Hey guys, Yesterday in all my excitement I bought the new armybook together with a terradon/ripperdactyl box. Now I'm wondering what will be the better choice, terradons or ripperdactyls? My list should at least include 1 unit of warmachine hunters, a role that could be filled up by chameleons as well as terradons. If you have to choice between these 2, which do you think is more viable and qualified for the job, and what do you see them do apart from warmachine hunting/march blocking? Then, Ripperdactyls, what is their use and how do you see them being used? I think their offensive stats are great but their frenzy combined with ld 5 is a real drawback making these guys unpredictable. Ofcourse you could field them within 12" of your general but oftentimes you want them on your flank I guess, which is probably out of range... At the other side, if they use their frenzy against other flankers I see them having a good chance beating most (semi) cheap flank units. Anyways, now I'll have to choose. I currently own 30 saurus, 33 skinks, a steg, 2 scarvets on foot and a priest. Cheers
I have found that most guys I play against are pretty wary on where they position their warmachines and always make sure it's hard for chamos to get at them easily. Generally speaking, terradons with vanguard and fly have an easier time getting in a position to deal to them, especially if you fly over top drop rocks and then shoot followed by a charge if needed. Rippers might be a bit of overkill for warmachines. All in all, any of them could do it, but my pick would have to be terradons.
Against a good player, terradons are far better for warmachine hunting than chamos, chamos only really get a shot if the player is a rookie and leaves 12 inches in behind his lines (in the last 20 or so tournament games I can think of two or three occasions where chamos have killed a war machine early, while terradons have done it maybe 5 times). Conversely, if you play an army with no war machine and no monsters then chamos are often useless, Terradons can drop rocks to kill small units of skirmishers (for example even bs4 struggles to kill theings that are already -2 to hit like a unit of skirmishers in a forest or those wood elf scouts) or chaff (chaos war hounds and such), they also can Mage hunt if the Mage is in a small unit of archers, recently two terradons took out a herald of tzeentch in a block of ten pink horrors, instantly making their points back. They can also act as excellent charge bait with their flee tactics. Also I tend to use terradons to kill war machines in combat while chamos shoot, therefore if you don't kill the machine in one turn, it can't shoot if in combat but can if you have just shot it. So overall: terradons are much more versatile (but more expensive) than chameleons, but against an poorly set up army a unit of chamos in the rear can cause untold damage, but this rarely happens tbh. Rippers are a whole different kettle of fish, ld5 frenzy means they will never get close to war machines they will just be baited away. I thought about putting a chief on one in a unit as a suicide unit, smash into a small unit of knights or Mage bunker and rip it apart in one turn, only to probably die soon after. But since the rippers and terradons lack the rule that allow characters to join them now (making tiktaqto's rule useless!) I'm not sure what their use is, I have bought a pack and will make them rippers because i already have 12 terradons and I will try them out but I reckon they won't be that good, if they get into a favourable combat they will be destructive but they are too easy to avoid with the frenzy
For war machine hunting, I think the terradons are slightly better. If you want them to do more however, I would consider upgrading them. Ripperdactyls don't panic when shot at, so can be put on a flank easily. If you're scared they will charge the first thing they see (and well, we all are scared of that); turn them around. Face the other way. Close your eyes! Next turn, just fly them up somewhere where they can choose a unit they can charge, so frenzy will not matter that much anymore. Granted, it might take a turn more of positioning, but you get a load more of attacks as well. I don't think rippers should be kept near your general, he's busy enough dealing with other skinks, keeping the stegadon/bastilodon in there, casting his spells, moving up... The rippers should be handled with more care, but I can see them work very well. Oh and as far as targets go: fast cavalry and scouts/skirmishers ofcourse, but terradons dropping rocks are also champs at taking these out. Rippers will have to do more than just that. The Hunted
I have had great success with just the 3 or 2 units of 3. Other people may say take 1 big unit but I think flexibility is the way to go. Apparently not. Which blows my mind, makes no sense at all, kinda hope they made a boo boo with this and it will fixed in the errata.
I agree, 1 unit of 3 in smaller points battles and 2 units of 3 when theres more toys to be had. I never leave home without 1 unit of chameleons and 1 unit of terradons. Together, they can do a variety of tasks and just annoy the hell out of your opponent. The Hunted
I think I'll be going for the terradons then. They just seem to have a more distinct role in our army.. I think rippers need a couple of battles playtesting before we can say whether they're usefull or not. That's what I thought as well but how do you consider upgrading them? Fireleech bolas don't seem worth taking, especially not when only taken units of 3-5..
What? Its a one point upgrade. Why wouldn't you? Yes it's shorter range but you get better strength and the chance of stripping regen. Much more useful than javelins even in 3s.
Ah, I might have misspoken there. By upgrading I meant 'upgrading them to ripperdactyls', not giving them flaming pebbles. The flaming bolas isn't really their deal. Their javelins are just cake to what they can do 'normally'. I wouldn't upgrade them personally. The Hunted
I see the two flyers as completely different roles. Terradons are mage/warmachine hunters and chaff killers. Rippers are for that unit of Chaos Knights on your flank. Deploy them near your general, first two march them to where the knights either have to turn away from your army to face them or leave them on their flank, and then if you can: flank charge them. 17 armor piercing/killing blow attacks, vs 3 attacks back. Bye-Bye Knights!
I dont consider terradons as warmachine hunters, since they can easily miss their attacks against anything toughter than goblin. For hunting warmachines, I'd take rippers (4 S4 attacks on charge/model)
I think you're forgetting the stomp attack from the terradons, 3 stomps at st4 should do some additional damage. Personally I think rippers are to unpredictable for hunting targets behind your opponents battle line, because.. ld5 frenzy
Tbh my experience are that they are great WM hunters, I find that 2 WS2 S3 and 2 WS3 S4 attacks is enough to chip off one or two wounds from a WM, that along with the charge gives a Ld check on -3 otherwise the WM blows up. Granted it is possible to fluff or them to roll a low break test but usually the terradons grind down the WM over the next round or two
A) only two monstrous cav (terradons) can attack a WM per combat phase so you only have two B) can't stomp a war machine I'm afraid!
You're right there! My bad.. Anyways, terradons also cause fear, so (non-dwarf) war machine crew might have a bad time failing their fear check.
Cheesy little rule for rippers, if you keep there back to the enemy...than its impossible to declare a charge. They get as many free reforms as they want too. I personally love rippers, but I think you need 2-3 units to fully utilize the bloat toad potential.