Your Wargear Preferences: Thrifty or Spend Away?

[codiddy]

This question occured to me in another thread but I didn't want to steal it so I figured I'd start a new one. There tends to be a ton of wargear options on models that add to their cost. I'm curious to hear everybody's preferences on wargear and why they feel that way. I know Tynskel said he always likes his sgt. to have a power weapon or power fist.

I personally tend to cap my overall wargear spending per unit, since space marines are already expensive to start with. If I go with a power fist Sgt, it's likely to be the only extra wargear on that unit.

Whats your take?

[david5th]

Whatever goes with the ' feel ' of the unit.if its a long range unit - devastors for example i wil give the sergeant a combi weapon, CC unit - Assualt squad i would give power weapon and combat shield to keep with the theme. In my IG army if the platoon command has a sniper, the heavy weapons squad will have mortars and the special weapons squad snipers aswell.

[Melissia]

Thrifty usually. But as was said, it depends on the unit. On a Nob, I'll always put a klaw, for example, but the most I might put on a Sister Superior (aside from a celestian bodyguard unit) is a Combiflamer and a BoSL. The latter I'd put on all the units.

On IG sergeants... lol. Although I do prefer pfist+shotty on assault oriented veteran sergeants.

[DarkLink]

I don't spend points I don't have too. What's better, some half-useless upgrade or another wound, gun and attacks to add firepower to the unit?

[fuzzbuket]

when necceary

: tac squad melta/flamer+ fist or plas+ hvy wpn
assault: bombs, 1fist/pwr wpn, or 2 istols

give each squad a taSK AND GIVE IT the tools to do it!

[Drew da Destroya]

I tend to be thrifty, especially on vehicles. Trukks get no upgrades (they're just gonna explode anyway!), Battlewagons might get 2 big shootas (to avoid being Immobilized by Weapon Destroyed), rarely red paint, and once in a while a Deffrolla (might show up more often now).

For squads, it's usually just a Klaw for the nob, and Big Shootas for the boys. Trukk Boyz don't even get the Big Shoota, since they rarely get to shoot it anyway, but might get a bosspole. I do have certain "splurge" units, but I generally don't go over the top with those, either. My Bikernobz (4-5, usually 5) get a Klaw, Bosspole, Banna, Dok, Bikes, and usually Cybork. If I end up with points left over, I might throw in some kombi-skorchas on the Klaw nob, but that's about it.

Flash Gitz (a splurge unit to begin with) really only get one upgrade, More Dakka. About half the time I throw in a Dok, but rarely Cybork. Sometimes the Kaptin comes to visit, but that's usually in a one-off game where I theme the army around the Gitz.

The points I save usually go into more bodies in the Boyz squads, or another Trukk squad. Or a "fun" squad, like Gitz, Kommandos, or Meganobz.

[Melissia]

Dunno, I find red paint to be perfectly fine on trukks.

[Iceman]

When I first started playing I used to do a lot of upgrades. Now I have backed off from that quite a bit. I generally play imperial guard. Vehicles get no upgrades whatsoever beyond whatever I choose as their main weapon. Veteran squads will get their 3 special weapons (one of the main reasons to get veterans in my opinion) and that is about it. If I have some points left over I will pass out some flamers and grenade launchers to my infantry. It is amazing how quickly the little upgrades add up. By forgoing all but the most essential upgrades I have found that I can buy more units and that gives me more flexibility and firepower in the long run.

[therealjohnny5]

yeah i've totally gotten away from uber upgrades. I buy what i need, but rarely go OD anymore. For instance my Sgts always take Melta-bombs if they don't have a Pfists and i rarely take PFists on Sgts. I tool up a unit based on its function. My tac squads don't usually get thrown at something i'll need a Fist to destroy. I tend to prefer buffing the numbers in a unit. If it's a difference between a combi weapon or another guy, i take the guy. Now that being said some units i do go upgrade heavy like LotD, or Vanguard.

[pgarfunkle]

I'm split most of my troops I prefer numbers over wargear but some units I will give lots of wargear to. If I want a unit to hit heavy and fast it will tend to have more wargear. Others that I want to steadily plug away or support the hard hitters I will go for numbers

[slxiii]

With tau, I go super cheapo. TL missile pods and BSF instead of Fireknives. Hammerhead with Multi tracker and dpod, everything else standard.
With my space wolves, every little upgrade ends up paying off. My normal troop squad has 8 guys, one of which is a melta and one of which is a wulfen, another is a wolf standard bearer. To that i attach a wolf guard with combi melta and powerfist, and either a wolf lord or a rune priest.

[Lerra]

It really depends on the unit. I avoid upgrades on fragile units or units likely to be high priority targets (vindicators, tau pathfinders, etc.). If it's going to be destroyed in turn one in most games, there isn't much point in upgrading it. I also try to avoid upgrades on throw-away squads or squads with a very limited purpose. 5 space marines with bolters sitting in a razorback are there as a cheap scoring unit. They will be destroyed by any dedicated assault units regardless of upgrades, and they don't have much ranged firepower (which is okay because the razorback has no firing ports). I'd rather leave them as a sorta-useless firing target then pay for upgrades which turn the squad into a slight threat - I'd rather spend the points on a squad which is going to get more use out of them. Tau piranhas or suicide melta suits are unlikely to make full use of upgrades either, so I usually leave them naked.

The majority of the upgrades in my lists go on hammer units that are are tough enough to survive to use their upgrades, or on mobile units that can bring their upgrades to where they benefit me the most.

[eldargal]

I tend to be fairly thirfty with actual equipment, except on my farseer and howling banshee squad. They get it done. But what I save on equipment I tend to spend on psychic powers.

[ZenPaladin]

I can't really upgrade my cron's but I do try to be thrifty with my lord.

For the Tau I do trick out my battlesuits and I like to run one squad of firewarriors as EMP comando's to help with Dread's, Tanks and such. Hmm.. now that I think about it I guess I'm pretty much middle of the road. I don't go for all the bells and whistles? But I don't normaly leave anything vanilla. I try to customize each unit to do it's tactical role better and there's always an upgrade that will help for that.

[Lord Azaghul]

For me I think it depends upon the army more then the unit. With IG, I upgrade for sw, and oblative wounds, IE in my CCS I will take 2-3 different SW and leave I guy for an odd wound, and no upgrades on the commander, same for vehicles. A few will have sponsons, if the purpose is served, and none will have extra armour, stubbers, ect... And with my platoon squads I keep them pretty basic, flamer, vet with melta bomb - this has served me well.

With my SM however, I 'feel' the units do better with a few pricey upgrades, a single powerfist or power weapon goes a long way, but giving every sterm guard a combi...I'm not sure on that one! Or give a rhino extra armour?

[LoverzCry]

I'm usually pretty thrifty, keeping my units to the bare minimum. Although I do allow the exception such as with my Dreds for SM and my Wave Serpent for my Eldar, I like to splurge a little bit : P Overall, it really depends on how dependable the unit is and how it's to be used in my army.

[BuFFo]

Whats your take?

For my Dark Eldar, the laod out is normally the same across the board, regardless of who my opponent is.

As for my IG, I always take Vox Casters, and veteran options. Besides that, I don't take much wargear.

[joescalise]

for me it depends on what army i am playing, my grey hunters i deck out because they can have some many different options. my salamanders i try to give the unit a flamer or melta plus a multi-melta. but the sergeant i just give a combi-melta and melta bombs.

[Grimcron]

Thrifty all the way.
Almost bare minimum. I prefer to have more units on the table than to have more bling for my units.

[RocketRollRebel]

I go ruthlessly cheap with my ig. More dudes=more awesome! I play Vostroyans and I get flack for my dudes only being dressed in flack armor! I say screw carapace! My Chimera and faith in the almighty emperor is my body armor! :p

[JxKxR]

Well with my tau I like to wargear out my tanks because they are expensive but their wargear is pretty cheap so why not right?

[Boston Dance Party]

Canoness- Eviscerator, inferno pistol, BOSL

Sisters superior- Combi-flamer or Chalice, BOSL

[entendre_entendre]

My CSM squads almost always have Champions with power weapons or powerfists depending on their overall role in the army. My 'Zerkers always have PF champ because they usually run into something with high toughness or an AV that needs a hole knocked into it. My anti-tank dual melta CSM squads get Champs with melta bombs in case the meltaguns fail and power weapons in case anything nasty comes out of the wreckage. Overall I usually don't put more than 40pts (including Champ upgrade) into a single guy as wound allocation can really ruin your day. The exception is of course HQ units, but that's a different story.

Fewer upgrades= more guys= more fun for me

[Levitas]

Pile it on.

I paint slow, so tend to have smaller armies with super individuals. My wolf guard and HQs go into battle with multiple swiss knives and a power sheathed kitchen sinks.

Not the best of ways, but its just the way it is. I think I have had 4 games now where my Wolf Guard with power fist and combi melta has done nothing.

I say. Be prepared.

[papa smurf]

i tend to go all out with my armies, even though it doesn't always help me.

In my space marine army, i like my marines to be represented as elite super-soldiers, so i like to give my sergeants lots of equipment. the three sergeants have:

1. plasma pistol, P-Fist, meltabomb. this guy hits really big stuff, be it a land raider, monstrous creature or termies.
2. combi-plasma, P-Fist. this guy rolls around in a Las/Plas razorback with a plasmafied techmarine and a space marine plasma gunner melting monsters and termies.
3. power sword, plasma pistol. This guy sits with my anti-infantry squad, the plasma pistol being a little overkill, but it has helped before. no powerfist against things like orks or tyranids because a power sword works just fine, especially with me striking first sometimes.
4. Scout sergeant has a powerfist and meltabombs. basically, he's the sharp pointy teeth of my scout squad.
now i do have sergeants kitted out with less, but i don't generally use them. i do have one sergeant that i have mad two models for to represent the same guy with different gear. one gearset is a powersword and a bolter, because i made him back in 4th .ed when a certain chapter trait allowed true grit with bolters... those were the days... but i also have a model of the same guy dual wielding some bolt pistols that i just count as a pistol/CCW.
unfortunately my chapter must have faulty plasma pistols, because my sergeants blow themselves up quite a bit. ah well.

tau i'm middle road. i give my vehicles upgrades, but they're pretty cheap, so i don't see a detriment there. my two fire warrior squads are different, one with pulse carbines having both kinds of grenades so they can potentially be EMP commandos, but other than that the battlesuits need 3 systems anyway so i don't see getting them good gear as a waste. my Shas'El is pretty thrifty, however.

'Nids, i am also middle road. my tyrant is a flyrant, so that makes him expensive no matter what. my troops are cheapo though, termagants don't get squat, but hormaguants do. 'stealers are either no upgrades or a bunch of upgrades.

overall though, i like using some nice wargear, because even though more bodies is nice, i like seeing that extra wargear do its job, even though sometimes it doesn't go as planned :D

[scadugenga]

Hmm...I don't know. I play Eldar. We don't have lots of options. ;P

Back in 2nd Ed though--that was where you could trick out your wargear!

For my Guard--I tend to go lighter on the wargear--more feet on the ground then.

Marines--the only thing that gets really tricked out is the captain, so I can say my generic captain is more expensive than 50% of the spec. characters...

[Grubbslinger]

I like spend as little on wargear as possible for two reasons. One, I can use those points to get more troops later down the line and two, I hate memorizing a bazillion rules. Back in the last ed of the IG codex they had sooo many little things that you could load your commander down with, it just got ridiuculous. I have the same sort of problem with the Tau but its not too bad with them.

About the only wargear I take is special weapons and even those I try to spread out as much as possible.