New SM Feedback

Ok who has what I want? I am deciding on whether or not I start going eBook, so I have not purchased it yet. Got the new codex? Post the cool and not so cool stuff here. What do you think about the new models?

The centurions better be bad ass in the codex. $78 for 3x models that don't look so hot IMHO, they better have awesome stats.

The new HQs look cool but I don't see how GW can sell them at $30 each. They are multi part kits, but the librarian has no options and the captain has only a optional head. Decorative base is nice.

Sternguard and vanguard are a very nice addition in plastic. The bits on these sprues make me drool with new stormshield designs, lightning claws, combi weapons, decorative shoulder pads, detailed chainswords, and on and on. One set has 13 heads and the other 9. Great stuff! It'll be interesting to see if either are worth playing with the new codex and 6e. I was scratching my head over the price. $40 vanguard and $50 sternguard. Both 5 man kits but the vanguard is cheaper and has jump packs.

Space Marine Stalker/Hunter looks pretty cool. I like the extra panels on the chassis, which is similar to Vindicator panels that add a different look to the basic rhino frame. Will I be seeing this on the table in a competitive environment?

Yeah, yeah, I know. Stop trying to figure out GWs approach to pricing.

BoLS posted this which provides input on some of my questions.

Some highlights...

BoLS wrote:

Centurion Assault Squad – New toys! Basically these are super-terminators. T5, 2 wounds and a 2+ Armour Save is going to take some shifting. At first they don’t look too much of a big deal in assault with just one attack but this quickly becomes two for two weapons and three on the charge. Siege Drills are also not unwieldy so they could be good for Dreadnought bashing and other slow armoured targets.

They have Slow and Purposeful which will be frustrating as it means they can’t Run into position and neither can they fire Overwatch. They’re not a cheap option but should last a while on the table. First impressions are that they will need a Land Raider to work but we look forward to hearing how you fare with them!

Centurion Devastator Squad - The same stats as the Assault Centurions the Centurion Devastators come equipped with Hurricane Bolters and Twin-linked Heavy Bolter. They can be upgraded to have Missile Launchers in their chests and a Twin-linked Lascannon or Grav-Cannon. Our favorite option is the Grav-Cannon as they can fire 5 shots each and the Grav-Amp re-rolls to wound and to penetrate. It is short ranged at 24” and so again a Land Raider wouldn't go amiss to get them in close.

Hunter – Another new toy. This fires a single missile that if it misses a flyer or flying monstrous creature will continue to try to hit them in subsequent turns. It has Skyfire so only fires Snap Shots against ground targets. Basically this is a must-have if your opponent has flyers but at 70 points isn't going to break the bank if your opponent doesn't have any. Be warned though that it will do NOTHING that game.

Stalker – This has a similar anti-flyer them to the Hunter. Again it’s limited to flying targets but has the option of firing 4 twin-linked shots or 8 single shots. Those 8 single shots come in handy against ground targets as there are so many shots some are bound to hit! The Stalker is probably the better choice of the two new vehicles unless you are sure your opponent has flyers when the Hunter will come in handy.

I just don't see Centurians doing much without an invuln save. There's a lot of plasma around these days. Slow and purposeful is the real turn off for me.

I like the special characters. I don't see any of them as being game breaking. A lot are really good. They add flavorful bonuses to an army that make some parts of it much better and worth taking over the strait forward choice. I wish Chaos marines had something like chapter tactics. The new anti air tanks seem all right. I just don't know what they replace in an existing list. If they had interceptor, maybe.

I'm not happy with the Black Templars, but I do like the rest. And Holy Shit, White Scars!

No invuln for the big, new guys does suck whether I like the models or not. When the DA codex came out, I was excited about the new models. I got the codex and then said, that flyer sucks and that new model stinks. There is a hobbyist in my that wants the cool new model, but there is the wallet and the player in me that says, "not that one because you'll never play it". I have plenty of stuff from previous non-GW games sitting on a shelf collecting dust.

White Scars look very cool. Too bad I put too much into my ravenwing bikes. I plan on busting out some Iron Hands.

I saw this on a blog I checkout every once in a while.  Here is the summary

Spikey Bits wrote:

So, in short, Centurions are highly durable.  They can be built to kill vehicles, elite infantry, or light infantry.  They are not necessarily universal with any build, nor are they are autopick, but I feel like they can put out plenty of firepower no matter the load out.

For 10 points the Serg. can take an Omniscope, granting the USRs Night Vision and Split Fire to the unit. Pretty good, right?

In addition to all the above, these boxes for bits alone are amazing!

Full post here

This is not a set I'd buy for bits alone at such a high price tag. The write up is still interesting.

I just realized something as I was researching these models. They come with 50mm bases, which introduces a new base size.  Dreads and DP are on 60mm bases. Term and nid warriors are 40mm bases.

Frontline gaming has a good write up on space marines at the end of one of their GT reports. Basically they are now a finesse army and not for beginners to win tournaments with.

IMO, what rips centurions a new one is way too common. Drop pods en mass or basic foot swarms with bolter drill are where I'd go. I'd ally with either SW for the pod synergy or tau for the mobile AP2 goodness.

Good thing about 50mm bases is that it opens up using Warmachine war jacks instead of those ugly models.

I have been testing out my Marines a lot. This is one of my oldest armies and when the codex came out I did not need to add much to start rolling them out. I have been using the Dev Centurians and they can do lots of damage to vehicles. I always put them in cover or behind a defense line so the invuln save is there for the most part. Most of the time they are buried behind dev and tact squads so nothing can get to close to soon. In most of the games that I have played with them they rarely get targeted or my opponent doesn't bother with them after trying to shoot at them through a couple of turns. I think they are well worth the points, as pricey as they are.

I did find out just last week that units of Noise Marines with a blastmaster are death for power armor. Cover does them no good.

I have been running IF with allied IH, so far I like it but I have not tried them out against Tau or Tyranids yet. I can say that lots of lascannons and bolters can do the trick in most cases.

I am no professional but this is what I have gathered through playing with my list.

I wonder how well they would do allied with tau. I think if I could get some kind of shock troup value out of SM, that they might be acceptable. /shrug

Is Lysander capable of being delivered safely?

It is doable and it would be an immediate threat. It would soak up the fire keeping it off the Tau. However for the points it would take to do it, I would go another route.