Warhammer 40k

purplemonkey

What is eveyone's favourite army and why? What weaknesses have you noticed in your army and what have you done to rectify these weaknesses?

Pugsley

I love Chaos, their great to fight with, but I voted for the Eldar. SOmething about them that just.... kicks a*se

I havent played enough with my Eldar really to comment n them, but my Chaos army had faught a good few battles. Their pretty weak in a firefight, but get them in close and they rip anything to bits. My army is pretty much purely close combat, occassionally I fling in my 3 obliterators if Im expecting a few tanks on the go, if not just Khorne Beserkers by the dozen, with a squad of Raptors flung in the mix for my fast attack. I usually bring terminators too if I can afford them, when they get close their powerfist's can take entire squads out at a time. Recently I also find myself taking in a Juggernaught for my commander too, 6 toughness, 5 strength, 6 attacks? with an extra attack for every 6 he rolls and no armour saves, he has a tendancy to wipe out large quantities of marines VERY quickly

Lemming

Space Wolves.

They're rather handy up close and personal, and excel in the fast-strike shock-troop role. Their major weakness is firepower. They don't have lots of it (although what they can have available is often rather unpleasant to deal with), so trying to play them in the space-marines-thinking-they're-imperial-guard role is going to get you massacred in all likelihood.

Keep them mobile, get them into either close-range firefights or hand-to-hand and they're well happy little puppies.

purplemonkey

My favourite army would have to be the Space Marines. However, I find that they aren't very cost effective. The best bet is to have about 5 Tactical Squads but put all the Rocket Launchers together for maximum effect against tanks and other such nasty objects. They are quite expensive but the 3+ saving throw helps alot. I have invented my own chapter. My Marines are undercoated in black, drybrushed boltgun metal. They use the insignia of the Blood Angels with the Imperial Fists over the Blood Angels markings. It works really well, so I called my chapter the Blood Fists.

Ameirgin

Definitely the Imperial Guard. Best army ever - loads of really average troops, loads of really average guns/weaponry, and the best damn tanks in the game

It's a guardsmans' life for me.......

purplemonkey

What weaknesses do the Imperial Guards have Ameirgin? I have to admit that I do love the Imperial Scouts because they remind me of the movie "Predator". However, the Space Marine scouts have that cool futuristic look about them.

Ameirgin

Pretty much, they have the weaknesses I outlined - loads and loads of average troops. Their basic weapon (the lasgun) couldn't blow the skin off a rice pudding on it's own, and statistically speaking, nearly 50% of all Guardsmen miss the target. SO, if you want a chance at winning, you need to take lots of troops - not that this is a huge problem, because you have shed-loads to choose from.

The main weakness of the Guard is in CC - most other races will kill 'em for sure. The only exception I can think of is the Tau, who aren't that great in CC either. Taking Rough Riders or Ogryns can sharpen your CC edge, but they are rather expensive (both financially and in points cost). Specialist troops (such as Stormtroopers) just don't cut the mustard, although their improvements can be useful against some opponents.

Guard vehicles are, however, among the best in the game. the sentinel, whilst lacking the 'brick wall' feeling of a Dreadnought is still a capable fighter, and the Chimera is arguably the best troop transport in the game (IMO). The Leman Russ is Ok - but as with all tanks, it's a bullet (or las cannon) magnet. However they are tough, and can last a whole game, immobilised and acting as a pill box.

Also, the new rules for unit diversity allow a lot of leeway in tailoring the guard, however be warned - careful reading is essential, as you can suddenly find that you have no points to spend and forgot to get a vital ability

All in all, I love the Guard. I have a fairly large Guard army (which I have had since Rogue Trader!!), and I have no intention of ever changing it. I do have Space Wolves and Sisters of Battle, and I toyed with a Chaos army for a while (though I sold most of it off long ago). But I always end up coming back to the Guard - my first love, in terms of wargaming.

Pugsley

Can hardly call imperial guard infantry 'average'.... their utter pants, but cheap as dirt, cigarette lighter free with each (called a lasgun, but guns are meant to hurt people). But they have numbers, numbers not even orks can compete with, and Tanks that put even space marines to shame (basilisk, lemun russ, chimera, griffons). I always wanted toget an imperial guard army, but back when I was well into it (2nd ed) imperial guard infantry were all metal, and I had littlem oney, so buying 100 odd troops at about £1 each, add £20 per tank onto that, and another £15 for a command squad, and you are talking months of saving (or at my income at the time, well over a year).

Havent read the latest Imperial guard codex yet, but are Ogryn's still pretty much useless for their cost? in 3rd ed they were pretty dire by the look of it, they were pretty good in 2nd ed tho.

Ameirgin

'Pants' is a bit harsh! They are completely statistically average - WS/BS 3, Ld 7 etc. Pants would be WS or BS 2, Ld 5 or 6 etc.

As for Ogryns - yeah, they are still a little over priced, but their high toughness means that they can walk away unharmed from a bolt gun shot, and their high number of wounds means that it takes more shots to make 'em go down. Watching the expression on a Space Marine player's face the first time he lets rip at an Ogryn squad and discovers that they don't go down in a heap is priceless!!

manchine

Dark Angels

Used to the Eldar back at the dawn of time. But the DAs are my favourites now 'cos they hate everyone else and have the best psychic power (fluff wise too).

tba

Sorry to bring this thread back from the depths

BUT

NO ORK?

manchine

Orks are pretty cool.
But peoples answers are probably influenced by what they're playing at the moment.
I used to play them untill a while ago (came second in one of the UK GTs too) but after a while you just get a bit tired of the same thing.

i_am_dogboy

I used to love chaos and dark eldar, but there's just something about seeing 48 genestealers tear apart half an army in one turn that really gets to me.

purplemonkey

Orks would be counted in Other tba

tba

and that why my vote went there;)

purplemonkey

Only problem is that the Space Marines is winning!! Orks suck

Pugsley

ok Sisters of Battle were in the poll but no orks? sacrilage!

Ameirgin

Originally posted by purplemonkey
Only problem is that the Space Marines is winning!! Orks suck

Of course the space marines are winning - they are financially probably the cheapest army to build, have the best stats for basic troopers, and a whole bunch of special rules just for giggles!

No, no, I'm not bitter that the marines get all of the good stuff, and my Guard are left with the dregs.....not bitter at all.........:D

purplemonkey

Homeless armies such as the Imperial Guard don't have the facilities and the b*lls to handle such expensive equipment. You'd probably sell it to feed your starving families:D


btw anyone play Warhammer 40000, Fire Warrior on the PS2. The Space Marines are bastards in it. There's a Titan too.

tba

Yeah I played it
The chaos marines are the worst though

Tummon

Im sorry, SPACE MARINES!!!
Have we all gone MAD!!! (the 4 that voted that way i mean)
I collect Dark Eldar, yes i suck, but i suck with style.
And if any of you collect black templars you are evil!!!!(in the bad way!)

purplemonkey

I'm sorry, Tummon. I have to say that the Black Templars are no match for my Blood Fists. Plus, my guys are better looking than the Black Templars. I have to say that I do like the Dark Eldar Weapons.

funky penguin

The necrons kick ass.

Although the cost like 18 points for a basic trooper, plus the C'tan gods for heavy weapon magnets. Fun to play with though. I love it when my brothers think they've finally killed one of my models, only to see it rise again. Hehe.

Tummon

Blood Fists, hmmmmmm.

Dark Eldar are great fun, i played a necron player winter war 2002 and he made the mistake of not shooting at my retinue, hehehehe.
My lord and i think 5 incubi tore through like his whole army while my talos and dark lances killed whatever was left.
Never seen anything die as fast as imortals to my lord, hehe.
Necrons slow initive means they were totaly screwed hehehehe.

funky penguin

Yeah necrons initiative sucks, but i've managed to destroy a land raider with a necron warrior's gauss weapon.

Kold

Has to be Eldar... I dunno, I think it's my superiority complex but something just seems so cool about them. They're noble, look cool and can be absolutely devastating. Their strengths lie in speed, skill and the awesome power of their weapons. The WarpSpider makes me do a sex wee. Their heavy support wreaks my head as I can only choose 3 things... But what do I drop? My falcon, my dark reapers, my wraithlord or my 3 warwalkers equipped with starcannons and bright lances? Choices The only bad thing about them is that they're fairly expensive and you can find yourself a unit down before you even take your first turn...

Otherwise it'd be my nids... I like my xenos

hairyheretic

Eldar I would term a finesse army. In the hands of someone who knows how to get their various units to work together they can be very tough. For someone who doesn't really know them, they're going to get their head handed to them.

For me, it has to be Chaos though. Ever since I saw the old Realm of Chaos books, many moons ago, that was me. I've played Chaos in every game that has a chaos faction ever since.

At present I have 3 different chaos forces. My World Eaters will be going to Conflict on Sunday. They have no intention of trying to fulfill the missions, but will instead be taking skulls for Khorne Its the only way to play World Eaters.

Pugsley

Originally posted by hairyheretic
They have no intention of trying to fulfill the missions, but will instead be taking skulls for Khorne Its the only way to play World Eaters.

Id be the same really, wipe out the enemy THEN carry on with the objective, Knorne was made to be played like that (they tend to rack up quite a few kills too, 3 strength 5 attacks the turn they charge? ouch).


I agree about the eldar, their like elves but their not poofs
I personally have a thing about banshee's, the havoc they wreak against space marines is unreal, same with an avatar, 5 banshee's managed to kill 7 space marines in one turn for me....... was a devestator squad too! Avatars have a tendancy to wipe out command squads single handedly, unless you kill an avatar before it gets up close, good luck to ya. I have yet to get a wraith lord, but have 3 war walkers, their firepower is quite simply stupid really, pity they dont have the toughness to back it up, but still, their very fun to blow thigns up with, just hope you get the first turn.

Kold

It sucks that they're not still immune to heat weapons...

hairyheretic

Originally posted by Pugsley
Id be the same really, wipe out the enemy THEN carry on with the objective, Knorne was made to be played like that (they tend to rack up quite a few kills too, 3 strength 5 attacks the turn they charge? ouch).

Only S4, unless you take Furious Charge. I rarely do. Its a nice ability, but a Khornate army tends to eat through your points pretty quickly anyway.

I agree about the eldar, their like elves but their not poofs
I personally have a thing about banshee's, the havoc they wreak against space marines is unreal, same with an avatar, 5 banshee's managed to kill 7 space marines in one turn for me....... was a devestator squad too!

Banshees die very easily though. They're relying on the power weapons to get them through. That S3 isn't so much fun.

Avatars have a tendancy to wipe out command squads single handedly, unless you kill an avatar before it gets up close, good luck to ya. I have yet to get a wraith lord, but have 3 war walkers, their firepower is quite simply stupid really, pity they dont have the toughness to back it up, but still, their very fun to blow thigns up with, just hope you get the first turn.

3 war walkers with starcannons being Guided is just nasty. They'll vaporise a squad of marines a turn, easy.

That Armour 10 and open topped means they can't stand up to a whole lot though. I fondly recall popping an entire trio with a guessed Defiler shot a few months back. Almost bagged the Farseer as well.

Lemming

Originally posted by hairyheretic

3 war walkers with starcannons being Guided is just nasty. They'll vaporise a squad of marines a turn, easy.

It's official. After yesterday's Conflict tournament, I now hate Starcannons (unless I'm fielding them )

Ameirgin

Can we assume from that Lemming that you had your backside handed to you on a plate? By a plethora of starcannons?

Lemming

Originally posted by Ameirgin
Can we assume from that Lemming that you had your backside handed to you on a plate? By a plethora of starcannons?

/me wanders out the door muttering about starcannons


Actually, the first game started badly (courtesy of those bloody weapons) but I managed to claw it back somewhat and the game did come down to the wire in the end (although I still lost). Good game though

Ameirgin

Remind me to mention starcannons in person next time I see you.....:D

Actually, they are quite powerful weapons, if used properly.

Lemming

Originally posted by Ameirgin
Remind me to mention starcannons in person next time I see you.....:D

Git!

Actually, they are quite powerful weapons, if used properly.

They were (used properly) unfortunately. My long-fangs took the opening salvo from several star-cannons mounted on wave-serpents. All bar one bought it. The survivor gave the eldar a little f-you present (glancing hit, destroyed the wave-serpent + a couple of banshees) in return before getting it in the next turn.

One thing I learnt yesterday was that Wolf-Priests are good. Was my first time fielding one (ever) and he managed to cause some rather unpleasant upset. 6 attacks in the charge (4 +1 charge +1 additional close-combate weapon) with strength 6 (5 +1 for equipped frostblade).

Yessss .. he gave that crummy striking scorpion squad + accompaning farseer something to talk about in the after-life

I still lost though

Ameirgin

Actually, I am rather fond of the Wolf Priest on the bike, at the head of a Blood Claw biker squad. They are great at flanking fast and hitting hard. And with abny luck your opponent will be too busy avoiding them to watch the other stuff advancing on him!!

But you're right - Wolf Priests are nails!!

Pugsley

Originally posted by hairyheretic
Only S4, unless you take Furious Charge. I rarely do. Its a nice ability, but a Khornate army tends to eat through your points pretty quickly anyway.

Read codex Chaos, the Beserkers get S5, in the rule book there was a misprint and they gave them an extra attack instead of extra stength.

hairyheretic

Originally posted by Pugsley
Read codex Chaos, the Beserkers get S5, in the rule book there was a misprint and they gave them an extra attack instead of extra stength.

Well, I don't have my codex in work with me, but I'm pretty sure the Mark of Khorne grants +1 Attacks.

I just checked the FAQ on GWs site for the CSM codex, and there's no reference to the Mark of Khorne in there.

hairyheretic

Originally posted by Ameirgin
Actually, I am rather fond of the Wolf Priest on the bike, at the head of a Blood Claw biker squad. They are great at flanking fast and hitting hard. And with abny luck your opponent will be too busy avoiding them to watch the other stuff advancing on him!!

If you think Blood Claw bikers are fun, try World Eater bikers. I had 24 of them, 10 bloodletters and a Bloodthirster to the tournament at LepreCon. Much blood for the blood god, and 1st place for me

Kold

How do you misuse a starcannon? The only thing sexier is a pulse cannon

Pugsley

Originally posted by hairyheretic
Well, I don't have my codex in work with me, but I'm pretty sure the Mark of Khorne grants +1 Attacks.

I just checked the FAQ on GWs site for the CSM codex, and there's no reference to the Mark of Khorne in there.

I have the codex here with me, and im 100% sure that Knorne gives +1 strength, Slaanesh get the +1 attack, not rememebr Demonette's?

hairyheretic

Ok, revised Codex CSM, page 47, Mark of Khorne. MoK gives Blood Frenzy, Blood Frenzy gives +1 attacks

Page 55, Mark of Slaanesh. MoS gives the Warp Scream ability, reducing their close combat opponents Initiative by 1.

Looks pretty clear to me.

Are you perhaps thinking of the first chaos codex? Mine is hiding somewhere in my book shelves, so I haven't got it handy to look up.

Pugsley

Ah, I was talking about the Codex CSM released shortly after release of 3rd ED. I take it there has been one since?

hairyheretic

Yep. Chaos was redone, as was IG. Marines are supposed to get a new one towards the tail end of this year when the next vesion of 40k comes out, bugs probably next after that.

Pugsley

Ah right, happy days. Cant wait for Forth ed tho, apparently their giving the rules a good seeing too without a complete overhaul, so you can still use current codex's and armies. Cant wait to see whats in it. Ill have to gte myself a copy of that new Chaos codex too, see what alls in it, but Ill prolly wait for the Nid one and get them both if you say their getting one soonish aswell.

hairyheretic

I think the best way to describe the next release will be 40k v3.5 . It won't be a complete rules change, the way it was from RT to 2nd ed , or 2nd ed to 3rd.

The Trail Assault Rules and Trial Vehicle Rules are fairly definately going to be in there, though likely changed from the last versions seen on the net. I've seen rumours of what has and hasn't changed in various places, but I suppose till someone lays hands on a copy of the rulebook we won't know for sure.

I've no idea when the bugs are supposed to be redone. The Marines I was told .. October I think. At the very least I'd guess a few months later for the bugs. You're as well to buy your new copy of the CSM-dex now I would say.

Kold

Chaos are simply ugly monkeigh and food for the great devourer anyway

Sarky

I've stopped enjoying the game a lot recently, I think it may have something to do with all the revisions...

Nyeh. The background is still good, so I keep reading stuff, but 40K itself? Hard to find an opponent who isn't either a beardy tournament winner or an over-sugared hellspawn 15 year-old fanboy right now.

hairyheretic

Depends on where you're playing I guess. I normally play in the DGG on a Wednesday night, and there's a good group of 40k players there.

hairyheretic

Originally posted by Kold
Chaos are simply ugly monkeigh and food for the great devourer anyway

And the eldar are a dead race that just haven't stopped twitching yet.

As long as one sentient being grows angry, chaos will flourish. As long as one sentient being plots or schemes, lusts or hates, or looks upon the universe with dispair, then chaos will be there.


You can tell I'm a chaos player, can't you?

Kold

Ah but Tyranids will end up eating everyone anyway