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OK, so I'm looking to update my Ordo Xenos force for 9th Edition. This is made up of Imperial Guard, Deathwatch and an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor.

I'm mainly just trying to get a force on the table, made up of models I already have painted. I'm happy to make some tweaks, though don't want to buy / paint too much to get this force ready.

Here's the list:

2,000 point Ordo Xenos army - 7CP

Imperial Guard Battalion
Catachan Regiment

Ordo Xenos Inquisitor - Psyker with Force Sword and Needle Pistol
Colonel 'Iron Hand' Straken
Company Commander with plasma pistol and power sword
Sly Marbo

3 Infantry Squads with plasma guns and bolters for the sergeants
1 Infantry Squad with plasma guns, no bolter sarge (with the bolter I'm 1 point over the points limit!)

5 Crusaders
5 Ratlings
1 Minitorum Priest
2 x Veterans with shotguns and 3 meltaguns

1 Heavy Weapons Squad with 3 Autocannons

3 Chimeras - For the 2 Veteran squads and the Crusaders led by the Inquisitor

Militarum Tempestus Battalion
43rd Iotan Dragons

Tempestor Prime with Tempestus Command Rod
Primaris Psyker

4 x Militarum Tempestus Scions squads with 2 plasma guns in each squad

Deathwatch Patrol Detachment

Librarian with bolt pistol and force stave

5 Veterans with combi-meltas

5 Terminators - 2 with a pair of lightning claws and 3 with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shields

1 Drop Pod for the Veterans with the Librarian


I'm not 100% convinced by this force though like I say I'm partly influenced by the models I have ready painted.


The plan is to hold my deployment zone with the Infantry Squads and other static units. I'm aware that 4 Infantry Squads won't be able to withstand much punishment, though the Militarum Tempestus and Deathwatch can deploy where they're needed most. The 2 Veteran Squads and Crusaders are mounted in Chimeras so are relatively mobile too.

Some of my own thoughts:

6 Infantry Squads (as opposed to 4) might hold the line a bit better. Would mean me painting quite a few extra troops though.
I was tempted to make some space for a small unit of Bullgryns. It fits the fluff of my army, though I don't own any Bullgryn models yet.
I have a Valkyrie already painted, though I didn't think it really fit in this army.
I don't really want a Deathwatch Librarian in this army, though I guess I need at least 1 HQ and this seemed as good an HQ as any to take.


Well, I'll stop rambling now. Any comments are gratefully received

So, iotan dragons are a good regiment .. easy to emplace and fire with plasma .. and you could also set them up like this to save a CP.
commander (temp prime)
other commander (pri psyker)
2 x 5 man squads iwth 2 plasma each (range 18 inch on the drop is GOOD)
1 x 5 man squad iwth 4 hotshotlasguns and 1 hotshotlaspistol (they are decent objective holders, of course, good at shooting things like guard in the backfield, but not wasting lots of poitns so they maybe are also good for sacrifice))
1 x scions command squad with 4 plasma guns. (excellent punch, in a small unit, and easier to give orders to for things like execution protocol sanctioned than 2 separate squads with the same plasmas.)

Viola, its now a patrol -- you save a cp -- and your tighten up the ability to drop in anti-armor / anti elite firepower (the command squad) or anti-light unit (the base hotshotlasguns squad.)

Now the other side of things. Your current scion group is excellent at plopping in out of range of the enemy's anti-deepstrike stuff and still firing its full firepower. That's good. The OTHER way to accomplish that is to use a precision drop from a valkyrie to land inside the 5.1 inche zone from the enemy. That's potentially hugely useful even for you if the target you really want to kill (like a big expensive tank) is behind a screen -- so your 18 inches of rapid plasma fire can move potentially nearly a foot behind the enemy screen rather than a foot to REACH that screen.

Cause if its (for example) a marine screening element, and you drop in closer than 12.01 inches, auspex scan lets them shoot at your landing guys and likely costs you a 5 man squad to incoming fire, before you can get to shoot them back. but if you step a 5 man squad (2 plasma) and the command squad (4 plasma) out of a valkyrie (precision drop) then you not only come in that much closer, but auspex scan or similar tactics don't apply -- you are debarking a transport, rather than arriving from deepstrike or strategic reserves.

Resuly, 6 plasma in short enouhg range to really rip up that tank (12 shots, 2 damage a shot, pass orders to reroll all wounds against the vehicle) .. you can do a lot of damage to it. Whereas you could otherwise end up not.

So that is why a valkyrie COULD fit your army. .

Given you have a deathwatch librarian and an inquisitor already doing psyker stuff, you could even push this idea further --
1 temp prime
1 temp prime number 2
1 5 man 5 hotshotlasgun or pistol squad
1 5 man 5 hotshotlasgun or pistol squad
1 command scions sqaud with 4 plasma
1 command scions squd with 4 plasma

Result, you could potentially put several low priority units in the backfield or dropped out to do things like gain secondary victory points or attack against horde units, while reserving the bulk of oyur firerpower in 2 (thus easily ordered) single command squad groups.

In 40k 8e, ratlings SUCKED. We all wanted to make them work, but thye were both too fragile and too easily dispatched. In this edition a lot of people seem to be dribbling in a few indirect fire mortars in gaurd, which would quite possibly be put on the ratlings first as the easiest meat to beat.

So I am unsure if they are really worth it, unless you have some way of getting 5 ratlings to do enough damage to enemy characters (remember most are more like your own lord commisar but tougher to kill) to actually drop one. Without that, ratlings are maybe an option to look at replacing with a small group of bullygryn (which you will enjoy, I think, near that minipriest.) or perhaps even a pair of platoon commander + power sword equipped catachans (to help out the troops in melee a bit).

Anyway. I reckon the way you will find out what you like playing is to try various types of units and doctrines and see how they go. So don't be afraid to mix this list up -- try it with valkyrie. Try it with ratlings. Try it with scions in a group like you have vs like I suggest above. Try it multiple ways and see how that affects your ability to get stuff done, and you will learn and enjoy!

I both like, and hate, your 3 chimeras. Your list is light on anti-tank, I think, and you could get a lot of their functionality in delivering the veterans out of strategic reserves tricks, freeing up a lot of points to put in perhaps a pair of manticore tanks or some similar anti-armor trump card in the back.

but that is a larger change to the list, and you did say "small tweaks"...

Thanks for the detailed response, gave me a lot to think about. Some comments:

For some reason I didn't think of making the Militarum Tempestus a Patrol Detachment, definitely worth doing.
Your comment about my lack of anti tank got me thinking. I do have 2 Catachan Veteran squads and a Deathwatch squad loaded up with meltaguns, but I appreciate these aren't all that reliable.
3 Chimeras may get blown off the table too quickly, depending on the opponent. I think either increasing the amount of tank targets or decreasing to 0 is a good idea.

With all the above in mind I have reworked my list. I have got rid of the Crusaders in a Chimera and added a Hellhound and a Demolisher. A Basilisk or Manticore would probably give me more reliable anti tank but it doesn't really fit the theme of my army and I want my opponent to have something to shoot at to make my Chimeras last longer. I've also got rid of a couple of units to pay for all this new stuff: