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So since GW only sells broadsides in packs of one, is there any way to run one solo without it being killed first or second turn?

Cover and shield drones?

 rohansoldier wrote:
Cover and shield drones?

@Rohan, 1 more post to 1000!

It wouldn't be so much as it being killed as ineffective

Hymp broadsides are effective due to the weight of s7 they can unleash. And with a rail gun it's no better than a marine with a rocket launcher

In kill point missions though yes it would get obliterated.

Well, the rail IS AP1, and he still got his second gun.

But yes, rail is rather sad these days.

So anyone know how to make the hymp less stupid looking?

Some people convert the rail rifle in the kit with the hymp you could try that ??

 thepowerfulwill wrote:
So anyone know how to make the hymp less stupid looking?

You could model a large shoulder mounted missile thing instead of putting them on the arms. That way you could make 2 hymp suits from one kits worth of pods.

Sounds cool, anything on the gallery about that? maybe in tutorials?

the rail is weaker than a lascannon and on a platform that is considerably more expensive (as it always has EWO/Bonded/drones or its useless/too easy to remove anyway). GW's way of making us shelf our epic models by making them worthless.

anyway a single hymp wouldnt put out that much firepower. At 30" they put out 4 S7 Ap4 and 4 S5 AP5 shots that are twinlinked. Now if it wasnt 95pts on a T4 model, that would be great....but its not lol. Drones are easily removed by infantry so the lascannon can just paste the broadside. An ionhead will usually do more damage throughout the game than even a duo broadside unit, but thats more because of the 60" gun keeping it out of harms way majority of the time so it usually lasts longer. My ionheads rarely die. Downside is ionheads die even easier than broadsides when they ARE caught (outflanking bikes ffs)

I refuse to run them unless i go full-out 3man squads with missile drones and a bubble of firewarriors + ethereal (leadership and Zephyr's Grace boons). Simply because 36"/30" maybe good but the things that autocounter them are also that long or longer. With the Ethereal giving them LD10 i can sacrifice the missile drones and not worry about leadertests that much, giving me a screen to deal with the lascannons or other S8 AP2 shots (which are getting sadly more popular these days and easy to field).

not really worth it without max size, fill that spot with ion heads instead

What is an ionhead?

Hammerheads with the ion cannon instead of railcannon. They shoot 3 S7 Ap3 shots or shoot a pi plate S8 AP3 with the Gets Hot! special rule at 60".

Less potent against vehicles than the railgun but the pi plate on this one pens power armor, the rail gun does not. Also S8 so it can paste T4 things, railgun's is str6 ap4 when it pi plates instead of single shots.

Wait, the frigging rail gun can't pierce power armor? Who had that idea?

yeah railgun with submunitions is weak.. garbage
I take a longstrike hammer, and 2 ionheads if im running armor in my list

also for broadsides... I have a squad of 3 with the missile fists
and then for the other 3
I built the rail rifle.. cut the barrel about in half
cut the arm off one of the missile pods
and glued the missile pod on the end of the shortened barrel
it looks pretty cool and looks like hes shooting missiles

 KonTheory wrote:
yeah railgun with submunitions is weak.. garbage

I gotta disagree with you on this one. The railgun still delivers if your facing armor, then after the armor is dead you can paste troops with the submunitions.

I've found that a single railhead will alter your opponents deployment and movement if they have vehicles. And that's all I need

the subs arent weak, they just arent the best. The reason you take it is its a 5pt upgrade to let an otherwise single shot cause multiple wounds on infantry. It wont pen power armor, but it will put wounds on. Mind you this is AFTER you pop any tanks or T5 multiwounded models (centurions come to mind), not before. Without the upgrade you will end up firing a single S10 Ap1 shot at a random marine after you pop any dreads, landraiders, or rhinos lol

Ionhead is about the pi plate entirely. Thats why its so much stronger. It lacks the single target BANG but makes up in AoE power.

Literally its a flip on roles, with one being slightly better because of all the risks of a single shot these days (BS4 not twinlinked, not ignoring cover, no tankhunter or any rerolls of any kind, invul saves). Railhead wants single big boys, Ionhead wants balls of medium boys.

Kind of completely off topic, but I never run ion cannons on my hammerheads. I use my riptide with the ion accelerator for that role. The reason I take a hammerhead is to destroy heavy armor.

I just try to use each platform in the role it seems most suited for. The riptide excels at crunching heavy infantry, the missile pod broadsides can take down light armor and vehicles, the sky ray is amazing at removing monstrous creatures and aircraft, and that leaves the hammerhead as the only platform left that can reliably counter heavy armor. I suppose most people use melta crisis suits for that role, but I prefer being able to remove the threat from across the table (that doesn't mean I don't take melta/plasma suits, just that I keep them back for interceptor duty and as an emergency screen for anything that makes it to my lines).

Look at al these people and how wrong they are! A Shas'vre with Advanced Targeting and TL Plasma is ~85 points, and precision shots near half the time with a S8 AP1 shot. He's fabulous for removing special weapons!

He also only has a 24" range on the plasma, something I never want my broadsides to be in.

Who the hell puts plasma on broadsides? 24" range for a single shot? 9/10 if your broadsides are that close to something theyre dead, usually from plasma or worse melta fire (as melta is almost never used outside droppod armies unless its tau Fusions or a multi-melta). Duo plasma suits are considerably cheaper AND better for the role a railgun/plasma broaside is trying to do, with almost the same durability. Even without the plasma, my broadsides are usually more expensive than my crisis bombs of any combination.
Railguns in general i feel are pathetic now days. Theyre weaker than lascannons now and far more expensive (-1 str +1AP +12" range does not justify it. AP1 means nothing unless its against vehicles, why the hell would an S8 be an anti-tank weapon? Because its not, its anti-T4 material)

24" range is the distance of assault guns. Units either with good mobility (crisis suits) or good assault capabilities (any marine) want them because they can shoot, punch holes in the armor, then assault or get away. Any unit without crazy speed or even average melee power (broadside has neither) will get crushed in that position.

Also its more expensive. Just, why? I'll forego the 30" gun to keep my broadsides even further away fi i can help it.