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Traits:

Heavy Weapon Platoons,

Iron Discipline

Conscripts

Rough Riders

Drop Troops.

 

HQ:

Heroic Senior Officer (who plans to hide behind cover to keep from getting shot), trademark item, iron discipline, power fist, bolt pistol

    4 unloved men with plasma guns.

2 Antitank squads w/3 lascannons

2 Antipersonnel squads w/ 3 heavy bolters

3 Heavy Weapons Platoons:

   Command squad:  Lt, 4 "volunteers" with melta guns, Drop troops

    1 Anti tank squad with 3 lascannons

   1 Anti personnel squad with 3 heavy bolters.

2 x 10 Rough Riders with power lances

Infantry platoon:

   Command Squad:  Lt, 4 "Volunteers" with melta guns, Drop troops

   2 Infantry squads with autocannon and flamer

50 Conscripts

 

******

So that's 15 lascannons, 15 heavy bolters, and 2 autocannons starting on the table.  2 units of counterassault troops and my most expensive unit is the 50 conscripts.

Dropping in to say hello is a total of 16 meltaguns just to make someone think a little.

 

It's got firepower (it's guard, duh), something in the way of assasult (40 str 5 I 5 attacks on the charge by the rough riders), and a tarpit unit to hold up just about anything for a while.

 

Weaknesses are defense against FoD, although a drop pod army would get severely hosed if it dropped on this bad boy without half the army running away.

 

Anyone see any issues, problems, balance, with the army?

Is your heroic officer dropping in? If so, why is heroic? If not, why does his squad have plasma guns?

The RR don't need to be in units of ten, possibly 3 units of seven?

cheers

I would try to scrape up some points for Flamers (x5 if possible) in your Conscripts.

If you get rid of the Plasma Guns in your HQ, and maybe give them a mortar instead (good hidey weapon, might do something vs Orks or Dark Eldar), you should be able to afford 3 or 4 flamers...

With all those dropping meltas, your need for plasma is less urgent

Wow, that's a lot of heavy firepower in a list!

But I've always been loathe to use heavy weapons teams. I've always thought that 3 heavy weapons manned by only 6 men means a couple of hits will render the entire squad rather useless. Compared to a regular 10-men squad with 1 heavy weapon, sure you pay a lot more for each heavy weapon, but that single weapon will last much much longer.

Any thoughts? Are heavy weapons teams really worth taking?

Way too static for my tastes, Papa. Plus, look at it from your own perspective...how would your Drop Storm deal with it?

Drop storm would die in hordes to this list.

4 pods, 40 marines.

All lascannons shoot one squad, 7 dead marines. infantry squads mop up.
30 marines

Conscripts swarm another squad.

Rough Riders take on one squad each.

Completely makes the drop ineffective. He kills a bunch of guys with shooting, but with 180ish, I can take that.

***
Drop 2 with 30 marines get mainly the same treatment although one squad is left untouched and able to assault.

They assault one sacrificial lamb squad, kill them, and get the bejesus shot out of them the next turn.

Meanwhile, Dropping squads are hitting objectives, taking table quarters, etc..

One worry would be a termie squad taking shots at the command squad. Wouldn't be too tough to do more than 8 wounds on T3 models and eliminate my ld 9 from the table at 24" range. He will be safe from regular marines though.

Heroic senior officer does not drop. Plasma guns are there to deal with stuff that gets close (like drop pods). Against a drop army, he and the heavy weapons sit in the middle along with the rough riders, surrounded by infantry squads and conscripts. 8 plasma gun shots = 3-4 dead marines, and that's a good thing at close range.

As for static, I see your point, but it's also an army that depends upon deployment, positioning, and knowing when to pick up and move a squad. I'm not too happy with the 3 heavy weapon platoons, and will probably trade one for a regular platoon to get more guys on the table in bigger squads.

****
Conscripts are already the most expensive unit at 200 points. If I give them flamers, then I have to worry about positioning way too much. Tried flamers in Mutant squads and I just couldn't make it work, so I don't see it working with conscripts either.

50 conscripts assaulting 10 marines is scary when you think about.
Marines get 9 attacks, 6 hits, 4 wounds, 3 dead conscripts. Conscripts get 94 attacks, 47 hits, 15 wounds, 5 dead marines. Power fist kills another 2. Conscripts outnumber 45-5, and marines probably run, or get held in combat. I'm okay with that... Flamers would be nice, but I don't see them as being integral to how I use the squad.

Splitting the Rough Riders might be a nifty idea though. I'll take a look at it.

Any other thoughts on the list?

Wrong approach to dealing with a Drop Pod. You're making the assumption that every HW can fire at a target. Putting that many troops on the table means that's highly unlikely...especially since as you explained to me at AdeptiCon...Drop Pods create their own terrain. The only thing a drop storm's really going to worry about is the rough riders, because they are simply brutal. So those pods had better be doing their dang best to drop somewhere they can target the rough riders. If they can't they'll drop where most of the rough riders can't get at them.

The other thing that's bad is that every single HQ squad is meant to Deep Strike. So all those heavy weapons, etc. are going to be LD7. A single fear of the dark will make a ridiculous segment of your army run off the table.

By the way...has Muhwe talked to you about Gladiator Champion Smoking Jackets we were thinking of getting? I think the four former Gladiator Champs will look quite nice next year...

Posted By PapaNurgle on 04/06/2006 11:03 PM
Drop storm would die in hordes to this list.

4 pods, 40 marines.

But what do you do when he gets all 8 Drop Pods down on turn 2?