Sactioned Psyckers

[BrainDeleted]

are they good

[hairyyahoo]

nope, they suck worse than a vacume cleaner factory! their statline is about as good as a grots and thier powers are randomly generated. the only concievable use for them is to arm them with a force weapon and the honorifica ( which gives them the statline of a heroic senior officer) and stick him in a combat hq.

other than that, avoid like the plague

[Grix]

Originally Posted by hairyyahoo

nope, they suck worse than a vacume cleaner factory! their statline is about as good as a grots and thier powers are randomly generated. the only concievable use for them is to arm them with a force weapon and the honorifica ( which gives them the statline of a heroic senior officer) and stick him in a combat hq.

other than that, avoid like the plague

I tried that for a while, it was a half decent force. Only problem was that with 1500 points, a 500 point HQ for IG is not that great But the one time I did get to charge was a pretty good show. HSO, Commie, Priest, and Force wpn Psycker did for a good show. Now, with Apoc coming out I might give it another try.

[DeAd_cOmMaNdO]

Grix and Yahoo pretty much have it covered: only thing theyre useful for is to give an honorifica to and slap a force weapon in their hand.

and i think a sneaky unit with a priest and one of those guys will be good in apocalypse games (the poitns wont be so much of a sink)... if they can survive all the D and ordinance templates!

[Grix]

Imagine this:

HSO- pwr wpn, bolt pistol, carapace armor, medallion crimson, refractor field
Commissar- pwr wpn, carapace armor, bolt pistol
Psycker- Honorific Imperialis, Force wpn
Priest- Holy Relic, purity seals, carapace, pwr wpn, las pistol
Medic
3x guardsmen with flamers

Meh, thats only 326 points ( I think ), add in a Chimera and you are close to 400. But that is one NASTY cc unit.

[hairyyahoo]

swap the priests power weapon to a eviscerator and the commissars to a power fist for some real asskickery.

[Grix]

I like the Holy Relic better, Evicerator is just a powerfist on crack when it comes to vehicles. If it boosted str vs regular creatures, then maybe it would be worth it. But it doesnt. And a str 6 pwr fist swinging last, does nothing really. Which is why I like pwr wpns more.

[DeAd_cOmMaNdO]

a S3 power weapon striking simultaneously is not much to cry home about either

i prefer the fist - i play against a guard army regularly and have learnt that power weapons are close to useless on Ig with thei human stats

[hairyyahoo]

power weapons are fine for officers as a last ditch against power armour, but i think anyone who doesn't count as an ic should be swinging a fist instead. especially when there are monsterous creatures or terminators wondering about.

[Grix]

you could save the points, but in reality I think with the squad set up the way it is power wpns are better IMO. I think it gives them a better chance to hit than waiting to hit last. That squad has 33 attacks on the charge (w/ holy relic), most of which ignore armor saves. Add in some frag's charging into cover you are attacking at the same time.

[hairyyahoo]

depends who you're facing i suppose. anything with t4+ i'd want a bit of added muscle that the fists provide.

[JoeGuardsman]

I have to agree with the usual IC gets powerweapon UC gets powerfist equation. But back to the point of Sanctioned Psykers for me. If you are looking for a consistent power house it isn't the Sanctioned Psyker but at 12 points he isn't really that bad. As long as you don't roll a 1 or a 6 he can make his points back somewhere. No Usable power and Lightning arc are just plain worthless. Telepathic Order is great. Psykers are making a comeback so the Ward is getting more useful. The lash adds a cheap power weapon. Machine Curse is cool. Can anyone think of a better point to point kill ratio than a Sanctioned Psyker killing a Land Raider, thats more than 20 times the point value and exponential value.
All in all I'm not touting their tourney potential but if you want to add in a possible surprise and legendary dice rolling the Sanctioned Psyker is just fun.

To kill a Blood Thirster in hand to hand with a force weapon all you need is a 5 then a 6 then for him to roll less than a 4 and for you to pass an Ld check on 8. Easy pickin's.

[Grix]

At Iniciative 3 you will probably be dead before you get to attack. I have always been of the opinion that you have to play out your strenghts and exploit your oponents weaknesses. As much as I would like to get some decent CC defense, other than RR's I really dont see anything worth it.

Ogryn's are too expensive and die to easily, their effect as a tar pit has not been as effective as 1 Infantry squad in my experience. Yes they do have more wounds, but 1 power fist will instant kill them. So the extra wounds are not as effective, while the extra bodies from a full squad is.

Stormtroopers are a bit on the expensive side, and not as effective as veterans.

Rough Riders, until recently I had not used them, I really liked the DKoK models so I bought a couple and am going to try them. I did 3 games a week ago with some and found they were pretty effective, but once again they die to easily. You really have to keep them out of LoS if you wish to make them tie up a unit and earn back their points.

Honestly the best way I have found to tie up an assault unit is to make them burn thru my squads one at a time while I relocate, pick the time to break and then shoot them up with the rest of my units. Iron Dicipline and Die Hards are VERY effective when you have an officer within 12 in". Also being able to CHOOSE when to break (at the end of their assault phase). Make sure you re-read the "leadership" paragraph under commanding officer. It gives you the option to use or not use the unmodified officer leadership if you want. So choose to not use it on your opponents assault phase, effectively dropping your leadership from a 10 to a 7-x (outnumbered/25%losses). Just make sure you have moved away your previous turn and that he cannot charge you. Then just shoot him up and assault him again next turn to prevent him from getting assault bonuses.

[Templar Mikeel]

Take a look at the battle report in the new WD. Ironic how many Chaos Marines those puny Guard officers killed. And both chaos lords.

[Heroka Vendile]

Originally Posted by Grix

Imagine this:

HSO- pwr wpn, bolt pistol, carapace armor, medallion crimson, refractor field
Commissar- pwr wpn, carapace armor, bolt pistol
Psycker- Honorific Imperialis, Force wpn
Priest- Holy Relic, purity seals, carapace, pwr wpn, las pistol
Medic
3x guardsmen with flamers

Meh, thats only 326 points ( I think ), add in a Chimera and you are close to 400. But that is one NASTY cc unit.

Whats with all the pathetic guns?!? HSO, Commissar, Psyker, Priest + Medic can ALL have Stormbolters! an 24" Assault 2 boltgun is not to be sniffed at!

Also, only an Officer, commissar or Hardened Vets Veteran Sergeant can take officer equipment - such as powerswords and powerfists.