There is a lot of hate for these guys, and small, but dedicated number of players who supports them. Here is the breakdown:
-They are (supposedly) kitted out for melee but should never be used for it.
-While BS4 FW honour guard may SOUND good, it is a HUGE fire magnet.
-Their leadership re-roll (and the choice of not using it) is why people take them
-They make any unit they join fearless...a mixed blessing. If they are in a unit with carbines, they can assault after shooting, and (provided they are not assaulting a CC unit) they will probably not get wiped in YOUR assault phase, and they will stick around and die in your opponent's assault phase, meaning you can shoot away at your opponent in your ensuing shooting phase, and they are less likely to get wiped then if they wait to get assaulted (as the opponent gains no assault bonus).
-One useful strategy is "regicide" (discussed later)
-They make a 1/3 of your army run away when they die...not good.
-They give preferred enemy against your opponent when they die...not all that useful, but hey, might as well take it.
-They are fragile. Use ablative wounds.
-Potentially useful as an addition to a kroot kindred, making them even BETTER as a tarpit. Ideally, place them far in the back so that even in an assault, they will not take part, as they are too far back to participate.
Now regicide is a strategy in which anything that normally is forced to take a morale test at the death of an ethereal (Crisis suits, Stealth suits, Broadsides, Firewarriors, Pathfinders and Sniper teams) are either kept in reserve, or put into transports. While in a transport, they do not need to take a morale test at the death of an ethereal. Charge the ethereal solo into an enemy unit. Automatically pass your morale test, benefit from preferred enemy...like a boss.
EDIT: Regicide does not work that way anymore, but CAN still work with 6th edition. At 2000pts, you get a second FoC, meaning that you can take two ethereals, one to die and give your forces preferred enemy (which is actually helpful now, giving us BS 3.5) and the other to keep your army on the board when that happens.
The problem with Regicide is it specifies the unit has to take the test to gain the benefit. Models off the table or in a transport don't take the test, neither do vehicles.
ReplyDeleteSo if your entire army is in reserve or in transport, none of it gets to take the test and none of it gains the benefit.
End result, you just spent 50 points giving the enemy a free kill point.
I don't use Ethereals at this point, but if I did i think i would use them for a dual purpose.
1) To shore up the morale of a critical section of my fire base.
2) Give the enemy a focal point of action so I can lure them onto my guns and shoot the heck out of him.
Best thing is you can do both at the same time.
Exactly what Jefffar said. I read about this on 1d4chan, and was briefly excited, until I realized that it was ENTIRELY wrong. You only gain the benefit if your units actually take the test.
ReplyDeleteThe only way for this tactic to work would be to stick Commander Shadowsun in the middle of a giant clusterfuck of Tau, using her drone to give all your Tau Ld 10.
Unfortunately, by that point, you've lost access to two fifths of your potential Crisis Suits, lost any possible strategic advantage in deployment, spent a huge pile of points, and are currently waving a big sign that says "shoot me with templates".
Re-rolling ones to hit and to wound might almost make it worth it though...
Well there is a silver lining in 6th Ed.. Insead of units in Buildings and Transports not taking tests they now count as Fearless which means they take the test but automatically pass.
ReplyDeleteOf course Preferred Enemy only giving a reroll on the ones isn't such a big deal as hoped, but still, it is nice.
Also you can't get Crisis Suits into Transports or Buildings and can't get Broadsides into Transports.
Can't you? Wouldn't crisis suits be able to occupy buildings, taking up two space each? Either way, Ld8 and the jetpack fall back being reduced to 2D6" means it's not such a big deal.
DeleteA lot of people underestimate re-rolls to ones, it's not such a big difference for things like orks but with our BS3 army, it makes us BS3.5, making us mid-way between Space Marine and Guardsman accuracy.