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Made in us
Ollanius Pius - Savior of the Emperor






Gathering the Informations.

Two distinctive units. Ballpark something like 70 points for the Huntmasters and 120 for the Huntsmen.
Note, there will be some "Shared Rules" across all of them. These are:
Swift Like the Wind: At the end of Combat, a Huntsmen unit can make a Fall Back move if they are able to.
Full Tilt: If this unit/model has Advanced, shooting attacks made at a distance of further than 18 inches targeting this unit suffer a -1 to their Hit rolls.
Hunting Lance: Only useable on turn that you've charged, gives you a single attack at S6 with AP-2 and 2 damage.
Trained Warsteed: On a turn that a Huntsmen or Huntmaster has charged, they deal a single S4 AP0 attack to each enemy model within 1" of them as their steed kicks out.

First up, "Feral World Huntmaster on Horse"
HQ Choice
8" move, WS/BS3+, S3, T4, W4, 3A, LD8 5+ save
Wargear:
Hunting Lance, Laspistol, Totemic Blade.

Special Rules:
Swift Like the Wind, Trained Warsteed, Full Tilt, Hunting Lance

Huntmaster: Each turn, this model can declare a Hunt if an enemy Character is within 24 inches and visible to the Huntmaster. Friendly Huntsmen units wholly within 12" can Advance and Charge this turn, but can only attack that Character if a Hunt is declared. Huntsmen models can reroll Wound rolls of 1 when targeting the chosen enemy Character.

Note:
A hunt being declared and enacted prevents Huntsmen units from using their "Swift Like the Wind" ability, unless the targeted character is slain.

Totemic Blade: S+1, AP-1. A Totemic Blade grants friendly Huntsmen units wholly within 6" +1 to their Leadership.



"Feral World Huntsmen On Horse"
Fast Attack Choice
8" Move, WS/BS 4+, S3, T4, W2, 2A, LD6, 5+ Save
5 models, no additional models per unit.
Wargear:
Hunting Lance, Laspistol, Cavalry Sabre.

Special Rules:
Swift like the Wind, Trained Warsteed, Full Tilt, Hunting Lance

Cavalry Sabres would just be S User and AP0.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2021/04/09 00:58:14


 
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





I like how mobile they are and that you didn't feel compelled to give WS/BS 3+ to anyone but their leader. A few things that jump out at me:

* Full-Tilt is slightly weird to me. When advancing, these guys move somewhere between 9" and 14". Craftworld bikers potentially move up to 22" (more with the right buffs). Drukhari hellions move nearly as fast and do so while moving in three dimensions on a green goblin glider. Neither of these units impose a -1 to hit penalty after advancing. What is it about a relatively slow horse that has to move along the ground that makes it so much harder to hit?

* Formatting nitpick: the hunting lance and trained warsteed rules could both probably be formatted as weapons. No big deal.

*Cavalry Sabres are just ccw's. You don't need to list them as wargear at all unless you intend to have some other rule tie into them. (Like a relic that replaces a sabre.). Also, I feel like a power sword sergeant on horseback would be cool.

* The Huntmaster rule feels a bit busy. It's effectively two buffs and two behavior limiters wrapped up in a single rule. Considering that you can use it every turn, how about streamlining it to something like...

"Huntsmen and Huntmaster units within 12" of a model with this rule may charge even if they advanced this turn. Such units may reroll to-wound rolls of 1 for attacks made against characters."

And then just drop the restrictions on who you can attack and falling back. If SLtW isn't too good when you're attacking non-characters, it's not too good when attacking characters. If they want to attack non-characters, they can. They'll just be splitting up their offense and not benefitting from the to-wound rerolls.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/04/09 00:13:50



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.
 
   
Made in us
Ollanius Pius - Savior of the Emperor






Gathering the Informations.

In general, my reasoning for "Full Tilt" has to do with the fact that they're a T4 and Auxilia meaning no real buffs outside of Psyker stuff. No Orders, no Regimental Traits, etc. There is a bit that was not added apparently as it was supposed to be "at over 18 inches" instead of just a flat benefit. I'll fix that. I'm not gonna comment on the Aeldari stuff as I am not familiar enough with it to really suggest.

Hunting Lance and Trained Warsteed as rules rather than weapons might sound weird but it's to keep the cost of the unit down and from the unit potentially being too swingy as goofy as it might sound. In my experience, people will try to find loopholes or random buffy stuff. So instead of letting that happen? Special rules, with stratagems being a potential modifier.
There's a caveat I'm kicking around in my head where multiple Huntmasters can't call a Hunt at the same time, and a change with a Totemic Blade being a 'one unit in your army may upgrade' to it that makes it so the Huntmaster wielding instead of the Cavalry Sabre be the one who has to call a Hunt and the Totemic Blade granting the Huntmaster the ability to Deny the Witch.

I'm a bit torn with regards to Huntmaster. I had another version of it where the Huntmaster could declare an enemy character visible within 16" as Prey and allowing for Huntsmen to basically be able to autocharge that character for a turn by adding their Leadership value to their Charge roll, if the Huntmaster had an item I did not end up writing in. I considered making it into an Elite choice with a 'Totemic Banner' that did the effect in the end but then it becomes effectively a three-piece "unit" and would give the -1 to be hit or a +1 to saves instead.

Regarding Cavalry Sabres...there was a named version of a Huntmaster I'm kicking around in my head, who grants a benefit to Cavalry Sabres if they're on the Hunt.

There's a lot of random ideas still kicking around but no guarantees I'll keep this going.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/04/09 00:49:57


 
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




People are attached to hunting lances, but just because we don't want the chainsword on our infantry sergeants doesnt mean it would just be a throw away lore wise, giving them 2 base attacks plus one extra with chainswords would mean 3 attacks plus whatever the mounts do in melee. Add in the las-pistol thats another extra attack. Could also add in a grenade-stratagem, all frak-grenades plus a krak or melta-bomb on the sergeant, would be a pretty good shock assault unit for counter charges or trying to grab an objective off an enemy infantry squad.
   
Made in us
Storm Trooper with Maglight





Fredericksburg, VA

Not sure about the trained warsteed rule wording there. If I have 5 huntsmen, and place them well I can have each within 1" of 2-3 enemies, giving me 10-15 extra attacks; that seems like a lot more than they really should be getting. Almost like the horse is dancing in circles flailing all over the place. Maybe just +1 A on the charge would be enough to represent the impact of the horse.
   
Made in gb
Dakka Veteran




It feels counterintuitive to have the hunting lance be an ability that grants an attack with its own profile, instead of a weapon - both because it's literally a weapon and because it does the things that weapons do. As a special ability, it feels like it should be more of a "roll a D6 for each model to cause mortal wounds on the charge" mechanic, instead. If you're concerned by the possibility of Rough Riders getting extra attacks through other mechanics, you could always just say "A model can only make one attack with this weapon in each Combat phase, and can only attack with this weapon if it charged or performed a Heroic Intervention this turn".

Trained Warsteed will call for a lot of measuring, and makes Rough Riders a potentially insane anti-swarm melee tool - which is odd when their lances and HQ choice are so geared toward vehicles or characters. I'd suggest either making it an attack (like most steeds in this game; extra S4 attacks, or perhaps S3 with +1 on the charge) or a per-model roll to represent the charge.

Between Trained Warsteed and Hunting Lance, there's a lot of power invested in the charge, here - which is fine, because Swift Like The Wind means they can charge, fight, fight in the enemy turn, then Fall Back, then charge again on their turn. I'm not sure why the rule isn't just "This unit can declare a charge even if it fell back this turn", though; at 8" move, falling back immediately post-combat won't stop anyone from counter-charging on their turn, so it'd mostly be used after the enemy's Combat phase anyway.

Overall, my main concern is that these are quite expensive (24ppm) for a relatively fragile (T4, W2, 5+) unit, with a maximum of five models. They justify the cost with the potential offensive power of Trained Warsteeds, but that relies on them getting into combat in the first place - and at only 8" move, that's a tall order for an obvious shooting target. Swift Like The Wind helps a bit, but not too much - I'd greatly prefer a cheaper, more populous unit, even if it means losing some of its punch.

Comparatively, Serberys Sulphurhounds are cheaper (20ppm), faster (12"), and tougher (3W, 4+/6+) with <FACTION> benefits, in an army that can capitalize on pseudo-melee cavalry more easily. Atalan Jackals are just as tough, 6" faster, have a better version of Swift Like The Wind, get <FACTION> benefits, and cost just 14ppm. And you can take both in larger units. You're more likely to get something out of them before they get turned into a fine red mist, is my point.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/04/10 09:56:59


 
   
Made in au
Longtime Dakkanaut




I'd give them a 10 inch move. That seems to be the standard for horse units at the moment.
   
 
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