Houghten
04-21-2012, 11:55 AM
So one of the complaints laid at the door of Codex: Dark Angels is that many of the things that made them unique have cropped up in other Space Marine armies, such as:
Ability to take Terminators as Troops (Codex: Space Wolves, Codex: Grey Knights)
Ability to mix and match ranged / assault Terminator weapons (Codex: Space Wolves)
Ability to take bikers as Troops (Codex: Space Marines)
Incendiary Castellan missiles (Codex: Space Marines, Codex: Space Wolves, Codex: Blood Angels)
...which leaves them, as far as I can tell, with the teleport homers on the Ravenwing bikes. Yaaaaaaay. What's worse, the other chapters can often do it better.
I can't shut the stable door, but I can suggest some new toys for the Unforgiven to play with. So without further ado:
Deathwing Devastators
When the Deathwing work without the support of the other Dark Angels companies, the sheer bulk of their Terminator armour means they must eschew Rhino and Razorback transports in favour of the larger Land Raider. This has led some of the Chapter's Techmarines to devise replacements for all other vehicles based on the Rhino chassis, leading to such Land Raider patterns as the Ares with its hull-mounted Demolisher cannon. Still others mount heavy weapons directly onto the Terminators themselves, allowing the Deathwing to be their own fire support. These "Deathwing Devastators" advance directly into the jaws of the enemy, weathering a hail of fire in their nigh-impregnable armour before unleashing the fury of their own weapons. Such is the power of such a salvo that there are few outside the Unforgiven who have seen it and lived - and many of those fell to the Terminators' power weapons soon after.
Heavy Support, 215 points
Unit Composition: 1 Terminator Sergeant, 4 Terminators (statlines as per Deathwing Terminators)
Unit Type: Infantry
Wargear: Terminator armour, power fist (Sergeant instead has a power sword), storm bolter
Special Rules: Deathwing Assault, Fearless
Options: Any model may replace his storm bolter with:
Plasma storm...................................... +15 pts
Any model may replace his power fist or power sword with:
Storm shield........................................ +15 pts
Any Terminator may take one of the following:
Cyclone missile launcher......................... +20 pts
Cyclone lascannon............................... +40 pts
Cyclone multi-melta.............................. +20 pts
Cyclone grenade launcher........................ +5 pts
Cyclone vengeance launcher....................+20 pts
Cyclone flame cannon............................+20 pts
Cyclone smoke launchers....................... +15 pts
Any Terminator that does not take a cyclone pattern weapon may replace his storm bolter with one of the following:
Assault cannon.................................. +30 pts
Heavy flamer...................................... +5 pts
Plasma cannon....................................+15 pts
Heavy bolter with hellfire shells................+15 pts
Any Terminator that replaces his storm bolter (other than with a plasma storm) may replace his power fist with a second, identical weapon for free, counting them as twin-linked.
The Terminator Sergeant may replace his power sword and / or storm bolter with:
Master-crafted power sword....................+5 pts
Lightning claw......................................+5 pts
Thunder hammer...................................+5 pts
Combi-flamer, -melta or -plasma................+10 pts
Targeting beacon..................................+10 pts
The Terminator Sergeant may take any of the following:
Melta bombs........................................+5 pts
Cyclone blind grenade launcher.................+10 pts
New Wargear, in Order of Appearance
Plasma storm: 24", S7, AP2, Assault 2, Gets Hot!
Cyclone lascannon: 48", S9, AP2, Heavy 2
Cyclone multi-melta: 24", S8, AP1, Heavy 2, Melta
Cyclone grenade launcher (frag): 24", S4, AP6, Heavy 2, 3" Blast
Cyclone grenade launcher (krak): 24", S6, AP4, Heavy 2
Cyclone vengeance launcher: 24", S5, AP4, Heavy 1, 5" Blast
Cyclone flame cannon: Template,* S6, AP4, Heavy 1
*Place the narrow end of the template within 6" of the firer and the wide end no closer than the narrow end. The cyclone flame cannon is then treated like any other template weapon.
- Any cyclone pattern weapon may be fired in addition to the model's storm bolter or plasma storm.
Cyclone smoke launchers: Once per game, in the owning player's Shooting phase, grant the unit a 4+ cover save until the end of the following player turn. The squad may not fire other weapons or assault that turn.
Targeting beacon: 24", S3, AP-, Heavy 1, Beacon*
*Beacon: The targeting beacon is fired before any other weapons in the unit. If it hits, the unit gains +1 BS for that shooting phase.
Cyclone blind grenade launcher: as long as the bearer is alive, the unit (and any attached characters) counts as being equipped with defensive grenades.
---
Ravenwing Company Veterans
In the high-speed world of the Ravenwing, often operating far enough ahead of a Dark Angels task force that they are effectively without support, a Space Marine lives or dies on his own merits. Those that survive long enough may be assigned to lead other Ravenwing Attack Squadrons or organised into Veteran Squadrons and sent to destroy the most dangerous targets.
Elites, 120 pts
Unit Composition: 1 Ravenwing Sergeant, 2 Ravenwing Veterans (statlines as per Ravenwing Sergeants), 0 Veteran Attack Bikes (statlines as per Attack Bikes but with A4 and LD9)
Unit Type: Bikes
Wargear: Power armour, bolt pistol or chainsword, frag grenades, krak grenades, Space Marine bike with twin-linked bolters and teleport homer. Veteran Attack Bikes also have a heavy bolter.
Special Rules: Fearless, Scouts, Combat Squads, Jink*
*Jink: Ravenwing Veterans become expert at controlling their bikes at high speeds, dodging incoming fire by making turns that would flatten a man without the genehancements of the Astartes. They have a 4+ invulnerable save.
Options: May include up to seven additional Ravenwing Veterans at +35 pts each, and / or up to two Veteran Attack Bikes at +50 pts each, but the total number of riders in the unit may not exceed ten.*
*No, you may not model your Veteran Attack Bikes with a single rider to get around this.
Up to four Ravenwing Veterans may take:
Flamer........................................ +5 pts
Meltagun.................................... +10 pts
Plasma gun.................................. +15 pts
The Veteran Attack Bike may replace its heavy bolter with:
Multi-melta................................. free
Heavy bolter with hellfire shells.........+5 pts
Plasma cannon.............................+5 pts
Hurricane bolter............................+5 pts
The Ravenwing Sergeant may replace his bolt pistol with:
Plasma pistol................................ +15 pts
Storm bolter................................ +5 pts
Combi-flamer, -melta or -plasma.........+10 pts
Plasma storm............................... +15 pts
The Ravenwing Sergeant may take one of:
Power sword............................... +15 pts
Lightning claw.............................. +15 pts
Power fist................................... +25 pts
Thunder hammer........................... +30 pts
Any model may take:
Melta bombs................................. +5 pts
Storm shield.................................. +5 pts
The whole unit may load their twin-linked bolters (including any hurricane bolters) with:
Hellfire rounds................................+3 pts each
Dragonfire bolts..............................+3 pts each
Kraken penetrators..........................+3 pts each
Vengeance rounds...........................+3 pts each
---
New options for Ravenwing Support Squadrons
Typhoon pattern lascannon...............+20 pts
48", S9, AP2, Heavy 2
Typhoon pattern plasma cannon........ +20 pts
36", S7, AP2, Heavy 2, 3" Blast
Typhoon pattern Castellan launcher..... +35 pts
48", S4, AP5, Heavy 2, 5" Blast, Ignores Cover
Typhoon pattern melta blaster............ +25 pts
24", S8, AP1, Heavy 2, 3" Blast, Melta
Tornado pattern twin-linked heavy bolter... +10 pts
What it says on the tin.
Tornado pattern hurricane bolter.............+15 pts
Uh, yeah.
---
Land Raider Atlas
From a certain point of view, the Land Raider Atlas is the logical evolution of the Land Raider Crusader. Where the Crusader gains transport space by replacing its sponson lascannon and their bulky power generators with the more compact hurricane bolters, the Atlas forgoes weaponry almost entirely in order to gain every last cubic inch of transport space possible, and its machine-spirit is single-minded to a fault, driving onward until the enemy is blinded by its headlights before disgorging its passengers in a whirlwind assault.
Heavy Support, or Dedicated Transport for Deathwing Terminators / Deathwing Devastators, 210 pts
Unit Composition: 1 Land Raider Atlas (statline as per Land Raider)
Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank)
Wargear: Frag assault launchers, hull-mounted storm bolter, smoke launchers, searchlight, extra armour
Transport capacity: 20
Fire points: none
Access points: Five - two on each side, one at the front
Special Rules: Power of the Machine Spirit, Assault Vehicle, Roomy*
*Roomy: The Land Raider Atlas may transport up to two separate units simultaneously. If it is bought as a dedicated transport, it may still begin the game with up to two squads embarked, one of which must be the squad which bought it as a transport.
---
So, thoughts? Would you play them? Would you let your opponent use them (if they put in the modelling effort, of course)? Do the points costs look as if I haven't given them a great deal of thought? (I have, but it wasn't all coherent.) Did I make any spelling mistakes? Do you have any unit suggestions of your own? (I'm musing about the possibility of a Heavy Land Speeder Squadron to support the Ravenwing Veterans...) Was the whole thing just Too Long and you Didn't Read?
Disclaimer: Warhammer 40,000 is the intellectual property of Games Workshop, not me. No statlines for existing units or weapons have been reproduced here, though some are quite similar to existing units or weapons. The fluff I have written is not canon. Should it turn out that anything I have produced here is sufficiently similar to upcoming units, weapons or fluff that it might present some threat to Games Workshop's intellectual property, or even that an employee of Games Workshop should be inspired by an idea published here, I relinquish any and all rights that might otherwise be mine as a result of publishing this material.
Ability to take Terminators as Troops (Codex: Space Wolves, Codex: Grey Knights)
Ability to mix and match ranged / assault Terminator weapons (Codex: Space Wolves)
Ability to take bikers as Troops (Codex: Space Marines)
Incendiary Castellan missiles (Codex: Space Marines, Codex: Space Wolves, Codex: Blood Angels)
...which leaves them, as far as I can tell, with the teleport homers on the Ravenwing bikes. Yaaaaaaay. What's worse, the other chapters can often do it better.
I can't shut the stable door, but I can suggest some new toys for the Unforgiven to play with. So without further ado:
Deathwing Devastators
When the Deathwing work without the support of the other Dark Angels companies, the sheer bulk of their Terminator armour means they must eschew Rhino and Razorback transports in favour of the larger Land Raider. This has led some of the Chapter's Techmarines to devise replacements for all other vehicles based on the Rhino chassis, leading to such Land Raider patterns as the Ares with its hull-mounted Demolisher cannon. Still others mount heavy weapons directly onto the Terminators themselves, allowing the Deathwing to be their own fire support. These "Deathwing Devastators" advance directly into the jaws of the enemy, weathering a hail of fire in their nigh-impregnable armour before unleashing the fury of their own weapons. Such is the power of such a salvo that there are few outside the Unforgiven who have seen it and lived - and many of those fell to the Terminators' power weapons soon after.
Heavy Support, 215 points
Unit Composition: 1 Terminator Sergeant, 4 Terminators (statlines as per Deathwing Terminators)
Unit Type: Infantry
Wargear: Terminator armour, power fist (Sergeant instead has a power sword), storm bolter
Special Rules: Deathwing Assault, Fearless
Options: Any model may replace his storm bolter with:
Plasma storm...................................... +15 pts
Any model may replace his power fist or power sword with:
Storm shield........................................ +15 pts
Any Terminator may take one of the following:
Cyclone missile launcher......................... +20 pts
Cyclone lascannon............................... +40 pts
Cyclone multi-melta.............................. +20 pts
Cyclone grenade launcher........................ +5 pts
Cyclone vengeance launcher....................+20 pts
Cyclone flame cannon............................+20 pts
Cyclone smoke launchers....................... +15 pts
Any Terminator that does not take a cyclone pattern weapon may replace his storm bolter with one of the following:
Assault cannon.................................. +30 pts
Heavy flamer...................................... +5 pts
Plasma cannon....................................+15 pts
Heavy bolter with hellfire shells................+15 pts
Any Terminator that replaces his storm bolter (other than with a plasma storm) may replace his power fist with a second, identical weapon for free, counting them as twin-linked.
The Terminator Sergeant may replace his power sword and / or storm bolter with:
Master-crafted power sword....................+5 pts
Lightning claw......................................+5 pts
Thunder hammer...................................+5 pts
Combi-flamer, -melta or -plasma................+10 pts
Targeting beacon..................................+10 pts
The Terminator Sergeant may take any of the following:
Melta bombs........................................+5 pts
Cyclone blind grenade launcher.................+10 pts
New Wargear, in Order of Appearance
Plasma storm: 24", S7, AP2, Assault 2, Gets Hot!
Cyclone lascannon: 48", S9, AP2, Heavy 2
Cyclone multi-melta: 24", S8, AP1, Heavy 2, Melta
Cyclone grenade launcher (frag): 24", S4, AP6, Heavy 2, 3" Blast
Cyclone grenade launcher (krak): 24", S6, AP4, Heavy 2
Cyclone vengeance launcher: 24", S5, AP4, Heavy 1, 5" Blast
Cyclone flame cannon: Template,* S6, AP4, Heavy 1
*Place the narrow end of the template within 6" of the firer and the wide end no closer than the narrow end. The cyclone flame cannon is then treated like any other template weapon.
- Any cyclone pattern weapon may be fired in addition to the model's storm bolter or plasma storm.
Cyclone smoke launchers: Once per game, in the owning player's Shooting phase, grant the unit a 4+ cover save until the end of the following player turn. The squad may not fire other weapons or assault that turn.
Targeting beacon: 24", S3, AP-, Heavy 1, Beacon*
*Beacon: The targeting beacon is fired before any other weapons in the unit. If it hits, the unit gains +1 BS for that shooting phase.
Cyclone blind grenade launcher: as long as the bearer is alive, the unit (and any attached characters) counts as being equipped with defensive grenades.
---
Ravenwing Company Veterans
In the high-speed world of the Ravenwing, often operating far enough ahead of a Dark Angels task force that they are effectively without support, a Space Marine lives or dies on his own merits. Those that survive long enough may be assigned to lead other Ravenwing Attack Squadrons or organised into Veteran Squadrons and sent to destroy the most dangerous targets.
Elites, 120 pts
Unit Composition: 1 Ravenwing Sergeant, 2 Ravenwing Veterans (statlines as per Ravenwing Sergeants), 0 Veteran Attack Bikes (statlines as per Attack Bikes but with A4 and LD9)
Unit Type: Bikes
Wargear: Power armour, bolt pistol or chainsword, frag grenades, krak grenades, Space Marine bike with twin-linked bolters and teleport homer. Veteran Attack Bikes also have a heavy bolter.
Special Rules: Fearless, Scouts, Combat Squads, Jink*
*Jink: Ravenwing Veterans become expert at controlling their bikes at high speeds, dodging incoming fire by making turns that would flatten a man without the genehancements of the Astartes. They have a 4+ invulnerable save.
Options: May include up to seven additional Ravenwing Veterans at +35 pts each, and / or up to two Veteran Attack Bikes at +50 pts each, but the total number of riders in the unit may not exceed ten.*
*No, you may not model your Veteran Attack Bikes with a single rider to get around this.
Up to four Ravenwing Veterans may take:
Flamer........................................ +5 pts
Meltagun.................................... +10 pts
Plasma gun.................................. +15 pts
The Veteran Attack Bike may replace its heavy bolter with:
Multi-melta................................. free
Heavy bolter with hellfire shells.........+5 pts
Plasma cannon.............................+5 pts
Hurricane bolter............................+5 pts
The Ravenwing Sergeant may replace his bolt pistol with:
Plasma pistol................................ +15 pts
Storm bolter................................ +5 pts
Combi-flamer, -melta or -plasma.........+10 pts
Plasma storm............................... +15 pts
The Ravenwing Sergeant may take one of:
Power sword............................... +15 pts
Lightning claw.............................. +15 pts
Power fist................................... +25 pts
Thunder hammer........................... +30 pts
Any model may take:
Melta bombs................................. +5 pts
Storm shield.................................. +5 pts
The whole unit may load their twin-linked bolters (including any hurricane bolters) with:
Hellfire rounds................................+3 pts each
Dragonfire bolts..............................+3 pts each
Kraken penetrators..........................+3 pts each
Vengeance rounds...........................+3 pts each
---
New options for Ravenwing Support Squadrons
Typhoon pattern lascannon...............+20 pts
48", S9, AP2, Heavy 2
Typhoon pattern plasma cannon........ +20 pts
36", S7, AP2, Heavy 2, 3" Blast
Typhoon pattern Castellan launcher..... +35 pts
48", S4, AP5, Heavy 2, 5" Blast, Ignores Cover
Typhoon pattern melta blaster............ +25 pts
24", S8, AP1, Heavy 2, 3" Blast, Melta
Tornado pattern twin-linked heavy bolter... +10 pts
What it says on the tin.
Tornado pattern hurricane bolter.............+15 pts
Uh, yeah.
---
Land Raider Atlas
From a certain point of view, the Land Raider Atlas is the logical evolution of the Land Raider Crusader. Where the Crusader gains transport space by replacing its sponson lascannon and their bulky power generators with the more compact hurricane bolters, the Atlas forgoes weaponry almost entirely in order to gain every last cubic inch of transport space possible, and its machine-spirit is single-minded to a fault, driving onward until the enemy is blinded by its headlights before disgorging its passengers in a whirlwind assault.
Heavy Support, or Dedicated Transport for Deathwing Terminators / Deathwing Devastators, 210 pts
Unit Composition: 1 Land Raider Atlas (statline as per Land Raider)
Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank)
Wargear: Frag assault launchers, hull-mounted storm bolter, smoke launchers, searchlight, extra armour
Transport capacity: 20
Fire points: none
Access points: Five - two on each side, one at the front
Special Rules: Power of the Machine Spirit, Assault Vehicle, Roomy*
*Roomy: The Land Raider Atlas may transport up to two separate units simultaneously. If it is bought as a dedicated transport, it may still begin the game with up to two squads embarked, one of which must be the squad which bought it as a transport.
---
So, thoughts? Would you play them? Would you let your opponent use them (if they put in the modelling effort, of course)? Do the points costs look as if I haven't given them a great deal of thought? (I have, but it wasn't all coherent.) Did I make any spelling mistakes? Do you have any unit suggestions of your own? (I'm musing about the possibility of a Heavy Land Speeder Squadron to support the Ravenwing Veterans...) Was the whole thing just Too Long and you Didn't Read?
Disclaimer: Warhammer 40,000 is the intellectual property of Games Workshop, not me. No statlines for existing units or weapons have been reproduced here, though some are quite similar to existing units or weapons. The fluff I have written is not canon. Should it turn out that anything I have produced here is sufficiently similar to upcoming units, weapons or fluff that it might present some threat to Games Workshop's intellectual property, or even that an employee of Games Workshop should be inspired by an idea published here, I relinquish any and all rights that might otherwise be mine as a result of publishing this material.