Thursday, June 4, 2015

Dropzone commander: List review Air Cavalry 1.0








Hello all! I feel like i want to talk more abot Dropzone Commander and my UCM Air army. I have named it Air Cavalry. After yesterdays post i have got some new ideas and i feel that i can now play my army better. So i think its time to go trough the units i have picked and why (Other than i dont have the models). I assume that this will benefit me more and mayde my readers will also get something out of it or they can give me feedback :)

 Air Cavalry 1.0

Clash: 1498/1500 points

Standard Army
    Standard Roster [1498/1500 pts]
     
  Field Command [415 pts]
            Phoenix: Phoenix(Lieutenant) [250 pts]
            Ferrum: Ferrum [165 pts]
      
For the field command slot i have picked the Pheonix for my commander. First of all the Pheonix model is awesome. With the pheonix i can benefit from the UCM command cards, which are clearly better for air units. 16" Move, 9damage points. I just need to learn how to place my Pheonix in the battlefield. The Missile battery with large template and E 10 seems like the perfect counter to the scary Scourge squad of 6 hunters, killing them on a 3+. It also has AA-weapon with 2 shots and the heavy chain guns with 1 shot each and E10. Perfect to take pot shots at anything within 12".

Another choise for this slot is the Ferrum, which seems like a good choice to pair with the Pheonix into the same battlegroup. It can launch 8 drones with a 30" move or 15" move if they want to shoot. The drones will die to anything that takes even a look at them, but the Ferrum can replenish three drones in a turn and all drones can act indepently. Tough if you want to benefit from the Focus-4 rule you want to be shooting at the same target. I think that the targets for the drones are light and medium dropships. Also they can go and thin out Minder swarms, alltough the minders can reaction fire before i can shoot them. The drones also have a threat range of 21" with 15" move and 6" range.

 Armored Formation [265 pts]
            Katana Squad: 3x Katana [99 pts]
            Rapier Squad: 3x Rapier, Condor [166 pts]
   
   Armored Formation [265 pts]
            Katana Squad: 3x Katana [99 pts]
            Rapier Squad: 3x Rapier, Condor [166 pts]




For my Armored formations i have chosen two identical battlegroups. Squads for those are a unit of three drive on Katanas and three Rapier Anti-Aircraft tanks in a Condor medium Dropships. 
The idea in the Katanas for the first turn is to give me the ability to fire 6 shots into a building that the enemy will want to get in. Also they can use their smoke launchers and cause a +2 accurasy modifier to anyone shooting at them for a turn, if my Katanas wont fire.

 I am a litle torn in between the Katanas and Sabres. As i am mostly fighting Scourge at the moment the Katanas might be little better. Lets take a look

Katana, 2 shots, E9 A9, MF is more than with the Sabre, so good for a drive on unit. Hits Skimmers on a 4+ and kills them on a 4+.  Units like Scourge Hunters kills them on a 3+. Can use smoke for survival but instead cant shoot for that turn.

Sabre, costs little more than a Katana. 1 shot,  E10 A10. Hits Skimmers on a 4+ but kills them on a 3+. Hunters kill them on a 4+. Will also need a dropship so you can get them into position. 

At the moment i think i will go with Katanas, but i need to experiment more. Also with air list the point save between Katanas and Sabres might be just the thing that decides this for me. (I also need to get models for Katanas as i am currently proxying them with Sabres, and everyone knows that proxies hit worse.

Rapiers. Well these are pretty obvious choice as they are the best AA unit that the UCM has. They also have a dropship to get them into position. The thing i need to experiment with is that do i need two squads of rapiers. Or can i manage with one and a squad and a squad of Wolverine A:s. The wolverines could go for light dropships hunting. This might make for another blog post later on.
   
   Legionnaire Corps [219 pts]
            Legionnaires: 3x Legionnaires, Condor, 2x Bear [141 pts]
            ^ Sharing ^ Legionnaires: 3x Legionnaires [78 pts]
     
  Legionnaire Corps [200 pts]
            Legionnaires: 2x Legionnaires, Raven A [80 pts]
            Falcon Squad: Falcon [40 pts]
            Legionnaires: 2x Legionnaires, Raven A [80 pts]


Legionaire Corps. Ahh the humble foot soldier of the UCM... which are mostly in apcs, dropships or buildings... still they use their... feet...but not for moving that much.

Anyways, First battlegroup is currently two squads of 3 Legionaire infantry stands in a Bear apc in a Condor dropship... shipception anyone? :D Ok, a bad pun. Dropzone Commander is a game where you really need to play the mission instead of just killing stuff. Thats why i need infantry to claim and transport objectives for me.  in a 1500pts match i think i will need 4 squads on infantry.

The Legionaires cant really shoot or fight any better for the mattter. I have two options. First is to keep this battlegroup like it is, or change them into 2 stands in a squad and mount them in Raven A light dropships. This would save points and give mobility but less protection, and make them surely lose any close quarter fights against anyone. Tough in air list 4 small and mobile squads might be better.

Falcons. If I save up points in the Rapiers and with the Legionaires i could have more than one falcon in my list. I could aim for 3 or maybe even 4. The Falcons have good mobility with a move of 24" and mf of 12", It can put a hurt into anything that it can hit with its E11 gun. The thing is the hitting. Agains skimmers its 5+ on one dice to hit. Falcon also has the Evasion rule so +2 accuracy to any AA shooting at it. This means its +4 if the enemy wants to reaction fire. Taking this into consideration a squad of 4 Falcons booming out of the skies against skimmers might put a litle fear into the enemy (or not?). Even better if i could find apc:s and divide the shots into 2 per apc (if i have 4 Falcons), but i think that would happen very rarely. Against Scourge the Falcons are not at their best (or i dont know how to use them and i suspect that this is the reason)
      
 Air Wing [134 pts]
            Archangel Squad: Archangel [67 pts]
            Archangel Squad: Archangel [67 pts]

The Air Wing. UCM has a splendid Fast Mover option and that is the Archangel. 2 shots with E7 and costing only 67pts a piece and can strike basicly anywhere in the battlefield is a fair trade. It has a limited range of targets tough as it cant harm some units efficiently. Targets i will be going after with these are from light to medium dropships, and flying units that cant shoot AA, anything with armor 5 or 6 so apc:s will also do. I just need to find the perfect targets and moments to strike. I have used these one time and it ended up in the Angels not hitting anything and dying to reaction fire :(


Thats all for this time. Feel free to comment my list or anything above! Also, any tips to figthing Scourge would be awesome!

 

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