Saturday, November 7, 2009

Army list tinkering


I was doing some thinking about Pre-Heresy armies and I came to the conclusion that they look really nice, but they are very boring on the table top.

Take everything that is at least a little interesting in the Space Marine codex and Chaos Codex and throw them out, and what you have left is a Pre-Heresy army.

You do have a great looking army thought because you have Jetbikes instead of bikes, turbo-fan back packs instead of the regular assault marines, and the unique look of the earlier space marine armors.

But underneath the look you have a very basic army.

I have changed around some things so here is the army so far:


 

Ahriman

Dreadnought

10 Chaos Space Marines

10 Chaos Space Marines

Rhino

9 Thousand Sons

5 Oblits

Land Raider

I traded the havocs for a land raider. I did this for a few reasons. Some armies just do not have an answer for Land Raiders. Also it is mobile and can move troops around while Havocs have a little better firepower, but they are very static. The good news is that it means that I have to do 10 less marines, and will have an interesting model to work on. Sure makes the army rather small though which is both good and bad. If I was not so interested in the look of the army and wanted to go for more power I would drop Ahriman and the dreadnought and up the firepower and maybe some terminators for counter assault.

9 comments:

  1. Awful small count but as you stated, you're going for theme which I respect. I think there is a big modeling opportunity in Heresy TS Terminators though;

    http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/7/73/Preheresy-TS.JPG

    Plus it will give you a bit of counter-punch.

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  2. Yeah, I think I will take a unit of them because I need some counter-assault. Right now if any assault unit/army gets into hand-to-hand with me, I will have trouble winning that fight. Chaos in general are pretty good in assault, but they will lose to any h-t-h specialists.

    Terminators are a good unit, but boy am I hurting for points.

    I would have to drop an oblit, and maybe a TS marine, but other than that, there are no points to be had.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Another list option:
    HQ
    Ahriman

    Elite
    3 Terminators w/Reaper Auto Cannon, Chain Fist
    Aspiring Champion w/2 Lightning Claws

    Troops
    9 Chaos Space Marines w/Lascannon, Plasma Gun
    Aspiring Champion w/Powerfist
    Rhino

    9 Chaos Space Marines w/Lascannon, Plasma Gun
    Aspiring Champion w/Power Weapon

    5 Thousand Sons Marines
    Aspiring Sorcerer w/Bolt of Change

    Heavy Support
    Land Raider
    Predator w/Hull Heavy Bolters
    3 Obliterators.

    I do not know if I am happy with this army’s firepower.

    ReplyDelete
  4. While I understand that you are unhappy with the second armies firepower, I personally like the second list better.

    I am not a big fan of Chaos Dreadnoughts - unless they have to close combat weapons. In which case, they are very strong against Carnifexes, and large blocks of strength 5 critters.

    While I do not have your vast tournament experience, I worry about having only 2 transports - especially with the increase in missions that have objectives at the corners of the table.

    That being said, I do like the firepower of the second list, as it has a good mixture of anti-horde and anti-tank.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Opps!

    I forgot the Dreadnought, he is still there (I can’t drop big red!). He is a bit of a concern now because I have a lot of vehicles now, and if he goes crazy, it will be a pain to stop him from doing some damage. I should do what everyone else does and give him 2 CCW, but I need the shooting. Maybe I will give him and auto cannon or a plasma cannon and place him next to the land raider where he can't hurt anybody.

    The army is now getting kind of Mech feel, and I wanted to stay away from that.

    Also the troops are getting a little uncomfortably low.

    How I build an army is I go down a list of all of the top builds of armies and I compare my army to these hypothetical armies, and see if I have an answer for what they are going to bring.

    When I did that army comparison I was worried about Mech armies. I took off things like Havocs and Oblits, and I replaced them not only with vehicles that can be stunned or killed with one shot, but I am replacing their long range, high strength shooting with a couple of auto-cannons on the predator and the terminators. A questionable trade off, although I did increase the counter-assault by adding the terminators.

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  6. The loss of the Havocs and the Oblits is probably going to hurt you against Heavy Mech armies. I actually like the fact that you tend to take heavy infantry armies.

    However, I think you need a bit of mech - transports, to counter some of the newer missions where they place the objectives in the four corners of the game board.

    If points were not so tight, I would say that the predator could/should be changed out for a Havoc squad....I just have no idea where you would get the points.

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  7. I added the predator because they are so cheap (100 points) so I really can't get anything gooed unless I remove something else.

    I know what you are thinking, and no, the Dreadnought stays!

    The loss of the Oblits is what really hurts. They are tough to take out, and with a weapon for every situation, they are a great unit.

    I will playtest it a lot in the coming months to see what I can and can't live without.

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  8. LOL....it is your list....and you have the experience.
    I play bugs and eldar, so I have no experience with Chaos Dreadnoughts except as an opponent...and they seem to be a 50/50 shot as to whether or not they work. n
    I do understand their value, especially against Crushers, Spawn...etc. I just am not a fan of things that I have limited control over.
    I am interested in seeing the finished product.

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  9. What about dropping that Predator and beefing those Thousand Sons up. 5 doesn't like much firepower and allocation may nab that DoomBolt rather quickly.

    You could also load up on combi-meltas on the Terms, drop the Reaper...then either DS to take out quick mech/LR or mount up in the LR...

    If you have time, I wouldn't mind some feedback on a list I'm throwing together as well. It's my first year playing the 40k Championship so would appreciate any feedback someone experience might have :). Liking your list though, looking forward to the conversions!

    Our blog;

    http://op40k.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete