# IG Penal Legion



## hocky (Jan 31, 2009)

Hi guys,

Have just re-read the codex again for about the millionth time and got interested in the Penal Legion.
I've been wanted a counter attack Assault squad to help stall units attacking my armour for a while. Ogryns are obviously the choice but are far too expensive points wise. So i stumbled on the Penal Legion. Small points possibly cool spec rules and stubborn too. Whack a priest in the squad for rerolling hits and i think that might work - sound good?

Also then though well why not take another, mount em in a chimera and outflank them with the scout rule to maybe take an objective or pick off an isolated squad on a flank, or use as a bit of a diversion. Again points wise this seems viable. However, i then noticed they havent a dedicated transport option so i would need to take a Chimera with a troop squad, deploy then swap the two squads for the legion to use the chimera right? If so, i cant scout them as the units arent in reserve - bummer!

Let me know your thoughts if you have used the Legion and if i have all this correct.

Thanks


----------



## MidnightSun (Feb 10, 2009)

Yeah, if you have Creed/Straken in your army they are still normal Guardsmen. But these Guardsmen can destroy BANEBLADES. Badass. And they give great converting potential. My Penal Legion are hive scum from various different planets (Sadly they can't be Cadians though, they have to be off-worlders) so I use Catachans painted in Orlock colours. It just makes a nice change from the sea of Cadian 8th and black-clad Commissars.

Midnight


----------



## Grimskul25 (Feb 17, 2009)

They CAN be used as a decent temporary roadbloack/tarpit with their Stubborn 8 Leadership but the problem is if they can actually reach those close-combat units to prevent them from reaching the tanks. Due to Penal Legion squads being unable to take dedicated tranports as you said their mobility is rather limited unless you use the Scout move to your advantage or try to outflank them. However if you go through this path the Legionnaires unfortunately can either come too late (or too early depending whether or not you have an astropath) on the wrong side of the board or shot up to the point where the unit is essentially dead and they are a free consolidate D6" move. Overall I think if you're only using them as a counter attack squad, Rough Riders would be a better choice as although they are a one hit wonder, they can at least have the mobility to be where they are needed and have a lot more punch than a Penal Legion squad.


----------

