Escalation at it's Finest

[FeelNoShane]

I'm playing in an escalation league that starts in 2 weeks with the option for 30k & 40k armies. I've gotten most of the models worked out as what I want to collect. Now I need to see what's the best load out or jumping off point. Each week after the initial 500pt list we add 250 points. Once a unit is added it cannot be deleted or reduced in size. I can swap wargear and load outs. The idea is the winning army stays at its points and the loser gets to add the next 250 points. In the end the winner should have the smallest army. I'm trying to pack in a lot with a little if that makes sense. That being said I'm playing Iron Warriors and I'm looking at a list that is somewhat infantry heavy, with robots and template toting HQs. Here's the first two weeks worth of lists.

 

The goal with this list is to establish the base of the army as I'm required 1 HQ and 2 Troops. The Vigilator is just a fun character who I see as like a lead from the front kind of character. He uses sabotage! to the best of his ability either reducing a key piece of cover/terrain or getting some good sniper shots into a key target. Big blobs of troops to last longer and grab objectives.

 

500pt List Escalation

 

HQ

 

Consul- Vigilator: Scout Armour, melta bombs, refractor field

 

Troops

 

15 man Tactical Marines

 

15 man Tactical Marines

 

 

Here I feel my list gets a bit more bang for its buck. I'm adding two more HQ's in the form of Master of Signals (MoS). That gives me sabotage! And two Bombardments. That's a lot to deal with at a low point level I feel. Then my Vigilator is scouting out a good unit to shoot after sabotage! Each MoS will attach to a squad giving the tacticals (after bombardment is complete) BS5. I won't be shooting with the MoS as he doesn't really have a wide array of weapons that would outshine 15 BS5 bolter toting warriors.

750pt List Escalation

 

HQ

 

Consul- Vigilator: Scout Armour, melta bombs, refractor field, void shield harness

 

Consul- Master of Signal: Power Armour, melta bombs, refractor field

 

Consul- Master of Signal: Power Armour, melta bombs, refractor field

 

Troops

 

15 man Tactical Marines

 

15 man Tactical Marines

 

Please provide feedback on other options at these levels. Thanks in advance Bothers.

[Slips]

I'd rather you give the Vigilator Artificer Armor for a 2+ save to tank with.

 

Due to the changes with Infiltrate and how it interacts with the rest of the game, he'd technically be unable to join other squads at deployment and a solo 4+ HQ is easy pickings for most armies especially with 30k in the mix.

 

I'd not get a second Master of Signal. While they're not bad, having another Consul type that would increase your armies potential would be preferential, imo. Such as a Librarian for their buffs, a Primus Medicae for FNP and to Future-Proof yourself since he's the only way you can give FNP to a few elite units due to Apothecary Restrictions.

 

Take a look at the Consul Entry again. You'll probably find something worthwhile. Dont forget to take a look at the most Recent FAQ which gives the Options for a Praevian and Delegatus.

[Emperors Teeth]

I love the campaign idea, and would love the time, place and freedom to do this!

 

This is very important to consider when writing your early list and I will refer back to it:

Once a unit is added it cannot be deleted or reduced in size.

 

I'll start with the 500pt list:

• I think you will lose a lot with this list, sorry, but I want to be honest. There's not much you can do about this with the unit sizes in 30k relative to what you can do in 40k. I know I can squeeze a Leman Russ in my old IG army at this points level... I don't think this list can handle this sort of thing.
• I would strongly recommend, especially with the restriction quoted above, that you start with 10-man Tactical Squads. This gives you the freedom to put them in Rhinos or expand them into larger units later on. A 15-man squad can never get a Rhino if you can't reduce it in size.
• You need some anti-tank firepower. Rapiers are the easiest, cheapest way of doing this and almost all types can be effective.

To this end, might I propose the following:

 

 

HQ

70pts Legion Centurion (no Consul upgrade YET) + Artificer Armour, Combi-weapon

 

Elites

Rapier Weapons Battery

120pts 2 Rapiers + Quad Mortars

 

Troops

155pts Tactical Squad; 10 men

Sergeant has Melta bombs

 

155pts Tactical Squad; 10 men

Sergeant has Melta bombs

 

Total = 500 points

 

Sure, your Consul insn't going to win any contests for 'Greatest Melee Hero', but those Quad Mortars will throw out enough Str8 shots with 'Sunder' to make any vehicle unit blush for several rounds of +250pts. The Tactical squads aren't as expansive as yours, but being Iron Warriors don't really need Vexila's immediately and have more options to expand in the future - obvious choices are a power weapon for the sergeant and either transport or more bodies.

 

-----

 

As for your 750pts list, I really think cramming 2 Masters of Ordnance in there is a mistake. You're eating up all 3 of your HQ slots with units that you may want to replace (but cannot!) later on. Better perhaps to add 1 at most and maybe use the other for a Praetor later? 250 points at a time doesn't get you much - how could you add Spartans or large Terminator squads at all in fact? Can you save up points from one bonus to the next? Assuming you have to spend another 250pts immediately, here's a suggestion - although bear in mind I don't know what caused you to lose!:

 

 

HQ

95pts Legion Centurion; Forge Lord (free Artificer Armour & Servo Arm) + Refractor Field

 

Elites

Rapier Weapons Battery

120pts 2 Rapiers + Quad Mortars

 

Troops

215pts Tactical Squad; 15 men

Sergeant has Melta bombs & Power weapon

 

205pts Tactical Squad; 10 men

Sergeant has Melta bombs & Power weapon

+ Rhino + Dozer blade

 

Heavy Support

115 Whirlwind Scorpius

 

 

Total = 750 points

 

This gives you a nice mix of mobility and more bodies on the ground, as well as, in a game this size, some really scary anti-infantry firepower in the form of the Whirlwind Scorpius. Your Forge Lord Can hang back and fix up the Whirlwind and perhaps do so while joined to the unit of Rapiers to both bolster his Toughness and their Leadership.

 

Other 250pt blocks I considered were:

• Legion Praevian/Techmarine plus a couple of Castellax.
• Master of Signal with Artificer Armour plus a Fortification and more Tactical Marines.
• Legion Medusa plus 9 Tactical marines or a Master of Signal.
• A 5-man Legion Heavy Support Squad with Volkite Culverin, an Augury Scanner plus an Aegis Defence Line to bunker your army down in. You could add a Quad Gun, Master of Ordnance and more Heavies to augment this build later
• Your could throw a curve-ball and just slam down a full 20-man Tactical squad for 250pts lol.

[FeelNoShane]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

 

The MoS won't join the squad just be in/next to it as the Cognis-signum reads "Model equipped with Cognis-sigum gains Night Vision special rule. In addition, in lieu of firing a weapon in the Shooting phase, a single designated unit of the controlling player's choice withing 6" of the signum-equipped model (excluding Independent Characters and Super-Heavies) gains a bonus of +1 to their BS for that shooting phase. HH:LACAL p88".

It's hard for me to give up the Sabatoge! And 2 bombardments as that can weaken an enemy flank quite quickly. You both have great points about other consuls and tank weaponry. I'd thought of a delgatus for hammer of Olympia and splitting the 30 tactical a into 3 10man squads. Bolter drill time. Then I'd have to add a siege breaker in cataphractii to my tyrant terminators(coming soon). I just liked the unit sniper Sabatoge! For pre turn glory and some orbital strikes to riddle the enemy front.

Another option I liked was quad mortars or thudd guns to template the enemy with some tarantula gun emplacements to push an army into a certain area of the board. Tough call and I don't have the money or models for that list yet.