Great to see a new video! On Pintle mounts - they are all defensive weapons, no matter the weapon type (not just the Heavy flamer), I am toying with the idea of a Squad of Volkite Emporer's children Preadators to make use of the +1 to hit for defensive weapons during reaction to out range the enemy during Maru Skara. Could get expensive though!
Great Vid ! One factor you didn't mention and yes it's a very niche kinda thing but World Eaters can get Predators in the fast attack slot due to a rite of war. This can make them far more palpable or at least to me they are.
What I'm learning with my salamanders tanks is that adding dragon's breath flamers as a weapon option are not bad for the purposes of ramming, as they are snap firing after doing so, allowing for Wall of Death rolls. Great on rhinos, and if you're doing flame predators for Covenant of Fire, ramming with such a tank is 2d6 S7 auto hits (1d6 from ramming, 1d6 from flamestorm cannon), and up to 3d6 S6 auto hits from the side sponson and pintle mounted heavy flamers. It's niche, but I'll admit has been pretty fun.
one thing not mentioned is that the conversion beamer while low on damage does also have "Blind" an ability which is a good alternative to pinning. and can potentially soften an elite unit before a charge It can make for a situational combo piece and is strong vs ravenguard.
Excellent video! I have two Predators NIB with different weapons so I'll be definitely kitting one out as a Neutron and want another as Plasma for my Alpha Legion. Might consider Melta, but Alpha gets melta elswere as far as I know. I'm just starting building the force so trying to figure my way out while watching your videos! Excellent content
I think for me personally the Cheap as Chips Auto-cannon + Lascannons is still the best, but the conversion Beamer and plasma tempt me for my Dark Angels.
Glad you’re back! I was concerned something might’ve happened. (Also, have you finished converting up your Myrmidon Cult Tech-Priest? Because I’d love to see it, you sounded really excited about it in that episode you discussed the HQs)
I would be very interested in a video about your perspective on close combat focused armies. Shooting is incredibly powerful, and factions that lean into shooting strength can reliably do really well. Close combat armies (in my world eater experience) tend to struggle to do enough damage once they get to assault to make up for all the damage they takevto get there. It should be noted that I run a balanced force with land raiders, a scorpius and a punisher+rotor support for lots of pinning in addition to my despoilers, rampagers and red butchers
As always, it's worth remembering that searchlights are heavily dependent on the vehicle's maximum weapon range. As it happens, it's not worth taking as an upgrade for a predator with weapons that do not extend beyond 24".
Remember that the searchlight s not only relevant to the Predator itself! Once the Pred shoots, your *whole army* can now shoot at the lit-up target. The point of searchlights generally isn't to help the vehicle itself - it's to light up targets for everything else. That's why I talk about having them "in your army somewhere" rather than the vehicle using them for just itself. In theory, even a Flamer Predator would be worth taking a searchlight on if that's the only place in your army you could get it. Worth remembering - searchlights win games!
@@Hearesy Yes and no. As much as mounting a searchlight on the Predator can help out other parts of your army during Night Fighting, it's still entirely reliant on said predator's maximum weapon range to actually work in the first place, and moving into position to shine a target with the help of a relatively short range weapon like the flamestorm cannon carries with it risks that you may not be willing to accept in the grand scheme of the game. On top of that, outside of dreadnoughts and cavalry, the units that are most likely to benefit from another unit using searchlights either have access to searchlights themselves or are willing to suck up 10pts to gain their own private benefits without the drawbacks of searchlights (not to mention a free Intercept reaction) by taking augury scanners.
My only issue with heavy flamer hatch weapon as Death Guard is that the hatch is on the very back of the Predator. It is a lot like the Spartan where the vehicle eats up a large portion of the template range. It is nicer on a Rhino because the hatch is right up front and that vehicle tends to find itself closer to the enemy than Predators.
True. Although a) nothing to stop you glueing it on the front, which personally I dont think is particularly gamey as the tank taking up half your template is dumb anyway [playgroup dependent] b) some people use non-deimos models I guess? and c) you can always fire it sideways, at the ranges you need to be to fire a flamer your armour facings become much less relevant as you're probably getting side shot anyway!
@@Hearesy yeah, its a minor thing but every time im like "should we slap it on there?" before a game I'm like ehhhh not sure man. The main turret having torrent has me making movement decisions based off its longer range more often anyways.
