So, Bran Redmaw… With
the addition of “Monstrous Creature” to his Werewolf form, he might just be a
bit overpowered… Well, ASSUMING you can
get him to HtH. Looking at typically 6
Attacks, all hitting on a 3+, Str 6 AP 2, and he CAN go to Str 10 if he needs
to crack open a Vehicle. Still an IC, so
he can join up with a squad of Grey Hunters or whatever, Fearless and FnP are
nice, etc… Had him run up against a DA
force last night and he singlehandedly offed 2 Deathwing Squads with that
insane number of AP 2 attacks at I6.
Did lead me to an odd Rule question, and I hadn’t found anything
preventing a Monstrous Creature who is also an IC from joining an Infantry unit… Seemed a bit odd with the giant Werewolf in
the Squad of Grey Hunters, but hey, they have damn Wolf Cavalry these days, so
really, how odd is it? Not too familiar
with the Tyranids, guessing they are the only other army with MC/IC
interactions like this though…
Have to say, I was impressed by the Bastion with the Void
Shield. The Long Fangs being protected
in the battlements being able to REALLY split fire and do a lot of damage was
quite nice. Well, the turns the Shield
was up… It got knocked down on Turn 2, I
think came back on Turn 5… Still, for
the extra 25 points or so? Was awesome…
Even so, I am not convinced that the Wolves can face one of
the top tier armies. Well, face and have
more than a trivial chance of winning…
Yes, I can do some deployment tricks and have up to half of my army Flank
or Behind Enemy Lines, but with Interceptor so cheap and the loss of the
ability to Assault out of Reserve, I come in, shoot with the handful of short
ranged Special Weapons and the bolters I have, then hope NOT to simply get shot
off the table. Killing 10-12 Marines in
Powered Armor is not I think a challenge for the armies I am concerned about
facing. The Wolves senses are a relic of
the old rule set, and so mostly useless in Sixth. The Rune Priest’s weapon is the ONLY real
Psychic defense left in the game really at this point other than perhaps the GK
Aegis, but even that does nothing to stop boosting powers, etc. So, yes, having the perhaps slightly
overcosted RP is a good thing. One of
the VERY few Wolf things worth still taking I think, and that mostly due to the
favorable loophole left with the Psychic powers. Still no fliers, the Grey Hunters are still
good for what they are, but really, they are still just basic Marines.
Was discussing some of the issues with an actual Ultramarine
player last night… He feels that his
basic Tactical Marines are more or less useless, and I have to agree. Even in my Crimson Fist army, I field Troops
only because I have to, but Scouts for the most part, Powered Armor tends to be
on Sternguard… The Bolter is just
complete crap as a basic weapon. Yes, it
is really good against IG type troops, but when every other race has a much
better basic weapon? Necron Gauss
glances Vehicles, Eldar Shuriken Rends against “living” targets, DE have
poison, Tau have higher Str AND Range, etc…
To be honest I have yet to see a Tyranid force on the field and haven’t
really read over their stuff, so the Marines MAY have an advantage in basic
weapons over at least one new army. Of
course, games are rarely won by the Infantry’s basic weapon, but it does
provide a good idea of what the Army can do I think. Necrons can wipe the Vehicles off the field
trivially, Eldar can kill off any Living army, etc… Marines with Bolters are fairly mediocre
against everything. And you HAVE to
field at least 2 Squads of Troops of some kind.
For the Marines, it is Scouts or a tax to be paid as they will likely do
very little good in the game on their own.
Even Scouts with their craptastic stats are a tax in and of themselves,
but at least they are cheap and have the POTENTIAL to actually wound say, a
Riptide or Wraithlord… Doesn’t happen
often of course, but… So, Marine armies
by and large fight at something of a disadvantage if they use basic
Troops. Yes, some things like the
Centurions have the potential to be amazing, but really they have to in order
to overcome the inertia/tax/whatever you want to call the Marine’s now
completely outclassed basic weapon.
Sternguard with their different ammo types are great, and at least some
of that should be more of a “General Issue” sort of thing for all of the Marine
Bolters I think. Something, hell,
ANYTHING to make the Bolters a bit better to keep up with the stuff that has by
and large passed them…
Eh, painting a LOT of Grey things these days, might have to
actually paint up a few of the Fleshtearer things just as a break from the “All
Grey All the Time” Wolf Legion/Chapter theme I have going on my paint desk…
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