To build a Hard Boys list.


I have been working furiously the last couple of weeks putting together a list for Hard Boys. This is the first time I will be entering the tournament and want to at least not get my ass kicked. First off, the place I will be attending mistakenly announced the wrong missions. They held a tournament a month ago, in which they used the missions they were intending to use for Hard Boys, but failed to realize that GW publishes and announces their own HB missions. The correction was announced a few days ago. So I had been putting together my list to win those missions, and now have to rethink the entire thing.

Looking at the actual HB missions, one glaring truth jumps out. Claiming objectives will be key, not just contesting. One of the missions requires you to claim a substantial amount of objectives more than your opponent in order to get the massacre. That means troops. GW wants troops in HB.

To that end, I am happy to oblige! Enter my Hard Boys 2010 Bowling Ball of Doom.

Reclusiarch
Librarian, Terminator armor, storm shield, blood lance, Str 10 power

Assault Termies 4x th/ss 1x LC
Land Raider Crusader, mm, ea

Priests x2, power weapon, terminator armor with pw.

Furioso dread with blood claws, ea

5x RAS in Razors with 2x asscan, 1x HF, 1 las/plas, 1 TLLC and a smattering of squad upgrades

2 baal preds 1x asscan, 1x flamestorm

3 predator tanks, all with AC and LC sponsons

No major surprise here! Plus it is pretty much standard for a new BA HB list. The place I am going to pretty much knows I am packing las preds, baals, a Land Raider of death and razor squads. The LRC with termies and independent characters are the bowling ball. Straight forward, easy to use and devastating.

The rest of the list though will require a bit of finesse to use properly. The 12" move and shoot will be in full effect. My list as written before only had 3 troops squads in it and was packing a lot more punch. But I have to say that this one has just as much pain!

Strategy?

Keep the objectives clustered:
If I can get them all in the same spot of the table, so that I can roll my LRC right into the middle of them and clear them off with the death squad, then my boys can move in with the razors and hold them.

Shoot shoot shoot!:
I am packing a LOT of fire power. The first turn in all three games will be necessary, especially vs Guard. I need to get the jump on any Valkrys and crack open chimeras before they get to move, stranding their contents on the other side of the table. Provided that I have first turn, and don't get seized, I can lay down a completely punishing amount of death on turn one, then follow it up with overpowering assault.

Put them to the sword:
After I soften him up with heavy weapons fire, I have to slam my land raider and terminators down his throat. But this is a delicate game of timing. Move the LRC up too far and it is exposed to his melta shots and gets popped. Wait too long and it is 800 points of waste. I absolutely must get them into assault by top of turn 3 every turn. Top of 2 is better.

Target Priority:
Of course Valkries, IG tanks and other things that can hurt my tanks die first. Squadrons are better, that way a single tank can hurt multiple targets. So I will take down any squadroned units first. A single predator can get 4 penetrations vs a squad of valkries, killing them all. Speeders and bikes go next of course. Etc.

Divide and Destroy:
Most armies will be massive. Mine is fairly big itself. That means they will usually span the entire deployment zone. Keeping my army clustered on one end can eliminate half of his army for the first couple of turns, while I destroy the other half.

Reserve them all:
Lost the die roll? Full reserves. I have a huge advantage in that I can drive in from the table edge, and fire all my guns. With my driving range, I can also move far enough to get my short ranged weapons into range to hurt. With my speed I can still cross the table and get into assault range quickly. Full Reserves is not absolute though. It depends on the enemy. IG Leaf Blower lists require it. They will blast me off the table if I let them get a round of shooting off before I get mine. The rest it depends. Not a lot of other armies can pack so devastating an amount of heavy weapons. Plus there is always the chance that I can seize!

Thats it. I know most Hard boys players are keeping their lists close to the cuff. But why bother. I pretty much know exactly what I will be facing, and they all know just about the entire contents of my list. I might as well post it up to help you guys out and maybe get some input. Besides, how do you know this is not just misinformation and I am actually playing an all jump pack army...

Check out more of my list ideas HERE.

:)

More to come...

Jawaballs

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

That sounds awesome.

Taylor said...

Hey... I play something similar.. Are you putting two priests in the crusader? I would put one priest in power armour and drop in one of the RAS to maybe give some FNP love. Then with TDA off of the one priest move it to the Reclusiarch and toss him in with the termies... This will be my first 40K boyz tourney too. good luck..

Jawaballs said...

I have the reclusiarch, termy priest and termy libby in the LRC. The power armor priest is going in a razor with an asscan on it. One of the big questions is do I go with the termy armor on the libby to make him livable, or a third priest.

Taylor said...

Ohh that is a tough one. need that libby to survive, but with the amount of firepower I expect to see from most lists there is a good chance your marines are walking and a second FNP bubble would be good. I lean towards the second priest as your termies with FC should kill most things.

Unknown said...

if you move the land raider 12 and then drop the assault ramp to unload the unit of death u can't fire on a turn in which you do so right? u just get the 2 inches to the back of the base then 6 inch assault? the reason i ask is if this is the case maybe shield of sanguinus is better than blood lance. since you can't shoot, 5+ cover could be huge, especially if the bubble is measured from a land raider. also maybe trade the S10 thing for unleash rage and you can drop the reclusiarch and add a 3rd priest and another termi. just kinda throwin stuff out there.....

Unknown said...

IMHO I would switch up the termies to having 3LC and 2 TH/SS reason being they would kill more on the way in the the TH/SS can bat clean up not to mention wound allocation and being able to survive the first round of combat

Kinks said...

Steve, first off, yes he can fire. The only thing he can't do is move any farther after disembarking.

Secondly, why would he want a +5 cover save when he can take his +3 invulnerable from the SS?

Finally, there are two reasons to not trade the Reclusiarch out. #1 is the availability of Psychic Hoods, mixed with the face you might perils, means that the turn you really need the re-rolls, you might not get them. You might say, "but what about on the second turn of combat?" to which I would reason that anything that a 5 Termie, 3 Independent Char squad can't kill with re-rolls on the charge, it is not killing on turn two.

#2 and infinitely more importantly, the squad loses fearless. Which means it can get Psyker Battle Squadded off the table.

Jawaballs said...

Kinks answered all the points. I was wondering if I went overboard with the squad though. Do I really need that much power? Also, I was considering leaving the librarian in power armor, and unattaching him before the assault. That way he can get in and sweeping advance. But seriously, any squad that survives 15 Initiave 5 and 6 PW attacks with rerolls, 4 of them rerolling wounds, then survives 12 hammer attacks... deserves to get away! Do I really need to sweeping advance? Switching out the shields is a no. I want those 4 shields in there to take Lascannon shots. I just don't need the claws with so many IC attacks.

Dropping the close combat attack is an option. I have decided I love the blood lance. When I remember to use it that is. I wiped out two valkries with it today. But I have room to play with the close combat power. Since I can use one on each player turn, one has to be a CC power and the other a shooting, that way I can enact the CC attack on his assault turn. But which one? The reroll attacks is still nice, lets me get the preferred enemy on his turn and mine, if he survives my charge. I don't really need the str 10 one. So I think Preferred Enemy is the way to go. Thanks for the input all!

Killswitch said...

It is certainly over the top int erms of power. When you face spam armies which contain lots of little units, which will happen, your big 800pt unit will be stuck killing 100pyt units a turn, only to get shot up the next. Then things such as the swarm lord etc can tear assunder your big unit. I personnaly never spend more than 500pts on a 'death starunit as it only works in half of the games yuou tend to play in tournies, especially big ones like the ard boys. I also personally prefer death co in a raider. By dropping the priest and the termies gives you 305pts (I think). Thats 12 death company, 2 wiht power fists, 1 with a power weapon. Stick a reclusiarch and they are re rolling to hit & wound. Who needs a 2+/3++ when you have double the bodies. Sure they have3 rage, but your first charge will most likely be the most important. There after, they can be let loose. Let them kill anything & everythiong. With p.fists and re rolls, anything they charge will die, giving you a killpoint!

Unknown said...

haha, very good kinks. i wish i could always think of all these things. i didn't even think of fearless. i was gonna run the unit i was talking about but with these points i believe i will add the reclusiarch to my list as well.

Jawaballs said...

I learned first hand last night the importance of the chaplain. Fearless is key. I will consider the Death Company. I am running out of time!

Nikkin said...

if you find 20 points somewhere upgrade a SP in terminator into Corbulo

Jawaballs said...

I already added corbs, but I dropped the dread instead. He was just underwhelming. With just 3 or 4 attacks, sooner rather then later he will miss. Against lowly guardsmen I only managed to string along 4 or 5 kills in a row with him, and that was against a throwaway squad whos job was to scout move, disembark, and charge my land raider with meltabombs. In other words, those 10 vets earned way more then their points by tieing up my dread for two turns. Once freed of the vets, my opponent just waited until he had to kill the dread, then did.

In a hard boys game, a single dread, running up behind a land raider or not, is a waste of points.

I added a corbs as a third priest instead, and spent the rest of the points on upgrades.

Now the question is, do I find the points to add a Daemonhunters inquisitor elite choice in there with Null Rod and Emperors Terot...

Jawaballs said...

I need to update this list. I will work on it today.

Tacticalwithdrawal said...

Are you allowed allies? Because then an inquisitor becomes interesting especially as they give you access to assassins

Jawaballs said...

Sure allies are allowed... but Im not sure if an assassin is worth taking. The goofy little tricks they give are not so good compared to some of the new powers, like what a Librarian can give.

Tacticalwithdrawal said...

I like two of them-

vindicare let's you target specific individuals at 36" range (so all of a sudden IG psykers are very vulnerable ......)

callidus is even more fun
- the 'move an enemy unit 6" after deploment is fun
- but she comes on from reserve and can be placed ANYWHERE on the battlefield and can move and fight the turn she arrives

both can add a definate edge to BA

40K + T&A said...

Mephisiton

Librarian Epist. (sag sword, unleash rage)
Sang priest (PW) cup
X5 Honor guard (x3 st shld, hammer, chapter banner fearless)
Land-raider, multimelta

Jump Chappy
Jump Sang priest(PW) cup
X10 Jump Ass. Troops (x2 melta, TH, SS)

Jump Chappy
Jump Sang priest(PW) cup
X10 Jump Ass. Troops (x2 melta, TH, SS)

X5 ass Troops, no packs, PW/St Shield, Twin linked laz razorback
X5 ass Troops, no packs, PW/St Shield, Twin linked laz razorback
X5 ass Troops, no packs, PW/St Shield, Twin linked laz razorback


So gonna have a buncha furious charging, liturgied, feel no pain, preferred enemy deep striking killers with a lot of fastmoving las cannons and troops to capture objectives. Two psychic hoods,, and meph the vampire jesus.

40K + T&A said...

Actually might be even better to drop vampire Jesus and add Astoroth, dump a chaplain and a sang priest and add Corbolo...

LeonDawson11 said...

Just something I've noticed, people keep equiping there SP's with just one weapon upgrade. I think this is because they think the Blood Chalice takes up one weapon slot by them holding onto it. This is not so, the Blood Chalice is just something the SP is assumed to have on him however he carries it. You could easily have a SP with PW/Infernus pistol for example and still get the benefits of the Blood Chalice.

40K + T&A said...

here's my final list for tomorrow:


HQ:
Jump Epistol. Librarian (Sword/Unleash) Storm bolter, in Honor Guard

Jump Epistol. Librarian (Sword/Fear) Storm bolter, in Honor Guard


ELITE:
Jump Chaplain (with Assault Squad 1)
Jump Chaplain (with Assault Squad 2)

Jump Sang Priest (with Assault Squad 1) Lgt Claw
Jump Sang Priest (with Assault Squad 2) Lgt Claw

Honor guard, Jump Packs:
Novi
Lgt Claw, St Shld
Lgt Claw, St Shld, Chapt. Banner
Lgt Claw, St Shld, melta Bombs
Power Fist

Troops
x10 Assault Marines (x2 Melta gun, PF sgt)
x10 Assault Marines (x2 Melta gun, PF sgt)

x5 Assault Marines (No packs), Melta gun, Lgt Claw)
Las-Plas Razorback

x5 Assault Marines (No packs), Melta gun, Lgt Claw)
Las-Plas Razorback

x5 Assault Marines (No packs), Melta gun, Lgt Claw)
Las-Plas Razorback

Vindicator w/Plow, hunter-Killer
Vindicator w/Plow, hunter-Killer

Dameon Green said...

Jawaballs,

As I am unable to find another way to contact you I shall post here... Found your TAC @ media during 'Ard Boyz cleanup.... post on my blog for a follow up and if you want it mailed back to you=-)

-Dameon

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