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I'm looking into turning a mech IG army into a mixed IG army, utitizing Al'Rahem as the "hammer" of that army.

So far, I'm looking at 2000 points, fielding most of the army on the field and having Al'Rahem's unit come in and deal the deciding blow.

Given I want to use Al'Rahem, what would be the best way to utilize the Platoon that comes in with him? Should I mech all of them up in Chimeras? Should I set all of them on foot and make the units powerblobs?

Both are viable, though I am personally of the mind set that vets go in chimeras and infantry squads go on foot in power blobs. I don't see the point in putting an infantry squad in a chimera, but that's just me.

I would run either two 20 man blobs with power weapons and meltaguns or a 30 man blob with the same loadout. Give Al's squad four meltaguns as well.

Don't forget to include an Astropath though, you don't want to end up stranded on the wrong table edge on turn 5.

I'll agree with Blacksails. I'm a fan of Mech'ing Al with 4 MG and then bringing the rest as a blob. Astropath is key.

meching up the outflanking force can let them strike much more dangerously

Generally infantry squads in chimera's are for cheaper multilaser+autocannon+heavybolter platforms

I'd run the infantry as a blob and run the special weapon squads in flamer equipped transports.
make sure to give the blob a vox and use al'harim's special order as much as you like, it will give the blob fleet /and/ they can shoot assault weapons and still assault.

Technically it is not fleet. It's a shooting attack and then a move. If you only shoot assault weapons, then you can assault.

I try to run at least 1 unit of infiltrators in my army because of Al Rahem. I block a short table edge, thus killing the unit if they have to come in that side, or making them slog across the whole table.

For that reason, you have to mech up to tank shock your way onto the table.

Meching up would be pricier, but it would definitely pay off against mobile opponents like... actually any other mech army. A foot blob would just be stuck walking for a turn or two until it came to grips with the foe. By meching up, you can avoid edge blocking shenanigans and be more flexible at the same time.

give the members of Al's squad flamers. they are bs 3 not 4. you won't overheat like with plasma, but the bs skill is better suited for the flamers.

meching them up would be the best idea. add an astropath and you got it. the chimeras will add ALOT of firepower and protection to the unit that "just shows up on the enemy's front door".

I don't like meching up my infantry platoons; they don't really have the ability to utilize the limited firing capabilities from a chimera, and once you get them somewhere, you have a mere 10 guardsmen, which is effectively useless. I can get my cannon fodder where it needs to be without wasting a chimera, thank you very much.

-cgmckenzie

The only difference between Veterans in a Chimera and PIS in a Chimera is that the Veterans can shoot 2 more special weapons out the hatch, albeit more accurately. Bad tradeoff, until you think about the fact that you'll have about 8 Infantry Squads, compared to a maximum of 6 Veterans for roughly the same cost.

In regards to durability, they are both t3/5+ dudes that fall over to a stiff breeze

The guy who writes the asgard 501st batreps uses him and does really well.

Hopefully he posts

Ailaros also tried him a couple of times, to pretty good effect. But I've never gotten him to work well enough to really impress me. I look forward to hearing more seasoned opinions of him

A blob can purchase a chimera or 2 and choose to have the transport move onto the board empty with just short of a 12" range before popping smoke. A sws can then follow behind the transport and embark. The chimera and the sws being on the same side of the board is a pretty safe bet with an astropath.

cgmckenzie wrote:I don't like meching up my infantry platoons; they don't really have the ability to utilize the limited firing capabilities from a chimera, and once you get them somewhere, you have a mere 10 guardsmen, which is effectively useless. I can get my cannon fodder where it needs to be without wasting a chimera, thank you very much.

Like I said, you are doubling the cost of the squad, for more than triple the long range firepower.

Chimeras in infantry squads aren't for coasting around they are for sitting and shooting.

you are doubling the cost of the squad, for more than triple the long range firepower.

Chimeras in infantry squads aren't for coasting around they are for sitting and shooting.

QFT

The problem with giving the Platoon Chimeras is that, whilst you roll for the entire platoon to arrive using one dice, you need to roll seperately for each unit to determine which side they ouflank on. This can result in the Platoon getting split up, especially if you don't have an Astopath to re-roll board edges.

Blobbing the PIS together helps mitigate this problem somewhat. As for weaponry, I'd give Al'Rahem's PCS meltas (to get the most use out of BiD) and give the PIS power weapons, a Commisar, and maybe even a Priest. That way the PCS can slag a transport the turn they arrive, and the PIS can dutifully charge the contents.

L. Wrex

Why would you add a priest in a squad? Is he worth his cost? 60 points seems to be too much for that old man.

If you're spending a ton of points on power weapons, getting a re-roll to hit is definetely worth the additional points cost. He also, should you be feeling particularly fruity, gives you access to an eviscerator which can help if you come up against Dreadnoughts or other walkers which will tie your blob up for the entire game.

L. Wrex

I think that anyone who takes Al'Rahem, but doesn't take an Astropath, is either very new to IG or is feeling really lucky.

We've had a couple threads on this in the past. I was trying to find them, but I can't seem to find the one I want specifically. Here are these though that you might have a look at:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/336186.page

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/302922.page


Personally, I've tried multiple different configurations, but I prefer to have him outflanking with a power blob. I give him 3 grenade launchers and give the blob plasmas. If I have points for it, I bring in a priest as well. Outflanking a bunch of chimeras is fun, but not really worth the points you spend on them. Ailaros has some good battle reports on his website showing how he's used him.

As far as the astropath goes, I've had situations where I DON'T want my stuff coming in quickly. I kind of wish you could use whether or not to apply the +1 each turn. At Adepticon, in two of the three games I played in, there was a "race" to see who could keep their stuff in reserve longer. My stuff would come up each time due to the +1, and then I had situations where my Hades popped up in the middle of nowhere and Al'rahem outflanked into nothing, because the other guy had nothing on the table.

You can take Al'Rahem in a Death Korp force?

Not if he isn't in the Death Korp codex.

-cgmckenzie

odorofdeath wrote:I think that anyone who takes Al'Rahem, but doesn't take an Astropath, is either very new to IG or is feeling really lucky.

QFT

I like him with a massive platoon with meltas packed into it.

Well, what you can do is put him in a huge blob, then when he comes in on a board edge, spred out the platoon so that it covers up that entire table edge, and keep it there. Then, when anything trys to outflank, if they come in on the side you're covering, the unit cannot move on, and is automatically destroyed. Not sure how viable this is, but seems like it'd be hella fun, and sorta mean.

I've had some success with an Al'Rahem/Creed+Astropath CCS/Harker outflanking shenanigans list.

Al'Rahem and Harker+Squad outflank in Chimeras while Al'Rahem's platoon arrives on foot. All of the Squads have flamers and my Special Weapon squads go as a triple flamer and Demo Charge/Melta/Flamer. THis list has not made me any friends as I have not lost with it (played 4 games with it, 2 against CSM, 1 against BA and 1 against Tau). I have Creed outflank my Hellhound Squadron and with some lucky rolls it usually winds up barreling down my opponent's flank. Harker's unit is your typical Triple Melta Vet squads but with some extra kick of another HB (Their Chimera has 2). Another oddity of this list is that I take a Vanquisher with Pask in it. It's a strange list but it is pretty effective.

An interesting note in Al'Rahem's entry is that any unit in his platoon "must outflank" but it does not say with him though. I take my two SWS' in an outflanking Valkyrie because of that. They get right to cleaning my opponent's troops off of the objectives without recourse. I've had more than one person get mad because the entry explicitly states "must outflank" not "must go with Al'Rahem"

He's real fun in CC!

Can you have the 2 SWS ride in 1 Valkyrie? I thought you could only load multiple units into super heavies.

odorofdeath wrote:Can you have the 2 SWS ride in 1 Valkyrie? I thought you could only load multiple units into super heavies.

No, you can not.

odorofdeath wrote:Can you have the 2 SWS ride in 1 Valkyrie? I thought you could only load multiple units into super heavies.

The more you know then, I have never had anyone bring that up. I didn't even know that was an issue since it's not a dedicated transport.

Stormrider wrote:The more you know then, I have never had anyone bring that up. I didn't even know that was an issue since it's not a dedicated transport.

I'm pretty sure it says in the rules that only one unit can go inside of a single transport at any one time (Stormraven notwithstanding). Dedicated or not doesn't really have anything to do with it, dedicated simply means that only the unit the transport it bought for can start the game inside.

L. Wrex

Yeah, a lot of people think that "dedicated transports" are entirely different classes of vehicles. I've had opponents think that they could assault the contents of a dedicated transport after shooting the transport, "because its dedicated". It's literally the same as any other vehicle, but you can only load the unit that bought it in it at the start of the game.

Ever since targetawg convinced me to try out Alrahem, I been using Alrahem. Alrahem plays really well to objective and table corners and lets you strike at the opponents back field. The con is that he must reserve and you lose firepower for taking him if you want to alpha strike. However since 2/3 of book missions are objectives and some tournaments have table corners missions thats fine.

I field Alrahem all meched up in Chimeras. Chimeras give you multi lasers for side shots which is pretty good in guard mirrors vs av 10 sides and not to terrible vs av11 sides marine vehicles. Heavy flamers also are nice. I don't like mixed mech as your at the mercy of terrain for cover for your infantry and it forces you to keep your CCS nearby for orders and I like giving the CCS meltas which they can't use if they baby sitting a platoon in your backfield. Outflanking with an infantry platoon usually means their not getting cover a lot of the time and being on foot means you are slower and can get blocked off.

3 squads in Chimeras can be pretty good because you can use some to reinforce your side if you need help while one goes for the objective no one is on.

Here are some of my recent bat reps that show how good Alrahem is

Grim Open
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/377584.page

Maplewood hobbies rtt
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/373100.page

Mighty Titans RTT
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/367684.page

Colonial GT
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/362913.page


I don't really think Harker is really worth it. I tried him out and 1 unit unsupported isn't so great unless you going to nab an objective where no one is. You can support Alrahem's squad but his 3 chimeras is good enough you don't want to spend more on outflankers unless its ardboys level. Alrahem's platoon all comes in together on the same side so at least they can support each other.