Space Marine trait question

[lowlygaunt]

In the traits section they have the Purity Above ALL trait says "Any veteran or tactical squad may upgrade its veteran seargeant. . . ". Ok where is the veteran squad? is this not in the book anymore or is the "veteran" squad hidden in it and I am missing the reference?
On page 12 it talks about veterans being the first company, who wear terminator armor, so does this reference to "veteran" squads refer to terminator squads? I checked the FAQ, there isnt anything there, anyone got an answer?
I am interpreting it this way, first company marines are veterans, therefore terminator squads are veteran squads, but not 100% here.

edit: nevermind, I found the veteran squad entry, that must be what they mean.

[Devil's Advocate]

haha, I very nearly did the same thing with a different unit tonight , from the same codex:

Page 29, Command squads:
"At a cost of +3 points per model, all models in a Command squad (including leading/attached Characters) may be upgraded to have one of the following skills: Furious Charge, Tank Hunters; Infiltrate..."

somehow, in reading the rule 4 times, I'd missed the (including...) part, and was about ready to post an "I don't get it..." post.

i.e. what's the point in having a squad with Infiltrate, if the IC can't have it??

/facepalm

[krakenfiend]

The Veteran squads ARE in the first company...first company is comprised of both Terminators AND Power Armored Veterans....In the SM Codex, the rules for the Veteran Squad can be found on page 32 right above the rules for Dreadnoughts. Veteran squads are Elite choices just like Terminator squads and Dreadnoughts.

krakenfiend

[J.Dogg]

,.......What is IC?

[Haraio [MALAL]]

Independent Characters^^
Which means any character that is not an 'Upgrade Character' like a Seargent, who is simply an upgrade the squad can buy. The thing with IC is that they can both work independently (hence the name), and be in a squad. The con, however, is that they can be picked out independently in close combat, something a Seargant can't.

[lowlygaunt]

Thanks Kracken, I found the page, codex had a sticky page in it. As a note my cunning plan to hide a tactical squad of 5 marines with an apothecary (by the trait purity above all) behind my terminators worked sort of. My overall plan was two 5 man tactical squads with apothecaries to hide behind and follow my terminators, it turned out both followed one assault squad of 7 (wierd reserve rule). On the first turn the "hidden" apothecaries worked great, saving two wounds on termies (narthecium works on any unit within 6", but not against instant kill or CC attacks that get no save), My opponent spent the next 2 turns making leadership rolls and firing past the termies to get to the apothecaries, so my terminators took very little damage. He had few AP2 weapons (only 2 in fact) as he was running Korne berzerkers. i got his tank on turn 1 with my Dreadnaught, so he was screwed. Two termy assault squads, one with a librarien, one with my captain, hit his battle line basically intact (1 model down between them). I had a unit of 5 shooty terminators I sacrificed in front to take his charge (they died horribly), but this gave me the charge, and furious charge init bonus ended the game right there (I swung first with lightning claws). So my cunning strategy worked. . this time.

[Shas'o Tash'var Kais Pat]

Very nice, not only do apothecaries work well on the battlefield, but I really like them, they just seem cool to me, running around, bullets whistling past them as they frenziedly operate on marines, pausing occasionally to blast the xenos to hell...

[Devil's Advocate]

I didn't realize the revised the rules of the reductor/narthecium to any unit within 6". that's just freekin cool.

/takes another look at his codex...

on the other hand, I've been seriously considering making a command squad with infiltrate, and a couple of foot-based commanders (I bought the masters of the chapter box set)... it's something you never see, and I like making those kind of tactics (the ones never seen) work.

[lowlygaunt]

I hear you Striogi, if you do let us know, i like hearing about the wierd army combinations! I fear my Apothecary strategy may be a one time surprise thing, as i bet in the enxt games those tac squads get shot up fast. I love the Apothecary concept and fluff. No one is more revered within a unit then its "doc", a title of absolute respect among most grunt platoons.