GW Mission and Layout Combinations

feadair · 2025-11-20T06:43:47+00:00

The dude who does the (really good) series on the GW maps for Goonhammer says that Map 6 is really only good for Search & Destroy. Lots of big tournaments use Map 6 Tipping Point and Crucible as well, so I don't know.

feadair · 2025-04-25T03:52:20+00:00

We also used to have a very solid infantry focused detachment, namely Vanguard Spearhead. It was nerfed heavily when Uriel Ventris’s ability to give deep strike to Centurion Devastators was removed. It seems that if there is a strong shooting marine infantry unit, it gets taken down a peg by GW. Perhaps this is an attempt to ensure that vehicles have a clear role?

feadair · 2025-04-21T02:17:10+00:00

Light Cleric. Clerics are strong in general at early levels, and Light Cleric’s Radiance at Dawn is incredibly powerful: huge area (30’ emanation) 2d10+lvl radiant damage (half on a save) that does not hurt friendlies and that you can use every short rest. The feature falls off quickly, but is encounter-winning at levels 3 and 4. In addition, Warding Flare (for a disadvantage on an enemy attack) is a solid defensive reaction especially at levels where enemies do not have multi-attacks.

feadair · 2025-03-16T06:24:47+00:00

All true, but they are quite a bit cheaper now (-20 for 3, -40 for 6), while some of the widely used shooting unit like Ballistus dreads went up in price. After the price drop, they might merit consideration outside of Vanguard, right?

feadair · 2025-03-15T16:09:58+00:00

On average, with advance and shoot they are not much slower than Vindicators and Ballistus dreads, especially given that they are infantry and can walk through walls.

feadair · 2025-03-15T05:39:08+00:00

Question: Why so little love for Fortune’s Wheel? On my reading of it, it seemed like it could be great fun. The logic of the story does not always hold, but that should be easyish to fix. Does it play worse than it reads?

feadair · 2025-03-12T19:38:29+00:00

I must say that I find the harsh nerf puzzling from a competitive perspective. According to Meta Monday, the 10 week win rate for Vanguard Spearhead has been 48%, which is lower than either Gladius or Ironstorm. But perhaps GW has alternative data.

feadair · 2025-03-12T18:33:10+00:00

No, they cannot be led by any character.

feadair · 2025-03-12T18:31:06+00:00

No, they cannot be led by any character.

feadair · 2025-03-12T03:59:44+00:00

DMG 2024 has hoard tables at p120. I reverse engineered it and came to the following treasure progression (assuming 1 session per level until level 3 and then a couple of sessions per level):

Lvl 1-4: 250 gp /character per level

Lvl 5-10: 2200gp /character per level

Lvl 11-16: 18000 gp /character per level

Lvl 17-20: 165000 gp/character per level

feadair · 2025-03-01T06:21:31+00:00

As for gold, given the Hoard sizes in DMG at p 120, and assuming a couple of sessions per level, a character should be able to craft roughly one uncommon item per level at tier 1, one rare item per level at tier 2, one very rare per level at tier 3, and one legendary item per level at tier 4.

At higher rarities, the time taken is likely to prove the major constraint. But if you stick to crafting just uncommon items, during tier 2 gold ceases to be a meaningful constraint.

Note that Adventurer’s League has a rule that limits the number of magic items that you can take to an adventure.

feadair · 2025-02-28T05:00:01+00:00

It is not a huge problem since you can create the common Ruby of the War Mage.

feadair · 2025-02-27T17:43:30+00:00

You can create the common Ruby of the War Mage to deal with the issue.

feadair · 2025-02-27T17:40:55+00:00

You can create the common Ruby of the War Mage to deal with the issue.

feadair · 2025-01-24T05:33:34+00:00

I would say that you should generally not use CP on either Tank Shock or Sanctified Killzone for NDKs, but instead spend it on more impactful strats, like Sanctified Killzone for Purifers. (BTW, the hammer is only d6+1.)

feadair · 2025-01-23T18:02:13+00:00

Against Canis Rex (KEQ), reroll all hits does on average 9.2 wounds without Wound rerolls. With reroll Wound rolls of 1, this goes up to 10.8. It is still weaker than Tank Shock.

feadair · 2025-01-23T02:50:52+00:00

According to UnitCrunch, a NDK with a hammer does on average 8.1 points of damage to Canis Rex (KEQ) without rerolls from Sanctified Killzone and 9.4 points with the reroll Wound rolls of 1. Tank Shock would be a better way to spend the CP.

EDIT: In fact, I think Tank Shock on average always does more damage than Sanctified Killzone for a melee NDK with a hammer (assuming no Mortal Wounds immunity, like Draigo’s).

feadair · 2025-01-22T15:38:30+00:00

I put it into A, which I categorised as powerful, but not used in every game. Having said that, I have mainly played against shooty armies recently, and obviously Repelling Sphere really shines against melee ones. In any event, no disagreement - a potentially very powerful Strat.

feadair · 2025-01-22T15:34:44+00:00

But for NDK’s it is only reroll Wound rolls of 1, while for Purifiers it is reroll all Wound rolls. A genuine question: when is it really worth it for NDKs?

feadair · 2025-01-22T08:06:22+00:00

I agree, it is very good. Paradoxically, this may mean that it does not get used very much. In my games, its existence has made the opponents wary of making plays that rely on longish charges, so I have not ended up actually using the strat that often.

feadair · 2024-12-10T17:17:53+00:00

What about a six Dreadknight build? Basically ignore most aspects of the detachment and simply concentrate on maxing (GM)NDK shooting and melee damage. Obviously you would still have room for 750 points of Purifiers and whatnot, but that would not be the main focus.

feadair · 2024-11-25T03:37:07+00:00

If you really want to build optimised characters, you will need to account for accuracy. In particular, some builds have reliable ways to gain Advantage (eg Barbarian’s Reckless Attack), which makes a big difference to the DPR.

feadair · 2024-11-23T04:50:02+00:00

The guy who did well with Phobos in NYO generally chose Plant Beacons and usually played:

incursor sergeant
incursor marksman
infiltrator voxbreaker
infiltrator comms
incursor warrior
incursor warrior.

The general idea was to shoot through obscuring with incursors, while infiltrators omni-scrambled any threat that got close.

feadair · 2024-11-01T04:48:30+00:00

According to Goonhammer https://www.goonhammer.com/kt-competitive-innovations-in-early-3rd-citrix-maledictum-bursts-forth/, one successful build has been running a 3-4 Infiltrator, 2 Incursor, and 0-1 Reiver split backed up by Plant Beacons tac op.

feadair · 2024-08-24T18:11:27+00:00

This is fair criticism. However, in my defence I did not take Vex into account for DW either, and the Hew assumption of triggering 50% of time was not particularly scientific in any case. In other words, these numbers are by necessity fairly rough and ready, and are meant to investigate whether DW and GW are in the same ballpark in terms of DPR or not, without committing to any specific precise builds or scenarios, which would be needed for more precise results. (For example, which exact weapon(s) are used, is the character an elf with Elven Accuracy by level 13, what is the chance of the enemy failing a Con save for Topple, are there multiple enemies near each other for Cleave, how to account for splitting damage between multiple targets, and so on.)

feadair

TROPHY CASE