40K Tactics: A Nonet of Obliterators
Do nine Obliterators Deepstriking sound like fun? Read along and consider how a nonet (your word of the day) of Obliterators can brighten your day.
Imagine if you would, a lonely Land Raider, sitting across the field. Its front end pointed slightly upwards thanks to the grassy hill it’s parked on, minding its business. Perhaps it’s waiting for someone. The sun shines brightly, almost too brightly, so it puts its visors down. There is a sort of serene feeling about it as it considers its own circumstances in life, wondering on about the coincidence of its existence in this perfect world. Then, suddenly, the sky is afire with the burning radiance of reality being pulled and twisted. Eddies of space and time widen and shrink almost simultaneously and with an explosion that splits the horizon the Eddies are gone. It’s as if they never even existed, leaving behind only the deafening sound of their emergence into the world and nine hulking giants of flesh and metal. Nine earth glassing blasts of molten munitions slam into the hull of the now desperate and confused Land Raider. Its body is scorched and melted, its crew now nothing but atoms and it has only a fleeting moment to shed a tear to the life it never got to live as it explodes into shrapnel. Nothing is left of the once serene moment but a crater and the laughter of Chaos.
Obliterators are unarguably one of the greatest units in the CSM codex. With a myriad of exiting weapon options and a Deepstriking method that negates fear of misshaping, it is no wonder that these fine examples of heresy make their way into many battles.
Traditionally we see three of them. I don’t often see exploration in larger numbers than that, thanks to the point cost. But there are those of us who at one time or another decided to try and max them out. That is nine Obliterators at a cost of about 33% of your army, if you are playing at least 2k. So, aside from it being fun to do, is it viable?
The cost is a bit staggering. But, I fancy myself an Iron Warrior type player. I like my Heavy Support slots maxed. That means usually two Defilers and a couple of Obliterators. I can be seen usually spending upwards of 500 points just on heavy dudes. In the communities that I frequent, I see similar point allocations. If your one of these people, keep in mind that the jump in points to nine Oblitz is not that much.
So if you decide to run all nine. You definitely need to consider how you will be deploying them. You can put them on the board en masse, which could yield some fruitful results as you las the pious pus out of some Space Marines vehicles. Or you could Deepstrike the whole lot. Which if you’re not taking an icon to help with that, then I must consider you a fool. Lastly you could divide your forces. Leave a squad in reserve for surprise attack. Your options are all good.
It might be prudent to try and balance your approach of attack with your, what is no longer balanced, army. Dedicating all the troops to Deepstrike leaves you many turns without that precious anti-tank support to clear away pesky tanks. On the opposite side of the spectrum, if you field them all at once you don’t give yourself fast reaction options. If your enemy zigged while they should have zagged you might regret not having one unit in reserve to drop in and save you.
Properly done, nine Obliterators could be a dastardly way of taking your opponent unaware. Take yourself a good selection of troops and a decent HQ or two and you have the makings of an army that can handle any army you face. Let’s consider how this could be used to fight some generic army builds.
Space Marines
Three Lascannons per tank will put that tank out of commission. I have yet to see a Space Marine force without rhinos so the faster you knock them over the faster you can kill what’s inside. Razorbacks are pretty annoying and threaten your MC and unprotected troops so why not blow them up first turn? Space Marines chapters don’t usually change too greatly in the way of vehicles, except for Blood Angles. If you are fighting them, make sure you get first turn and if not seek cover. Then knock those flying tanks out of the sky or kill those dreadnoughts.
Tau
Crisis Suits, Broadsides, Hammerheads; all these and more would be very afraid to see that many Obliterators. As with many situations, if you get first turn you are almost guaranteed to destroy something vital turn one.
Orks/Nids
You have access to twin-linked flamer templates and plasma cannons. Deepstrike with an icon and you will definitely scour the hordes from the table. Or if your Tyranid player DS a Trygon right on your troops, nine lascannons will do him in real quickly, or if you got the range, nine twin-linked meltaguns.
Eldar/Dark Eldar
These armies are radically different in terms of tanks but they both share the speed aspect. They are fast, in many games I struggle to catch up with them. But not with Oblitz. You can ground three vehicles a turn with them. And that 5+ invulnerable save that the Deldar get? Well that is usually meant to stop that one or two lascannons that most armies have. Well three at once, and a range of 48″, will bring it down.
Imperial Guardsmen
They got tanks; you got lascannons…nuff said.
Obliteraters are one of the most well rounded and versatile units CSM have. The choice of weapons and deployment options means that no matter what the enemy or the objective you can adapt. They have a 2+ save and a 5+ invulnerable with two wounds. Sure you can’t take a S8 hit, but you are sturdy enough to handle most things thrown at you. Close combat is not really your friend. They have power fists and a few attacks but that is not where you really want them. Against a tank your fine but not against a CC unit. Slow and Purposeful means that if you need to get to cover or move a bit you can still fire – a nice leg up compared to things like Havocs.
So next time you want try something different go and field nine of these bad boys. They won’t let you down. Just use cover to your advantage and pick your targets and deployment carefully. People know what they are and what they can do. Expect them to be the target of many angry players. Of course, while your enemies are wasting every last shot on them or trying to tie them up in assaults (you did remember to deploy them far apart right) go ahead and slap them silly with the rest of your army.
