Protecting CCS

[Sgt. Rock]

As the title says. How do y'all do it? If they're on foot in cover, they get shredded, if they're in a steel coffin Chimera, they get trashed, too. Between orders and slay the warlord, seems like everyone wants to cut the head off the serpent. Any suggestions?

[WestRider]

It's often a pretty easy First Blood point, too, being such a small Unit. With Tau and their ready access to Ignores Cover, it's definitely getting much, much more difficult to keep a CCS alive. Honestly, I find myself leaning more and more toward a Lord Commissar or even a Primaris Psyker for my Warlord.

What I've been thinking of trying out first, tho, is just completely giving up on the idea of doing anything with my CCS besides issuing Orders and staying alive. Take a couple of Russes, in case I can't get any Blocking Terrain, keep the CCS behind them. Each turn, move out just enough to see what I want to use Fire on My Target or Bring It Down on, then Run back behind the Russes after issuing Orders. Possibly with a Chimera, too, for protection from Helldrakes and Girffons, using the Flat Out move to get it back behind the Russes. No other upgrades, tho, just the bare minimum 50 Points, or 105 with the Chimera.

[hendrik]

or, you could run a second one,bare bones, which works as your warlord and gets placed into reserves.
HQ units that can get targetted individually are a no brainer target priority since they can grant both first blood and slay the warlord if succesfully.
coming to think of it 6th edition has really changed the way company command squads were used. in 5th there was no actual game winning-losing risk involved by throwing your plasma CCS right into the enemy his heart. sure, they would die, but not before making their points back. now such a squad might not even make it into turn 2 because of it granting first blood and slay the warlord. leading from the front suddently isn't as viable anymore

[Sgt. Rock]

Hm. I like both those ideas. I might buy a barebones Lord Commissar and put him in my Vendetta with my melta vets, as well, and then just let him ride around in the bird after it's dropped the kids off at the pool.

[hendrik]

note that if the vendetta goes boom you'll lose your warlord too. i'dd rather just keep him in reserves then, and should he decide to come up, make him run into some terrain,somewhere far, out of sight, and as far away from your objectives as possible so your opponent has to choose where to go with his force.
would a tech priest not be the better choice for a warlord though then?

[Sgt. Rock]

Techpriests can't be warlords, it was in the FAQ. Rather a pity. And yeah, I know that if the Vendetta goes down, he goes with it, but our flyers are pretty hard to take down, and he'd be better protected than parking his butt somewhere all by his lonesome or sitting in a Chimera. It's not too hard to insta-gib a T3 model, so the other guy really won't have to direct all that much firepower at him to take him down. Admittedly, a second barebones CCS would be cheaper than a lonely LC, so maybe that's a better idea. And hey, I could get a couple more orders out of the deal, so why not? Might go that route. Spring for a vox on it, but leave it at that.

[WestRider]

I like the Lord Commissar because I run a Shooty Blob in my backfield. In general, if that Unit gets killed, something's already gone horribly wrong, and losing my Warlord probably ain't gonna swing the game at that point. 30-40 ablative Wounds should keep him alive pretty well, I reckon.

If you don't have a Unit like that to hide him in, an IC Warlord is a somewhat less safe option.

[Sgt. Rock]

I run a 30 man backfield blob, too. I may have to try the LC back there at some point. It's just frustrating, because it seems less than fluffy for anyone other than the CC to be the warlord. It even says in the codex that Lord Commissars are typically just advisers, and they only step into a leadership role in extreme circumstances (Ibram Gaunt notwithstanding.) Oh well. I'll have to experiment, see what works best.

[treadiculous]

I have been running 2 CCS for a while now .. keep them cheap and simple - just give orders.

It works very well.

Occasionally for fluff I add a regimental banner to one of the CCS though this normally gets the unit killed very quickly as opponents identify banners as important.

Works well as decoy though if I have my warlord in the unit without the banner...

[WestRider]

I like that idea: Run double CCS and tool up the one that isn't the Warlord so it draws more attention. Gonna have to give that a try.

[Burt Hoovis]

If you have heavy weapons teams in the back you can park your CCS next to them to give twin linked against vehicles. People also tend to target the weapons teams first, then. But I also use an LC as my warlord too.