Penitent Engines: A Tactical Discussion

[Grey Wolf]

I'm building up my SoB slowly and love the look of Penitent Engines and how they attack. But the biggest flaw for it seems to be its extremely low armour (Rhino armour and open topped). Seeing that PE's seem to not be extremely useful in anything over a 1000pt game, I'm wanting to see what people think about the Engine and any strategies that could benefit using one.

I know that you can take up to an additional, 2 making a squadron. For a total of PE's you can take is 9 via 3 squadrons. I don't know anything about squadron rules, but I think it doesn't benefit a Penitent Engine much at all for survival.

[Architech]

squadron means they have to stay fairly close...though vehicles get more room. Immobilized destroys the PE...so you're looking at a 50% destruction chance on a pen or a chance outright on a glance. Squadrons allow their members to ignore some damage, which can be good. Cover will be your friend. Use the engines to compliment or draw fire...and don't worry if they get destroyed, as then the rest of your army is getting where it needs to

[Kaffis]

I'm building up my SoB slowly and love the look of Penitent Engines and how they attack. But the biggest flaw for it seems to be its extremely low armour (Rhino armour and open topped). Seeing that PE's seem to not be extremely useful in anything over a 1000pt game, I'm wanting to see what people think about the Engine and any strategies that could benefit using one.

I know that you can take up to an additional, 2 making a squadron. For a total of PE's you can take is 9 via 3 squadrons. I don't know anything about squadron rules, but I think it doesn't benefit a Penitent Engine much at all for survival.

I wouldn't take anything less than a full squadron at 1500 points or above, and taking less than 2 at a time at anything 500 or higher is probably just painting a big target on a lone penitent engine.

Penitent engines aren't cheap, but don't let the cost dissuade you from trying them (proxied, if you want) in a list because you dismissed them out of hand. If you can get even one to the enemy's lines, it can be a pretty formidable killing machine.

I find my games where I bring penitent engines shake down one of two ways: my enemy doesn't prioritize them, and they will tear through a couple vehicles or infantry units; or they draw a lot of fire away from the rest of my army in turns one and two.

I prefer the first result; I love facing opponents who don't know or can't quite settle on a good target priority for my army. However, when I've got two exorcists pounding away as backup, the second result is certainly not disastrous.

The unit could stand to be marginally better. I really think that removing the extra movement in the move phase for their specialized version of rage was a mistake; baiting them is much easier now that they don't easily catch up to the bait and rip it to shreds so they can move onto valuable targets. I also think that, in comparison to units with similar roles and capabilities in other armies, their force organization slot is disadvantageous, especially with the reliance on exorcists for long-range and heavy armor busting.

If GW wants to truly make these shine when they rewrite the codex, they'll either put the holy rage (with the 6+d6" movement) back in and move them to fast at the current cost (or 5-10 cheaper per model), or they'll move them to elite, or they'll knock 15-25 points off the model and leave it in heavy. Any of those 3 would make them very solid units for all-rounder lists. As it is, I feel they're only worth considering if you can field a full squadron while still supporting several other vehicles including exorcists -- usually meaning you're playing around 2000 points, OR if you're running a lone one as your heavy support in a very small game. They can be brutal horde killers when they get a chance to wade in with flamers and their many attacks, and they're excellent at busting up tanks that allow them to get too close, too.

[jmg202]

i used a list with 9 in it at one time to try and copy the "KAN all" the the orcs do. there were definitly a
target and was focused at, i eventually got one into combat, rage is a downer and no fleet. i might take a squad of three in the future with 2 exorcists. but havent decided yet.