Some Home Brew 40k
Currently I only have one opponent I play against regularly. This means that we tend to have the same army match up each time. Although there isn't variation in that aspect it is more than made up for by the fact we can get pretty creative with mission/army home brew rules with no one else to say otherwise.So here a few things we are trying out with space marines.
First of all the base codex. I personally thought the 2013 revamp of the most popular Games Workshop army was pretty solid. Not quite as top tier as Eldar or Tau which is probably a good thing. It does have a huge amount of flexibility in the armies you can take, the wargear, the unit options etc. If you want to do tank rushes, bike lists, drop pod armies you are sorted here. Granted Grav bike orientated armies are probably the only ones to stand up strong in a competitive environment but really the sheer amount of moderately competitive things you can do is a big win in my books.
However what didn't come out very well from the update was anything with a Jump Pack. They also happen to be my favourite unit aesthetically. Assault troops lack the bite to do anything in close combat. Vanguard Veterans are great but severely over priced with a fully decked out Vanguard with Lightning Claws or Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield combo coming out more expensive than their assault terminator equivalents who most people already regard as too expensive. Madness. (Although, laughably, Space Wolves doing the same thing come off even worse!).
To get assault troops back in the running we are playing that if you take a Captain or Chapter Master with a jump pack then assault units become scoring. Similar to the bike rule. I am unsure why they didn't do this as base really. Perhaps it's to not offend the Blood Angels too much. However ravenwing and White Scars lost a bit of uniqueness with any chapter taking bike troops now. I suppose you can't have every kind of space marine in vanilla marines with the opportunity to score. Still, assault squads need it just to become competitive. Though even with this you should still just take bikes, they are just better.
Crimson Minotaur Chapter Tactics
Now for my Minotaurs I have been playing Raven Guard chapter tactics, being the most jump pack orientated. However, as I have been further writing my back story and fluff as well as after playing a few games I have realised these tactics just don't suit the brash, bull like nature of the chapters personality. Raven Guard is just to sneaky. Incidentally, I do recommend trying their tactics at some point. Scouting, Outflanking marines in dedicated transports leads to some awfully fun strategies.
With this in mind I am looking to design my own chapter tactics with the goal of making jump pack and melee units more competitive whilst staying true to the character of my chapter.
Close Combat Conditioning
Every member of the chapter trains extensively with all standard melee weapons before moving onto more exotic arms. Consequently the simple chainsword is an exceedingly familiar blade to every Crimson Minotaur.
Models using chainswords in close combat have the shred special rule.
The Master's Favourite Weapon
The Crimson Minotaur Armoury is bristling with lightning claws at Chapter Master Alcaeus's request. The chapter takes special pride in the use and maintenance of these prized weapons.
Lightning claws cost 5 less points each to purchase.
So both these rules target the problem areas identified earlier. Chainswords with a bit more bite and cheaper weapons for the Vanguard to utilise. I am tempted to add fleet to the list as well but I am not sure if that is too much to ask just from chapter tactics. I am also wary about changing too many things around with 7th edition round the corner. There are rumours of improvements for close combat (or is it just desperate hope?) which may make all these modifications unnecessary. We'll wait and see!
Let me know your opinion on this, would you let the person across the table from you play these rules? What do you think should change? What would you do to make jump pack units better?
I too love assault marines. I'm running 2 squads of 5 ATM, and I think your idea of a jump captain unlocking jump troops is not outlandish and has been suggested before. I would have loved it, as I much prefer a HQ with a jump pack rather than one with a bike.
ReplyDeleteAs it stands, there are only two ways to get scoring/troop jumpers in C:SM. First is with Korvydae, who has not received an update but FW has said to treat him as Chapter Tactics: Raven Guard, and the second is Fire Hawks chapter tactics. Perhaps GW thought too much FOC shifting was not in the nature of vanilla marines, seeing as we ONLY have the one shift: bikes, and no special troops like DA/BA/GK/SW. Even the "terminator wing" character from FW only makes them SCORING and not troops. Either GW doesn't want us to have special troops or they wanted us to not step on the toes of other army codexes. At least the jump units did receive a small points decrease.
Regarding your chapter tactics, erring on the side of caution is always good, but I feel you are selling your chapter a bit short. Shred and another bonus is not completely OP. Perhaps Furious Charge or a simple +1 to combat resolution.
For your Lightning Claw rule, I also love lots of claws, but I think a fair change would be "all characters may take a single lightning claw for no additional cost". Not OP at all, IMO, since it's only AP3, you LOSE an attack, and to gain the attack back you must pay for the expensive specialist weapon. I think it's a more flexible change too, as you can take the cheap free single weapon, or if you opt for dual wielding, you effectively make the weapon cost 50% which isn't super OP given the nature of power weapons on sergeants in 6th edition.
Those Fire Hawk chapter tactics are actually pretty cool. Hand flamers! Vanguard and assault troops scoring. It's not a total loss that they don't count as troops, I am not against fielding the classic tactical squads I just want Jump Packs to also be more useful.
DeleteI am definitely considering Furious Charge as an option. It's probably the sensible one to pick. A free lightning claw for characters is a good call too.