Lion's Blade vs Gladius?

1198 Views 7 Replies 3 Participants Last post by MidnightSun, Sep 19, 2015

Xabre

Discussion Starter · Sep 14, 2015 (Edited)

This will probably cause a lot of flak, as I've seen it in other DA-centric groups, but I'm very curious.

For the most part, the Lion's Blade and the Gladius are identical FOR MEQ units, especially for the 'OMGFreeTransportHAXORS!' lists that are showing up everywhere.

Now, that's not the case once you actually want to design a creative list, with Deathwing Forces, or Conclaves, etc etc. However, when you consider that most of the Auxillaries are Formations, which means Battle Brothers all the live long day....

The Lion's Blade can technically run cheaper, because you only need one scout squad as the cheapest Auxiliary.

The Gladius needs three Scout squads for their alternative, however you can drop the Assault Squads in favor of something as simple as a single attack bike.

(Edit // Did the math: There's about 70 points in favor of Lion's Blade to run the bare-bones Demi Company).

However, if all you're doing is running the razorspam lists... is Lion's Blade truly the best choice? The 100 points? I feel like the Gladius is far better, with tactical doctrines being more flexible than the Overwatch bonus, not to mention ALSO getting an additional chapter tactic to go with it.

I'm curious other people's opinions. The DA players will just immediately say 'it doesn't matter if it's worse, I play Dark Angels, damnit!' And since I play Thousand Sons, I totally understand using a mediocre rules set. But at the same time... there's almost NO difference in the two lists...

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Xabre

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 14, 2015

ntaw said:
This is something that you do with a skill and attention to detail that constantly has me dumbfounded in all honesty.

Thank you? I'm always trying to find options that can make my army a bit more effective than what was already offered. I feel like Necrons can do a far superior job being Rubrics than Thousand sons can, even without access to psykers. And don't get me started on using Loyalist Marines.

I'll do whatever I can to play an army the way they SHOULD be represented. Now how GW forces them to underperform.

I suppose I can understand the die hard desire to run a single codex to the exclusion of trying to work it out better in other fashions. And I would totally get that *IF* these people were playing it in order to run, say, Deathwing. Ravenwing. Hell, even Centurions. But with the DA codex coming out, I think GW did the worst thing it could ever do:

Repeat the same army twice.

The Demi Company for DA and Vanilla are basically identical. So now the bonuses are the same too, and you KNOW you'll find people running it just for the Double-D (yeah, I said it) razor spam. Why bother? Play DA for what you want. A deviant chapter, NOT running the same boring stuff.

I'd rather see BA not get the demi, so they can have something uniquely suited to their strengths.

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Xabre

Discussion Starter · #5 · Sep 14, 2015

ntaw said:
With Formations you can cherry pick the best units from every army almost in the exact same way that an Unbound army works, and technically you can play an army of Formations as Unbound and they still get their special rules. What's the difference between an Unbound army and an army comprised entirely of Formations? Special rules.

...and people have problems with Unbound armies :wink: :laugh:

I'm pretty sure it says that an Unbound army does NOT get command benefits. which are the special rules on most Detachments.

Formations are another story, they don't offer command benefits, just other bonuses.

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Xabre

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 14, 2015

I'd probably either use Smurfs, or I'd go with Imperial Fists for the Bolter Drill. Considering the old 'Stubborn' feel, you could say that tactical flexibility is the opposite of you want. In that case, Bolter Drill.

Then, because it IS Dark Angels, I'd use Bikes or Attack Bikes in place of Assault Marines, Scout Bikes instead of the Scout requirements. That way at least I get a feel of Ravenwing in my super-formation full of free tanks. Or I'd bite the bullet and find enough points to run, say, 1st Company instead of 10th company. But if we have that much freedom, it's less of an issue.

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