Introducing the 21st Levian Dragons

[MoGuy]

Greetings fellow Commanders!

 

In this thread I would like to share the progress of my Militarum Tempestus army.

 

I have assembled my two Start Collecting boxes and am currently painting the models. 

 

So far I have finished a HSVG Command Squad:

 

 

http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/0a02d0-1480871340.jpg

 

 

and some Scions, along with an Inquisitor:

 

 

http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/f1fe4e-1480870722.jpg

 

 

It's a shame that I don't own a good camera as my smartphone always makes overly bright pictures. :/

 

Anyway, with Christmas approaching I might get some of the new hero bases from GW, which is why I'll wait with the basing for the most part to have a coherent look.

 

I've also two Valkyries which are already painted in a Cadian color scheme, which I'll re-paint to match the black and red of the Stormtroopers. In battle the Scions will get help from the Inquisition (which is almost all Crusaders, Deathcult Assassins, Psykers and some Acolytes, because I like melee), my Imperial Knight and maybe some of my Adeptus Mechanicus forces. With the Codex: Imperial Agents also coming soon the list of allies may grow even further. Especially a Culexus Assassin or some Sisters of Silence is something I'll probably get, as all of my armies lack a defense against Psychic shenanigans.

 

Overall feedback and knowledge from some more experienced commanders is always appreciated!

[HackedDuck]

Let me be the first to say welcome to the barracks mo :) scions Look really good in a black/red colour scheme and you definitely pulled it off well done! And if this thread is anything like your ad mech thread we're in luck ;)

 

As for the allies I love using a vindicare assassin (although that is a personal preference) but I think the inquisition or grey knights sure up a lot of holes AM/MT have (but not all of them). As you said hopefully the new agents codex should help us out quite a bit.

[WarriorFish]

I like the colour scheme :tu: The upcoming Imperial Agents book will be worth a gander when it arrives as all news and rumour points to a bit of a treasure trove of options, but generally if you're looking for support for your AdMech it's the Scion's special rules and options you'll be wanting :)

[MoGuy]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. :)

And if this thread is anything like your ad mech thread we're in luck

Well, this one will go in the same direction. My Ad Mech thread is dormant for the time being, as I have painted all my 2,5K of the tin men and don't really need any new models. As for the upcoming book, I don't get my hype up too much. It would be awesome even if it just contained a few new formations or some points and rule updates. I would love to see the Gatling Gun on the Taurox get Pinning or the Scions get their Infiltrate back.

but generally if you're looking for support for your AdMech it's the Scion's special rules and options you'll be wanting

I didn't start with the Militarum Tempestus because I was looking for some allies. I just loved the models and the fluff and I'll try to field them without relying on my Ad Mech too much. Playing these "low tier" armies like Dark Eldar or the Scions really opened my eyes to how insane some powerlevels of the other armies are. Just compare a Kabalite Warrior with a Skitarii Vanguard. He costs just one point more but has a better armour, 6+FNP, potential BS7 and so on. Especially the Scions play like a kind of "hardcore mode" since you just don't have access to top tier formations or even really powerful weapons. All they have are the standard special guns plus their Hot Shot Guns. No haywire, no poison, no ignores cover, no S10 etc. It's quite refreshing and makes you feel like you are actually fielding an army of soldiers, where each squad has a role to fulfill on the battlefield, rather than being good at everything (again, looking at MEQ and tank shredding Vanguards with their rad carbines and Arc Rifles). If the Imperial Agents book just gives the Scions a bit more... substance then I will be fully content. ^^

The Scions should also pair up fairly well with the Ad Mech, since they bring good horde control to the table with their Valkyries, Gatling Tauroxes and Flamer Squads.

[WarriorFish]

"Who dares wins" is the way of all Stormtrooper commanders ;) If you wanted easy mode you'd not be posting here :P I'm half expecting C:IA to bulk out Scions, but even if it's the same as existing that's something from the other choices. I still think C:MT was a test case which is why it is has less going on.

 

Deep Striking squads in to cause mischief will work well, especially using the Hell Rain formation. Similar to the Guard Scion squads need a set role and you as the commander need to put them in the right places. Easier said than done, but as you said you're not after a wind up and go army :lol:

[MoGuy]

If you wanted easy mode you'd not be posting here

You know what makes me feel really good? When those underdog normal-human Scions drop down on Turn 2 and just annihilate two Tac Marine squads and a Rhino and your opponent starts to panic because suddenly his mighty Spehs Muhreens with the 200 formations GW is handing out to them like candy are getting their butts whooped by that "bad" army. ...Or that's just the Archon in me speaking. :')

"Oh yah, this is my Contemptor Dreadnought with his bazillion shots and these rhinos over there are all free because of this formation etc."

*Melter Scions drop in and turn those units to scrap metal*

"B...but muh mighty Muhreens!"

...God how I wish GW would stop pandering so hard to all the Marine players. ^^"

[MoGuy]

So with Christmas approaching I am thinking about my next steps for the Dragons. Interestingly on the little flyer from the Start Collecting Box (the one that has the Hellrain Brigade Rules on it), it says for the "Next Steps" I should get a squad of Cadian Shock Troops and a Leman Russ. Which is odd. GW is literally telling me to start another army (Imperial Guard) as my next expansion-steps for my Scions. But nope, I won't do that! 

 

Since we now know that the Scions sadly won't be in the upcoming Imperial Agents book - you can read about which factions are in there on the new GW community website - I'll have to stock up on just more Scions (and whatever new shiny toys the Inquisition will get. The Corvus Blackstar is already confirmed, maybe they can also take Leman Russes). 

 

So far I have:

 

2x Taurox Prime (both magnetised)

 

2x Valkyries w/ Multiple Rocketpods and Multilaser

 

1x Command Squad w/ 4x Plasma

 

1x Command Squad w/ 4x HSVG

 

5x Scions w/ 2x Flamer

 

5x Scions w/ 2x Melter

 

5x Scions w/ 2x Plasma

 

I'll probably go for more Tauroxes and another Command Squad or two. I know that Flamers aren't as universally good weapons as Plasma Guns are but the mental image of a Command Squad with 4x Flamers dropping down onto some Space Marines and giving their weapons twin-linked is just epic. Would you say a Flamer Command Squad is a good idea or should I stack up on more HSVG/Plasma?
 

[WarriorFish]

That's a good collection :) Flamers would not be my first pick for a SCS, but if you can get the jump on something it could do a lot of damage. If you're after infantry killing power maybe HSVG is better for more utility and range?

[duz_]

I agree with WF

 

Your better off with PE a bunch of HSVG than flamers

You'll probably do less wounds all things equal but each one will cause a wound being AP3 and that's before factoring if if you DS out of effective range of the template and the marines potential being spaced out

 

Personally I think the only real load out for a Scion CCS is full plasma

[MoGuy]

Do you guys have a rule of thumb for how many Command Squads you include? I might go for another HSVG squad instead of the flamers. How do you play the Command Squads? Deepstrike them into cover? Shoot from a Taurox? 

[WarriorFish]

No, not even for my Guard as it's a list thing as much as preference. Stormies have more "gun platform" utility in their CSs so you can look at adding more to fulfil this role, with their ability to order a nearby squad a bonus. With the Hellrain formation I'm thinking that this may be a better approach to single squads deep striking in but again I think this is something dictated by the list as much as anything else.

[Echelon]

Great job! The colors contrast each other really well! Something you may want to consider is a non-gloss varnish. It will help dull the colors a bit. Unless you were going for the polished look, they look polished right now so it would be spot-on if that was the case.

 

The red hides the blood. Good choice. ~_^

 

 

Something to keep in mind is that Deepstriking can be very risky at times. From the batreps I have seen and the theory crafting I've done if you are going straight Tempestus with no allies or if Tempestus makes up the most of your army you will want them in Taurox Primes. Rush them up the field for a turn 2 rapid fire line. In one of the batreps I saw the player took two plasma gun command squads and ruined the opponent Tau's stormsurge on the second turn with 16 plasma gun shots. They were then sent to the emperor as heroes on the Tau's turn as breacher squads jumped out of their fish and unloaded str 6 ap 3 shots into them.

I think there are two builds that are fairly decent for the Taurox Primes
Gatling Cannon + HSVG
Missle Launcers + Autocannon

Though depending on the build of your force and how you kit your Scion Squads out you may or may-not want to go all Missile Launcher + Autocannon.

The Valkyries are good but should be kept off the lists unless you're playing friendly games, or you are allying in Tempestus into another force. Just keep in mind that rolling for their arrival can literally bite you in the butt.

If I ever fielded these guys pure I would run MSU for sure and stack as many Taurox primes and special weapons I could. These guys die to fast to even bolter fire to expect more than the alpha then dump into the enemy. Though, if you can find a way to guarantee they arrive by turn two deep striking them in would be SO MUCH FUN!
 

 

 

[KasrkinRyu]

Really nice looking force! Looking forward to seeing vehicles in the same scheme. I think they will look tremendous.

[MoGuy]

 

 

Something you may want to consider is a non-gloss varnish

Thank you for the kind words. :) 

Actually, I was thinking about getting some of the new gloss shades (or a not too strong gloss varnish). A guy at our LGS has coated his 30K army with gloss varnish and it gives the armor a metallic look which is something I've rarely seen. They actually do look like armor and not like hard plastic. But I'll have to experiment a bit. I'll also have to think about the force's emblem which is usually painted on the helmet or the kneepad. Something with red and yellow would fit the Dragon name. Suggestions are welcome. ;)

 

 

 

If I ever fielded these guys pure I would run MSU for sure and stack as many Taurox primes and special weapons I could. These guys die to fast to even bolter fire to expect more than the alpha then dump into the enemy. Though, if you can find a way to guarantee they arrive by turn two deep striking them in would be SO MUCH FUN!

 

The bunker with voxrelais works really well and almost guarantees that all the Scions arrive on Turn 2. Playing against the Orks was a blast! My first turn wasn't much to look at since most of my stuff was in deepstrike reserve but Turn 2 was always a beta strike that would give any pod Marine list a run for its money. MSU is always a valid choice (I play my Dark Eldar the same way). Depending on the size of the game I'll invest more points into allies the more points I have at my leisure. 1500 points of Scions + a bit of Inquisition support is not as bad as some people here suggest it is. At least not if you put two or more Hellrain Brigade formations in there.

 

Speaking of MSU: Is the Land Assault formation with the 4 Tauroxes any good? If we go MSU anyway, might as well get the bonus from the formation, right?

 

 

Really nice looking force! Looking forward to seeing vehicles in the same scheme. I think they will look tremendous.

 

 

Thank you! My first Valkyrie is almost finished. The Tauroxes will be a joy to paint but with all those details they'll take a lot of time... T_T

[duz_]

With the taroux don't glue the front bullbar on until after you've painted!

I've learnt the hard way after 5 of them ....

[MoGuy]

I didn't glue on the bull bar at all. I find it ugly and it covers up the sweet emblem.

[MoGuy]

Today I had my first game with the Scions as allies (instead of them being the bulk of the army). I played 1850 points against Blood Angles. My army was mainly Adeptus Mechanicus, plus an Inquisitor, Wyrdvane Psykers and a ML2 Astropath (from the new Imperial Agents book) and two Hellrain Brigades.

 

If you want to know how my Ad Mech performed, you can click on the link in my signature. I'll post a report there that focuses on the Ad Mech part of my army.

 

Anway, about the Scions:

 

They performed really well! I had two Tauroxes w/ Gatling Gun, HSVGs and Camo Netting. They decimated three out of four tactical squads and killed a squad of Sternguard. They even lived pretty long. One only went down when he was charged by a Furioso Cybot that exploded it in close combat and the other one was still alive on two HP but was immobilised.

 

The rest of the Scions were a Plasma Command Squad that actually left their Taurox this time (after I learned that they can't give themselves orders in their transport since they somehow swallow their tongue in there). What can I say, a squad full of Plasma is just all-around sexy. With Preferred Enemy they shot down a squad of Sternguard and finished off a Cybot or two.

 

My HSVG Command Squad didn't really have any targets left, since most Marines were already taken care of. So they ordered themselves some Rending and took some HP off a Razorback. 

 

My small Squad Flamer-Scions was alright-ish. They weren't in range of their Command Squads so sadly they didn't get Twin-Linked and thus only toastet three Marines. Later they got killed and dropped down again to secure me an objective. 

 

The small Scion Melter squad was just pure goodness. They reliably stripped two HP off of any vehicle so that my Vanguard could take it down with some haywire shots. Very nice!

 

My Inquisitor in TDA also helped a Command Squad to stay alive and soaked up a nice amount of firepower.

[MoGuy]

Small update:

 

I've painted my HSVG Command Squad, the Scion Flamer Squad and five other Scions, as well as the first Taurox Prime and a Valkyrie.

 

Have some pictures:

 

 

 

http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/2b9a53-1482166841.jpg

 

http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/585d6d-1482166861.jpg

 

http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/b53c93-1482166881.jpg

 

http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/c29948-1482166896.jpg

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy the view. I really like the colorscheme on the Taurox. It works pretty well and looks very Inquisition-y.

[WarriorFish]

The Taurox does look good in Inquisition colours, shame they can't take it in their new book. You're making excellent progress :tu:

[HackedDuck]

Well you certainly paint faster than me! Good job moguy they look great

[MoGuy]

Thank you for the kind words! :) The Taurox didn't take long to paint, as the Chaos Black spray "paints" all the black parts for me. Only the highlights take a while to catch all those edges... The Valkyrie isn't quite finished yet. I will paint the heraldic on its back door and I still have to paint the Rocket Pods and landing gear. I am also not sure how I will base the Scions. Maybe I'll give the new snow paint from Citadel a go. 

[MoGuy]

Got some more games in over the past few days. Manly against my buddy's Orks. We also played an epic game against a guy with his Dark Angels. We just "allied" 950 points of Orks with 900 points of Scions. After 45 minutes the Dark Angels guy conceded because my Scions wiped out most of his army alone. :') He did roll really poor but man, against MEQs the Gatling Tauroxes just rock. All in all my Scions killed 5 Devastors, 2x5 Terminators, 1 Librarian, 15x Marines. It was a massacre but I have to say that our opponent just rolled really poorly for his saves.

 

Anyway. I tried out a few more things from the new Imperial Agents book and in the end I got 9 Warp Charges into a 1500 points list with Coteaz, ML1 Inquisitor, Astropath ML2, Primaris Psyker ML2, Wyrdvane Psykers, 5x Grey Knight Terminators. Quite nice but the Terminators just don't cut it.

 

So I wanted to ask for some suggestions. What from the Imperial Agents book would help out the Scions? Maybe some Deathwatch Veterans in a Corvus Blackstar? I would also like to have at least some close combat capability. 5x Crusaders, 6x Deathcult Assassins and a Priest in a Land Raider are very brutal and will kill anything short of a ten men strong Termi Squad. But that is expensive as heck and I never think that the Land Raider is actually worth its points. He has some nice firepower but his points costs come from his durability. Which isn't needed once it has delivered its close combat cargo, since most of my opponents will just ignore it after that or charge it with Power Fists etc. 

 

So maybe I should stick with the Grey Knights but go for the addition of a Nemesis Dreadknight? He is a beast in melee and shooting after all!

[WarriorFish]

Scions are an elite army, so they benefit more from allies that aren't elite. So for the Inquisition warbands would offer you some cheaper numbers as well as some respectable close combat ability for certain choices. That's not to say some GK wouldn't be good (especially a NDK), but not if you sink too many points into them.

[MoGuy]

The problem with the Inquisition Warband is that they have no means to get into close combat unless they ride in a (expensive) Land Raider. They are arguably stronger than Grey Knights etc. in close combat because of the sheer amount of AP3 attacks the Assassins dish out. But unless I put them in a LR, I would have to footslog them up the field, which would mean that my opponent will just focus fire them to bits. :(

[HackedDuck]

If you want to stick to the IA book I would bring the grey knights. If you don't like the termies, then bring the intercepers instead? An then the NDK. This will give you some nice warp charges and something that won't fold as easily as your scions. It's actually something I was planning to do before warrior Fish tempted me with 3 baneblades ;)

If you want to use allies outside of IA I would go for blood angels myself, more specifically death company.

 

Edit- don't forget Inq war bands don't have to be DCA and crusaders. You can use power armoured acolytes with bolters for example