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Post by Nick P on Jun 9, 2014 12:12:01 GMT -6
So...after upgrading my PC and having spent countless hours the last week playing DoW II while I waited for everything else from my steam library to download...I kind of, maybe...sort of want to start a small blood raven force.
That being said, the people in our group play a lot of different variations of power armor - ravenwing, white scars, drop pod assault...but I haven't seen a more traditional space marine army in a very long time, and have never actually opened up the new(ish) codex.
What's good, what's bad, what's fun? I'm thinking a librarian or two as HQ for fluff (they have a lot of psychic powers...fluff even theorizes their geneseed stems from loyalist thousand sons after the heresy). But then...I have no idea. Rhinos and tac sqauds? predators? the new tanks? flyers? landraiders? assault squads?
I kinda want to make a jump army...but would probably have to use the blood angels dex for that. A couple jump librarians, 2 10 man jump squads, a couple predators, some vanguard vets, and a hand ful of land speeders. Dece? Fun to play against?
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Post by Joelercoaster on Jun 9, 2014 16:46:19 GMT -6
Space Marines are interesting... at least in 6th I felt it was the best written book, in terms of overall balance. There are a lot of cool options, many of which work well, which means more variety for both players - always a plus.
I personally think that Drop Pod marines is one of the most iconic, and most marine-like way of going about things. A mech force is certainly an option, and gives you probably a little more flexibility, especially for Maelstrom missions. Pods are great for gettinganywhere - once. After that, you're walking around the board, or isolated from your core group. Not always the best place to be.
BA are limited, but can be powerful. New codex will shift some things, probably for the better overall. But who knows what'll go down.
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Post by Nick P on Jun 10, 2014 8:42:13 GMT -6
Yeah I think I'm just mentally stuck in the BA mindset, being the last power armored army I played back in 2010-2011. I love assault marines with jump packs...such cool models to build and paint, if under powered and over costed for 2 S4 attacks. Looking at a lot of different sources of fluff for the Blood Ravens though, it seems they're a pretty vanilla codex chapter...barring the unusually high number and power of their psykers. So its getting me thinking more towards using the Ultramarines chapter tactics and list, with Tiggy representing Jonah Orion, their chief librarian. I want the army to be converted in some places to showcase the key characters form the DOW and DOW II games: - Chapter Master - Gabriel Angelos
- Tiggy - Jonah Orion
- Tac squad sarge - Tarkus of the 5th company
- Assault sqaud sarge - Thaddeus of the 5th company
- Dreadnought - Davian Thule, former captain of the 4th company
- Honor Guard captain - Apollo Diomedes, former commander of the 1st company veterans
I can also add in a scout squad and a devastator squad in order to be really fluffy and bring all of the characters from the games to life, but I think at some point the army would just be too confused in purpose if I did that. So my first iteration of the army is as follows:
HQ:
Tiggy
Chapter Master Gabriel Angelos - thunder hammer, plasma pistol, artificer armor
Honor Guard x6 - Chapter Banner, Champion
Elite:
Venerable Dreadnought - assault cannon, dread cc weapon, heavy flamer
Troops:
Tactical Squad x10 - meltagun, Vet Sarge Tarkus with combi melta and chainsword, Rhino with storm bolter
Tactical Squad x10 - meltagun, sarge with combi melta and chainsword, Rhino with storm bolter
Fast Attack:
Assault Squad x10 - 2x flamers, Vet Sarge Thaddeus with Melta Bombs, power weapon, bolt pistol
Heavy Support:
Land Raider Redeemer - multi-melta, flamestorm sponsons, assault cannon
Predator - TL lascannon, lascannon sponsons
Predator - TL lascannon, lascannon sponsons
So basically everything is themed like the games...which is why Gabriel has a thunder hammer, why the named sarges are vet sergeants, and why the dread has the classic assault cannon/dread cc weapon combo.
I figure the honor guard, tiggy, and Gabe go in the land raider to charge forward and assault into something juicy with their 5 AP3 attacks on the charge. The rhinos rush forward to take objectives and unload in midfield on any vehicles that get close. Predators target any vehicles in the enemy backfield, and can be tagged with Prescience to re-roll to hits against flyers. Assault squad and dread can take out infantry fairly well.
Overall not optimized, but fun, balanced, and thematic. And not too difficult to paint either, and should have a lot of character across the army.
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Post by Matt W. on Jun 10, 2014 15:06:23 GMT -6
In DoW (The original) They did a lot of Drop Pod strikes if I recall correctly. Might be something to consider. Between Deep Striking Assault Marines and Tactical squads (And maybe the dreadnought too) You would be pretty well equipped to hit hard on turn one. Still have units in reserve to deal with emergent situations. And retain a armored Spearhead that can take down tanks and troops in good order.
Besides if there is one thing I have proven time and again driving towards things such as the enemy or a stiff breeze in Rhinos is a good way to be walking in about a turn.
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Post by Nick P on Jun 10, 2014 15:20:53 GMT -6
That's a good call, I could easily put the Tac squads in drop pods instead, same with the dread, and be dropping two pods on turn 1. Could even combat squad out of them, to grab more objectives than two squads in rhinos, and separate my bolters from my meltas to target 4 squads instead of just 2.
I just love the idea of the iconic Rhino, and being able to do some cool free hand on the large hatches on top. Plus, anything is better than open topped AV 10 transports bud - the Rhino will feel like a god damned bunker comparatively.
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Post by Matt W. on Jun 10, 2014 15:44:09 GMT -6
That's a good call, I could easily put the Tac squads in drop pods instead, same with the dread, and be dropping two pods on turn 1. Could even combat squad out of them, to grab more objectives than two squads in rhinos, and separate my bolters from my meltas to target 4 squads instead of just 2. I just love the idea of the iconic Rhino, and being able to do some cool free hand on the large hatches on top. Plus, anything is better than open topped AV 10 transports bud - the Rhino will feel like a god damned bunker comparatively. Oh I love em too. But the problem is they don't have the hitting power of a Razorback or Taurox Prime and are hands down outclassed by the Chimera. 10 Marines with 3+ ups walking because their Rhino has suffered a critical existence failure tend to die under a hail of tons and tons of shots. Just a thought. My plan will their work amazingly well or you will die horribly quickly. |
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Post by Nick P on Jun 10, 2014 15:59:59 GMT -6
I think to counter that I'll have enough on the board that the rhino's won't be priority targets until turn 3 most likely. I feel like with your army, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you've only got the 1 rhino and a bunch of bikes - so any dedicated anti-tank weaponry is going to take it out as soon as it can.
Meanwhile, with my landraider, flanked by predators annihilators, should present enough of a threat that the rhinos can at the very least make it to midfield to dump their cargo in area terrain on top of an objective.
Or hell, maybe my tac squads sit in my backfield behind cover holding home objectives, while the rhinos act as AV 11 roadblocks for my preds and landraider to hide behind? Who knows!
Plus, when I'm playing my space marines, I won't be facing my dark eldar, which tend to rip up AV 11 vehicles in short order. So that right there gives me an advantage lol
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Post by Matt W. on Jun 10, 2014 17:32:24 GMT -6
No there are two total, and a razorback, and a pred, and a Land Raider Crusader, and some speeders, a flyer. (I'm a huge treadhead.)
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Post by jason on Jun 10, 2014 21:31:38 GMT -6
Been debating using some of my spare marines as a small BA force, love the Descent of Angels rule/fluff plus astorath is just such a badass model. Could be augmented nicely with drop pods as mentioned above.
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Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2014 21:42:03 GMT -6
To add to the drop-pod chime, drop pods are one of the things that make marine unique from any other power-armor force. I think taking drops pods not only is a valid play style, but is one that is truly "marine".
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Post by Nick P on Jun 11, 2014 12:39:46 GMT -6
So I can take Venerable off the dread and give it, as well as both tac squads, drop pods and still come out at exactly 1850.
That allows me two pods on turn 1, and a much better alpha strike option for first blood. Plus with tiggy I'm more likely to get the third pod in right on turn 2.
I just don't like the tac squads being left out in the open after they hit what they hit...so often when playing against drop marines I welcome the drop pods in my backfield, bc it means I'm about to eat two tac squads immediately afterwards.
Two sides of every coin eh?
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Post by Russell on Jun 11, 2014 12:48:04 GMT -6
Blood Angels can do drop pods as well. Plus you can have Librarian Dreads, get the hell outta here.
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Post by Nick P on Jun 11, 2014 14:23:04 GMT -6
Maybe I'll wait and see what the blood angels codex has to offer before starting this up, it might make sense to use them as the background once its all said and done. I wish there was a way to get a psyker heavy loyalist army ala the mirrored chapter to the Thousand Sons.
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Post by Matt W. on Jun 11, 2014 17:43:24 GMT -6
Maybe I'll wait and see what the blood angels codex has to offer before starting this up, it might make sense to use them as the background once its all said and done. I wish there was a way to get a psyker heavy loyalist army ala the mirrored chapter to the Thousand Sons. With the exception of named characters Imperial armies are pretty much going to be out matched in terms of powerful Pyskers. The exception being an Astra Militarum army loaded to the brim with Primaris Pyskers. In a two detachment army you can take 6 75 point lvl 2 pyskers. Plus pick up a few more through command squads and Pysker battle squads. Nowhere near the potential of Demons or Eldar but nothing to sneeze at either. |
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Post by Dan K on Jun 11, 2014 22:35:13 GMT -6
Grey Knights.
That is all
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