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I have decided on my next army and it will be IG ; I love the calvary guys 105 points that on a charg has St5 ini 5 powerweapons.

Ive seen them played pretty successfully as well simply because you can savely put them behind Chimeras moving 12 and with the Move Move Move make them keep up.

Add in that Move Move Move seems to work with them rather well to ensure a great distance for that run since they come with fleet your almost guaranteed that charge.


I know I know everyone LOVES Valkyries and yes they are super awesome, but I am running more of a Horde / CC army which yes I know that is so slowed blah blah blah.

Because they are S3* T3 Sv 5+ and are supposed to be used in CC.

*Unless they get the charge, but that only happens once.

They usually kill MEQs deader than gak when they charge as well as Terms / etc.. especially after softening the unit up with fire from rest of your army.


also, they should always get the charge. 6 inch move ; D6 feelt ; Assault 12.

Its 105 points seriously thats awesome value.


It is what is called a Glass Canon unit of course they die horribly but hopefuly youll get your points back

The reason not to like RRs is because they are only modeled as attillans and the occasional tallarn, then there's the steampunk death riders of Krieg.

They are an amazing unit, but the models suck* and look out of place in all but the most obscure of themed armies.

(*purely opinion at that point)

I'm a big fan of rough riders. I think the only reason they are not seen in lists more often is that they compete for fast attack slots with a lot of other good stuff. It was an easier decision in the last codex when there were not as many goodies in fast attack but there is still a place for them in your army if you want them.

@Illeix: I used WHFB empire outriders for the basis of my rough riders. I agree with you that the attila the hun looking models are crap and the tallarns don't really look right in a cadian army.

Hollismason wrote:They usually kill MEQs deader than gak when they charge as well as Terms / etc..

Do they really, though? Let's take a closer look. 105 points for 9 guys and a sergeant. That's 21 attacks on the charge. 10.5 hits, 7 kills. 3 guys left. They choose to fail their morale check, escape with their superior initiative and you get gunned down next turn. Wah.

So in perfect conditions, they can do ok. You can do better than ok though, and a good player won't give you ideal conditions. What if his squad is in a rhino? You might kill his ride, then he jumps out and smokes you. What if he just... shoots them on turn 1? T3, 5+ save. Bolters kill them dead and 10 guys on cavalry bases is a pretty big target to hide. It would take 2-3 chimeras (how expensive is this unit getting now? like 250 points to almost kill a squad of marines?) to hide them behind in order to reach their targets intact, but once you get there you have those 2-3 chimeras just chilling in "please melta me" range.

Like Ogryns, this unit is best left for the fluffy armies. If you want a good CC unit then take some allied Grey Knight Terminators or take a tooled up command squad with Straken. Don't forget to give those guys a priest. Now that's a CC unit worth playing

My rough riders never fail to fail miserably.

They always wiff their attacks or run away after three of them die. It's become quite amusing.

I disagree Grankobot.

I always put meltabombs on my sgt. to give the squad a chance against transports.

Shoot them on turn one? Well, like any soft unit, they must be deployed in cover or out of LOS. The idea is not to take them just to "kill a squad of marines." The best role for RRs is the role of countercharging. They protect your line from nasties that threaten it. They can at least force the enemy to think about them before closing with you.

augustus5 wrote:I disagree Grankobot.

I always put meltabombs on my sgt. to give the squad a chance against transports.

Shoot them on turn one? Well, like any soft unit, they must be deployed in cover or out of LOS. The idea is not to take them just to "kill a squad of marines." The best role for RRs is the role of countercharging. They protect your line from nasties that threaten it. They can at least force the enemy to think about them before closing with you.

I can see them being used as a "do not go here" unit. The problem is, they're not that threatening. Anything that wants to shoot you doesn't have to deal with them. Anything that wants to assault you is going to be either tougher or killier than they are.

RRs are just a poorly designed unit. Killy, squishy, small numbers = fail.

Because almost no one are able to spell cavalry right

RRs are just a poorly designed unit. Killy, squishy, small numbers = fail.

But Killy, squishy, small numbers and cheap = win

RR's are great, the only problem with them, is that they compete with the birds and dogs and even sentinels (as they just look so cool)

Armoured sentinels do look pretty kick ass and fill a nifty roll of having plasma cannons.

I swear by rough riders. I converted mine using cadians and the chaos marauder cavalry. Except mine are modeled with no lances, I have them all with folding stock lasguns because it fits so much better with the rest of the army. As for their use they are amazing for 105 points. I will hold them in reserve as I play a gun line style guard army most of the time, and usually by the time they become available the enemy is at my doorstep or already there, and the launch the perfect counter attack, and I usually take creed so he can order them to have furious assault and they will wipe out most space marine squads

I'd rather have just about anything instead of Rough Riders. Off the top of my head, here are some things that are of comparable cost that I'd take long before even considering RR's (in no particular order):

1. Kitted-out Veterans
2. Vendetta
3. Platoon Battle Squad
4. 2 infantry squads
5. Sly Marbo
6. Hydra
7. Griffon
8. Medusa
9. Valkyrie
10. 2 Chimeras (if you have units without them, obviously)
11. Storm Troopers

All of those are more powerful and generally more useful than RR's. RR's are garbage.

Rough Riders are a good counter-charge unit, but they use a slot with much better options available, and IG don't really need counter-charge units anymore.

grankobot wrote:

Hollismason wrote:They usually kill MEQs deader than gak when they charge as well as Terms / etc..

Do they really, though? Let's take a closer look. 105 points for 9 guys and a sergeant. That's 21 attacks on the charge. 10.5 hits, 7 kills. 3 guys left. They choose to fail their morale check, escape with their superior initiative and you get gunned down next turn. Wah.

So there are three guys left they can gun down 10 RR in one shooting phase before they are charged again and killed.

Addicted to Bleach wrote:

grankobot wrote:

Hollismason wrote:They usually kill MEQs deader than gak when they charge as well as Terms / etc..

Do they really, though? Let's take a closer look. 105 points for 9 guys and a sergeant. That's 21 attacks on the charge. 10.5 hits, 7 kills. 3 guys left. They choose to fail their morale check, escape with their superior initiative and you get gunned down next turn. Wah.

So there are three guys left they can gun down 10 RR in one shooting phase before they are charged again and killed.

3 guys + the rest of the army, unless you're trying to say that roughriders are good in 150 point games or something...

I always use RRs, even in a tourney list....as they fulfill a vital role in finishing off something in the same turn that shooting failed to do, and they are cheap enough to be used as screens. Better than a regular squad, since a regular squad can shoot. Attacking a full strength unit is folly, unless it is a vehicle with a rear armor of 10. Finishing off weakened units in the assault phase is what RR's do best, and trust me it is great fun to shove a unit that can do a lot of PW attacks up the gut of a weakened enemy unit.

They have not always performed optimally, but what unit does? But they have performed spectacularly in several instances more than they fail. Garbage they are not. An option they are, depending on your army's theme. Whatever you think of them, an MEQ army will always think of them as a threat, and you can use that to your advantage.

I've never used rough riders, but they do look like a viable option for the assaulty guard army I'm building up. Like stated before, I see them as a good unit for mopping up anything that didnt get killed from ranged fire. As for the models, I'll be using space marine scout bikes with cadians on em; lasguns where the storm bolter goes.

Just don't give them any additional options. After the lances are gone and by some twist of good fate they are still alive in your next turn, go tank hunting with them, as they have krak grenades. Pounce on a tank that did not move or moved at combat speed, and the results may sometimes surprise you, although I guarantee some RR will die in the resultant explosion.

If for nothing else you REALLY need to bring down a transport or vehicle and shooting fails to do (it happens trust me!) then RR with lances can be used as a last resort. As long as the rear armor is 10, multiple s5 attacks vs rear armor is no joke.

In other words RR are more versatile than most people think. Keep in mind they are expandable and if used smartly they can be a useful means to an end in your army.

Once while playing apocalypse I used my brettonians to make 6 10 man rough rider squads. So awesome, those eldar got rode down like grass

"I have seen war in all it's forms. I have seen feral wolrd savages braining each other with stones, and I have monitored the death of a whole planet at the hands of a virus bomb. I have seen Space Marines drop to certain death, and win. I have seen Titans crush whole platoons underfoot.
But there is no more stirring sight in war than the charge of massed cavalry."

grankobot wrote:3 guys + the rest of the army, unless you're trying to say that roughriders are good in 150 point games or something...

If the rest of the army shoots at some fast moving guardsman as opposed to things that shoots melta/plasma/missile/etc, I'd gladly take that trade.

Rough Riders function decently as a counter charge unit but are pretty terribad next to the other fast attack choices. Rough Riders hit hard but only on the charge and are really squishy with true line of sight can be hard to hide them so they might die before they get to charge.

The Valkyrie Vendetta Variant is probably the best unit in the Imperial Guard Code with its 3 twin linked las cannons for killing tanks or monsters, transport capability and its a fast skimmer for carring troops for late objective grabs or scout moving and delivering melta bomb veterans to bomb stationary vehicles first turn. All this for a bargain price of 25 pts more then a unit of 10 Rough Riders with no upgrades

The vendetta and hell hounds and sentinels fill such a different role than the rough riders though. You have to take your army as a whole rather than just saying a vendetta is better than rough riders, because its not if all you have in your army is lascannons

I love 'em.

Major style points for anyone that uses them.

I've posted several reports wherein the RR fared quite well. As Volkov has said, the skimmers , sentinels, and dog tanks all have roles to play which the others cant. For example, yes vendettas can shoot very well, but let's you you want to root out a unit of meganobz or MEQ's in cover this turn who is going to assault you, or you need to get rid off in order to occupy terrain. Shooting may kill some or even most, sure, but really besides a tooled up command squad with advisors, only a RR unit can have a decent chance of finishing off the survivors, and RR are much cheaper too.

Again, it all depends on the context of your army. I prefer to have the option to at least actively participate in the assault phase. After all, there is no lack of shooty stuff in the IG list. And I have the other FA slots for them pretty flyers. And again trust me any MEQ army will be wary of blindly charging up your middle if you have a unit of RR waiting for them. By hopefully forcing your opponent to react to you, you have taken away some of the initiative, and initiative and momentum are also factors for success in a game of 40k.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The major hindrance really is the models available. As of now, RR are a conversion unit for most players, and of course many players are put off by that. If there were better options for the unit (I use WW2 style bikes) then I believe more IG players will use them.

I'm planning on pairing up RRs with Banewolves. Yes, a lot of fast attack slottage used, but excellent at mopping up stragglers left out of template death...

Currently the "list " for theme is

Creed w/ Command Squad
Inquistor

Elites
Rogue Psyker unit
Marbo
Callidus

Troops
Veteran Squad
Al Raheem
2 infantry platoons
Platoon HQ
2 Infantry Platoons
2 Squads of Greyknights ( represent chaos )

Fast Attack
1 Squad with "khan"
2 Normal Rough Rider Squads

Wow ambush list..very interesting!

Your going to make 30 RR's? May be easier as a chaos guard force, marauder horsemen + guardsmen bits. Still, sounds like quite a job

The more I look at it the Rogue Psykers don't really fit the list.