Sonic Blasters

[Chaos Lord Shamrockius]

Hey all, my final pieces of my Black Legion are almost in place... I have been bought a squad of Noise Marines.

 

My queries are,

 

a) how effective are they? what role can they fulfill within your army? (Please don't anyone say that they are just a waste of money/time/effort etc, constructive advice please...)

 

:) how do I model sonic blasters? As they seem to have a similar stat line to Bolters, I didn't know if I could just leavet the bolters on and use that as you do with 1ksons, or do I need to go overboard and show them to be totally different? I take it there isn't one in the box, it looks to me as if it's 2 x Blastmasters. I'll be honest, I know not what I am doing when it comes to Slaanesh's finest. Have looked in the "Excess" forum page here but it all looks very "mint choc chip" where I am still of a "vanilla" mind set.

[the jeske]

what do you mean by constructive ? generaly NM are harder to play with then csm , builds based around them have bigger problems with poping transports then normal csm lists , they cost a lot of points and blast masters and sonic blasters dont have a good synergy with each other . best way to play them is like a GK water warrior army , using rhinos , lash etc too keep out of hth while being able to shot at more then 12" [something a lot of meq armies have problems with] and forcing as many saves as possible to kill vets and specil/hvy weapon guys. Has huge problems with armies like IG[too many transports , hvy weapons and horde at the same time m with valks and vendattas staying out of range or los blocking doesnt really work] or tau/eldar that have a simiular range , but are either faster or cheaper [or both at the same time]. As single units added to a normal csm list , maybe a 5 man NM unit with a blast master as camper could be considered . Anything else is waste of points as a single sonic one isnt shoty enough and if someone wants a hth unit zerkers are far better choice , then a unit take for a gimick low ap flamer[that never works more then once on each player and only , if they dont play mecha].

[Brother Nihm]

how do I model sonic blasters?

The Librarium has you covered: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.p...showarticle=721

[Chaos Lord Shamrockius]

Thanks Nihm, I tried a search but putting in "sonic blaster modelling" gave me about 1,000 options... all of which were either pics, WIPs or just seemed to be full of info from people who were already familiar with them. I thought you would be able to help. Is there an article that breaks down a good way of including them within my BL in general or would you advise I ask in the Slaanesh forum?

 

Jeske, I asked for "constructive" in ways that a part time fun gamer will understand and not in a patronising way. I have read the Chaos Lord and Aspiring Champion articles on here but I am more inclined to have it broken down a little more. I do not know how to play "GK water" and most of what you said went straight over my head.

[The Nephilim]

The Way of the Water Warrior

 

As to sonic blasters, I never leave home without them. I've been playing sonic armies since early 4th edition. At one time, I fielded an entire sonic army. Tanks, bikers, chosen, termies, marines, and dreads. Granted, I can't go that anymore due to the :huh:-ing idiot, Gav.

 

Sonic weapons seriously are best played as a reactionary or defensive force. You sit and predict and react to your opponents moves and punish them for it. When they've been punished enough, you close in for the close-combat kill and make use of that beautiful I5. Blastmasters should not be in squads with sonic blasters. They're way to expensive. My squads typically run 8-10 sonic blasters and a champ with a doom siren and a powersword in a rhino. My sit and hold squads are five sonic blasters and one blastmaster, no champ in a rhino. I know 8 isn't the favored number, but six guys is too small for an effective combat squad. This codex is crap and I don't care about the benefits of favored number doesn't exist any more.

 

Just some of my thoughts.

[Chaos Lord Shamrockius]

Wow, thanks Nephilim. So with you saying that I would be better using them either as a counter attack squad with sonic blasters, and as a defensive force with Blastmasters, could I interpret that as saying in part that I would pick one or the other dependant on whether I am the attacker or defender of certain missions etc (ie Planetstrike)?

 

I am wondering how I could use them effectively, as I am one of these people who do see every troop as having a use, even in this codex. Thanks for your post, I shall look over the "water warrior" stuff, but I'm thinking it may be waaaaaay too advanced for me at the moment. But then maybe one day I shall no longer be grasshopper...

 

I do feel your pain also, in no longer being able to field total NM armies with Sonics on everything. I always remember being a youngling and having a total urge to model vehicles, Dreads etc with that sort of load out. But sadly, when my bank balance allowed, "he who shall be known only as Thorpe" had taken that from me. I am sure by the time this returns, if it does, I will have had another lifestyle choice take this away again.

[The Nephilim]

No problem, Shamrockius. I use them as a counter-attack force. In my opinion, that's were they really shine.

 

People complain about the sonic blasters being expensive, but they're only a point more for a marine with sonic blaster than they were in the previous addition, and for that whole 1 point, what do we get? Close combat weapons and, AND, AND, we can keep our sonic blasters? Hell yes, please! Blastmasters are expensive too, they whine. Well, how much do you think a weapon that can fire a STR 8 AP 3 small blast at 48" cost? Doom sirens went up by 5pts, but they dropped to AP3 and went to STR 5. What's not to love about that?

 

Sonic armies have always been an elite Chaos force. They require a more experienced hand to field. They're worth learning how to use properly. Bottom line, Shamrockius, play a crapton of games in varying points value to get a good feel for them. I've spent days on end having a friend proxy different armies for me and seeing where and how sonic weapons excel and need support. I feel like I've gotten a pretty solid grasp.

 

*remembers fondly the good ol' days of 4th ed* *sigh* Tyranids honestly were the only army that could offer me a challenge back in 4th. There was one game that by turn 4 my Black Templars opponent only had his high marshall on the table. My three defilers beat him into the ground. I miss in-direct fire too.

 

Personally, for every two squads of Noise Marines (one counter-attack, one ranged suppression), I have them supported by a squad of CSMs with an Icon of Glory. I use Lash because I play a Slaaneshi force and I don't always use it. *shrug* Depending on my opponent, I prefer a Slaaneshi Lord with a Bliss Giver.

[Brother Hadafix]

I live just outside of Bristol, if you want to trial a few of the builds in a couple of friendly games PM me. That does mean you will have to put up with my "counts as" on a couple of models though as I am testing a few builds for my BT *do I take PF, PG, LC or MM?*

 

Either way, hope you find the build that works best for your style of play.

[the jeske]

but they're only a point more for a marine with sonic blaster than they were in the previous addition, and for that whole 1 point, what do we get? Close combat weapons and, AND, AND, we can keep our sonic blasters

yes but in 4th they were never used in bigger squads then 6 man and their main goal was to give icons for summoning demons with rending . 6 man at 1 point more vs 8 man for one point less = they cost more . + it was way easier to use in 4th , there was no mecha other then eldar and tau[yes sob , orks existed too but they were bad armies] and the squads used were smaller 5-6 man for most meq and 8 man for hth builds , right now squad size is 10 models [for meq] this means to force enough saves 2 or 3 squads are needed. what again drives the number of points spent on the army higher. yes getting +1A is nice [but all csm got that and they less even without sonics] , but to be really effective we dont have the rules [like rending more 5-6 power weapon attacks per squad] to actually make a viable hth army . And just like normal csm we die like normal meq in hth , only we cost more.

[Chaos Lord Shamrockius]

Thanks Brother Hadafix, I'll drop you a note soon to try and arrange that. It may not be a direct game straight away involving the NMs as they haven't even seen their way to the garage... This is prelim modelling AND tactics as I like to have an idea how I will use them before allocating wargear.

 

However, being back to the gaming side of this hobby after a long break, I'll happily take on a day of a few 1,500pt games if you promise to be gentle with a novice. And I'm sure the NMs will turn up when their time comes...

[David the Despoiler]

One of my friends had a relatively good idea for his noise marines. He bought a box of Skeleton warriors from WHFB and used the skeleton heads (along with the bolter barrels) to make Sonic Blasters and then mounted the front of the Skeleton's "musician" (tuba) on the heavy bolter to make the blastmaster (after removing all of the ammunition on the models, of course, and other doodads related to them).

[Chaos Lord Shamrockius]

Dave, that could be a goer as far as ideas go. My dad went out some years ago and bought me a box of WFB Chaos Warriors and a box of Skeleton warriors as he thought it looked like the sort of stuff I had. I politely said thanks and didn't discourage him as it was a nice gesture. Not only have the Chaos Warriors come in handy to use for possessed etc and the Skeletons have come in handy for scenery, but I can see that idea also coming in use.

 

For the record, I left a lot of pictures around the house of Greater Daemons, CSMs, etc and lo hark but for my dad to turn up a month later with a Keeper of Secrets and Great Unclean One. Little tip for you younger collectors out there...

[David the Despoiler]

I'm glad I could be of help! I guess he was inspired by the idea of "the screams of the damned (hence the skeleton heads)." If you look at the new skeleton warriors, you'll notice that almost all of them have their jaws intact and should be able to fit quite nicely around the barrel of a bolter. I may be wrong as I haven't seen the completed conversion yet.