The other day or rather night, as it was 1am and I was waiting for the wee one to finally decided it was time for bed, I was watching random YouTube videos and came across Mordian Glory, a name I know of from Winter's SEO, and decided to have a little watch of some videos. He's got a series he is working through talking about fixing rules and one of them struck me, specifically the one about command squads. Now, I don't agree with all that he said, in fact I don't really agree with much of it at all but that's ok, I can rant here about my feelings!
So what are my feelings? I think that command squads do work at the moment but not for what they should be doing. They are generally used for special weapons squads, usually with 4 plasma or melta, something I'm guilty of doing myself and as it stands, why wouldn't you! However, I feel this isn't really right, as special weapons squads are for special weapons and command squads are for command. Now back in the old days, I'm talking 5th here, we had proper command squads with advisers and bodyguards and I think we need to return to this, not quite in the same way but certainly take certain elements.
The main element I think we should be taking is the bodyguards, maybe not the models, although I do think this would be a good thing but definitely the rules. After all, part of a command squads role is to ensure the survival of the commander. It would be nice to see bodyguards come back as an option, either as additional men in the command squads (with very limited weapon options) or as additional units, such as Calgars Victrix's Guard, with fixed weapons. I'd prefer them as addition men for the command squad, with options for pistols and combat weapons, similar to Sargeants. Advisers are still around in character form and they work as they are so no need for change there.
Although the main point of Mordian Glory's video was command squads, I wanted to start with the commanders themselves. There are two at the moment, platoon and company commanders.
Platoon commanders are almost the same as company commanders but with one less order. In the past they had less orders they could issue, 3 rather than 6. I like the modern version and really don't see much wrong with how they are. Their weapon options are fine, although I probably would like to have the option for a power maul or similar alongside the power sword. All in all I would leave the platoon commander as he is.
Company commander is the highest level commander we have right now and again, there is little wrong with him. He can issue two orders, which is fine as it stands, although if they bring in similar restrictions to the space Marine Captain\Lieutenant then my feelings might change. Stat wise I think he's fine, he's not supposed to be a combat monster or a one man basilisk, his main job is to issue orders and command. Again, I'd leave him as he is.
Now we get on to the new ideas, the Regimental commander. Space Marines can upgrade a Captain to Chapter Master, so I don't see why we shouldn't have the option to upgrade, in a similar fashion, a company commander to regimental commander. I would be quite happy to pay a command point or two, depending upon level of upgrade. The level I would like to see would be a single CP upgrade, gaining a further order, an increased aura range and extra wound or two, plus the added leadership bonus. Other than that he would remain the same, apart from maybe a extra bit of armour save, say 4+. The idea would basically be a steady progress from platoon commander to regimental commander, in line with both lore and common sense. It's hard to really get a sense of bigger formations with the guard at the moment when the highest commander you can have (apart from Creed) is a company commander and that's not really how it should be.
Next up are the command squads and this is where things get a little bit come complex. The command squads in my opinion need quite a bit more work to bring them up to where they should be. As it stands there is just one command squad, with one set of options and I think this should be changed. It would be quite simple I think to do, as you have a standard command squad, which can take a vox-caster, a standard, a medic, a Sargeant, up to 2 special weapons and a heavy weapon. Obviously they couldn't take all of these at once, still being restricted to 4 members but they can be taken in any combination. The trick would be what level of these things can be taken and that would depend upon what level of commanders you have.
Take for example a Platoon command squad. You could take a vox-caster, which would give to the ability to issue an order to another vox unit within a certain range, say 12 inches, a medic who could heal a wounded man on a 4+, a standard that gave a leadership buff within a certain range, probably the same as the medics range. Plus you could have a platoon Sargeant, basically a standard Sargeant stat line but also giving out a buff, maybe +1A or +1S, again maybe the same range as the standard and medic, say 6 inches. Add these to the option for special weapon troopers, all with standard trooper stats and options, including heavy flamers as standard and you have a small command squad that gives out buff to a small area, as a platoon commander would.
Next up would be the Company Command squad, which would follow a similar structure to the platoon command squad, with a vox-caster but with maybe a 18 inch range, a medic, who wouldn't need to roll a dice but could automatically heal a wound or a man but still with a 6 inch aura (after all his arms are only so long!) and a standard that would buff leadership, out to say 12 inches but maybe also mean that you only fail combat attrition tests on a 1 regardless of losses. The company Sargeant and special and heavy weapons troopers would all be veteran stat lines, with the same options. The company Sargeant would also give a buff, probably the opposite to the platoon Sargeant.
The final option would be the Regimental command squad. This, like the regimental commander would be a stratagem upgrade, only available if a regimental commander has been taken and would be fairly fixed in it's options. You would have to take a company level Vox-caster, Medic, Standard and Sargeant and then upgrade, probably a 2cp upgrade, for a total of 3cp to upgrade to a full regimental command structure. For this upgrade you would get a 24 inch aura on the vox-caster and standard, with the standard giving a +2 leadership and either a re-roll to leadership tests or limiting the losses to combat attrition to 1 model. The medic, still with a 6 inch aura can heal d3 wounds or raise d3 models or maybe a FNP aura ability and the regimental Sargeant would give buffs within 12 inches, maybe both +1S and +1A plus he would have a booted stat line himself, maybe 3 or even 4 attacks and S4. All members would have a 4+ save as well, to represent their higher level of status.
Now, I know that there is a lot of wish listing in this post but I can also see some of this happening in the game, although most likely in crusade mode, something I don't intend on playing. I am intrigued by what the new guard codex may bring us, I don't think it will be a big change from what has come before and will mostly combine all the various bits and pieces from the various books and supplements that were released over the last few years. I doubt that there will actually be many new units, if any at all but maybe we'll get a surprise or two!
