Legions Imperialis & Epic hobby chat!

[Cadmus Tyro]

 

Well, I thought I would join you guys and dip my toe into LI….what do you reckon? 
 

Still trying to decide if I actually enjoyed the process! 
 

Cadmus
 

 

Spoiler

Learnt a few lessons along the way, blue came out too dark, oil washing is difficult to control! 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 9 by Cadmus Tyro

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

Hmm...I still have four Kratos tanks to do and wanted to pair the meltagun turret with the lascannons instead.

[SkimaskMohawk]

1 hour ago, Deus_Ex_Machina said:

Hmm...I still have four Kratos tanks to do and wanted to pair the meltagun turret with the lascannons instead.

 

In game terms, it's probably one of the weaker combinations. You really take the melta to shoot buildings, you need to be super close to shoot the melta, and you want to move fast to get super close. Lascannons also bounce off the building, while heavy bolters can split fire.

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

3 hours ago, SkimaskMohawk said:

 

In game terms, it's probably one of the weaker combinations. You really take the melta to shoot buildings, you need to be super close to shoot the melta, and you want to move fast to get super close. Lascannons also bounce off the building, while heavy bolters can split fire.

Sure but you can scare the hell out of titans and any tanks which end up with you in the midfield. Once I collect more Predators they will advance on turn 1 and keep on First Fire orders for the rest of the game making use of the IH tank trait. The Sicarans (Omega Plasma Destroyers) and Kratos (Meltagun) will keep moving around to get their turret weapon into position. Taking the Kratos Battlecannon longer ranged shot to hunt SA battle tanks won´t cut it as it has no ASM and SA tanks save on 2+.

[Oxydo]

1 hour ago, Deus_Ex_Machina said:

Sure but you can scare the hell out of titans and any tanks which end up with you in the midfield. Once I collect more Predators they will advance on turn 1 and keep on First Fire orders for the rest of the game making use of the IH tank trait. The Sicarans (Omega Plasma Destroyers) and Kratos (Meltagun) will keep moving around to get their turret weapon into position. Taking the Kratos Battlecannon longer ranged shot to hunt SA battle tanks won´t cut it as it has no ASM and SA tanks save on 2+.

The Kratos battlecannon is 20" 2 shots 4+ AP-1 though.

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

1 hour ago, Oxydo said:

The Kratos battlecannon is 20" 2 shots 4+ AP-1 though.

My bad. I thought it was AP 0. Hmm...it´s anti-tank shot is as powerful as the meltagun. Weird. Seems the battlecannon is really the better alternative even when hunting titans as bunker buster only is efficient against structures. Good that I haven´t build it yet.

[Pacific81]

Those Kratos look lovely @Cadmus Tyro - I have just been making u a few of those myself, it's a great little kit.

 

Just a small update, but I finished off a few Aeldari Dark Reapers

 

 

[Burni]

How are people feeling about the board size after a few games? Does 6x4 spread things out too far? Is the suggested 5x4 the right size? Anyone tried 4x4?

[DuskRaider]

1 hour ago, Burni said:

How are people feeling about the board size after a few games? Does 6x4 spread things out too far? Is the suggested 5x4 the right size? Anyone tried 4x4?

I’m playing my first game this weekend and I might break my Titanicus RoB board out but that’s only 4x4. I’m really hoping they release new tiles or at the very least re-release the ones I have now so I can pick a couple more up to have a 6x4. 

[Interrogator Stobz]

I find 5x4 to be OK. It allows things that paid points for good ranged weapons to use them for a turn. 

Although when playing diagonally my short ranged dudes struggled to get relevant until mid game...even with loads of terrain.

[Pacific81]

I've played 4x4 and 5x4 and in both games it seemed pretty cramped, I think just because you have so many more units on the table than in previous editions (even 1500 feels like a large game) that then removes some of the flanking and positional elements of the previous games.

 

Did find though that if you have a lot of buildings that helps it feel less cramped - as suddenly that detachment of 10 stands is represented by just a couple positioned on the building. I am guessing thats why they went for 5x4 as you have a space on your 6x4 tabletop to array the garrisoned units and you could end up with a good portion of stuff either in buildings or in reserve. (As a side note I wish they had included that reasoning in the text of the rulebook as to a lot of veteran players who view such peculiar choices with a weary cynicism it just came across as "we have done this just to be awkward :cuss")

 

Edit: I did not use a strong word above (rhymes with bats), the swear filter here is hilariously prissy

Edited February 24 by Pacific81

[LameBeard]

I think the word that rhymes with bats is still quite rude round my way. Try “twits”.  And channel Alan Rickman in that Robin Hood movie when you say it.

 

And I agree on the table size thing. They explained 4x4 in Titanicus. I know I sound like I’m on repeat but I really appreciate the style of that rule book more and more. I’m working in parallel on my Defensor Warlord and some Emperors Children for LI and have the support box on pre-order (ha!) .

 

I wonder if what I might do it try to play Titanicus with some home-brew rules for adding tanks and infantry (a bit like original Space Marine started in White Dwarf) instead of piling into all the LI campaign books.

[Interrogator Stobz]

Absolutely AT is miles better!.

And there is still 4 points of granularity for Strength of weapons under what is needed to drop Voids.

Plenty of room for Super Heavies, Tanks, Walkers, Infantry...

[DuskRaider]

Welp… I played my first game last night… kinda. We got through a single round before we had to wrap it up. 
 

A few things… I thought I had a lot of infantry… I don’t. I fielded 3 max units of Tactical Marines and ended up proxying my Missile and Plasma Marines in to make the numbers. I also only had enough Terminators for 2 full units and half the third so I just skipped on that one. 
 

Infiltrate is annoying. My buddy played a Pioneer Formation with Rapiers right outside my Deployment Zone and that was pretty obnoxious, not to mention starting the game on the middle Objective. 
 

I found it easier to just take down the whole damn building with a unit hiding in it. The Kratos Melta comes in handy for that, as does a Reaver. 
 

Fliers are a pain in the neck and I can’t imagine how people deal with them without having to field their own. 
 

One question, and I think I know the answer: you can’t start the game garrisoning a building, can you? I didn’t think you could but my buddy did and it allowed him to set up firing squads in the buildings and First Fire. 

[SkimaskMohawk]

13 minutes ago, DuskRaider said:

Welp… I played my first game last night… kinda. We got through a single round before we had to wrap it up. 
 

A few things… I thought I had a lot of infantry… I don’t. I fielded 3 max units of Tactical Marines and ended up proxying my Missile and Plasma Marines in to make the numbers. I also only had enough Terminators for 2 full units and half the third so I just skipped on that one. 
 

Infiltrate is annoying. My buddy played a Pioneer Formation with Rapiers right outside my Deployment Zone and that was pretty obnoxious, not to mention starting the game on the middle Objective. 
 

I found it easier to just take down the whole damn building with a unit hiding in it. The Kratos Melta comes in handy for that, as does a Reaver. 
 

Fliers are a pain in the neck and I can’t imagine how people deal with them without having to field their own. 
 

One question, and I think I know the answer: you can’t start the game garrisoning a building, can you? I didn’t think you could but my buddy did and it allowed him to set up firing squads in the buildings and First Fire. 

 

Ya I have a ton of infantry too, that makes up about 500 points total lol. I feel the pain of painting and basing only to be like "that's it?".

 

Rapiers in pioneer are incredibly good. So are tarantulas, but rapiers really bring the pain.

 

Bad news on the flyers. You either need a bunch of shots that march the range bands to overwatch....or flyers. So las kratos/pred/dread for xiphons and bombers, vanquishers for hellstrike spam. 

 

Unfortunately there's no good answer to infiltrating in buildings. Page 72 says:

 

"Infantry Detachments can be deployed Garrisoned within a Structure, so long as the Structure is completely within the player’s deployment zone."

 

But infiltrate says:

 

"players take it in turns, starting with the player who has control of the battlefield, to deploy an Infiltrating Detachment anywhere on the battlefield outside of the opposing player’s deployment zone. " 

 

Structures are terrain, terrain is part of the battlefield, and you're told you can go anywhere. So there's a conflict, and there's no Basic vs. Advanced section in the rules to tell us which has more weight. 

 

Funny that he used first fire though. It just tells you right away that they're vulnerable to a charge and won't walk out of range if you screw up the sequence.

[DuskRaider]

Yeah, I wasn’t too thrilled with it and I had my entire squadron of Sicarans wiped out before they did anything by Rapiers hiding in a bunker, but the Melta Kratos made short work of it. 
 

I figured that you would have to use your first turn to move your troops into a building but it seems to be pretty vague on that part. I ended up doing that myself, it just seemed like the right thing. 
 

I will say, the Death Guard trait came in handy to keep him from going into too many buildings near my Deployment though. Making 4 buildings Dangerous Terrain right from the start prevented him from being too aggressive with his Infiltration and allowed me some breathing room down the middle. 
 

The Conversion Beam hat for the Reaver is also a really nice choice for picking off targets from afar and starts the game pretty powerful. It was able to cook a Lancer down to one wound in a single shooting turn so I think that might be a mainstay for my Reaver. 
 

Edit: my buddy found a good Reddit thread on the Infiltrate and buildings subject:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/LegionsImperialis/s/V71PrAlsaV

Edited February 25 by DuskRaider

[SkimaskMohawk]

It certainly talks about page 72 lol. But a lot of the interpretation leans on the basic vs advance/general vs. specific mechanics that aren't part of LI. 

[Pacific81]

I finished off some Kratos tanks. I've tried to 'edge-lord' them up a bit by accessorising the tanks with bits - some helmets on spikes (Quiet at the back before anyone says about how the turrets will rotate fully!) and corpses scattered liberally, both lots of minis are courtesy of Vanguard Miniatures. 

 

 

[malika666]

Finally got my 32mm bases ready!

STL's here: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/32mm-round-bases-for-6mm-8mm-miniatures-tech-shanty-texture

Designed for various scifi 6mm / 8mm scaled tabletop wargames, these bases are perfect for mounting cavalry, light vehicles, or objectives.

Not counting the many details, these bases are about 2.25mm thick.

This kit contains the following parts:
- 10x 32mm diameter round bases
- 10x 32mm diameter round bases with 4x holes of 6.10mm
- 40x 5.80mm diameter inserts for holes in the bases (texture matching the base)
- 40x 5.80mm diameter inserts for holes in the bases (matching texture + additional details bits on top)

Please do not share or sell these files (including prints and remixes) without my written permission.

Note that the final picture with the Squid Drones and Warbikes on top only shows what can be done with these bases. Squid Drones and Warbikes are not included in this kit!

[Burni]

For the Tiny Warmaster! Death to the Diddy False Emperor!

 

Finally finished my first batch. Been trying to settle on a scheme that's quick, straightforward and reproducible for Sons of Horus (who I've never painted before). I wanted it slightly brighter than normal SoH as I think that looks better at LI scale on the table (the studio Blood Angels for example look great in their photography).

 

I settled on Sybarite Green washed with Coelia Greenshade and drybrushed with Guass Blaster Green and then touched up on the flat surfaces with Sybarite. The mix of lighting temperatures in the photos aren't helping but I think it looks pretty decent and definitely good enough for the table.

 

Now I know what I'm doing, I'm hoping to quickly start going through everything I have (spraying weather permitting). Marine Infantry are next, already done a test mini (dropping the drybrush/retouch step on the infantry as it's not really needed).

 

Edited February 28 by Burni

[Crablezworth]

On 2/25/2024 at 9:57 AM, DuskRaider said:

Welp… I played my first game last night… kinda. We got through a single round before we had to wrap it up. 
 

A few things… I thought I had a lot of infantry… I don’t. I fielded 3 max units of Tactical Marines and ended up proxying my Missile and Plasma Marines in to make the numbers. I also only had enough Terminators for 2 full units and half the third so I just skipped on that one. 
 

Infiltrate is annoying. My buddy played a Pioneer Formation with Rapiers right outside my Deployment Zone and that was pretty obnoxious, not to mention starting the game on the middle Objective. 
 

I found it easier to just take down the whole damn building with a unit hiding in it. The Kratos Melta comes in handy for that, as does a Reaver. 
 

Fliers are a pain in the neck and I can’t imagine how people deal with them without having to field their own. 
 

One question, and I think I know the answer: you can’t start the game garrisoning a building, can you? I didn’t think you could but my buddy did and it allowed him to set up firing squads in the buildings and First Fire. 

 

Infiltrate is honestly bumming me out. Between having RG and aux with pioneer, why does this game even have transports? But it is honestly nuts like, how can anyone design missions or scenarios if infiltrate isn't limited or contained at all? 

[DuskRaider]

3 hours ago, Crablezworth said:

 

Infiltrate is honestly bumming me out. Between having RG and aux with pioneer, why does this game even have transports? But it is honestly nuts like, how can anyone design missions or scenarios if infiltrate isn't limited or contained at all? 

We’ve decided that Infiltrating units cannot start the game in buildings outside of their deployment zone. That way they aren’t getting First Fire 1st turn and making things just… not fun. 
 

Then again like i said, if you remove the building that they’re in then you’ve eliminated the issue altogether. Infantry disappear pretty quickly in a building collapse. I got pretty lucky that my buddy invested so much in aircraft and (anti-infantry) tanks and as a result I outnumbered him by a large margin as well as fielded all anti-armor tanks. If the game continued I probably would have tabled him by turn 3 or so. 

[Crablezworth]

The thing is it gets even weird if a unit as forward deployment because the rules use a giant sentence that says the move can allow detachments to occupy building as normal, but there's nothing normal about a special move, nothing normal about non-infantry detachment occupying buildings, I've taken "as normal" to mean a structure entirely within the deployment zone but people have taken it as permission to move into an occupy structures outside of the deployment zone. 

 

I think ultimately it doesn't really matter as, often it is more beneficial for an infantry detachment to remain entirely behind a structure out of los than to occupy it and immediately be in los and now a target for long range demolisher weapons if any, like c beams. 

 

I'm not too invested either way in the arguments about occupying a structure because there is no guidance on how many structures should be present, or if there is and I've missed it, judging by people's boards, they did as well. 

 

Infiltrate is the biggest boogieman and it does sadly into the discussion on occupying structures because of how openly worded/permissive it is and can be interpreted. But worse than that is just, it starts a race to the bottom because it's not in fact expensive or difficult to take a bare bones pioneer company as an allie even if running marines and it's always a very effective usage of the points. The less said about my raven guard the better, I don't hate infiltrate, I just wish it wasn't handed out like candy for nothing or very low tax.  

[DuskRaider]

I think placing a restriction on starting in buildings that are outside of your DZ is a fair compromise. If they want to survive being further up the board and closer to your main army then so be it, but they generally have three real options: stand out in the open and get fragged Turn One, hide behind buildings and have no LoS or garrison a structure and potentially face going down with it when it’s inevitably destroyed. 
 

I do agree that there needs to be some kind of hard limit to Infiltrate, especially when it’s hands down better than 99% of the other Traits, but if it’s going to be done then it needs to be done by GW themselves. This just seems like another game where they didn’t really playtest it enough and they’re kinda running the beta version in the wild with us being the testers. It’s head scratching with some of the rules, such as Auxilia infantry with Rend or better CC prowess than even Terminators who are literally equipped with Chainfists and Power Fists, but it is what it is. 

[Pacific81]

It's another one of those areas in the game that makes you think Legions didn't get much playtesting. Because otherwise, literally in your first game you would have seen how hilarious it would be to have a gunline of stuff appearing right opposite a deployment zone (completely removing any tactical decision making with respect to having to manoeuvre, giving massive advantage with objective capture) and thought "ok no we need to tone this down a bit".

 

It will be interesting how comp tournaments manage it (if anyone is attempting those) as its clearly one of the most effective ways to win a game - at least in local/friendly games you can house rule it.