Honorable Eclipse Company Overview

 

There's two things HEC brings to the table: Defensive buffs, and reasonably fast objective takers. Composed almost entirely of the new Airships, you'll be swimming in Flak Barrages and other defensive tricks. Combat wise, their primary strength is point blank knife fighting (Engaging enemies in multiple or even all arcs),with respectable closing output, and with Vanguard on a lot of their units, they can certainly get there.

The Sentinel Generator essentially gives all friendly units within 5” a Mass 2 Shield Generator. This could be quite interesting as a protective buff to M1 units, since this is the only “generator ship” that can buff M1. THe 5" range, however, does make this a somewhat complicated arrangement. The Valor effect isn’t particularly strong; you aren’t bringing these for their damage output.

The airships in general and the flagships in particular seem to be built around the idea that you can get a target at closing and point blank in the front arc, another one in the side arc to broadside, and maybe another behind for your bombs, if you have them. If you managed all that, your output is extremely good, though split over multiple targets. The buffs they received on their front armament and the upgrade to heavy broadsides makes this a reasonable proposition now (it really wasn't on release).

Minimum Cost: 300 (Custodian Sentry Aircruiser + 2 Bogota Carryall)

Mercenary Ability: Heavy Escort. If you can turn this on, aerial and submerged attacks are going to do a lot less than usual. Note that this ability triggers if you have equal or less victory points than your opponent, so taking a patron can help ensure it triggers turn 2.

This post was updated for the 3.07a Orbat release. There have been quite a few changes.

Flagships

Excelsior Heavy Aircruiser (slight conversions)

  • Custodian Sentry Aircruiser

    Role: Support, Brawler

    If you’re taking HEC, then you’re probably here for the defensive buffs, and this ship brings all of them. It’s also the cheaper option, and when anchoring your line you might be able to use it like a countercharge unit, dropping bombs, broadsides, and minutemen on any units that come too close.

    It also brings the new Maritime Patrol, handy if you're having issues with Submarauders.

  • Excelsior Heavy Aircruiser

    Role: Brawler, Objective Holder

    This ship wants to be right in the middle of the opposing line, shooting in all directions. I was initially quite down on this choice, but with the buffs it's now quite a reasonable point blank brawler. Vanguard helps you reach objectives turn 1, and the all-around weapon arrangement means that you'll always be able to hit your opponent with something. I personally find stacking up around a Custodian to make use of the buff difficult, so this is a perfectly valid choice.

Surface Unit: Valiant (0 to 2)

  • Valiant Fast Destroyer

    Role: Skirmisher, Objective Holder

    A reasonably cheap, fast, light anti-air/long range option, with hydrophone relay. I think there’s better choices, but if you need any of that why not.

  • Titan Mass Conveyor

    Role: Support

    If you’re taking this, it’s for Devil’s Own Luck. 100 points is something of a tough sell for that, but it’s an interesting option to have.

    Note that this is a preview datasheet rolled out early to the Union orbat. It is very likely that each faction orbat will get this option.

Aerial Units (1 to 4)

  • Akron Sentry Rotor

    Role: Support, Skirmisher. Objective Holder

    Buffs all your aerial weapons engaging targets within 20” of them with Extreme Range and Homing, very fast, and their damage output isn’t terrible either. Quite fragile though. This is one of the more interesting choices, because until now only Union and Imperium had access to this buff, and quite a few factions wouldn’t mind all their Rockets and more importantly Cruise Missiles being better.

    Units of 8 also means their assault output is quite strong, and Vanguard helps you get into range for it or snag an objective. Their shooting does drop off fast as models die though. Overall, I like running them, but you do get what you pay for.

    Note that the HEC buff is per model. A full Akron unit with the buff is +16 defence dice.

  • Bogota Carryall Rotor

    Role: Skirmisher, Objective Holder, Support

    A long range variant of the Akron, with the option to instead specialize heavily in close range or bring Supply Depot (and potentially, in the future, Landing Vessel). Note that you can bring multiples of these, which means you won't be locked out of taking the support options.

    Weaponry wise, the buffs now add up to a pretty solid closing range damage dealer. They're also fragile, though H3 now means your opponent at least needs to pretend to aim for the citadel. Vanguard again helps with getting in close. And if you need supply depot, a little 2 model unit will cover that nicely and give you an extra activation.

  • Constellation Attack Airship

    Role: Brawler

    The smaller version the Excelsior. Being able to take it as a unit makes the front armament quite a bit better, and you still have vanguard to get onto objectives fast. Very solid choice, though it overlaps with the Excelsior quite a bit. 

  • Patriot RC-52 Automata

    Role: Brawler, Skirmisher

    Very good for vomiting out fire at point blank, decent at closing, and a bit tougher than the Rotors, though that’s not saying much. I prefer the Magnetic Gatling Guns outside of Pipeworks, but the electrocannons aren’t bad either (Sharpshooter only works on Electrocannons). They are quite pricey now though, so I tend to lean to the rotors or airships.

  • Ranger Aircarrier

    Role: Support, Objective Holder.

    An aggressively priced support carrier. Its gone up 21 points since release, and it is still amazing. Yes, Aerial is a downside to a carrier rather than a buff, but now with heavy broadsides you can even knife fight as well as launch planes. I've used them in every possible configuration, and they haven't disappointed. The singleton is also interesting as an extra activation that brings planes and can sit on an objective well.

  • Steward Sentry Airship

    Role: Support

    If you need more Sentinel Generators than just the one from the flagship, this is your only option. It also comes with Maritime Patrol, which is quite relevant if you're having problems with Submarauders. Frontal damage output, however, is quite weak compared to your other choices.

  • Ticonderoga Assault Airship

    Role: Skirmisher, Objective Holder

    Landing Vessel with long range armament and a bit of assault ability. It's a confused design, and lags behind the Constellation numerically. If you need a long range option this is your only choice, but overall I would probably look to my main faction instead.

List Suggestions

Flagship wise, it's mainly a question if you want a bit more front and rear firepower and vanguard from the Excelsior, or the defensive buffs from the Custodian. I've mainly been taking the Excelsior, but you can make a good case for either.

If you’re undecided, I’d probably start with Akrons. Even if you’re not going for the rocket buff, their output is good, and they’re cheap and numerous to maximize the HEC Mercenary buff. Rangers, Constellations, and Bogotas are also solid depending on what you need to round out your list. Since the Flagship is your only real fixed cost, you can get precisely what you need at a fairly low point investment.

I'm currently running the following HEC fleet in my tournament list, assisting a USS Texas/Washington/Defiant main fleet:

Excelsior

Akron x8

Ranger x2

The Excelsior and Akrons rush forward to grab objectives turn 1, while the Rangers can be used more flexibly. It's worked decently well in testing. The m2 airships are about as tough as you'd expect a cruiser to be, so that's quite good for an aerial choice.

Closing

What a glowup. My first swing at this post was quite doom and gloom, and now I'm running them as a tournament choice. Overall I'm very happy with the changes. It's great to see such beautiful models have rules that make them worth using.

This was written for the Fortune & Glory Release in October/November 2023 and updated for the 3.07a Orbat release April 2024.

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