Desolation Engine and Leviticus

[Zorlath]

I'm thinking of ordering a Leveticus crew and wondering if I should order the Engine to go with him. I'm considering something like this:

26/30 - 4 Stones

Leveticus

Rusty Alyce

Steampunk Arachnid Swarm

Steampunk Abomination

Steampunk Abomination

Steampunk Abomination

So I'm starting off with three SPA, do you ever find yourself creating enough SPAs to find it beneficial to bring them together to form the Engine?

Have you ever found the Engine to be better than the sum of his parts?

I don't have any experience with a Leveticus crew, but it seems like the SPAs are good enough to never want to merge together.

[icemantis99]

Okay, I'm, going to impart upon thee the most deadly and dreaded of the SPAs tactics...

The Desolation Engine Choo-Choo Pain Train!

How's this work? Get 4 or more SPAs. Out-activate your opponent, if you can.

Get Levi to cast Blessings of Desolation on the back-most SPA. Get Rusty Alyce to cast Burn Out on another, or the same SPA (Depends on if you can keep it alive easily, you don't want the cast-upon SPA to get nuked.).

Move the SPA swarm downfield in a diamond formation- Keep Pace lets you push each SPA in base-to-base back into base-to-base, so you can drag around 5-6 SPAs as a group.

Once you get to your second-to-last SPA, move it, then cast Concentrated Deformation. Place the new DE as far upfield as you can. With 4 SPAS, you can get around 15 inches upfield, including the DE base size.

Since the last SPA never activated, the new DE has 2 APs, and since it's a replacement effect, is still affected by both Blessings of Desolation, giving it a auto-Warping Touch, and Burn Out, giving it a Reactivate.

Charge the DE downfield. Overall, you get somewhere around a 20 inch threat range. Not too shabby. Finish t charge, and get te free melee attack from Melee Expert, cast Desolation for (0), end first activation.

Reactivate the DE, and either swing 3 times against what's in your reach, or charge again. After this, or before, depending, cast Desolation again.

Your goal here is to kill at least 2 enemy models with te DE's melee attacks, giving you two new SPAs. Then, if your DE is killed, you're good to make another DE next round if your first is killed.

All in all, the DE is a Glass Cannon, but what a cannon!

Have any questions? I'm not the greatest explainer, so if you need clarification, please ask.

-Chris.

[karn987]

Oh always! The Engine is awesome beyond the sum of it's parts easily.

The SPA's are kinda sad alone, terrible CB, not to quick and don't hit to hard. The Engine hits so much harder, is so much tougher, and does sooooo much more damage. You want it, you need it, you should love it =D.

That said, I run two types of lists with him. I either bring 4 spa's at the start and run up the field with them and turn into the engine to attack.

Or I bring other constructs and maybe an SPA or two and make more as I go through the game.

But oh god yes the Engine is amazing and worth it!

What lead you to believe it wasnt?

[Zorlath]

Well, I've got very few games under my belt, but I've noticed that out activating your opponent is key.

I think maybe I'm putting too much hope in Caustic Presence? Or whatever the name of that ability is, where the SPAs damage things around them in the close phase...

I'm very glad to hear this, because the Engine model is cool beyond cool, and I fancy myself a modeler more than gamer, so I'm looking forward to building my Leveticus list now.

@icemantis99

I see what you're talking about. I over looked Burn Out though, which appears key in generating those other two SPAs you'd need.