Mandrakes

Hey all,

I haven't used mandrakes much in the past, but am planning to give them a whirl since they seem quite good this edition (one of our few sources of mortal wounds).

So my question is how many those of you who use them tend to field.

When I have used them in the past, I've fielded 5 as a bit of a harassing unit. I don't feel like that's enough though. Do most people field 10 these days?

I found them really good, but you are quite correct that five wont get much done. I took five units of five each, backed up with a Farseer with Doom.

Considering you don't pay for champions, taking 2 units of 5 is almost always better than taking 1 unit of 10. You just end up with 2 champions instead of 1.

Mandrakes are good at killing everything that has low Wound, but high T/Svg. They dish out an impressive amount of mortal wounds.

CC is very situational for them, however. I usually don't try the "first turn charge", because that's just a way to lose a few to overwatch. Deep strike them somewhere safe, knock off a few wounds, then move and assault on the next turn, on a target that is already engaged. Don't use them as a suicide unit, use them as a support unit.

I like using them on turn 3 when they have re-rolling charges and 2+ to hit. Sure, their melee is not impressive but every little bit helps and it might cripple an already heavily wounded unit further.

Anyway, being DE means you need to pick your fights and it is very much the case for Mandrakes. I really like using them personally, especially in case my opponent got sloppy with his character bubble wrapping.

The Strange Dark One wrote:

...in case my opponent got sloppy with his character bubble wrapping.

That's where it is at, but it is not just characters. Mandrakes, as far as I can tell, are meant to be held in your pocket until your opponent either loosens up his bubble-wrap, or leaves a static shooty unit or small expendable unit isolated either to hold an objective, or for other units to hold objectives. Either way, when the hunter is ready, the prey will appear.

Good advice.

And at less than 100 points per squad of 5, leaving them in reserve till late game does not cripple your overall strategy

I also find myself often keeping mandrakes in reserve until turn 3 to get those victory points from objectives behind enemy lines which are just held by a small enemy unit, rather than fielding them in turn 1 for an alpha strike.

Charging is also very dependent on the enemy unit because this -1 on hits sadly does not help with overwatch. Best case would be to pop them up somewhere without LOS. Let them shoot at something else, and then charge the unit without LOS --> no overwatch. In best case you can tarpit some tank with a 6+ WS and he won't be able to hit your mandrakes.

I use five mandrakes in a venom and its nice additional firepower especially against marines

I use a unit of 6 to drop in the backfield and threaten my opponents long ranged heavy weaponry like Devastators, lootas, havocs etc.... Generally speaking I've found the bale blast to at least serve to weaken the unit and then it's a roll of the dice to see if I can get the 9 inch charge off. Not guaranteed by any stretch but even if the charge doesn't happen I've weakend the opponents heavy weapons fire and also presented them with a problem in that they've got to dedicate fire power to taking them out or risk losing their unit in the next turn. Either way it helps the rest of the army by buying them a turn to close in further.

I use at least 10, and mostly just plop them in range to shoot something. They're pretty good for popping bubble wrap and forcing your opponent to think about where he wants to pull bubble wrap models from - the side with Venoms and such on one side, or the Mandrakes on the other.

Also good for sticking into cover on an objective.

Even with PfP, the 9 inch charge is dangerous because you're usually running between 5 and 10 models, so if they get caught in the open, they're frak.

Always drop in cover - remember, you don't need LoS to charge, so use that to your advantage.

Why drop in cover? They have a 7+ armour save, so even in cover they would be using their invulnerable save?

LoS-blocking cover is what I meant. Keep more stuff from shooting at them than necessary.