Best allied units for Emperors children

[Theredknight]

Hi guys / gals.

 

So I was thinking about getting a little allied detachment in the age of darkness force org chart.

 

Obviously I wouldn't be using Maru skara for this.

I'm looking for suggestions as to what would be good to put in there, what would compliment the army and work well with it.

 

I know the allies chart shows sons of Horus, salamanders and iron hands as best buds so who would be best from those?

 

I also thought, what about word bearers?

Gal vorbak are potentially devastating units, and for a similar price to palatine blades. They have a decent set of rules, but perhaps would need transport due to their 3+ Saves..

 

What are your opinions?

[Slips]

Since EC play as more of a Hammer unit, your allied detachment being an Anvil would probably work out best for you.

 

Unironically / Ironically, the best contenders for that would be the Iron Hands with the Salamanders being a close Second. Sons of Horus, I feel, play quite similarly to the EC and would probably make for a very nasty assault army but wouldn't really fill in any gaps like the previous two would.

[Theredknight]

The bonuses from IH are pretty good, I suppose I could always play pre heresy lol

I might proxy a few to see how they turn out.

And with both of those armies they are battle buddies, so can use each other's leadership etc. Put some immortals or pyroclasts out there there to take the brunt charge and counter charge with ec,

Just trying to think of different options to help out our weak rules and maybe shore up with some stronger ones to fill the gaps. Plus, always nice to paint another colour

[Hesh Kadesh]

Emperor's Children don't get massive bonuses from friendly IC's joining their units. Edge of the Spear can't be used in conjunction with a transport so forces you to take ages to travel there, and you don't get to benefit from Maru Skara's Outflank, and Merciless doesn't apply. If it's the other way round, then EC grant Crusader which can be pretty nifty on a CC army - but SoH have better ways of getting into CC and it involves landing on them with a Vermicious Knid/Anvillus, or outflanking with Reavers. Fleet requires all models to have it, which is a PITA as you have to choose Crusader or Fleet with the Rite of War.

 

Iron Hands actively try to prevent you making use of your Legion tactics (Run and Sweep requires a Ld test to pass before you can). EC IC's in IH units gain benefit of majority toughness 5*, No Rites of War. Gorgons suck as anything other than a cheap FNP Terminator Objective holder - 5 = 200 versus 260, 10 = 375 vs 410 - their "special blind rule" affecting friendlies more likely than not, though, as a result of this objective camping. Medusans. aside from the special rule being useless...

 

Salamanders; Immune to Fear, resilient against morale attacks, S6 heavy flamers, Nocturne Born - the lack of Initiative to Sweeping advance disturbs that I5 Consul you have, and -1 to run is negated slightly by Crusader, but you're less effective at what you do. Dragonscale Shields work best with Cataphractii which means no running terminators and no Sweeping advance.  Covenant of Fire = Move Through Cover is the only real effective thing for an IC to attach to EC, but doesn't get round no Sweeping Advance, and also massive unit tax suggests primarily a primary detach only. Pyroclasts aren't going to benefit from IC's neither are Cataphractii.

 

So, the reasons you'd have for taking any the Sworn Brothers are pretty much nonexistant. As long as they are Fellow Warriors, you'll be fine with whatever you took.

[Theredknight]

I thought the legion traits are legion specific and they can't interchange those?

For instance a model with legiones astartes: emperors children will not get bonuses from salamanders or iron hands and vice versa.

 

That's why I thought, have a unit to take the brunt of a charge if I need to, or such up overwatch, and I can then countercharge with ec. This then hopefully gives me the chance for a sweep which I rarely get!

[1ncarnadine]

You probably don't want IH taking the brunt of a charge, as they're best when shooting everything to bits and making use of their Inviolate Armour. If you're taking them as alllies, they'd be better off as objective holders/firebases. That's not to say they can't take charges at all by the time something gets to them (hopefully after being mostly gunned down), but if you're heavily anticipating a unit being charged... Salamanders! High S flamer overwatch, morale bonuses, storm shields? Awww yeeeee.

 

Pre-heresy justification is pretty easy, but post-heresy is tougher. Maybe a handful of Salamanders got subverted by the siren song of the Kakophoni on Isstvan? Or some Iron Hands saw Ferrus Manus get cut down and decided Fulgrim was where real strength was at, and Ferrus was just too weak.

 

And yes, legion traits are specific and cannot be interchanged. Sworn Brothers doesn't work that way. And having ICs from each faction hang out together might not always be what you want (except maybe Eidolon leading a charge of Firedrakes? Ouch), but the Warlord Trait crossover bonus will help a lot. Having your allied Legion will get bonuses from Fulgrim's flexible warlord trait for example. Eidolon's Warlord trait actually counteracts Nocturne Born too, which is kind of neat. Eidolon can't embark in the Firedrakes' near-mandatory Spartan though, which kind of ruins the point

[Caustic63]

A possible use for Allies I see is generating an additional FA, Elites and Heavy Support slot for your army.  Still, it comes at the cost of an additional compulsory HQ and a troops choice which you may or may not want in your army.

 

Iron Warriors make surprisingly good allies for Emperor's Children, given the firepower of their unique units and immunity to ranged morale checks. Tyrant Terminators with a Siege Breaker and Iron Havocs with Missile Launchers are nice additional units in my mind, though they are expensive.

 

Essentially Allies are a mixed bag, but as a general rule you should only take them if you have a really good combo in mind otherwise you are just packing your points sink slots. Legio Cybernetica and Mechanicum in general are rarely a bad investment however given the absurd ranged firepower some of their units can turn out like the Myrmidons.

[Hesh Kadesh]

While legion rules do nko carry over, some of the rules they grant do: ie Crusader applies to 'units containing one or more models with this rule' - provided you are a sworn brother said Character can join allied units. THAT is how Sworn Brothers work.

 

They don't benefit from Inviolate Armour for example in as much as an EC in an IH benefits from majority toughness 5*.

 

I have sent FW an email about how characters granting infiltrate to a unit joined by another character without infiltrate operate. I'm expexting ruling in the negative, because FW, but taking a Vigilator with Recon Armour and joining an IH Tac Bolter/BP/CCW squad with either a Forge Lord with Rad Grenades and Boarding Shield or a Chaplain turns it into a pretty lethal squad (IIRC Rad Grenades also affect Overwatch too).

 

If you are not making use of how Sworn Brothers interacts, then there is no need to use Sworn Brothers only allies.

 

The trick with legion allies is that outside of their legion rules or unique units they're not really bringing anythung to the table you're not capable of doing anyway. Solar Aux brings you lots of Deko Cannons, Cheap Scoring or Cheat access to Fortifications if the RoW denies it for example. Mechanicum bring fun sponge/bullet sponge MC's or other cheap scoring Adsec.