# What do you think about Vindicators?



## theevilleon (Apr 26, 2008)

Vindicators. Do they rock? Suck? Any input?

I bought one today and I'm a little worried it will be totally useless. 24" range seems a little short to me.

Does anybody else use them?


----------



## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I use one. It's a terror weapon, really-- the S10 blast makes people nervous, and it's got good enough armor to take the heat off of Rhinos (and their passengers) and Predators which are going to do the majority of the killing. Also, keep in mind that there's usually only about a 24'' no-man's land between two armies on a standard table, so the range is a non-issue most of the time.


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

From what the rumour mill is saying at the moment when 5th edition comes out they are going to be bloody nasty. 

http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=11046

Go to the last paragraph and smile.


----------



## lance002 (May 30, 2008)

I have not played many games, but I love mine. Some opponents snicker when they see it, until it hits on target.

My son played a guy, who I think had Necrons. He deep struck some things that looked like cauliflower and had three wounds each. He was boating that no way could my son finish off 24 wounds. Well, one direct hit from a Vindicator and finishing off with some missle launchers, all were dead, to the astonishment of his opponent. I do not know the rules well enough to know if instant death would have come into play (each of eight things had three wounds each).

Some players would never use a Vindicator.

The following is what I have gathered with limited playing experience. I hope I understand the rules correctly.

I have six for Apocalypse (Line Breaker Squadron - 10" blast S10 AP2 and can wipe out terrain features and their occupants) as they tend to blow up - you only need three for the formation. GW used to sell a three-pack for $90.

The beauty is ordnance needs no ballistic skill. Take power of the machine spirit if you can (BS 2 is irrelevant). The new rules, I think, treat some blasts as scattering D6 minus ballistic skill, but I do not know if it applies to ordnance.

As far as the 24" issue, you can move 6" and still shoot. Or, you can sit in a firing lane and wait. It always lands somewhere.

Units susceptible to blasts with multiple wounds are great targets. 

Put one on a side by itself and see how many points your opponent throws against it.

It would also seem effective against terminators, Death Company, Broadside, etc.


----------



## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

lance002 said:


> It would also seem effective against terminators, Death Company, Broadside, etc.


It can be. The more effective use, in my experience, is thinning out large light infantry units. Things like Orks rely pretty heavily on getting as many attacks as possible in a single charge. A Tactical Squad can deflect ten Orks, even on the charge, with pretty reliable results. A Tactical Squad can't, on the other hand, deal with thirty boyz by themselves if they get charged. A Vindicator makes the opponent spread his units out to their full coherency allowance, and does so more reliably than a whirlwind, which many units can shrug off pretty easily. That limits the number of attacks that a charging unit will get in close combat, and can help limit the number of short-range shots a unit will get. 

Heavy weapons teams are also great targets for a vindicator. I usually send mine after heavy weapons squads, since they're generally pretty small on numbers and can usually fit under a single template. Oftentimes, the weapons that a heavy weapons team have that are threats to your Space Marines aren't particularly dangerous to a Vindicator-- AV13 is surprisingly proof against missile launchers-- you need a 5 to glance AV13 with S8. 

A Vindicator can also hold a building remarkably well. If you have to hold on to a single objective, parking a vindicator with its gun aimed straight at it has surprisingly effective results. If the enemy comes and tries to claim it, then they get blasted. If they don't, then your units are free to jump on it.


----------



## Tanrel (May 8, 2008)

Vindicators are amazing. One of my favorite moments with one was when a guy who plays Blood Ravens made the mistake of setting his assault squad to close together and in range of my vindi. Well, my turn rolls around and I plaster the squad with a direct hit killing 8 of the 10! It was glorious! ^_^

But the same battle I got a direct hit on his 5 man squad of termies and he made 4 of the 5 5+ invulns. It was stupid. :shok:


----------



## kungfoomasta (May 8, 2008)

i recomend vindicators they give great firepower to SM armies that dont have to many big guns and when they do his things will die


----------



## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

They're brilliant as a fear tactic. I used my friends 2 vindicators, have none meself, And hit the guys two scouting units who were going after them. After that He avoided them. That way they really help to make the opponent move where you want them to...


----------



## lordmat0 (May 17, 2008)

This thread makes me happy about winning a vinidicator for about £5 on ebay


----------



## kungfoomasta (May 8, 2008)

use one and see how your opponent likes haveing their entire command squad die in one shot  so many dead people with those things its unreal if your opponent smart its a fire magnet if not ordanance ST10 AP2 on their heads.


----------



## darklove (May 7, 2008)

Could someone tell me what a Vindicator is? I only play Necrons, so I know it is not one of my units...


----------



## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

Heavy ordnance short range tank for SM and CSM. Check it oiut on the GW website


----------



## Cinder (Apr 3, 2008)

Its a Strength 10 AP 2 Ordinance tank that will destroy a squad of Immortals that just so happened to "Viel" to close to it.


----------



## darklove (May 7, 2008)

ok... sounds bad 

I think Veiling will be a bit safer in future, being allowed to run after DS so I can spread the little chaps out a bit...


----------



## Untitled401 (May 12, 2008)

Well im a chaos player and range has never been an issue for me because my 2 HQ's both have lash of Submission or sometimes im only using 1 which is good enough.

Incase you dont know what Lash is, its a psychic ability that allows me to move your squad 2D6 and squeeze em in tight enough formation that they all get hit by my vindi. Your squad is also pinned and must take a pinning check to see if they can move or not.

also remember to keep the vindi out of your enemies tank busters' line of sight. fielding more than 1 vindi is always good too because you can have 1 at either end of the table and all that fire power is gonna make your opponent either focus on destroying them or avoiding them. This is good because you have less heat on your troops while they're advancing.


----------



## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

yeah i used two on either edge of the table it allowed me to channel all the units into a small field of fire whhere they were ripped apart... fun!


----------



## earlgrey (Jun 6, 2008)

I love my vindi's, three for the Line breaker and one for a nomal battle. It is pretty good anti-tank too. But the ordinance problem rears its head sometimes. But I do find it scares the bejesus out of opponents. I wiped out an entire termie squad once with a single shot...that was glorious...

actually, just for the record, first turn, my dread fires twin linked las and explodes his landraider pinning his termies who were mounted in it....then next turn I drop the demolisher round on them and wipe them out...they never moved...500+ points destroyed in two shots...best two turns ever.....


----------



## kungfoomasta (May 8, 2008)

how bout dropping one of those on a thousand som command squad and killing the entire thing it might have been less pts but the shock on the guys face was priceless


----------



## Vrykolas2k (Jun 10, 2008)

I've been wanting one for my Marines, but the local store's always sold out lol.
They work pretty well, from what I've seen. But then again, it has the usual weakness of being a tank... one good shot from a lascannon, and it's gone.
I like my Devastators for that reason...


----------



## Son of mortarion (Apr 24, 2008)

Vindicators are really awesome for forces that rely on infantry as their bread and butter, such as death guard. I refuse to use rhinos, as I would rathe spend the points on another marine. Moving he vindicator 6 inches along with my marines is a combined-arms recipe for devestation.:laugh:


----------



## chaos vince (Jun 10, 2008)

gotta love the vidicators. from a chaos marine view the high power ordanence is great but the high front armor is even better, gotta watch how you deploy them to be sure you've got range on units you want to shoot but other than that they're great. even the fact that they draw fire is good cause every gun pointed at the vindi is a gun that isn't shooting at the troops. i almost always take one in my assault army


----------



## Captain Roy (Feb 6, 2008)

I'm thinking about buying another vidicator tank when I go to Games Day at
Baltimore this weekend. It's going to be a forge world vidicator :biggrin:


----------



## Lord Sinkoran (Dec 23, 2006)

never used a vindicator never really taken my fancy, I prefer preds


----------



## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

wow, all this talk makes me think I want one. Considering I run BT my army IS infantry with very little vehicle support (a dread and LRC) taking something out and running a vindi, or just increasing my list size is becoming increasingly tempting.


----------



## godzy (Jun 5, 2008)

*Tri-boom*

would you guys think three in a 1500 point battle will work?
more specific, three vindicators, four rhino squads and maybe a dreadnought.


----------



## slaaneshy (Feb 20, 2008)

If your opponent doesn't have much in the way of high strength long range firepower go for it (i.e. a close combat themed army) but if they have lots of bad ass cannons, you may not get to shoot any of the Vins. Would love to see that list work though. Personally I don't use them as they tend to get shot to crap by any switched on gamer who knows what they can do and doesn't let them get close.


----------



## chaos vince (Jun 10, 2008)

might work... runthe rhinos in front of 'em to block line of sight, give 'em dozer blades to drive over the wrecked rhinos. just dont put your troops i the rhinos. i'd only take two rhino squads though, in my experiance rhinos are tin cans since almost any army is gonna have weapons strong enough to pop 'em. that and with a mech army you're sol in escalation games. units coming on one by one while the other guy pick's em off? bad news


----------



## Vrykolas2k (Jun 10, 2008)

chaos vince said:


> might work... runthe rhinos in front of 'em to block line of sight, give 'em dozer blades to drive over the wrecked rhinos. just dont put your troops i the rhinos. i'd only take two rhino squads though, in my experiance rhinos are tin cans since almost any army is gonna have weapons strong enough to pop 'em. that and with a mech army you're sol in escalation games. units coming on one by one while the other guy pick's em off? bad news



Definately.
In my experience, a Rhino is a waste of points... it doesn't move that fast, the armour is light enough you can take it out with many weapons... basically a turd on tracks.
Get a Carnifex to model as a dung beetle and you've got the idea...
Vindicators are alright... I'd rather have a squad of Devastators/ Havocs, though.


----------



## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

Vrykolas2k said:


> Definately.
> In my experience, a Rhino is a waste of points... it doesn't move that fast, the armour is light enough you can take it out with many weapons... basically a turd on tracks.


Well, not really, for Chaos marines anyway. it costs about the same as 2 marines , is harder to kill than 2 marines (especially with the new damage chart and smoke launchers) and it's twin linked bolter isn't totally useless. They're good for adding a bit of manoeuvrability to an army, or as cheap cover, saving a few of your marines, and as speed bumps to slow down an cc army, giving you a couple of extra turns to shoot at them.


----------



## TheUnmarked (May 19, 2008)

Rhinos are also quite useful in DA and BA armies, but vindis are great in small games as there is often not many opponents too far out of range and many indirect weapons will miss or do bugger all so running up behind some large enough cover will often do the trick (and force your opponent to redeploy to either avoid it or shoot it.


----------



## chaos vince (Jun 10, 2008)

speed bumps? i play acc chaos army and pretty much every rhino my opponents have deployed has ended up as a tin coffin for the troops in it or wreckage that blocks los and keeps the enamy from shooting me till it's almost too late to kill enough beserkers to matter. 2 marines are 30 pts, a rhino with extra armor is 50. i'd rather have 3 marines w/ a flamer vor 50pts, or 2 beserkers and melta bombs. most ap2 weapons can crack a rhino in one shot, where as it takes two shots to kill to marines


----------



## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

chaos vince said:


> speed bumps? i play acc chaos army and pretty much every rhino my opponents have deployed has ended up as a tin coffin for the troops in it or wreckage that blocks los and keeps the enamy from shooting me till it's almost too late to kill enough beserkers to matter. 2 marines are 30 pts, a rhino with extra armor is 50. i'd rather have 3 marines w/ a flamer vor 50pts, or 2 beserkers and melta bombs. most ap2 weapons can crack a rhino in one shot, where as it takes two shots to kill to marines


Very valid point but some armies (5th. ed SM) Can't choose size of squads bar 5 and 10 men. When used with cover well they can hhelp an advancing bolter line rip through an army easily.... I use them as transports and they work well. Plus for their cheap cost they can be taken in small games with little antitank and therefore provide excellent moving cover


----------



## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

I use one as a linebreaker, myself. I usually sit a few Possessed behind it for cover. But the Demolisher is amazing for knocking a hole in your opponent's most valuable unit.

-Dirge


----------



## Hashulaman (Apr 9, 2008)

I guess the small range on it main cannon kinda doesnt sell it for me. I know its obscenely powerful, I however am more use to a battlecannon on a deflier. I might try a vindicator, i dont like having to get THAT close though unless I have to


----------



## chaos vince (Jun 10, 2008)

i can see the range being an issue, but the higher front armor and ap2 outweigh it in my mind, especialy if you use cover to shield the side armor. its hard to find a spot on the board to keep a defiler out of line of sight of lascannon and missile fire while still keeping its cannon in play now that it's direct fire only


----------



## PUFNSTUF (May 9, 2008)

I use 3 vindi's in my 2k lists, 2 in 1500. They have always earned there points back with a single shot. Much better than dev squads since you can get two for the price of one dev squad. (though in certain armies there is a place for them). I always deploy mine out of cover or 6" into terrain. they have dozer blades and ea, so on first turn scoot them forward and shoot. 4+ pen to glance is awlays helpful when in cover. The biggest thing with them is choose your tagets wisely. I ALWAYS fire at something assuming I will scatter, and plan accordingly. therefore I choose large groups of things or a squad that is next to another, so it gets hit from the scatter. 5th ED with only help in the respect to scatter (not so much for hiding them if your terrain on the board is rigged and sucks)


----------



## gdog (Jun 19, 2008)

*preds the best*

i do agree that they are a great terror weapon but i prefer preds. Fot tanks 3 lascannons. For hordes two heavy bolters and autocannon, all rounder Lascannon and hevy bolters. they do not have the same terror tactic that the vindicator can use but I think it has a slight lead in flexablility. preds can take on anything, anyone and win (sometimes).


----------



## gdog (Jun 19, 2008)

*sorry wrong forum*

sorry: shok:


----------

