Hello everyone Frankie here to talk about the changes in my Battle Company list and show some photo updates of the army. Check out the Tactics Corner for more great articles!
So first I changed the list from the first article to this one:
Khan-Bike
Chaplain-Bike, Auspex
Tactical Squad- 10 marines, Melta Bomb, Melta Gun, Grav Cannon and Grav amp, Rhino
Tactical Squad- 10 marines, Melta Bomb, Melta Gun, Grav Cannon and Grav amp, Rhino
Tactical Squad- 10 marines, Melta Bomb, Melta Gun, Grav Cannon and Grav amp, Rhino
Tactical Squad- 10 marines, Melta Bomb, Melta Gun, Grav Cannon and Grav amp, Rhino
Tactical Squad-5 marines, Melta Bomb, Melta Gun, Rhino
Tactical Squad-5 marines, Melta Bomb, Melta Gun, Rhino
Attack Bike- Multi Melta
Bike Squad- 3 bikes, 2x Grav Gun, Combi Grav, Attack bike w/ Multi Melta
Devastator Squad-5 marines, 2x Grav Cannon and Grav amp, Rhino
Devastator Squad-5 marines, 2x Grav Cannon and Grav amp, Rhino
10th Company
3 x 5 Scouts with bolters
The new list is very mobile and with Khan can get off a nasty alpha strike. The Grav Cannons will scout forward and be in range turn one. Most games I will use a Devastator Doctrine turn one to give them all re-rolls of some sort. The Grav Cannons will also allow me to stay in the Rhinos longer because I will be dealing enough damage from the firing points. The Bike Squad will cruise around grabbing objectives and taking out those pesky back field units. The main thing I am thinking about changing is adding a drop pod, just so I can null deploy if needs be.
This new and improved list I believe will be able to hang with the top tier lists. The list will play to the missions really well and will have enough punch to kill a little bit of the enemy army. My roughest match up would be Helldrakes as the ap 3 flamer will kill my guys really fast. Luckily they will have to get me out of the transports first, haha. Another tough game will be the kill point mission. On a straight kill point game I don’t think I would have much of a chance against most armies. But as long as there are other options for my list I will be able to pull out the win.
I’m almost done building the tactical marines as you can see in the following pictures:
The Marines are turning out great I am working on getting all the heads together along with the bases. Should have those by next week.
I didn’t glue on the shoulder pads, back packs, or guns as I want to prime them separate so that it looks cleaner when all finished:
Lastly you have to love Forgeworld. I cannot wait to finish this army and get it on the table:
So that is what I have so far. I am going to magnetize the weapons so that the army is completely versatile. Let me know what you guys think about the new list and what you would change if anything. Also how have your experiences been playing against the Battle Company? Thank you for reading everyone and I will keep you updated on the progress. I am hoping to have it all finished by Nova Open.
What happened to thunderdrome?
Zero and five is what happened to the Thunderdome. >.>
ZING!
Haha very true!
Have you considered playing around to find some points and swap the Tenth Company for an Anti-Air Defense Force? I struggled a lot with flyers during BAO, but since having put the AADF in they’re a lot more manageable. The loss of Infiltrate from the Scouts is unfortunate, but Khan makes up for a lot of that.
I’m also a bit surprised you took both an Attack Bike and Bike squad in the list. The latter gives your HQs somewhere to hang, which is nice, but can’t get transports to make use of Company Support and aren’t really any faster than most of your other units.
Great points buddy. I will look into the air defense force. Ive seen a lot of people using it. I like the bikes as it gives me a little close combat unit. Not a great one but not terrible.
I know im not a tournament player, ayleast a good one, but I say stick with the tenth company, yeah they lack anti aire, but are cheap. Also, if you are facing them, pop the tactical doctrine when they come in. Rerolling grav will help.
I do like the idea behind the “scout into grav range” battle company, but I think my minmax design with 8 pods and 6 razors works better in ITC missions. To back it up it got me a 1st place GT win at a 40 man 6 round event (you should get that tourney score soon) and very close to undefeated at wargamescon, whereas the other battle co’s at both events got tripped up somewhere.
Admittedly when I see a wraithknight, riptide, or flyer among other things I just have to ignore it, but any t4 units or less like bike spam eldar or orks I can tear apart fast. (I tabled a bike spam/seer council eldar list on t2 with an aggressive infiltrate and pod rush.) and with 104 models in my list among 36 kill points, I am never under the threat of getting tabled. An awesome tau list got me down to 10 units in a 7 round game, but still couldn’t put the boys down.
Yeah the min max list might be better. And congratulations on the GT win.
Thanks! I did have to play Brett “tomb king” for the final round, and it was super close against his eldar/IG blob/coteaz list. The really good players like him know to leave all their eldar bikes, even the scatter lasers, in reserve against me, because I priority target those things super early so I won’t have to deal with enemy obsec at the end. In the end though, I had maelstrom and we couldn’t shake either enemy army off their closest two crusade objectives, so I took it.
Love the minotaurs.. looking good frankie! Very different style from what you usually play but I think this is a top tier list. WIll struggle vs fliers of course but with so many bodies it isn’t like you don’t have options.
Thanks man. Hopefully its done by they time you come visit.
Wow, that’s a lot of models! That’s the main reason I just don’t like these new Formations, too much to make, too much to transport, too much to move around and set up on the table. How does anyone finish a game in 2 1/2 hours anymore?
Haha yeah it is a lot to start from scratch. But deployment wouldnt take any longer than any other army. Because most of the units are in transports.
It really depends on the enemy army. Against war convo or something else that takes a long time to play (like having mega psychic phases etc,) then games barely get to turn 4 in a usual time limit. Against armies where I’m just trying to survive like a void shield covered tau army, you can make it through turn 7.
I agree though, more stuff can fit in 1850 than ever. I’m thinking time is becoming more of a factor than ever before.
Awesome stuff Frankie. Are you bringing this to Nova Open?
Im going to try to have it done by then.
I think each of the Frontline Gaming members should do an updated list of their army of choice. Pictures and why they chose it. Seems all of you bounce around armies and really give the viewers a nice change of pace each time.
Thank you for all the battle reports and articles. I love the site.
I’d love to do this. I’ll get some pictures together to post this week and start blogging my Renegades and Khorne Daemonkin Army!
Thanks for the motivation 🙂
Yeah. Add a single drop pod. In a army like that its just so nice that you can null-deploy if needed.
Looking good mang, should be fun!
If you’re making the Battle Company, you need another fast attack choice. The bikes automatically change their battlefield role to that of Troops (unfortunately it’s not optional, and doesn’t depend on the unit size anymore):
“Mounted Assault: If a unit with this special rule is chosen as part of a Detachment that contains at least one independent character with the Space Marines Faction equipped with a Space Marine bike, the unit’s Battlefield Role changes to Troops.”
(This is quoted straight from the Codex: Space Marines)
Also, are you worried about the time it takes to move all those combat squads and transports, especially if you go up against a horde army? Overall nice list and very classic looking approach for how a Chapter would deploy!
The detachment doesn’t ask for a fast attack, so his list is fine.
I’m going to agree with AP and say that getting anti-air would suit you better. With vehicles with scout moves, those non-ob sec scouts aren’t really worth it IMO.
Yeah i will take a look at it.
I think that Drop Pod is needed in this army.
Agreed. The ability to null deploy if going second is too good to pass up.
This looks like a generally strong army, i think it it over reliant on grav weapons, and vs some lists, (mine included) its just not that scary. Hardest part about this list for me is just chewing through the ob sec units, and the boxes provide decent protection, but i think that most games by turn 3 most of the threats of this list will be dealt with. I feel like if you can shut down the scout then the army loses its luster. with some units being 2 rounds out of shooting range, Or if you go against any deathstar that has majority armor 6+ or 2+ cover saves.
My assessment is this is strong but beatable in some missions, and middle of the pack in others.
Thank you for the input. I agree there will be some bad matchups. But that is what I love about playing this game, trying to beat armies you shouldnt.
Nice man! When we get both of ours done we should make a batrep of them. I feel like you’re lacking in the firepower department. That can be a common problem for the formation anyways, but I feel you may get more by using Razorbacks.
You may be correct on the firepower front, but I wouldn’t underestimate the power of 8 grav cannons with amps firing on the first turn due to scout moves. Certainly against some armies it’ll fall a bit flat (horde armies and Daemons etc…) but against others it’ll be murder.
No doubt, just better make sure the enemy isn’t also going first, in Drop Pods, or have servo skulls. A lot of things necessary to make sure that shooting phase goes well.
After watching the batrep with Thomas battle company I tried the 6 grav c and 2 grav c devastators variation. I must say I felt a little bad for my opponents. People don’t realize how devastating grav is until you begin to use it with the doctrines and the omni re rolls.
I actually had to pretend to forget to fire some of my units because it was so devastating. Once you scout those rhinos up the game is practically over whether you go first or second.
On top of that I had enough points to ad the flyer formation which at this point was pure overkill on top of overkill. Never heard so much crying in my life from players who constantly use cheese in their list. lol