Sunday 29 November 2009

Nova Storm Units: Heavy Support Choices 2

Here is the second of two 5-man Space Marine Devastator Squads currently in the army.

They have all the ususal rules for Space Marines; And They Shall Know No FearCombat Squads, and Combat Tactics - allowing them to choose to fail a Morale check (Combat Tactics) and fall back voluntarily, automatically regroup after falling back regardless of most normal restrictions (ATSKNF), and split into 2 5-man squads (Combat Squads - but not really relevant to this squad as it's only 5-men strong anyway)

They are painted up as the 7th Squad in the same Company as the other Devastator Squad - hence the same Blue shoulder pad trim and cuffs.

The squad is mainly an anti-infantry squad featuring a two Heavy Bolters for 6 shots that ignore any armour save of 4+ or less, a Plasma Cannon which lays down a blast template hitting everything under it with S7 AP2 (as long as it doesn't blow up) and a Missile Launchers that can switch between anti-infantry Frag missiles, or anti-vehicle Krak missiles.

The Sergeant has a Bolt Pistol and Power Fist, and can can help guide the squad's shooting with the backpack mounted Signum if he doesn't shoot with his own weapon.

This particular Squad has a Razorback transport vehicle equipped with a single-shot Hunter-Killer missile that has unlimited range and a turret mounted twin-linked Lascannon which gives a bit more anti-vehicle punch in the form of a 48" S9 AP2 shot which can be re-rolled if missed. This can penetrate AV14 vehicles on a D6 roll of 6 (9+6=15), and cause them a Glancing hit on a 5. Lighter armoured vehicles can be penetrated easier.



Nova Storm Units: Heavy Support Choices 1

Here is the first of two 5-man Space Marine Devastator Squads currently in the army.


They have all the ususal rules for Space Marines; And They Shall Know No Fear, Combat Squads, and Combat Tactics - allowing them to choose to fail a Morale check (Combat Tactics) and fall back voluntarily, automatically regroup after falling back regardless of most normal restrictions (ATSKNF), and split into 2 5-man squads (Combat Squads - but not really relevant to this squad as it's only 5-men strong anyway)


They were originally designed to be an Infiltrating squad until the Space Marine codex was re-released and that ability was taken away. The Heavy Bolter (far right, kneeling) was put together using the Heavy Bolter from the Scouts kit to represent a lightweight version used by infiltrators rather than the standard backpack-fed version in the other Devastator squad.


They are painted up as the 8th Squad in the same Company as the Tactical Squads - hence the same Blue shoulder pad trim and cuffs. I have also modelled some extensive battle damage into their armour.


The squad is a multi-function anti-infantry/anti-vehicle squad featuring a Heavy Bolter for 3 pure anti-infantry shots that ignore any armour save of 4+ or less, a Multi-melta for pure anti-vehicle shooting and two Missile Launchers that can switch between anti-infantry Frag missiles, or anti-vehicle Krak missiles.


The Sergeant has a Storm Bolter and Power Sword enabling him to shoot twice at the enemy if the squad should move (as the rest of the heavy weapons will be unable to fire), and to give the squad an edge in an assault with the power weapon attacks that ignore armour.


He should also have a backpack mounted Signum allowing him to forego his own shooting to improve someone else's chance of hitting, but this kit was put together before the release of the plastic Devastator Squad kit that has the correct Signum back-pack in - therefore this will be added at a later date when I get my hands on a spare part.


Saturday 7 November 2009

Nova Storm Units: Elite Choices 1

Here is the first 5 man Combat Squad of the 10 man Terminator Squad that makes up the first Elite choice of the army. The entire squad of 10 weighs in at 455 points!


This Combat Squad consists of the Terminator Sergeant with Storm Bolter and Power Weapon, 3 Terminators with Storm Bolters and Chainfists, and the Terminator with Assault Cannon and Chainfist. Primary use is anti-armour or heavy shock troops, delivered into the enemy battle lines via the Deepstrike rules.


Capable of laying down 8 Strength 4 shots from the Storm Bolters and 4 Strength 6 Rending shots from the Assault Cannon; while moving and the threat of 11 Power Weapon Attacks from the Chainfists and Sergeant's Power Weapon, 8 of which are at Strength 8, and all of which Ignore Armour Saves (16 if they get off the Charge into Assault) make this unit a threat to anything nearby.


The downside is they can't Assault after arriving by Deepstrike; although they can shoot. They can also take a significant amount of fire due the their 2+ Armour Save and 5+ Invulnerable Save (for those occasions that they are hit by an AP1 Melta weapon or some form of heavy ordinance weapon).


Against vehicles their Assault attacks have the same power as a Multimelta, giving them 2D6+8 for Armour Penetration which allows them to Glance AV14 on a 2D6 roll of 6, and Penetrate on 7+. Against AV10 they cause automatic Glancing hits (2+8=10), and will Penetrate of 3+. The Assault Cannon is also good against light vehicles, but only if you get a few lucky 6's to bring the Rending rule into effect.


As Marines they have the standard And They Shall Know No Fear rules, along with Combat Tactics.





Random Unit - Vindicare Assassin

A friend of mine gave me this Vindicare Assassin a few years ago, and I finally painted him up the other day, as a break from painting Marines.


After trying out several colour schemes, I seem to have settled on a similar dark blue scheme to the one being used on my Tau army - not intentional but never mind.


I've never tried him out in an actual game yet, but I might have to check out using him as a ally in my Marine army so I can give him a run out. He could come in handy by being able to snipe the Genestealer Broodlord even though it has a Retinue accompanying it which normally means I have to kill the Retinue before I can land wounds on the Broodlord.