The Veteran Squad:
The first choice I'm going to look at is the Veteran squad. In terms of the unit itself, and particularly their firepower, not a lot has changed for these guys, as they still have the capacity to carry up to 3 Special and 1 Heavy weapon, making them possibly the best unit in the codex for Force Concentration, or putting your firepower where you need it. 3 plasma or meltaguns mean they remain adept at putting down units with 2+ saves, Monstrous Creatures and vehicles of all kinds at short-to-mid, and as BS4, they are still as reliable as ever.
The new Orders and support options actually help Veterans a lot. The new versions of Bring It Down (conferring Tank/Monster Hunter and therefore re-rolls on Armour Penetration or Wounds) and Fire On My Target (Ignores Cover) mean that the special weapons will be even more effective, as they have more chance to hurt or denying the enemy a chance to save against them. With the abundance of Cover, Fire On My Target is not to be underestimated, as being able to remove the 4+ save conferred by an Aegis Defence Line with a Lascannon or Plasmagun shot essentially doubles your chances of doing damage. Forward For The Emperor allows you to manoeuvre better without losing firepower, and Take Aim allows you to put those AP2 wounds where you want them. Smite At Will (Split Fire) means you can hit 2 targets (useful when 3 meltaguns would be overkill, or your Lascannon has a shot at some weak armour) and Supression Fire (Pinning) is also useful. Move, Move, Move is the only order that doesn't directly benefit Veterans more than anyone else, but it's still handy if you need to redeploy.
The Auxiliary HQs also help Veterans quite a bit. While the Priest's Fearless and War Hymns aren't directly useful, he can add an extra Plasmagun, which, while situational, is a nice boost to firepower. The Primaris Psyker casting Prescience can help you lay down more Special Weapon hits, and while the benefit:cost ratio is arguably worse than that for a Combined Platoon Infantry Squad, there's far more chance of all 3 Special Weapons being in effective range with a Veteran Squad. The Techpriest Enginseer is useful for mechanised Veterans, as they can repair the Chimera using Blessing of the Omnissiah, add a powerfist attack in close combat, and as it's likely they will be near a Leman Russ in a mech list, confer Power of the Machine Spirit. There's also something to be said for having a 3+ save to take challenges on.
Doctrines also got significantly cheaper for Veterans, with Grenadiers (Carapace Armour) only 15 points, and Forward Sentries (Camo Cloaks and Snare Mines) at just 10. This means that, either through better cover save or armour, you can easily increase the durabilty of your veterans, with Carapace armour giving that all-important save against the AP5 small arms carries en-masse by most armies. The Doctrines also stack, so it's perfectly possible, for less than 1 Doctrine cost in the last codex, to have a unit of Veterans with a 4+ armour save, Defensive Grenades, and +1 to their cover save, making them pretty durable next to their Flak-armoured comrades.
It's not all good, though. With the increase in cost and reduction of Fire Points on the Chimera, the idea of using it as a gunboat for Veterans is somewhat weakened. Instead, it's now possibly better to perform a 'cavalry charge' of sorts with mechanised Veterans, moving as fast as possible with 2-3 Veteran Squads and a Company Command Squad, disembarking once in short range and unleashing a short-range salvo of Order-boosted firepower. This does require some points to be poured into it, but as a sledgehammer it might be quite effective, especially when backed up by a Deep-striking Scion Platoon or a Hellhound or two.
Infantry Platoon:
The Infantry Platoon remained almost identical in terms of composition, barring a few slight points adjustments (the Special Weapon squad drops to 30 points) and minor additions (Special and Heavy Weapon Squads got Frag Grenades). The main boost to the Platoon is in the extra support options they get.
Orders are the main change; the Platoon Command Squad now has a 12" order range and there are several new options available. Suppression Fire confers Pinning, allowing a squad to potentially take out a low-Leadership threat for a turn, Take Aim gives Precision Shots, which could be useful for hitting special weapons; you're throwing enough shots, some are bound to make it through. Critically, Forward For The Emperor allows you to run after making a shooting attack, which may well be the answer to the Combined Squad's lack of mobility.
The Primaris Psyker is very helpful for larger Combined Squads (only after 30 men does it become more effective to add a Psyker rather than another squad) as he can essentially Twin-link all their weapons, which, combined with First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire or Take Aim, vastly improves the damage output of large squads, and if you upgrade to Mastery Level 2, there's plenty of other good powers, such as Forewarning (A 4+ invulnerable save) from Divination or Endurance (Feel No Pain and Relentless) from Biomancy, both of which get a better return on investment when cast on a larger squad with multiple Special/Heavy weapons, something the Infantry Platoon does well. A Priest granting fearless and War Hymns is fairly obviously useful to large squads as well, offering the same bonus as a Commissar without the risk of an important model being executed.
The reduction of the cost of Sniper Rifles and Special Weapons also opens up an interesting option, as at only 36 points, you get an insanely cheap, easily duplicated scoring unit that is small enough to be ignored and, in multiples, potentially quite dangerous with a good number of Pinning/Rending/Precision shots. These squads also cause some target priority issues for the opponent, as they must choose between shooting these small, rather fragile units at the expense of hitting the more threatening blobs, or to hit the blobs and leave you with half a dozen scoring units that are easy to hide and get harder to remove the more turns elapse. Essentially, these squads are cheap enough that they can counter the relative unwieldiness of blobs and add a Multiple-Small-Units feel to a horde list.
Possibly the real gem of the Platoon, though, is the Conscript Squad. At only 3 points a model, they have some fairly poor stats (WS/BS2, Ld5) but are so damn cheap that you can easily find the points to throw in one or two supporting models to make them a force to be reckoned with. A Commissar will mean that they get a leadership boost, Stubborn, and if they do fail the test, there's no real loss. 2/3 times, you'll choose an identical Conscript to execute and auto-pass the test, and 1/3 of the time, your opponent has the same choice, or lack thereof. A Priest giving them re-rolls on Hits and potentially Wounds or Saves in Combat make them pretty nasty to be charged by, an excellent tarpit (Fearless means they won't ever run) and a great first wave to shield the guys behind. 85 points buys you a Fearless 21-man objective-sitter. A Primaris Psyker also gives a Ld boost, access to Prescience on their bucketful of Lasgun shots, and potentially some other buffs. They also make a dirt-cheap bodyguard for an allied Character you need to get into combat, as 60 points buys your Chapter Master Smasher of the Killy Death Marines 20 extra wounds.
And to finish things off, a Troops-heavy list that puts all of this into practice:
Foot Guard, 1500:
HQ:
CCS, Carapace, Autocannon: 83
Priest x3: 75
Primaris: 50
Primaris: 50
Troops
Platoon 1:
PCS, 4 Flamers: 50
PIS, melta: 60
PIS, melta: 60
PIS, melta: 60
40 Conscripts: 120
SWS, 3x Sniper: 36
SWS, 3x Sniper: 36
Platoon 2:
PCS, 4 Flamers: 50
Commissar
PIS, Lascannon: 70
PIS, Lascannon: 70
PIS, Lascannon: 70
40 Conscripts: 120
SWS, 3x Sniper: 36
SWS, 3x Sniper: 36
Veterans, Carapace, 3x Plasma: 120
Veterans, Carapace, 3x Plasma: 120
ADL, Quad Gun: 100
1497
The general plan:
The Commissar attached to the Lascannon blob. which sit
behind the ADL with the Veterans. The Conscripts move up side-by-side, in front
on the Melta blob, with priests attached to each. The SWS move up on the flanks
for vantage points or hide as needed. Psykers go in the Lascannon and Melta
blobs.
It's not as many bodies as some lists throw down, but every
unit is capable of doing damage, while none are a pivotal enough to scream
''shoot me!'. Small and big units give a balance between target overload and
return on buffs.
That's all for today. Hopefully this has given you some insight into the Emperor's Finest...Bullet-catchers.
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