Stormies in Chimeras

[treadiculous]

Ello...

I have 4 questions which I'd like to hear your thoughts on:

I am planning on having 2 units of storm troopers in chimeras (is this the correct plural of chimera?) and was wondering what sort of load out to use...

My plan is to use two sets of these figures (from cobblestone castings)



1)

I am thinking either to:
- 'proxy' / 'counts as' the weapons they have as a grenade launcher (note the underside launcher on the lady 2nd from right - much like in Aliens) and a plasma gun (the longer larger rifle on the lass 1st from left) (the woman 2nd from left would be armed with a bolter counting as the sergeant)
- cut away the existing guns and replace with GW special weapons (though fear this may destroy the balance / aesthetics of the figures)

2)

I have 2 sets of the 5 figures, so would pair the grenade launchers into one squad, and the plasma into another.. with the chimera able to allow all 5 to shoot if it moves slow enough.. what should I give the chimera.. 2 heavy flamers or a heavy flamer and ?...

3)

I also wonder if extra armour + dozer blades are useful on outflanking stuff?

- note : the 2 storm units will be supported by 3 valks, 1 ven, another 6 chimera and a bunch of sentinels in games of around 2k, I am trialing a rapid assault / heavy scout / reinforced patrol, basically an entirely mechanised force and want to get a nice fluffy build sorted.

4)

Are embarked units of 10 men (vets and/or normal troops) worth giving commisars for extra assault goodies (powerweapons etc).. considering the difficulty of disembarking prior to assaulting?


I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

[emptyhat]

I think that the Chimera of myth was the only one and that the pluralization that grew out of its use for other things remains chimera, like with sheep.

1: Using them for proxies might not be ideal but don't change them, they look really nice.
2: You'll probably get better results keeping the same special weapons together though your tactics might effect it a little.
3: If you outflank onto a table side that happens to be covered in terrain then a dozer blade would help right?
4: I lack experience in this area sorry

[Pax Urbis Pax Imperi]

Think of Stormtroopers as slightly more expensive Veterans in Carapace armor, and how would you load them out? It really depends on the mission you give them.

Will they be killing tanks and/or monstrous creatures? Take meltas or plasma.

Will they be taking objectives? Take grenade launchers or flamers.

I don't like to put ST into Chimeras for several reasons. 1) They can deepstrike, 2) the can infiltrate, and 3) their Airborne doctrine.

All three can get you to where you need to be much, much faster, and two of those reasons can be combined! If you Deepstrike, yes, you can scatter further away from your target, but Airborne allows you to re-roll that result.

You could also put your ST in a Valk/Vendetta and have it scream across your target area at 24". It may go down, but its still faster than a Chimera, and when they jump out, Airborne helps you again.

In addition, Infiltrating places you at the extreme range of your Hot-shot Lasguns, so why not?

[treadiculous]

- Emptyhat: thanks loads for you comments, confirming that I shouldn't carve up such nice models is what I needed to hear! (do you think the large machine gun looks like a heavy stubber by the way.. not the necromunda style, more the chimera additional weapon style?.. could be a house rule consideration..)

- Pax Ubris: I like th eidea of two tanks rolling in from the flanks, (hopefully) supported by a squadron or two of sentinels... the Storm Troopers are an addition to that effect! (though I wouldn't ever put them in a valk / ven as it uses a transport up and doesn't make sense when they can deep strike / infiltrate as you point out). As Stormies cannot take objectives (or claim them at least) then maybe they will suit being anti-tank a little better especially as the chimera and any scout sentinel is likely to have heavy flamer / multi laser and thus take the role of infantry deterent.. - thank you for you comments as they've made me realsie what they're likely to do now!.. much appreciated!

[emptyhat]

You know what I was looking at it when I was writing my first reply and trying to work out what Imperial weapon it did remind me of. I knew there was one but I couldn't get it to mind; it was the stubber, as you say, the chimera one.

Anyway it's a big galaxy and the gaurd have a lot of different bits of kit floating around their forces if the people you are playing with are happy for you to houserule in a stubber for your squad then I say go for it and use it to add some character and fluff to your regiment!