For 300 points I can get a sergeant with relic blade and storm shield, a power axe and storm shield, a power sword and storm shield, a thunder hammer storm shield and finally a pair of lightning claws and jump packs and melta bombs for all.

The way I've used them recently is in a Storm Raven. 10 men WITHOUT Jump Packs and a Chaplain for Zealot with a couple of Power Fists. Works well to really finish off a crumbling flank, or support your centre.

I like that Stormraven loadout, @Sethis . Glad to see Chaplains are getting their good use again, Zealot was such a waste in 6th.

It would still be a Libby, ideally, but now you can't Bless from inside a transport (fucking retarded rule) and powers are a lot less reliable so the Chaplain gets a dust off.

Why does that actually matter?

I don't know of any Blessings that you could cast inside a transport that would last until you got out - as it stands, you disembark then fire off your Blessings or whatever.

It means if you have, say, Fortune or Invisibility, then you can't keep them up while embarked. So when you get shot down you don't have the buff up. Unlike last edition where you could benefit from things like Prescience even when someone destroyed your transport and assaulted you.

There's also the whole randomness aspect which wasn't present before.

That's fair enough, but on the other hand, Fortune or Invisibility wouldn't help you any when you were shot down anyway. Str10 AP2 autohits for dudes inside Flyers, I believe?

Randomness is indeed a big new factor, as is being able to Deny said blessings.

It's more of a general shift away from Psykers in transports for several reasons, rather than that specific circumstance. I find the Chaplain is performing better for me overall.

Hi,

I have been reading with interest through the various posts on this thread - I have a set of the older finecast vanguard models and also a set of the newer plastic models. I was thinking of making a 10 man squad to use in my Ultramarines army. I know that this may not be very competitive but I always liked the sculpts of the finecast models and want to build and paint up a vanguard squad.

I am not sure how to loadout this squad and was thinking along the lines of:-

A front row of 5 veterans with storm shields and bolt pistols
A rear row of 5 veterans with bolt pistols and power weapons (still not sure which ones to pick)
Are plasma pistols totally out for using with this squad - as some of the finecast models come with these weapons or should I remove these?

Should the sergeant be in the front or back row?

I was thinking of using either a Chaplain with jump pack or the Lord Executioner model along with this squad?

Sorry for so many questions and not fully understanding / being confused with all the advice given in the posts.
Thanks in advance.

Personally I run the following:

Sergeant with TH/SS
Fisticlaw
Claw / SS
Claw / Claw
Claw / Claw

I also like to throw in a Chaplain with Swiftstrike & Murder ( RG Relics).

As I use RG CTs I almost feel obligated to run around with jump packs, but I can definitely see the potential of this squad without the packs and just throwing them in an assault transport. The build I use above is generally for dealing with anything without a 2+ save, be that either counter attacking deep striking nasties, or charging up the flank shredding things.

Any spare points just throw in a melta bomb or two. They won't solve all of your problems (Hi Wulfen!) and occasionally your opponent will decide he wants them very, very dead; but that usually just means less pain for the rest of your army, so look on the bright side.

I have played with the RG formation that lets you deep strike and charge these guys. I've only done it a couple of times, but I've generally found the psychological effect it has on your opponents play is far more valuable than the actual damage output these guys get from it -if you can pull it off.