Re: Chaos Marines: a bargain & typos

From: <primarch_at_...>
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 02:30:42 -0000

Hi!

Albert Farr� Benet wrote:
Hi everybody,

I'm going to talk about the cheapest unit in Space Marine: Chaos
Marines Chapter (old card)

"First of all, I have to notice that Chaos Space Marines chapter cards
don't have break point nor morale value which I think this is more
important to have printed on the card, than troop stats which anyway
is also on the book."

Oops! Your right, big omission, need to write those in.

"I rarely see Tactical SM being used (because of their poor shooting
-they can't even be used to take down shields-, their comparative low
CAF -Assault are equally priced- and little specialization. If any
Marine player has used them in more than 5 battles he could tell me)
but I think they are correctly priced. I DO NOT think Chaos Marines
are correctly priced, they should cost at least 650 points the company
and 225 the support card. Also, look at IG support company: same
number of stands, same STM, same move, aprox. same to hit probability
(1 dice 4+=50%, 2 dice 5+=56%), much lesser morale, Chain of command
rule, less CAF, no elite, no special power, the only good point to IG
is weapon range (is it really worth a plus of 50/100 points?) Cost for
a support card 200 points (200/5=40(!) points every stand). Cost of a
Company 600 (say...50, points for company HQ?)"

It has been a longly debated topic that each army gets the so called
"cheap" units. Real good units at a relatively cheap price. There is
no army immune to this they al have them, I suspect that you'll hear
the moans about the eldar windrider host, ork clan costs, roughrider
company and many more. The fact is that every army has its "bargains".
Chaos is no exception. Having said that, 16 stands that have too walk
everywhere, because transport of any kind must be bought, added to the
fact you can't add anything to the chaos legion card, its not a
company card, just a bonus card a primarch must attach, the
flexibility of this card becomes clear. It has none. A tactical marine
company card is priced at 750, but you can add as much or as little as
you want, the ultimate in flexibility. Card cost must take into
account not only unit effectiveness, but how easy it is to field and
how much you pay to earn the right to purchase it. You may down play
this fact, but it remains, you MUST buy one primarch, three support
cards before you can even entertain buying the "bonus" chapter. Rather
expensive isn't it? Card cost MUST also consider this. If you could
bring the chaos legion card like any other company card, then I must
agree the cost is low. But this is not the case, to do so I must
invest first, then see if I have enough points to go for the
priviledge of acquiring this card. Given these restrictions the price
is fine as is. Also, why change the cost of support cards of marines
if you changed the company card? They have no chaos affiliation thus
gain no powers, you can't add them to the company and say well I can
use their power on these extra detachment. A chaos legion is a finite
amount of troops 16 stands, no more, no less and their powers apply to
that finite group.

As for tactical marine companies, I use them in every game I play SM.
They are cheaper than battle companies and devastator companies, have
better CAF than devastators (netepic reduced their CAF to +1) and they
have 50cm range with rhinos. All in all a good buy. That they are not
so flashy as otehr units, yes. That everyone goes through a phase of
specialized "no-tactical" SM armies, yes. But in the end I find the
tacticals fit in all my plans, cheaply and effectively.

"The only BUT anybody can throw to me is, that you have to purchase a
Primarch, but you had to purchase greater demons anyway, no? Except
from the special power, all CM are the same with these rules, so with
a medium army (4k+) you get some of them."

You forget the three support cards you MUST add before you can even
add this "bonus" card. Its a lot of points for the priviledge, thats
why its cheaper, its not a real company card, more like a special
cards with strings attached. Any support for them, must come from you
greater demon slots. Things get tight pretty quick.


"I think we should use Chaos Space Marine Army cards instead of old
ones. I think there were some Chaos Space Marine army rules in NetEpic
3. I think they should be used instead of these ones. Or use SM cards
as CSM, so a tactical Chaos Space Marine company would be equal to a
loyal tactical marine company, but, that's true, without a special power."

Those are in the optional section now, where chaos cards function like
company cards.

Peter
Received on Thu Mar 15 2001 - 02:30:42 UTC