GWs new flavour of the month: vehicle squadrons

[Jolemai]

Codex: Eldar Craftworlds saw the first non-Apocalypse example of vehicle squadrons getting a buff should their be more than three.

 

Over in the N&R forum, news is breaking of the same feature in the new Space Marines Codex. Examples being three Whirlwinds gaining Shred and Pinning, Predators gaining Tank Hunter and Monster Hunter, Vindicators working similar to the Apocalypse Linebreaker Formation (all three fire together to make a STR: D, 7" Blast, Ignore Cover shot - needs confirming).

 

Now, when one thinks of vehicle squadrons, the first thought is usual of the Imperial Guard as they have been doing it for years. If you were to add one-two special rules for your squadrons, what would they be and why?

[CoffeeGrunt]

I think the Guard missed the boat on a lot of things, didn't they? We were the last Codex to not get the new, "take three of these and be showered with Special Rules," Formation system in our Codex, and now we're seeing our ability to squadron Tanks not only being negated as a relatively unique ability, but also we're the only ones doing so who don't get buffs while doing it.

[Doctor Perils]

And you're going to lose the uniqueness of having Tank HQs outside Forge World

The difficulty of giving combined shot special rules to guard vehicle squadrons is that they can have different kinds of shots in each squadron : I can see rules for combining the same kinds of shots, but not different kinds as much. I wouldn't be surprised by the following :

• LRuss Demolishers having the same kind of Line Breakers rule as Vindicators,
• Vanquishers with D shots and possibly some other kind of buff ? Though not blasts. (This would probably put them in line for killing Titans pretty "easily" compared to other non-Apoc units)
• Battle Canons, eradicators, Nova Canons and artillery with larger and stronger blasts...

I don't know what they could give for punishers and exterminators though

Wish-list alert : With so many vehicle squadrons and the ever-lasting wish of Games Workshop for people to continue buying more models, I wouldn't be extremely surprised by "vehicle platoons"

[Jolemai]

Vehicle platoons? Could you imagine how awesome that would be!

[hendrik]

what would be an immense win would be a reduction in point cost for all non-russ/wyvern vehicles. as for special rules i think we should wait to see what the other "formations" get. are these similar to the ones. with eldar it's a deepstrike bonus and a bonus to AP and S for AT weapons(if you forgo to fire the other fire prisms shooting!!). I can see something similar occuring for non-mixed leman russ squadrons, for example a triple vanquisher squadron gaining preferred enemy (vehicle), or tank hunter. perhaps they'll just copy paste each of pasks special abilities here?

 

As for vehicle platoons,whilst cool i think it would split up the force organisation too much.

should they do it however i think they should base it on the armoured regiment command structure shown in IA V1:2nd ed.
However such a structure would just make the force org chart a terrible mess, so a less elaborate version, eq simplified platoons could work. If that were the case i'dd like to see them use the scions template.(Now here comes the wishlisting!)

-Organise each segment in the standard slot they would be, as right now the force org chart allows for a great force to be build, but it somewhat clashes with the actuall design of the regiments according to fluff... Obviously this could complicate things, but a good and in depth explanation on how a regiment is organised, and the inclusion of a 0-1 company level unit could make the force org chart fit in a lot better with the fluff than the current force org chart (at least for vehicles).

 

 0-1 company HQ, 1-3 armoured/siege/artilery/anti airfcraft/anti tank/reconnaisance squadrons, each consisting of 1-3 tanks

The best part about this is that they could release a new chimera based company command tank (the salamander, maybe in combination with a trojan to create a dual kit??) and make this give special rules to all units of its company, eg anti airccraft gaining interceptor, siege comapny gaining something to help the ordonnance, perhaps a spotter rule, etc etc.

 

obviously this isn't simple as it's bound to creat a whole complicated mess, but than again, such is the command structure of a regiment!

[WarriorFish]

Perhaps there may be a time we look at our joy at the arrival of the tank commander as a mere prelude to a true Guard tank army... I can but hope! It's a good point, as if the elite armies are getting squadrons then that leaves the Guard well and truly out in the cold. How will GW compensate - if at all? Points drops might be nice, would also encourage us to get even more models... ;)

There are several vehicles that are arguably in need of a cost reduction but it could be an exciting time. For the record, I think we'll probably not see a codex this year but stranger things have happened. I'm still hoping for some form of army wide regimental rules, to represent different army types or regiments :)

[march10k]

LRBT:  Take three and they're a troops choice.

 

Vanquisher:  Take three and they get BS4.

 

Demolisher:  Take three and fire secondary weapons at full BS

 

Eradicator:  Take three and the enemy rerolls successful invul saves

 

Punisher:  Take three and gain fleshbane

 

Exterminator:  Take three and gain the "skyfire on demand" rule that tau can buy

 

Plasmacutioner: Take three and gain the ability for each tank to fire the pask large blast instead of the three blasts.

 

Sentinels:  Take three and gain LoS for all members (letting you put an HP on each member before losing a walker)

 

Hydras:  Take three and take snap-shots at BS2

 

Wyverns:  Take three and suffer an autormatic dreadsocking (honestly, you need added motivation to spam this cheese?!?)

 

Basilisks: take three and get free enclosed crew compartment

 

Hellhounds:  Take three and gain scout USR

 

Valkyries:  Take three and they maneuver independently after arriving (squadron coherency waived)

 

Vendettas:  See Wyverns

 

As a bonus...for the russ variants, the bonus applies to command squadrons (assuming three of the same tank) and to a pask squadron (assuming two identical wing tanks, pask's tank need not match, but he doesn't gain the bonus if it doesn't.)  An interesting squadron under this rule set would be a command LRBT squadron...as both a troop and an HQ, it satisfies all core requirements for an allied detachment...as does pask (any variety) plus two LRBTs.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Honestly I see us getting something like the Decurion. Necrons got it, Harlequins got something similar, Khorne Daemonkin got it, Craftworld Eldar got it, Space Marines are getting it, DA, Chaos (the rest of it), and Finally IG are going to get it too. That's what the new structure is looking like. 

 

We'll probably see the MT codex go away, getting it's own orders and benefits (or something) in a formation that can be included in the Force Structure, there will be a core detachment, likely made up of platoons and vets, with a command squad, with it's own fun little benefits, and Leman Russ tanks will likely be something along the lines of a formation of 2-4 squadrons with 0-1 Tank commanders ( Pask available). Valkyries and vendettas will get some kind of goofy 2-4 squadron deal, or become dedicated transports. 

 

I don't know what the benefits would be but I suspect we'll see something along these lines for us:

 

Core:

 

1 Lord Commissar, 1 Vet Squad (minimum), 2 Platoons (1 PCS, 2 IS, minimum)

 

Command:

 

1 CCS in Chimera, MoO, OotF

 

Auxiliary:

 

Armored Regiment (2-4 Leman russ sqdns)

Tempestus Strike Force (1-4 platoons)

Air Defense battery (2-4 Hydra Squadrons)

Artillery Battery (1-4 squadrons of Basilisks, Wyverns, Medusas, Manticores, Deathstrikes, in any combination)

Air Cavalry (1-4 Squadrons of Valkyries or Vendettas in any combination)

 

They might give them different names, but I think that's essentially what we'll see. That seems to be the way the Codecies are going. 

[Kontakt]

If a new guard codex replaces the scion book (which I am not convinced of), then a standard troop choice would not likely be a requirement, seeing as how the formation would pretty much state scions are taken as troop choices, scion command squads are the only HQ allowed (and ofc the commisar), and the taurox prime would be the only transport. Edit: and valkyrie, ofc

   The rest sounds spot on, though I'll bet they won't go quite as far as you have.

Vehicle squadrons would probably not get a huge amount of combined fire options, split fire would probably just become more likely. Perhaps a free tank commander for every squadron.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

If a new guard codex replaces the scion book (which I am not convinced of), then a standard troop choice would not likely be a requirement, seeing as how the formation would pretty much state scions are taken as troop choices, scion command squads are the only HQ allowed (and ofc the commisar), and the taurox prime would be the only transport. Edit: and valkyrie, ofc

   The rest sounds spot on, though I'll bet they won't go quite as far as you have.

Vehicle squadrons would probably not get a huge amount of combined fire options, split fire would probably just become more likely. Perhaps a free tank commander for every squadron.

 

It's possible that we might see the Scions be a core choice, with certain conditions. The Necrons got only one core choice, but the Eldar got 3, and I think Space marines will get more than 1. So given as many ways as there are to play IG, we'll likely see more than one core choice.

[Gunmonkey88]

I doubt we'd see scions able to be taken as core troops except in a tempestus formation. Those could be some of the benefits there though for both tempestus and tanks i.e. "if you do formation 'X' then leman russ squadrons/scion platoons count as troops and gain objective secured." And tank platoons would be cool (and mirror how real life militaries operate), I can definitely imagine GW introducing this as a formation, especially as it would mean players purchasing more tanks to fill out their lists.

 

Didn't GW publish rules for using Leman Russes as troops choices 8-10 years ago? It might have been forgeworld but I seem to recall seeing something like that way back when.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I doubt we'd see scions able to be taken as core troops except in a tempestus formation. Those could be some of the benefits there though for both tempestus and tanks i.e. "if you do formation 'X' then leman russ squadrons/scion platoons count as troops and gain objective secured." And tank platoons would be cool (and mirror how real life militaries operate), I can definitely imagine GW introducing this as a formation, especially as it would mean players purchasing more tanks to fill out their lists.

 

Didn't GW publish rules for using Leman Russes as troops choices 8-10 years ago? It might have been forgeworld but I seem to recall seeing something like that way back when.

 

You might be thinking of the FW armore Battle Group which is still valid, although at the 5e codex points costs.

 

I think we'll likely see 3 distinct core choices:

 

Infantry based (1 commissar, 2 platoons, and something else, probably a Sentinel Squadron of some type, since there aren't a ton of us that use them)  

Scion Based (Scion Command Squad and 1-4 Platoons, or possibly some version of the air or ground assault formations, maybe with a way to bring it in first turn)

Armor Based (1 tank commander and 2-4 LR squadrons, and probably an armored fist squad or 2)

 

That's what I see for a Guard decurion, we might see our Characters get pulled from the Command Squad, and made Independent Characters, and It would be great to get the old regiments back, like steel legion, vostroyans, and mordians, with something like Regimental tactics for all of the model kits.