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I've not seen this mentioned before. Apologies if it has...

Corbulo
Inquisitor with prescience
4 crusaders
8 servitors with plasma cannons
380pts

Bubble wrapped with 10 men 40point units of (or 12 men 48point) henchmen if worried about deepstrike.

Stays backfield so most units are out of range to shoot back. 8 prescienced plasma cannon blasts. Corbulo tanks anything that is less than st8. Crusaders LOS anything st 8 or over. Can swap out any servitor for more crusaders if in need for more 3+ invulns (also saving 5pts per swap) The worry is barrage on the inquisitor but this can be made less of a worry by investing in another 25pt naked inquisitor.
Doesn't have the range issue of the cent star, and since you'll be taking BA, if the opponent wants to close the gap for assaulting the unit, game on!


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Or can give the inquisitor termi armour if really worried about sniping/barrage.

Hmm... You're still going to suffer and die under weight of fire. 14 models, with only one 2+ save and a lot of 3+ or 4+ isn't going to last long. (I don't know the exact stats of Servitors.)
Only 380 points isn't bad, but it also isn't too hard to get behind or to the side of the squad, which means Corbulo won't be taking the damage anymore. The majority toughness 3 is really making you vulnerable to anti-infantry, and since your squad can't move around without losing your firepower, making you easy to flank.

Only can take 3 servitors with plasma cannons IIRC.

Yep max 3 heavy on servitor.

Ah bugger you are right. P168. In the inquisitor armoury there were no such restrictions. I did not however scroll the page to see the last of the henchmen options. Oh well - it was fun whilst it lasted.
Waaaghpower - if it had been legal, I would have no worries about them flanking me, IF they had got past the bubblewrap, IF i had positioned so poorly that they could shoot all the servitors and IF they were a squad which could take out 8 servitors in one go, they would most likely not be a squad that would appreciate a revenge charge of corbulo+ force weapon inquisitor + 4 crusaders.
Bear in mind they would be backfield and if the opponent wanted to flank them they would have to get close to my army. I do not mind paying 160points on servitors to make the opponent close with the assault elements of my army.
The point is moot anyway.

However...

Corbulo
Inquisitor with prescience
3 crusaders
3 servitors with plasma cannons
6 psykers
320pts

Not as scary, but 3 prescienced plasma cannon shots and 1 prescienced st 8 ap1 large blast. All the same tactics as before. 60pts less.

Or just take off corbulo and instead go for survivability by mass and take 3 squads of these for 215pts each behind an adl. The 3 crusaders won't tank for long, but with everything being 36" range the opponent will either have to shoot at them with heavies or close the distance.
No longer a death star mind... that idea is dead.


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I miscaculated - its 5pts more expensive for the psyker version.


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Or 187pts for 3 wound sponge acolytes instead of 3 crusaders.

Servitors and their squad does nothing at all 50% of the time unless babysat, so hard to spam them

That's why there are inquisitors in the units. At dual foc you could have upto 4 of these units on the cheap.

215pts for a unit practically made of paper with mediocre ranged output, zero mobility and poor close combat ability is not very cheap.

Better to keep the henchmen squad focussed on one task and cheap.

I wouldn't say a st8 ap1 large blast, 3 st 7 ap2 blasts all prescienced as 'mediocre'. Also being at 36" range means the guns shooting at them are not small arms unless the enemy closes the distance. If wanting to fire heavy weapons at distance at this unit the 3++ on the first three models and then the 4+ cover save they will have will definitely help, This unit will absolutely annihilate a 10man BA assault squad at the same points cost in one turn for example. It does not need to be mobile either. And there will be other units in a list to take up the assault duties.


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Also its a bit of a waste to shoot heavy weapons at 10pt psykers in cover, even worse to shoot at 15pt 3++ crusaders.


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Would you say a devastator squad with plasma cannons has 'mediocre' ranged ability btw? Because this units fire output is FAR more lethal.

What's your anti-iontide tactic?

Bear in mind this is no longer the (illegal) death star unit I was thinking of. It is instead a 220pt long range heavy firepower unit with 3 3++ models to take long range shots. If I cluster the models increadibly badly, and a large blast hits 11 of the models perfectly, the 3 crusaders will go down on average. Barrage will decimate this unit admittedly. But it is still a 36" range unit hiding behind an adl that puts out 3 plasma cannon shots and 1 large st8 ap1 blast that will all be getting a 'hit' on the scatter dice 2/3s of the time on average. A BA assault squad is the staple unit of the BA dex, that a lot of BA players consider almost essential to a list, for the same points... this unit however is far more dangerous (from turn 1) and doesn't have to cover the whole board to cause damage, so how can this unit be considered poor in any way?
Check out the 2k inquisitor list I've posted on the armylist forum and tell me what your 1st target priority would be for that ion cannon...

BA assault squads are also overcosted and considered fairly mediocre to bad.

And that devastator unit with 4x plasma is not worth the HS slot. As troops I would be all over them, but they are also much cheaper than this unit.

I would run over it with bikes or bombard out the servitors and psykers with thunderfire cannons. Eldar can run over it with wraithknights and serpents, tau can remove your save etc.

The unit has fairly good ranged damage output, but IMO, it costs too much, so in relation to the price, the damage output is not that great.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying. BA assault squads are overcosted, plasma devs aren't great and you can take out the good models of this squad with barrage. However, if this unit makes eldar close with me or tau abbandon their positions to get in range/ shoot their long ranged weapons at it, it will be 220pts well spent!
Blasts benefit massively from prescience and such a power almost doubles this units effectiveness. Maybe its because I mainly play BA and am used to a basic unit costing between 150 and 250pts, but I think for the range and damage output as well as the tactical headache it will cause for the opponent to close with the rest of my BA force, 220pts is well worth the cost.

Try it out, it may work better than I expect, I`m only theoryhammering here.

Ignore cover is the best power you can get. I`ve been up against 3 plasma servitors with coteaz and he got that power. They dominated that table quarter until I could get some trick-shot thunderfires in there. (dont park tanks just outside the ruin your squishy unit hides in)

Coatez would be a great shout! 2 rolls on div with the 'i'll be expecting you rule'. I was going to have to include him anyway to make them scoring ao it might as well be in this unit.