White Templars go hurt stuff

[treadiculous]

yup.



Me and empty decided to play some homebrew White Templar rules, against Empty's guard. (and later against orks)

The marine squads could split and re-form as needed... and could take +1 special or heavy weapon.


We rolled Relic, Marines went first. 1500 points.





Tactical Squad (with 2 missile launchers because of homebrew) overlook relic (in cratered woods on left):








Assault Squad (homebrew 20 man combined with 2 chaplains) cross no mans land and take a battering from various tanks including demolisher







Assault Squad revenge








Tactical Squad Split - Leaving Missiles on watch while rest of squad claim Relic









Guard Flamey Death from reserve Punisher









Other Guard reserves make Treads marines feel very small in number










Cue assault cannon from Storm Raven








Storm Fleet are go








oh... and some sneaky tactical marines in jump packs with 2 special weapons in each 5 man squad (CHEESEbrew - but fluffy as heck!)









much Guard death (lack of anti-cheese tipped munitions)









Inspired Guard fight back over ruins of friends








More fighting back amidst explodey tank death









Dakka dakka boom Vroom










No more Guard....









.. well except for that one with a melta gun and i.n.c.r.e.d.i.b.l.e. accuracy!.. no more raven!









Thus ended game 1.

Marine flyers are tough biscuits.

Marines with many toys and much flexibility are evil.






So..



Game 2.. 1000 points Orks V White Templar (kill points)









Chaaaaaaaaaaarge.... Templars get the charge through luck and take out Biker Boys - leaving Biker Boss and the Nobz in looted wagon behind Him.









Ork Reinforcements arrive








Skyfire Missiles ... Miss








Nobs









PEEE KAAAA CHEWWWWWWWWW!!!!!









Dead Boss (booo)










Talon V Dakkajet... (Dakkajet doesn't fare well)









Despite being flamered by Deepstrike Tacticals with toys n stilton....









Ork Boys make the fight....








WAAAAARGH ORKS







Nowhere to run humie skum











The rules to make the Marines more flexible in combat worked; though were too cheap in points.

The 5 man unit thing; had this been a 10 man unit I feel the game would have balanced more.

That said, the ability to split squads and recombine is incredibly useful and should also have been priced higher.


If there is a next time with these rules I imagine there will be less marines on the table.

Marine flyers are powerful, very powerful.

[emptyhat]

Cheesiest thing about the games wasn't the homebrew, it was the flyers.

[cheminhaler]

The games looked like a blast. Looks like empty got those double missile launcher dudes in the end.

Tread - were you using the normal marine codex rather than the old Templar codex?

[treadiculous]

yes.. well sort of.

For the foundation we used Vanilla marines (so chaplains and assault marines used those stats.


Empty had made a couple of units specifically for the White Templar and 2 rules to accompany them:


*Brotherhood: Units with brotherhood may join other units that possess the Brotherhood special rule in the same manner that independent characters may join a squad. This is possible even if one or both of the units is currently broken, if this is the case the newly formed unit immediately rallies.

*Combat flexibility: Well versed in the tactics espoused by Robert Guilliman this chapter has taken the doctrine one step further to deal with the flow of rapid strike battle based around jump pack tactics: A squad with this rule may choose to break like a unit with Combat Squad, however this is not restricted to deployment and instead works in the same manner as Independent Characters leaving a squad.

Troops: Tactical Lightning Squad:

5-10 marines. Special rules: And they shall know no fear, Combat Flexibility, Combat tactics, Brotherhood. Wargear: Power Armour. Boltgun. Bolt Pistol. Frag and Krak Grenades. One marine may be a sergeant. Up to two marines may replace their Boltgun with one of the following: Flamer, Meltagun. The sergeant may replace his Boltgun and/or Bolt Pistol with: Chainsword, Meltagun, Flamer, a Power Weapon, a Power Fist. The whole squad may take Melta Bombs. The whole squad may take one of the following: Jump Pack Discipline, Jump Chargers, Jump Boosters

Troops: Tactical Thunder Squad:

10 marines. Special rules: And they shall know no fear, Combat Flexibility, Combat tactics, Brotherhood. Wargear: Power Armour. Boltgun. Bolt Pistol, Frag Grenades. One marine may be a sergeant. Up to two marines may replace their Boltgun with: Missile Launcher, Heavy Bolter. The sergeant may replace his Boltgun and/or Bolt Pistol with: Chainsword, a Power Weapon, a Power Fist, a storm shield.

May take a Storm Raven/Eagle as a dedicated transport.






This was added to a codex which was laid out like this:



HQ
Chapter Master – Orbital Bombardment (With Jump Pack allows Assault Marines as Troops) + Zealot + Honour Guard may take Jump Packs
Company Commander – (With Jump Pack allows Assault Marines as Troops) + Zealot
Chaplain – Allows Assault Marines as Troops
Master of Forge – Allows Dreadnoughts as Dedicated Transport

Elite
Librarian / Ecclesiast
Venerable Dreadnought
Veteran Squads

Troop
Tactical Marines (Lightning, Thunder)
Assault Marines (if Chaplain chosen)

Fast Attack
Assault Marines
Storm Talon
Storm Raven Fire points: May use 2 forward and rear and 1 side if moved Storm Eagle minimum hover distance

Heavy Support
Devastator Squad
Dreadnought

Army Special Rules:
ATSKNF: (see vanilla)
Co-ordinated Reserves: Units may be collected and rolled for as one larger unit + Reduced scatter of Deep Strike
Crusader: +3” to consolidate and roll + choose extra dice when running

Assault Unit Special Rules:
Brotherhood

Tactical Unit Special Rules:
Brotherhood
Combat Flexibility

Devastator Special Rules:
Stubborn
Additional Wargear at cost: Skyfire missiles 10, Missile Lock 10

Dreadnought Special Rules:
Deep Strike system as cost: (undecieded)




After the games we felt that the 5 man Lightning units were a bit too strong for their cost.

I'm sure there are plenty of other flaws that could be exploited if studied closely enough as we didn't spend long designing these rules!

Its tricky to design, becuse you're never sure if tactics won the game or overpowered rules.. one things for sure - space marine flyers are much better than the points equivalent ork flyers.

[cheminhaler]

You could take away the combat flexibility and just leave them with Brotherhood. Might make it more challenging to not be able to break the squads down but only to absorb smaller broken squads.
Otherwise I like the sound of jump-packs and bolters in combination.

[treadiculous]

I hadn't written it, but we sort of agreed this.

The Jump Pack units didn't have Combat Flexibility, though still retained Brotherhood in the games.



We also decided during play that both special rules required Sergeants or HQ to be able to used:

Flexibility units could be split once per turn as the Serg / HQ gives orders to part of the squad to split.

Brotherhood units had a maximum 10 men per sergeant or HQ.



If we get the costing sorted I'm probably going to add Jump Packs to 2 of my Tactical Squads as the Jump Bolter is an attractive idea!