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So this is an idea that has been brewing inside my head.

I want a unit that is as cheap as possible, as resilient as needed, and as capable as possible to face any and all kinds of enemies on the battlefield - the perfect all-comers tourney unit, so to speak. Barring Flyers, that is.

Now I've always heard of the Shield Eternal Chapter Master being used to tank wounds for a glass cannon unit, such as Grav Centurions. But the idea of having a 195+ point model just hang around doing nothing but tanking wounds kinda speaks for itself - you arent really gaining anything. That points cost is the price of a Leman Russ Executioner. Or a Predator Annihilator + Landspeeder. Which you could have on the battlefield. But you dont, and instead have a shield for your Grav Centurions - congrats.

So I wanted my Commander to actually contribute to the Grav Centurions' shooting and thus decided to replace one of his weapons with Primarch's Wrath. It's pretty decent for its points cost - especially when fired by a BS5 character. Might as well put that BS to good use! A combi-melta sounds good but I have to be real, REAL close to an enemy tank with my totally expensive squad to actually put it to use, and even then it is one use only. Combi Grav is great, but Grav fire is already coming from my Centurions, and also just a one-trick pony.

Problem is, Primarch's Wrath can only be fired to full effect on a stationary or relentless character. The only way to get that is either terminator armor or a space marine bike. No point in taking a bike, as my HQ gets majority toughness 5 around the Centurions anyway. However he is still ID'd by S8 weapons. There is another possibility: simply attaching my HQ to the squad of Centurions gives him their SNP ability, allowing him to move and fire his gun to full effect.

So this would make a Chapter Master with Shield Eternal and Primarch's Wrath a pretty solid setup, right? Shield to tank low AP fire (better than Iron Halo) AND prevent ID from S8. Problem is, the Orbital Bomb is kinda overkill since it has to be targeted at the same squad my Centurions are firing at. And this setup also makes my HQ a complete sucker in close combat - part of taking the CM for a Grav Cent squad is not only tank low AP fire, but also give them a cc-boost which they direly need.


So here is my alternate setup:


Captain with Artificer Armor + Power Axe + Primarch's Wrath

I dropped the CM - okay, lost a wound and an attack, but the loss of the OB didnt really bother me. 40 points cheaper is what's nice. Since I now only have 3 wounds at my disposal, I dropped the Shield Eternal as well - another 50 points saved - in the worst case I can always Lookout Sir and pass a S8 or higher hit onto one of the Centurions on a 2+ for being an IC; as long as it is not S10, they can take some beating.

The artificer armor gives me the 2+ save I need (terminator armor is only 10 points costlier for the captain and gives me a power sword, but I'd rather pay the 5 extra points to take an axe so I can deal with 2+ sv. ICs.

Okay, 3 wounds and 4++ inv do not make for a great "tank", but for that my tank is relatively cheap now (clocking in at only 145 points) and is dangerous both at range and in close combat (but not a monster - striking last and not having a 3++ or EW means he can only hope for the best)

Besides, I wont be needing to be a "super tank" anyway since my setup involves me putting them in a Land Raider and driving them up towards the enemy:

3 Grav Centurions with 2 Hurricane Bolters and 2 Grav Cannons with Grav Amps, 1 Sarge with Omniscope, TL-Lascannon + Missile Launcher

So I took the Hurricanes because this unit desperately needs some anti GEQ firepower. At the same time, I also want my squad to be capable against armor. So the sarge gets a TL-Lascannon and ML, both of which he can usefully direct at a tank while 2 Grav Cannons should still do enough damage to an MEQ/TEQ squad.

Now here's the final part: what type of Land Raider?

Obviously one TL-Las and ML won't be enough to actually take down armor. So I decided to take a Land Raider with TL-HB, MM and 2 TL-Lascannons.

To round it all up I have given my Captain Melta Bombs because he can take these for not being in terminator armor - just in case they need to assault a tank the LR+ Sarge couldnt finish off. It also gives him a last small chance against T8 monsters in CC.

All in all, this "star" costs 660 points.

Great vs MEQ/TEQ, great vs GEQ, pretty decent in CC, pretty decent at tanking wounds, great vs armor, great at overall survivability, great at mobility.

Thoughts?

I think you can make chaptain even cheaper without power axe and artificer armor. It's not likely they're gona get in mellee anywayz. and captain won't help you tank wounds alot. Especially with 4++. You can use landraider's hull as blos to protect the squad from being fired at by what's dangerous for them.
Are you sure you want a lazcannon+ML? I think u're better off with full gravspam.

All in all, this "star" costs 660 points.

Great vs MEQ/TEQ, great vs GEQ, pretty decent in CC, pretty decent at tanking wounds, great vs armor, great at overall survivability, great at mobility.

Thoughts?

The idea isn't a particularly novel one, though there is little need for the Captain/Chapter Master. Consider that in a White Scars army, the Land Raider purchased as a dedicated transport for the Centurions can Scout. This means that they are likely to be in range to fire turn one. The nasty trick that players can pull is to disembark the Cents, shoot with them, then turbo boost the Raider in front of them to block LOS.

If you are taking a Raider, don't bother with the bloated character attachment. They don't want to be in close combat, and you should be able to avoid it pretty easily with some solid premeasuring and Raider movement blocking.

I agree that using both the tanking character and the Land Raider is too much.

If your primary goal is to , in essence, give your Centurions an Inv save, why not take a stock Chaplain? The rerolls do next to nothing for the squad but you have a 4++ to direct plasma shots at for less than 100 points.

If you want something more durable, consider a Storm Shield Captain with whatever weapon you prefer. Now it's 3 wounds at 3++.

Land Raider wall...I like that idea.

The only reason why I went for a tank was because I'm trying to play my Grav Cents with my Black Templars, whose strategy is to usually be troublemakers in the enemy's own deployment zone rather than play the ranged game from my own zone.

So with everything getting close to the enemy, I thought my Grav Cents would be prime target for a countercharge by the enemy's HQ characters. So once I've bailed them out of the Land Raider (turn 2 at the latest) I'd not want them to get charged.

A smart opponent will want to charge them with anything, as they can't overwatch and any time they spend locked in combat is time not spent blasting the opponent.

What about some sort of bubblewrap unit in front to absorb that assault?

Your cheapest option could be a lvl 2 psyker in TDA with a storm-shield. Roll twice on biomancy and hope for Eternal Warrior and IWND.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, SNP does not transfer to the squad.

 phoenix darkus wrote:
Your cheapest option could be a lvl 2 psyker in TDA with a storm-shield. Roll twice on biomancy and hope for Eternal Warrior and IWND.

You're right. Level 2 Libby with Stormshield, Force Axe and TDA clocks in at 125 points. But that's another wound I lose and thus even less of a tank.

 phoenix darkus wrote:
Also, SNP does not transfer to the squad.

The squad has it, so it transfers to the IC.