New IG Veterans Doctrine: Rocketeers

[Dunadan]

Rocketeers: The entire squad has Jump Packs and gains the Jump Back special rule.

Jump Back:You may roll a die at the start of any Assault phase to attempt to disengage from the enemy. On a roll of 1, you fail to Jump Back, and must fight as normal. On any other result you may move up to that many inches away from the enemy. You may not move into contact with another enemy unit.

pts: +30 seems to cheap, but if you make it to pricey than the unit won't be survivable enough to be worth the cost (+40 pts maybe?). Maybe give them Jet Packs instead, take away Jump Back, and restrict them from Heavy weapons?

[Lord Azaghul]

I assume this is for a few unoffiical friendly games...so I'll wont mention the obvious, but I will mention the 2nd most obvious thing...You don't want your guards man in CC, and more often then not they do not last more then once round of cc.

From an I'm trying to be helpful point - what goes does moving back d6" do? You'll either be assulted next time, or just sitting helplessly for a turn or two.

[Dunadan]

It works like this (I think, I may need to reword it):
Opponent charges you
You roll a d6
On a 2+ you take the charge and then disengage before blows are struck. Then it's your turn and you can jump 12" somewhere else.

Wait...reading that I just realized how powerful that is. Jet Packs could work because they allow the vets to become mobile firebases, but Jump Packs seem to be more fluffy, with a team landing nearby to try and shred something at rapid fire range.

Basically, they are able to use their flight packs to avoid some combat, making them viable at rapid fire range.

[Lord Azaghul]

I would make it you avoid the charge. Because if you take the charge you get into consolidation issues.
And you should probably make it a 3 or 4+

[Dunadan]

so...

Jump Back: If the squad is charged, you may attempt to avoid the charge. After the chargers have moved roll a d6. On a 3+ the squad avoids the charge, and may up to that many inches away from the chargers. Any model in the squad that starts and/or ends its move in difficult terrain must take a dangerous terrain test.

Also, Rocketeers may not form heavy weapons teams.

[Lord Azaghul]

Much better! Although, I'm sure you can see the flaw in it - people would take vets with rocketeers and never get in an assult! Would probably annoy a few opponents!

[DarkLink]

The only unit that has Jump Back is one of the assassins. Why would mere guardsmen have the skill needed to avoid the assault.

Oh, and the assasins rule says '...at the start of an assault phase... on a 1 she fails to disengage... on a 2 or more she moves that many inches away from the enemy... if this leaves the enemy unit disengaged they may make a consolidation move."

I'll point out the rule does not allow the assassin to avoid the charge (she must already be engaged to disengage, and assault moves happen after the beggining of the assault phase). It allows her to disengage after the combat has already started. An ability that lets a unit avoid the charge on a 2+ is extremely good, and not at all balanced. That ability alone would be worth at least the 30pt upgrade, not counting the jump packs.

And to the best of my knowlege, no Imperial forces use jet packs, only jump packs.

[Dunadan]

It doesn't take too much skill to activate your jump packs when you see a horde of Boyz charging at you

As for never getting into assault, you must remember that these are still T3 sv5+ Guardsman, so they can still be shot to pieces. I think I'll change it to a 4+ to avoid the charge, and will obviously bump up the points cost.