http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/69.page JForum - http://www.jforum.net WL trait and Stratagem for each Regiment when considering the placement of that Regiment.


7. Storm Troopers
Doctrine – objectively worse than Thetoid Eagles and Iotan Gorgonnes since it is one extra shot on a 6 rather than 1 extra hit.
Relic - None
WL Trait – None
Stratagem - None

6. Psian Jackles
Doctrine – Not particularly strong and is only applied in a few rolls during the course of the battle. Encourages the player to spread out the damage across multiple unit which isn't always a good idea. Will have very little effect on single units such as vehicles and MCs or units which have leadership shenanigans.
Relic – A melee weapon for a faction that never wants to be in melee and aside from the additional attacks has very little over a normal power weapon.
WL Trait – Very strong tactically, the only saving grace of the Jackles.
Stratagem – Due to the short range of the faction, more often than not, when a Scion unit is in its most effective range (12” plasma, 9” HSLG, 6” Melta), it is very likely to be in half range of the opponents weaponry as well so this is unlikely to be that often useful on most of the Infantry aside from when holding objectives at a distance from the opponents shooting unit, or HSVG units that are sitting back. Can be useful for Taurox Primes since they have longer ranges.

5. Kappic Eagles
Doctrine – Probably a surprise for some that I'd rate this so low on the list. But half the doctrine only benefits one specific weapon and only when it has moved, very unlikely to make much more of a difference mathematically even when benefiting the model, compared to if a different doctrine had been taken (such as the below 4 doctrines). The second part of the doctrine may be slightly mathematically better than the 4 below, but only during a single turn of the battle for each unit -when they disembark (in rare circumstances a unit may be able to take advantage of it twice).Other doctrines will be in effect in far more circumstances.
Relic – Small Aura, also requires a CP to even use. Can be useful to prevent a charge.
WL Trait – Pretty good WL Trait but you can gain the same thing from paying for a few cheap vox units as the units can spread out to make the same 24” or more distance, and then take a better WL trait instead. As Scions, you want to be taking advantage of Vox systems to give you more options of spread during deepstrike placement. Will work better with the new order rules though.
Stratagem – Useful and in a perfect circumstance where the unit is in cover, has the Take Cover Stratagem used on it and gained from both Guard defensive psychic powers, it could be extremely annoying for the opponent. Aside from such a circumstance unless used on a Taurox (which aren't exactly the most sturdy units), it's being used on a unit that most opponents will be able to remove with reasonable ease anyway (as any Guard or Scion player will know with T3 4+ being like a wet paper bag)

4. Iotan Dragons
Doctrine – Only applies to two weapons (3 if you count the Taurox Storm Bolter) but 2 of the 3 most common Scion weapons usually taken are HSLGs and Plasma. As any Scion player knows, sometimes it's difficult to put a plasma drop in the 3” narrow band between 9-12” of the units you ideally want to target. Increasing this to 15” is very useful. It also allows barebone squads to drop down into half range and FRFSRF for 36 glorious hot shots (at S4 for 1 unit with Point Blank Efficacy, practically turning the unit into 9 HSVGs without the -1 to hit, all for 90pts), this combines well with a Laurels of Command Prime and a couple of other barebones squads for some potentially very juicy bonuses (perfect opportunity for Killing Zone as well), 3 barebones squads with a Laurels and Rod Prime makes for an effective but cheap 315pt allied detachment that can drop and cause a lot more damage than the opponent will be expecting it to. For obvious reasons, the extended range also helps those Scions not deepstriking.
Relic – An extra 2 shot Plasma Pistol. You aren't going to use your free relic or a CP to take this normally but the draw is that it is basically an extra Plasma gun on the drop taking a full Plasma unit from 9 shots to 11 shots.
WL Trait – Ignores Cover for all units in 6” against a particular target work very well in multiple situations and stacks well with the above mentioned opportunities.
Stratagem – Will require 2CP to actually use due to needing to pay for the overwatch too. Hitting on a 4+ in overwatch could cause a nasty surprise for some opponents that were unaware of this ability and haven't charged with sufficient force against, say, a full plasma squad. Not something which will be used regularly, and has quite a prohibitive cost for basic guardsman accuracy.

3. Iotan Gorgonnes
Doctrine – Has a very big drawback in its condition that exploding 6's only happen if you target the nearest enemy unit and also doesn't apply to vehicles. However, this doctrine makes the Gorgonnes the go-to Scion doctrine for melta (especially when combined with the Stratagem). If you are taking a scion detachment for some melta drop – these are your guys. It will also help with other drops where you are positioning your troops where you like (as long as you've not been screened out) since exploding 6's will increase the effectiveness of all bs3+ by 25% before any further buffs. Since the Doctrines drawbacks are reduced with the positioning of deepstriking, Gorgonnes are definitely better as an add-on detachment rather than a full Scion force, but this doctrine is particularly good for that.
Relic – Possibly as bad as the Jackles, a boltgun with increased strength, ap and damage, but halved the range, so very rarely will it be in rapid fire range. Not a good relic.
WL Trait – So so good against Thousand Sons, Grey Knights and some Daemon builds. Casters periling 1/6th of the time rather than 1/18th is a huge boon for an army that isn't particularly known for its psychic phase.
Stratagem – Wow. If the screening can be deleted, this allows the player to put 4 melta guns, in melta range, re-rolling wounds against vehicles or MCs due to Elimination Protocals, with exploding 6's to hit. Without the need of a Valk drop. For multiple turns. That is why Gorgonnes are the kings of the melta drop. Just don't flunk your hit rolls. Yes – Marines have better basic melta options without the need of all these buff and stratagems, but we're comparing Guardsmen here, and only 80pts at that if used on a Command Squad (130 for a full Melta Scion Squad).

2. Thetoid Eagles
Doctrine – At first it looks like the fact that it has to to be within half range to get exploding 6's is quite a downside, but all of the Scion infantry weapons aside from 1 (GLs and flamers don't count – no one takes those), want to be in half range anyway to be at full effectiveness (HSLG, Plasma, Melta). On top of this, it is one of only 2 doctrines that affects vehicles, which is huge if you go heavy on Taurox's. As mentioned above, exploding 6's increases hits by 25% on a bs3+ model before any other buffs are factored in. And unlike the Gorgonnes, the opponent can't use sacrificial shenanigans to prevent the bonus by ensuring different units are the closest (although easier to screen out). Worth noting that this can make Autocannons and Missile Launchers on a Taurox a contender for a selection since it will be easier to get these into half range than the more popular gatling cannon and HSVG (although a gatling cannon with exploding 6's, 2 HSVGs and a stormbolter is a lot of hits that are going to be landing).
Relic – A 2 shot pistol that gives MWs on a hit roll. Pity this can't be given to a BS2+ Commissar Lord. Decent, but are you taking this over Laurels, Aquila or the Auto-Reliquary? No. Is it worth that extra command point for an additional relic? No.
WL Trait – If this affected all weapons this would be the best WL Trait in the book. Exploding 6's (to give ap-4) on the wound rolls on gatling cannons and flamers? That would have been really nice and would have made flamers worth taking. But it only affects HSVGs, HSLGs and the HS pistols. Even though it only affects these – it is still very good if the Warlord is around HSVG or bare bones units.
Stratagem – Ability to reroll hits on a Taurox that can get exploding 6's and 32 shots, especially one that could be positioned next to an Old Grudges warlord to give it rerolls to wound as well, could be very powerful.

1. Lambdan Lions
Doctrine – I don't think it'll be a surprise for most that the Lions have made top spot. Their doctrine is very strong. Every weapon, including in melee, has -1ap. This is one of only 2 Doctrines that also directly affect vehicles, which is huge if going pure Scions. This makes gatling cannon Taurox's far more dangerous. The downside to this Doctrine is that there are a lot of 3+/5++ and 2+/4++ in the current meta, so the extra ap on HSVGs, HSLGs, Plasma, Melta etc makes no difference against those. It also won't make a difference against anything with a 5+ or 6+ save (unless in cover). This doesn't apply for the gatling cannons and storm bolters on a Taurox whose gain of -1ap will rarely be affected by invulns. Against no invulns, this doctrine means that plasma will completely ignore a 3+ save, like the good old days of 7th Ed and previous, and Melta at -5ap will completely strip the save of a Leman Russ or Land Raider. Statistically against a T4 3+ a st3 ap-3 is the same as a S8 ap0 and against T5 3+ it is the same as S10 ap0 (meaning with FRFSRF in half range, you can get the mathematical equivalent of 36 st10 ap0 shots when targetting a T5 unit). This is an excellent Doctrine.
Relic – 6” aura giving a 5++ is fantastic (although worth noting that it is 'models' not 'units') and works particularly well with a group of 4-5 Taurox's, but also will give a bit more durability to Scions.
WL Trait – THE trait you want on a powerful plasma drop. With this Trait you can drop with 3 plasma squads, use the extra order Stratagem, use Elimination Protocols on all 3 squads and have 27 S8 ap-4 D2 shots with rerolls of 1 to hit and reroll all wounds against vehicles and MCs. It allows to give orders on top of the unit rerolling 1s to hit, the only other way to do this is with Laurels. Also works well when combined with the relic and put into a group of gatling Taurox's.
Stratagems – This perfectly synchronises with Lambdan Lions. The Lions main weakness is invuln saves and this Strat completely negates them on 6's to wound. Not worth using on non-invuln saves since the additional ap Lions get means any wounds will probably get past armour saves anyway.

Lions have one of the best doctrines (that also affects vehicles), the best relic, one of the best traits that will always be effective, and a stratagem that helps out one of their main weaknesses.

In Summary:
Iotan Dragons and Iotan Gorgonnes shine when being used as allied drop detachments, whilst Thetoid Eagles and Lambdan Lions rules work better for pure Scion lists. On the turn a model carrying a HSVG disembarks from a transport the Kappic Eagles stratagem will be significantly stronger for those particular models for that very specific turn, but at most other points, other Regiments will have a noticeable advantage over the Kappics. The Lions are the only regiment that have a decent contender in all 4 of the doctrines, relics, WL Traits and Stratagems.

What's your thoughts on where the Regiments should be placed? Anything you feel I've missed or unfairly glossed over?
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