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Hey I was bored earlier today and decided to make some rules for the Trade federation Droid army and was looking for some feedback on the abilities and point costs and stats that i came up with. Let me know what you think and how it could be made more balanced or suggestions for the abilities on the units. Thanks.

Edit: Added version 2 of the Army. Also added some formations.

Love the idea.

My first thoughts.... Droids should be WS2 BS3 and cheaper. LD 9 seems a bit high as well. Give Destroyers a longer range, 30", but make their 3++ shield only active if they don't move. Allow them to deploy to be active, or move and sacrifice shooting to activate it.




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Definitely need one or two Command Droid HQs, maybe some kind of basic orders like IG. Maybe one will be an HQ, and another LD9 version as a slotless HQ that isn't an IC.

Do you think the Astromech or the MTT is too powerful? I was concerned with bring back dead models to a unit but it makes sence with necrons getting to do it with their warriors. What about the Super Battle droids? Are they ok to stay BS4 and drop the basic troop down to 3?


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The problem I had with the HQ is the difficulty finding a model for it. I spent a long time looking for a Startegy Droid from the clone wars cartoons but havnt found one yet. I was thinking of other HQ's to add in there but they are all special characters such as Count Dooku and Ventriss.

 Xerics wrote:
Do you think the Astromech or the MTT is too powerful? I was concerned with bring back dead models to a unit but it makes sence with necrons getting to do it with their warriors. What about the Super Battle droids? Are they ok to stay BS4 and drop the basic troop down to 3?


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The problem I had with the HQ is the difficulty finding a model for it. I spent a long time looking for a Startegy Droid from the clone wars cartoons but havnt found one yet. I was thinking of other HQ's to add in there but they are all special characters such as Count Dooku and Ventriss.

I think the Astromech is a bit too cheap for a unit that can't be targeted. 25pts? The MTT is probably too good for its points, compare it to a ghost arc for durability(Quantum Shielding), invuln, and points of models resurrected. I the the SBDs aren't bad, but IMO all droids and droid fired weapons should being BS3 barring "Elites" They just spray and pray for the most part. IMO more like T4 Guardsman for Battle Droids.

Just uste a Battle Droid with different markings as a Command Droid. They are "cannon" I suppose. Modeling a general command droid may be difficult as I never seen one in any game.

I think the ghost ark is something like 45 points cheaper than the MTT I have posted. Maybe drop a hull point and reduce side armor by 1? I could definitely increase the points on an astromech. I just wanted to give it something so that it wouldn't get blasted off the field the first turn with its 5+ armor save. With the spray and pray method of droids should I increase the shots of the weapons to reflect the spray and pray method they use?


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The MTT is also going to be a pretty big unit in itself. Not much hiding with it. I do have to custom make them though as the ones I have found are meant for full size action figures >.<

Grevious seems far undercosted: He's a T6, 4W Eternal Warrior with 2+ save, Flesh/Armourbane Ap2 weapons and a 4++ Invuln for 145pts. Something with all this is pushing closer to 200-220 minimum.

Xerics wrote:I think the ghost ark is something like 45 points cheaper than the MTT I have posted. Maybe drop a hull point and reduce side armor by 1? I could definitely increase the points on an astromech. I just wanted to give it something so that it wouldn't get blasted off the field the first turn with its 5+ armor save. With the spray and pray method of droids should I increase the shots of the weapons to reflect the spray and pray method they use?


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The MTT is also going to be a pretty big unit in itself. Not much hiding with it. I do have to custom make them though as the ones I have found are meant for full size action figures >.<

Yep, its 105, but it only adds a d3 Necron Warriors per turn. Definitely drop an HP and maybe make it 3d3 or at the least a flat D6 Battle Droids? The biggest problem with the MTT is the sheer numbper of free points you are adding to the game, 7 turns of d6+2 is 462pts on average, 66pts/turn. That is a huge problem. You could make all the Battle Droid Weapons a higher rate of fire or just drop the cost of BDs down a bit. IMO they should end up around 8-10pts for a Battle Droid and double that for a SBD and double that for a Detroyer.

Why on earth does grievous get armorbane and fleshbane? I understand giving him something better than a bog standard power weapon but that seems pretty insanely over the top. Even Necron Warscythes that can cut straight through other power weapons only get armorbane.

Lightsaber... What doesn't it go through? Grevious is also pretty much all melee unit as the guns he does have are the same as a battle droid. Maybe he does need to be upped a bit in points cost. His invulnerable save only works in melee (to reflect his lightsaber parrying skills). Ill see about toying with the costs a bit next time I modify the list.

 Xerics wrote:
Lightsaber... What doesn't it go through? Grevious is also pretty much all melee unit as the guns he does have are the same as a battle droid. Maybe he does need to be upped a bit in points cost. His invulnerable save only works in melee (to reflect his lightsaber parrying skills). Ill see about toying with the costs a bit next time I modify the list.

Do you want the full list of things that block lighstabers because it's pretty darn hefty.

I don't see much reason for Lightsabers to not be considered power weapons given that in fluff descriptions; power weapons do pretty much all the same things as a lightsaber just as well.

 Kain wrote:

 Xerics wrote:
Lightsaber... What doesn't it go through? Grevious is also pretty much all melee unit as the guns he does have are the same as a battle droid. Maybe he does need to be upped a bit in points cost. His invulnerable save only works in melee (to reflect his lightsaber parrying skills). Ill see about toying with the costs a bit next time I modify the list.

Do you want the full list of things that block lighstabers because it's pretty darn hefty.

I don't see much reason for Lightsabers to not be considered power weapons given that in fluff descriptions; power weapons do pretty much all the same things as a lightsaber just as well.

Power weapons require STR to get through toughness though. Lightsabers don't hence the fleshbane. There are things that stop lightsabers which is why it doesn't just ignore invulnerable saves. Invulnerable saves against it are meant to mimic the saber being stopped. A plain old power weapon would make him nearly as useless as Howling Banshees and if I did make it a standard power weapon I'd bump his STR up by 1-2 points making him just as strong if he gets disarmed.


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Probably 1 point to make him STR 6

 Xerics wrote:

 Kain wrote:

 Xerics wrote:
Lightsaber... What doesn't it go through? Grevious is also pretty much all melee unit as the guns he does have are the same as a battle droid. Maybe he does need to be upped a bit in points cost. His invulnerable save only works in melee (to reflect his lightsaber parrying skills). Ill see about toying with the costs a bit next time I modify the list.

Do you want the full list of things that block lighstabers because it's pretty darn hefty.

I don't see much reason for Lightsabers to not be considered power weapons given that in fluff descriptions; power weapons do pretty much all the same things as a lightsaber just as well.

Power weapons require STR to get through toughness though. Lightsabers don't hence the fleshbane. There are things that stop lightsabers which is why it doesn't just ignore invulnerable saves. Invulnerable saves against it are meant to mimic the saber being stopped. A plain old power weapon would make him nearly as useless as Howling Banshees and if I did make it a standard power weapon I'd bump his STR up by 1-2 points making him just as strong if he gets disarmed.


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Probably 1 point to make him STR 6

There is clearly effort being exerted by light-saber wielders when they try to get through thick or durable materials, and pretty much every time a lightsaber is described in a novel it does...pretty much the exact same thing as a power weapon.

Just do a Jain Zar and give him the equivalent of at initiative power axes.

Not everyone can or should be the Swarmlord or Skarbrand.

I still think that a lightsaber would have armorbane. While there may be some force exerted it still cuts through it easier than most other melee weapons.

 Xerics wrote:
I still think that a lightsaber would have armorbane. While there may be some force exerted it still cuts through it easier than most other melee weapons.

Armorbane goes to Warscythes because they're so potent they can cut through other power weapons. They're science on a level as beyond a regular power weapon as a power weapon is beyond a chainsword.

Not to mention there are power blades in 40k that don't have blades, just the matter disrupting field; these are still largely represented by the same rules.

And ask yourself why Grievous exactly needs to be able to kill tanks in game. The Swarmlord doesn't get to be good at killing tanks nor does Jain Zar.

 Kain wrote:

 Xerics wrote:
I still think that a lightsaber would have armorbane. While there may be some force exerted it still cuts through it easier than most other melee weapons.

Armorbane goes to Warscythes because they're so potent they can cut through other power weapons. They're science on a level as beyond a regular power weapon as a power weapon is beyond a chainsword.

Not to mention there are power blades in 40k that don't have blades, just the matter disrupting field; these are still largely represented by the same rules.

And ask yourself why Grievous exactly needs to be able to kill tanks in game. The Swarmlord doesn't get to be good at killing tanks nor does Jain Zar.

I gave Grievous a modified version of armorbane. It wont be as easy for him to blow them up but still feasible based on his weapon. You can see all the changes that have been made in version 2 in the original post.