WH40K game Strike Force Agastus

[Marshal Reinhard]

9 hours ago, EnsignJoker said:

Oh I was hoping someone would ask…

 

The price is ridiculous. Releasing the box two weeks before a pricing increase. Releasing the box so late into the marine edition and so close to the next edition. The inclusion of Heavy Intercessors after two consecutive battleforces included them. The missile launchers look terrible on the Intercessors. The names of the launchers are uninspired. The frag version is unnecessary in a marine army. Further bundling of new models in a large battle box. Two giant Ultramarines transfer sheets that are useless to other chapter players. The dreadnought doesn’t look much different to a regular redemptor to warrant it being a dedicated close combat dread. 
 

Do you want me to keep going?

Feel like a fair bit of these are quite nitpicky... like the names of the weapons or the fact that it has ultramarine transfers ( i mean at this point what'd you expect?)... also what'd warrant the dread being dedicated close combat in your view if I may ask?

 

However that doesn't take away from any of the complaints you listed that aren't nitpicks so I still think you have your point without em

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Every kit comes with Ultramarines transfers so …

[Orange Knight]

I think there has been some excessive negativity in the recent conversation, and a lot of it isn't really warranted.

 

Remember, you don't have to buy this boxset. After some time all the kits inside will be available separately.

 

If you find yourself getting upset or angry over transfer sheets, then it's time to take a step back. Funny enough I collect Ultramarines for the Horus Heresy, and all the kits in that game come with Imperial Fists and Sons of Horus transfers - I ended up having to buy transfer sheets for Ultramarines on ebay!

 

As for releasing these models close to the next edition, I really don't understand why this is a problem?

[DesuVult]

Unless missile boys are aggressively priced I'd probably mark them down as actually bad.  The frags and indirect are pretty much useless.  So you are paying for the marine body and 1 shot.  D3+3 damage was impressive at the start of this edition but has since been crept.  In an exchange against a Rogal Dorn on average 10 of these guys will fail to bracket it and lose 7 on the return fire.

[FarFromSam]

Man... these dummies still look awful.  Have they grown on anyone else?   They need a 90's crossfire commercial to hype em to 9 year olds.

[lhg033]

2 hours ago, Maritn said:

 

People had problems with belt fed missile launchers, but putting the thing you have to aim precisely on the enemy on the backpack while the thing that can be fired in the air is in the hands is what people are okay with?!?  

 

PS: I'm still not saying that the current design is the greatest of all time. I would have preferred a shoulder carried ML with the castellan on the backpack.

This - Castellan on the back would make more sense (I know, toy soldiers / don't apply too much logic etc), get rid of the belt feed and have the more 'precise' weapon as hand held so it can be directly aimed.
The only issue I would see with this is they may look like they nicked the missile pod from a Redemptor.

[Karhedron]

2 hours ago, DesuVult said:

In an exchange against a Rogal Dorn on average 10 of these guys will fail to bracket it and lose 7 on the return fire.

 

Only 2 units in the game have T9 at the moment and they are quite a big deal for this very reason. By comparison, 8 Eradicators will only just bracket a Dorn within 12" and will fail to bracket it at 12-24". They cannot harm it at all outside 24" while the Desolators can shoot 48". Marines are not equipped with too many goo options for dealing with T9 at the moment.

[Bryan Blaire]

Given that the WHC article indicates that the Castellan launcher actually shoots “bomblets”, the direct fire nature of the hand-gripped weapon makes even less sense.  The article indicates:

”The belt-fed castellan launcher saturates the sky with guided bomblets that rain down on the enemy wherever they hide.”

 

So if the weapon system must absolutely be different than a missile launcher, then with the above description in mind, it seems like it would actually make more sense to have the launcher be a small flat plate of tubes either thicker or longer than a bolt/heavy bolt round, side by side, about the width of the upper power plant portion between the large round vents/vent shrouds (or EVA thrusters, whatever you want to view them as) that can raise and lower on pistons to allow for target area selection, either danger-close in front of the Marine unit or higher up to fire indirectly at targets out of sight, similar to mortar operation.  Small loading arms would load the exhausted tubes with the bomblet-mounted launch vehicles (some kind of rocket propelled shell) from hoppers mounted to the power plant.

 

Alternatively, you could have two larger tubes off either side or mounted on the back of the power plant, akin to modern mortars, that fire larger shells armed with more bomblets at a time, which have their shells dropped directly into the top of them like modern mortars.  These could also have piston arms to allow them to alter their angle of fire to target the enemy similar to the above smaller launcher.

 

More sensibly, the weapon the Desolators should have been armed with is a Missile Launcher, and it could fire two missiles a round - one Superfrag AtI missile or one Superkrak AtV missile, and then a second Castellan missile.  The latter can be fired at an enemy that is not visible to the firing unit.  If GW was dead-set on only allowing either Superfrag or Superkrak, then they could easily have implemented a WYSIWYG rule and forced people to model a single type of missile in the power plant hoppers (which would still arm the missile launcher either single missile at a time with a loading arm, or pass an entire magazine of missiles forward to the Marine).

Edited February 21, 2023 by Bryan Blaire

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

@Karhedron What about the heavy melta rifle though ?

[Triszin]

I realized I made this a while ago...

 

Look at my "cyclone" gravis launcher on the right

Might swap his storm bolter with a missle launcher from hh2.0

[Karhedron]

3 minutes ago, BLACK BLΠFLY said:

@Karhedron What about the heavy melta rifle though ?

 

True, they will improve things slightly but even so, they are still only S8 meaning only one-in-three hits will actually wound.

 

Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying Eradicators are bad. In fact they are arguably one of the Astartes' workhorse anti-tank units. I am simply pointing out that many units in the Marine lineup will struggle to deal with T9 targets. Desolators are certainly not the only anti-tank unit that will struggle against Dorns and Land Raiders.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

How about 3-4 devcents with twin lascannons ?

[Mr. Oddity]

I'm planning on picking up the box through my FLGS, but I'm probably in the minority when I say I'm excited for all the models present. My end goal for my Primaris has always been a full battle company and everything in the box lines up with my plans. That said, I'm mainly looking forward to the kitbashing and conversion opportunities this box gives rather than the out-of-the-box builds. Missile launchers have always been a favorite of mine, and a lot of the ideas thrown around to modify the Desolation squad have been pretty interesting. The price isn't ideal, but it's GW we're talikng about. FLGS discounts will help out there at least.

 

I definitely understand where some of the disappointment around this box is coming from, and everyone is entitled to their opinion on it. Personally, I think this box is an excellent challenge to converters and I look forward to seeing what people can do with the parts and inspiration this box set will give.

[Orange Knight]

19 minutes ago, EnsignJoker said:

I do have a problem with GWs current business practices. I’m absolutely allowed to voice those concerns and draw lines connecting those complaints to this box, which is a garbage offering for the price they’re demanding compared to previous releases over the years. 
 

Don’t know what else to tell you to explain why the box is a mess in my opinion. 
 

edit: anyone who is happy with the box is more than welcome to bypass or block my posts. Opinions people, we all have them. Enjoy the models. 

 

Erm, the box still offers a saving over those units if bought separately?

 

I'm not sure I see what the issue is.

 

And yes, GW stuff is expensive but we all know that. I don't see why this particular box has broken the camel's back, so to speak lol

[Karhedron]

1 hour ago, BLACK BLΠFLY said:

How about 3-4 devcents with twin lascannons ?

 

If we go by the original rumour that Desolators are 35ppm then for 350 points you could buy 5 Dev Cents. They would average 9-10 wounds with their lascannons which would be enough to bracket a Dorn. You might get a few extra wounds with the Missile launchers too. On the face of it. Dev Cents are one of the best anti-tank units in the codex at the moment.

 

However bare in mind that Lascannons are currently a free upgrade for Dev Cents and they may well go back to having to pay for them again in 10th edition. Of course Centurions are almost as contentious model-wise as Desolators but that is another matter. 

[Orange Knight]

I think worries about performance right now are pretty moot. Astartes are playing with power levels in matched play until the next edition arrives. 

 

It's a nice way of driving some more sales leading up to 10th as everyone's army can be a lot bigger in a 2k bracket.

 

I probably won't be done with painting these until 10th is already here, so I'm not too worried about comparisons between units.

[firestorm40k]

I've not seen any comments related to the price value of the contents - I wonder if the Desolation Squad will be sold in boxes of 5 (there appear to be 2 Sergeants in this set), so assuming they're a similar price to Heavy Intercessors, and that the Brutalis will cost the same as a Redemptor, I think it works out at about £185 individually. So it's a reasonable saving - if my guesstimates aren't far off 

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

2 minutes ago, firestorm40k said:

I've not seen any comments related to the price value of the contents - I wonder if the Desolation Squad will be sold in boxes of 5 (there appear to be 2 Sergeants in this set), so assuming they're a similar price to Heavy Intercessors, and that the Brutalis will cost the same as a Redemptor, I think it works out at about £185 individually. So it's a reasonable saving - if my guesstimates aren't far off 

 

There are two sergeants shown in the photos, but that's partially due to the fact that if they'd built one of those in their optional "battle-brother" build, then they wouldn't have been able to include the second rocket launcher variant. The entire squad needs to be given either the frag or krak variant (in typical Primaris fashion). Thus, both Sergeant-optional models were built as Sergeants. But the squad can also be made up of nine battle-brothers and one sergeant.

[Brother Captain Arkley]

I would say the Desolation Squad is more comparable to Hellblasters...

[WrathOfTheLion]

12 minutes ago, Brother Captain Arkley said:

I would say the Desolation Squad is more comparable to Hellblasters...

I'd normally expect so, but given the typical 30-35% savings off of the retail value GW likes to do, the only thing that makes sense is that they will cost around what a box of Intercessors/Hellblasters does, and only have five in a box.

[Brother Captain Arkley]

1 minute ago, WrathOfTheLion said:

I'd normally expect so, but given the typical 30-35% savings off of the retail value GW likes to do, the only thing that makes sense is that they will cost around what a box of Intercessors/Hellblasters does, and only have five in a box.

Dear god I hope you are wrong.

 

As it stands we are looking at a "free Lt" For the £120? All things being priced the same?

 

Dreadnought £42.50, Desolation Squad £36, Heavy Intercessors £40, Lt £24. £142.50 Total.

[lansalt]

Besides the Desolation Squad design issues, this box is just terribly overpriced and bad value even compared to other GW products. For a little more money you could buy the HH Age of Darkness starter with a lot more minis, including a Contemptor and a Spartan.

Sometimes GW releases are just too much even for their own expensive standards (like the Necron royal court being one sprue for 90€)

[WrathOfTheLion]

3 minutes ago, Brother Captain Arkley said:

Dear god I hope you are wrong.

 

As it stands we are looking at a "free Lt" For the £120? All things being priced the same?

 

Dreadnought £42.50, Desolation Squad £36, Heavy Intercessors £40, Lt £24. £142.50 Total.

I do too, I think it's a big mistake if they're in fives, as they should be priced at least somewhat to shift to make up for folks not being as enamored with how they look. Pricing them that high is a bad move, but it's the only thing that makes sense given how these boxes are normally constructed. That, or it was originally supposed to have a Codex/Cards in it, and they dropped those and left the price as is.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I’m only interested in the dread so I’ll prolly use eBay to acquire one.

[lansalt]

I like kitbashing, so I'lI get the Lt. for its bits from somebody selling it second hand.