Penal Legion priest squad

[gamma016]

Would a penal legion squad with an attached priest be a viable cc unit? The penal legion troops seem to me made for assault with the desperadoes special rule plus a priest with righteous fury special fury making them reroll all to hits and an eviscerator to clean up with they seem like they cut through a good amount of models. Although it is a 140 point troop choice which could be put towards a small blob, which can just tarpit.

[WestRider]

They're still just 10 Guardsmen. Even with Furious Charge, Fleet, and Re-Rolls from the Priest, they're going to pretty much bounce off anything tougher than a SM Combat Squad.

And if you roll up Gunslingers, they're really just 10 Guardsmen. All but totally useless in Assault.

If you could get them in bigger Units, they could be worthwhile. If you could at least take multiple Units and roll once for their special ability for all of them, they could be worthwhile. But as it stands, they're too random and weedy to be anything worth planning around and dumping extra Points into.

[gamma016]

Alright thanks, it seemed like it could be a decent unit but hard to tell if they would ever work

[Cap'n Tightpants]

I've been running a couple of penal legion squads in my army for a while now and I'll give you what I've learnt using them:

1. They're fragile as anything. Having only 10 men does not help this. AP5 is so prevalent that unless you find them some cover, they'll melt away, and with the overwatch rules you can quickly find yourself without a unit, particularly if you charge anyone with a flamer or two.
2. They can be nasty with multiple rending attacks (if you're lucky enough to get them). They've taken down a wraithlord, talos, and fully kitted out Tau Commander with attendant battlesuits for me in the games they've actually got into combat.
3. Being stubborn and having scout is all well and good, but they're not a combat unit. Sticking a priest in there is asking for him to get clobbered/shot to death.
4. They're REALLY fragile. I've mentioned this already, but it's worth stating again.

How I've started using them is support for my Forward Sentry vets. I usually stick these in a ruin or some other piece of decent cover. The Penal Legion, with their 'free' 6" move, can get close enough to support the vets, grab some cover, and provide a decent deterrent.

Don't underestimate the power of FRFSRF on them either if they get gunslingers. 27 shots at 24" from 9 blokes (as the custodian only has a laspistol) is not to be sniffed at- though I'd obviously much rather use a blob for that. Nice trick you can use if you're not in range of your blob though.

Like WestRider said though, until they get bigger units/can blob up akin to Infantry platoons, they're a little bit rubbish and much too fragile.

[gamma016]

So is the priest worth taking with anything? The only other thing I could think of would be a tank popper squad of storm troopers or special weapon squad. It seems pointless on a blob swing as the point of a cc blob would be to tarpit, ratlings and ogryns don't benefit from rigous fury, a ccs might benefit but that's about it.

[Gerner]

Priest aren't really worth taking with anything from a competitive perspective.
If you wan't to use them, they are best in a huge blob that can drown and in the end kill another target.
Blobs can be used for other things than tar-pit.

[gamma016]

Yeah I guess, I was just hoping that it would be useful as it is kinda low points and doesn't count as a foc choice

[WestRider]

If you also have good Screening Units, so you can reliably get the Charge, Priests are pretty good in Assault Blobs. With that many Attacks, the Re-Rolls really do add up, and if you've got a bunch of Power Weapon Sarges in there, too, they can make a huge difference there.

Furious Charge from Creed or Straken always helps, of course.

Actually, speaking of Straken, his CCS is an OK place for a Priest as well. They want to get stuck in anyhow, and can really use the extra body.

[WestRider]

That got changed in the last FAQ update. His buff only works on Units from the IG Dex.

[Purple Dice]

Tightpants, I'm afraid penal legion with gunslingers only benefit from FRFSRF when shooting units 12" away. They still only get 2 shots at 24". It's in the most recent FAQ

[gamma016]

Purple dice, I'm pretty sure the 6th edition faq says they just get +1 shots if frfsrf is successfully issued

[Wraelis]

They said it in one of the FAQ's. the penal legion troopers are good, but not THAT good