I’ve still not had time for playing or for the hobby, but I’ve been thinking about lists. In the last game I played, against Colin’s Genestealer Cults, I ran a mixed Imperial Guard/Adeptus Mechanicus army with my Elucidean Starstriders. Running three factions was just too much. The Elucidean Starstriders are effectively one super-squad, so didn’t cause that much of a problem, but I’m not familiar enough with either the Guard or the AdMech to run the lists quickly or effectively. In the end, the game was a narrow loss because of a tactical mistake on my part, but I’m sure I’d have been in a better position if I hadn’t been desperately trying to remember everything.
The other realisation from that game was that Leman Russ tanks aren’t all that. For the points, they just don’t last long enough. The Punisher variant is genuinely good against light infantry, but I seem to end up relying on bolters on the hull and sponson mounts to damage anything with any armour instead of the big weapon on top.
So, I’ve come up with a pretty simple artillery brigade.
- HQ
- 3x Company Commanders
- Troops
- 6x Infantry Squad (9 Guards and 1 Sergeant)
- Elites
- 2x Bullgryn Squad (2 Bullgryns and 1 Bullgryn Bone ‘ead all with slab shields and Bullgryn mauls)
- Ministorum Priest
- 2x Master of Ordnance
- Fast Attack
- Armoured Sentinel (Lascannon, chainsaw, hunter-killer missile)
- Armoured Sentinel (Heavy flamer, chainsaw, hunter-killer missile)
- Armoured Sentinel (Plasma cannon, chainsaw, hunter-killer missile)
- Heavy Support
- 3x Basilisks
- 2x Wyverns
- 1x Manticore
The original idea was to have three Basilisks and three Wyverns. In the end, though, I thought I was better off spending the extra points elsewhere – going from a squad of 5 Bullgryns to two squads of three, an extra Master of Ordnance, and putting more weapons than just the stock multi-laser on the Sentinels.
Combined with what I already have, it would offer me quite a lot of flexibility, and I think it would work reasonably well as a defensive army. Where it might struggle is seizing and holding objectives. It would be fun, though.
Taking it as an Emperor’s Wrath Artillery Company might be effective – for 2CP, one of the artillery pieces can shoot twice. With the warlord trait, 6s to hit gain -1 AP, while the heirloom ignores cover. The Masters of Ordnance allow re-rolls to hit. The Catachan doctrine allows rerolling to determine the number of hit dice.
In terms of playing the army, I see all the artillery in one or two blobs, with extensive bubble wrapping from the infantry. The Sentinels and Bullgryns will be at the front to deal with whatever comes forward, with a couple of infantry squads and a commander moving forward to help out as needed.