Turner
03-14-2012, 05:23 PM
Penal Legion Squads, arguably the best thing in the Imperial Guard codex.
Vendetta Gunships? Please. Manticore Rocket Launcher? More like Mylittlepony Launcher. Veterans? Try Rookies. The only thing that comes close is the dreaded Deathstrike Missile Launcher. (That's right, we're talking Str10, AP1, ordnance barrage, d3+3" radius explosion, ignores cover and is always full strength against vehicles, range... unlimited. But that's another thread entirely.)
Let me break it down for you.
Stubborn, not the back bone of the Imperial Guard but probably something like the femur bone. A hard working bone, seems to do one thing really well yet actually does a lot and without it things would go haywire. These guys come stock with it. No Commissars, no Inspirational Hero or Taskmasters required... just flat "here you go, now you're stubborn."
Let's jump to the main device, Desperadoes (rough rider no you don't want nada)
The best, hands down, rule/mechanic in the game. I hear all the time from people, "if you didn't have to roll for the desperadoes powers and could just choose them it would be better," but that's just it, that's what makes it so good. You hand someone a box containing a 1950's chevy and tell them, "If you can build this without the instructions, you win." and that box contains one, single, extra, small, itty bitty plastic piece (you know the one I'm talking about, that weird circle with the teeth that you always end up with no matter how hard you try to follow the directions.) that person will go insane trying to figure out what to do with or where that piece goes. The exact same thing happens when you hand your army list over to someone and they quickly scan it, "Yep, ok, ok, ok, looks like another leaf blowin mech lis- WHOA, what the devil is that thing?! Is this a misprint? Are you insane? Do you know how to play this game?"
You build a list, with an idea to do X. Sure it's possible to do Y or even Z, and it can adapt to A, B or C but if you throw one, two or three squads of Penal Legion Squads in there your opponent won't have a clue what they are for, that's because you don't even know what you're doing, never the less what they’re for...
Gunslingers: "Rapid Fire is so 4th edition, nobody uses Rapid Fire anymore." ~Gunslinger Penal Legionnaires. These guys are the trend setters, the hipsters of the 41st Millennium. Look at Grey Knights, Assault 2 everywhere. Anyways, those lasguns you just happen to be toting around? Shazam, now Assault 2. No more getting close to the enemy to get the full potential out of those things. You can stand back in that comfortable 24" range and just "pew pew" away. How To Play You roll Gunslingers, no worries that's awesome. Have those bad boys start on the table right out in the open, then psych! Just kidding they're going to be scouting over here. You already gummed up your opponents deployment because he thought he was going to score an easy kill point, now he either A) can't see them because they scouted behind some LOS blocking piece of terrain/vehicle or B) scouted right into some cover and will enjoy the silliness that is 5th, 4+ covers-vile here we come! But what is that unit going to do? Shoot something! (well duh but what?) Make good use of that Vendetta/Manitcore/Lascannon/Anti Tank weaponry of yours and pop that transport, mainly the one carrying the terminators, (or should I say hammerinators?) or that rhino with the space marines in it, or look just shoot at something. Ok now the unit inside that's going to be foot slogging it towards you, blast them! Again, and again and possibly again. Shoot them for like 3 to 4 turns. You kill 1 terminator a turn (curse that 2+) maybe your opponents dice are acting wacky and he starts rolling a few more 1's in there, probably not. (9 guys firing assault 2 at BS 3 vs Toughness 4 with Str 3 weapons, with a 2+ save, carry the 4, if X^2-2AB+C, man how do you play this game again?, basically you kill 1 a turn) But still, you're just pecking at them. You opponent won't willing waste his time on that penal legion squad because their Ld 8 with stubborn, in cover, and they have lasguns. That right there, take advantage of that! Keep firing away like some crazy person, roll those dice like no tomorrow! If those hammerinators ever do get close to you (why didn't you just shoot them with the Vendetta gunship once or the plasma vets?) then use that penal legion squad like the throw away unit that it is! Kamikaze, For The Emperor, Banzai, Cobra, Charge, whatever you want to call it just dive for it and get in the way. You just saved that important tank busting melta-vet-chimera squad from being eaten alive for instead a throw away penal legion squad. Better yet, if you’re one of those crafty players you’ll be able to move that important unit/vehicle/whatever out of harm’s way and then kite with the Penal Legion squad away, leaving that close combat unit hanging in the wind… for more pew pewing! (and possibly some gunfire from somewhere else…)
Psychopaths: In for a penny, in for a pound of flesh, these guys are the dedicated "remember the alamo" unit. They are going to hunt down that non CC unit, that unit in the back that's just sitting there shoot or supporting or camping some objective, these guys have their number. Throw them on the table and play like you've got a pair. You run these guys down the middle, taking the hard line, or move them through cover and what not. But yeah those Ork lootas, Space Wolf long fangs, IG (insert artillery piece here) will be shake rattlin and rolling once these guys get moving. They have the Furious Charge (saying it that way makes it sound like they've contracted some horrible disease) so when they charge they don't charge like some Oscar Mayer, they charge like full fledged Space Marines! Strength 4, Initiative 4 baby! Bring on the pain! Outflank these guys to really cover some ground and really disrupt your opponent's back lines. With Psychopaths they also get Fleet. For crying out loud they are asking to assault something! They're running around, and running some more just to punch something in the face! Walk on the board from outflanking and you've got a 13" threat range. (6" move plus a terrible fleet roll of 1" combine that with the 6" charge, compensate for gravitational pull, adjusting friction loss...) Thinking of charging this unit? Pffffffff good luck, in Soviet Russia Penal Legion Charges you! (Counter Attack) Counter Attack! That's right, we don't even need the parentheses this rule is so good. You charge this unit with your big bad Close Combat unit, decked out to the hilt with ton's of power weapon attacks, and feel no pain, and crazy armour saves that's rerollable, well let me tell you something, these guys will get the charge bonus, too! AH! They aren't going down without a fight and will be taking some one with them!
Knife Fighters: He who lives dirty, fights dirty... Ok seriously can we all just call this power by what it really is? Shiv fighters... (yeah I couldn't come up with a good name, I guess Knife Fighters is actually a decent name for them) These guys count as having an extra close combat weapon! Oh my word, base attack 1 plus 1 for an extra close combat weapon?! Plus 1 for the charge? Can life get better? I submit that it cannot! To top it off they have rending (I stand corrected) Battle plan? Roll 6's. These guys can hangout mid field with your troops/vehicles/whatever's important to protect and make someome think 0.00000001 seconds longer about trying to move in for the kill. Nobody's going to pay much heed to these guys, until they get shanked. (they are going to Strike a ball with the heel of the club? Maybe it's the lower part of some animal's foreleg...) You charge some unit that's coming in for the charge and Boom, you're stabbing them and hoping for 6's, and you'll probably get them. 3 attacks per guy with 9 guys (the leader gets 4 because he has a base of 2 attacks, and has a different weapon yadda yadda yadda ok so he has 4 on the charge) you'll be dropping 31 attacks, half hit so like 15ish and 1/6th of them rend... ok so like 2 of them rend, but that's still awesome! Again, you're saving that important unit to a nice throw away unit, that actually did some damage. Or outflank them like a group of psychopaths (unless you actually rolled psychopaths, then actually play them as psychopaths... you won't want to be accused of cheating or anything) They'll perform like psychopaths only they won't be fleeting and assault as quickly, but they'll make up for it by finishing off their targets quicker with those extra attacks and rends. (great for stabbin vehicles)
I'll totally agree with you on this one, their stupid, their silly, their a junky throw away unit that doesn't really perform that well, but their scoring. In the age that is 5th edition scoring units (mainly troops, however there are some troops out there that can't score) are important, nobody can really deny that. Need to hold an objective? They got your back, they ain't afraid of no ghost because their Ld 8, every, single, one, of, them. (that took forever to say what with all the commas) That crazy Necron Lord in that flying cupcake mobile won't be turbo boosting over your squad that's camping the objective on the last turn to single out your Sgt. (because he has the highest Ld normally in a squad of dudes) and stab him in the face with his warscythe to not only drop your Ld value but then make you fail your moral test and make your unit flee. Oh no, they all are Ld 8, so it doesn't matter who dies, they'll be Ld 8 to the very last man. Just lost close combat by 3? Well we're still Ld 8. Just close combat by 472? Well barring the fact that, that doesn't make mathematical sense (also this is probably one of the only times you can actually use "that that" in a sentence) they will still be Ld 8. Ld 8 or bust, unless of course you have someone to boost their Ld higher... the obviously go with that.
Maybe the mission is, or has a secondary objective, or bonus points, or something to the effect of "Capture more control zones" or "Have more scoring units in your enemy's deployment zone" or "first person to make a pancake wins" (that last one doesn't make sense) Penal Legion Squads are the perfect fit! Hold in reserve, outflank, profit. Place on table, scout somewhere, claim objective/table quarter/whatever is important, profit. These guys are the perfect light infantry. Bold because look at all the special rules they have, all the possibilities, the flexibility they bring to your army list that you don't even know about... because you don't even know what you will get, let alone your opponent what know what you will get or likewise what you're doing. Italicized because it's a cheap scoring unit. (Don't confuse cheap with worthless or junky or whatever else is related to "cheap"... like that cheap plastic toy you get at the drive through, not like that) You have 6 troop choice slots to fill up. Nobody will argue with you if you take a Vendetta Gunship or Devil Dog over a rough rider squad, (a rough rider what?) or a Psyker Battle Squad, or even Marbo over Ogryns. (*sigh* Ogryns...) But if you're worried about a Penal Legion squad taking the place of a Veteran squad or the ever massive Infantry Platoon then no, just no. Sink those points somewhere else. And when was the last time you maxed your troops out anyway? (Barring that, when was the last time you cleaned your room or did laundry?) Underlined because it's the easiest/cheapest thing to convert, biggest bang for your (buck?) points (80 points!) and finally you'll never ever, ever have to worry about GW releasing them in fine cast.
Vendetta Gunships? Please. Manticore Rocket Launcher? More like Mylittlepony Launcher. Veterans? Try Rookies. The only thing that comes close is the dreaded Deathstrike Missile Launcher. (That's right, we're talking Str10, AP1, ordnance barrage, d3+3" radius explosion, ignores cover and is always full strength against vehicles, range... unlimited. But that's another thread entirely.)
Let me break it down for you.
Stubborn, not the back bone of the Imperial Guard but probably something like the femur bone. A hard working bone, seems to do one thing really well yet actually does a lot and without it things would go haywire. These guys come stock with it. No Commissars, no Inspirational Hero or Taskmasters required... just flat "here you go, now you're stubborn."
Let's jump to the main device, Desperadoes (rough rider no you don't want nada)
The best, hands down, rule/mechanic in the game. I hear all the time from people, "if you didn't have to roll for the desperadoes powers and could just choose them it would be better," but that's just it, that's what makes it so good. You hand someone a box containing a 1950's chevy and tell them, "If you can build this without the instructions, you win." and that box contains one, single, extra, small, itty bitty plastic piece (you know the one I'm talking about, that weird circle with the teeth that you always end up with no matter how hard you try to follow the directions.) that person will go insane trying to figure out what to do with or where that piece goes. The exact same thing happens when you hand your army list over to someone and they quickly scan it, "Yep, ok, ok, ok, looks like another leaf blowin mech lis- WHOA, what the devil is that thing?! Is this a misprint? Are you insane? Do you know how to play this game?"
You build a list, with an idea to do X. Sure it's possible to do Y or even Z, and it can adapt to A, B or C but if you throw one, two or three squads of Penal Legion Squads in there your opponent won't have a clue what they are for, that's because you don't even know what you're doing, never the less what they’re for...
Gunslingers: "Rapid Fire is so 4th edition, nobody uses Rapid Fire anymore." ~Gunslinger Penal Legionnaires. These guys are the trend setters, the hipsters of the 41st Millennium. Look at Grey Knights, Assault 2 everywhere. Anyways, those lasguns you just happen to be toting around? Shazam, now Assault 2. No more getting close to the enemy to get the full potential out of those things. You can stand back in that comfortable 24" range and just "pew pew" away. How To Play You roll Gunslingers, no worries that's awesome. Have those bad boys start on the table right out in the open, then psych! Just kidding they're going to be scouting over here. You already gummed up your opponents deployment because he thought he was going to score an easy kill point, now he either A) can't see them because they scouted behind some LOS blocking piece of terrain/vehicle or B) scouted right into some cover and will enjoy the silliness that is 5th, 4+ covers-vile here we come! But what is that unit going to do? Shoot something! (well duh but what?) Make good use of that Vendetta/Manitcore/Lascannon/Anti Tank weaponry of yours and pop that transport, mainly the one carrying the terminators, (or should I say hammerinators?) or that rhino with the space marines in it, or look just shoot at something. Ok now the unit inside that's going to be foot slogging it towards you, blast them! Again, and again and possibly again. Shoot them for like 3 to 4 turns. You kill 1 terminator a turn (curse that 2+) maybe your opponents dice are acting wacky and he starts rolling a few more 1's in there, probably not. (9 guys firing assault 2 at BS 3 vs Toughness 4 with Str 3 weapons, with a 2+ save, carry the 4, if X^2-2AB+C, man how do you play this game again?, basically you kill 1 a turn) But still, you're just pecking at them. You opponent won't willing waste his time on that penal legion squad because their Ld 8 with stubborn, in cover, and they have lasguns. That right there, take advantage of that! Keep firing away like some crazy person, roll those dice like no tomorrow! If those hammerinators ever do get close to you (why didn't you just shoot them with the Vendetta gunship once or the plasma vets?) then use that penal legion squad like the throw away unit that it is! Kamikaze, For The Emperor, Banzai, Cobra, Charge, whatever you want to call it just dive for it and get in the way. You just saved that important tank busting melta-vet-chimera squad from being eaten alive for instead a throw away penal legion squad. Better yet, if you’re one of those crafty players you’ll be able to move that important unit/vehicle/whatever out of harm’s way and then kite with the Penal Legion squad away, leaving that close combat unit hanging in the wind… for more pew pewing! (and possibly some gunfire from somewhere else…)
Psychopaths: In for a penny, in for a pound of flesh, these guys are the dedicated "remember the alamo" unit. They are going to hunt down that non CC unit, that unit in the back that's just sitting there shoot or supporting or camping some objective, these guys have their number. Throw them on the table and play like you've got a pair. You run these guys down the middle, taking the hard line, or move them through cover and what not. But yeah those Ork lootas, Space Wolf long fangs, IG (insert artillery piece here) will be shake rattlin and rolling once these guys get moving. They have the Furious Charge (saying it that way makes it sound like they've contracted some horrible disease) so when they charge they don't charge like some Oscar Mayer, they charge like full fledged Space Marines! Strength 4, Initiative 4 baby! Bring on the pain! Outflank these guys to really cover some ground and really disrupt your opponent's back lines. With Psychopaths they also get Fleet. For crying out loud they are asking to assault something! They're running around, and running some more just to punch something in the face! Walk on the board from outflanking and you've got a 13" threat range. (6" move plus a terrible fleet roll of 1" combine that with the 6" charge, compensate for gravitational pull, adjusting friction loss...) Thinking of charging this unit? Pffffffff good luck, in Soviet Russia Penal Legion Charges you! (Counter Attack) Counter Attack! That's right, we don't even need the parentheses this rule is so good. You charge this unit with your big bad Close Combat unit, decked out to the hilt with ton's of power weapon attacks, and feel no pain, and crazy armour saves that's rerollable, well let me tell you something, these guys will get the charge bonus, too! AH! They aren't going down without a fight and will be taking some one with them!
Knife Fighters: He who lives dirty, fights dirty... Ok seriously can we all just call this power by what it really is? Shiv fighters... (yeah I couldn't come up with a good name, I guess Knife Fighters is actually a decent name for them) These guys count as having an extra close combat weapon! Oh my word, base attack 1 plus 1 for an extra close combat weapon?! Plus 1 for the charge? Can life get better? I submit that it cannot! To top it off they have rending (I stand corrected) Battle plan? Roll 6's. These guys can hangout mid field with your troops/vehicles/whatever's important to protect and make someome think 0.00000001 seconds longer about trying to move in for the kill. Nobody's going to pay much heed to these guys, until they get shanked. (they are going to Strike a ball with the heel of the club? Maybe it's the lower part of some animal's foreleg...) You charge some unit that's coming in for the charge and Boom, you're stabbing them and hoping for 6's, and you'll probably get them. 3 attacks per guy with 9 guys (the leader gets 4 because he has a base of 2 attacks, and has a different weapon yadda yadda yadda ok so he has 4 on the charge) you'll be dropping 31 attacks, half hit so like 15ish and 1/6th of them rend... ok so like 2 of them rend, but that's still awesome! Again, you're saving that important unit to a nice throw away unit, that actually did some damage. Or outflank them like a group of psychopaths (unless you actually rolled psychopaths, then actually play them as psychopaths... you won't want to be accused of cheating or anything) They'll perform like psychopaths only they won't be fleeting and assault as quickly, but they'll make up for it by finishing off their targets quicker with those extra attacks and rends. (great for stabbin vehicles)
I'll totally agree with you on this one, their stupid, their silly, their a junky throw away unit that doesn't really perform that well, but their scoring. In the age that is 5th edition scoring units (mainly troops, however there are some troops out there that can't score) are important, nobody can really deny that. Need to hold an objective? They got your back, they ain't afraid of no ghost because their Ld 8, every, single, one, of, them. (that took forever to say what with all the commas) That crazy Necron Lord in that flying cupcake mobile won't be turbo boosting over your squad that's camping the objective on the last turn to single out your Sgt. (because he has the highest Ld normally in a squad of dudes) and stab him in the face with his warscythe to not only drop your Ld value but then make you fail your moral test and make your unit flee. Oh no, they all are Ld 8, so it doesn't matter who dies, they'll be Ld 8 to the very last man. Just lost close combat by 3? Well we're still Ld 8. Just close combat by 472? Well barring the fact that, that doesn't make mathematical sense (also this is probably one of the only times you can actually use "that that" in a sentence) they will still be Ld 8. Ld 8 or bust, unless of course you have someone to boost their Ld higher... the obviously go with that.
Maybe the mission is, or has a secondary objective, or bonus points, or something to the effect of "Capture more control zones" or "Have more scoring units in your enemy's deployment zone" or "first person to make a pancake wins" (that last one doesn't make sense) Penal Legion Squads are the perfect fit! Hold in reserve, outflank, profit. Place on table, scout somewhere, claim objective/table quarter/whatever is important, profit. These guys are the perfect light infantry. Bold because look at all the special rules they have, all the possibilities, the flexibility they bring to your army list that you don't even know about... because you don't even know what you will get, let alone your opponent what know what you will get or likewise what you're doing. Italicized because it's a cheap scoring unit. (Don't confuse cheap with worthless or junky or whatever else is related to "cheap"... like that cheap plastic toy you get at the drive through, not like that) You have 6 troop choice slots to fill up. Nobody will argue with you if you take a Vendetta Gunship or Devil Dog over a rough rider squad, (a rough rider what?) or a Psyker Battle Squad, or even Marbo over Ogryns. (*sigh* Ogryns...) But if you're worried about a Penal Legion squad taking the place of a Veteran squad or the ever massive Infantry Platoon then no, just no. Sink those points somewhere else. And when was the last time you maxed your troops out anyway? (Barring that, when was the last time you cleaned your room or did laundry?) Underlined because it's the easiest/cheapest thing to convert, biggest bang for your (buck?) points (80 points!) and finally you'll never ever, ever have to worry about GW releasing them in fine cast.