Overview

Why play Elysian drop troops? Because you want a mobile high-firepower IG army that doesn't play like the usual gunline or Chimera wall, but is still very much an IG army. The core of the army is lots of deep striking infantry and Valkyries as dedicated transports. Meanwhile tanks are removed entirely in favor of more aircraft as your support units. This gives you an army that has a lot of mobility and can drop a pretty good alpha strike wherever you want it, but you don't have any of the AV 14 or blob squads that keep traditional IG armies on the table. You'll need to be very careful about where you deploy your infantry and when you let them out of their transports, and many of your games will be won by crippling your opponent with overwhelming firepower and hoping that the last survivors of your shot-up veteran squad will stay alive long enough to score a 3-0 win on objectives.

If you're familiar with the IA8 Elysian list this is more of the same. Some things are better (4x special weapons in command squads), some are worse (Vultures in fast instead of heavy), but overall it's still the army you're used to.

And finally, it needs to be said: this is a flyerspam army. Even the fluffiest, most "casual" Elysian list is going to have a lot of flyers. Feel free to win tournaments with it, but if you're playing a friendly game you should think about playing one of the other IG lists if your opponent doesn't have any real AA available.

Army-wide Rules

Warlord Traits

None. This is probably the biggest disappointment of the list, after making awesome fluffy warlord traits for the armored company, DKoK assault brigade, and Necron lists FW didn't even bother trying with the Elysians. You're stuck with the core rulebook warlord traits, or maybe the IG ones whenever a new codex is released.

Combat Drop

This is the solution to the "automatically lose on turn 1 if you put your whole army in reserve" problem. At the beginning of your first turn you may choose half (RAW, exactly half) of your Valkyries, Valkyrie Sky Talons, sentry gun batteries or drop Sentinels and deep strike them. Note two key absences here: Vendettas and infantry without transports can't do it. So if you don't have allies on the table on turn 1 this puts some constraints on your list building, you need to take enough Valkyrie squads to get a decent turn-1 presence while you wait for the rest of your reserves to arrive.

Iron Discipline

Applies to CCS/PCS officers. Any unit within 6" of one of them can ignore the 25% limit for regrouping. This is a lot less useful than in 5th since any unit below 25% is probably barely worth saving anyway (compared to 50% in 5th, where you could easily have all three melta guns from a veteran squad still alive), but maybe occasionally it will save a token scoring model and win the game for you.

Allies

Elysians count as IG for determining who they can ally with, except they are battle brothers with IG. Like the other FW IG lists this opens up some interesting possibilities, effectively giving you free FOC slots for your IG army. Need another Vendetta? Take an Elysian commissar and veteran squad and you've got one. Otherwise it's going to be pretty much like normal IG, except the value of allied ICs goes down a bit (can't put them in deep striking or Valkyrie squads), and the value of durable scoring units that can hold objectives and keep you on the table until your reserves arrive goes up.

Deep Strike

All Elysian infantry units can deep strike, and have slightly higher point costs as a result. This is of marginal value on powerful squads like CCS or veterans since they get first pick on transport flyers, but it does some interesting stuff with small cheap units. Need melta? Deep strike a drop Sentinel or melta SWS. Need flamers? Well, that 4x flamer PCS no longer needs a transport to get it where you want it. And with the more forgiving mishap table in 6th you can afford to be aggressive.

Valkyries

All Elysian infantry units can take a Valkyrie as a dedicated transport. This looks awesome on paper, but remember two things: first, the point cost of those transports adds up fast. Second, Valkyrie models are huge and if you have too many of them maneuvering becomes a pain. What this means is you'll take 0-3 Vendettas (all fast attack slots you don't fill with Vultures), a small number of Valkyries, and deep strike the rest of your infantry. So overall you aren't getting all that many more flyers than a codex IG army with heavy support flyers, but you're using them more effectively.

Heavy Weapons

The "fluffy" restrictions continue: you can only take mortars, HBs or MLs. This isn't such a big deal since you're moving so much and would only be able to snap fire, but forget about spamming tons of LCs/ACs and camping behind an ADL. In fact, it's easy to imagine an Elysian list that doesn't take any infantry heavy weapons. On the good side you can pay a stupid amount of points to add flakk missiles, just in case you somehow think it's a good idea to over-pay for single STR 7 skyfire shots in an army that can spam more flyers than anyone else.

Unique Equipment

Long range ground scanner: two modes for this, picked at the beginning of the game. Either a 4+ to block each infiltrating unit and make them set up normally and a -1 penalty to enemy reserves, or a 4+ to twin-link a friendly unit's non-ordnance/barrage weapons (within 12"). Obviously powerful, but only available as a special weapon slot in a CCS so you have to commit to a support CCS instead of a gun CCS.

Breacher charges: weird melee blast weapon that replaces demo charges (I guess the deep strike demo charge alpha strike was just too much, and breacher charges are "fluffy"). As a melee attack you place

the template in base contact with the model, if the attack hits you keep it there, if it misses you flip it using the scatter die for direction. Since you can't touch friendly models (no hiding in the back) and are only I3 (you die before you use it) using it against infantry is pretty unlikely. Meanwhile it's the thought that counts against buildings, you get to re-roll armor penetration and add +1 to damage results but since all the buildings that matter are AV 14 you can only glance it and never get to roll on the damage table. So fluffy, but worthless.

Lascutter: because the breacher charge wasn't fluffy but useless enough. You get a single WS1 I1 attack at STR 9 AP 2 (so a bad melta bomb), and give up a melta gun slot to do it. This will never be used.

Tracking Beacon: same old 6" no scatter deep strike as other Imperial armies. The purpose of this is obvious when your whole army can deep strike.

Auxilliary Grenade Launcher: 12" grenade launcher (frag + krak) that is no longer a one-use weapon. On the bad side veterans can't take them anymore, so no more krak spam. Only CCS special weapon carriers (which will never take them) and sergeants/commissars can take an AGL. But they're cheap, so if you aren't going all the way and buying plasma pistols you should probably get one.

HQ

Company Command Squad

Same as the IG one you know and love. Orders, 4x special weapons (FINALLY a FW list that doesn't cripple its command squads), and the same uses. The only differences (other than the ones you'll never take) are long range ground scanners for 30 points and a special weapon slot (no limit on how many, but they get expensive fast), and no MoO or astropath (because the all-reserve army doesn't care about having reserve bonuses, I guess it's "fluffy" or something). Oh, and you can take a tracking beacon, if you think you can keep a 5-man squad of guardsmen alive long enough to use it.

Lord Commissar

Again, minimal differences. In this case, just an option to take a tracking beacon, which is probably a better place than the CCS since you can put your IC into a nice meatshield unit to protect it. Otherwise the commissar fills the same "cheap HQ" role as it does in codex veteran armies. You don't care too much about morale since you're playing a "MSU" army, and you won't be blobbed up within the leadership bubble to make good use of it. But it's cheaper than trying to get an effective CCS. Sadly you don't get a Valkyrie option, I guess the commissar would get lonely without anyone to share the flyer with.

Elite

Storm Troopers

These are just codex storm troopers, with an option to take a Valkyrie and a useless special operations option in addition to the codex ones. The wording is kind of confusing, but what it seems to say is that you can grav chute out of a Valkyrie and declare a charge. Not that it matters since you can't run or shoot that turn, and it's hard to imagine an assault doing more damage than just shooting your target. Thankfully you can still take the codex ones and don't pay any points for it, so it's just some harmless fluff.

Overall you're going to use them the same way as a codex IG army: 5-man squad deep striking with melta/plasma. Taking a Valkyrie is redundant when you have veterans to do the same and score.

Drop Sentinels

Same as the IA1 (2nd) version, which is about 50% more than the IA8 version (though you do get combat drop here). Just like the name suggests, it's a Sentinel that can deep strike with a multimelta (once you upgrade from the useless HF/HB) and optional hunter-killer missile. And with combat drop

you can get it on turn 1, which is a very rare thing. It's pretty obvious what these will be doing, though they'll face some tough competition from melta storm troopers in the same FOC slot.

Troops

Infantry Platoon

Like the codex version, it's a PCS, two infantry squads, 0-4 HWS (which you will never take), 0-3 SWS. Unlike the codex version you can also take 0-1 drop Sentinel squadron, in case you don't have enough already. The biggest drawback is going to be Valkyrie efficiency. You've got a limited number of transports, so you need them carrying veterans, not infantry squads. The main reason to take a platoon is to get meatshields and deep striking SWS.

PCS: again, 4x special weapons (thank you FW for finally realizing how stupid the one-special command squads were) but no heavy weapon, and a tracking beacon on the commander. Probably the same role as IG, a throwaway 4x flamer unit. Either put it in a spare Valkyrie, or just deep strike it.

Infantry squad: breacher charge replaces the heavy weapon (sigh), and that's all. Like a codex army these are just meatshields.

HWS: only the bad heavy weapons, in an army that is always moving. Codex HWS are hard enough to justify, so these are just a joke.

SWS: same weapons (plus the breacher charge and lascutter you'll never take), but the ability to deep strike makes a big difference. Once you've taken the mandatory PCS and infantry squads it's almost mandatory to take 3x SWS with melta/flamer.

Veterans

Ah, the core of the list. The only relevant differences from codex veterans are that heavy flamers no longer use up a special weapon slot (so yes, you can take 3x melta and a heavy flamer, if you want to spend the points), forward observers gives infiltrate and a tracking beacon (some interesting options there for a turn-1 alpha strike if you go first) but does NOT give camo cloaks anymore, and demolitions gives you a worthless breacher charge instead of the awesome demo charge. The core of your list will almost always be melta/plasma veterans in Valkyries/Vendettas, since this maximizes the firepower each of your expensive transports can deliver. Beyond that you're probably not going to want doctrines, since the good ones took a big nerf compared to the codex version and the squad + transport is already getting pretty expensive.

Dedicated Transports

Valkyrie

Just like the codex version. Combat drop lets you deep strike them on turn 1, but the Valkyrie itself does not have deep strike. If you don't do the turn-1 combat drop you're coming on from your table edge as usual. Strategy-wise it's the same as well, deliver troops and rocket pod infantry to death.

Valkyrie Sky Talon

Same rules as in IA:Aeronautica, but now a dedicated transport for drop Sentinels or Tauros, so no more taking a giant pile of no-FOC-slot flyers. Also this means you have to commit to which squad takes it instead of picking at deployment. Since the Sentinels can deep strike and you want melta on the table ASAP I'm not really sure what the point of this is.

Fast Attack

Tauros Squadron

Now with both types, rules the same as in IA1 (2nd). Essentially it's a fast Sentinel with a HF, doubleshot GL, TL LC or TL multilaser. With the awesome Vendetta and Vulture competing for fast attack slots you'll probably never give these a second look.

Gunship Squadron

1-3 Vultures or Vendettas. Yes, squadrons of Vultures, if you don't mind concentrating 300+ points of shooting on a single target. Rules-wise these don't have any changes, but that's fine since they're very good and we all know it. The biggest difference for the Elysians is that Vultures now compete for Vendetta slots instead of being heavy support. So you'll have to balance pure firepower from punisher cannon Vultures with AA and transport from the Vendettas. I don't think there's an automatic answer here, it's going to come down to personal preference and the only rule is that you must take three squadrons, however you mix them. Probably the standard approach to writing an Elysian list will be to divide up your three Vulture/Vendetta FOC slots, load the Vendettas appropriately, and then see what else you need to take. Use these slots wisely because they're your best units.

Heavy Support

Sentry Guns

Same as the IA1 (2nd) update to automated artillery (no crew, targets the closest enemy unit), but gain deep strike (and combat drop) along with more than doubling in price. I guess the turn-1 deep strike has some potential and T6/3+ wounds can help keep you on the table before the rest of your army arrives, but overall I'm not impressed. The only good thing about normal sentry guns was their incredibly cheap price, and now they're expensive competition for better units in heavy support.

Cyclops

Now with a dedicated Valkyrie included in the price. The remote control rules are the same, the Cyclops drives off on its own and can drop a STR 9 AP 3 pie plate on itself at I10 in assault. Getting these to the target is an interesting question: obviously keeping the operator aboard the Valkyrie makes it a lot more likely that they won't just get shot to death and turn off the bomb, but you have to find a way to get the Cyclopse out of the Valkyrie which means waiting longer. I suspect these will have a use in the right list, but I can't see it right now.

Imperial Navy Air Support

Because you don't have enough flyers yet. Three options, no squadrons:

Thunderbolt: newly boosted for 6th in IA:Aeronautica. The Thunderbolt is the pure dogfighting option, it's good against other flyers but mediocre against ground targets. If you don't have many Vendettas you should consider one, if you have Vendettas covering your AA needs you might want something with better ground attack options.

Lightning: sadly still just a bad unit. Fragile, limited in firepower, and too expensive for what you get. Pretty much no matter what target you have in mind the Thunderbolt or Avenger will do it better.

Avenger: no changes from IA:Aeronautica. It's not as good at killing flyers, but pretty much everything on the ground that isn't AV 13-14 is a good target (and for that you have melta). Like the Thunderbolt, this depends on your answer to the Vulture/Vendetta question. If you aren't taking punisher cannon Vultures the Avenger is a great infantry killer, but if you have the Vultures already the Avenger becomes a bit redundant and you might want a Thunderbolt instead to deal with flyers.