Baiting with Deathleaper

[Deleted]

I just watched a Tyranids vs Space Marine batrep on youtube and saw a great tactic for Deathleaper. The SM army was a Drop Pod list that came in turn 1 and encircled the Tyranids with flamers and whatnot. The Tyranid player had Deathleaper come in on the farthest corner from anyone inside a ruin, and used him to ruin the librarian's day. When the Terminators DSd in next to the ruins to deal with Deathleaper, the Tyranid player made him vanish, effectively eliminating a Terminator Assault squad by stranding them several feet from all the action hahaha! I don't think that was the Tyranid players initial plan but it worked fantastically.

Using Deathleaper to intentionally bait units away from where you don't want them sounds like a fantastic tactic. When he comes into play, place him in cover and go to ground. When an enemy wastes a turn coming at him, poof. You don't necessarily have to kill a unit to neutralize it, as that 240 point TA squad found out stranded in a lonely corner. Not a tactic you want to use very often against the same people obviously but awesome none-the-less!

Video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtPTEx0t66Q&feature=related

[bigpig]

Its a valid tactic, though DL would really have to be a big threat to get your opponent to dedicate forces to it. After all, what can he do while hes over on the far side of the board by himself other than contest an objective and give somebody -d3 leadership. If this guy dedicated an entire termie assault squad just to take out DL hiding on the other end of the board, he either made a really poor tactical choice or really needed to get rid of the -d3. I could see it happening more often on a smaller scale, as in cause someone to move 6inches towards DL

[rpricew]

Also, Deathleaper get stealth and shrouding in this edition. That means +3 to his cover save.

4+ in open
3+ behind razor wire
2+ in jungle
2+ in ruins

No need to go to ground as this blocks your ability to remove and redeploy the Deathleaper.


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[Jabberwocky]

Just hope nothing flames him!

It's definitely a tactical option against certain opponents though. Remember he also reduces enemy movement through cover by 1d6; it's questionable whether that works against assault anymore but even if not, still good for slowing/stranding enemy units.

[Psychichobo]

It does seem a little weird that someone would dedicate a termie squad to deathleaper, but regardless if your opponent would be forced or feels like they'd be better off deploying a bit out of the way due to him then go for it.

I wouldn't ever stick him in the corner out of the way though just in case, unless you just need to stop the Libby's powers for a turn.

[rpricew]

Also be wary of getting near anything with Smash. That will spell certain doom for him.

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[Talonis]

You shouldnt be sending Deathleaper near any monstrous creatures anyway.. and if you do, make sure it is a Tervigon or carnifex. The low WS means they would need 5's to hit. Still... dont do it.

A lot of people forget his WS 9 and he can actually be a bit hard to hit with normal units.

As for deploying in corners, it is a viable tactic to keep him alive if you have no prime targets yet, or you are looking to keep him for Line breaker/ objective denial later.

[rpricew]

@ talonis: I agree with what you said. Deathleaper was trying to take out a unit of Hive Guard and a Tervigon with Warp Speed charged him through terrain. 5,5,6 on the roll and he rolled one 5 to hit followed by a 3 to destroy. I never saw it coming. LOL! On a side note, are you going to revisit the Lictors with the updated rules for 6th Edition after the Pyrovore?

[Talonis]

I had thought about the Lictors in 6th, but at this point from what I can see is they remain pretty much unaffected by the edition change. Saying that I have not used them yet in 6th, so I will need to test them out at some point.

[Jabberwocky]

If anything overwatched flamers and losing run + assault will have hurt them. DL gained enough to counter the nerfs on him though.

[gloomfang]

I don't know about baiting, but he is a great disruption unit. He is pretty reliable at killing light mech (rend on a 5 or 6). He is good at killing long range weapon teams (or at least making sure they can't fire). Also as a charater he can pick what model he hits on 6's. I take him all the time know and I will pop him out to kill a high value target (like a Farseer that has a small bodyguard) or long range weapon teams (Long Fangs) or tanks that I really want dead (Vidicators or Basalisks).

Baiting probably won't work well agaisnt most seasoned opponents as they know he can just vanish. They will be foreced to use a ton firepower to try to kill him though.

[Jabberwocky]

His rending bonus is only on 'to wound' rolls unfortunately. Mech is still a valid target though as most is rear armour 10 anyway.

[Deleted]

I thought Rending still gets a bonus d3 against armor when you rend?

[halos]

It does, but it doesn't count as AP2 (as it does on the Wound roll) so no +1 on the damage table.

[gloomfang]

Sept 10, 2012 14:30:45 GMT Jabberwocky said:

His rending bonus is only on 'to wound' rolls unfortunately. Mech is still a valid target though as most is rear armour 10 anyway.

When you roll your armor pen. you get to roll and extra D3 on a 5 or 6, not just a 6 like normal rending.

Unless you thought Rending didn't work on mech.

EDIT: It is still AP-, but it makes it much more likely to get a pen with your 2 attacks.