Troops vs Compulsory Troops

[Indefragable]

Let's talk Troops.

 

So you have units that sit in the Troops FOC slot...

 

...and you have units that can count as Troops based on certain Rite of War or Character interactions.

 

But not all Troops units are equal: some don't count as Compulsory and some can't score?

 

Looking to get clarification.

 

 

A. you have Tactical, Assault, and Breacher squads which are Troops and can Score

B. then you have Tactical Support and Reconnaissance Squads which can Score, but as Support Squads cannot be taken as compulsory Troops choices unless a particular Legion's special rules allow otherwise

C. And then you have some units such as Legion Terminator Squads or Veterans that have Implacable Advance which lets them score...but they are Elites...except when they count as Troops such as Pride of the Legion where they must be taken as compulsory troops.

 

So my question is when a unit can be taken as Troops, but it does not explicitly use the word "compulsory," does that mean you can effective not take Tacticals, Assault, or Breachers?

 

Examples:

 

Sons of Horus The Long March RoW:

"Legion Terminators can be taken as non-compulsory Troops"

...seems pretty straightforward, aka you can take even more Termies by putting them in Troops slot as well as Elites

 

Emperor's Children 3rd Company Elite:

Kakophoni squads may be taken as Troops

...but note that it does NOT say "compulsory" at all

 

Horus the Warmaster

"The Point of the Spear: Veteran Tactical Squads and Justaerin Terminator squads may be taken as Troops choices in an army with Horus as its Warlord."

...like the EC example above, it does NOT say "compulsory" at all

 

Dark Angels Ravenwing Protocol RoW:

"Iron Knights: Legion Jetbike Sky Hunter Squadrons and Legion Outrider Squads are the only Troops choices available"

...and this is pretty clear as well, so much so that ONLY those non-Tactica/Assault/Breacher squads can taken

 

Imperial Fists The Stone Gauntlet RoW:

"Phalanx Warder Squads may be taken as Troops choices.....[but then later:] Compulsory Troops choices for a detachment using this Rite of War must be made up of Legion Breacher squads."

...and this one spells it out the best of any of them, letting you know you can take Phalanx-ers as Troops, but you have to take Breachers in some way shape or form

 

So my question is when can you skip out on Tacticals/Assault/Breachers yet not be locked into a very specific choice? Aka if you take Horus, can you take Vets/Justaerin as Troops and not anything else?

 

Is the term "compulsory" something that only matters when it shows up or only when it does not show up?

 

Thanks.

 

 

[Slips]

Compulsory only matters when it shows up, yes; because otherwise, theres nothing in the Entries for Tactical, Assault or Breacher Squads that make them compulsory only that the other options present normally (ie outside of RoW changes) are support squads and cannot be used to fill compulsory Troop Slots.

 

Now, Compulsory Troop Slots in-and-of-themselves are the (usually) 2 colored in squares you see when visualizing the Base AoD Force Org Chart.

 

Unless something says they become Compulsory Selections for those Slots (like the stone gauntlet passage you reference), then you can take anything that doesnt otherwise have the stipulation akin to Support Squads. This Includes Tac, Assault and Breacher squads but also includes any units unlocked by Special Characters such as Phalanx Warders and Terminators with Dorn and Templar Brethren with Sigismund (for example).

 

When you encounter Compulsory Troops, however, you enter into the situation where you must use the squad(s) with those stipulations to fill in any of the Compulsory Troop Slots for the list to be legal; Such as any combination of Two Terminator or Veteran squads to fill those slots in a Pride of the Legion Army or Recon Squads for the Recon Company RoW despite the fact that they normally have the Support Squad rule (see the massive discussion on this subject that happened a while back when the RoW first hit the streets, so to speak.)

 

Another example would be Hammer Of Olympia which has 3 Compulsory Troops slots which you can fill with Terminator Squads if you bring Erasmus Golg along (since he moves them to troops) instead of Tac/assault/breacher squads.

 

HOPEFULLY this kinda clears things up.

[Ficinus]

My understanding is that all troops choices can be taken as compulsory troops unless stated otherwise. So, Tactical Support Squads and Recon Squads cannot because o the support squad rule. In certain rites of war, certain squads must be the compulsory troops or are specifically stated to not be compulsory troops.

 

But if it doesn't say otherwise, a unit that is a troops selection can be taken as one of the compulsory troops.

[Indefragable]

Right on, @Slips. Thanks.

 

The other question I forgot to put above is whether units that can be taken as Troops (such as say Templar Brethren or such) with a special rule can/cannot score.

 

Vets/Termies can because of Implacable Advance, but if Templar Brethren cannot score without that rule...does that mean if you took Templar (and only Templar) as Troops, you could have yourself an army where it is impossible to score?

[carlisimo]

In the "Preparing for Battle" section of the rulebook it says pretty clearly that any unit taken as a Troops choice scores, unless it's a dedicated transport, says it doesn't score, or a few other things (swooping, zooming, aboard a zooming flyer, falling back, is a building...).  That means Implacable Advance is redundant if some rule or rite lets you take that unit in a Troops slot. 

 

But it is possible to build an army that can't score, like if you run a Word Bearers army with the Last of the Serrated Sun Rite of War and only take Gal Vorbak as Troops.  Objective markers aren't the only source of Victory Points, and tabling the opponent wins you the game too.

[Indefragable]

@carlisimo thanks. I'll got back and re-read that section. That's what I thought, but since I'm still somewhat new to 30k I wanted a sanity check.

 

Thank you all