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Okay, This is my first army and I could use some help with it.

HQ
-Typhus (230)

Troops
-Plague Marines x9 w/ Flamer & Melta (285)
-Aspiring Champ x1 w/power sword & Plasma pistol
-CSM x9 w/plasma rifle & lascannon &MON, VOLW (240)
-Aspiring Champ x1 w/ power axe & Combi-melta
-Zombies x20 (90)

Heavy Support
-Havocs x4 w/ Autocannons & MON, VOLW (135)
-Aspiring Champ x1 w/ Powerfist
-Predator x1 w/ basic loadout of autocannon & sponson lascannons (115)


So I have a fairly shooty force. Since I've never actually played a game yet, I'm not sure how good of a list this could be. Is there anything I should add/change?

Drop the power fist from havocs.

Use those points to upgrade the pow sword on plague champ to pf and possible give csm champ melta bombs.

So just go with the standard buck for the Havoc officer? And is a power fist going to be that much more effective than the sword?

You don't want the havocs in close combat. A combi-weapon upgrade could be considered, plasma or melta if you are facing marines, flamer for hordes.

Plague marines are usually run with plasma weapons, helps take out tough things that are a threat to them in combat. Don't always agree with this. Power gloves do work on plague marines (and bikes and nurgle bikes) better than normal marines due to the champion being more llikely to survive being attacked in the combat challenge they must issue.

Quite a good list to start with.

 Barzam wrote:
So just go with the standard buck for the Havoc officer? And is a power fist going to be that much more effective than the sword?

A power sword is - by mathhammer - the worst power weapon to give a champion. On a plague marine champion, because he has a lower Initiative, should only be armed with a power axe or power fist since he is going second anyways.

Vs T4 AV 3 target (Marine)

Sword: 1 kill
Axe : 1.33 kills
Claw: 1.13 kills
Fist : 1.25 kills
Maul: .56 kills

vs T6 AV3 target (Carnifex/ Plague Biker)
Sword .33 kills
Axe .67 kills
Claw .46 kills
Fist 1.25 kills
Maul .33 kills

vs T4 AV2 (Terminators)

Sword .17 kill
Axe 1.33 kill
Claw .19 kill
Fist 1.25 kill
Maul .22 kills




Automatically Appended Next Post:
My other recommendation is:

With Typhus, get some terminators with MoN. A lot more impressive than zombie hordes...

Just try a different - cheaper lord , lose the zombies and play with MoN marines instead of Plague Marines... See if you really miss having the FNP or if the toughness is enough...

7 Plague Marines w 2 Plasma Rifles... 191
10 MoN CSM w 2 Plasma Rifles and CCW ... 220

Plague Marines are awesome - Fearless, Plague Knives, FNP but extra bodies do add up. Also if you go with a biomancy Sorcerer, you can pretty reliably get FNP by getting the Endurance spell...

MORE PLAGUE MARINES. Run them with dual plasma or melta. Don't kit the Plague Champ out too much. Power Axe and Melta Bombs gives you the versatility of a PF 5pts cheaper. If you have points left over in your list then give him a combi-weapon. Personally I run units of 7 in stock rhinos. Other thing I would suggest is Obliterators in units of 2. The Predator is going to draw a lot of fire and can get popped on a single lucky pen. Give the Oblits MoN and you're set--plus they can DS. You also need a Heldrake w/ baleflamer; they are just too good not to include.

One thing about Typhus. He is awesome and one of my all time favorite models, but unless you are going to really pour on the zombies there are much more cost effective options--Biker Lord MoN and Sigil. That MoN biker lord with a unit of MoN spawn is terrifying.

Well, this is more or less based on what I currently have. I've got a second Predator I'll be adding before too long as well, though it'll have the opposite loadout with las cannon turret and bolter sponsons.

I've heard about the importance of having a Heldrake, but they're just too expensive for me. I'm not paying the nearly $70 most people want for a model I don't even like the design of. Plus, my current opponents don't have fliers anyway.

I've made my champs pretty much interchangeable, so I can swap them around. I sounds like it'd be better to have the Power Axe champ hanging otu with my Plague Marines then and the sword guy with the regulars.

I am thinking about fielding some Oblits. It's just, like the Heldrake, I absolutely hate the models for them, so I'll probably make my own. That's going to take some time though. Are they really worth it?

As for the zombies, I fully intend to have more than 20. Plus cultists. I just need to get through modeling the first batch of them though.

Another unit I'm thinking about is fast attack. My idea is to field a pack of VC Dire Wolves with proper round bases and counting them as Fenrisian Wolves. These would fit thematically with the chapter as they're called the Plague Dogs. It would make sense for the Plague Dogs to have some actual Plague Dogs with them. Would this be a good idea, do you thinK?

I am thinking about fielding some Oblits. It's just, like the Heldrake, I absolutely hate the models for them, so I'll probably make my own. That's going to take some time though. Are they really worth it?

They are worth it from a flexibility stand point but you can cover for not having them and save points at the same time... It sounds like you are going to have two predators with TL Las and Heavybolter sponsons... not the most efficient but okay for anti-infantry or heavy tanks... so it sounds like you have that covered pretty well.

How about 7 havocs with 4 autocannons and perhaps an ADL with quad gun? That is 12 S7 shots that have 48" range, provide great coverage versus medium/low armored vehicles and anti-air. 241 points.... versus 3 oblits with MoN for 228 points..

Ir you are sweating tanks, some bikes with meltaguns or small termicide groups with combi-meltas can do the trick nicely.