Background.
As the Horus Heresy wore on, the once proud and unified space marine legions became more fractured and less well resourced over time. This lead to necessity being the mother of invention. Disposable weapons that were effective such as the rapiers became more common in the fractured forces and their effect on the battle field commensurate with their implementation.
Strengths.
The ability to take a variety of ammunition types is the real strength here. However, note that ammunition types are strictly upgrades. Hence you pay more for anything other than the basic frag shells.
Frag shells themselves are nice and can apply long range pressure at a modest strength. Beyond them, the shatter shells are nicely high strength with sunder; the incendiary shells deal with cover nicely; but the real reason to take them is for the phosphex if you have a siege master along for the ride. These can cause real damage.
Weaknesses.
The splinter shells are expensive and have poor rules. I don't know why one would take them over frag shells, even if you get rending.
More than that, the rapiers are also taking up an elites slot here. And that slot is highly competitive. Even for smaller raiding builds that are meant to be fluffy.
Builds.
3 rapiers with phosphex (240 points).
Some serious damage is possible here and it has a much wider area of effect than other phosphex launchers in the game. Deadly in the right situation.
3 rapiers with shatter shells (210 points).
I just like the high strength here to be honest!
As the Horus Heresy wore on, the once proud and unified space marine legions became more fractured and less well resourced over time. This lead to necessity being the mother of invention. Disposable weapons that were effective such as the rapiers became more common in the fractured forces and their effect on the battle field commensurate with their implementation.
Strengths.
The ability to take a variety of ammunition types is the real strength here. However, note that ammunition types are strictly upgrades. Hence you pay more for anything other than the basic frag shells.
Frag shells themselves are nice and can apply long range pressure at a modest strength. Beyond them, the shatter shells are nicely high strength with sunder; the incendiary shells deal with cover nicely; but the real reason to take them is for the phosphex if you have a siege master along for the ride. These can cause real damage.
Weaknesses.
The splinter shells are expensive and have poor rules. I don't know why one would take them over frag shells, even if you get rending.
More than that, the rapiers are also taking up an elites slot here. And that slot is highly competitive. Even for smaller raiding builds that are meant to be fluffy.
Builds.
3 rapiers with phosphex (240 points).
Some serious damage is possible here and it has a much wider area of effect than other phosphex launchers in the game. Deadly in the right situation.
3 rapiers with shatter shells (210 points).
I just like the high strength here to be honest!
This blog is so handy, I'm building a VII legion force and your reviews have become my go to guide for different units. Thanks for all the hard work!
ReplyDeleteCheers mate - much appreciated! I'm glad that you have found it useful and a good guide!
ReplyDelete