Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

hi everyone,

i have take a look to the penal legion with imperial guard and i was wondering how you could use penal legion on the best way there is...

what about: primaris psyker, ministorum priest and a unit penal legion?

psyker for shooting and his force weapon
ministorum priest for the re-roll to hit (usefull when they have rending)
penal legion, because i am asking

i had once ago a battle against blood angels and my penal legion had the knifefighter rule (extra attack and rending).
my oppion had i thought astorath or dante, the one who is no eternal warrior, and a unit of Sanguinary Guard.
i charged, he hit first and killed 5 of my penal legion, then it was my turn.
i had 16 attacks of my penal legion and i attacked the guard, missed 6 -> re-roll (because of the priest) and i had 15 hits (a little bit lukky) and then 5 times rending, so his guard where dead.
my psyker hits the special caracter 3 times and wounded him once, he failed his invurnable save and because of force weapon i passed my psycic test.
so +/- 450 points of blood angels have been killed by 195 points of guard in close combat

what do you think, is it the best way?

It certainly works, but would die to small arms fire in a flash.

Yeah, if only Penal Legion could take Chimeras...

The general wisdom regarding Penal Legion is that they are a cheap harassment and disruption unit. It's true, as in your example, that every once in a while they can completely murder an enemy, even a superior foe, but they're much too small and fragile to be relied on as a main attack unit. Penal Legion are best used as Outflanking threats, area denial on the first turn (via Scout moves), and support attackers, not the main thrust of your force that you'd want to invest ICs and such into.

If you want to run close-combat Guard, I recommend one or two large Power Blobs, supported by no more than three Penal Legion units for when you need extra bodies, or for the situations listed above.

Also, regarding Priests, I stick mine with my Demo-Vets for when they have to assault a vehicle; an Eviscerator and 10 re-rolling Meltabombs will kill just about anything.

Temporis wrote:It certainly works, but would die to small arms fire in a flash.

Yes they die very quickly, you just have to keep them in cover. In my experience, Penal legion works best in a COD game.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

alanedomain wrote:
If you want to run close-combat Guard, I recommend one or two large Power Blobs, supported by no more than three Penal Legion units for when you need extra bodies, or for the situations listed above.

what?! close combat Guard? HERESY!
well I guess that it Its possible to make a CC Guard listes, but only if you are Penal legion only with some ogryns, and a commisar and priest here and there.

alanedomain wrote:The general wisdom regarding Penal Legion is that they are a cheap harassment and disruption unit.

Right. Building a list around penal legionnaires is the same as building a list around ratlings or sentinels or stormtroopers or PBSs or conscripts. Very fluffy, and not to say it can't be done, but you've got to work extra hard to make the list viable. Basically, you have to work around your core, rather than the core being the solid backbone of your list.

Scrazza wrote:

Temporis wrote:It certainly works, but would die to small arms fire in a flash.

Yes they die very quickly, you just have to keep them in cover. In my experience, Penal legion works best in a COD game.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

alanedomain wrote:
If you want to run close-combat Guard, I recommend one or two large Power Blobs, supported by no more than three Penal Legion units for when you need extra bodies, or for the situations listed above.

what?! close combat Guard? HERESY!
well I guess that it Its possible to make a CC Guard listes, but only if you are Penal legion only with some ogryns, and a commisar and priest here and there.

well, if you take a look on my topics, you can see a combat-guard army of 1000 points
it is only fluff wise