jy2 wrote:They're massively over-powered in non-apoc games, where the main AT of choice are meltas and missile launchers. Even still, with the -1 on the damage charts, meltas cannot wreck it on a glance. You need lascannons or S10 guns which are a dying breed nowadays. And it's just slowed against eldar/DE. They have very little that can deal with it.
Since your gaming group lets you run 2, that's good for you. If it was me, I wouldn't let my opponent run more than 1 in regular games (unless I want to give myself a handicap). It just unbalances the game.
They're actually not immune to melta bombs, as I learned the hard way. They're also still vulnerable to monstrous creatures. One of my buddies plays
GKs, and they've on two occasions now eaten the Achilles for lunch via hammerhand. I've also lost them to a Space Wolf
IC blob. Additionally, they weigh in at over 300 points a pop, and for the firepower they put out against
MEQ, their biggest advantage is in the objective holding.
Playing them as Iron Warriors I've mainly used them as line anchors, so there may be something to be said for the fact that they aren't gunning forwards and delivering any troops (not that they could anyway, with a maximum capacity of 5 or 6). It must just be the opponents I play against. My regular enemies are leafblower guard, Tyranids,
GKs, and static shooty Space Wolves. The guard just end up redirecting their efforts towards killing other targets, the Nids ramp up their
MCs to stonewall objectives, the
GKS do their aforementioned hammerhand shindig, and the Wolves use mass Long Fangs against other disembarked targets and clean up the Achilles with a huge
IC blob. In our games, the Achilles mostly function as hard points for objectives, and mid-range anti-tank.
I see your points though. I can imagine against
DE or Eldar they would be almost impossible to deal with.