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Author Topic: the court of the archon; potentially ok?  (Read 2482 times)

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Offline csjarrat

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the court of the archon; potentially ok?
« on: December 16, 2013, 01:02:09 PM »
Hi guys, just getting back into my 40k after a long hiatus to focus on WFB empire and high elves.
Been playing a lot of my CWE lately and been hankering after a couple of games with my DE again.
after a re-read of the codex, i fancied using some different units to freshen up my old raider rush style list and thought about replacing my grotesque bodyguard for a court of the archon unit.
I'm particularly interested in medusae, two of those can really thin out a unit prior to a charge, plus a couple of sslyth can lay down a decent amount of firepower too.
They all have fleet and some start with feel no pain (the ones you want to survive do anyway), plus the T5 and S5 of some of the models, combined with high volume of attacks keeps a lot of the hitting power of the grotesque unit they replace. The lhameans poison helps against tough stuff but i can't say i'll miss her when she dies (she can stand at the front of the unit!) but otherwise they look like a not-terrible but quite fluffy unit.
anyone got any experience with them they'd like to share?
i'm thinking of:
tooled close combat archon + PGL
3 Sslyth
2 Medusae
1 lhamean
1-3 ur-ghul
in a raider with dissie cannon + a few upgrades.

pros vs Grots:
-fleet.
-more flamers.
-capable of ranged damage too.
-a touch more armour in CC.
-not bulky, can get more of them in a vehicle.
-venom is option for min squad
-no beserk rage rule, archon free to move away

cons vs Grots:
-not majority T5 until casualties sustained.
-no high S poison for re-rolled wounds

« Last Edit: December 16, 2013, 01:04:17 PM by csjarrat »

Offline Plastikente

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Re: the court of the archon; potentially ok?
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2013, 05:57:41 PM »
I have never tried a Court, so I can't speak from experience, but, to my mind, the big disadvantage when compared to Grots is the inability to get the unit majority toughness up to 5.  A decent volley of bolter fire could easily cause enough wounds in 1 round to thin out the T3 models and still have some left to roll onto the SSlyth.
A few other points that I think work in favour of Grots:
  • They have power from pain, which the combat heavyweights in the Court don't get - even though they start with some benefits those won't be increasing through the game.
  • You can't take a character in the court to field those unwanted challenges aimed at the Archon.
  • Grots have more wounds, so even though you can take fewer of them in a Raider, you would get the same number of wounds as the squad you listed, for lower cost, with more high strength cc attacks.  What you lose out on is shooting and total number of attacks.
All that said, I am slowly gathering the models for a court of my own, so maybe I'll change my mind when I playtest them.

Offline Ludo

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Re: the court of the archon; potentially ok?
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2013, 12:46:37 AM »
I have found that my grots make for great bullet sponges (except against tau). I throw four of them in a raider with my Archon with aether sails and move them as fast as possible towards the enemy lines. They have high enough toughness to survive the inevitable explosion that results when they shoot up the raider. Your toughness 3 models won't be so lucky. 

This keeps the pressure off of my other shooty units allowing my warriors to move up into range and pour massed poisoning shooting into my opponent. 
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Offline Revener

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Re: the court of the archon; potentially ok?
« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2013, 10:48:39 AM »
I have found that my grots make for great bullet sponges (except against tau). I throw four of them in a raider with my Archon with aether sails and move them as fast as possible towards the enemy lines. They have high enough toughness to survive the inevitable explosion that results when they shoot up the raider. Your toughness 3 models won't be so lucky. 

This keeps the pressure off of my other shooty units allowing my warriors to move up into range and pour massed poisoning shooting into my opponent.

Thats basically what I do too, it works great and if they survive they easily kill most vehicles  or tarpit/kill  any  unit they  attack.  They work even better with  Urien since you can upgrade them to S6 and start as fearless.



I still  havn't tried a court and while they have more all around ability I unit of grots should usually bet better and cheaper.    too  bad  ther is only  1 style of grot model and that it is finecast
Anyway......

Offline benmannen

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Re: the court of the archon; potentially ok?
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2014, 05:17:42 PM »
The Court is awesome. And you can get average T5 from the start. 3 Sslyths and one each of the others.

They were my MVPs in every game since the unit is so versatile. Not too pricey at around 200p in a Raiders. It actually shoots a lot and is great in CC. Just dont expect them to take down the toughest unit your opponent fields. They are a good tool for medium tough units.

Few field it since it cost too much to purchase... The best way to field them is probably together with a Grot unit to take the heat off the Court.

But this made me want to try Grots more :)

 


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