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Command points are the new reward mechanism for building an army with some kind of structure.

The most relevant rules are probably that you get a certain amount for every detachment:

Battalion: Minimum 2 HQ, 3 Troops: 3 CP.
Brigade: 3 HQ, 6 Troops, 3 Elite, 3 FA, 3 HS: 9 CP.
Vanguard: 1 HQ, 3 Elite: 1 CP.
Spearhead: 1 HQ, 3 HS: 1 CP.
Outrider: 1 HQ, 3 FA: 1 CP.
Super Heavy Detachment: 3 SH: 3 CP.

And you can use them for various stratagems:

1 CP: Re-roll one dice
2 CP: Auto pass one morale test

What I'm wondering is, how much do you value those abilities in terms of points? Because in some ways you can think of them as a bonus thrown in with the cost of a unit.

For example, since 1 HQ and 3 Elites gives me a command point, you might think of each unit as giving you a quarter of a command point. Since 6 troops changes you from a vanguard, a spearhead and an outrider into a brigade, you can think of troops as granting one extra command point per unit. The question is, are they worth it if you only have otherwise underwhelming troops?

I'm personally inclined to say a command point is worth something in the 5-15 points range. A re-roll to go first is probably worth more than that, but you can only do that once and everyone gets 3 CP base, so any additional points can't be used for that. After that the obvious uses are to re-roll attacks with powerful weapons, charges or saving throws for valuable models.

An attack re-roll is kind of like having an extra weapon for one turn, so long as you have enough weapons of that calibre to have at least one failed roll per turn and the weapon in question only has one shot. Weapons like that are generally going to be 15-25 points and you will need maybe three to five re-rolls to be equal to having another weapon on the table. Overall, that puts command points used for attack re-rolls around five points.

How about the other uses? Are they worth a similar amount? How much extra would you add for the flexibility of being able to use it on any roll?

 Perfect Organism wrote:



A re-roll to go first is probably worth more than that, but you can only do that once and everyone gets 3 CP base, so any additional points can't be used for that.

Thank you so much for reminding me on what should I use the CP, I hadn't realised, and it's totally worth it for a slow army or an artillery heavy army!!!

Edit: Found answer to question as soon as I posted.

I wonder how much tax is worth paying for CP. As a Guard player, a brigade is not too hard to take. It does mean that I need to take some less than thrilling fast attack choices though.

I think it comes down to how you use them things like 2 CP interrupt a charging unit and fight is pretty handy. Single re-rolls can be very good as well at key times. Same with auto pass morale.

Say I'm orks and I have a 30 boy squad, I don't need to take morale unless you kill 12. But if you kill say 15 I can stop myself from losing any by spending 2CP. Or say the last turn you kill my objective holding squad down to 1 ork, who will definitely die to morale, that could be huge.

For the re-roll I think damage rolls will be big, you got your las-cannon through and rolled a 1 for damage, re-roll might finish off a unit. Shooting lootas for orks? Re-roll your D3 for shots if you really need to get higher output. Key advance roll to get to an objective.

I don't really ever see using it for a to hit roll unless that shot is needed to win the game, because you can fail several times after that (to wound, save, damage etc.)

I would also look at the re-roll in terms of things that you are unlikely to fail but doing so is very bad for you. So 2+ save to keep your character alive, pop a command point to almost guarantee it.

As for the roll for first, it is so-so if you rolled a 1 and your opponent a 2, it is great, if he rolled a 5, it is probably not the best use. So very situational in that case.