Getting the most Burn for your Buck
The Promethium Relay from Stronghold Assault has me more than a little excited. As someone who has always loved the unadulturated killing power of the flamer, I was excited about this fortification. When I first saw it, I was so excited. A flurry of conversation broke out in the back of my local game store.
"Well, how useful can it be?" said one naysayer. "It only benefits one single weapon type, and even then, you can't move and shoot it. Plus it can hurt you. The benefits way outweigh the risks."
Pish posh, says I. There's more than enough templates to go around, and I'm more than happy to talk about all of them. Let's go through the armies, book by book, and talk about who can benefit the most from this particular upgrade!
The basics
Your basic pipeline comes in three large sections and four small ones. While no official model has been presented, using an
ADL for size comparisons is not unreasonable.
Models close to the pipes can give flamer weapons the Torrent special rule provided they fire it as a Heavy weapon. The weapons that work with this are found on page 56 of the
BRB.
The pipe wall grants a cover save, but it if a stray bullet hits the wall, it can potentially harm you!
A conglomerate fortification is available, the Void Relay Network, consisting of multiple Promethium Relays and multiple Void Shield Generators.
Armies
I built a database that shows how many templates each codex has at its disposal, and how many points they pay for them. You can find it as an attachment to this post.
Note that I do not address repeated units. (The tactical squad and the assault terminator squad, specifically.) Refer back to the Space Marine entry for those units approximate values.
In the case of Blood Angels, there may be a tiny point discrepancy between the units while we wait for an updated Blood Angels 'dex, but since that's coming eventually anyway, and very few people still play
BA right now, I didn't feel the need to include the additional data. It wouldn't affect the broad conclusions I'm looking to draw here, anyway.
Combi-weapons are tabulated as being only .16 of a template (since other templates can theoretically shoot once every turn in a game which will average 6 turns, and the combi-weapon can only shoot once).
I do not list units which can only take a maximum of a single template. They had to have access to at least 1.16 before I bothered calculating their utility.
Space Marines C or
A if Salamanders
The most populous army, Space Marines can swing pretty hard with this particular gem. Although they can't squeeze in as many teardrops as some other armies, with the ability to take Chapter Tactics: Salamanders and twin-link those bad boys, they can dish out some truly heinous damage with the ones they DO have.
Clearly your big moneymakers are the bike squads, or command squads on bikes. With the ability to squeeze in 2-4 flamers, they are also Relentless, which means they will be able to move up and still fire, allowing you to deploy the pipes further up the table, and expanding the bubble of fiery threat. Assault Squads are another cheap way to get a couple of flamers into a minimum sized squad. Although they pay a bit more for it, Legion of the Damned units can take 2.16 templates even at their minimum squad size, and like Bikes are able to move and still shoot.
Blood Angels C
Most of the same options as Marines, but at slightly higher points. While the Death Company can't squeeze very many IN, they are Relentless. A possible build involves Scouts with Camo Cloaks and a
Loc Beacon hiding within a ring of pipes near the center of the board. Deep Striking Death Company can bounce off the beacon for no scatter, then throw their hand flamers across the board to soften up enemy infantry units before charging next turn.
Chaos Space Marines A
I was stunned to realize how many templates a C:
SM force can lay down. Chosen units can take a whopping 5.16 templates, and Havocs can get another 4.16 themselves. Cultists and Bikers can bring templates in for less than 50 points per template, and the bikers are, once again, Relentless. The Obliterators can alternate between heavy flamers and twin-linked regular flamers, while still being able to move and shoot. Coupled with their ability to use heavy and anti-tank weapons, the Chaos Marines could easily field a list where every unit can drop a template.
Dark Angels D
With slightly fewer options than the Blood Angels, Dark Angels at least pay a smaller amount for the flamers they can take. Unfortunately, one of the big advantages of the Dark Angels is their access to plasma, and you sacrifice that every time you take a template. You could maybe get a little benefit from throwing a Promethium Relay into a Deathwing list.
Another thought were you could see some possible benefit for Dark Angels is the use of the Void Shields. The larger conglomerated fortification benefits them a great deal. A Ravenwing list could gain a great deal of advantage from a network of Void Shields, with skimmers galore putting out huge firepower, and not having to worry about their negligible armor nearly so much. If the points value of this list was high enough, you could add in a couple of flamers and get a little advantage from one of your Promethium Relays.
Eldar D
There's no real reason for a straight Eldar list to try and make a flamer-heavy list. With only two units that can even take them at all, only one of those (Wraithlords) are a viable option. Still, being Relentless and tough as nails, you could theoretically run a list with a Relay centerfield, and two to three Wraithlords camping out around it and hosing down the infantry that are being shot out of their transports by your Wave Serpents. I would stand by this idea as a solid one, but unfortunately it's really the ONLY build I can see with the Eldar codex.
Grey Knights B
Another huge shock to me was how many damn templates the Knights can fit in to a list. One of the few armies that can fit a whole template into every slot, the Grey Knights don't always do it cheap, but by my count can pack more Torrent-able templates into a single
FOC than any other army. (It's an army of over 4000 points so you'll never field it, but still...)
Purifiers, Henchmen, and Purgation squads can all bring templates at reasonable prices. Honestly, a terminator heavy list wouldn't go amiss here, however, since they could all get a little benefit as they walk past to their juicier targets downfield. If you've got Henchmen as troops (ala Coteaz) then you've got a tasty setup. A huge wall of pipes, behind which you've got nothing but monkeys and flamer wielding warriors could be a sick set-up. The Jokaero would still retain the ability to use their special weapons as a heavier option if you didn't bring enough anti-vehicle juice. (Although at numbers this thick, they aren't providing any upgrade to their squads at all.)
Imperial Guard A
The Guard can fit the most flamers into a
fieldable list, with a mind blowing 85 templates for less than 2000 points! Even their most expensive flamer wielders (Storm Troopers) field them for less than 50 points per template. Company Command Squads and Infantry Platoons can fit them in for less than 25 points per teardrop, which is staggering.
The list that springs to mind with them is the conglomerated fortification, with a HUGE ring of pipes encircling a giant blob of horde guard. Remember that with the Torrent rule, your flamers don't need a fire lane, and can shoot over people's heads, meaning you can fit your special weapon squads safely inside a wall of shielding bodies. Add some Void Shields and some heavy weapons to handle larger enemies (you've got no flamers begging for your attention in the Heavy slot, so why not take some big guns?) and you've got a truly awesome list. The Void Shields help to cover your otherwise squishy Guard, the pipes give you a cover save (even if you get blown up by a fire gout, you've probably brought the wound down to a strength and
AP that is survivable) and the Torrent weapons counteract your mediocre
BS.
Orks C
Ugh! I wanted Orks to be the MVP here so bad. With Burna Boyz, they can definitely get the cheapest flamers in the game (15 to a unit, at 15 points each). Unfortunately, that's where the fun ends, really. That's the only unit in the codex that can take Torrent-able template weapons that aren't one shot only. Still, it isn't a total loss. You can stick a mega armored Warboss into the unit to give them the ability to move and fire. (Slow and Purposeful, unlike Relentless, confers to the whole squad!)
Still, you're going to need something else if you want to take on most lists. Some biker nobz might help, and you can even give them a couple of combi-skorchas that they can uncork as they pass by the pipes.
Space Wolves D
Worst of the Space Marine armies in this regard. They've got two troop units that can viably put some templates down, but with so few options in the codex (fewer than the others, even) why bother? Space Wolves are a great army, but like all good savages, they're apparently afraid of fire.
Tau C or
A if using Farsight
The Tau only have a single unit that can field flamers. But what a unit! Not only can they field up to six flamers per Elite slot, those flamers are Relentless as well as able to bounce back and forth between the pipes and better cover. A Buffmander in the mix only makes things sweeter, with six
twin-linked templates dropping enemies up to 20" away. The Tau have MORE than enough supporting elements to handle anything that doesn't want to come into your bubble of death.
Farsight makes this even MORE atrocious! With the ability to take even more Crisis Suits, now as scoring units, the Tau stand to benefit a great deal from this fortification.
Sisters of Battle B
Sisters come correct in this category, as everyone anticipated. No surprise, they can field a huge number of flamers (over forty of them in a single
FOC for under 2k) for a decent price. With good armor saves and good armored support, the Sisters are a solid option to build a flamer-wielding gunline. In many ways, this fortification is everything the Sisters have wanted for a long time (except plastic troop kits, dadum-bum), namely a way to use their high number of fire weapons at greater range.
Tyranids F
Pyrovores. That's it. Fairly cheap, but not that great. Can't be fielded in large enough numbers to make it worthwhile. There isn't a whole hell of a lot of advantage for them here.
Necrons and Dark Eldar F
From bad to worse. Necrons have two fire throwing weapons in their army, but neither can benefit from the pipes. (The Gauntlet of Fire isn't listed as a flamer weapon, and the dispersed Heat Ray is only available on a vehicle.) The Dark Eldar don't even have that much going for them, since they are the only army without access to fire weapons of any kind.
Conclusions
Here's the list of MVP's:
A's
Imperial Guard
Farsight Tau
Chaos Marines
Salamanders
B's
Sisters of Battle
Grey Knights
C's
Tau
Orks
D's
Blood Angels
Dark Angels
Space Wolves
Eldar
F's
Dark Eldar
Tyranids
Necrons
I think that Imperial Guard stand out as the army that can use the Promethium Relay/Void Relay Network to the best advantage, but if you set your mind to it a Tau, Grey Knights, Sisters of Battle, or Salamanders list could also turn some heads. I intend to try as many of these as possible, so I'll let you know how they turn out.
What do you all think? If people think this is useful enough, I'm willing to clean it up and present it as an article. Any thoughts or suggestions?
For those interested in the Promethium Relay pipes, I've found a couple of places you can pick them up.
Armorcast sells both a wall version as well as an overhead pipe walkway that I personally don't feel right using, but sure looks cool.
Naloomi's Workshop sells pipe/industrial bits that would work just as well, and they sell them for a song.
Special thanks to barko, conker, extremefreak17, and jifel for providing me access to their Codexes, as well as pointing out some of my errors.
![[Disk]](/dakkaforum/templates/default/images/icon_disk.gif){kind=icon}
can neither confirm nor deny I lost track of what I've got right now. 
4000 points: Craftworld Mymeara 
6000 pts - Harlies: 1000 pts - 
4000 pts - 
1000 pts - 
1000 pts 
10000pts - Sisters Venatores
2500pts - Imbros Irregulars
- 3000pts
If you'd be willing to 
'Nids growing soon
3500 pts. unpainted
