I finally had a chance to play test the Dark Footdar.
My initial impression of this list is VERY positive. I played against a standard Space Marine list at 2,000pts.
We played Pitched Battle, Kill Points.
Here is a copy of the list I ended up running.
| Dark Footdar | 2000pts | ||
| Unit | Description | Size | Cost |
| HQ | |||
| Malys | 1 | 130 | |
| Archon | Agoniser, Blaster, Shadowfield, Haywire, Phantasm, WWP | 1 | 190 |
| Troops | |||
| Warriors | Blaster, Splinter Cannon | 10 | 115 |
| Warriors | Blaster, Splinter Cannon | 10 | 115 |
| Warriors | Blaster, Splinter Cannon | 10 | 115 |
| Wyches | Haywires, Shardnets x 2, Syren, Agoniser | 10 | 170 |
| Elites | |||
| Grotesques | Liquifier, Aberation | 10 | 370 |
| Fast Attack | |||
| Beastmasters | Master x 5, Kymera x 10, Razor x 6 | 21 | 255 |
| Scourges | Haywire Blaster x 2 | 5 | 130 |
| Reavers | Heat Lance x 2, Arena Champion, Venom Blade | 6 | 171 |
| Heavy Support | |||
| Talos | Chain Flails, Heat Lance | 1 | 120 |
| Talos | Chain Flails, Heat Lance | 1 | 120 |
| Totals | 86 | 2001 |
I opted to go with the Malys/Archon combo. This gives me all the benefits of Malys, plus the Phantasm, extra hitting power, and Blaster of the Archon. You do lose the 2 extra Pain Tokens, although in this game it really didn’t matter. The Grotes didn’t need FA, and being immune to psychic powers, only tank shock was worrisome.
My opponent had a very vanilla Space Marine army.
HQ:
Chaplain in Terminator Armor
Chapter Master with Lightening Claws
Elites:
Tac Terminators in a LRC with x-tra armor
Dreadnought with M.Melta
Troops:
Full Tac squad with all the kit in a Rhino x 3
Fast:
Kitted out Vanguard unit
Heavy:
Vindicator
So, a very middle of the road list, but we did this on purpose as this is a good baseline to see how this army plays out. We will begin putting it through the paces against increasibly more powerful opponents and lists.
The game was quite fun. I got first turn and took it. The Grotes with Malys and the Archon advanced up-field and dropped the WWP a bit off center of the board. Some LOS blocking terrain kept me out of the firing sites of a Vindie (Malys’ redeploy is great for this).
My opponent adjusted his army to get ready to shoot me up, and took some opportunity fire at my unit of Grotes, doing nothing. That unit is crazy resilient.
Turn two, the Beasts, a Talos, Reavers and the Scourges came in. One thing I noticed immediately was that any more units than that coming out of the WWP would have been a nightmare. You run out of real estate fast, especially with giant units like the Beasts.
The flexibility of the Scourges coming in via deepstrike was really useful because of this. With Haywire blasters they were able to come down at a safe distance from the Vindie and managed to immobilize it in a terrible facing, effectively taking the biggest threat to my Grotes out of the game. Nice one! Those Haywire Blasters are great suppression weapons.
The Talos and the Reavers went after the Land Raider. The Reavers being skilled riders and able to move 12″ out of the WWP was also fantastic. You have a huge threat radius out of that thing, and with 18″ on those Heat Lances, really can strike deeply into your opponent’s lines. They failed to destroy the LRC, but they did stun it. The following turn the got hosed by the assault cannon, broke and ran for it. The Arena Champ in this unit may be wasted points for that reason. They are incredibly fragile. Had they had cover, it would have been much better, but often when you go for that all or nothing attack, you have to leave them exposed.
The Talos came in and popped a Rhino thanks to that surprisingly long reach on the Heat Lance out of the WWP. This allowed the Beasts to charge the unit that fell out along with the Chapter Master and even with terrible rolls on my part, destroy that unit with very, very light casualties. That unit has a HUGE range out of the WWP and a ton of damage output and resiliency with wound allocation tricks.
On my opponent’s turn, he destroyed the Scourges and took a few pot shots, but wasn’t able to do much to me. His Terminators, Chappy and Dread charged my Talos who put all his attacks on the Dread and Chappy, killing them before dying.
My next turn, everything else came in. I opted to have the Warriors come in off the board edge. With an effective 24″ range on their blasters, they were able to open a Rhino that had strayed a hair to close to my board edge. In subsequent rounds, one squad was eaten by the Vanguards who were in turn flaked down by the remaining warriors. I really like these squads’ load outs. 10 bodies is enough to hang around, and the Splinter Cannon and Blaster gives them bite to take on a wide variety of targets and do telling damage.
My Wyches did nothing. They flubbed all of their fleet rolls and never made it anywhere. They didn’t die though, so there’s that.
The Second Talos also popped a Rhino allowing the Grote squad to crash into the Tacs inside, wiping them. Massive overkill. That unit just rapes MEQs.
The Beasts then went into the terminators, easily killing them.
We called the game at this point.
So what did I take away from this game?
This army is FUN to play! You have so many tricks you can pull out of your hat that it really is an army with a lot of tactical depth. It is also very reactive, which is the way I like to play. You can sit and see what your opponent is going to do before committing to anything. In a game like 40K with no reactionary actions, this is really big. You can effectively take turns away from your opponent and dictate where the action happens. You can pounce on any deployment/movement mistakes. This is also hugely beneficial as you can effectively force a flank, castle, or bum rush as the situation demands, after you determine which is the best way to play.
The army hits very hard. The Beasts, Taloi, and Grote squad are straight wrecking balls. Really powerful units.
The auxiliary units are also very good. The Scourges and Reavers add a lot. I wish I had another Fast Attack Slot to add some more in. I think the Scourges are the better buy on a straight points efficiency comparison as the deployment abilities really opens the board up to them. The Reavers are so fragile that they may not be worth the points. However, they do have tremendous speed. More play testing will tell.
The troops didn’t have a chance to do much this game. They were more than enough to get the job done, though and had it been objectives, I would have felt fine. I like the load out on the Warriors a lot. They remind me of the Dire Avengers I use in my Footdar with what I wish they always had: a tool for popping tanks. That Blaster makes them a really well rounded unit. They can’t assault after shooting their Rifles which stinks, but I think it’s a fair trade. You should play them conservatively though. Don’t risk them unnecessarily just to take a pot-shot with their blaster. Remember that their purpose is to take and hold objectives. In KP mission they’re more expendable, but you don’t want to give them away, either.
The Wyches didn’t have a chance to do anything this game, but I could see them being a great combo unit to go in with a Talos or the Grotes to soak up attacks. Being an aggressive scoring unit, they have good odds of being the unit that will take enemy objectives for you.
I am a bit torn on the HQ choices. I think you really need that second WWP or change the list a fair bit. You could do it with 1, but things could get really crowded, really fast. I was feeling the crunch even with poor reserve rolls turn 2.
Malys and 2 Haemis or an Archon and 2 probably is the best bet. It gives you a LOT more flexibility and you can cover a lot more of the board. The Baron probably isn’t necessary. That Grote unit is so though there isn’t much apart from a triple Manticore list or such that can realistically take them down and as such the Stealth isn’t as great. I’d rather have the increased hitting power an Archon offers.
I do really like this army though. It plays a very unorthodox game which is fun, and it is extremely flexible. It is a bit dependent on luck, but not terribly so. I think so long as you play on a table with decent terrain, this should be something that is pretty easily mitigated.
Lastly, 12 KP in a DE list was pretty awesome. I had less than my opponent! Not often that happens with DE.
More play-testing is in order against some tougher opponents, but my initial reactions are very positive. I think this is an army that has a ton of potential and I am excited to try it out more.