminators w/ 1 Storm Bolter/ Power Weapon, 1 Twin Lighting Claws and Cyclone Missile Launcher and 3 Storm Bolter/ Power Fists
• 1 Venerable Dreadnought w/ Assault Cannon, Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon and Heavy Flamer
• 3 Ravenwing Landspeeders w/ Typhoon Missile Launcher and Heavy Bolter 

 

Image from The Dark Fortress

Making Changes

After playing this list in three games I was very pleased with it.  It had options, it had deployment flexibility, it had movement, plus lots of shooting and assault threat.  It was a lot of fun

At its most basic, this army puts out 16 S8 AP3 shots a Turn.  That is more than three units of Long Fangs can manage, and against 50% more targets.  Of those 16, 6 are easily suppressed as they are on AV10 hulls, but the other 10 shots are going to be very hard to stop, and every unit in the army can move 6″ without any loss of shooting.  Add to that 10 Storm Bolters, 3 Heavy Bolters and the armament of the Dreadnought, and it comes to something that is not too shabby when it is all firing at the same enemy infantry unit

On movement, Deathwing Assault gives this army great Turn 1 coverage, with (crucially) the resilience to survive once it lands.  Try telling that to my Crisis Suits!  Not only that but the three Landspeeders give me options for side shots at armour, blocking enemy Land Raiders and last Turn contest moves (if they survive that long).  Add in the infantry squads that can always move and shoot, and this army is always going places, Turn by Turn.   That adds up.  They cannot chase down skimmers and the like, but they have enough presence to take mid-table and, from there, enough ranged firepower so that there is nowhere to hide on the tabletop.

The assault threat of this army is obvious, and getting tied up with tarpit units is the only serious risk.  Not even Draigo Paladins like this many Thunder Hammers!

The weak link is the Dreadnought, but dammit I love Dreadnoughts (see below for just how much!).  As “home objective” minders go, he is pretty good.  You need melta bombs or chainfists to melee him to death.  You won’t tank shock him out the way, and with Venerable status Ramming him is not a good idea.  One unit of four power fists and this guy minding the store is more than most army’s forward assaults can hope to take on and beat comprehensively.  On the downside, he is vulnerable to melta and has a hard time getting cover saves (although a unit of, say, Terminators would provide it, if only I had one of those handy…)  He could be swapped for an Interrogator Chaplain, say, or a Predator, but I am sticking with him.

Taken together, what this list gives me is options.  I love having them.  I can take part in and influence the outcome of the game in all three phases with reliability and redundancy.  Options – the new black

The only thing I would change is to drop the LC in the 4^th and 5^th squads for another Storm Bolter and Power Fist.  Another four shots per Turn is always welcome.

The Dreadnought was a great fire magnet, but was very survivable due to cover and Venerable status.  I could give it a multimelta, but I doubt that would increase the perceived threat that much, and a lone melta gun in the list won’t make any real difference.

Moving Forward

I want to make my Deathwing army look as fluffy as possibly, so with that in mind I have been ordering stuff from bits sites and from Forgeworld.  Here are my aims:

1.  Banners on all the squad sergeants.  For the banners I will use Dark Angels Veteran Backpack banners, with some additional purity seals on them.  I also ordered a Terminator Sergeant Small Banner as well, for a little variety.  I might use that for Belial’s own Master Of The Deathwing Banner.  I will paint the squad banners to match this fantastic guide.  The freehand should be easy.  To attach the banners I ordered six pairs of 2mm x 1mm rare earth magnets.  They should be strong enough, and will let me remove the banners for transport.

2.  Squad markings.  One odd thing about the Deathwing is that there are no official squad markings, so it seems players kind of make up their own.  I used numbers on the base edge for the tournament, and Greg (the other Deathwing player there) had coloured each squad’s base edge differently.  However, Forgeworld make a transfer sheet for the Dark Angels with loads of numbers on it, and I think I can fit those on the right shoulder pad (or maybe the right knee) to give each model a squad number to match their sergeant’s banner.

3.  Shoulder shields and shoulder pads.  Shamefully, four of my models do not have the Crux Terminatus left shoulder pad, and sixteen do not have the shoulder shields.  I have ordered the bits for these.  I hope to do some heraldry on the shoulder shields like that shown in the image to the left (click to see the whole thing – it looks fantastic, and there is more here)

4.  Battle Banner.  In games where I don’t bring the Deathwing Company Banner as wargear, the Deathwing will still take to the field with a Battle Banner.  I ordered a Space Marine Command Squad Large Banner to use for this.  More freehand needed, but not too hard.

5.  Venerable Dreadnought.  I only have one in my list, but I don’t have the venerable model.  The old metal one is ace, but I dislike all-metal models, and the new plastic one is meh.  So, I have ordered a Forgeworld Dark Angels Venerable Dreadnought.  For the arms options I went with a Dreadfire Close Combat left arm.  I could have gone for the usual close combat arm, but this one looks very unusual, plus it has a built-in heavy flamer.  For the right arm I picked the Assault Cannon, for the reasons above.  For a base I ordered a Dark Arts Miniatures 60mm Rock base.

6.  Belial’s Command Squad.  Although I have an all TH/SS command squad for Belial, I did not paint (or assemble) the torsos of those models.  I want something special, so I have picked up a box of Assault Terminators, a box of Grey Knight Terminators and a box of Dark Angels Veterans.  In addition, I ordered the Lion shoulderpads and Angel shields from Scibor Miniatures.  They should go very well with the Belial model’s detailing.  I will try using very short thunder hammers with these guys – kind of like Mjolnir!  I know that is a bit Space Wolves, but I think it will look cool.  For bases, I ordered some Dark Arts Miniatures 40mm Rock bases.