Point of Origin

Introductions and CanCon List Building

Hey Origin here. As this is my inaugural post here on the LMS Blog I'll start with a short background about myself. I am based out of Adelaide, Australia. I won't go into too much detail but for those of you that are interested here is a link to my bio.




I do my best to balance family, study, work and all the while trying to cram in as much gaming as possible. I have been playing wargames for about 16 years first starting with good old Battle Master and Warhammer Quest. I quickly moved into my local Games Workshop in my early teens and fast became part of the furniture playing the old skirmish games Necromunda, Mordheim and Blood Bowl. But my real first love was Fantasy with old school Dark Elves. I was quickly enthralled with all things miniature. For some reason all these little men just made me feel comfortable. I have been in the local Adelaide scene for about 10 years where I had some good times with my Lizardmen. But 40k took it's grip and has not really let go despite the upheaval of 4 edition changes (this is now my 5th edition of 40k...). I have been playing with Blood Angels and Eldar but my real love is the Imperial Guard (aka Astra Militarum). And it is the Imperial Guard that holds my focus now as I prepare for CanCon in, holy mother of god, 1 week! Still have so much to paint...

It took some getting used to but I really like what 40k has become. The volume of content is just amazing and quality of the miniatures and their kits is just so good (Scions anyone?). I know some of the rules are ridiculous and broken but it has always been that way. So why anyone would expect it to change is beyond me. Better to just sit back and enjoy the tide of books, fluff (with a notable exception of Matt Ward, what was that man was smoking?) and quality figs. There was a point to that small rant, namely the composition of my current army list. Which brings me to CanCon 2015

For those of you unaware of CanCon it is a large convention held in Canberra Australia where many game systems are played, All things Games Workshop, Infinity, Flames of War, board games and stacks of historical systems. Myself, Barit and a few other local boffins are heading over for the competitive 40k event. The player pack can be found here but as a brief overview it is an 8 game 1850 point tournament held over 3 days.There are a couple of restrictions, notably no Super Heavies (aka no Knights), Forge World is allowed and the event uses the Community Comp document. The Community Comp document is a whole other discussion so I won't go to deeply into that here. At CanCon we have no knowledge of the missions besides the fact that there will be 4 Eternal War and 4 Maelstrom of War, missions are released on the day. The event uses Battle Points with a max win of 14BPs per game and a 60/40 split of the overall scores between Battle Points and Composition Score.

Anyway here is the list that I'm taking...


++ Astra Militarum: Codex (2014) (Combined Arms Detachment) ++

+ HQ +

Company Command Squad with 2 Sniper Rifles, Regimental Standard, Officer of the Fleet, single melta bomb.

Commissar

+ Elites +

8 Militarum Tempestus Scions with 2 Hot-shot Volley Guns

+ Troops +

Infantry Platoon
3 Infantry Squads with Autocannons, Flamer and Melta bombs
20 Conscripts
Platoon Command Squad with 3 Flamers and Melta bomb

Veterans with 2 Meltaguns, Heavy Flamer and Demolitions Doctrine.
Taurox Dedicated Transport

+ Fast Attack +

2 Scout Sentinels with Multilasers

Vendetta

+ Heavy Support +

Field Artillery Battery with a single Heavy Mortar (Forge World)


++ Astra Militarum: Codex (2014) (Formation Detachment) ++

+ Formation, "The Steel Host" +

Tank Commander in Exterminator with 3 Heavy Bolters
Squadron buddy Exterminator with 3 Heavy Bolters

Demolisher with hull Lascannon
Eradicator with 3 Heavy Bolters
Vanquisher with 2 Multi-meltas and hull Lascannon
Hydra with hull Heavy Flamer

The list comes in at 7 comp points which is a little under the assumed middle of 10 points. It will score me approximately 85% of my possible comp score. I was looking to start the event with some solid points in the bank.

The CAD is my Primary Detachment, with the CCS as my warlord. The CCS will roll on strategic warlord traits mainly because it is just so good for my army. Across the board night fight, stealth in ruins, re-roll to seize, -1 enemy reserves, just really good utility. As to composition of the unit itself looks to add some leadership support from the Regimental Standard, some reserve manipulation from the Officer of the Fleet, mainly so I get my Vendetta on turn 2, I hate it when that sucker doesn't come on till turn 4. The sniper rifles are just because I had 4 points left over. The combination of Orders, re-roll morale and the reserve manipulation make the unit a good little force multiplier. As it should be...

The Infantry Squads and Conscripts are really just bubble wrap. I have no expectations from them other than to camp up on an objective and maybe fire some shots that maybe do something extraordinary. Thus I always try to find the points for melta bombs and flamers in my infantry because it provides great utility if something does get into my backfield. Otherwise they are to die in a manner that protects the Armour for as long as possible. A guardsman's life...

The Veterans are a flexible reserve unit capable of dealing with a range of threats. Melta, flamer, demo charge and melta bombs mean they can do whatever needs to be done and the Taurox gives them some speed. I really like the Taurox despite it's poor armour. The Twin-linked Autocannon and re-roll DTs through terrain is nice but the access points give a lot more deployment options over the trusty Chimera.

The Scions are a flexible deep striking unit that have a decent volume of AP 3 shots. I don't expect much from them besides looking pretty.

The Sentinels are terrible but I really need units that can get into the enemy backfield and they do it cheaply. They have have 6 strength shots between them. They might do something, maybe.

The Vendetta is just an awesome flyer. It gives me AA, AT and speed to transport a unit deep into the backfield, If they weren't comped so hard I'd run more. The ubiquitous Flamer PCS unit rides within, with a single melta bomb for some heroics.

To finish off the CAD we have the forgeworld Heavy Mortar Field Artillery gun. 50 points with 3 crew. Cheap chearfull and can take orders. Ignore Cover Str 6  AP 4 Large Blast anyone? Yeah...

And finally to the heart of the list, the Steel Host Formation. For those of you that don't know the formation it comes from the Sanctus Reach book and is comprised of the following:

- Leman Russ Tank Commander and Squadron
- 3 Leman Russ Squadrons
- A single Hydra

So that is a minimum of 5 Russes. Not bad, I like Russes and AV14 is the new AV13 right? But what is the point of the formation? Well any tank from the Formation within 12" of the TC gains Preferred Enemy. So good for BS3 Russes that have trouble with poor to hit rolls, and more reliable wound rolls is awesome. I think I have a bias view point because I roll a lot of 1's but Preferred Enemy is just really good. The comp document hits Punishers and Executioners hard so they were off the table in terms of selection as was the poor old Leman Russ Battle Tank (Ordinance rules are so naff). So that leaves me with Exterminators, Eradicators, Vaquishers and Demolishers. I'll have one of each thanks...

The Exterminators with heavy bolter sponsons are really solid in a comp environment, they have innate twinlinked guns and with the Preferred Enemy just makes them really reliable dakka tanks.

The Demolisher is an expensive gamble. The Str 10 AP 2 large blast is great but it so rarely hits and the opponent can space out to reduce damage. That being said it does scare people. Sanguinary Guard? Deep Strike? Try it buddy...

The Eradicator is quality. 140 points for Str 6  AP 4 Ignores Cover, Large Blast with 9 Heavy Bolter shots on a AV14/AV13 platform? Add Preferred Enemy, yes please...

The Vanquisher is a good idea for a tank but a single BS3 shot, even if it is 72" Str 8 AP2 Armourbane shot is just not enough. But if you add a lascannon, 2 multimeltas and Preferred Enemy it has some very good low AP shots with a better hit and wound ratio that makes it more viable. And outside of the odd melta bombs and my Veteran squad this tank is the only option I have for Monoliths, and Land Raiders so it is a welcome addition to the army.

The Hydra is something that I really would have never considered outside of the formation but it is a really good tank and will find a home in my other lists now. The AA fire is welcome as FMCs are hard for me to deal with and hitting skimmers normally also helps, but really it is just another dakka tank that has it's own twin-linking. Worth every penny...

So that's it, solid armour saturation with a lot of tools for a lot of different stuff. I'll have a Battle Report or two using the the list up soon and a solid tourney report form CanCon.

Cheers for reading

Origin