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Hey all

I have an idea for a Slaanesh CSM army, and I was wondering, since I have never played Noise Marines, what the best loadout on equipment is. Is it good to go light on the blasters, or all out? I do not know if it is a boon or a points sink to take all sonic blasters.

What about on the sarge? Doom Siren looks pretty good.

Also, how many per squad? Bare minimum or a larger number?

Thanks for any advice.

Brandon

I usually see people go all-out with blasters, maybe in a rhino with doom siren on the champion. Redbeard should have some experience with them

Well here is the list, in a nutshell, that I was considering. I know it isnt 100% effective ( I could just take two DP) but I am trying to work the list around the models.

DP wings, lash
Sorcerer wings lash

Noise Marines (whatever is decided is good)

Either raptors or bikes

The army is the ultraforge pleasuredemon for DP, the noise marines are guardians with all female torsos, demonette heads and shining spear lances. For the bikes I was thinking the old seekers with a guardian upper half, or for raptors, swooping hawks since I have them.

Thanks for the help!

Brandon

As with most things, it depends what you want them to do.

Noise marines have exellent shooting and good combat, but the cost a huge amount and die as easily as a marine.

If you want them to be aggressive then you can put them in a rhino with a champion with a doomsiren and some sonic blasters and send them charging about killing stuff. The will outfight most things without too much trouble and a S5 AP3 template weapon is lovely if you can get it into the right place.

If you want them to be more defensive you can give them a blastmaster and sonic blasters and watch them shoot most things to pieces.

Both lay outs can perform both roles, which gives them a lot of flexibility.

Don't forget that the Blast Master can also be used as an Assault Weapon.

power fist, or power weapon, or just the doomsiren (or whatever sprays)? The high INI seems interesting for a power weapon maybe.

Blastmasters have an assault setting. They also cost more than any other weapon upgrade in the game, and for those points, you don't want to be firing a glorified stormbolter. It is best to consider the Blastmaster as a 'heavy only' weapon. Sure, sometimes you have to move your guys and it's nice to be able to take a couple of potshots as you do, but in order to justify the points cost of the blastmaster, it is best to think of it as a heavy weapon.

I don't like mixing blastmasters and sonic blasters. I think storm bolters are better on the move, while as I just said, the blastmaster wants to stand still. Furthermore, if you do run them together, you risk losing your blastmaster hits anyway. Say the blast hits 2 guys out of a unit of 5. 5 sonic blasters fired as heavy weapons will likely hit another 10 times and cause another 5 wounds. The player receiving the damage puts a blastmaster hit on one guy, 4 sonic wounds on other guys, another blastmaster hit on the guy already hit - you lost half your blastmaster kills to wound allocation. Obviously this is less of a problem when firing at squads with more members, and more of a problem the more sonic blasters you have firing, but be aware that it can happen.

That can happen with Doom Sirens too, but the Siren is too good if you're configuring your squad for an assault role.

I know other people like mixing them, so this is just my preference, but in a competative game, I will always separate my squads. I'll mix them up if I'm just playing less competatively.

I like to run big squads of sonic blaster guys in transports (especially in land raiders). If you're buying a transport, you might as well maximize it's potential by transporting the full capacity. 10 men with sonic blasters is a lot of firepower. In a landraider, they're also able to hop out, unload 20 shots, and then charge with 30 attacks, so that's 50 attacks that you get to make before your opponent gets to do anything.

Small (5 or 6) squads of guys with just a blastmaster (no champ, no other upgrades) to hang back and provide long-range fire support.

As for the champion - Powerfist all the way. You're already getting everyone else's attacks at I5. The powerfist is more of an insurance against being locked in a combat against a dreadnought or the like. If you're paying the points for the sonic blasters, the last thing you want is to be locked in a combat and not able to shoot.

I generally use three types of squads.

8 NM with sonic blasters,
5 NM with blastmaster
8 NM incl AC with power weapon, doom siren, in a Rhino.

I find if you have too many shots and a doomsiren, people will stack doomsiren wounds on models, abusing the 5th edition wound allocation rules.

Thus, I take a minimum or almost minimum squad [5 or a fluffy 6] models, with a doomsiren champion [no power weapon] in a rhino with a combi-melta.

The lovely combination of pulling up next to another rhino or other transport, cracking it open with the rhino's melta, then doomsirening the squad while it's all packed in together is a wonderful thing. If you can't get many, lash them into the proper positioning or, if you fail to pop the rhino, lash some other enemy unit nearby and flame them instead.

My personal preference is,

6 x Noise Marines with Sonic Blasters
1 x Noise Marine with Blastmaster
In a Rhino with Havoc Launcher.

At S8 the Blastmaster is also quite good at popping open light transports.



Gmort.

GMort wrote:My personal preference is,

6 x Noise Marines with Sonic Blasters
1 x Noise Marine with Blastmaster
In a Rhino with Havoc Launcher.

At S8 the Blastmaster is also quite good at popping open light transports.



Gmort.

Well, not really my favorite.
Since when the squad moved the sonic blasters at 12'' are not better than rapid firing bolters.

That's what I've come to realize. As most of my games take place at very short range, bolters are the same as sonic blasters unless standing still, and I can rarely afford to do that, even [especially] in a rhino.

Exactly, my Rhinos drive up, the NMs disembark and rapid fire; the AC has a doom siren. If the Rhinos are used in concert, the enemy has to deal with too many threats and the squads can eventually charge next turn.

Tried all the other combinations mentioned and the one i use works well for me.

Though i do have 1 squad with a champion and doom siren, the other squads have never missed them.

Depends on personal experience and playing style i guess :-)


GMort.

Spellbound wrote:That's what I've come to realize. As most of my games take place at very short range, bolters are the same as sonic blasters unless standing still, and I can rarely afford to do that, even [especially] in a rhino.

This is why you should run them in Land Raiders instead - where the assault setting on the Sonic Blasters is a huge difference over just having a bolter.

Redbeard wrote:

Spellbound wrote:That's what I've come to realize. As most of my games take place at very short range, bolters are the same as sonic blasters unless standing still, and I can rarely afford to do that, even [especially] in a rhino.

This is why you should run them in Land Raiders instead - where the assault setting on the Sonic Blasters is a huge difference over just having a bolter.

Well, the capacity of a Land Raider is wasted if it transports a non-Termie squad.

wuestenfux wrote:Well, the capacity of a Land Raider is wasted if it transports a non-Termie squad.

Berzerkers are way more effective in a Land Raider than Termies. I'd much rather unload an assault of 40 Str+, I+ attacks and 10 wounds than a measly 20 power wounds with only 5 wounds. It's even better if you have 9 berzerkers and a great HQ like Typhus or Lucius.

Democratus wrote:

wuestenfux wrote:Well, the capacity of a Land Raider is wasted if it transports a non-Termie squad.

Berzerkers are way more effective in a Land Raider than Termies. I'd much rather unload an assault of 40 Str+, I+ attacks and 10 wounds than a measly 20 power wounds with only 5 wounds. It's even better if you have 9 berzerkers and a great HQ like Typhus or Lucius.

And Noise Marines are comparable to Berzerkers when coming out of a land raider.

10 Noise marines piling out of a land raider get a doom siren template, 18 S4 shots, and then follow that with a charge, at I5, with another 30-odd attacks. But, they get the added bonus that against an opposing assault army, they can also just hold their ground and become an effective gun line.

How is it wasting the Land Raider to transport 10 Cult marines (berzerkers or NM) into assault?

How is it wasting the Land Raider to transport 10 Cult marines (berzerkers or NM) into assault?

This was always one of my axioms when I wrote an army list.

Noise Marines with sonic blasters cost 5 pts less than Terminators. I'm too lazy to do the math.

After a bit of playtesting, I figure out what I want my squads to do and equip them accordingly. Either...

6 NM w/1xBlastmaster - for fire support, anti-MEQ, vehicles
6 NM w/5xSonicBlaster, 1xDoomSiren - for close support, CC, anti-horde
6 NM w/5xSonicBlaster, 1xBlastmaster - for all round long range shootyness

An mix of all three of these seems to work well..

Of course, you can't take 10 Noise Marines in a Land Raider, as 10 isn't a multiple of 6. And if you don't take them in multiples of 6, you're just a heretic...

6 NM w/5xSonicBlaster, 1xDoomSiren - for close support, CC, anti-horde

Well, this unit eventually may not get close enough to fire the doom siren before it gets charged.
Nids are very fast as are Orks with their Waagh.

ArbitorIan wrote:
Of course, you can't take 10 Noise Marines in a Land Raider, as 10 isn't a multiple of 6. And if you don't take them in multiples of 6, you're just a heretic...

Huh? What are you talking about? Noise marines can come in squads of 5-20.

However, it's a good reason not to mount them in a Land Raider.

Redbeard wrote:

ArbitorIan wrote:
Of course, you can't take 10 Noise Marines in a Land Raider, as 10 isn't a multiple of 6. And if you don't take them in multiples of 6, you're just a heretic...

Huh? What are you talking about? Noise marines can come in squads of 5-20.

I believe he's referring to the fluff, though that's before my CSM time.

I really like the idea of 10 NM coming out of a landraider........how about 9 and lucius? Or is it better to get the extra shots first?
Well, I have 10 sonic blasters laying around, a few doom sirens, lucius and a land raider. I guess I should try it out.

As expensive as sonic blaster make normal CSM I'm not sure I'd want to take many (if any) sonic blasters. I'd give them either a Doomsiren or Blastmaster (depending on preference) and save the points for raptors. A few groups of 5-8 raptors with MoS and a power weapon eats a lot of tac squads.

Cult Marines are superior to normal CSM.
A NM squad with sonic blasters sitting on an objective may have not much to target; this was the experience from my last games.

J2FcM wrote:power fist, or power weapon, or just the doomsiren (or whatever sprays)? The high INI seems interesting for a power weapon maybe.

The only problem with the Power Weapon is if you get stuck in combat with something that an Ini 5 PW can't hurt. I run Powerfists on all my harassing units of Noise Marines so if they HAVE to they can take on something that is beefy, while my static Noise Marines use Powerweapons.

But that is just my humble opinion

Spellbound wrote:I find if you have too many shots and a doomsiren, people will stack doomsiren wounds on models, abusing the 5th edition wound allocation rules.

Thus, I take a minimum or almost minimum squad [5 or a fluffy 6] models, with a doomsiren champion [no power weapon] in a rhino with a combi-melta.

The lovely combination of pulling up next to another rhino or other transport, cracking it open with the rhino's melta, then doomsirening the squad while it's all packed in together is a wonderful thing. If you can't get many, lash them into the proper positioning or, if you fail to pop the rhino, lash some other enemy unit nearby and flame them instead.

Love that idea, I'll have to use it.

My loadout for guarding an objective, or sit and fire was usually 4 sonic blasters, champion with PW and doomsiren, blastmaster, and 2-4 with bolters to take wounds. This may change a bit (I've been playing Orks since AOBR, my chaos was too 'cheesy', little did they know what they were getting themselves into ) since I can't just put failed saves on the bolter marines. I may drop the Doomsiren and add another bolter marine to absorb wounds. A rhino is useful for blocking LOS or tankshocking foot sloggers, but not necessary.

For assaulting objectives I would have a loadout of ~ 50% sonic blasters/regular (for the extra CC attacks) and a champ with doomsiren and PW. Squad should be 8-10 deep and mounted in a rhino.

Thalor

Kej wrote:

J2FcM wrote:power fist, or power weapon, or just the doomsiren (or whatever sprays)? The high INI seems interesting for a power weapon maybe.

The only problem with the Power Weapon is if you get stuck in combat with something that an Ini 5 PW can't hurt. I run Powerfists on all my harassing units of Noise Marines so if they HAVE to they can take on something that is beefy, while my static Noise Marines use Powerweapons.

But that is just my humble opinion

The main thing you have to worry about not hurting is vehicles, krak grenades (included on the troops) and a melta-bomb on the champ will take care of this nicely. The Int. 5 PW just has too much damage prevention potential to pass up. Now on plauge marines go PF all the way..

Thalor