'Fixing' Penal Legion

[B_Steele]

This does not happen very often, but I am with Melissia here. The Penal Legion is supposed to be a low-key assistance unit, not the kind of thing that your opponent goes "Holy crap! Penal Legions!".

The reason why the Last Chancers were so cool was because they were SPECIAL. Not all Penal squads should be even remotely as cool as these guys.

[Melissia]

Right... it's like claiming that all Commissars should be like Cain, or all Marines should be like Calgar.

[Atrotos]

Lol, so if I change the name of the rules to 'Last Chancers' then can I get some feedback on the rules themselves? So far I have "overpriced and redundant" with no supporting evidence and Melissia's "they can't be given stuff."

@Melissia: Your comparison with Seraphim is a good one and I think it goes a long way to helping me understand how the unit could be used in a vacuum. However, it just doesn't hold up to comparison with the other Troop choices in the guard dex. Platoons and veterans can be purpose-built and through the use of upgrade characters and transports can easily outperformed the Penal Legion. I just can't justify using them over anything else. Well maybe Storm Troopers : ).

[Chumbalaya]

It's a neat concept, but I feel it's a bit overly complex.

I'd make the Penal Legion an Elites choice, since IG has plenty of those slots open and they don't seem to be the objective holding type. Simply make it a unit of 5-20 with the option for kill teams of 1 for every 5 men. Throw out a few weapons options and keep the squad upgrades, just make them 0-2 per squad or something and don't bother with stat buffs (only they get weapon options). As for USRs, Scouts maybe and give them a Commissar option. Not giving up KPs would be a big help too.

Then, throw in Colonel Schaffer as a CCS upgrade and you can take them as Troops but they give up KPs.

[Atrotos]

I get what you're saying with about the complexity but what I'm afraid of is that if I get rid of all the special rules then the unit will have no character and no real distinction from the other choices in the codex. Is there no way to make the unit function differently from Vets without the level of complexity I've got right now? I honestly felt these rules didn't explore the full potential of the unit (fluff-wise) and was planning to add more characters (including your suggested Commisar and Schaeffer - the Elites to Troops function is a great idea).

Don't the Space Wolves' options prove that a unit can have a lot of options without being overly complex?