=][= Unit(s) of the week: Dedicated Transports =][=

[duz_]

It has come to the Commissariat's attention that some of you have not being keeping up with your regular training requirements. As such we intend to rectify this immediately by commencing an intensive re-education of the command corps. Failure will not be tolerated!

 

This will be a weekly series of threads aimed at discussing the units available to the Astra Miliatrum in 8th edition. This can become a resource for those finding their feet in 8th and our brothers in arms who have joined the fight in the glorious Imperial Guard.

 

It is recommended that a Guardsmen get his 60,000 steps in daily to ensure they remain in peak physical condition,  to better serve the Emperor!
Occasionally though the demands of the battlefield take precedence and in those cases it is permissible for a guardsmen to ride in one of the trusted transports of the Imperium!

Today we will review the specifications of the Emperor's finest transports! This will include:

• Chimera
• Taroux
• Taroux Prime*

The Chimera the trusty stead of the Imperium, now with 10W, T7 and a 3+ and an impressive 12" movement. The real gem though and what everyone is raving about is with the new changes to LOS and firing from a vehicle the lasgun arrays can now fire in any direction and no longer restricted to drive-bys! ;)

The beauty of the Chimera is that can hold 12 models which allows you to take some advisors with your 10 man squads, or 3-4 bullgryns / ogryns ;)

Their large chassis also provides good LOS blocking for other models and are a great way to start a charge and hold up some enemy units, or at the very least force them to fall back in a particular direction.

Throw dual Heavy Flamers on and you a pseudo Hellhound! Although that load out certainly eats into your points quickly.

 

The Taroux is the Chimera's slightly smaller, more nimble cousin. It loses 1T value and 2 transport capacity, but gains 2" of movement.

Much hate has been thrown at the Taroux because of its looks, and previously high point cost, these days it is ~20pts less than a chimera (before upgrades). Unfortunately after upgrades it only ~10pts less than a Multi Laser / HB Chimera. However 2 Autocannons are always handy to have! ;) 

I still see these as "cheap" objective grabbers, throw a regular squad in there or even just 3 ogryns and send it on its way. I believe most opponents will ignore it and if not that means they're not shooting at something else of yours more valuable!

 

Finally the Taroux Prime, this vehicle can only take certain units and is 5pts base more than its less elite brother. It gains a better ballistic skill and an additional weapon. I have only run my primes once this edition and was still trying to run them like I did in 7th, which seems to be a mistake. They appear to be more mobile pillboxes, which you don't want to move unless necessary. I think the Autocannon / Battle cannon one has more purpose in this edition with 4 + D3 autocannon shots a turn! Is the cost of the Missile Launcher one worth it? The Gatling cannons double the number of shots too, the look on my friends face when I got out all my dice for it was worth it alone! :D

I have heard some podcasts rave about how good these are, I think I will need to test some more with them.

 

How does your play style dictate which transport you use?
Are you willing to give Taroux another shot? Whats your experiences with Taroux primes in 8th? Are the ML versions still top dog?

 

 

*Only the esteemed** amongst you will have the privilege of riding this vehicle.

**Esteemed meaning, Militatrum Tempestus  and your local friendly Commissars

[Halfpint100]

I use 3 double heavy flamer chimeras in my list. Along with 3 inferno/HF he'll hounds.

I find the chimeras work better as I can fill them with a squad and 1 or 2 charters. Or a special weapon squad and a command squad let by a company commander.

The double heavy flames are pricy. But they are worth it!

[Stylian_StHugh]

HF Chimeras are certainly decent choices, though expensive at what they do compared to say a Rhino or a Repressor  

 

Taurox are total dross compared to a Chimera  

 

Taurox prime with HSVL/GC/SB (mobile pillbox) or AC/BC (anti-multiwound infantry or light AT) are good choices too. A shame only Scions can get in

[MithrilForge]

i ran a force of 3 Primes with A/C and missile's with 3 squads of scions, it was in partnership with an ultra force Against Nids and GsC...

i gotta say the firepower the Primes dished out was awesome and took out his Big Bug(the one that respawns those damn Gaunts) which was a cornerstone of his list..i was impressed with them as mobile pillboxes...

admittedly the list was a bit small with them decked out like that... i guess that's the gamble   

 

Mithril

 

p.s. we beat the nids... only losing a single scion squad and 3 Reivers when the game was called... shooting in 8th is crazy good 

[TheTrans]

Alright, lets not forget about our exciting Imperial Armour Cousins!!

First up we have the two Forge World flavoured Chimeras:

Gryphonne Pattern Chimera: Comes standard with twin heavy bolters in the turret and a hull mounted heavy bolter. Comes in at 97 points standard. Has all the normal Chimera options plus it can opt to take an autocannon in its turret intead!

Kreig Storm Chimera: This bad boy comes naturally with an autocannon in the turret, as well as a lasgun array and a hull heavy bolter. It has all the normal Chimera options as well as for 10pts it gets 'Ablative armour and Mine Plow' which gives it a 4+ save against any damage from a mine (maybe future proofing) but more importantly, it gets +1 armour save for any S4 or lower wounds it recieves. Solid, beefy, pricey at 113 for it with the armour.

Next up with have the 'Oh it can transport dudes' dedicated transport, the Trojan Support Vehicle.
It is essentially a chimera without a lasgun arrays and a turret weapon option. It has a transport capacity of 6, so quite low for a chimera chassis...but it does come with an amazing ability 'Support Vehicle"...which gives any one friendly <Regiment> VEHICLE the ability to reroll all misses in the shooting phase.... Vulcan Macharius anyone?... But coming in at 98pts..it is pricey for a support piece.

Finally we have the cute little Centaur family.

 

Centaur Light Carrier: This little nugget of joy comes in quite lightly armed and armoured. A whopping 50pts nets you a movement speed of 12", T6, W7 3+ save and a heavy stubber as defensive armament, so is certainly lighter than its erstwhile brethren. It does also come with a limited transport capacity of 5, but this is good for moving around command squads and what not. It does have smoke launchers and the option for the hunter killer missile like every IG tank known to man. It does finally have a useful little ability that allows it to move ARTILLERY units around, this is good for being able to possibly shimmy Basilisk carriages and what not around..but short of rule of cool..it probably isn't super useful.

Krieg Centaur Light Assault Carrier: This little fella is the exact same as the Centaur Light Carrier, but comes with an inbuilt extra heavy stubber, putting it at 54pts of zooming, cute fun. Aside from looking cooler it also adds an extra ability on top of everything the vanilla carrier has, that is: Assault Team Transport. What this does is if the embarked unit is only Krieg Grenadiers, this unit may make a free 9" scout move, similar to the Scout Sentinel, before the game begins..this is great for getting them into cover before the shooting starts, stretching out the anti deepstrike coverage or getting a plasma squad of grenadiers into someones face a lot quicke!

Anyway, just thought I'd add in the Forge World offerings as they certainly are fun!!

[Withershadow]

I have three autocannon turrets but I wonder if they are really useful if hitting on 5s.

 

Heavy flamers are nice as the only heavy weapon that doesn't care about accuracy, but are quite expensive. I haven't really looked but did the Marine or Chaos heavy flamers change in price at all?

 

I think the Gryphonne may be the best variant. With two heavy bolters in the turret, that's still an average 2 hits on the move from a long distance. Even if you are in flamer range by turn 2, statistically you can expect the same damage dealt by 2 heavy bolters in those two turns vs 1 heavy flamer shot, and that's not accounting for a hot dice streak. After 2 turns or if you just want them holding a position, the pair of heavy bolters leaves the heavy flamer in the dust.

[TheTrans]

Spot on mate, chuck a heavy stubber on there for good measure, is a solid fire base for 101 points.

[Withershadow]

Yeah, 12 shots is pretty solid.

 

I would be tempted to go for a storm bolter, personally, it's only 2 points and doesn't care about movement, and when within 12" has 4 shots vs. the stubber's 3.

[Halfpint100]

Don't forget the arrays! For an extra 6/12 shots. Gryphonne with sb at 12" pumps out 25 rounds!

[olcottr]

I've not been impressed with the firepower of the Bolter Chimera in this edition (we don't use FW). I definitely tend to focus on the transport part.  The dual HF are great because it keeps choppy units away from the passengers.  I just advance that baby toward the nearest objective, pop smoke, and then shooters tend to ignore it as well.

[Withershadow]

That's fair.  You could also argue the point of a transport is not to be a pillbox (since you can't shoot out of the hatch anymore unless you're a Repressor Rhino or a Baneblade variant), but rather to transport stuff to objectives and enemy lines.  I just want heavy flamers to be like 10 points.

[TheTrans]

I've not been impressed with the firepower of the Bolter Chimera in this edition (we don't use FW). I definitely tend to focus on the transport part.  The dual HF are great because it keeps choppy units away from the passengers.  I just advance that baby toward the nearest objective, pop smoke, and then shooters tend to ignore it as well.

Why don't you guys use FW?

[oldmanlee]

Anyone one had any success with a chimera based list this edition or is the taurox prime just so much better?

[olcottr]

Just trying to be fair to those who can't afford it.

[WarriorFish]

With the strength in numbers of Guardsmen I'm not sold on Chimeras as they stand, I just think of the extra squads I could get for the cost. Taurox gain the most compared to before but I think it suffers much the same fate as the Chimera, so that's probably more a comment on how rubbish it was The Prime has merit I reckon, but it might need the right list - I'd be interested to hear more of how it performs from those who've used it a bit.

 

It feels a little weird, but they seem better as weapons platforms aimed at throwing as many dice around as they can? Flamer Chimeras are nice, albeit pricier but if you want to ferry a unit (or more) around to leap out shooting at full effectiveness probably worth a go. I wasn't particularly heavy on Chimera use in 7th but it I'm not seeing that much benefit over putting more troopers (and other things) on the table so that's my preference currently.

 

It's a shame as the Chimera is beloved for good reason. Perhaps the full codex will give them some rounding off, even if it's basic things like shaving a few points off and letting Officers in or nearby use it as a vox?

[duz_]

Giving chimeras back mobile command vehicle would be great

[WarriorFish]

Also the Amphibious rule. Nobody used it but that's not the point

[Halfpint100]

I use 3 twin flamer chimeras and they are great! With 3 he'll hounds. Tank swarming!

[Mitchverr]

Giving chimeras back mobile command vehicle would be great

 

Also I would throw in Centaurs under this for command vehicle/flag bubble, its an open top/back vehicle, get those flags flying out the back of it with command squads and give it some usage :D

[TheTrans]

Just trying to be fair to those who can't afford it.

Reasoning is a little unsound is this day and age mate.. all 40k is horridly expensive... and conversions are a thing.. but each gaming group to their own. 

[CoffeeGrunt]

Yeah, I'd personally just kitbash a twin HB onto the turret mantlet to be the Gryphonne. You don't actually have to buy it, same as my Autocannon Chimerae are a special case.

[Withershadow]

 

Just trying to be fair to those who can't afford it.

Reasoning is a little unsound is this day and age mate.. all 40k is horridly expensive... and conversions are a thing.. but each gaming group to their own. 

 

Is that like not bringing kush to the party because everyone else is used to reggie? :D

[zero88]

Are the forgeworld Chimeras only available for DKoK? Or can they be taken by any regiment? Same for the alternate hellhound? Thanks Edited September 8, 2017 by zero88

[duz_]

Hrmm, might not be the best place for this one, but its somewhat pertinent to my question.

 

As I imgaine many people have done I kitted most (2/3) of my Chimeras with ML's/HB's as S6 still had its advantages in 7th (eg. wounding T4 on 2's).

However in 8th with the changes to the wounding table S5 vs S6 only really matters at T10+, which right now I am not sure what unit actually has such a profile, and T3-, which I don't often face. 

 

I've always found the Multi Laser somewhat lack luster and it rarely did any damage in 7th for me. I'm wondering since the HB gives you AP-1 would you be better off running a HB / HB Chimera vs the "traditional" ML / HB. Your more likley to cause a wound to a MEQ and TEQ as a result, and for those T3 units most have a crummy save anyways so AP-1 is arguably better than wounding on a 2+ vs 3+. 

 

I guess this is my punishment for not magnetising them... I wish the HB turret didn't look so terrible though!

[zero88]

It depends on the target, but as a general rule of thumb I'd say yes the HB is superior. Against a termagaunt/cultist equivalent the ML will be better since the 2 to W is better than ignoring their already almost non-existent save. Vs a T5 unit it's really a draw between the rend and being easier to wound. And vs T6 the ML might be a little better, but again it's more of a draw than anything else. The undisputed more effectiveness of a HB vs T4 is what sinks the ML for good IMO.