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So I was looking through our god-awful codex the other day, and came upon Commissar Yarrick. Yes, Commissar Yarrick, the only old guy I know who can kick serious butt.

And I looked at his shield thingy, and realized that officers could take refractor shields, except that they have a lame 5+ invul. At least I think that's what they were called as I lost my codex. Go me.

So anyway, here's my ideas.

Refractor Shield (15-20 points probably.)
When this character is hit by an attack, reduce the Strength of the attack by D3. If the Strength is lowered to 0 or lower, it has no effect. Weapons that don't have a Strength ignore the refractor field.

Here's my other ideas:

Xenos Cavalry (? points)
Instead of a horse, Rough Riders can take Xenos Cavalry for +? ppm. Xenos Cavalry give the Rider a +1 T and one additional WS3 STR4 attack.

Xenos Flyers (? points)
Instead of a horse, Rough Riders can take Xenos Flyers for +? ppm. Rough Riders on Xenos Flyers are considered Jump Infantry. In addition, Rough Riders on Xenos Flyers cannot use lasguns.

So there's just some random ideas. I hope that you kind of liked them.

For 20 pts, that's a squad of Scoring Guardsmen Remnants. I would never take a Refractor.

Besides, if I'm tooling up any T3 model, it's going to be an Inquisitor, not a Guardsman.

IG Armory values (except for ranged weaponry) would almost have to be 1/4 of what they currently are to even be tempting. Giving a T3 model wargear that lets him live through one more attack than normal is a waste of points that would be better spent on more Guardsmen. Especially when that one attack is going to be followed by two more that kill him anyways.

Um...so would 5 points be a better investment then?

I want to make it enticing, but not a no-brainer.

A Refractor would probably have to cost 10 pts because it is unusual and distinct. However, with the number of high-S weapons in 40k where it would matter to a T3 model, a S-modifier effect is only worth 5 pts.

OTOH, if you could give it to an AV14/13/11 Land Raider Demolisher, then that Refractor would be worth 15 to 20 pts easily, because you need S8+ just to Glance the front, so taking off a point or 2 of S has real value..

But quite frankly, the Refractor rule is a needlessly complex 3E / 4E holdover that just doesn't belong in "no-maths" 5E.

A 4+ or 5+ Invulnerable save is far simpler and more useful.

But quite frankly, the Refractor rule is a needlessly complex 3E / 4E holdover that just doesn't belong in "no-maths" 5E.

Statements like this one make me laugh.

Putting 'complex' and 'holdover' in the same sentence as '3E / 4E' is just laughable. And the idea that 5th is 'no-maths'? Come on... What frickin' planet are you from?

BYE

What about imperial guard biker squads? i mean preaty much every race has a biker squad cept' the imperial guard and you would think there would be I.G bikers in armoured company elite or fast attack.
As far as the xenos riders thing goes it would be only used in very small numbers but it does sound like a nice idea for the less imperial controled or more feral I.G worlds. and bad idea on the new refracter sheild...it would only work out well in close combat where str isnt always rediculusly powerful

What about imperial guard biker squads? i mean preaty much every race has a biker squad cept' the imperial guard and you would think there would be I.G bikers in armoured company elite or fast attack.
As far as the xenos riders thing goes it would be only used in very small numbers but it does sound like a nice idea for the less imperial controled or more feral I.G worlds. and bad idea on the new refracter sheild...it would only work out well in close combat where str isnt always rediculusly powerful

Rough riders are our "bikers" its just like everything else in the IG codex there has to be a major draw back. We are not allowed to run fast shoot and assault like everyone else, we can shoot, or assault. Lances or melta guns, not both.

king-newmic wrote: bad idea on the new refracter sheild...it would only work out well in close combat where str isnt always rediculusly powerful

How so? It also does well negating small arms fire...bolt and las.

Mathwise, the Str will pretty much always be reduced by 2. (A d3 means that a 1 or 2=1, 3 or 4=2, and a 5 or 6=3 if I have this right)

Las is reduced to Str 1, Bolt reduced to Str 2 so that it wounds on a 5's.

However the higher the strength, the less it is effective. It's not overpowering but not underpowering. It's also useful in close combat. Things that should kill humans still kill them (powerfists, power weapons) and so do snipers, and lots of attacks still take characters with the shield down. I just think that it's a nice change from the boring 5+ invul save.

foil7102 wrote:Rough riders are our "bikers" its just like everything else in the IG codex there has to be a major draw back. We are not allowed to run fast shoot and assault like everyone else, we can shoot, or assault. Lances or melta guns, not both.

Rough Riders are the most point effective unit in the IG list and have an average assault range of 21.5 inches I don't see the drawback.

They can only assault once, the are large targets, they are toughness three, they can be tooled to shoot, or assualt but not both, They have a 5+ save and die like regular guardsmen. I can keep going. My point is not that they are good compared to other things in the IG dex. My point is that they are not nealy as good as the bikes, and jet bikes, ect in other dexs

the best points wise equipment for our command squads is all around plasma or flamers. Xeno cavalry appeared in WD 292. they costed 4 points and: RR lose their fleet of hoof rule and gain a +1 to existing armor save, 1 attack at str 4 at the ws and I of the rider. Not much i must say for a one shot unit.