Cadian Battlegroup summary and "analysis" in Mont'ka

As promised, today's article is on War Zone Damocles: Mont'ka - The Rules. More specifically, I will only be dwelling on Chapter 2: Armies of the Imperium. Actually, not even that, I'll be focusing solely on the Imperial Guard, and the regiment featured mainly are Cadians. Yay. I love Cadians, and Draconians are Cadian wannabes, so we're happy.

Anyway, the new formations and Cadian Battle Group Detachment might be referring to the Cadian Shock Troops, but don't let this stop you from using these for your own Imperial Guard army! After all, most Imperial Guard regiments model themselves after Cadians, including their uniforms, their tactics and organization, so feel free to apply them to anything you want! For example, my own Draconian Armored Defense Force learns and follows Cadian organization and tactics closely, so they base their own companies off the Cadian Tank Companies and Airborne Companies. Are they as effective as Cadians? Probably not. But they are hardworking, diligent and determined to emulate the best of the Imperium's finest Astra Militarum regiments, and so work exactly like the Cadians. Yay.

I'll also be exploring the new Tactical Objectives for Imperial Guard (we finally have our own! Yay!) and our eight "new" Lords of War.

SUPER-HEAVY VEHICLE DATASHEETS

We have eight Lords of War, all super-heavy tanks with big guns and plenty of weapons. All of them have the same stats, BS3, front AV 14, side AV 13 and rear AV 12, and are *relatively* hard to kill with 9 hull points each. They can take up to two pairs of side sponsons, each with one lascannon and one twin-linked heavy bolter/heavy flamers, but they all have different primary weapons. Take note that they are EXACTLY the same as in Escalation, so you can just refer to Escalation for identical rules, weapons and stats if you already have that book. That said, you're buying Mont'ka not just for the Baneblade and its variants' rules, but also for the Cadian Battle Group Detachment and Formations, so that will be what I'll be focusing on. Anyway, here's the list of the eight.

Baneblade, with Baneblade cannon. Also carries an extra autocannon and demolisher cannon. The vanilla and standard tank that, if this is Pokemon, he evolves from the Leman Russ Battle Tank. The most reliable, even if it's the 2nd-most expensive.

Banehammer, with Tremor cannon. A Transport that can carry 25 dudes, 10 of whom can fire from the troop bay. Earthshock from its primary weapon causes earthquakes and makes your opponents take dangerous terrain tests for the laughs. The cheapest.

Banesword, with Quake cannon. Super-long range. basically a Basilisk on steroids. Or the evolved form of the Basilisk. Half the range (but 180" is still nothing to sneeze at, and nobody will play on 360" tables anyway), but with an Apocalyptic Blast-size explosion.

Doomhammer, with Magma cannon. Discount Shadowsword that does decent with his S10 AP1 primary weapon, but can also ferry 25 soldiers like the Banehammer, and also allows 10 to fire from the troop bay. The 2nd-cheapest, and for 10 points more I would take this guy over the Banehammer for greater Strength and lower AP. I guess Leman Russ Demolisher evolves into this, but instead of getting a larger blast template he gets a much longer range AND transport capacity. Hmm.

Hellhammer, with Hellhammer cannon. All your S10 AP1 Ignores Cover goodness which means you're virtually guaranteed to kill anything with a single Massive Blast. Like the Baneblade, he also carries an extra autocannon and demolisher cannon, making it the most expensive of the 8 (hey, I'm making the Baneblades sound like Farsight and the 8 now). But...but S10 AP1 Ignores Cover! Still, I'm more inclined to take the Stormsword instead.

Shadowsword, with Volcano cannon. The only guy with a Strength D weapon, use him to destroy Titans and other super-heavies (make sure you roll sixes though, or you're screwed). Doesn't come default with the hull-mounted twin-linked heavy bolter like all the others, but you can throw it in for 10 points. Er...what? Okay. Also the only guy who can replace 2 sponson lascannons for targeters, which gives him +1 BS so your scatter isn't as bad. Might be useful as the Volcano cannon only fires a Large Blast-sized beam. Also one of the longest-range, outclassed only by the Banesword. The Leman Russ Vanquisher evolves into this badass!

Stormlord, with Vulcan mega-bolter. The Lord of all transports, carrying 40 dudes and allowing 20 of them to fire from the troop bay. Awesome. And they can disembark and embark as if he's an Open-topped vehicle, but this doesn't do anything for the vehicle damage table! Even more awesome. The Vulcan mega-bolter can fire twice if you don't move him, allowing you to pump out 30 S6 AP3 shots of death at up to 2 different targets if you please.  The successor to the Leman Russ Punisher, I suppose.

Stormsword, with Stormsword siege cannon. Like the Hellhammer, he fires a S10 AP1 Ignores Cover, but at APOCALYPTIC BLAST. Awesome. That's why I'm taking this guy over the Hellhammer, and he's the one in my Imperial Guard army. Destroys absolutely anything he fires upon, and none will live to tell the tale. The relatively short range of 36" is a weakness, though. Ouch. Anyway, he's the final evolved form of the Leman Russ Eradicator! Or, if you like, Leman Russ Eradicator and Leman Russ Demolisher decided to go Digimon instead and Jogress Evolve or Fusion into this amazing baby. He's the 3rd most expensive variant, mind you, but totally worth his points.

Points and Costs are the same as in Escalation, so no improvements there. Sadly, it means we'll still get owned hard by Eldar and their Wraithknight spam (I saw a Wraithknight take out a Stormblade in the 1st turn during a battle report before the poor tank could even fire his plasma blastgun), but...oh well. For the Emperor.

FORMATIONS

There are 10 new Formations for the Imperial Guard, some are awesome, some are okay.

"Emperor's Shield" Infantry Platoon
1 Infantry Platoon, which must include at least 5 Infantry Squads (standard 10-men squads, not the teams like Heavy Weapons Teams or Special Weapons Teams), and 1-3 units of Scout or Armored Sentinels, up to you. They all get Move Through Cover as long as they're within 9" of any Sentinel from this Formation, and the Platoon Commander can issue the "Fire and Advance!" order as a bonus order. Cool. "Fire and Advance!" gets the ordered dudes to shoot, and they essentially gain Relentless, so you might want to pack in a few Heavy Weapons Team in there. Awesome.

"Emperor's Shield" Infantry Company
1 Company Command Squad and 3 Emperor's Shield Infantry Platoons. In other words, horde your enemies with blobs of infantry and drown them in the blood of your soldiers! Tarpits! Make sure you bring at least 510 dice with you, especially since they have Punishing Fusillade, which allows the Company Commander to issue the "First Rank, Fire! Second Rank, Fire!" order to ANY number of units from the Infantry Company at the same time. In other words, you can have all 170 men fire together with an extra lasgun shot, which is 340 shots at max range, going up to 510 lasgun shots at rapid fire range! Don't forget you get to re-roll ones for your lasgun shots if you're using this as your Core choice in your Cadian Battle Group! That's a lot of hits! Pick up 510 dice after declaring shooting, and watch your opponent's face as you begin to roll them all in a box. I don't think all that dice can fit in both hands, though......

"Emperor's Talon" Recon Company
For those who love fielding nothing but Sentinels. You get 2-4 Sentinel Squadrons from an amazing selection of either Scout or Armored, and each squadron must have 3 Sentinels stomping around because safety in numbers. One Sentinel is designated the Command Sentinel (I'll choose the Armored Sentinel but then again you can't Scout him if that's the case), and he can give the orders "Take Aim!", "Forwards, for the Emperor!" or "Move! Move! Move!". All of them have Leadership of 8 for these orders, and I don't know if the Command Sentinel counts as an officer to get the Cadian Battle Group bonus of extra dice roll for Leadership. Someone please let me know. Anyway, if you pick an enemy unit from the start of your first turn, you get Preferred Enemy against him for the rest of the game. I can see plasma cannon spam from Armored Sentinels just for this! Woohoo! Furthermore, thanks to your orders, your Sentinels can either have Precision Shots, can Shoot and Run in the same turn, or Run with the value from the highest of 3D6 instead of merely rolling 2D6 and accepting fate. Huh...only the 2nd order is useful, and the 1st is for sniping so it's somewhat useful. The 3rd? I guess if you're really desperate to get your Sentinels into an objective.

"Emperor's Blade" Assault Company
1 Company Command Squad, 3 Veteran squads and 1-3 Hellhound Squadrons. All your infantry must take a Chimera or Taurox as Dedicated Transports, making this a Mechanized Infantry company, which is fine with me. Awesome. All units from an Assault Company have Preferred Enemy against enemies within 6" of an Objective Marker, and all the infantry get Objective Secured! Woohoo! This is going to be your bread-and-butter Formation or Auxiliary choice in Maelstrom games! Start spamming plasma gun Veterans like me now, I order you! And I love the Inferno cannon on Hellhounds, so maybe I should consider getting 2 more Chimera APCs, another Veteran squad with plasma guns, and at least 1 Hellhound...Objective Secured is just so tempting.

"Emperor's Wrath" Artillery Company
Artillery. Awesome. 1 Company Command Squad, 2 batteries of Basilisks, Hydras or Wyverns, whichever you want, and 1 Manticore or Deathstrike, rounding up with 1-3 Enginseers. The Company Commander can issue the "Smite at Will!", "Supressive Fire!" and "Fire on my Target!" orders to any vehicles from this Formation. So your Basilisks/Hydras/Wyverns/Manticore/Deathstrke can Split Fire, have Pinning, or Ignores Cover depending on what you want, and they have a Leadership of 8 (and you can roll an extra dice and discard the highest if you're using this as an auxiliary choice in a Cadian Battle Group, remember!). Awesome. Pure awesome. There is nothing deadlier than 3 Basilisks firing 3 S9 AP3 Large Blasts with Ignores Cover in concert. Except maybe your Manticore's S10 Large Blasts with Ignores Cover. Yay. And Hydras can now ignore jink saves from those nasty, annoying flyers too! Wee! Um, you can also get one friendly model with a vox-caster to choose an enemy within 18" and line of sight, and your artillery will have Twin-linked when firing at them. Yay. Not bad if you've Deep-Striking or Scout dudes with a vox-caster, makes a deadly combination. Doesn't do much for Hydras and Wyverns, though. Particularly Wyverns, as they already have Ignores Cover, so I suggest you just bring Basilisks and maybe Hydras if your opponent has flyers.

"Emperor's Fist" Armored Company
Now this is the one I'm looking for! YAY! A Tank Formation! 1 Tank Commander, 3 Leman Russ Squadrons and 1-3 Enginseers, and it's a Core choice! Woohoo! Won't benefit much from the Cadian Battle Group's Command Benefits, though, so argh. Anyway all my tanks within 6" of an Enginseer gets a bit of protection from penetrating hits as my opponent must roll 2 dice on the Vehicle Damange table and discard the highest. Hah! Even better, any Leman Russ from this Formation within 12" of my Tank Commander gets BS4! WOW! My Leman Russ Punisher and Leman Russ Vanquisher just got a lot better, and I can spam lascannons now! The Tank Shock and Ram is a little meh, you get to subtract 1 from the enemy's Leadership when Tank Shocking them, which is okay. But you add 1 to the Strength of the Ram for the 2nd vehicle onward, which is useless as Leman Russ tanks already Tank Shock on S10 with their AV14, heavy and tank type. Er...so what's the point? Do we get S11? I don't think so, right? Again, I don't know if the Tank Commander counts as an officer, so if this is your Core choice in a Cadian Battle Group, do you get to roll an extra D6 for Tank Orders? It'll suck if you don't and render the whole point of making this a Core choice absolutely pointless, especially if you're like me and bring an all-tank Cadian Battle Group. Argh.

Ogryn Auxilla
1 Commissar, 2 Ogryn squads and 2 Bullgryn squads. Tough, strong, ugly and hard to kill. Nice. Um, if a 2nd squad charges into the same enemy as the first squad in Assault, the 2nd team has Hammer of Wrath hits at S7. Uh, okay. All Ogryns and Bullgryns from this Formation within 12" of the Commissar are Fearless. Wow! Now that's fearsome! Not as good as the shield thingy from Sanctus Reach: The Red Waaagh! though.

Psykana Division
We have our own Librarius Conclave! If you like Psykers, or you want to cast Prescience and spam Psychic powers, this is for you! 1 Primaris Psyker, supported by 3 Wyrdvane Psyker squads and 1-3 Commissars (to prevent the dudes from summoning something horrifying from the Warp by mistake). The Primaris Psyker knows all the Wyrdvane Psykers' powers if they're within 12", so awesome. He also gets +1 to his Mastery Level for every 5 Wyrdvane Psyker within 12", which is even more awesome. So if you have the bare minimum of 15 Wyrdvane Psykers surrounding your Level 2 Primaris Psyker, he'll be Level 5 (do take note it doesn't mean he suddenly learns 3 extra psychic powers, though - just the 2 he already knows, and those of your Wyrdvane Psykers within 12")! 5 extra Warp Charges in your Psychic pool, even more awesome! Not only that, the Wyrdvane Psykers get their own bonuses, and as long as their squad is joined by a Commissar from this Formation, they can cast Psychic spells on rolls of 2+ instead of 4+. AMAZING! Prescience and psychic powers just got a lot more reliable, eh? Beware, if they fail their psychic test (due to unlucky rolling), a randomly determined psyker gets offed by the Commissar. Such is the price of failure. Furthermore, Perils of the Warp will never happen as the Commissar will kill the guy automatically before he gets dragged screaming into the other dimension. Heh. Don't bother to roll on the Perils of the Warp table, the Commissar saves you from everything.

"Emperor's Fury" Super-heavy Company
3 super-heavy tanks! Of any kind and combination, just take any of the 8 I listed above in squadrons of 3, this Formation alone can be your entire army (though I'll advise against it, having seen my 3 Imperial Knights absolutely wiped off the table in short order, and you'll hardly find anyone willing to play with you, and those who do will gleefully hide their Space Marines in drop pods, land in front of your tanks, and melta them to death). Plus a single Enginseer. The Enginseer gets 2+ to his repair roll, which is awesome (he now repairs on a 3+!), and if an enemy unit is hit by 3 or more Primary weapons from this Formation, it must make a Morale check on 4D6 unless it has gone to ground. Uh, what? Usually one Primary weapon will be enough to wipe out an entire unit, let alone 3, so why the hell would you want to fire 3 on the same unit?! Enemies within 12" of at least 2 super-heavy tanks move as though they're in difficult terrain because they are super-heavy that the ground shakes beneath their giant treads. Nice gimmick, but ultimately worthless. Only the Enginseer gets any sort of benefit, and I don't think it's worth buying 3 Baneblade variants just for this Formation. I'll stick to using a single one, thank you very much. I only need my Stormsword, he can do the job by himself, and I would rather spend the points on more fun units like Leman Russ squadrons, Storm Troopers and stuff.

"Emperor's Spear" Aerial Company
3 Valkyrie or Vendetta squadrons in any combination. Wings of Liberty! Take flight! Anyway, if a Reserves Roll for any of your flyer squadron is successful, you can choose to automatically pass any remaining Reserve Rolls for your other flyers. Awesome. I can't wait to bring all 3 of my Vendetta gunships (I only have 2 though) into the table with just one roll! They also have Low Altitude Drop, which forces your flyer to take difficult terrain tests if he moves over terrain that is taller than 3". Ouch. BUT the infantry disembarking from the flyer with Gav Chute Insertion will not scatter. Awesome! Pair this up with Storm Troopers and watch them land safely with the precision of a scalpel to claim Objectives or sterilize high-priority targets! On their own, they're meh, but once you throw in Veterans or Storm Troopers inside them, they can be devastating combos!

ASTRA MILITARUM TACTICAL OBJECTIVES

We finally receive Tactical Objectives for our good old Imperial Guard! Hoo-rah! Semper Fi! For the Emperor!

So these are our unique Tactical Objectives:

Armored Assault
1 VP (Victory Point) if our Tanks completely destroy at least one enemy unit. What, no D3 VP if our Tanks destroy 3 enemy units? Doable, especially with my Armored Company. Yay. Or even with my Super-heavy Stormsword! Woohoo!

Fix Bayonets!
1 VP if any of your Astra Militarum units made at least one successful charge. Uh...why the hell would I be charging my frail Guardsmen into enemies for melee?! Not only that, we don't get D3 VP for successfully charging 3 enemy units, which is good because our Guardsmen will get wiped out in combat. Well, my 7 Veterans did kill 2 Space Marines with nothing but bayonets, but that was through sheer luck. I'll avoid this unless I draw it. Sigh. My poor Guardsmen.

Strength in Unity
1 VP if you successfully issued at least 3 orders. D3 VP if you get off 6 or more successful orders. 3 is doable for me, but if I want 6, I need to field the Emperor's Shield Infantry Company or Platoons. Argh. Oh well, I probably will not get off 6, even if I try to include Tank Orders. TT____TT

Hold Your Ground
I can imagine General Horace Warfield shouting this in Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty. "Hold your ground!" even as the Zerglings run toward them. Anyway, you get 1 VP if at least half of your surviving units  (rounding up) are within your deployment zone. Most of the time I'll get this because my Tanks are all clustered in my deployment zone and too lazy to move out.

Overwhelming Numbers
We put the Tyranids to shame with our endless hordes! 1 VP if we control more Objective Markers than our opponent, and if we control at least 3 more Objective Markers than our opponent, we get D3 VP instead. Great if you have overwhelming numbers of infantry blobs, not so great if you're like me with only 5 Leman Russ tanks and a single Stormsword. Oh boy.

Storm of Fire
1 VP if at least one enemy unit was completely destroyed during my shooting phase, and D3 VP if at least 3 enemy units were completely destroyed, or D3+3 if 6 or more are destroyed. Woohoo. Hard to destroy 6 in one go, though, but I can dream. I guess.

WARLORD TRAITS
Our Cadians have our own Warlord Traits Table that we can roll on. We have Master Orator, which gives him Zealot; Dead-eye Shot, which gives +2 to his BS and +1 to his unit's BS (Bull Shit!); Artillery Veteran, which turns him into a Master of Ordnance once per game (pretty useless if you ask me); Unflappable Stoicism, which excuses you from taking Morale tests for units within 12" of him who have taken 25% or more casualties, which essentially makes them Fearless (awesome!); Above the Thundering Guns, which gives him either Voice of Command rule if he's a Tank Commander or not a Senior Officer, and if he's already a Senior Officer with that rule he gets to issue one additional order each turn (entirely useless if you're already using a Company Commander Warlord in a Cadian Battle Group); and lastly Staunch Traditionalist, which forces all your Cadian Characters to issue and accept challenges whenever possible. You can choose whoever you want to issue or accept challenges, and these guys can re-roll failed To Hit and To Wound rolls in all their challenges. Uh...I think I'll pass, I don't want my guys to be running into combat. And does this apply to Tank Commanders? I guess the "wherever possible" wording exempts my Tank Commanders from this. Yay.

HEIRLOOMS OF CADIA
So we have our own relics. Wow. Okay.

Celeritas - a special chainsword that is Master-crafted and gives the wielder a 4++ invulnerable save in challenge, and each successful save allows him to make an attack that hits automatically and has Rending. Cool, I guess, and relatively cheap.

Kabe's Herald - For Tank Commanders, and this allows him to issue orders to any other Leman Russ squadrons within 12", and they probably have Leadership of 9 thanks to the Tank Commander because it doesn't say what value they should take on except that treat them as part of the Tank Commander's unit. The "Gunners, Kill on Sight"order gives them Split Fire. Awesome pawsome. Make sure your other squadrons are in twos or threes or this will be pretty wasted.

The Iron Left - A bionic arm that gives +2 Strength and AP3. Er...okay.

Standard of the Lost 113th - a pretty expensive standard that allows the bearer to plant it and fight to the last, sabotaging his unit and forcing them to not move, run or charge. On the other hand, all Cadian units within 18" are Fearless, which is pretty sweet.

Voklov's Cane - another relatively cheap relic, it's a stick that deals Concussive attacks at AP4, but this weapon is only as strong as its user. On the other hand, anybody within 6" of the Company Commander (who is the only one who can use this relic, no other characters are allowed to touch it) holding it only fails their orders on a roll of double 6. Meaning they'll pass unless they're incredibly unlucky, the chances of them failing being as low as Perils of the Warp. Yay. Basically Leadership tests for orders are now taken at 11! The best of the best.

Wrath of Cadia - the cheapest relic, it's a pistol with 12", S3, but always wounds on 4+. Armor saves of 3 and less will always fail, even if you're a Space Marine with 3+ Armor save. Even Terminators fail their Armor saves if they roll 3-. Hah! Basically turns all Armor into 4+ Armor saves. Sweet, I guess.

HAMMER OF THE EMPEROR - CADIAN BATTLE GROUP
Before I begin, please let me implore all fans to stop using the term "Decurion" for Imperial military organizations. We are not filthy xenos! We are the proud soldiers of the Emperor, the defenders of Mankind! The vaunted Adeptus Astartes use the Galdius Strike Force, whose Core choice is the Battle Demi-Company. Theirs are not Decurions. Even among the hated xenos, they use different terms for their various armies! The Eldar use Warhost, not Decurion, and even the Great Enemy use the Blood Host - well, it's exclusive to Khorne Daemonkin, but you get what I mean. The Craftworld Warhost is full of hosts! The Tau have their own Hunter Contingent, which is made up of Cadres. So yeah. Repeat after me. This is a Cadian Battle Group. Not a Cadian Decurion. Battle Group. Okay?

Now that we have that cleared up, let's move to the Battle Group itself!

The Cadian Battle Group must consist of 1+ Command choice, 0-3 Core choices per Command, and 0-3 Auxiliary choices per Core. Stupidly enough, this means you can just field a Tank Commander squadron as your Battle Group Command and say he's your entire army. So, uh, I don't know what's with that? At least have 1-3 Core, otherwise what's the point?

Command Benefits are awesome. The Company Commander in the Battle Group Command can issue up to 3 orders per turn, and to units within 24". Twice the range of a normal Company Commander! Your Company Commander is now awesome, and your infantry is buffed pretty well! Secondly, any officer from this Battle Group gets a sweet bonus to their orders where the units they order get to roll an additional dice for the Leadership test and discard the highest. As I said earlier, I don't know if this applies to Tank Commanders because they are officers in the fluff, but don't have the officer type in their rules. I think. Someone please correct me and let me know! Lastly, all infantry in this Detachment can re-roll To Hit rolls of 1 when firing lasguns or hot-shot lasguns. Awesome! Your ordinary Guardsmen are basically BS4 now, and your Veterans and Stormtroopers are now BS5! Woohoo!

Anyway, let's roll with the choices.

BATTLE GROUP COMMAND
1 Company Command Squad or Tank Commander, and you can use Lord Castellan Creed and Color Sergeant Kel, or Knight Commander Pask if you wish. You also get the option adding 0-1 Lord Commissar. So go ahead and make a Valhallan Battle Group and throw in Lord Commissar Ciaphas Cain if you want. Thank goodness he's not a unique character.

No benefits on their own, so why anyone will field a Battle Group Command on its own is beyond me. To troll, perhaps, or maybe for 500-600-point games where you can just field 2-3 Leman Russ tanks and laugh as your opponent's infantry get rolled over by AV14 walls.

CORE

"Emperor's Shield" Infantry Company
This is going to take a lot of points, and unless you're playing 2,000 to 3,000-point games, there's no way you're taking 3 of this as your Core choices. Well, you can probably squeeze 2 in a 1,850-point or 2,000-point game, and that's a lot of bodies on the table. Bare minimum, you have 165 infantry, 5 more for Battle Group Command, and 3 Sentinels running all over the table. 2 Core choices of these will see you have 335 infantry models and 6 Sentinels on the table. Good luck moving them up and down! As a single core choice, it might be fun, but bear in mind you will not have a lot of points left for your auxiliaries especially if you play lower-points games, considering this single Core choice alone will take up over 1,000 points.

"Emperor's Fist" Armored Company
Now this is what I will take, personally. Tanks, tanks and more tanks!

AUXILIARY

"Emperor's Shield" Infantry Platoon
The mini, bite-sized version of the Emperor's Shield Infantry Company, in case you want to field infantry but don't have that many models. Much more manageable, admittedly. No Objective Secured, but has a nice order for your Heavy Weapons Teams, and better movement across the table thanks to the Sentinels. Not to mention they have better shooting, have better chances of following orders, and the Company Command Squad that can issue 3 orders can safely hide 24" away without being forced into dangerous territory - if you take this as part of the Cadian Battle Group. Somebody might value Objective Secured a lot more, but I think the Cadian Battle Group has its own strengths with regards to their infantry and Command Benefits.

Infantry Platoon
I don't know if these guys have Objective Secured because you're using this as part of the Cadian Battle Group Detachment instead of a Combined Arms Detachment where they will have it. If they don't have Objective Secured, then they basically have no Special Rules like the other Formations, and there's little reason to use them except...I don't know. Maybe you want a more flexible Infantry Platoon than the Emperor's Shield version that forces you to throw in FIVE Infantry Squads as minimum, and you don't like Sentinels. Well, yeah, this saves you the points and bodies, yet gives you the flexibility and options the Infantry Platoon normally gets, such as Commissars, Heavy Weapons Teams, Special Weapons Teams, but without restrictions of the Emperor's Shield. Plus they benefit from the Battle Group's Command Benefits, shoot at BS4 effectively, have better Leadership tests for orders, and your Company Commander in the Battle Group Command can give 3 orders to the several Special Weapons Teams and Heavy Weapons Teams you threw inside your minimally sized Infantry Platoon with just 2 Infantry Squads. I'm glad they allowed you to throw this in as an option as many people might underestimate just how flexible and effective a vanilla non-Formation Infantry Platoon can do. Just look at 1d4chan and the various tips and advice they offer! 50-men Conscripts with a Commissar running in front of your minimally-sized Platoon and Heavy Weapons Teams! A dream Tarpit. They might lose Objective Secured, but in return they gain better shooting for their lasguns, and have a higher chance of getting off orders even with Leadership 8. Furthermore, you don't need your Company Command Squad to follow them as closely, just throw them into a Chimera 24" away and give orders from a safer distance so as to delay the inevitable Slay the Warlord.

Super-heavy Support Element
Any 1 Baneblade or his variants. Mine is the Stormsword. Or you can just screw it and play 3,000-point games just to throw in an "Emperor's Fury" Super-heavy Company to screw your opponent over. At least until he brings in 8 Wraithknights or 20 drop pods of Melta Marines.

"Emperor's Blade" Assault Company
The normal mechanized infantry, or mech-Veterans we all love and know, taken up to eleven with those sweet Formation bonuses. Prepare to throw in plasma guns to maximize Preferred Enemy, but I think most people will still choose meltaguns as they are also very effective. Oh, and Objective Secured. Sweet.

"Emperor's Spear" Aerial Company
What you see is what you get. As I said earlier, ineffective on their own (unless you want to spam flyers and get all of them in on just 1 roll), but deadly when combined with drop troops like Storm Troopers. Hell, you can probably just build an Elysian Drop Troops list basing it on this Formation alone! Just use...I dunno, the Militarum Tempestus Codex, or spam Veterans, and then load them up in this as your attached Formation. As part of your Battle Group, though, it's the only way to bring flyers to your army, but pretty expensive, so consider wisely. As I said, great with drop troops like Storm Troopers, so if that's what you're planning to do then go for it!

Ogryn Auxilla
As above, they are Ogyrns and Bullgryns. Tough and hard to kill, just send them charging into your enemies and pray they don't get taken down by Overwatch.

"Emperor's Wrath" Artillery Company
The 2nd way of getting anti-air besides the Aerial Company, just throw in Hydras. But what you really want is to spam as many Basilisks as possible, keep rolling to make sure your "Fire on my Target!" goes off and laugh hysterically as you destroy your opponent's "safely hidden" forces with 6 S9 AP3 Large Blasts, all with Ignores Cover. Short of wearing Terminator Armor, nobody is going to survive such a brutal bombardment. Unless you're Tau or Eldar, then you can rely on plot armor instead. Throw in Voklov's Cane as a relic for the Company Commander in this Artillery Company and your Artillery will be effectively obeying orders at Leadership 11. Ha ha ha ha! Beware of drop pods and close combat dudes, but that's what your Infantry Platoon is for, right?

"Emperor's Talon" Recon Company
If you're a Star Wars fan and want to run an entire army of AT-STs (All Terrain Scout Transport), you can bring a few of these Formations and have them run around your enemy's deployment zone, wrecking havoc while your plasma cannon Armored Sentinels lob plasma blasts with Preferred Enemy at your opponent's Warlord (or whoever you choose). And then run up the table for laughs. As part of a Battle Group, I guess they can screen your Tanks or something, or lock up Fearless blobs in combat, particularly when All Their Weapons Are Useless.

Psykana Division
The Imperial Guard version of Librarius Conclave, use this if you are worried about your psychic spells not going off reliably. Throw in 3 Commissars and each of your Wyrdvane Psyker squads will be casting their psychic powers on rolls of 2+. What can I say? Pure awesomeness, and it'll have some mindfucking effects on your opponent. Literally. If you don't care about Prescience for your tanks or infantry, then maybe you can take several Psykana Divisions, have all 18 Wyrdvane Psyker teams specialize in Demonology, particularly the Malefic table, and begin to spam Summoning on 2+. Oh boy, the look on your opponent's face as you plop down a Daemon army that's basically twice or thrice the points of your pure Psyker army. If you're lucky enough to get Possession on some of them, laugh and watch as your Wyrdvane Psykers explode into Bloodthirsters or Lord of Change (or any Greater Daemon) on 2+ rolls. At best, you'll be swapping 18 Wyrdvane Psyker teams for 18 Greater Daemons (imagine 18 Bloodthirsters on the table!), at worst you can just keep spamming Pink Horrors or Flamers (sorry, I'm more inclined toward Tzeentch and my favorite pre-Heresy Space Marines are the Thousand Sons, and my favorite current Space Marines are probably Grey Knights) endlessly. Same thing with Incursion, summoning 3 Bloodcrushers or Screamers in front of your opponent will send him into a panic (now if you have 18x3 of them at best...).

Militarum Tempestus Platoon
Now this here is one of my favorites. Not the other Formations, but this. Being part of the Battle Group, they are Sharpshooters, which means their hot-shot lasguns firing at BS4 have just gotten a lot deadlier. They retain their Deep Strike, which is cool, and can provide decent cover for my Tanks, showing up unannounced and unleashing a hail of AP3 fire on those nasty drop-pod Space Marines, or Devastators and heavy weapons Space Marines cowering in cover. Nice. Combine them with the Aerial Company, and you'll have Elite drop troops that grav-chute out, snatch Objectives from right under your opponent's nose, and then melt Space Marines or 3+ Armor saves dudes into oblivion through sheer firepower. Add their versatility thanks to being able to be in five-men squads, and the ability to take special weapons, they can be used as precise surgical tools to strike at key characters, high-priority targets and monsters such as Monstrous Creatures or Vehicles. Pretty awesome. Just because they don't get any Formation benefits doesn't mean they suck, and as with Infantry Platoons, they're often underestimated because they're not Formations. Don't forget they still get buffs from Command Benefits, and the Stormtrooper officer's orders can be taken with 3 D6 rolls where you discard the highest! Get ready to "Fire on my Target!" on your Stormtroopers, or "First Rank, Fire! Second Rank, Fire!" on a 10-men squad with hot-shot lasguns, or "Forwards, for the Emperor!" right after they drop out of a Vendetta or Deep-Strike. These orders now have a much higher chance of success! Don't forget, these orders are force multipliers that will turn these Stormtroopers from an elite, deadly force into an awesome killing machine! So don't just write them off because they don't have Objective Secured, or you can have the same thing in a Combined Arms Detachment. Rather, I would argue that the Storm Troopers are stronger here in a Cadian Battle Group (where they'll be called Kasrkins instead of Storm Troopers or Tempestus Scions...jeez, stop it with Scions and just call them Kaskrins, Grenadiers or Storm Troopers already) because of their order benefits and the buff they get for their hot-shot lasguns. Not only that, you can throw in a Battle Group Command's Company Command Squad into one of the Vendettas, Altitude Low Drop them 24" away from 3 different Storm Trooper squads, and issue 3 orders to them to ensure maximum damage, plus the extra D6 roll for orders! Need a vehicle destroyed or Monstrous Creature exterminated? Order a Tempestus Command Squad with 4 meltaguns or 4 plasma guns to "Bring it Down!" for Tank Hunters and Monster Hunters to make sure they absolutely die. Space Marines cowering inside cover like the cowards they are? "Fire on my Target!" and absolutely vaporize them with hot-shot lasguns. 10-men Tactical Squad ready to assault you? "First Rank, Fire! Second Rank, Fire!" and watch your 5-men Storm Trooper squad destroy 10 Space Marines in one shooting phase. Just jumped down from a Vendetta? "Forwards, for the Emperor!" and your 3 Storm Troopers squads will be running into cover or objectives right after shooting their enemies to death. Even "Smite at Will!" has gotten a lot better as you can have your specialist weapons fire at tanks while the hot-shot lasgun dudes shoot at Space Marines. And all this can be pulled off more easily with 3D6 Leadership rolls and a 3-order Company Commander hollering safely from 24" away!

Anyway, that's all I have for you, folks! I won't be touching on the Farsight Enclaves or Dawn Blade Contingents as other people will be doing them and they are far better than me. Ditto with the Assassins. I hope you've enjoyed this little article, and please leave comments, suggestions, advice, corrections and other stuff I've missed out if you want. Thank you!