Goatboy’s 40K: Mont’ka, Cadians, and You!
Goatboy here again on another glorious Monday morning. It’s time to talk NEW Cadians.
Today instead of going over some kind of list nonsense, game play nonsense, or gasp – even a piece of “unknown” tactica I will instead review one of the newest Army lists – the Cadian list from the Mont’ka Campaign book. This new list makes me think that we won’t see a new Astra Militarium book in the future. Sure we could see a completely redone book but this complete Cadian Supplement doesn’t really change up how the AM work so I expect this is what will have for the army men for awhile. I would think we might see another supplement if they feel like they need the AM for a campaign book but the Marines sell a lot better then the IG/AM/Etc so look for more Marine guys.
But enough of that – let’s get into the actual meat of this – a review of what we get. I want to start at the overall top of the army list with a look at the Warlord traits, relics, and new Decurion. Man this Decurion has a lot of taxes involved in its formation built out. Still we all know the power of having one so another army that isn’t just a Marine list with a different paint job is good to see.
Warlord Traits Breakdown
1. You get Zealot – not terrible but you can’t really attach him to something as he is either part of a command squad or already “fearless” like a Commissar. Still not terrible.
2. Add 2 to your own BS and 1 to the unit he is in. Again this could be neat with a big blob of nonsense hitting on a 3+ if you could get to an IC.
3. Once per game you get to be a Master of Ordinance. Man this shouldn’t be once a game.
4. So within 12″ of you warlord and part of the Cadian Detachment you don’t take morale for losing 25% of your guys. Um… ok?
5. You get Voice of Command or get to do an extra order if you already have it. Not terrible.
6. You have to fight challenges and you get to reroll to hit and to wound. Um… sure you want to fight when you aren’t good at fighting… whatever
Overall – you will probably still roll strategic traits. They are just better and what you need.
Relics
Celeritas – Close combat weapon that does stuff when you are fighting in a challenge
Pros – Cheap, some interesting rules that lets you make more attacks even if you die as long as you make that 4+ save you have in combat. Oh they have rending too so not terrible
Cons – Close combat relic who is gonna be on a guy who isn’t that good in close combat
Kabe’s Herald – Tank Command relic that lets him give the duplicate order to tanks near the tanks he gave an order too.
Pros – It is a relic for a Tank Commander, it isn’t bad as the rules give you better rules and your guys can split fire if you pick the Gunners Kill on Site order. It also give sit to all other Leman Russ Tanks within 12″ so it is a crazy force multiplier with big Tank lists.
Cons – It is on a Tank Commander and the new tau love killing tanks.
The Iron Left – Another Close combat weapon that doesn’t have much in rules other then – AP 3 and +2 strength
Pros – it isn’t a bad CCW
Cons – it is a CCW for a non CCW army.
Standard of the Lost 113th – Standard that when you plant it – everyone within 18″ is fearless. Oh you can’t move if you plant it and it is attached to a veteran squad… who will probably die.
Pros – Bubble fearless is pretty good
Cons – you can’t move, small squad attached too and will most likely die to cover ignoring missiles of doom.
Volkov’s Cain – Another CCW that is cheap but lets you give orders to those within 6″ and only fail on a double 6 – so pretty good.
Pros – Cheap, good ability
Con – another CCW that is Ap 4 and concussive. I guess you need it to chase those kids off your lawn.
Wrath of Cadia – A cheap pistol that is pretty neat – if only it shot farther.
Pros – Always wounding on a 4+ And making your opponent only at best have a 3+ save is pretty cool. Wish it wasn’t on a pistol.
Cons – On a pistol and short ranged.
Overall: The relics seem not nearly as interesting. Too many CCW’s. I like the Tank Commander one but that demands a specific type of army build that while neat is not very good. Of course if you bought that old Leman Russ Apocalpyse boxed set then you might like it. I am sure the others could be useful I just think they get attached to units not very good. Where is my super Vox or other “special” technology?
Formations
Next up lets go into the formations and add ons. The book brought all the old Baneblade Super heavies into one book. We finally got an IG book with their Super Heavy in their actual rules. Yeah! Of course the Baneblades haven’t been tearing up the ITC circuit so it makes it hard to really get a solid feeling on them. I think all their point costs are too high when you compare them to some of he other Super Heavies you have out there. The Wraith Knight can just take a squat on all of them and the every lovely new GC on the market – the Storm Surge just loves the chance to D missile one out and cause an even bigger explosion then before. The Hellhammer seems to be the best as it ignores cover, is a big blasts, and it is Str 10 Ap 1. It is pretty expensive and the other neat one is the big ole D Slinger in the StormShadow. All in all these guys need to be running at 300 points to even make some hope of a dent in your opponents army. An Imperial Knight will usually do you better then a big fat target tank.
“Emperor’s Shield” Infantry Platoon. It is made up of an Infantry Platoon that is at min 5 Squads of Infantry plus 1-3 Armored Sentinels or Scout Sentinels. Man that Sentinel tax is rough but then what kind of formation could you have if you didn’t have an extra unit you have to ram into the formation. None of the Infantry squads can take a transport and if you are near one of the Sentinels (9 inches) the unit can move through cover. The commander can issue an order called Fire and Advance to one unit in addition to any other orders. That unit can shoot as if it was stationery. This big tax of the Sentinels plus the fact they have to have 5 units of infantry make this a rough Formation. It is also one of the main Core options for the Decurion. Just feels too expensive.
Emperor’s Shield Infantry Company is just 3 Infantry Platoons plus an extra command squad. That is like a ton of Plastic Dudesmen on the table. They do get the ability to have the command squad give one order of First Rank Fire! Second Rank Fire! and it goes to everyone on one leadership test. They all have to shoot at the same target though so it seems somewhat limited in the MSU side of things. Of course versus a Deathstar this isn’t a bad option. Still it is crazy expensive especially with the 3 sets of Sentinel taxes you have to pay.
Emperor’s Talon is the big fat set of Sentinels you could play. You need 2-4 units of them – they get some rules and one becomes a commander and can issue some orders. If you have always dreamed of a massed Sentinel army this is your chance to use it. Other then that – I don’t expect to see this and will probably get my teeth kicked in by it at some point. Man just an expensive set of options.
Emperor’s Blade Assault Company seems ok. You get a command squad, 3 units of vets and 1-3 Hellhound Squadrons. That seems alright. The infantry units are Objective Secured so that’s good. Everyone has to buy a transport vehicle… which is ok I guess. I wish they were free but hey only Marines got that extra special financing option at the Rhino Dealership. They also get preferred enemy to a unit that is within 6″ of an objective. It isn’t completely terrible especially if you have all of these in your army already.
Emperor’s Wrath Artillery Battery is where we start to get into the good stuff. The is made up of 1 Company Command, 2 units of Basilisk/Hydra/Wyvern Batteries, 1 unit of Manticore/Deathstrike Batteries, and 1-3 Enginseers. The command squad has to take a Transport vehicle and the command squad can give the following orders to the tanks within this formation – Smite at Will, Fire on Target, and Suppressive fire. They count as leadership 8 when taking orders. Once per turn a unit with a vox caster can target a unit within 18″ and the rest of the formation is Twin Linked when firing on that unit. This one seems pretty good as giving orders to those tanks will make them pretty dang deadly especially with those Wyverns. This one seems ripe to be used in other armies for sure.
Emperor’s Fist Armoured Company is the Tank Commander formation. You get a Tank Commander, 3 Leman Russ Squadrons, and 1-3 Engineers. Every Leman Russ within 12″ of your Tank Commander has a BS 4. Their is also a rule where if you ram someone with more then one tank from this formation, that unit gets -1 to their leadership for each tank after the first and +1 strength to each ram after the first. This could be funny if you set up a conga line of tank shocking to try and break someone off the table. It still seems like a ton of work but if you want a Tank company this is the formation you start at. Oh if an Enginseer is within 6″ of your tank and it gets a penetrating hit you force the opponent to roll 2 dice and discard the highest.
Ogryun Auxilla AKA please buy some Ogryn models. Oh crap you need to buy 4 boxes and a Commissar. Ugh… Your hammer of wrath is now strength 7 and you are fearless when within 12″ of the commissar. Man this one is just too expensive to even really think about.
Psykana Division is kinda a Librarian Conclave but you have to take a bunch of Wyrdvane Psykers. If you could only have a bunt of Primus Psykers and they all hang out. Now you have to take a bunch of junky Psykers and a Commissar to keep them in check. You get one Primus, 3 Units of Wyrdvanes, and 1-3 units of Commissars to make this one work. The Primus gets to know all of the powers for the Wyrdvanes that are within 12″ and gets a +1 to his Mastery Level for each unit of 5 Wyrdvane guys from the same division near him (not for generating spells, for generating Warp Charges and casting x amount of spells). The Wyrdvane Psykers manifest on a 2+ now as well but if they fail one of their own dies. They also lose one guy if they take a Perils of the Warp as well – no need to roll on the table. This one feels weird as it could be a way to generate an interesting amount of Warp Charge dice. It might be a neat battery to try and cast spells – plus Wyrdvane psykers casting on a 2+ seems good.
Emperor’s Fury Super Heavy Company. If you have a friend with 3 sets of Baneblade variants then this is the formation for you. Oh you need an Enginseer too. They are really pushing that Enginseer model eh? The Enginseer gets to add a 2 to his fix stuff roll, enemy units getting hit by 3 or more Primary weapons from these tanks takes a pinning check on a 4d6, and Enemy units within 12″ treat all terrain/board as difficult terrain. This one is just for giggles as you would never have enough points left to play a serious game.
Finally we have an Emperor’s Spear Aerial Company that brings in all those Valkyries and Vendettas to the table top. You have to pick 3 units that make up those flyers and they get some rules that are ok. One lets you just roll once to see if they all come in. The other is a low altitude drop for them. If it flies over something that is 3″ or higher it must make a dangerous terrain test and it can’t Jink. But any unit grav chuting out of this doesn’t scatter. I don’t know if it is worth it as you can’t Jink – so you are just relying on getting hit on 6’s as you are flying. Just not worth it I think.
Overall Thoughts
Overall he formations feel a little bit lackluster when compare two the new Tau ones, the Marines ones in other Campaigns, and even other formations in the main army books. They all seem a little bit to heavy on the extra points and while some are interesting they just don’t feel powerful enough especially when you compare them to the double shooting Tau, or all cover save option in other books.
The last thing will talk about is the Decurion. This one has interesting rules in that giving commands will be a heck of a lot easier in this army build. Your Company commander can give out 3 orders instead of two if they are part of the Battle Group Command. They also issue orders at 24″ instead of 12″. Officers from this detachment can have units roll an extra dice for leadership and kick out the highest dice roll. Also units can preroll hit rolls of 1 when firing Lasguns or Hotshot Lasguns. So overall the rules are pretty good you just get stuck with having to take an Emperor’s Shield Infantry Company or Emperor’s Fist Armored Company for your main Core choice. This really sucks the air out of this as you are forced to take all them damned Sentinels to let you actually use this Decurion. Of course if you want to use a crap ton of Leman Russ’s you can get this to work pretty well by taking all those Emperor’s Fist Armored Companies but don’t expect much wiggle room when adding up the points.
So is this what the AM needed to compete? I don’t think so. It lets you bring back a true Armored tank Legion but was that ever actually any good? I was hoping for a point drop in a lot of the AM options and instead just got a bunch of “Please buy Sentinels” from GW. Maybe if the Sentinels were free upgrades to the units then we could be talking about something good.
~What’s your take on the new Cadian rules?
