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There are a lot of ranges out there with gaps in them and a lot of creative people on the interwebs, so I thought it would be fun to see what everyone thinks would be a good addition to their various armies. A few general guidelines:
- It should fill some kind of gap in the army's current range.
- It should be fun to play as but not miserable to play against.
- It should fit in well with the faction's lore.
- It should be feasible to make a physical model out of.
- Each unit should have it's stat-line, weapons, and one special rule for a normal unit, or two for a character. Points are optional as they change over time.
- A brief explanation of why you chose to make this unit.
Abilities:
Core: Deep Strike
Venomstrike: When a model in this unit is removed as a casualty, if there is an enemy unit within engagement range roll a D6. On a 5+ (adding 2 to the result if the unit in range is Infantry or Beast) that unit takes 1 Mortal Wound.
Wargear Abilities:
Cluster Grenades: Once per game, when this unit ends a normal move, you can select one enemy unit that it moved over during that move. If you do, roll 1D6 for each model in this unit, on a 5+ (adding 1 to the result for every 10 models in the enemy unit) that enemy unit suffers 1 Mortal Wound.
Unit Composition: 5 Models: 75pts, 10 Models: 150pts
So the idea behind this started when I read the lore that Vespid don't use their stingers in combat and it got me wondering why. I hit on the idea that maybe they are like bees and that they die when they use it and/or some Vespid have evolved in a way to no longer be venomous? So I thought that it would be interesting if some Vespid might use their stingers as a last resort when dying to try and take their enemy down with them.
As for the general kit of the unit, in playing a horde army myself, I notice that a lot of T'au lists struggle to output a lot of damage into horde armies, so a mobile unit with flamers seemed like a great tech option to help deal with that. It has a place in auxiliary cadre too as you want to be in close with your Vespid units and the twin-linked aspect of the weapons helps insure you can take out a model or two which means the unit can support the Hunting Pack as well as a solid initiator unit.
I look forward to seeing what kinds of units everyone else comes up with.
I was thinking a Space Marine 'Matryoshka' class walker; a marine inside a centurion battlesuit, inside a dreadknight, inside a scout titan.
Gives marines a viable superheavy for no real loss of manpower.
Female vespid are rarer than males (what we see on the board), larger, stronger, and tougher.
I was thinking that much like Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise a Vespid Queen might have some royal guard units of sterile, non-breeding females used for special assignment.
Abilities:
Core: Deep Strike
Character (must be attached to a Stingwing unit)
Chemical Control: The unit and any attached Stingwings may use the PHEROMONE WAYPOINTS for zero CP.
EMP Mines: When this unit deepstrikes it may choose one enemy unit within 12 inches and visible to the Royal Guards' unit. That unit automatically takes D3 mortal wounds.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2025/05/16 06:27:34
cuda1179 wrote: Female vespid are rarer than males (what we see on the board), larger, stronger, and tougher.
I was thinking that much like Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise a Vespid Queen might have some royal guard units of sterile, non-breeding females used for special assignment.
Abilities:
Core: Deep Strike
Character (must be attached to a Stingwing unit)
Chemical Control: The unit and any attached Stingwings may use the PHEROMONE WAYPOINTS for zero CP.
EMP Mines: When this unit deepstrikes it may choose one enemy unit within 12 inches and visible to the Royal Guards' unit. That unit automatically takes D3 mortal wounds.
That's a neat idea. Toss in a Vespid Queen unit and we've got a decent range upgrade for them. If they went that route though, the Royal Guard might serve better as a Cryptothrall style unit, attaching to the character that attached to the unit.
cuda1179 wrote: Female vespid are rarer than males (what we see on the board), larger, stronger, and tougher.
I was thinking that much like Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise a Vespid Queen might have some royal guard units of sterile, non-breeding females used for special assignment.
Abilities:
Core: Deep Strike
Character (must be attached to a Stingwing unit)
Chemical Control: The unit and any attached Stingwings may use the PHEROMONE WAYPOINTS for zero CP.
EMP Mines: When this unit deepstrikes it may choose one enemy unit within 12 inches and visible to the Royal Guards' unit. That unit automatically takes D3 mortal wounds.
That's a neat idea. Toss in a Vespid Queen unit and we've got a decent range upgrade for them. If they went that route though, the Royal Guard might serve better as a Cryptothrall style unit, attaching to the character that attached to the unit.
Ophydian Lord for Necrons. Like all Destroyers it is a thing fallen from glory, now obsessed only with how best to destroy all life. The Skorpekh Lord is a melee juggernaut, the Lokhust Lord is a flying all purpose unit, the Ophydian Lord is a melee assassin.
Deep Strike, M10" 6W T6 3+ 4++. Armed with a head-mounted transdimensional beamer 1A S4 AP0 D3 and crown harvesters, precision melee weapons 6 attacks S5 anti-infantry 4+ AP-2 D3.
Purposeful Destruction: While this model is leading a unit, charge rolls made by this model's unit against [CHARACTER] units can be re-rolled.
Finish Him!: At the end of the Fight phase if only one enemy model is within engagement range of the bearer's unit, that enemy unit suffers D3 mortal wounds.
Finish him will allow your unit to tunnel out with your Ophydian's Tunneling Horrors ability should you manage to kill the last model in a unit locked in melee with you during your opponent's turn. D3 gets around -1 D and half damage that a lot of characters have. But at S5 he cannot really pry open vehicles as well as the S10 of the Skorpekh, even if he has 50% more attacks. He is 90 pts.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2025/05/17 07:38:58
Special rules
Wall of light
Gain fights first against units that don't have the infantry keyword. Re-roll 1s to hit when using the overwatch strategem,
vict0988 wrote: Ophydian Lord for Necrons. Like all Destroyers it is a thing fallen from glory, now obsessed only with how best to destroy all life. The Skorpekh Lord is a melee juggernaut, the Lokhust Lord is a flying all purpose unit, the Ophydian Lord is a melee assassin.
Deep Strike, M10" 6W T6 3+ 4++. Armed with a head-mounted transdimensional beamer 1A S4 AP0 D3 and crown harvesters, precision melee weapons 6 attacks S5 anti-infantry 4+ AP-2 D3.
Purposeful Destruction: While this model is leading a unit, charge rolls made by this model's unit against [CHARACTER] units can be re-rolled.
Finish Him!: At the end of the Fight phase if only one enemy model is within engagement range of the bearer's unit, that enemy unit suffers D3 mortal wounds.
Finish him will allow your unit to tunnel out with your Ophydian's Tunneling Horrors ability should you manage to kill the last model in a unit locked in melee with you during your opponent's turn. D3 gets around -1 D and half damage that a lot of characters have. But at S5 he cannot really pry open vehicles as well as the S10 of the Skorpekh, even if he has 50% more attacks. He is 90 pts.
Nice! I like it. Feels like something as simple as a character like this (and maybe a Flayed Lord) could really make Anihilation Legion come alive (so to speak )
Fool’s blade [devastating wounds] RANGE Melee A 4 WS 2+ S8 AP-3 D2 The bearer can only attack with this weapon while its OC is 4 or less.
Flayer Lord's claws [sustained hits 3, twin-linked] RANGE Melee A 4 WS 2+ S5 AP-1 D2 The bearer can only attack with this weapon while its OC is 5+.
Deep Strike, Infiltrators, Leader, Stealth, Reanimation Protocols
Terrifying Trophies
Increase this model's OC by 1 for each model it destroys. When a unit lead by this model destroys an enemy unit you may erect a trophy on an objective this model's unit controls, that objective marker remains under your control, even if you have no models within range of it, until your opponent controls it at the start or end of any turn.
Fraying at the Seams
While this model is leading a unit, that unit gains Deep Strike and a 6+ Invulnerable save.
Can join Flayed Ones, giving him 13 hits on average in melee with the claws against half strength units, but super niche, going feral generally weakens him. 70 pts.
I find it surprising Flayed Ones aren't much about morale, but since threads goal is going more unique and harbingers of despair exist I focussed this guy on grabbing objectives.
I just didn't design my own unit, I designed my own entire Codex! For three factions! That was back in 9th Edition though.
I feel the T'au are missing two key units both flavor wise and mechanic wise. One of them is thier own psyker unit. They recruited psychic species before (the Nicassar) but none of them are on the tabletop. Another one is their own Guardsman unit. The T'au have humans in their military, and it would be very easy to kitbash Guardsman in T'au colors and give them T'au keywords/abilities, but again, not on the tabletop.
In the past, I also made modern rules for Gargants, Asdrubael Vect, an Ork psyker that turned people into sheep, Ciaphas Cain & Jurgen, Demetrius Titus,an Imperator Titan, Krorks, an Assassin Strike Team, all 18 Primarchs, Malcador the Siglite, Constantin Valdor, and Thunder Warriors.
Calbear wrote: I just didn't design my own unit, I designed my own entire Codex! For three factions! That was back in 9th Edition though.
I feel the T'au are missing two key units both flavor wise and mechanic wise. One of them is thier own psyker unit. They recruited psychic species before (the Nicassar) but none of them are on the tabletop. Another one is their own Guardsman unit. The T'au have humans in their military, and it would be very easy to kitbash Guardsman in T'au colors and give them T'au keywords/abilities, but again, not on the tabletop.
In the past, I also made modern rules for Gargants, Asdrubael Vect, an Ork psyker that turned people into sheep, Ciaphas Cain & Jurgen, Demetrius Titus,an Imperator Titan, Krorks, an Assassin Strike Team, all 18 Primarchs, Malcador the Siglite, Constantin Valdor, and Thunder Warriors.
Woah- That's impressive!
BorderCountess wrote: Just because you're doing something right doesn't necessarily mean you know what you're doing...
Experimental Necrotic Missiles Range.....36"
A..............4
BS..........2+
S.............7
AP...........-3
D............2
Lethal Hits, Anti-Infantry/Swarm/Beast/Mounted/Cavalry 2+, Anti-Monster 3+, Blast
Overkill: If a model is killed by this weapon, continue allocating the damage until either all damage is used or the entire unit is dead
Melee Weapons Tools Of The Trade Range.....Melee
A..............9
WS..........2+
S.............7
AP...........-3
D............2
Lethal Hits, Anti-Infantry/Swarm/Beast/Mounted/Cavalry 3+, Anti-Monster 4+
Abilities Core: Deep Strike, Deadly Demise 1d6, Feel No Pain 6+
Faction: The Shadow Of Chaos
Greater Daemon Of Nurgle (Aura): While a friendly NURGLE LEGIONES DAEMONICA unit is within 6" of this model, that unit is within your army’s Shadow of Chaos.
Immortal Researcher: Against attacks with an original Damage Characteristic of 1, Ku'Gath can reroll any save roll. Each time an attack is allocated to Ku'Gath, subtract 1 from the Damage characteristic of that attack.
Field Testing: Any unit that is hit by Experimental Necrotic Missiles or suffers damage from a melee attack made by Ku'Gath suffers from one of the following penalties, determined by Ku'Gath's player.
1-Brittlebone: Decrease the Toughness characteristic of models in that unit by 1.
2-Pusweep: Models in that unit cannot score critical hits or wounds. (Note that a 6 is still always successful and Anti-[Keywrod] X+ still causes wounds on X+, it is simply not a Critical Wound.)
3-Atrophic Canker: Decrease the Strength characteristic of all melee weapons in the unit by 1.
4-Rustmoss: Worsen the Save characteristic of models in that unit by 1.
5-Petrifying Plauge: Reduce the Movement characteristic of models in that unit by 2", and whenever they roll to Advance or Charge, they must roll one additional d6 and discard the highest result.
6-Cacklefever: Worsen the Leadership characterstic of all models in that unit by 2.
A unit cannot be affected by this ability more than once per phase, and the same penalty applied multiple times does not stack.
Unit Composition Ku'Gath Plaguefather, Epic Hero
Damaged: 1-7 Wounds Remaining Subtract 1 from hit rolls made by Ku'Gath, and when determining the penalty applied with Field Testing, roll a d6 to randomly determine the result instead of choosing.
Chrono Warp Krork Shock Troopers
Before they were lost, the Krork brain boyz instigated a chrono warp jump to avoid the fate of their fellows. Now in the 41st millennium they have reappeared, disrupting the galactic waaagh field with rarefied know wotz, reactivating latent genes and seeing the emergence of Orkrork. These creatures are not as potent as their ancestors, but more powerful than the degenerate fellows, with brainz unseen in aeons.
Fluff-wise, Scourges are described as Drukhari who are wealthy enough to hire a Haemonculus to graft wings to their backs, so it's strange that winged archons are not a thing.
A Scourge archon would be capable of joining and upgrading a squad of Scourges, either giving them a 0 CP stratagem each round or letting them re-roll 1's to wound to complement their tank-busting specialization. He should have a dark lance with BS 3+ (not 2+, because it's Heavy, and basic Scourges with dark lances have BS 4+) and perhaps even the Precision rule. Though I admit Precision is perhaps OP, making him a match for a Vindicare assassin for sniping characters and avoiding being shot at in return: while he lacks Lone Operative, he is part of a unit with a move-after-shooting ability.
M: 12" T: 3 Sv: 4+ W: 4 LD: 6+ OC: 1
Invul: 4++ (no shadowfield, let's be reasonable)
Dark lance [heavy, precision]
Range 36"
A: 1
BS: 3+
S: 12
AP: -3
Dmg: D6+2
Unsure about melee weapon, but not something too strong. You don't want Scourges in melee anyway.
.
This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2025/05/27 20:20:44
Scourges sorta kinda have ties to covens given the procedure to alter their anatomy. How about a hex rifle (per the wrack datasheet) as a sniper option?
I'd also probably let him have the option to take any of the other scourge guns, and probably just give him WS2+ versions of the solarite weapons. Maybe a power weapon option as well. I'd also toss out "solarch" as a possible name for the unit.
My only minor nitpick about giving the squad rerolls on to-wound rolls is that Reaper's Wager already does this. So the anti-synergy might be mildly annoying if you were planning on running that detachment. A free strat for scourges might also not be very helpful given how few strats scourges really benefit from. Some possible alternatives for his special rule:
Spire Snipes: Models in this model's unit gain Indirect Fire so long as they're at least 5" above the table. In other words, fly up high, shoot down on enemies trying to hide behind walls.
Fire and Flap: Uppy downy to help them dodge units coming from them/give them more general utility.
ATTENTION. Psychic tests are unfluffy. Your longing for AV is understandable but misguided. Your chapter doesn't need a separate codex. Doctrines should go away. Being a "troop" means nothing. This has been a cranky service announcement. You may now resume your regularly scheduled arguing.
JNAProductions wrote: I wouldn’t give Precision outright to a Dark Lance. Maybe give it Precision on a crit?
Don't you have to pick a target before the wound roll? I'm a bit unclear on the exact order tbh, as it's rarely important.
He could gain Precision if his unit spends a Pain Token in the shooting phase to re-roll their hits. This would increase synergy with the faction ability and also ensure there's a cost to Precision. There's precedent for Pain Tokens granting extra abilities to an attached character, like the Succubus gaining Fights First.
Alternatively, you could make him more of a vehicle-buster or monster-hunter than a character-killer, in keeping with the dark lance's primary purpose. Anti-Vehicle and Anti-Monster X+ (with or without Devastating Wounds) may be redundant given the Strength 12 and AP -3, so perhaps a rule related to damage (like highest of two D6's) or target selection (like indirect fire or being allowed to shoot a vehicle or monster that is within engagement range of a friendly unit other than his own). Or you could give his gun some sort of "tagging" ability, similar to a T'au markerlight but applying only to his squad: for example, if he scores a hit on a vehicle or monster, all squadmates firing at the same target gain Lethal Hits.
Wyldhunt wrote: Scourges sorta kinda have ties to covens given the procedure to alter their anatomy.
Not as far as I'm aware, no. I believe their relationship with the covens is purely transactional, like paying the dentist to fix a cavity. Pretty much all Drukhari, including kabalites and wyches, will receive services from the haemonculi once in a while, either to be resurrected, to be patched up after an injury, or even to be born (for the half-born, who vastly outnumber the trueborn).
Fluff says that Scourges generally act as messengers between the factions of Commorragh, their independence making them especially suited for this role since they're not part of anyone's schemes. Mind, just because you get wings grafted to your back doesn't mean you have to forsake your kabal and become a mercenary. Some might have the procedure done just because they want to fly.
I'd also probably let him have the option to take any of the other scourge guns, and probably just give him WS2+ versions of the solarite weapons. Maybe a power weapon option as well. I'd also toss out "solarch" as a possible name for the unit.
Yeah, makes sense he'd have access to more guns, though GW has decided to severely limit Drukhari characters' weapon options compared to last edition (probably related to the whole "datasheet = what's in the set, no more" trend).
"Solarch" sounds cool as hell and complements the Solarite squad leader pretty well.
Spire Snipes: Models in this model's unit gain Indirect Fire so long as they're at least 5" above the table. In other words, fly up high, shoot down on enemies trying to hide behind walls.
Oooh I like this. Conditional indirect fire is quite unique as far as I'm aware, and it also makes sense since heights give you a better vantage point.
He could gain Precision if his unit spends a Pain Token in the shooting phase to re-roll their hits. This would increase synergy with the faction ability and also ensure there's a cost to Precision. There's precedent for Pain Tokens granting extra abilities to an attached character, like the Succubus gaining Fights First.
Bonus abilities when empowered are a cool mechanic, but I'd be really hesitant to give precision to a dark lance or similar weapon. It doesn't take much luck to one-shot most infantry characters in the game with a profile like that. Characters with good invulns will be a little less scared, but it's still going to feel bad to anyone who watches you hit on 3s (rerolling), wound on 2s (possibly rerolling from Reaper's Wager), ignore their armor with AP-3, and then do d6+2 damage to the character you targeted. That's getting pretty close to Vindicaire levels of sniping on top of having move-shoot-move protection.
A humble hex rifle gives him a decent tool for picking on cheaper characters with W3 or less while also not enabling him to reliably snipe out more durable (and expensive) characters.
Alternatively, you could make him more of a vehicle-buster or monster-hunter than a character-killer, in keeping with the dark lance's primary purpose. Anti-Vehicle and Anti-Monster X+ (with or without Devastating Wounds) may be redundant given the Strength 12 and AP -3, so perhaps a rule related to damage (like highest of two D6's) or target selection (like indirect fire or being allowed to shoot a vehicle or monster that is within engagement range of a friendly unit other than his own). Or you could give his gun some sort of "tagging" ability, similar to a T'au markerlight but applying only to his squad: for example, if he scores a hit on a vehicle or monster, all squadmates firing at the same target gain Lethal Hits.
These are all fine ideas, but I'd be hesitant to dramatically ramp up the damage on scourges. If we want to stick with the empowered abilities, maybe tie it to mobility? If empowered in the shooting phase, the unit counts as having held still in the movement phase. So you get the benefits of Heavy on a unit that's normally too mobile to actually make use of it, and you even advance in the movement phase without having to give up your shooting. And that on top of the usual benefits for empowering their shooting.
Wyldhunt wrote: Scourges sorta kinda have ties to covens given the procedure to alter their anatomy.
Not as far as I'm aware, no. I believe their relationship with the covens is purely transactional,
I'm inclined to agree. Scourges missing from the list of ynnari units has lead some people to speculate that GW is trying to tie them more firmly to covens, but I agree with your interpretation in general.
"Solarch" sounds cool as hell and complements the Solarite squad leader pretty well.
Heck yeah!
Spire Snipes: Models in this model's unit gain Indirect Fire so long as they're at least 5" above the table. In other words, fly up high, shoot down on enemies trying to hide behind walls.
Oooh I like this. Conditional indirect fire is quite unique as far as I'm aware, and it also makes sense since heights give you a better vantage point.
.
That's exactly what I was going for. Cheers.
ATTENTION. Psychic tests are unfluffy. Your longing for AV is understandable but misguided. Your chapter doesn't need a separate codex. Doctrines should go away. Being a "troop" means nothing. This has been a cranky service announcement. You may now resume your regularly scheduled arguing.
