Fun with the new Splinter Racks
Author EDIT: My original proposal of this is illegal, but it's worth noting that 5 trueborn and its 2 splinter cannons are about as effective in a raider with splinter racks as it is in a venom if the venom ends up jinking and snapfiring, assuming you are in rapid-fire range AND you don't move. A tall order. In short, nothing's as good as trueborn carbine/cannon venoms from DE2010, the only thing that would be comparable is if GW allowed trueborn to still roll with Shardcarbines.
One of the loadouts I ran in the last edition was a Trueborn Venom squad loaded with poison shots (3x Shardcarbine/2x Splinter Cannon. At 18" what a handful of dice I would throw! But with Trueborn losing their access to Shardcarbines in this edition, I had to find a new way to do this. Now if we recall, racks only worked with Rifles or Pistols (I'd love to know anyone who found themselves in a situation to capitalize on that!). No longer of course, the Commorite weaponsmakers upgraded their gear and refitted all those raiders.
I'll jump right to what I think is the best option:
2x 5man Trueborn Squads, both fitted with 2 Splinter Cannons each, then purchase a raider from the FA slot - load them both in and fire away. While this does clock in at around the cost of a landraider, I think this is an extremely efficient way to get firepower into your list.
This gives you a minimum of 22 shots at 18" (salvo) re-rolling all of them. Should you find a way to stay still and are in rapid-fire range, you're looking at a grand total of 36 shots, some of those shots being able to go beyond 24" (don't forget to shoot the rifles first). This is all illegal to do, but it's worth noting that in this edition of the game, a jinking venom is less cost effective than a full 10 man Trueborn Raider.
Kiri, you're crazy! Just take 2 SC-Venoms of Trueborn. Don't get me wrong this is good also. You're going to get a minimum of 46 shots (23 each), if you don't move and are in rapid-fire range, a max of 60 shots! While this is nothing to sneeze at, you're paying more and have no way of re-rolling. You do however gain the ability to fire at 4 different targets instead of just 2. But there's a but...
I ran this setup after 7th dropped, it treated me well but not nearly as well as it had. With jink becoming a 4+ it was too good not to use. Of COURSE I'm going to take a 4+ over a 5+, now granted I would weigh options depending on the weaponry firing at me (lascannons vs boltpistols are a big difference). But I would see those 46 shots just vanish, all of a sudden you're talking about (at least) 12 shots being snapfired.
So while I certainly won't writeoff Trueborns in venoms, the fact that we can now take Raiders as FA gives a little flexibility with who we can put in it, something we never really had before. Add in the fact that Raiders can bring Night Shields and turn that jink into a 3+ and not affect their passengers shots, I think it's a pretty solid setup.
Also bear in mind that since they are 2 different squads, you can still fire at separate units, something you of course wouldn't be able to do if you loaded a full 10 man trueborn squad in there.I tried this last night vs my Dark Angel friend in a 2K list, I only brought one setup like this but I was happy with the results, this supplemental fire helped whittle away a Ravenwing Command Squad and a few terminators. Is it an auto-take? I don't know about that, but I certainly like it as a nice alternative to the Venoms. You can opt to start on the board or reserve them which may prove effective if you try and deepstrike, though I'm not sure how that would work with reserve rolls exactly given that it's technically 2 or 3 different units. I just hid mine in with the other raiders and behind terrain. Edit: Now I have to fess up that it was illegal!
As an extra little tidbit, it's important to mention that we can put scourges in a raider as well and capitalize on their shardcarbines/4xSC setup. Since they are bulky we can only fit 5 in there, but they too can pump out the shots to almost the same effectiveness as the trueborn, but about 25 points cheaper. Edit: Wrong again!
One of the other downsides this has is that it uses up 2 elite slots. But honestly our elite slots aren't as taxed as say our FA slots. If you want Wracks or Grots you're probably going to take a coven detachment in some form and you'll probably only ever bring 1 squad of Incubi anyway. That just really leaves Mandrakes and Bloodbrides and you aren't going to really be taking them a whole lot either in multiple units if at all. Also, if you are planning on bringing blasters on the other guys this became a lot more expensive as well, so this is really about splinter weaponry.
For viewing pleasure I made a little spreadsheet that looks at some different configurations, you can see how the change from 6th-7th and the change from the old dex to new dex changed this setup pretty significantly. Also notice how this setup stacks up compared to regular ol' Kabalite Warriors when it comes to scoring wounds. Disclaimer of course that this is all in a vaccuum, you could just as easily roll poorly or roll really well. Also note that I'm NOT including a dark lance in there, since this is an AI setup.
Subject: Trueborn and the new Splinter Racks 
Fri Oct 17 2014, 23:23
