N18 Thoughts on Cawdor Stig-Shambler?

[-Ns2-]

Is the Cawdor Stig-Shambler any good? Would love to hear some thoughts on how to use it effectively

It can move and shoot at -1 to hit. It runs 290pts with Twin-Linked Heavy Stubber and Flak Armour. The stubber is great at Rapid Fire (3) S4 AP-1 D2 (re-rolling ammo dice) but even though it puts out a ton of shots, it only rolls a single die to hit at a pretty dismal BS4+, which is quickly reduced to 5+ or 6+ by cover and range. Though if it does hit it'll almost certainly kill what it aimed at. It's club weapon is only alright, with 3 attacks on the charge

Meanwhile, T4 W4 is pretty tough, but the 6+ save which can't be improved is pretty dismal, as any S4 weapon with AP will easily knock wounds off this guy and plasma cannons and krak rounds will turn him into mincemeat before he can close the distance

Compared to the tough-as-nails melee melta murdering Ambot at 215 points, the Stig-Shambler seems a little confused at 240. If it had BS3+ it would be an terrifying gun platform with the stubbers. If it had a better save or higher toughness it would be an excellent melee brute when carrying a flamer

Thoughts?

 

[Baffo]

It is hard to justify spending the 290 creds for the House brute, when spending the same amount on a champion and his equipment will almost always be more cost efficient and easier to hide behind terrain/cover. Usually a player/gang will get a Brute more for the Cool factor (you want to make/show-off a cool conversion you've thought of..) than in-game power (there are exceptions to this); in game Brutes will often work out to be quite the fire magnet (even if there are other targets, that on closer inspection, should be a higher priority target than this big brute that is freaking-out the opponent).

That said, if your gaming group uses Rackets from the Book of Judgement I would suggest trying to claim the Settlement protection racket, since that grants you a totally FREE hanger-on, including any upgrades on it (and Brutes are a type of Hanger-on) and in that case I would be tempted to go for the Heavy flamer Stig + Flak + Polearm and just run him at the enemy - if they don't deal with him he'll barbecue them; if the focus him down the rest of your gang should have an easier time closing the distance with the enemy and applying their own templates (either way, this did not cost your gang any credits).

The Twin linked Heavy stubber is a better gun for 'long term' viability in the campaign (it becomes more efficient as the Stig gains XPs and can advance his Bs and defensive stats) and can work decently as a stationary gunner (Aiming to counteract the -1 to hit), holding down a corridor or bottleneck on the table without needing much assistance.

In any case I would suggest swapping the Club for a Polearm, mainly for the Versatile 2'' reach, but also because it gets the Stig to S6 in melee (wounding any T3 opponents on 2+).

 

[-Ns2-]

We're doing a fairly simple Turf War campaign. Yeah makes sense. Personally I'm keeping him with the club cause that's what the model I have is holding and I like the look. Though I have a vent network and like flamers, the flamer is overpriced and getting him close to the enemy makes him that much easier to take down with webguns etc. so I think I'll keep him long ranged

Unless I'm misunderstanding you, you can't counteract the -1 with Aim. Shooting the Stig Shambler normally is still a Double action, and if you choose to use Shoot as a Basic action the +1 from Aim and -1 from the ability will cancel each other out making it pointless.

 

[Jumbley]

Unless I'm misunderstanding you, you can't counteract the -1 with Aim. Shooting the Stig Shambler normally is still a Double action, and if you choose to use Shoot as a Basic action the +1 from Aim and -1 from the ability will cancel each other out making it pointless.

I believe that's exactly what he's saying - the +1 of the Aim action cancels out the -1, making it a net 0, thus counteracting the negative to-hit modifier.

 

[Neil McLellan]

It is hard to justify spending the 290 creds for the House brute, when spending the same amount on a champion and his equipment will almost always be more cost efficient and easier to hide behind terrain/cover. Usually a player/gang will get a Brute more for the Cool factor (you want to make/show-off a cool conversion you've thought of..) than in-game power (there are exceptions to this); in game Brutes will often work out to be quite the fire magnet (even if there are other targets, that on closer inspection, should be a higher priority target than this big brute that is freaking-out the opponent).

That said, if your gaming group uses Rackets from the Book of Judgement I would suggest trying to claim the Settlement protection racket, since that grants you a totally FREE hanger-on, including any upgrades on it (and Brutes are a type of Hanger-on) and in that case I would be tempted to go for the Heavy flamer Stig + Flak + Polearm and just run him at the enemy - if they don't deal with him he'll barbecue them; if the focus him down the rest of your gang should have an easier time closing the distance with the enemy and applying their own templates (either way, this did not cost your gang any credits).

Ahhh.... now I have to make a Stig Shambler in addition to every Guild Entourage before Saturday in case I draw Settlement protection!!!

 

[Ml2sjw]

I liked my stig shambler, he is a 4 wound heavy stubber platform that can still threaten when redeploying. When this is in addition to a heavy crossbow and longrifle champion, you ent up with a pretty effective firebase for your guys to advance under and bring all your templates to bear

Also access to savant skills is interesting in the long run.

Watch out for toxin though....

 

[spafe]

Yeah I liked mine when I ran cawdor. Got him up to BS2+ by the end, although no T increase sadly.

Might not have been the most cost efficient but hey, I dont play necromunda to be making cookie cuter lists!

 

[Dertrend]

I think the shambler is actually cost efficient as you are getting a really good gun and T4 W4. It would take a while to get a champ to that and they would cost a lot more. Your only looking at 290 creds for the stig. A champ with a much worse heavy stubber costs 225 and can't move and fire so you are getting a lot more for the additional 65 creds. Sure the champ has higher BS, but the shambler will strike a lot more fear in your enemy and it will hit eventually doing a lot more damage.