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Extended Carapace on Genestealers

 

Warning, numbers ahead!

 

Ok, I have been putting some thought into taking extended carapace on the ol’ Genestealer brood.  I ran some numbers, and I would like some feedback from the dakkaites, please.  Each of these scenarios assumes that we have deployed 24” apart, and that the Tyranids go first, meaning with a (below) average fleet roll of 3”, the ‘stealers need only survive one round of rapid fire before assault.

 

D=Dead

DR = Death from Rending

H=Hit

W=Wound

 

12 Genestealers with a 5+ save vs. 6-man Las/Plas Marine Tactical squad (I’m not sure what all the rage is in SM fashions, so I went with what I thought was a fairly standard squad):

 

1 Las = 0.67H, 0.56D

2 Plas = 1.33 H, 1.11D

8 Bolter = 5.33H, 2.67D

 

This leaves us with 7.66 Genestealers remaining for assault, hitting 5.78 Space Marines (0.22D from the “Gets Hot” rule):

 

22.98 Attacks = 3.63DR, 11.69H, 5.85W, 1.95D

 

This leaves us with 5.8 (3.63+1.95+0.22) dead Space Marines.

 

12 Genestealers with a <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">4+ save[/i][/b] vs. 6-man Las/Plas Marine Tactical:

 

1 Las = 0.67H, 0.56D

2 Plas = 1.33 H, 1.11D

8 Bolter = 5.33H, 2.67W, 1.33D

 

This leaves us with 9 Genestealers remaining for assault, hitting 5.78 Space Marines (0.22D from the “Gets Hot” rule):

 

27 Attacks = 4.5DR, 13.5H, 6.75W, 2.25D

 

This gives us 6.97 (4.5+2.25+0.22) dead Space Marines.

 

This is a 20.17% increase in effectiveness for a 25% increase in cost (192 vs. 240), not too stellar.  More interesting, however, is this comparison vs. Tau.  Not being too familiar with the basic Fire Warrior squad, it is assumed that they are all equipped with that crazy 5S, AP5 gun (Pulse Rifle?).  Other than that, same assumptions from above apply.

 

12 Genestealers with a 5+ save vs. 10 Fire Warriors with their crazy moon-gun:

 

20 Moon-gun blasts = 10H, 6.67D

 

5.33 Genestealers left:

 

15.99 Attacks = 2.67DR, 10.66H, 7.11W, 3.56D

 

6.23 (2.67+3.56) Tau litter the ground.

 

12 Genestealers with a <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">4+ save[/i][/b] vs. 10 Fire Warriors:

 

20 Moon-gun blasts = 10H, 6.67W, 3.34D

 

8.66 ‘stealers hit the ranks:

 

25.98 Attacks = 4.33DR, 12.99H, 8.66W, 4.33D

 

This kills off 8.66 (4.33+4.33) Fire Warriors.

 

This is a 39% increase in effectiveness for a 25% increase in cost, quite the impressive showing!

 

Given this information, I think I may include Extended Carapace on my Genestealers in the future.  Please, I welcome comments/criticism, especially concerning the math!

Try it with two turns of being shot. More likely and the armor helps more in that instance

And you have to factor assault cannons into the mix also. Most competetive armies pack quite a bit of AP4 weaponry too, making the carapace redundant.

I'd still take it on stealers, but I'm not sure it's worth it.

Oh, and if the marines are rapid firing, the lascannon shouldn't be able to shoot. To rapid fire vs the stealers, they'd have to move.

I always suggest taking Carapace on stealers for the reasons given above. Factoring in the 4+ save in combat really puts it over the top.


Skyth:

While most armies have some AP4 fire, by not taking EC you allow pretty much EVERY unit in any army to tear the Stealer squad to pieces with a single round of shooting.

Depending on the opposing army type, there are differing amounts of AP4 firepower available. With EC you at least have only a select number of enemy units that can reliably destroy your Stealers and you can take some measures to stay out of LOS or use cover to reduce the effects of that AP4 fire.

There is another reason to take carapace when facing Tau: SMS. Most Tau armies have at least 3 SMS, and a Mech list will have up to 5. 5 SMS on skimmers have an effective 36" range so can easily all shoot the 'stealers no matter where they are. 20 S5 AP5 shots at BS4 mean 11.111 dead stealers if you don't have the carapace, with it its only 5.55 dead.

As an Eldar player, I've made a couple Tyranid players pay for not taking EC. Shuriken Catapults just do nasty things to Genestealers. Playing against Genestealers w/ EC just made my day a whole lot harder.

Yeah, there's a strategic element to the 4+ save that is difficult to quantify as a simple difference between increase cost percentage and increased survivability.

Marine, Chaos & Eldar armies have a lot of spare high-volume AP5 firepower, so genestealers will get all those shots if they only have a 5+ save, leaving the AP4 firepower for warriors (which is really where I'd rather put it). But if the stealers have a 4+ save, a large amount of AP4 firepower has to be taken off of better targets and applied to the genestealers.

Thanks for the comments everyone, this math thing is pretty handy. I may consider doing more of it....haha!

ForceVoid

Such as the attempted rending of a HT or carnifex.


EC has always been worth it...in the new book for stealers.

Bolter proofing your genestealers is invaulable.

The other way to look at it is from the basic weapon perspective.

IIRC, the only basic weapon that is not AP5 is the lasgun. Every other army has a basic weapon (bolter, shuriken catapult, pulse rifle, etc) that is AP5. You should expect that you will see more basic weapons than any other (not always true, particularly with hyper-competitive tournament builds), which means that the bulk of the fire you will see is AP5.

If the weight of fire that genestealers is going to receive is AP5, then EC is always worth it.

its like extra armour for rhinos. No one in their right mind leaves home without it, so the basic cost of a rhino is 55-58 points, depending if you take smoke with them or not.

Same holds true for stealers. They should always cost 20+ points.

What the numbers wont show you is a look a the bigger picture.

Genestealers vs MEq is rarely a neked rush across 24" of game board. There are other considerations to think of, not least of which the presence of gaunts which may cut the window of opportunity for incoming fire by a whole turn if used correctly.

However nothing takes away from the bold fact that the 4+ save is considerably more valueable than a 5+ and not significantly more expensive.