Elysian Tactics - Tarantula Gun platforms
The tarantula comes armed with either a twin Heavy Bolter or twin Lascannon, and is the cheapest lascannon platform available to Elysians. The can be bought in batteries of up to three as a single selection
The tarantula also has a few special rules, the most notable being that they are immobile. As well as not being able to move following deployment, this also means they can't be locked into combat, and can fire their weapons even if there are enemies within 1". But they get hit automatically in combat, and cannot fight back. And your other units can still shoot at units engaged with the tarantulas.
They also have targeting restrictions. Heavy Bolter tarantulas always target the nearest enemy infantry unit, and Lascannon ones target the nearest enemy non-infantry unit. I have not used these yet in a game and cannot see all the consequences of this rule, but I do know it will greatly depend on how the opponent reacts to them. I am looking forward to using them in a few games. I do feel this can be managed by carefully choosing where in the shooting phase you activate the tarantulas. Probably the main issue I see is that it needs to target the nearest enemy, not the nearest visible enemy, so your opponent could stop them shooting by hiding a unit near them. This is a lot of effort for not much gain though.
And being Elysian these also have aerial drop, which is a huge change from the non-Elysian tarantulas.
They are reasonably tough, comparable to a sentinel, so will take some dedicated firepower to remove unlike a heavy weapon squad.
I can see the Lascannon tarantulas being deployed on the table during deployment as you won't want the -1 penalty aerial drop will give you, and with their long range you can have them out of range of all but the longest range shooting and with their small profile you should be able to place them in cover. The targeting restriction probably won't be too much of an issue as most non-infantry units are going be vulnerable to Lascannons, and things you will want to get rid of anyway.
I see the Heavy Bolter tarantulas being less useful in on the board to start with as you can get Heavy Bolters cheaply in veteran squads, command squads and heavy weapon teams. I think the Heavy Bolter tarantula will be extremely useful to use aerial drop with, as you could drop them in with drop troopers for extra firepower, put them on an unoccupied objective, or put them in the way of advancing troops to slow them down.
Again I don't see the targeting restriction being a big issue here, as when you drop them in you can choose which enemy they are nearest to. And there is very little infantry the Heavy Bolter is not suited. With the -1 AP they will even worry terminators.
Elysians only have 3 different Heavy support choices, and all 3 are decent. The tarantula is not the absolute cheapest, but can be still very reasonable to fill out a brigade with. Their competition is probably Heavy weapons teams, but their better resilience differentiates them enough that neither one is the best choice for all situations, and with the rule of three that is getting increasingly used tarantulas provide another fire support option.
Next time I will cover Heavy Weapon team as that will provide a useful comparison with the tarantulas.
The tarantula also has a few special rules, the most notable being that they are immobile. As well as not being able to move following deployment, this also means they can't be locked into combat, and can fire their weapons even if there are enemies within 1". But they get hit automatically in combat, and cannot fight back. And your other units can still shoot at units engaged with the tarantulas.
They also have targeting restrictions. Heavy Bolter tarantulas always target the nearest enemy infantry unit, and Lascannon ones target the nearest enemy non-infantry unit. I have not used these yet in a game and cannot see all the consequences of this rule, but I do know it will greatly depend on how the opponent reacts to them. I am looking forward to using them in a few games. I do feel this can be managed by carefully choosing where in the shooting phase you activate the tarantulas. Probably the main issue I see is that it needs to target the nearest enemy, not the nearest visible enemy, so your opponent could stop them shooting by hiding a unit near them. This is a lot of effort for not much gain though.
And being Elysian these also have aerial drop, which is a huge change from the non-Elysian tarantulas.
They are reasonably tough, comparable to a sentinel, so will take some dedicated firepower to remove unlike a heavy weapon squad.
I can see the Lascannon tarantulas being deployed on the table during deployment as you won't want the -1 penalty aerial drop will give you, and with their long range you can have them out of range of all but the longest range shooting and with their small profile you should be able to place them in cover. The targeting restriction probably won't be too much of an issue as most non-infantry units are going be vulnerable to Lascannons, and things you will want to get rid of anyway.
I see the Heavy Bolter tarantulas being less useful in on the board to start with as you can get Heavy Bolters cheaply in veteran squads, command squads and heavy weapon teams. I think the Heavy Bolter tarantula will be extremely useful to use aerial drop with, as you could drop them in with drop troopers for extra firepower, put them on an unoccupied objective, or put them in the way of advancing troops to slow them down.
Again I don't see the targeting restriction being a big issue here, as when you drop them in you can choose which enemy they are nearest to. And there is very little infantry the Heavy Bolter is not suited. With the -1 AP they will even worry terminators.
Elysians only have 3 different Heavy support choices, and all 3 are decent. The tarantula is not the absolute cheapest, but can be still very reasonable to fill out a brigade with. Their competition is probably Heavy weapons teams, but their better resilience differentiates them enough that neither one is the best choice for all situations, and with the rule of three that is getting increasingly used tarantulas provide another fire support option.
Next time I will cover Heavy Weapon team as that will provide a useful comparison with the tarantulas.
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