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Ok so I have just recently played 3 games against my freind who plays traitors. they were reletivaly small games but I was still faced with 2 Land Raiders in all of them. My army was Excellent against his infantry, but his Land Raiders casued me problems on all fronts.

I definatly did not want the problem happening again, so to avoid having the same problem again I looked at my army list and contemplated getting a Devestator Squad for the sole purpose of anti-tank.

Here I would like some discussion on why or why not take Devestators for anti-tank, and if anyone has any other problems to help with my dilemma that would be appreciated too!

Thanks all.

Devastator is good but to me the best setup is 4 missile launchers, which isn't gonna help much against 2 Land Raider.

For the same point, you might wanna try 4 multimeltas for the sole purpose of anti tank. Which could work if you play defensively with strong counterattackers.

But the reason why it is sometimes easier to just drop them from your list is the mobility factor and the pointcost. You can't move to shoot and they costed like hell.

But why Devastators? IMO, Attack Bikes and Speeders remains the best anti tank for SM. Cheap and easy to deliver.

IMO devastators are good at denying ground but not too hot at tank hunting due to the fact they are very static and lascannons are far too expensive. As LordAk said take attack bikes and speeders, or everyones favourite, multi melta dred in a pod.

Hi Top-Hat,

I personally love Devs. They provide the long-ranged support that my 'in your face' army really needs to secure victories.
Honestly though, for popping LR's, there are better and cheaper options than 4 Devs with Lascannons.

4 LasCannon Devs cost 230points - thats almost as much as a LandRaider which you could use to fire on both enemy LR's at the same time (PotMS anyone?) - potentially doubling the amount of damage that could be done in a single turn without the need for a further 80 points worth of marines in order to combat-squad the Dev's to achieve a similar output.

Instead, consider Melta weapons - specifically Combi-meltas and melta bombs. Melta weapons are the most certain way of cracking open a LR - the extra roll to penetrate is a real gift.

Here are some options -

1) Turn 1, drop pod a Tactical squad with Combi-Melta and Melta guns, combat-squad so that they can fire at separate targets (yes, this means someone goes with the heavy weapon - pref the combi-melta) and fire on both before they get to fire back and can go on to destroy infantry afterwards. - Costs 220points inc pod

2) 5 man scout squad with combi-melta and melta bombs, infiltrate, scout move, Game Starts, move, shoot, assault. Note - the Scout Move can take you up to 12inch from the enemy regardless of where you infiltrated to (typically 18inch from the enemy), bringing you just within range providing the enemy placed his LR on a flank or at the front of his deployment. Also, you can move, fire the melta shot from the combi-melta (as it counts as an assault weapon) and then assault with melta bombs, giving you 2 melta hits before the LR moves. This works best if you have first turn and the LR's are within 12 inch range, else you'll need to find some other way of getting them into CC with the LR, such as outflank. - Costs 90 points

3) 3 Scout Biker squad with Combi-Melta and Melta Bombs. Same deal as the 5 scouts, only this time you have an effective range of 18inch - thats a bloody long way. Again, you really need first turn for these lads to work their magic - Costs 85 points!

4) 5 Sternguard with Combi-Meltas in a drop-pod. If you really want to pop a LR, 5 melta shots will do it but you'll be left with the other LR to deal with afterwards. Bring in on the first turn for an almost guaranteed kill and then leave them to rapid-fire everything else with special ammo. - Costs 185 inc pod

4) 5 Sternguard with two Lascannons. Leave them defending an objective at home and shoot the LR's from a safe distance all through the game. Lascannons for Sternguard cost less than half that for Devs. Why? No idea, perhaps because you're paying so much more for the Sternguard Marines, but that reduction in cost really increases their versatility - a great little unit against MEQ's and HQ's too (6 rapid firing hellfire rounds + 2 las cannon shots will mince most single models) - costs 155points

5) 2 LandSpeeders with Twin-Multi-Meltas. Thats right, each Speeder packs 2 Multi-Meltas, giving you two shots per LandSpeeder. Naturally keep them as separate units, deploy and advance at full speed to the enemy then after a 12inch move, fire your first shot and continue to burn holes in the LR's until you're satisfied. On a 4foot wide board, you can fire your first shot on turn 2, and fire two shots the next turn - you're bound to have killed at least one by turn 3! - Costs 160points

6) 3 Marine Bikes with Combi-Melta, Two Melta guns and Melta bombs, plus Attack Bike with Multi-Melta. Its pure anti-tank moving 12inch per turn giving you an effective 4 meta shots on turn 3 at the latest, followed by a further 4 shots and a melta-bomb for good measure the next turn. I'm pretty certain that will pop at least one LR on a single game, and my money would be on both LR's being dead by turn 4 with some good planning. - Costs 175points

7) Take your own LandRaider - Sure, its 250points of pure power, but if you've found the points for 4 las devs, why not take your own LR instead? =)

I hope some of these ideas inspire you to use more than just brute strength in your attempts to take down these LR's!

Good Luck

CR

I personaly dislike Devs (don't hit me CR)

Please, don't buy devastators.
Buy you a couple of Typhoons instead if you want 4 missiles launchers.
Their problem : shoot or move. What more can I say ?
Compare that to the 12' move and shoot from Typhoon...
Just use 48' Range, Distraction with other units, and Reserve rules to avoid incoming fire.

For heavier armor like AV13, 14,
Attack bikes and speeder all the way, as said before.

You can put Multimelta on dreadnoughts, but I would advice not to put them in pod.
They can destroy light tanks at range while moving in front for half melta havoc.

Recent experience show me first turn podded Dread die too fast to melta fire.
And 150 point is too much when you just missed your roll to fire your own,
and then die to 3-4 MM shots...

If you still want solid stuff to destroy two LR at turn one,
take 2 sternguards squad with each 4 combi-melta in drop pods.
It's suicide squad, but you trade 180 pts versus 260, and also make a huge tactic hole in his army.
It's different from the dread because you get near garanted result, so you get back the points.

Often, the lost of their LRs will be fatal to their army.
You also force your opponent to deal with those sternguards after,
which can be a good distraction from your troops.

Don't forget to put a MM on your own LR, if you have one.
Also think about putting MM in all 10 men tactical squads.
It's one of the best weapon available.

Have fun !

The guys are totally right. The only occasion in which devastators are better, though very expensive, is with 4 LCs to take out a Monolith (if it can't be ignored) since meltas go only for glancing (AP 1 though). But in this case an Ironclad Dreadnought with seismic hammer is a far better option, if it reaches that close.

4 missile launcher devs do great against Orks and some Guard builds (pop transports with krak and troops with frag). Any other combo just isnt worth the points. And even with Missle devs typhoons are probably a better option, or in addition to.

CR covered some of the major options, all good stuff. You want as much melta as cheap as possible. fast moving melta is the safest option here as you can get it where its needed. So a couple of attack bikes hiding behind rhinos is the winner. They can move fast, have 2 wounds and T5 and are small enough to use cover well. And you can have squads. Win-win!

Or Sternguard with melta in rhinos (2 meltaguns and 3 combi meltas will ruin anyones day) then pop the hatch and fire from safety.

I like to combine my 4 missle devs with a typhoon to put long range hurt on horde armies, thats the best use I have found for them so far.

Happy hunting.

CR, this remind me the scout trick n°2 doesn't work.

I mean, by the rules, it's not possible to have a meltagun shot using the melta rule
at turn one, using a scout squad (bikers is ok, though).

Thats because you must keep your scout move MORE than 12' away for the enemy.
So that means a minimal 12,1, for example.
Therefore you cannot be in 6' range after moving 6'.

Better know this, if someone try to do that to you, refuse it !

But you can still be in assault range due to fleet with Shrike,
so 4 krak grenade + one melta bomb with automatic hit is still very good
vs AV10 rear armor !

I'm getting the vibe of: bottom line - Meltas.

Thanks for your help guys, I just played a game with him (he wasn't using his LR's but 2 Rhinos) and the suggestion of a Dreadnought with Multi-Melta in a drop pod worked a sinch. I'll definatly be looking to incorperate that more into my senior army.

Food for thought, good stuff!

wow, i come back from vacation and all i see is


MM attack bikes, sternguard in drop pods with combi-meltas,

my work here is done

i think the only thing more i can say, is that if you drop pod a dread, you need to pod in 2.

Indeed, you're right in the most part. The rules do state "more than 12inch away from the enemy", but 0.1inch is easy to miss, and any player who measures your moves or argues over anything less than 1/4 inch is too picky and takes the game too seriously.


W.R. Earthen, brother we're all well educated in your melta-loving ways! =)



CR

Hmm, I guess that rule was written to prevent inflitrators to assault at turn one.
So that 0.1 is actually pretty important.

It's because of this you have to take shrike to assault with the scouts.

I'm not a rules fanboy, but I can't see this melta shot working as the rules are written.

Another RG style way to deal with vehicles is to equip a Assault/Tactical sergant with melta bombs. only 5 pts and if you drop pod the tactical squad you can get close and take down the LR fast.