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Terminator or Terminator assault squad?


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I am running a Blood Angels army and my next target unit are terminators but I am not sure what to get, could you please advise and give me a few tips (or even tactics on the way), do this and you shall be honoured by our God Emperor and Sanguinius, our father!

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Since neither are particularly strong right now just go with which version you like best while ignoring the crunch.

Crunch-wise our flying Terminators, named Sanguinary Guard, are much better anyway. :P

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I'd try dakka version. With Cyclone Missile Launcher if you manage to get it. Along with the Assault Canon you get a lot of shots after drop. Preferably from cover. Shoot screens. With CML you can target vehicles, but a re-roll source would be needed for those to really count.
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Both have their uses I'm sure; especially with the new Bolter Discipline rule. You're getting a lot of firepower out of deep strike, on paper at least- However, it's still your basic S4 0AP, and we all know how disappointing it is to roll all those dice, only to chip off a coupe of chaff models.

 

Assault terminators are the way to go if you ask me, purely because of the storm shields for 3++. 2+ armour is hugely disappointing with the way AP works now- Without that, your enemy is going to target them with overcharged plasma, and suddenly the most elite veterans the Astartes have to offer are saving like guardsmen. Go up against an army like Necrons and you'll literally never get that 2+ save at all.

People have bemoaned how Terminators have fallen into a very underwhelming position, but personally I think they're too iconic not to use. The assault variants with TH/SS still suffer from poor mobility- Don't rely on a deep strike charge, for instance, they don't have any stratagems or psychic synergy to help them make it. But they are very durable, and when you do get them into combat, a Thunder Hammer backed up by Red Thirst is just filthy :biggrin.:

Edited by Vermintide
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I agree, TH/SS is probably the most viable build but you need to find a way to deliver them.

 

The other thing to think about is support. Adding an Ancient with the Standard of Sacrifice relic will suddenly make these guys incredibly resilient since you get to ignore ecah wound they suffer on a 5+. Because each wound that you save can potentially be saved again, that has the overall effect of giving the squad 50% extra wounds. A source of rerolls such as a Chaplain will also help maxmimise the value of those expensive Thunder Hammers.

 

Not the easiest squad to use perhaps but a pain for your opponent to try and remove. You can also add a Sanguinary novitiate to patch up wounded squad members and resurrect fallen ones for even more frustration for your opponent.

 

My experience of dangerous units in 8th edition suggests to me it is best to go big or go home. Don't mess about with small squads that become ineffective after taking a few casualties. Take a big squad, support them well with appropriate characters and they will tear big holes in anything that crosses their paths.

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One tactic I've wanted to try is to load up on support characters (Chaplain + Standard of Sacrifice) and drop both a squad of assault and a squad of shooty units to take out a specific unit. Hit the target with bullets to thin the crowd then charge them with the assault squad. You'll have to weather a turn of counter offense but in your next turn you teleport them back into your deployment. The idea is to give them a turn to cause issues but don't let them sit there trying to survive. When you pull them back into your deployment, you now have some troops to hold your backline and prevent deep strikers/flankers from hitting the gunline. Your termies are likely to be thin anyway so you're not feeding them easy kills. 

The downside is that it's at least 600pts at minimum to accomplish so you're strapped for pts in the main army. However it's a huge distraction carnifex on turn 2 that they have to deal with one way or another. That means you're dumping more points into another unit to act as an anvil (Troops or more assault?). That leaves precious room for any backline objective campers.

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What I wanted to try is to drop a unit in cover on an objective and let them just sit there with a 1+ save. However that role is now filled with Eliminators in my army.

Yes, ironically my Eliminators are best at sitting in cover tanking shots instead of actually killing stuff. Last match my AdMech opponent had to shoot with most of his army for two turns at them because I got rid of all his Plasma early and so he had only AP0, AP-1 and some anti-tank left. What finally killed them was the ignore cover weapon with decent AP on his Techpriest but they bought a LOT of time for my characters who were further away.

 

Back to Terminators, I could see shooty Terminators do that as well, especially because ignore cover wouldn't hit them as hard as Eliminators. They'd be even more durable with Stormshields but a bit too expensive to just sit there without doing anything compared to regular Terminators who could at least still shoot with Stormbolters I'd say.

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That's what I've been thinking as well.

Dakka version although still underwhelming makes for a good distraction carnifex. in Cover they still have 4+ save against plasma, can dish out really nice firepower fresh from the drop. That can be addidionally boosted by AC and CML, the last one being able to threaten big targets. If redeployed backfield, they are still dangerous.
Less probability that they would be wasted.

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you're going for anti-infantry I would avoid the chainfist tbh. Even with the high strength, AP and damage 2 you're never going to kill more than 2 people with it a turn, and that's always assuming you get a charge off. I would second Leonaides' suggestion and go with an Assault Cannon. 6 shots at S6 AP-1? Can't do much better than that for anti-infantry.

Edited by t-dog1996
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I'd keep it cheap with stormbolter and fists. Of course you can take the Assault cannon as well but make sure you don't move too much or you'll only hit on 4+ with it due it being a heavy weapon. At best just drop them in some cover on an objective and laugh while your opponent struggles to remove them (or cry when you are like me and keep rolling 1s for saves anyway).

That being said, no matter what you do Terminators won't excell at chaff clearing because they pay a lot of points for the model itself and the fists. If you want some anti-infantry shooting you are better off with some other units. You take Terminators for the 2+ armour and that's it.

Edited by sfPanzer
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Do you need to open yet another thread for this topic? It's the third in a short time now and the last one even had the exact same title. Just post in one of your other two threads instead:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/356349-terminator-squad-load-out/

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/356091-terminator-or-terminator-assault-squad/

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If you're going for anti-infantry I would avoid the chainfist tbh. Even with the high strength, AP and damage 2 you're never going to kill more than 2 people with it a turn, and that's always assuming you get a charge off. I would second Leonaides' suggestion and go with an Assault Cannon. 6 shots at S6 AP-1? Can't do much better than that for anti-infantry.

Finally finished them, wargear: 2 chainfists, 2 powerfists, 1 power sword, 4 bolters, 1 assault cannon

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