Codex: Angels of Secrecy Preview: Raxian Stormtroopers

[Master Bryss]

I'm relatively confident about my second Codex, with the exception of one unit: Raxian Stormtroopers. Therefore, good people, I need your help to assure that they are indeed a decent unit. Here we go:

Raxian Stormtroopers

Orphans in the Raxia system are sent to the Angels of Secrecy instead of a Schola Progenium in the hope they can be nurtured into worthy neophytes. The Angels have other ideas. As these orphans grow up they are expected to train at the same level as Space Marines, encouraged by Sergeants and Chaplains. Although they can never equal a Marine, they push themselves to their very limits to please their masters, making them paragons among humans. When they reach 18, they are given their Hellguns and ordered to become Storm Troopers, the boldest of the bold among Raxians.
They are agile, they are skilled shooters, they fight effortlessly alongside Marines and they are completely fearless, yet tactical enough to know when to give up. Truly are these men worthy of standing at the most hellish of battlefields, and surviving.

Cost: 85 points

Storrmtrooper

WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	LD	SV
4	4	3	3	1	5	1	8	4+

Storrmtrooper Sergeant

WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	LD	SV
4	4	3	3	1	5	2	9	4+

Unit: Sergeant and 4 Stormtroopers

Unit type: Infantry


Wargear:
• Raxian Hellgun with Hot-Shot Rounds
• Laspistol
• Close Combat Weapon
• Carapace armour
• Frag and krak grenades

Hot-Shot Rounds: A Raxian Hellgun may fire with either the Hellgun or Hot Shot Rounds profile. Each squad member may choose a different profile.

Special Rules:
• Auxiliaries
• Deep Strike
• Desire to Excel
• Combat Squads
• Battle Tactics

Auxiliaries: For the sake of appearance Raxian PDF cannot be seen as a major part of Chapter forces. You may only include one squad of Raxian Stormtroopers in your army for every two units of Tactical Marines or Scouts taken.

Desire to Excel: Even with basic training over, Stormtroopers expect themselves to perform as well as Astartes, and refuse to give up. They may always rally even if below half strength.

Battle Tactics: Raxian Stormtroopers are the masters of several ranged firefight tactics. They may choose to use one of the following Manoeuvres during the Shooting Phase:

Feint: The squad may shoot and then Fall Back 6” (note they will always rally due to Desire to Excel.)

Suppress: The squads shooting attacks cause Pinning

Prone Shot: The squad shoots, then immediately goes to ground. They will get up again in your next Movement Phase. The squad will not count as intervening models this player turn for Line of Sight, but may not assault.

Aim Down Sight: If the squad has not moved they may gain +1 BS, and may not assault.

• Transport: May take a Rhino or Razorback (see Transport for points costs)

Options:

 Up to 5 Stormtroopers can be added to the squad...+16 points per model.
 The Sergeant may replace his laspistol and/or Hellgun with:
 D’Angelus Bolter...free
 Storm bolter...+5 points
 Combi-weapon or power weapon...+10 points
 Plasma pistol...+10 points
 Power Fist...+15 points
 The Sergeant may have melta bombs...+5 points
 For every 5 models in the squad one Stormtrooper may replace his hellgun with:
 Flamer, grenade launcher or sniper rifle...+5 points
 Meltagun...+10 points
 Plasma gun...+15 points
May replace Deep Strike with Infiltrate or Scout for free.

New Wargear you won't know about:

Raxian Hellgun: Range 18", S3, AP4, Assault 2

Hot-Shot Rounds: Range 12", S3, AP3, Assault 1

D'Angelus Bolter: Range 18", S4, AP5, Assault 2 (this is the basic firearm of most Secret Marines.

C+C welcome (needed!!)

[Sir Biscuit]

A few things:
1.) Why are they I5? I understand that they train with the genetically superior astarties, but even they only go up to I4, and a Slanesshi human would also be I4. I5 is downright impossibly fast for normal humans. They should be I3, with their move speed and shooting.

2.) Also, why are they 2 attacks base each? Again, they are surpassing the marines they are supposed to be emulating.

3.) Fleet is excessive, especially with both scout AND infiltrate. Drop it.

4.) You should be focusing on making units simple. With three options for Skirmish Tactics, and two weapons, I think you are trying to do too much. Hellfire rounds may be a fun idea, but they don't really fit the fluff. (Lasguns don't use "rounds", and hotshot is a modification to the gun as a whole, not the clip.) Drop the hotshot option and just give them the hellguns.

5.) Also, is there any reason why hellguns are AP4? I would think AP5 would be the lowest they would go.

6.) Why do they have Deep Strike?

Mostly, right now, they are stronger than space marine scouts, and significantly better than marines in melee. I like the idea of forward human sentries that help marines on their stealth missions, but they're too good as it stands. I would price these guys at around 25 points each as they stand, which would make the unit hardly worth it.

[Nabterayl]

Hellfire rounds may be a fun idea, but they don't really fit the fluff. (Lasguns don't use "rounds", and hotshot is a modification to the gun as a whole, not the clip.)

That's not actually true. There is such a thing as a hot-shot power pack for a lasgun, and it's generally bad for the weapon, so I think a 6" reduction in range and a single shot (most hot-shot power packs drain the entire pack in a single shot) is an accurate depiction.

As for whether the unit is "decent," I agree with everything Sir Biscuit said. In particular I'd like to emphasize my agreement with him that you're depicting these guys as way more skilled than space marines. No, they don't have symbiotes, and no, they don't have bolters or power armor, but other than that, these guys put the Emperor's Finest to shame.

[Madness]

The hellgun is ALREADY fitted with a hot-shot pack. The hellgun is nothing more than a better lasgun that is crafted with the hot-shot in mind.

Initiative 5 is insane, and so is fleet, if you want eldar play eldar.
Ld8/9 is pretty high, ATSKNF is iconic of the space marines so it's kind of a stretch acceptable just because scouts also have it but I'd either lower the Ld or lost ATSKNF.
A2 is both conflicting with their role and the human limits, give them 2 hth weapons instead.

Also everything the other guys said.

[Nabterayl]

The hellgun is ALREADY fitted with a hot-shot pack. The hellgun is nothing more than a better lasgun that is crafted with the hot-shot in mind.

I don't disagree with that, but I still don't think the hellgun as presented here is in any way anomalous. Yes, you can apparently create an 18" S3 AP3 rapid fire lasgun with an external power source. You can also apparently create a 24" S3 AP5 rapid fire lasgun with an external power source. Given that, it doesn't stretch my credulity in the least to imagine that there are laser weapons in the Imperium that are 18" S3 AP4 assault 2, and can be overcharged to 12" S3 AP3 assault 1.

For the sake of following GW's nothing-is-named-the-same-unless-it-has-identical-stats convention, perhaps this "hellgun" should be called something else, but it certainly doesn't trigger my fluff alarms.

I just think the unit it belongs to is way too good.

[Madness]

It's not that, it's just that hellgun = lasgun+hotshot, so taking a hellgun and putting a hotshot power pack in means reloading, not equipping special ammo.

The lasgun (with or without hotshot) come in various shapes and most of them can switch from single shot to burst to full auto, the weapon so it's not very hard to justify various type of shots, just try and stay under the "master-crafted" level.

[Atrotos]

- Hmmm... 3 Attacks base is pretty hardcore but I could accept it with that kind of point cost.

- Hellgun= awesome, thank you for 'fixing' that

-Auxiliaries seems like an unnecessary rule to me.

-Kneeling Shot kinda sucks compared to the other two and "Skirmish Tactics" is definitely the wrong name for what "Storm Troopers" do

-The following I would only accept as wargear or "special training" upgrades: Deep Strike, Fleet, Infiltrate, Scouts. Having everything stock seems like too much.

-Initiative 5 seems like too much for unaugmented humans. I would be more willing to accept it if they had wargear to explain it.

-And They Shall Know No Fear is out of place. To me it's always been a benefit Marines receive as part of their physical enhancement (the mind is affected as well). You're a rules writer design your own version of it. It'll be more original and you won't have to put up with the "But they're not marines" reaction.

If you've read about my Stellan Hoplites you know I've learned a lot about fielding "souped up" Storm Troopers/Veterans. Units such as these suffer heavily from 'Grey Knights' syndrome. Yes they're awesome and their special rules make them way better than anything else in their class but it sure does suck when a flamer template makes all 200 points of them vanish in one shot. Take away some SR's and make them available as upgrades. This lets people choose what they want so that they don't have to pay for the whole package.

You're also playing a dangerous game fielding what is essentially an IG unit next to Space Marines. This makes balancing ten times as hard.

EDIT: Powerfist and plasma pistol are overcosted by 5 points.

[Master Bryss]

I shall reply to stuff in no particular order.

One: These guys are hard to do right, I've thrown in everything so I have a pool of stuff to work with. It comes down to chopping off some stuff now and making them uprgrades.

One: Auxiliaries is in there as a 'fluffy' rule, as I want the main focus to be on the Chapter itself.

Two: What was once the Hellgun is now the Hot-Shot Lasgun. Therefore, I can use the name however I like. Nobody likes Inquisitorial STs so I'll ignore them.

Three: The idea is the STs don't break easily. They now have the half of ATSKNF that mattered for them.

Four: I should explain. THE ENTIRE CHAPTER IS AT LEAST INITIATIVE 5 WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE MINDLESS. There's a bombshell for ya!

Five: Originally in the place of Kneeling Shot was one that let me shoot, combat roll D3" and then Go To Ground until my next Movement Phase. Should I put that one back in?

Six: AoS is a very radical Codex. The rules for Raxian auxiliaries can actually represent three things, the actual Raxian PDF, an Inquisitorial private army, or the beleagured Guard forces of whatever hell-hole of a planet the Chapter ends up on. These guys are what happens when there's no Schola.

Seven: I'll keep Deep Strike as stock and do Special Training upgrades.

Eight: Wow. It's so nice to get new critics!

[Madness]

Then let the marines with I5 and troopers with 4, 4 is still a lot for a human, remember that the average human stats are
[CODE]
average human 22331315
trained soldier 33331317
trained HARD 34331317
alt. 43331317[/CODE]
Higher stats either represent veterans of thousands of battles/exceptionally had trained humans/augmented/mutants. I5 is beyond exceptional, I4 is already exceptional for a troop choice. I know that it sucks not being able to differentiate, but it's the road they took since 3rd ed. everything nowadays turns out to be pretty close to either a bunch of threes or fours, 5 is already an exceptional value.

About Ld, I see how you might need them to be stubborn, and I appreciate the sentiment, ATSKNF might stay in my opinion, but not alongside a high Ld value.

The term hellgun has always been a nickname for the hotshot lasgun, so if you really really really want a different weapon, pick a different name, or add "foobar pattern" after it. Lascarabine? Lasrifle? Lasblunderbuss? Pick any.

[Master Bryss]

Raxian Hellgun it is then.

Changed to I4

EDIT:@ Madness: If there's one thing the Codex could do with it's better presentation. Any chance of some help?