Steam tank army for 1k pts double

[Heaven_lord]

Hey,

Do you think possible to build a 1k pts competitive list for doubles with mostly steam tanks ? In living city?

Thanks a lot !

[readercolin]

No.  The problem?  You are trying to use steam tanks.  They are a fun model, but not a competitive one.

If you want to toss a steam tank or two in, then go for it.  If you don't really care about winning, then grab a steam tank commander, a hurricanum, 2 more steam tanks, and you have 70 points for a command point, or endless spell, or a gyrocopter.

As a quick reference, a steam tank will put out an average of 1.5 damage at max range, and 4.5 damage at 8" before rend.  If you give it +1 from the hurricanum and +1 from the steam tank commander, you can buff that up to 2.5 damage at range and 7.3 at 8".

A block of 20 hangunners cost the same number of points and will put out 9.3 damage at 16", without any buffs beyond standing still.  The handgunners also get to stand and shoot if they get charged, and can be buffed up to 14.5 damage with a freeguild general giving them 1/3 of its buff.

Yes, the tanks are more durable.  But their damage output is so low, their movement so unreliable, and their damage table tanks their stats at incredible speed.  Lastly, they only count as a single unit on objectives, which means running them is going to lose you the objective game unless you can clear off your opponents entire army - which would require that they can deal damage more along the lines of the buffed handgunners than their own stat block to accomplish.

So again, if you want a steam tank army for the giggles, go for it.  But if you want a competitive list, leave your steam tanks at home.

[Ironblaze]

Readercolin summed it up nicely. 1k points of a Steam Tanks army wouldn't be great from a competitive standpoint. I'd also advocate against Living City at that point range, for as much fun as deepstriking tanks is, you can't ambush very many of them at such a small point value. You'd probably get more bang for your buck running as Greywater for the range increase or Tempest Eye for the run and shoot on one of them (or two if you can sneak a second CP in from point-buying or the artifact/spell).

However, the other side to this argument is clearly the most awesome Cities army possible at 1k points is:
Steam Tank Commander

Steam Tank

Steam Tank

Steam Tank

(Insert 150 points of whatever, it's unimportant and lame because it's not a Steam Tank. Cogsmith wouldn't be terrible, nor would some cheap infantry like 20 Corsairs)

[Crashnarf]

Or a Lord Ordinator 😉