A couple of weeks ago, I started delving into some options for the terminators I have laying around from my old Deathwing army. I've been looking into different army options for them and I've come up with 3 potential armies. If you've been reading my site for a while, you know that I like to measure twice and cut once. I do a lot of homework before starting an army, and even once I start one, I continue doing work to make sure each unit is the best it can be. While numbers alone don't win games, they certainly help, and they can help make a unit a bit more effective.

In case you haven't seen me break things down like this before, it's pretty simple. You multiply the chance to hit by the chance to Wound, and the chance for them to fail their armor save. (For example, a Bolter firing at a Space Marine will have a 2/3 chance to hit and a 1/2 chance to Wound and a 1/3 chance for him to fail his save. That works out to 1/6 or 0.166 Dead Space Marines. If you have 6 of those shooting, you can expect 1 Dead Space Marine to be the result.

All figures are stated in terms of Dead Space Marines. If a weapon has more than one mode, (such as a Bolter firing at 24" or twice at 12") it will be an average of the two possibilities. Similarly, in assault, for any unit with a move of less than 12", I'll be averaging the charge and the non-charge possibilities.
Bolter 3/2 x 2/3 x 1/2 x 1/3=0.166
TL-Bolter/Combi-Bolter 3/2 x 3/4 x 1/2 x 1/3=0.188
StormBolter 2 x 2/3 x 1/2 x 1/3=0.22
Plasma Pistol 3/2 x 2/3 x 5/6=0.83
Plasma Gun 3/2 x 2/3 x 5/6=0.83
Assault Cannon 4 x 2/3 x 1/6= 4/9 + 4 x 2/3 x 2/3 x 1/3=16/27. 4/9+16/27=1.04
Reaper Autocannon 2 x 3/4 x 5/6 x 1/3=0.42
Lascannon 2/3 x 5/6=0.55
TL-Lascannon 3/4 x 5/6=0.623

Assault options
Basic Marine 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/3=0.125
Powerfist Sergeant/Terminator 5/2 x 1/2 x 5/6=1.042
Powerweapon Sergeant/Terminator 5/2 x 1/2 x 1/2=0.625

That still leaves a few things, such as Dreadnaughts and HQ individuals and Psychic powers, but it vastly reduces the number of calculations I have to make.

DeathWing

130 Belial, Master of the Deathwing

145 Venerable Dreadnaught with Assault Cannon and Dread CCW

275 DeathWing Terminator Squad with 1 Assault Cannon and 1 Apothecary
245 DeathWing Terminator Squad with 1 Assault Cannon

175 RavenWing Biker Squadron with Powerfist and 2 Plasma Guns

265 LandRaider, Extra Armor
265 LandRaider, Extra Armor

1500pts

weapon breakdown...
8x Stormbolters 1.33
3x Assault Cannon 3.12
2x Plasma Gun 1.66
TL-Bolter 0.188
4xTL-Lascannon 2.5
BS5 Stormbolter 0.28
Shooting Total 9.078

Assault Breakdown
8xPowerfist Terminator 8.336
3xPowerweapon Sergeant 1.875
Dreadnaught Assault Weapon 2.08
2xBasic Marine 0.25
Master of the Deathwing 2.92
Assault total: 15.89

Space Marine Bike Force

180 Space Marine Captain on Bike with Plasma Pistol and Relic Blade

175 Venerable Dreadnaught with Assault Cannon and Dread CCW
175 Venerable Dreadnaught with Assault Cannon and Dread CCW

230 DeathWing Terminator Squad with 1 Assault Cannon

210 Space Marine Biker Squadron with Powerfist, Plasma Pistol, 2 Plasma Guns and 2 Twinlinked Bolters
235 Space Marine Biker Squadron with Powerfist, Plasma Pistol and 2 Plasma Guns, a Twinlinked Bolter and an Attack Bike with MultiMelta.

265 LandRaider, Extra Armor

1470pts
weapon breakdown...
4x Stormbolters 0.66
3x Assault Cannon 3.12
7x Plasma Gun/pistol 5.81
2x TL-Bolter 0.376
2xMultiMelta 1.1
2xTL-Lascannon 1.25
Shooting Total 12.32

Assault Breakdown
6xPowerfist Terminator(or bike sergeant) 6.25
1xPowerweapon Sergeant 0.625
2x Dreadnaught Assault Weapon 4.16
2xBasic Marine 0.25
Space Marine Captain: 2.92
Assault total: 14.21

Chaos Space Marines

185 Demon Prince of Tzeentch: Wings, Warptime, Doombolt

190 5 Chaos Terminators with 1 Reaper Autocannon and 1 Chainfist
260 7 Chaos Terminators with 1 Reaper Autocannon, 1 Powerfist and 1 Chainfist

235 4 Plague Marines with 2 Plasma Guns. Plague Champion with Powerfist and Plasma Pistol. Rhino.

235 4 Plague Marines with 2 Plasma Guns. Plague Champion with Powerfist and Plasma Pistol. Rhino.

240 LandRaider with Daemonic Possession
150 2x Obliterator

1495pts
weapon breakdown...
Warptime-Doombolt 2.25
6x Plasma Gun 5.0
10x TL-Bolter 1.88
2x Reaper Autocannon 0.84
8x Bolter 1.32
2x BS3 TL-Lascannon 1.25
2x TL-Plasma Gun 2.49
Shooting Total 15.03

Assault Breakdown
Daemon Prince 2.78
9x Powerweapon Terminator 5.63
8xBasic Marine 1.0
4x Obliterator/Champion Powerfist 4.16
Assault Total 13.57

While that's a lot of numbers to throw around, it tells me a few things. The first is that the Deathwing army list is a little less balanced between shooting and assault than I'd thought. All of the lists, however, aren't too far off from each other. The Space Marine force, with all those plasma guns, has the edge in shooting, while the DeathWing list, with all those Powerfists, has the edge in Assault. On the other hand, none of these lists are vastly superior to each other in terms of offensive power. While this will help me make my choice and understand each army's potential, it's not the sole way that I will choose between them.

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