Change of plans

I can't say this is totally unrelated to my plans to run off to Minnesota, but I've decided to change my plans. A major factor in this decision is budget - the Militarum Tempestus Storm Scions really cost a lot, and because I'm not earning plenty, I think I should scale down on my spending. Another reason is because 1d4chan advised me not to use Militarum Tempestus platoon. Basically, they told me, "just don't." If I wanted one, I should take an allied detachment of Militarum Tempestus Scions for their supposedly better orders, and also for Objective Secured. I might do an analysis of Militarum Tempestus Scions by themselves versus them as an Elites slot in a regular Astra Militarum detachment.

In Low Gothic, that means I'll be comparing the pros and cons of Stormtroopers as an army by themselves, or Stormtroopers as an Elites slot in a normal Imperial Guard army. Astra Mili...what? You're in the Guard, son.

Anyway, I digress. The plan for me now is to either buy two tanks for an all-tank army. I'm thinking of getting another Leman Russ Punisher, another Leman Russ Battle Tank with a 3rd Tech-priest Enginseer, and perhaps a few servitors with servo-arms. You know, because they can repair stuff. Yay. This will allow me to field an all-tank Cadian (Draconian) Battle Group, with the Leman Russ Executioners as the Battle Group Command (I'll upgrade the tank commander to Knight Commander Pask and make him my Warlord for the Preferred Enemy Old Grudges confer), the Emperor's Fist Armored Company and a Stormsword. Whoopee. For 2,000 points, that's 7 Leman Russ tanks, one super-heavy tank, 3 Tech-priests Enginseer and 4 Servitors. I'll eventually add a 3rd Vendetta for 2,500-point games (just remove a Servitor).

The alternative is to build an Emperor's Blade Assault Company. As I already have 1 Company Command Squad, 2 Veteran squads and 2 Chimeras, "all" I really need is "just" another Veteran squad, 2 more Chimeras and 1 Hellhound. I can get a Cadian Armored Fist for one of the Veteran squad and Chimera, whoopee. On the other hand, to make full use of the command benefits of the Cadian Battle Group, I probably need a 2nd Company Command Squad, and probably another Chimera. Oh wow, that means I need a Cadian Armored Fist, 1 Company Command Squad, 2 Chimeras and 1 Hellhound. Wait, that is going to cost me twice as much as buying another couple of tanks (to be fair, I haven't counted the servitors). Still cheaper than buying the Militarum Tempestus Storm Scions, though. On the other hand, this will make my Cadian Battle Group a lot more competitive with Objective Secured and allows me to maximize the command benefits - particularly in Maelstrom games this will give me added advantages. Particularly since one of my Cadian tactical objective cards demands that I have them shout Orders. Strength in Unity: 1 victory point for 3 successful orders, D3 victory points for 6  or more successful orders, Combine with Volkov's Cane for maximum carnage. Yeah, sure, I only have 5 infantry squads to order around, but I think Tank Orders count as well, so it's easily reached! I hope. Speaking of which, I realize nobody has written a post on the new Cadian data cards. Tell you what, the next time I go to Battle Bunker, I'll bring home my Cadian data cards and write an analysis or review on it.

Anyway, the thing that's stopping me from building an Emepror's Blade Assault Company is that I really, REALLY want to throw in my Stormsword, but I don't have enough points for it unless I play a 2,500-point game. Sigh. Oh well. It is more competitive than fielding 7 Leman Russ tanks and 1 Super-heavy, that's for sure, but I have more fun fielding super-heavies and large amount of tanks, plus I save more money that way, so I'm leaning toward the tank route for now.

Anyway, what do you guys think? Should I go for the cheap option? Or should I be competitive and build an Emperor's Blade Assault Company, seeing that I already have half of it?