My list for Dark Millenium was
Blood Angles Battalion
Lemartes
Captain JumpSmash
5 Scouts
5 Scouts
5 Scouts
15 Death Company with 3 Thunder Hammers
Guard Brigade
Company Commander (the CP Miner)
Tempestor Prime
Tempestor Prime
5 Tempestor Scions, 2 Plasma Guns, 1 Plasma Pistol
5 Tempestor Scions, 2 Plasma Guns, 1 Plasma Pistol
5 Tempestor Scions, 2 Plasma Guns, 1 Plasma Pistol
5 Tempestor Scions, 2 Plasma Guns, 1 Plasma Pistol
5 Tempestor Scions, 2 Plasma Guns, 1 Plasma Pistol
5 Tempestor Scions, 2 Plasma Guns, 1 Plasma Pistol
Cyber Wolf
Cyber Wolf
Cyber Wolf
Acolyte
Acolyte
Acolyte
Heavy Weapons Team, 3 Mortars
Heavy Weapons Team, 3 Mortars
Heavy Weapons Team, 3 Mortars
Supreme Command Detachment
Shield Captain, Dawneagle Jet Bike, Hurricane Bolter
Shield Captain, Dawneagle Jet Bike, Hurricane Bolter
Shield Captain, Dawneagle Jet Bike, Hurricane Bolter
The strongest feature of the list were its Command Points. The list started with 16. Every time I spent a CP, on a 5+ I regained it. Every time my opponent used a Strategem, on a 5+ I “stole” a CP. Every game I spend 5 CPs pre-game - 3 to give 2 Shield Captain a 3++, 1 to make Captain JumpSmash a Death Company Captain, and 1 to give him the Angels Wings relic (cant be overwatched and re-rolls charges). I would usually spend 4 on Descent of Angels (charge on 3d6), using it twice, 2 on Red Ramapage (extra d3 attacks), again using it twice, and usually 6 on Honour the Chapter (attack twice) again, using it twice, either on JumpSmash and/or Lemartes. Occasionally I would use 2 CP’s to stop the big DC unit from failing moral. Combine that with other miscellaneous uses (e.g. re-rolls, On Wings of Fire etc), and I used a ton of CPs every game. In only one game did I run out of CP’s. I usually ended the game with around 6 CP’s left, and in one game I had 11 left at the end.
Which of course begs the question, assuming I have the CP Miner, do I really need 16 CP’s, or to put it another way, do I need the Guard Brigade?
I suspect the answer is “no”, so in the next iteration of the list I’ll drop the Brigade.
There were a number of other things that weren’t quite right.
Scions
In theory, having 30 deep striking plasm shots is amazing. However, I was underwhelmed by the Scions. Even re-rolling 1’s from the Tempestor Prime’s Orders, I found myself more often frustrated by the Scions, than impressed by them. Often I would need to commit 3 units plus the Prime to inflicting enough damage to be worth while, and once committed their utility was usually done. Usually they were killed next turn as a “high priority target”. With T 3 and a 4++ save it’s not hard to do. However, often I just found myself out of position to do anything else. Once they’re down, they’re pretty immobile.
I’m wondering whether Plasma Inceptors might be an alternative. Two units of Scions cost 156pts, and kick out 10 plasma shots at 12”. Three Inceptors will on average kick out 12 plasma shots, at 18”, and cost 177pts. For that extra 21pts I get T5, a 3+ Save, a 10” move and the ability to reposition with On Wings of Fire (a Strat allowing me to pick any unit with the Jump Pack rule up and put them down again anywhere on the board for one CP). Not a bad deal. The down side of cours is the random number of shots 6d3. There will be some turns when I roll a handful of 1’s - but rolling 6 dice should even things out.
Cyber Wolves and Acolytes
The only thing these units added to the list was a way to fill out the Brigade cheaply. But more than that they irritated me. It just didn’t feel right to have 3 random Solves and 3 random guys with Bolters hanging around. If I don’t need the Brigade, I’ll ditch them in a moment.
Death Company
Don’t get me wrong, i love the DC, the number of attacks they can throw out is staggering (60 attacks on the charge from 15, re-rolling with Lemartes and +1 to wound rolls from Red Thirst). It was the load out I found awkward. Often I found that either the Thunder Hammers weren’t needed, or I wanted more of them - or to put it another way, the target you point the DC at, either needed more Thunder Hammers or more Chainswords.
I suspect the answer is to have 2 units. One of 15 DC, with nothing but Chainswords for clearing screens and low to medium toughness models, and another unit to kill Big Scary Things (BSTs). This might be DC with Hammers, but it could be Sanguinary Guard or Vanguard Vets with Hammers and Storm Shileds. Further thought required.
Shield Captains
I’ll be honest here up front - my objection to Shield Captain is more “philosophical” than real - it just didn’t feel right pasting 3 of them into a BA and Guard army. They were a late addition. I had been running Sanguinary Guard, but was disappointed by their performance (too few attacks, and random damage). I had come to the conclusion that, to make SG work, you had to run too much support (an Ancient with the Relic Banner to give them a 5++ “feel no pain”, and a Libby with Unleash Rage to give them another attack), and I loved the Dawneagle models.
The Shield Captain bring 2 big things to the army - torrent of fire via their Hurricane Bolters, and resilience. Interestingly, what they dont bring is combat punch 5 attacks at s6 and (most tellingly) d3 damage just doesn’t cut it in a BA army! Three Thunder Hammer Jump Captains are way more scary in assault.
Mortars
It’s not that they're bad - 3d6, s4 shots, at 48”, which ignore line of sight for 33pts, is pretty good! And add in how they can zone out your backfield and it’s even more compelling. However, they problem is they hit on 4s! Even re-rolling 1’s from the Commander’s orders they are still pretty rubbish. To work I think they need to be in a pure Cadian detachment, so they re-roll all misses.
Future Direction
To try and address some of these issues I’m going to change up the list for my next GT at the end of March. I think Inceptors might be the answer!!
The plan is to drop the Guard Brigade to see if the list works with fewer Command Points. I’ll still take a Guard Spearhead Detachment to give the Mortars another chance as pure Cadians to, increase their accuracy. I’ll replace the rest of the Brigade with 2 units of 3 plasma Inceptors, to replace the Scions, and one unit of 6 bolter Inceptors to replace the Shield Captain’s torrent of fire. I’ll also take the Thunder Hammers out of the 15 man DC unit, and take a second assault unit to hunt BSTs. Not sure yet what.
Further thought to follow.
EYIG