8th Ed. Terradons vs ripperdactyls

[Drmooreflava]

Rippers will be exceptional at dealing with small units of knights. Specifically empire and bretonian knights, because they can attack first. As for the dreamworld where rippers beat chaos knights in CC... Roll that combat out in your head.. Yea chaos knights have higher initiative, they wipe their butts with units of ripperdactyls.

I don't think rippers are very good for warmachine hunting because of two things.

One, the frenzy. Yes you can turn sideways and avoid it, but then your opponent can account for that and move a unit, say, an eagle, into a position that forces you to take that test every turn regardless of how you position the unit.

Second thing is, frenzy again... You have to overrun. They are easily baited out of the battle. Even IF you get to kill a warmachine, you HAVE TO overrun, most likely taking you off the battlefield or out of line of sight of the next warmachine. Only in a perfect world will you charge on warmachine and overrun into the next, you can't count on it.

Are you really willing to take turn 1 to avoid frenzy, turn 2 to set up the charge, turn 3 to actually kill the damn warmachine, then turn 4 to turn them around while also avoiding unwanted frenzy checks, then turn 5 they finally have a chance to get into combat again? Shizz, by turn 3 their warmachine will probly have misfired already..

Terradons win warmachine hunting all day, they can fly over a chaff unit, drop rocks and keep themselves in position for a turn 2 charge on a warmachine and once they win that combat, they have a chance to reform and be ready to charge the very next turn.

 

[Enkill3]

Why can't you deploy rippers further back, 30ish inches from their battleline so in turn one you don't have to frenzy charge, use their 20inch move move to get into range and LOS of a war machine, then heh presto, turn two into a war machine/gunner unit. Overrun off the table means you can't be baited away from your next target,
they come back in turn three, bolos another unit and charge to support something else turn 4. or if your opponant leaves enough room on a flank you should be able to deploy wide and overrun into something else,

If you're facing a cannon (or two) and it's staring down the throat of your favourite toy, it's maybe worth it. And they give us a tough fast moving chaff hunter, But I have to say the terrordon look better....

 

[The Hunted]

Why can't you deploy rippers further back, 30ish inches from their battleline so in turn one you don't have to frenzy charge, use their 20inch move move to get into range and LOS of a war machine, then heh presto, turn two into a war machine/gunner unit. Overrun off the table means you can't be baited away from your next target,
they come back in turn three, bolos another unit and charge to support something else turn 4. or if your opponant leaves enough room on a flank you should be able to deploy wide and overrun into something else,

If you're facing a cannon (or two) and it's staring down the throat of your favourite toy, it's maybe worth it. And they give us a tough fast moving chaff hunter, But I have to say the terrordon look better....

Vanguarded fast cavalry will ruin your day if you keep them back. Even some scouts.

The best way to keep them from charging is, like I said before, turn them around. Face friend, not foe.
Then move them up to where they have a choice between targets, so the frenzy doesn't really matter.

Still, it is a valid tactic to keep them back and don't rush them in combat. Which is quite interesting, since they are frenzied . Being patient with your units and knowing when to strike is very, very important. And hard.

The Hunted

 

[Enkill3]

That is the point of vanguard fast cav....
Seriously the, unless you're very unlucky with deployment/first turn you should be able to out move them. Even if it costs a turn. They certainly won't last beyond that if he has come close enough to affect their frenzy.

you move 20" turn one, and then have a 16-20ish charge turn two
Or just charge them, unless his fast cav are directly in front of a ranked up unit, overrun isn't a terrible thing,


Heh, moving them forward facing backward is an incredibly cheesy move. And isn't something I ever want to see people doing, even at a tourney.

 

[Spiney Norman]

Why can't you deploy rippers further back, 30ish inches from their battleline so in turn one you don't have to frenzy charge, use their 20inch move move to get into range and LOS of a war machine, then heh presto, turn two into a war machine/gunner unit. Overrun off the table means you can't be baited away from your next target,
they come back in turn three, bolos another unit and charge to support something else turn 4. or if your opponant leaves enough room on a flank you should be able to deploy wide and overrun into something else,

If you're facing a cannon (or two) and it's staring down the throat of your favourite toy, it's maybe worth it. And they give us a tough fast moving chaff hunter, But I have to say the terrordon look better....

Vanguarded fast cavalry will ruin your day if you keep them back. Even some scouts.

The best way to keep them from charging is, like I said before, turn them around. Face friend, not foe.
Then move them up to where they have a choice between targets, so the frenzy doesn't really matter.

Still, it is a valid tactic to keep them back and don't rush them in combat. Which is quite interesting, since they are frenzied . Being patient with your units and knowing when to strike is very, very important. And hard.

The Hunted

No problem, since you know you're not wanting to charge your ripperdactyls on the first turn anyway just deploy them facing your own table edge, yes it might be gamey and look retarded, but it will actually work, it will be very hard for your opponent to bait them on the first turn then.

 

[OmegaHavoc]

I'm excited at the amount of damage potential that looks to be present in the rippers.

Let's be honest, if you're a decent player is not that difficult to use frenzied troops and not get led around by the nose.

 

[Zwuppie]

How many slaves is the blot toad upgrade for the ripperdactyls?

 

[n810]

I duno i'm tempted to just add the frog to my oponents best unit,
and charge it on the second turn, hopefuly with a few magic buffs,
SURE IT WILL DIE A SEPCTACTULAR DEATH, but it should also
make my oponent Terrified of my ripppers in the next game.

 

[OmegaHavoc]

Bloat toad is included in the cost of the unit. I want to try the units of 4 and see how it affects my opponent seeing three potential charge targets for my rippers and how he reacts.

 

[Lizardmatt]

Bloat toad is included in the cost of the unit. I want to try the units of 4 and see how it affects my opponent seeing three potential charge targets for my rippers and how he reacts.

I'd take a couple of chiefs on the rippers as well. The chiefs don't bring another marker, but they can using the existing markers.

Could make for a fun air-force. And since you're running that much monstrous cav, might as well go beast magic.

-Matt

 

[OmegaHavoc]

Ugh that could be gross with how cheap skink chiefs are. Once gw faqs the chiefs to be able to join the ripper units it could be even sweeter.

Chief or multiple chiefs charging out into the flank of one unit with a toad while the rest of the unit goes into a different one with a toad. Magical Christmas land here I come.

 

[The Hunted]

Bloat toad is included in the cost of the unit. I want to try the units of 4 and see how it affects my opponent seeing three potential charge targets for my rippers and how he reacts.

I'd take a couple of chiefs on the rippers as well. The chiefs don't bring another marker, but they can using the existing markers.

Could make for a fun air-force. And since you're running that much monstrous cav, might as well go beast magic.

-Matt

That, I second!

Ugh that could be gross with how cheap skink chiefs are. Once gw faqs the chiefs to be able to join the ripper units it could be even sweeter.

Chief or multiple chiefs charging out into the flank of one unit with a toad while the rest of the unit goes into a different one with a toad. Magical Christmas land here I come.

This, I also second!

 

[OmegaHavoc]

I feel like I have to buy more boxes of rippers now. I only have 2 boxes of them so far.

 

[chefsdad]

Bloat toad is included in the cost of the unit. I want to try the units of 4 and see how it affects my opponent seeing three potential charge targets for my rippers and how he reacts.

I'd take a couple of chiefs on the rippers as well. The chiefs don't bring another marker, but they can using the existing markers.

Could make for a fun air-force. And since you're running that much monstrous cav, might as well go beast magic.

-Matt

That, I second!

Ugh that could be gross with how cheap skink chiefs are. Once gw faqs the chiefs to be able to join the ripper units it could be even sweeter.

Chief or multiple chiefs charging out into the flank of one unit with a toad while the rest of the unit goes into a different one with a toad. Magical Christmas land here I come.

This, I also second!

As I read it, the chief ripperdactyl mount doesn't have the toad rage rule, so wouldn't benefit from the markers.

 

[chstout]

Ugh that could be gross with how cheap skink chiefs are. Once gw faqs the chiefs to be able to join the ripper units it could be even sweeter.

I've read a couple of posts that references this. I'm not sure I understand; what rules keep a chief from joining the unit?

EDIT: okay, there's a rule that prevents characters from joining flying units.

 

[Taipan]

Otherwise known as the '#4 No Fun Allowed' rule.

Rippers just seem better in every way. Their speed should mean you get by any bait in the way, and TBH them charging into anything the enemy has is still a good outcome for you (very few things aside from actual ranked blocks or tough monsters are going to survive it). KB is legit.

 

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

I was thinking about this, particularly where Terradons fall in the Special hierarchy, all things considered (not just WM/character hunting as topic has focused on).

I plan on getting a Lizardman army after this book and I'd like to go heavy cavalry. But of course Ripperdactyls and Cold One Cav are in the same Special slot as Terradons. As are a bunch of other units I'd like to field.

So where exactly do Terradons lie in the Special category? Wouldn't Skink skirmishers be viable WM hunters in place of Terradons?

 

[Darius the Insane]

So where exactly do Terradons lie in the Special category? Wouldn't Skink skirmishers be viable WM hunters in place of Terradons?

Yes but it usually takes 2-3 turns to get them in to a position where they can take care of the warmachines and only if you keep them alive long enough, they are notoriously squishy

Generally speaking most people will take chamos or terradons for warmachines. Chamos obviously for the scout ability, although this can be easily negated in deployment by a sensible opponent. Terradons with vanguard, fast cav, fly and drop rocks are ideal for this task as well as harassing the enemy flanks, re directing charges etc etc

All can do it but terradons do it better. Everything being in special however makes it a pain in the a$$ sometimes you just have to pick and choose which ones you take.

 

[Spiney Norman]

I was thinking about this, particularly where Terradons fall in the Special hierarchy, all things considered (not just WM/character hunting as topic has focused on).

I plan on getting a Lizardman army after this book and I'd like to go heavy cavalry. But of course Ripperdactyls and Cold One Cav are in the same Special slot as Terradons. As are a bunch of other units I'd like to field.

So where exactly do Terradons lie in the Special category? Wouldn't Skink skirmishers be viable WM hunters in place of Terradons?

I would say terradons come in as joint most essential special choice for me with chameleons, I always take one unit of each.

Terradons do two things very well, they neutralise enemy warmachines (in concert with chameleons) and they drop rocks. Rocks are one of the few shooting attacks in our army that auto-hit, and since we are pretty short of high-BS shooting they're the weapon of choice for neutralising hard-to-hit units like shades, shadow warriors, Wardancers etc.

 

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

hmm. Yeah the only thing I'm worried about is points. I wanted to go heavy on COC and Rippers (more for aesthetic variety), making pts real tight, even for Chamo Skinks. But I'll have to re-assess pts and my flexibility in choices and such before I commit to anything!

Thanks for the input, guys.