40k Dream Teams

[Grenadier]

I was inspired by the novel Redemption Corps to come up with this idea for friendly games. For lack of a better name I called them "dream teams."

Basically a player can create for his army one special squad of warriors. Based on characters from 40k novels and fluff, or just made up entirely. This squad would be the elite of the elite. True specialists. Any army can do it if they wish.

But here's where it gets fun:

The Main Rule:

You have to stay within your army's race. Keep it sensible. After all since when would a couple of Iron Warriors work alongside Blood Angels? Or an Inquisitor fight alongside a Haemonculus? This rule, though, allows a lot of diversity for Imperials since you can draw from any and all Imperial forces. So you could have a squad comprised of a Space Marine and a couple of Guardsmen, etc. Any combination goes. The only exception is the Tau, who commonly incorporate other races into their empire. So Tau can have humans, Tau, Vespids, and Kroot all in one squad.

Rule Two:

The size of the dream team is limited by the capacity of any transport selected for it. If the unit selects no transport then the maximum size is no larger than 10 models.

Rule three: The weapons, wargear, and any special rules selected for the dream team can only be drawn from those of their race. So no Orks carrying shuriken catapults or Space Marines carrying pulse rifles. In addition, if any member of the squad is given some form of mobility other than a transport vehicle they must all be given this form of mobility. So no squad with a mix of bikes and jump packs. The only exception to this would be Space Marines who have the option to break a 10 man squad into two squads. In which case all 10 members must be Space Marines. If the squad consists of a mix of Space Marines and other Imperial forces they may all be given the same mode of mobility. So theoretically you could have an Inquisitor riding a Space Marine bike.

Lastly, in any Imperial dream team the only members who can wear power armor or terminator armor are of course those who normally can. So don't get the idea to make a mixed Imperial dream team in which a lowly Guardsmen gets to wear terminator armor alongside a Space Marine.

Oh yeah, and if any dream team has jump packs or bikes they get no transport vehicle. And keep in mind the rule about Terminators counting as two models for the purposes of transports.


On to the goodies:

Pick a leader:

Someone has to be the boss of the team. Don't do something like letting an Imperial Guard sergeant command a team that might include a Space Marine or two. Go with a kind of natural leadership position and chain of command. If the squad is like the one above then nominate a marine to lead it. Also, the leader chosen can be any special character (including any who don't count as HQ) or HQ choice available to your race. Or you can just make up your own! If the leader is an existing special character available then use his or her entry in their codex exactly as it is written. If the leader is drawn from any HQ choice then use that choices basic entry as your basis but you're allowed to "tool him up."

Dream teams may be given up to 5 special rules. These special rules can be drawn from any source applicable to their race as well as from the universal rules. Note: these 5 special rules are in addition to any special rule members may have based on what source they're chosen from. We shall call these "inherent special rules." For example, if your dream team included a Black Templar he'll still be able to swear a vow and benefit from any special rules unique to his chapter. The idea is to use these rules to enhance not just the capability of your dream team but to build it's unique character and personality. In some cases you may find "inherent special rules" may conflict with others within the squad. For example, if the squad consists of a sole Black Templar and some other Imperials simply dispense with the Righteous Zeal rule. Our Templar is "held back" by his more clear headed friends!

With the exception of "inherent special rules" the 5 additional rules apply to all members of the dream team. Using the Templar as an example again his chosen vow cannot be conferred to members in his team who are not Black Templars.

The Next Big Rule:

Use common sense. Your goal is not to create some all power squad of guys who'll rampage through the battlefield killing all before them. You want to create a highly unique group of warriors, who by happenstance and misadventure, or necessity came together. Or you're recreating some famous groups from the 40k universe.

Some advice: with regards to weapon choices let's use an Imperial dream team as an example. We can assume that the team, even if it is made up of diverse warriors from different armies, has access to the entire weapon range of the Imperium. Maybe they were given special equipment or just flat out stole it or picked it up on the battlefield. But be reasonable when assigning weapons. Don't do something silly like make a 10 man Devastator squad all armed with lascannons. And don't think about giving a Guardsmen a plasma cannon or lightning claws.

Try to "bring together" the diversity of the individuals chosen. So, if you have an Inquisitor, Space Marine, and some Guardsmen all in one unit try to make it so their inherent special rules and 5 additional reflect a role they're going to fill in a battle. So, if you're trying to recreate Colonel Shaeffer's Last Chancers then try to select rules, weapons, and wargear appropriately. If you're wanting to create some team who excels at infiltration and stealth do the same.

These rules are just loose guidelines intended to give a whole lot of freedom in creating a dream team. And they by no means are perfect and you'll likely need to tweak them a lot to get your team just right.

[Shadoq]

Kill team?

[Grenadier]

You mean the Deathwatch? No, this isn't the same thing. The Deathwatch is just a highly impressive unit comprised of Astartes from various chapters under command of a librarian. As awesome as they are there isn't a whole lot of diversity in terms of character and personality.

But my idea is similar in terms of specialization.

What I have in mind is something to create an entire unit of character. Not just one or two special characters who are very powerful. But rather a unique and personalized "character unit." The unit as a whole is the character.

For example let's say you love the Space Marine video game. And you wanted to make a unit based on it. The following is my take on creating that unit:

Space Marine Video Game Dream Team:

Character:

Captain Titus

Squad:

Brother Sergeant Sidonus
Brother Leandros
Lieutenant Mira
6 Imperial Guard troopers

Transport: Valkyrie

Captain Titus uses the profile of a Space Marine commander.

Wargear: Iron halo, frag and krak grenades, power sword, bolter.

**Alternatively he can select one heavy weapon and be given the relentless rule (to reflect how in the game he was a jack of all trades type.)

**Alternatively he can swap his bolter for melta gun or stormbolter

Leandros is armed with a boltgun and chainsword, frags and krack

Sidonus is armed with a stalker pattern bolter, chainsword, frags and kraks.

Lieutenant Mira and the Imperial guard are all armed with lasguns. Up to two Guardsmen can replace their lasgun with a meltagun, plasma rifle, flamer, or grenade launcher.

Special Rules:

Inspirational Presence:

The Space Marines each benefit from their inherent special rules. However, their inspirational presence provides great confidence to the Guardsmen. Whenever the squad has to make a leadership test the Guardsmen may use Titus's leadership if he still alive. If he is not they will use the leadership of any surviving Space Marine. In addition the Guardsmen will automatically regroup with if forced to fall back as long as any marine is still alive.

(this should negate any conflicts between certain rules of the two separate groups of Imperial warriors)

True Grit: each Space Marine possesses this skill.

Furious charge: applies to all members in the squad provided at least one marine still lives.

Never Say Die: The Guardsmen, driven to heroism and valor due to the presence of the Space Marines may reroll any failed saving throw.

(intended to counter the mixed armor rule which logically would apply but severely weaken this unit as the Guardsmen are in the majority.)

Preferred Enemy: all members have this rule if their opponent's army are Orks or Chaos.

This example demonstrates the spirit of "dream teams." If some might think "why field a mixed group involving Space Marines and Imperial Guard" they're missing the point of the dream team: a fun and flavorful unit you create from whatever idea or inspiration you had. In the above example its bringing the characters from the video game into the tabletop game. But you could apply to this to some cool idea you have for a new type of squad or if you want to recreate characters from the 40k story.

[energongoodie]

No, he doesn't mean the deathwatch. He means Kill Team. Check 4th edition.

[Grenadier]

Oh, forgot entirely about Kill Team. Yeah, it's akin to that in essence.

[Charistoph]

This can get scary with Black Templar, what with the Land Raider Crusader being one of their Dedicated Transports of choice for anything that can take a transport.

Tau will probably get stuck as they can either take all Elite/HQ battlesuits or not, but the Crisis Suit and Hazard Suits can get down right scary.

Several more questions here:
How does this work for Chaos? Is it just Marines and Daemons, or can Traitor Guard join in?

How do Monstrous Creatures fit in, since most are not Independent?

Is it restricted to current codecies, or can we use previous editions (but all the choices come from the same era)?

[Grenadier]

All very good questions. I'll try to answer them. The idea behind these rules is to just give players an opportunity to create really cool and hopefully fun single teams. Not to create some unstoppable killing unit. I've thought more on this and came up with a few more guidelines:

1: Decide what you want the dream team to do:

I'm reminded of the Stormtroopers entry in the Imperial Guard Codex in which players must assign a mission for these guys. When you create your dream team decide what kind of role you intend for them to fulfill. Unless of course said team is inspired by characters from the 40k novels and such.

So, for example, they could be optimized for assassinating enemy characters. Or taking out bunkers and tanks. The possible roles are endless but if one picks a role and sticks with it, and makes choices geared towards that role everything should turn out well.

2: Treat it like the VDR. Don't go in with the intention of creating a team that cannot be beaten. If you play Tyrannids it'd be outrageous to build a dream team of 10 Carnifexes. Ideally you want a group who has some kind of an edge on them but not so much so that they're invincible.

3: With regards to monstrous creatures, battlesuits, dreadnoughts, or other large and powerful things try to be reasonable. If you're chose a specific role make choices of these units to reflect that role. And if the role doesn't support logically the inclusion of such units then don't take. For example, if you want an assassination and sabotage type of dream team then a huge clunky and noisy dreadnought is not a suitable choice. In addition, if any team includes such things then only one can be chosen. So you could possibly have a Carnifex working in conjunction with several other types of Tyrannids in a squad. Be mindful that purpose ought to dictate choices. This would also apply to wargear, weapons, and special rules.

4: Since this is only going to be used in friendly games with opponent's consent then yes, previous codexes would be acceptable. Doing so can bring back some no longer existing wargear, options, and other fun things. For example, the Space Marine codex with the chapter trait system would lend itself well to creating a dream team.

5: All armies get to do this. Even Chaos and Traitors. You can have a mixed team of both types. Or in the case of the Imperium forces a mixed team of Sisters of Battle, Space Marines, or Guardsmen. A single dream team can include any units, weapons, wargear, and so forth found in their race. The Tau is the sole exception as they have a few different races on their side. For example, a Tau player could conceivably come up with a team that includes Kroot, human, Vespid, and Tau all in one squad.

Due to the nature of these rules it almost seems like "anything goes." After all you can draw on anything that exists for your army and its race including weapons, special rules, and wargear. But wise players will know that it is necessary to not be overpowered. And so should make choices accordingly. Again, if you focus on the teams intended role as your overriding guideline and make logical choices you should be able to come up with a fun and interesting dream team.

I'll give you the one I intend to use as an example:

Helga's Hellions: a crack team of all female Imperial Guard veterans.

Their role: they're specialists in stealth, sabotage, and sewing mayhem.

Character: Helga, Commissar (uses the profile of a Lord Commissar.) She's equipped with a power sword and bolt pistol.

The Hellions use the profile of Imperial Guard veterans but not their unique rules like grenadiers. Their weapons include 1 missile launcher team and 3 snipers. The rest are armed with lasguns.

No transport.

Special rules:

In addition to the inherent special rules of the Commissar they have:

Infiltrate, Move Through Cover, Fearless, Gunslingers, Stealth

The choice of these rules are intended to let them get into a good position before the battle and hit the enemy hard. They can pop tanks and pin squads as well as picking off infantry. They're a "first strike" type of team. But they can't hold out forever. They still require support from the rest of the army.

[Nosmo75]

Helga's Hellions: a crack team of all female Imperial Guard veterans.

Their role: they're specialists in stealth, sabotage, and sewing mayhem.

"Sewing mayhem"? >xD

But, in all seriousness, I like this idea. I love the whole concept of Kill Team, which is why my Imperial Guard playing friend and I started a Kill Team: Nemesis mini-campaign a couple of days ago. We've used the Nemesis rules from Kill Team: Nemesis, the spacey rules (such as the Catastrophic Damage table and the Cold Void rule) from Zone Mortalis, and several rules we made up ourselves. It's got a Space Hulk vibe too, because the mini-campaign is set on the space hulk that is now known as 'The Sword of Damocles', as it hangs precariously above his Imperial Guard's homeworld, and most of its systems seem to be failing... So, our two Kill Teams are hellbent on scavenging as much as they can from the space hulk before either there's nothing worth scavenging, or it crashes down onto Parthenia.

For instance, yesterday/today we had a game where his Imperial Guard Veterans and my Dark Eldar Kabalites had to enter from opposites ends of a rectangular vehicle bay, with three chambers (each containing one objective/loot point/enemy unit) lining each long side of the room, and the vehicle bay contained 12 Imperial Guard tanks (3 Chimeras, 1 Hellhound, 1 Scout Salamander, 2 Basilisks, and 5 Leman Russes). It seems simple enough, except that at the end of every player turn, that player rolls 2D6. If they roll a double, they then roll 1D6 and a scatter die, and every tank in the room slides that many inches in that direction (hits are re-rolled). If any tank makes contact with a non-vehicle unit, it counts as Tank Shocking that unit, hitting at Strength 4 with Rending (and if a Tank Shocked unit counts as being trapped as per the Falling Back rules, then they have to take armour/invulnerable saves/Feel No Pain against getting turned into raspberry jam). The tanks will also shift if any Catastrophic Damage was inflicted at the end of a game turn, except that the tanks will roll 2D6 inches for their *ahem* 'movement' (but only for Catastrophic Damage results, not at the end of every player turn for the rest of the game).

This caused all kinds of craziness, as Adam's Veterans ended up trapped in one of the chambers for a turn or two until the tanks slid away from the door, allowing them to make a mad dash for freedom! Not to mention the frankly ominous air that this rule generated throughout the game, as we had no idea where the tanks would be sliding off to next! xD

[Grenadier]

They gotta sew something. Be it repairs to their uniforms, insignias, or mayhem.

[Charistoph]

"Sewing mayhem"? >xD

They gotta sew something. Be it repairs to their uniforms, insignias, or mayhem.

I just had this crazy image of a bunch of grizzled veterans going around being reverse Zorros. Instead of slashing 'Z's on people, they stitch 'mayhem' on their enemies' clothes. Hell's Angels will have nothing on these guys!

{pendantic} (and i'ts 'sow' for planting and mayhem, usually){/pedantic}

[Grenadier]

With these loose rules you could theoretically create a Zorro for use in the game.

See, I'm a big fan of the Vehicle Design Rules. And have used them to make a few unique vehicles that proved to be very playable and fun, without being overly powerful. The key is to assign a role and build it for that role. So I got to thinking it'd be nice to have design rules that could allow us to make a character or even a squad.

[Nosmo75]

See, I'm a big fan of the Vehicle Design Rules. And have used them to make a few unique vehicles that proved to be very playable and fun, without being overly powerful. The key is to assign a role and build it for that role. So I got to thinking it'd be nice to have design rules that could allow us to make a character or even a squad.

I too am a big fan of the Vehicle Design Rules. I've dabbled in vehicle creation a couple of times before, but I've never used the VDR guidelines. How did you get on with them, Grenadier? What vehicles did you make? :)

[Grenadier]

So far pretty good I'd say. I turned a Valkyrie into a 40k version of an A-10 Thunderbolt. Kept the missiles which come with it, ditched the sponsons, and built a gatlin autocannon in the nose. Since the A-10 is a tank killer I found the gatlin autocannon really didn't live up to my goal. It did perform well enough int the two battles I fielded it in against light armor but didn't do well against armor over 13. So I am thinking of maybe giving it the rending rule.

Then there was my Predator with plasma cannon sponsons. I gave it the autocannon instead of the twin linked lascannons. That turned out to be a bad choice though. The autocannon is a fine weapon in the game but doesn't do well against really tough tanks. However, it was acceptable to be able to fire two plasma cannons into troops. And since my enemy is invariably Marines or Chaos I felt a tank that could spit AP2 death would be a good idea. I feel the Space Marine tanks are lacking in versatility.

And there's my "Mastodon" tank for my Imperial Guard. If all goes well it's debut will be this weekend. It's a very specialized tank with the single purpose to serve as an Ogryn transport. I built the whole tank and its rules and weapons around this goal:

It has two twin linked autocannons in the sponsons so it can whoop up on heavy infantry. A hull mounted meltagun to help it pop open bunkers. And to give it a chance against any armored threats. Lastly it has the eradicator cannon to pummel dug in infantry.

It has all around 14 armor. Though I may lessen this on the sides and rears. The objective is for it to cross the battlefield and be able to get my Ogryns into hand to hand. So it has the assault ramp like the Landraider.

Best of all it actually looks like it can hold 5 of them unlike the Chimera.

As ever I pay a lot in points for my VDR units to compensate for their unique abilities. My next project is to come up with some Imperial Guard motorcycle units. Maybe some with sidecars.

[Grovel]

Hmm... So if my dream team were Tyranid could it be a Winged Hive Tyrant and a squad of Harpies?

[Grenadier]

Sure, why not? These suggested rules are very flexible. I don't know anything about the Tyrannids but I figure as long as you're not trying to create a squad of monstrous uber-killers that cannot be defeated it's all good. The emphasis I suggest is to let the unit's intended role be your guide. With some free reign to "spice it up."

[Grovel]

Sure, why not? These suggested rules are very flexible. I don't know anything about the Tyrannids but I figure as long as you're not trying to create a squad of monstrous uber-killers that cannot be defeated it's all good. The emphasis I suggest is to let the unit's intended role be your guide. With some free reign to "spice it up."

They're easier to wound than Thunderwolves and about three times the price tag, so I certainly wouldn't kill them uber-killers that cannot be defeated.