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To make a Battle Company for the Star Phantoms….

Ah Star Phantoms, the true heroes of the Badab war. Slight inconsistencies of their founding date aside, the Star Phantoms are shrouded in mystery.
Who is their Founding Chapter?
Is it the Dark Angels?
A traitor legion, hence the secrecy?
Nobody knows.
What we do know is the Star Phantoms really like Drop Pods. In fact, they love drop pods. Orbital Assault is truly for the win.


Known traits of the chapter include; Lots of Drop Pods (Not sure if I mentioned this), a love for Devastator Squads (each company tending to have 3 rather than the usual 2), lots of Melta and Plasma weaponry, preference of long ranged bombardment with heavy weaponry (hello devastator squads!) over close combat and because of all this, they are known for lots and lots of collateral damage (‘Lord Solar Macharius himself is said to have stated that the Chapter was "Unsuitable for tactical close support of other Imperial Units"’, quoted from Lexicanum)

Their original home world, Haakonath, was destroyed by a Hrud migration in 120.M40. Making the chapter one of the only known forces to survive such an event. Leading up to the Badab war, the Phantoms were fleet based, plying the Space Lanes of Segementum Obscurus. Then in 912.M41, the Star Phantoms arrived in in strength (all 10 companies) to help their imperial allies in bringing the tyrant Lufgt Huron to justice. It was in fact a blast from Captain Zhrukal Androcles’s own Combi-Melta that delivered the killing blow to Huron before Androcles succumbed to his own wounds and died. As reward for their heroic actions in the bloody campaign, the Star Phantoms were given dominion over the shattered remains of the Badab sector. Taking its pick of the planets, it settled on the ice moon of Jahga, where they chose to bring down the heavily-damaged Memento Mori, and use the ancient warship as the base of their new Fortress-Monastery (again, thank you Lexicanum).

At this time the Star Phantoms were thought to have less than 400 Battle Brothers remaining…….

So, that’s the fluff. Pinch of mystery, sprinkles of suicide, lashings of fire power and a dollop of “easy DIY customisation”.

For those reasons, I have picked the Star Phantoms. Who doesn’t like the idea of going big or going home with a Drop Pod Assault? And as the majority of the chapter was decimated during the Badab wars, it’s easy to put your own spin on your own Battle company whilst still staying true to the chapters doctrine and ethos.

So lets talk companies. We’ll ignore the 1st, I’m steering away from Veterans and after previously owning a Deathwing army, terminators are out too. We shall also ignore the 9th company, Forgeworld did a good job with the 9th, Devastator squads galore. So, wanting to have a little bit of a mixture, not wanting to be a reserve company, not wanting scouts, and also wanting to shoehorn some Centurions in there, that leaves me with the 3rd, 4th or 5th……

For the sake of Argument, lets say the 4th….

Okay, so a typical 4th Battle company looks like –

- Captain
- Chaplain
- Apothecary
- Standard Bearer
- 6 x Tactical
- 2 x Assault
- 2 x Devastator
- Then the usual Dreadnoughts, Rhinos, Land Speeders and Bikes in Support

Bearing the typical company layout in mind, and entwining that with the style of the Star Phantoms, this is how my 4th Company currently looks –


- ­1 x Captain
- 4 x Tactical (4 x 5 man squads, who don’t forget the plasma and Melta!)
- 1 x Centurion Devastators (1 x 3 man Squad)
- 2 x Venerable Dreadnoughts
- 6 x Drop Pods


So about 1/3 of a company at present, nice.

In game terms, my current portion of the Star Phantoms 4th Company equates to 1500 Points (it has an ADL and Quad Gun thrown in for good measure), a nice round figure.

But where do I go next with the building of the 4th?
With wanting to keep the possibility of Apoc formations and the like open, expanding the existing 5 man Tactical Squads to 10 a piece seems a good place to start.
But what else?
Loaded up Devastator squads, what a silly question - of course!
A Command squad, most certainly.
2 Assault Squads, tricky one, do I take the - “The Chapter also seemed to prefer long-ranged bombardment using heavy weaponry over the chaos of melee combat, though it is capable of the latter when it is tactically expedient to do so.”(I owe you yet again Lexicanum), to mean they don’t use assault squads, but rather when they run out of Bolt Shells or ammunition the Tac marines simply beat the enemy senseless with the butt of their rifles? Or rather that yes they do have assault squads but they just jetpack around lazily looking bored whilst their brothers shoot the life out of the foe?
Land Speeders loaded up with Meltas?
I’m not sold on bikes, my interpretation of the Phantoms is flying into the enemy sans wheels. Land Speeders I can sort of get, bikes not so much.
Tank wise? Vindicators? Whirlwinds?


In my weird and wonderful head I have the image of a scenario similar to the Badab war:-

A castled up foe. Bunched up together in a well defended and fortified position.
The skies screech with the sound of drop pods plummeting to terra firma.
Mud, rock and earth erupting under the crashing weight of a mobile command base being air lifted just outside of the range of the fortresses booming guns, allowing a commanding view of the battle field.
Metallic shuttles also depositing tracked war machines such as Vindicators and Whirlwinds to provide a frontal assault onto the enemy’s reinforced walls.
The field base, beyond the reach of the opposition, houses the companies captain and command squad. Correlating intelligence and barking orders over Vox communication systems to the front line.
A bodyguard of Centurion Devastators surround the command, blasting foe to ruin if they dare come within range.
Devastators occupy vantage points surrounding the enemy, laying down masses of destructive fire power on the traitor or the Xenos.
Venerable Dreadnoughts in the midst of battle alongside their tactical brethren, cleansing the heretic with flame, plasma and Melta.

The above is how I see the 4th company waging war. Specialists in shock and awe, throw enough fire power and cut of the escape with walls of bolter shell and plasma charge. Admittedly it could also be read as the musings of a mad man.



So after that rambling mess of thought made visual (I’m very impressed and very grateful if you have read through the lot). What are peoples thought in adding to my company? Any advice? Any feedback? Any opinion on the Star Phantoms?

Regarding the Assault Marines, if it is a full Battle Company you would have 20 designated Assault Marines. However, AM are also trained in the use of bikes as well, so your options are open. While not strictly permitted by the Codex Astertes, I can see the Chapter equipping its AM with bolters and maybe heavy weapons if they've taken losses and would rather pack out Tactical/Devastator squads than Assault Squads.

Howver, given their 'shock and awe' thing, I can see them using Assault Marines in Drop Pods toting dual flamers as an anti-infantry spearhead, which also happens to be pretty good for crowd control in game. So I'd say it would be perfectly fluffy to ser them up as below:

5-10 men, drop pod, 2x flamer, gear on the Sergeant.

Why not convert this into a blog on dakka and keep us updated with pics/builds as you go forward?

@Paradigm - I like it. I can see them doing something like that in regards to the Assault equipment. I mean they don't strictly follow the norm with that extra dev squad.

@Ratius - That's a good idea. I'm currently awaiting the large parcel containing the 1500 points mentioned above (I proxied and playtested it to see if I liked the style first). Unfortunately I am a notoriously slow painter so updates may be few and far between. But perhaps a blog type thingy would inspire quicker work. I've just got all my Eldar finished, should of blogged that, ah well

Blogs are done at your own pace
Mine took over a year. Many run longer.....

Tis sounding more appealing.
Have you a link for yours? I'd like to gander

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/538944.page

Awesome, Hissy seems a doll and a half.
I shall indeed attempt the blogging, thanks dude

Good luck brother.

I can’t even manage to paint 1 mini a week for my goal, yet I maintain a blog. It helps me keep focused, and it a good source of feedback. I’d recommend one.

If you want to build towards the apoc formation, you probably want to keep to the “classic” battle company. 6 tac, 2 dev/assault, captain, chaplain, command squad with all the trimmings, and 3 dreads. All squads at full strength. From a practical table-top POV, you will probably never field all that, but it’s nice to have. Due to the losses, a lot of squads could be understrength. So if you don’t want to buy all the tactical marines, for example, you have a fluffy excuse. But of you want the special rules in Apoc games, you need to meet the criteria.

For a drop pod army, 5 man squads of assault marines are good anti-troop units, and inexpensively boost your pod count. From what you say of the fluff, 2x5 man squads might be all your chapter wants to field with BP/CCW. If I were you, I’d put the rest of your assault marines in land speeders. They seem to be the best fit for your style of fighting. If you want to go with the “stand back and blast” tactic, use TML/HB speeders. They are the dev squad of the FA slot.

If you are going to grab another dread, consider an ironclad.

Vehicles outside of dedicated transports are chapter level, rather then company assets. For a full drop army, I’d use flyers. They make a lot more sense thematically.

Another vote for blogging here! I started one just a few weeks ago and painted about 30+ minis in that time, it really does do wonders for your productivity!

That and I just love seeing Battle Companies, they are a real spectacle!

It has begun


http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/619412.page#7286671