Apocalypse ~ Formation: Land Raider 'Iron Exemplar' Command Spearhead

I've been distracted recently by a doubles tournament which I attended teamed with a friend at Warhammer World. In addition this year I've decided to take part in Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month, which of course November is), both of which took or are taking up time (I needed to paint most of an army four the tournament).
Despite this I still plan to at least maintain some posts for Igota4. So here we have another Apocalypse review, this time from Imperial Armour Vol.9 - The Badab War, part 1.

Counted within the pages of the Codex Astartes as a particular formation of Land Raiders for use by elite Space Marine forces engaged in open armoured warfare, the 'Iron Exemplar' formation is intended to ensure the maximum survivability of those onboard during spearhead attacks in order to reach their targets. The concentrated power of the Land Raiders is used to punch a hole in an enemy defense line, while the marines on board, led usually by a captain, force a breach through which the rest of the Space Marine forces can advance.

Formation Makeup
One Land Raider or any type with a Space Marine Captain (including such special characters) and Command Squad, as well as two-four Land Raiders of any type each acting as dedicated transport to one of the following: Tactical Squad, Terminator Squad, Terminator Assault Squad, Sternguard Veteran Squad or Vanguard Veteran Squad.
Before including the 100pt formation cost this obviously makes the formation rather expensive in models alone, since the minimum three Land Raiders are not cheap, not to mention the Captain, Command Squad and additional units.

Formation Rules
The common 'Strike Force' rule is replaced with a rule named Command Vehicle and works almost identical in that the Land Raiders must be deployed or come on from reserve within 12" of the command vehicle. However in this case it also seems to suggest that the command squad must be aboard their transport at such a time.
The first main beneficial rule of the formation is Inviolate armour, despite a rather large text box containing fluff and modelling notes the rule simply just negates the first Penetrating hit (caused by a non-destroyer weapon) each Land Raider suffers.
The last ability is Hearts of Iron, which grants Space Marine units that are part of the formation the Stubborn USR as long as they are within 6" of their dedicated Land Raider.

Thoughts, Opinions and final Review
Costly in points, but certain units in Land Raiders can be seen as a powerful force in Apocalypse (Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield Terminators are wonderful against Super-Heavies etc) so I'll only really consider the cost of the formation itself, in which case it seems rather good. For the effective cost of 20-33pts per Land Raider you can ignore a Penetrating hit which is quite lovely. Add that you also get Stubborn for the units in the right circumstance and you're great, especially since Stubborn & And They Shall Know No Fear work especially well together in combat.
Unfortunately Destroyer weapons ruin this formation since Inviolate Armour would not negate such a hit, which is most unfortunate and stops the formation being a wonderful anti-super-heavy formation. Considering that you generally need Destroyer, Lance or Melta to penetrate AV14 then the ability not applying to one of those three makes it seem rather unfortunate.

End Result
A lovely formation if you'd intend to use multiple Land Raiders and better than the other Land Raider formations (except perhaps the Lucifer Armoured Task Force) in my opinion. However Inviolate Armour's inability to affect Destroyer weaponry really lets it down, making it highly dependent.

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.

Apocalypse ~ Formation: Deathstrike Vortex Missile

This week rather than go on about a general subject regarding Apocalypse, I thought I'd go into detail and give thoughts and a sort of review for a formation. So here we have the Deathstrike vortex missile..

Of all the myriad of weapons at the Imperium's disposal, few are as revered or as devastating as a Deathstrike vortex missile - a doomsday weapon of truly apocalyptic proportions. When the missile's warhead explodes, it tears the very fabric of reality, creating a raging maelstrom of destruction that destroys anything and everything it touches. So rare and valuable are these weapons that Segmentum Command must nominally sanction their use, but unleashing such a battlefield asset can swing the course of a war.

Sounds deadly, but before I go into thoughts and opinions I'll go through the rules.

Formation Makeup
The formation consists of a Deathstrike Missile Launcher, a single Lord Commissar and a minimum of one Infantry Platoon although you can add additional Infantry Platoon's if you wish.
This together with the expensive 200pt price tag of the formation upgrade, puts the formation at 560 points without additional wargear or special/heavy weapons on the units.

Formation Rules
The formation has special rules, the first of which being a restriction rather than advantage.
As with a lot of formations the restrictive rule is 'Strike Force', in this case all the units must be deployed within 6" of the Deathstrike Missile Launcher or enter the table within 6" of the point it does.
The second special rule is that the formation gains the Camouflage strategic asset (Units gain a 5+ cover save and vehicles count as obscured for the opponents first shooting phase), unfortunately by the wording only those units which make up the asset gain the bonus, not the whole army.
The last two special rules regard the Deathstrike Missile Launcher itself, firstly gaining a +2 bonus for determining when you can launch it as one would expect a higher level of maintenance and preparation compared to a standard Deathstrike missile. The second is of course the effect of the missile itself.
The missiles stats are completely different from a standard Deathstrike missile, its range has a minimum distance of 48", extending to unlimited (however if you use the house rule limiting such ranges to 72" then I strongly suggest allowing the 960" range of the normal missile for fairness). It is still treated as a one-shot ordnance barrage weapon (which is still unable to fire directly), however it uses the 10" apocalyptic blast marker.
Once the weapon has been fired and the blast marker placed however, you simply remove all models and removable terrain features that touch it (with the exception of flyers, gargantuan creatures and super-heavies). Unlike Destroyer weapons, this ignores eternal warrior, all forms of saves and other special rules etc and does not require a roll of vehicle damage charts at all. Gargantuan creatures take D6 wounds with no saves of any kind allowed and super-heavies lose D3 structure points.
Last but by no means least, you leave a 3" marker in place which acts like the Vortex Grenade strategic asset.

Thoughts, Opinions and final Review
While I've actually built up this formation for fun I actually feel it to be very lacking. On first glance and basic calculation it is immensely powerful and I expect a lot of people who have seen the formation list or read the above are thinking it to be so, perhaps even exclaiming it to be overpowered.
Before explaining my dislike I'll clear up the parts that I do, obviously the fluff and background behind it are wonderful and the vortex missile will forever be considered an iconic weapon for many players. I also really like the formation makeup, as I've never felt it right to field super-heavies or similarly powerful vehicles without a number of infantry to protect it, both fitting real-world ideas acting as spotters against ambush in battle and the gameplay role of preventing opponents getting within melta range or close combat. The Lord Commissar watching over the vehicle to prevent trouble in the ranks fits wonderfully.
Why don't I like it then? Well in truth the weapon is extremely flawed, firstly while it does gain a bonus for determining when it can fire, it still cannot fire on the first turn and at best has a 3+ chance of happening on the second allowing the enemy plenty of time to prevent it firing at all (especially when flyers, flank-march asset users and suchlike exist on the battlefield). This also restricts your tactics, as you'll have to keep your units distant from the area near your intended target for several turns.
Secondly, the Camouflage asset. With the 48" minimum range you'll be distancing yourself from the enemy and will have armed the Infantry Platoon for range accordingly. As such, terrain permitting, you'll have deployed in cover anyway and the Deathstrike itself has Smoke Launchers, so in truth the special rule is really only sparing you a turn of using smoke.
The range is also punishing, since you cannot fire on the first turn. Even if the opponent doesn't have units able to strike at the launcher before it can fire, he has the option of simply getting his most valuable units within 48" in the turn or two before the weapon is able to shoot.
Lastly is the points cost, no matter how powerful it is you cannot deny that since the Commissar & Platoon will be trying for actual cover all the points are going towards the Deathstrike Missile Launcher itself resulting in a single tank for 360pts. For a one-shot weapon that can be taken out by a reasonably clever opponent before it can fire, it being only armour 12/12/10, that is a lot! At best you can hide it behind other friendly tanks (remember that the missile itself does not count as part of the hull and is ignored for determining if the vehicle can be shot) but that doesn't help against flyers etc.
As for the power itself, unless the enemy is cramped together or you happen to get a shot at a formation command unit (Masters of the Chapter, Ulthwe Seer Council etc) you're unlikely to actually make up the points.

End Result
I'm not saying it isn't extremely powerful, just that it is far from reliable if against a clever opponent (or even with bad luck as you can simply miss since its barrage). I would have expected the formation to be cheaper or having something extra but there we are.
Very fun to use but once word gets around, you'll likely never get a chance to fire it again.

Apocalypse ~ Strategic Assets

Apocalypse...
My first continuation of what could possibly become a regular feature on Igota4.

After going over the concept of Formations in Apocalypse and my thoughts on them last week I thought I'd discuss the basic idea and tactics behind Strategic Assets this time.

People seem to give far less attention to these than they do their formations or legendary units when discussing Apocalypse games, which is understandable from a modelling standpoint but from a competitive or army list standpoint it seems rather odd.

As before I personally feel Apocalypse should be about making use of your collection in ways you wouldn't usually, whether by fielding things you wouldn't normally, forming them into a formation or just fielding everything you have for one huge attack. Alternatively it should be able the story, which is where special missions, home-brew items and umpired games tend to appear.
This doesn't mean it shouldn't be somewhat competitive and challenging. You perhaps shouldn't build a highly tuned and designed list as you would a tournament, since your opponent is likely using whatever models they have together (by all means pick a force that fits together tho, don't just take whatever). Instead the competitiveness should come by making the best use of what you end up using.

Strategic Assets then, all too often I see these taken as a gimmick or last minute "that seems kool" idea with little to no thought on how it affects the strengths or weaknesses of the force you'll be using. At times I've even seen selections which totally go against or mess up the game plan you'd typically use for your force. So my first golden bit of advice is:

Always keep your list in mind when selecting Assets.

Careful Planning is a common one, selected by people wishing to get their stuff on the field as soon as possible. In my area it seems rare for a player to try and purposely hold troops back, which is a shame as there are so many possibilities with this (grabbing objectives with less risk of destruction for one).
Worse is the player who selects careful planning in order to bring their units on early instead of deploying, since they intend to bid a single minute in order to gain the first turn. Okay this works with some armies, but when you intend to use devastators or similar it is detrimental. Especially as unless you are a fast paced force like Dark Eldar it allows the opponent to make a grab objectives in the no mans land or your deployment zone easily.

Selecting Assets without considering your list or plan just gets worse if you are able to select more than one asset or if you've gained a few extras already from any formations. A number of Assets simply don't work well together, so my second golden bit of advice is:

Keep in mind your other Assets when making selections.

Selecting Flank March and Scheduled Bombardment may give your opponent a bit shock, but if you are not careful your own troops will be in the opponents deployment zone where your bombardments are landing.
On the other hand a number of Assets work really well together, for example if you intend to use Flank March for a large portion of your force then Careful Planning will mean that large portion is on the board when needed.

My third golden bit of advice applies when playing as part of a team, whether against a single opponent or another team. That piece of advice is:

Check how your Assets affect your allies.

Careful Planning, Hold at All Costs and a great number of other Assets only affect the player that selected it, not his team members. Others such as Recon affect all models on one side, making them more worthwhile in teamed games. Lastly, some like Vital Objective and Scheduled Bombardment should definitely be mentioned to your allies so they can take them into account during play.

Apocalypse ~ Thoughts on Formations

A number of my friends are highly keen on Apocalypse and I've regularly discussed the subject with them, as such as I'm trying to post more regularly I'm considering a regular (perhaps weekly) post about it.
As a start I thought I'd consider Formations as a whole, such as are they needed and why?

Originally I thought that Apocalypse was designed primarily as a means to use large model collections, add some more flavour and interest to your games and allow the use of things not normally allowed (such as Super-Heavies). Over time however it seems some strange things have popped up, one I'd like to discuss is why the high focus on formations when building an apocalypse force?
I'm not saying formations are bad at all, many of them are interesting, fun and add some interest into games (unlike spearhead which in my experience renders the rest of the army as a sort of backdrop, but I digress). Formations are good and are great to use in apocalypse games. *nods*
My point is why a number of players I've seen seem to forget things other than formations & legendary vehicles exist..
Before I give an example I'll note that me & my friends use 5th edition objective capturing rules for our Apocalypse games to keep some infantry focus and give the 'Hold at All Costs' strategic asset a use (important as its one of the assest granted by battle company formations etc), as such only units counting as troops (and not swarms,vehicles etc) are scoring. In 5th edition this isn't hard, especially as we don't restrict HQ's so tis possible to take several characters and make a great many units count as troops.

My example then... A friend of mine was recently building an Apocalypse list and seemed concerned he lacked scoring units in the formations he was planning as he had his heart set on a strategic asset other than Hold at All Costs, so he set about a long search for a formation which included troops units he could use to capture objectives.

Why he couldn't simply include a number of troops units more suited to assisting the rest of the army, rather than units restricted by a formation I'm unsure. I would have also thought that as he lacked scoring units, he'd be better spending all his remaining points on bodies rather than a portion of it on a formation cost.

~

The flip side of the coin is can you play without formations? I have regularly done this since I play both Sisters of Battle & Grey Knights (which I believe have less than a handful of formations between them, with a Grey Knight one only being usable if the opponent has a greater daemon).. This of course means I often have more models on the field since portions of my points are not spent on formation costs.
Yet on at least one occasion the manager of my local Games Workshop store has limited Apocalypse games to formations only, although he did mention he'd consider home-brewed formations as he agrees that Apocalypse encourages it (I'll note he is actually a lovely guy and is usually quite relaxed, I consider this as exception to his norm).

Is apocalypse no longer about being able to use large model collections or build interesting characterful forces such as a Word Bearers force, led by a Dark Apostle (using chaplain rules from the space marine codex)?
Is it now about buying specific models to complete formations?