secondary objectives

so what are your usual choices for secondaries in 9th?
since im usually using two flyers in my lists i tend to take engage on all fronts
then its either deploy scramblers or raise the banners depending on the mission and the enemy and i hope for the best...
And then it gets really difficult. I usually fight against infantry heavy space marines and custodes so bring it down, titan hunter and grind them down are bad choices so sometimes i take assassination which doesnt help much either, while my opponent easily accumulates points with bring it down (man this really sucks against us)...
what are your experiences so far with them?

I go mostly the same as you:
- Engagement on all fronts
- Scramlers/banners
- third is all about opponent and mission

Ive been enjoying Behind Enemy Lines, seems easier to max out than Engage On All Fronts (4 VP vs 3VP a turn).

I run Flayed Skull for those 19" Venoms, and at least 1 deep strike unit.

I can say with utter confidence that you should not try to combine Behind Lines with Build Teleporter. Places a MASSIVE target on that unit, even if its PoF Wracks.

The third secondary is hard for us. We dont seem to have the damage output to do many of those "Kill Stuff" missions. Bring It Down has been my go-to, but I wouldent really recommend it.

fisheyes wrote:

Ive been enjoying Behind Enemy Lines, seems easier to max out than Engage On All Fronts (4 VP vs 3VP a turn).

I run Flayed Skull for those 19" Venoms, and at least 1 deep strike unit.

I can say with utter confidence that you should not try to combine Behind Lines with Build Teleporter. Places a MASSIVE target on that unit, even if its PoF Wracks.

The third secondary is hard for us. We dont seem to have the damage output to do many of those "Kill Stuff" missions. Bring It Down has been my go-to, but I wouldent really recommend it.

i have to agree im also thinking of switchng to linebreaker using multiple deep strike units (also combos well with deploy scramblers) than engage on all fronts but ill have to test it out in my next game...

I started the Edition out trying to do Linebreaker and behind Enemy Lines. I found though, that DS units are easily zoned out in some deployment zones, and with the emphasis on MSU and infantry that has been placed, most armies have plenty of units to zone us out.

I went to a 74 person GT recently and I took Engage on All Fronts and Scramblers every game. Scramblers is an easy 10 points for us. And Engage on All Fronts isn't one I maxed a lot of times, but we can score 12 points regularly.

The third choice I usually tried was the mission secondary or a killy one.

The big takeaway for me is you have to build your army to score certain secondaries in mind. It shouldn't be a surprise each game which ones you pick.

I originally thought Teleport Homer was made for DE, but have come to the conclusion it is vastly inferior to Deploy Scramblers. The reason being that only one unit can attempt the action per turn and the enemy has a turn to destroy it, which happens frequently. Deploy Scramblers is 10 VP every game without question, whereas you would need to complete Teleport Homer 3 out of 5 turns to score better.

I personally find Engage on all Fronts to have too many qualifiers, and prefer Linebreaker as a simpler objective. I believe it is easier to have two units in the enemy deployment zone for three turns (12 VPs) than keeping three units in separate table quarters for all five turns (10 VPs). I want to get my secondary objectives completed in the first three turns of the game if possible.

The third objective, like others have said, depends on the mission/opponent. If you do the 9-Talos list, a good default would be While We Stand, We Fight and picking the third Talos in each unit, I would think.

I agree too, 1)Engage 2)Scramblers 3)variable.

While We Stand We Fight is for the most expensive MODEL, not UNIT.

I too made that mistake. It would be great for us if it was UNIT, but generally our most expensive MODEL is Ravagers/Reapers, which are easily killed.

Also, it seems like you only really get 3 turns to score Teleport Homer. Turn 1 is very hard to activate the action, and you cant score an action started on Turn 5. Very much a trap Secondary, glad I learned that lesson early

EDIT: I have not received my Indomidus box yet, can anyone comment on the "extra" secondaries? I cant seem to find a list online.

Sorry for the double post.

I have been reviewing our army builds, and am trying to minimize secondaries that we give away. Has anyone had any success trying to minimize Bring It Down (2VP per Vehicle/Monster)?

Every list I build basically has either a bunch of Transports/Gunboats or Taloi, and I just cant seem to get around it. Grots are great right now (with no Gangbusters secondary), but you just cant build a whole army out of them (?)

Well, you can see my build in list section. It plays quite well on current meta well at least for me...

In short 2x Hoemies, 6x5 Wracks, 3x8 Grotesques, the rest of points up to you

I did see that list, and you have inspired me to take a second Grot blob instead of my clutch of Taloi. Thats a potential 6VP removed from the enemy scoring, which does help.

Still taking 1-2 Ravagers, 1-2 Reapers and 3-4 Venoms though, so almost always giving up Bring It Down.

Just cant seem to get the firepower/mobility into my lists without the boats...

fisheyes wrote:

Sorry for the double post.

I have been reviewing our army builds, and am trying to minimize secondaries that we give away. Has anyone had any success trying to minimize Bring It Down (2VP per Vehicle/Monster)?

Every list I build basically has either a bunch of Transports/Gunboats or Taloi, and I just cant seem to get around it. Grots are great right now (with no Gangbusters secondary), but you just cant build a whole army out of them (?)

I've been going all in on vehicles/MC and force them to take that. And then i can just not worry about it and take even more vehicles / MC's so they are essentially over killing for a secondary. No other kill secondary will be worth it as there are 2 kill secondary categories.

Knowing I'm giving up 15 points I can play a bit more reckless and stop other secondaries, this works great against everyone so far other than Harlequins, but they are OP AF right now.

Played a game last weekend with the second blob of Grots instead of the Talos, and I am VERY impressed.

Will probably drop the second squad down to 4-5 models (7 was too large for the second blob, first blob has 8 Grots) and spend those models on more Wracks.

Felt a little dumb keeping that many points back, but it did a great job protecting the gunboats. Still gave up 13 VP (with 1 Reaper left with 2 wounds), but there was a lot more control over the back-field.

I like 3x5 Grots personally, not to small, but big enough to get the job done, also you can hide them easier along with no coherency to worry about, 3-4 just seems a little to small for me.

-Domination. Almost every game. Easy to achieve. Easy to hold onto. Rewards you for seeking out the most important way to win.

-Enemy build dependent, like Bring It Down, Cut Off The Head or Thin Their Ranks

-Usually the mission specific Secondary.

Sometimes there is overlap, like Monster Warlords. Some armies like Chaos Daemon monster mash or Nidzilla just feed VPs by the nature of their models. Anything that spams vehicles or monsters with 10 or more wounds is also a weird candidate for Thin Their Ranks.

Personally I always aim to go for secondaries that I can score doing what I would do anyway, so I go for the following:
- Engage all fronts: very handy, pretty much points for free.
- Deploy scramblers: often underrated, but I managed to score it every single game, even against hordes. I have a dedicated unit of mandrakes to deep strike and scramble in the enemy deployment zone.
- Bring it down / assassinate: Not much to say about BID, obvious choice if the opponent has vehicles. Assassinate is also very good. I play an aggressive CC army (AoF + Frozen Stars), so I always manage to sneak my units where I need and kill characters in close combat. The armies that would easily deny it are often the same against which I’d take BID anyway. (e.g. Guard)

I scored at least 35 secondary points in every game I played, so I’m quite satisfied.

My main oponent has started to screen too well, and I have moved away from Behind Enemy Lines over to Engage All Fronts. Cant even get into the enemy deployment to Deploy Scramblers anymore.

Tried Raise Banners last game, and it looks pretty easy with Wracks (assuming I remember DOH!).

Were pretty lucky to have as many useful Infantry units as we do

I've been doing roughly the same as everyone here except I want to shoutout Domination on certain missions. I've been running a coven heavy list that is low on killing power but great at holding objectives. On missions with 5 objectives, domination is a great secondary to take since you only have to hold 3 objectives, and since my list relies on board control to win anyway, it goes hand in hand with my playstyle.

I dislike taking Kill secondaries since it puts a lot of agency in your opponent's hands, so while I usually take Engage/Domination and Banners/Scramblers, I usually like to take something Grind Them Down as my 3rd choice since it doesn't lock you into killing certain types of units, and since I'm running more elite, tougher units like Talos and grots, I tend not to lose too many units each turn.

If you are scoring Domination, are you not already in position to score All Fronts?

Either way you need to be in position basically all game to score maximum points (4 turns of 4 VP for Domination, 5 turns of 3VP for All Fronts).

I don't think i'll ever take domination lol, Engage is just so much easier b.c it is at the end of my turn and not having to wither the storm of their turn to score.

Domination triggers at the end of your turn. You don't have to keep the objective into the Command Phase. It is easy to achieve because you have the whole turn to wither the enemy and take control.

Ah does it? well I still don't like it, way to easy to put a unit across a couple lines vs removing models off objectives.

Wow, I haven't played yet a single game where I were able to control MORE than half of the objectives. I feel Domination being extremely difficult in my area. I can take those 3 points per turn easier with Engage all Fronts.

PS: I always refer to CA updated missions.

It is, the only games i could have even done it are ones vs new players that didn't know how viable objectives are in 9th... I'll only take it, if I am fighting knights lol.

It might have to do with makeup of armies, because i nab Domination for at least 3 turns every game. I understand why Linebreaker, All Fronts and Teleport Homer are all easier. But, i dislike having to space units out, when the real meat of the game is Primaries. Anything that reinforces the pursuit of Primaries is doubly rewarding. I want Domination because i want to kick my opponent off the Primaries, anyway. I run 80 ObSec models at 2K, so maybe my perception is also colored by that.