Questions On The Pesky "new" Stuff And Ig, I stopped at 2009 -something

[gunship]

Well, everything seems to work slightly different nowdays compared to the last generation rules and codex. While I've read a lot and thought about what things might be different, there are still a number of things I have no experience with.

Here we go:
Vox casters. They seem useful, similar to the old standard, no? Getting re-rolls for orders seem useful for 5 pts - especially since the master vox is no longer needed.

camo-netting: improves on cover saves for viechles? In practice, how often do you use a lot of cover for viechles? With all the squads and such giving cover, I can imagine the "old" cover situation has changed.

Medi packs: feel no pain is really good, no? Do you feel it gives you something, or is the command squads doing it wrong when they benefit from it?

Probably more to follow.

[Leinad-Yor]

Welcome back...

Vox Casters... will actually cost you at least 10pts, 5 for the squad giving the order and 5 for the squad receiving. In my experience I've only found them worth the points when you combine multiple squads, with a 20 or 30 man blob a single Vox will make it much more likely that your orders will go through. it's not really worth it for 10 man squads unless they happen to be vets and you really want to make sure they can take out that tank or make your opponent reroll their cover saves when you shoot them with plasma love.

Camo Netting... an expensive upgrade that only works when the vehicle's hull at least 50% blocked from line of sight by terrain or another vehicle. I'm afraid that infantry no longer block line of sight to vehicles as they are such large targets. Ogryn may be the exception due to their size but I'm not sure on that one.

Medi-packs.... now this is a tough one, firstly it's not cheap and any weapon of str6 or higher ignores it. For those really expensive command squads like ones with Creed and Kell and maybe a few advisers it would be worth the points along with camo cloaks or carapace armor. I usually see a medic put into Plasma squads to help with over heats, but personally I just throw in the extra plasma gun and hope for the best.

I hope this helps and as you know we're more than happy to help if you have any questions.

Lein

[Pax Urbis Pax Imperi]

Moved to a more appropriate spot. Leinad-Yor has the right of it, carry on.

[gunship]

ah, well, I just re-read the rules following Leinad-Yor's post, and I have to agree. I'm already sliding back to the good old Imperial Guard way: No fancy stuff, just lasguns, heavy bolters, lascannons and battletanks. With the possible exception of a melta bomb on my rough-rider sarge, and such.

[Pax Urbis Pax Imperi]

Well, give Vendettas and Psyker Battle Squads a try. They are shining jewels in our crown.

[gunship]

Might have gone vendetta, but I'm not seeing myself buying more than maybe the odd blister for the near future. I could probably scratch build one though, but that's a lot of work, and I have all my modelling stuff mothballed atm.

I'm more intending to use what I already have (plenty enough ) and just go for a few games at my local shop.

[D503]

Penal legion are absolute gold.

Flanking, scoring, maybe rending... 80points? Yep. I ALWAYS take 2 squads. Even in mech lists.

[Warmaster Luthar Reak]

Forget about vox casters. In the last codex they atleast functioned in a logical manor representing communication between a squad and their commanding officer. In the new codex this backpack sized long ranged radio can only function inside the officers LD bubble. We may as well be using smoke signals....

Medi packs can be fun if you go all plasma, but then I can't really stand the idea of making what should be the cortex of your entire army into a glorified special weapons squad.

You have the right of it, Gunship. Rifles, heavy weapons, some armor, and a bit of air support is all you need. A little arty if your feeling spicy. That's what makes us great.

[Makoto]

If You keep command squads cheap (ie. not as special weapons squad accompanied by an officer) and aren't feeling too keen on orders consider using command squads as bubblewrap - 5 men will hold an assault squad for a phase just the same as 10 would, and You'll lose less firepower this way.