422nd Elysian Drop Troopers

Elysian Veteran Squads have a large range of equipment, and unlike infantry squads can take an attached heavy weapon team in addition to three special weapons. And they can take a Heavy flamer as well. I addition to this they can also take a vox and breacher charge, or even swap out the lasguns for shotguns. While such a range of options makes veteran squads very versatile, it can also make them rather costly, considering they already cost 2pts more each than a standard drop trooper. While in isolation they are good value, there are also a lot of reason not to take them. For starters they die just as easily as a standard trooper, they have no extra armour or abilities that keep them alive longer. In standard guard armies veterans are often bought with transports to keep them alive longer and provide extra mobility. However in an Elysian force our only transports are flyers, which get a bit pricey to use just to transport veterans around. Now a lot can be said for a squad of veter...

The Cyclops demolition vehicle is probably not the most competitive of units due to it's randomness and being a lot of points for a single shot weapon, but it is not a bad choice by any means. I have used these in my Cadian army a few times now, and they can be hit and miss. They do draw a lot of fire so you don't want them too close to any of your own troops as they have a good chance of exploding when killed. They won't die easily with T6, 4 wounds and a 3+ save. They also come in squadrons of up to 3, so even with the rule of three, that's 9 Cyclops's. Target selection is very important for the cyclops. You don't want to waste one killing 5 or 6 guardsmen, or on something with a decent invul save. Since they hit every unit in the radius when they detonate, groups of characters are probably the best target. However taking these in an Elysian gives them the ability to deepstrike, which is a huge advantage. While there is no point detonating the turn you...

The second one of the Elysian Heavy support options is the Heavy Weapons squad. Armed with mortars these are the cheapest Heavy Support option available, and the Elysian squads are now cheaper than the regular guard ones since they went up in price. However Elysian Heavy Weapon squads do not have access to the Lascannon and the Autocannon, two of the more commonly used  heavy weapon types, leaving access to the Missile launcher, the Heavy Bolter and the Mortar. Like all Elysians they gain the aerial drop rule, but with their low resilience, penalty to shooting when they move, and long range there is very little reason to ever aerial drop a Heavy Weapon squad. They are far more suited to being on the board from turn 1, and not moving. My favourite is the mortar as it is the cheapest, and the only indirect fire available to an Elysian force. Also they can be placed out of sight to prevent them being shot at. Mortars are surprisingly effective in numbers. If it wasn't for th...

The tarantula comes armed with either a twin Heavy Bolter or twin Lascannon, and is the cheapest lascannon platform available to Elysians. The can be bought in batteries of up to three as a single selection The tarantula also has a few special rules, the most notable being that they are immobile. As well as not being able to move following deployment, this also means they can't be locked into combat, and can fire their weapons even if there are enemies within 1". But they get hit automatically in combat, and cannot fight back. And your other units can still shoot at units engaged with the tarantulas. They also have targeting restrictions. Heavy Bolter tarantulas always target the nearest enemy infantry unit, and Lascannon ones target the nearest enemy non-infantry unit. I have not used these yet in a game and cannot see all the consequences of this rule, but I do know it will greatly depend on how the opponent reacts to them. I am looking forward to using them in a few gam...

In my opinion the most iconic model of the Elysians is the Tauros. The Tauros comes in 2 variants, the 2 axle Assault Tauros, and the larger 3 axle Venator. Interestingly enough though, these have the <Regiment> keyword as opposed to the Elysian Drop Troops keyword, so can easily be included in any other regiment and some of the Regimental doctrines could prove useful for Tauroses. However I will be covering the Tauros in the context of an Elysian force, meaning they gain the Aerial Drop ability. The first thing that hit me about these models is how physically small they are, being not much taller than an infantry model. Tactics wise this will mean they can gain cover much easier, and with their high movement can easily dart from cover to cover. And both variants also have the galvanic motor special rule giving them a 5+ Invul save if they move over 10" in their last movement phase which is easy to do even if they end up in the same location by doing a loop. The Assault...

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...