Rough riders!

Finally, after  a long break, we finally have our horses back!

Rough riders are an iconic unit and the new versions are faithful but sensible updates to the old units. They have kept the horses which was a bit of a worry for me, rough riders without horses would have been good but these look great and I definitely plan on getting a couple of boxes worth. As with most of the new boxsets, they have got a few new options. 

The new unit comes with 3 new Lance's, the two listed above, the classic frag tip and the new melta tip, but also the Goad tip. The main difference is that the frag and melta tip are interchangeable but the goad tip is a separate weapons profile that can be taken once for every 5 riders. The goad tip is a melee weapon with S+2 -3ap D2, but it does also have a ability that does a mortal wound for every attack you allocate to a vehicle. This means you should be able to do some major damage to vehicles when combined with melta tips on the other 4. There is also the option for a power sabre on the Sgt, which is basically a power sword by a different name (melee, S+1 -3ap D2 +1 extra attack)

In addition all the guys also have lasguns and apparently laspistols, which is a nice little bonus. Also, there are some additional rules, such as ignoring modifiers to moving, advancing and charging plus, if you do charge you gain +2 strength in addition to the Lance's bonus (for a possible +4 strength or S8)

The units stats are alright, with a slightly enhanced guard stat line, with S4 and T4 and a 4+Sv. A 12 inch move is also useful, giving quite a threat range. The only downsides to me are the fact that they only have 2 attacks and 2 wounds each. I would have like to have seen at least 1 more of each. I would have liked to have seen some attacks for the horses and maybe we will, as most other mounted units get some sort of attacks from the mounts.

The unit also has the Platoon and Core keywords, meaning they can receive orders and other bonuses such as rerolls. 

Points wise, I'm still a little unsure, the list I've seen says 20 points but I'm not sure if that right. I'm assuming it's talking each model, so between 100 and 200 points. I think this sounds about right but I'm no expert. 

All in all I'm very excited for the new rough rider and will definitely be getting a couple of boxes.