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Joined: Fri May 13, 2005 11:01 pm
Posts: 1455
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So, I actually succumbed to the temptation and bought the Apocalypse book over the weekend, even though it's been something like 18 months since I've played a game of 40k.
There's a decent amount of info in the book usable from an E:A perspective, so here's some of the highlights, IMO.
(Codex Apocalypse @ pg 156)
QUOTE
CADRES AND CONTINGENTS
The most common operational unit of the Fire Caste is the Cadre, which consists of a single battlefield command. There are many different types of cadre. Although most commonly a cadre is a combined arms force of warriors and vehicles, more specialized cadres exist, fielding swift reconnaisance units, heavier weaponry or large numbers of alien auxiliaries. When several cadres fight together, they are grouped into a contingent.
page 157 gives several examples of cadres, including a 'Standard Hunter Cadre' (which is a fairly typical 40k force, and pretty unworkable in E:A because of the very disparate speeds of the crisis suits versus the vehicle-less infantry), consisting of 2 Fire Warrior teams, 3 Crisis teams, a Broadside team, a Hammerhead, a Skyray, 2 Kroot squads, and a Piranha team. In E:A terms, that would be a Battlesuit Cadre with a FW upgrade, a Broadside upgrade, a Hammerhead upgrade, a Skyray upgrade, and a Piranha upgrade. nevermind the fact that combination isn't a legal E:A unit (due to the 5 (or 6, since there should be a Commander upgrade for the Crisis suits) upgrades), would anyone on the board want to run that as a single formation? talk about easy to smoke a slow-moving formation like that...
There's the 'Mobilized Hunter Cadre', which is 3 Fire Warrior teams and a Pathfinder Team, all with Devilfish transports, and 2 Piranha Teams. *Hmmm, now what does that sound like in E:A? Oh, yeah, a FW cadre with a Pathfinder and Piranha upgrade.
Optimised Stealth Group: 4 Stealth Teams (slightly smaller version of the Stealth Support Group from E:A)
Pathfinder Insertion Group: 4 Pathfinder teams with Devilfish (just like a Pathfinder Support Group in E:A)
Rapid Insertion Force: 4 Crisis teams, with a Stealth team acting as point (this formation has some odd rules in Apocalypse, since the Stealth team can be on the ground ahead of the deep-striking Crisis suits. There's a specific note that this formation does NOT have to be deployed all at the same time, unlike any other Battle Formation). Effectively, it's just 4 Crisis teams, borrowing a Stealth team from another formation (sounds like a Battlesuit Cadre in E:A, doesn't it?).
There's a cadre of mixed alien Aux, but the real kicker is the Armoured Interdiction Cadre: 3+ Hammerheads and/or Skyrays. The example on page 157 is 2 Hammerheads and 2 Skyrays, but the Battle Formation datasheet just says 3+, one of which must be designated as a command vehicle.
While this command vehicle give d3+1 'free' markerlight counters in Apocalypse games, Markerlights don't work the same way in E:A (and vehicles are immune to morale effects in 40k). The fluff says "The vehicles are networked together with an interactive tactical control system, allowing the commander to supervise the Cadre from within his tank and direct fire quickly and efficiently." Doesn't that sound like the Networked Drones upgrade?
Just a few thoughts for discussion.
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"For the Lion and the Emperor!"
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