RE: [Epic] deathstrikes

From: Miller, Chris <CMiller_at_...>
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 13:57:00 -0500

>
>I wouldn't remove the deathstrike after firing - wait until someone
>destroys it. ;-)
>
>> (also, however worried you are about vortex missiles in this
>> version, I reallydon't think they're as devastating as the barrage
>> missiles
>> in SM/TL. Bad, but not that bad...)
>
>I don't know what they were like in SM/TL, but something that does d6
>kill on a 2+ hits to anything beneath a barrage template definitely
>worries me. I don't find it to be as effective against shielded titans
>unless you can be patient (and not get counter-barraged, assaulted,
>etc. before you fire). But against vehicles and infantry in the
>inevitable bottlenecks, it can be absolutely devastating. My personal
>opinion is that it should be kind of like a distortion cannon - roll
>equal to/over the speed/5cm of each unit under the template. If you
>get it, then it takes the d6 death ray hits.
>
>Regards,
>
>- Erik
>
-----> In SM/TL a vortex was unpleasant as it destroyed anything under
the template, and it stuck around from turn to turn, and could move.
Most
unpleasant if you had a whole lotta troops in a small area. There was a
table you rolled on to see what happened, and it would disappear
 or later. A Barrage missile placed the initial blast marker, then
rolled a
d6 to see how many ADDITIONAL blast markers to place, and each
marker had to touch another, but couldn't overlap, so you could shape
the total area as a line, a cluster, whatever. Things under the marker
were hit on either a 4+ or 3+ (don't remember) and had some kind of
 armor save mod (-2?). I have wiped out entire ork clans (20+stands)
 with one or two of these things. Chaos wasn't real happy about 'em
 either.
        A unit of 3 deathstirkes(that's how they came) in SM/TL was
often considered cheese just on general principles. It was theoretically
possible to shoot the missile down,but I saw this happpen only once, as
usually you could just wait til the end of First Fire, and the other guy
would have no chance to blast 'em. You couldn't take vortexes on them,
(only titans) and there were other types available which I didn't
usually
fool around with (like the one that let you take control of an enemy
titan
given a series of lucky rolls) but they were greatly feared. As odd as
it
may seem to the E40K guys, I think they're toned down from what they
were. Still unpleasant, but not a win-the-game-in-one-turn type thing
anymore.

        Additional artillery note: Basilisks (artillery in E40K) could fire
twice per turn. Bombards (siege artillery) fired once per turn. An IG
arty company could crank out 15 barrage markers per turn. Follow that
up with a deathstrike or two, and you can see the devastation. The only
race that even came close to this was the squats.

Chris Miller
>
Received on Thu Jul 24 1997 - 18:57:00 UTC