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I had alot of fun the other day using a Triaros as a moving wall for my Rangers, against a numpty Guard guy who, for some ridiculous reason, would not move around to get at the side armour.
So I pondered on this, seeing just how useful it was having a solid moving wall to hide behind, and then I pondered on Ferrums, and then on the Secutarii Hoplites, and then on Roman shield turtles.

I'd also like to be aggressive with my Erad Dunecrawlers, with Mindscanner probes.


2 10-Man Vanguard
w/ 3 Arc Rifles, Omnispex.
Alphas take Phosphor blast Pistols and Taser Goads.
[340pts] [170 * 2]

The Vanguard Alpha, who is my Warlord, gets Pater Radium, +20pts.

2 10-man Hoplites - The custom unit -
w/ Boosted power packs
Alphas take Digital Weapons.
[440pts] [220 * 2]

2 Dunecrawlers
w/ Eradication Beamers, Mindscanner probes.
[200pts] [100 * 2]

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Rules for the Custom Skitarii Hoplites:

Skitarii Hoplites: 85 pts.

Unit composition:
4 Hoplites, 1 Hoplite Alpha.
Can take up to 5 ddditional Hoplites, 15pts per model.

Hoplite
Ws 4, Bs 3, S 4, T 3, W 1, I 4, A 1, Ld 8, Sv 4+

Holpite Alpha
Ws 4, Bs 3, S 4, T 3, W 2, I 4, A 2, Ld 9, Sv 4+

Wargear:
Skitarii Warplate
Arc Targe
Radium Spear

Radium Spear:
Range 1, S +1, Ap 5, Rad Poisoning.

Arc Targe:
Confers a 6+ Invulnerable save (in addition to Feel No Pain) to the model.
Any blasts that land in front of the shield, along with any templates towards the shield, in a 90* arc, have their strength reduced by 1.

Instead of striking with the Radium Spear, a Holpite may do a shield bash with their Arc Targe, using the following profile:
Range -,S User, AP -, Mélée, Shock Jolt.

Shock Jolt:
A successful Hit against an Infantry/& Character/ model, who does not have anything behind it, will be forced back an inch, and also suffers -1 to their initiative for the current round of combat.
A successful Hit against a model, who does have something behind it, will suffer -1 to the initiative, and so will whoever's behind them, where applicable.
(The Initiative debuff can stack Twice).

Special Rules:
Doctrina Imperatives
Feel No Pain (6+)
Relentless
Rad Saturation

Roving Wall:
Two or more Hoplites in base contact, side by side, increase their Targe Invulnerable save to 5+.
One Hoplite in base contact behind another Hoplite causes the Blast & Template Strength Reduction to be applied to blasts & templates that land on top of the Hoplites.
In addition, confer a 5+ Cover Save to any model within 4" behind the Hoplite, against attacks that must go past the Hoplite.
(Remember that Skitarii have 4+ armour anyway)

A unit of Hoplites may take Boosted power packs, giving their Arc Targes Haywire.
5pts per model.

The Hoplite Alpha can take items from the Special Issue Wargear list.


-----------------------
We also have a custom Formation:
1 unit of Vanguard,
1 unit of Hoplites,
1 Dunecrawler

Overbearing Radiation:
An enemy unit in Close Combat with a Hoplite and Vanguard unit will be effected by Rad Saturation twice.
(So -2 toughness).
-----------------------

For a 1500pt battle, I'd field two Domitar Ferrum in addition to this, along with upgrading the Dunecrawlers to Neutron lasers, and giving the Vanguard Alphas Arc Mauls & Digi Weps.


Do the Hoplites sound OP, UP, Balanced? I've not used them yet (seeing as I came up with them this evening). Just hope I can find a budding guinea pig opponent.

Bump for interest

I love the idea of custom unit.

I think you need to test the idea against a guinea pig, but I am not a fan of the Roving Wall.
I just keep: "Two or more Hoplites in base contact, side by side, increase their Targe Invulnerable save to 5+."
I think the cover save within 4" behind the hoplite and the other rule aren't really balanced and may be a too strong.

 KalethNL wrote:
I love the idea of custom unit.

I think you need to test the idea against a guinea pig, but I am not a fan of the Roving Wall.
I just keep: "Two or more Hoplites in base contact, side by side, increase their Targe Invulnerable save to 5+."
I think the cover save within 4" behind the hoplite and the other rule aren't really balanced and may be a too strong.

Thanks for the feedback; I appreciate it.

I came up with Roving Wall for want of a fluid way of approaching static defenses, and to apply extra consideration for unit positioning, which is also where the counterplay lies.
(I should point out that the Invulnerable save increase doesn't work for shield facings of I __, only __ __.)

Now that I think about it, 4" is quite a long way. I'd definitely halve that to 2".
As for the other rule, I take it you're referring to the Blast and Template strength reduction, and not Shock Jolt?
The strength redux is there to ensure using the Wall isn't near-suicide for bunching up.
On Shock Jolt anyway, the 1 inch movement is for another way to wrest control of objectives, beyond just blowing eachother up. As for the initiative debuff, I'll probably not let it stack.