Special Characters in not-so-special armies

[Gothical]

I was flipping through my Codex and having a ponder. Most people field Special Characters in order to unlock a certain style of army - Pedro Kantor for Crimson Fists (or any other Elite-heavy force), Vulkan for Salamanders (or...well anyone else it seems), Lsyander for the Imperial Fists...you get the idea.

 

But I was wondering, how about using some of the characters to maximise certain elements of their rules in non-standard ways?

 

I'm asking because I amused myself of topping my Salamander army off with K'sorro Khan (not on a bike) for a few minutes.

 

1) Hit & Run + Furious Charge + Command Squad/Terminator Squad = a lot of pain.

 

Think about it, you can have any unit in your army strike at Str5-9 and swing before the vast majority of other foes out there, before leaping away in the enemy's turn to do it all over again. Launching this sort of strike from a Land Raider would be amusing in and of itself. Heck, although it would be costly, it might make Vanguard (non JP) worth the points (all those Power Weapons/Relic Blades)

 

2) ANY unit can Outflank.

 

Always tired of your Heavy Weapons lagging behind the army? Fed up of Deepstrike mishaps and unable to afford a Land Raider for your Terminators? Khan provides.

 

You can have a (potentially) great deal of firepower waiting in the wings, and bring it in somewhere that it's going to be very effective. Your Devastators won't be pounded by Artillery, and can get into brilliant fire-lanes (particularly if Mechanised). Your Terminators can stride onto the board launching volleys of bolts and missiles. You can have a cheap Tactical Squad held in reserve to capture your home-field objectives in the last few turns after your opponent is too committed to your advance to send any forces to stop them. You can turn a humble Scout Squad into the equivalent of the old Space Wolf Scouts and go hunting for enemy artillery (though they can do this anyway I guess).

 

So, what do you think about this way of using Khan (to open up new tactics and strategies without building the whole force around him)? Got any ideas for...unconventional uses of other Special Characters?

[spartan249]

I've tried it, and it's ok. The assault terminators put the FC boost to good use, and hit&run provides a nice little excuse to charge again on your turn. You are, however, giving up combat tactics for outflanking, which may not be a good thing in all cases.

[Sanctjud]

Outflanking Devs?

No. Please no. Earlies they come in is turn 2, then wait a turn. Earliest shot is turn 3, that's about half the game loss of shooting.

 

12 missiles at something with a cover save is better then 0 shots at something without cover for the opening turns of the game.

 

____________

 

Not only do you give up combat tactics for outflank, but it means you are either not using Vukan in a sally list, or giving up twin-linkinkage Vulkan brings to the table.

 

No, Khan doesn't really buff the whole army. He focuses on buffing the squad he is with.

The outflanking is only good for Blinged Command Squad on bikes or AssTermies in a dedicated LR, which is funny enough the 2 units he will most likely be with.

 

Hit and run is nice, but sadly it will fail at times due to the Initiative check, while Furious Charge is generally overkill, which is not trying to get 2 round assaults, king of 5th ed Combat.

 

Khan is worth it for a change of pace, but I don't think he's brings anything consistant to the SM army list.

[Jezroth]

Yeah I think I'd rather use scouts with snipers as a flanking fire base, chuck in a missile launcher or hvy bolter for good measure but they've always earned at least double their points back