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I saw in a thread that the SM Battle Company is considered a competitive list for tournaments like ITC events.

What's the big draw to using it? Is it the free transports?

What does a competitive Battle Company list look like? Is there a specific set of chapter tactics that gets favored for it (Maybe Ultramarines?)

White Scars with Khan for hit and run. Las/Plas Backs and minimal points on the squads. Maybe drop pod multimeltas or Gravs. Im personally fond of the Drop Command Squad with meltas for 140pts.

That sounds like stuff you can do without the battle company... or is it the battle company allows for more of it?

Everything gains obsec in the entire detachment, plus you get to use the doctrines like ultramarines even if you aren't and you get the discount Razorbacks

If you take drop pods as dedicated transports, over turns 1 and 2 you will drop 2 AV12 vehicles (3 HP apiece) and 2 squads of 5 space marines on EVERY objective. That's pretty hard to shift unless you have extreme firepower, and in maelstrom games will be racking up points for you starting turn 1.

 djphranq wrote:
That sounds like stuff you can do without the battle company... or is it the battle company allows for more of it?

The free transports, ObSec, and the Tactical/Assault/Devastator Disciplines all are big draws. The lists are actually quite versatile. A Battle Company and Auxilliary can have nearly all of your bases covered.

Only the demi company get OS. Aux parts do not.

I just got a 6 round GT win over this weekend with what Reece called my "min-max version" of the company, where I cram 104 models including 7 free pods and 6 free HB Razorbacks into the list. It's essentially a naked chaplain, a fist/storm bolter captain, 4 naked tac squads and 2 naked dev squads taking the razors, while 2 tacs come in pods with melta/combi-melta, 2 asm come in pods with 2x flamers, 2 command squads come in pods with 2x melta, and a dread with asc/heavy flamer comes in a pod. The 10th co. Scouts have shotguns for outflanking shooting, except for one squad of cloaked snipers.
I round out the list with a BA CAD with 2 outflanking cc scout squads, a sanguinary priest warlord with veritas vitae for 2 strategic traits, which can be a MASSIVE buff to this many units, and an empty pod for the last model: a culexus assassin that can come in and muck up an opponent's psychic game, or just be a very annoying hard to kill model.
I got to the finals at wargames con running an earlier iteration of the list that had missiles on the devs instead of the dreadnought, but I felt the devs couldn't accomplish enough in that role. (And the dread pulled a shocking amount of weight at the next event.)

My tourney report is currently being worked on. I think I should have it up tomorrow.

Long story short: good in eternal war except for purge which is an auto loss, freakin amazing in ITC format.
And I think the minmax unit spam version does better in ITC format than the "equipped" version that a lot of people build.

I would dread facing that list just because of the amount of time required to kill all those guys. I would be concerned about the game ending due to time restrictions.

Mavnas wrote:
I would dread facing that list just because of the amount of time required to kill all those guys. I would be concerned about the game ending due to time restrictions.

Depending on the list that you run against it, your worries may be well-founded. Against super complicated lists like war convo, battle company mirror match, summoning, and anything where I can shoot a ton at you and barely do anything like decurions, games tend to come to unnaturally short ends. (I honestly believe that the tournament time limits in general need to rise because of how much stuff you can fit in 1850 lists nowadays compared to several years ago.)

But if you have a void shielded or tough long range army, Knights, or other elite lists, you can make it through t7 still.

Did ITC switch to 3 detachments? You have SM, BA and assassins in that list.

Red Inquisition wrote:
Did ITC switch to 3 detachments? You have SM, BA and assassins in that list.

https://www.frontlinegaming.org/community/frontline-gamings-independent-tournament-circuit/itc-2015-season-40k-tournament-format/

Army List Guidelines for the ITC 2015 40K Season

Please note, these guidelines are free to be used, or altered by individual Tournament Organizers to reflect the desires of their event attendees
1,850pts
Battle Forged armies, only. No Unbound lists.
An army may be built using up to three Detachments.
An army may not have a duplicate of any Detachment.
Note: This includes “Decurion Style” Detachments which are comprised of multiple datasheets and Formations. They may not take duplicate Formations within the Detachment, although they make take duplicate Data Slate units within the Detachment if permitted to do so.
Note: The Exception to this is the Space marine Battle Company which is comprised of two Demi-Company Formations within a Gladius Strike Force.
An allied Detachment may be the same faction as the Primary Detachment.
A Detachment may not be included in an army if it is Come the Apocalypse allies with another Detachment in the army.
All current source material is allowed, including GW Codexes, Data Slates, Formations, and current Forge World units and army lists which are listed below. Please note, Experimental and Horus Heresy/30K Forge World units are not allowed.
Army lists in Imperial Armor 14: The Siege of Vraks: The Death Korps of Krieg and Renegades of Vraks
Army lists in Imperial Armor 13: War Machines of the Lost and the Damned: Renegades and Heretics
Reference our Imperial Armor Unit Index for the most recent rules for Forge World units.
Regardless of Detachments, no more than 1 Fortification and/or 1 Super Heavy/Gargantuan Lord of War may be taken from the allowed LoW list, below.
Note: The exception to this rule is Imperial Knights. One detachment in your army may include an Imperial Knight. So long as the detachment restrictions allow for multiple LoW, you may exceed the 0-1 LoW restriction within this detachment so long as all other LoW are also Imperial Knights.
If one player has a Super Heavy/Gargantuan LoW and the other does not, the player without can roll on the Escalation Warlord Table and gains +1 to Seize the Initiative. For every 3 Hull Points/Wounds dealt to a Super Heavy/Gargantuan Creature LoW, the player dealing the damage earns a bonus maelstrom point.
Allowed LoW:
Adepta Sororitas
Cerastus Knights: Acheron, Castigator, Lancer
Marauder Bomber: NOTE: No Hellstorm Bombs may be taken.
Marauder Destroyer
Astra Militarum
Baneblade
Banehammer
Banesword
Captain Maximillian Weiseman
Cerastus Knights: Acheron, Castigator, Lancer
Crassus Armored Assault Carrier
Dominus Armored Siege Bombard
Doomhammer
Gorgon Heavy Transporter
Fortress of Arrogance
Macharius: Heavy Tank, Vanquisher, Vulcan, Omega
Malcador: Heavy Tank, Annihilator, Deffender
Marauder Bomber: NOTE: No Hellstorm Bombs may be taken.
Marauder Destroyer
Minotaur Artillery Tank
Shadowsword
Stormblade
Stormlord
Valdor Tank Hunter
Chaos
Chaos Fellblade
Greater Brass Scorpion of Khorne
Khorne Lord of Skulls
Eldar
Wraithknight
Lynx NOTE: May not take Sonic Lance
Grey Knights
Cerastus Knights: Acheron, Castigator, Lancer
Marauder Bomber: NOTE: No Hellstorm Bombs may be taken.
Marauder Destroyer
Necrons
Gauss Pylon
Obelisk
Tessaract Vault
Orks
Gargantuan Squiggoth
Kustom Battle Fortress
Kill Krusha Tank
Kill Blasta
Lifta Wagon
Skullhammer Tank
Stompa
Big Mek Stompa NOTE: Big Mek Buzzgob pays full points for his Stompa upgrade, not those listed in his profile.
Space Marines
Note: No Space marine Lord of War may take the Battle of Kyelek Legacy of Glory
Cerastus Knights: Acheron, Castigator, Lancer
Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer
Fellblade
Marauder Bomber: NOTE: No Hellstorm Bombs may be taken.
Marauder Destroyer
Tau
Orca Dropship
Tiger Shark Fighter Bomber
Tyranids
Heirodule: Barbed and Scythed
Fortifications
All fortification data slates and upgrades from the Stronghold Assault book are legal except the Macro Cannon Aquila Strongpoint and the Vortex Missile Aquila Strongpoint, which are not allowed.
No Fortification Networks may be taken.

I missed that. Thanks for the heads up. Time to look into getting an assassin for my BA.

I need to get to painting my acheron. A hellstorm template could erase multiple units when there are so many on the table, and none of them are likely to involve major threats to a knight.

I wasn't aware you could have two command squads in the Battle Company. I'll have to re read the Gladius section when I get home.

 Crazyterran wrote:
I wasn't aware you could have two command squads in the Battle Company. I'll have to re read the Gladius section when I get home.

You can take 0-1 Command Squads for each Battle Demi-Company. Since the Battle Company has two Battle Demi-Companies, you can take two. The Strike Force Command or Reclusiam Command Squad allows you to take even more, and you can take up to three of those. So all in all, you could actually make an army (an expensive one) with five command squads all in one Gladius Strike Force.

@ 1500pts, the battle company is a bit insane.

6 Las/Plas razor backs, a drop pod + flamer ASM, some bikes, khan, two dual grav-cannon rhino devs and the AA-Formation.

Pretty insane?

A Gladius Strike force (with two demi-battle companies) at its barest bones costs 880 points [it can cost as little as 866, but then you lose out on assault's dedicated transports]
1 chaplain, 1 captain, 6 tacticals (no upgrades), 2 assault squads, and 2 devastator squads.

Each squad can take a razorback transport for free. That's 10 razorbacks, or 550 points. That's 62.5% of the original points value, for *free*. That's pretty insane. In reality you'll like have different vehicle load-outs, but still. That's an insane amount of value.

Getting that many free, extra goodies always bumps up an army's competitiveness.

Yep getting 300 point in free transports that are All OB'S makes a for a fair and even 1850 point game vs. every Zeno army. That list out numbers my hoard Tyranids list with twice the OB's units. and with better survivability. lol