Best In Show - 2015 edition.

[Mr Mystery]

Evening all.

This is a thread I like to run every once in a while, so some of you may well be familiar with it. For those not, it's pretty straight forward.

Simply pick a unit classification, and give us what you think is the best in-game example and of course the all important why.

As ever, I'll kick off with an example or two. Possibly three. Oh, and feel free to come up with your own sub-classifications - so for instance, Infantry currently covers every thing from a weedy Grot to a Broadside Battlesuit...

My vote for....

Monstrous Creature?

Easy this one - Ghostkeel Battlesuit by a country mile. The kit is glorious. It's guns are ace, and if played with some cunning takes a lot of putting down - arguably more than is actually worth it. Unt? UNT? They come in units of up to three. Absolutely fantastic unit - if not the cheapest points wise.

Infantry?

Space Marine Sternguard Veterans. To appropriate a quote from Scunner Campbell - is there nothing that they cannae do? Excellent baseline firepower, lots of upgrade options to make them even more dakkalicious. Just.....glorious. These to me are how all Marines of all stripes should be :) and like the Ghostkeels, a truly luvverly kit.

Tank?

Your bog standard Leman Russ. Can come in a squadron, has decent flexibility, and it's just such an iconically Imperial affair. Massively overgunned for its class, well armoured, and less subtle than a barbed-wire wrapped brick to the face. I'm no Astra Militarum player, so perhaps one of its many variants is superior on the board, but regardless of turret armament, they're all priority targets when I'm facing them!

[Alaric]

MC- DK. Shunt plus spells plus sword, whats not to like? Oh that's right the gotdamn baby carrier.

Infantry- Siege Centurions. I love using units that are weak and doing well with em.

Tank- Hellhammer. F*ck yo cover saves.

[Arkhan Land]

MC - for me its The Daemon Princes of Khorne, theyve really been having a year for themselves with the Daemonkin codex

Infantry - for me this year ill go with Inquisitorial warbands, Crusaders and a priest please! go on and re-roll those 3+ invuls!

Tank - Baneblade - bang for the buck add in forewarning and yr in great shape. now appearing at a tournament near you!

[Mr Mystery]

Superheavy?

Has to be the Imperial Knight Warden with the Thunderstrike Gauntlet. There's little it can't threaten, it moves at a decent pace, it's tough to kill, and just because it's funny, it can lob tanks and MC's it's killed at other enemy units. And the kit itself is a joy (need to pick one up...I made a Crusader with my kit...)

[Chris*ta]

Your bog standard Leman Russ. Can come in a squadron, has decent flexibility, and it's just such an iconically Imperial affair. Massively overgunned for its class, well armoured, and less subtle than a barbed-wire wrapped brick to the face. I'm no Astra Militarum player, so perhaps one of its many variants is superior on the board, but regardless of turret armament, they're all priority targets when I'm facing them!

The Leman Russ is overgunned? Plenty of tanks in WW2 carried as many (or more) guns and at half the weight (such as the M3 Stuart/Lee) ...

Or did you mean for Tank vehicles in the Heavy Support slot? Because I feel like the Leman Russ kind of defines that one ...

And for infantry, I vote the IG platoon. (Potentially) Huge numbers for just one slot, can have a good number of special/heavy weapons, and orders allow them to do significantly more work than you'd guess by their stat line ...

[energongoodie]

My favourite model of the year is my favorite mc and fast attack option of the year :)
It is the tau xv109 suit. I loved building and painting it and it has been in every 40k list I have run at my club this year. He has easily been my mvp by shredding infantry and blowing up vehicles.

[Kirsten]

I so want an XV109

all the riptides would be my nomination

[Defenestratus]

MC - The Avatar. When you have three separate stats that are 10, and when you wake up, you're so pissed that you kill one of your own followers, you know you're a badass.

Infantry - Warp Spiders. Nothing provokes more hatred in the eyes of your opponent than these *******s. "Shooting at me? Have fun with that!"

Tank - Still in love with the Warp Hunter. Fast, yet able to hide relatively well and shoot its MASSIVE FREAKIN GUN from behind a building.

[Mr Mystery]

Fair shout on the Warp Hunter. And it was a favourite of mine from the days of Epic, when it looked like this...

http://eldar.arhicks.co.uk/miniatures/other/warhammer_40000/images/warp_hunter_1_1.jpg

Yep. It's a massive gun with a couple of engines strapped on. Glorious.

[Cactus]

MC: Khorne Daemonkin Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (D-thirster) - This really changed my mind on how monstrous creatures should look and play in the game. Wraithknights have been dancing like Paula Abdul for too long and now the D-thirster is bringing back the pain.

HQ: Sammael the Grand Master of the Raven Wing. Not only are the DA (who were the punching bags of all of the SM chapters) becoming one of the best primary detachments, Sammael brings all sorts of nasty rules on the back of his flying motorcycle.

Troop: The humble Space Marine Scout with bolter. I think the tourney scene has given these guys new life and I've seen more on the table this last year than ever before. If GW releases a FAQ, the scout unit will be renamed "ObSec with bolters."

[Mr.Gold]

HQ - Tech-Priest Dominus (With Conversion Field) - Great all rounder, comes with a great save (2+/4++/5+FNP) as standard, can repair tanks and wounds, Vulkite weaponry, its entire attacks can be haywire or S5 AP2, and has access to great relics, and last but not least - can be fielded within a formation that will never die (2x Kastellan Robots squads) - good luck trying to get slay the warlord...

Beasts - Flesh Hounds (especially within Daemonkin codex) - 2 wounds each, 5++ save, can confer scout on a character (or just get up in the opponants face on turn one), and three attacks each on the charge. all this for only 16pts a model - a unit of 10+ make great escorts to a Juggerlord (espically with Gordrinker)...

Infantry - Kataphron Destroyers with Heavy Grav Cannons - 6x 30" grav shots per turn EACH (even if they move) can use canticles of the ommnissah to gain a +3 cover save (giving a 2+ save) for a turn (two if you use the FOC in the Cult Mechanicus Codex), or rerolling to hit... combine this with the Scryerskull Perspicatus (allowing you to mark an enemy vehicle - all Cult Mechanicus Faction reroll to glance and pen against it for the turn - for the cost of 2x space marines), two wounds each at toughness 5 and for only 55pts each...

[Mr Mystery]

Gargantuan Creature?

Genuinely quite torn here. It's either the Wraithknight, or the shiny new Stormsurge. They're both fantastic models, and kick serious amounts of arse on the tabletop. Wraithknight has the advantage of being more than capable of dealing with the models most likely to successfully threaten them, but then the Stormsurge is arguably more of an all-rounder, able to take on multiple enemy units each turn, and far more than the Wraithknight.

I think I'm gonna plump for the Wraithknight though. Whilst both are absolutely rock hard, the Wraithknight has jumpjets, making it a pain in the arse to pin down, and thus I think more of a threat overall.