Dagr Ormr

 The Dagr Ormr are my Militarum Tempestus based army with a supporting element of guard. This force is the only one that saw the purchase of new units in order to make the list legal. This army also saw a big reorganisation in order to bring it up to 2000 points. The biggest issue facing this list however is the looming of 10th and the Arks of Omen detachment restrictions. While it is possible to run this list under the AoO detachment, you have to run it all as one and can't split it. With the way the new codex works this isn't a major issue, it's just annoying.

Anyway the old list did not consist of max units, but rather was filled with available models, meaning that four of the squads were only 9 men strong with two special weapons a piece, and even the ten man squads only had 2 rather than 4 special weapons, as shown below;

Tempestor Prime (x2)

Militarum Tempestus Scions: 9x Scion, 2x HS Volley Gun

Militarum Tempestus Scions: 10x Scion, 2x Meltagun

Militarum Tempestus Scions: 9x Scion, 2x Plasma gun

Militarum Tempestus Scions: 10x Scion, 2x HS Volley Gun

Militarum Tempestus Scions: 9x Scion, 2x Meltagun

Militarum Tempestus Scions: 9x scions, 2x Plasma gun

Militarum Tempestus Command Squad: 3x Hot-shot Volley Gun, Vox-caster

Militarum Tempestus Command Squad: Flamer, Medi-pack, Platoon Standard, Vox-caster

Company Commander (x2)

Primaris Psyker

Command Squad: Heavy flamer, Medi-pack, Regimental Standard, Flamer

Commissar

Ogryn Bodyguard

Ratlings

Special Weapons Squad: 3x Grenade launcher

Veterans

Heavy Weapons Squad: Lascannon

Heavy Weapons Squad: Mortar (x2)

The army also relied of several units that no longer existed, such as mono weapon command squads, special weapon squads and veteran squads. The idea with this army was the guard elements would set up on the home objectives and sit there, not moving and just providing a base line, while the scions deepstrike in either on objectives or to target specific characters or vehicles. While this did work well in the few games I played (about 2 I think!) a lot had to change for the new list;

Militarum Tempestus Command Squad: Hot-shot Volley Gun, Plasma, Master-Vox, Medi-pack

Militarum Tempestus Command Squad: Flamer, Master-Vox, Medi-pack, Regimental Standard, Ogryn Bodyguard

Militarum Tempestus Command Squad: Plasma gun, Hot-shot Volley Gun, Master-Vox

Tempestus Scions: 2x Hot-shot Volley Gun, 2x Plasma gun, Vox-caster (X2)

Tempestus Scions: 2x Grenade launcher, 2x Meltagun, Vox-caster (X2)

Tempestus Scions: 2x Hot-shot Volley Gun, 2x Flamer, Vox-caster

Tempestus Scions: 2x Grenade launcher, 2x Flamer, Vox-caster

Platoon Command Squad, Platoon Commander, Medi-pack, Regimental Standard, Heavy flamer, Flamer

Platoon Command Squad: Heavy bolter, Heavy flamer, Grenade launcher

Primaris Psyker

Cadian Shock Troops: 2x Meltagun (X2)

Infantry Squad: Grenade launcher, Heavy bolter (X2)

Commissar

Ratlings

Regimental Preacher

Field Ordnance Battery: Heavy Lascannon

Heavy Weapons Squad: Mortar (X2)

As you can see, all the Scion squads have increased in size to ten men and have swapped some standard scions for special weapons. This was due to the change in rules that meant you had to have ten men in a unit to have two of the same weapons, which necessitate the purchase of a new box of Scion. This enable a third command squad to be built and also left a number of other scions, 12 to be precise, left over. These were mostly standard scions that had been booted out of squads for special weapons.

In addition to these extra scions, there are now a number of extra infantry squads. In the original list, there was just one vet squad, although I was planning on adding a second. Now there are 4 squads, two Cadian and two infantry, although you notice that the Cadian squads are both equipped with twin meltas, which are now a melta and plasma I believe. The need for twin meltas was a little bit of an overkill and the melta \ plasma mix is probably better for their role as counter units, especially when you consider the new heavy lascannon equipped Field ordnance battery, which should take care of vehicles no bother.

One other option I did consider, was using Catachan squads instead of Cadians, with their twin flamers, as a counter unit, as they could close and engage in close combat as well but their rubbish at it, so didn't bother. I really do wish that Catachans had received either an extra attack or S4 base, even better would have been +1A and +1S on the charge. That and a rule for the Sgt's big knife\sword.

Anyway, with the heavy weapons squads, the FoB and the infantry squads heavy weapons, there is now an even more formidable base line for the scions to strike from.

Hrossey MY play styles.

This post is a bit later then planned, snow days and school closures put a bit of a spanner in the works. Anyway, as I mentioned I the last post, there are two ways of running this list, superheavy and sans superheavy, however both play in a very similar style, with the superheavy version being a little more direct in approach. (Edit: so with the new FAQ last week, things have changed slightly, the DKoK squads have had a minor rejig, to follow the updates)

The non-super heavy version is formed as such:

Platoon Command Squad: Platoon Commander, Regimental Standard, Heavy flamer, Plasma gun, Grenade launcher, Ogryn Bodyguard, Astropath, Master of Ordnance

Platoon Command Squad: Missile launcher, Heavy flamer, Grenade launcher

Tank Commander: Battle Cannon

Death Korps of Krieg: 2x Grenade launcher (X2)

Death Korps of Krieg: 2x Meltagun

Commissar

Regimental Preacher

Hellhound

Leman Russ Battle Tank

Leman Russ Demolisher

Leman Russ Vanquisher

Wyvern (X2)

Chimera (x3)

The main focus of this force is movement with supporting artillery. The Leman Russ Tanks, plus chimeras and hellhound push forward as an armoured spearhead, sticking quite closely together to enable the units to bring their combined fire power to bare on a target. There are several different types of tank, with the two general purpose battle cannon tanks being the main fire power, with the demolisher to crack open the biggest targets, like transports and the vanquisher for taking on the big targets, like monsters or hq units.  The hellhound and the chimeras, two of the three have double flamers, are there to act as anti infantry screens, in addition to battle taxis for the chimeras. There is not many troops that can stand up to half a dozen heavy flamers! The troops are mostly there to disembark and take objectives as the armour moves past them, the will still have some bite with melta guns and plasma, but are at the end of the day, Imperial guard troops. The Wyverns, a grenade launcher squad and second command squad will be sitting back holding the home objectives and, in the case of the wyverns, lobbing stuff at any infantry hiding in or behind building holding objectives. 

Now the edit! As you'll see above, there are two units of DKoK with dual grenade launchers and a squad with dual meltas, these will have to change, probably with two squads with melta and grenade launcher and a squads with grenade launcher and flamer, but I will have to raid my box of spare guardsmen. 

The alternative build, the super heavy build, has a very similar way of functioning but with different units;

Platoon Command Squad: Platoon Commander, Regimental Standard, Heavy flamer, Plasma gun, Grenade launcher, Ogryn Bodyguard, Astropath

Tank Commander: Battle Cannon

Death Korps of Krieg: 2x Grenade launcher (X2)

Death Korps of Krieg: 2x Meltagun

Hellhound

Leman Russ Battle Tank

Leman Russ Demolisher

Leman Russ Vanquisher

Chimera (x3)

Hellhammer 

With less infantry units and loosing the wyverns for indirect fire support,the main issue is holding the home objectives. This role, surprisingly is actually going to be taken by the Hellhammer and there is method to this madness. The Hellhammer will gain the Knight of Piety tank ace trait, meaning that when sitting at the back, he'll have quite a commanding view of the battlefield, with a 2+, 5+ and depending upon mission and objectives, the Astropath may be there to help with nightshroud, if he can roll high enough. The other unit will move up the board as before, taking the fight to the enemy. Again, the DKoK squads will be rearranged the same as above, as they are based off the same force. 

The general point of both of these lists is to take the fight to the enemy, using the mobility and firepower of the tanks, plus the ability to not get locked up in combat due to the turret weapons rule. Overall there is one big weakness to this list and that is the lack of numbers. These are only a maximum of 49 infantry bodies in total in this list and a maximum of 10 vehicles, less in the second list. This means that there is less redundancy within the army but hopefully it can punch hard at the beginning and not have to worry to much about the punch back.  

A little bit of old hammer!

 Recently I decided to paint up some.old metal models that have been hanging around in my bits box for a while, I've had them a while but I've never really had a need for them and still don't but I thought I'd paint them anyway.

Back shot first, not sure why?

I do have to admit that I love the older sculpts, while there is no doubting the high quality detailing on the new models but there is just something about the expressions and personality of the old models that just isn't there in the new ones. 

The more interesting bit.

These 5 are Imperial army soldiers, 4 men and 1 woman. They are all armed with lasguns and one looks about ready to slit his own throat. It's funny when you look at these 5 models, you can really see where the Cadian aesthetics came from, with the helmets, chest armour and boots all having a very similar feel to them. 

I went for bold colours as well,to really show off the models, they will be given a coat of quickshade to finished them off and protect them 

Another rear shot up first

Next up is an old commissar model, slightly broken but still very usable. The commissar should be holding a sword aloft but currently he's holding just the handle, the blade having gone missing quite a while ago. 

Commissars or officer?

I do like this model a lot, it has that same retro feel that the other models here have. I've got for a non typical commissar look, as I could also run this as a castallan or similar but mostly likely it will be a commissar.

The gang

As I said, I really don't know where these guys are going to live, but I really enjoyed painting them. Hopefully they will find a home somewhere at some point.

New guard FAQ.

 So the new guard FAQ is up and while there's nothing earth shattering in it, there are a few annoying points.

First on the list is that Cadian and DKoK can no longer take two of the same special weapons. It's not a massive surprise that this is the case, however, I was really hoping that it wouldn't change,as it did keep some of the Veteran Squads rules and playability alive. With this change it has completely removed any last bit of the old guard platoon structure.

The next few changes are simple clarifications or just cleaning up wording. Plasma cannons now do mortal wounds to units not individual models, thus no longer break the only one model per unit taking wounds rule. The Valkyrie charge \ being charged rules are brought in line with everything else, I'd have to check what it said but this is what I assumed it would be anyway. The third is changing the new aegis defence line to obstacle terrain rather than area terrain, which makes a lot more sense and is a lot more playable. 

The last change is to correct the wording for the tempestor's weapons options in the Militarum Scion squads. 

So nothing that going to significantly change anything for me, just annoying that I'll have to rejig some of my squads again to get them to fit the new 'new' squad options.

The questions are actually pretty sensible questions for once, although only two of the questions are really relevant to me. The first is the mobile command ability of chimeras and confirmation that you can issue orders when in the chimera and also the one when you disembark, which is nice. This means that you can get addition orders off from your command squads, which can be useful. The other question, or rather two questions, that is useful relate to the field promotion stratagem. Now this is how I viewed the answers but at least it's nice to have confirmation. So, with the stratagem you need to choose a completely new warlord for your new commander. In addition, there is little point in choosing 'old grudges' as it doesn't let you select a target for the grudge, as that happens at the start of the first battle round. 

One other question that might come up occasionally is about abilities that let you choose additional doctrines for units, such as Kasrkin. This clarifies that you can pick one of the doctrines, trophy hunters, even though it normally takes up both doctrine slots, so effectively you could have the equivalent of 4 doctrine slots on a squad or vehicle. 

The last question is about Creeds orders ability and basically states you can't have your cake and eat it. If the order that triggers the ability stops for some reason, so does the ability, which seems pretty straight forward to me and seeing as I don't plan on using her anytime soon, not something I have to worry about.