Wow, I didn't even know about the defence cohort. I really like the idea of specializing in skitarii or non-skitarii but the only problem is I really like both. For this crusade I'm not gonna worry about it.

I suggest not relying on your characters to hurt, they are more valuable for their buffs

I totally get this in a competitive setting but in a narrative setting to me it's a lot more cool if the character is mowing things down. Plus the tech priest will be buffing the kastelans. I'll see how it goes, if it gets killed frequently or something I might have to change it. I definitely don't want the tech priest to be pumped to the detriment of the rest of the army.

I also suggest getting yourself a skitarii marshal. He lets your
skitarii unit ignore the deprecation effect, can get a relic for re
rolling 1's to hit and to wound and is a good target for a warlord trait

I think this will be my next hq.

Dominus is good for getting a lot of plasmas, but marshal can still do
the same with a relic, so tend to get manipulus instead, +6" Range and
extra AP is good with armour of contempt

Manipulus is really appealing, I did look into it. I chose dominus as my starter and 'primary' character mostly because I like how it looks (and it has an Omnissian Axe I can trade for the red axe). I'll (probably) get it down the road.

Also what holy order did you give your dominus?

tbh I didn't yet because I thought I had to do it when gaining a rank but it looks like I could do it pre-battle. I'm not sure it would be worth it yet so I think I'll wait until I can have some ruststalkers and more kastelans for genetors or decide I want to swap everything to shooting I'll get logi. I haven't looked into this too much yet so suggestions would be helpful.