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I was talking to a mate the other day about the good ol days of 2nd edition when infantry armies still worked and we both came to the conclusion that it would be great fun to be able to field infantry armies again without the auto loose.

So does anyone miss infantry armies or is everybody enjoying being able to move an entire army around in transports?

Infantry armies worked perfectly fine in 3rd and 4th edition as well. My Salamanders foot slogged, and I rarely lost with them.

While I like that transports are better, I think they're too cheap now. It was like a trifecta of good things happening - barely any threat to the embarked unit when the vehicle is destroyed, damage tables being reworked to make it harder to destroy a vehicle, and in 5th edition codices transports becoming really cheap.

One of those things would have made transports taken more. Two of those things would have made transports really attractive to most people. All three turned 40k into a mechanized game.

That said - I prefer light mechanized. Infantry only with one tank isn't very exciting. Infantry with a smattering of tanks of different types makes for a really interesting game. Mechanized armies though, they bore me, and games with everything in transports bore me even more. I want to see your cool models, not just the bland Rhinos they're sitting in.

Lose, not loose*

I still play very infantry heavy armies and I tend to do alright. Marines are better off in rhinos, but mobs of 30 Ork boyz or multiple squads of Guardsmen can still do alright on foot. My army of sentinels, stormtroopers, and footslogging Guardsmen beat a mechvet army last week, so it's not like foot-heavy armies are invalidated. The added mobility from transports is good, but isn't the be all end all.

-Loki- wrote:I want to see your cool models, not just the bland Rhinos they're sitting in.

THIS. FORTYTHOUSAND TIMES THIS!

I look at artwork and see characterful soldiers throwing epic scale fights hand to hand or shooting.

But then I look at the game, and see boring parking lots with nary an emotion or sign of character.

wut?

I don't really miss them as that's what I try to run. I try to challange the popular armies that are "game winners" and play armies in ways everyone else either dosen't play anymore or thinks won't work.

We try to make rules in our gaming group for no AV/t6+/MC to make for fun infantry games. Its much more interesting when you are ONLY allowed infantry (as in foot troops, not the unit type "infantry") and tactics come into play a lot more I think.

Yes - I remember the days when a Rhino was a death trap and Land Raiders could carry Dreadnoughts.

I much prefer one or two tanks on a battlefield, not the rediculous amount of tankage seen in todays games.

ChiliPowderKeg wrote:

-Loki- wrote:I want to see your cool models, not just the bland Rhinos they're sitting in.

THIS. FORTYTHOUSAND TIMES THIS!

I look at artwork and see characterful soldiers throwing epic scale fights hand to hand or shooting.

But then I look at the game, and see boring parking lots with nary an emotion or sign of character.

wut?

This is exactly why I started with Daemons-my only vehicles are probably the best looking model in 40k currently! Except for maybe the terminator chaplain-that guy rocks

I keep hoping that 5th edition was GW trying to sell the warehouses of transports they had sitting around and 6th edition will tone them down somewhat.

To be honest, I'm pretty sure GW changed the rules to increase sales of transports. lol I don't think they care how the game is played as long as people are playing and buying. That's why the price of all transports increased.

I do agree, however, that transports are very efficient. However mech battles are so boring. I was using an all infantry BA army but I have recently focused on an all ork warbiker list. Both have the same mobility of mech armies, without the armour value !

Do I miss non-mech armies?

I never played a mech army, and still don't, so no.

I started off with mech guard, and have picked up 100+ infantry models for pure foot guard fun.

My chimeras and russes have been gathering dust. Playing all foot is simply...more fun. I don't know what it is, but every game is more of a tactical challenge, instead of "drop a bunch of pie plates and blow opponent off table by turn three at the latest, or lose horribly to a fast assault army".

Though tanks are cool, the game is much cooler on foot.

I see a pretty good mix around these parts.

I don't know where all these 100% mech gaming stores and clubs are, but it must be brutal.

I play horde guard all the time still with a decent with record. Its not that hard.

I seem to recall that the reason 2nd was so much more 'foot' heavy was becuase there simply wern't the models to represent tank options available. The rules were there, but a lot of things diden't have any kits available.

With the increased availability of tank models, they become more popular.

However, I agree with the OP, its gotten a tad bit silly. 9 LRBTs in one force org. chart?!? (and thats coming from a IG player!) I try to run my IG as a mixed force, with more emphasis placed on my platoons, and command staff, then on just dropping pie plates in order to win.

Cortez667 wrote:However, I agree with the OP, its gotten a tad bit silly. 9 LRBTs in one force org. chart?!?

I would pay money to get such an unbalanced list across the table from me at a tournament.


That said, maybe that person just likes tanks?

Eh, not really.

I mean, mobility may be the emphasis, but once you blow up the transports you'll get to the meaty goodness that is infantry eventually.

Sure, it was cool when entire armies were deployed on the table, but its not like they don't anymore, it's just that it takes more time for infantry to show up.

Mech Spam? I run infantry swarm IG, and, in all honesty, yeah I spam tanks...but that's cause I am a total threadhead. Tanks tanks tanks tanks....and, you know what? My tanks don't do that well, simply because, since everyone is meched out, everyone has hordes of AT weapons.

I always try to run what I call 'classsic Guard', infantry platoons mixed with heavy armor in support. It's a very nice army to look at, it's fluffy, and it's decently competitive....what more could a player ask for?

Hm...I love Tanks. Big walkers, huge killing machines, massive beasts of war. And I've come to enjoy the simplicity of having only a few models on the table. But, I do kinda facepalm just a little when I paint up a cool squad, only to ever pull them out when I'm about to assault, or they're about to die. Which, either way, doesn't really show off the awesomeness of a horde of Orks.

But, hey, I've played against a lot of infantry heavy armies. They're certainly viable. And fun! It's the MIX that is the most potent, IMO.

Infantry Guard armies would like to have a word with you.

Happygrunt wrote:Infantry Guard armies would like to have a word with you.

As would Green Tide and Tyranids

And footdar. Don't forget them!

I run a mech army... and let me tell you if I could trade in a chimera for some solid infantry I would... mech armies are just too powerful and doesnt make the game fun for the opponent

Mech armies are "just too powerful"?

lol

Well as cool as mechs are, there is something to be said about the vaste expanse of time it takes to place 90 Hormagaunts (3 units maxed out) and then roll for all the attacks, wounds and what not in a unit of 30 and then to repeat the process a second time and then a third time. Of course by the time they arrive to assualt the numbers will have thinned a bit, but don't forget about the fact that the "Nid player has a few MC's running with the gaunts to get the infantry out of the vehicles too.

Man that would be crazy... You'd need at least 120 dice for a unit if they all survived and were able to attack in an assualt

I run 1k all foot SM for fun sometimes. Its an uphill battle, but winning is more rewarding.

I like the idea of putting 5 tacticals with a heavy weapon in cover, then rushing the other 5 forward in a rhino. Really lets me cover the entire board with scoring models quickly.

Transports are so cheap these days. that its a no brainer to take (aside from specialized armies like green tide, nids/daemons, power blob ect). 10 Mechvets with 3 special weapons in a str 6 with heavy flamer AV 12 10 10 pillbox is freaking disgusting for the amount of points they pay.

I run a transport-less Night Lords army at the moment, with maybe a Defiler or Dead. Sometimes a tank. I do fine against people I play with regularly and even in the few games I played at the local store I do quite well.

Of course I do love Meltaguns, and have since before mech armies.

Seeing as I verse Green Tide, Nid swarm and Foot Slogging marines of all colours and maybe the odd foot Tau from time to time, no not really.

I miss all these "fullmeck" armies I keep hearing of.

Do I miss non-mech armies? Only when I'm playing my Tyranids against Imperial Guard. Facing a wall of multi-laser/heavy bolter touting Chimera, each packed with a missile launcher and a meltagun, is pretty daunting. Not unbeatable, but... knowing that everything in his list can kill anything in your list, but you can only hurt anything in his list once you reach and break his transports... is not always fun.

Seeing as how I got into the game well into 5th ed. and all I've really known is mech armies, I can't truly say that I miss them, but I think the game would be better off with a bit less in the way of vehicles. I'd like to see more actual infantry battles rather than "who can pop the transports first and run to the objectives faster." Granted, I'm not huge on objective games either, but that's a different thing.