9th Edition Speculation - Org Charts, Command Benefits, Point Costs, and Army Building

I guess it's a Titan org chart?

Well, we finally got a few more pieces of the puzzle - 9th is basically here, since we have point value leaks and the new force org charts.

The Short Version on Org Charts
1) You pay CP to take an org chart
2) If your warlord is in that org chart* you are going to get that for free
3) If you take more than one org chart, that org chart is going to cost CP
4) You start with 12 CP at 2,000 points
5) Dedicated transports require INFANTRY units instead of just units

*Unless it's superheavy.  Then you need a Knight codex with its rules.


Thinking about Org Charts in General
Pretty much every org chart (outside of the Superheavy detachment) requires an HQ choice, so I'm not super worried about comparing HQs with each other.

Note also that we don't see the 3x flyer detachment back, but most org charts allow 0-2 flyers.

THE BATTALION
Ah, the battalion - the workhorse of 8th.  The old 'giver of CP.'  The battalion's biggest impact was to make us look at taking tons of troops - so either you brought good troops, or you brought cheap troops.

Now, in 9th, if you're bringing a battalion, I suspect you'll bring 1 or none.  If you're going mono-faction, you can get up to 3 HQs, and you probably won't mind 3 troops choices - assuming, of course, that you have decent troops.  'Cheap filler battalions for CP' is no longer a thing, since you now have to pay CP for them.

Before taking a battalion, ask - "Is this my main/only faction?" and "Do I really like building around my troops?"  If you answered yes to both questions, consider taking it.

THE PATROL
Ah, the patrol.  One HQ, one troop, and access to 0-2 of most everything else.  I don't know that patrols got a lot of love in 8th.

I suspect this will change in 9th.

If you don't like your troops, you don't have to take a lot.  Save your points for other org chart slots where some of your more durable and/or lethal stuff is.  After all, those troops aren't giving you more CP now, either.

Additionally, if you want to 'splash' another faction in here but aren't planning on taking 3 of a given force org slot, you probably want to just cave, grab a token troops choice, and go from there for the low CP cost.

Before taking a patrol, ask - "Is this my main faction?", "Do I like my troops?" and "What all did I want to bring from this faction?"

If this is your main faction AND you don't like your troops, think about a patrol.

If this isn't your main faction AND you aren't taking 3 of a given force org slot, think about a patrol.

THE SUPERHEAVY DETACHMENT
Ah, here's where we get into some pain.  If you want to bring 3 superheavies and include the 'titanic' keyword, you're out 6CP.  Note that Knight codices have ways around this, but it's written into their rules.

My 3 Lords of Skulls are sad now.  Like, real sad.  Same goes for Imperial Guard Baneblade trios, Eldar wraithknight spam, etc.  (I don't think the latter was a thing, but I could be wrong.)  Any way you cut it, this is going to hurt unless you're knights.  Also you're probably only bringing along a patrol at best.

If you're knights, rejoice.

If you're anyone else, ask how painful starting with a max of 6 CP is going to be, and if it's going to be worth bringing 3 superheavies.

FLYER WING
Aaaand it's gone.

If you're bringing anyone with the 'Flyer' battlefield role, look at other org charts.

VANGUARD / SPEARHEAD/  OUTRIDER DETACHMENT
You bring an HQ, 3 of elite/fast attack/heavy support, and then 0-3 troops, and 0-2 of everything else.

In 8th, these were great ways to bulk up on slots (because you never can have enough guns) or splash another faction for cheap.

REVISED OPINION - You might build around these if you KNOW you're gonna take 3 of a given type of unit.  IE - "I really want 3 units of bikes as Ravenwing, and I don't want to bring any troops choices!"  Whether that's a good idea or not is another thing altogether.

Before taking one of these specialists, ask "Do I really want three of a unit type?"  If yes, take it.  If not, look at another one.


BRIGADE
Why?  You could do one in 8th, depending on your codex, but your options were limited - but you got some good CP for it.  Your competition was 2x battalion and change.

You needed to have good, cheap stuff available in most force org slots in order to make the math work and to have a GOOD brigade.  I think a lotta folks enjoyed trying to make cheap brigades just for the challenge of it.

I can't recall if we've seen a brigade get spoiled or not, but with the cost increases we've seen/heard about, I don't see a point in worrying about a brigade.

AUXILIARY SUPER-HEAVY DETACHMENT
You're taking this if you want just one super-heavy.  There's not a lot of debate here - build around that unit and go.  Just remember the old saying "One is none, two is one, three is some."

Moving Ahead
So, the way I see it now, you've got a couple options for 9th edition and it's going to depend on how you built your armies.

First, you can try to re-point what you've got.  If you ran multiple battalions, though, I don't think that's going to get you where you want to go - the part where we all start with 12 CP and pay for detachments beyond the first are going to make us re-think the number of detachments we want to take.

I would instead encourage everyone to take a good, long look at your troops slots.  Did you take a bunch of cheapo troops to fill out battalions for sweet, sweet CP? (I'm looking at you, cultists.)  Or, did you take some solid, reliable troops (I'm looking at you, Primaris fellas) that both filled troops slots AND carried weight?

If you liked your existing troops and you don't really NEED more than 2-3 HQs, it's probably going to be a battalion.  If you don't really like your troops, it's probably going to be a patrol and something else.