Heya guys,

I have trawled back through this forum and picked up a little bit on LatD but there is not too much recent stuff, nor is there any detailed unit explanation of tactics. I am puzzled by a fair number of the unit choices, either why you would take them or how they are supposed to work in the wider list. I hope that eventually we can pretty much cover most of the more esoteric choices!

The first one I wanted to ask about were the Hellfire Cannons. They seem a strange beast given thier 75cm MW4+ shot doesnt really mark them as artillery replacements, nor reliable AT fire. I guess I am just wondering how you would use them in a LatD list?

_________________
My EPIC and BFG Blog: https://epicaddiction.wordpress.com/

Hi novemberrain

That is a simple one. Place them to cover a long area of the board you do not want your opponent to travel on and place them on Overwatch. You will notice that you are now playing the game on the other side of the board

_________________
Frogbear is responsible for...
Previous World Eaters
Previous Emperor's Children
Previous Death Guard
Previous Imperial Fists
Previous Chaos Squats

Cheers Frogbear.

So is that more a psychological effect of the unit? An average of 2 MW hits isn't 'that' scary, I cant imagine it is enough to drive the opponent out of my half! I may be wrong tho

See, you guys have all this knowledge but it is spread out / not on the forums for people like me to read

_________________
My EPIC and BFG Blog: https://epicaddiction.wordpress.com/

yah, there will be a central website. one day.

I think (my experience is not much greater then yours) that the overwatch is the key part of that stratergy.

Two MW hits means at three BM's, putting a bit of a dint in the oncoming formation. for something like terminators, they can't really afford it.

Your opponent could send some meatsheild ahead, but then he has to waste an activation, and use two formations to do the job. Plus you'll still be shooting at him next turn.

better to just go around the problem eh?

I suppose, given the cultists are kinda low on the AT side of things without Russ support they would fill a role. They just seemed a strange mid-way unit, half artillery half direct fire. I will give them a try sometime soon

Would it be ok if we went through most of the LatD unit choices in this thread? I think it would help people thinking of starting.

_________________
My EPIC and BFG Blog: https://epicaddiction.wordpress.com/

The Hellfire cannons can also be used as a defensive garrison too.

Placed on overwatch to cover your own deployment zone they can be a major deterrent to Teleporters and Air Assaults, especially in the first turn.

They can severely limit where teleporters can safely be brought in as well as make it much harder for Air Assaults to be brought in with any certainty of success.

Also it is probably more a psychological threat than anything else.

OK, so Overwatching formations it is

Can we turn to the other Undivided formation, the Defiler Pack. How do you use them, how many in a list etc?

_________________
My EPIC and BFG Blog: https://epicaddiction.wordpress.com/

The Defiler Pack is a little trickier. It is a formation that is OK at a few things but not really master of anything.

Their crappy save and number in a formation are the real limiting factor of these guys.

Instinct would tell you to move these guys up, use Infiltrator and get them into combat. Reality will show however that they get shot up. Now if you can afford to lose them at the risk of getting better formations up the table, then that is fine. Otherwise, you will find that they make a great protection for your back line if you ignore your base instincts and remain patient waiting for the enemy to make the move onto your table half.

With their battlecannon shot, they can remain on your table edge and support with placing a BM here and there

Hope this helps

_________________
Frogbear is responsible for...
Previous World Eaters
Previous Emperor's Children
Previous Death Guard
Previous Imperial Fists
Previous Chaos Squats

It does indeed help Frogbear!

Defilers to me seem to be a bit like the hellfire cannons, in that they sit kind of uncomfortably between two roles, close combat and stand-off firing. They have so many different weapons doing so many different things at so many different ranges it all gets a little bit confusing - plus they are kind of pricy points wise.

I guess they could be kind of useful in a mostly tank army, to provide some combat punch, but I do not think they will be making it into my lists

_________________
My EPIC and BFG Blog: https://epicaddiction.wordpress.com/

The most useful way to use a defiler pack besides as a blitz guard is in setting up an assault, say against an infantry formation in cover. Get them within FF range (coincidently the range of their flamers) or closer, fire away, then retain with a bigger formation and assault - 4 supporting 3+FF attacks can come in handy. Defilers can be used to assault in their own right, but unless you support them, they won't be that successful. 4+ armor and an Invulnerable save isn't all that crappy. However, with only 4 units they don't have a lot of staying power. If you include them in your list, give them one mission and don't expect to have them at the end of the game.

_________________
Let us playtest like the Greeks of old... You know the ones I mean

True enough. They do seem quite expensive for that one-shot kind of role tho.

So can we move on to the next unit choice? I was thinking about the Covens, and the different roles they can do. I have written up a 3000pt list with 4 of them, 2 with maxed out Big Mutants and Fire support, and 2 in Land Transporters to add a bit of speed.

It seems to me that you would either want to go slow and shooty, or load them up for objective grabs etc. Fire support and Big Mutants seem to be the upgrades of choice for me long with the near obligatory DPact.

I have added hydras to the mounted covens, but would be a bit wary of adding any armour to foot covens, at surely they would get sniped off pretty quickly?

What do you guys feel?

_________________
My EPIC and BFG Blog: https://epicaddiction.wordpress.com/

I will have to wait for your next unit choice.

I am yet to have enough games with covens to give an opinion on the best way to play them

_________________
Frogbear is responsible for...
Previous World Eaters
Previous Emperor's Children
Previous Death Guard
Previous Imperial Fists
Previous Chaos Squats

Speculate! Or choose your own unit choice?

Feel free, I just think it would be good to get a basic run down on each unit for people thinking of starting LatD. There is lots of esoteric discussion of modifying weapon stats in weird and wonderful variations of lists, but not much dealing with how to effectively use those units in games.

_________________
My EPIC and BFG Blog: https://epicaddiction.wordpress.com/