Favorite Unit.

[hairyyahoo]

A great big Yo to you all,

So I got to thinking, as I started yet another re-paint of my guard army, what motivates me to choose certain units over other perhaps more usefull units?

For example, I always take a special weapons squad with a melta, a flamer and a demo charge to every game I play, even though the demo charge will, without fail, kill more of my own side than the enemies, usually the unit carrying it. Why do I keep selecting them in the face of such poor performance? Cos I spent a lot of time modelling them and I love the way they look.

Now I wanna hear how you guys/gals decide if a unit makes the cut or not. Did the squad in question acomplish something amazing once and you are hoping that they'll do it again? Do they perform well in every game and you can't face the thought of leaving them on the sidelines? Or have you spent a lot of time making the look so cool that you want to show them off as much as you can?

I'm just curious is all.

For me it is a combination of: fluff (every army I ever make for SM, Chaops or Otherwise, has termies and a dread, etc..), conversion (terminators for my EC shine out as an example here), and usability. I used to have bolters on my shooty EC squads, but after my sonic squad performed so admirably, and my bolters so-so, I changed the shooty squads to sonic. And, I used to have a variety of different weapons in my havocs, but after the same occasion of sonic weaponry, I switched out to four blastmasters and a sonic blaster for the line troops.

If something dosen't work, I won't play with it usually. But as long as it can do SOMETHING (I.E. my 3rd Comminus Squad chewing up and spitting out an avatar), I try to keep it. I also tend to like to take a basic archetype (shooty, CC, fast, etc..) and then tool it. Like one of my squads has a power fist and melta on the asp. champ on it, so when it comes down to it, it can (by virtue of the sonic weapons) advance and lay down the usual heavy fire, but it can also pop tanks with its blast master, or if they get too close, tear it apart. Although the above described unit (2nd Deprecor Support Squad), has actually never really done much, I play with it because I love the look for the army, and the tactic is sound, just not my dice hand.

Hope that wasn't too rambling!

[NearSightedFarseer]

My farseer and his warlocks, because they are a psychic unit o' death and I spend plenty of time on their paint jobs.

[MSguardsmen]

the ones that are always on the board? well hell the imperial guardsmen. especially the ones with the Marine Corp dress blue colors. (im not buying a frickin moridan army too expensive). There marines (which almost every member of my family has been and whether they like it or not will be.) are the ultimate soldiers of america and deserve to be there fighting for humanity

[r4wr89]

i think someone already said something like this, but for me it's a lot more in the fluff. before giving marines a weapon, i think "does this fit my chapter?" as a result, only 2 heavy weapons appear in a list of 1000 marines, which also has a total of 42 infantry units.. :]

effectiveness is usually an afterthought for me, but i do consider it, usually in light of the fluff i create for my chapter :]
-ant


oh yea....tactical squads, all the way :] the amount of converting and customizing you can do to the standard marine fascinates me...and they look pretty dynamic without any conversion at all! :]

[MarkedByChaos]

I totally depends on the army, I am guilty of playing too many armies and changing things out with almost each and every game.

so I will break it down by army

Chaos (any version): possessed with Talons, Rarely do they not pay for themselves and they are fluffy for just about anything chaos. most of the time, especially with repeat opponents, they pay for themselves in diverted shots if nothing else.

Nids, Reveners are a staple of almost any nid army I make but ultimately Genestealers rule most lists I make for the same reason as the Possessed.

Tau, I have said it before, again and again, basic fire warriors are the meat and potatoes of the tau, even if they were not cumpulsary I would field as many of them as I could, they just rule!

IG, wow, this one is hard. and after sitting here for nearly 10 mins I still have no good answer.

[Gnr. Keil]

My favorite unit/model would have to be the Falcon Grav Tank. My first model i ever bought and the one that started my 40k obssesion.

[masterofweirdness]

For me its my dreadnought... no army list that I actually intend to play will be without him... that and lots of tactical squads.

[Cagarner]

My first carnifex. He has served me extremely well. Most games he nibbles his way through his own points worth in space marines. He is one of those ones with loads of biomorphs, and it pays off.

[hairyyahoo]

lord commander erus: ramble on my friend, ramble on.

marked by chaos: possessed with talons are the bomb! my chaos force never leaves the warp without them, even at 500-1000pts i always find room for at least 5.

nearseghtedfarseer: 2 very good reasons to include any unit.

[NearSightedFarseer]

Another unit i always use are my pathfinders. they may only be effective half of the time, but fits perfectly in my fluff. Their cover save bonus is a sweet as well

[experiment 626]

well, like lord erus most of the units i take are for background apeal as dice simply hate me!

some of my favourite units in my drop troops force include;
- special weapon teams - both are fully converted aside from 2 metal snipers! flamer troopers with protective gear, the explosives nutter and the master sniper plus spotters for each snipers!

- armoured fist squad - again, every last model is converted with knee pads and other accoutraments to show that these guys are the elite of my force!

- inquisitor lord & retinue - again, lots of conversions here which is great because overall they're nothing but a pts sink! holocaust has always proved its worth mind, and i really enjoy the bitter, brooding appearence of my beloved radical inquisitor!

- culexus assassin - he takes the cake! and as a happy bonus, he's generally quite effective during a game too!
converted from tombking/eldar guardian/space marine/inquisitor bitz, he's quite the terrifying model...

so, while my army may not be the most effective, it at least looks damn good as my opponents rip them to shreads!!!

cheers!

[rintinglen]

I am a sucker for space marine scouts. I have over 100, 97 painted and 8 that I am still working on, or at least working on working on. I just love those guys and there almost always a few on the table if I am playing Space Marines. They aint the greatest, I can't point to any great victories or triumphs they have given me, but I just love those models.

[MSguardsmen]

100 wow thats a whole lot of men who will never see action. why do you have so many?

[Rogue_Banana]

Well for me, this kind of thing always leads back to the Lost and the Damned. There are just so many models that are fun to model, fun to paint, and fun to play. Most unfortunatly, many of these units are also largely ineffective, a points-sink, or have gaping flaws.

To be frank, i pick a model based on how much fun i will have with it, and not necessarily how much fun it will have reaping m opponenets' soul. Plus everyone loves a tide of plague zombies backed up by a cadre o' big mutants.

And yes. I am back. Like Die-Hard was back with a vengeance. Only with less explosions and more keyboards.

[rintinglen]

I had in mind making a scout company, and I have the unfortunate habit of drinking and going on ebay. One day there were a bunch of Bolter armed scouts up for bid, three or four squads of them. I wanted one of them, so I bid on all of them. I won. Net result, 53 marines ended up in a box with my address. I already had about 35, mostly snipers and ccw armed.
In Fairness, most of the rest of them, came in "army purchases" where I bought an army which I needed or wanted some other part of the army, but ended up with a few more scouts. I have used as many as 40 in a game, but I like them any way and what the heck, I am old enough to get what I want once in a while. (I am 53).

[MSguardsmen]

ah thats cool. i mean i have over 100 guardsmen but then again if your guard army is below 100 your not playing them the way they should be played.

oh yeah hey guys. go vote on the battlefield.

[calvor]

Mine would have to be my warboss, I killed 1 tau commander, 3 crisis suits and a couple of kroot only on one wound and survived for about 4 turns.Ahh good times.

[Inquisitor Rosenadel]

For my Blood Angels: My Chaplain and Death Company. They are my staple. They have seen me through good and bad. Though my Chaplain has an odd habit of being almost completely ineffective when he needs most to be, I like him.

Another unit is my Grandmaster, Adek, and his retinue of 3 GK termies. They once passed 6 invul saves from some form of ordnance. And Adek uses a Heavy Bolter sponson from the predator sprue as his psycannon.

In my Angel Apocalypse (LatD), it would have to be the Hellhounds. I tried out only one at first, but after it roasted an entire Firewarrior squad my first turn, I re-wrote the list and took a second. The pair of them, while I only technically have one right now, have served me extremely well in all of my testing/proxy battles.

[Inquisitor Ralei]

Practically all of my 2500pt Space Marine Army (The Black Lions) is consisted of Assault Marines due to the Chapter Traits I chose (No Mercy, No Respite and Blessed be the Warriors).
I have 2 5 man Tactical Squads (the obligatory Troop choices) and my beef cake of a Terminator Chaplain has his Reclusiam Command Squad for his bodyguard.
I also have a 5 man Terminator Assault Squad for one of my Elite choices and am hoping to expand it to a 10 man squad.

[Dan296]

AAK RALAI!!! WHY!!! just taking the obligatory troop choices in a list that size....arghh.....
rintinglen-drinking+going on ebay=not generally a good idea. you will wake up one day with some 'interesting' items on your doorstep =]



well its not really a real squad, but i converted 8 imperial fist marines and scouts for a kill team, and i love em. 3 sniper and one heavy bolter scouts, 3 close combat marines, and a vet sarge with power sword. quite nasty. i also did a really good job painting them (a rarity for me i know) so im proud of them.

for my world eaters, i love my possesed (with talons =D) because theyre so weird looking! i included a bunch of tyranid weapons for the talons and they look kinda funny. that one mutation sprue weapon, with the mouth, i used as a head for my champion, along with two genestealer scything talons. hes quite amusing, but he can mess you up.

[rintinglen]

Oh Dan, don't I know it! I have a couple of Eldar Falcons and a few Vypers to "esplain" away. Just about the time I am ready to go on the wagon, my wife turns on the "E" channel and I'm back on the Sauce.

[Inquisitor Ralei]

Originally Posted by Dan296

AAK RALAI!!! WHY!!! just taking the obligatory troop choices in a list that size....arghh.....

So all of my Assault Squads can have 10 Space Marines in them, it is an Assault themed army after all.

Having a theme for the army >>>>> Practicality

At least that's what I tell myself.

[masterofweirdness]

Originally Posted by Inquisitor Ralei

So all of my Assault Squads can have 10 Space Marines in them, it is an Assault themed army after all.

Having a theme for the army >>>>> Practicality

At least that's what I tell myself.

Ah yes but take the fight to them makes for very good assault squads... and scouts are really assaulty themselves.

[Inquisitor Ralei]

As I said, I like having lots of Assault Marines so Blessed be the Warriors was a must have Chapter trait and having No Mercy, No Respite was an obvious trait as well since I love the Furious Charge skill.

It's a difficult army to get used to but I've had it so long and played so many games that I wouldn't change it for the world.

I wish the trait system had been introduced along time ago since I've been playing 40k for 13 years.