The Dagr Ormr plan

 

So I thought I'd have a closer look at the plan for the Dagr Ormr scions, mostly to help me get my head around what I actually will need to build. Let's go over the current list;

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

This gives me;

2x Primes

6x Sargent's (or Scion equivalents) 

8x Vox casters

1x standard bearer

1x medic

1x flamer

7x HS volley guns

4x plasma guns

4x melta guns

32x scions

So, to bring these squads in line with the new codex and expand them with the new models I am looking to build the following;

3 command squads;

1) Prime, Flamer, Medi-pack, Platoon Standard, Vox-caster

2) Prime, Vox-caster, HS Volley gun, medic, plasma gun

3) Prime, Vox-caster, HS Volley gun, 2x Scion

6 scions squads

1) Sgt, Vox-caster, 2x plasma guns, 2x HS Volley gun, 4x scion

2) Sgt, Vox-caster, 2x plasma guns, 2x HS Volley gun, 4x scion

3) Sgt, Vox-caster, 2x meltagun, 2x grenade launcher, 4x scion

4) Sgt, Vox-caster, 2x meltagun, 2x flamer, 4x scion

5) Sgt, Vox-caster, 2x HS Volley gun, 2x grenade launcher, 4x Scion

6) Sgt, Vox-caster, 2x flamer, 2x grenade launcher, 4x Scion 

This would give me three command squads and 6 legal squads, even if I'm not 100% sure about the composition of some of the squads. For this build I would need;

3x Primes (+1)

6x Sargent's (or Scion equivalents) 

9x Vox casters (+1)

1x standard bearer

2x medic (+1)

5x flamer (+4)

8x HS volley guns (+1)

5x plasma guns (+1)

4x melta guns 

6x Grenade launchers (+6)

26x scions (-6)

Meaning I gain 15 models, but now have 6 spare scions. If I was to add extra special weapons to the third command squad, most likely a flamer and grenade launcher, I would gain 17 models and have 8 spare scions. I would also have 3 spare bodies, enough to fill out a 7th squads with a Sgt and two special weapons, most likely plasma guns. However, another option that I am toying with is to build these last few models as two 5 man squads, so building two sgts and running two of the squads a bare bones objective grabbing or action making squads and making the last body into an addition special, either plasma or another meltagun.

One of the main areas of this plan that I don't like is the meltagun squads. I have one paired with grenade launchers and one paired with flamers. While I'm happier with the flamers, as it works well with the short range of the meltaguns, neither is very good here. The hot shot lasguns are S3 AP-2 and D1, flamers are S4 AP0 D1 and grenade launchers can be either S3 AP0 D1 or S6 AP-1 Dd3 and while flamers and the frag profile of grenade launchers gets more shots, up to 6, there profile really doesn't match up to the loss of two HS lasguns. In the squad with two flamers and two grenade launchers it makes sense as you could get 4d6 shots, up to 24 but average of 15, compared to 8 lasgun shots. When paired with the meltaguns however, neither is very useful. If the Krak grenade had better AP, say -2 like the missile version, then it would pair a lot better, as it is I am actually leaning towards giving both squads HS volley guns, with its S4 AP-2 D1 and with it now being Rapidfire 2, a straight 4 shots to the flamers d6 and one more shot over the Krak grenade from the launcher at range and 3 more up close. The only real advantage that either of these weapons hold over the volley gun is that fact the flamer is auto hitting. Dumping both these in favour of the HS volley gun though would mean I have a total of 12 volley guns in the force and the feeling that I'm getting over reliant of a single weapon system.

So, what do I do? Well, firstly I'm going to build the models I know I need, so that I can build everything but the melta squads and then I will have a rethink, possibly based on what weapons I actually have to hand, as I think that I might struggle with grenade launchers and maybe even flamers, I shall have to have a good root through my bits box to see what I can come up with as I really don't want to have to break any models apart. 

While I love the fact that we have a new codex, it can be quite infuriating at the same time!