7th Ed. Terradon Tactics?

[SiegeCommander]

So I recently picked up some terradons to hopefully combat the pesky wood elves and war machines I regularly face. The thing is I'm not entirely sure how to use them. Anyone wanna give me a run down of how they use their terradons?

 

[Sebulba]

Fly them into the woods or out of any lines of fire first turn. After that, take out small warmachine crews with charges.

Small units (light cavalry, skirmishers) go down fast with drop rocks. Merely fly over them and let em go.

I don't like charging things with my terradons (a couple of strength three attacks each... no static combat rez) but they can take out a small group of skirmishers or something. Just nothing skaven because they all seem to make you take T tests...

Very solid unit though, they easily make up their points.

 

[The Hunted]

Sebulba has got it.
But I suggest you try them for a few games yourself, because you learn so much from playing. Then you've got an idea of what do do and what not to do.
Try giving them 2 tasks, Primary one: take out the warmachine crew
Secondary: marchblock on the way in/out.
And even tertiary: Drop rocks on those pesk skirmishers.

Once they get all 3 jobs done, you have a good idea of how they work.
March block
Drop rocks on small light units
Take out small light units
Fly into woods! Very good ability, seems weak on paper; but it's very strong.
Wizard hunt
redirect

Just soo many things, and for a minimum of 90 points; awesome!

The Hunted

 

[erians]

There are a few neat tricks you can do with terradons. If you face wood elves, screen your terradons with skinks or in terrain. Make sure 1 of your terradons sees 1 of his archers, but only 1 archer can see your terradons. This way you can charge him and if he wants to shoot, only 1 can shoot as only 1 Glade guard can see you (he could be able to sidestep 2.5" but that still only brings a few into LOS and normally means -1 to hit for moving).

In the FAQ it clearly states that you can drop rocks the same turn you charge, so if you have the move for it, charge over units (you don't have to charge the closest way possible, so if you have move for it, fly over something while charging) and drop rocks on them. It is enought with 1 terradons flying his corner over 1 enemy model to drop rocks on that unit.

Flying in woods is win on a stick. You can easily get far across the table without being shot at, and you can marsh block wood elves in the wood very well. Scenario: A bunch of WE skirmishers is in a forest. You fly your 20" move into the forest, stopping 2.1" away from the unit. He can't see you so he can't charge, but he can also only move 1.1" in your direction (and as you skirmish you can cover a lot of ground) which means you just SUPER marsh blocked a skirmish unit, leaving him with the choice of going forward 1.1" per turn in the direction he wants to move, or move his full 5" in the wrong direction, where you can have units waiting for him. This works just aswell if you bait a frenzied unit or a unit with hatred (assuming you dont wipe) into a forest, then forcing them to move 1" per turn.

The biggest downside of terradons are how fragile they are. Ive been beaten by war machine crew a thousand times as you only get 6 attacks with low vs and rather shoddy Strenght, so they are not as reliable hunters as they used to be in 6th ed. This doesn't mean that they shouldn't beat crew, they really should, but they still get beaten more often than you'd like. They are US2 which means no -1 to hit beacause of the skirmish rule, so anything that can shoot at them will destroy them, even S3 shooting.

 

[Bibamus]

unless those WE's are wardnacers or dryads he will move 1.1" and shoot your terries. WE's don't get -1 penalty for moving so basically he can move as much as he wants and shoot your terries to bits.
also landing in a forest against WE's is not the smartest thing to do as he has quite a few spells that deal hits to units in forests (tree singing can be cast multiple times by the same wizard with an item)

 

[erians]

unless those WE's are wardnacers or dryads he will move 1.1" and shoot your terries.

As I mentioned: WE Skirmishers. With that i meant Dryads or wardancers, not scouts or waywatchers.

WE's don't get -1 penalty for moving so basically he can move as much as he wants and shoot your terries to bits.

If you screen them as I mentioned this won't happend, and the 1.1" move trick isnt really relevant on Glade Guards as they are VERY rarely so deep inside a wood they cant see out (why would they be? Then they cant shoot !). They can move 2.5" which should bring 5 GGs into LOS, which would barely cause 1 wound on long range. Charging archers can be dangerous tho, as they have outnumber and can easily beat you if you fluff your attacks.

also landing in a forest against WE's is not the smartest thing to do as he has quite a few spells that deal hits to units in forests (tree singing can be cast multiple times by the same wizard with an item)

If he uses the multi sing cast staff (deepwood staff) then obviously you want to stay away from forests. Most WE players where I play uses 1 scroll caddy and maybe a treeman, which are easy to outdice with DDs. My tactic advice wasnt especially against WE, he just used WE as an example so I thought it was easiest to do the same.

 

[Bibamus]

i only comment on what i read, i just commented WE's not the general tactica.
something on topic tough... on our table the forrest is kind of small and its near impossible to hide 3 terries because of their big base, carefull with that as i had them burned by hydra fire a few times

 

[SiegeCommander]

Used em for the first time and I already love them. 2nd turn the flew over my buddies glade guard that had a spellsinger in it, dropped 6 rocks caused panic and forced the unit to run 8inches forward into my skink unit. Sadly on his turn his nearby treeman came over and did his strangleroot attack and rolled a 10 on the artillery dice They seem to be incredibly fragile, any tips for keeping these guys alive?

 

[Phoenix49]

You can't keep everything alive, at some point everything will be exposed if you want to use them aggressively (= anything besides hiding for the entire game and showing up only to march block and then hiding again), even Terradons. Two ways around taking damage:

1) Single Big unit
+ Takes longer to kill 25% for Panic tests, 50% for VP, makes it easier when charging, tons of rocks dropping at the same time can actually kill smthg more than only small units/warmachines
- Harder to hide/maneouver the bigger the unit gets, all javelin shots/rocks go on the same target

2) Multiple Small Units
+ If one unit dies, you've got another at least to finish the job, forcing the opponent to focus more magic/shooting on them, many more tactical options, more march-blocking, can target/shoot/drop rocks on many different units (= with 2 units of 3 Terradons, you could theoretically charge two different warmachines while dropping rocks on another two units that you fly above. Yes you can drop rocks while you charge as long as you fly over something), take up less space (= you can hide easier, or place your unit between two enemy units even if there's little space)
- Easy to make a unit panic, easy to wipe out an entire unit, harder to do anything worth mentioning in close combat, very easy to lose the US5 bonuses

I should mention here that I've barely played Lizardmen as I just started, and I've never used Terradons, but from all the simulations I've done in my head, comparing them to Harpies (DE player) these are the general guidelines I've come to think of and of course, I could be wrong

 

[Bibamus]

if they get charged, run, nless you are near a table edge they should rally the next turn (Ld 6 cold blooded ain't bad) and can move normally, maybe fly over the same treeman so he can't charge them (monsters have 90 degree lign of sight).