Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Trickstick wrote:Special weapon squads with sniper rifles - Just really bad.

Oh, I forgot about that one. At least the techpriest has a power weapon and power armor. These guys are just BAD.

45 points for 1.5 sniper rifle hits per turn? Yeah... That's even if they stay on the field to shoot them...

This is a good thread! So many bad units to choose from!

Ethereals for sure. Been pointed out already, but man do they suck.
Swooping hawks as well. I like their usefullness, and if done properly and supported they can do alright, but even then...at 21 points a model it's a high price to pay for what they can do.
I'd say fire warriors as well. By far not the worst in the game, but considering they are the basic troop choice for tau,and are supposed to be ultra shooty, and you need to take at least one, they dont really shine as well as they should compared to other armies troop choices.


That's all I have.

I am very surprised about the lack of Pariahs being mentioned. I thought it was univerally accepted that Pariahs literally do nothing for anyone and are the biggest waste of points in the game.

Legion of the Damned. While not useless, they are nerfed by bad rules, and being overpriced. Plus they are an elite choice, so they are contending with terminators, dreads, and sternguard.

I disagree with Carnifexes being useless. If you put 2 in a squad, and give them AG and Frag Spines, they are a great Heavy support choice. The problem? They are stupidly overpriced for what you get for just one, the price needs to lower about 20-30 points for them to be considered a "Great" Unit. Plus, they are horrible if not squaded up.

For Worst Units? Chaos Spawn (SaP? Terrible Idea) Pyrovore (Hooray! We have a flamethrower! Except it can't kill anything...) Ethereal (He died? You win.) and The Parasite of Mortex (Want some KP's? Here you go!)

Sky57 wrote:I am very surprised about the lack of Pariahs being mentioned. I thought it was univerally accepted that Pariahs literally do nothing for anyone and are the biggest waste of points in the game.

What's really sad is that Pariahs, if they were Necrons, would easily be a fantastic unit.

Furies.....without a doubt...

so it seems that that the top voted number 1 worst is the Ethereals !

Lonecoon wrote:

Sky57 wrote:I am very surprised about the lack of Pariahs being mentioned. I thought it was univerally accepted that Pariahs literally do nothing for anyone and are the biggest waste of points in the game.

What's really sad is that Pariahs, if they were Necrons, would easily be a fantastic unit.

If well protected, I think vs. Grey Knights they may find a place to shine bright.

maxthecat122 wrote:so it seems that that the top voted number 1 worst is the Ethereals !

You hit the nail on the head. Because while almost every other thing listed here has some redeeming quality, the ethereal has literally none. He is meant to buff your entire army, however the only way he can do so is by dieing. And then, he forces the entire army to take leadership checks (on mostly ld7 and 8), and if they pass that, they finally get their army wide buff. and what is that buff? Why preferred enemy! So now your craptastic CC abilities are maginally less craptastic.

On the ethereal: And you pay points for the privelage of failing. If you take him, you should get bonus points.

Flash Gits: IIRC, these are the orks that have a shooting attack that wounds MeQ on a 2+, ignores power armour half the time and is assault 3? That can hop on a battlewagon and take a painboy?

That ain't bad.

Pariahs: saved from the lower 10 because of Warscythes with built-in gauss weaponry. Likely, they'll be back with a vengence after the new codex.

I'm amazed I haven't seen more people mention Lictors? Talk about a kick in the pants.
"Allright lads, we are the epitome of ambush predators. We are going to leap out of this bush, and hiss really hard at the enemy, then let them shoot us, and then maybe we'll attack them. And if we're still alive, we'll make damn sure our reserves get here by turn four!"

Vanguard
Honorguard.
God damn they are expensive. everytime you get them its like a death trap as they cost so much to use and if you lose them they weren't even worth half your army.

Andilus Greatsword wrote:Aside from the obvious Pyrovore, I don't like Ripper Swarms. As far as I'm concerned they're a waste of a troops slot. I can only see myself utilizing them if I ran a Parasite of Mortex list, mostly because they're a free unit. I just don't like how easily they die, and that they can kill themselves if they go out of synapse range - there are far better troops choices that a Nids player can take.

Rippers arent that bad if you give them spinefists. Agree on better options for primary choices but if you have some left over points there a decent point sink.
Chaos sqawn suck hard slow and purposeful in fast attack wtf?

I'm going to put my vote in for Rough Riders to be placed somewhere on that list. Sure, if used correctly, I'm sure they can do something. Maybe as tank hunters, for example. But, as assault troops, they are....lacking.

Running some numbers. For a minimum squad of Rough Riders, 55 points, once per game, they can kill, statistically, between 3 and 4 Marines.Once per game. Assuming, of course, that T3 5+ save units can get into close combat at full strength. Remember, 44% chance for a bolter to cause a casualty.

If you go hog-wild, and make a full Rough Rider Squad, and spend 105 points, you can kill....statistically, 7 Marines. So, once per game, you'll be able to *almost* wipe out a single unit of normal Marines. After that, though, they are useless, seeing as though they only have a laspistol. If they had a laspistol and CCW, they could at least make up for a lack of a hunting lance with a bucketload of attacks, but.....they can't.

As for Rough Riders as tank hunters, well, you can trade a Hunting Lance for a Melta at 10 points, but you can only do so for 2, which fire at BS3. Hardly stupendous. Also, of course, getting to the enemy is a problem, because again, you're effectively dealing with a Guardsman, hardly the most survivable creature on the 40k battlefield.

So, I submit the Rough Riders as one of the Worst 10 Units in 40k.

Pariahs
Flayed Ones
Tomb Spider


anyone see a theme appearing?

Ogiwan wrote:So, I submit the Rough Riders as one of the Worst 10 Units in 40k.

Well I would have to disagree with you there Ogiwan. Besides looking really cool (well, as long as you convert them) and being something a bit different, I find them quite useful.

Sure, they are not the best unit in the book but they are not one of the worst ten in the game. Hide them behind a few chimeras and they can counter attack effectively at quite a large range. Anecdotal evidence is not great, but mine killed 1 BA stormshield terminator in my last game with them. That is nearly the cost of the entire unit, and they tied up a deadly squad for a turn infront of my firepower, letting me get things into position to finish them off.

If furious charge worked with hunting lances (I still think that it does, RAI-wise) then they would be an awesome little unit with Mogul Kamir.

Anyway, they are kind of bad. They are not bottom 10 bad though. Coolness has to count for something...

Ailaros wrote:

blackshark121 wrote:I go with Swooping Hawks.

?

They can put down a large blast template every turn without ever actually spending any time on the board. It's like a super-accurate orbital bombardment that is able to contest objectives at the end of the game.

It's not every turn, it's whenever they deepstrike. For 132 points (5 man squad w/exarch and skyleap.) Aside from the blast they're squishy, T3 and 4+ save -- if they get in combat with this small of a squad they'll be wiped easily. Haywire Grenades stand a good chance of locking down tanks with shakes/stuns, but if they break the can open, the contents will kill your hawks. The idea is pretty awesome, but they are too unpredictable and fragile for the points investment. The wave serpent costs nearly 2x what most other good tanks cost, not leaving much room for point-sinks like this. A fire prism does the job similarly, if not better, for less points.

maxthecat122 wrote:so it seems that that the top voted number 1 worst is the Ethereals !

Because the Space Pope sucks, horribly. Its an awful combat unit. Its "buff" actually screws your army. At it dies amazingly easily. Even thier fluff doesn't redeem them, they still suck in the fluff!!!

I've seen them mentioned once or twice, but since they're not in everyone's list it's clear that people don't know just how amazingly bad Sisters Repentia are. These Sisters are 20pts each (plus 30 for the "Mistress"). They can't get in vehicles and they're not faithful, so their T3, 4+ save means they die in a stiff breeze. You can't keep them in cover because they randomly run at the enemy. And if you do actually make it to combat you get one attack at I1 so again that T3, 4+ means none of your girls will be alive to fight.

So let's recap: really expensive, terrible at their intended role, slightly offensive BDSM fluff. If Ethereals are the worst unit in the game, Repentias are the runners-up.

Ogiwan wrote:For a minimum squad of Rough Riders, 55 points, once per game, they can kill, statistically, between 3 and 4 Marines.

So, they cost 55 points, and they kill 45-60 points of stuff.

Last I checked "It only makes its points back" isn't a qualifying reason for a worst unit award.

Plus, a full squad can take down an uninjured trygon in a single go from 18" away. Sounds like a deal to me.

Indeed, Rough Riders:
a) Look damn awesome. I mean...massed calvary charge anyone?

b) Have their place in an army. They are a fantastic countercharge unit, that can blunt even the nastiest Death Star/fancy close combat unit. With a long charge range they can strike when and where they choose, and their hunting lances means against anything but I6 units, they'll at least get their hits in before they die. They may only take down a few Marines or Terminators, but it's worth it I think. YMMV, but definitely NOT one of the worst units. Mogul Kamir however....

Son_Of _Deddog wrote:Furies.....without a doubt...

I miss read this and thought you said Furries, and man did I agree with that. I hate furries. But I also didn't know what army had furries in them.

Herald of Nurgle.
Costs too much point wise, bad upgrades. Basically 2 Plaguebearers melted together...

discotzeentch wrote:Herald of Nurgle.
Costs too much point wise, bad upgrades. Basically 2 Plaguebearers melted together...

But is it worse than a Beast of Nurgle??

Vespid, Swooping hawks seem like the biggest waist of time. Also, for a more recent addition, the thunderfire cannon looks awesome, but I dont see many people running it

Vespid and Chaos Spawn. Chaos Spawn cause they plain suck.

Vespid cause they are meant to kill marines but have the range of a pistol. Huh?

Necron Warriors, Necron Immortals, Necron Wraith, Necron Tombspyder, Necron Scarabs. Dont get me wrong, I love the Necron models and fluff, they just need a new codex.

I agree with the Space Pope being #1, closely followed by the Decrapitator at #2. Most useless HQ choice I have ever seen.