Hello everyone Frankie here to talk a little more about the Battle Company. In this week’s discussion we will be going over unit options and roles the various units will play.
The HQs are important depending on what kind of battle company you’re running like we talked about last week. You have to take a captain which can be named such as Khan which is who I use. But that all depends on what chapter tactics you’re going with, of course. Next is a Chaplain, not a ton of options here but always fun to have a chaplain on the table. I use my Chaplain as a force multiplier, giving him the Hunter’s Eye (ignores cover relic) and an Auspex. He also rolls around with Khan allowing him to re-roll his attacks in close combat. Make sure you kit you Chaplain out for the task you wish him to preform. I run mine on a bike and he always performs quite well.
The troops are probably the easiest decision when making a Battle Company because, there are no choices! You have to take six units of Tactical Marines. In my list they do all the heavy lifting which is why I take four units of ten strong. Again this will vary depending on what type of Battle Company you’re running. Drop Pods will probably want ten man as will Rhinos, where as Razorbacks will want only five. In my list I spend a majority of my points on my Marines, giving the units a Heavy Grav-cannon as well as a Melta gun. I’ve found with taking bit weapons in the units you have enough coverage to deal with any army. But all comes down to preference as I’ve seen all Melta and all Grav do very well. The reason I would recommend spending more points on these units is that they gain the most from the doctrines.
A lot of thought actually goes into the fast attack since it has so many options. You can take more marines and get more vehicles or take some bikes for some damage output. In my list I spent the minimum on this slot and took two Attackbikes with Multi-Meltas. The Attackbikes give me two more Meltas for those pesky Imperial Knights as well as two objective secured units that can zip around. I used to run a bike unit with Grav but switched them out for a command squad. The bikes are great choices because they are resilient and hit hard with White Scars chapter tactics and weapon upgrades. But if you choose Assault Marines you can fit in a lot more objective secured units.
My favorite slot is the Heavy Support. You only have two options when it comes to this choice so pretty simple. I chose Devastators since they can go inside of a Rhino and use it as a gun platform. But you can also go with Centurions which everyone knows are good. Hardest part with this slot is deciding what weapons to take. I take two Heavy Grav-Cannons for some serious firepower. But you can load them out with any weapons really and do quite well. I use the Devastators as mid field board control after my 12″ scout move.
Last Required is one of the auxiliary formations. This is probably one of the hardest decisions since there are a lot of choices. I personally went with the 10th company since it’s the cheapest. But wow have I been impressed with how useful 3 units of scouts can be. I use them to tarpit Knights, kill pesky backfield units, and get line breaker more times than not. I wouldnt trade them for any of the other choices but I’ve seen a lot of people use the air defense force which isn’t bad either. Pick one that you will have fun with and that will fill gaps in your list.
Now there are some options in the list for elites such as dreadnaughts and command squads. I ended up taking a command squad and have decided it is the right choice in my list. I give them Meltas and an Apothecary to run around and kill vehicles with Khan and the Chaplain. I’ve seen he Dreadnaughts but have not been impressed by there damage output. The Dropped the come with is useful though. Again these are optional and you can do well without taking them.
so I believe that is it when making the Battlecompany. Let me know if I missed anything and let me know which Battlecompany you prefer playing. Next week I will go over tactics with your newly build Battlecompany.