The new codex and the Mordian 7th Regiment

Apologies beforehand for the wall o' text!

I managed to get a chance to read through the codex yesterday, and thought I'd share my initial impressions. There are a number of notable changes to rules, organization, and points costs, so I sat down and re-worked my entire army list accordingly. To make things easy I use an excel spreadsheet to track every unit that I have, which allows me to then pick and choose units to build army lists for games. As I went through the old master file to update all the units, I color coded the changes to help me figure out what's new the next few times I play. Suffice it to say, the list changed considerably and got REALLY colorful. There's lots of new stuff to keep track of the first few times I play the new list.

A few changes really stood out to me:

HQ:
Many units which used to be HQ detachments/advisors moved to the troops and fast attack headings. While I like the fact that I can now give a commissar to any of my infantry squads and platoon HQs, it seems odd that in order to get a commissar for the company HQ I must use a force organization slot, meaning that in a normal game, I'll not be able to take both Commissar Fidel Arden and Primaris Psyker Morrin Dannel. The loss of the "leadership bubbles" is unfortunate, though I do think it'll be more fluffy to have the guard units panicking and routing left and right, followed by the merry tune of the commissar's bolt pistol (though I AM irritated that roughly half of my commissars no longer carry valid weapons, grrr). The vox network is now used to reroll Orders, though I find the ranges for orders absurdly short for the Platoon HQs. I would think an 18-24" Company/12" Platoon range would be a bit more useful compared to the new 12"/6". Personally, I'm not a huge fan of using special characters in 'normal-sized' games, though the 5th ed codexes all seem to be going that route to give the army flavor. At the moment I don't intend to proxy in any of the special characters for use in my army - The only one who interested me so far was Pask, who I might use as a Tank Ace for the King Russ Vanquisher. Nevertheless, I did like that they added some new special characters, and the backgrounds and histories for the new characters were all very entertaining!

ELITES:
Ogryns got scary - +1T, +1A, Furious Charge and Stubborn? With Assault 3, Str 5 Ripper Guns? Yes, please! I've always been a fan of Ogryns, so many tacticas I've read tend to disregard them as underwhelming for their points, but they have always performed admirably for me, and they're just darn entertaining to field. Fluff over Mathhammer any day of the week for me! I really like the new Ratling sniper models, so I'll be fielding them and the Psyker Battle Squad seems like a nice fluffy unit. Overall, I'm happy to see the Imperial Psykers getting a little upgrade. They were more or less useless in the previous codex, which was a shame.

TROOPS:
Oodles of scoring units in the new army - there's 8 troops selections in the new Mordian 7th list. Overall there were no real surprises, cheaper infantry squads, slightly more expensive platoon HQs. Disappointed at the lack of Col. Schaeffer's Last Chancers, but the penal battalion isn't quite the letdown I'd feared. Not great, but okay. Hardened Veterans moved to Troops, which I like.

FAST ATTACK:
Not much changed here for me, though I'm disappointed that my custom rough riders are no longer appropriately armed. I have a whole new set of bikes on the way however which should alleviate this problem.

HEAVY SUPPORT:
Higher Side armor on Leman Russ MBTs is nice, as is the Lumbering Behemoth Rule. I'm especially pleased to see the Executioner became a bit more useful - shorter ranged, but it's now Heavy 3/AP 2, a definite Terminator killer!

After a fair bit of re-typing, cutting/pasting, and updates, I finally nailed down the final complete army list utilizing the new codex.

Mordian 7th Regiment, D Company (following the conclusion of the Flotis III campaign):

HQ:

• Company Commander Evin Eldro & Command Squad - Vox, Medic, Standard, Melta, Wyvern Command Chimera: 180 pts.
• Commissar Lord Fidel Arden: 80 pts.
• Primaris Psyker Morrin Dannel: 70 pts.
• 2 x Techpriest Enginseers - 2 Tech Servitors, 1 Heavy Bolter Servitor each: 220 pts.

ELITES:

• Ratling Snipers - Dunno's Deadeyes (5 ratlings): 50 pts.
• Psyker Battle Squad - 6 Psykers & 1 Overseer: 80 pts.

3rd Platoon (based on original army list naming conventions):

• Ogryn Squad - Thargadd's Thumpers (6 ogryns): 150 pts.

TROOPS:

1st Platoon:

• Platoon HQ - Vox, Medic, Standard, Melta, Wyvern Command Chimera: 220 pts.
• 2 x Infantry Squads - Vox, Melta, Grenade Launcher, Autocannon: 71 pts. each
• 2 x Armored Fist Squads - Vox, Melta, Grenade Launcher, Autocannon, Chimera: 156 pts. each
• 2 x Anti-Tank Heavy Weapons Team - 3 x Lascannon: 105 pts. each

2nd Platoon (named as such in homage to the 1st ed. list):

• Demolition Veterans Squad - Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher, Plasma, Melta, Chimera, Demolitions upgrade: 235 pts.
• Drop Veterans Squad (mounted in Valkyrie) - 3 x Melta guns: 105 pts.
• Drop Veterans Squad (mounted in Valkyrie) - 3 x Plasma guns: 120 pts.

4th Platoon (again, original 1st ed. naming structure):

• Beastman Attack Squad A - Knife Fighters, No Lasrifles (Proxy Penal Battalion): 80 pts.
• Beastman Attack Squad B - Knife Fighters, No Lasrifles (Proxy Penal Battalion): 80 pts.

6th Platoon (ditto):

• Penal Battalion: 80 pts.

Defense Line:

• Turret Emplacements - 3 x Twin Linked Heavy Bolters: 210 pts.

FAST ATTACK:

• Armored Sentinel Squadron - 3 x lascannons: 210 pts.

5th Platoon (more original list naming):

• Rough Rider Squad A - 10 bikers, 2 x Melta Guns: 140 pts.
• Rough Rider Squad B - 10 bikers, 2 x Melta Guns: 140 pts.
• Rough Rider Squad C - 10 bikers, 2 x Melta Guns: 140 pts.

2nd Platoon, Continued (these carry the Drop Veterans):

• 2 x Valkyrie Assault Carriers - Lascannons: 230 pts.

HEAVY SUPPORT:

• Medusa Siege Gun: 100 pts.
• Leman Russ - Lascannon, HK Missile: 185 pts.
• 2 x King Russ - Lascannon, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Extra Armor, Massive (Dozer Blade): 210 pts.
• King Russ Vanquisher - Lascannon, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Extra Armor, Massive (Dozer Blade): 215 pts.
• King Russ Executioner - Heavy Bolter, Camo Netting, Extra Armor, Massive (Dozer Blade): 235 pts.
• King Russ Eradicator - Heavy Bolter, Extra Armor, Massive (Dozer Blade): 215 pts.
• Thunderbolt Fighter - 2 x Hellstrike Missiles: 200 pts.
• Macharius - Heavy bolter sponsons: 345 pts.
• Stormlord - Extra sponsons, heavy stubbers: 620 pts.
• Stygies Pattern Leviathan: 1250 pts.

Total Points: 7694(!)

At the moment much of the army is complete and painted - however there are a number of units that still require assembly and/or painting (and in the case of the rough riders, purchasing):

Primaris Psyker
2 Veteran Squads (under construction)
2 Valkyries (under construction)
2 Beastmen Squads (test builds underway, pics to follow)
Penal Battalion Squad (using Catachans)
Re-arm 2 existing sentinels with lascannons
3 Mechanized Rough Rider Squads (5 old models being retired, 10 under construction, 20 bikes on order)
4 King Russ MBTs (under construction, 2 'vanilla', 1 Vanquisher, 1 Eradicator)
Leviathan (under construction)

Doesn't look too bad until I realize that's 80 more infantry/bikes and 7 vehicles (including the mobile building that is the Leviathan). Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to it! There are a couple things that I'm considering to bring the list in line with the original - there's supposed to be a human command squad that oversees the Beastmen attack squads, though the penal battalion rules that I'm using to proxy the Beastmen don't count towards the required Platoon units. I'm considering purchasing a second platoon HQ for the armored fist squads, then deploying them alongside the Beastmen. Fits the letter of the current rules, as I don't see that the platoon HQ must set up within a certain distance of their 'correctly associated' units, though they must be placed in reserve/deploy at the same time as said associated unit. Not a big problem as I see it, as my armored fist squads rarely start in reserve. In addition, I'm planning on replacing all the squad autocannons with Lascannons, as that's how the original list was armed, and these days all I ever seem to play against are Marines, where the autocannons come up lacking.

Overall I'm more pleased than not regarding the new codex. As is usually the case, GW has invalidated certain unit's equipment loadouts which means several models I had in the old army list are no longer viable under the new rules - Irritating, but par for the course. Overall however I think the army list is flavorful (even without the inclusion of the special characters), flexible, and hopefully fun to play with and against!