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I just got my copy of ten codex today and these guys seem really cool. I could see an army based around them for great theme. Basically they are throw away squads to buffer other units. There is so much to absorb in the new list that it's going to take some time for me to get my head around the army but I can definitely see a place for them in a hardcore army. Seems like my style.

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They don't seem like anything special to me. I could easily fill the points with Conscripts and Chenkov, which are far better meatshields.

I think you have missed the point... I said the penal legionnaires have the potential for a lot of character to build an army around. Let's face it, conscripts are very boring while the legionnaires are hardcore killers. Sometimes it is more fun to take a lesser choice and figure out how to make it work in your army.

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Straken is not bad at all to lead them. Anyone here ever read any of the last chancers novels?

G

While I do like the idea of penal legionnaires, and used them with Schaffer in the last 'dex, I do not see a use for them in this one. They suffer from the same follies of possessed, or anything else where you have to roll for a random ability. And thier abilities aren't too great either, making them a little better in assault, which they will still die in, or giving them the ability to shoot before assaulting, where they will die being just like regular guard in melee.

Taking straken isn't a help, because a third of the time, they already get the abilities he confers.

If they could take special weapons, or even a chimera, they could be useful. As is, I would only recommend taking them if you want to spend as little as possible on troops. But even then, for a few points fore you can get higher utility veterans.

The vets are easily hands down the best troop choice for the points. Three meltas in a chimera is hard to beat. They are the obvious choice. I am looking for alternatives.

G

As for alternative for vets....

Both alternate options are not that great. Here is how I see it:

Penal legionnaires are cheap, but do nothing and if they are your only scoring units will see your ability to claim objectives evaporate. However, they may be useful if stuck inside a valkyrie in order to make it scoring. In that regard they player would have to view them more as an 80 point upgrade to the valk to make it scoring, as they will die fat if they disembark.

Platoons have the risk of giving up too many kill points, and don't really do anything well. If you could merge squads with special and heavy weapon squads, they would be a solid alternative, but they can't.

Possibly the best option for vet alternatives is to take PL for minimum troops and then take allied troops which are far better for points than non veteran IG

I have read the rules some more and see that penal legionnaires are intended to be used as scouts. I am thinking They are meant to hang back and take objectives late in the game. It looks like they would mix well with a Catachan style list plus their are several nice special characters you can use such as Straken and Marbo. They are nothing special but for eighty points they are dirt cheap. I have no interest In fielding conscripts to be honest... I once used to play against a guard player that would field 50 conscripts attached to a grey knight grand master back during the original cityfight campaign... He gave them an abhuman trait from chapter approved so that they had furious charge... Basically it was 50 ablative wounds for the grand master. I finally figured out how to beat them with Nurghal Marines. Those were not fun games and this my disdain for conscripts.

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I am converting up a squad (perhaps two) of PLs.

They looks like a fun unit to use in casual games

One or two squads outflanking will be able to at least keep your opponent looking to his flanks, hell might be able to kill some stuff and take an objective with (a lot of) luck.

As for the inherent randomness of their abilities... No matter what you roll, you can get some use out of them.

Get three squads & 2 priests. By the pure avarge rolling of abilities.. the two combat-type penal legions can get the priest HQ attatched to them & the shooty squad can remain shooty.

300pts for a pretty nice outflankable troop core (Maybe a touch more for a few priest upgrades). Granted you havent got dedicated combat troops to go against enemy dedicated combat troops (Thats why have the good old Leman Russ!) but against most other things.. you'll have a good day.

At 14pts per model, with an eviscerator wielding priest, thier not exactly cheap & still fairly weak but ofcourse they can ..

Damn. No priest/other HQ are gonna join them if they want to retain thier scout rule - which what makes them worth the 8pts per model IMhO

BoxANT wrote:I am converting up a squad (perhaps two) of PLs.

They looks like a fun unit to use in casual games

One or two squads outflanking will be able to at least keep your opponent looking to his flanks, hell might be able to kill some stuff and take an objective with (a lot of) luck.

As for the inherent randomness of their abilities... No matter what you roll, you can get some use out of them.

Finished my penal squad last week but still missing some individual names for 3-4 of the poor bastards. Yes, I am seriously naming each and everyone of them! With a unit this full of theme, it would be an insult not to. The baddest of the bad and unofficial top dog of the squad is "Undertaker", a convicted murderer that carries a shovel for those occasions when you need to "get close and personal" .

Tacticswise an Outflank move to get into opponents support units is propably what I am going to attempt. With "Stubborn" they might keep the target occupied for a turn or two.

A-P wrote: The baddest of the bad and unofficial top dog of the squad is "Undertaker", a convicted murderer that carries a shovel for those occasions when you need to "get close and personal" .

What about the last-chancers! Members of the most deadly squad from the 13th Penal Legion!

I think that the more Legionaries you take, the more "reliable" they get. You get to roll their abilities before deployment, so you can find out their role before you choose how to use them. This isn't the case if you're just using one or two squads, because it's much less likely that you'll get all the Desperadoes options.

I used to think they were way overpriced, but I think I might have been wrong. Stubborn means they don't need a lot of support (unlike Conscripts) and Scouts means they have a lot of options for deployment.

6 squads is 480 points. That's 6 stubborn, scouting units with a reasonable chance that a few have rending in close combat. The "Psychopaths" trait would be fun to use with the Move!Move!Move! order.