Question Throwdown and 6th Ed Mech-Marines

On Thursday, I posted about my Psychic Power rundown on my blog using the Overlords Facebook group in a blatantly self-serving attempt to get more readers.  However, I also asked for blog post suggestions, to see if anyone had any questions they wanted to put to me of there was anything in particular that they would like to read my opinion on.  Not that I’m important or special or anything, but mainly as a way of giving me a focal point to write about.  You see, on problem I have quite often is the problem of too much choice.  When faced with just the blank page, and the nagging sensation that I should write about something, I quite often cannot decide what to write about.  This, combined with my almost preternatural capacity for procrastination and laziness, is the main contributing factor to the relatively low and infrequent quantity of posts that I’m able to fling out at you.

So there you have it, for those of you who are not part of the much vaunted Facebook group.  Do you have any blog post ideas, any questions for me or anything you’d like me to churn out flowery prose concerning?  Send ‘em to ciaran@theoverlords.co.uk and let’s see what happens.

Anyway, one of the first questions I was asked from the Facebook group was what my opinion was on heavily meched Marine armies.  This is actually a tough question for me, for a couple of reasons.  The first being that I’ve never run one.  Until buying a very pretty Fleshtearers army from my mate Liam a couple of months ago, I’d never even owned a Rhino chassis.  So take this as a disclaimer: If it sounds like I don’t know what I’m talking about, then I probably don’t.  This is going to be an op-ed piece with little practical experience from the point of view of a mech-Marine player.  I’ve got decent experience playing against them however, so let’s hope I can extrapolate something worthwhile from that.

The second reason is the shift in edition.  In fifth, my opinion was nice and easy.  I didn’t like them.  This is very strongly linked to my previous rants on the subject of the vehicle damage table, that you’ll find else where on the blog or on the podcast.  It was an effective army, to be sure, particularly when you factored in the discounts that the Blood Angels could bring into play.  The forty points or so for a dedicated transport would provide far more protection than such a cost should have done.  Combined with the ability to capture objectives from the inside of the vehicle, the onus was purely on the opponent to dislodge you, rather than on you to do anything.

However, enough of that vitriolic bellyaching.  On to 6th.  They are far less of a viable proposition in this edition, what with the ‘boots on the ground’ approach to point-capture and the overall reduction in vehicle durability.  They are not bunkers any more.  If you want that, then get a bloody bunker.  You’ll find them in the Fortifications section (under the code-name ‘Bastion’).  But I digress.

Vehicles are less durable in this edition, but they are much harder to shut down through shaken and stunned results.  This means that your damage dealing tank can deal their damage and you transports can actually transport something.  This, of course, brings up the question of whether they have anything in them that’s worth transporting.  You need a plan for your vehicles now.  Annoyingly, my view on heavy mech armies at the moment is very much down to how you plan to use them.  If you don’t have a plan, then they’re just a bunch of metal boxes and you’ll lose them.  The role of the rhino is to get a Tactical squad to an objective to hold it or to launch a ranged attack.  They make poor transports for assault squads due to the hefty charging penalties.  You can count Razorbacks in this category as well, I think, although if the plan is to use them as gun platforms, then fair enough. Another role for them would be as mobile cover, although, oddly enough, they actually function better in this position when they’re dead (exchanging the ‘mobile’ bit for more of the ‘cover’ bit).  I realise this may be a bit of a bone of contention, but as I read it, vehicles provide a 5+ cover save (firing through other units) when alive, but a 4+ when dead as then count as battlefield debris, although both will block line of sight equally well. 

Predators and Vindicators do pretty much the same thing as they always did.  Their effectiveness is pretty much the same as in fifth edition, although you’re more likely to get the shots off to make them worthwhile.  This doesn’t work quite as well for the fast Blood Angel mech lists, as the enemy can tear these takes apart in assault far easier this time round, regardless of how fast you moved.  This is a bit of a downgrade for them.

Land Raiders are trickier thing to call.  The land raider has the same chances of being totalled by a meltagun as it always had, but I think there’s been/going to be (to early to tell) a slight shift away from melta prevalence and more of a focus onto high-strength multishot weaponry to glance vehicles to death, so autocannons would outstrip meltas in usefulness and frequency.  This is naturally a better situation for the land raider, although what I said about vehicles needing a role to fulfil still holds true for these beasts.

Drop Pods are still nasty.  The new edition hasn’t really changed them in the slightest as once they’ve landed, who cares what happens to them?  Only two things have altered, should you scatter off the table edge, then there’s better odds of survival and you can’t contest objectives with them any more.

Anyway, that’s the snapshot of my opinion thus far.  It may well change as I play more games in the new ed, particularly as I play more marines, which is oddly enough not something that happens too much down my way.  Seriously.  We’re quite a xenos-happy club.  It’s weird.

If you have your own views (and you really should!), then let me know in the comments section.

Any questions/blog post ideas welcomed!