I’m not sold on any build with the Bull Centaurs and I can see a number of uses for all the builds. I’m curious to see what people think about each of the builds.
with shield: These guys can withstand the enemy shooting attack a lot, but their Strength suffers.
with spear: Can still take a shield and good S on the first round, but what then? Best used for combats where you will break the enemy in the first round. Small units works best.
with great weapon: Great against high T opponents or those with armor. Always strike last.
with extra hand weapon: Lots of attacks, but only S 4. Great for light infantry.
What do people think are the best combo? What do people use? How do you use them? Do you hunt enemy war machines? Slam into the flank of a prolonged combat? Hunt monsters?
I have to admit that I’m leaning towards Great Weapons, because that’s how their built! Maybe give them the flaming banner and they can hunt monsters. Otherwise, either 2 hand weapons or shield and spear.
Personally I’ve tried out the great weapon and shield (to get an extra point of armour save versus shooting attacks) and that worked fine. The only bad thing was their LD of 8… Next time I’ll have a Taur’uk in there.
The only other build I am considering is spears/shields. That leaves them well-protected with a permanent armour save of 2+ and two S5 attacks each on the charge (going at I3!) and one S4 stomp, reverting to S4 attacks in subsequent rounds. Too bad the Taur’uk cannot select a spear… The only thing that keeps me from this build is, as you said, the lovely classic models are built with great weapons! Though that said, it looks like it’s perfectly easy to remove the top of the axes of the models holding their weapons in an upright position and put some sort of spear tip on. Again, the lovely classic models… I don’t want to tinker too much with them!
I shall be testing a unit of 5 with spears & shield, musician & banner with the Gleaming Pennant (re-roll first failed LD test)
Their purpose shall be to hold up infantry blocks that have low Strength (Corsairs, Swordsmen, Clanrats). With the high armour save (2+) & 3 wounds each, they should do the job quite nicely.
They might even go toe to toe with small units of elite like Black Guard, Storm Vermin.
with great weapon: Great against high T opponents or those with armor. Always strike last.
You also loose the shield in HtH...
with extra hand weapon: Lots of attacks, but only S 4. Great for light infantry.
The same.
Plus the spear is only 5 pts whereas GW is 10... Pretty expensive I find...
The only downside of these guys is : 2 Attacks... I don't know why people want to go with great weapon with only 2A S6... As their major avantage is T5 and good save...
If I do not have the old 5ed minis, I will go with shield (always) and spears. With old 5ed minis, GW+shield, or hand weapon+shield (some of them take their weapon in only one hand... That's the way I play them)
What do people think are the best combo?
Spear+shield
How do you use them?
Tried by 3. Works well in countercharge. Pretty cheap (45 pts to 50 pts each). Tough and CAN have a mobile standard (for standard scenario). They can maybe be played well by 6. LD 8 can be a really downside for a such unit...
Do you hunt enemy war machines?
You can, but not so easy with M7.
Slam into the flank of a prolonged combat?
Their use I find. Won't be hurt generally, give a +1 in resolution for flanking, and some kills...
Hunt monsters?
With 2A, I'm very suspicious... They can win fight, but kill them?... Not an hellpit I believe... I3 only... They need the GW, and strike last...
Magic Standard : I would go with the 5 pts magic standard which makes reroll one failed test. LD8 is good but very easy to fail... Which occurs pretty often when loosing combat by 1...
i use them just as before - with fc and gw, the only difference being that thanks to T5 and W3, i only need 5 now, not 10 or even 15, and it comes at a minor price drop together with a smaller footprint (letting the base size discussion rest aside) which also means a smaller psychological threat to my enemies.
their roles consist of being perfect flankers, can be hammers and anvils alike, allow me to save points by taking gws instead of my infantry, hunt warmachines and small distraction units etc… but i would not use them to hunt monsters, only if i’m desparate, since that is what IMO warmachines are for.
all in all, i think bcs are now the most versatile unit we have in LoA, well deserved i must say, after having been the cds stepchild for so long.
Thanks for the reply, everyone. I am going to put mine on 40mm bases, so maybe I can have mine rearing up and turn the GW into a spear thrusting down? Or just put them higher up to do that.
I thought of one thing to do with a BC hero. What about giving him the crown of command to make them stubborn? Go with the best armor options and just hold up a unit with low S attacks all game! Can be very handy with an army with few units.
I don’t have the book yet. What are the options for armor? Blackshard possible?
I use them in units of 4 with great weapons, standard and banner of swiftness. The unit is rock hard and can take some punishment.
Time of Madness
Time of Madness
What have been your thoughts with the Great Weapons? What do you like to hit with them? What have you found to be a pain? Do you prefer to flank more? Or just hit loose units?
That's absurd about the spears. Does that mean if we go in ranks of 3, we can all attack? :P
I run a unit of 3 centaurs with a character in a 2x2 formation with full command and wielding Great Weapons. In a 2x2 formation, enemies have a choice of hitting the champion or the character. That’s it. And the character, in addition to being able to dish out some good damage, will have the Crown of Command making the unit Stubborn 9. My opponents strongly dislike my little train =)
No, only Monstrous Infantry get up to 3, Monstrous Beasts just get the one (or at least they don’t have any special rule that allows them to take more than normal like the Monstrous Infantry do).
No, only Monstrous Infantry get up to 3, Monstrous Beasts just get the one (or at least they don't have any special rule that allows them to take more than normal like the Monstrous Infantry do).
cornixt
They fixed that with the FAQ:
Page 85 �?" Monstrous Beasts
Add �?oMONSTROUS SUPPORT
Furthermore, a monstrous beast can make as many supporting attacks as are on its profile, up to a maximum of three.�?� to the end of the paragraph.
In a recent game between 2 mates (with myself GM’ing, not playing) a unit of 3 with Great weapons had a great deal of success vs dwarfs taking out 2 bolt throwers (only 2/3’s the cost of the centaur unit) and had 1 still surviving at the end of the battle. Other than taking out the artillery they just kept out of trouble but did well. Very good warmachine killers as they don’t need to do so many wounds and most of the time the warmachine crew will need 6’s to hurt them.
Hobgobbo wolf riders have a much greater chance of bouncing off the warmachines but with 3 centaurs w/great weapons you are pretty much guaranteed to pump em.
Will try this unit of 3 more often… it’s only 150 pts and surprisingly sturdy and 6 strength 6 attacks. It’s in my 2000pt list which I have yet to test. Not bad for less pts than a Varghulf.
I'm not sold on any build with the Bull Centaurs and I can see a number of uses for all the builds. I'm curious to see what people think about each of the builds.
with shield: These guys can withstand the enemy shooting attack a lot, but their Strength suffers.
with spear: Can still take a shield and good S on the first round, but what then? Best used for combats where you will break the enemy in the first round. Small units works best.
with great weapon: Great against high T opponents or those with armor. Always strike last.
with extra hand weapon: Lots of attacks, but only S 4. Great for light infantry.
What do people think are the best combo? What do people use? How do you use them? Do you hunt enemy war machines? Slam into the flank of a prolonged combat? Hunt monsters?
I have to admit that I'm leaning towards Great Weapons, because that's how their built! Maybe give them the flaming banner and they can hunt monsters. Otherwise, either 2 hand weapons or shield and spear.
I'm not sold on any build with the Bull Centaurs and I can see a number of uses for all the builds. I'm curious to see what people think about each of the builds.
with shield: These guys can withstand the enemy shooting attack a lot, but their Strength suffers.
with spear: Can still take a shield and good S on the first round, but what then? Best used for combats where you will break the enemy in the first round. Small units works best.
with great weapon: Great against high T opponents or those with armor. Always strike last.
with extra hand weapon: Lots of attacks, but only S 4. Great for light infantry.
What do people think are the best combo? What do people use? How do you use them? Do you hunt enemy war machines? Slam into the flank of a prolonged combat? Hunt monsters?
I have to admit that I'm leaning towards Great Weapons, because that's how their built! Maybe give them the flaming banner and they can hunt monsters. Otherwise, either 2 hand weapons or shield and spear.