The Road to Astronomi-Con 2014 (page 8 Inq Warband Complete)

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Astronomi-con has been my favourite tournament since it first began in 2001 in Winnipeg (my home until 2008). Haven't been since '04 due to getting married, starting a new career, and having kids. But things have calmed down enough that I want to re-enter the tournament circuit. I missed-out on Astronomi-con (Toronto) 2013 for the same reasons that I fell short on my (OOC) ETL II vow. But I won't be denied in 2014.

 

So, in lieu of ETL II success, I decided to do a bit of a work in progress "blog" to track my preparations. It will include fluff as well as models.

 

The first thing that I need your help with, comrades, is choosing what army list to bring. I've basically got two lists ready-to-go, and am having a hard time deciding between them. I would only be willing to do limited tinkering with the lists and will post them to the army list forum in due course when the time for such tinkering comes. For now, I think a summary of each will suffice.

 

But first, some brief notes on my army's fluff which is a major factor in how this army is coming together (more detailed fluff later). The army is from a planet that was overrun by World Eaters Chaos Marines and cultists and only after a long war were able to reclaim their planet. They are under inquisitorial suspicion and therefore always have Inquisitors/Inquisitorial Troops with them as "observers". One particular inquisitor, Lord Inquisitor Soulis is considered a saviour of the planet and helped remove the Chaos troops as well as an order of Exterminatus. He's the leader in the CCS. Storm Troopers are Inquisitorial. The Penal Legionaire story is that Catachans who were helping against Chaos went a bit crazy and when Soulis was hunting them down, he got hit by one of their demo charges. He turned the survivors into Penal Legion since there were not tainted, just paranoid from years of guerrilla warfare in the jungle.

 

OPTION A1 - Codex Imperial Guard with Armoured Company Allies

 

CCS w/ astropath, officer of the fleet

Storm Troopers (10) 2x flamer

Platoon - HQ 3x flamers, 2 squads w/ meltaguns

Platoon - Al'Rahem 3x melta, 2 squads w/ flamers, SWS 3x flamer

2x Roughrider Squads (5 each) w/ 2 meltas each

Aegis Defence Line w/ Icarus

 

Armoured Coy Commissar Tank (Vanquisher)

2x "naked" LRMBT

 

OPTION A2

 

Replace Al'Rahem platoon with 2x Penal Legion and a second 5-man Storm Trooper squad with 2x meltaguns

 

OPTION B - Krieg Assault Brigade with Codex Imperial Guard Allies

 

Quartermaster

Forward Command Tank (Vanquisher)

Platoon - HQ 3x flamers, 2 squads w/ meltaguns, commissar w/ platoon HQ

Grenadiers - 2 meltaguns, heavy flamer

Deathrider Platoon - HQ w/commissar, plus a 5 man Death Rider Squad

LRMBT

Basilisk

 

CCS w/ astropath, officer of the fleet

Storm Troopers (5) 2x meltagun

Penal Legion

 

More to come, but I'd like your thoughts on which list you think I should go with. I think Option B suits my army's fluff a bit better and what Roughrider-lover can say no to 2 W roughriders? But I'm worried the bodycount is too low and my anti-air is even more non-existent than in Option A (basically I'm pinning my hopes on the Officer of the Fleet to delay/piecemeal them). Or are radical changes needed (inwhich case we can discuss that in the army lists forum).

 

EDIT: Added tags

 

[WarriorFish]

Option B looks nice, but I'm not sure what your allied Guard list brings aside from a few tricks and matching the fluff. Do you have to bring allies?

 

I agree that it feels like you need more models and some AA and maybe a bit more long ranged fire power as I'm not sure how close you'd get to use those meltas.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Matching the fluff is the main thing for option B. I've made it mandatory for years now to bring at least 1 squad of "inquisitorial storm troopers" and an Inquisitor. It was easier with Codex: Daemonhunters/Witchhunters.

[hendrik]

how about using carapace veterans as inquisitorial troops? most people regard stormtroopers as overpriced.

Personally, for a tournament scene i do feel you'll need some anti aircraft. There are multiple methods of doing this, either using vendettas, sabre platforms,etc.

you could also just get an allied corteas (allows you an extra chance to seize the initiative/deny your opponent from seizing it) with a henchmen squad (inquisitorial stromtroopers with stormbolters perhaps?),riding in the inquisitors personal ride, a converted stormraven maybe?

[WarriorFish]

Stormies are really cool but sadly quite overpriced, Carapace Vets will probably be a more competitive version as hendrik says. I miss the old WH codex too :(

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Thanks for the input. I'm feeling more love for the list based around a Kreig Assault Brigade, and it just occurred to me that another argument in favour of that option is stability. It will be the same list in July 2014 as it is now, and for the most part I don't need to worry about how my list may change. I'll have to think about how to represent the Inquisitor and Inquisitorial troops, but maybe can leave that for later. I'll focus on getting all the Krieg stuff done for now.

 

I've strongly resisted jumping onto the flyer bandwagon. A Storm Raven is too expensive, in any event, I think, and the Vendetta/Valkyrie may well be nerfed come the spring. It seems to me that with flyers you need to "go big or go home" and one lone flyer won't help much. I could almost squeeze two Hydras for the price of one Vendetta, so I'd be more inclined to go that route. I must confess that the introduction of flyers is the one thing about 6th edition that I resent because at 1500 pts its already very difficult to fit the stuff I really like, and now must take another chunk out of that for dedicated AA.

[hendrik]

hence why bringing a flyer of your own is in a way, the best solution. force the whole flyer issue on someone else ya know! how else would you deal with flyers?

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

hence why bringing a flyer of your own is in a way, the best solution. force the whole flyer issue on someone else ya know! how else would you deal with flyers?

 

Well, other ways of dealing with flyers I've seen (I actually haven't played against a flyer yet):

 

1) Just ignore them -- can be viable, especially with a fast/aggressive army, and was my thought with the Officer of the Fleet (to delay their arrival) and Astropath (to get by outflankers into his backfield ASAP).

 

2) Bring dedicated AA, basically Hydras and Aegis defence line

[hendrik]

ignoring them, can be an option, but not always. some flyers will just ruin your battleplan by taking out vital units really quickly (for example helldrakes, with their AP3 flamers. these will roast your company command squad, granting your opponent a quick "slay the warlord".

dedicated AA is nice, but i'm unimpressed by the hydra tanks due to them missing interceptor and only snapshotting against non-flyers/-skimmers/etc. I'dd rather recommend sabre platforms then, these are troops choices and have the skyfire and interceptor rule!

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Yeah, might be an option. Sabre platforms look like something that wouldn't be all that hard to scratch-build, too, given enough spare lascannons (and/or autocannons if I decided to go that route), which makes them more palatable given that I don't know what's coming in the new IG codex in terms of AA and don't want to spend a pile on stuff that I won't use down the road.

 

Which Imperial Armour are Sabre Platforms found in?

[hendrik]

they are not hard at all! i've made mine using parts from my bitsbox! here's a picture of them:

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb281/amorfatipictures/DSC_1789_zpsc08e9a86.jpg

their rules can be found in imperial armour aeronautica.

[WarriorFish]

Hydras would be my choice if you wanted AA but not flyers of your own. They can rake the skies clear and don't forget they can target skimmers at full BS too :)

[hendrik]

their main problem is a lack of interceptor. let's compare the two units:

 

for 75 pts you can get 4 twin linked autocannon shots with skyfire. This means they can only hit flyers,skimmers, jetbikes and deepstrikers on their BS3. you'll be snapshotting against infantry,rhinos etc. these also take up a heavy support slot and therefore contest with your other heavy support units. the lack of interceptor and AV12 also means a smart opponent will try to take them out with his flyer in the turn he arrives,resulting in your AA doing nothing until the turn after his flyer arrives

 

now on the other hand, for 80 pts you can get two autocannon sabre platforms. these also burst out 4 twin linked autocannon shots, but in addition to skyfire they also have the interceptor rule, meaning they ALWAYS shoot at their full BS at any target! In addition to this they also can shoot at flyers/deepstrikers in the turn they arrive from reserves! This benefit is HUGE since it potentially allows you to down a flyer in the turn it arrives.

last but not least, these can be taken in exchange for heavy weapon squads, and as such are scoring troop choices. perfect to sit on an objective in some cover. in addition, the sabre platform is T7, so massivly more survivable then your naverage heavy weapon team, making them perfect to sit on an objective.

 

in conclusion, for 5 pts you buy the interceptor-rule,make it scoring and much more survivable. A total steal if you ask me! ;)

[WarriorFish]

You forget that they also require the aeronautica book :P I think GW is confused about what it wants from flyers. On one hand you have them being great and dominating and GW swimming through the cash, but on the other a big disparity in the game. So they're rolling out the much needed AA but woah now, you don't expect something like Interceptor do you? So you can trash those expensive flying contraptions before they do anything? No, sir, GW do not like that at all. The resulting drop in flyer sales just won't do you see...

 

Hydras are cool tanks though, so that gets them points in my book but they're still missing GW models. So in short unless you want to take a Vendetta then your options are FW or converting if you want some good AA it seems.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Good discussion, many thanks, gentlemen.

 

I'm leaning towards Hydras. They are just as easy to scratch build as Sabre Platforms, and I think it will be pretty easy to add the guns to an existing chimera, pop the turret off the chimera and put a hatch on top (using blue tac or nothing -- I don't think I even need to magnetize) so that makes it a very cost effective option. Sabre Platforms -- for my army -- would actually be more work/$ because I'd have to build an entire platoon around them. I definitely don't want them as part of my Krieg platoon (which probably isn't even legal, although I don't have Aeronica Imperialis) since I don't want a situation where the whole platoon gets wiped out except for a Sabre hidden at the back and then can't "send in the next wave" (using Forlorn Hope). Which means bringing a whole allied IG platoon. I have the models, but for fluff reasons the allied platoon would have to be in Inquisitorial colours and the Cadian troops I have are earmarked for a pea dot camo pattern for use as my Al'Rahem platoon when circumstances allow.

 

In an Assault Brigade list, the Hyrdra has the added benefit of being an Elite choice. And while they lack interceptor, they don't lack AV 12 ... their front armour is 12.

 

But in any event, I think I'm going to ask you guys for further list building comments here: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/279903-ig-krieg-asslt-bde-1500-pts-for-astronomi-con-2014-tourney/

 

... and I'm going to start moving into fluff and WIP pictures on this thread. Thanks for all your help so far!

[WarriorFish]

No problem Nico, you don't need to twist our arms to get us talking Guard anyway In fact, if left to our own devices we'd probably carry on regardless

I don't think there's that much more I can add though, so good luck when the time comes to do battle in the Emperor's name. Don't forget to let us know how you get on I'll be waiting for you to update with pictures

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Thanks WarriorFish.

 

The thing I love about Astronomi-Con is that it's a "whole hobby" tournament, so the fluff and painting/conversions are worth as much as the tabletop results. The breakdown is like this:

 

• 90 points – Game Play
• 60 points – Sportsmanship
• 40 points – Appearance
• 20 points – Composition
• 10 points – Theme
• 10 points – Army List

 

So I want to make my fluff, modelling, and painting cool since they are just as important -- and probably easier to achieve -- than the list itself. For example, to get to the higher point levels of army list you need original artwork, named characters, stories, and the like. So I'll be putting up the short stories and character bios here for critique. The theme is how well you incorporate the fluff into the army composition and the appearance.

 

The army composition is fairly complex and difficult to achieve. The list I've put in the army list section probably doesn't score that great in comp. I'll have to look at that.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

So here's my almost final list. I decided that an Aegis w/ Icarus Lascannon with one Hydra was better than two Hydras. I'm just not willing to bring flyers -- they are not my style (although they could be shoehorned in as Inquisition craft to fit the fluff) and too difficult to transport to an out-of-town tournament. But mostly not my style. I am pretty happy with the list and it scores 19/20 composition points which is good. BUT ... I'm not crazy about plunking a whole squad of grenadiers (Inq. Storm Troopers) behind the ADL. Feels like a waste and they should be attacking.

 

I'd like to ally-in a 5-woman squad of Sisters from their new digital codex, bare bones, plus a cheap HQ (whatever the cheapest will be). But that will still weigh-in at something like an additional 125 minimum. I don't think it's possible to scrounge those points anywhere because I've already made some very tough choices on this list and I'm not willing to compromise much more.

 

HQ
1. Lord Inquisitor and Retinue (counts-as Death Korps Company Command Squad w/ Power Fist, Momento Mori, Flamer x2)

ELITES
1. Forward Command Tank -Vanquisher w/ Hull Lascannon
2. Hydra Flak Tank

TROOPS

1. Death Korps Infantry Platoon: Platoon HQ w/ power sword for officer, flamer x2, commissar; Platoon Squad x2 each with meltagun
2. Grenadier Storm Squad w/ meltagun x2, heavy flamer, power sword
3. Inquisitorial Storm Troopers (counts- as Grenadier Storm Squad), Plasmagun x2



FAST ATTACK
1. Deathrider Squadron w/ 10 riders

HEAVY
1. Leman Russ
2. Basilisk

 

FORTIFICATION

Aegis Defence Line with Icarus Lascannon

 

If anyone has thoughts I'd be glad to hear them. Otherwise I'm going to start posting some fluff. And, inspired by my reading of Dead Men Walking, am going to get to work on my Grenadiers this weekend.
 

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

As I've thought about this, I see only two options to free-up points for some Ecclesiarchy goodness. Either I drop the forward command tank (215 pts) or the Hydra and the Basilisk (200 pts). I'm thinking the command tank is "more" expendable (why are the best modelling opportunities always the easiest to remove from a list?). But would be interested in what you think.

 

I'd then use a canoness for my inquisitor, and with the pts left over could buy a couple priests to attach to either the command squads or the infantry squads.

[hendrik]

do you really think 5 sisters of battle will do more damage then said forward command tank?

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Well, no, but I could get more than 5 sisters for 215 pts, so the question is, would I be better served by a long- range tank killer and fewer troops? Or a pimped-out inquisitor (canoness), some sisters, a priest or two (who are AWESOME in the new sisters 'dex) plus changing the CCS flamers to meltaguns?

 

I think I'm going to leave this on the back burner for now and paint the stuff I KNOW I'm bringing. Got some work on grenadiers done over the weekend. I'll try to post pics later.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Okay, here's an early progress shot of the first Grenadier squad (not the Inquisitorial Storm Troopers). Just did a dark green basecoat on the greatcoats and pants, and on the first row the first layer of Field Grey (Tamiya) to be followed by a highlight of 50/50 Field Grey/White mix (I only do three layers because, while the Tamiya paints look great, they are a major pain to use -- plus it yields a tabletop quality I'm more than satisfied with anyway).

 

You can also see the converted "watchmaster" in the front row. I modelled him to be able to represent a counts-as Sergeant Bastonne when using IG list instead of DKoK Assault Brigade. I'll post the full fluff for him when the squad is done.

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2013/10/21/549285_md-.JPG

[WarriorFish]

Cool, looking forward to seeing the squad finished :)

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Another quick update on the Grenadiers after a bit of work on them tonight. As you can see, a minor disaster struck with the watchmaster's sword. Hope it will hold when I glue it back, but I'm going to have to always watch that one. Forgeworld swords are so thin! Anyway, you're probably wondering what in the Warp I'm doing with that brown colour on their armour ... I agree, it doesn't look so hot at the moment. But fear not, I'm going to give it a shade and then transform it into Oak Leaf Camo which I think will look quite good based on my past experience with that camo scheme and field grey.

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2013/10/23/549621_md-.JPG

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Things are going swimmingly with the Grenadiers. Hope to have another progress pic up early this week. I'm almost finished the "watchmaster" and will post his pic with fluff first. I realised his fluff might not make much sense without the whole army's fluff, which I haven't posted before. Here it is, and I am very open to comment/criticism and to changing it, although certain things like the Chaos invasion (Sabbat World) and Lord Inquisitor Soulis' involvement (fluff created through gaming) are non-negotiable parts. Here we go:

 

Cross ref. Sorgrece V: Imperium Files 328-539
0398.137.18 ref, cross Xeno-Folders, ex. 511

Name: Sorgrece V  
Segmentum: Segmentum Pacificus
Sector: Sabbat Worlds
Subsector: Newfound Trailing Group
System: Sorgrece
Population: 5,312,816,277 (as of 989/M.41 Census)
Class: ϒ, Civilised Cardinal World
Tithe Grade: Extremus - Exactus Tertius

When the Sabbat Worlds were annexed for Imperial colonization in M35, Sorgrece was a humble pastoral world that, while well outside the Civitas Imperialis, was loyal to the Emperor with an especially strong cult to his worship. This cult, combined with the martial spirit of the people, saw them through the dark centuries before the ascent of St. Sabbat. 

Cut-off from the Imperium and beset by Chaos warbands and xenos pirates, the world was reduced nearly to little more than a feudal world, with a strong fighting aristocracy. When missionaries and Imperial troops arrived, minimal cleansing was required, and the Ecclesiarchy found fertile ground for its influence. Sorgrece soon became the Cardinal world for the sub-sector.

As with the other worlds of the Sabbat region, following 600.M41 Sorgrece was the target of sustained Chaos persecution. The worst and most significant of these was the large-scale attack by the Blood Pact and the “Blood Slaves of Khorne” World Eaters warband, all under the command of Lord Khargoth the Skull-taker. Despite valiant defence of the planet by the Imperial Guard regiments, P.D.F., and Sisters of Battle (guardians of the Sanctorium of St. Sabbat in the capital city), the Imperial forces were in constant retreat. After a decade of war, the Ecclesiarchy sanctorium and the Administratum palace remained the last strongholds fully in Imperial hands.

Seeing defeat was at hand, the planetary governor, Count Vladimir von Rovaczev, ordered nuclear bombardment of his own planet by the last orbital warships to deny the Blood Slaves their prize and to deny them the ability to launch another attack on a neighbouring world.

Thereafter followed decades of bloody and desperate warfare across the nuclear-ravaged world, with the loyalists desperately clinging to those zones that had not been bombed and keeping them from Chaos taint. The Blood Slaves' hold on the world had been weakened but not destroyed. In these bloody years, the Sorgrecians, who had a long history of martial pride and honour, further honed their combat skills against the bloodthirsty Khornate minions. Deeming it best to fight fire with fire, and desperately low on modern weaponry, they focussed on mastering hand-to-hand combat. Finally, a saviour came to the Sorgrecians, in the person of Lord Inquisitor Soulis of the Ordo Hereticus who landed with a strike force in 754.M41 as part of Operation Redrake. He rallied the scattered Imperial forces with the help of Kazimierz von Rovaczev, only surviving son of Count Vladimir. When finally the Chaos forces had been evicted, there came the hard decision: what to do with the people of Sorgrece who had for decades been exposed to the taint of Chaos?

Lord Inquisitor Soulis was a puritan by disposition. A hard man, but a just one also. While the remnants of the Blood Pack and last pockets of World Eaters were hunted down, he undertook a massive inquisition to determine the extent of Chaos taint. Fellow inquisitors insisted on the “prudent” route of simply ordering Exterminatus on the planet. Soulis saw this as slothful expedience and persevered in his disquisitions. Although many burned, most were spared as he deemed the nuclear bombardment and corresponding necessity to use respirators and fallout shelters in many parts of the world had protected the people. He was touched by the piety and nobility of the Sorgrecians and deemed it foolhardy to waste such good stock.   

In the equatorial Xenthali Jungle the Catachan XVIII Green Devils presented a last snag to the reconquest of the planet. These soldiers, who had been among the first reinforcing units to arrive during the initial World Eater invasion, had been driven mad during the years of fighting the enemy in the jungles. They now attacked loyal troops and civilians thinking that they were Chaos adherents. Lord Inquisitor Soulis, donning his ancient terminator armour, took it upon himself to personally bring the Catachans back to the Emperor. Though ultimately successful, he very nearly met his demise. Fighting in the dense jungles his force was dealt grave blows until he had only a small band of Sisters of Battle with him. After the Sisters’ Canoness was mortally wounded by one Commissar Akrim, Inquisitor Soulis attempted to lead the remaining troops to safety and was ambushed -- a demo pack was thrown right at his feet, and although the terminator armour took the brunt of the blast, it was not full proof against the devastating weapon.

The remaining Sisters fled to retrieve reinforcements, leaving the Inquisitor behind, thinking him dead. Lesser men would indeed have been, but through sheer force of will and unconquerable faith in the Emperor, Lord Inquisitor Soulis persevered and was able to struggle out of the smoking and half-melted remains of his ancient armour and track-down the remaining guardsmen to their base. There, missing an arm, covered in wounds but still commanding the authority of the Emperor, he confronted Colonel Matrix, commanding officer of the remnants of the XVIII Green Devils. Finally understanding that they had been tricked by the wiles of Chaos, the guardsmen surrendered. In honour of their valour and skill-at-arms, Inquisitor Soulis opted to induct them to the Penal Legions rather than have them all burnt at the stake.

With the pacification of Sorgrece V complete, Lord Inquisitor Soulis was not long to move on to other projects, launching the Persequi Astro Ultio Crusade. He inducted into his force entire regiments from Sorgrece V, most noteably the Emperor’s Own Sorgrecian Rifles, as well as the Penal Legionaires formerly of the XVIII Green Devils. These have accompanied him to the Segmentum Tempestus where they continue to prosecute holy wars against the enemies of the Imperium.

 

[Persequi Astro Ultio is a reference to Astronomi-con or "Astro"; my working fluff is that the Astronomi-con tournament is a chronicle of this crusade.]