What's good in other armies?

I wanted to write a huge article on this the other day, but I figure it would be better if it was played as as game. Many of us here have multiple armies and one of the things I like to do whenever a new book drops or new edition drops is to comb through all their unit choices and see what kind of nasty lists I can make. This is both a great exercise in learning the ins and outs of your book, as well as knowing what your opponents can take.

With that said, here's how you play:
Name a unit and a load-out that you would take from another army book and explain why the unit is a good choice to take.

For example:
Tau Commander with 3x High-yield missile pods and advanced targeting system.
Fires 12 S7 AP-2 shots that hit on 2+ and deals D3 damage each. Or, they can take multi-tracker that re-rolls all hit rolls of 1 if firing all weapons on the same target.

I've been wanting to test out a unit of Chaos terminators all loaded out with combi flamers. Using the flamers they won't suffer the -1 modifier for using the special weapon on the combi profile. DS them in near a psyker for warp time to get another 5" movement. Then they can advance and shoot....again without the -1 modifier to the flamers. Seems like it should put a serious hurt on anything it hits.

Here are some units from my Infantry IG army:

- Militarum Tempestus Command Squad w/ 4 Plasmaguns. For just 64pts, this squad can deploy anywhere more than 9" of an enemy (i.e. still in rapid fire range), and deliver 8 S8 AP-3 D2 shots.

I'd probably aim to take about one of these squads per 500pts (so 2 in a 1000pt game, 3 in a 1500pt game etc.). I might have a Tempestor Prime accompany them to give them orders (most notably reroll 1s to-hit), but that would be if I had spare points lying around.

- Infantry squad with Plasmagun and Lascannon or Missile Launcher. These typically form the core of my infantry army and give me a good special weapon and heavy weapon, protected by 7 bodies.

I'll probably have at least 2 of these per 500pts, possibly more. They can either sit on an objective or else advance and take the small hit to the BS of the heavy weapon. Either way, every 2 squads will be backed up by a Company Commander to hand out orders and they'll be a Commissar around to help with morale. Whilst the special and heavy weapons are the most flashy, do not discount FRFSRF.

- Infantry squad with plasma pistol, flamer and (sometimes) heavy bolter. These are the squads that will go at the front - screening the others and leading the advance forwards.

I'll probably have one of these per 2 of the others. Honestly, the flamers are there more for variety's sake than for practical reasons - if I was trying to be more competitive I'd replace them with plasma. I'm undecided on whether or not to bother with Heavy Bolters on them (on the one hand they're cheap and give decent firepower, on the other they'll be firing at BS5+ most of the time).

- HWS with 3 Heavy Bolters, 2 Heavy Bolters and a Lascannon/Missile Launcher or 3 Mortars.

Regardless of loadout, I'll probably have about one of these squads per 500pts.

The idea is simply to provide some decent firepower whilst being cheap enough to be expendable. The mortars are pretty weak, but don't need LoS and so can hide in or behind buildings and such. They're also very cheap. The idea of the second option is to have an expensive HWT sandwiched between 2 cheap ones (which will have to be killed first). Not sure it's the best idea but I'd like to give it a go.

As with the others, there will probably be Company Commanders and Commissars around.

That command squad with 4 Plasma at 64 points sound god damn ridiculous.

Yeah you sniped it from me! i was going to say the Tempest Command Squad

You can also get a Taurox Prime and just have it on the table 28 shots is nice. For like 160pts you get a DSing and a Tank to start on the table..... its just silly.


Mech GSC, you might see that, on paper it looks Strong AF, Scout Sentinels with HF's for 50pts, start 12", scout 9", move 9" shoot 8" taking these with their Trucks/Goliths and the IG tanks seems extremely effective for how cheap they are.


Then there is the Ynnari of SM.... SoB!

The Acts of Faith is basically the same as Ynnari except you can cast them like orders, on a 2+ once per turn, then 2 different HQ's (one is 45pts) give you another once per turn on a 2+, then a Elite (40pts) gives you one on a 4+.

The reason this is so strong is b.c you can have cheap AF melta, plasma, flamer units, the basic 5 girl squad is 45pts they can have 3 special weapons, or you can spend 50pts and they buy 4 special or heavy weapons with Scout! You cna also have a full unit of Heavy Bolters or Heavy Flamers, double shooting these is insane.

Then there is the Penitent Engines, Walkers with 2HF's and with 4 atks, S10, -3ap, 3 damage, Re-roll fail Hits, on a 4+ you can to attack again, a unit of 3 is 300pts tho, but you get 6 HF's 12 attacks then a4+ to pile in and attack again. They are T6 7W's 4+/6++

Heldrakes. Speed 30, 12 wounds, S7 T7 4 attacks-2 AP D3 damage hitting on 3s or 2s vs Fly. Plus Baleflamer. First turn charge is practically guarenteed and this thing is no slouch in melee. Oh, and it has 3+ 5++ and regains a lost wound at the start of each turn.

HERO wrote:

That command squad with 4 Plasma at 64 points sound god damn ridiculous.

They certainly seem very good. I've only played one game of 8th so far and I used 2 of these squads accompanied by a Tempestor Prime (to let them reroll 1s to hit). On the turn they arrived, one squad vaporised a carnifex and the other squad left a different carnifex clinging to life on 2 wounds.

The only weaknesses that I can think of are:
- Your opponent can use screening units to prevent them landing close to important models/units.
- They pretty fragile once they're down (just 4 T3 models with 4+ saves) and there are no surplus bodies so every dead model is a dead plasmagunner. Not necessarily a huge weakness given the potency of their opening salvo, but worth noting as it severely limits their prospects of capturing objectives or getting off a second volley.
- They can't benefit from orders except by a Tempestor Prime. So, to go back to the example of my IG infantry army, I can's just drop them in range of one of my many Company Commanders and use him to give them orders. I have to instead buy a 40pt model who basically does nothing else but give orders to them. Again, not a major weakness, but it does mean that if you want orders then you basically end up paying 84pts per squad.

But yeah, they're looking really good.

amishprn86 wrote:

Then there is the Ynnari of SM.... SoB!

The Acts of Faith is basically the same as Ynnari except you can cast them like orders, on a 2+ once per turn, then 2 different HQ's (one is 45pts) give you another once per turn on a 2+, then a Elite (40pts) gives you one on a 4+.

The reason this is so strong is b.c you can have cheap AF melta, plasma, flamer units, the basic 5 girl squad is 45pts they can have 3 special weapons, or you can spend 50pts and they buy 4 special or heavy weapons with Scout! You cna also have a full unit of Heavy Bolters or Heavy Flamers, double shooting these is insane.

Then there is the Penitent Engines, Walkers with 2HF's and with 4 atks, S10, -3ap, 3 damage, Re-roll fail Hits, on a 4+ you can to attack again, a unit of 3 is 300pts tho, but you get 6 HF's 12 attacks then a4+ to pile in and attack again. They are T6 7W's 4+/6++

Don't forget St. Celestine. How many 150pt models can boast a 12" move, 6 S7 AP-3 D2 attacks (that his on 2s), a Heavy Flamer, a 2+/4+ save and 7 wounds. Then you have her aura abilities (+1 to Shield of Faith saves or a 6++ save for IG units), an automatic Act of Faith each turn, and the first time she dies she can resurrect on a 2+. And that's before we even get to her optional bodyguard who she can resurrect each turn.

I currently have her (well, alright, an evil-looking conversion of her) leading my aforementioned IG infantry army.

My SOB army is 1500pts, i either add a Crusader Knight or Tempest Command Squads!

SoB atm with Tempest Command Squads but be extremely tournament effective, i am going to start to play them more and see if i like the Knight or Tempest Squad more.

My Knight tho is a SOB knight thats the main reason why i play it.

Deathmarks get to shoot during the deployment phase. That seems pretty cool.

Jimsolo wrote:

Deathmarks get to shoot during the deployment phase. That seems pretty cool.

What do they shoot for?

Jimsolo wrote:

Deathmarks get to shoot during the deployment phase. That seems pretty cool.

It's not during deployment it's during your opponent's movement phase. If your deathmarks are in reserve and your opponent brings a unit in from reserve, you can put your deathmarks within 12" of it and immediately shoot it with them.