Sunburst boom-boom-crew, is anyone using it?

[stormshaft]

Since Mr. Kreoss-in-the-middle likes to camp his focus I thought of shunning the ever-present Vanquisher and instead take in two Sunbursts for some AOE-iness.
I was thinking of taking two in a tier 4-list and wondered if people use it at all nowadays.
Range 16" AOE4" POW16 x2 that will never cost any focus is pretty nice to have to be able to put a few holes in jammer units before they reach my lines. I realize that they are very easy to get rid off if you can get a long range shot off early, but that's why I want to take two of them (plus they might take som early game heat off of my twin KES').

So my question is, have anyone used them lately? They seem pretty nice with Severius1 as well but I always seem to find other stuff to fill up his lists with.

[jandrese]

They're alright. Non-typed damage means they won't be useless against fire-immune troops the way the Vanquisher is, but they will suffer against blast-immune troops unlike the Vanq. So that's more or less an even tradeoff. I'd wager that blast immunity is maybe slightly more common these days than fire immunity, only because the blast immune troops are more popular (you'll see a lot more Satyxis Raiders than Assault Kommandos) and there are some troops/spells that grant Blast Immunity but basically nothing that grants fire immunity.

I generally get decent performance out of my Sunburst when I take it. The RNG is long enough that it almost always gets at least a couple of shots off before it dies, usually more than that. The AoE is big and powerful enough to be a threat to most infantry too. The RAT is good enough (with spotter support) that you can directly hit those DEF 12 heavies pretty reasonably too, and POW 16 is enough to damage a column.

The downside is that they're stuck with Light Artillery rules and are IMHO a little on the expensive side for what they bring. They're a very solid 2.5 point unit.

If you want to have fun though, bring two of them and the Vessel of Judgement. When the Gunner dies, use Doors of Judgement to get a parting shot off before promoting. Added bonus: You can advance your 4" before you make the shot if you want, and the spotter bonus still works.

[paradox]

When the Gunner dies, use Doors of Judgement to get a parting shot off before promoting. Added bonus: You can advance your 4" before you make the shot if you want, and the spotter bonus still works.

Will you explicate this for me please?

[Marzuki]

Will you explicate this for me please?

The Light Artillery rule is only for when the model moves during an activation. Doors of Judgement does not cause the model to activate, so the Leader can make a full advance to get b2b with a grunt in the unit and and then fire away at +2 attack.

[PG_KestrelM1]

If you want to have fun though, bring two of them and the Vessel of Judgement. When the Gunner dies, use Doors of Judgement to get a parting shot off before promoting. Added bonus: You can advance your 4" before you make the shot if you want, and the spotter bonus still works.

The doors of judgment thing does sound fun, as a parting POW 16 is always nice, but I'm fairly sure that the spotter bonus doesn't work if you're not currently B2B with a grunt.

[jandrese]

The doors of judgment thing does sound fun, as a parting POW 16 is always nice, but I'm fairly sure that the spotter bonus doesn't work if you're not currently B2B with a grunt.

It doesn't, but it does work if you are in B2B with a grunt, so even if the old grunt died, you could walk over to the other one and get the bonus. Also, that grunt would then be promoted to leader and take over the gun.

[regleant]

Gonna' try out the Sunburst for the first time tomorrow. I've owned the model, unbuilt, for about 8 months now.

That said, whoever designed this model should be shot. I hope the plastic one is easier to assemble.

[Themainmenoth]

I want a plastic one, I dought it'll come out any time soon however.

[Volaguera]

I just used a Sunburst to caster-kill the other day with Kreoss1 :P

[PG_marijnh]

Sunbursts are pretty nice. I've had some good results against infantry with them - just beware of Tough and/or multi-wound infantry.

[Arractur]

The more I think about them the more I sure that I will get at least one(and very maybe two at once) for my Vindictus army - get them into position then just SHOOT - 16|16 blast-4 with good accuracy with no need to feed it with focus for 3 points is awesome for me. Good target for Roven also.

[Gavriel]

They are awesome to have with the Reznik theme that gives them AD. Being able to get them right where you want them on turn one is awesome.

I've also seen some experiments in using them for reinforcements that seemed to work well.

[paradox]

It doesn't, but it does work if you are in B2B with a grunt, so even if the old grunt died, you could walk over to the other one and get the bonus. Also, that grunt would then be promoted to leader and take over the gun.

The Light Artillery rule is only for when the model moves during an activation. Doors of Judgement does not cause the model to activate, so the Leader can make a full advance to get b2b with a grunt in the unit and and then fire away at +2 attack.

That helps.
I hadnt realied light artillery only applied during activation.

[Del Fuego]

It seems like someone is using them to effect. They just got their first reported kill in the Caster Kill Study.

[allenamenvergeben]

in my last game the sunburst forced a tough roll from a longrider (longrider was on full hp) and killed a fellcaller hero. For a 3 point model thats pretty good in my opinion.

[regleant]

So I just learned that it has no hitpoints, little means of safety as a large base, and no self sac from the grunts. With no defense or armor on this 3 pt model, one shot and it dies. Easily.

Am I missing something? It really does not seem worth the points, now.

[Silverstar843]

It seems like someone is using them to effect. They just got their first reported kill in the Caster Kill Study.

First of all, that thread has been up for years, but it took how long to get the Sunburst on there? Hell the Vassal Mekanik and Wracks were already on there!
Second of all, just because one more person is using it doesn't mean it's gaining popularity.
Third, I hate it OH so much.

[paradox]

1. It counts as being on a small base, like all artillery and the Covenant. (Man-sized rule).
2. It has a 16" range.
3. It works well shooting at angles from a flank, so is often in position to be ignored.

If the opponent wants it dead, it dies. But it usually is not top priority.

[regleant]

Paradox - I looked on the card and in the book, but don't see the "man size" rule listed under the Deliverer Sunburst Crew as I see on the Covenant. Can you point me to that reference?

[regleant]

Found the reference under Weapon Crews, but now I am even more confused. It says: "Unlike with other units, if the Leader of a weapon crew leaves play it replaces a Grunt in the unit only if the Grunt is within 1". Otherwise the Leader model leaves play and the player controlling the weapon crew chooses another model to become the unit commander."

So does that mean:
1) If the Sunburst Leader model (large base that counts as man-sized) is destroyed, one of the grunts within 1" is replaced by the Sunburst Leader model (large base)?
2) If there is no grunt within 1", then the Sunburst Leader model (large base) does not come back.

If so, then it's not as bad as I thought and I played it incorrectly last night.

And yes, 16" is nice, but I was against Cygnar...

[jandrese]

That's right. It's basically a restriction to the normal field promotion rule that requires the promoted grunt to be within 1" of the leader to be eligible for a full field promotion. If nobody is close enough then one of the grunts just becomes and officer and the gun is lost.

[Armides]

I like the SBC in the new Reznik Tierlist. AD is nice for them^^

[Trollknight]

I run two with psev. rat 8 is so much fun with them. Has any one used them as re-enforcements yet?