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Marine Suggestions

 Post subject: Marine Suggestions
PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2006 5:43 pm 
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Quote (Hena @ 30 May 2006 (17:06))
Interested on being the official marine champion and pushing those updates like TRC did with the updates to siege masters?

Oddly, it seems I'm the closest thing to it.  I've been collecting various suggestions for the ERC in the absence of an active SM champion, along with a rough mental tally of how much support the various suggestions have.

I wouldn't mind, but I'm not sure I'm qualified enough to be SM champion.  I have largely branched off into other army testing until just recently when I've gotten back into SMs.  To be honest, even though I enjoy them I'm not a very good SM player and I'm afraid that may color my perceptions on what needs or doesn't need to be done to the army.

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 Post subject: Marine Suggestions
PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2006 6:16 pm 
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Quote (Chroma @ 30 May 2006 (17:20))
Quote (nealhunt @ 30 May 2006 (15:17))
Vindicators at 25cm move.

I just gotta ask, why 25cm and not 30cm like all the other "Rhino-chassis" variants?

Vindicators have historically been slower than other Rhino variants.

They have additional armor that is not reflected in the 40K armor values because they don't reflect things in 3D.  In the city fight rules, Vindicators get special advantages due to thicker top armor.  IIRC, they get advantages against mines, too (though I could be misremembering that).

Movement values in Epic are not straight line movement.  It's tactical movement with a lot of starts and stops and potentially tight maneuvering.  I know the "top speed" of the vehicles in the technical specs are a within a few mph of each other but a lower tactical speed can easily be justified on the basis of inferior acceleration and handling which are more directly applicable to tactical movement.

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 Post subject: Marine Suggestions
PostPosted: Wed May 31, 2006 12:41 am 
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Had a 4 player game tonight with me and ginger being marines against the evil squats and guard. Hunter wise wider accessability is all thats needed, currently with only 2-3 availible they are suppressed and dealt with. Make that 4-5 and you are laughing. Also a boost for armour.
I have a very boring file of my dream marine army list which got modified a bit after the CC tournament, I can post it if people are interested.

Edit - that is it's not an army to use but the list to choose it from.

Something else - was going to try it last night but didn't need it, should rhinos, raiders, preds etc get an invulnerable save? Their greatest enemy is MW/K weapons and this is a small boost.

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 Post subject: Marine Suggestions
PostPosted: Wed May 31, 2006 11:27 am 
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Quote (The_Real_Chris @ 31 May 2006 (00:41))
I have a very boring file of my dream marine army list which got modified a bit after the CC tournament, I can post it if people are interested.

I am...

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 Post subject: Marine Suggestions
PostPosted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 2:54 am 
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Marine review

Editted following a couple of experiments and realisation of the lack of fearless :)

This is base on the old list of ideas on the epic forum, ideas here and my experiences with marines to date. Its been written over about a year parallel to the siege stuff, if only because marines and Guard were my most regular opponents and alternative armies I played the most.

Side note
I see marines as being able to be broken into several different lists.
Codex - Aerospace. The generic marine army.
Variant chapters - Imperial Fists (Siege/ground army), Black Templars (marine horde), Salamanders (marine firepower), Blood Angels (marine assault), Space Wolves (umm, assault?), Iron Hands (marine tech), ?White Scars (fast attack), Dark Angels (would probably just be themed codex), Ultramaines (full chapter, vets, everything with limits ? in essence an expanded Codex list for style rather than any real advantage).
With the exception of Space Wolves, Black Templars and Blood Angels the rest would be codex with slight variations to emphasise one style of fighting over another and would have a chapter assigned for flavour rather than rigidity.

Bearing that in mind stuff I would love to see for marines can find its way into other lists. Stuff like Land Raiders and Vindicators getting the Land Raider and Vindicator upgrade respectively, dreadnaught formations etc can all go elsewhere (most likely a less air assault focused list).

Changes to core rules affecting marines.
Transports not taking objectives.
I reckon this will happen and downgrade the effectiveness of marine air assets.
Experimental hit rules
This will have two consequences. One terminators and characters get more powerful. Two so does the opposition, with CC against some armies being an exciting form of suicide.

So with the above in mind here is a unit by unit review of marines, then an army list review.

Special rules
ATSKNF
Change to include marine Leaders removing two blast markers instead of one. Also marines can no longer be outnumbered (just vastly outnumbered). Note this does not apply to allied Titan units.

The Leader change I?m all for as it makes Leaders in the marines that much more important ? flavourful and a boost.
The outnumbering thing I must say I?m not that much a fan of, but it seems everyone else is. I must admit though it makes doing a non air assault army a lot more viable.
Edit - note I reckon it shouldn't be used - though to date no recent experience playing hordes.

Units
Terminators, Tactical?s, Assault, Devastator?s, Scouts, Dreadnaughts, Bikes, Land Speeders and variants, Whirlwind, Hunter, Rhino, Razorback with Heavy Bolters, Predator Annihilator, Spacecraft, Landing Craft, Thunderhawk,
No changes (apart from the errata on the landing crafts Heavy Bolters).

New Unit - Supreme Commander
Character
Power Weapon, (base contact), Assault Weapons, Macro-weapon, Extra Attack (+1)
Notes: Invulnerable Save, Supreme Commander, Fearless

To avoid the two leader problem separate out the SC from the other characters, and surely these chaps have the position in the hierarchy demanding their own entry and picture!

Commander
Character
Power Weapon, (base contact), Assault Weapons, Macro-weapon, Extra Attack (+1)
Smite, (15cms), Small Arms, Macro-weapon, Extra Attack (+1)
Notes: Space Marine Commanders can be one of five types: Captains, Librarians, Techmarines, Chaplains or Apothecaries. All are Characters and have an Invulnerable Save, Leader and Fearless abilities. Captains also have the Commander special ability. Librarians and Techmarines have a Smite attack (listed in the weapon section above). Chaplains and Apothacaries are Inspiring.

Slight change to wording to include Techmarines and Medics. Alternatively simply stick a note in about ?counts as? for Techs and Medics in the special rules section with a note about why.

Attack bike
Speed goes up to 35cm.

I don?t think anything else is needed with these chaps. You get LV in return for the ability to lay BM?s and if you want a full formation you can tear around shooting up infantry.

Vindicator
Speed goes up to 25cm

Again nothing else needed. If it can keep up it is worth a lot more.

Land Raider
FF increases to 4+

Any points issues dealt with in the army list section.

Razorback with lascannon
Drop FF to 6+

It is simply far more popular than the Heavy bolter version (unless you want scouts to go infantry hunting). This balances it a bit.

Predator Destructor
FF increases to 4+

To give it a slight boost verses its more popular lascannon brethren.

Thunderhawk Interceptor
Include a Fighter Bomber version. No transport capacity, FF, CC (as it can?t land) same weapons.

Why? I hate having no air cover. Marines must have more than Hunters and a total reliance on the fleet. Crusading would be a no-no. The chapter would get strafed up the first time it faced an air force with hardened dispersed bunkers.

Drop Pod
Lose the all the stats bar the Weapons and the notes.

Just to reduce confusion ? as a marker it doesn?t need them!

Whirlwind
Yes I know I said no change but wouldn?t we all love it better if it had 60cm base range?

Marauder Bombers
Fix them! (See the siege list for suggested fixes.)

Titans
Rocket launcher to go to BP3.
Gatling Blaster and Turbo lasers to go to 60cm range.


Army List

GT Special Rule ? Transport
Reword to remove the FAQ entry (I?m very bad at re-wording!). No formation may purchase more transport capacity than they need. So for instance Devestators are limited too 2 Land Raiders or 1 Land Raider, 1 Razorback etc. They may not get 3 Land Raiders, or 2 Land Raiders and a Razorback, or 5 Razorbacks etc. After any transports have been purchased any marine formation with access to razorbacks may take enough Rhinos to carry the remaining ground pounding units into battle. You may not have ?spare? rhinos. Alternatively the formation may be mounted in Drop pods as long as all the units can be transported in ?pods.

Codex Astartes Army List
The following list is representative of the vast majority of chapters fighting on Armageddon.
Codex Astartes Space Marine armies have a strategy rating of 5.
All Space Marine and Titan Legion formations have an initiative rating of 1+.
Imperial Navy aircraft formations have an initiative rating of 2+.
The ?They Shall Know No Fear? rule applies to all Space Marine formations only (see 5.1.1).

Space Marine Detachments
175 points - Assault - Four Assault units - Commander, Vindicator
200 points ? Bike - Five Bike units - Commander, Attack Bike
250 points - Devastator - Four Devastator units - Commander, Razorbacks, Dreadnought, Hunter, Land Raiders
375 points - Land Raider - Four Land Raiders - Commander, Vindicator, Hunter
200 points - Land Speeder - Five Land Speeders - Commander, Typhoon/Tornado
375 points - Landing Craft - One Landing Craft
275 points - Predators - Four Predators ?(may choose either Annihilators or Destructors or a combination of the two) - Commander, Vindicator, Hunter
175 points - Scout - Four Scout units - Commander, Razorbacks, Sniper
200 points - Strike Cruiser - One Strike Cruiser - Battle Barge
300 points - Tactical - Six Tactical units - Commander, Dreadnought, Razorbacks, Hunter, Vindicator
350 points - Terminator - Four Terminator units - Commander, Land Raiders, Hunter, Dreadnought, Vindicator
200 points - Thunderhawk - One Thunderhawk Gunship - Interceptor
275 points - Vindicator - Four Vindicators ? Commander, Hunter
300 points - Whirlwind - Four Whirlwinds ? Commander, Hunter

Changes
Land Raiders, predators ?and Vindicators formation cost dropped by 25 points. Terminators and Scouts increased by 25 points. Landing craft increased by 25 points. Hunters more widely available. Whirlwinds lose commander upgrade.
Why? The armour is weak, even with stat upgrades. Conversely Terminators get better with the new allocation rules and Scouts can be abused as drop pod attacks and cheap activations. Landing craft need to go up if armour goes down to ensure that the armoured air assault doesn?t get more powerful. Increased access to hunters with armour formations boosts them and encourages the choice of armour.

Space Marine Upgrades
Free - Attack Bike - Replace any number of Bike units with 1 Attack Bike each
150 points - Battle Barge - Replace Strike Cruiser with Battle Barge
50 points - Commander - Add one Space Marine Commander character to a unit in the formation. One Commander in the army may be replaced with a Supreme Commander for a further 50 points
50 points each - Dreadnought - Add one to four Dreadnoughts
75 points - Hunter - Add one Hunter
75 points each - Land Raiders (Transports) - Add Land Raiders
25 points each - Razorbacks (Transports) ? Add Razorbacks
75 points ? Interceptor ? Replace a Thunderhawk with a Thunderhawk interceptor
10 points each - Sniper ? Each Scout unit may be given Sniper
25 points each ? Typhoon - Replace any number of Land Speeders with Typhoons
10 points each - Tornado - Replace any number of Land Speeders with Tornados
50 points each - Vindicator - Add one or two Vindicators

Changes
Land Raiders and Vindicators all get a 25 point drop as they are slightly overpriced (Land Raiders give a formation a mixed AP/AT ability that normally isn?t as good as a specialisation, Vindicators specialist weapons and not widely applicable to GT scenario). Dreadnaughts are available in greater numbers to give a formation that gives up rhinos more staying power. Interceptor is there for native interception capability. Sniper ability more widely available and cheaper, partly as a compensation for less abusable higher scout cost, but also to copy 40k a bit (not to mention not having to remember which is the sniper stand).

Imperial Navy Aircraft available on Armageddon
150 points Two Thunderbolt Fighters
300 points Two Marauder Bombers

I await the Marauder fix.

Titan legion Battlegroups
850 points One Warlord Class Titan
650 points One Reaver Class Titan
275 points For one Warhound or 500 points for two

Warhounds go up because they are damn good and to stop the temptation of marines to take 4 at 3000 points. I accept they give away some flexibility as a pair and this option doesn't seem to be abused.

Its possible that ground wise marines take a kicking still - in which case I would propose an Invulnerable save for all the Rhino varients and Land Raiders to represent their reliability, ease of repair and rugedness.

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 Post subject: Marine Suggestions
PostPosted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 9:17 am 
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I really like your list, Chris!

I think all your suggestions are good, and would like to see them implemented.

BUT... (there's always a "but"  :) ), why not give the Assault Marines a transport option (Rhinos only) as well? I'd really like to be able to use drop pods with them, or to be able to have a more surable formation if I choose not to use an air assault tactic.


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 Post subject: Marine Suggestions
PostPosted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 12:03 pm 
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Quote (Hojyn @ 01 June 2006 (09:17))
I really like your list, Chris!

I think all your suggestions are good, and would like to see them implemented.

BUT... (there's always a "but" ?:) ), why not give the Assault Marines a transport option (Rhinos only) as well? I'd really like to be able to use drop pods with them, or to be able to have a more surable formation if I choose not to use an air assault tactic.

I think this one's a concession to 40K scale combat. In which the jump packs make them too bulky to ride in vehicles. They can deep-strike in 40K scale, but that represents them being dropped off by THawks, Air Assaults basically. I'm OK with Assault Troops remaining specialized for the most part. Though something like "Drop Pods" as an upgrade for them and Terminators would be very nice, IMHO. Lets you mount those units in Drop Pods for say +5 or +10 per base?


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 Post subject: Marine Suggestions
PostPosted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 3:03 pm 
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Quote (Hojyn @ 01 June 2006 (09:17))
BUT... (there's always a "but" ?:) ), why not give the Assault Marines a transport option (Rhinos only) as well? I'd really like to be able to use drop pods with them, or to be able to have a more surable formation if I choose not to use an air assault tactic.

With the assault boost they are more effective. he problem with A marines is with transports they become the bees knees. They live to air assault. That has built in dissadvantages. Image if you could drop pod them in? A 30cm charge range means you are laughing.

They are tricky to use and currently lose out to terminators. A terminator price jump however and I think they are back in the game.

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 Post subject: Marine Suggestions
PostPosted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 3:10 pm 
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I'm pretty much of the same mind as TRC, though I disagree with a few items.

I think a foot-slogger assault marine that can ride in a Rhino or Drop Pod is a good idea, but it might be better to save it for one of the minor-variation chapters.  For example, I think the Ravenguard has whatever chapter trait it is that allows Tactical Marines to take CC/pistol instead of a bolter.  That would be a great unit to include in a Ravengaugrd list - flavorful, easy to write stats for (assault marines), not needing a conversion.

Also, I would like to see Terminators in LRs be a viable option but I'm not sure how to do it.  Termies giving up the Teleport should be worth something.  They are effectively giving up some of their point value in addition to paying for the LR.  The problem is how do you write a point-adjusted LR cost for them that does not make the list fiddly?

I think a 0-2 Terminator formation restriction is not unwarranted.  It would stop the "deathwing" army style but frankly, that should be an exception rather than an option available to every SM chapter.

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 Post subject: Marine Suggestions
PostPosted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 4:05 pm 
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Quote (nealhunt @ 01 June 2006 (15:10))
I think a foot-slogger assault marine that can ride in a Rhino or Drop Pod is a good idea, but it might be better to save it for one of the minor-variation chapters. ?For example, I think the Ravenguard has whatever chapter trait it is that allows Tactical Marines to take CC/pistol instead of a bolter. ?That would be a great unit to include in a Ravengaugrd list - flavorful, easy to write stats for (assault marines), not needing a conversion.

Yes, foot-slogger Assault marines in rhinos for another chapter (I reckon they would be space wolves (grey hunters) ).

What bits incidentally don't you like (I can tell you don't like the Thunderhawk interceptor, but godamit I feel wrong using the navy for ground support!)?

Also, I would like to see Terminators in LRs be a viable option but I'm not sure how to do it. ?Termies giving up the Teleport should be worth something. ?They are effectively giving up some of their point value in addition to paying for the LR. ?The problem is how do you write a point-adjusted LR cost for them that does not make the list fiddly?


Well i've tested the idea above (Land Raider upgrade costing 75 points) and it works well.
Terminators with Land Raiders then cost 650 points (350 base, 300 for transports). This is fine, makes them an important formation, can be droped in a lander if you feel up to it or drive around and pput out some fearsome firepower not to mention all have thick rear armour and 4+ RA.

The only other thing the 75 point Land Raider upgrade affects is Devestators, but since they can now only take 2, 400 points for 4 Devestators and 2 land raiders is in no way excessive.

I think a 0-2 Terminator formation restriction is not unwarranted. ?It would stop the "deathwing" army style but frankly, that should be an exception rather than an option available to every SM chapter.


I do, I don't think more terminator formations has an exponetial increase in effctiveness the more there are. They are simply excellent troops. A points increase solves this for however many you wish to take.
If they are too powerful limiting them to two formations will pretty much ensure every marine army has 2 and their effect will be to give a bigger boost to small games than large games.

If you must limit them limit them to 0-5 as thats the first company (of course I've done something like this with the Ultramariens chapter list - in fact I wonder if Andy would like it for a house rules article?).

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 Post subject: Marine Suggestions
PostPosted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 5:34 pm 
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To be fair, even your average Space Marine chapter can field 2-3 detachments of Terminators, and up to 5. Especially since there isn't an option for non-terminator first company troops.

I don't think the restriction is necessary, but I also don't agree that restrictions shouldn't be included in the game altogether. After all, even the Deathwing can't field more than 5 formations of Terminators.

Foot-slogging Assault Marines would be great (each company has 10 rhinos! that's two for the assault marines!), but not necessary for the list. And, goddammit, you can't take Assault Marines without jump packs and put them in a Rhino in 40K anyway (why not, I'll never know, it seems obvious to me). If 1st company in power armour are too much detail, then so are non-jump assault marines.

I would agree that 75-point LRs are okay for an upgrade...

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 Post subject: Marine Suggestions
PostPosted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 5:49 pm 
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Quote (The_Real_Chris @ 01 June 2006 (02:54))
Marine review

A lot of those changes look really good.

One suggestion: Land Speeder Tornados really ought to have FF4+.

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 Post subject: Marine Suggestions
PostPosted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 6:02 pm 
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TRC:  The Thawk interceptor (as you noted) is something I object to.  They're just not that maneuverable in any stuff I've read.  Don't like relying on the IN for support?  Tough.  The SMs got all their spiffy toys taken away from them after the Heresy precisely so they DO have to rely on the IN.

I think the LRs are too cheap at 75 and Vindicators too cheap at 50.  That's not to say I think they are necessarily worth a full 100/75, just that 75/50 is too cheap.

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 Post subject: Marine Suggestions
PostPosted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 6:13 pm 
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@TRC,

Very impressive effort and I would be willing to support your proposed changes. I would like to see the proposed Thunderhawk Interceptor come in at something less than 200 pts, perhaps suitable stats to get to a 150 pt unit would be nice.

Before too long, I will be able to put my SM's on the table and I'd be very interested in testing this version if we feel we have a consensus point.

On one point I do not agree (0-2 Terminators), as I feel that is too drastic. I think either a one per 1000 points or the 0-5 max as others mentioned is more than adequate.

Yes, you will still see some people field 5 terminators in a 3000 point list, but you will also see them lose. That should be enough disincentive.

So, again, excellent effort and I'm looking forward to the rest giving a green light so that we can test this.

Cheers,

BTW, my SM will be primarily an air assault/drop pod configuration, so it's not very likely that I'll be able to check out the armor changes in the near future.

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