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I ordered a Fire Raptor and Spartan Assault Tank from FW, they arrived yesterday.

HEAVY models. The box weighed more than my TV. The sides of the Spartan are solid slabs of resin, there's so much more to it than regular LRs. Was surprised to see the Fire Raptor has hatches on it, had to check the rules and make sure it doesn't have any transport capacity. Took me over an hour just to verify all the pieces were there.

Went to my FLGS to show off the bits. Declared that the store will no longer allow games between players who don't allow FW. That got a laugh, but this lead to a discussion about how much these change the way you can play CSMs.

With the Spartan: AV 14 with 5 HPs is no joke, not to mention the transport of 25 troops. The amount of firepower you can add to the tank is pretty serious as well, you can take hunter killer missiles, you can get heavy flamers on the hull, you can strap it down with all the other CSM vehicle goodies.

With the Fire Raptor: 2 reaper turrets with independent fire is pretty harsh, but so is the Str6 heavy 7 bolt cannon. It's AV12 all around, which is not bad for a flyer.

Anyways, can't wait to get them painted and try them in games. Thinking 3 x 8 man squads of MoK CSMs for triple assaults will be pretty nasty...

I hate to be a downer, but the drawback to the Spartan is that it has no special rules in regards to being a special transport. From the BRB:

"Each Transport vehicle has a maximum passenger capacity that can never be exceeded. A Transport can carry a single Infantry unit and/or any number of Independent Characters (as long as they are also Infantry), up to a total number of models equal to the vehicle’s Transport Capacity."

So you can't do 3 squads. Sorry.

As Chaosvoices said, only super heavies can carry multiple units.

Can't wait to see them assembled and painted up, though. Congrats!

so stick with one unit of 20 Zerkers with lord thrown in there and mutli assault your way through your enemies lines

Good buys, you're sure to have a blast with them.

Did the spartan rules go down? I cant seem to see them anymore :(

The new rules are in Imperial Armour: Apocaylpse (2013). Since the book came out, and the rules became official for WH40k, they take them off the website. The book is well worth its cost, as it contains nearly everything FW makes for regular games, even flyers, though some flyers are still only in Imperial Armour: Aeronautica, but those are only the ones that are out of production.

I really enjoy the rules for these two to be honest, it's a sweet spot between powerful and not broken. Fire Raptor I dunno about though, the 0-1 restriction is quite painful for list building as ideally you'd want 2, but it's not so bad. Spartans are a cool choice, but you really do need to put something good inside as otherwise you'll be outclassed by any old Land Raider.

That makes sense. But it IS a super heavy right?

Thanks, everyone.

@chaosvoices - Yeah, wow, I hadn't noticed the single unit restriction. I appreciate you for pointing that out.

The new Apocalypse book is well worth it. The fluff is a little more grimdark than anything in the current Codexes to boot. Enjoying this a little more than what came before.

@GoliothOnline - No, but it almost should be a superheavy. Most of the other superheavies have 7 HPs and slightly more guns.

Spartans are amazingly effective. I literally played one guy the other day. Ran 20 Zerkers with a Khorne AoBF Terminator Lord and an Unmarked Terminator Sorceror sporting Endurance among other powers, and just charged it up the board. My Carnifex tried so hard to break it, but only managed to remove 3 Hull Points, even after getting into assault!

Next turn he rolled right past the Carnifex and sent the unit up against my 20 strong Genestealer Brood. Let me tell you, 20 Zerkers sporting Chainaxes are not nice to Stealers. Sure, I struck first but even 11 survivors were more than happy to make mincemeat of me, and that's after the Lord wiped out a mighty 8 stealers solo.

The spartan itself went on to tank shock a Gaunt squad camping backfield straight off the board and take out a few Zoanthropes with its Quad Lascannons.

Love to see some pics when done, especially that Fire Raptor since I want one.

I will do a journal about it. I know it's going to be January before I get a chance to start on it.

Spartans are overhyped. They aren't bad, but they are basically a better Land Raider with a slight tax to make sure it never dies, can get its cargo where it needs to be, and can toss a few extra LC dice around.

Any unit you ferry with a Land Raider will still be more expensive and less efficient than a simple Screamerstar or FMC.

The Fire Raptor is going to be the one fething gak up, not the Spartan.

Oh, I envy you! I find both models amazing, but if I ever were to buy another FW model (got an EC Sonic Dreadnought), it would be a Spartan Assault Tank. It would work well with my Terminator Death Star

 chaosvoices wrote:
I hate to be a downer, but the drawback to the Spartan is that it has no special rules in regards to being a special transport. From the BRB:

"Each Transport vehicle has a maximum passenger capacity that can never be exceeded. A Transport can carry a single Infantry unit and/or any number of Independent Characters (as long as they are also Infantry), up to a total number of models equal to the vehicle’s Transport Capacity."

So you can't do 3 squads. Sorry.

Death Company, up to 30 models in the unit.

So, why didn't you get a CRASSIUS ARMORED ASSAULT TRANSPORT?!
lol
That aside, nice buys! Have fun with them and let us know how they go

 Tyberos the Red Wake wrote:
Spartans are overhyped. They aren't bad, but they are basically a better Land Raider with a slight tax to make sure it never dies, can get its cargo where it needs to be, and can toss a few extra LC dice around.

Any unit you ferry with a Land Raider will still be more expensive and less efficient than a simple Screamerstar or FMC.

The Fire Raptor is going to be the one fething gak up, not the Spartan.

I agree, the Fire Raptor is a tough customer.

But... the Spartan does have a lot more offense than a Land Raider. Twin linked quad lasers, twin linked heavy flamers, frag assault launchers, a hunter killer missile, a havoc launcher, plus a payload of up to 25 models. It will be wrecking some things.