Thoughts On Melee Kastelan

[Kozz]

What are people’s opinions/thoughts on Kastelans with Fist-loadouts ? I have about 350 pts to play with and I’m looking for a little more anti-knight/vehicle along with some center board presence. 

I would run them in Stygies along side some Dragoons. But do they fill similar roles or would they be cohesive together ? 

Any thoughts / opinions are appreciated !

[brother_b]

I like them. I have two with an unopened box to make two more.

 

Problems are they only have 3 attacks at WS 4. You can put them into double attack mode but that allows them to fight a second round, not double their attacks. That leaves them open to interrupts.

 

Their flamer is a great weapon as it protects a little against counter charge and if you go Lucius you can port in and flame your target. A crafty commander will remove casualties from the front though making your charge distance longer.

 

Their standard mode is amazing for defense with the + to saving throw. Unfortunately with their low attacks you must get into the double attack mode. Having 6, 12, or 18 attacks for a standard group (2-6) of robots is way to low to clear chaff. In fact if your robots are fighting chaff you’re in a bad space. Their D3 is wasted. Pair them with an infiltrator drop to help in the chaff department.

 

If they do fight something like elite infantry, characters or vehicles you’ll be impressed with how hard they punch. So nice crushing tanks or splatting terminators. They’re terrifying against those elite targets.

 

Finally, they’re a great distraction, can tar pit certain armies (keep them in regular mode for the ability to +1 save), and for 1 CP you can blow them up with your strat as they are vehicles.

 

I love them and they always demand attention.

[Vel'Cona]

Keep in mind that the specialist detachment for Kastelans adds a lot of utility, especially to the melee variants.  It might be worth a read and/or consideration when listbuilding.