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Noise marines and sonic weapons- army viability


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So, I am close to finishing my plague army and want to take on a new project. So, I turned to the god of excess hoping to find my pleasures there.

 

I was hoping to run 6 units of noise marines, 2/3 with sonic blasters + blast masters then the rest of the units with CCW and the champ armed for close range (doom sirens). The HQs will be blackheart stand in and a lord (probably with lightning claw and brand) - this will be the core of the army

 

 

The only reservation I have is the effectiveness of this build. Will sonic weapons work as well as I hope. The army face a lot is tau and constantly come up against 3-2+ cover saves all over the place BUT will this build hold up against all comers? Any other things that i have overlooked under the lure of the god of excess?

 

Thanks B&H

The only time when sonic blasters work really really well is when you have an Endurance Sorcerer. 3 shots with a 30" range rock (combine with Symphony for S5 goodness).

But obviously this trick works only with 1 unit of NMs and limits your HQ setup as you will need a Slaanesh Lord and a Sorcerer.

 

Obviously this is hard to pull off as even with an unmarked LVL3 Sorc you only have a 50% chance to get what you want and if you don't get it the NMs are really underwhelming

 

Now Huron + Slaanesh Lord + infiltrating ultragrit NMs with Doom Sirens might also work nicely!

Currently running a Noise Marines centered list and it's quite effective. I've got two blocks kitted out as:

 

10 Noise Marines: 8 Sonic Blasters, 1 Blastmaster, Lightning Claw for Aspiring Champion, Icon of Excess.

 

It's a bit spendy, contemplating dropping the icon but it's been OK so far. Generally they run forward first turn and then stand and threaten infantry centre board.

 

They need supporting however, both to crack open armored threats and deal with combat units.

See, I'm thinking that if you can use the master of deception warlord trait, you can place the sonic blasters closer to the enemy and not have that turn of not shooting because you moved...

 

I think the reason that i like the noise marines is the ability to ignore cover, in my local store cover saves alone have made it impossible to win games. This has been because so many things get silly high cover saves through stealth and shroud...

I think that MSU is underrated for Noise Marines personally.

 

5 Noise Marines with 4 Sonic Blasters is only a mere 107 points and dishes out 13 shots a turn at 24". If you want to go sacred, you get 6 with 5 sonic blasters for 127, shooting 16 shots. Not bad for the cost.

Having just read the FAQ, the ability to have 5 with a blast master is unbelievable, this may be the way that i go :P

 

I'm thinking, blast master, doom siren and maybe a few extra marines (and a melta bomb just in case) This unit x6 should make for some fun!

See, the real question is, is 6 blastmasters good enough or do i need 12...

 

I can understand the doom siren being wasted, i just have always liked it, last edition it made such a mess of drop pod marines that where not expecting it :D but 2 blast masters should sort that, or even one.

 

So for my troops, I'm thinking

- 3 units of 5 with blast master, 3 units of 5/10 with doom siren and CCW

OR

- 6 units of 10 with 2 blast masters

With the limit being brought down, Im thinking of 2 6-man units for my chaos

 

4 Sonic Blasters, Blastmaster, Champ w/Siren n Power Sword

4 tri-equip, Blastmaster +CCW, Champ w/Siren n Power Sword

 

I think they will make good objective holders, maybe outflank bolter unit with Chaos Steed Lord

I've built a new Chaos army based on the new codex (freshly purchased and assembled) and my Noise Marine assembly choices have all been made based on the codex pre FAQ. This means my squads are:

 

10 Noise Marines: 8 Sonic Blasters, 1 Blastmaster, Lightning Claw for Aspiring Champion, Icon of Excess.

 

While I love the FAQ ruling I'm now left pondering what to do: add a second Blastmaster to the two 10 man squads or split some of them into 5 man squads (and likely dropping the Icons/ Lightning Claws as a result)

I've built a new Chaos army based on the new codex (freshly purchased and assembled) and my Noise Marine assembly choices have all been made based on the codex pre FAQ. This means my squads are:

 

10 Noise Marines: 8 Sonic Blasters, 1 Blastmaster, Lightning Claw for Aspiring Champion, Icon of Excess.

 

While I love the FAQ ruling I'm now left pondering what to do: add a second Blastmaster to the two 10 man squads or split some of them into 5 man squads (and likely dropping the Icons/ Lightning Claws as a result)

 

2 smaller units have some advantages over 1 bigger unit. They can fire at 2 differnt targets, they can be in 2 different places, can't be caught in assault by a single enemy unit, etc.

On the other hand we are CSMs and pay the champion tax for every squad we take.

Still I think right now I'd lean in favor of the 2 smaller squads.

Not so sure that more champions is actually an advantage here...

How would you end up in a situation where they could act as decoys for challenges? It might happen but definetly not something you want to happen.

Spawn/Prince could of course happen but since you don't want these min-squads to end up in melee the champions won't be geared up and therefore aren't very likely to win challenges in the first place.

We are forced to declare/accept challenges. For us, it's a little difficult. One way to keep the HQ out of challenges is to simply always keep in a squad with a champion and make sure to use the champion in as many challenges as possible. When that one dies, relocate to nearest squad. So I guess "scapegoat" would be more appropriate than "decoy."

We are forced to declare/accept challenges. For us, it's a little difficult. One way to keep the HQ out of challenges is to simply always keep in a squad with a champion and make sure to use the champion in as many challenges as possible. When that one dies, relocate to nearest squad. So I guess "scapegoat" would be more appropriate than "decoy."

 

So you'd throw a dedicated ranged squad into a melee fight just for the champion?

I'm not saying it doesn't work but it sure seems less than optimal.

It's a hold over from the old codex but I've been running 6 squads of noise marines - 4 with sonic blasters and a champion with doom siren, 2 with nothing but bolters and a blastmaster. The sonic squads range ahead causing mayhem and the blastmasters sit on rear objectives causing more mayhem from afar.

 

Now with the new codex having a couple of Lvl 3 Slaaneshi sorcerers to take Telepathy/Slaanesh powers and boost the noise marine squads with the likes of invisibility or symphony of pain is quite nice.

 

I do also like the idea of having one super squad of 20 noise marines with feel no pain and as much sonic firepower in it as possible, sit that in the middle of the board with invisibility and symphony on it and prepare to laugh maniacally!

It's the icon that is throwing me; sweet FNP goodness but clearly not worthwhile for 5 man squads. I'm torn between pushing them to 10 to take advantage of the icon or dropping them to 5 and removing the icon. I have a feeling the smaller squads are the right way to go but it's tricky!

It's the icon that is throwing me; sweet FNP goodness but clearly not worthwhile for 5 man squads. I'm torn between pushing them to 10 to take advantage of the icon or dropping them to 5 and removing the icon. I have a feeling the smaller squads are the right way to go but it's tricky!

 

Maybe have half your sonic squads with an icon and stick them up front to take the damage. That way if your opponent wants to shoot at the non-FnP marines behind they can but then they will be ignoring the others closer to them.

 

For 30 points the banner bearer in my eyes is treated like a sanguinary priest or command squad apothecary - keep him hidden, keep him safe. You have apothecaries in 5 man command squads so there's no harm in having icons of excess in small units really...just gets costly. Also, what with the DA codex out and all the plasma everywhere I would prefer to have a 5+ FnP save rather than not.

For 30 points the banner bearer in my eyes is treated like a sanguinary priest or command squad apothecary - keep him hidden, keep him safe. You have apothecaries in 5 man command squads so there's no harm in having icons of excess in small units really...just gets costly. Also, what with the DA codex out and all the plasma everywhere I would prefer to have a 5+ FnP save rather than not.

 

The difference here is the 2+ LoS save that priests and such get that our Icons don't.

 

I'm still really torn on how to use NMs now.

5 NMs + Blast Master > 10 NMs + Blastmaster for sure... but does that also mean 5 NMs + Blast Master > 10 NMs + 2 Blastmasters?

  • 2 weeks later...

I played in a 1000pt tournament over the weekend and tried out a 10 man Noise Marine Squad with 7 Sonics and 2 Blastmasters.

I was mightily impressed with them.

Enemy units cannot just keep out of range of the Sonic Blasters because 2 Blastmasters make a real mess of anything in marine armour, they have to close the distance to stop them shooting.

Highlights were wiping out 2 units of Long Fangs and 10 drop podding Grey hunters in one game, killing 3 units of Ravenwing in another and killing 24 orks and a couple of trukks in another.

I don't thinkI'd ever use more than two units of them but Ican't stress just how devastating they can be.

 

I also tried out a Lord on Steed with a Murder Sword and 10 CSM's with 2 melta and a fist and found them to be very good at disrupting static gun lines and catching out home objective holders......My Lord slaughtering Kharne had me gushing like a Daemonette at an orgy ;-)

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