Restarting the Revolution: How to run the grot rebellion under the new codex?
Some time ago I started on a grot revolutionary army, heavily inspired by Soviet Russia. Down with the nobility, down with the boyzoirse and all that jazz. I have painted all the infantry in a simple colour scheme with barely any individualism at all, which I am happy with, and have assembled and undercoated 4 of the 6 vehicles.
The original 2000 point list was basically:
Yarrick, as the revolutionary leader. His heroism and hatred of orks made for the perfect grot rebellion leader.
A commissar lord and two commissars - other true believers to help keep discipline.
2 full size infantry platoons - as in command squad, 5 squads, each with a lascannon.
3 manicures (designed to look like katyusha rocket trucks)
3 deathstrike launchers (designed to look like topol icbm vehicles)
Now I haven't yet reassessed the points, I know my infantry costs will have dropped by a couple hundred points, but my vehicles are probably more expensive, so it may balance out. Model wise the vehicles and commissars are set, I have 10 lascannon, I have 94 basic guardsmen, I have 18 that can be used as squad sergeants/veterans/officers (no special weapons though) and one regimental standard. So I have a little wriggle room, but not a great deal. The question becomes, what doctrines best suit these revolutionaries?
I have three front runners, and I'll run through my reasons, in fluff, orders, strategums, and doctrines.
Strangely I have not included armageddon on this short list... I now it is where Yarrick is best known, but he isn't confined to it, he is a commissar after all, and the style of their warfare (mechanised) didn't suit the poorly equipped rebellion look of the army.
I have also disregarded Catachan ... they don't like commissars and, I'm using grots for guardsmen, I'm not gonna try and say they're strength 4... :P
Contender 1: Mordians.
Fluff wise, there's not a lot going for these guys and the theme.
Orders, the mordian order allowing rapid fire weapons to target characters that are not the closest could certainly fit with the theme of targeting the nobility rather than the proletariat.
Strategums, the volley fire order would certainly be useful for an army toting so many lasguns... sheer volume of fire and "quantity has a quality all of it's own"
Doctrines, models in base to base have +1 leadership and improved overwatch. This fits nicely with the well drilled, backing each other up, sheer volume of fire ethos I've been going for here.
Contender 2: Valhallans
Fluff wise, they hate orks. Boom, score one straight away. Life is also cheap on valhalla, and life is cheap for grots, so we're looking very good here.
Orders, following up on the life is cheap background, you can shoot at units that are engaged with your units, do you do risk harming said units. Oh well. This fits in nicely with the brutal life expectation in the source material of both grots and the soviets.
Strategums, another wave of a troop unit that has died. Now admittedly, this would be better with a good quality unit or possibly a large mob of conscripts, but I could certainly write the latter into the list if the need arises. This again fits very well with the style of the army.
Doctrines, less casualties to moral checks - when I first looked at this, I felt it was pointless given the prevalence of commissars in this army. Then they changed how they work, and suddenly this grim resolve looks a lot more tactically useful to me.
Contender 3: vostroyans
Fluff wise, well the models clearly look like they are inspired by the same source as my own army, and the background of them being from a forge world fits with the background of the planet my grot revolution took place on.
Orders, firing into someone who has assaulted my unit at point blank range sounds fun, although I struggle to find a link for it to my theme apart from sheer desperation.
Strategums, similarly, adding +1 to hit to a unit is nice, but the pride in themselves for overthrowing the boyzoirse is a tenuous link at best with this theme.
Doctrines, heirloom weapons... I simply like this because of the fact the bulk of my force is made up of very classic gretchin from a very old 40k set, and it tickles me to count these antique models as being equipped with heirloom weapons...
By the looks of it we have a clear winner here, the only doubt I had about the Valhallans at first codex reading having now been overturned by the commissar neutering faq. It's not set in stone yet so if anyone thinks I'm wrong and wants to convince me please do. It'll be a while before I get the rest of those vehicles down anyway, 2 of the remaining unassembled ones are essentially scratch builds, copying the prototype made from bits, plasticised, a deodorant can and a toilet roll tube... they've been low on my to-do list for a loooooong time...
I'll knock up a list at some point.
The original 2000 point list was basically:
Yarrick, as the revolutionary leader. His heroism and hatred of orks made for the perfect grot rebellion leader.
A commissar lord and two commissars - other true believers to help keep discipline.
2 full size infantry platoons - as in command squad, 5 squads, each with a lascannon.
3 manicures (designed to look like katyusha rocket trucks)
3 deathstrike launchers (designed to look like topol icbm vehicles)
Now I haven't yet reassessed the points, I know my infantry costs will have dropped by a couple hundred points, but my vehicles are probably more expensive, so it may balance out. Model wise the vehicles and commissars are set, I have 10 lascannon, I have 94 basic guardsmen, I have 18 that can be used as squad sergeants/veterans/officers (no special weapons though) and one regimental standard. So I have a little wriggle room, but not a great deal. The question becomes, what doctrines best suit these revolutionaries?
I have three front runners, and I'll run through my reasons, in fluff, orders, strategums, and doctrines.
Strangely I have not included armageddon on this short list... I now it is where Yarrick is best known, but he isn't confined to it, he is a commissar after all, and the style of their warfare (mechanised) didn't suit the poorly equipped rebellion look of the army.
I have also disregarded Catachan ... they don't like commissars and, I'm using grots for guardsmen, I'm not gonna try and say they're strength 4... :P
Contender 1: Mordians.
Fluff wise, there's not a lot going for these guys and the theme.
Orders, the mordian order allowing rapid fire weapons to target characters that are not the closest could certainly fit with the theme of targeting the nobility rather than the proletariat.
Strategums, the volley fire order would certainly be useful for an army toting so many lasguns... sheer volume of fire and "quantity has a quality all of it's own"
Doctrines, models in base to base have +1 leadership and improved overwatch. This fits nicely with the well drilled, backing each other up, sheer volume of fire ethos I've been going for here.
Contender 2: Valhallans
Fluff wise, they hate orks. Boom, score one straight away. Life is also cheap on valhalla, and life is cheap for grots, so we're looking very good here.
Orders, following up on the life is cheap background, you can shoot at units that are engaged with your units, do you do risk harming said units. Oh well. This fits in nicely with the brutal life expectation in the source material of both grots and the soviets.
Strategums, another wave of a troop unit that has died. Now admittedly, this would be better with a good quality unit or possibly a large mob of conscripts, but I could certainly write the latter into the list if the need arises. This again fits very well with the style of the army.
Doctrines, less casualties to moral checks - when I first looked at this, I felt it was pointless given the prevalence of commissars in this army. Then they changed how they work, and suddenly this grim resolve looks a lot more tactically useful to me.
Contender 3: vostroyans
Fluff wise, well the models clearly look like they are inspired by the same source as my own army, and the background of them being from a forge world fits with the background of the planet my grot revolution took place on.
Orders, firing into someone who has assaulted my unit at point blank range sounds fun, although I struggle to find a link for it to my theme apart from sheer desperation.
Strategums, similarly, adding +1 to hit to a unit is nice, but the pride in themselves for overthrowing the boyzoirse is a tenuous link at best with this theme.
Doctrines, heirloom weapons... I simply like this because of the fact the bulk of my force is made up of very classic gretchin from a very old 40k set, and it tickles me to count these antique models as being equipped with heirloom weapons...
By the looks of it we have a clear winner here, the only doubt I had about the Valhallans at first codex reading having now been overturned by the commissar neutering faq. It's not set in stone yet so if anyone thinks I'm wrong and wants to convince me please do. It'll be a while before I get the rest of those vehicles down anyway, 2 of the remaining unassembled ones are essentially scratch builds, copying the prototype made from bits, plasticised, a deodorant can and a toilet roll tube... they've been low on my to-do list for a loooooong time...
I'll knock up a list at some point.
Valhallans are essential Russians in Space which fits your Revolutionary theme? But why fix on one stratagem? Surely you can run either as long as you have briefed your opponent or TO?
ReplyDelete=h right yes that isn't clear... obviously I can spend my command points on whatever strategums I want, I was more highlighting that each regiment had one stregum that was exclusive to them, and thus an influence on deciding which regiment was the best fit.
DeleteKnocked up a 2k Valhallen list...
ReplyDeleteYarrick
Commisar Lord bolt pistol and power sword
Commissar bolt pistol
Commissar bolt pistol
Company Commander bolt pistol
Company Commander
Company Commander
Company Commander
Company Commander
10 Infantry Squads each with lascannon
1 squad 20 conscripts
3 manticores with heavy flamers
3 deathstrikes with heavy flamers
The company commander with bolt pistol will take a relic, Pietrovs Mk45.
This can be split into two brigades or three, so unless there are outside restrictions I'd run three brigades to maximise command points. I'd thus have 12. I'd certainly spend one of them to give a company commander Kirovs aquilla. Whether I'd spend another 2 in order to give one of the commissars/commissar lord the emperors benediction would definitely be situational.
Yarrick would be the warlord meaning that there are 11 squads and I can issue 11 orders per turn. Everyone gets to play at soldier!
The reason I've overloaded on orders is because I had some points to make up, and I didn't see the point in taking veterans when they only had lasguns anyway.I am not planning to convert some of them to have special weapons when they are already painted.
So that's the plan so far.