Troops and transports

 Next up on the list we have the bread and butter of many lists, the troops. I have also put the transports in here, as the two pretty much go hand in hand but we'll come to them later.

There are only 3 troops choices for the AM; conscripts, infantry squad and Scions. The standard choice is infantry squad and it's pretty well balanced. Points wise I think that it is at a good level, the only issue might be the special weapons. At present they are all 5 points and this leaves the likes of the grenade launcher as a poor choice. Yes it's got range but it's not auto hitting like a flamer or powerful like plasma guns. Sniper rifles are cheap, but then they are pretty useless singularly. All in all, the infantry squad is pretty good where it is and doesn't really need anything changing. 

The Militarum Tempestus Scions are the standard troop option for MT armies and a good unit to.mix with standard infantry squads. They are more expensive but have slightly better stats and weapons. Again, I think these guys are pretty good, both points wise and weapons wise. Their ability to deep strike and take 2 special weapons per 5 scions are both very good and give the unit a unique feel. There are just a couple of things I would like to see change here. The first two are very minor and wouldn't make much difference overall I think. Firstly I would like the general leadership upped by one. This is because these are supposed to be highly trained specialist troops and to have the same leadership as a standard guardsman seems a little odd. I also don't see the need for Sergeant's or their equivalents having better leadership these days. The second adjustment I would make would be to Attacks. At the moment they have 1 each, which I think should be upped to a standard 2 each for the same reasons I think they should have better leadership. 

The third change is a bigger change and one I've spoken about several times in previous posts, heavy weapons teams. I think there should be the option for heavy weapons teams in scions but with limited weapon options. Missile launchers and mortars are highly mobile weapons and would fit with the Scions theme. Heavy bolters, autocannons and lascannons are a lot bulkier in comparison and are therefore less mobile as a result, meaning they wouldn't fit as well. I think that you could bring in a smaller, lighter version of the lascannon, something like a hotshot cannon maybe. This would still give options for the force and not change the way the army plays. 

The last troops units to talk about is the Conscripts. Now, these is where things really need a rework. As it stands your paying the same for a conscript, as an infantry man but with lower BS, WS and leadership, no options for special weapons, no vox casters and only a 50% chance of the unit responding to orders. The only advantage of that you can take squads of 30. Conscripts need to either see a price drop, options to take special weapons and vox casters or loosing the d6 roll for orders. I know that these changes were well intentioned, trying to curb conscripts power at tournaments but I think they went to far, one or two of the changes would have been fine, but with all the changes they were completely nerfed. Personally I think that dropping the price would be the best way of dealing with conscripts, meaning that the reduction in cost is balanced by the other rules. Hopefully they will change some of these rules and conscripts become usable again.

Next up are the transports. Here there are 3 options, one, the Tauros Prime, only being available to the Scions. Of all three transports there is little to be said. The one thing that I will say is that I think Taurox's are over priced right now. There is little difference between the Chimera and taurox but there are some key differences. With 1 less point of toughness, two less transport capacity and no smoke launchers, yet more expensive price tag means that it doesn't compete for the roll of transport. Yes, it's faster but that's all it's got going for it, 10 extra inches over a game is t going to be a major game changer very often. I honestly think these should be about the same price but for fill very different roles. Chimera's should be tought, mobile bunkers, capable of taking and dishing out damage but be slow, where as Taurox's should be fast and agile but fragile, unable to take much of a beating. It should then be a case of choosing which direction you want to go in for your troops transports. As such the Chimera should get more wounds, loose some speed (say 2 inches) but get more weapons options, such as the old forge world twin heavy bolter turrets or autocannon turret. The Taurox on the other hand should gain some speed (again 2 inches or so) but remain as it is otherwise. 

The Taurox Prime on the other hand is a different beast. As it stands I think that it's pretty much as it needs to be. I would like to see some more options,such as track guards or Hunter-killer missiles, additional I wouldn't mind seeing the transport capacity to be upped by 1 or 2, to enable you to put a commissar or Tempestor in there as well.

Overall, most of the troop and transport options are at a pretty good point with no major issue. It would be nice to see a few of the minor ones sorted though as these are our core units.