Post by joasht on May 29, 2009 8:48:29 GMT -9
Updated 3/6/09 with rules from Song of Wind and Water. I also posted some new units, look for my post further down in this thread!
I spent about 30 minutes typing this post out earlier and it somehow just totally disappeared, sigh.
Anyway, I bought Song of Blades (and the 1st expansion), and looking at my considerably sized Space Marine collection, I decided to create rules for them for some good old fashioned "Space Marines vs Fantasy dudes"
There are a few things to note about my design:
1) All Space Marines have Artificial. While they aren't truly "artificial", this ability makes sense; Space Marines have the ability to metabolize otherwise lethal toxins, and aren't going to run like chickens if their brethren get brutally slaughtered in front of them, or if they get charged by a large ugly monster (And They Shall Know No Fear).
2) Heavy Armor = Power Armor. Nuff' said.
Initially, I wanted to make all Space Marines Q2 instead of Q3 given that Elves were given Q2 in Songs. It makes sense to me that Marines are on par (at least!) with Elves, but alas due to point cost issues and the interest of making them still playable at 300 points, I had to tone them down to Q3.
With that said, lets go on to the stats!
HQ
Name Force Commander (Pistol + CCW) Cost 163
Quality 2 Combat 5
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Leader
Tough Shooter: short
To represent the Force Commander, I was pretty much forced to make him only legal in 500 point games; and just barely! Q2C5 puts him heads and shoulders over the typical Q3C4 Space Marines, and Tough is there to represent his multiple wounds and Iron Halo.
Note that his shooting range is Short instead of Medium (the standard range for Bolt Pistols) for two reasons: the biggest reason being he wouldn't fit in 500 points if he had Medium range due to the ruling on Personalities. The second is to promote the Force Commander to being used almost completely in melee, but with an option to shoot if he needs to.
Name Captain Cost 100
Quality 3 Combat 5
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Leader
Shooter: short
A toned-down Force Commander legal (again, just barely) at 300 points. C5 makes him more killy, and a pretty scary Leader in normal games. Same issue with the gun range as the Force Commander.
Name Librarian Cost 96
Quality 3 Combat 4
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Magic User
Magic Resistance
I made the Librarian less killy than the Captain to be in line with the 5th edition Codex, and to make sure he fits in 300 point armies as an alternate HQ choice. Magic User (Psyker) and Magic Resistance (Psychic Hood) were no brainers. Unfortunately there was no way to squeeze a Force Weapon-equivalent ability in due to the point limit on Personalities....might have to do an Epistolary some day for 500 point games.
Name Chaplain Cost 98
Quality 3 Combat 4
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Leader
Fearless Dashing
Again, less killy than the Captain for the same reasons as the Librarian. Fearless is a no-brainer. Lacks a ranged attack purely because he wouldn't fit in 300 points otherwise.
Update from SWW: Gave him Dashing, as it sort of emulates his ability from the Space Marine codex that he grants on the charge. Plus it makes him more deadly in melee without making him as deadly as the Captain.
Name Apothecary Cost 94
Quality 3 Combat 4
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Cleric
Shooter: med
Probably more of a "Elite" character, but he's a Personality due to Cleric, so he sits here. Cleric is a complete no-brainer for this guy.
Troops
*Note: I just piled in all the "trooper" typed models inside this category, even though Assault Marines are technically Fast Attack and Devastators are Heavy Support*
Name Tactical Marine Cost 70
Quality 3 Combat 4
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Shooter: long
For a "standard infantry model", the Tactical Marine is pretty crazy at 70 points. Capable of shooting with considerable lethality at long range and able to weather some decent return fire, I think the Tactical Marine pretty much resembles his 40k rule set (IMHO).
Name Assault Marine Cost 104
Quality 3 Combat 4
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Shooter: med
Flying Long Move
Flying and Long Move were given to represent the Jump Pack. Although I would have preferred a "leaping" ability because Jump Packs don't really keep them permanently in the air, I had to work with what I had.
Name Devastator Marine Cost 54
Quality 4 Combat 5
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Sharpshooter
Shooter: Long Short Move Slow
Oddly enough extremely cheap in comparison with the other figures, but I tried to capture the difficulty of positioning a heavy weapon by giving it both Slow AND Short Move, and dropping him to Q4 to make sure you don't plan on rapid-firing that heavy gun.
Updated with SWW: Switched it from C6 to C5 and Sharpshooter. A lot more accurate now.
Name Blood Claw Cost 57
Quality 4 Combat 4
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Dashing
Savage Shooter: Medium
Quality 4 to bring them in line with Scouts (which they effectively are).
Updated with SWW: Removed Long Move because it made them too fast. Switched from Shooter: Short to Shooter: Medium, but added Dashing to make them more melee-orientated.
Name Scout Cost 45
Quality 4 Combat 4
Special Rules Forester Artificial Shooter: med
No Heavy Armor on these guys, but they retain Artificial. Q4C4 makes them slightly less dependable but otherwise similar with normal marines in terms of their killing ability, which really was what I was going for. Forester represents Infiltrate.
Name Sniper Scout Cost 51
Quality 4 Combat 4
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Shooter: Long
Sharpshooter Short Move Slow Poison
The "Devastator" of the Scouts; I maintained Q4 because I figured Q5 was far too high, but retained Slow and Short Move to represent the Sniper rifle being a heavy weapon. Savage represents Pinning, and Poison makes his ranged attack just that bit more lethal, while also being a salute to how the Sniper worked back in 3rd/4th ed (where it wounded on a 4+ like other poisoned attacks).
Updated with SWW: Reduced from C5 to C4, but added Sharpshooter.
Name Servitor Cost 13
Quality 5 Combat 3
Special Rules Artificial Animal Fearless
Slow
The army needed some fodder, and what better fodder than your lowly Servitor; he's in the codex and in Dawn of War I, so he surely fits better than an Imperial Guardsman. I purposely made him slow because I iirc back in 2nd they were pretty slow (I could be wrong). Fearless was a no-brainer, and they were given Animal to represent them "deactivating" when there were no more Marines on the table.
Elites
Name Veteran Marine Cost 82
Quality 3 Combat 4
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Savage
Steadfast Shooter: long
Savage is really here only for one reason: I wanted him to be more than just a "Tactical Marine with Steadfast", and I couldn't find anything else. If I had given him Q2 or C5, it would imply a Veteran is better in than the Chaplain/Librarian, which isn't right.
Name Terminator (Tactical) Cost 82
Quality 3 Combat 5
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Shooter: Long
Savage Slow Steadfast
Update from SWW: Changed them from C6 to C5.
When I came about doing the stats for the Terminator, I knew I wanted it to be violent. C5 makes him harder-hitting and tougher than a normal Space Marine. I avoided Tough as it would make him a Personality. Savage is here again mainly to add the "fear" factor into Terminators; heads being blown off by Assault Cannons/Storm Bolters or being popped by Power Fists can be pretty darn scary.
Name Terminator (Assault) Cost 84
Quality 3 Combat 6
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Slow
Savage Steadfast Dashing
Update fromm SWW: I decided to totally scrap Teleport ability (to make them legal at 300 points) but made up for it by making them Dashing and C6, making them extremely scary in melee, but slow.
Name Death Company Cost 133
Quality 2 Combat 5
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Berserk
Savage Long Move Fearless
Sure, he's a Blood Angel, but I just HAD to make a Death Company statline. This was easy; Long Move to represent their constant frenzied charge forward, Fearless because they are crazy, Savage because...they are savage, Poison to make them even scarier in melee (pseudo-Rend), C5 because I wanted them to be more killy than your normal marine (which they are) and Q2 because these guys are typically FORCED to move forward; it didn't make sense to me that they would fail an activation. Plus it gives them the ability to summon more powerful attacks, which is very thematic.
Update from SWW: Berserk, 'nuff said.
Vehicles
Vehicles don't really fit too well with the Songs rules, but oh well...
Name Dreadnought Cost 92
Quality 4 Combat 6
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Tough
Shooter: long Big Fearless Slow
Fits into 300 point games as a Personality, this guy is pretty much the best "tanker" a Marine army can get at 300 points. Q4 and Slow because I wanted him to feel slow and intimidating, as it is always represented in the fluff and in videos (e.g. DoWII opening trailer). Plus he wouldn't fit in 300 point games otherwis...
Name Predator Cost 134
Quality 3 Combat 5
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Shooter: Long
Fearless Tough Sharpshooter Huge
Update from SWW: Changed this vehicle significantly, but most notably its now Combat 5 but with Sharpshooter, giving it a deadly C6 at range, but a weaker C4 in melee (which feels right; the tank shouldn't be fighting in melee as well as its shooting!).
Name Land Raider Cost 164
Quality 3 Combat 7
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Shooter: Long
Summoner Tough Short Move Huge
Probably the biggest stretch of the Songs rules, I might remove this guy completely. Firstly, you may notice the use of Summoner to represent Transport. In a way it doesn't make sense (why would the Marines disappear if the Raider was popped?/why do they come out one by one every turn?) but thats the closest thing I could get to transport. Well, in a way, it does represent that good old "too many eggs in one basket" issue with Land Raiders in 40k....
Another problem is the lack of Fearless, but its purely to enable it to fit into 500 point games. Theres no other way
Note: Due to point cost issues, I didn't change the Land Raider's stats. I wanted it to remain legal at 500 points.
Name Land Speeder Cost 124
Quality 3 Combat 4
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Long Move
Flying Shooter: Long Big Sharpshooter
Does what you expect the Land Speeder to do; zoom around really fast killing things at range. Oddly its very expensive in this game though
Update from SWW: C4 and Sharpshooter instead of C5.
Name Attack Bike Cost 116
Quality 3 Combat 4
Special Rules Artificial Heavy Armor Shooter: Long
Long Move Mounted Big Sharpshooter
Similar to the Land Speeder, but sacrificing Flying for Mounted, which gives the Attack Bike an edge in melee, and making it slightly cheaper.
Update from SWW: Changed it to C4 Sharpshooter instead of C5. By keeping it Big, this meant that the Attack Bike was C5 at range and C4 (not counting mounted, C5 otherwise) in melee; just the way I like it.
Phew, 45 minutes of typing, not counting the 30 minutes I lost earlier. Hope you guys enjoyed this
Comments/suggestions are welcome, thanks!