Hi everyone and welcome back to the Ashes of Isstvan blog. In case you missed it I started this blog earlier in the week and the first post contains an introduction and a summary of a weekend of gaming. In this post I will instead talk about some models, as I have just received a box of reinforcements for my heresy era Salamanders from Forgeworld. I want to talk about not just what I bought, but why I bought it. I learned a lot about the current 30k meta this weekend and what you need to bring to do well. Now don't get me wrong, the balance in 30k when compared with 40k is great, most likely due to the fact that everyone is playing the same army from the same book, with slight variations in legion as opposed to various races with different books, units, play styles and flavour. There really isn't many bad choices in the 30k Crusade Legion list from Forgeworld books 1 to 3, but some certainly stand out from the crowd to me.
Opening a box full of forgeworld toys never gets old.
So what did I get? Well first I'll start with the blister packs. Aside from a couple of the necessary legion upgrade packs, which are really good sculpts by the way, all I got were Contemptor arms. In fact, all I got were lascannons. Why? Because of everything on the table over the weekend, it was the lascannons that stood out to me. Contemptor Mortis can take a twin linked pair for just 30 points, and with Skyfire and Interceptor they usually spell the end of any drop pod or flyer as it arrives. They even come in cheaper than the Talon Contemptors' I was running previously, which I tend to give two Kheres Assault Cannons. The main disadvantage is each one uses up an Elites choice all by itself, but if that becomes an issue consider the Onslaught detachment to gain a 4th Elites slot.
The more I look at the rules now, the more I want to run my Talon of 3 Contemptors with double fists, taking melta or graviton guns in the palm weapons. With Fleet and WS5 they are clearly intended for getting into combat. I think the extra attack and strength of the two close combat weapons will make sure they do it right when they get there. Getting in close might mean giving them meltaguns is a good choice, I do have a few multimelta arms already which is a good choice if you wanted to extend the range of your melta threat but this does mean losing one attack. Personally after seeing how useful Haywire can be in 30k I would stick to the graviton weapons. Running in 3 Contemptors with fists and haywire could be an enemy vehicles end before you've even had to hit it. With the sheer amount of Av13 and 14 vehicles in the Crusade era Haywire comes in really useful. So too, do lascannons. Strength 9 at least allows you to penetrate Land Raiders, Spartans and whatever super heavies have armour 14, usually at least on the front. With Flare Shields being common on Spartans, strength 8 can't even touch them if firing from the front, and lascannons once again end up proving their worth when firing en mass at vehicles like these.
Lascannons... lascannons everywhere.
Armour 14 vehicles like this Proteus are a tough nut to crack.
In fact flare shielded Spartans are possibly the toughest vehicle in the game
It comes as no surprise then that as well as bringing a counter to the Av14 threats, I also want to be using these tough vehicles myself. I already own a Spartan, which did a great job of ferrying Vulkan and his Fire Drakes around at the weekend. I would be tempted to buy another, and there was even talk at the weekend of 2500 point army lists that just feature 3 units of Terminators in Spartans. But I looked at what I already had, and Heavy Support was already pretty heavily dominated in my selection. One unit I have found underperforming so far is the Pyroclast squads, usually due to their very short range and me being unable to get them where they need to go. Well, they can take a Land Raider as a dedicated transport so I finally bought the Proteus I have been meaning to get them. Hopefully in games it will just be another Av 14 threat for my opponent to deal with, and like the Spartan it will get whatever it is carrying exactly where it needs to be without so much as a scratch.
Pyroclasts will be riding in style from now on.
Now I said my Heavy Support section was already pretty full, but that's because I had already added the next two tanks to my order. Currently I am running a Sicaran and a Scorpius. The former is great at shredding light vehicles, excellent at pulling Eldar out of the sky in those legion versus xenos games due to the Rapid Tracking rule, and is also good at shooting Terminators with two lascannon sponsons and Rending on its main strength 7 weapon. I was going to go ahead and order another one, but I decided to go for the Sicaran Venator this time instead. It loses the Accelerator Autocannon with Rapid Tracking, but the gun it gains instead gains a Shock Pulse ability a bit like the Cerberus super heavy tank. I found at the weekend because people know exactly what it can do, which is stun a vehicle after hitting it into only firing snap shots, and thus not being able to fire blast weapons, it becomes a priority target for the opponent to destroy. This can of course be turned to your own advantage, although it makes a very expensive decoy so you still want it to be getting shots off every turn.
Sicaran Venator - you wish you had these 40k.
I went ahead and ordered another Scorpius though. I bought my first one on a whim at Forgeworld open day last year, actually intending to use it to represent a standard Whirlwind as part of an Artillery squadron. I figured three tanks for one Heavy Support choice had to be a good thing, and I already have a Legion Medusa. I guess I can still run that squadron with two Whirlwinds now, but since I built the Scorpius I have never used it as anything else. The ability to remain stationary and fire d3 extra shots is brutal, not just against marine squads that its Strength 8 AP 3 will utterly destroy, but also against hitting vehicles. Even those Av14 vehicles might not survive too long with Strength 8 templates landing on them turn after turn as they cross the field. Firing two at the weekend I took 2 hull points off a Land Raider, and in came the lascannon Contemptors to finish it off. Of course, getting them to fire on target due to the Barrage rule is not always easy. For a vehicle on a rhino chassis they are surprisingly survivable with Av 13 on the front, but you probably still want it tucked away in cover. Over the weekend I learned to use the tactical squads with Nuncio Vox to grant it line of sight from different positions, ensuring it always fires on target.
Whirlwind Scorpius - another great vehicle of the hersy era.
The final thing I got was another 5 Fire Drakes. Every legion has it's elite unit of Terminators, and there is an optional detachment for the Pride of the Legion which makes them troops. I mentioned earlier I will probably be using Onslaught now for the four Elites and four Heavy Support choices, but if I'm not I am definitely going to consider Pride of the Legion. Not having to take marines in power armour may sometimes be a bonus, because despite what I just said above about their use with a Nuncio Vox, they still die horribly to just about everything in the game. Over the weekend the tactical squads that seemed to do well were those that just hunkered down in cover all game. There are way too many high strength, low ap and blast weapons out there in 30k for infantry to survive. Of course, they still have their uses too and I'll be ordering more tactical marines next, this time to make tactical support squads. A whole unit of flamers, plasma guns or melta guns is just too good an opportunity to pass up on...
Pride of the Legion, the Fire Drakes.
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