Straken Executes a Commissar

Astra Militarum Space Marines

1st place Store Championship Faraos, Copenhagen.

Straken's iron fist is joined by both the Imperial Fists and Iron Hands to devastate any who would dare to face them. Particularly warlords with the Commissar trait are usually executed expediently and thus exposed as talentless upstarts..

This setup is a take on how the Imperial Guard can join their lasguns with the Astartes' boltguns as an alternative to the common AM/Ork alliance. The idea is to get as much millage as possible out of the Colonel's hale-ability and shoot your way through anything the opponent can field on the opposite side of a planet. If the enemy warlord shows up for a fight then all the better. This show of force is made possible by an above-decent command capacity and a few unexpected tricks.

Tactical notes:
This deck has a decent number of shields and shield options included. Use shield cards carefully though as most of them are not intended as discards: Honorifica Imperialis is a nice two-shielder, but it is much better employed as an excellent attachment for both the Blood Angels, the Imperial Fists and even the Iron Hands.
- The Vanguard is included both as a standard combat unit, but also as a combo-option for potentially sacrificing it to Cpt. Markis, exhausting a heavy hitter and then readying your exhausted unit carrying Honorifica.
- A surprise trick to finish off a warlord or super-heavy unit is playing a Rally on your Devastators or Land Raider just before they strike (the former with or without Honorifica). This can also work with the Blood Angels' units for a normal strike of 5 or 6. A grand maneuver could be a surprise Rally on a Techmarine opposed by three or more enemy units, especially if these include the enemy warlord. (Remember that the Rally's effect last until the end of the phase, so a Plannum recommit might be interesting to bear in mind as well.)
- Consider using a copy of Promotion in tandem with a Rally if you have the opportunity - e.g. a promoted soldier from the Iron Hands' Space Marine chapter does in fact look inconspicuous.

Suggested key cards regarding mulligan draw:
1. Omega Zero Command
2. Troop Transport (depending on the flop)
3. Straken's Command Squad/Devastators

Weaknesses and oddities:
With no 'Ard Boys or other kinds of damage soakers Straken might be a preferred target for your opponent. Shields and Glorious Intervention helps, but take care not to get him bloodied by a foolhardy commitment, as his hale-ability works very well with the majority of your attack units.
- There are only two copies of Suppressive Fire so do take care to use them wisely. The deck is a little vulnerable to Eldorath's many exhausts or the Dark Eldar's Terror, so save your own tricks as much as you can for decisive moments.
- The cost curve for units is quite high, maybe a little too high, but a similarly low curve for non-unit cards should make up for this; even so play a carefully calculated command game and stall whenever possible.

This deck was originally intended to demonstrate how to crush a certain commissar, but only one player showed up with him and regrettably I didn't get to play him in the tournament; I faced "The Swarmlord" round one, another Swarmlord round two (both matches ended by warlord-kill) Salaine Morn/Eldar round three, and a Straken/Ork mirror match in the final match. The deck won the first three matches, but got a modified-loss due to exceeding the time-limit in the last match.
For the tournament I decided to play 51 cards by adding in a single copy of Exterminatus. I drew it in two games, but both times I had to use it as a shield.

If you don't mind going above fifty cards I recommend either another copy of Honorifica Imperialis, a third Suppressive Fire, or Exterminatus. I wouldn't recommend going above fifty for other than casual play though.