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Offline Iluvhir Strafermeyer

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Grav Cents
« on: May 1, 2016, 09:25:43 AM »
Hello!

I'm having some difficulty against an Eldar player with a Wraithknight, and a Tau player with a Stormsurge (and quite a few Riptides).
I want to try Grav Cents in a drop pod to rough them up a bit.

My question is how do I do it? Is it just 3 grav cents in a drop pod and auto-win or do I need something else? I've heard something about using Tigurius. How do you do it? What's the gist, physicist? (So to speak)

I'll appreciate any feedback on the topic!
"Consider the battlefield: it is essentially a dawn in grim guise. It is a scenario in which darkness meets light and is annihilated by it.
Imagine that the enemy are the shadows lurking in the night - The arrival of our warhost is like the sun's light breaking the horizon. Let the Bladestorm expel the darkness."

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Offline Spectral Arbor

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Re: Grav Cents
« Reply #1 on: May 1, 2016, 10:20:27 AM »
In a CAD, you can take Tiggy as an HQ, an empty Drop Pod as a Fast Attack, and Grav-Cents as Heavy Support.

The idea behind Tiggy is that his Warlord trait makes Hurricane Bolters extra awesome, plus as the best psyker in the SM Dex [arguably his abilities make him a top 5 choice anywhere] he's very likely to snag good powers from a given field... like Div. or Telepathy.

If you like White Scars, and take Khan as your Warlord, you can put a couple Grav Cannons into Devastator unit's Rhino, scout it forwards in the pre-game, and have a pretty good field of fire starting on your 1st turn.

There's very little reason, outside of cost, to not take a Grav-Cannon on a Tactical squad. It's more expensive than an otherwise TAC Plasmagun choice, but you get what you pay for. There are few situations where a GC doesn't outperform a Plasmagun.

I personally don't use Grav-Cents, but I tend to use a lot of plasma and Powerfist-like weapons. People will probably tell you it's impossible to catch a WK, but it's not. You have to grind it down a little, tie it up with a fast-but-unlikely-to-do-much unit, and then hit it with Hammernators / CM on Bike. It's not nearly as simple as Grav-Cents, but it has it's rewards.

It can be a tough challenge to deal with, especially multiples! But it can be done.

Offline Iluvhir Strafermeyer

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Re: Grav Cents
« Reply #2 on: May 1, 2016, 01:12:09 PM »
Will work against Eldar for sure. Won't work at all against Tau. 1 Stormsurge and 3 Riptides with Early Warning Override basically render all form of deep strike moot. Too bad. I had hoped it would work. 3 Centurions cannot survive all of that shooting.
"Consider the battlefield: it is essentially a dawn in grim guise. It is a scenario in which darkness meets light and is annihilated by it.
Imagine that the enemy are the shadows lurking in the night - The arrival of our warhost is like the sun's light breaking the horizon. Let the Bladestorm expel the darkness."

Beaujl'blef Philosophy

Offline Wyddr

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Re: Grav Cents
« Reply #3 on: May 1, 2016, 02:02:01 PM »
Get yourself a tank for the unit. Put in a Chapter Master with the Shield Eternal and let him soak some of that punishment for you. Makes the unit more expensive, but it will last a bit longer--probably long enough to get off the shots. Another alternative is taking at least three pods so you can drop two at once--double the targets doubles the chance of getting to do something useful.

Additionally: against Tau you should be looking for ways to deliver assault units and minimize overwatch. Grav Centurions do neither of those things and so, no, they aren't optimal. Certainly not bad, but anytime you're stuck trading bullets with Tau, that's a turn you're losing. 

Offline Spectral Arbor

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Re: Grav Cents
« Reply #4 on: May 1, 2016, 04:35:37 PM »
If your opponent is clustering that much together, then no, they won't work. But if they're spread out some, I mean, you've got 24" range on the Cannons to work with. You could probably find a place to hide to only engage one or two? They have a TEQ save, and hypothetically cover.

You should be able to hose one of those down, or at least put some serious hurt on one, right?

I haven't played vs Tau in a long time, but I don't remember a lot of AP2 weaponry being popular. At least, something that could toe-to-toe at 24".

Offline Wyddr

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Re: Grav Cents
« Reply #5 on: May 1, 2016, 05:35:33 PM »
Riptide and Stormsurges can lay down Demolisher Cannon-like ordnance with Intercept. Riptide are a tick or two less powerful (TEQ killing Krak missile, large blast), but still nasty.

Offline Spectral Arbor

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Re: Grav Cents
« Reply #6 on: May 2, 2016, 11:16:37 PM »
Does the Demo-Cannon Shell have the range of a Grav-Cannon? I looked at the Surge a while back, but it's been a while. Even if so... 3 models spread out well [1/2 of 40 mm base + 2" = 2.8"] means that in 4+ cover, you'd only get to hit 2 models, and only if you don't scatter wildly. You're probably going to lose one guy 1/2 of the time you're shot at, give or take. Unless it's multi-shot, but still, either go for broke or go for something that doesn't put your head on a spike.

The Riptide's MEQ munching AP means nothing much to the Grav-Cents, especially when spread out. TEQ and you're only "hitting" 2 guys about half the time.

I'm just saying, if you roll a handful of attacks giving the GC a decent cover save, I think they'd bite off a big chunk of something. Might not kill it, but focus fire and all that should take down one big'n'nasty in a turn.

Offline Iluvhir Strafermeyer

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Re: Grav Cents
« Reply #7 on: May 3, 2016, 06:01:32 AM »
My Tau opponents fields 1 Stormsurge and 3 Riptides in a cheesy as f*** formation.
Everything has Intercept. So that's 4 large blasts that wound on 2+ and punch straight through my armor save. They have long enough range to shoot across the board. If two of those pie platters hit, my cents are pretty much goners, unless I'm very lucky with my cover saves.
It is impossible, or near enough as makes no difference, to keep away from his guns.
That is the problem.

Maybe 2 squads of cents in drop pods would work.

Have any of you ever faced such a Tau opponent?
"Consider the battlefield: it is essentially a dawn in grim guise. It is a scenario in which darkness meets light and is annihilated by it.
Imagine that the enemy are the shadows lurking in the night - The arrival of our warhost is like the sun's light breaking the horizon. Let the Bladestorm expel the darkness."

Beaujl'blef Philosophy

Offline Wyddr

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Re: Grav Cents
« Reply #8 on: May 3, 2016, 06:34:00 AM »
To be perfectly frank, I am largely uncertain how one plays against the Tau these days without just curling up and dying. The superfriends, I guess, and lots of Invisibility.

3 Riptide and a Stormsurge has three consolation of being in the neighborhood of 1000 points, so there's that. It can't be the job of *just* the Centurions to get rid of them. The rest of your army needs to contribute. Generally I would advise a liberal sprinkling of Lascannons plus the Centurions.

 


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