Last week I got to play a game with my shrikes. This time I had them equipped with bone swords scything claws and toxin sacs. This raises their cost by 5 points each so I had to finagle some point around to get them in there. I was not completely happy with the list. In the end it performed decently. The Doom and the Swarm lord did not do that great but that is off topic. The topic today is Ranged or Melee shrikes.
I have had a few games now using the winged warriors and I like what they do. They are still fragile as all get out needing the Telekine Dome and Catalyst to survive the first turn but they seem to be a decent assault unit able to get into the thick by turn 2 in most games. I dread the day I pull tau out with their billion s7 shots. I just need to accept it we are bugs. We have crappy saves.
I felt kind of bad with my melee shrikes not getting to put shots into a unit before charging in. There was the big squad of flamer guys that I just kept away from. A Squad of 12 flamers is not something you want to charge into. So my shrikes useless against these guys though they did take out several other units without fail. Luckily that those squads didn't do a ton of damage to my squad on the overwatch phase. I really enjoyed having the ID and the no armor save. I did miss my first turn salvo of devourer shots. I know 15 shots do not make or break a game but they do help out. I think I will see more results from assaulting marines or terminators and removing their 2+ save. I think not having to count on getting 6's with rending is a huge plus.
I am going to give these guys some more time to grow on me. I figure I want these guy in my army to get into the assault and nom some face. This should include running in shooting phase if a charge is not possible to get me that much closer or to get me into some cover. If I really want some Dakka I should stick with the devil guants. I can have 5 of those for each upgraded shrike. That is 5 wounds instead of 3 and 15 shots verses 3 shots. A much better bargin.
So until next time....
Questions? Comments? Nom nom noms?
