Any viable Wardog Moirax combos?

[PeteySödes]

Love the look and uniqueness of the guns these guys have but im not seeing too much love for them lately. Was trying to theorycraft some stuff just for fun but was curious if anyone found any interesting niches for them.

 

One idea was either a double volkite floating around a castigator to pull sustained hits at range. Similarly potentially using 2 with claw and gun in the same way but then being able to use protection protocols to punish anything that tries to get them stuck, the siege claws seem pretty decent against chonky stuff.

 

I really want to like the lightning locks as well but with the fiefdom the brigand chaincannon seems to outclass it in almost every way.

 

Anyone tried anything cool? I want to like them so bad!

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Keep in mind that I have never played any of the Imperial Armour knights nor, until now, ever given any consideration on how I would do so or what their rules are.  Plus, I wasn't able to find the point costs, so its difficult to do a true "apples to apples" comparison.  In other words, what I say now is based purely on my last 1/2 hour spent comparing their datasheets and doing a bit of math around the weapons on their datasheets.

 

Given the above, I agree with your conclusion - the Moirax weapons just don't (with the exception of the siege claw) measure up against their competitors on the index wardogs - they particularly suffer from having abysmal AP.   To a certain extent, it can be said that the IA wardog weapons are all more "generalist" than the index ones - but to me they give up too much for that and you are better off choosing the more specialized but much better index weapons (to me its akin to the long suffering missile launcher with its double roles, and poor performance in both).  I suppose you can, to an extent, respecialise by taking two of the same weapon (which you can't do with the index wardogs except the executioner), but giving the weapons themselves are so lackluster, I think you are still better off going with the index wardogs - indeed, if you want 2 of the same gun, the executioner's autocannons are better than pretty much all of the IA guns in most roles.

 

As mentioned above, the exception is the siege claw, whose stats are exactly the same as those of the slaughterclaw on the index wardogs.  So, in terms of melee weapon, its a wash between the two.  Where it is different is that it has a built in rad cleanser (which has typical flamer stats except it is better against infantry and worse against anything else).  That said, given that the Moirax doesn't have a hull mounted stubber/havoc launcher option, rather than a free weapon the rad cleanser should be considered as a replacement for those.  As for which is better - my own personal preference is for the index options, but an argument can be made for the cleanser, especially for close in wardogs against horde armies (particularly orks, with their higher toughness) and it autohitting on overwatch.

 

That said, table top effectiveness is only part of the equation - you also need to go with what you think is most cool.  If you do want to play with the more effective rules, you could (with opponents consent) field the Moirax as an index wardog with its guns "counting as" the index options - or, if that isn't possible, magnetize it so you can swap between the index and IA weapons.

Edited January 8 by Dr_Ruminahui

[PeteySödes]

Heard, still was hoping there was some hidden gold in there but yea lots of good points in there. Hopefully they get some love, when i disappeared previously last ed some of those weapons were pretty nasty actually, I think some of the access to boosting with USRs seems to have stepped on their toes a bit.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I can't remember ever looking at their rules in 9th, but in addition to the USR difference it may be a part of the general retraction of GW from the IA stuff for 40K and them (IMHO) not wanting to create any "hidden gems" where players with a good knowledge of non-codex units have a leg up over players that don't (which was a problem in previous editions, where the best option was often not the codex unit but some FW one "hidden" in another book).

 

That said, I can understand the disappointment in taking a hit to effectiveness by fielding beloved "wierd" units from outside the codex, and how one might feel that being penalized by not being able to use them in tourneys and such and being outside the regular points/rules balancing process being enough of a hit.  Personally, I'm not sure why the IA weapons are as bad as they are - certainly I think they could all be one better AP without making them an obvious choice over the index options.  It might be also be a case of GW punishing the unit for its perceived sins (aka over effectiveness) of the past, which is almost certainly a thing - a good example of this is the CSM Discordant Lord, who was a fantastic deal in terms of points vs effectiveness when first released, and who has suffered from lackluster rules and high point costs ever since.

 

I might rate the Moirax a bit more highly if I thought more of the heroic intervention stratagem - which, to be fair, I may be unfairly biased against.  If you rate it more highly, some Moiraxs as counter-attack/screening elements for your big knight might have some value, even with their weaker shooting weapons.

Edited January 8 by Dr_Ruminahui