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Simple enough, what is the best way to arm your Chimera?

Take a moment to explain why below.

I like Twin Heavy Bolters for the amount of AP 4 rounds you can put down range. Although the Heavy Bolter and Heavy Flamer is also good for cleaning out cover. Considering it's a cheap model, I take multiples.

Multi lasers are pretty good and have the strength to hurt transports if needed. Hull heavy flamers give a weapon that is effective close up, useful on a transport that will probably get close up. These two give you a ranged weapon and a close weapon and as you can only fire one on the move you can always use the one most needed.

Some people may like to use their chimera to hang back as pill boxes but this seems like a waste of their mobility, which is the whole reason i take transports in the first place.

multilasers are pants, and the heavy bolter is only good if you're going to apply Ap4, instead of getting it bounced off cover.

The heavy flamer actually kills stuff. Take a backup for if one gets destroyed. 2x heavy flamer is my vote, with certain circumstances meriting a heavy flamer/heavy bolter role.

self-destruct button....

*smirk*

I voted for the standard Multi-Laser/Heavy Flamer for all-purpose aggressive play.

I'd take the Multi-Laser/Heavy Bolter if you're making a pillbox Chimera.

In either case, I like the Heavy Stubber for pure cool factor.

*Facepalm*

Well, I guess it's been ooooh, a month or so since this topic last came up so I guess we were overdue another round sooner or later...

L. Wrex

Lycaeus Wrex wrote:*Facepalm*

Well, I guess it's been ooooh, a month or so since this topic last came up so I guess we were overdue another round sooner or later...

L. Wrex

Agreed.

for me, it's the Multilaser/H. flamer or H. bolter
i like the high str. of the ML and it's high rate of fire.

**** Posted this in another forum ****

Dual Heavy Flamers on Chimera's seems to be a must have for me:

1) you have a back up flamer incase the first is destroyed
2) in the instances that someone does park next to your chimera (like when you disembark a unit and it gets assaulted & killed)
3) or when someone miss judges an assualt

Multilasers in my opinion aren't worth it. You hit with only 1-2 per turn, sure they'll wound but most MEQ armies shrug them off, and against big bugs (like Carnies, I wouldn't really count on them doing anything because I have better things in the army to deal with them). Against Baby Nids however they might find a purpose, but it's hard to get rid of the turret flamer, because it "ALWAYS" kills more in every game I play then I could even dream of killing with a Multilaser.

For example:

In the game I played against Nids, my opponent assualted a SW flamer team that was in front of two Chimera's with 3 Raveners, and a Carnifex (needless to say the SW team died in agony). On my turn the 2 Chimeras that were there fired both flamers each. 4 Heavy Flamers inflicted 11 wounds on the ravenors, and 3 on the Carnifex. End result 2 Dead Ravenors, 1 Ravenor on his last leg, and a Carnie taking one wound (after missing one 3+ save)

You'd have to give them a spin to see what I mean.... they just make Chimeras WAY more killy.

I go for the multilaser turret and hull heavy flamer as the best all round option. I don't field HW squads and hence I use the multi-lasers as an effective anti-transport weapon. Once the transports are popped then you move i with the heavy flamer to mop up.

Multilaser + Heavy Flamer. This covers all necessary bases. From light anti-tank to anti-infantry. Add an infantry squad inside and you have the classic mobile, self-sufficient IFV team that can engage anything.

ML + HF. Pew pew and woosh

Really wish they had the autocannon version in this edition :/

M.

I'm with the ML + HF crowd as well, although sometimes a turret HF and a heavy bolter work well for a pcs. The primary purpose of the chimera is to deliver it's contents. When you you're far away the ML lets you take on infantry and degrade vehicles shooting. At close range the HF lets you threaten hordes quite nicely.

Infantryman wrote:ML + HF. Pew pew and woosh

Really wish they had the autocannon version in this edition :/

M.

me Too! not that i need them in my list so much as the FW version of that turret looks awesome, imho.

Autocannon turret would make me happy in the pants.

I run Turret ML and HHF, for the same well-rounded reasons as stated above.

I understand the temptation to go dual HF, but you won't fire both unless you're not moving (stupid idea with stuff in template range) or you've taken damage. Having an alternate plan just in case is nice, but this is removing something you could use (multilaser) for something you hopefully won't get a chance to (HF). I don't like depending on getting hurt.

As a side note, I kind of wish I could put the HF on the turret, and the ML hull mounted.

Maybe it's the people I play against, but if you ever get a weapon destroyed on a Chimera that has a ML, HB or HF.. the #1 item my opponent wants to remove is the HF (that should be a hint as to which is more of a threat). Maybe it's because I played too many games where my HF was gone off of my Chimera's, and my ML did absolutely nothing to benefit me.

ML lasers are a poor man's anti-tank at best. and if you have enough Vendettas, Hydra's in your list you don't need to worry about anti-tank. The real hole in most Mech IG builds is anti-inf.

Running Dual HF handles anti-inf like a Champ, because it offers redundancy.

mrfantastical wrote:Maybe it's the people I play against, but if you ever get a weapon destroyed on a Chimera that has a ML, HB or HF.. the #1 item my opponent wants to remove is the HF (that should be a hint as to which is more of a threat). Maybe it's because I played too many games where my HF was gone off of my Chimera's, and my ML did absolutely nothing to benefit me.

ML lasers are a poor man's anti-tank at best. and if you have enough Vendettas, Hydra's in your list you don't need to worry about anti-tank. The real hole in most Mech IG builds is anti-inf.

Running Dual HF handles anti-inf like a Champ, because it offers redundancy.

I've found that it depends heavily on several factors - postion of chimera and enemy troops, what army they are playing, if they are mech etc. The multilaser seems to go more often than the heavy flamer, probably because WD results are most common early in the game, when the enemy gets closer, the chimera often either explode or is ignored

I can see running dual HF if you're really obsessed with anti-infantry. The way I see it, the second HF will rarely fire, its' just there for those rare occaisions when a Chimera has a weapon destroyed but can still fire.

On the flip side, the multilaser is pretty mediocre against most targets.

I think that in general, I'd rather have a bunch of shots that do little over a better chance of getting a really good HF shot. Especially since the HF isn't that good against anything but light infantry.

Multilazors are the worst weapon in 40k. I would rather have a slugga.


ok exaggeration but they are pretty crap.

I voted Heavy Bolter/Heavy Bolter coz I face genestealers and it really chews em up. Heavy Flamer/Heavy Flamer discourages assaults and is uber at cleaning out battlements. I have 1 HB/HB and one HF/HF.

Multilazers just got 50x better now that the new DE codex will soon be out.

S6 Ignores T3 FNP!

S6 can penetrate AV 10 without trouble!

I don't think it's an issue of which is more useful, ML or HF. It's the fact that you can't use the HF for a couple turns, while the ML can fire that whole time. So zero usefulness vs marginal usefulness.

Redundancy is nice, but you need to take a single weapon destroyed, still have enemies within template range (from the front of the Chimera, especially if there's an immobilise in there, and not be shaken, stunned, or destroyed before the rest of the turn. Since assaults usually pack a large number of attacks, this (especially not be shaken in any way) is unlikely. If that sequence of events doesn't happen, you've basically voluntarily taken a weapon off of the Chimera.

Str 6 vs Armor 10... mmm

I like my IFVs to pump out shots, So I generally go ML+HB and add in a Heavy Stubber.

But for my Objective grabbing units I will switch the Bolter for a Flamer.

Move 12", pop Smoke; Move 6", disembark, Flame some troops, Flame/Lasgun what's left.

Str 6 vs Armor 10...

That's all nice in Theory, but the reality is that your Chimera almost never get rear shots, because a good opponent will never show you the vehicle butt.

I don't think it's an issue of which is more useful, ML or HF. It's the fact that you can't use the HF for a couple turns, while the ML can fire that whole time. So zero usefulness vs marginal usefulness.

Maybe it's the builds I use (Hydras, Vendettas, Deep Striking Stormtoopers, Basilisks, etc), but I really don't need to worry about not having range support. Plus I tend to reserve my army against Alpha Strike armies, so that turn 2+ everyone comes in and immediately starts killing things. What I find myself needing more then 1-2 useless hits from ML or HB's are the 5-12 infantry hits that I get from opponents at my front door.

And if I have to charge up the field to go after my opponent, HB/ML shots aren't game changers, not as much as the dual HF combo.

The ML/HB just seems meh, at best.

The best I've ever done with ML is destroy a Rhino... once. But I've destroyed 5 man SM Tac squads multiple times with just the HF flamers alone (end result, HF's are excellent, so having 2 just makes more sense to me).

mrfantastical wrote:

Str 6 vs Armor 10...

That's all nice in Theory, but the reality is that your Chimera almost never get rear shots, because a good opponent will never show you the vehicle butt.

You will get side shots at chimeras, you will get shots at DE raiders, and the mere presence of your multilasers will limit how your opponent moves

mrfantastical wrote:

I don't think it's an issue of which is more useful, ML or HF. It's the fact that you can't use the HF for a couple turns, while the ML can fire that whole time. So zero usefulness vs marginal usefulness.

Maybe it's the builds I use (Hydras, Vendettas, Deep Striking Stormtoopers, Basilisks, etc), but I really don't need to worry about not having range support. Plus I tend to reserve my army against Alpha Strike armies, so that turn 2+ everyone comes in and immediately starts killing things. What I find myself needing more then 1-2 useless hits from ML or HB's are the 5-12 infantry hits that I get from opponents at my front door.

And if I have to charge up the field to go after my opponent, HB/ML shots aren't game changers, not as much as the dual HF combo.

The ML/HB just seems meh, at best.

The best I've ever done with ML is destroy a Rhino... once. But I've destroyed 5 man SM Tac squads multiple times with just the HF flamers alone (end result, HF's are excellent, so having 2 just makes more sense to me).

Ok, my multilaser high-point from my last 6 games (just finished a tournament) - 2 multilasers put 3 wound on an avatar, 2 multilasers put 3 wounds on a deamon prince, multilasers take out two chimeras with side-shots in a game, one multilaser manages to immobilize a falcon with holofields

Having 2x heavy flamer is just incredibly silly. I laugh at people with 2x heavy flamers on their chimeras as my multilaser + heavy flamer chimeras immobilize them with side shots

mrfantastical wrote:That's all nice in Theory, but the reality is that your Chimera almost never get rear shots, because a good opponent will never show you the vehicle butt.

Even S6 vs AV 11 stands a chance of penetrating, and thats one of the most common armour values in the game.

mrfantastical wrote:Maybe it's the builds I use (Hydras, Vendettas, Deep Striking Stormtoopers, Basilisks, etc), but I really don't need to worry about not having range support. Plus I tend to reserve my army against Alpha Strike armies, so that turn 2+ everyone comes in and immediately starts killing things. What I find myself needing more then 1-2 useless hits from ML or HB's are the 5-12 infantry hits that I get from opponents at my front door.

And if I have to charge up the field to go after my opponent, HB/ML shots aren't game changers, not as much as the dual HF combo.

So hang on, your opponents are dumb enough to charge up the middle of the board and then sit pretty near your board edge waiting to be flamed? No wonder such a sub-standard Chimera layout works for you if your opponents are that stupid...

You only ever get to fire *one* of those flamers if you move, and if you are THAT close to your opponent you are going to want to move. Yes having a 'spare' in case the first flamer goes down is nice, but your denying yourself a significant amount of shooting in the earlier turns for really no good reason.

mrfantastical wrote:The ML/HB just seems meh, at best.

3 S6 and 3 S5 shots coming out of a single tank at 36" is meh?! I'd love to know what kind of Guard army your running as you obviously don't adhere to the 'quantity over quality' model that has been the Guard's mantra since time immemorial.

mrfantastical wrote:The best I've ever done with ML is destroy a Rhino... once. But I've destroyed 5 man SM Tac squads multiple times with just the HF flamers alone (end result, HF's are excellent, so having 2 just makes more sense to me).

Seeing as we're throwing anecdotes around about how good our particular weapon of choice is: My MLs have been known to knock wounds of Daemon Princes and Hive Tyrants, have managed to kill Terminators and break Tactical squads; ergo I think MLs are excellent and I see no point in substituting a nicely well-rounded weapon for one that is much, much more situational in its battlefield application.

Generally, you will ALWAYS find a target for a ML to shoot at, and with their range they will be able to do so for most of the game. Yet, you will only ever get to fire that flamer once or twice per game if your lucky/in the right place/your opponent lines up nicely for you/you do not blow up from being that close to all his meltas etc etc.

L. Wrex

mrfantastical wrote:

Str 6 vs Armor 10...

That's all nice in Theory, but the reality is that your Chimera almost never get rear shots, because a good opponent will never show you the vehicle butt.

I don't think it's an issue of which is more useful, ML or HF. It's the fact that you can't use the HF for a couple turns, while the ML can fire that whole time. So zero usefulness vs marginal usefulness.

Don't forget all the buggies, land speeders, sentinels and other AV10 vehicles kicking about. Also S6 is really handy against higher toughness things like bikes and the larger Tyranid bugs that you might prefer to keep at range. On the redundancy front it seems to me to be better to have 2 chimeras with 1 heavy flamer each than sticking redundant weapons on a single hull.

Multilaser and Heavy bolter - for ranged pillbox style chimeras
Multilaser and Heavy flamer - for in your face objective graber units
Heavy flamer turret and Heavy Bolter - for units carrying multiple melta weapons.

Different set ups for different units. As for all the talk about multi lasers being crap WTF? against MEQ it's better than a heavy bolter (higher str easier to wound) against vehicles it's better than both (more possible hits than flame better str than both).

Honestly guys I respect everyones opinion, and it's nice to hear was what the DakkaDakkaian's think about the Chimera builds.

I have to admit that if the Autocannon was available for regular Chimera's I'd be very tempted to give up the double HF that has done me so well.

Good ol ML/HF for me

But if allowed I dont mind swapping out for autocannon turrets! Oh the joys of having 8 or so autocannon chimeras with a bunch of hydras and vendettas is so much for for other mech armies