Boromites 1,000 Point Force

Hello again everyone, this time we’ll be taking a look at Boromites.  There have been some videos recently by the lovely Mr Andy Hobday and he has mentioned that the Matrinite Brood Mother is getting closer and closer,  so close in fact that it has been released today (huzzah!!) so it’s probably about time to see what this faction can do at 1,000 points.

It’s not all gribbly lavians though, in the spirit of the lists in previous posts we’ll look at three different sources of inspiration.  Obviously Brood Mother and other lavians being the focus of one, then a more traditional (or as traditional as the Guild Matriarch permits) Guild force and finally an excommunicated Guild Father who is now constantly on the move (some say he’s looking for a lost family member…).

Force Selector

Force size	Points Value	Tactical (t)	Support (s)	Strategic (g)	Auxiliary (a)
Combat Force	1,000	5-9	1-5	0-1	0-2

The Boromites have to take more tactical units than other forces but they can potentially take 9, which is going to let you outnumber all but Rebel Ghar if that sort of thing interests you.

And of course, with the 1,000 points comes the Strategic option.

Selecting the army

In prior Boromite lists we’ve taken a peek at the majority of the units (did I mention I love Heavy Tractor Mauls in this post yet?) but not the Strategic ones.  About time we changed that…

Boromite Heavy Support Team can be equipped with Heavy Mag Support (High RoF, Medium SV), Heavy Mag Cannon (single shot, High SV), Heavy Frag Border (single shot, increasing SV), X-Howitzer and Mag Mortar.  This is the cheapest of the Strategic options and quite a bit of variety, but it is also the only option with only 1 order dice.  I really like the Heavy Frag Borer model, but getting the target to sit still for turn after turn to ramp up the SV is a tad tricky.  To poorly quote a TV classic “They don’t like it up ‘em”.  Generally though if the plan of the army is taking as many units as possible, you can’t go far wrong with this.

Then comes the Matronite Brood Mother, looming in with its MoD2 and 4 Mag LS.  With Res 15, she is probably going to save, but as Ghar players know that “Only fail on a 10” happens at the most inconvenient moments.  It’s a slow critter that puts out loads of firepower (with a nasty sting if you go for a Heavy Mag Cannon too – and Spotter) but she only has 1 attack.  Tactic time – With one attack, it’s not going to win combat after combat unless the enemy is already heavily pinned, at which point if the enemy are sufficiently pinned (3 more pins that the Brood Mother ought to do it) then you can force the enemy to continue fighting against you for further rounds and gobble, then gobble up a single squad member a turn until they either break from combat and are treated as destroyed, or the Brood Mother finishes her mid-battle snack.  A batter drone will null some of the pain of incoming fire that will inevitably be attracted and hatchings help to spread the shots around as meat shields. 

Then there are two vehicles for the Boromites, the Hauler and the Heavy Hauler.  Both with transport capacity for taking Vaporally Armed Heavy Tractor Maul Miners into the heart of the enemy.  Reasonably armed and armoured with MOD, they can provide a fire base from which to launch attacks and ideally pin a couple of units a turn while covering the infantry advance.  The Mag LS weapons can be upgraded and the Heavy Boromite Hauler can take similar options to the Heavy Support team, but with the benefit of MoD 3 and firing 3 times potentially (3 Mag Mortar Net shots per turn? *shudders with delight*).

We’ve looked at the other non-Strategic options previously so let’s look at the forces we can cobble together.              

Lavians, Lavians, Lavians:

Going heavy into the lavian species, taking as many options as feasible, along with Brood Mother.  With Lavamites and hatchlings, once in combat it should do a lot of damage.  The trick being to get into combat before being pinned to a standstill. 

(t) Overseer Squad (105), Tractor Maul (+5) = 110
(t) Gang Fighters (97), Lectro Lash (+5) = 103
(t) Work Gang with Heavy Tractor Mauls (98), 2 Vorpal Charges (+20) = 118
(t) Lavamites (82) = 82
(t) Lavamites (82) = 82
(s) Rock Rider Squad (97), Lectro Lances (+12) = 109           
(s) Support Team with X-Launcher (36), Net (+5) = 41
(s) Support Team with X-Launcher (36), Net (+5) = 41
(s) Support Team with Mag LS (36) = 36
(g) Matronite Brood Mother (258) = 258
(a) Micromite Probe Shard (20) = 20
Total = 1,000 points & 12 order dice.

Really?  1,000 just like that out of the blue on the first attempt without any faffing about?
Let’s run it through the calculator once more…
Yep.  It’s legit.  Crikey.

One worry I have is there is not enough ranged weapons capable of dropping pins on the enemy, so it is tempting to drop the Work Gang with Heavy Tractor Mauls for a second unit of Gang Fighters and have 15 points to play with.  But you know, for the moment I’d going to stick with the above and see if they really need the ranged unit or not.  A Fire Ordered Matronite can technically lay down 8 pins per turn I guess…

Guild Matriach:

So this force will be (in my eyes at least) a fairly typical guild force based around a core of gangers and miners and putting as many dice in the bag as possible. I want the final list (which we’ll get to in a minuite) to have a Hauler, so the support for this list will be a Heavy Frag Borer (as the previous list used a Matronite). 

(t) Matriach (136), 2 extra Gun Drones (+28), 2 Shield Drones (+10) = 174
(t) Gang Fighters (97), Lectro Lash (+5) = 103
(t) Gang Fighters (97), Lectro Lash (+5) = 103
(t) Work Gang with Heavy Tractor Mauls (98), 2 Vorpal Charges (+20) = 118
(t) Work Gang with Mass Compactors (98), 2 Vorpal Charges (+20) = 118
(t) Work Gang with Mass Compactors (98), 2 Vorpal Charges (+20) = 118
(t) Lavamites (82) = 82
(s) Support Team with Mag Cannon (46) = 46
(s) Support Team with X-Launcher (36), Net (+5) = 41
(s) Support Team with X-Launcher (36), Net (+5) = 41
(s) Support Team with Mag LS (36) = 36
(s) Support Team with Mag LS (36) = 36
(g) Heavy Support Team (84), Heavy Frag Borer (+35), Spotter (+10) = 129
(a) Micromite Probe Shard (20) = 20
(a) Engineer Squad (44), Plasma Pistols (+8), Vorpal Charge (+10) = 62
Total = 1,227 points & 15 order dice.

Mildly over this time.  Perhaps drop one of the Work Gangs and one of the Gang Fighters.  Would still need to find 6 points from somewhere.
Does the Matriarch need 4 Gun Drones?  Perhaps only 3.  Or maybe dispose of a Vorpal Charge from engineers (as I intend for them to stick around the weapons teams and remove pins with their Auto-Workshop).

Final list for Guild Matriarch
(t) Matriach (136), 2 extra Gun Drones (+28), 2 Shield Drones (+10) = 174
(t) Gang Fighters (97), Lectro Lash (+5) = 103
(t) Work Gang with Heavy Tractor Mauls (98), 2 Vorpal Charges (+20) = 118
(t) Work Gang with Mass Compactors (98), 2 Vorpal Charges (+20) = 118
(t) Lavamites (82) = 82
(s) Support Team with Mag Cannon (46) = 46
(s) Support Team with X-Launcher (36), Net (+5) = 41
(s) Support Team with X-Launcher (36), Net (+5) = 41
(s) Support Team with Mag LS (36) = 36
(s) Support Team with Mag LS (36) = 36
(g) Heavy Support Team (84), Heavy Frag Borer (+35), Spotter (+10) = 129
(a) Micromite Probe Shard (20) = 20
(a) Engineer Squad (44), Plasma Pistols (+8) = 52
Total = 996 points & 13 order dice.

Lots of weapons teams and a few infantry.  In fact it may not have quite the amount of infantry needed for most missions.

Excommunicated Rock Father:

This force is going to be centred around an excommunicated Rock Father, who has been forced to abandon his original guild.  He’s picked up a Hauler along the way and backed up by some of his loyal guild colleagues who have also been removed from the original guild.

(t) Rock Father (144), +2 Gangers (+46), 2 Shield Drones (+10), Plasma Carbine & Maul (+14) = 214
(t) Gang Fighters (97), Lectro Lash (+5) = 103
(t) Gang Fighters (97), Lectro Lash (+5) = 103
(t) Work Gang with Heavy Tractor Mauls (98), 2 Vorpal Charges (+20) = 118
(t) Work Gang with Mass Compactors (98), 2 Vorpal Charges (+20) = 118
(s) Support Team with Mag Cannon (46), Spotter Drone (+10) = 56
(s) Support Team with X-Launcher (36), Net (+5) = 41
(s) Support Team with Mag LS (36) = 36
(g) Hauler (170), Batter Drone (+20) = 190
(a) Micromite Probe Shard (20) = 20
Total = 999 points & 10 order dice..

Good grief, first draft and it’s at 1,000 (well, there about).
Work Gangs can scot up in the Hauler, while the Rock Father leads the two Gang Fighter squads forward under the cover of the heavier weapons.  Not quite so many weapons teams, which would fit the Rock Father’s current situation. 

With the release of the Matronite Brood Mother the release I am most looking forward to next is the Work Gangs with Heavy Tractor Mauls.  I really, really look forward to getting my hands on some of these one day…  One day…

 Until next time!