Subterranean Monsters

[zephyr40k]

Hello,

I'm trying to create a Dune / Fremen inspired army. One thing I want to make are sandworms that erupt from underground. But since the Monsters use the same perks as the Vehicles, I can't seem to figure out a way to make that work. The closest I've come is to design an Assault class Vehicle Specialist, since as a VSpec it can get BOGINT, which is the closest perk I've seen to subterranean travel. However this gives the sandworm a less-than-spectacular statline. What do you folks think? Is there a better way to build a subterranean Monster?

[RuneCaster_Aris]

What I did for my test card that seemed to play test well is like this:

Unit type: Monster
Size: Assault
Speed: Full Flight
Skill: 6
Noodley Appendage: 2
- V. Assult Power claw (Named: Massive Maw)
- V. Flamer (Named: Body Slam)

Modz:
- Engulf
- Jump Jets

_____________________________

Break Down:

Okay so Everything is pretty obvious up to the weapons so we'll start there.

Power Claw:
Essentially the best CCW in the game, and the only one you can equip. This represents the worm attacking with it's massive mouth, and gives the model a chance to out right destroy what it's attacking in one shot.

Flamer:
Odd choice but this will give you a little extra range. This represents the massive worm slamming it's head/tail on the enemy unit. A decent attack as well as a chance to hit many models in one shot. You loose out on the Engulf bonus but 8" can be a life saver.

And for the Modz:

Engulf: Because it makes sense.

Jump Jets: If you're using the Barracks tool (or maybe Grunt-o-matic) you can easily re-name this "burrow". This lets you make a move while ignoring all terrain in the way. This is outright disgusting when paired with an assault unit.

Other options:

Add more Power Claws, and nix the flamer. More attacks and more chances to crit in combat. but right now as built you should be sitting at a hefty 69 points.

Hope this helps!

[RuneCaster_Aris]

If you want it to be a transport try this:

GSV
Assault
Hover
Skill: expert

2 anti infantry mounts
-Light Power Claw
-V. Flamer

Mods:
Engulf
Jump Jets

Break Down:
Same as above, but you trade out right brutality and extreme survivability for transportation. if you do as I just did, you'll come up at 59 points.

[inrepose]

Liking the idea of the worm-transport like in Dune. Classic movie and one I need to watch again soon it has been a few years since the last viewing.

[twogunsblazing]

I made up some tunneling rules for underground travel. Perhaps you could incorporate these and change as necessary.

gruntz15.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=disc&action=display&thread=871&page=1

[comstar]

Runecaster that is a great use of the builder sir

[RuneCaster_Aris]

Thank you sir!

One other thing I was thinking about was that if you were basing the worms on the 80's movie, if you remember the scenes with the worms burrowing (any) the friction in the sand caused electrical arcs and lightning to jump from the worm's body. You could possibly play with this idea if you really wanted to make a range weapon bigger than a body slam and needed to justify it.

[comstar]

Lighting arcs good one so possibly a Gatling gun could be good for that

Also the Fremen had a sonic weapon lots of damage and short range how about Plasma Rifle

Cheers Matt

[RuneCaster_Aris]

The fremin themselves are really interesting, you could have them go ranged with sonic weapons (movie) or extremely efficient close combat killing machines (book).

If you have a Bene Gesserate or Paul as your commander, give them the Telepathy power and rename it "The Voice".

[comstar]

Yes I like now I want to go and game it

[ypu]

Personally I would use the melt away rule rather then jump packs, from what I remember the worms didn't look like they could dive and surface all that quickly a redeployment underground should be rare but potentially game changing.

[RuneCaster_Aris]

I'm basing my judgements on the behavior in the books. they can travel at amazing speeds under the earth (considering that a "worm sign" taken from an aerial view is greater than 26 miles away, and the worm could reach a crawler in under 5 minutes at that distance) and rise quickly enough to swallow a harvester with almost no chance of escape. They seem to be able to immediately burrow back into the sand.

The "melt away" rule could be viable as well however, and in the end, player preference will probably be the deciding factor between the two.