Sheepz:
I'd just like to point out that if you deploy 13-19" from an enemy Land Raider then you're gambling on the first turn. Because of good ol' "Thou Shall Know No Rules Restrictions" (not my original line, I don't remember where I saw it first), you can assault after disembarking from a Land Raider. So if your opponent gets the first turn, they may move 12", unload 2", and assault 6". That's 20" which means that you've been assaulted. If your command squad is assaulted, they statistically will not live. Now, assume things go your way, and you get to assault the 6 remaining Terminators. 18 Lightning Claw attacks, 9 hit, 6 wound initially, 2 more wounds from re-rolls. Best case scenario, the attacks were split and you get 9 WS5 PF attacks. 6 hit, 5 wound, 3.335 of those wounds remain after the invuls. So you still have 2.665 terminators to deal with who will finish you off in the subsequent phase. Now let's look at the other option: everyone but your HSO dead. So you have 5 attacks and it comes out to 1.85 kills. So you have 4.15 terminators to finsh you off in the subsequent assault phase.
My point is to accomplish your feat, you are gambling on the following ALL occurring in your favor:
-Getting the first turn.
-Destroying the Land Raider (can only occur if you deploy 18" or less), 4.175% chance of this occuring per Meltagun shot, assuming it's not obscured.
-Your opponent being stupid enough to unload his guys from exits that are close to your HQ.
-You being able to widdle down the squad to 6 guys or less.
-You having both the HSO and Commissar survive.
-And you still don't kill the entire unit, while losing all your guys. (However, you can kill more than your points worth).
That is a statistical improbability whether you like it or not.
Now then, also consider that this is ONE scenario. What is a PF HQ going to do against Orks, Genestealers, Gaunts, Death Company, 50 man conscript platoons, 10 man CC scout squad and a PF sergeant, etc? It's a huge gamble. It CAN be used effectively with a combination of good tactics and great rolling, but I wouldn't recommend that a rookie starts off with something that requires such delicate attention.
Dr_Ruminahui:
My basic stigma against flamers is that they're one use weapons unless you completely annihilate the targeted unit with them. In a tournament "Take All Comers" list, having a weapon so specialized requires very careful tactics, and still winds up with your guardsmen in assault unless your opponent is a tactical moron. Flamers are impractical weapons to put in regular infantry squads as typically you'll put a heavy weapon in these squads and the flamer suffers from a huge range disparity. Flamers could be great when massed against lightly armored hordes because they could completely annihilate the unit and you could avoid assault. But, the vast majority of armies out there are MEQs, which flamers are not particularly useful against. Taking only a few means that you'll have a unit that is effective in only some circumstances, and is out of place in your army. Which brings me to my next rookie mistake, this one isn't just for IG:
Avoid out of place units.
Examples of out of place units which turn into a points sinks:
-Rough Riders unit in a Mechanized shooting army. They will only be useful as a counter assault unit. So to use them, your enemy has to have some sort of assault force, and they have to get within assault range. Then your Rough Riders assault, do a bit of damage, and die. Instead of those Rough Riders, you could've brought a Hellhound which complements the army nicely, has the opportunity to destroy unit before they get into assault, and can be used effectively no matter the opponent.
-CC HQ and no other CC units. Once again, they get into combat, depending what they assault they may inflict significant casualties or they may die without doing much of anything. Instead of tooling for CC you could've mounted them in a Chimera and given them plasma guns so you have mobile cover from the tank, a Multi-Laser and Heavy Bolter to deal with light infantry, and Plasma guns for those pesky MEQs.
-A Heavy Bolter Fire Support team and no other Heavy Bolters. If a horde army is coming at you, where do you think the first round of fire is going?
-A Lascannon AT squad and no other Lascannons. Same deal, except a horde army won't care but a Mechanized army sure will.
-A single Russ: once again, fire magnet, likely to get completely wiped out in the first turn of enemy shooting.
-A single Basilisk: minimum range weakness. Assault armies will have a field day with this one. 2 Basilisks can effectively cover minimum ranges on a 6x4 table.
The only exceptions to this is suicide units or a tough ranged unit that is out of place with a CC army. The ranged unit can provide some cover fire as the assault forces advance.
Suicide units: Veterans deepstriking with Meltaguns. They're out of place in your vanilla shooty IG army, but they can be very effective, although they're a bit of a gamble.
Ranged unit: 2 Basilisks supporting a CC IG army. It could be argued that since there are 2, they aren't out of place. (A better example is with my Ork army. I take a Looted Russ to cover my advance with Battlewagons and wartrukks. The opponent is forced to split fire among my Russ and the advancing units. Since they're all armored, it could be argued that it's not really out of place as well.)
