Renegade Guard

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="041a11c3.gif"> <div> Welcome to Mortis Destructos!</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0b470940.jpg" border=0 width="112" height="148" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> "The rewards of tolerance are treachery and betrayal."</div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#99CC00" FACE="Arial" ><B>Mortis Destructos</B></FONT>     <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#CCCC66" FACE="Arial" >|   <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mortis Destructos"><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Armies"><U>My Armies</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Painting Service"><U>Painting Service</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fiction"><U>Fiction</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My 40k Rants"><U>My 40k Rants</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gallery"><U>Gallery</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rules"><U>Rules</U></A>   |   <B>Renegade Guard</B>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DIY"><U>DIY</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Doom"><U>Doom</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mage Knight"><U>Mage Knight</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="40k Humour"><U>40k Humour</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Anime"><U>Anime</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Buddies"><U>My Buddies</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Me"><U>Contact Me</U></A></div> <div> <IMG SRC="040f4010.gif" border=0 width="500" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Renegade Guard</div> <div> History of Colonel Jager's Renegade Nurgle Guard</div> <bR> <div>   Colonel Jager originally commanded the Imperial Guard division that had very recently been raised from the local PDF. It</div> <div> was so soon after it had been raised, the mechanics barely had time to repaint the gold and silver letters of the PDF off</div> <div> the tanks. In the confusion of paperwork, and all the competant officers in charge of re-organizing the PDF after the best</div> <div> guardsmen in each unit were drafted, Colonel Jager, who had secretly become corrupted by the planet's Nurgle Cult, made his</div> <div> move. His stormtroopers were corrupted by the Nurgle cult as well, and spread both mental and physical disease into the</div> <div> main body of troops.</div> <bR> <div>   All the loyalists within Jager's army were killed, quietly and discreetly. Then, in a short, but bloody battle, the newly-formed Renegade</div> <div> Guard struck, and completely wiped out the ill-organized PDF. The only members of the PDF that weren't killed were the</div> <div> deserters, who joined Jager's ranks. The planet, Arregus III, was now in control of Jager. The attack struck the capitol</div> <div> so suddenly, the astropaths did not even get a message out. The cult emerged in even greater numbers, and disfiguring</div> <div> and putrid plagues were released.</div> <bR> <div>  Nurgle was pleased by this, and in turn, Jager himself began to change. He was debilitated by intense pain in his stomach</div> <div> and arm. After two days, the wall of his stomach simply exploded, and formed a wall of pustules, constantly dripping with</div> <div> viral pus. His mouth constantly overflows with frothing slime. Later, after this, his arm shrivled up and burst, giving</div> <div> birth to a venomous tentacle.</div> <div>  This was publicized greatly, proclaiming that Jager had become a daemon prince. Greatly encouraged by this propeganda,</div> <div> the Cult's ranks swelled, and the best of the cultists were incorporated into Jager's army, to restore the depleted ranks.</div> <div>   By this time, neighbouring planets wondered why Arregus III was not responding to any channels. Ships were send out, and</div> <div> the investigation parties became corrupted by Nurgle's diseases, and their minds were brainwashed. Returning to their</div> <div> home planets, they reported that there was simply a small warp storm around the planet, disrupting communication. Days later,</div> <div> planet-wide infections were spreading at an alarming rate. Eventually, Jager's renegade Guard was in control the entire</div> <div> Arregus system. By this time, the Inquisition had learned of this. Jager had expected this, and built up the system's</div> <div> defences. The Mortifactor Space Marines chapter was deployed to crush the heresy.</div> <bR> <bR> <div>   The initial defenses were utterly smashed. The first planet was easily captured by the Mortifactors. The second planet was</div> <div> taken with heavy casualties due to the huge artillery barrages. The Mortifactors, however, were still going strong, and it</div> <div> started to look as if Jager's heresy was about to come to an end. Then, from out of the warp, came legion upon legion of</div> <div> Plaguebearers. Father Nurgle had smiled upon them. Also, the Night Lords traitor Space Marine legion appeared, for unknown</div> <div> reasons, to help as well. The Mortifactors took terrible losses numbering in the hundreds, and were forced to turn tail and</div> <div> run.</div> <div>  Before the Imperium could launch a second, larger, more sustained attack, the Plaguebearers and Night Lords assisted the</div> <div> renegade Guard to the Eye of Terror.</div> <bR> <div>  It was said that Father Nurgle himself appeared in the dreams of Jager, and told him he would one day become a daemon</div> <div> prince if he captured many worlds. He also gave Jager's Nurgle Guard access to summoning daemons.</div> <bR> <div>    Since the Nurgle Guard did not have access to spare parts, many tanks and armoured vehicles rusted inside out. The few</div> <div> that are left are very rusted, since the litanies to the Machine God were no longer said.</div> <bR> <div>  The Night Lords made their true intentions for helping the Nurgle Guard obvious. They took much of the spoils of war for</div> <div> themselves, but there was little Jager could do about it.</div> <bR> <div>   Jager now intently looks forward to wreaking havoc on the Imperium...</div> <div>                                                                                           ---------------</div> <div> Major event with my Renegade Guard! Today (November 25th, 2000), I played my first game with my Renegade Nurgle Guard and won! It was a 1350-point game, and I crushed my opponent, who was playing his pure Khorne army. Here's a rough composition of my force (remember, you can get the codex at The Maelstrom, check out the 'My Armies' section for URL):</div> <bR> <div> 2 Basilisks with Indirect Fire ability</div> <div> 1 Leman Russ Exterminator with hull mounted heavy bolter</div> <div> Infantry Squad</div> <div> Colonel with Stormtroopers with meltagun, plasma gun and flamer</div> <div> Chaos Magus</div> <div> 5 Daemons</div> <div> Stormtrooper squad with Veteran sargeant</div> <div> Ogryns</div> <bR> <div> That's about it. My opponent only started with three things deployed on the table, his Land Raider, Rhino and Dreadnought. By around turn 2,</div> <div> his Land Raider was atomized by my Basilisks (rolled a 6 on Ordenance table), killing all the Aspiring Champions and Chaos Lord within it!</div> <div> I then proceeded to vapourize his Dreadnought with a meltagun. I then surrounded his Rhino with my Daemons, Ogryns and entire Command squad, at which point, in a much distasteful manner, the opposing player surrended. When the Stormtroopers entered the Rhino to investigate, they found a lot of dead Berzekers, which had commited suicide in order to gain at least some favour of the Blood God. A wonderful victory to start off a new army! Not one Khorne Berzerker reared it's ugly head :)</div> <bR> <div> <U>A Closer Anaylsis of the Renegade Guard army</U></div> <bR> <div> Some may be thinking, after reading the above, 'What the hell kind of 11-year old wrote this cheesy codex?'. I can assure you that a 11 year old did not write this :) It is written by <A HREF="mailto:lloftis@mindspring.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:lloftis@mindspring.com"><U>Lee Loftis</U></A>, a great Guard player. Although it may seem kind of cheesy, having (a maximum of) 20 Chaos Space Marines being supported by Imperial Guard tanks, that's not all this army list is. It gives the player a chance to make an army that looks</div> <div> awesome, filled with Chaos runes and iconography. Of course, you could use a regular Guard army, do the same thing, and just call it a Renegade Guard army, but I think this Codex does a better job. You could use, say, daemons as a 'proxy' for something like the Veteran Guardsmen, but wouldn't it seem odd to have daemons, monstrosities from the warp, firing _lasguns_? Thought so :)</div> <div>  Strong models, such as Chaos Space Marines and Daemons, especially Daemons, are fairly limited in number. And Heavy Support choices? You can choose your heavy support choices exactly as you can in the Guard codex (with the exception of vehicle upgrades). But, giant hulking power armoured figures and warp monstrosities supported by heavy weapons and tanks?!? This is where it gets interesting, and where the fairness comes in.</div> <div>   When a Imperial planet becomes heretical, the first thing the Space Marines (or Imperial Guard if there are no nearby Chapters)  will do is start a blockade of the heretical planet. No fresh supplies. No fresh ammuniton. No spare parts. No recruits to fill the depleted ranks. A Cult, supported by the renegade Guards, will find it's supply lines completely cut off. This is where randomization comes in.</div> <div> Because there are no reinforcements or new recruits, when a guardsman dies, there may not be someone to take his place.</div> <div> In a Renegade Guard army, the price of the squads are always the same, but the number of models are varying. For standard infantry squads, it is 3+d6 models. That means you could have only 4 models in a infantry squad that in a normal Guard army would be 10! Sure, you'd be paying less points (50 vs. 60), and you might even get the full ten models and get a full 10 point advantage over a loyalist army, but the odds of getting a 6 every time are pretty slim, let's face it. Therefore, I come to the conclusion that Renegade Guard infantry squads are more risky, but can provide more bang for your points, yet the Loyalists cost a bit more but are more reliable.</div> <bR> <div> Except we left one thing out :)</div> <bR> <div> When an 10 man Loyalist Guard squad with an ordinary Sargeant charges, say, a combat squad of Ultramarines, I'd bet my money on the combat squad. With a Renegade Guard squad... well... I honestly wouldn't bet my money on it either :) but yet it has a better chance to survive than the Loyalist squad. The 'Fix Bayonets' rule was something I was hopping that would be included in the official Guard codex, but alas, it wasn't. Doubling the Initiative of guardsmen to 6 may sound crazy, but if you think of it in real terms, it makes sense.</div> <bR> <div> Example: A Renegade Guard sargeant sees a squad of Space Marines approaching. The Sargeant decides to give the order to 'Fix Bayonets', and the men raise their bayonets and charge forward. The bayonets are attached to the rifle, making them, in effect, a really long knife. The bayonet would hit the Space Marines before they could slash the guardsmen up with their monofilament knives.</div> <bR> <div> So you see, it isn't so crazy. It isn't cheesy either, the Guardsmen are still Strength 3 and WS 3, which means they still need 5's to hit and wound, and even if they manage to do so, the Space Marines have a 3+ powered armour save! If you want to rant about cheesy, don't knock the Guardsmen, knock the Space Marines. The Space Marines may be the Emperor's finest, but points-against-points, it is unfair.</div> <div>   One, average Space Marine costs 15 points. One, average Guardsman costs 6 points (although they are bought in entire squads). The equivalant in points to one Space Marine is three Guardsmen, or 18 points. The Guardsmen cost three points more, and should probably (in theory) be able to take down the Space Marine, since they have both the economic and numerical advantage.</div> <bR> <div> Now if three Guardsmen were to face off against a Space Marine, who wold you bet on? :P</div> <bR> <div> That may sound a little harsh, but the Space Marine would be the best choice. His weapon, the Boltgun, may have the same range, and may also be a rapid fire weapon, but it is Strength 4. A Guardsman's lasgun only has a 50% chance of hitting to start with, and therefore, because of the law of averages, one might assume that 1.5 would hit. So let's say at least one hit. The Guardsmen need 5's to wound the damn Space Marine. If you can manage to hit, AND wound, the Space Marine still gets his armour save of 3+! So basically, if you do manage to kill that one Space Marine, you're pretty lucky. Or good at cheating :)</div> <div> Our friend in power armour, however, has a much easier time. He needs a 3+ to hit, a 3+ to wound, and the Guardsmen get no save! Bolter shells simply pierce straight through flak armour, unfortunately for us Guardsmen out there.</div> <bR> <div> Some may argue that, if one of the Guardsmen has a strong weapon, say, a meltagun, which will easily fry the Space Marine, it would make it fair, since even your average infantry squad (loyalist or rebel) can take a special weapon and a heavy weapon team. Okay, take the example above, 3 Guardsmen against a Space Marine, except one of the guardsmen has a meltagun. The meltagun only has a 50% chance of hitting. Shooting with guardsmen is like flipping a coin; one side or the other, hit or miss. But I say, what if our Space Marine friend has a meltagun too? Or worse yet, a flamer? He could easily envelope those three guardsmen in a jet of burning hot fuel in a single turn. In effect, this is three automatic hits from a boltgun. So as soon as the Space Marine player puts down that template, each guardsman is killed on a 3+, no armour save. Heck, even if the guardsmen had an autocannon, which is strength 7, the Space Marine would still get his 3+ armor save!</div> <bR> <div> S<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" >o there you have it. A breakdown of Space Marines vs. Guardsmen. This shows that Space Marines cost less and are better than Guardsmen, but yet many experienced players continue to use Space Marines. My view on this? Taking all facts into account, Space Marines are a great beginner's army, since they are forgiving to new players. The only problem, though, is when experienced players start using them.</FONT></div> <div> Then it is cheesy. And what about Blood Angels, Space Wolves or Dark Angels? It's bad enough Space Marines have the 'And They Shall Know No Fear rule'. That's why these 'special' Space Marine armies are so cheesy. So THAT'S why I get pissed off when I see a player that has been playing for years and has a Space Wolf army with characters who have every bit of wargear that is possible to equip them with.</div> <bR> <div> <B>The Bottom Line</B></div> <bR> <div> If your a new player, use generic, non-special Space Marines, such as Ultramarines or Imperial Fists. Don't touch any of the 'Angels' or Space Wolves. Remember, this is a game for fun, and it's not gonna be fun for the other player if they keep loosing because of your (not you, just anyone that plays cheesy :) ) cheesy army. And if your an experienced player (my definition is someone that has played at least 20+ games)</div> <div> you should switch to another army that will be more challenging. Try Orks, Tyranids... heck, if you're a good modeller, try your hand at making a heavily converted Squat army. As for your Space Marine army, don't let the Emperor's finest collect dust, play them every once in a while! Or don't be afraid to field them against cheesy players, to teach them a lesson :)</div> <bR> <div> Ummm, ok, _maybe_ I got a little off-topic from discussing the Renegade Guard armylist, but I'll finish my thought here. Renegade Guard armies are an excellent oppertunity for modelling and fun.</div> </td> </tr></table></body>