Apocalypse ~ Formation: The Battle of Traitors Gorge

Another formation review this week and again from the peculiar list GW has up online. Most interestingly this is the only multi-codex formation I know of (excluding homebrew stuff).

Kantor threw himself into the task of cleansing the remnants of the greenskin horde from the mountains of Rynn’s World. Yet in the depths of Traitor’s Gorge, a Warboss was crackin’ ‘eads together, forging the Ork survivors into a new warband. It was fortunate for Rynn’s World – whilst perhaps less so for Kantor – that one of the Chapter Master’s expeditions led him, by chance, into the teeth of this nascent army. Within moments the narrow ravine was thick with the blood of Orks, but Kantor was badly outnumbered. Kantor’s survival that day was only in part due to the valour and prowess of his Battle-Brothers. As the battle turned ill, a small group of Eldar from the Alaitoc Craftworld appeared from the shadows of the mountainside. Their uncannily precise shots lanced into the Ork flank and threw the greenskins into disarray, giving Kantor a chance to rally his Battle-Brothers and seize victory.

As with all formations, much of the fluff is an example description and never has it been more so than this formation which describes the past events of a single battle, while the formation can be used to represent a great many occurrences of Eldar intervening in others affairs .
Crimson Fist players may have noted the importance of the above exert. Rynn's World is of course the chapters homeworld and it was during the massive Ork invasion this battle occurred after that a freak accident resulted in the loss of their fortress-monastery.

Formation Makeup
The formation consists of two parts, one Space Marine and the other Eldar.
The first half is made up of Chapter Master Pedro Kantor, a Tactical squad, a Sternguard veteran squad and a Terminator squad. The second half is comprised of a Farseer and two-five units of Rangers with the option of a unit of Warp Spiders as well.
With the formation cost of 75pts, this gives the formation a minimum cost of 930, although since you'll be likely to include more than minimum size units, some wargear and transports it would certainly be more than that usually.

Formation Rules
This formation hasn't got the Strike Force rule to affect deployment, instead it uses two unique rules, one for the Crimson Fists and the other for the Eldar. After placing all the standard objectives, an additional objective is placed and all the Space Marine units in the formation must be deployed within 3" of it.
The Eldar are not placed on the board, nor are they treated as in strategic reserve. Instead they simply appear at the start of the players second turn, anywhere within 24" of Kantor, within 6" of another of the formations Eldar units.
Bringers of Doom has to be one of the more interesting and potentially powerful abilities about, it takes effect on two different circumstances. Firstly if an enemy unit is within 6" of one of the formations Space Marines and secondly whenever an enemy unit makes a shooting attack at one of said Space Marines. As soon as either ability applies, that enemy unit is treated as if under the effect of the Eldar psychic power Doom (allowing re-rolls to wound against them) until the start of that units next shooting phase!
However Bringers of Doom ceases to apply if the Eldar Farseer is slain and worse, if Pedro Kantor is slain the Eldar portion of the formation decide their presence is no longer needed and all simply disappear.

Thoughts, Opinions and final Review
While you could say its expensive, the formation cost is actually quite cheap and there aren't any required units you wouldn't usually be okay taking anyway (assuming you collect Crimson Fists and Eldar). This means the cost is actually pretty good.
The most interesting feature is that by the RAW the formation gives you an additional objective which you get to place, the enemy can of course attempt to take the objective but the Bringers of Doom ability will not make it easy for them to do so at all, especially when you consider that Bringers of Doom means if your Crimson Fists are in melee, they get re-rolls to wound (as if Kantor didn't make combat dangerous enough)!
In regards to the rest of the board, the Eldar Rangers appearance ability can allow them to appear in positions and support other sections of your army, protecting other objectives perhaps. Since they can form a charm rather than appearing in a clustered group you could perhaps support several.
Of course, you need to be extra careful to protect your characters. placing the Farseer at a distance from the enemy as part of a Ranger unit (for stealth) is obviously going to help, as it putting Kantor in a largish unit to give him some protection.
One last trick that comes to mind is purchasing the Tactical and/or Veteran unit a basic Rhino, which you can then use to move at full speed at enemy units, forcing them to suffer the effects of Bringers of Doom!

End Result
A nice formation if you've the models and perhaps a reason for a Crimson Fist player to invest in a handful of Eldar models, the potential is certainly worth it and the Eldar portion of the formation isn't that costly in points.