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.

Okay, so the Montka book is old news. We all know about it and we all know about the crappy IG formations in it. We also know about the generic Baneblade one, which is altogether less than stellar. So, in an effort to uplift them (and in the hope that GW will see these rules and use them) I present this:

Superheavy Tank Platoon;

Composition - 3 or 4 Superheavy Tanks chosen from the following list:
Baneblade
Hellhammer
Shadowsword
Stormlord
Stormsword
Banehammer
Stormblade
Banesword
Doomhammer

Special rules;

Might of the Imperium: All friendly units within 24" of at least one model in this formation have +1 to their Deny the Witch saves, Stubborn, and may re-roll failed LD checks

Unstoppable Juggernaughts: All models in this formation have a 5+ invulnerable save

Experienced crews: All models in this formation gain +1 BS

Special Detachment - Each Super Heavy Tank Platoon must select one of the below:

-Tactical formation
Restrictions; none
Benefits; all units within 6" of at least one model in this formation gain a 4+ cover save

-Suppression formation
Restrictions; At least two of the tanks taken must be Stormlords
Benefits; The Vulcan Megabolter's gain Rending and all weapons on the models in this formation and on any embarked units gain Pinning. All pinning checks caused by this formation must be taken at -2 LD. All Stormlords in this unit gain the Assault Transport rule. The unit may also make the following special attack in lew of shooting any Vulcan Megabolters: Suppresivve barrage;
Nominate one Stormlord in the unit and draw a 2" wide 12" long line anywhere within range of its Vulcan Megabolter. Any unit with at least one model touched by this takes D3+2 hits from the Vulcan Megabolter and is automatically pinned. Other Stormlords within the unit may also contribute to the attack, for each Stormlord beyond the first add another 12" to the line and an extra 3 hits to affected units. The other weapons on the Stormlords may fire as per usual.

-Shadowsword Titan-Hunting Battery
Restrictions; the entire formation must consist of Shadowswords
Benefits; All models in this unit have the Shrouded special rule. All Volcano Cannons in this formation are fired at BS5 and are Twin-Linked. All Volcano cannons in this formation add +2 to any rolls on the 'D' chart. Any Super Heavy vehicle or Greater Monstrous Creature hit by the Volcano Cannons of at least three of the tanks in this formation may only snapshoot next turn

-DoomHammer Tank-Killer unit
Restrictions; at least two of the tanks taken must be Doomhammers
Benefits; All models in this unit gain Tank Hunter, Monster Hunter, Preferred Enemy Tanks and Preferred Enemy Monstrous Creatures. The Magma Cannon on models in this formation gain Instant Death, Armourbane and +2 on any rolls made on the Vehicle Damage Table.

-Siegebreaker Artillery Battery
Restrictions; At least three of the tanks taken must be Baneswords
Benefits; All Baneswords in this formation gain Twin Linked on their Quake Cannon's. All Quake Cannons gain a +2 on the Fortification Damage Table and gain Armourbane against Fortifications which are hit. Any models inside a fortification hit by the Quake Cannons in this formation are automatically hit as well.

-Assault Battery
Restrictions; At least three of the tanks taken must be Stormswords
Benefits; Any units hit by the Stormsword Siege Cannon's in this unit count as being in Difficult Terrain for the next turn. Roll a D6 for each piece of terrain hit by a Stormsword Siege Cannon from this unit: On a 4+ any Barricades or smaller terrain pieces (including Aegis defence lines, Wall of Martyrs and the like) are removed and any Ruins or Forests are removed and replaced with a similar sized and shaped patch of rubble. This rubble offers no cover but is Difficult Terrain. All weapons on models in this unit gain Pinning.

-Support Battery
Restrictions; At least three of the tanks taken must be Banehammer's
Benefits; Units hit by a Quake Cannon from this formation are automatically pinned. All weapons on models in this formation, and on embarked units, have Twin Linked, Tank hunter and Monster Hunter. Any embarked units gain the Pinning special rule. All tanks in the formation gain the Assault Vehicle special rule.

This is only a draft so far. Alterations will be made.

Back up a step.

You want a standard 40k formation to encourage taking three 450+pt superheavies together in the same game?

To be fair they already have formations with multiple stormsurges.

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Back up a step.

You want a standard 40k formation to encourage taking three 450+pt superheavies together in the same game?

Well, they are hardly underpriced right now.

 master of ordinance wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Back up a step.

You want a standard 40k formation to encourage taking three 450+pt superheavies together in the same game?

Well, they are hardly underpriced right now.

Depends on the variant. The Hellhammer could be called underpriced and the Stormlord is the core of plenty of shenanigans.

I'd be much happier with an attempt to improve the Baneblade-chassis tanks if you were to do it by modifying the tanks themselves or by going after their Apocalypse formation rather than creating a detachment to field 1,500pts of superheavies in normal games with no restrictions. I don't know about anyone else but I don't think adding more superheavies at normal game scales is going to improve the game.

 AnomanderRake wrote:

 master of ordinance wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Back up a step.

You want a standard 40k formation to encourage taking three 450+pt superheavies together in the same game?

Well, they are hardly underpriced right now.

Depends on the variant. The Hellhammer could be called underpriced and the Stormlord is the core of plenty of shenanigans.

I'd be much happier with an attempt to improve the Baneblade-chassis tanks if you were to do it by modifying the tanks themselves or by going after their Apocalypse formation rather than creating a detachment to field 1,500pts of superheavies in normal games with no restrictions. I don't know about anyone else but I don't think adding more superheavies at normal game scales is going to improve the game.

At this point in the game, where I regularly see triple Riptide plus dual Stormsuge lists on the field as well as Eldar Wraithbrigade and Scatbikes, three of four Super Heavy tanks are hardly anything special.

So, take any 3 super heavies, and get +1BS, a 5+ invul, and a 4+ save?

Rulewise, it's just like as a riptide wing: it gives you nice free rules as a reward for spamming a good unit.
It really doesn't feel like a formation that's supposed to allow someone to field a fluffy list, while gaining some fun rule that goes well with the theme of the army. It's just another formation that is just about making a given unit stronger.
I don't like formations like that, especially since they make the game much harder to balance.

 master of ordinance wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:

 master of ordinance wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Back up a step.

You want a standard 40k formation to encourage taking three 450+pt superheavies together in the same game?

Well, they are hardly underpriced right now.

Depends on the variant. The Hellhammer could be called underpriced and the Stormlord is the core of plenty of shenanigans.

I'd be much happier with an attempt to improve the Baneblade-chassis tanks if you were to do it by modifying the tanks themselves or by going after their Apocalypse formation rather than creating a detachment to field 1,500pts of superheavies in normal games with no restrictions. I don't know about anyone else but I don't think adding more superheavies at normal game scales is going to improve the game.

At this point in the game, where I regularly see triple Riptide plus dual Stormsuge lists on the field as well as Eldar Wraithbrigade and Scatbikes, three of four Super Heavy tanks are hardly anything special.

It's not a question of 'anything special'. It's a question of whether you think a 1,500pt army of three superheavies is a positive development for the game, which I don't.

 AnomanderRake wrote:

 master of ordinance wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:

 master of ordinance wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Back up a step.

You want a standard 40k formation to encourage taking three 450+pt superheavies together in the same game?

Well, they are hardly underpriced right now.

Depends on the variant. The Hellhammer could be called underpriced and the Stormlord is the core of plenty of shenanigans.

I'd be much happier with an attempt to improve the Baneblade-chassis tanks if you were to do it by modifying the tanks themselves or by going after their Apocalypse formation rather than creating a detachment to field 1,500pts of superheavies in normal games with no restrictions. I don't know about anyone else but I don't think adding more superheavies at normal game scales is going to improve the game.

At this point in the game, where I regularly see triple Riptide plus dual Stormsuge lists on the field as well as Eldar Wraithbrigade and Scatbikes, three of four Super Heavy tanks are hardly anything special.

It's not a question of 'anything special'. It's a question of whether you think a 1,500pt army of three superheavies is a positive development for the game, which I don't.

It is already possible - just check out Mont-ka.

fresus wrote:
Rulewise, it's just like as a riptide wing: it gives you nice free rules as a reward for spamming a good unit.

No, it's not the same at all. Riptides are good without formations and the formation makes a unit you're already taking even better with no drawbacks. IG superheavies are mediocre at best and you aren't taking them in a normal army, so adding a powerful formation to make them more appealing might actually get people to take them (outside of being stubborn about using their favorite model). And remember, these formations are ~1300 points at minimum. That's buys you a Reaver titan or a pair of Warhounds, three Baneblade-class units without the formation buffs aren't even remotely close to the power of the titans.