Nicholunch

What are good volley gun tactics? I have a hard time finding value in those equipped on any unit. (Sorry if this was addressed earlier) I feel like every other weapon is mediocre or good. Volley guns just seem like too much of a risk. And when considering replacing the melee weapon for one, or another special weapons for one, I'm unable to find the equivalent in damage output to others.

I usually do 2 Khemists (because that's all I have). I'd be tempted to take a third but that would only be necessary depending on your army build. I usually drop 1 khemist with my endrinriggers w/ saws and 1 with my Arkanaut unit w/ Skyhooks. You could go with Urbaz and allow them to use their ability on 2 different units per turn. This could be useful if you dropped a unit of Thunderers w/ rifles and a unit of endrinriggers and a khemist. The khemist could buff both in one turn. And if you did that, you could have your battleline in the back with the 2nd khemist giving buffs to 2 separate Arkanaut units with skyhooks. I think endrinriggers are best with saws but I could see giving them the drill cannon instead of grapnel launchers if you were looking for -3 rend over mobility. But i personally feel too many special weapons for that group takes away from their potential to level units.

Agreed. It's getting a little absurd with how many documents I have to keep track of and memorize. Unfortunately, I like printed books and so I carry this library with me. I think I'm going to start cutting out the FAQ answers and start taping them into my books. And to think that we are probably 2 years out from a new book seems crazy that the current one will be half wrong by the print. I really like the idea of using garrison rules. I'm beginning to do more narrative play (although still love the competition) and I think this could fit in great. I really like that they even brought the ships into it with transport rules. But with the adjustment to disembarking at the beginning of the Hero phase, we'll find them in the ship for an extra turn. Having the ability to shoot that turn (and be shot at) would be great at keeping them competitive. Great point. I think it's fair to make. I just see myself going up against Witch Aelves that only need to be within 8" of their hero and getting an extra attack. Irondrakes getting an extra shot for having 20 strong, death summoning units to fight again, and nurgle subtracting 2 from my hit rolls. I just see the additional attack matching the meta I see around me. I could see revising that ability as long as we got access to more units and maybe it being specific to certain units. But being that we are limited on units in comparison, I think the static buff is key. Like, what if there was a Endrinmaster mounted on a balloon that provided specific buffs for wardens/riggers, khemists buffed arkanauts and thunderers, and admiral was more focused on ships and army wide command abilities.

I don't think the khemist is the problem for the army. If anything it's what helps make it competitive to other new, strong armies. DoK get +1 attacks, Death get +1 attacks, chaos get additional attacks, etc. The Thunderers were poorly written at first, and that's why they got changed, I think. Even 10 guys shooting hand cannons 36" with d3 damage would've been too much. No other units get all special weapons choices unrestricted. Especially not for 100 points. But other armies get +1 to attacks all the time. Magic unbinding helped the Navigator be relevant. If anything, they need to find more value in the admiral and emdrinmaster. The changes created a little more difficulty. But after a few games, I feel we still have a chance to make some room for ourselves. I do agree we need more unit choices. And I feel like we need more opportunity to deal out mortal wounds. And we should be able to fire from the ship decks without having to disembark.

I think 2 ironclads can still be tough to fight. That's lots of protection and intimidating. Since the ironclad can buff the other vessels, how about running 3 gunhaulers instead of another ironclad as an alternative? I feel like you don't get the added torpedos and transport, but you get multiple cannon shots, more wounds, more units for adjusting to the flow of the match, etc.

Had a friendly game last night... Barak Thryng sky port 2 Khemists Navigator w/ unbind artefact and fleet master Brokk -- 20 Arkanaut w/ skyhooks 10 Arkanaut w/ spears 10 Arkanaut w/ volley gun -- Ironclad w/ sky cannon -- 9 Endrinriggers Total: 1920 3 drops (could be 2 if necessary) I played against Daughters of Khaine. It was a fun match. I wanted to play Brokk because he seemed fun. He's a magnet for mortal wound attacks... But fun nonetheless. We called it after turn 2. I killed about half, or more of his army and he killed about a quarter of mine. I sent the riggers out on a killing spree (sisters and warlocks) and then focused all my other firepower on the core of their army: witches and cauldron. My tactic usually is make the opponent scared from the first 2 turns. Go for it right out of the gate. I feel we're almost forced to focus on infantry first with look out sir. But I think that's ok. Without infantry, I think the enemy is crippled...except Death probably.