Sword Brethren!

[redmapa]

Now that almost everything is out there in terms of the new rules and our place in the new codex I'd like to get the ball rolling and discuss our rules, get your ideas and see what has worked for you guys and what can work in the future.

 

So Sword Brethren seem to not have changed much in points or rules but what did change was the characters that supported them, Marshalls no longer grant a Crit Hits bonus to their units and if Im honest they just seem very lacklustre as a Character, I cant see a situation where I'd want a Marshall vs one more Castellan or a Captain.

 

Speaking of Castellans, they seem to be really good and one of the few remaining sources of rerolls in the codex, they got a bit of a sidegrade compared to their previous rules BUT the context of the codex makes them feel more valuable than what they used to be, rerolling 1s to hit and wound in a unit that hits on 2s like Sword Brethren sounds too good to pass up.

 

So Im not sure what would be the best way to buff a Sword Bro squad beyond each getting a Castellan, maybe a Captain+Castellan  or just Helbrecht,  because I think it will also depend on the detachments,  if youre not taking Accept Any Challenge then Chaplains also gain more value.

 

I would like to hear your thoughts on Sword Brethren, we may not have the whole picture but I think we know enough to start a discussion and once we get the full rules in the weekend we can have a better idea. I think that unless you are running A LOT of Sword Brethren that running just small squads with character support seems like the way to go but personally I am building a list of at least 20 so 2x5 and 1x10 with Helbrecht and 2 Castellans and with the 5++ invuln enhancement on the big  squad.

 

How do you like them Sword Bros?

[Adeptekon]

Any luck with this? Sorry I cannot contribute to this discussion since I don't play, but am curious as to the rules on their swords. Can you field them with different types of swords? or does it make a difference at all? 

[redmapa]

15 hours ago, Adeptekon said:

Any luck with this? Sorry I cannot contribute to this discussion since I don't play, but am curious as to the rules on their swords. Can you field them with different types of swords? or does it make a difference at all? 

 

From the various reviews their rules seem to be mostly unchanged, their wargear is the same as it is now so you choose between chainswords, power weapons and now for every 4 in a squad you can get 1 pair of lighting claws and 1 with a thunder hammer. 

 

The real change that affects Sword Brethren is that Marshalls lost their Crits on 5+s so now Sword Brethren arent spiking as hard as they used to, someone on reddit did the math on SB vs BGV and they were almost equal in damage iirc but BGV are also more tanky so they seem to be more useful now that Sword Brethren more glass than cannon.

 

Im still going to use Sword Brethren and I do admit they took a hit but I dont think they are a bad unit, we have access to +1T through Grimaldus and a 5++ enhancement, theres ways to mitigate their weaknesses, you could also run them as 4 man squads with a character and just throw them as suicide units, they are not that expensive in small squads and should hit like brick.

[Adeptekon]

I would think SB should hit really hard, but not be glass canons.

[Adeptekon]

So I did a quick glance looks like Toughness of 4 is fairly standard? I'm speaking from a rpg perspective that I think they should be mid in defense and great at offensive. Part of the defense would be their swordmanship, the ability to dodge and parry etc. I'll let someone else pick this up who actually plays.

[Sete]

Quick question, did our neophytes in the crusader squad lost acess to their bolters? 

[redmapa]

3 hours ago, Sete said:

Quick question, did our neophytes in the crusader squad lost acess to their bolters? 

 

Huh, yeah you are right Neophytes dont have bolters as per Hellstorm Wargaming review, I havent seen the app because I dont really use it but it could be an error in GWs document.

 

[Sete]

The app does not list them. 

[Kilamandaros]

New rules look pretty dire tbh, we're much better off using generic space marines rules than our own, which really sucks. It was kind of heading that way in 10th but even more so now. Most egregious change is the sword brother detachment being themed around the 'marshal's household' yet the marshal's new rule is totally useless with SB! Lazy design from GW, can only hope for improvement with a formal codex release (I've heard all divergent chapters are getting rolled into one codex so maybe not too long a wait).