Intercessor Bolt Rifles - WYSIWYG in Competitive

[Schurge]

I'm assembling a fully magnetized Primaris Kill Team to potentially be expanded into an army in 9th. The Intercessor box comes with enough rifles to do a full squad of assault bolters and a full squad of one of the other types of rifle but not all three. Does anyone actually care in competitive play if I've got a unit of with regular bolters and a unit of stalker bolters being modeled with the same gun?

 

It's probably a stupid question but I've never played competitive and with my Chaos I just put every single weapon option on each model at the same time anyway . All my Berserkers have pistols chainswords and chainaxes... all my tacticals have bolters, pistols, and chainswords... etc.

[thewarriorhunter]

I don't play competitive but I don't mind proxies as long as it's clear, however as your opponent I would not want to be burdened with remember what unit is what. If they've both got the same gun modeled but you're calling them two different things I would be less than thrilled because now I have to remember which unit is what gun.

 

Also if you're going to be competing it's going to be up to the TO for what they allow, and what one event is OK with another one might say 'no'.

[Ishagu]

Typically one type is best depending on your chapter.

 

Generally the Auto Bolt Rifle is probably the best one in most cases.

 

Find which is best for you and equip accordingly. Don't proxy because it potentially gets confusing especially if you want to run different types in one list.

Edited June 16, 2020 by Ishagu

[Hymnblade]

Does anyone actually care in competitive play if I've got a unit of with regular bolters and a unit of stalker bolters being modeled with the same gun?

Stickler TOs might, yes.

 

You can magnetize the gun options though. 2mm x 1mm magnets are the perfect size.

[Dracos]

Much like most of the Tyranid line if you hand me a army sheet that says 20 bolt rifle Intercessors and you've modeled 10 bolt rifles and 10 stalker rifles I'm not going to take a second glance. Unless you also have another 10 Intercessors that your list says is 10 Stalker rifles. 

 

The auto bolt rifles are easier to eyeball the difference but honestly if your models and list dont create a confusion then Id never think about it, even at a tournament 

[Schurge]

Thanks for the input guys. Looks like I will magnetize the magazines too because I think I might want to run all three kinds in one list.

[Subtleknife]

I would say magnatise. Having done it myself it isnt hard. I have played a few games with magnatised ones as well and not one fell off which I was worried about. The way in which the parts of the model fit together provides a very sturdy fit and this is augmented by the magnet. Edited June 17, 2020 by Subtleknife

[Panzer]

For something like basic infantry weapons the vast majority of TOs and players doesn't care unless you play a weird list where you have a little bit of everything because then it would be a bit confusing.

WYSIWYG is mostly for something that has an actual impact on the game like whether something is a Lascannon or a Heavybolter etc.

[Ishagu]

The bolt rifles do have an impact, especially when it comes to things like character sniping.

 

TC frames this question in the context of competitive, and I would say that it does matter and will probably matter even more in future as competitive playing grows in popularity.

[BluejayJunior]

If you have one type of weapon portraying to different weapons, that is usually a problem. You have two squads with no clear indication of which weapon each has and just having to trust that both players are keeping straight which one is which. Not that I think you are trying to pull anything malicious, but your opponents may be more on guard as it were that you are trying to pull something on them. 

Most tournaments don't want different things looking the same. 

[painting.for.my.sanity]

I wouldn't be happy to face someone with a mix of vanilla and Stalker all represented by the same rifle in any setting, honestly - it'd just get confusing. In a friendly setting though, I'd personally have no issue if everyone had Stalkers, or everyone carried standard ones, even if you had the wrong scopes and magazines attached.

[leth]

Personally I wouldn’t know the difference between any of the variants other than one that would look like a sniper rifle. 
 

as long as it’s the same model for everything that has it? I would be cool with it. 

[Doghouse]

I'm currently just painting all the clip options on mine seperately and am going to try and swap them in and out as needed. I'll just keep them all in a seperate little tray. As long as I varnish the parts seperately and let them dry they should hold in place without the need for magnets.

[AenarIT]

Does anyone actually care in competitive play if I've got a unit of with regular bolters and a unit of stalker bolters being modeled with the same gun?

Yes. I play 100% WYSIWYG for the benefit of my opponent, using magnets whenever possible, and I kinda expect it to be the same from the other side. 

In a friendly pick-up game I'd probably let it slide, but in a tournament it would be a big no from me. 

[Panzer]

Personally I wouldn’t know the difference between any of the variants other than one that would look like a sniper rifle. 

 

as long as it’s the same model for everything that has it? I would be cool with it. 

 

Hah, in fact it wouldn't even do that. Literally the only difference between the Stalker Bolt rifle and the regular Bolt rifle is that one has a curved magazine and the other one has a straight magazine. The Assault Bolt rifle is actually the most noticeable one with the round magazine. ;) 

[Sloeberjong]

Yeah, I didn't even know wich was which when assembling them, well except the assault variant of which I didn't like the look of. So I have no assault bolt rifles and a mix of heavy and regular. No one at my club cares, they don't see the difference on the table anyway. At tourneys I don't know. I don't use the assault variant since I have none and the others haven't been an issue. 

 

If you make the units markings different enough and it's written down on your list it's not too big a deal I guess. 

[Aarik]

I could be wrong, but the Intercessor box should have more than enough options to equip the whole squad with each of the three types of bolt rifle.  Each 5-man sprue comes with 5x each of the three magazine types, plus some other arm variants holding different types of bolt rifle.

 

But I wouldn't be fussed about non-WYSIWYG, just do your best to make it as simple as possible.  E.g., this squad has WYSIWYG auto bolt rifles, these other squads of stalker and regular are just regular.  Or these are all X variant, despite what they look like.

[tychobi]

In a tournament you need to read the fine print and check with a TO if you are not wysiwyg. Yes the bolter types matter and knowledgeable opponents know the difference. Mixing things could be taken as purposely confusing your opponent to gain advantage which is cheating. If you get called out mid game it is possible you would be penalized. Clarity is a must for competative play. This makes me sad sometimes as a lot of my collection is heavily modified and or not GW miniatures at all and most of my armies are now unnaccepted in my local tournaments.

[AenarIT]

In a tournament you need to read the fine print and check with a TO if you are not wysiwyg. Yes the bolter types matter and knowledgeable opponents know the difference. Mixing things could be taken as purposely confusing your opponent to gain advantage which is cheating. If you get called out mid game it is possible you would be penalized. Clarity is a must for competative play. This makes me sad sometimes as a lot of my collection is heavily modified and or not GW miniatures at all and most of my armies are now unnaccepted in my local tournaments.

Heavily modified stuff or non-GW miniatures are not an issue imho, while using GW parts proxying some other GW parts gets confusing.

[mel_danes]

Hah, in fact it wouldn't even do that. Literally the only difference between the Stalker Bolt rifle and the regular Bolt rifle is that one has a curved magazine and the other one has a straight magazine. The Assault Bolt rifle is actually the most noticeable one with the round magazine. ;)

The Stalker has a longer scope as well. It's a bit bigger that the standard Bolt Rifle.

[Panzer]

 

Hah, in fact it wouldn't even do that. Literally the only difference between the Stalker Bolt rifle and the regular Bolt rifle is that one has a curved magazine and the other one has a straight magazine. The Assault Bolt rifle is actually the most noticeable one with the round magazine.

The Stalker has a longer scope as well. It's a bit bigger that the standard Bolt Rifle.

 

 

Yeah but it's so minimal it's almost not noticeable unless you compare them side by side. :sweat: