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Hi all,

I have been contemplating adding an Emperor's wrath Artillery Company to my AM army and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with using one and if anyone could tell me if they're worth using. I don't have all of the models for it yet and I am planning my purchases to expand my army but I want to know if the formation is any good before I commit my money to it.

Thanks,
Ed

I have some pretty good experience using this formation. My conclusion is that it is a pretty competitive formation -if used and supported correctly-. The ignores cover orders and TL from voxes is extremely powerful when you're dropping str 9 and 10 ordnance on people anywhere on the board. So here's my suggestions on how to use it based on my experiences so far:

-DO NOT leave your artillery undefended in the backfield. You MUST have at least 1 fearless 50 man blob, be it conscripts or infantry, guarding it in the back. The best method is to spread that blob out so much that your enemy literally cannot deep strike close enough to your artillery to charge or shoot it with melta. Force your enemy to deal with the blob first before they can melee your squishy artillery to death. It is not a requirement that they all be fielded as one blob, but it's typically most points efficient because of the priest only giving 1 squad fearless.

-Be smart about where you place your artillery. Place your manticore completely out of line of site if possible, and place the basilisks where they will at least get cover from shooting if possible.

-Give the battery's CCS Volkov's Cane. Period. It's 10 points. Just do it. You'll thank me later.

-Build your battery with the knowledge in mind that your CCS only gets to issue 2 orders. In other words, you probably should make the formation consist of 2 separate basilisk squadrons and a manticore because you're guaranteeing that 1 basilisk will go without orders unless one of them dies. My general go to build is 1 manticore, 1-2 basilisks in the same squadron, and 1-3 wyverns in the same squadron. This way you can put the wyverns elsewhere on the board to help divide your enemy's attention.

-Try to space your artillery tanks just far enough apart that your enemy can't hit more than 1 with a single large blast.

-Prioritize your attacks based on the strengths of that particular artillery. If your enemy has a high priority vehicle that needs to die, shoot it with the manticore first, and then the basilisk if the vehicle survives. If it dies from the manticore alone, all the better, but try to save your basilisks for footslogging infantry as the ignores cover str 9 AP3 WRECKS MEQS.

-Get your voxes forward quickly. A great tactic is vets with voxes in Chimeras. The new FAQ says they can't use the voxes if they're in the vehicle... that's up to you and the other player if you play like that, but if not, just have the vets hop out when they're close enough to give your artillery TL.


The last thing to keep in mind with the artillery battery is that it is a considerable point investment. It is not cheap and you need to accept that. If you take the formation you will most likely be building your list around it, which isn't as hard or bad as it sounds.

Quality knowledge, and a lot off it look like it applies to Renegades, and I have been looking real close at that army lately.

Awesome, thanks for the advice. I was thinking of going for 2 basilisks, 2 wyverns, and a manticore and give them all camo netting for the extra cover to help them survive a bit better. Definitely going to give volkov's cane to the CCS, I've just read the rules for it and it sounds like a must have to me.

I'm going to be supporting them with 3 squads of vets, a vendetta, armoured sentinel, and a pask punisher + buddy so I should have plenty on the board for my opponent to worry about

I ran comsquad in chimera with cane and master of ordnance. Moo killed like 1000% his own pointcost. He's unstable though, but it's forgivable for how cheap he is

It's both a fantastic way to bring wyverns and a manticore easily with no tax, and it's the best way to free up heavy support slots from an IG cad allowing you to bring solid forgeworld options like the Rapier battery.

the_scotsman wrote:
It's both a fantastic way to bring wyverns and a manticore easily with no tax, and it's the best way to free up heavy support slots from an IG cad allowing you to bring solid forgeworld options like the Rapier battery.

If FW is an option I would just build earthshaker batteries. That way you get the benefit of orders without having to take the formation requirements. Wyverns don't really need any support from orders anyway.

bogalubov wrote:

the_scotsman wrote:
It's both a fantastic way to bring wyverns and a manticore easily with no tax, and it's the best way to free up heavy support slots from an IG cad allowing you to bring solid forgeworld options like the Rapier battery.

If FW is an option I would just build earthshaker batteries. That way you get the benefit of orders without having to take the formation requirements. Wyverns don't really need any support from orders anyway.

Yeah, if you're using it to clear out HS slots you don't bring basilisks, you bring earthshaker batteries (which also work great with vulkov's cane). You just bring the minimum 2 wyverns+manticore.

And you can attach ICs to the Batteries, namely Primaris Psykers with Divination for TL and Ignores cover.

On the subject of the wrath Formation I have found that 1 Squadron of 3 Basilisks kills things dead and mops up after the Manticore quite effectively. You don't always have to give them the ignores cover either. I got quite a lot of milleage out of the pinning order,
Oh and the Wyvern, while fantastic needs to get deployed far from the other units in the formation. Ideally it gets deployed in the center of your deployment zone while the big guns hide in the corner as much out of LOS as possible.
And a definite Yes to the MoO. He is criminally cheap and if it hits anything it;s a bonus. Remember that he is part of the Formation and as such gets TL within 18" of a vox.