Mathshammer Week - Part 4 - Guardsmen 'Blob' Squads.

Well apparently 'Mathshammer Week' didn't have nearly as much Mathshammer in it as I thought it was going to as I got distracted by a large pile of Imperial Guardsmen.

I'm sure you're all terribly disappointed.

So to make it up to you all...Mathshammer.....Featuring Imperial Guardsmen.....

Sometimes I'm just too good to you all...

I've decided to go with the 'Blob' of Imperial Guardsmen as the bit of my army that moves forward. It's going to be set up like this,

9 Infantry Squad (Vox Caster; Meltagun x1; Commissar)

1 Commissar (Power Weapon)

1 Sergeant (Melta Bombs; Power Weapon)

9 Infantry Squad (Meltagun x1)

1 Sergeant (Melta Bombs; Power Weapon)

9 Infantry Squad (Meltagun x1)

1 Sergeant (Melta Bombs; Power Weapon)

: Ministorum Priest (1#)

1 Ministorum Priest (Eviscerator)

So that gives me,

23 Standard Guardsmen,

3 Guardsmen with Meltaguns,

1 Guardsmen with a Voxcaster,

3 Sergeants with Power Weapon and Meltabombs,

1 Commissar with Power Weapon,

1 Priest with Eviscerator.

Creed is going to be hiding at the back ready to yell 'For the Honour of Cadia!'* and make those units Fearless and give them Furious Charge.

* Since my Guardsmen are meant to be renegade cannon fodder for my renegade Space Marines who have (as far as I'm aware) never actually been to Cadia I'm not sure why they care so much about it. Maybe they just like the way it sounds...

A Brief Interlude.

It has been suggested to me that I should take Straken instead of Creed. The reasons why I believe Creed will work better for me are listed below,

1) 24" range for orders means I can give 2 'blob' units in opposite directions from one another 'Furious Charge' whereas units need to be within 12" of Straken to get the same effect.

2) I also need Creeds remaining 2 orders to help make my Heavy Weapons twin-linked using orders. Straken will be too far away from my Weapon Teams to use those same orders very early on if he's supporting the 'blob'. Creed can help both, Straken helps one or the other.

3) I have a Creed model, I don't have a Straken one ;-)

Back to the original ramble then...

The Priest also gives the unit re rolls to hit on a turn they charge so that's pretty cool too. He has an Eviscerator to help up the number of armour ignoring attacks the unit generates and also as an extra safeguard if I end up in combat with a Dreadnought of some description.

The Sergeants all have Power Weapons so that's 3 armour ignoring attacks each which isn't bad for a Guardsmen. Their Meltabombs are another anti-Dreadnought precaution though they obviously work against any vehicle (The Priests 're-rolls to hit after charging' ability is a big help here).

Guardsmen with Meltaguns aren't particularly reliable at BS3 but I need some ranged anti-tank and they'll just have to do. One guy gets a Vox to help increase the likely-hood of Creeds order going off by quite a lot (Ld 8 with a re-roll gives pretty good odds).

The Commissar adds a 4th (well 5th if you count the Priests Eviscerator) Power Weapon but more importantly makes the unit Stubborn with a re-roll (unfortunately that re-roll results in a dead Sergeant but that's better than a dead squad).

So well be using our 'Default' testing enemy the Space Marine Tactical Squad and presuming that both the Guard and the Marines are at full strength when the fight begins. We'll start with worse case for the Guardsmen and gradually weight the odds in their favour as we go. At the end we'll have a look at their shooting a bit as well.

Guardsmen Charged.

Round 1.

Marines go first,

21 attacks, 14 hit, 9.33 wounds, 6.22 dead Guardsmen after 5+ saves.

Remaining Guardsmen have a go,

21 normal attacks, 10.5 hit, 3.5 wound, 1.17 dead Marines after 3+ saves.

12 Power Weapon attacks, 6 hit, 2 wound and kill, 2 more dead Marines.

2 Eviscerator attacks, 1 Hits. 0.83 wound and kill, 0.83 dead Marines.

4 dead Marines in total. we lose combat by 2 which is pretty much irrelevant as the Commissar makes us Stubborn at his Leadership of 9. That gives us an 83.33% chance of passing.

Round 2.

Marines go first,

7 attacks, 4.67 hit, 3.11 wounds, 2.07 dead Guardsmen after 5+ saves.

Remaining Guardsmen have a go,

19 normal attacks, 9.5 hit, 3.17 wound, 1.06 dead Marines after 3+ saves.

12 Power Weapon attacks, 6 hit, 2 wound and kill, 2 more dead Marines.

2 Eviscerator attacks, 1 Hits. 0.83 wound and kill, 0.83 dead Marines.

4 dead Marines in total. We win combat by 2 and if the Marines don't get away we'll kill them next turn (in their Assault phase incidentally, leaving us free to stroll off and annoy something else next turn).

The same scenario against a 30 man Ork unit with the obligatory 'Nob' with Power Klaw would have resulted in the Guardsmen Squad killing 6 or 7 Orks and losing 28 or 29 guys in return in the first round of combat...

Lets give the Guardsmen the charge vs. the Marines this time but without Creed helping out just yet.

Guardsmen Charging.

The Priest will therefore be giving them re-rolls to hit...

Round 1.

Marines go first,

11 attacks, 7.33 hit, 4.89 wounds, 3.26 dead Guardsmen after 5+ saves.

Remaining Guardsmen have a go,

48 normal attacks, 36 hit (with re-rolls), 12 wound, 4 dead Marines after 3+ saves.

16 Power Weapon attacks, 12 hit (with re-rolls), 4 wound and kill, 4 more dead Marines.

3 Eviscerator attacks, 2.25 hit (with re-rolls), 1.88 wound and kill, 1.88 dead Marines.

Nearly 10 dead Marines in total. Even rounding down we win combat by 9 so the Marines are testing for Morale needing double 1 to stay giving them only a 2.778% chance of passing.

If the Marines escape we can most likely consolidate into a position that will allow us to make them run again. Either way the Marines (sorry, Marine) are (I mean is) Fucked...

Again, running the same scenario against a 30 man Ork unit with the obligatory 'Nob' with Power Klaw would have resulted in the Guardsmen Squad killing 11 Orks and losing 12 guys in return. Not as bad but still quite bad...

This time Creed will give them Furious Charge as well.

As were pretty much certain that Marine Squad is doomed and the Guardsmen are getting a bit cocky now we'll give them a bit more of a challenge soon.

But first let's make sure of those Marines...

Guardsmen Charging with 'For the Honour of Cadia!'

First we'll have a go at those poor Marines again, just to be sure ;-)

Round 1.

Marines go at the same Initiative as us this time so we get all our attacks back regardless of what the Marines kill,

11 attacks, 7.33 hit, 4.89 wounds, 3.26 dead Guardsmen after 5+ saves.

Remaining Guardsmen have a go,

54 normal attacks, 40.5 hit (with re-rolls), 20.5 wound, 6.83 dead Marines after 3+ saves.

16 Power Weapon attacks, 12 hit (with re-rolls), 6 wound and kill, 6 more dead Marines.

3 Eviscerator attacks, 2.25 hit (with re-rolls), 1.88 wound and kill, 1.88 dead Marines.

Yep, their dead.

Again, running the same scenario against a 30 man Ork unit with the obligatory 'Nob' with Power Klaw would have resulted in the Guardsmen Squad killing 25 Orks and losing 2 guys in return. Which isn't bad for a bunch of puny 'oomans ;-)

So now we need a real test. Who or what to choose?

Lets pick every-bodies favourite under-pointed assault unit the Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield armed Assault Terminator.

5 seems to be the common quantity so we'll have a go against them using all the advantages we have...

What do you mean that's not a good enough test?

Okay we'll put Lysander with them as well...Happy now???

Guardsmen Charging Assault Terminators + Lysander.

Well at least we're going first.

Round 1.

Guardsmen first,

54 normal attacks, 40.5 hit (with re-rolls), 20.5 wound, 3.42 dead Terminators after 2+ saves.

16 Power Weapon attacks, 12 hit (with re-rolls), 6 wound, 2 more dead Terminators after 3+ inv..

3 Eviscerator attacks, 2.25 hit (with re-rolls), 1.88 wound, 0.63 dead Terminators.

so that's 6.05 wounds worth of Assault Terminators deceased.

So the units dead and Lysanders lost a wound.

I suppose we best let him have a go back now...

3 attacks, 2 hit, 2.5 with the reroll for Master Crafted, 2.08 dead guardsmen.

We win by 4, the stubborn bastard has a 94.44% chance of passing his Leadership test so we'll presume he does.

Round 2.

Guardsmen first (again),

24 normal attacks, 12 hit, 4 wound, 0.67 wounds generated after 2+ saves.

12 Power Weapon attacks, 6 hit, 2 wound,

0.67 wounds generated

after 3+ inv.

2 Eviscerator attacks, 1 hit, 0.83 wound, 0.28

wounds generated

after 3+ inv.

So that's 1.62 wounds generated, leaving Lysander on a wound.

Lysander kills another 2 Guardsmen then dies during round 3 before he gets a chance to hurt any more Guardsmen...

Conclusion 1.

So if our blob squad doesn't get to charge it still makes a decent 'tar-pit' unless its against a 'torrent of attacks' style unit. If it does get the charge it can do considerable damage to most units. However if Creed gets in on the act as well then there isn't much it can't kill.

Bored yet?

lets quickly do shooting then.

3x S8, AP1 Meltaguns at BS 3, 1.5 Hit.

Vs. Armour 10, 1.46 chance of pen, 0.73 chance of wreck/explosion.

Vs. Armour 11, 1.38 chance of pen, 0.69 chance of wreck/explosion.

Vs. Armour 12, 1.13 chance of pen, 0.62 chance of wreck/explosion.

Vs. Armour 13, 1.08 chance of pen, 0.54 chance of wreck/explosion.

Vs. Armour 14, 0.87 chance of pen, 0.44 chance of wreck/explosion.

Conclusion 2.

3x BS 3 Meltaguns are pretty good at killing vehicles and Blob squads that charge with Creeds order active are fucking awesome.

I'm tired now so I'll post it as is and then check the Maths in the morning...