Personal challenges in close combat are one of the main changes in 6th edition of 40k, bringing it closer in similarity to fantasy. For my plague marines, I've been toying with the idea of attempting to construct a list that does not contain any squad leaders. The main reason for this is that at initiative 3, they're usually going to get kicked by most other squad leaders (ignoring those with power fists of course). Having said that, their increased resistance to power weapons (thanks to feel no pain) is making me second guess this tactic. And having a power fist of my own buried in my squad is generally a good idea I find.
So what would a plague marine list with no squad leaders feel like to play? Probably little different to a regular plague marine list if I kept it reasonably mechanized. The guys stay in their armoured personnel carriers and get out to shoot when required, leaving the big boys (daemon princes) to tackle the major threats encountered. For the points saved (23 points for a regular plague marine, versus 63 for a power fisted plague champion), I can get another plague marine and have spare points over. This increases my tarpitting ability. I'm therefore seriously tempted to make an ally of Epidemius and use his ability to buff my plague marines (as required) to make up for the lack of squad leaders. Very tempting...
It's definitely a consideration now for everyone, at least those of us like Chaos, who can choose whether or not to have characters leading squads. For Plague Marines there are merits both ways. There will be times where having that Champion in there will be a huge boon and an equal amount of times where he's irrelevant to the combat. My personal general feeling is that if the unit is more shooting oriented then take the Champion.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I'm working on a list and it has a lot of Terminators in one unit, 7 of them. I'm opting for no Champions in the unit as they're all capable at close combat and I want to maximize my damage output by not getting stuck in challenges. On the other hand, my Plague Marines have a Champ as he may buy the time I need to get reinforcements to bail them out. Granted, Plague Marines hold up well in combat but it's not where they shine either.
Might also want to consider a power axe, 10 points cheaper, AP2, S5 isn't awful.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the points guys! :)
ReplyDelete