Escorts-Do's and dont's of squadron composition

[AndrewChristlieb]

40pts places it as one of the best ac/points ratio (explorer and escort frigate are both better). Its not unfeasable tho to see a 5pt drop on the sparrowhawk and a 10pt drop on the g eagle.

The scutum would do fine at 30cm. The list it was written for used heresy era ships so it fit well there but in a more mainstream application the range drop should be justified. The 50pt price is pretty cheap already for an escort with two shields (q ship is 60pts, loses range, speed, and manuverability so its quite a bargan over this, and the xenos vessel swaps 1 wb @45 for a 30cm lance at the same price.)

[Talos]

I would probably run scutum at 30cm myself, as for sparrowhawk I don't really see it having a strong ratio to be too problematic, because most IN players play very little ordnance, and three together is hardly game breaking. With the eagle at 45 you have 2 strong options for escort AC, depending on your fleet lists. My armageddon list, for instance has only defensive escorts, so I would run 2 eagles and 3 falchions in my defensive escort squadron. With 3 torpedo markers and 2 AC it would be quite good at taking down AC, and although 13 battery is not incredible it should be able to account for some more AC if need be.

[AndrewChristlieb]

Ya a 30cm Scutum would be perfectly suited to supporting other escorts, losing one wb but gaining a shield you would almost be able to take a squad head on with a cruiser. A squadron with 2 of these and 3 Swords 205 pts is 6 wb and 5 points shy of a full squadron of Swords but you would have to drop 8 unsaved hits to cripple them compared to 6 for the 6 Sword squadron or even a standard cruiser. The cruiser would still have the advantage in smaller amounts of damage (3 hits a turn for example) but the escorts would still have the advantage in target aspect (escorts always make a harder target) and lock on options.

I dont know about IN not fielding much ordinance unless its nova spam and even then I expect to see 2 Mars. 40 points on such a fragile target shouldnt be too bad tho, its still basically a Cobra less torps +1lb and +1 turret for +10 points. Speaking of Cobras 3x Widowmakers 2x Sparrowhawks 2 launch and 6 torps with a +1 ld bonus for enemy contacts for 170 doesnt sound too bad at all, launching support until the fleets meet then taking advantage of the synergy and their speed to get in the enemies rear and cause some havoc.

I wouldnt disreguard 13 wb either, even not locked on you have a good chance of scoring one or two hits.

[Talos]

My apologies, i'm starting to sound like a real asshole I mean't to say, most IN fleets don't field a lot of escorts, as in most people run one or two squadrons of three from what I have seen/been told.

[horizon]

IN have good escorts and most field them in the 6-9 numbers in a 1500pts game which comes out at roughly 1-2 per capital ship.

Chaos is another story.

[AndrewChristlieb]

Escorts could still use some help to make them more popular tho. Allowing them a speed save would be nice and having groups of 4+ count towards CB, CG, BB limits would help among others.

[Talos]

Big squadrons counting towards limit counts is pretty interesting, actually...speed save could be pretty strange to implement though as several fleets have capitals that move faster than other fleets escorts. Even escorts vary quite a bit; a sword moves 25cm, average 37cm if AAF. Necron dirge moves at 50cm, average 80cm AAF with 4 turns. Would they get the same save?

[AndrewChristlieb]

Combination of speed and size, capitols wouldnt receive a bonus save. In my mind it would be something like upto 25cm of actual movement gives you an automatic 6+ save 26-50cm a 5+ and 51+ a 4+, ships with a base save like necrons or kracken would receive whichever save is better but not both.

As for the counts as a capitol thing and assuming FAQ 2010 it would strongly affect the races that dont already take a lot of escorts while the races that do take them would see a small benifit. IN and Admech wouldnt see alot of benifit due to their light cruisers. Chaos would be able to take their bigger ships at a slighty lower point cost (actually bare minimum is 360 points for 12 iconoclasts to field a BB compared to 330 for 3 Dauntless in IN). Eldar CWE and DE would be unaffected. Orks would be able to take bb at significantly smaller point levels but its also pretty fluffly (12 brutes 300 pts). Nids, Tau, SM, RT, and Necrons all have specific requirements other than normal and would be unaffected

[Talos]

So the save would be based on actual movement per turn and would only apply to escorts? What about escorts that move twice, such as MMS eldar?

As for the capital count, sounds pretty good.

[AndrewChristlieb]

Good question. I would say to add both movements togather, it only really applies to WB tho as everything else gets a 2+ save already.

[Talos]

Good point but what about MMS eldar? Their holofield works a little differently.

[AndrewChristlieb]

Ah I see, it could work the same for them then but it might be a bit op tho since they force a reroll already (which is just another way of saying that they get a save).

[horizon]

/
I am not for it.

/
As it stands I do think all escorts are viable. The hit&run tweak balanced a lot.

[AndrewChristlieb]

Thats another one I never agreed with too tho. Hit and run attacks should only destroy an escort on a roll of 6 imo with a 1 still failing and a 2-5 disabling their weapons systems. Give them all the ability to automatically repair one crit a turn due to their (typically) more experienced crew.

Another pet peeve why itsnt there a mechanic to represent the fluff that escorts typically have a more experienced crew? A roll on the Crew Skills table or something would be pretty cool.

[horizon]

In the designer note's Andy writes that the random leadership reflects just that.