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So I had this rad idea that I've been working on lately for an elite squad of troopers for the Imperial Guard that are not only well-trained soldiers but also... wait for it... Psykers! I've experimented lately with Wyrdvane Psykers for the fun of it and found them to be underwhelming, primarily because they are a very one dimensional unit that often gets targeted early. Granted they aren't the greatest, but access to a brotherhood of psykers with a large number of wounds contributing to my warp dice pool and multiple locations from which to cast the powers was an appealing thing. Their biggest downside is cost and the lack of utility they have beyond their powers. And so I came up with the idea of the Sanctioned Savant-Militant Squad. (In case there is any confusion, the Warden is exactly the same as a Commissar) Give me your feedback and I'll see what I can do to tweak it around!

Sanctioned Savant-Militant Squad
130 Points
A Sanctioned Savant-Militant Squad is an Elites choice for any Astra Militarum army.

Savant Militant
WS3 BS4 S3 T3 W1 I3 A1 Ld8 Sv 5+
Warden
WS4 BS4 S3 T3 W1 I3 A2 Ld9 Sv 5+

Unit Type: Savant-Militant are Infantry, Warden is Infantry (Character)
Unit Composition: 9 Savant-Militants, 1 Warden

Wargear (Savant-Militant): Flak Armor, Lasgun, Frag Grenades, Close Combat Weapon
Wargear (Warden): Flak Armor, Bolt Pistol, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Chainsword

Special Rules (Savant-Militant): Brotherhood of Psykers (Mastery Level One), It's For Your Own Good, Psychic Battle Doctrines
Special Rules (Warden): Stubborn, Summary Execution

The Savant-Militant Squad may take a dedicated transport:
Chimera: 65 points
Taurox: 50 points

A Savant-Militant Squad may generate their powers from either the Biomancy, Pyromancy, or Telekinesis disciplines.

Any Savant-Militant may exchange his lasgun with a laspistol for free.

The Savant-Militant squad may take Krak Grenades: 10 points

Two Savant-Militants may exchange their lasguns for one of the following special weapons:
Plasma Gun: 15 points
Flamer: 5 points
Grenade Launcher: 5 points
Melta Gun: 10 points

The Warden may exchange his Bolt Pistol for:
Boltgun: Free
Plasma Pistol: 15 points

The Warden may also exchange his Chainsword for:
Power Fist: 25 points
Power Sword: 15 points
Power Axe: 15 points
Power Maul: 15 points

Psychic Battle Doctrines
A Savant-Militant Squad is not only a highly trained force of soldiers with an impressive arsenal of weaponry at their command but are also psykers that focus a portion of their gift into enhancing their already impressive combat skills. Each squad of Savant-Militants specialize in different psychically enhanced combat styles that focus their warp powers into devastatingly effective tactics.

A Savant-Militant squad MAY select up to TWO of the following Psychic Battle Doctrines:

Warp Charged Weapons (20 points): The Savant-Militants focus warp energy into the power packs of their las weapons, enhancing the stopping power of each shot. A lasgun or laspistol wielded by a Savant-Militant squad with Warp Charged Weapons is treated as a S4 AP4 weapon of the same type (ie. Warp Charged Lasguns are S4 AP4, Rapid Fire)

Warp Blades (20 points): The Savant-Militants line their combat blades with scintillating warp energies that hones them to a keen edge that can shear through even the strongest of armors. Close combat attacks from a Savant-Militant Squad equipped with Warp Blades are resolved at S4 and have Rending.

Warp Alacrity (25 points): Focusing their warp powers inwards to enhance their speed and coordination, the Savant-Militants become whirlwinds of death and destruction. The Savant-Militants increase their Initiative score to 4 and gain one additional Attack.

Warp Reflexes (20 points): The Savant-Militants stretch out with their warp-attuned senses, gaining limited precognition and an awareness of the locations of nearby enemies and their intent. All Savant-Militants in the squad gain a 6+ invulnerable save against all attacks.


There we have it. I feel like they have a lot of opportunity to be customized into a powerful squad that, when wielded effectively, could be devastating on the battlefield. The costs I think are appropriate, maybe a bit on the low side but I'll let the community decide.

They seem ok to me, Warp Charges Weapons seems freakin amazing and i would probably always take it. I did kinda go "eeeeh" when i say that they can generate powers from Three Disciplines (including Biomancy which is amazing) but then i realized that they are only ML 1 and have no way to increase that, so that isnt a problem.

Honestly on paper they seem really good, then again a lot of things seem good on paper. Id playtest them in various sized games and see how things go.

Looking again at Warp Alacrity i think it may be overcosted, as it costs more than getting Rending on the squad's CCW, i think Warp Reflexes are similarly overcosted, as a 6++ isnt all that great, though it is nice to have. Trust me, i play SoB

Warp Charged Weapons is the one I was the most tentative about in terms of costing. S4 AP4 for Guard I thought would be pretty awesome. Guard tend to lack reliable mid-strength shooting like S4, tending towards S3 with a huuuuuuge gap until S7 from Autocannons/Plasma. 20 seems a fair cost for that upgrade?

So you think maybe for Warp Alacrity drop it to 20 points to make it a little more attractive? As for Warp Reflexes, I could do one of three things to tweak it.

Option A: Reduce points cost to 15
Option B: Keep the points cost, increase the save to 5++ against shooting and 6++ in Close Combat
Option C: Increase the points cost to 25 and increase it to a flat 5++ save

They seem pretty good to me. I might try this out at my next game

Glad you approve! I like the idea of a shooty brotherhood of psykers myself. If they have a shooting Psychic Power it means that they get that much more ranged damage potential.

Is there any element of the rules that you think needs tweaking?

For that matter, is the base price of 130 fair? I based the numbers off a full squad of Wyrdvane Psykers and a Commisar, plus a small addition for the increased stats over Wyrdvanes.

 ThaliasRatheron wrote:
Warp Charged Weapons is the one I was the most tentative about in terms of costing. S4 AP4 for Guard I thought would be pretty awesome. Guard tend to lack reliable mid-strength shooting like S4, tending towards S3 with a huuuuuuge gap until S7 from Autocannons/Plasma. 20 seems a fair cost for that upgrade?

For warp charged weapons one thing you could do is give it the gets hot rule with everything else. Though it might make it a little too dangerous for the unit.

I considered that at first, but considering they are firing only S4 AP4 with an armor of 5+ the risk/reward isn't nearly worth it for them. Plasma with their BS is definitely worth it to risk the Gets Hot, but I'm not wasting a model that costs essentially 13 points (with the Warp Charged Weapons rules applied) on a S4 AP4 shot.

Now maybe if it was S4 AP3 so its dangerous to MEQs I might consider adding Gets Hot and upping the price by 5 more points, but with S4 AP4 I think its fine how it is.

In other news my wife and I went to the local game store last night for a quick game and I used a unit of these guys and they were surprisingly effective. Brought Warp Charged Weapons, Warp Reflexes, and two Plasma Guns as upgrades.. I chose Biomancy, got Endurance (heck yeah) which combined with Smite turned them into a fairly tanky and verrrry shooty unit. They melted a squad of 5 terminators that Deep Striked nearby pretty quick.

maybeeze you make them get mastery level 2 for +3 pts per model?(not including warden)

 hanshotfirst wrote:
maybeeze you make them get mastery level 2 for +3 pts per model?(not including warden)

I considered that. Briefly. To be honest it would be appealing to give them an extra power and the additional psychic strength for deny the witch and suchlike, but at the end of the day it didn't make that much sense. Primaris Psykers represent individually powerful psykers utilized by the Astra Militarum to protect their forces from the dangers of the warp and in game turns they by themselves are ML1 to start and ML2 for the upgrade.

The way I see the Savant-Militants is that they are recruited in one of two ways: either they are already soldiers whose latent psychic talents are exposed after training or they are lower power-level members of the Scholastica Psykana that show an affinity for offensive power applications. Either way they are able to cast full powers only through the pooling of their psychic abilities together as a Brotherhood through intense training, otherwise they can only focus those powers inwards or in very specialized ways.

It's not just for fluff reasons. Other than maybe something for Tzeentch I can't even think of a Brotherhood of Psykers that is higher than ML1 and I didn't want the Savant-Militants to compete with Primaris Psykers in any way as a selection. They're meant to be an offensive unit enhanced by their access to psychic powers rather than a 9 man psychic squad to support the army.