Monday 20 December 2010

Playtesting 101



Well after seeking some advice from Kirby and the idea of dropping a couple of Grey Hunters and a Rune priest for 2 Razorbacks with Lascannons and twin linked plasma guns for the Long Fangs seems quite obvious now (Yay for hindsight!)

So this means some play testing. Now play testing should be a piece of piss for me, as those of you who know me should know that I use to be a computer games tester for Free Radical Design before they went bust. I did not work on this. Honest. No sirree George.

 
Anywayyyyyyyyyyy...................... 

while at work today during a quite period I started to write down to pros and cons of each group:

1 Rune Priest + 3 Grey hunters vs 2 Las-plas-backs (Lascannons, TL Plasma gun Razorback).


So the Pros for a Rune Priest and 3 Grey Hunters are:

Pros:
  • Psychic Defence
  • 2 Psychic Powers (living Lightning + X) 
  • Runic Weapon
  • +3 Scoring Bodies
  •  Need 3/4 Shots/hits to kill off
  • Flexible - can shoot stuff and assault stuff
 Cons:
  • Vulnerable to small arms (lasguns, bolters etc)
  • Can fail important leadership test
  • Grey Hunters only have standard kit
  • Rune Priest can be shut down by enemy psykers

And for 2 Razorbacks:

Pros:
  • Has an armour value so is pretty much immune to small arms fire
  • Can move and fire a heavy weapon
  • Lascannon and TL Plasma guns gives me much needed Long Range Ap2 fire
  • Can't be locked in assault
  • Can tank shock and ram
  • Is a spare transport for other grey hunter units if their Rhinos get wrecked
  • Can get my Long Fangs into good spots in Dawn of War set ups
  • Have a 1/3 chance of being destroyed thanks to the damage chart (1/2 vs melta/Ap1)
  • Can insta kill MEQ characters.

Cons:
  • Can be killed in one lucky shot
  • Low armour value
  • Hard to give a cover save to
  • I have no experience in using them! (note to self: this is what play testing is for dip shit)
  • Must be stationary to fire at full effect
At the moment it seems like a decisive victory for the Razorbacks so far, but we have to consider the rest of the army these units are working with:

2 More Rune Priests, 2 Full unit of Grey Hunters with melta and Rhinos, 2 small units of Grey hunters with Rhinos and wolf guard, 2 units of Wolf Scouts with melta guns, and combi melta Wolf Guard, 2 Units of Long Fangs with Missile Launchers, 3 Land Speeders with Multi Meltas and Heavy Flamers.

So 2 Rune Priests offer up a lot of psychic pandemonium already a 3rd is more fun but it would mean 2 in a rhino and reducing that Rhino's Grey Hunters to mere passengers as the Priests "psych out" of the hatch.

I can't see 3 more scoring bodies going that much further, granted I bet there will be times where I rue not having them there but being in the right place at the right time is more important.

2 more vehicles to join a mass of rhinos and land speeders will/should/could help dilute enemy anti-tank fire - this has certainly been the case with my Imperial Guard in the past.

The added Lascannons can take some of the Anti Tank/monstrous creature weight off my poor long fangs and they are mobile too. Then add in the Twin linked plasma guns for when they hit 24" range and rapid fire at 12" then it looks good. Also they add so much needed AP2 fire power out side the 12"/24" my melta weapons.

So I will definitely get 2 Razorbacks and play test around with them and see what works and dose not work, so a slightly reworked list will look something like this:



HQ (210)
Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane, Chooser of the Slain = 110
Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Jaws of the World Wolf = 100
Elites (292)
5 Wolf Scouts, Melta Gun =80
5 Wolf Scouts, Melta Gun =80
4 Wolf Guard (2x Power fist, 4 Combi Meltas) = 132
Troops (655)
10 Grey hunters, 2 Melta Guns, Wolf Banner, Mark of the Wulfen = 180
Rhino = 35
10 Grey hunters, 2 Melta Guns, Wolf Banner, Mark of the Wulfen = 180
Rhino = 35
5 Grey Hunters, 1 Melta Gun, = 80
Rhino = 35
5 Grey Hunters, 1 Flamer = 75
Rhino = 35
Fast Attack (210)
Land Speeder Tornado, Multi Melta, Heavy flamer = 70
Land Speeder Tornado, Multi Melta, Heavy flamer = 70
Land Speeder Tornado, Multi Melta, Heavy flamer = 70
Heavy Support (380)
5 Long Fangs, 4 Missile Launchers = 115
Razorback, Lascannon, Twin Linked Plasma Gun = 75
5 Long Fangs, 4 Missile Launchers = 115
Razorback, Lascannon, Twin Linked Plasma Gun = 75

1747

Till next time folks!!!!!!!!!!!!

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