Reconsidering your Heavy Support Choice

[Deleted]

I was chatting with a pair of friends, one a veteran guard player who's been around since the days of rouge trader and a 3rd Ed. player not unlike myself.

Both of them laid out for me very similiar army lists. The list, for the most part, consisted of a bunch of infantry, a few special units to harass the flanks and draw fire, and three basilisks as heavy support choices.

"That's very interesting," I thought. I'd never really considered having three artillery pieces hiding in the back to harass enemy troops from afar.

This plan sounds good on paper and basilisks tend to do very well in practice, but i'd like to get the general consensus as to how well this might work in an actual game.

Thoughts?

[Turtleboy(AWOL)]

it's not a bad option - put them on each extreme flank and let them cover eachother. in practice, you'll struggle for terrain to hide them behind (though my favorite thing is to use chimerae or even leman russes to MAKE terrain for them - even if you kill my vehicle I can still say 'thank you!'

[Deleted]

u havta to remember theres a minimum range for indirect fire....so if ure opponent is smart enough he would go for it and start advancing his army up to a point where u cant fire ure bassies without exposing ureself....which is why TB mentioned about the ' extreme flank' system where u put bassies on either end of the board....and u tend to fire in a criss cross attack whereby the bassy on the left fire on the target to the right and vice versa for the other.

Going first turn would be a bonus to this affect....being able to u can say in a way 'preliminary bombard' him to soften up his men before u or he goes in for the 'real' attack....

[Deleted]

noted. Thanks all.

[Deleted]

What i have been using is a Basilisk and a Griffon supported with a executioner or Russ add a hellhound and i am ready to go. Just my .02 cents

[Deleted]

Three bassies work a treat for me, though hiding them can be hard. Oh and a note about indirect fire: the rules clearly state that a bassie with indirect MAY fire that way, you can still roll out and fire directly once they get too close for comfort :]

[Deleted]

exactamundo.

[Woz]

Here's a thought -

Two Bassies and a LR Demolisher. No one wants to come in range of the Demol cannon and if the Bassies are behind it then they'll get glancing hits only.

[Mabus]

TB invented that tactic.

[Rolling Thunder]

TB invented nearly everything, according to this forum...
I prefer a two Russ, 1 demolisher combo for beakies, 1 russ, 1 exterminator and 1 griffon for Tau/Nids/Orks, 2 demolisher 1 russ for assaulty heavy infantry, 3 russes for Necrons and 3 demolishers for attacking

[Colonel Scipio]

Easy peasy, a Vanquisher (If your opponent doesn't mind using 3rd edition or chapter approved armoured companies) will liquify all the enemy heavy armour by turn 3 at the latest, while the two Basilisks can ordanance blast any pesky enemies who try to fight back. Especialy good with armoured crew compartments, as besides anything else gives you an excuse to convert some lovley Jagdpanzer-esque SPGs which is always a good reason for anything.

[ssgtdude (M.I.A)]

The three bassie isn't too bad. While there is a minimum distance for indirect once your opponent crosses that line switch from indirect to direct fire. Most people forget you can still move the Bassie and fire off the ordinance weapon. There is no real disadvantage to this as you are still using 2dice on the scatter regardless.

I perfer to run one bassie and a leman russ. Then I use two immolators (dedicated transports got to love them 4 four heavies).

I go with two platoons of 25 as a way to minimize the force. Then I tie up the points in the more expensive choices. My basic troops are cheap to the point I don't even buy sergeants. No point in it from what I see. Much more points left to flesh out the rest of the army without them.

Even my Command squad isn't overly expensive.

Just have to watch out for the sneaky gits out there who like to bend the rules on their assults when they find out I have the medic in there. Not that I hide her since she is wearing the naughty nurses uniform.