Foot Slogging viable?

[Chumbalaya]

Yep, but assault marines aren't multi-wounders with T5 and 3+ invuls or cost 8 points per model

[DarkLink]

There are really 3 benifits of mech armies that you don't get from non-mech armies.

1. Mobility. Transports let you put models where you want them, quickly. Bikes and jump packs are just as mobile, and infantry can (sometimes) move almost as fast thanks to Run. I do like being able to move and shoot, though, which my Land Raiders are very good at. And if I want to shoot my Grey Knight storm bolters (which I almost always do) then I can't run, slowing my army down.

2. Mobile cover and tank shock. Need to protect one of your units? Hide it behind that mobile lump of plastic you call a Rhino. Want to clump up an enemy unit, then flamer it? Tank shock with your Land Raider and jump out, then assault. These two things are almost impossible to replicate without tanks, and are very, very, very useful sometimes.

3. Survivability. You can't shoot a unit until you blow up the transport it's in. Nor can you assault it. Want to guarentee you get the assault with no casualties? Hide your guys in a Land Raider. This is where bikes and jump infantry suffer. They can jump from cover to cover easily enough, but if anyone gets within assault range or gets LOS, the unit can get whiped out. Transports make it much more difficult for the enemy to do this.

So it is possible to play with little or no mech, but throwing in some Rhino's will make just about any SM list that much better, for fairly cheap. If you can find a list that can do all the stuff above without lots of transports, then you're ok, but those lists are rare. It is much easier just to include Rhinos or race equivalent (of course, some armies don't have equivalents, like Tyranids. And one of the real reasons Grey Knights are so weak is that the only transports they can take are land raiders, which get blown up easily with the meltaguns that are so common now)

[SandWyrm]

There are really 3 benifits of mech armies that you don't get from non-mech armies.

All very true.

My Mech IG just slaughter 3 out of every 4 infantry-based forces I go up against. As for the rest, most are a draw. And the one guy who's beat me down with mob orks had an overwhelming terrain advantage going for him.

[RocketRollRebel]

Mobbing up IG squads can be well worth it some times. Big tarpit squads have to be mobbed up, globbing together squads can help you save on commissars, orders and voxes, and it reduces your available KP.

Wolves look to be a good footslogging army though, all those cavalry with high S and rending is very nice.

They are, I'm excited to get to really check out the codex friday. I think Orks can do it well with a mix of some fast units and armor in there. May go with them for the conversion potential too. I've had a lot of friend helping my friend get his Death Guard army preped for an upcoming tourny (building oblits and demon princes and such).

Thunderwolf cav seem very cool but I see them having serious issues with heavy bolter and auto cannon fire and the likes. Still kinda on the fence about their overall effectiveness tho I guess.

[sketchesofpayne]

The trick with foot-sloggers is sitting tough on your objective and merely contesting theirs. Make them come to you, which isn't hard because they're usually driving straight at you in their transports.

With foot sloggers the most important part is the initial deployment. You have to plan where your troops are going to go beforehand, because they can't go 'Oops, we need to be over there, hop back in the transport!'

Oh, and of course, when facing ordinance march two inches apart.

[Melissia]

Footslogging Sisters can be somewhat viable, if you have a lot of models to do it with (you lucky rich person you). 3+ saves when you can, 4+ cover saves when you can't, and hard to force into retreat.... they're durable units.

[Confuddled]

Imho, a foot-slogging list might be viable, but you’d need:


1) The ability to field large units to soak up the inevitable casualties. Needless to say, some form of Ld boost would also be helpful.


2) The ability to deliver some units into an opponent’s backfield without slogging across the table (ie outflankers, deep-strikers) if only to contest the other guy’s objectives and/or threaten massed ordnance.


3) Access to man-portable anti-tank so you have the potential to at least threaten enemy armour. Relentless troops, bikers, deep-strikers…


For instance, simply having large squads and loads of relatively static heavy weapons won’t do you any good if it takes you 4 turns to shoot up most of the other guy’s army and the game ends on turn 5.

Classic example would be Chaos:

2 winged Sorcerors of Slaanesh with wings
(Daemon Princes are just too vulnerable to getting their posteriors shot off at 2K)

3x10 Plague Marines, 2 meltas, champ with fist, personal icon

2x4 Terminators, 3 combi-meltas,1 chain-fist

7 Obliterators
(2 squads of 2, 1 squad of 3)


2000 points on the dot

1) Plague Marines aren’t too big, but they’re tough as all heck.

2) Terminators (and Obliterators in a pinch) can deep-strike to disrupt and contest.

3) With the exception of the Sorcerors, everything can engage enemy armour in their respective range envelopes.



Imho, the two biggest problems with fielding a foot-slogging list?

1) The increased survivability and tactical flexibility of vehicles makes them very effective.


2) The decreased cost of transports in general means that a foot-slogging army has less advantage over its mechanised counterparts.

When you’ve got 50-point Rhinos and 110-point Predators (Predator Destructor w/heavy bolter sponsons), taking 3 Rhinos and 2 Predators means a foot-slogging list would have a 370-point advantage.

These days, you’d only have a 275-point advantage – not quite so impressive, eh?