+ Building an Army in Legions Imperialis +
+ Paintbrushes down and... done! The Second Company – swollen by some reservists – is all painted and ready for battle. But how do we organise the models into a game-ready force? That's what we'll look at here. +
+ The army-building is, in the grand tradition of Epic, virtually unrecognisable from edition to edition, and Legions Imperialis (LI) is no exception. +
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| Salamanders 2nd Company – the Defenders of Nocturne |
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+ Getting your head round the terms +
+ Army-building in LI is not as complex as it might appear, but it is potentially confusing if you've played other versions of Epic before, as the same old terms are used in slightly different ways. This inload is intended to help clarify things – and also an excuse to show off my shiny new models! +
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| Tactical Legionaries and a Dreadnought being led into the fires of battle by their courageous Captain. |
+ Models are grouped into Detachments, which were called Formations in EA, or Company Cards in SM2. This was the top level of subdivision in EA/SM2, where armies were built around groups of Formations or particular Company cards. +
+ In LI, there's another level: Detachments are formed into super-groups called Formations, and one or more of these will make up your army. +
+ While the shared terminology but be stumbling block to an old player, this system is hopefully nice and clear if you're new: you have an Army with one or more Formations, each of which is made up of Detachments, each of which is made up of Models. +
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+ Formations and detachments +
+ For anyone coming in from 40k, you might remember Force Organisation Charts (FOC) – a little table that gave you slots that you either had to fill, or were able to. This was an attempt to create forces consistent with the background, so an army would have to have a leader and some line infantry units alongside specialist units. +
+ Formations work in much the same way: you have Compulsory and Optional Detachments of different types:
+ The Plasma Gun-armed Marines below are an example of a Support Detachment, while the Tactical Marines behind them are a Core Detachment. The variety and number of the Compulsory and Optional Detachments is what will give your particular army its character and individuality. +
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| Plasma gun-armed marines start as Support Detachments of four Models, which can be expanded. |
+ In addition to a particular combination of Detachment 'slots', Formations sometimes have a special limitation or bonus. In the case of the Legion Demi-Company Formation, from which the extract above is taken, the limitation is that the Compulsory Core Detachments have to be Legionary Tactical Detachments. The bonuses that the Formation offers are a boost to infantry's ability to capture objectives, and the ability to mount infantry in Rhinos without using up a Transport Detachment slot. +
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+ Wait, where's...? +
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| A converted Space Marine Captain – he's traded his power sword with the Terminator to his left, and has a Mark II helmet taken from a spare Rhino crewman. The final touch is a bolt pistol from a spare Sergeant model. Fun and quick to convert at this scale! |
+ Thus far we only have two Formations for Space Marines, and there are a number of Detachments types that are either very limited – Transport and Core have only one option each, for example – or absent altogether. There are no current options for Space Marine Light Armour, Vanguard or or Artillery Detachments. The Solar Auxilia suffer in the same way. +
+ This can be a bit confusing when putting things together, particularly if you're trying to future-proof things or plan your purchases. Doubtless future releases will fill in some of these lacunae, but its worth being aware that some apparent options are just not there when you come to start building your Army. +
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+ Upgrading +
+ Like SM2's Support Cards or EA's Upgrade system, you can customise Formations a little – generally by expanding them with more of the same type of Models. The Devastators (or rather 'Legion Missile Launcher Support Detachment') below, for example, start as four Models, but have limited expansion options: either increasing the Detachment size by 2 or by 4. +
+ The 'photoshoot' example above, then, is not allowed. Dreadnoughts are not a valid upgrade, and you're not allowed to take individual stands. It's thus not quite as flexible as the super-flavourful Epic: 40,000 (E40k), but slightly more so than SM2. +
+ The hard limits are not a huge problem, but you might like to bear them in mind as you build your kits. Since you get a few optional choices for sergeants and things, with some clever trimming (or simply having fewer models per base, or not minding having a few additional sergeants dotted around), you can stretch your kits a bit further should you so wish. If you do so, you might end up with some odd 'orphan' stands – so you might instead like to just save these spares minis to add some flair to a Titan base or scenery instead. +
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| Each sprue comes with six Assault marines including a Sergeant. For every six sprues, you can get one spare stand, if you don't mind having a non-Codex proportion of Sergeants – or, as shown above, you can easily do a bit of trimming to convert the Sergeants into regular Assault Marines. |
+ Thus far, Core Detachments like the Tactical Marines (more formally the 'Legion Tactical Detachment') have slightly more flexibility built into them. As well as increasing in size with more Tactical stands, you can also bring in Plasma Gun- or Missile Launcher-armed models, and even Assault Marines or Terminators. This brings in some complexity and decision-making at the army building stage. +
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+ Options, options... +
+ Once you've got the terminology clear, building an army is then as straightforward as it ever has been – though it's easy to get siezed by analysis paralysis. What's the best Detachment size? How many upgrades should I take, and what sort? +
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+ How many points is this? +
+ Here's the rub. Pictured here is – give or take – what you get from three boxes of Legions Astartes Infantry; or to put it another way, on six sprues. There are also some old metals Dreadnoughts and new plastic Rhinos included in the picture here, which aren't in the box – but you do get two Contemptors per sprue, too, so it roughly evens out. +
+ Building these six sprues as GW intends (i.e. without stretching things), you will end up with:
- 24 stands of Tactical Marines
- 6 stands of Assault Marines
- 6 stands of Devastator Marines
- 6 stands of marines with Plasma Guns
- 6 stands of Terminator
- 6 Contemptor Dreadnoughts
- 6 Command stands.
+ I've not followed that pattern, and haven't optimised the models – but as you can see, I've already ended up with a couple of extra stands, and a little pile of spare Marines (mostly command models and veterans) that I can save for future use. +
+ Still, taking that list above, you can make something like this army:
Formation 1: Legion Demi-Company
- Compulsory Detachments
- HQ: Legion Command Squad (1 stand)
- Core: Legion Tactical Detachment (4 stands)
- +2 extra stands
- Core: Legion Tactical Detachment (4 stands)
- +2 extra stands
- Support: Legion Plasma Gun Detachment (4 stands)
- +2 extra stands
- Optional Detachments
- Support: Legion Assault Detachment (4 stands)
- + 2 extra stands
- + 2 extra stands
Support: Legion Terminator Detachment (4 stands)
Formation 2: Legion Demi-Company
- Compulsory Detachments
- HQ: Legion Command Squad (1 stand)
- Core: Legion Tactical Detachment (4 stands)
- +2 extra stands
- Core: Legion Tactical Detachment (4 stands)
- +2 extra stands
- Support: Legion Missile Launcher Detachment (4 stands)
- +2 extra stands
- Optional Detachments
- Support: Legion Dreadnought Detachment (4 models)
- + 2 extra stands
+ That's everything used up except for four Command Stands – and it only comes to 550pts(!). Given that the game is explicitly intended for 3,000pts, that's a lot of painting to do – to mention nothing of the cost. Realistically, I think that an all-infantry army is not, therefore, very feasible. +
+ Happily, with tanks, Titans and flyers being relatively expensive in comparison, I think that this might be intentional – infantry are dirt cheap in this game, but apparently pivotal in actually claiming objectives. In short, unglamorous – but you'll want to take some. +
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| Seas of infantry are awesome, but you'll need very deep pockets. I'd suggest a mixed force is going to be both more practical, and also more fun for both you and the other players. |
+ Why two Formations? +
+ You'll note that I've split the army across two Formations, but you could (just about) squeeze everything into one if you prefer. The reason I've gone for two is that it opens up your options for allies. You can't have more Allied Formations than the Faction you've chosen for your main army. +
+ Thus, if you want to use the Solar Auxilia and the Titans that come in the core box, you'll need at least two Astartes formations to be able to field them. +
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+ A few thoughts for forward planning +
+ With so few releases actually being available, you're very limited on what you can actually do with them. For example, there's currently no way to field the Legion Garrison Force Formation (at least with GW models only), as it requires a Bastion Detachment – models for which have been previewed but not released. +
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| Where's my fire support? |
+ Because of the upgrade system, you can currently just about field one box of Marines as-is. This will allow you to play the game in a very limited way and get your head round the mechanics, but I'd suggest that a second box will give you far more fun. This is because it will allow you to have separate Detachments of all the specialists, rather than having them act as upgrades for the Tacticals. +
+ Beyond that, I'd suggest that a third box (like I've got above) will be useful going forward, but more than four might be a bit premature at this stage. +
+ Apart from anything else, the upcoming dreadnought/support weapon box is going to give you the option to field the Garrison Formation, and the previewed bikes/jetbikes box implies either a new Formation coming in the next book, or at least some Vanguard Detachment options for your existing Formations. +
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+ Conclusion +
+ The army building system is pleasingly straightforward if you're fresh to the game and don't overthink it. If you're coming to it from previous editions of Epic, or are trying to optimise the models you've got, then you may find the tweaks to terminology – or lack of available models – cause you some problems. +
+ In the short term, an extra box or two of infantry – if you can get hold of them – is a safe purchase, as they'll increase your options and give you something to be getting on with while we wait for more. I would, however, dissuade you from going crazy on buying huge numbers more for the moment, unless you have something very specific in mind. +
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+ On a related note, I don't think the Core box on its own is a great way to kick off the game, unless you're planning to swap some of the models with someone else. It will give you a very small, very odd game-ready force, but you'll have to jump through a few hoops to do so. +
+ Likewise, and rather more annoyingly, the army list presented in the core rulebook is very limited. If you've got the game, then I suggest you concentrate simply on making and painting the models for now, rather than trying to put together a meaningful 'finished army'. Like Necromunda and Adeptus Titanicus before it, this game is cursed with DLC. It seems to be part of GW's new way of working, a model inherited from the worst bits of computer gaming and downloadable content. As noted by Kym (Warburton) in the comments on this inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], the prospect of buying half a dozen books to get a full army list is a real disincentive to getting involved at all. +
+ Like those games, if you come back to it in six months' or a year's time, I think you'll end up with a more complete and more enjoyable game overall. For those early adopters, it's going to be a limited experience while GW get their releases in order, and we're effectively going to be beta-testing the game. +
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+ It's not all bad news. What little has been released is awesome, and because the game has inherited the models of both Aeronautica Imperialis and Adeptus Titanicus, if you're prepared to use skewed lists or step outside of the strict limits of army building, you'll be able to play some interesting scenarios. +
+ If you've got old Epic models, or are able to get third party stand-ins, there are more Detachments in the rulebook that will increase your options. While not the complete Space Marine army that you might wish for, you'll at least be able to bring in some more Dreadnoughts and Support Weapons for further flavour and interest. +
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+ What now? +
+ GW's release model has left me with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth – though given the delays and supply side problems they're apparently facing, it seems a bit unsporting to gripe too much about it. After all, I've only just finished off the infantry I've bought, and have plenty of tanks and Solar Auxilia to get on with – so it seems only fair to give them the benefit of the doubt and save any further complaints over lack of releases until after I've run out of stuff to paint! +
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+ In the meantime, I hope the inload's given you some food for thought, and you've enjoyed the piccies. I'm hoping to get a test game in this week, so I'll come back with some thoughts after that. +
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