An Officer and a Scoundrel

The monolith flared to life and a wave of green fell over the squads. Several of the platoon were instantly vaporised. A great glow began to emit from the monoliths summit and a focused beam of gauss struck one of the chimeras. The ensuing explosion threw half of third squad into the dirt while the others dove for cover.
“Helos, try to get a message through, ‘Surrounded by Necron force, need extraction’”. Wrathe, cintari of fourth platoon, kept his voice level, his calm was now the only thing holding the platoon in good order.
“Cintari, more auspex contacts, approaching from the west.” Helos, unable to cut through the static from the planets electrical storms had redirected his efforts to the chimeras’ sensorium.

Cursing their illfortune and saying a quick prayer to the Emporer Wrathe clambered up to the chimeras turret controls and brought the multilaser to bear on a group of necrons approaching across the embattled roadway. “Second squad, cover thrid as they withdraw, platoon form up on the command chimera. Los Cuernos! We aren’t done yet.”

A sudden bright flash from beyond the battle lines caused the platoon commander to withdraw further into the vehicle. The purple-white beam slashed through the darkness impacting on the monolith. A hurrah errupted from the men as the lascannon brought the imposing threat to rest on the ground. Las guns returned to the viscious firefight and new vigor redoubled the platoon fire.

“Cintari, some vox traffic coming through”. Helos shouted up.

“Patch it to me”. Replied Wrathe.

“Line, … . Advan… ire! Advance, Fire!” In rapid succesion twin lascannon beams cut through the night illuminating the battle field. Round after round struck the monolith and bore impressive holes into its shell. The construct rippled and reformed but the constant pressure proved decisive as the lights within began to die out.

Shouted over the din of the firefight the platoon could hear clearly. “Halt! Present, arms! OPEN FIRE!” As one an entire firing line emptied their power packs into the flanked Necrons. The warriors succumbed to the fusilade of fire and fell. There was suddenly a hiss and crack of displaced air as the monolith and warriors, fallen and unengaged, vanished back to the sepulchre they had come from.

“Second platoon stand to and establish a perimeter”. From the darkness a tall figure strode forward to meet Cintari Wrathe. “Cintari Hellspont, second platoon commander, B company, Five-One Cadian Auxilia.”

At 70 points Captain Al’rahem, played above by Cintari Hellspont, is the most expensive upgrade for a platoon command squad, save for a chimera with all the trimings. Individualy his stat line is incredibly lacking and his damage output individualy is anemic at best. The good captain, however, is a tool of manuever potential instead of a source of direct damage.

He has many utilitise with his ability to outflank with his platoon and he can be a very tournament competitive character since his primary asset will have been completed before he even becomes threatened by enemy fire or assault. And even on the table he is able to deliver the ‘bring it down’ order and the ‘first rank fire, second rank fire’ further adding to the potential for devastation. Finally he has one of his own which allows a unit to combine their normal shooting with a run.

In the army list of the story Al’rahem is accompanied by a vox caster and three flamers while his squads are combined into two squads of twenty men each with a lascannon, vox caster and melta gun. To be most effective I would always use Al’rahem with an astropath to ensure good deployment from reserve. Combined with the astropath the platoon has an approximately 80% chance to all arrive on the same board edge and the platoon has an approximate 70% chance to arrive on the board edge that you most want.

The points cost of the unit is high at 450 points and should be used as a guard equivalent hammer unit. Enter the board edge and use the first turn to quickly advance into cover using the squads to screen the command squad and use orders to hustle the squads forward while firing on any immediate threats. On the second turn move the platoon command squad forward to keep pace with the other squads and come into flamer range on a softer target, but don’t move the infantry squads. Now in the shooting phase you can use the ‘Like the wind’ order to fire the lascannons into vehicles sides and continue the advance. Or, if you’ve already found a good place to fight from, use the bring it down order to ensure a couple of vehicles take damage.

Al’rahem flourishes in both dawn of war and spearhead deployments. In dawn of war he does not need to be marched onto the field from your board edge and thus is able to bring his full weight to bear much faster than most of the rest of your units. In spear head you have a 70% chance to arrive right behind the opponents lines and typicaly very near to any possible objectives. For pitched battle deployments he is no less powerful but he gains no special synergy with the mission itself.

When taking objectives he’s not just good in a spear head deployment. Only objectives toward the center of the board will give Al’rahem trouble and between standard movement and ‘Like the wind’ his platoon is able to stay impressivley effective as he crosses to the objective. In annihilate missions his force represents three kill points at 450 points.

Al’rahem’s expense points to the true benefit of his abilities and the utility they provide any commander. The build I have suggested is likely a significant investment for any guard army but the 1,000 to 1,500 points which remain should be sufficient for any substantial anvil force. With the might of Al’rahem behind and the wall of bayonets before you will trap your enemy and run rough shod over them.

-Luckee

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