Speciality Detachments

[Schlitzaf]

This post is strictly about what I refer to as 'specialty' detachments or Outrider, Vangaurd, Supreme Commander, Superhead and AirWing. Superheavy Detachment may be thrown in if desired, but I wanted to leave it out for now. Simply put, Eighth Edition has brought a lot of changes to the game (and after March, I am gonna try and compile various posts and threads, to make a "One Year Later" Thread but going on). One of the biggest and most salient of these have been the removal of Force Organization Chart

 

FoC before it became functionally obsolete come 7th and Formations, played several roles in the game, one of the most important is limiting spam. But it also forced you to pay 'troop tax'. Several armies had ways to move around units into the troop slot or in some cases had units able to taken in multiple slots (Master of the Forge unlocking Dreadnought as Heavy or in 4th Carnifexes below certain point values were elites). 

 

However it also meant that come the modern age heralded by 5th, certain armies were functionally locked behind a character (Various (x)Wings for DA, or Orks wanting to running mono-mech). In many ways, the poor troop units already seen as a tax dropped off the map, like in C:SM where Bikers acted as Line Squads instead of Tacticals. Tacticals only came back to the table, competitively after introduction of formations required you to take them such as the Demi-Companies.

 

Nowadays, Slot Swapping is non-existent, and even granting ObjSec to Non-Troops is a rarity onto itself (Leman Russes being only example I can think of). When 8th first dropped, and before we got more strategam, battlelion detachments (Marine wise) were the exception not the rule. Even now, folks rarely take more than 3 MSU Tacticals (or Scouts), before loading up on toys. In the summer one of the most common complaints is that 'specialty' detachments only exist to enable spam lists and better off removed. 

 

However the existence of said detachments also means, you no longer need characters to unlock/play with the ForceOrg. Instead if you want to Mono-Deathwing, you can if wanted just take a Librarian. You no longer need Belial. A force like a Chaos Sorcerer Coven, now just organically exists within the rules. A Guard Player, wanting to play his army as bunch of grizzled Veterans, doesn't need troops (Admittedly that was also true from 5th to 7th). So the question, I am posing, all that said aside, it also means that lists like Triple Dreadknight can exist or the Callidus Assassin Spam fun times. 

 

Or the start of the edition everyones favorite Stormraven Triple. So on and so forth. I personally rather it way, similar to my opinion on allies. There is gonna be abuse, but beside spending time letting ease of unlocking certain niche armies (Deathwing for example), or having to figure out how to let armies that lack any kind of troop (or HQ, through HQ issue is easier to fix) unit, actually be playable. 

 

Now would I like to see more units ala SM Bikers and Blood Angels Assault Marines have ObSec unlocked when taken in specialty yes. But the fact any themed list is playable without having to play ForceOrg games, means I appreciate and enjoy existence of specialty detachments. Other food for thought is the CP difference between most Specialties and Battalion/Brigade. 

[Trevak Dal]

No I think space marine bikers are just fine where they are at, and people wanting to play that way still can through the alternative detachments.

 

I was okay with zerkers not being troops, I could have an army with them and I wasn't concerned with my assault troops holding objectives.

 

Doesn't ObSec only really matter when you are going to be in a drawn out fight? Back in 7th, my Crisis suits had objective secured, but they didn't need it because they would kill everything, and have a large zone of overlapping fields of fire with high quality high quantity shooting.

 

Are guardian jetbikes still troops? I'd imagine not...but old Phil does have favorites so maybe they are.

[toaae]

Doesn't ObSec only really matter when you are going to be in a drawn out fight?

Matters a lot if you're playing a mission with progressive scoring.

[Mileposter]

Are guardian jetbikes still troops? I'd imagine not...but old Phil does have favorites so maybe they are.

Eldar Windriders are Fast Attack now. My fiance runs an army of these things. The shift has certainly not made them less effective.

 

 

Doesn't ObSec only really matter when you are going to be in a drawn out fight?

Matters a lot if you're playing a mission with progressive scoring.

 

I haven't found this to be the case. In my experience, the thing holding/taking the Objective what doesn't ObSec simply murders the thing that does. ObSec merely helps even the fight.