Detachments.

Something that I love about the current edition of Warhammer 40,000 is the variable detachment system. I'm not that fussed about Command Points, and, playing Guard or Genestealer, I've yet to run out, and, no, i don't have a system that ensures I regain them, i just forget to use them. That being said, i found it fascinating watching the meta go mental over how many CP the different factions could get.

By now, the Blessed 32 Guard Battalion detachment, or CP-battery has become ubiquitous. For those not familiar, this is 3 Infantry squads and 2 HQ, coming in at a little over 180 points, depending on options, generally with a way to recoup CP, whether an artifact or a Warlord Trait, that brings 5 CP to bolster the rest of the force, say a single Super Heavy Detachment of 3 Dominus/Questoris Knights. That bolster, for 180 points, gives 5CP, while the detachment that takes up the rest of the points In this 2000 point force brings 3.

Before the Rule of 3, restricting access to any unit that isn't Troops to one plus one per 1,000 points or part thereof, the Guard could truly spam CP. Taking modern points values, just think how many Blessed 32s you could fit in a 3000 point force: 10 of them, giving you 50 CP, could be pulled together for under 2000 points, leaving you over 1000 for some units that can really benefit from this battery, say a couple of Spearheads of tanks, or a detachment of Knights. Of course, that does mean 320 infantry, which is a lot of models to buy, build, paint, transport, and move around the table.

Before the 32, the emphasis was on the Brigade, giving 9 CP, now 12, and how easily the Guard could fill it. 3 company commanders, 6 infantry squads, 3 command squads, 3 mortar armed heavy weapons squads and 3 Sentinels could, nowadays be pulled together for about 600 points. In a 3000 point game, again ignoring the Rule of 3, you could easily get 5 or, just about 6 of these detachments, for 63 or 75 CP. This is just ridiculous, with something around 500 models. It's obscene, although it's also very Guard.

For the first 6 months to a year of eighth edition, my usual gaming group and i set about the matter with some gusto, whether how to get the maximum amount of CP for a points limit, or just how many infantry models can you squeeze in, or can you create a force with more models than you can fit in the deployment zone for the recommended table size, etc. The results were interesting, and terrifying to those who were accustomed to the comparative scarcity of Space Marines.

One thing we never tried was to test how big a force we could make using only a single detachment. By that, I'm meaning how huge a points-sink, rather than how many bodies. Six months ago, on a sunny evening, i decided to see, and so sprawled out on the lawn with Codex: Astra Militarum, Chapter Approved 2018, Imperial Armour Index: Forces of the Astra Militarum and Index: Imperium 2. I decided to go with the Kraken of detachments, the Brigade.

A Brigade detachment comprises: 3-6 HQ, 6-12 Troops, 3-8 Elites, 3-5 Fast Attack, 3-5 Heavy Support, 0-2 Flyers and 0-1 Dedicated Transport per other unit. That last bit, the transport per other unit, could be easily milked, taking a Chimera as a Dedicated Transport for a tank, or for a 30-strong Conscript platoon, so i decided that I'd not push that, and only take enough transports for the infantry that could mount up. I also decided to favour infantry wherever possible (since, after that last condition, that would maximise the number of transports).

So, i began with the compulsory units:
- 3 HQ, easily filled with 3 Company Commanders, and i felt fairly sure that I'd be well into the 1-2000 point bracket for 3 of them;
- to accompany them, and fill the compulsory Elites slots, 3 Command Squads, with trimmings and a Chimera each (with a side note that i could take a custom fit variant as a possible alternative (see my post on Chimera Variants for details on these alternatives);
- for the 6 Troops, 6 Infantry squads, with a handful of points to upgrade the sergeant, add a vox, a special weapon and/or a heavy weapon, and, again a Chimera;
- for the 3 Fast Attack, 3 3-vehicle squadrons of Hellhounds, each squadron of a different variant, so 3 Hellhounds, 3 Bane Wolves and 3 Devil Dogs;
- for Heavy Support, i went for 3 Heavy Weapons Squads, one each of Autocannon, Lascannon and Missile Launchers. While i could squeeze them in with the command squads, i gave each of them a Chimera, again, with a note that they didn't need the full transport capacity, so could swap for a variant.

So, i totted that up, and it was, a lot. I thought I should max out the Fast Attack and Heavy Support, so another 2 squadrons of Hellhounds and 2 Heavy Weapons squads, one with heavy bolters, one with mortars, each with a Chimera, and i comfortably crossed the cap to be able to have 5 units of the same datasheet (well into the 3,000-4,000 band). I decided to add some Flyers, say 4 Valkyries (2 wings of 2 to start with), and, to make use of their grav-chutes, a trio of Special Weapons Squads and a Veteran squad with flamer spam. Of course, those aircav elements might need to rapidly redeploy once they were on the ground, so a Chimera for each, and an Officer of the Fleet to fill that last Elite slot and bolster the aircraft's fire...

...i totalled up, and i was in the 5,000 point ballpark, with 3 HQ slots and 6 Troops slots available, with the option of 2 more Valkyries, and potentially another 9 Dedicated Transports. I'd say that I could, easily push it to 6,000, with only 15 CP. It's rather the antithesis of the Blessed 32 and Knights, not to mention being a ridiculous number of IFVs... 33-42 Chimera hulls and 4-6 aircraft would be an "INTERESTING" development.