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Yes, I know stormies kinda suck. Let's all take a deep breath and get past that. Have you taken that deep breath? Good. Let's begin.

How would you maximize what meager strengths the stormies may have? Already I have heard... max out on plasma....if DH then take hammers....

Okay, what next? Does it make sense to mount them in a vehicle? If so, rhino or chimera? What about squad size? Min or max?

I realize thses guys are not frontline assault troops. How do they work as counter assault? How would you  use them to take objectives?

Thanks for any help you can give.

ender502

I'm required to use two units in my Daemonhunters army. (I play radicals).

First off, don't bother with the vet. 15 points for a strength 3 power weapon? It's a waste.

I use them either Double melta in a Rhino or Double plasma in a Chimera. Small six man squads.

The Rhino is cheap and great for moving the squad into range, whereas the Chimera gives you a firebase with long-ranged dakka.

I have about 40 of the darn things. I want to use them as a base. Would you still min them out and give them a vehicle? What do you arm your chimeras with? Autocannons? That would seem to be the way to go.

ender502

Chimera w/ turret multilaser, heavy bolters and smoke ...
I use them in my Zealot/WH army ... If you add a priest to a troop of stormies you are almost 35% more effective, btw. Since I use Arcos and Penitent and Zealots, the squad becomes a no-brainer ...
Careful with rhinos ... they are only fragile troop carriers whereas chimeras are moving weapons platforms providing cover and one of the best reasons to take stormies.

Double special weapons in a rhino (both can shoot). 5 man team. I used to run 7 man teams with a thunderhammer but since you can't assault out of the rhino anymore they lost their point.

I have four squads of Storm Troopers in my IG. Two of them are elites choices, and are 5-man double meltas. I only have one H. Vet squad (with 3 meltas) for fluff reasons. With Deepstrike, they are very good suicide units. They fly in pop an enemy tank, and die. 75 points per.

The other two ST squads are an odd creation, not because of their design, but because of how I use them. I take two 8-mans with double plasma. They are almost always in cover, slightly in the backfield, and always behind my gunline. I place them this way for a variety of reasons:

1. Any deepstriking unit (beside a 3-Oblit or 5+ Termie unit) will not kill them all in their shooting and will give me a chance to move in an doubletap them with plasma, making them good counterstrike units against a deep striking opponent. If they are wiped out (which usually happens because my opponents view them as the nearest threat, and at 100 points a squad, they're a much juicier target than a tank that might not even blow up, or a squad that's in heavier cover), then my opponent just wasted his chance to cripple me by blasting a squad that was meant to have that happen to it.

2. When I'm getting charged by quick units, my gunline usually shuffles sideways (or thins out) so that the ST's can squeeze forward and pump a pair of plasma doubletaps, plus the usual hellguns and lasweapons. The 4 Plasma shots alone usually kill enough of whatever is attacking to make them killable in CC. If it was a horde unit, the Autocannons and lasfire of my gunline should have thinned them out to the point where a rapid-fire salvo from the gunline plus the two ST squads will blow them away.

I'm also thinking of swapping the 5-man melta squads out for 5-man double Plasma units, and giving the 8-man units meltaguns. I'd then make those two (the 8-man's) into DH allies with Thunder Hammer Sarges to make for decent counterassault.


Rule of thumb: never, EVER, let them work on their own (with the exception of suicide deep strikers), lest they be blown away by AP4. My two 8-man's only work as well as they do because I make sure that my opponent always has a juicier (albeit harder to kill) target, in addition to forcing a target priority check on top of a cover save. move them in at the last second to bolster the lines, and create a pocket around the unit during the CC so that when your opponent is victorious, you can blow him away.

CK

Unless I am mistaken my DH/WH stormies aren't going to be deep striking anytime soon. So the DS suicide squad is out.

I am kinda thinking about a small stormie squad (6) in a chimera with elite inquisitor with 3 plasma gun toting warrior henchmen. That would give me 5 plasma guns and a few ablative wounds. Perhaps a psicannon fo are the inquisitor (but probably not).

A couple of those would be pretty nasty.

About Chimeras, what turret weapon would anyone suggest?

Also, what kind of AT would someone suggest for a DH army?Sorry if this is going a bit far afield.

ender502

I use the 5 men w/2 meltas in a rhino stormies myself with my DH. I used to run them as 10 men with a vet w/thunder hammer, but I realized that it was too many points for too little return.

It's funny how well those little 70 pt squads do, even in battles where my opponent doesn't have much for them to melta, they still do well as speedbumps for assaulters.

I love small 2 special weapon squads in chimeras myself. In fact might be one of my favorte/effective units in my DH army.

Park the Chimeras in the back and use the ST for bait or objectives.

Chimeras with Turret Multilasers and hull HB. Optional Heavy Stubber sponson. 9 shots on the run can be very nice.

I don't believe the DH Chimera can take a heavy stubber. Nor, unforunately, can it take an autoocannon. So is the consensus then for a multilaser in the turret? 

ender502

I can tell you with 100% certainty that the an Inquisitorial Chimera can take an Autocannon turret (+15 points).

BYE

Well, if HBMC says it is so.... I probably just missed that part of the entry. I hope HBMCis right because I am planning a chimera body with pred turret... and the Auto cannon looks sweet in that configuration.

So the... would yall choose auto cannon or multi laser?

I'm looking at the DH codex right now and it states that the turret weapons for a Chimera are: Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer, and Heavy Bolter. It may also have a heavy bolter or heavy flamer mounted in its hull.

Well there goes my way cool auto cannon. Bummer. 

The autocannon is a forgeworld upgrade. So if forgeworld is allowed, you're good to go.

Is it a permissible upgrade for regular IG, or is it exclusive to DH/WH?

CK

If FW rules are allowed, then the Chimera turrets are allowed for IG as well.