40k faction suggestion

I was just thinking about this, what I believe is missing from 40K is a faction like Mercenaries or Rogue Traders or something to that effect.

See, I originally wanted a Space Marines/Grey Knights/Sororitas army, because they have very cool models. An entire army of Space Marines is just the same 3 models over and over: marine, scout, terminator. Grey Knights, or at least Grey Knight Terminators, are amazing models - easily the best 40K armoured infantry in my opinion, and the SoB also have some very nice models (plus both factions allow you to take almost any models for inquisitors and henchmen), but I wouldn't want to buy, paint, or field an entire army of only one of them. So the old 'allies' rule seemed quite cool, but now it's gone and with it the chance of variety.

Yes, you can still take inquisitors and henchmen in a Grey Knight army, so I guess that's the way to go if all you want is a variety of different models. But I'm thinking of something more. An army where you can mix humans of all sizes with xenos of all shapes and colours. Something with a touch of the elitism of Space Marines (without the power armor), the range of styles possible to Imperial Guard (without being so weak and numerous or meched-up), and the visual interest and appeal of various aliens.

I'm thinking humans with more character and ability than IG. Perhaps "elite" troops would have WS4 BS4 S3 T3 W1 I4 A2 Ld8, that sort of thing, with lots of wargear and rules that cause re-rolls, to make up for their low strength and toughness and armour. Normal troops can have regular Guard stats, but a specific purpose like heavy weapons. Of course the Elites would include psykers, heavily armoured or enhanced warriors, or specialists with special wargear like snipers.

That's just the regular humans. It can also include mutants, rogue marines (defectors from either side), Ork mercenaries like the Flash Gits, Tau rogue Tau, Dark Eldar pirates, enigmatic Eldar Warlocks working towards a purpose only they understand, or Tau defectors, reprogrammed Necrons, perhaps even pet Tyranids (I'm thinking their minds have been dominated by psykers or their brains wired or replaced, like servitors).

There's a huge range of possible vehicles, with Imperial, Tau and Eldar all having some great stuff. It will probably go the ork route of having a general description of the vehicle, with a number of analogues actually being possible in modelling terms (eg a "hovering transport" will have certain rules and stats, the player can then chose between, say, a Tau Hammerhead, an Eldar Wave Serpent, or a Marine Land-Speeder model). Actually, this same idea could be applied to infantry units as well, so a unit of scouts could use Marine scouts or Pathfinder models, and each has slightly different rules or wargear (the same as sniper scouts and combat scouts play differently and are visually differentiated by their wargear). This would create variety without needing an obscene range or units.


I guess the real reason behind this idea is to create an army that is fun for people who like painting or modelling individual models, rather than large numbers of the same model over and over. You can get nicely matched models in a unit, but there's no need to ever paint more than one unit of the same model. In fact, to enforce this (and to provide a counterbalance to the large variety of units available), the codex may stipulate that you cannot have two of the same unit (or possibly you can but they need to be different races, like the Scouts and Pathfinders example above). I know that there's a fair number of people who would like an army with no spam. Or just enforce a different maximum for each unit, the way some codices do (or did? I'm thinking Inquisitor Lords in the previous Grey Knights).

Anyway, I might actually try to come up with a few rules for this army. I think I'd put most units as troops, to allow for said variety without too many unnecessary rules - instead the limits on individual units will prevent spam. It might even be worth getting rid of the army composition chart altogether. The problem is I'm really only familiar with the Space Marines and Orks codices (and some other power-armoured variants). I'll start with those anyway, and pick units or create my own based on them. Of course I'm open to suggestions.

"In Your Face" Astartes army

I just had an idea for a Space Marines army list. I need to check the Infiltrate / Scout rules to see if this makes sense or can be improved, but the first version goes something like this:

HQ:
Shrike (195)

Troops:
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)

Elites:
8 Assault Terminators (320)

Fast Attack:
10 Scout Bikes (210)
10 Scout Bikes (210)
10 Scout Bikes (210)

Total: 1985 pts


The important thing is that Shrike gives everyone Fleet, and everyone has Infiltrate- this means they can start the game anywhere that is 18" away from the nearest enemy unit, and have an 18" assault range - just enough to touch the nearest enemy units, who then have to pile into them.

That guarantees that your entire army will be in their face on the first turn, barring terrain slowing you down (luckily scouts have Move Through Cover, and I think bikers are not slowed by difficult terrain, the Terminators might not make it but Shrike can split off to ensure that he at least can reach the enemy). If you get first turn, that's pretty devastating - 186 attacks from the scouts, 63 from the bikers, 32 from the termies (assuming claws for the sake of argument) and 5 from Shrike himself, for a total of 286 attacks on the first turn!

Obviously this is just an example, you would really want to trade a unit of Bikers or two for some melta and power fists, which would probably be a good idea since in real life there would be no-way to actually get all your units in close combat right away, but it's still fun to consider.


If you want a more interesting and slightly less spammy list, try this:

HQ:
Shrike (195)

Troops:
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)

Elites:
10 Sternguard Veterans - Drop Pod (285)
10 Sternguard Veterans - Drop Pod (285)
10 Sternguard Veterans - Drop Pod (285)

Fast Attack:
10 Assault Marines (190)
5 Assault Marines - Drop Pod (100)
5 Assault Marines - Drop Pod (100)

Total: 2000 pts

This time we drop the scout bikers and a couple of units of scouts for some Sternguard Veterans in drop pods - the 5-man assault squads give us super-cheap drop pods so we can drop the three Veteran squads in the first turn. That gives us close-up AP3 firepower to back up our (reduced) assault teams. Again, we will probably need to trade for some heavier firepower though.

The point is there's a lot of room for variety while sticking to the basic formula of putting everything in their face in the first turn. For example, first time I wrote the list I had a Librarian with Gate of Infinity instead of the drop pod to carry the third Sternguard unit forward. You can trade the 10-man assault marine squad for assault Terminators or Vanguard Veterans (with or without jump-packs), who obviously get an extra attack and all the wargear you can afford. Or you can trade one or both Veteran squads for a Dreadnought or two in drop-pods (if you can tie up all their anti-tank with your assault units then this is safer, or use smoke and/or cover when they land and assault in following turns), or for Heroic Intervention Vanguard Veterans (while they can assault enemies that your infiltrators may not be able to reach, you cannot predict which turn they will arrive in and deep strike scatter can hurt them). It might be a good idea to trade the small Assault squads for a Tac squad in a drop pod, to better hold objectives.


You know what? Let's try one more time, this time we'll try for a less spammy list than the first but more powerful than the second:

HQ:
Shrike (195)

Troops:
10 Scouts - Telion, Heavy Bolter, 3 Sniper Rifles, 5 CC weapons (200)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)

Elites:
10 Assault Terminators (400)
Dreadnought - Drop Pod (140)

Fast Attack:
Land Speeder Storm - MultiMelta (75)
Land Speeder Storm - MultiMelta (75)
Land Speeder Storm - MultiMelta (75)

Total: 1860 pts

This time we use Land Speeders to give us a bit more range (by my calculations a scout unit assaulting from a Land Speeder Storm has a 24" assault range, or they can shoot and still assault 18") and some multi-melta firepower. Telion splits off in a 5-man group and snipes special models while sitting on an objective. The Dreadnought is vulnerable but still provides target saturation on the first turn and should put at least one melta attack into the back of a tank before he goes down. And we still have 140 points left, enough for some power fists or a small tac unit to hold objectives or a small Devastator squad with missile launchers or multi-meltas. Upgrading to a Furioso may be a better bet too thanks to it's better armor.


Let me stress that I'm only writing these lists for fun, I wouldn't actually build it - I like variety in my models, and I plan to build an army with as little duplication as possible. Still, it's fun to see what you can do with a codex.