[Black Behemoth]

Colonel Schaffer and the Last Chancers looks like a really fluffy and cool army to make, so could I have some tactics and army lists that could show what they would be like? Or are Last Chancer armies really only effective in Kill Team rules?

[Praying Mantidae]

You can make a whole Penal Legion army, and then have the last chancers as elites. I don't know about tactics... probably the same as a regular army?

[Elessar]

they work absolutly great as a giant teeming horde of shotgun wileding psychopaths. dont bother maiking them specialists or giving them expensive equipment. use their high Ld and high BS and hand out shutguns all around. also schaeffer is a monster in CC(for a guardsman)

[squigs for dinner]

I disagree about the shotgun wielding psychopath use.

I think every guard commander should set aside the occasional last chancer type misfit figure.

Last chancers are supposed to be specialists and freaks and characters with character (which is how they got to the penal legion in the first place). Make them all different. Look through your bits box for extra stuff to paste on and make them all unique. Toss in that old Tallarn guy you never use with the plasmagun that looks like a big fish. Mishmash. Hodgepodge. One day I want to make one of these too, and I have thought about it many times when I start chopping up little plastic sprues.

A nerdy medic, a blind sniper, a heavy-metal-fan-with-poor-social-skills looking guy with a big axe and spikey helmet, (chaos plastic heads are so fun), the old 'fat-guy-with-shotgun' Cadian Lieutennant fig (I call him 'Big Jim&#39, a big muscley guy with a heavy bolter on his shoulder and a lobotomy scar, a wierdo psyker, the butcher, baker, candlestick maker, etc etc... It's your chance to take personality, use it, right? I don't think it has to be "Colonel Schaefer's" last chancers like with those specific models - although I have a secret crush on rocket girl. Yeah she's pretty hot for a inch tall blob of metal - , I think there are plenty of penal legions in the IG. Definitely a chance to fluff yourself up with unique characters, but pretty pointsy and not too effective in a 'serious' game - they do get 2 attacks though so they could make nasty assault squads if armed right and organized right.

As far as effectiveness goes,
I think a team of 2 with sniper rifles could really frustrate an opponent with all the pinning... maybe teams of 2 with mortars hiding off in either corner... a team of 2 with a demo charge saves you the risk of blowing up a whole squad with a bad scatter roll. (very similar to the old 'Human Bomb' idea that they tastefully phased out)

the badguys having to direct all the fire from one of their squads or vehicles to take out 2 or 3 guardsmen at a time will waste a lot of firepower when they start shooting. How about a larger squad of powerswords, extra ccw, and carapaced armor versus a certain opposing army with big armor saves and bolters... I wish I had the figs to make that squad actually. the possibilities are many and creative and possibly quite effective, but when I make mine I think I want it to be just a big group of freaks.

[Elessar]

i quote from the codex.
Initially, Colonel Schaeffer might recruit thousands of bad characters but he will ensure that these are wittled down...
so my option of having hordes of none-distinct scumbags is perfectly feasable.you can make a krak unit of hardcore specialists who can take down entire fortresses in spec ops. but they'll end up costing 400+ points and will get eaten up by a well placed Hbolter volley. while having a massive horde of assorted prisoners led across the trenches to charge no-mans land by an strangely calm looking schaeffer would be jsut as fluffy, and will cost you less, and youll get twice as many guys. ive used them to very good use, since they are basicly hardened veterans with an extra attack they make great counterstikre units or speed bumbs. bu if given las-pistol and CCW you waste their high BS and they end up hitting on the same as a normal guardsmen. with the shotguns however their high BS is actually used, and schaeffer is devastating in CC. ive used these guys over and over again, and have a 15 man unit converted to make them look like shotgunning last chancers.(surprisingly simple).

so in conclusion: A horde of shutgun wielding maniacs can be jsut as fluffy and full of character as a bunch of 35 point guardsmen, while making a seriosuly underestimated assault unit.