Kill Team: Astra Militarum

My Astra Militarum kill team is coming together nicely and although I have yet to get a game in, I have pretty much finished painting up the force. There have been a few changes since I last put it up here. They are basic changes to the roster, added a few more troops, special weapons and specialists. The reason for adding in a few extra models is based on one of two reasons. One, I decided to go for all special weapon options and as such I added in a melta gun, even though I am as yet unconvinced by there useful ness in kill team. Two, extra specialist are never going to be a bad option and with the latest FAQ, it has changed the options, so I've added in those options too.

So, what have I added in? Well a second Sergeant, a Gunner with a Melta, a second Sniper Rifle and a second Grenade Launcher. I also added in a Medic. I have always thought that the guard should have the option to take a medic, I mean not many squads are going to go into battle without some form of medically trained person. Plus I had already had a model made and painted as a medic that I was just going to use as a general trooper.

I've also fleshed out some more of the fluff for the force. I will go in to this in more detail in a future post but the basics are that these are the last remanence of various squads, platoons, companies or regiments who were thrown together as a necessity of war, labelled up as the Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (TRS) and sent out to locate and probe the enemy location, as part of Operation Enlightenment. The top brass consider this as a sound tactical option, the troops generally refer to the tactic and recon by fire, or getting shot at to see where the big guns are. 

So what is the final list and I do mean final, as I've pretty much finished painting all the models!

The Leaders

Sergeant [6pts]: Voice of Command Orders, Laspistol, Power Sword, Leader

Sergeant [5pts]: Voice of Command Orders, Bolt Pistol, Chain Sword, Leader

Both leader are built for combat although there primary role will be for orders and buffs. Guard are not combat orientated units and so there is little point in throwing them in to combat situations unless there is no choice. Having a power sword means that one has a bit of bit and the other just attacks.

The Specialists

Guardsmen [5pts]: Medic

Guardsman Gunner [8pts]: Demolitions, Flamer

Guardsman Gunner [8pts]:Scout,  Flamer

Special Weapons Gunner [6pts]: Sniper, Sniper Rifle

Special Weapons Gunner [7pts]: Heavy, Grenade launcher

Guardsman [10pts]: Comms, Vox caster

The Medic is there because I can but in reality I cant see him getting much use. The two flamers are there, as with the poor ballistic skill of a guardsmen, auto hit weapons are a good option. One will get a bonus for attacking obscured targets and one gets a movement bonus, to help get the flamer in to range quicker. The sniper rifle will probably team up with the comms guy, to take advantage of the benefits he can dish out. The pair will probably also hang out near to the leader as well, again for the potential buffs he can give. The last member of this lot is the heavy specialist and this was a bit of a stretch, i'm still not sure if its a good idea or not but as grenade launchers are assault weapons it does still get a bonus, so I took it. I can always scrub him from my list if it doesn't work out.

The Non-specialists

IllI not list every one of these as there is little point, but the basics are;

Infantry Squad Fire Team
. Guardsman [10pts]: vox
. Guardsman [5pts] - there are 16 of these.

A second vox is included for if I want a vox for its re-roll ability but don't want the Comms specialism or don't have space for it. Now 16 guardsmen may seem a lot but there's a good reason for this. Firstly, even with a full list of specialists and gunners plus a Vox, the list would top out at just under 50 points, still room for 10 guardsmen! suddenly 16 doesn't seem that many. This is the big issue with an all guard list, there is space for a lot of models. If I included scions, then the same set-up but with scions instead of guardsmen the points would be nearly 80 points. Quite a difference but the scions are reserved for my other list, more on that later.

Special Weapons Squad Fire Team
. Special Weapons Gunner [8pts]: Plasma gun
. Special Weapons Gunner [8pts]: Plasma gun
. Special Weapons Gunner [8pts]: Melta gun
. Special Weapons Gunner [6pts]: Sniper Rifle
. Special Weapons Gunner [7pts]: Grenade Launcher

So, this rounds out the list. Now I have for the moment just lumped all these in to the Special Weapons squad but I will have to think hard about where I want these to go. the guard can only take a maximum of 4 special weapons in a kill team, so spaces are tight.

So in total this gives me a list of 30 men, 10 to many for a roster but I intend to roll through the guys as they fight and die, so that I don't always have the same team on the table. Ok, I really don't think I'm going to get that many games in but I can plan for it!

I will go in to details in another post, give a full account of the squads backstory and also go through each and every member of the squad, all of which have there own stories to tell but that's for another post.