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I like the idea of having mercinary options in an army. Now i dont want it to be like the allies system. In my opinion it should be i can take mercinaries just like they are from the same codex as my chosen race except there will be obvious limits. I was wondering if people had cool ideas for mercs?

And maybe some fluff too that would be interesting. One of my gaurd armies will be merc heavy so ill use a lot of these ideas.

Now this is a draft. When we are done here we will make a neat published version on a new thread.

The obvious ones are kroot, vespid, loxatl, beast people and so on. Anyone got cool ideas? I'll take the good ones and add it to this post but ill start with the possible loxatl rules here:



Loxatl Mercenaries

WS: 3
BS: 3
S: 4
T: 4
W: 1
I: 2
A: 1
LD: 10

Equipment:

Flachette Shotgun: R18" - Assault 2 - S4 - AP Nill
May take solid rounds giving it the following shooting option: May Opt to shoot as a Hot Shot Lasgun with Assault 1 instead of rapid fire

Natural camo: Count as equiped with camo cloaks

One model may take a melta bomb.

Points 9

Up to 5 in a unit, minimum 3.

Universal Loxatl Rules:

Cold Blooded: Re roll failed Moral tests

Predator: Gains the behind enemy lines rule detailed in the storm trooper entry

Adhesive Skin: Move Through Cover and Ignores Dangerous terrain tests. (maybe pass over impassible terrain?)

Rancid Stench: Counts as having defensive grenades

Slow Minded (maybe Re name): +1 to deny the witch roles.

Natural Armour: 6+ Armour save which cannot be modified.

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Rak'Gol Mercenaries - 9 points each
Unit Composition: 1 - 5 Rak'Gol Mercenaries

Ws 5
Bs 2
S 5
T 4
W 1
I 4
A 2
Ld 8
Sv 6+

Equipment:

Razor Gun
Range - 18"
S - 3
Ap - 5
Type - Assault 2

Special Rules:

Bloodthirsty Horror: When this unit destroys another unit, the unit gains a frenzy point. Units that reach a milestone of frenzy points receive the following benefits:
1 point - +1 T
2 points - Rage
3 points - +1 S
4 points - Feel No Pain

Options:

One Mercenary may swap it's Razor Gun for a:

Rad Axe
Strength - User
Ap - 3
Type - Unwieldy, Melee

Howler Rifle - + 15 points
Range - 24"
S - 4
Ap - 4
Type - Heavy 3

Rad Beam Cannon - + 25 points
Range - 24"
S - 5
Ap - 4
Type - Gets Hot!, Poisoned (3+), Blast, Assault 1

Rules:

Multi-Limbed
A Rak'Gol with 2 pairs of close combat weapons may choose to use either 1 pair (focused) or both pairs (unfocused). Using one pair allows for a normal attack. Using both pairs grants + 1 attack and rage but with - 1 to WS and Initiative and rolls to hit of 1 result in the mercenary wounding himself.


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Rogue Psyker Mob

Psychic talent is not a rare thing, though the training to use it is. Despite the dangers of doing so, many dubious organizations and individuals are willing to take the risk of using unsanctioned and untrained psykers on the battlefield - and enough talented but untrained individuals rot in the gutters of the Imperium and beyond to fill this demand. Typically little more than raw recruits with little or no battlefield training, these unprepared and unguarded individuals shine like a mighty beacon in the warp, earning them the unfortunate habit of attracting a number of hungry and hostile daemons...

Rogue Psyker
WS: 2 BS: 2, S: 3, T: 3, W: 1, I: 3, A: 1, Ld: 7, Sv: 6+

Cost: 10 points per model
Unit Size: 5-10
Wargear: Laspistol, Sub-flak armour

Special Rules: Brotherhood of Psykers, Psyker (see list) Open Minds

Open Minds

Psykers may only cast 1 power a turn as they know they must use their powers in moderation.

Due to the lack of control these Rogue Psykers have over their powers, they are less than reliable at keeping them under control than your usual battlefield psyker. Because of this, no independent character would be insane enough to join this unit! In addition, the unit suffers Perils of the Warp on any roll of a double when taking a psychic test. When the unit suffers Perils, rather than taking a wound, roll on the following chart to determine the resullt;

1-2: *Pop*

The head of 1d3 psykers burst apart suddenly. Remove that many model from the unit as a casualty, with no saves of any kind whatsoever allowed.

3-4: Kaboom!

Randomly select one Psyker in the unit - they immediately blow apart in a firestorm of psychic violence. Place the large blast template directly over the model and inflict a S4 AP - hit on every model under the template. The exploding model is then removed as a casualty. the unit then takes a blindness test and any unit within D6 inches must also take a blindness test.

5-6: Daemonic Possession!

All models in the unit are possessed by daemons, and rampage wildly around the battlefield. The models gain the Beast unit type and Daemon special rule, including a 5+ invulnerable save. In addition, roll d6 times on the Daemonic Boon table (see Codex: Chaos Space Marines) re-rolling duplicate results as well as spawnhood or Daemon Prince, and apply these results to the unit. They then rampage across the battlefield, becoming a neutral unit that moves towards the nearest unit (friend or foe) each turn and charges if possible. If no charge is possible they must run. The unit moves at the start of your movement phase, and assaults at the start of your assault phase. It is considered to be a denial unit for the purposes of holding objectives, but denies both you and your opponent.

Brother hood of psykers

All psykers count as one unit for the purpose of casting psykic powers.

Rogue Psyker Abilities:

Psychic Bolt.
For every model in the unit it has 2" range, so a full squad of 10 is a 20"range. Further more for every two models determines the number of shots, str and AP, so a full 10 man squad it would be assault 5, str 5 AP 2.

Warp Laser(lame name I know)
it gets 3"for every model so at 10 models its 30 inches and it gets 1 str for each model so it would be str 10 at 10 models. The AP is D6 minus 1 (a roll of 1 is a 0), it also has gets hot rule, if it gets hot 1 random model has to make a save or take a wound.

United Sheild
United Sheild targets a friendly unit within 18", the unit becomes fearless, +1 wound, +1 toughness and their armor save increases by +1, if there is 10 models the effects are doubled and the unit causes fear. However if the unit fails to cast the power the target unit suffers the open mind chart and a character must perish immediately. If no characters then roll to randomly determine a model.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Beast Men

WS: 4 BS: 3, S: 3, T: 3, W: 1, I: 3, A: 1, Ld: 7, Sv: 6+

9 points a model, 3-6 models.

Gear
Defensive Grenades
Frag Grenades
Krak Grenades
Smoke Grenades
CC weapon
Auto Pistol

May take one demo Charge for every three models in the unit. 15pts
May take 1 spike grenade for every 2 models. 9 points

Special Rules

Grenade flurry
instead of making a normal shooting attack, the whole unit opts to throw grenades, this is done with risk though since the enemy is almost upon them and they are trying to pull the pin or set/activate the explosive device, their BS is reduced by -1 and on rolls of 1 (using the gets hot method for blasts) a randomly determined model dies with no save of any kind as the device explodes in their hand or face. They must use the same grenade with the following exceptions:
Demo charges/spike grenades can be thrown instead of the rest of the squads chosen grenade. 1 Smoke grenade may be thrown but the squad may not assault and any grenades used suffer 2 wounds for each suffered by the grenade flurry rule.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rogue Mutants

to come

Not Vespid, they're all with the Tau because of their "translator" helms.

You could look at Hrrud and Clawed Fiends. Dark Eldar, Ork and Necron mercenaries would probably be best represented as an allied detachment.

By 6+ armour which cannot be modified, do you mean 6++ (cannot be modified by AP 6 attacks) or just 6+ which can't be improved or reduced (Entropic Strike)?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
You could also have human mercs, using rules from the GK Warrior Acolytes, and possibly renegade Fire Warriors (with dilapidated equipment)?

Ork Freeboteerz
Human Pirates and Mercs
Squat Bortherhood
Eldar Corsairs

Maybe an Inquisitor and/or Rogue Trader HQ option - they often use them. Have a Generic Leader for each race:

Eldar Prince
Ork Kaptin
Human Pirate Lord
Human Mercenary Captain
Squat Sargeant

Then a few named characters

Maybe make it that the basic units of the same race are troops and otherwise Elite:

So an Eldar Corsair Prince can have Eldar Corsairs as troops, Dark Eldar, Human or Squats as Elites.

Sgt_Smudge wrote:
By 6+ armour which cannot be modified, do you mean 6++ (cannot be modified by AP 6 attacks) or just 6+ which can't be improved or reduced (Entropic Strike)?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
You could also have human mercs, using rules from the GK Warrior Acolytes, and possibly renegade Fire Warriors (with dilapidated equipment)?

1 = well i had the necron ability in mind when writing this so i thought if they remove their flesh (aka armour) then the loaxatl would die so not modified means no matter what it is always a 6+ unless hit by AP6 or better. Simply means cannot be modified at all. i.e cannot be improved or reduced.

2 = humans are the obvious ones and GK idea spounds cool. even the old last chancers sound like a cool unit to have as mercs.

in short im just after possible cool merc rules people have thought up so i can get converting.

In the case of Entropic Strike, it only strips armour saves on an unsaved wound, so on a 1 wound model an ability that protects against it is pretty much useless.

The last Imperial Armour book had lost of rules for Eldar Corsairs.

true but its for anything including better armour modifyers. not a big deal but meh

They didn't seem all that interesting though sadly.

Thats why i put this up, so people can add their wants in a merc and stuff etc. i mean to me this unit would be usefull. maybe i should give them scouts i dont know.

How about the Rak'gol? Could those be used?

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Rak'Gol

Anything can be used i reckon. What are these Rak'gol?

I probably should have put the link up first. Here.

I think in a nutshell, they're worm-ish xenos creatures with incredibly primitive technology.

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Rak'Gol

Heck those are cool, im at work so cant read it all but at a glance they look like savage hard shelled aliens with natural (i.e arms a weapons) weapons? could be cool. If you have a better summary then it would be much appreciated. ill add what i think it might be rules wise and go from there.

I'll give it a go.
- They are reptilian creatures, larger than humans with 8 limbs
- Their technology is quite crude (most of their weapons are close combat oriented) but they still have guns
- They have an odd type of psyker (forget what it's called though). Techno something
- They are incredibly savage and are very likely to go berserk
- The few that dare investigate the Rak'Gol usually don't come back
- They can somehow survive in the Immaterium (or pass through it. I forget which)
- To the Imperium, they are terrifying
- You're right with the natural weapons but it's more Geiger-esqe with what looks like the metal fused with the flesh.

Can someone please tell me why these xenos don't have a codex yet?

Hope that helps. There's a lot more on the link but this should be a start.

Awesome well if you make some decent rules ill add it to the OP because that sounds cool. Maybe a simple version of paon tokens or something i dont know, for the rage thing.

I'll see what I can do. It may come off a little overpowered but I'll try to get it done.

Awesome, and anythings a start should be cool. probably best to start big then work it down after some thought.

I see where you are going with this. I think you should go off on the other thread you posted in and keep these loxatl guys as their own codex and they have a special rule to count as mercs for any race/codex and in doing so does not count as allies but operate under a merc system, which is in the middle of battle brothers and allies of convenience, so basically they are not treated as non targetable enemies but cannot also benefit from battle brothers rules. And their is no force org chart minimum, but you cannot take an merc HQ in this way. They use up the force org of your primary detachment, but you can take just an elites from them or just a heavy if you want or even multiples, but the max you can take of mercenaries is it cannot be greater then your primary detachments number of unit choices. Also I would say they have two points costs, a base one for their own army and codex then a second one that's slightly more expensive to take as Mercs

Also you can run mercs as a full army but they cannot/will not take allies. And obviously tyranids can't have access.

Also reason why they can't take allies is because mercs work on their own when not hired, they don't want to share in spoils with anyone and they don't care about the bigger picture with wars.

I want to keep the loxatl dudes here because they are reknowned mercs. But your bang on with how i want them to work army wise. But the loxatl guys are what got me thinking so i added them to this first off.

I think what we need first is a basic list of mercs that already exist then from there we can expand on it. ill do more tonight.

Well that was fun. Anyway, here goes nothing...

Rak'Gol Mercenaries - 9 points each
Unit Composition: 1 - 5 Rak'Gol Mercenaries

Ws 5
Bs 2
S 4
T 4
W 1
I 3
A 1
Ld 8
Sv 6+

Equipment:

Razor Gun
Range - 18"
S - 3
Ap - 5
Type - Assault 2

Special Rules:

Bloodthirsty Horror: When this unit destroys another unit, the unit gains a frenzy point. Units that reach a milestone of frenzy points receive the following benefits:
1 point - +1 T
2 points - Rage
3 points - +1 S
4 points - Feel No Pain

Options:

One Mercenary may swap it's Razor Gun for a:

Howler Rifle - + 15 points
Range - 24"
S - 4
Ap - 4
Type - Heavy 3

Rad Beam Cannon - + 25 points
Range - 24"
S - 5
Ap - 4
Type - Gets Hot!, Poisoned (3+), Blast, Assault 1

I think it's a little overpowered but it's a start at least. Would you like me to add more units or characters or will just this unit do?

i RECKON WE KEEP IT TO ONE ICONIC UNIT PER RACE. BUT FEEL FREE TO MAKE CHARACTERS TOO.

I think its awesome if you point cost them properly, but the rad beam cannon, I think should be assault 1 or rapid fire 18" because a small blast for that can suck since if people do 2"coherency a small blast gets 1 guy. Its ok if its a blast just not heavy at that range and also if its poison +3, you don't need a str, poison can't effect vehicles. The base gun is cool so is the first upgrade one

Edit: holy crap I re read it and saw you points them at 50 each lol, with a t 4 and 6+ armor? More around 8 or 9 points each.

Dat Guy wrote:I think its awesome if you point cost them properly, but the rad beam cannon, I think should be assault 1 or rapid fire 18" because a small blast for that can suck since if people do 2"coherency a small blast gets 1 guy. Its ok if its a blast just not heavy at that range and also if its poison +3, you don't need a str, poison can't effect vehicles. The base gun is cool so is the first upgrade one

Edit: holy crap I re read it and saw you points them at 50 each lol, with a t 4 and 6+ armor? More around 8 or 9 points each.

And to think I thought they were not expensive enough. Actually, they were originally going to be S 5, A 2, and W 2 so I must have forgotten to change it. I'll edit it.

As for the rad beam cannon, according to the fluff, it seems kind of like a very crude multi melta or plasma cannon. It fires ionized radiation (which is why it's poisoned) don't know what radiation does to vehicles though but if it is dangerous to vehicles, then maybe a property like the gauss could be better.

Swastakowey wrote:i RECKON WE KEEP IT TO ONE ICONIC UNIT PER RACE. BUT FEEL FREE TO MAKE CHARACTERS TOO.

Sorry if this somehow comes off as rude but did I accidentally do something wrong or were you stuck on caps lock while typing this? I apologize if it's not the latter.

sorry i use doss extensively at work so sometimes i forget to turn the caps lock off. very sorry. in no way was meant to sound rude.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
DOS the old programme

Ah okay. Thanks! Oh, and one more thing about the Rak'gol I should mention. They don't really communicate very well with other races so having them as mercenaries is sort of bending the fluff a bit but they're not like Tyranids with the whole hive mind thing and have some form of sentience, if primal. Don't know if that works for you but hopefully it does.

Don't try to cover it up now lol.

Ok I guess I can see where you are coming from, maybe then against vehicles it can work like entropic strike on a 6 only though obviously after you hit. But the strength would still have no bearing against vehicles.

Sorry. I thought people edit on the same post they first put the stats on.

As for the cannon, sorry but I'm a little confused. Do you mean increase the strength of the cannon so it can affect vehicles or make a new property so it works like entropic strike on a 6 after hitting?

Well I mean the poison rule, poison wounds any non vehicle model on the set die roll regardless of toughness.

In the poisoned rule on page 40 in the rule book it says poison weapons are treated as Str 1 unless otherwise noted (which you did but the str would only effect instant death if its at least double the targets toughness). It goes further on to say this poisoned rule does not effect vehicles.

So even a str 10 poisoned gun could do nothing to a AV 10 vehicle.

In regards to your mercenary it seems geard for combat stat wise but doesn't have the equipment to do anything but shooting. I could be wrong but perhaps making it combat orientated gear wise too?