8th Ed. How should LM fight Steam Tanks?

[Scalenex]

So I played a doubles tournament alongside dwarves. We won. The last game was close and ended in turn 4 due to time constraints. If the we played the full six turns the Steam Tank could was likely to swing the battle away from us.

T10 AS 2. I get the impression that giving the STANK a good hard slap early in the game reduces their steam points and thus their effectiveness. It seems clear the Lore of Metal will make short work of STank.

What's the best way to fight a steam tank without tailoring a list specifically to beat the steam tank?

 

[Turtleneck]

i kinda nailed it with skinks, a shitload of shots, he will fail some saves, and once u got some poits of it, it will most likely do less, or destroy its selve

 

[Ejpok]

Hello,
You can take shadow, because the FaQ changed and Stank is affected by spells that don't have a str test, but it still stated that he fails his I tests (And the also removed the line that said that the Stank can't be killed by Pito fo Shades). Mindrazor is a Good spell too, with str 8 you reduce his AS to 6+ So every "6" rolled on the To wound chart has a 86% os inflicting a wound. Mainly because of the Lore of Shadow people stoped using Stanks because there is too much counter in this lore, and it is quite effective

 

[totzro]

Lots of poisonous attacks seems like a good strategy.

 

[Omar]

I know it sounds crazy when we get the advantage to field the SMP but I try not to rely on magic for strategy and see it as a nice bonus if it comes through for me. That being said I support the skink's poison attack over magic strategy, but a nice bonus to complement this would be to get a few Plague of Rust spells off on it. Even then Stanks are still going to be tough to beat. I try to make sure the Stank doesn't get the protection of CC.

 

[Scalenex]

What about lore of Death model sniping? Can the STank be hit by those?

 

[Omar]

What about lore of Death model sniping? Can the STank be hit by those?

Don't think it would be as effective as skinks and besides, for Lore of Death you'll have to come into close proximity risking being charged by the Stank which I generally try to keep out of CC.

 

[ForgottenKnight2001]

If you're relying on magic to get rid of it, lore of metal would be the best to get rid of it, you only get one shot per turn at the pit of shades and he can just store up dice to dispel it.

Lore of metal ignores that nasty 1+ armor save and you still have the spell that turns it to gold on a 5+ for an outright kill.


Dealing with it by non-magical means just is based on the luck of the dice roll and lots of attacks. Double shot blow pipes, as many attacks as you can get in CC (since you auto-hit), you're just looking for those 6's to wound and praying he doesn't make his save

Additional magic that can help:
Flaming Sword of Rhuin: Now wounding on 5+ (and stops the nasty chance of the player going "hmm, 1+ isn't good enough, lets give it regeneration too)
Harmonic Convergence: More chances at those 6's

Life is a good one to, while not kill it, tie it up with T7 regenerating skinks, but you need to pray a lot to get those spells off

I don't know if Okkam's Mindrazor uses the model's LD or if you have a character in it if they get to use that LD. You could have Str 10 Temple Guard (9 + halberd) and that'd ruin that engineer's day pretty darn fast.

 

[Scalenex]

If you're relying on magic to get rid of it, lore of metal would be the best to get rid of it, you only get one shot per turn at the pit of shades and he can just store up dice to dispel it.

I don't know if Okkam's Mindrazor uses the model's LD or if you have a character in it if they get to use that LD. You could have Str 10 Temple Guard (9 + halberd) and that'd ruin that engineer's day pretty darn fast.

Mind Razor uses the models unmodified Ld and specifically says you don't get weapon bonuses so Temple Guard would only be S8.

I guess the gist is to use Metal or Shadow. I'm getting ready to play an tournament with random matchups and the rule is we are stuck with one lore for every battle. I'd like to have a contingency plan for fighting the Empire that doesn't require me taking Metal or Shadow for every battle. I guess there isn't a non-magical solution.

 

[Ejpok]

Hello,
Yes, but Shadow is the most versatile Lore, especially for lizardmen! If you face DE than you can pit the Hydra or the Blood thingy, if you face WE then you have a treemen and so on,

 

[theodoris]

Skinks won`t do the job unless you use about 100 of them.
It has 10 wounds, and a 2+ arm save.
You just won`t get it down fast enough.
Yes he will fail a save, but that will be about 1 in every 20 shots that did wound.
You need magic, i would sugest shadow if you want to take care of a steam tank, it will work in multiple battles

 

[Turtleneck]

i tend to annoy the tank with skinks, hoping he is stupid enough to go for the distraction, and hoping to get a stega or some magic on it

 

[Ejpok]

The stegadon is a not a wise idea vs. a steam tank because the Steg it self will get impact hits when he charges...

 

[totzro]

Also wouldn't the steg be a massive target by the empire players cannon fire.

How would salamanders hold up? The -3 on armor saves seems practical.

 

[Eladimir]

The only time I fought a steam tank I threw my Skrox unit at it (3 Krox, 30 cohorts)
S6 hits wounds on a 4 and the -3 save makes it a 4+ save.
Not amazing but lots of skinks to soak wounds I eventually beat it.
300 points for the Skrox though so not sure if it was point efficient.

 

[Eladimir]

The sally if you land the template on it would only score one hit, need a 6 to wound. So not that effective.

Also our tourneys lately give you a 2000 point list with 500 points of storm monsters so I just bring a carnosaur for all that chewing.

 

[Lord Tsunami]

steamtanks are indeed very strong and tough, but there is a chance of staring one self bind on it. you dont HAVE to kill the steamtank to win. you have to get more VPs than your opponent (or capture objectives...). if the steam tank is alive at the end of the day it does not matter if the rest of his army is in tatters. It is possible to sidestep the issue and focus on the rest of the army.

skinks and salamnders may not be hugely effective at killing a STank, but they DO excel at killing the rest of his troops. skinks are great against normal warmachines and salamanders slaughter empire infantry in droves. Yes his steam tank will hurt you (though much less so if you have a life slann ^^) but if you simply "ignore" it and kill his other stuff there is no reason you cant win.

naturally this approach has its disadvantages and i am not saying "never try to kill the tank, just ignore it" but it is worth reflecting over if you are indeed bashing your head against a wall, while there is a perfectly functional door just a few meters away

 

[Ejpok]

@Eladimir I see you were playing on 7th edition, because in 8th the tank has T10... so Str6 still wounds him on a 6

 

[totzro]

Ok the sallies and kroxigors scores the same (krox better because they have more attacks), and then you use lots of skinks to soak up wounds. Problem here is that the steamtank deals impact hits and has 33% chance of hitting the kroxigors with each attack, so imo the skinks doesn't help that much in that case.

Life would be great to buff up the unit and ressurect. But can't those magics come to a better use elsewhere.
Metal could be used to lower save and turn in to gold.
And of course shadow and pit of shades, since the tank fails all int test.

Lord Tsunami makes a solid point. Is it worth to focus so much on a single unit worth 300(?) points. Is it too dangerous to ignore?

I know that I probably gonna have some problems with my opponents steam tank. Those 10 D3 impact hits hurts! I will probably use Lore of Shadow the next time he fields it.

 

[Arli]

Another way to handle it (for a few turns) would be to send a large skrox unit at it with a chief. Give the chief the crown of command. That will hold it up for several rounds. I do not know if you could get the sword that ignores armor, but if it works out (point's wise), it could be worth it.