Dagr Ormr in 8th edition - militarum Tempestus

Like the hjaltland light infantry, the Dagr Ormr have been affected by the changes to 8th. Although there are currently less units and I still haven't purchased their transports (come on Anvil Industries) their list has been finalized for a while. Now with the scrapping of formations, half the force, the ground assault formation, is now redundant and needs to be folded back into the main force. Now I've always had a few issues with the scions, a lack of heavy weapons for one, but most of them have been fixed, only to open up other issues, such as the HS lasguns being only -2Ap. This means a MEQ is now a 5+ save and not dead, better than the 3+ for lasguns but not as good as it was, it would have been nice to have it -3Ap and a 6+ save for MEQ's but such is life. So what changes will have to be made to the list?

Well, the most obvious one is that the ground assault formation is gone, so no more formation bonus.

The HQ sections suffer the same fate and the two current squads are now split down in to two commanders and two command squads. Now, the two commanders are a given, as that's 4 orders but I have effectively 8 units, so ill probably need at least one more commander. The two command squads are split in to one proper 'command squad with medic, standard and vox and one fire support squad with HS volley guns. Now the 'command' squad will remain as it is, although with the price increase of flamers, that may well get dropped as it was only there to fill an empty slot. The other squad, the 'support' containing the HS volley guns may well remain as well, although it may also become the basis for a 5 man squad or my disappear completely to free up points for another commander.

The squads themselves will probably not change much at all. They are maxed out as much as points will allow, but there is room for improvement, as most squads are only 8 or 9 men strong. The weapon selections will still remain, as the weapon mix is still good, although the HS volley gun has changed, generally for the better. -1 BS is better than half shots at half range, although they are still at there best if the squad doesn't move.

The transports, the Taurox or hopefully the Anvil Industries Taipan, if its ever released, will change though. This is due to the cost of the missile launchers, because as good as they might be, there are better options out there now. Granted there versatile but there still expensive, especially when you look at what's now available to the MT's. With the changing of roles and the moving of units within the FOC, heavy weapons teams are now a viable option. Granted they won't have the MT keyword, but a company commander for orders and a couple of HWT's are a lot cheaper than they were. So if the list goes to 2000 points, the extra 500 points will be mostly filled with HWT's and a commander.

This fixes a lot of the issues I have with the MT's,  as they lacked any support apart from the Taurox and valkyries, one of which is was fragile and one that was overpriced for what it could bring (in terms of versatility) , now however, you can get a mortar team, heavy bolter and lascannon for not masses more than the old lascannon team on its own. With a company commander for orders, it could form a very effective little support unit.

There are a few things I have to say about the new command squads, both in terms of guard and scions. Why 4 members? I do understand why in a basic sense, the command squads were 5 man squads and taking out the commander makes 4, but it just seems a little odd, why not just add that extra man to make it 5? Also, the command squad use to offer protection for the commander, either through being further forward or through 'look out sir' rolls, now however there is nothing. Surely part of the job of a command squad is to support and protect the commander? Some squads can take wounds but all the command squads can do is heap wounds, but only if you take a medic. I do feel that some sort of body guards rule should have been placed in the command squad rules.

Anyway, next up will be a little look at the Eagle Knights.