The Email
I've gotten some emails asking me for assistance in getting started with a new army, and I've been giving that advice in the form of articles, since I think that many people could benefit from it. This player has gotten in a lot of games with the basic army, and is looking to expand now.

"Hello this is H.B, how are you?

I've played quite a few games now and I feel that I kind of want to experiment, maybe try out new units. I decided to start with the Elites. Space marines get some really cool elite choices and if I had enough resources, I'd buy and try all of them. However, that is not possible so I decided to pick two and then ask your opinion. I picked Legion of the Damned and the Sternguard Veteran Squad. I researched, and thought awhile to pick these two.

I picked Legion of the Damned because... well.... they are pretty cool. I mean imagine, the accursed legion, decorated with skull armour, who lays waste to all of the Emperor's enemies. These guys are enough to give an Ork Nob a nightmare. Also, I find that against foes with lots of low AP weapons, it gets pretty ugly... for me. Besides, I desperately need an anti-monstrous creature unit."

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Legion of the Damned
Legion of the Damned do have a lot of things going for them. Let's take a look at each of them in turn and see what they can do for us.

3+ invulnerable save-way better against armor-piercing weapons, but no better protection against normal weaponry. If you can make sure that these guys are taking on enemy elite combat units or heavy guns, you'll be better off.

Slow and Purposeful: A walking lascannon or multi-melta is definitely highly useful. Lascannons often suffer from line of sight issues, and Multi-Meltas suffer from range limitations, both of which are definitely improved by movement.

Deepstrike w/reroll: While I'm not usually a big fan of deepstrike, having that reroll makes them much more accurate, which can make a big difference. In addition, this squad can be much more self-sufficient than most.

A Powerfist with 5 or more wounds and a 3+ invulnerable save is fairly rugged. The only concern I would have is that a smart opponent will focus lots of basic weaponry on them (two squads of rapid-firing Bolters will almost wipe this unit out in one turn.) You may be able to "force" the opponent to waste low-AP weaponry on them with good placement, though.

They also have a few things going against them. They have slow movement after the Deepstrike, very low model count, and are fairly expensive (30-ish points per model before upgrades.) I think that if I were making a squad of them, I'd stick to 5 models and give them a Powerfist, Melta and Meltagun, which would run about 200pts. Equipped thusly, they could handle just about any target. Deepstriking them close to a vehicle gives you a good chance of quickly making them a powerful threat that may distract your opponent, and can wreck his plans. You'll see more about this later in the article. Now let's have a look at Sternguard Veterans.

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"I picked Sternguard because they are versatile and will meet just about anything thrown in their way. Also they have access to combi-weapons."

Sternguard Veterans
The Sternguard certainly do have a lot of options, even with their basic Bolters. I've basically seen 2 ways of using Sternguard. The first way involves a small squad of them used in much the same way as the Legion of the Damned squad I recommended above. 2 Meltas and 2 combi-weapons (-melta or -flamer would be my recommendation) and _maybe_ give the sergeant a Powerfist. Give them a Drop Pod and either use them as a threat/distraction or put them at whatever point in your lines needs reinforcing.

The other way I've seen them used is as a larger squad to make use of those special Bolter rounds. This squad definitely needs a rhino. I'd put in a couple of Meltas and a few combi-weapons. The goal is to keep the squad in back of your lines and protected, then when your lines are threatened (or you are threatening their lines) they roll up, jump out, select some good ammo and Rapid-fire the heck out of an enemy squad. This is a very expensive squad, but it can put out a lot of hurt, as long as you can keep them from being targeted too much. (Smaller squads are more fragile, but they also cost less, so they have an easier time "getting their points back." It's usually easier to afford the loss of a 200pt or less squad, if it can take out an important part of the enemy army. A 300pt loss is much harder to make up for.)

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"What is your opinion on the Ironclad Dread? I asked 3 veteran gamers. 2 said they were OK. One said that they were horrible. I know how normal and Venerable Dreads work because I field 2 in my army at the moment but I never tried these guys."

Ironclad
Well, they were right. The Ironclad Dreadnought is okay and it's horrible. It depends a lot on how you use it and how it fits into your army. Ironclads have better armor than standard Dreadnaughts. AV13 is really nothing to sneeze at. It has 2 close combat weapons and a variety of mostly short-range weapon options. It is very good at wrecking vehicles and Heavy Infantry in close combat. (It would do a number on Light Infantry, too, but it gets bogged down killing them a few at a time.) On the other hand, it gets shredded by Monstrous Creatures and Powerfists and Thunderhammers. The best use I've heard for an Ironclad Dreadnought is to put it in a Drop Pod and use it as a threat/distraction. Which brings us to a discussion of threats and distractions.

Threats and Distractions are very handy for a 40k army. They can keep your opponent distracted and possibly unable to get their plan in motion against your army. Some of them can also wipe out key units that the opponent needs or that you simply want dead, stat. An excellent example would be Commissar Wood's "Slag Squad." They were IG veterans with 3 Meltaguns. He'd just point them in the direction of whatever he needed dead and they'd wreck it.

These units limit your opponent's options and make their armies less effective. This is because they are direct threats that are in your opponent's face, forcing him to deal with them or lose an important unit. Keep in mind that these units are expendable, so don't be surprised when they die. They are simply there to turn the tide of battle in your favor. Too many of these units will cut down on points that are needed for the rest of your army. If you have too many of these units, you will kill a lot of the enemy army and will definitely disrupt their plans, but they generally won't have the survivability to win you the game.

Each of the above units can be used as a Threat or Distraction. All three of them in a 1500 point army list would run you 540+ points. While that is a lot of carnage, it's also more than 1/3 of your points tied up in 11 models. 11 models that only work effectively if you drop them into the middle of the enemy army and make sure that all enemy guns are pointed squarely at them. A better option would be to use 1 or maybe two of these at the most, leaving the rest of your points for a more solid army.

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