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So I like Volkite. They look cool, and help sell the theme of the 30k setting vs. 40k with their lost tech imagery. Rules look fun as well.

Ultramarine perspective here.

Chargers seem like they have a solid role. They are the assault option. I have plans to build a 10 man tac support squad with them, give them chainswords and probably stick in a land raider.

Calivers seem pretty nasty by the numbers. I was originally thinking of a 5 man faux-heavy squad. Park them somewhere and lay fire downrange.

But then I compared to the actual heavy option.

Culverins in a heavy support squad cost less, and have better stats. 15” range and 2 shots more.

The heavy support squad has the heavy tag, which for a camping squad is mostly a boon. The main drawback is taking up the HS slot on the FoC. The tactical support squad is a troop pick, but due to the Support Squad rule, can’t count for compulsory slot requirement.

So besides the obvious running out of HS slots and wanting to stick more volkite into your list, is there any reason to take Calivers? Are there better places to get them into a list? The guns look cool, and I have them in the bits box from the plastic support weapons pack.

It might be that other legions with different units/rites of war can get some milage out of them, but for my Ultras I’m not seeing much opportunity.

Running out of troop slots is only a valid argument, if you decide to always use the same list. And to be earnest who does that? Use the weapons which you like from an aesthetic point of view. This means for me that I will definitely build a 10-man rotor cannon squad first. Can´t wait to use them against hordes of cultists & zombies.

I think Culverins just are that good. They're sponson grade weapons and even beat out some vehicle main weapon volkites. Obviously they will outmatch something that's in the same tier as flamers.

Why they're cheaper tho... who even knows.

I like chargers for assaulters and calivers for mid board camping. Culverins are the golden choice right now as long as you have the slots to play with(& work with your style of army).

Volkites will see a role when militia forces come out. A unit or two of 5 should be able to delete militia infantry.

A unit of 10 culverins should be good at land hits on larger troop squads. 10 models shooting 4 shots each at S6 should get work done against the mechanicus. Either clearing out servitors or forcing saving throws on some automata.

My thought is they put out a lot of high strength shots. They don't punch through armor and allow saves. I think they are ok at making the enemy roll saves.

It depends on the type of game you're playing - small games allow for volkites as you will not face much armor (not expecting much under 1500 points or in Zone Mortalis). In large 3000 point games, you have better options because you're expecting your enemy to take bigger and better options. At 1500 points I don't expect too many terminator squads. At 3000, I expect several even a possible LoW.

Deflagrate has a quality of its own when you're pumping out a metric buttload of shots

Racerguy180 wrote:
Deflagrate has a quality of its own when you're pumping out a metric buttload of shots

Indeed. It's something I've been considering to help my Night Lords with Terminators because forcing Terminators to fail 2+ saves through insane numbers of shots over high quality ones is a classic approach I think might be worth exploring.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
I think Culverins just are that good. They're sponson grade weapons and even beat out some vehicle main weapon volkites. Obviously they will outmatch something that's in the same tier as flamers.

Why they're cheaper tho... who even knows.

Pretty early on i had the same question actually, since i wanted the volkite special weapon squad for looks but when you compare it to the heavy support squad one it is a wierd mathematic case unless the tropp slot tag makes it due to availability more expensive which is kinda a fair argument, until you realise that the unit type is actually also better for the heavy support squad...