Making Noise Marines Scream

[FallenSoldiers]

 

My one game with combat drugs so far was an 1850 game.  I took a warband as well as a min kalophoni and the Intoxicating Elixir.  I got a 3 for my roll so I wound up with +1 BS, S, and I.  While the I didn't really help much, being BS5 was a big bonus I think.  I played SW so the +1S in CQC was nice to have too.

 

I'm playing a 1500 pt game tonight, again using the Rapture Battalion and again using intoxicating elixir.  I'll post up tomorrow and give a brief recap of how I felt it went. 

Sorry that doesn't sound quite right. You roll once on the Combat Drugs table for your whole Rapture Battalion and then d3 additional times just for that one character. Not d3 times in total for your whole Rapture Battalion.

 

 

Interesting, perhaps I read the rules on that relic wrong then.  I just read "Make D3 rolls on the table".  I don't have my book on me at the moment so cross reference, but does it call out specifically for just the unit carrying the relic? Not saying you're wrong, just shocked I misread that so badly!

[Panzer]

 

 

My one game with combat drugs so far was an 1850 game.  I took a warband as well as a min kalophoni and the Intoxicating Elixir.  I got a 3 for my roll so I wound up with +1 BS, S, and I.  While the I didn't really help much, being BS5 was a big bonus I think.  I played SW so the +1S in CQC was nice to have too.

 

I'm playing a 1500 pt game tonight, again using the Rapture Battalion and again using intoxicating elixir.  I'll post up tomorrow and give a brief recap of how I felt it went. 

Sorry that doesn't sound quite right. You roll once on the Combat Drugs table for your whole Rapture Battalion and then d3 additional times just for that one character. Not d3 times in total for your whole Rapture Battalion.

 

 

Interesting, perhaps I read the rules on that relic wrong then.  I just read "Make D3 rolls on the table".  I don't have my book on me at the moment so cross reference, but does it call out specifically for just the unit carrying the relic? Not saying you're wrong, just shocked I misread that so badly!

 

Not even the unit. Just the model. And yeah it does explicitly say so. Would still be nice on a PF/LC Lord on Bike or on a Sorcerer. I gonna put it just for fun on my Warpsmith to see how far I can push him I think. :D

[FallenSoldiers]

Damn, ok.  Thanks, I might drop that relic then if it's not army wide.... that's a bummer.  I thought D3 rolls seemed OP, but I thought for once they'd let Chaos have a brief glimmer of power!

[FallenSoldiers]

Not even the unit. Just the model. And yeah it does explicitly say so. Would still be nice on a PF/LC Lord on Bike or on a Sorcerer. I gonna put it just for fun on my Warpsmith to see how far I can push him I think.

+1 point for you sir, it does in fact say "model". Damn, I don't know how I overlooked that! Thanks for the catch before I played again tonight. I took the Elixir off and retooled my list a little accordingly.

As for someone's question about the Soulsnare Lash: I played the one game with it and was underwhelmed. I didn't roll a single 6. Of course, I was only fighting 1W models so even the ID aspect wouldn't have mattered much. I am opting against taking it to my game tonight because I don't think I'll be facing off against many multi-wound models that a PF wouldn't remove more easily.

[heptus]

Two interesting games where the Combat Drugs didn't do much mainly because one was decided by shooting and the other by the szenario/lists. Reports like those help a lot to get a feeling for it, thanks. :)

By the way you'd get two Fearless/OS/I5 CSMs in a Emperors Children CAD as well, that alone is no argument for the Warband....the OS Chosen and Bikes however would be I guess. ;)

The critical disadvantage of the battalion is the strict limit in list, but for my style (i.e., MSU) it's not that big problem to abandon the army-wide OS, combat drugs (2/6 are awesome, and the others are situational but still better than nothing), and favoured scions (though the most minor merit for me).

 

Nevertheless, I also agree that CAD with EC bonus has its own potential and fits better some lists.

[Panzer]

The Soulsnare Lash is only something for a Daemon Prince due lacking AP i feel...and even on a Daemon Prince we have far better stuff to take like the Black Mace for example. It's definitely a relic i wouldn't take in any list unless I have points and artifact slots left (haha good joke). Blissgiver is the better weapon imo thanks to AP3 and Daemon Weapon plus a more or less similar effect (a bit worse tho so I wouldn't put my money on it in crucial situations).

[totgeboren]

Or Purge detachment, or a couple other options, but yes.

Depending on what FW you want though, allied detachment may be the easiest (only 1 hq 1 troop requirement)

Most of what you would want from FW to your EC has the CSM faction though, so you can't Ally them in. Allies have to have a different faction from the primary detachment.

Though 'Renegades & Heretics'/'Renegades of Vraks' can be used as allies at least (though there is no obvious units that jump out as prime EC allies...)

[Sersi]

I just can't justify ever taking Soulsnare, it just not worth its points.  I'd take Blissgiver on a DP and not for the potential ID. You take Blissgiver for the 3-4  bonus AP2 rending attacks it grants on average.  Blissgiver is pretty cheap for what it does.  Compare it with Slivershard from the chaos daemon codex, which costs to same for only +2 attacks, and no other abilities.  

[Panzer]

I just can't justify ever taking Soulsnare, it just not worth its points.  I'd take Blissgiver on a DP and not for the potential ID. You take Blissgiver for the 3-4  bonus AP2 rending attacks it grants on average.  Blissgiver is pretty cheap for what it does.  Compare it with Slivershard from the chaos daemon codex, which costs to same for only +2 attacks, and no other abilities.  

I agree. There really is little to no reason to take the Soulsnare Lash over Blissgiver.

[heptus]

A small question btw. Looking back this thread, some people seemed to give a sonic blaster to a Noise Champion. Is this allowed? The rule explicitly says 'Any Noise Marine may ~ replace his boltgun with ~', which doesn't include a Noise Champion IMO. Any ideas?

[WarriorFish]

No, as a Noise Marine and Noise Champion have different profiles and names.

Shame about the Raptors, I knew the answer but was hoping for a bit more hope. Maybe I'll just get the Raptors anyway as I want some

[heptus]

Thanks for the clarification, WarriorFish

Regarding the raptors, a unit with 2 melta guns & melta bomb could be a great tank-killer especially with the bonus of Raptor Talon IMO. It's bit off the topic here, but T1 reserve of Black Legion will make a good harmony too (that my friend is currently preparing for).

I'm not sure of the use of warp talons tho...

[WarriorFish]

I don't have the rules to hand, but unit weapon upgrades are never valid for the character :) That's what I was thinking with the Raptors, I was thinking of building them in the same way as my CSM - 2x melta, melta bombs, power sword, MoS and IoE. A little pricey perhaps, but will function as a faster but more melee version. I'll get to that bridge when I cross it, as I have plenty else to be doing first!

 

For more thoughts on the NM themselves, does anyone have a good "default" build that serves them well without breaking the bank?

[hushrong]

I think with the Rapture battalion and making full use of the Kakophoni I rely on two types of squads:

 

Noise marine squad with a blastmaster and sonic blasters. These guys sit usually on the edge of my deplyoment zone hopefully in some good terrain to give them a great view. The blastmaster splitfires and aims for blobs of infantry and enemy vehicles. The noise marines with sonic blasters do not have to wait long to put their full range and salvo to use to attack infantry and in desperation light armor. 

 

Another noise marine squad I will run is a fully sonic blaster squad in a rhino. Big metal box keeps moving up to get my boys closer to other objectives. Thanks to salvo their range gets hampered but when they sit on an objective they can be a pain to remove. Although I do start to wonder if I should just stick to bolters for these squads but being non competitive I like the theme of noise :)

[heptus]

I think with the Rapture battalion and making full use of the Kakophoni I rely on two types of squads:

Noise marine squad with a blastmaster and sonic blasters. These guys sit usually on the edge of my deplyoment zone hopefully in some good terrain to give them a great view. The blastmaster splitfires and aims for blobs of infantry and enemy vehicles. The noise marines with sonic blasters do not have to wait long to put their full range and salvo to use to attack infantry and in desperation light armor.

Another noise marine squad I will run is a fully sonic blaster squad in a rhino. Big metal box keeps moving up to get my boys closer to other objectives. Thanks to salvo their range gets hampered but when they sit on an objective they can be a pain to remove. Although I do start to wonder if I should just stick to bolters for these squads but being non competitive I like the theme of noise

The first one always satisfies me. Both splitfire and shred greatly fit their role!

For the second one, though, why don't you try a doom siren & all CCWs rather than all sonic blasters ;)

[Panzer]

I honestly don't think taking Sonic Blaster or CCW makes any worthwhile difference.

Lets see if we get attacked by regular MEQ

4xSonic Blaster (20ppm):

Overwatch = 1,5 wounds (1 without shred), CC = 1 wound => 2,5 (2) wounds in total

4xCCW (18ppm):

Overwatch = ~0,33 wounds, CC = 2 wounds => ~2,33 wounds in total

4xwithout anything (17ppm):

Overwatch = ~0,33 wounds, CC = 1 wound => ~1,33 wounds in total

Mathhammer tells us that it is better to give them an additional CCW over nothing but there is barely a difference between a Sonic Blaster and an addition CCW. In small 5 man squads it makes a difference of only 8 points. I think the benefit of being able to shoot with S4 AP5 Salvo 2/3 shred is definitely worth the cost of 8p per squad (16pps in unit of 10 / 14pps if you give one in 5 (or 2 in 10) a Blastmaster).

Of course with an additional CCW you could shoot with pistols and then still assault but let's be honest here....Noise Marines are no assault unit even with additional CCW so they should better stay and shoot.

[FallenSoldiers]

So I played a 1500 point game last night using the Rapture Battalion vs a Necron CAD.  We played Maelstrom of War: Deadlock.

 

I got handled pretty badly (18-10), he had 2 Ghost Arks with 10 warriors each as well as 3 Annihilation Barges and a Catacomb Command Barge and a C'Tan Nightbringer(?)

 

I rolled for the +1 BS drug, which was a nice one to get, but didn't help when I kept rolling 1s to hit!  I had Gift of Mutation on my Lord as well as on a biker champ.  Lord got +1 W (again, a nice roll) but also rolled for crusader, which was fairly useless.  The Biker Champ rolled for poisoned weapons and got crusader as well.  

 

Shred was nice, as usual, but not being able to reroll vs vehicles hurt a lot in this game.  Blastmasters were having trouble penning the QS on Arks.  I finally got a lucky lascannon shot through from my Havocs and exploded an Ark on turn 4.  The Doom Sirens, again, were the real heros of this battle being able to dump shots into the warrior inside the arks, problem was I'd usually only roll a 2 or 3 and at least 1 of them would be saved with RP and then 1 (he kept rolling 1 or 2 for his D3) would come back from the GA ability per turn.  Once the ark was gone the noise marines pretty easily wiped up the warriors.

 

He had a tough time removing the noise marines with the 4+ FNP, it took him most of the game to remove 1 squad and that was with heavy shooting from the Arks and warriors.  It was the same with the bikes with the icon, they had a lot of staying power and finally only fell to weight of fire from all 3 annihilation barges.

 

I've retooled the list a bit, dropped some power axes for powerfists, picked up some more combi-meltas on my terminators (only the champ had one), and dropped the GoM from the biker champ.  I'm debating dropping the Chaos Warband all together and trying a Kakophoni and a CAD next time to try and get some more heavy hitters in the game.  I really do like the Kakophoni, it definitely had some challenges with that much AV13 though.

[FallenSoldiers]

I don't have the rules to hand, but unit weapon upgrades are never valid for the character That's what I was thinking with the Raptors, I was thinking of building them in the same way as my CSM - 2x melta, melta bombs, power sword, MoS and IoE. A little pricey perhaps, but will function as a faster but more melee version. I'll get to that bridge when I cross it, as I have plenty else to be doing first!

For more thoughts on the NM themselves, does anyone have a good "default" build that serves them well without breaking the bank?

I've been using two styles of NM squads.

1 is in a rhino, Doom Siren, Blastmaster, blasters on the rest and the IoE. I drive straight towards an objective and try to light up as many guys on the way with the siren as I can while using the BM to take out threats once I get in place. This is the "break the bank expensive" squad

2 is a 5 man squad on foot. I deck these guys out with a DS on Champ and a BM, but just bolters for everyone else. No IoE, MAYBE CCW if I happen to have a few extra points available. I like this squad because they can remain more "mobile" with the bolters if needed, but still have the DS for overwatch if needed as well as the blastmaster to help remove targets from cover.

[heptus]

Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

Just for a note. it may not be your case, but the double-boon bonus are not applied to the gift of mutation; The rule of Favoured Scion explicity says so.

[hushrong]

heptus, splitfire and shred have been such a blessing and I bring enough squads in the Kakophoni detachment so my weapons pack a wee bit more punch too. I do want to try out a doom siren as it is a weapon I never use. I do like bonzi's idea of a doom siren and bolter squad just daring people to charge it.

 

sfpanzer, I think that the blastmaster is definitely one of the better weapon hands down. Just the price tag is killer and you need to sit still to use its best frequency. The only reason I like the sonic blasters aside from theme is that they also ignore cover and can cause pinning to happen just like their big brother. 

 

My stabby noise marines are mostly meat shields for their lord...who I only gave the blissgiver. I also gave that unit the IoE for a sweeter FNP roll to make them slightly more durable meat shields.

 

FallenSoldiers My last match was a rough game that seems eerily similar to yours.

 

Aside from the lists we have switch Necrons for Iron Hands and its the same party. I really did not get a chance to put my dukes up thanks to a Grav cannon toting, hurricane-bolter spitting trio of centurions that drop podded into my deployment zone turn 1. They landed between two Blastmaster squads and thanks to me rolling 1's on my saves they were gutted. FNP rolls kept squads from being wiped until turn 4 but I conceded then losing 6-2. I expected a rough match as my buddy loves to drop pod into enemy armies but that stung. I also realized after losing my blastmasters so quickly and later my land raider that I have no substantial anti-tank. I am eye-balling some changes and the Cult of Destruction.

[FallenSoldiers]

Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

Just for a note. it may not be your case, but the double-boon bonus are not applied to the gift of mutation; The rule of Favoured Scion explicity says so.

 

Sorry, should have clarified...my FLGS has decided to allow the rolling from Scions for boons as well in friendly games.  I forgot to make mention of that!  Apologies, you're correct for the regular rules!

[WarriorFish]

Good stuff brothers, I like the sound of the smaller BM squads - seems like a good way for me to get my foot in the NM door :tu:

[SonicWarrior028]

Hello my Slannesh brothers! I am really excited to have found a home to share and ask about ideas for our EC. It seems that we are few and far between. 

I have been having fits attempting to create a semi competitive 1500 point EC list  with the rapture battalion. I wanted to ask you all since you have been giving it a go. It will be my first real list and army though i have been working my tail off to put it all together, I want to avoid building and painting too many models I will never need.

 

Am i best off always going MSU Noise Marines with 3 SBs and a BM? Rhinos or not? I know some skip SBs all together.. My other question is are CADs a better bet than using the rapture battalion? It seems limiting. Have any of you found success with it yet? I have read the entire forum so I am caught up.

 

I guess my overall question is being a new player, whats the best way to go about it? CAD? Kakaphoni and CAD, Kakaphoni and Warband? thanks again! any input and/or advice would be very helpful!

[heptus]

I'll always pick Warband & Kakophoni. If I have a semi-competitive game, I'll get EC Warband & BL Kabal.

[WarriorFish]

Welcome to the B&C :D I'm also starting out (more or less) so there's a lot of things to look into as you get going. Thanks to the Traitor Legions book EC can easily be more than NM so you have more choice there, and it dictates your choice on Warband or Kakophoni a bit. As you're starting out I'd aim for a CAD first as you can still use the EC rules, then depending on how you build it you can move into a Warband or Kakophoni Rapture list :tu: