We’re in the pipe – five by five!
Hey and welcome back reader, to the final installment of my Elysian Droptroops in 8th edition-series. This article won’t be too long as I’ve pretty much made all my points regarding how the space rangers fare in the latest edition of 40k. Instead I’d like to share with you the army list that I’m taking to the No Retreat 5 tournament in Gibraltar this weekend, as well as a couple of pictures of my painted collection of Elysians!
Welcome back trooper! In the last post I talked about my impressions of how the Elysian Droptroops have changed in the eighth edition of 40k from a theoretical point of view. While theorizing and doing your math hammer is a good exercise for deepening your knowledge of the game, at some point you really have to stick your cheek out and throw a few punches to get a feel for how your army will perform in your local meta. In this post, I’ll cover some of my experiences with taking the Elysians to the grand tournament at the convention Malmö Wargaming Weekend.
G’dafternoon troopers! At ease!
It’s been a while since I talked about the gem of my nerdcave, namely my Elysian Droptroops army. Since the release of 8th edition I’ve managed to get about ten games under my belt, and with No Retreat V on the horizon, time has come to evaluate the main tactics and playstyle behind the army lists that I have tried so far. I also took the 101st Light Company to a 30 player tournament recently where I managed to end up second best (scoring the most victory points in the entire tournament), which gave me an opportuniy to run the Elysians against some of the tougher lists in the current meta. In this series of articles I’ll discuss the general changes that the new edition brought for the airborne, while moving on to a more detailed unit-by-unit review the closer we get to the tournament day!
The Xenos incursion was swift and resolute in this system. Within a matter of days every Imperial navy ship had been either destroyed or captured, and the local Planetary Defence Force proved little to no resistance against the superior weaponry of the Tau. Any survivors that had not accepted submission into the false Xeno empire had either fled into the wastelands, or formed small gangs of militia who spent more time fighting each other than the enemies of mankind.
Lt. col. Myron of the 101st had gone through every report and vox transmission from the initial assault on Verdis Prime in order to study the tactics of his alien adversary. Co-ordinated suppressive fire with guided targeting missiles and pulse weapons, followed by jet deployed specialist strike teams of battlesuits and drones. The Tau were a well equipped and seasoned host of warriors, but one thing they had not: the Emperor’s blessing. Operation Adamant Wedge was under way and the 101st, supported by a small group of Grey Knights, were the speardhead. The plan was as bold as dauntless: after establishing a firing line with elysian recon forces, the rest of the army would strike from above and deploy using the High Altitude Combat Drop-doctrine. Myron looked at brother Captain Severus on the other side of the briefing table. A stern warrior cleric clad in ancient terminator armor, decorated with the sacred insignias of the Inquisition, stood in silence as the staff team overlooked holographic maps and attack patterns. Myron’s requests of having a small unit of Terminators dispatched to the 101st for the initial assault had finally been granted. “Make your peace with the Emperor, brother Captain…” he said, “…we make planetfall in 6 hours!”.
Captain Ikaru Perseus personally supervised the task of rearming and refueling one of the platoon Valkyries from the vantage point of a tower at the F.O.B “White Haven” – also known as “the Marbled Hellhole” by it’s garrisoned inhabitants. He was at the end of his twenty month long deployment at this Emperor forsaken rock, called Aglaia IV, which apperantly had resources valuable enough to justify the deployment of Phantine skyborne specialists rather than conscripted colonials for protection. Resources that were needed in some distant part of the Imperium, and that would never enrich these men and women’s home system. He hated this place. The ever burning sun, the scorching sands of the planet surface, and the constant harassment by solar winds making scanners and clarion vox-nets unreliable. For some ironic reason this system was also under constant threat from Eldar piracy, as if the Xenos found some animalistic pleasure or instinct in fighting over this place of rock and sand. Skirmishing with Eldar corsairs was a daily routine for the troopers of the 101st, which is why the commanders made sure to keep response units in the air at all times – consuming fuel on a rate higher than normally accepted by the Adeptus Administratum. Perseus glanced at the red veil flickering around the sun. In an instant, a flash of pure white light pierced his vizor and forced him to avert his gaze! A thundering salvo of laser and shuriken fire blasted the surface of the colony, forcing the defenders to take cover while Xeno hover craft and jet units deployed around the perimiter in a graceful manouvre. Before his troops had time to return fire, Cpt. Perseus activated his distress beacon to signal the rapid reaction units. “Three weeks left” he thought, and the Xenos could have this hell hole for all that he cared…
Welcome to this Warhammer 40.000 8th edition battlereport between my Elysian Droptroops and my good friend Simon’s Eldar army. This was a Matched Play test game of 700pts designed for us to try out the new indexes, as well as the core game rules and mechanics. We set up the game using the Vanguard deployment map and the ‘Secure and Control’ Eternal War mission. I won the roll off to set up a single objective first and placed it on the Skyshield landing pad. Simon then set up a single objective on top of one of the towers. Each objective is worth 3 victory points at the end of the game, and additional victory points can be scored for ‘slay the warlord’, drawing ‘first blood’ and securing ‘linebreaker’. Since this was a rather small test game I won’t go through the army lists, although I should point out that my army was battleforged (+3 command points), consisting of a single Vanguard detachment (+1 command point) while Simon’s army was unbound (0 command points). Units and models were selected mainly due to what we had painted from our 7th edition armies. Here’s an overview of the deployment.
After action thoughts
Simon: It’s always a pleasure to play against Fredrik and his flyboys. This was my second game in 8th ed. and the inexperience really shows off in some of the decisions I made during the game. But that of course went both ways since it was also Fredriks first game. I love how the new edition works, and all the small tricks that we found out as the game went on. Overall the game was really close but I made a fatal mistake in the 6th turn that made it possible for Fredrik to table me. Meltaguns in melta range hurts A LOT. My unharmed wraithlord got deleted by three lone meltagunners and BOOM!, game. We were equally surprised by their effect but had a great laugh together. Next time my Ghostwarriors will return in larger numbers and claim victory.
Fredrik: Wow, what a game! The new edition is really fast and engaging. My first impression is that you are a lot more active as a player during each phase now, since every situation has modifiers that impact the game in ways you need to be aware of. This feels very refreshing as opposed to seventh edition, even though I still miss templates (but that’s another debate). I really really enjoyed how well the Elysians performed in this game. They are my favourite army both in the lore and modelwise, and it’s very rewarding to finally see how their flavour as a guard regiment impact their game style. Having the ability to reserve half your army and perform deep striking attacks with surgical precision, wherever you want and whenever you want to (remember turn 3 at the latest!) for such low priced units is very strong. I will make a more thorough review over the next couple of days, but for now I think it’s safe to say that the Elysians have gotten a new set of teeth after lagging behind with an old armylist for a couple of years. Two final points: Tauros assault buggies and Drop sentinels are way more useful now since they dropped in price and got a boost to their weaponry. They are still not cheap enough to be over powered in any way, but at least they’re an option worth considering over similar units. I would love to make use of the Elysian’s unique order(s), of using heavy weapons as assault weapons, but never had the opportunity or the model count to use them effectively in this game – thus I tended to spam the “re-roll 1s” order a lot. In higher point games I think there will be more of a choice between orders for different situations. All I can say is watch this space for more battlereports with the Phantine skyrborne over the coming weeks!
Come on you apes, you wanna live forever?!
It is done! Over. Finally D-O-N-E! 1750pts of painted Elysian drop troops and, with almost two weeks to go before my flight takes off for Gibraltar, this project also shows that with a somewhat optimistic time schedule you can actually get done without spending the night before a tournament painting. In this article I’ll show off some of the elements of the army, and run you through the list I’m taking to No Retreat 3 hosted by the guys at SN Battlereports.
DISCLAIMER! Now there are several things to note about the Elysian army, and although I appreciate reader comments and discussions, some points have to be made on the choice of taking an all Elysian list to a competitive environment. First of all the Elysian list is old. Like really old. Even though the Imperial Armor vol. 3 got a ‘rebooted’ second edition to bring the armies of the Taros campaign in line with 6th edition, some entries still lag behind in terms of the current 7th edition meta in general and Guard/AM meta in particular. I have talked about this in previous posts, and to make things clear the army struggles in several aspects no matter how you make the list. This mainly has to do with item and unit pricing but I’ll leave it at that. So before you start giving me advice on what is more competitive or not, take this into consideration: I applied to the tournament with the option to play my models either from the vanilla Guard codex or the Elysian list from the Taros campaign. As per requested from the organizers, I agreed on making an all Drop trooper list with as many Elysian trademark units as possible. I love the Elysian playstyle and I’m very excited about bringing a unique list to the event no matter how it performs.
Second of all, I’m somewhat limited by the logistical aspects of travelling abroad. The Elysians definitely have an edge over other “reserve heavy” armies by the fact that they can use their ‘combat drop‘ rule to bring in half of their valkyries (which are dedicated transport options for every unit in the list), drop sentinels, and tarantulas on turn one. This works exactly like the Drop pod tactics of some popular Marine lists and should not be neglected. However, since I can only fit two flyers in my travelling case I have chosen to not bring a single valkyrie. Lasty, I would love to field the Elysians from the D-99 army list. The ability to give up a warlord trait for armywide ‘preferred enemy‘ against all Xenos/Chaos/Necron models, as well as the option to equip every veteran in the army with a special weapon, really opens up for an aestheticly cool and impressive force. However, I don’t have enough models with said weapons to really build anything playable which is why I opted to go for the “regular” Elysians. Not that they are regular in any way. They are after all, a bunch of action-jacked-thrill-seeking-jarheads jumping out the back of winged containers.
Combined Arms Detachment – Elysian Droptroops: Imperial Armour vol.3 2nd.ed The Taros Campaign.
HQ
Company Command Squad: Carapace armor, 2xFlamers, Missile L.
1xPowerfist for commander
– Officer of the fleet
Company Command Squad: 3xMeltaguns
ELITES
Stormtrooper Squad: 1xMeltagun
TROOPS
Veteran Squad: Grenadiers, 3xPlasmaguns, Heavy Bolter
Veteran Squad: Grenadiers, 3xPlasmaguns, Heavy Bolter
Veteran Squad: Demolitions, 3xMeltaguns, 7xShotguns
Veteran Squad: Forward Sentries, 3xSniper Rifles, Missile L.
FAST ATTACK
Vulture Gunship: Chaff Launchers, TL Punisher cannons
Vendetta Gunship: 3xTL Lascannnons
Tauros Squadron: 2xAssault w. H. FLamers, 1xVenator w. TL Lascannon
Formation: Emperor’s Talon Recon from Mont’ka
3xArmored sentinels: 3xLascannons, 3xCamo Netting
3xArmored sentinels: 3xAutocannons, 2xHunter Killer Missiles
TOTAL: 1750pts
As you can see the army has two Company Command squads. The first one holds the warlord who’s equipped with a power fist. Not the best investment for a t3 commander as he probably won’t get to strike back if he ever gets into combat with a decent close combat oriented opponent. But he’ll bite if he has to and since the tournament is stritcly wysiwyg I couldn’t leave the old Ironside at home. I’ve also gone for a Master of the Fleet which is pretty pricy (10pts more than what regular Guard regiments pay so I guess he holds a Master’s degree in some elaborate Naval Academy dicipline) but well worth his cost in this type of list. Since everything in the army can enter from either deep strike reserves or via outflanking, adding a 50% chance of getting +1 to reserve rolls is always worth it. He also has the ability to mess up the opponent’s reserves which could prove handy if there be pirates and Helldrakes around. I usually keep my CCs cheap as they’re easy prey on the battlefield. The unit is quite fragile and usually gives up both Warlord and First blood if the opponent is dedicated to taking them out, but this time I’ve opted to add a Missile launcher team and two flamers to the squad. This is due to the fact that I lack in the long range anti-armor department (Elysians can’t deploy portable lascannons), and the flamers are a nice counter to chaff units that threaten to jump over my lines and harrass the Commander.
The 2iC is joined by a squad of three meltagunners (again, I would love to take four but only had three left). This unit is pretty self explanatory: the ability to deepstrike a small unit of dedicated anti tank (that can support themselves with orders like ‘ignore cover‘ or ‘tank hunters‘) should not be taken lightly. These have quickly earned a bad reputation at my FLGS for dropping in behind Imperial Knights and annoying vehicle squadrons that are hard to reach – only to deliver death and destruction. Will gladly sacrifice them for a glorious suicide mission.
On to the core of the army: the Veterans. I’ve tried to get as many Objective Secured-veteran squads as possible but at an increased cost they quickly eat up points if you want to give them teeth. Two squads of Grenadiers with plasmaguns that can threaten MEQ/TEQ and move into the mid field without the fear of dying to bolterfire have proved very useful (although expensive). I’ve also chosen some sort of support unit with sniper rifles and the Forward Sentries-doctrine. I haven’t made up my mind about these yet but the thought behind them is to get an infiltrating unit on the board with a Homing beacon which allows my deep striking units to arrive without scattering if they chose to land nearby the sentries. The sniper rifles are there for flavour reasons and the ability to perhaps put a wound or two on monstrous creatures/blob hiding Nobs etc. before the squad get blasted off the terrain they’re camping in. The final veteran squad is equipped with meltaguns, -bombs, and shotguns. Since I’m an Elysian flyboy the Vendetta still has a 12 man transport capacity which is perfect for delivering this unit of bad behaviour right into the belly of the beast.
What do I have up my Fast Attack sleeve? These unit entries are really what makes the Elysians a fun and mobile army to play. I have to start with the Vulture which is the work horse of the army. We’re talking a vector dancing flyer with 20 twin-linked Strafing run strength 5 shots. What’s not to like? Beware sloppy deployment and movement players, this beast will wreck anything from Leman Russes to Thunderwolves if you give me the opportunity. I added some extra flavour with the chaff launchers because I see a lot of missile armed flyers around my area but they’re not mandatory in any way. Some day I’ll definitely add another Vulture to my collection. I’ve also chosen to field a Vendetta as I’m in dire need of some accurate lascannon fire. Sure it might not arrive on time but when it does I can choose to go after armor and flyers alike. What makes the Elysian Vendetta a solid choice is it’s ability to transport 12 models (like all Vendettas used to) and the fact that it comes at almost a 50 point discount compared to the vanilla one. Last out is a unit of Tauros vehicles. For the trained eye this unit is somewhat awkward in it’s appearance: two heavy flamer Assault buggies and a Venator with a twinlinked lascannon. Keeping dedicated units built for a specific role is key when maximizing models/points value but as I usually run two CADs in order to get more Fast Attack slots, and the fact that I wanted to bring as many buggies as possible, I had to cram the two types together into some sort of swiss army knife on wheels. This is a single CAD tournament after all. The buggies are perfect for outflanking and frying objective campers as well as securing linebreaker, and if I have to I can take pot shots at enemy side or rear armor with the lascannon should I arrive at the wrong table edge.
For my optional formation I decided to field the Emperor’s Talon Recon company from the Mont’Ka supplement. There are several reasons for this, but mainly it is because I simply refuse to pay 75pts a piece for Scout (a.k.a Drop) Sentinels with mulimeltas from the Elysian list. Sure they are cool as hell but equally expensive. Given the fact that armored sentinels with heavy weapons cost half the price in the Guard codex I deciced to paint some auto- and lascannons to go with my models. The Drop Sentinels are iconic Elysian units and the organizers gave me green light to use them as Armored ones from this formation. The formation bonus gives every sentinel ‘preferred enemy’ against one enemy unit nominated after deployment which helps their poor marksmanship a bit, but the jewel of the crown is it’s ability to both outflank and give orders. This turns Armored Sentinel units into very mobile gun platforms that can threaten multiple units while moving (by running after shooting) at the same time. I’ve played this formation for a couple of games now and it is really growing on me. It’s not an overly powered formation in any way but it gives the Sentinels that little push from being an “okay” option to “almost good”. The best part of being armored is locking khorne hounds in combat for the rest of the game.
On a final note I added a small unit of Stormtroopers. This was a last minute meassure as I was lacking 90pts by the time of the deadline for sending the army lists. The points are probably better spent somewhere else (maybe on a pair of Tarantulas or another cheap Veteran squad for objective grabbing/screening) but I’ve had the models for a long time and decided that their time for some painting love had come. Stormtroopers are fun utility units that can either deepstrike to grab an uncontested objective or just go for a Hail Mary-shot with the meltagun or a salvo of hellgun fire, but one should not forget that the Elysian Stormtroopers still comes equipped with both pistols and close combat weapons which makes them a bit more capable of pulling off assaults against weakened units.
I hope you find my list both entertaining and thematic. Make sure to check back over the next couple of weeks as I’ll be posting some AAR from the No Retreat 3-event once I get back home!
Want some epic music along with the army pictures? Check this showcase out:
This week I finished my Master of the Fleet for the Elysian Company Command Squad. To be able to spend an entire evening on a single miniature was truly joyful since I’ve been pumping out batches of guardsmen for the past couple of weeks. I chose a dark base color for his uniform and highlighted it up to a rich deep blue. The edges were picked out with a crisp white lining to create the look of an officer who’s more used to standing on the bridge of a Navy vessel than in the swirling dust of the front lines. The webbing was painted in the same khaki colors as the rest of my army to represent the fact that the officer was handed basic field gear from the company Quarter Master prior to deployment.
I converted the model from the Forgeworld Titan Princeps as I think the overall look is very officer-esque. The tall and firm pose, his tablet/gadgets and the (somewhat) outdated flak vest makes a perfect fleet officer whose purpose is to advise the Company Commander and coordinating Navy assets on the field. I replaced the Princeps head with that from a Vox Operator and added some additional field equipment like a knife, a water canteen, and some ammo pouches to his belt. This helps to reinforce the contrasting roles between a ground trooper and a fleet commander. His bionic arm also adds a lot of character as I imagine it to be the result of dangerous space combat. I’m working on a full tactica where I’ll discuss my army list and the choice of taking a Master of the Fleet to the upcoming No Retreat tournament – so stay tuned for further updates!
Hey guys and gals!
Here are some pictures of my 101st light infantry company so far. All I have left to paint now is a fourth veteran squad, a second company command squad, a commissar, and a couple of advisors for the commanders. It’s been a rough summer: with aching shoulders and a lot of hunch back nights by the painting table, but they’re comming together pretty tight. As soon as the army is done I’ll write up a tactica and present my armylist, as well as getting some propper pictures taken in a real photo booth. Hope you enjoy!
Here’s a short spin of the latest squad
A well needed mobile heavy weapons platform
I just finished some additional sentinels for my Elysian light drop infantry regiment. The six chicken walkers are the last vehicles I’ll have to paint for the army (at least for now!) and therefore also represent somewhat of a milestone on the road to a fully painted army of droptroopers. In this post I’ll discuss two different ways of using sentinels in an Elysian force, and how to utilize their role as mobile weapon platforms in an army that lacks some of the heavy weapon options of other guard regiments.
They say the sky is the limit but sooner or later you’ll hit that LZ.
Generally speaking sentinels are useful but aren’t exceptionally great so don’t expect them to overperform. If taken from the Guard codex you’re looking at a soft skinned walker with an armor value of 10 that starts off at 35pts and comes with the ‘move through cover’ and ‘scout’ special rules. I can definitely see the scout sentinel being a solid choice if you want to keep the points down and if you’re bringing along other elements of armor in your army. I always pay the the extra 5pts to get the armored version though, which improves your front armor value to 12 on behalf of losing the scout move and bonus dice when dashing through terrain. The reason behind this is simple: the points increase isn’t that significant in my opinion and the trade-off between mobility and survivability really comes into play when you’re facing certain units that will otherwise try to overrun your valuable veterans. A single armored sentinel can tie up a lone unit of Khorne fleshhounds for the rest of the game, and if you’re lucky enough to take out the powerklaw-wielding nob with a barrage weapon – a single steel chicken can even keep a mob of slugga boyz at bay when they get close enough. The same goes for other types of units that we’re unlucky enough to leave home without proper anti-armor equipment but still plan to ruin your day by denying certain objectives. Of course there’s always the threat of krak grenades but at least they’ll have to find those 6’s to glance you to death which should buy you at least a couple of turns to re-position the rest of your army.
What about armament? Both types of sentinels come with a stock multilaser which can be switched out for heavier weapons at a discount price (compared to heavy weapon squads). Only the armored version can take the plasmacannon but opting for a weapon that has the risk of getting hot and taking away 50% of your Hullpoints if your roll a 1 before firing isn’t a very smart choice. Taking the sentinel’s poor marksmanship into consideration, even when you get the weapon to fire you’ll end up with an average scatter of 4″ unless you roll a direct hit. The two chioces that makes this unit shine are autocannons and lascannons. The former are very cheap (at only 5pts one almost thinks there’s an outlet somewhere in the Imperium!) and grants you an average of one strength 7 hit per model, which can be a nifty way to open up softer vehicles while running the walkers along the sides of the table trying to get side armor shots on your targets. The lascannon option cost twice as much but gives you the ability to donkey punch heavy armor from across the field in return. Beware of the poor BS though as a full squadron will only hit 1,5 times unless they’re supported by psykers or other re-roll shenanigans – of which I’ll return to further down in this article. Now lets look at what happens when you issue a gravchute ranger one of these heavy duty machines.
The dauntless and dirty drop sentinels
When introduced to the regiments of Elysia both sentinel tactics and outfitting changed dramatically from the ones of conventional Imperial Guard armies. Most notably the armored cockpit had to go in order to get them on board lighter transport craft meaning no more amore value 12 up front. Secondly all sentinels we’re fitted with gravchutes in order for them to deploy on the battlefield via glorious combat drops thus jeapordizing both pilot and machine should they land off target. To further emphasize the ‘FUCK YOU’-feeling of the sentinels, weapon options were limited to either heavy flamers, heavy bolters or multimeltas. If it wasn’t for the rule-of-cool noboby would ever get in the cockpit on one of these death traps volountarily, let alone field them in any serious army. However these suicidal jumpers have several benefits to take into consideration once you get over the initial doubt.
A single Elysian drop sentinel cost 55pts a pop and comes with a heavy bolter which can be replaced by a heavy flamer at no additional cost. I wouldn’t recommend fielding them with the heavy bolter alone unless you have some sort of secret masterplan or perhaps if you play a narrative scenario because lets face it: spending 55pts for a BS3 heavy bolter is simply a waste of 55pts. The multimelta costs an additional 15pts bringing the total price up to the insane 70pts/model giving you an open topped vehicle with an armor value of 10 all around. This is more of a general problem for the Elysians rather than a sentinel problem which I have addressed before, and to be honest the prices in the current list (Imperial Armor Vol 3: 2nd ed.) are way above the current direction that the game has taken. Nobody can argue that 70pts for a mobile multimelta is a fair price when the standard codex gives you a mobile lascannon for 50 – with more armor on top of it all.
What makes the drop sentinels interesting is that they’re an Elite choice in the Elysian army thus making room for more tasty flyers and jeeps from the Fast Attack section. Furthermore they come with the ability to ‘deep strike’ onto the battlefield and make use of the ‘combat drop’ special rule available only to the Elysians. Combat drop means that half of your valkyries, drop sentinels and tarrantula sentry turrets (rounded up) will automatically arrive on turn 1 in a well co-ordinated chaotic drop manouvre. Being able to put half or your fliers (with embarked veterans) and sentinels onto the table from the start of the game is a big bonus, not to mention bypassing the risk of being stuck offboard thanks to bad reserve rolls. To make the most out of these point heavy tankbusters I bring along an Inquisitorial detachment with three servo-skulls. The servo-skulls not only deny the opponent’s ability to infiltrate and scout in the pre-game phase, but also allows friendly units to roll one less d6 when deep striking within 12″ of the Servo-skull (which can only be removed when enemies move within 6″ of it). This makes the whole combat drop procedure a whole lot more precise and reliable, allowing me to deploy either two groups of 3 multimeltas, or three groups of 2 multimeltas with next to perfect precision wherever there’s an armored threat. Sure the Balistic Skill is crappy but when used in this way at least there’s a better chance of getting a good alpha-strike on the opponent. The Inquisitor himself can also roll for psychic powers from the Divination table allowing you to cast prescience on your multimissas. If no worthy targets are in sight I simply try to drop my sentinels on the objectives to set up some sort of board control for later turns.
A new hope? Some inspiration from Cadia
The recently released Warzone Democles: Mont’Ka supplement brought along some new formations for the good ol’ Guard and all of them have been thoroughly reviewed on other blogs and channels. However all of them looked at the formations in a context strictly characterized by Codex: Astra Militarum, and to be honest in this time of Pask and/or Blob meta the only formation that stood out as equally good was the artillery regiment that allows basilisks to twinlink and ignore cover while guided by infantry Vox-casters. The rest of the formations were pretty cool but not really able to compete with the candy available to other factions. Still I would like to argue that there is one formation from the Mont’Ka book that could prove useful especially in an army themed around an Elysian light drop regiment. Enter the Emperor’s Talon Recon Company.
In order to field the Emperor’s Talon formation you have to pay the formation tax that consists of a single company command squad. Luckily enough these are quite cheap and allows you to bring some extra orders onto the table as well as special weapon options and advisors should you have the points. The formation itself consists of 2-4 squads of scout or armored sentinel squadrons, in any combination, which must consist of three sentinels each. One of the walkers gets promoted to a command sentinel (character) that can issue a limited selection of orders to other squadrons by passing a LD roll of 8. This is a flavourful little bonus to the formation that will improve it’s use over the course of the game. Unfortuantely the command sentinel cannot issue the most fluffy orders to a search-and-destroy company of chicken walkers (Tank-hunters and Ignore cover) but I guess they didn’t want to make the BS3 sentinels OP or something!? Jokes aside, the orders that you will almost always issue is the one that allows you to fire your weapons and then run in the same shooting phase, opening up for some nerfed eldar and tau trickery play.
What makes this formation interesting from an Elysian perspective is the ability to use it as an allied detachment and once again bring armored sentinels to support the troops on the ground. You’re allowed to take both scout and armored variants but I’d go with the armored ones as the extra thick front improves their survivability. The formation also allows armored sentinels to outflank, which means that you’ll almost always be able to bring your autocannons to bear against vulnerale side or rear armor of enemy threats. I’d deploy three sentinels with lascannons and their commander on the table to help the rest of the army out from the start by putting those valuable single laser shots down range early on. The second unit would then arrive from reserves to harass and catch weaker targets like pesky wave serpents and hornets off guard. The formation still suffers from only having BS3 but this is somewhat bypassed by the final bonus which grants the whole formation the ‘preferred enemy’ special rule against a single enemy unit nominated after deployment. Being able to re-roll 1’s when you’re hitting on 4’s will improve your overall hits on target – not as reliable as twinlinked but still a decent bonus. Nominating the target that’s being hunted by the formation after the deployment phase but before the game starts means that you get adaptability out of the roughly 300pts spent on silly walkers.
I hope this article has shed some light on how I make use of the combat dropping sentinels of the Elysian droptroops, as well as the new Recon Company formation for the standard Astra Militarum. There are of course better choices and more efficient ways to spend your points if you’re looking for reliable ways of removing armored threats to your force. But when the rule-of-cool is taken into consideration there’s nothing that beats the sight of a sentinel company going to a party.
Here’s a 360 spin of the sentinels:
Ride shiny and chrome!
I just finished another two Tauros vehicles for my Elysian project. This time I painted up a Venator and a second Assault buggy, and I must admit that their role in the army has grown on me. After an initial look at their entry they may seem a bit misplaced, and although they could need a points drop to make them on par with the current edition and similar units, they will work wonders for you if used right. Don’t expect them to return home though, with an armor value equal to a xenos surfboard they are dead men riding after all. In this post I’ll talk you through the two types of Tauros’, how they can be outfitted for different tasks, and how I try to maximize their impact on the game.
A scalpel for your battlefield surgery.
The Tauros start out at 40 points a piece and for that you get an open topped jeep with an armor value of 10 all around and only 2 HPs. This means that even a bullet from a standard issue boltgun can chew through its armor with the potential of wrecking it if you’re unlucky. It is equipped with a heavy flamer which can be replaced with a two shot grenade launcher. I really want the grenade launcher to be useful as it looks way better and is somewhat similar to what modern day patrol vehicles use. The sad fact is that most of the time you will either scatter off target with your templates or just miss the krak rounds so it’s hard to justify increasing the costs of your toy cars. The chassis can be upgraded to a Venator for the cost of four meltabombs, which not only gives the front plates a boost to AV11 but also allows the Tauros to carry heavier weapons. Don’t be fooled by the increase of of front armor as the vehicle’s footprint is fairly long and not that wide, meaning that most fire will hit the sides if the enemy is dedicated on taking it out. The Tauros’ are by no means meant for regular ground combat. If you repeat the mantra “Eldar scatbikes will give these jeeps a really bad day for almost half the cost per model” a couple of times before each game you might get into the right mindset. Add a bit of ancient chinese wisdom and these V8 fanatics will be a very nasty thorn in the side of any mediocre opponent.
As noted earlier, the Tauros is a fast vehicle which means that it can scramble across the field and be wherever it wants in reasonably few turns. Unfortunately, when the Imperial Armour books updated the Elysians to 6th ed. the Tauros lost the ability to bring homing beacons, thus limiting its use in a deep strike-dependent army. This used to be a fast way to secure your drop sites by using its scout move and going flat out in turn one, allowing flyers or infantry to arrive in turn two withouth scattering, only to continue harrassing the opponent once all reserves had arrived from turn three and on. I would argue that the loss of the homing beacon changed the way the Tauros would perform on the field dramatically, pushing it’s role from a synergetic support unit to a fully comitted mid-game threat to the enemy backfield. This means that you cannot simply deploy the Tauros and race it towards a certain death hoping to reach the enemy lines before they shower it with enough bolter or pulse rifle fire. As a whise old sage once said: if at first you don’t succeed, get yourself back into reserves and try again.
So instead of using the ability to scout ahead of your deployed army the safest way to the enemy lines is via a reserves roll on turn two. Since the Tauros can scout, placing it in reserves aso allows it to outflank and arrive from the short table edges during the game. Here’s the trick, a successfull outflank with this type of unit is always achieved in the pre-game step when objectives are placed. Since you and your opponent take turns to place objectives, always make sure to have at least one objective roughly 12-15″ from one of the corners (or both depending on what you are facing) in each deployment zone. If your opponent puts an objective close to a corner go for the opposite and so on. This means two things. First fo all, if you get a side with an objective in each corner you have two objectives that you should be able to defend and score for a couple of game turns. Secondly, if your opponent gets a side with an objective or two close to the corners they will almost always make sure to do the same: defend it and score it with some sort of backfield unit – either with long range weapons or simply by camping on it. I can write a long list of units that you will almost always see holding an objective in the deployment zone but here are some examples of campers: Grots, Cultists, 20-man Guard platoons, Eldar guardians, and sometimes Marine scout squads. Long range support units: Fire warriors, Eldar rangers or equivelent, 5-man Tactical marines with a heavy weapon, Ork lootas and so on.
With the ability to modify your reserve rolls using a Master of the Fleet (I know it’s just a rough 50% chance but still) chances are you will be able to bring the engines to bear on the roll of a 2+ to punish said units holding corner objectives from the second game turn and on. It is important that you didn’t place the objectives as close as possible (6″) from the table edges as this will allow the opponent to counter your threat by spreading out along the edges once he figures out that he’s been tricked, thus blocking any movement and maximizing his unit coherency. Once your Tauros Assaults arrive, being fast vehicles, they can scoot up to 12″ towards the objectives and lay down 1-3 heavy flamer templates that covers an additional 8″. Remember that there’s a 1/3 chance of choosing which side you arrive from, as well as 1/3 chance of actually arriving on the side with the right target, giving you a 2/3 chance of arriving exactly where you want to. Now imagine those 5-10 Fire warriors or those 20 Lootas hugging a ruin to get cover next to an objective. 3 heavy flamers will clear out any foxhole all while leaving a nice smell of prometheum in the morning. I’ve done this numerous times, even if you’re up against a combat squad of Marines you’ll average 3-4 dead marines on a maximized tripple flame template!
Once you have cleared the area, the objective is up for grabs should you get the right Tactical Objective card. A great way to keep your opponent busy is to park your buggies in terrain and give him or her the choice of going after them to deny your Linebreaker-point or ignore them and give you an extra point when the game ends. On a last note, be aggressive with your movement when you arrive. Don’t avoid units that hide deep within terrain because of the fear of getting immobilized while driving through it. The galvanic motors allows your buggies to ignore Immobilized results on the roll of a 4+ (they still suffer a HP damage though) and if you drive at combat speed the wide tires gives you re-rolls on your dangerous terrain tests.
Landships tally ho!
Let’s turn our attention to the Venator type. As I noted earlier it is profiled as the “heavier” of the two with the ability to bolster your anti-tank arsenal with a heavy weapon-mounted turret of two kinds. The Venator comes stock with a twin-linked multilaser which can be switched out for a twin-linked lascannon. This brings the total cost up to either 60 or 75 points which is a bit on the high end considering what similar vehicles from other factions can bring. Comparing it to a Landspeeder gives a rough idea of the direction the game has taken since the Elysians got their own armylist. A landspeeder can cover more ground to utilize its two multimeltas for 70 points which places it in a somewhat similar combat role. I’m not saying the Venator should cost less than a Landspeeder but it would help if the two optional hunter killer missiles didn’t cost 10 points per shot…
The Venator should be used with care as you pay roughly the cost of a veteran squad to field one. You are allowed to mix and match the two types in a squadron but mixing Assault and Venator types within a unit should be avoided. These vehicles have a specific task and every turn you don’t use them is a waste of valuable points. Getting a “cheap” squad with three twin-linked multilasers arriving from reserves is a viable way of threatening the rear and side armor of enemy tanks. I haven’t tried this tactic yet as I don’t own enough Venators for it to be efficient. I would suggest not buying the HKM’s as they are only hitting on 4+ meaning that you average one missile hit for 20 points of one use upgrades.
The other way to use the Venator is to go full monty and buy the lascannons. You could either go for a squadron of two or two single squads of one Venator each here. It really depends on your local meta, how much armor, and how many hull points you generally face off against. Since the Elysians lack the ability to field lascannon teams or Sentinels, I think the best way to make sure you get your points worth of shots before turn six is to deploy them on the field to avoid waiting for reserves that may not turn up on time. Being fast all-terrain vehicles the Venators are fairly simple to hide from incomming fire should you go second, only to get out of cover and into a good firing position on your turn. Try not to expose them to too many threats though as the last thing you want to is to get baited into taking a shot at a juicy target only to get blown sky high from returning fire. Avoid duels with Predators and other vehicles that can out-shoot you unless you have good cover. With a bit of luck, night fighting and a low wall you might be able to put two lascannon shots through a Predator before you have to disengage. Remember that the main gun is turret mounted which allows you to face on threat and fire at another. I never buy the HKM’s as they bring the total price up to almost a hundred, but if you have the extra points go for it. You are commited anyway if you field the Venators as your only long range anti-tank.
That’s all for now. If you have any questions or would like to discuss the article please leave a comment below!
Here’s a 360 spin of the Venators (in bad lighting).
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