Rapier Weapon Carriers

Although it has not been long since my last post, I want to thank everyone for reading as it is the first one to hit 100+ views. So I'm glad to know that I am not spewing complete dribble all the time and people can read in between the dribble and see some good ideas emerge. A long time ago in a blog not so far away I wrote a rather long article about chaos 'gunline' options and what weapons you could bring to them. All in all it was a post about how shit we are in the shooting phase bar the heldrake because whats better than a model GW had to specifically nerf in an FAQ because it did too well to be kept in a Chaos Codex. Anyway guns.

Guns are something we don't do too well with as none really stand out and for some reason. We are missing anything S10 AP1 and nothing has Barrage, limited Rending weapons and no Plasma cannons. Where did they all go? Well the answer is extremely well put by a Chaos playing buddy, 'we melted them all down to make autocannons' which sounds about right to me.

But what happens if you want guns now? Well it's all in AI:13 really, but you have to be prepared to not take things on what I would call 'face value' but on what I would cal 'scenario value'. Basically, not picking something because it has good stats and 'can kill' anything on the field but rather it 'will kill' what you purchased it for and hopefully that is in line with the enemy units you face. I'll use the first unit I want to bring attention to as an example.

Chaos Rapier Weapons Carrier: 120 points base, more terrifying then 3 Oblits!

Ok, at the time I am writing this post I am actually discussing this unit on a Facebook group with some fellow players and most of them are in the seat of taking the Conversion Beam or the Laser Destroyer. Now, I'm not saying that these people are stupid for doing this, they are good weapons with the Conversion Beam reaching S10 AP1 at full range and the Laser Destroyers being AP1 Ordnance.

My beef is that although they look good on paper, in game I feel other weapon load outs perform better against a wider variety of targets. For example, the stock option of quad heavy bolters does better than whats written on paper, ok it doesn't have high strength so can't take out AV12+ tanks but it can ravage everything else. Here are some averages calculated by "Math hammer":

X3 carriers shooting against a:
T4  = 10.67 wounds
T6  = 5.333 wounds
T6  (flying) = 1.833 wounds

T8  = 2.667 wounds
AV10 = 5.3 HP's removed. 0% chance of destroyed result
AV11 = 2.6 HP's removed. 0% chance of destroyed result

What ever you shoot at averages are that it's taking damage, even if it's flying or a Dar Knight, if it has a toughness value then it's rolling dice to save itself which is what you want. Template weapons are questionable in their effectiveness of getting wounds off on the target as a smart player will always spread their units so you can't cover more than 3 with your template, then its a matter of scattering.

Also using the Math hammer calculator I have pitted the conversion beam against the Hades autocannon to see which one has the better performance rate than the other against the targets above and vehicles:

X3 carriers shooting against a:
Vehicle: (note this is pre-cover/invuln save so keep that in mind when looking at these results)
AV12
Laser Destroyer:  2.3 HP's removed. 75% chance of destroyed result
Hades Cannons:  4 HP's removed. 0% chance of destroyed result


AV13
Laser Destroyer: 2 HP's removed. 62% chance of destroyed result
hades Cannons: 2.6 HP's removed. 0% chance of destroyed result

AV14
Laser Destroyer: 1.4 HP's removed. 40.7% chance of destroyed result
Hades Cannon: 1.3HP's removed 0% chance of destroyed result

So the Laser Destroyer is obviously on top for getting explode results but in taking HP's the Hades does out perform the Destroyer and draws even on AV14 value with potential (through the rolling of many mighty 6's) to do more but that's stipulation.

Troops: (note that these are pre-save wounds, obviously the Lazer will bypass all armour saves so keep that into consideration when looking at these results)
T4
Laser: 2.222 wounds
Hades: 6.667 wounds
(This is same for T6)

T8
Laser: 1.778 wounds
Hades: 4.000 wounds

T6 Flying
Laser: 0.764 wounds
Hades: 1.664 wounds

The Hades does also have the pinning special rule, which away from calculations can cause problems for your opponent depending on if you have read the pinning rules properly and notice no one ever plays them correctly.

Both weapons perform admirably against targets, with the Destroyer getting a high % chance on destroying enemies and punching unsaveable wounds through enemies than the hades, but the hades offers more damage potential depending on the saving throws.