I’ve noted about half a year back with the new arrival of the SW codex that the age of mech marines are bestowed upon the puppies. To my disappointment, however, I have yet seen any SW player take advantage of this opportunity in tournaments. It is really a good thing in actuality, consider a mech SW list will probably drive most opponents against a wall.
Why don’t we look at some of the key elements below that makes a Mech SW list devasting comparing to the normal ones.
Cost
Points for points, the SW Grey Hunter + Razorbacks comes out cheaper than the SM equivalent. The reason is simple, since the puppies have counter attack, it is likely the 5 or 6 men GH inside will have equal or more attacks than a 10 men SM TS when assaulted. And if the player so chooses to add a Wolf Guard in the unit, he will have the option for MG + Combi-Melta. All of these option and a TL LC Razorback can be bought for less than 180 pts.
Another reason why SW will be better doing a Mech list is their minimum units. WG can be as little as 3 and longfangs 5. That’s 150~175 pts with a Razorbacks. I am not sure about others, but in my fantasy SW armies, I spammed Razorbacks about 12 times… that’s more than any IG player is willing to bring Chimeras..
Note I stayed away from Land Raiders this entire time. Though they are useful for a mech list, I believe the strength in a SW mech list is Razorback spams.
Cover Saves
The recent SW FAQ has made the Storm Caller conveying the 5+ CS to all units and not just squads (infantries/cavalries). This is a huge improvement over the RAW interpretations before, this means that if a player takes 1 or 2 Rune Priest, he is almost guaranteed to cast the 5+ CS power each turn with good success. That means he doesn’t have to bother popping smokes for his vehicles.
Another thing the SW player can increase his chance of getting good CS is utilizing Rhinos as well as Razorbacks. He can line his Rhinos in front of his Razorbacks and not block the LoS of the shooter, but granting a 3+ CS to the Razorback (the front plate is then blocked). Clever tricks, no?
Staying Power
The biggest difference between SW and vanilla SM mech list will be its staying power. Thanks to counter attack, it is likely that a small squad of Grey Hunter will do some damage to the assaulting foe before biting the dust. And since they are also all equipped with Bolter Pistols, they can likely do great harms on the assault as well. The chance that a mech SW army will be toppled over by an assault army is unlikely.
The second attribution to their staying power goes to how a player utilizing his transports. A good players knows how to leapfrog his units across his vehicles and make it very difficult for his opponent to destroy his scoring units in scoring missions.
This about the gist of it. With the new BA codex on the horizon and it possibly losing its current cheap mech spam options, I foresee the SW will be the dominate choice for any players who wishes to build a Mech spam list.
Go puppies!
