Warhammer 40K Hot Mess – Deathstrike Missile Launcher
Let’s take a deep dive into a hot mess of a 40K unit and some thoughts in how we can fix them up. What is the point of the Deathstrike Missile Launcher?
I know – 2 Astra Miliatrum units in a row but man is the Deathstrike Missile Launcher more like a Deathdud Missile Launcher. What is this unit even supposed to do? Do you remember those old days of trying to count down until this giant missile launchers out, hits something in your deployment zone, and maybe deletes a unit? Didn’t this shoot some kind of D shot? Did it even do anything?
Deathstrike Basics
You have this giant tank with a huge missile trying to overcompensate for something. I am reading the data sheet now and it just makes no sense. It does 3d6 hits and every hit is a mortal wound to the target. Then every unit within 6″ gets d3 mortal wounds on a 4+. So a 12 inch circle of damage which feels very worthless. It also can only shoot when you take the turn it is on plus a d6 and if it equals 8 or more it can shoot. This means that you could never get a chance to shoot it too? How terrible is that?
Let’s Make Deathstrikes’ Scary
First of all – remove the whole can’t shoot unless you roll an 8+. Put in a caveat that you can’t shoot turn 1 and let them shoot starting turn 2. That way the enemy can always be scared the missile is going to go off and wreck the crap out of your army. This has to be able to fire almost when you want it too. Not giving you a chance to shoot it is terrible especially in this current environment of 40k and the sheer damage that can get dumped out.
Make the Deathstrike Missile Nuts
Look this missile doesn’t need to roll to hit. It just does damage as it lands where you want it too. Make it do a ton of guaranteed damage to the target and then splash around the tabletop throwing out flaming murder. Heck you could even let it shoot a different missile if it wants something that explodes above the target so it can spread out more mortal wounds around instead of just throwing all the damage into one target. If we keep the 3d6 damage option have it also do a flat 9 on top of that. Then as you create the epicenter of damage it does different levels of mortal wounds to units around it.
Make it Unique
So yes we probably don’t want to see 3 of these in an army so make it a single choice you can take. I don’t think it needs too expensive and GW should look at making more than Character units unique. This way you can have them show up, be awesome, but only be a singleton pick and thus not completely terrible to play against. I like the idea of limitations for armies as it makes it easier to build lists around and put together something that can be powerful.
Let’s be Scared of the BIG Missile Once Again
This thing should just be neat and awesome. It needs to do a lot of damage when it hits, scare the crap out of you, and still be fun to play against. Making it powerful is ok but just make it cool again. I remember an old friend would play with 3 and get so excited when he got to shoot it off causing all kinds of mayhem. Sure it didn’t work a lot of the time but when it did – it was glorious. Let’s make the Deathstrike Glorious once again.
Let us know how you would fix the unit, down in the comments!
