Well, it's official. I am both from Barcelona and John Snow, for I know nothing:
locarno24 wrote:I really doubt you'll see a less elite version [
Than the Solar Auxillia]. Auxillia lasrifle troops have
ws and
bs 3 and what are basically lasguns. They cost the per-model price of normal guardsmen. They really aren't a stormtrooper army. Saying they're the Imperial Army's best is like saying the cadians are the guard's best - maybe but it doesn't mean anything in game terms.
Tempest includes the rules for the Imperialis Militia. If the Solar Auxillia are the Imperial Guard of the 30th Millenium, these boys are the PDF. Much less standardised and arguably even more customisable than the Legions. I keep looking at them and coming up with ideas for lists using them, because they're so damn characterful, but some actual discussion of their strengths (which do exist) and weaknesses (which are many) might be a good idea.
Note that you don't have to take any of the provenances, leaving you with Guardsmen-But-Worse for a lot less points.
Force Commander
- This guy's main job is to have the Muster Of Worlds rule, allowing you to field an army of advanced lasrifle-wielding power-armoured squat grenadiers who'll behave like Tau/Sisters of Battle on the field, 50-strong mobs of zealot/rending mutants, and a million other variations that.....frankly don't seem half as good.
- Unlike a Solar Auxillia Lord Marshal or a Mechanicus Archmagos, this guy is not and never will be a match for even a space marine Centurion. I'd argue that weapon upgrades are probably a waste.
- He has an option which allows you to choose your warlord trait rather than buy it. There are a couple of decent ones, but the star to build around is probably the one which lets you reduce the
AP of one units weapons by 1. AP3 heavy bolters or autocannons are a terrifying thought.
Platoon Command Section
- If you're not taking a force commander, this is your default
HQ choice. A big command squad, which comes as standard with a flag which lets you ignore casualties for morale checks across a big swathe of the field. Nice, because this essentially makes you stubborn in close combat. Useless, because ignoring leadership penalties is only good if you
also have a decent leadership to start with. Carapace Armour is cheap - especially for a big unit - and the option of lasrifles (if taking advanced weapons) or heavy stubbers is nice. Heavy Stubbers aren't exactly a great weapon but when you have seven of the damn things in a squad, suddenly they become rather more impressive.
Discipline Master
- another way of getting +1 leadership. He's largely worse than a commissar in
40k because he isn't stubborn but he does provide a +1ld boost and a base Ld8 character as well as his reroll. Paired with the standard above, you can trust the unit he's attached to to hold it's ground - at least until he is (inevitably) killed.
Rogue Psyker
- Hmm. One mastery 1 psyker - maybe mastery 2. Psykers aren't exactly common in Horus Heresy games, so he's probably going to be fairly effective, but note that they've explicitely avoided the really broken disciplines - no Telepathy/Divination powers.
Infantry Squad
- The price of a guard infantry squad for 20 guardsmen? Sounds good. But no orders, worse guns and only Ld7 makes them....a lot shoddier than their number suggest. You can field 100 soldiers in place of a single 20-man astartes squad, but frankly, bet on the astartes. You can buy them lascarbines, which allows them to fight effectively a turn earlier and gives the extra rapid-fire shot at anyone coming to kill them up close, which is probably worth it for a footslogging squad. The Vexilla......one wound, here or there, is not going to matter, because if this unit gets charged by anything halfway decent you're going to lose combat by a lot. And either you've got a standard bearer in range - so you don't care - or you don't - so you're probably testing on a double 1. Also note that you only have one sergeant - unlike
40k Astra Militarum blobs - so challenging characters is more of an issue.
- Their biggest weakness is that they're a troop choice each. Unlike Astra Militarum or Renegades & Heretics platoons, or Solar Auxillia Tercios, you only get one squad per slot. You can fill out your choices and you get only 120 dudes and have spent very few points. As a result, this unit is only really there to support Grenadiers or Levy as 'primary' choices, to unlock Gorgon Transporters, or to provide bubble-wrap for a tank force.
Gorgon Transporter
- These guys have taken a serious jump in effectiveness. Those 'twin fifties' on the bridge? They're now autocannons - and can be upgraded to multilasers or lascannons. With the options to pack multilasers or lascannons in the sponsons, too, you can have four such weapons pointing forwards (two of those twin-linked, so effectively 5) on a chassis with an AV14 glacis plate and a 5++ save from the front. That's a damn sight closer to 'worth it', especially since you can carry a couple of squads of infantry in the belly to protect it from enemy assault units. Note that a lot of units don't have access to this, so often you'll buy an infantry squad, buy a dedicated transport, then put them and a fire support squad or command squad inside.
Grenadiers
- Competent infantry. Ish. Swap out the rubbish rifles for bolters, laslocks or lasrifles to taste. The latter two work well in a Survivors of The Dark Ages force - Lasrifles and Rotor Cannons give you great massed 30" range S4 firepower, whilst laslocks in a unit in a transport gives you 18" range S5 firepower - the latter is not as good as a Veletaris unit with its assault 2 volkite weapons, though. The options of Rhinos or Land Raiders are nice, too.
Levy
- Substandard armour, weapons worse than lasguns and the statline of a conscript. On the other hand..... cheaper than grots, available in 50-man units and totally disposable to the point they don't even give away first blood. the backbone of mutant armies. Be warned that a custodian doesn't have access to meltabombs and the unit can't take krak grenades, unlike regular squads, so their ability to threaten enemy armour is nil.
Recon Squads
A five-man unit for the price of a twenty-man unit. Cam-cloaks are nice, but are an option costing extra points. So are sniper rifles. Unless there turns out to have been a serious typo on the price or unit size, move along. I have no intention of buying five men instead of forty, even if they do get scout. Yes, they can be used to deliver a demo charge, but the army is not exactly short of ways of putting a S8+ AP2 template on things.
Fire support squad
Now we're talking. Fragile and with rubbish leadership, but a unit of 5-10 heavy weapons teams. Find them some decent cover and they will lay down some impressive pain - or else draw a hell of a lot of fire and get wiped out on turn 1 (which is probably more likely). One thing to remember - you can take heavy flamer teams, which is a scary thought to accompany an infantry squad or grenadier squad in a gorgon; even auxillia infantry can probably put up a fight against a unit that's just been dusted down by half a dozen or more heavy flamers!
Medicae Orderlies
Feel no pain on a twenty man squad is nice for very few points. But there is a lot of S6 fire out there that'll ignore it.
Enginseer Auxillia
If you have tanks, consider it. If not...don't.
Ogryns
If taking gorgons, a squad of ogryns with ripper guns can act as a filler unit, and pile in with some serious dakka. Their big problem is leadership - which is why their best use is probably in a cult/mutant force.
Sentinal Squadron
Scout Sentinals - no option of armoured ones. Outflanking in a big block of sentinals can seriously inconvenience any tank which isn't a land raider, especially since the missile launcher upgrade is cheap and the H/K missile is also cheap - 40 points a walker for 2 krak missiles on the turn they come in isn't bad return on investment. H/K missiles aren't a bad idea simply because the sentinals aren't going to live long enough to fire twice if anyone bothers to shoot at them.
Auxillia Thunderbolt
A ridiculously elite fighter compared to the quality of the rest of your stuff. Properly kitted out you're paying Astartes gunship money. Does a nice line in fighter superiority with kinetic piercers, or in flambed marines with the blast missiles. Don't touch hellstrikes with a bargepole. Also has half-decent firepower once the missiles are expended, which a lightning doesn't.
Artillery Battery
Heavy artillery with earthshakers or medusas. You know them, you love them.
Rapier Battery
Very effective antitank for points if you buy laser destroyers, but you'll burn through your heavy support slots fast. Quad Launchers don't have shatter shells, making them less flexible than solar auxillia versions.
Spawn
Twisted flesh only, but spawn are as good as spawn always are. Flooding the board with a wave of T5 models to draw fire is never a bad idea.
Tank Squadron
Unlike solar auxillia, you get no invulnerable save, but you are heavy tanks, so you can put out fire more effectively when moving slowly.
Malcador
Probably a better use of points. As someone pointed out to me when the solar auxillia came out, a malcador is better than a couple of leman russ because the sponson weapons can keep shooting at full effect whilst you fire the main gun. You can load them out with impressive numbers of guns, and you should always, always take siege armour. AV14 is brilliant and the loss of 'fast' is almost meaningless for a shooty superheavy.
Baneblade/Stormhammer
It's a superheavy tank. Apply big templates to things and laugh like a drain
The easiest force to use looks like the Cult Horde/Twisted Flesh force - Levy units are cheap, fearless (very rare in 30k armies) and have rending attacks in combat. You can either take massed number of levy and play green/blue/red/whatever colour you like tide, or else just use them as a screen for shooting units. Cult Horde is one of the most dramatic changes to the army because it means the only meaningful shooting comes from vehicles, but at the same time fearless, cheap infantry is worth its weight in gold. Zealot also pushes ogryns from so-so to a serious combat unit. Twisted Flesh essentially robs you of the ability to take anything but a massed infantry army, but cult horde on its own isn't bad - take multiple malcadors and then use militia infantry as a fearless bubblewrap to protect them.
Abhuman Helots/Survivors of the Dark Age is awesome if only because it means you get squats.
Other regiments from
HH novels are doable, but probably not as good. The Geno-54 Chilliad, for example, is well trained human pikemen. Feral Warriors and Gene-Forged gives you Ld8 squads with WS4, S4, I4, A2 - swap your rifles out for additional combat weapons if you like - and you've got a decent melee unit..... but I'd be very concerned about their leadership, and assaults are precisely where leadership most becomes an issue.
Has anyone had much experience with the Militia, and if so using what provenances?
