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Hey there, I kinda stepped away from 40k right about the time the 7th edition rulebook came out so I'm a little confused on some things.

I understand what Unbound armies are. What are the differences between a Battle Forged army, and a Combined Arms Detachment? Last I remember you had the compulsory 1 HQ and 2 Troops, but could add 1 HQ, up to 4 more Troops 0-3 Elites, 0-3 Fast Attack, and 0-3 Heavy Support.

I understand Decurion is a different way to build your army with special benefits, but can I use a formation from this in a non Decurion list and still get the formation benefits?

Thanks for the help!

Unbound means you're not using a Detachment of any kind.

Battleforged/Bound means your units each belong to a Detachment.

A CAD is a type of Detachment that has a minimum required amount, but can add more without them "going out" of the detachment.

A Decurion is similar to a CAD, but instead of individual units (or Datasheets as they're called), they either use Formations or single unit Datasheets. It's sometimes known as a "Meta-Detachment" as it uses a detachment within a detachment (so to speak).

The thing with Decurions though is that only some of the listed choices are actual Formations. The "Star God" Auxillary choice from the Necron Codex, for example, is not a formation, but simply a way to take a single choice of that datasheet in a Decurion (as there is no other way you can without going unbound).

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
It's sometimes known as a "Meta-Detachment" as it uses a detachment within a detachment (so to speak).

Note this is the first time I've ever heard of the phrase 'meta-detachment'. Personally I prefer 'super detachment', but most people just use the term 'Decurion' for a detachment of units and formations even if it is technically inaccurate.

Battle-forged simply means that all of your units are organised into detachments, of any type and number provided their individual requirements are met.

A decurion-style detachment is made up of formations and Army List Entries instead of Battlefield Role choices. For example a Combined Arms Detachment requires one HQ Battlefield Role choice plus two Troops Battlefield Role choices, whereas a Gladius Strike Force requires one Core and two Auxiliary choices as presented in Codex: Space Marines.

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
Unbound means you're not using a Detachment of any kind.

Small point, but formations (which are a special type of detachment) may still be fielded with their special rules benefits in an Unbound army.

Unbound is any army that includes any number of units that are not part of a detachment.

A combined arms detachment is the baseline detachment for everyone. That has the slots for unit types.

A formation is a detachment that gives you very specific requirements and restrictions. The decurion is a formation that requires you to take a formation (the reclamation legion) and one auxiliary option at minimum and gives other options and restrictions as well.

A bound army is one that has every unit a part of a detachment.

Overall, not an uncommon question, with lots of terminology used in the answer, often inaccurately. Here's a post where I tried to break it all down.

http://ftgtgaming.blogspot.com/2015/02/army-construction-terms-and-definitions.html?m=1


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, a seperate post on the Decurion specifically. Other multi-detachments like the Eldar Warhost and Space Marine Gladius operate on the same principles.

http://ftgtgaming.blogspot.com/2015/03/army-construction-necrons-decurion-and.html?m=1

Lance845 wrote:
The decurion is a formation that requires you to take a formation (the reclamation legion) and one auxiliary option at minimum and gives other options and restrictions as well.

The Decurion is not a formation, it just uses Formations (and specific unit lists) to generate its Choices instead of Roles. It operates with Command Benefits like the Combined Arms Detachment, and not base Special Rules like a Formation.

 Ghaz wrote:

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
It's sometimes known as a "Meta-Detachment" as it uses a detachment within a detachment (so to speak).

Note this is the first time I've ever heard of the phrase 'meta-detachment'. Personally I prefer 'super detachment', but most people just use the term 'Decurion' for a detachment of units and formations even if it is technically inaccurate.

Had a spat over on one of the 40k facebook groups and we agreed to use "meta-detachment" for a while (although most people went straight back to calling it Decurion since, well, it's easier to spell and much easier to understand). Since it had around 10k members and at least something around 2000 active members, I thought it was worth a mention.

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:

 Ghaz wrote:

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
It's sometimes known as a "Meta-Detachment" as it uses a detachment within a detachment (so to speak).

Note this is the first time I've ever heard of the phrase 'meta-detachment'. Personally I prefer 'super detachment', but most people just use the term 'Decurion' for a detachment of units and formations even if it is technically inaccurate.

Had a spat over on one of the 40k facebook groups and we agreed to use "meta-detachment" for a while (although most people went straight back to calling it Decurion since, well, it's easier to spell and much easier to understand). Since it had around 10k members and at least something around 2000 active members, I thought it was worth a mention.

I've taken to calling them "Choice Detachments" as they are organized by Choices of units and Formations, while the CAD and others I call "Role Detachments" since they are filled based on the Role.

BTW OP: A Decurion is a special detachment in the Necron Codex. It was the first of it's kind so now all detachments that are similar are called 'Decurion' style detachment. Just in case you wanted to get even more confused.

Thanks for all of the help! I recently picked up the craftworlds codex and was trying to figure out how I wanted to build them, and no I will not spam scatbikes or wraithknights lol.

I, on the other hand, am planning to shamelessly spam Scatbikes. Converted from these:

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-CA/Wild-Riders

TASTE THE FABULOUS.