Kabalite Trueborn Transportation

I have two sets of trueborn for my army list. One of them is anti-vehicle and the other is anti-infantry. I'm not sure if I should put the anti-infantry into a venom and have that be a 5 man squad (after 1000 points I'd probably end up getting another venom for the other 5) or into a raider and have it be a 10 man squad. The anti-vehicle one is the same issue but as it stands right now I can only take one venom and one raider (in addition to the other raiders and fun things in my list). Whichever boat one set of trueborn get put into the other set would be put in the other boat.

I'm ust trying to figure out if I should match the squad to the vehicle that does what they do (anti-infantry to the venom and anti-vehicle to the raider) or match them with the boat that does the opposite so that it can cover that shortcoming.

I'll say two splinter cannon trueborn on s venom is an absolutely sick combination. But honestly, since passengers can fire at different target s the transport doesn't really matter. I've had much success with four blasters I. A venom.

With just seeing it in microcosm of the army it is hard to say. But, at the end of the day, both methods have advantages and disadvantages.

Advantage to matching the vehicles - Ensures that regardless of opponent setup that the anti-infantry and anti-mech shooting will all head in the right direction (basically since they match in what type of targets they wish to hunt, it is advantageous to keep them together to ensure they can shoot at what they need to shoot at - a mixed boat can sometimes be wasting one type of shooting to maximize the other)

Disadvantage to matching - single target for your enemy to destroy if he wants to weaken that element of your army (an all footslogger list could focus on the splinter venom, for instance)

And, of course, it's the opposite way around for not-matching them.

I think the final decision depends on your playstyle and your army build. For me, I tend to field my Blasterborn in Venoms and my Warriors w. Blasters in Raiders - so I use both methods even in one army, but it's mostly because I like a lot of lances. I'd say I probably consider mixing to be overal better, though it's by a slim margin.

I think mixing is the better way - simply because how army works. Its just too easy to concentrate fire and pick cherries from our army.

Thats why in taking more troops then anything else in the list.

I don't think it hugely matters. I'd take whatever is more important (probably the anti-armour stuff) in the Raider, as the venom is generally the more threatening target. I try and split it so that my opponents have to pick between the more dangerous unit or the more dangerous transport (it's why I run my archon and incubi in a raider, whilst the warriors sit tight in a venom).

Alright, I think I'm going to be putting the vehicle hunters into a venom. Mainly because only 6 total can take anti-vehicle weapons so I'll just take 5 armed with two dark lances and 3 blasters to pile in on the venom.

Regarding the venom would it be a good idea to put a night shield on it?

The infantry hunters are going to be in the raider with their load out consisting of 2 splinter cannons and 2 shredders. Though I don't know if I should take normal splinter rifles on the other 6 or give them shard carbines.

Don't take 3 lances and 2 blasters on the venom. As soon as that venom moves then the lances can't fire effectively (heavy weapons), and you're wasting 74 points; if you remain stationary you're wasting the venom's manoeuvrability and the blasters, as well as putting them into a deathtrap. Your best bet is to take advantage of the lower than normal minimum squad size and stick 3 with blasters in a venom; and/or 3 with 2 dark lances sitting in cover as a sniper squad.

WARNING: MATHS AHEAD

Re: the infantry hunters - costs you 30 points to outfit them with shardcarbines, giving you a max effective range of 30" (12" move and 18" snap fire), and full-on effective range of 24" (6" move and 18" normal fire) - fairly easy to outmanoeuvre the latter, (which does on average 12 hits) and the former means that the shredders won't be firing, you'll only be getting 3 hits from the carbines and 2 from the cannons. If you give them splinter rifles and put splinter racks on the raider, you increase your range (30" for move 6" and fire once, with twin-linked, that nets you more than the number of hits you can expect with the carbine outfit), plus 6 from the 2 cannons, plus the fact that the shredders can still fire. Moving more than 6", 6 twin-linked shots will probably get you ~2 hits, not much of a downgrade from the shardcarbines. If your 12" move brings you -into- rapid fire range, 12 shots from the rifles, 2 hits on the initial go, then a further 1.5 on the twin-linked; again, better than carbines. If you're firing at maximum effectiveness (assuming a 6" move and the enemy within rapid fire) then you're looking at 12 shots, nets you 8 hits, then re-rolls, so you'll likely get 10 or 11 hits. Shardcarbines at the equivalent distance, it has already been established, will probably net you 12 hits.

Nutshell - rifles and splinter racks give you a marginal downgrade in damage output compared to outfitting the whole crew with shardcarbines; but you save 20 points. Carbines would be better once the ride goes down, but not much chance of many surviving the hit. In brutal honesty, I'd personally rather just take 10 warriors with a splinter cannon and, if you really want, a shredder, in a raider for that - much cheaper (50-odd points cheaper, almost enough for a whole new venom), scoring, and doesn't have that much less of a damage output (1 splinter cannon and one shredder are unlikely to change the course of a game).

Panic is saying a lot of things I agree with.

Thor wrote:

Panic is saying a lot of things I agree with

I really enjoyed reading your breakdown Puppet as I've always wondered a similar thing. I think for me personally, from my limited experience, I prefer mixing any units other than the anti-infantry splinterborn-Venom combo.

This is for a few reasons: firstly, the Venom doesn't need to move to gain a 5+ save. Secondly by having a small Trueborn squad (3 man) join the Venom then you can still buy 2 Splinter Cannons without it costly an arm and a leg.

Finally, going with Nightshields on the Venom and the fact that it has 36" range means that you can deploy it (preferably in a position with clever LOS and blocking LOS to give it the best damage output with the least amount taken in return) and let it pump out 24 shots a turn.

Otherwise I generally take my blaster trueborn in a raider (more hull points) with a few extra bodies to take the fire (literally) in case it explodes. On a budget though a Venom does almost as well and has a smaller footprint so cant be targetted as easily.