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Hey all,

I'm sitting here with my wallet in my hand and I was wondering if Chimera's are still worth taking or should I invest in more Leman Russes or perhaps more guardsmen? I've got 0 Chimeras, 2 LRBT, 1 magnetized Demolisher variation Russ with Pask, and a Vanquisher with Pask, 50 Guardsmen as well.

I think they are. I have two for two squads of Vets to ride around in. Two can shoot Plasma guns out the hatch, the rest can shoot the lasgun arrays, and the multi lazer is not bad. And while the sides armor leaves something to be desired, armor 12 on the front in nice. And command squads can shout orders out of the darn things so it can provide some protection for those squishy 5 man squads. All for only 65 pts. Not bad at all.

Chimeras are good for keeping a decked out CCS safe if you want to have it ride around and follow a blob around.

I do like using them as buses for my Veterans as well, but with the random nerf to the number of models shooting out of of the top hatch sort of makes that slightly worse.

65 points can net you another infantry squad with melta bombs or a power weapon on the sergeant - if you run blobs. Additionally 65 points is the cost of a Wyvern - which are WAY more amazing than the Chimera.

 Frankenberry wrote:
Chimeras are good for keeping a decked out CCS safe if you want to have it ride around and follow a blob around.

I do like using them as buses for my Veterans as well, but with the random nerf to the number of models shooting out of of the top hatch sort of makes that slightly worse.

65 points can net you another infantry squad with melta bombs or a power weapon on the sergeant - if you run blobs. Additionally 65 points is the cost of a Wyvern - which are WAY more amazing than the Chimera.

Ok so they're situationally good now. Still good but only good with vets and geared out CCS. I've got 2 Wyverns, what would you recommend taking?

Well, point for point I don't think there are many things as awesome as a wyvern.

That said it depends on what you want to do. You have two wyvern so you are ok. Three is great, but two is pretty darn good. If you want to do mech guard sometime you will need two chimeras.

Some say they are decent for MT too.

They are also pretty good for anti infantry fire support. A chimera with a heavy stubber costs the same as a heavy weapon squad with heavy bolters, gives you the same level of anti infantry firepower and doesn't die the minute you sneeze on it. That's without even factoring in the fact that it is a transport!

 Krusha wrote:
Some say they are decent for MT too.

They are also pretty good for anti infantry fire support. A chimera with a heavy stubber costs the same as a heavy weapon squad with heavy bolters, gives you the same level of anti infantry firepower and doesn't die the minute you sneeze on it. That's without even factoring in the fact that it is a transport!

I never really considered the Chimera as an alternative to taking heavy weapon squads...and if you toss in camo gear and tuck a couple of them behind some terrain...hmmm. That's something to consider if you want some firepower that doesn't die super easy. i wonder, if getting the auto cannon version from FW is an option too.

 Frankenberry wrote:

 Krusha wrote:
Some say they are decent for MT too.

They are also pretty good for anti infantry fire support. A chimera with a heavy stubber costs the same as a heavy weapon squad with heavy bolters, gives you the same level of anti infantry firepower and doesn't die the minute you sneeze on it. That's without even factoring in the fact that it is a transport!

I never really considered the Chimera as an alternative to taking heavy weapon squads...and if you toss in camo gear and tuck a couple of them behind some terrain...hmmm. That's something to consider if you want some firepower that doesn't die super easy. i wonder, if getting the auto cannon version from FW is an option too.

Yeah, but that's 85pts for 2 Autocannon shots. Not particularly great, even if they are AV12.

I think at a minimum, a single Chimera is a good investment to keep your CCS safe from small arms fire and to extend the range of your orders bubble. Beyond that, if you're happy running blobs or standard infantry squads, you just don't need them.

Thanks for the feedback guys. If it helps any I'm mostly going a mix between mech and blob. Mostly tank heavy with artillery support between a Basilisk and the 2 Wyverns. We'll be playing 1500-2000 points. I'll mostly be playing against Eldar and Tau so I may invest in an Aegis Defense Line. Any thoughts or opinions on what's effective against both armies? We're casual so I doubt they'll be fielding the competitive stuff.

spacemarine542 wrote:
Hey all,

I'm sitting here with my wallet in my hand and I was wondering if Chimera's are still worth taking or should I invest in more Leman Russes or perhaps more guardsmen? I've got 0 Chimeras, 2 LRBT, 1 magnetized Demolisher variation Russ with Pask, and a Vanquisher with Pask, 50 Guardsmen as well.

I don't think Chimeras are particularly great, the price hike and HP changes suck, however, they're still a vital part of an IG army. Investing in more infantry, in most cases, is probably going to give you less return than another Chimera will, and Chimears serve to help oversaturate your opponent's anti-tank capabilities and provide some body-blocking and cover for your "real" tanks.

Tri melta vets in chimeras are IMO utterly auto includes ATM. They're not the best but unless you're taking allies to take objectives you have literally nothing else that does that.

the_scotsman wrote:
Tri melta vets in chimeras are IMO utterly auto includes ATM. They're not the best but unless you're taking allies to take objectives you have literally nothing else that does that.

Why three when only two can fire out of the top hatch?

 Krusha wrote:

the_scotsman wrote:
Tri melta vets in chimeras are IMO utterly auto includes ATM. They're not the best but unless you're taking allies to take objectives you have literally nothing else that does that.

Why three when only two can fire out of the top hatch?

Because they won' always be in the Chimera. They may need to get out to get range or LoS to a target, the Chimera may be destroyed, you may need two distinct elements of maneuver for a particular tactic or other tabletop need, etc. The extra investment is relatively small and adds quite a lot. Alternatively, if they're equipped with Plasma Guns, it also gives you some a spare gun to fire from within the Chimera if one eats a Gets Hot wound.

I have one in my marine army via the Inquisition so i get to use the old school ones. It's shocking how much better they used to be.

Inquisitorial Chimera's with psybolt ammo and the heavy bolter option still seem to work for me.

Is Vet Mech still a competitively viable strategy? Or are IG/AM players doing different strategies now?

No it is not

It is however the best strategy available for guard besides just melta vets and CCS riding in BA drop pods.

The best pure guard army is probably Pask punisher with Eradicator/the Autocannon One/Maybe Executioner pal, meltavets in chimeras, Wyverns. Maybe a CCS with melta in one car for situational orders. And a Vendetta for AA.

Wyvern the stuff that walks, melta the stuff that rolls, pray that Pask gets a shot off if you face significant MCs

spacemarine542 wrote:
Hey all,

I'm sitting here with my wallet in my hand and I was wondering if Chimera's are still worth taking or should I invest in more Leman Russes or perhaps more guardsmen? I've got 0 Chimeras, 2 LRBT, 1 magnetized Demolisher variation Russ with Pask, and a Vanquisher with Pask, 50 Guardsmen as well.

I use one to protect the commander. i find it useful with Camo netting. Twice as good if you have an Aegis to put it behind. But dont really use them beyond that. I've only ever owned two and it's really been enough for my style but i guess it depends on yours. Based on that list I'd say invest in upgrading he blob or else if you wanna have a REALLY fun toy, Deathstrikes are awesome (and i think you can magnetize it to be a Manticore also).

Chimera are still useful for ferrying your vets from point A to point B, and they're surpisingly good at keeping your oh so squishy men alive for a little while longer.

If you want to use chimeras you may want to look into Imperial Armour 1 Second Edition where they get a cheap autocannon upgrade. It is actually a pretty big improvement in their utility.

Otherwise a few chimera or taurox are mandatory to any IG army not taking allies. Without them you just cannot reach objectives on the far side of the board come turn 2-3. (btw a min squad of ratlings is actually not bad for snatching an objective turn 1, not great but not bad). Unfortunately pure IG just don't have a lot of reliable options for mobile scoring.

If you are open to allies then a small detachment of SM, DA, BA, Imperial Knights, or even Inquisition are much better mobile scoring. Also the forgeworld Elysian, Death Korps of Krieg, and Renegades lists are also much better at forward scoring.

An alternative option is to take a few single sentinel units to act as forward scoring but it tends to be a little less reliable.

spacemarine542 wrote:
Is Vet Mech still a competitively viable strategy? Or are IG/AM players doing different strategies now?

Frankly, nothing we do can be classified as competitive. I still play mechanised simply because I've always had a lot of Chimeras since the days of Codex: Armageddon. I do okay, but I also occasionally run blob squads to mix things up. It's funny how people still get a little panicky when they see all those tanks, then by Turn 3 when all my smoking wrecks litter the table, it's not so scary anymore!