Richard's Warhammer 40,000 List Building: Elysian Ride of the Valkyries

Hello! It's been a long week so I just managed to find the time to post, but it's worth it! As I mentioned last week, I would put up an Elysian list and of course, with Imperial Guard allies! First and foremost, I feel this is very much appropriate before I continue.

Now then, while you listen to that and reminisce over Kilgore lecturing Lance in Apocalypse Now, I thought I'd provide a brief summary of the list. The Elysian drop troop list done by Forgeworld in Imperial Armour Volume 8: Raid on Kastorel-Novem was unique in that it utilized Valkyries as its premier dedicated transport to ferry platoons/veterans into combat and then provide deadly air support. With the advent of sixth edition, I realized that cutting down on a few Valkyries and Vultures and injecting some much needed ground support and mobility was required. So here we go son!

2000 pts Elysian Drop Troops w/ Imperial Guard Allies

1225 pts Elysian Drop Troops:

HQ - Elysian Command Squad - 175 pts

Company Commander & 4 Veterans w/ Meltaguns in Valkyrie w/ Sponson-Mounted Heavy Bolters

Troops - Veteran Squad - 220 pts
10 Veterans w/ 3 Meltaguns in Valkyrie w/ Sponson-Mounted Heavy Bolters


Troops - Veteran Squad - 220 pts
10 Veterans w/ 3 Meltaguns in Valkyrie w/ Sponson-Mounted Heavy Bolters


Troops - Veteran Squad - 220 pts
10 Veterans w/ 3 Meltaguns in Valkyrie w/ Sponson-Mounted Heavy Bolters

Fast Attack - Vendetta Gunship Squadron - 130 pts
Vendetta Gunship


Fast Attack - Vendetta Gunship Squadron - 130 pts
Vendetta Gunship


Fast Attack - Vendetta Gunship Squadron - 130 pts
Vendetta Gunship

775 pts Imperial Guard Detachment: 

HQ - Company Command Squad - 185 pts

Company Commander w/ Melta Bombs, Astropath & 4 Veterans w/ 3 Plasmaguns in Chimera w/ Hull-Mounted Heavy Flamer

Troops - Veteran Squad - 155 pts

10 Veterans w/ 3 Meltaguns in Chimera w/ Hull-Mounted Heavy Flamer

Troops - Veteran Squad - 155 pts

10 Veterans w/ 3 Meltaguns in Chimera w/ Hull-Mounted Heavy Flamer

Fast Attack - Hellhound Squadron - 130 pts

Banewolf

Heavy Support - Leman Russ Squadron - 150 pts

Leman Russ Battle Tank

Summary & Thoughts :

HQ - 2

Elites - 0

Troops - 5

Fast Attack - 4

Heavy Support - 1

I love this list because it brings the thunder! Having seven fliers move onto the board on turn two on a 2+ is just huge. As long as that Astropath doesn't get pasted before turn two, you should get six of those seven Elysian units on average. In addition, with the mobility the Valkyries and Vendettas bring, clearing out vectors to objectives should be doable.

The key with this list is really understanding when to deploy your troops to secure objectives. With the majority of your ranged firepower coming in on turn two, you need to be conservative with your ground forces on turn one to avoid unnecessary loses at close range. You want your Vendettas on turn two and you want smoking transports shortly after. When the armour has been cracked, the Veterans drop down from the Valkyries, emerge from the Chimeras (or advance on foot) and then melt everything they see. With a Bane Wolf and Leman Russ, you have some extra hitting power to vaporise marines and lesser opponents. Terminators will also fear the extraordinary amount of Meltaguns pointing in their direction as well as the torrenting firepower of all your Valkyries.

There's not much more to say beyond the incredible resiliency this list promotes. Fliers are simply difficult to destroy currently with the lack of implementation of Flak missiles in current Codices, although that might change with Codex: Chaos Space Marines coming out in October. So this list simply takes advantage of that fact by overwhelming the opponent with the best flier in the game: the Valkyrie/Vendetta. Lets not beat around the bush here. For its cost, the Vendetta in particular blows every other flier out of the water, with the Valkyrie coming in at number two and the Stormraven at a distant third. Take advantage of this fact and hopefully you will come to love the smell of napalm in the morning!

I've decided that every five or six posts will I pause from my usual list-building and instead provide commentary, advice and suggestions on other aspects of the game and hobby. For example, my next blog will feature an in-depth look at understanding the missions in the Warhammer 40,000: 6th Edition rule book and how to best prepare for them!