The Greater Good: Scion list ideas

Hey everyone, Danny from TFG Radio here, and today, I am going to talk more about playing Militarum Tempestus after the release of Psychic Awakening: The Greater Good.  I’ve had quite a bit of fun with my flyer army, but as always, there is room to experiment.  If you want to check out more of how just about every faction has changed thanks to the updated rules in the Psychic Awakening series, buzz on over to Frontline’s Tactics Corner. 

So, having played with the new Greater Good stuff for Scions, I’ve gotten a nice taste of nostalgia, so I think I’ll be running through my list a bit again, at least for a few months. If I end up getting the chance to go my local GT, Battle for Los Angeles, I think I’ll rock the Not-Elysians.   Of course, things have changed since 7th, as has my collection, so now I have to sit and decide how I want to run my Scions.  

Pure Scions: I more or less rebuilt my list from 7th edition, which you can read here, and while I can fine-tune it a bit, I generally like it. 8 Flyers is a lot, and the ability to hover helps mitigate the typical flyer problem of not being able to land.  I never lost a flyer due to positioning but rather enemy firepower, and that’s not too bad at all.  I also fell in love with Kappic Eagles’ Warlord Trait as being able to issue orders while safely hiding in a Valkyrie was more than useful. 

The problem I’ve found is that the list has little staying power in the mission as once a squad drops, it is going to die if my opponent has any out of LoS shooting, and well, that is not exactly rarefied these days.  While 8 planes are great, they can’t score me Behind Enemy Lines or objectives, so I struggled to hold anything even in Cut to the Heart with only 3 total.
So, staying Pure Scions, here is a bit of different take:

55th Kappic Eagles Air Wing

2×2 Valkyries with heavy Bolters/Rocket Pods

1 Vendetta 

55th Kappic Eagles Battalion:

Prime (warlord)

Prime

2×10 Scions

2×5 Scions with 2 Plasma and Plasma Pistol

1 Command squad with 4 melta

1×3 Valkyries with Heavy Bolters/Rocket Pods

9th Iotan Gorgonnes Battalion:

Prime

Commissar

3×10 Scions

1 Command squad with 4 melta 

So this list has a lot more bodies in it, and with 14 CP, it has enough room to really use some fun stratagems.  Dropping down 10 Scions with Precision Drop or Daring Descent for the Gorgonnes means that I can land well within double tap range, or be in grenade range for Grenadiers, and that means big hits, and with First Rank, Second Rank, even the humble hotshot lasgun can start to do some decent damage, especially within 9″.  I also still have 8 planes to shuttle me around, and overall, it contains a lot of the threat of the original list with just more bodies that can survive some attention while also making good use of different stratagems. 

It is still relying on T3, 4+ save models to hold objectives though, so while it can do it better than my previous version, it is still quite weak to what is now a common building block of lists, out of LoS shooting or even other fast movers like enemy aircraft.  I have to sell out early to kill these elements, but then if I spend my hardest hits on artillery, I may not be able to handle the other big threats on the board. 

To go in another direction, there’s also the fun of having some big armor to go along with my big planes, so having multi-dimensional threat vectors seems fun but also more competitive. Instead of relying on T3 bodies, maybe I try to invest in something more durable. 

55th Kappic Eagle Battalion

Tempestor Prime (Warlord)

Tempestor Prime

3×5 Scions with 2 Plasma guns/1 plasma pistol

1 Command squad with 4 meltas

2×2 Valkyries with Heavy Bolters/Rocket Pods

55th Kappic Eagle Battalion:

Lord Commissar

Tempestor Prime

1×5 Scions with 2 Plasma guns/1 Plasma pistol

2×10 Scions

1 Command squad with 4 meltas

1×2 Valkyries with Heavy Bolters/Rocket Pods

Custom Regiment Supreme Command (Jury Rigged and Spotter Details)

1 Tank Commander with Heavy Bolter Sponsons and Punisher Cannon

2 Tank Commanders with Plasma Sponsons and Demolisher Cannon

So this list trades some of the gunships for just some armored behemoths to provide big hits.  You still have what Scions do well, small squads that can suicide down and hit way above their point cost, but also 2 larger squads for landing onto objectives as well as raining down grenades.  Of course, there are still 6 flyers here, so plenty of mobility, and with Rocket Pods, Valks can put out decent firepower, especially when they hover for some close up kill. 

The custom supreme command gives you Tank Commanders that can heal each turn and have 30″ main turrets and 42″ sponsons.  This boost in range helps mitigate the weakness of these weapons, and overall, each tank commander gives you a great amount of overall threat projection.  You could also play around and do Tallarn and all those other cool tricks here too, but I like the custom stuff, but that doesn’t make it the most optimized.  Another benefit here is that I have 3 tough units that can score me objectives, so if need be, they can hide on an objective and be pretty safe from most out of line of sight shooting, and once there are less threats on the table thanks to the Scions, the tanks can move out and be my final mid-game push to really take control of the center of the board. 

To take this idea to an even more extreme version, if I want to have a rock (or Anvil as the cool kids would say) of armor to go along with the Hammer of my Scions, then there are other options that are resilient and provide major threat.  

55th Kappic Eagle Battalion

Tempestor Prime (Warlord)

Tempestor Prime

3×5 Scions with 2 Plasma guns/1 plasma pistol

1 Command squad with 4 meltas

1×1 Valkyrie with Heavy Bolters/Rocket Pods   

1×2 Valkyries with Heavy Bolters/Rocket Pods

9th Iotan Gorgonnes Battalion

Lord Commissar

Tempestor Prime

3×5 Scions with 2 Plasma guns

1 Command squad with 4 meltas

Hawkshroud Superheavy Detachment:

Valiant 

2x Moirax Armigers with double lightning lock

So this list is very much a paired down flyer version, but it adds a whole lot of beef to dominate the center.  The Valiant is maligned, but damn it, it is a fun, fun model to play, and it still offers 28 wounds at T8 with easy access to a 4++, and with Traitor’s Pyre, that’s 3D6 autohits that reroll to wound.  All for 600 points, which isn’t bad at all.  Hawkshroud keeps me fighting for longer at full power as well as some Overwatch fun, but Tyrannis might also be useful for just the extra durability and zombie knight trick.  The Moirax are also mobile gun platforms that put out a lot of heat and are great at skirting the edges and grabbing objectives.   The heart of the list is still there, namely that there is no soft underbelly for your opponent to hit turn 1 as everything is T7 or T8 with a 3+ save. I could also sack the Valiant and a Moirax for 2 Gallants, which add a lot of melee threat and early pressure, but are tactically inflexible. 

The Scion part is very stripped down to do what Scions do, which is land, punch, and try not to die.  With only 3 Valks, not all of my forces can fit inside, but I can reserve a few squads to free up space and have them deepstrike on their own. The Gorgonnes battalion can just deep strike on their own, and with Daring Descent, it is not hard to get at least 2 squads right where I need them to be.  Again, the Scions are really there to put pressure on and keep my opponent pinned while also forcing them to target small, inexpensive squads.  

I will say that The Greater Good is definitely giving me lots to play with, and I appreciate how many different ways that I can build my army that has set unused for several years.  None of these lists are boring to play, and they can do a lot of work against a variety of opponents.  Will they stand up to Iron Hands? Maybe, maybe not, but well, flying around with planes and blasting Flight of the Valkyries is a good time no matter what.  Thanks as always for reading, and keep playing with lists out there.

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