Elysian Tactics - Elysian Drop Troopers

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 lose the option for a sniper rifle. Also the Sergeant loses the chainsword, and has the option to take a lasgun instead of a laspistol, which is how I am modelling all my sergeants. The sergeant also has the option to take a plasma pistol. I do like plasma pistols, but in general a FRFSRF lasgun will do more damage, and is free and you don't really want to super-charge the pistol. He can also take a power sword which seems like a good choice as he has no chainsword to lose, but I have gone off power swords lately on guardsmen. Having the strength of 3 means you will almost always need a 5+ or a 6+ to wound anyway.

The Elysians also have some different orders, and the morale re-roll provided by a nearby Elysian officer also means Drop Troopers perform differently to their AM brethren.

In a 2000pt game I plan to have around 10 squads of these guys, partially because I need to to fill out my detachments, but also because I like playing mass infantry, and they are still cheap enough for that.

I see three main uses for these guys.

1. Screening

Just like normal AM infantry, they can be used to screen units vulnerable to assault, and with their Aerial Drop you can deploy them as required as the game continues. However given the typical Elysian force will be extremely mobile I feel screens are less important. My heaviest ground vehicle is likely to be the Tauros Venator with Twin lascannons, and with it's 15" move it should be able to avoid most opponents.

2. Drop and shoot

10 Elysians with lasguns in Rapid fire range is 40 shots with FRFSRF. On average this will kill around 2 Marines or 6 Guardsmen. Not bad for a 50pt squad. I'd probably include a plasma gun in there though, as they are cheap for BS4 squads and significantly increases the damage against higher toughness targets. I'm not sure if I would bother with any of the other special weapons. And once they have unloaded on the enemy, if your opponent doesn't deal with them they can do it again next turn It takes more firepower than you would think to eliminate the squad, and with an officer nearby to give morale re-rolls, they are unlikely to break.

3. Objective grabbing

Being objective secured they are ideal for securing objectives. And if you opponent already have troops nearby, just order them to Move, Move, Move close to the objective. Unless his troops are also objective secured it only takes one trooper to move within 3" of the objective to claim it. And again, 10 guardsmen takes a dedicated amount of firepower to remove.

Special Weapon Options

Drop troopers lose the sniper rifle, but gain the lascutter as a special weapon options.

Plasma Gun: The default option in my opinion, and what I will be measuring the other special weapons against. Decent strength and AP, and easy enough to Supercharge to double the damage. And cheap enough not to be to concerned if you lose it.
Lascutter: 10pts for a strong melee weapon that is unlikely to be used, and if it does get used, is only one attack and 4+ to hit is not amazing, but there are better options for your only special weapon in the squad.
Flamer: A decent option, although not being able to use it in the turn you drop does reduce it's effective mess, and is the same cost as a plasma gun.
Grenade Launcher: The cheapest special weapon. Has multiple fire modes, but a FRFSRF lasgun is better than the Frag mode, and a plasma gun is much better than the krak mode.
Meltagun: The most expensive option and can be very damaging to vehicles, without the chance of killing the bearer. definitely worth considering, but I feel they are of more use in dedicated tank hunting squads, special weapon squads or command squads.

So I feel it is best to keep the squads cheap and view them as expendable. If your opponent is killing them, that is firepower that is not going to your more expensive units. Likewise feel free to overcharge that plasma gun. He is not going to live long anyway, so the risk of him killing himself is worth the increased damage.

Just a quick note on the other option, the Breacher charge. While they are rather cool I don't feel they are worth taking. Breacher charges are 25pts for a 1 use melee weapon that has a 50% chance of doing some mortal wounds. That's a lot of points for a a squad you don't want in melee combat.

The next tactics article I will do will be about the various commanders, but I have almost finished my Elysian Standard bearers so will probably do a post about them next.