Blasterborn?

So I'm making my list here and wondering, should I keep my blasterborn in their venom for mobility as sort of a "gunboat" type squad or should I drop them off and let them get into some CC too? I figure with the short range on blasters they might have a bit of survivability issues with wet paper armor and exploding vehicles. Also, if they stay in the Venom, use night shields over FF, no?

I would rather keep my Blasterborn near a venom and unengaged in CC to work as a Quick Reaction Force (QRF). It's pointless giving them the fancy AT weapons only to tarpit them in CC where they could likely be outmatched. And I'm a FF fan.

Blasterborn should never be in combat, period. Secondly you normally want to keep them in the venom to make sure they are protected from small arms, which is their bane. Also Venoms come base with flickerfields, so you always have them. Nightshields are nice additions, but you need to way the pluses and negitives of those 10 points you are spending.

Alright, thanks guys. I figured keeping them for shooting would be best. And the ten points from NS fits right not my last capping it off at 748/750 so I'm definitely keeping it. I figure a squad of kabs with a splinter cannon will be good enough anti infantry at that points level. Horde armies might be a problem, but I think I can sub in a razorwing if I shuffle some points around.

Warriors are actually pretty bad for AI purposes; in reality you'd only ever want them close enough for the splinter cannon. Especially at such low levels, Venoms are better bang for buck.

Blasterborn in a venom is one of the best combinations available in 40K. The Venom gives the Blasterborn survivability and an extra punch in the form of two splinter cannons. Everything about the combination is brilliant:
1) You can the Blasterborn into effective range quickly, better then footslogging
2) It gives the Blasterborn great protection and great survivability
3) The combination makes mincemeat out of Marines - Hit them with 4 Blasters and thats 3 dead marines, then follow it up (if needed) with 12 splinter cannon shots and theres a few more dead there
4) It tears up tanks, even though the splinter cannon cant hurt a vehicle it can help deal with any threats to the vehicle itself
5) Once you've sorted out something at A, you can turbo boost instantly to B, rinse and repeat

Grub wrote:

Blasterborn in a venom is one of the best combinations available in 40K. The Venom gives the Blasterborn survivability and an extra punch in the form of two splinter cannons. Everything about the combination is brilliant:
1) You can the Blasterborn into effective range quickly, better then footslogging
2) It gives the Blasterborn great protection and great survivability
3) The combination makes mincemeat out of Marines - Hit them with 4 Blasters and thats 3 dead marines, then follow it up (if needed) with 12 splinter cannon shots and theres a few more dead there
4) It tears up tanks, even though the splinter cannon cant hurt a vehicle it can help deal with any threats to the vehicle itself
5) Once you've sorted out something at A, you can turbo boost instantly to B, rinse and repeat

Well, I wouldnt say they have 'great' protection. ha ha. It's still a paper plane!

I run mine with two blasters and two splinter cannons, so they have a duel role.

If the venom is within 18" then its going to get targeted by something. Plus if the venom gets shot down early (it happens!) then the range of the two splinter cannons still make them a threat. Otherwise vehicles are going to avoid the 4 angry and stranded blasterborns like the glass plague.

I've found that when I give my units dual roles, I tend to always be torn as to how to use them... Theres that group of inf over there that I want to send ZOMG number of splinter shots into, but then again, theres a rhino there that I still need to pop to disrupt their movement capes... Specialize and you never run into that problem...

Just my opinion...

Has anyone tried:
3 X blasterborn
2 x Dark lance
in a venom?

I tried it out in one game so far. I left my venom stationary for as long as possible and I found the extra long ranged anti armor really helped. Anyone else try this?

Levitas wrote:

I run mine with two blasters and two splinter cannons, so they have a duel role.

If the venom is within 18" then its going to get targeted by something. Plus if the venom gets shot down early (it happens!) then the range of the two splinter cannons still make them a threat. Otherwise vehicles are going to avoid the 4 angry and stranded blasterborns like the glass plague.

I've ran a 3 blaster/2 cannon unit before and I have to admit that it was a fun unit, though even more fragile than regular Blasterborn. It's a pain to decide which models to remove when things go south!

I like to keep them with one role, I find it gives them more purpose, although 3 Blasterborn seems to be accepted as the best I still like using 4 (I find that extra chance to blow up a vehicle essential) and its also very useful against marines. Just the other day I was playing my friends Lunar Wolves (Nurgle marines) These are tough to budge and they were really stopping my wyches from moving anywhere without getting torn up after there raider got downed. In a normal situation I would have to out fire these with poisoned weapons but likley lose a shooting contest... But here comes a venom with 4 Blasterborn, it circles the 8 man squad and comes in 17"directly behind them (Negating there cover save as they are no longer behind cover but in front of it- A very nice and sensible house rule) The Blaster born then proceed to kill 4 marines as standard with the blaster leaving 4 more. The venom then unleashes all 12 splinter cannon shots killing another 2 leaving a sergent and a man with a melta gun. Next turn the Squad move 6" towards the venom to turn it into slag with the meltagun, hello nightshields! Wyches then fleet into the remaining men and pick up a nice and easy furious charge pain token before assaulting next turn into a devastator squad trying to pick off a Talos. The blasterborn then scuttle off and wreck a dreadnought.

I think this really demonstrates how effective the combo is and how jealous (certainly my) opponants are of its flexibility and fire power.

Grub wrote:

I like to keep them with one role, I find it gives them more purpose, although 3 Blasterborn seems to be accepted as the best I still like using 4

That's what my plan is. Four blasterborn in a venom with my archon who ALSO has a blaster. I

The biggest problem with Blasterborn is the fact that nobody will part with their spare blasters! I had to slice one off a bare Scourge arm just to get to a squad of three, and will have to do the same to max them out, as I can't get spares anywhere. At 750 points, you're probably best keeping them as a squad of four, another random guy just to fill out the squad is a waste of points. I'm tempted to build an Archon with a blaster myself, as I do like the idea of it hitting on a 2, but I also like the idea of charging him into squads of marines and slicing and dicing. And then failing his shadow field save and being minced by power weapons, after giving him lots of expensive gear. Hmmm...

Mirarii wrote:

That's what my plan is. Four blasterborn in a venom with my archon who ALSO has a blaster. I

Great in theory, not so great in practice - too much pts concentration.

@MrBeliever: I made Blasters out of spare Dissie bits. I got craploads of those and I'm sure you do too.

The problem with keeping your 4 blasterborn in the venom is that it offers them very little protection, the venom is far to easy to nuetralise. I much prefer to get the venom next to cover and have the BB jump out into it. This I feel gives them a bit more protection.
The venom is far too easy to explode, like all our transports, I can't think of a time when I've actually had one not explode when it's been targeted. If you have 4 BB in one then it will be a high priority target for the enemy. Once it explodes you are probably taking 2 wounds on the unit, probably failing to save both, taking a moral and pinning check, and have now lost half the unit and the transport from 1 round of fire.

They never want to be in combat, even with a dracon and who takes them, they will be smashed apart by almost anything.

Raneth - I just tried that. I tried combining the barrel of a Reaver blaster with the body of a disintegrator. It went a bit wrong, so I might try just giving them disintegrators and saying their custom blasters. Not to be confused with kustom blasters, obviously!

I'd always rather keep blasterborn in the Venom for as long as possible. Better to have them take one strength three hit each and get an armour save from it than be shot at by whatever blew up their transport, surely? And it almost doubles their effective range, and can redeploy them incredibly quickly.

Blasterborn are solid, for sure, but they have their limits. Most of my opponents hate Venoms already and hate Blasterborn more, so there's a "shoot me!" sign on them that you can see from outer space. That's not a good thing, especially for a frail unit. So, I often limit my blasters (intentionally) to 2-3, saving points to spread out to more threats army wide. When I have them, I try to *not* use them too aggressively, as a counter-attack unit instead to zap things that cross midfield while hiding them out of LOS.

Additionally, I have been using a lot of double Lance Trueborn for fire support. 5 men with double lances costs 110, about the same as 4x Blasterborn, but survives longer (5 men in cover, sometimes with pain token), impacts the game immediately without having to move into position and expose themselves to fire, and you can still buy the Venom to make the combined unit dual purpose. Against all mech lists, the Venom can either start off the board if there's no infantry to shoot and show up later when the lances have worked for a few turns, or jet ahead to block vehicle movement to give the lances more time to grind down the Rhino/Chimera/Razorback walls. Or you can use a ramming Raider as their transport.

I like Lance/Born for the reasons stated above by Murdering...Only I don't use Venoms to block movement that much, their firepower is needed in the later stages in the game. However, empty Raiders with Shock Prows are beautiful. Those things, though they often die in the process, counter the Stormraven rushes hard.

Blasterborn die way too easy and every casualty hurts them. Whenever I face DE the opposing Blasterborn/Ravagers are the first to go as soon as they try to get into firing range (And because I have more Ranged Anti-tank to them, I usually win, fancy that, one of the many reasons Mech IG can win against use besides the armour saturation...which is why movement blocking is important...sigh)

@ believer. There are several ways you can get blasters. First off there is room for 4 blasters from the warrior set. Ok so you have the 1 blaster, then you take the blast pistol and put the barrel on a splinter rifle (the tip of the rifle has been cut off ofc), after that you can easily take the shredder, cut the flanges off, and vola, blaster. Lastly if you cut the dark lance down from the tip to the lip of the weapon it makes a decent looking blaster as well. Remember most people that dont play DE have no idea what our weapons look like anyway.

Also there is always the finecast Fire Dragons. Just do a head swap and file off the spirit stone and bam, blasterborn

I was thinking about slicing up a dark lance, but then I decided not to in case I wanted to use it later. I made a Hexrifle out of a splinter rifle and the stone from a skaven spear (which was mainly just to see if I could do it), so I'm not averse to that idea. Looking at the Fire Dragons properly, I hadn't realised how similar they are - a head swap and the odd spike here and there looks like the best option, as they're also in more interesting poses too. Thanks for that!

Blasterborns are good, but they are not a 'must-have' unit. They work in some list better than others and thus one must consider their role in and of itself, and also within the greater network of the army's synergy.

In my case, I need more lance and poison firepower to complement my entire mechanized Dark Eldar list, and also I want something that could keep up with the rest of the army. Trueborns in venoms fill that role admirably. However, if I were to play with my Baron list I do not need their help one bit at all, as I have other options to get the firepower I need.

I converted some blasters from Disintegrator barrels (it's a little fatter, but similar design) mounted on splinter rifle stocks. Tried the same with Blast Pistol barrels on splinter rifle stocks. They work alright, though are shorter. Converting Shredders probably was the way I should have went (since I never use them), but I cranked out 18 of the things anyway.

Lanceborn usually solve a lot of issues Blasterborn have, namely by increasing their survival and getting you shots early (and usually sustained). Yes, you don't get 4 blaster shots in one round, but you often get 3+ rounds of shooting 2 that require your enemy dedicate ranged shooting away from other targets. If they don't fire at them, you might get even more.

Blasterborn, I have found, work best in larger than minimum size (toss in a few extra bodies or give it a splinter cannon/shardcarbine split) which gives you some ability to absorb fire as well as dual purpose. Additionally, I tend to partner them with Wrack units who can also be on foot, providing cover, absorbing charges, and/or contributing liquifiers to hose down troops exposed from your blaster fire. Beasts (mostly khymerae) can also do this job as well. If you're aggressive, wyches can also suffice, but you need to be damn sure you get in melee or they will get annihilated.

I like to think of the DE like a school of pirhana. Weak individually or if they get isolated, but keep them as a collective and the swarm can still be quite devastating.

I don't get this dual purpose thing... DE aren't SM, don't try to make them as such. Specialize each unit. If you take 3 units of blasterborn and 3 Ravs, you have 6 major AT on the field. What is the first thing that's going to die? If you put 2 more bodies in the blasterborn and give them cannons, thats basically 40 free points you're giving away. Chances are, you aren't going to be firing the cannons, but IF you ARE firing the cannons, you aren't going to be firing the blasters... either way, it's points wasted. The thing is, if you go with blasters, you can still put a hurt on infantry... that doesn't work vice versa. Save yourself some points, and specialize your unit, and if it's a suicide-esque unit (like blasterborn), don't make it larger than you have to...

If you can take a 48" Str 8 AP 3/48" Str 4 AP 5 blast weapon, THEN consider making your unit dual purpose...

You mean longfangs

Not specifically, no, as every SM squad can take at least 1 rocket launcher...