422nd Elysian Drop Troopers

I have always liked Elysian Drop Sentinels, and have purchased 6 of them to use in my army. However I feel that as Elysian specific units go the Drop Sentinels fall in the lower end of cost effectiveness. They have the same stats and are 5 points more that a standard Scout Sentinel, and for that you get the aerial drop ability, and can take either a Heavy flamer, Heavy Bolter or Multi-Melta. They also miss out on the CC chainsaw and the scout move. The main downsides of the drop sentinel is that it has too much competition from other units that do the same job, and suffers from being a Elite choice which is already a very crowded slot in the detachment. In the standard guard codex, Sentinels, especially Scout Sentinels, are used as cheap Fast attack slot fillers and give your army some deep strike denial. For this role the Assault Tauros does far better as it is cheaper, faster and can get a 5+ invul save. While it doesn't get the scout move that is less of an issue now t...

As most people who play Elysians will know, Forgeworld has moved the majority of their Elysian line to the 'Last chance to buy' category. In fact it seems the Sky Talon is the only item that will remain. I am hoping that this is because they are redoing all the moulds and releasing a whole new line of Elysians, but I have seen no signs of this and the most likely scenario is that Elysians weren't selling very well and rather than spend the time and money to redo the moulds they have decided to retire the army. This is a shock to me as I have only recently started my Elysian army and was looking forward to some updated 8th edition Elysian rules and especially Elysian specific stratagems, warlord trait and a relic. Now it looks like the Index rules may be the only thing we'll get for 8th edition. However after discussing this with other Elysian players it is not in fact the end of the world. As someone pointed out we still have a couple of options even if the Elys...

Elysian Tactics - Command Squads and Special Weapon squads I will cover these two squads together as in an Elysian army they commonly fulfil a very similar role in many armies, that is to take as many special weapons as possible and drop in close to the enemy. With the recent FAQ limiting the 1st turn drop to only within your own deployment zone, these are now effectively limited to a turn 2 or 3 drop. This is not as much of a hit as it is on other armies, as against an opponent with decent screens a turn 1 drop will not be very effective anyway. Command Squads The command squad is one of the most versatile units in the army and has a large range of options. A very popular use for them is 4 plasma guns as they can deepstrike into rapid for range, and if they have an officer nearby for the take aim order they can supercharge with relative safety. This will do heavy damage to most targets, with the best targets being high toughness, multi wound models without an invulnerable save....

March FAQ - Elysians The 'March' FAQ has just come out, and there are some major impacts for Elysians. I'll cover the direct changes first in the IA index. New weapon options. Page 72 – Wargear, Ranged Weapons Add: ‘• Boltgun • Shotgun • Lasgun and auxiliary grenade launcher’ Page 119 – Elysian Drop Troops Points Values, Elysian Drop Troops Other Wargear Add the following line: ‘Auxiliary grenade launcher | 0 points’ Page 120 – Elysian Drop Troops Wargear Add a new table titled ‘Elysian Drop Troops Other Wargear’ with the following entry: ‘Auxiliary Grenade Launcher | A model with an auxiliary grenade launcher increases the range of any frag grenades and krak grenades they use to 24".’ And a clarification on how deepstriking Valkyries work. Q: Can passengers disembark from an Elysian Drop Troops Valkyrie on the same turn it is set up on the battlefield, using the Aerial Drop ability? A: Yes, but the Valkyrie counts as having moved more than 20...

Elysian Tactics - Commanders and the Lord Commissar Continuing my series of tactics posts I will cover both the HQ choices for an Elysian Regiment, and also the platoon commander as he fills a similar battlefield role. First is the Lord Commissar . He costs 10 points more than the regular Lord Commissar, but discounted slightly as his power sword is optional. I see him as not that useful in that Elysians have less of an issue with morale than regular guard armies due to several factors. Primarily their increased leadership and the fact the nearby company and platoon officers grant morale rerolls without executing someone. The Lord Commissar still has a few things to offer though in that he confers his higher leadership to nearby units. The main use that I can see for him is as a melee character, with a Power fist and his WS 2+ he can do some damage. But I won’t be taking one. His cost is just too high for what he does. I’d much rather just take another company commander. ...

Elysian Regimental Standards I decided I needed some Regimental standard bearers for my army, and there is no Elysian standard bearer model so I had to search elsewhere. It did not take long to find that Anvil Industry sell a variety of standards, so ordered two of the standard kits, and one of the banner arms. The two banner kits came with the flags, a selection of hands and some items to put on top of the poles. They are designed for use with a 1.5mm brass rod which can also be purchased, but I chose to supply my own. I was actually reall impressed with the kit, and do not need the additional arms kit as I was unaware of the range of hands supplied with the banner kit. Assembly was really simple, with the brass rod fitting into place nicely. I have a selection of different arms, and I just cut off the hand and glued one of the supplied hands to the end. The hand is perfectly sized for the rod. I used the right hand for the first pole, but then had to modify a left han...

Elysian Tactics - Elysian Drop Trooper Squad For my first tactics article I will cover the humble Drop Trooper Squad. I feel this is important as they are the only troop choice for a pure Elysian army, and therefore an essential choice if you want a decent amount of command points. Just remember that this is all theoretical as I haven't played a game with my Elysians yet. Feel free to post comments on your own thoughts and experiences. These are similar to the regular infantry squad, but have some significant differences. For starters each drop trooper costs an extra point each, and for this extra point you get an extra point of Leadership, krak grenades, and the Aerial drop ability. Not a bad trade off, but those extras won't always come into play, and even one extra point each is a lot of points in an infantry heavy army. The equipment options are also different. Drop troopers can take breacher charges and Lascutters, but lose the option for a heavy weapon team, and lo...

Elysian Tactics - Initial thoughts Even though I have plenty of models assembled and and enough to field an army I have decided I won't field an un-painted army. In light of this the army is still months away from being ready I have been thinking about some army lists and strategies. Now I am not the most competitive player, but not completely fluffy either, falling somewhere in between these two extremes as I suppose a lot of players do. For starters I do not like mixed armies, such as these so-call "Imperial soup' armies that are all the rage currently. I am not even very fond of mixing regiments. I have no issue including the odd inquisitor, assassin or auxilia troops, but you will never find me including a unit of Marines of any kind. And secondly I do like taking advantage of what I see as loopholes and mistakes in the rules. To give an Elysian example there is an order called Move and Fire  which changes all the units weapons to assault. I feel that this was on...

Elysian Drop Troopers - Flamers and Grenade Launchers Originally I wasn't going to include any Flamers and Grenade Launchers, but upon consideration I have decided to make some of each. I'm planning to do some tactics posts so will cover my reasons then. Flamer models have an specific body with the promethium tanks as part of the body, and the hose moulded so as to connect to the gun. Another option is the flamer that comes in the weapons pack, but that will require a lot more work to get right, and will require the hose to be formed into place. Anyway, here is what they like post assembly. You will not some still require the grav shutes. Next up is the grenade launchers. For various reasons I don't have as many of the actual grenade launcher arms so have had to improvise using the ones from the weapon pack. My main issue was a lack of left arms to hold the grenade launcher, and after a bit of thought I used the clenched fist arm, which doesn...