From: "Shim" Newsgroups: rec.games.miniatures.warhammer Subject: [E40K] A few Imperial ideas... Why can't Terminators be fielded as close combat units? They can in 40K, so... Space Marine Terminator Squad ...................... 19 points Consists of one Space Marine unit (Save) Extra cost to: Upgrade to Close Attack Unit (Assault) ....... +2 points Mount in a Land Raider ....................... +35 points This replaces the already existing "Terminators" entry in the Space Marine, Space Marine Armour and Supreme Commander detatchments. To use, you can either modify the models - add swords & similar - or change the paint scheme... I have Blood Angels, so my CA Termies get yellow helmets. _______________________ Another problem I've noticed is that for those of you who like to field _cheap_ Guard detatchments, there's no easy way to mobilise them without paying through the nose for the privilege - Chimeras are double the cost of a Marine APC. To counter this (and bring my Epic army into line with my 40K one, where Guard Rhinos are a much-beloved frontline combat unit) I give you the following suggestion; all Imperial Guard units which may be mounted in Chimeras should add the following line to their army list entries: Mount in a Rhino ............................. +7 points (Incidentally, I need Rhino models somewhat heavily - I've only got about 12 of the things, and a few companies of Marines don't want to walk. No real urgency, but if anyone in the UK has some they wouldn't mind parting with cheaply (and preferably unpainted) I'd be rather grateful...) _______________________ Well, we've had Guard Rhinos and Marine Attack Terminators... what now? How about Chimeras? In Titan Legions, we had the Chimedon (Heavy Cannon), Chimerax (Quad-Autocannon), Chimerro (Hunter-Killer Missile) and the vanilla Chimera (Multilaser). Let's see what we can do, shall we? Chimera Armoured Fighting Vehicle .................. 19 points Consists of one Chimera unit. Extra cost to: Upgrade to Chimerax (Flak) ................... +10 points * Upgrade to Chimerro (+1 Anti-Tank shot) ...... +10 points * * = Choose only one. This should be added to the Support section of the Imperial Guard Infantry and Armour detatchment lists, giving mobile - though less effective than their slower counterparts - AT & AA support to fast-moving detatchments. _______________________ But I've been concentrating on the groundpounders - why not come up with some new flyers? Let's see... how about specialised support units? 0-1 LONG-RANGE SUPPORT AIRCRAFT DETATCHMENT (NEW): Make up to 10 choices from this list. HQ - Choose one aircraft to act as the commander, for no additional cost. Heavy Support Aircraft ............................. 15 points Consists of one Large Flyer unit. Extra cost to: Upgrade to Tanker (Refuel) ................... +45 points * Upgrade to AWACS (Countermeasures) ........... +35 points * * = Must pick one; may only pick one. Escort Plane ....................................... 30 points Consists of one Thunderbolt unit. As can be seen, I've created a new unit and two special abilities there. However, these are a unique detatchment - they never appear on the board. Another interesting feature is that these aircraft are *always* in the air, like waiting flyer detatchments, yet can be intercepted as though they had launched a mission. They may not be given a mission during the battle. Also, they are always available - there is no need to roll for them as reserves. Name Speed Range Firepower Assault Armour Special Heavy Flyer Flyer N/A 0 1/0 4+ Off-table. Don't scream at the profile... these things are meant to be mince. Now do you see why I added Thunderbolt escorts? Anyway, here's the special abilities: **Refuel: Each aircraft with this ability can refuel one flyer detatchment which has just carried out a mission without it having to return to base. This will allow that detatchment to perform a mission straight away on the next turn, without missing a turn to prepare. Damaged aircraft miss only one turn, not two. **Countermeasures: AWACS aircraft guide intercepting fighters to their targets with great ease. For each aircraft possessing Countermeasures, one Flyer detatchment carrying out an Intercept mission may add 1 to the "Intercept value" of their Assault statistic for the duration of the mission. I've made them quite expensive to represent the value they add to flyers, but they probably won't be much use in games under 3,000 points. _______________________ But the massive support aircraft aren't the only fancy pieces of airborne kit the Navy can play with. Somewhere out there, there'll be some interesting variations on the Marauder or Thunderbolt - and here's some. These can be added to the normal Imperial Navy list. Wild Weasel Fighter ................................ 40 points Consists of one Wild Weasel unit. Lance Attack Fighter ............................... 55 points Consists of one Lance unit. Heavy Bomber ....................................... 55 points Consists of one Heavy Bomber unit. Name Speed Range Firepower Assault Armour Special Wild Weasel Flyer 15cm 2xDisrupt 2/1 5+ Lance Fighter Flyer 40cm Death Ray 1/0 5+ Heavy Bomber Flyer 20cm HvyBarrage 2/1 5+ The Wild Weasel fighter is a Thunderbolt variant carrying extensive jamming and electronic warfare equipment. Many versions also carry smoke launchers, strobe lights, or similar equipment to disorient infantry as well. The Lance Attack fighter is basically a Thunderbolt fighter with the entire fuselage rebuilt around a single immense laser cannon. The recharge time on this allows it to fire only once in an attack run, but with devastating effect. Against Titans this aircraft has notched up a kill score greater than that of any other class fielded by the Navy - and a higher fatality rate. These planes are deathtraps, so be sure to escort them agressively. The Heavy Bomber is a Marauder retro-fitted to carry a large payload of high-explosive bombs. The amount of firepower generated by a bombing run of several of these is capable of dislodging even Chaos Marines from their positions. _______________________ Mind you, there's also a problem in that, when I want to play without using my Marines and field a force purely of Guard, I can't get any units behind enemy lines easily - no Drop Pods or Thunderhawks. So, I've got three choices. Firstly - come up with some kind of Guard Paratroopers, like Drop Pods... but who in (or out) of their right mind would drop Paras straight into a pitched battle? Not me, that's for sure. Secondly, I could come up with a Guard equivalent to the Thunderhawk, but that doesn't seem to fit with the background... and, besides, there's already the Thunderhawk. I don't want to duplicate existing units. Thirdly - Helicopters! [Cue Wagner] IMPERIAL GUARD AIRMOBILE DETATCHMENT (NEW): Make up to 10 choices from this list. HQ - Choose one unit to act as the commander, for +25 points. Attack Helicopter .................................. 25 points Consists of one Attack Helicopter unit. Extra cost to: Upgrade to Fire Support (Barrage, FP 0) ...... Free Transport Helicopter ............................... 20 points Consists of one Transport Helicopter unit. Name Speed Range Firepower Assault Armour Special Attack Helicopter 45cm 30cm 3 1 5+ Skimmer Transport " 40cm 20cm 1 1 5+ Skimmer, Transport (4) As you can see, these are all very fast skimmers. I felt that making them flyers didn't seem right - this way, they can hang around and support their infantry cargoes. The Transport Helicopter is equivalent to a large Blackhawk or UH-1; the Attack Helicopter is the rough analogue of an Apache or Cobra. Infantry comes from another detatchment; in effect, this detatchment is a transport pool. A transport pool with teeth, though :) _______________________ "...a transport pool". There's an idea to play with. How about a transport pool as a single detatchment of transport vehicles, so it could be used for moving any detatchment short of vehicular support: IMPERIAL GUARD TRANSPORT POOL (NEW): HQ - Choose one unit to act as the commander, for +25 points. Main Force - Make up to ten choices from this list. Chimera Armoured Fighting Vehicle .................. 19 points Consists of one Chimera unit. Extra cost to: Upgrade to Chimerax (Flak) ................... +10 points * Upgrade to Chimerro (+1 Anti-Tank shot) ...... +10 points * * = Choose only one. Rhino APC Squadron ................................. 7 points per unit Consists of 1-3 Rhino units. Support - Make up to ten choices from this list, not exceeding the number of choices made on the main list. Chimera Armoured Fighting Vehicle .................. 19 points Consists of one Chimera unit. Extra cost to: Upgrade to Chimerax (Flak) ................... +10 points * Upgrade to Chimerro (+1 Anti-Tank shot) ...... +10 points * * = Choose only one. _______________________ Covered a lot, haven't I? Ten or so new units, and three new detatchments. Not bad for one post... :) As I said before, I'd like feedback... please? Please? ;)