As i've been painting up my squats I've been thinking about the thurgrimm's list, and come to the conclusion that something is missing for me. The list simply feels boring and bland.
I would therefore like to throw out the idea of basing the entire squat list upon the EA Orks list.
? Aren't squats and Orks mortal enemies ?Well, the history of the Orks show that they haven't been afraid of stealing ideas from their enemies, Hence it could be argued that they copied a well functioning military organization from the squats, right?
Special rules...
Power of the Waaagh! - The orks likes to close with the enemy, the squat reaction is to hunker down and not budge. +2 to Marshal, sustain or overwatch.
Mob rule- exchanged by stubborn.
Ork Powerfields, change to imperial power fields
Warlord - make the warlord compulsory.
Ork formations - Here's how i reason, squats are basically a feodal system based on blood ties and mercantilism. It would be reasonable for them to band together with their feodal lords when they march for war. Different lords have different financial means, hence variable "mob" size.
Mine portal - I haven't played with this, but how is this better than just garrisoning? You loose overwatch, gain the ability to move up your bikes?. Either allow more types to use the mine portal or allow more mine portals that give the army som flexibility in which one to use.
Spotter - keep as is.
Autonom - feels complicated, Isn't it more or less an amalgam of the grot rules and fearless? why not just give them both?
Units....
Warriors-Boyz, I much prefer the Ork way of lots of guns and bad to hit, than the present squat 1/2 amount of weapons, less calculating and more dice rolling must be good. Make them like Boyz but with CC 5+ / FF5 5+.
Hearthguard=Nobz the power armoured knights to keep the smiths and mineworkers fighting. Lose inspiring.Gain +EA.
Berserkers=Grotz, i go to the whfb version of berserkers. Dwarfs that are shamed and seek death in battle, it would be strange for other dwarfs to be disturbed by the death of a berserker as they have succeeded in their quest and found a glorious death in battle. Loose armor but keep stats (the hearthguard are worse than the nobz but the berserkers are better than the grotz).
"master miner" (or somesuch)=Oddboy, upgrading weapons. An answer to the AA problems of Squats. In the ork list several vehicles and heavy weapons can have this upgrade with a choice of 2BP,MW or MW3+ TK(D3). I suggest making the squat have the thunderfire option (twin Battlecannon + AA) or the goliath (3BP ignore cover, indirect). Opening up for the possibility to upgrade for instance the collosus with a thunderfire gives you a mobile AA, at the cost of a main gun.
Thunderers instead of Kommandos
??-Stormboyz, no equivalent, strike from the list
Molemortar/Thudd gun/rapier/tarantula-Big Gunz, 4 types of support weapons are too many in my mind. KISS, if necessary make them 2 kinds, the direct firing kind (rapier tarantula) and the indirect BP kind (mole and thudd). Upgradeable by the "Master miner"
Guild bikers - Warbikes, give the bikes a 15cm shooting to offset their lower speed maki it 6+/6+ to keep them slightly worse than the warbikes to compensate for their higher FF.
Guild Trike - Deathkopta/scorcha/warbuggy/wartrack probably keep as is.
Rhino transports-battlewagons, we all know the only reason squats travel in rhinos is that it was the only available transport for any imperial an chaos aligned race back in the days. Now IG doesn't have access to the rhino anymore (chimera) and the cultists have also received their own civilian transport. I would say it's time for squats to sort of "loose" the rhino aswell. I would like to suggest something mora akin to a razorback.
"The Hog"(why not :-)) AV 25cm movement 5+ arm cc 6+ff5+ main gun 45cm AP5+/AT6+ Transport (2).
It would be based on the Rhino chassie (making conversions easy), comparable to the razorback, but slower and transport 2. The main gun would also be upgradeable by the "master miner" it would then loose transport.
I like slowing them down a tad, making them more squatlike :-)
Iron Eagle/iron hawk-Gunwagon, upgradeable by "master miner"? loose the iron hawk and give the eagle spotter upgrade?
Robot-Dreadnought/killkanz keep as is.
??-Flakwagon, either a new "hog" version that looses transport but gains AA, but preferably strike from the list and let the "master miner" upgrade be the AA.
??-Stompa, strike from list.
Colossus-Gunfortress, add transport 6 (There are som big doors on the back end of the leviathan). upgradeable by "master miner"
Leviathan-Battlefortress, booth of these maybe need some adjusting to fit this position. Upgradeable by "master miner"
??-Gargants, create a large crawler type vehicle that can take the gargant role.
??-aircrafts/spacecrafts, strike from list.
Things to add from the squat list, that have no comparable unit in the Orks list.
Guildmaster - keep as is, upgrade to a "kult of speed formation"
Termites/moles/hellbores-keep units as is but use teleporting for delivery method. (if it makes the squats too mobile make them not able to teleport onto the enemy side until round 2).
Airship, keep as is?
Landtrain, speed it up 20-25cm movement. make engine upgradeable by "masterminer" (at the cost of the turret battlecannon).
Cyclops-let it be a "master miner" upgraded leviathan or a "super stompa/gargant" equivalent.
...Formations
Warrior formation 200/300/500
6 Warriors
2 Heartguard
2 berserkers
Upgrades
x Warriors/Thunderers +25 (may get 1 extra berserker per warrior +5 points)
x robots +35 points
x Transports +35 points
x Tunnelers (only if all can be tunneled) see list for points
2 Hearthguard +30 points
1 "master miner" +50 points
1 Colossus +xxx points
1 Leviathan +xxx points
Guild bike formation 200/350/500
any 8 of
Guild bikers
Trikes
Upgrades
x Bikers/trikes +25 points
x Iron eagles +50
1 "master miner" +50 points
1 iron hawk upgrade +10 points
Guild air formation 200/350/500
4 Iron eagles
Upgrades
x iron eagles +50 points
1 "master miner" +50 points
1 Overlord +200 points
Guild heavy formation 125/225/325
any 5 of
Indirect support weapons
Direct support weapons
Upgrades
x support weaopns +25 points
x robots +35 points
1 "master miner" +50 points
1 Hearthguard +30 points
Overlords 250/475/700
Leviathans 375/750/1000
Upgrades
upgrade 1 to Colossus +75 points
upgrade 1 to Leviathan +100 points
1 "master miner" +50 points
Landtrain (as per squat list)
Upgrades
1 "master miner" +50 points
Big expensive crawler 600-750
cost to aim for.
Termite/Moles/Hellbore (as per squat list)
Comments
An interesting thing about the Ork list, is that they have only restrictions on the gargants and aircrafts not on the other types of WE's and they can have them mingled with their regular formations, a very good fit to the squats in my opinion. The initiative would need to change to 3+ to match the orks. I think this type of armylist would create a much more interesting list than the "short IG" list that is available now. Maybe a Thunderers formation need to be created?
I'm not sure anyone will read this far, and those that do might disagree totally with my notions. So flame away.