Battle Report - Tyranids vs. The Imperium (SM/SW)

The final installment of this little trilogy of Tyranid battle reports is a mammoth one. Jamie, Dan, Matt and I booked a table in our FLGS (Wargames Emporium, Sheffield) last Sunday and got stuck into a 3,500pt doubles game (i.e. 1,750 each). Both sides were making the most of double FOC and cramming plenty of units in. The Imperium of Man was represented by the Space Wolves and Ultramarines (in this case a successor that looked suspiciously like Blood Angels!).

1,750pts of Space Wolves (Me)
Ragnar Blackmane
Arjac Rockfist and 4 WG terminators in a Land Raider
Lone Wolf in terminator armour with fist and shield
2x 10-man grey hunter packs with plasma, melta, wolf standard and wulfen
14 blood claws (one with flamer) joining Ragnar in a LR crusader

1,750pts of Ultramarines (Matt)
Tigurius
Cassius
8 Sternguard in a Drop Pod
6 Scouts (5 snipers, 1 bolter)
2x 10-man tactical squads (melta/flamer, missile pod)
10-man assault squad with jump packs (power fist)
Stormtalon (lascannons)
Stormraven (multi-melta, assault cannons)
Centurion Devastators (grav cannon/amps, omniscope)

The Tyranid horde was represented by contingents from Hive Fleet Kraken and Behemoth.

1,750pts of Tyranids (Dan)
2x Hive Tyrant with twin-linked devourers with brainleech plus two tyrant guard
3 Venomthropes (conversions that look like jellyfish on the pictures)
Tervigon
30 Termagants (5 devourers)
2x 3 Biovores
3 Dakkafexes

1,750pts of Tyranids (Jamie)
Flyrant with HVC
Tervigon
30 Termagants
9 Warriors with 8 deathspitters plus barbed strangler
15 Gargoyles
Harpy
Hive Crone
Mawloc
3 Carnifexes (1 with crushing claws)

I'd like to point out that the aim of the game was to have fun and test a few things in the new Tyranid codex rather than fielding particularly competitive lists. Obviously there were cheesy elements in both lists like double devourers on tyrants/fexes and our centurions but we tried to keep it to a minimum.

Pre-game

We'd be playing Big Guns and elected to use Dawn of War deployment as it was easier logistically. Tigurius got Hallucination, Prescience and Perfect Timing. The tervigons took Dominion. The tyrants got a mix of powers between them including paroxysm, warp blast and catalyst. We played with a warlord each and their tyrants got Synaptic Lynchpin and Digestive Denial as their warlord traits, Tigurius stuck with his trait and Ragnar got -1 to reserve rolls. There'd be Night Fighting on the first turn. Jamie and Dan got to pick deployment zone and won the roll for first turn too. They could barely fit all of their nids in their zone even though it was an 8' x 4' table! We spread our forces out so that we could try and spread the Tyranids thinly and prevent hordes of termagants from swamping us.

Turn 1

I confidently told Jamie and Dan that I was going to Seize now and to the suprise of us all, I actually did! This allowed us to bring down the sternguard on their left flank and with help from the jammy scouts who rended 4 times (I think, might've been 3) they downed one of the Tervigons straight away for First Blood. Elsewhere we caused a couple of wounds on a hive tyrant and thinned out the big termagant hordes a little.

The tyranid response was pretty brutal with Cassius and his sternguard being cut down to size by the gargoyles (who decided not to bother with Blinding Venom in a bid to kill the squad off instead). Cassius and a couple of sternguard survived the initial onslaught though and swept the gargoyles. The dakkafexes enacted their own vengeance causing 25 wounds on my grey hunters who promptly failed 10 of their saves wiping them out! The tervigon spawned something like 15 termagants but was corked in the process so there'd be no more bonus nids. The flyrant hit the land raider with warp lance but despite penetrating he could only shake the mighty tank. The biovores killed off a couple of tactical marines and pinned both squads and the harpy was similarly effective. Meanwhile the hive crone drooled on the scouts picking off a few.

Turn 2

Unfortunately our flyers failed to arrive which meant we'd struggle to deal with their FMCs this turn. One of the assault combat squads arrived though and dropped in near the sternguard to support them in combat. Cassius and his squad headed towards the termagant blob whilst Ragnar's land raider disgorged him and his pack of blood claws who charged headlong into combat with the combat carnifexes easily dispatching them. Cassius was able to stay locked in combat with the termagants who surrounded him and prevent the warriors from charging next turn.

On the other side of the field the centurions made the dakkafexes pay for killing the grey hunters by wiping them out with their grav-cannons. Tigurius had tried to use hallucination on them but they'd denied the witch. The other land raider rumbled forward and Arjac piled into combat with the flyrant (who was downed by the land raider) whilst his terminators charged into a blob of termagants. The remaining grey hunters had lined up to charge the hive crone but despite forcing 4-5 grounding tests the crone remained aloft and only took a single wound.

The crone stayed up in the air sweeping over the grey hunters before finishing off the scouts with this drool. The mawloc arrived, killed two of the three centurions and left the sergeant wounded. The warriors fired at the blood claws thinning them out significantly before charging in and leaving only Ragnar and a couple of the young space wolves alive. The hive tyrants elected not to charge into combat with Arjac and his pack instead happily allowing them to chip away at the termagants. The biovores killed half of the grey hunters and more tactical marines.

Turn 3
Tigurius tried to use Hallucination on one of the walking hive tyrants but once again Dan denied the witch. Our flyers finally arrived and lined up to try and take down both the crone and harpy (or at least force them to drop so the land raiders could finish the job). The lone wolf (who I'd forgotten to deploy) also arrived from reserve and headed in to take on the mawloc next turn. The flyers failed pretty miserably at their job with neither killing its intended target. Luckily the harpy was knocked out of the sky and the land raider was able to finish it off with lascannons. The crone survived the drop too but the hurricane bolters from the crusader were able to finish it off. Tigurius and the remaining centurion tried to gun down the mawloc with help from the tactical squads but it remained on 2 wounds meaning they'd need to charge it to prevent it burrowing. Luckily they survived the combat this turn but with Tigurius' rod only being AP4 the mawloc made its saves.

Meanwhile the assault marines went in to help Cassius out and luckily left a single termagant standing to protect them from biovore fire. Ragnar found himself alone and surrounded by warriors whilst Arjac and his terminators were still chewing through gaunts. The remaining grey hunters hopped into the land raider Ragnar had vacated.

The tyrants attempted to down the stormtalon with their brainleech devourers but could only strip a hull point and stun it. Cassius and co. finished off the remaining gaunt and consolidated towards the warriors. Ragnar survived with a single wound.

Turn 4
The lone wolf now charged into the mawloc and was able to finish it off where Tigurius had failed. The two assault combat squads, along with Cassius, charged into combat with the warriors. It was too late for Ragnar though who died to give our opponents Slay the Warlord. The warriors were heavily thinned out in return though. Matt and I now had a heated debate about whether to fire at the venomthropes or the tyrants. I still maintain we should've shot the venomthropes first but as with anything like that in 40K we'll never know. Either way the tyrant and his unit only took a couple of wounds from the flyers and land raiders. The lone wolf headed in the direction of the tyrant hoping to finish the job. Arjac and his terminators finally finished off the termagants even though we could've done with him staying in for just one more turn.

The tyranids had very little firepower left and the tyrants weren't likely to be able to charge anything. What they did have they used on Arjac and his remaining wolf guard (he'd lost 3 terminators to gaunts!). The champion was cut down easily but with the assault squads and Cassius now free of combat our final turn should be bloody.

Turn 5
Cassius charged the nearest squad of biovores solo and was able to finish them off. The two assault squads charged into the venomthropes and wiped them out too. The lone wolf charged into combat with the tyrant. The tyrant caused 4 wounds, the lone wolf saved two on his shield and a third with FNP. This allowed him to down the tyrant (their second warlord) with his power fist and forever etch his name in the sagas. Meanwhile the two land raiders had moved onto objectives with one dropping off some grey hunters on another. With the one controlled by the tactical squad this gave us 4 of the 5 objectives meaning little chance for the tyranids to take the win.

One of the tyrants attempted to charge a land raider but rolled a triple 1 through terrain. The game ended here with one objective for the tyranids and four for the Imperium (plus first blood, linebreaker and 2x slay the warlord).

Imperial Victory 16-4

Conclusion
When we first saw the number of tyranids arrayed against us we weren't quite sure how we were going to deal with them with so few models of our own. Obviously the land raiders would be impossible for the tyranids to destroy with shooting (aside of warp lance) so as long as we kept them out of charge range we'd be safe. It's a shame really that it was Big Guns as it would've been a lot closer scoreline without it. I'm not sure Dan and Jamie realised that vehicles can score in big guns.

Stealing the initiative and killing a tervigon was undoubtedly a big deal and when the other tervigon corked we knew we'd had a lucky escape. Had the warriors been able to finish off Ragnar quicker then they'd have been able to charge the assault squad and the result would've probably been different. The flying MCs could've probably been used to bring down the land raiders earlier on but, again, I don't know they realised they were scoring or they'd have probably done this. The hive crone passing soo many grounding checks was a real hindrance early on although if we'd had our flyers on turn 2 it probably would've been dead sooner. It was frustrating when we couldn't get them even with Tigurius' re-roll!

There's a couple of Tyranid units worth mentioning here. Firstly the warriors were actually pretty good. Obviously they're vulnerable to power fists in combat but a big enough squad with guns puts out a lot of fire and isn't easy to shift since they're always Fearless. Perhaps there are better ways to spend the points but I don't think they should be discounted. In smaller numbers I think they'd struggle though.

Secondly, biovores were great. This isn't really news as the interwebs are pretty impressed with them but being able to put out large pinning barrage blasts against massed troops is excellent. I'd say it's worth swapping a mawloc (or even two) for a squad and having 20pts to spare. They shone against marines so against kroot, fire warriors, guardians, cultists etc they'd be excellent.

Overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable game, my personal highlight being the lone wolf cutting down both a mawloc and a hive tyrant. We're going to play another round (with slightly altered teams) next month. It'll be Chaos vs. Angels of Death so keep an eye on the blog for that one. Right, now I've got no excuse not to finish my Tyranid reviews before getting to the small matter of a thing called Blog Wars 7.

Tau in 6th Edition - The Mechanised Cadre

Thanks to the Eldar Wave Serpent being all kinds of useful it's a good time to look again at mech lists for the Tau army and how viable they can be in 6th edition. There's no doubt that there's been a huge shift away from vehicles since the start of 6th edition and the tank walls of 5th edition are just a distant memory. This is largely down to how much easier they are to take down. Hull point stripping means that anything with enough S5+ firepower (or gauss, haywire, etc) can easily down the humble rhino or razorback. However, Eldar and Tau (and to a lesser extent Imperial Guard) can field several AV12 transports which, whilst only having slightly thicker armour, are able to hold up a lot better. This is largely due to the shift towards mid-strength shot spam rather than the S8+ shots of late 5th edition.

There's no denying that in 6th edition objectives are key to winning games with 5 of the 6 missions featuring them. Assuming you aren't planning on simply wiping out your opponent (which is certainly possible with Tau) then you need to think about manoeuvrability. That static gunline of fire warriors is great if your opponent is forced to come to you, for whatever reason, but soon becomes impotent if the roles are reversed. With this in mind I've been looking at mechanising my Tau cadre. Here's the list I've been trying out ahead of Blog Wars 6:

1,850 pts of Tau

Dark Strider

Commander w/ fusion, plasma, target lock, VRT, Iridium suit

2 Crisis Bodyguard w/ plasma & twin-linked fusion

10 Fire Warriors in a Devilfish w/ d.pod

9 Fire Warriors in a Devilfish w/ d.pod

9 Fire Warriors in a Devilfish w/ d.pod

10 Kroot

10 Kroot

Crisis team (2 with pod and twin pod and shas'vre with 2 pods and a PENchip)

Riptide (Ion, fusion, EWO, VT)

Riptide (Ion, fusion, EWO, VT)

3x 6 Pathfinders

Obviously Darkstrider is to comply with the compulsory SC for Blog Wars but otherwise it's a very similar list to the one I took to Reanimation. The notable difference is the ditching of the Ethereal, aegis line and several fire warriors to give all three remaining teams of fire warriors a devilfish. Now, obviously this list could be more mechanised but it's a step in that direction for now. Right, let's move on to the list in action:

Game One vs. Eldar (Jamie)

What Happened

The game was pretty much a white wash. Jamie was fielding a heavily mechanised Eldar force but thanks to going first a couple of the Eldar tanks had already dropped by the end of turn 1. This was mostly due to the pathfinders getting a sickening number of hits. Sadly for Jamie his reserves arrived piecemeal which meant they were picked off as they arrived. With Darkstrider and his unit wading through masses of troops and continued marker support the fire warriors were able to hold onto the objectives pretty easily.

Tau Thoughts

Despite not having much in the way of dedicated anti-tank (only the missile crisis team really), the pathfinders helped the riptides and crisis teams to make the most of their firepower and bring down the Eldar skimmers. It might've been a very different game if I'd gone second as my pathfinders would've been a priority target but nevertheless I was pleased to have dealt with a mechanised opponent.

Eldar Thoughts

Eldar will usually be stiff competition for the Tau as they can put out similar volumes of fire but are far more mobile and with no psychic defense (not that many armies still have it) the Tau are vulnerable to the offensive powers. This was a mech vs. mech affair that really could've gone either way and there's no doubt I was lucky to kill some of the Eldar tanks when I did.

Game Two vs. Space Marines (Jamie)

What Happened

Despite getting the first turn again, Jamie stole the initiative allowing his White Scars to make the most of their speed to get in range with their grav weaponry and kill off a decent number of pathfinders. I was pretty unlucky with my return fire too which meant that one riptide died to graviton fire having failed its Nova roll. All of the fire warriors had gotten out of their transports to meet the bikes head on but this just left them out in the open and vulnerable. My commander and Darkstrider's devilfish arrived from reserve and brought down the command squad with Khan but I'd lost most of my infantry by this stage so the objectives would be a struggle. I slowly swept across the board killing everything in my path but unfortunately it was too little too late and Jamie had enough left to control objectives and win the game.

Tau Thoughts

With hindsight I should've used Nova to gain a 3++ save but then this wouldn't have saved the riptide who failed his Nova. I didn't play the game particularly well as I should've been focussing on troops more. Two of the three tranports made it to the end but sadly their occupants had long since bought it. This game served to highlight that whilst this mech Tau list is more mobile than my previous list it still can't keep pace with truly mobile armies.

Space Marine Thoughts

This was the first time I'd come up against grav weaponry and I can't say I was that blown away by it. Obviously it was effective against the riptide but if you can get that 3++ save off then it isn't going to be all that devastating. Once the big stuff is out of the equation you're mostly better off using the bolters for increased accuracy as you'll struggle to wound pathfinders with the grav-guns. If you came up against a list without any big MCs in it you'd wish you'd brought along plasma or melta. Against marines it's wounding on 3+ but that isn't particularly awesome. Whilst White Scar bikes are harder to kill thanks to effectively having Skilled Rider, they're still just T5 marines and still suck in combat. Obviously they're a strong opponent but perhaps they aren't as exciting as people think.

Game Three vs. Daemons (Matt)

What Happened

I've beaten Matt's Daemons (normally allied with Chaos) nearly every time I've played them with my gunline Tau list. This has largely come down to two things a) the overwatch from my gunline is punishing and b) daemon princes don't like Longstrike's railgun. This time I wouldn't have either of those though so I wasn't feeling especially confident. I'd also be lacking Darkstrider as we were testing at 1,750 for another tournament. Things were looking up though when I managed to kill off the portalglyph daemon prince with my opening volley. Sadly there were still 4 other flying MCs to deal with. Despite getting them grounded easily enough I couldn't force enough failed saves to bring down any more of the beasts. Thanks to Enfeeble the daemon princes were able to Smash and insta-kill my riptides and my fire warriors were devastated by Fateweaver's Sunburst psychic power. Oh and the warp storm table didn't do my many favours either! We called it towards the end of turn 4 as Matt had very much got the upper hand and I was quickly running out of weaponry to deal with his MCs.

Tau Thoughts

There's one major advantage that Tau have over other armies when facing flying MCs and that's disposable firepower. You only need to hit them to force a grounding test which means markerlights and drones are excellent. This frees up your real firepower to hammer the now grounded beasts. If you can't down them at least the riptides can hit them at full BS with great weaponry for dealing with princes. That being said there's significantly less firepower in this list with 8 less fire warriors and no Ethereal. Darkstrider's toughness modifier probably makes up for the fire warriors but losing so many shots without the Ethereal is painful. I'd say that's probably the key difference with my old list that allowed the DPs to make a real mess of my army. It didn't help that my commander was late to the party (arriving on turn 3) either.

Daemons Thoughts

This is probably the first time I've played a true "flying circus" list. The Bloodthirster is devastating in combat but obviously didn't really get chance to shine against Tau. Fateweaver and the princes get access to tons of psychic powers so some great combinations are actually pretty likely to happen. Their may be a limited number of troops in the list but if the portalglyph can be deployed out of sight then the spawned daemons are likely to get ignored when you've got so many MCs in your face. Obviously this list relies on a lot of luck from the warp storm table and random psychic powers but with the right rolls it can be extremely deadly. Can your army deal with 5 flying MCs? Of my four races, only the Tau would stand a fighting chance I reckon.

Overall Thoughts about the List

There's a big debate about how markerlights affect vehicles and more specifically how Ignores Cover works against Jink saves. Personally I think it makes sense for it to affect vehicles just as easily but until GW officially corrects it the debate will still rage. Even so, having three pathfinders teams is very useful. It means you've got a decent chance of having marker support until the later turns and being able to light up multiple targets or combine two teams onto a crucial target is great.

There's no denying this list has significantly less firepower than before. The devilfish and drones probably make up for the reduced number of fire warriors but the Ethereal is definitely missed. When you think about how many shots you're losing per turn, nevermind over the whole game, then you can see why the ethereal is a great choice for fire warrior based lists. 

I also really missed Longstrike. Whilst he's going to be a priority target, the S10 railgun doesn't half make Daemon Princes fearful. It's shame he's quite so expensive though as it'd be hard to squeeze him into this list without dropping something significant.

Moar Mech?!?

As I said above this isn't a truly mechanised cadre. To achieve that you have to start looking to Forge World for the Tetras. Otherwise the pathfinders are too obvious a target in a list of tanks. I suppose you could look to Sky Rays for marker support but they're simply not as effective and suck up valuable points. The crisis teams and riptides aren't technically mech either but they're a pretty crucial part of the list. The kroot could also be traded for more fire warriors but they're always useful for getting into the backfield and claiming objectives.

Without significantly changing the list i.e. dropping the riptides, I can't see me taking a more mechanised list than this. Love them or hate them the riptides are undoubtedly crucial and without them you're hampering yourself. Of course broadsides can fill some of the gap left by riptides but they aren't nearly as effective in most situations.

New Space Marine Codex Unit Reviews - Heavy Support

We're now on to the meat and bones of the codex and over the next few days I'll be looking at each FOC slot in turn and discussing each entry. This process is always useful as it means that every single unit gets a look in and you can really start to see the combinations come to the surface. This introduction piece will stay the same every time so feel free to save yourself some time and skip it. 

Today I'm going to look at the Heavy Support section. On the face of it this is the most crowded portion of the book. A lot of the battletanks are now showing their age but other units like the Thunderfire Cannon will still be very popular (if not more so).

Devastator Squad

In line with the Dark Angels codex these guys now have the option to take flakk missiles in the always popular missile launchers. However, as I said for the DA version, flakk missiles simple aren't worth bothering with for the points. They get outclassed by a 50pt quad gun every time. With that aside little has changed for the Devastators. They're significantly cheaper than they once were though with a full unit of 4 lascannons coming in at 150pts. That's pretty good considering the number of multi-wound models that are around now. They could worry the broadside spam lists and wraithknights.

Their problem is the same as it always was, mobility. You can of course buy them a razorback but most of the time you'll pick a piece of terrain to stick them in and hope they have line of sight for the rest of the game. I don't think they're awful by any stretch of the imagination but there's no denying they're too static even if they're a lot cheaper.

Centurion Devastator Squad

If you decided to splash out on some centurions then I really hope you built them up as devastators. In their standard loadout they provide a decent amount of anti-infantry fire with the twin heavy bolter and hurricane bolter too. However, you'll never see them loaded up like that.

You can swap the hurricane bolters for a missile launcher and give them a twin-linked lascannon but that makes each model 90pts a piece and they're only slightly more mobile than the much cheaper devastators. No, what you want to take is the grav-cannon and grav-amp. It may make them 80pts each but I'm pretty certain it's worth it. Throw in an Omniscope on the sergeant too so he can target a separate unit and the whole unit isn't gimped by Night Fighting should your opponent venture into 24" range.

The grav-cannon may be short range but if you're in range then they'll be devastating. They do everything the smaller grav-gun does but they'll fire 5 shots when mounted on the centurion suit. That, combined with the grav-amp, makes for an extremely potent monstrous creature (or even vehicle) killer. A 6-man unit of centurions would set you back 500pts but they'd have no trouble making back that total if there are flying MCs, wraithknights or riptides around. The problem is your opponent knows that so they'll be a priority target. However, they should be able to weather quite a bit of fire. Broadsides are pretty tough to shift and they're only T4.

Realistically the best way to run them is probably a 3-man unit with grav-cannons for 250pts. That will be a big deterent to monstrous creatures and attract a lot of attention. Only thing to decide then is whether you can overlook their aesthetics!

Thunderfire Cannon

At first glance the thunderfire cannon seems to be the same as always. It's the same gun for the same points. You still get Bolster Defences which means, should you take three thunderfire cannons, you'll be able to shore up those terrain pieces with your objectives inside. Having 4 blasts can be great if you can catch some models bunched together and you might even take down a vehicle or two if you're lucky and they're made of paper. Tremor isn't stunning but might save a unit of yours from getting charged for a turn.

Hang on a minute though, the reason the thunderfire cannon is excellent now is the Barrage special rule they snuck in there. There aren't all that many Barrage weapons around but they're excellent in 6th edition. The reason is they can be used to snipe models out of a unit. Think about putting the Surface blast over an Ethereal. Should you hit the target then its a cover save or remove him. Obviously LoS is a factor but if you get lucky it could be devastating. The same is true of any other character that boosts a unit. Snipe that power fist before your bikes/terminators wade in and you're laughing.

Predator/Whirlwind/Vindicator

I've grouped these three together because they're probably going to be overlooked as often as each other. The whirlwind has long since been relegated to the shelf but Barrage and a tiny price tag make it a possibility in these infantry overloaded times. The vindicator suffers from no longer having Barrage on it's demolisher cannon. The problem for both tanks though is that pretty much any damage result is devastating for them. Perhaps Immobilised doesn't affect the Whirlwind as much but otherwise you only have to penetrate the armour and they'll be effectively taken out of the game. Still, whilst the vindicator is operating a full capacity it's a threat that can't be ignored. It's an equal threat to infantry, daemon princes and vehicles alike but don't expect to get many shots from it.

The predator might get more of a look in though. Like the vindicator it's helped by having AV13 and 95pts for the dakka version is criminally cheap. I'd even say 140pts for the annihilator (lascannons) variant is perhaps worth considering for upsetting broadsides and MCs. Sadly though it will only be the most die-hard of mech fans that include them in their lists. That is unless the shift back to mech that was predicted after the Eldar codex actually happens.

Hunter/Stalker

Although expensive this kit is quite an attractive one. You just need to find another cheap rhino hull and you can make both variants. Realistically the Stalker is probably more practical as it has the potential to hit two different targets. The icarus stormcannon isn't much better than a quad-gun but perhaps harder to silence. The hunter is a lot of fun with the missile chasing a flyer around all game but both variants are let down by being S7. Still Armourbane helps out the hunter at least.

There are, however, bigger problems for these tanks. Firstly they'll be public enemy number one to any opponent with flyers and an AV12 vehicle isn't that hard to kill for most armies. If you've got a suitable piece of terrain to hide the hunter/stalker behind though it might make survive long enough to shoot at a flyer (whether it will kill it or not is another matter). The biggest issue though is that they only have Skyfire and not Interceptor. Any flyer with anti-tank weaponry, like a stormraven for example, will be able to bring the stalker/hunter down before it gets to fire. Secondly, if your opponent hasn't got any flyers then you're pretty snookered having spent 70-75pts on a dud. I'm not sure their anti-air potency justifies the risk of impotence.

Land Raiders

There isn't much to say here that hasn't been said before. AV14 can be incredibly tricky for some armies to deal with and a lot of the time the land raider will have delivered it's cargo of assaulty goodness before it dies. However, other armies will make short work of them and you'll be left in the hole to the tune of 250+ pts. I can still see a place for them though and depending on the ebb and flow of the meta the land raider could become king again. We're certainly seeing a lot less melta than we once did. All three variants have their uses. The Crusader might have limited weaponry but it'll find use for it's capacity. The Redeemer is great thanks to the balance between decent capacity and Flamestorm cannons being excellent when they're in range. Even the standard land raider is useful as lascannons are having somewhat of a renaissance recently.

It's worth mentioning Chronus again here. A BS5 land raider that ignores Shaken/Stunned and gets It Will Not Die is not something to be ignored even for 300pts. Similarly Iron Hands land raiders could be annoying to anyone trying to bring them down without melta.

Stormraven Gunship

Last but not least we come to the Stormraven which is now officially part of the codex. It's essentially the same as the Blood Angels version but with AP2 rather than AP1 missiles. For me the Stormraven is still the king of flyers. The Heldrake may be more devastating against ground targets but against other flyers its nearly useless (vector strike is an option). The Stormraven on the other hand has the firepower to comfortably take down an enemy flyer with the possibility of downing two. Being able to transport 12 models and a dreadnought appears nice at first but that's a lot of points in reserve. It'd be worth bringing along some reserves manipulation but only UM players have access.

The Stormraven is easily the hardest flyer to deal with. AV12 all round and not affected by the extra melta dice. It may be expensive but you get a lot for your points. Assault Vehicle is excellent for the dreadnought or whatever else is in the hold (obviously not in the turn it arrives though). Power of the Machine Spirit keeps it going in spite of Shaken results and allows it to deal with two targets. Hover prevents it from needing to leave the table even if it does make it vulnerable for a turn. As you can tell I'm a huge fan of the Stormraven, I even like the look of it (controversial I know).

As I've said, the issue is the number of points you've got waiting in Reserve which can leave the rest of your army outnumbered. It's also got stiff competition in the Heavy Support slot.

Conclusion
I really think this FOC slot is the hardest to choose from. There are plenty of viable options here and choosing between them will be difficult. As ever in 40K you want multiples of things to make them more effective and below 2,000pts that will be difficult. Having said that the ability to ally SM with SM means you can effectively take 4 Elite, Fast or Heavy choices provided you paint them a different colour!

The stalker/hunter is a great looking kit and I'm always amazed how much mileage GW get out of the rhino hull but it's anti-air abilities are somewhat overshadowed by the flyers in this book. Obviously you can get 2-3 hunter/stalkers for the same price as a flyer but the flyer will probably serve you better.

It's irritating for me that every SM chapter except Dark Angels and Space Wolves (i.e. the two I play) gets access to the Stormraven. I can only hope that the SW book has a flyer in it but there's no hope for Dark Angels unless you take allies which I resent having to do. I've spoken before about my huge disappointment over the DA flyers but this just seals it.

That rounds up the review of the codex then. Over the weekend I'll be looking at some army lists and trying to figure out where this codex will sit in the current meta.

New Space Marine Codex Unit Reviews - Fast Attack

We're now on to the meat and bones of the codex and over the next few days I'll be looking at each FOC slot in turn and discussing each entry. This process is always useful as it means that every single unit gets a look in and you can really start to see the combinations come to the surface. This introduction piece will stay the same every time so feel free to save yourself some time and skip it. 

Today I'm going to look at the Fast Attack slot. This section is actually pretty easy to choose from. Essentially it's a toss up between bikes for grav weapons or anti-air from the Stormtalon.

Assault Squad

A ten-man unit of assault marines works out at about 10pts cheaper than the old book when you factor in the veteran sergeant. Otherwise, apart from being able to take a second special weapon at less than 10 models, they're pretty much the same. As ever they can ditch their jump packs and take a free transport.

It's a huge shame that you can't make them Troops in a Raven Guard army. It could be argued they'd be treading on the Blood Angels' toes but I think they're different enough for it not to matter. It would then make the Raven Guard chapter tactics a bit more valuable. As they are I can't see much of a call for Assault Squads in the current SM army. They mind find a role as the bullies of the book being able to pick on cheap scoring units like cultists etc. Put them up against anything decent though and they'll soon show that they're just marines with an extra attack. Sadly they're victims of the shooting focus of 40K at the moment and again it's the nicer models that suffer.

Land Speeder Squadron

There was a time when a cheeky land speeder with multi-melta and heavy flamer was a nice, cheap addition to any Space Marine army. They were great for dealing with enemy AV14 and hordes alike. Sadly with the hull point system anything with massed S4 weaponry can make short work of them. The other major blow to them was that vehicles can no longer contest objectives. This put pay to an often used tactic of swooping in on turn 5 to contest an objective and win the game.

There are potential uses for them as fire support but for my money you're better taking the more expensive stormtalon for that role. It may be double the price but I personally think it's worth it.

Stormtalon Gunship

Before the Stormraven got retconned into the Space Marine army the Stormtalon was the best option for anti-air in the SM book (well it wasn't in the book but you get my meaning). The Stormtalon has many detractors thanks to it's AV11 and pair of hull points. However, when you compare what you get for 140pts to what the Nephilim does for far more then you can start to see a benefit.

Escort Craft is of minimal use but does allow you to guarantee you get both your Stormtalon and Stormraven in the same turn to limit damage from Interceptor units. Strafing Run is a nice bonus and makes the Stormtalon a decent option for anti-infantry applications. Ceramite Plating is unlikely to save it as melta weapons are predominantly S8 but again it's a nice to have. I think the Stormtalon is often overlooked but I personally think it's the best anti-air option in the book. Not too expensive and not devastating to lose to Interceptor fire.

Bike Squad

You don't need me to tell you that bikes will be popular in the latest version of the SM codex. Everyone is talking about White Scars at the moment and for good reason. An army of scoring bikes with Scout, Hit & Run and grav weapons is a fearsome prospect. Incidentally, now's a good time to look at grav weapons and in particular the grav-gun.

What it lacks in range it makes up for in damage. Mounted on a bike it has an effective range of 30" and with the Scout rule that's extended to 42" in turn one. That means there isn't anywhere on the board that can't be touched from the off. Thanks to Relentless from the bikes the grav-gun will be firing 3 shots in each shooting phase. Against marines you're wounding and usually killing on 3s. That's great but even better is that terminators and anything else with a 2+ save (looking at you, Riptides) is being hurt on 2+. Grav-weaponry is easily the stand-out wargear in this book. Ironically you'll struggle to hurt Kroot with them but your twin-linked bolters will sort them out instead. Against vehicles you inflict Immobilised on a 6 and strip a hull point. There's a debate about whether you strip two hull points or not but there's still the potential for a grav-gun volley to down a vehicle.

What some people are overlooking I think is the Concussive special rule. This is where the synergy in the SM book appears. Your bike squad might not be that great in combat but if you've hit your target with grav weaponry then you should be able to do a decent amount of damage on the charge with your opponent now reduced to initiative 1. Obviously this is only useful against multi-wound targets but it shouldn't be ignored.

Expect to see a lot of 5 man bike squads with two grav-guns on a table near you. They'll be fantastic in White Scars armies but even in a standard force a Captain/Chapter Master will allow them to be troops. They should be selling like hot cakes for GW right now.

Attack Bike Squad
As ever these come in two flavours dakka heavy bolters or tank hunting multi-meltas. Personally I think they're pretty overpriced for both roles. Granted they have a place when you're facing AV13 or 14 but for the most part I think there are better ways to spend the points. Throwing one into a normal bike squad might be worth it to allow combat squadding but as a seperate unit I think they're less useful.

Still, with Scouts you could pack your Fast Attack slots with single attack bikes which Outflank and try to take down a tank. There's potential for excellence there at least, if you can bring down an annihilation barge with your 55pt model then great.

Scout Bike Squad

In a bike heavy army these guys might find a role. They're great for getting a deep striking unit in accurately thanks to Scouts/Infiltrators but they do of course suffer from their scout statline. They're a low cost option though and you can give them all grenade launchers to make them more useful. Cluster mines are interesting but with the way Dangerous Terrain works now you won't kill as many models as you would have in 5th. Still it could put your opponent off using a particularly useful piece of terrain. Overall I can't see them getting used a great deal though.

Conclusion
Bikes are the standout unit here thanks to their graviton weaponry. Ironic really since most of the time they'll have been made into Troops. In their abscence my favourite choice here would be the Stormtalon. It offers decent anti-air firepower for a reasonable cost. The rest of the units here will be personal preference but I probably won't be including them if I decide to start an SM army.

Tomorrow I'll look at the heavy support slot before taking a look at some ideas for army lists over the weekend. I hope you're finding these articles useful and worth reading.

New Space Marine Codex Unit Reviews - Elites

We're now on to the meat and bones of the codex and over the next few days I'll be looking at each FOC slot in turn and discussing each entry. This process is always useful as it means that every single unit gets a look in and you can really start to see the combinations come to the surface. This introduction piece will stay the same every time so feel free to save yourself some time and skip it. 

Today I'm going to look at the Elites slot. As with the rest of the codex there are a lot of options here but there are some stand-out choices, depending on your play-style of course.

Vanguard Veterans

In the previous incarnation of the SM codex, Vanguards could assault from Deep Strike. This changed when 6th edition hit and the rules stated that you couldn't assault from reserve. This rule has now been replaced with ignoring the disordered charge penalty and automatically passing the Glorious Intervention roll. That's pretty crappy to me. Firstly, when was the last time you even remembered to use the Glorious Intervention rule? Not to mention that often a challenge doesn't actually make it into a second round! Disordered Charges aren't that big of a deal either.

The problem is that with the sheer volume of fire some armies can put out, deep striking units struggle to get into combat with many (if any) models left. Let's not forget how many Riptides we see at the moment too! Do you really want to risk what will work out as a pretty expensive unit? Granted they're not that expensive when you compare them to regular assault marines with Ld9 and a extra attack for 5pts each. Alternatively you could pack out a land raider with them and charge something juicy. That's a pricey option though.

They're still die as easily as any other marines so they'll struggle to get many charges off. Perhaps I'm missing something but they just seem like a waste of points. Stunning models mind you.

Sternguard Veterans

Sternguard are pretty pricey at 22pts each, cheaper than they were though. They fulfil the same role they always have as the providers of special issue shots to deal with problematic enemy units. They'll work best with a drop pod and can take the soon to be popular grav-guns. Not to mention every model can take a combi-grav if you desire, seems a waste of special ammo though.

They'll do their job pretty reliably and will probably make an appearance in many tournament lists. Pedro Kantor allows them to be scoring too which is an interesting prospect. It's a shame that the Imperial Fists chapter tactics don't apply to their special ammo but perhaps they'd be too good then. If they're only firing their boltguns with normal ammo then you should save some points and buy a tactical squad! The tactical doctrine of the Ultramarines will also help them and can be used with their special ammo, if only for one turn. This could make a devastating turn one drop podding sternguard assault pretty potent.

Dreadnoughts

The standard and venerable dreadnoughts suffer the same problems they always have. They either attempt to walk across the field and probably get shot before doing much damage or they drop-pod in get one shot off then probably get shot down. The venerable dreadnought is significantly cheaper than it was mind you and for the BS boost and Venerable rule it feels like an automatic upgrade to me. They're still potent units if they can get into effective range but most of the time they'll struggle.

The ironclad dreadnought is a decent option for 135pts. AV13 got a lot stronger recently thanks to the shift towards infantry spam. A lot of armies traded their S8+ weaponry for anti-infantry firepower. This means the ironclad has a better chance of making it to its target. Factor in the included extra armour and they could be pretty durable. They're far from a bad option but there are probably better ways to spend the points.

As I've said earlier, an Iron Hands army with a MotF and a pile of dreadnoughts might be a lot of fun but will still come unstuck against some armies. I love dreadnoughts though so I'd be keen to give it a go at least once.

Legion of the Damned

Always a bit of a fluffy choice and pretty expensive for marines. Still they're too pricey for Fearless marines that re-roll the deep strike. Ignores cover applies to all of their weaponry too which means the special and heavy weapons become great vehicle hunters (depending on your view about the Ignores Cover rule and vehicles). Slow and Purposeful allows them to make the most of grav-guns and... oh wait they can't take them. That's a shame.

With their 3++ save and the aforementioned Fearless special rule they'll be great for holding up particularly smashy units. They'll also be pretty tricky to shift with shooting. No more so than normal marines perhaps but Fearless helps. I don't really expect we'll see them all that much as they're not especially good. They're a lot of points to stick in reserve really especially in an army with flyers etc.

Terminators
At the advent of 6th edition there was a lot of hype about terminators. This was largely due to the fact that power weapons had become AP3 meaning their 2+ saves were more effective. This joy was short lived though as each successive codex release has brought more firepower. The success of any terminator unit effectively comes down to how well you can roll those saves. In this current age of Riptides a-go-go the terminators suffer when arriving by deep strike. Land Raiders are seen as a pretty pricey option these days too.

They're the same price they ever were but TH/SS variants now cost a little more. This is a shame as they're still probably the most viable version of terminators, if only for their survivability against those dreaded Riptide pie-plates. Sadly, despite still being excellent models, they'll be overlooked in favour of other units in their price range.

Centurion Assault Squad

Probably the ugliest models in the book with their siege drills attached to their mittens and of debatable use. At 60pts a piece they really need to do something dramatic. Essentially what you're paying for is their durability. Two T5 wounds with a 2+ save is fairly good but the assault variant of the Centurions feels like a bit of an afterthought. You're probably best swapping the Ironclad Launchers for hurricane bolters as then they'll at least do something as they slowly plod towards combat. Twin-linked flamers would be great if they could deep strike but they can't.

The siege drills may be great against vehicles but I'm not convinced you'll catch them. You could give the sergeant an omniscope and a meltagun but 15pts seems a waste on an already pricey unit. Perhaps I'm being to negative about them but if you did shell out for the Centurion kit you'd be better building the Devastators in my opinion. Maybe my opinion will change but right now I'm not convinced by them at all.

Conclusion
To me the Elites section is probably the most disappointing in the book. You may have got that feeling from my negativity in this post! The clear stand-out unit are the Sternguard. This was probably true in the old book too. I can't see people taking the other options unless they're going for a themed army. What remains to be seen are the possible combinations of some of these units with the Chapter Tactics. Maybe there are some permutations that I've missed that save these units from extinction.

Terminators are a big let-down for me. I really want them to be awesome but they always seem to die too quickly and I'm left thinking about what else I could've had for the points. The vanilla variant has always been the poor cousin to all of the other terminators around and this version of the book doesn't change that. Deathwing are fearless, get split fire and twin-linked on deep strike. Wolf Guard are more flexible and have Counter-attack. Grey Knights terminators are Troops and have a disgusting array of special rules. Blood Angels may be the same points but can be given FNP fairly easily. Again, chapter tactics will have to be the saving grace for vanilla terminators.

New Space Marine Codex Unit Reviews - Troops & Transports

We're now on to the meat and bones of the codex and over the next few days I'll be looking at each FOC slot in turn and discussing each entry. This process is always useful as it means that every single unit gets a look in and you can really start to see the combinations come to the surface. This introduction piece will stay the same every time so feel free to save yourself some time and skip it. 

Today I'm going to look at the Troops slot, the core of the army and crucial in the current edition with so many objective missions. This section usually makes or breaks a codex. Remember that bikes can be made into Troops and Sternguard can become scoring.

Tactical Squad

The ever faithful tactical squad is a staple of 40K. The first models most people own are a box of tactical marines. They're decent at everything but not excellent at anything. Still they remain an obligatory choice even 25 years on. Their points cost has been steadily reducing over the years and they're now in line with the Dark Angels prices as expected. They also got the special OR heavy weapon choice that the Dark Angels did. As ever Combat Squads gives you the opportunity to double your scoring units in objective games whilst minimising unit numbers in Purge the Alien.

Like their DA counterparts they got access to flakk missiles but I've spoken before about why I think they're a waste of points. The big news from the new book is access to the excellent grav weaponry (which I'll talk about in more detail when I cover bikes). Otherwise there isn't much to say here. They won't be devastating but they'll do their bit as stoically as ever.

Scout Squad

Strangely the SM codex has slightly different points for the Scouts compared to the DA book. Each model is 11pts but a sniper rifle now costs 1pt each. That means sniper teams are the same cost but a slight decrease for regular scouts.

Scouts will still do the same thing they always did, hug objectives for dear life and use their camo cloaks to make themselves irritating to shift. They'll still die in droves to AP4 or better flamers and they'll still fold in combat but they'll often win you the game as they hang onto objectives and get overlooked. What's interesting is the comparison to kroot. They share a lot of the same rules and fulfil a similar role but they're nearly double the points. Sounds bad but they're probably twice as hard to shift as they don't succumb to bolter fire as easily. Like kroot it may be tempting to outflank cheap squads onto objectives but I suspect most will use them as cheap home objective holders.

Crusader Squad

Fatsui, Flickr

A "new" addition to the codex with the Black Templars merger these guys are only available to a BT general. I can't say I was particularly familiar with the old BT codex but a blob of 20 T4 scoring models for 240pts is interesting. I could see a lot of fun to be had with a Chaplain thrown in and the rest of the squad tooled up for a bit of slice and dice. The alternative is to throw in an Emperor's Champion to make the unit Fearless and go hunting for Challenges. A 15-man squad with a character in an aptly named Land Raider Crusader might be a lot of fun even if it's a lot of points too.

Ultimately the decision is more about whether or not you want to take Templars at all rather than whether crusader squads are worth it. If you are taking templars then by all means swap your tacticals for Crusader units but they certainly aren't worth choosing the chapter for.

Transports

The rhino was a familiar sight in 5th edition but I can't actually remember the last time I played against one at a 6th edition tournament. I wouldn't be surprised if this new codex starts a bit of a resurgence though. Being able to fire that grav-gun out of the top hatch is tempting and at 35pts they're still disgustingly cheap as transports go. They may not be all that difficult to shift but in a mech heavy Iron Hands force they could prove to be an irritation. Similarly Razorbacks are nothing stellar but are hardly pricey, the points have shifted around a bit like they did for the Dark Angels but otherwise they're what you know and perhaps love.

I can actually see Drop Pods making a bit of a come back. Of course the Tau codex and it's Interceptor shenanigans might throw a spanner in the works but Ultramarines with that first turn twin-linked volley from tactical squads are certainly worth considering. Sternguard should remain popular too and a Kantor pod list might make an appearance here and there.

Land speeders are pretty much a joke thanks to the hull points system combined with AV10 but fans of scouts might still consider them for the jamming beacon and Blind from the launcher. Great way of delivering a scoring unit in an otherwise slow foot-slogging force.

Conclusion
Nothing particularly new here. Obviously Crusader Squads are making their first appearance but they're largely similar to the BT book. Both tactical squads and scouts will get plenty of use in armies that haven't manipulated the FOC. Neither unit is going to shine but they'll do their job as reliably as ever. The humble space marine might not be the fearsome foe it once was but they're still better than most of the troops offered by the xenos forces. The tactical squads also make a bit of a mockery of their supposedly tougher CSM counterparts thanks mostly to ATSKNF.

New Space Marine Codex Unit Reviews - Generic HQs

We're now on to the meat and bones of the codex and over the next few days I'll be looking at each FOC slot in turn and discussing each entry. This process is always useful as it means that every single unit gets a look in and you can really start to see the combinations come to the surface. This introduction piece will stay the same every time so feel free to save yourself some time and skip it. 

Today I'm going to look at the rest of the HQs, which, for most people will be the units of choice over the special characters.

Chapter Master

There's basically a toss up between the Chapter Master and the Captain here. Obviously the former is more expensive but gives you an extra wound and attack. This is a boost from his previous incarnation for a measly 5pt increase. The chapter master also gets the Orbital Bombardment, which, although slightly unreliable, could be devastating if used well. The main reason to take the either the Chapter Master or Captain though is that if you shove him on a bike he can make Bike Squads into Troops. Not such a big deal if you're already taking Khan in a White Scars force but great for the other chapters.

The big deal for me is that, as someone who doesn't have much loyalty to any of the standard chapters, the Chapter Master presents a great opportunity to "build your own". The Chapter Relics are very interesting and with a bit of back story you can create fantastic characters for your DIY chapter. There are some interesting combinations floating around the internet and I think we'll see a lot of them in tournament play.

Honour Guard
These guys work out pretty pricey for them all to get a 2+ save. It could be argued that the artificier armour is actually a bargain on them though considering it's 20pts for a character. They're the only place you can get the Chapter Banner though and considering you can pack them out with power weapons you can create a pretty sturdy deathstar if you give them a land raider to charge out of.

Realistically I can't seem them making many appearances on the tournament scene as they're still just marines in 2+ armour. The sheer volume of fire power makes a 2+ save seem insignificant at time and to have sunk so many points into a unit which is a bit of a one-trick pony is probably ill-advised.

Captain/Terminator Captain

As discussed with the Chapter Master, the Captain is essentially a budget option. There aren't really compelling reasons to spend the extra 40 pts on the Chapter Master though so expect to see more Captains. There's a huge array of possible combinations on offer here but Hellfire rounds or grenade launcher are no longer part of them for some reason.

Somewhat strange that they've split the Captain and Terminator Captain into different entries as it doesn't fit with any of the other HQs. Still both offer a great statline for a pretty good price in my opinion. Both also give you the option to take a command squad which, particularly in biker armies, will be a great place to get a pile of special weapons.

Command Squad
Despite an error in the codex these guys can take Special Weapons thanks to an FAQ. This combined with the 35pt bargain price of bikes for the unit means you can create a heavy hitting support unit for your Captain. Some would argue that they come in a bit pricey for a non-scoring unit but being able to pack out the excellent grav-weapons is seriously worth consideration. Not to mention getting FNP (more useful with T5) for an already tough to kill unit.

Otherwise they have the same issues as the Honour Guard in that you end up paying out quite a bit for what is essentially an assault squad on steroids. Not awful but I think there are better units if you aren't taking bikes.

Librarian

Cheap as chips like his Dark Angels opposite number but actually cheaper for the ML2 upgrade. It's also a huge boost considering in the last book the equivalent would've cost 150pts. The big down side is that he's lost all of the powers from the previous book and doesn't get access to the ever popular Divination powers. Still if he's going to be riding around on a bike like everyone seems to be planning on then Telepathy can be excellent and Biomancy is interesting depending how you tool him up. Personally I think it's good to have some force weapons in your army as there are a lot of multi-wound things around that it'd be nice to insta-kill. Obviously a lot of them have high toughness but to my mind it's worth having the chance to take them out in one blow.

When you look at the librarian like that he'd probably do well in terminator armour with a storm shield to make him more durable. I can see a lot of people ignoring him though in favour of an allied Rune Priest who offers better powers and the best anti-psychic around for now.

Chaplain

Chaplains are nearly always overlooked as they offer bonuses to close combat in a universe dominated by shooting. They may be pretty cheap but I don't see them getting a lot of use. When you've only got two sltos to choose from they'll lose out to specials, captains and librarians nearly every time.

If you do want to run an assault deathstar then by all means attach a Chaplain to make them devastating on the charge. Mind you, do you really want to annihilate a unit on the charge and face a pile of shooting in their turn?

Master of the Forge
These guys catch my eye as they still have the ability to take tons of dreadnoughts. This screams Iron Hands to me as you have to think about the potential of 6 dreadnoughts in drop pods all with It Will Not Die and troop units in bolstered cover claiming objectives. Not sure how competitive a list like that would be but I'm determined to give it a go at least once.

Otherwise you can still stick them on a bike and give them a conversion beamer which makes for a lot of fun in any army. I think MotFs are often overlooked in favour of the other HQs but they might prove to be a sucker punch.

Techmarine/Servitors

As ever the techmarine does the same as the MotF but for 40 pts less. Obviously he suffers from having only a single wound but he still offers Bolster and Blessing of the Omnissiah. There was potential use for a techmarine on a bike in the Dark Angels book so I can see him being used in a similar way here. By the way, I know I'm droning on about bikes but I really do think we'll see a lot of them. I'm not overly sold on the idea but time will tell.

Servitors still fall short of the mark for me. They may be dirt cheap but BS3 is a let down and I simply can't see the point.

Conclusion
The standouts as ever are the Chapter Master and Captain. I think the librarian will get a look in too from time to time but with the loss of Gate and Zone he won't be as popular as before. I think it's a shame they've stripped those powers away but it does make things more standardised I suppose.

Otherwise the Master of the Forge might be a fun option but Chaplains will probably lose out in my view. Troops next.

New Space Marine Codex Unit Reviews - Special Characters (Part 2 of 2)

Continuing where I left off yesterday here are the seven remaining special characters. The vast majority of which fight their battles in black armour. Is there just me who thinks there's a bit too much black armour in this book with the addition of Templars?

Vulkan He'stan

Having artificier armour already sets He'stan apart from the other characters. Throw in a 3++ save too and he's already looking worth his price tag. If you gear your army around melta weapons and flamers (as you should for Salamanders) then you have a pretty deadly combination. His S6 AP3 weapon will be great in challenges as Master-crafter and Digital weapons makes up for two-handed. His warlord trait maybe somewhat mediocre but I think he's still potent in combat and a reasonable option all round. Twin-linked (effectively) melta weapons are going to cause a lot of armies problems, we may be in an era when vehicles are less common but forcing instant death on characters is handy. Salamanders have potential but I fear they'll be overlooked.

Shadow Captain Shrike

Big disappointment for me here. I've long been envious of Matt's Blood Angels as I've always loved the look of jump pack marines. Sadly Shrike doesn't unlock assault marines as troops. He's still good as part of an assault squad or even vanguard vets but those units themselves are of limited use so he feels a little bit of a let down. The Raven Guard chapter tactics would make for some quick and deadly assault squads but most armies are able to deal with them despite their speed. He's far from awful but I'm just not convinced he's worth his price tag and Raven Guard are likely to be least common of the SM chapters we see on the table-top.

Captain Lysander

First thing I notice about him is the combination of storm shield and iron halo. Perhaps if a vindicare takes away an invulnerable save then it'll be worth it but otherwise it seems an odd pairing! He's again got the potentially excellent Champion of Humanity and with 2+/3++ and Eternal Warrior he's going to be as tough to shift as ever. Gone are the Bolster Defences and Bolter Drill rules but Imperial Fists get a form of Bolter Drill now anyway. The standard tactic of Lysander with sternguard in a drop pod may be a thing of the past now but he's still hard as nails and an S10 AP1 hammer is pretty tempting to me. Put him up against monstrous creatures and other characters and he'll nearly always come out on top.

Pedro Kantor

Pedro is geared towards a combat orientated army which, outside of terminators, marines have never been all that effective at. A +1 bonus to attacks is potentially useful but most of the time it won't worry your opponent too much. The reason to take him though is to have Sternguard as scoring units. Whilst you may not be able to use the Chapter Tactics with their special ammo they'll still pack a hefty punch. Having another option for troops is great and we might see drop podding sternguard used in combination with Pedro.



High Marshal Helbrecht

Helbrecht has the potential to be a combat monster against the right target. He's already got 4 attacks but with the Legacy of Dorn he can potentially have 7 AP3 attacks. Giving the whole army Hatred and Fleet could make for a devastating assault phase especially combined with his warlord trait that gives Furious Charge. The question is how effective combat is at the moment. There are so many armies around with huge amounts of fire power and Tau supporting fire makes assaults difficult at best. Mind you, 180pts isn't bad considering his statline and equipment. The other question to ask is whether Black Templars are likely to be chosen over the other chapters or not.

Chaplain Grimaldus
An interesting prospect with his bodyguard of servitors. Essentially the servitors simply act as ablative wounds for Grimaldus. Combined with It Will Not Die they may make Grimaldus tricky to shift but then he's probably better joined to a normal unit to make the most of him. A 6" Zealot bubble is no bad thing I suppose but again it's a combat boost which isn't something marines do especially well. Maybe I'm missing something with the Black Templars but unless the meta changes significantly I can't see a decent way to make the most of them. I'll happily be correct though as they were one of the front-runners for which chapter I'd like to collect before the codex hit.

The Emperor's Champion

The only model to come in at under a tenner, the Emperor's Champion is also on the cheaper end of the special characters. He's actually pretty interesting too. Obviously he's geared up as a character killer so if you manage to get the Champion of Humanity trait then you're laughing. He isn't especially survivable in combat against anything with AP2 but otherwise he should be able to survive long enough to inflict some hurt thanks to the potential to be S6 or else have the potential to cause Instant Death. Realistically most of the time you'll choose the latter as, although less reliable, the potential to insta-kill something is very tempting. Don't overlook that he's Fearless too which would be conferred to a squad he joins. This could make a large Crusader squad led by him into something pretty fun.

That's it for the special characters then. With the possible exception of Tigurius and maybe Lysander, none of them particularly jump out as being must-haves. Part of the problem is the ability to build your own character with some of the relic weaponry. This has the advantage of not restricting you to a particular chapter.