The survivors of a series of unfortunate events, the First war of Armageddon, which we don't talk about and then the second and third wars of Armageddon, when the Orks tried there luck. The Steel Legion have long been know for their armoured warfare and love of chimeras'. While they are know for there hatred of Orks, meaning that they are well practised at close ranged fire fights and fast mobility,
This took me a little while to get my head around when I first read it and I'm still slightly confused. In the example, they say a squad will be putting out 36 shots at 18 inches with FRFSRF. Now, with a normal squad with no doctrines will put out 18 shots at 12 inches, but with FRFSRF that would got to 36 shots. So by my reckoning with Industrial Effiency a squad shout be putting out 36 shots at 18 inches normally and 72 shots with FRFSRF, as it double the number of shots. If I'm right in my calculations, then this makes the amount of firepower that you can put out from an army immense. If you can I combine squads together to for 20 man squads, then the amount of firepower you could put out would be in the region of 144 shots at 18 inches. That will pretty much devastate any squad you shoot at. The extra inches on the rapid fire range, also means that you can get your shots in before the enemy has a chance to get there own volleys in.
The trait for the vehicles will help reduce the effectiveness of quite a few weapons, although it does nothing to the true anti-armour weapons, a better trait I think would have been a straight +1 to a weapons AP up to an AP of 0. As it is, it will help out vehicles, as there are a lot of AP-1 weapons out there, and that -1 matters more than you might think.
Overall, I think that this is a decent doctrine but it does favor the infantry more.
The highlighted unit is not really a surprise:
The chimera is probably the most numerous fighting vehicle in the imperium and is used extensively by the steel legion and is here to highlight two items, the Armageddon Stratagem and their order.
The stratagem, Armored Fist, allows a unit disembarking from a transport to reroll 1's. Nice and simple, all you need to do is load up your plasma vets into your chimera and charge them up the field turn 1, unload turn 2 and overcharge those plasma guns for maximum effect, safe in the knowledge you can reroll those unlucky 1's.
You could also tie this in with the order; Mount Up!
This order enables the ordered squad to mount a transport after shooing. This means that a unit can move in to a position, next to a transport, out in the open somewhere and then shoot the enemy, before piling in to the transport and relative safety. While its not perfect, was the transport cannot move after, it does offer the squad quite a bit of safety from retribution. Imagine this order on a plasma command squad, they could move up tonrapid fire range to engage the enemy and then jump in the transport ready to escape the return fire that will no doubt come there way. This means there is a good chance of survival, compared to standing out in the open. This is a good order but will require some practice to get right.
We are also given the Armageddon warlord trait this time, Ex-gang Leader.
This trait means that your warlord will most likely be hitting with 4 attacks and without a power weapon, wounding on 4's. With a power weapon, you could be wounding on anything from a 2 to a 4, depending upon the weapon. This means that you have a better chance of wounding your enemy in most cases and paired with one of the relics below, namely the blade of conquest, you could do some real damage to an enemy, even taking out terminator's! Ok, that's unlikely but possible. Personally I don't know if this is the best trait to have. It seems like a one hit wonder, as if you don't kill off your enemy before they have a chance, its likely you'll be dead before you get to strike again. This seems like a poor use for your warlord. I think I wound stick with one of the other traits if I was going for an Armageddon detachment.
Next up is the Company Commander, highlighted purely to showcase the new Heirlooms of Conquest or Relics. There are quite a few of these but three have been highlighted here. The first is the Dagger of Tu'Sakh.
This relic effectively grand an infantry unit plus the bearer outflank. While it still follows the usually rules, it says infantry, a plasma or melta vets it is then. Being able to do this with any infantry unit is great but its one used only, so you need to make it count. I wouldeither look at a large conscript blob and commissar or a tooled up vet squad and platoon commander, both of which could cause a lot of problems for your enemy if they suddenly appeared in their deployment zone or next to a valuable unit or character. Definitely a useful relic.
Kurov's Aquila is also a very useful relic.
Being able to gain command points is very useful, in pretty much any situation. Ok, so you'll not get a point everytime your opponent uses a stratagem, but even if it gives you a couple more points during the game, its still better than nothing. It may not be my first choice for a relic, but if your not planning on taking a relic on a character, then you might as well stick this one on them and then any extra points you get is just a bonus.
The last relic mentioned is the Blade of Conquest.
This replaces a models power sword, so you need a character with a power sword and the option for taking a relic but what you end up with is a super power sword. It will push most models to strength 5, as good as a power axe, but with better AP and a chance of doing significant damage. Stick this on a company commander or a lord commissar and you have the chance of creating a bit of a combat monster, jsmuat make sure your striking first, otherwise you might not get the chance to strike at all.
Last, but by no means least, is a new unit, the Ogryn Bodyguard. Now, I quite like Ogryns but have never really had a use for them. I have thought about adding a squad of Bullgryns since they were released, with power mauls, as a back field support and counter charge unit, but have never got around to it. If I had of done, they wound have hung around with the warlord and shielded him, now I can place a dedicated bodyguard to do the same job. I know that Nork Deddog does the job already, but if I'm going to buy a box of three models, I want to be able to use the other two but with a minimum unit of 3, that meant buying a second box. Now, I may very well pick up a box and make three bodyguards, hopefully one shooting and one combat and maybe Nork as well. We will have to see what the rules say first though.
The new units come with the bodyguard rule. Now, I don't really like this rule. I understand wwhyit jumps to a mortal wound but I still think its over the top.I can't really see me using it much, at least not until my warlord is down to its last wound or so, in an effort to keep it alive longer but I certainly won't be using it right off the bat.
So, that's the previews over and done with. I know this one is a little late, later than planned as well, but real life and the weekend got in the way somewhat. I've got a battle report up next and will be playing another tournament warm up game, with the same army, this afternoon. Ill let you know how I get on.
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