Army Building in 9th Edition

[Valerian]

Folks, I'm still polishing the updated, 9th edition version, of my Army Building Guide.  Ideally, I wanted to have a better idea of points costs before I go final and publish it.  But, I wanted to get a few initial thoughts out there early.  Consider this a prelude to a much more detailed and expansive article to follow soon.

 

Foremost, 9th edition games, assuming that you're planning on using the default Missions in the book (which most major organized events have already committed themselves to), are all about Board Control.  This is definitely true of the Primary Missions, and will be true of the Secondary Missions, as well, depending on how you select your 3 secondaries from the available options.  You can win games by Controlling the Board, without killing a single enemy model!  Obviously, killing enemy units is going to aid you in maintaining control of the board, but this point is important, and cannot be overemphasized.

 

The analogy that I'm going to start using to describe 9th edition games is that they will be like playing "King of the Hill" on the board simultaneously in 4 to 6 different places (depending on which of the six 'Eternal War - Strike Force' mission scenarios that you'll be playing.  So, at a minimum you are playing King of the Hill at 4 predetermined spots on the table, and at a maximum 6 spots - obviously, this means you need to be prepared for the worse case, and build your army for 6 spots (see example scenario map immediately below).

 

 

Here is the map for the 'Retrieval Mission' which is a good example of a scenario with 6 objectives.  To win, you more or less just need to be the King of more of those Hills, for longer than your opponent.  

To do that, you need to figure out: 1 what units you can use to sit on the closest 3 objectives to your deployment zone, and stay there all game without getting knocked off, 2) what units you can use protect those first units to ensure they won't get knocked off of those 3 objectives,  3) what units you can use to maneuver forward to take one or two of the objectives on the opposing side from your opponent, and finally 4)  what units you can use to support those units moving forward to take the objectives, to make their job easier, and to give them some support and protection.

 

In the upcoming Army Building Guide, I'll describe each of these roles in detail, but I wanted folks to start thinking about the new 9th edition Mission environment, and consider how their armies might need to change and adapt to that.  Be thinking about what you'll need to ensure that your army can be the King of more Hills than your opponent, for more turns.

 

That's it for the prelude

[Karhedron]

These new scenarios almost seem to have been written with Primaris Troop units in mind. We have highly durable units with Objsec. Intercessors can take flying Transports and Infiltrators and Incursors can deploy onto Objectives outside our deployment zones.

 

I know that we may be able to get away with just 3 Troop units now but in practice I think we will need at least 4 for games above 1500 points. That means we will be able to contest more than half the Objectives in any mission with a durable Objsec unit.

[CrystalSeer]

These new scenarios almost seem to have been written with Primaris Troop units in mind. We have highly durable units with Objsec. Intercessors can take flying Transports and Infiltrators and Incursors can deploy onto Objectives outside our deployment zones.

 

I know that we may be able to get away with just 3 Troop units now but in practice I think we will need at least 4 for games above 1500 points. That means we will be able to contest more than half the Objectives in any mission with a durable Objsec unit.

This may be the first time in years combat squads could be useful, as we can fit more MSU squads in to a smaller detachment.

 

I plan on going infiltrator heavy. 2+ armor, starting on the objective, and a phobos librarian making them immune to targeting seems too good to pass up. Add to that the omni scramblers and they could be good for keeping the enemy from assaulting those positions as well.

 

Another thing to note, is that the objectives are all towards the center of the board. That,plus reinforcement coming off of multiple table edges and obscuring terrain means the day of re-roll bubble gunlines shooting across the table is gone.

[Gherrick]

I think LOS-ignoring units like whirlwinds will be in a lot of lists as well, as I believe those weapons are blast weapons. That will come in handy in removing pesky hordes from objectives :)

[Arentius]

I'm going to go for the currently controversial super melee army.

 

Heck a unit of 10 assault intercessors (provided we can make them vets) will be churning out 51 attacks on the charge (71 with Wulfenstone and Saga in effect) and the new terrain rules makes me feel like I'll get a lot of my units up the board.

 

Using bikers and TWC to be able to hold midfield and sprint for home defence should I get flanked I feel like it'll be possible to go for the beserker vibe more than ever...and if not? oh well I'll have fun terrorising my opponents as my entire army sprints towards them

[Guest Triszin]

I'm leaning the same way arentius.

 

I'm planning on using t wolves no matter if they are worse than outriders.

 

I might use a 3-4 man bladegaurd converted as deathsworn

[Arentius]

I think Ragnar, 3 blade guard, a blade guard lieutenant and a Judiciar in a repulsor with Arjac deepstriking will be a delicious murderball.

 

Have them supported by TWC and wulfen and hopefully you've got your target saturation

[Gherrick]

I was thinking of using Arjac + 10 TDAWG (5 SS/SB, 2 PF/SB, 2 PF/CML+SB, leader with SB/TH). Its a helluva investment, but a solid target for transhuman physiology, and pretty damn durable vs everything. Bring them down on turn 2, and watch the carnage.Throw in a nearby rune/wolf priest for extra fun. Ideally, bring them down near the center of the map, and watch the enemy throw the kitchen sink at them, letting the rest of your army focus on earning VPs :)

[Karack Blackstone]

I was thinking of using Arjac + 10 TDAWG (5 SS/SB, 2 PF/SB, 2 PF/CML+SB, leader with SB/TH). Its a helluva investment, but a solid target for transhuman physiology, and pretty damn durable vs everything. Bring them down on turn 2, and watch the carnage.Throw in a nearby rune/wolf priest for extra fun. Ideally, bring them down near the center of the map, and watch the enemy throw the kitchen sink at them, letting the rest of your army focus on earning VPs

While not cheap...

 

Logan

Arjac

10 TDAWG to taste

Spartan?

 

Can be on the field, just expensive death star. Still, going to shred pretty heavily.

 

Can go with 9 TDA WG and a WP for even more fun.

[Jorin Helm-splitter]

I'm really curious to see how the chapter approved missions compare to the ones we've seen from the main rulebook. So far the main rulebook ones favor progressive object holding (I like Valerian's king of the hill analogy) . If that mission style is further reinforced in chapter approved I'm going to stick with 3 units of Intercessors with auto bolt rifles, each with a pack leader with a TH, and an impulsor. I might add a vanguard troop (haven't decided which type yet) depending on points but I think there is going to be more list building tension then there was in 8th. I'm not sure if I should be loading up on troops or trying to have a mix specialists with minimal troops to prepare for a more varied meta.

 

I will say that the smaller table size, and having missions with set objective placement helps us quite a bit. The toughest parts of playing space wolves in 8th was the lack of reliable ways to make 7-9 inch charges, and the inability to turn off overwatch. Knowing where the objectives will be lets us plan ahead a bit more to mitigate the first disadvantage. The second has been toned down. On a related note I found that cutting down my playmat to the new size was a lot easier than I thought it would be. 

[One Two Wolf]

Have I missed something on Arjac and his shield? If so apologies but he's popping up a lot - it's not a SS it's a named relic, so no 4++ until an FAQ I assume. And he is central to my plans also. Well, he and a TDA WP with Magesty for a 9" litany aura... I hope to hear "... makes the charge..." quite often before searching for more dice.

[Gherrick]

Have I missed something on Arjac and his shield? If so apologies but he's popping up a lot - it's not a SS it's a named relic, so no 4++ until an FAQ I assume. And he is central to my plans also. Well, he and a TDA WP with Magesty for a 9" litany aura... I hope to hear "... makes the charge..." quite often before searching for more dice.

Arjac is a solid HQ if you have any WG units. Giving WGs an extra attack and rerolling wounds of 1 when the important models have power fists or thunder hammers means most of the attacks that hit will wound. On his own, he is quite the beast in melee. Not Ragnar nuts, but still very strong. If he ends up with his shield getting the similar +1Sv/4++ treatment, he will still be a fairly strong force due do reduced damage taken.