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Have just finished building my Centurions after looking at the sprues for a couple of months thinking sod that....

I plan on running them soon and am wondering:

a)

Looking at their stat line, despite T5 and 2W they seem rather easy to kill, no Invuln etc. How survivable actually are they?

b)

How do you boost their resilience? I've seen people mention Tigurius, or a CM with Shield Eternal etc. These seem like very expensive solutions. Centurions are already very expensive, adding one of these further boosts that cost.

I've magnetized the Centurions so can use either load out but will be trying the Grav Cannons first.

They're going to need to close in to do optimum damage so can't imagine cover will always be available and not keen on seeing a near 300pt unit get wiped in the first couple of turns.

Some people like them but others don't. The consensus is that Grav Cannons, Tiggy, and a CM

You could ally in a Tau Commander with all the bells and whistles to stand up front and take it, while buffing the unit. Defensively that'd be iridium armour, fnp, 4++ and two shield drones. Let the drones take the S10 hits, and the Commander tanks the rest.

Or, standard procedure of the unkillable CM up front.

Alternatively, you could use Loth or Tigurius for Gate and jump around to safe places and kill stuff.


More options include Coteaz (for prescience, possible perfect timing, and "I've been expecting you"), an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor with grenades and Liber Heresius (for scout), Shadowsun for cover saves, or even O'vesa at the front.

Cheap option is Captain with SS. You should be able to get majority T5 so you're immune to S8-9.

"More options include Coteaz (for prescience, possible perfect timing, and "I've been expecting you"), an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor with grenades and Liber Heresius (for scout), Shadowsun for cover saves, or even O'vesa at the front. "

Iv asked about awkward force org interaction and it seems most people didnt think that sort of situation would work.

But a scouting unit of man tanks or even better outflank can get them into range of pretty much anything.

As well with inq you could maybe get forewarning or just use tigger or loth.

 minigun762 wrote:
Cheap option is Captain with SS. You should be able to get majority T5 so you're immune to S8-9.

The captain still gets ID'ed on his T4

A Bastion. Place the Bastion 8" from the Cent deployment zone. Turn 1, embark. This way, they gain an AV 14 shell and an extra 6" of range. Naturally, Tiggy or a thrift-shop Buffmander are essential additions.

I like a scout unit to keep em safe.

 CrownAxe wrote:

 minigun762 wrote:
Cheap option is Captain with SS. You should be able to get majority T5 so you're immune to S8-9.

The captain still gets ID'ed on his T4[/quote

Not in 6th edition.

I have found that the best way to keep them safe is

A. A tank commander in the unit
B. A gak ton of threats that are much MUCH closer than your centurions.

I run them in a scouting khan army and have found that when they have three bike squads in their face, they focus on the cents at their own peril.

Also giving them scout via khan or inquisitor really gets them into range, saving you a turn and getting that shooting that much sooner.

Aegis line or reinforced ruin are a cheap way to give them a decent cover save if you're gonna play them with long range guns.

Why does no one ever think of the great and powerful Az? Pull dark angels and give the squad a 4up invul as well as a few other tricks only the dark angels can pull. Or go cheaper and powerfield em with a libby if you're sure you can keep em outta h2h.

You keep them safe by including other things in your army that are equally pressing targets.

 Desubot wrote:
"More options include Coteaz (for prescience, possible perfect timing, and "I've been expecting you"), an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor with grenades and Liber Heresius (for scout), Shadowsun for cover saves, or even O'vesa at the front. "

Iv asked about awkward force org interaction and it seems most people didnt think that sort of situation would work.

But a scouting unit of man tanks or even better outflank can get them into range of pretty much anything.

As well with inq you could maybe get forewarning or just use tigger or loth.

Sorry for being unclear; I didn't mean those Tau guys and Coteaz together at the same time.

For example; Option 1) Centurions + Coteaz + Tigurius + Inquisitor + CM, or option 2) Shadowsun + Tigurius, or option 3) O'vesa + Tigurius, etc.

@Leth: Characters still get instant death on their own toughness value. You only roll to wound against majority toughness.

I'm interested to take a look at the CM option, although expensive he's a badass in his own right and could always go wreck something later in the game.

Nothing against people using the Tau Commander idea but not my kind of thing. Like to keep my armies a little themed and can't ever imagine Tau and Marines being buds. Regardless of what the BRB says.

The CM also opens up Honour Guard who I like a lot these days.

Thinking of Chapter Master:

Artificer Armour, Bike, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer and Auspex. He can trundle along at the pace of the Centurions for as long as necessary then go wrecking later on.

Wasn't sure about the Shield Eternal, with this set up he will be immune from ID from everything bar Str 10, I'd like to think the Centurions can gun down any such threats first.

He also unlocks Bikes as Troops so I'll be taking a Grav Bike Squad to help spread the threat across the board.

I'll be playing tomorrow night, more than likely against my mates Eldar so I'll let you know how I get on.

Chaos Narines are easy to find lots for and they come in dark vengeance. I'm tellin ya, no problemo to build.

I normally don't really need to keep them that safe.

I run 2 grav-cannons and a guy with TL-lascannon and have them advance into a sweet spot for their guns behind an assault element of my army. Works pretty well as fire support for the assaulting units and to distract the enemy.

plus a cover save for intervening units is nice.

I like the addition of Tigurius, Sevrin Loth, or a generic Librarian if you feel lucky. Invulnerable or cover saves are only the tip of the iceberg. Re-rolls to hit with your grav-cannons or a unit that can teleport all around the battlefield are also great buffs.

If you don't want to add an HQ to them for survivability, you can always just stick them in cover. A static unit works a little better with Lascannon/Missile launcher cents rather than grav cents, but area terrain is a tried and true shield for units with no invulnerable save.

 Quientin wrote:
Why does no one ever think of the great and powerful Az? Pull dark angels and give the squad a 4up invul as well as a few other tricks only the dark angels can pull. Or go cheaper and powerfield em with a libby if you're sure you can keep em outta h2h.

Azrael is too expensive for what he actually gives. The Librarian is pointless when you add Tigurius (a much superior option).

 Quientin wrote:
Why does no one ever think of the great and powerful Az?

Unfortuantely, over 200 points for a 4+ invul is a little silly. Especially since you won't be able to take RW bikes or DW termies as troops if he's an ally.

Shadowsun would allow grav cent to infiltrate and improve 5+ cover to 2+ cover.

For dev cents it's either tiggy or a buff commander. Tiggy will usually be able to give the unit a 4+ invo and 2 shooting buffs. The buff commander can tank wounds and los 1 wound that are not ap2 onto the nearest cent, and then rotate cents next turn. Overall I think the buff commander is best for the rerolls to hit, ignore cover, skyfire, and tank/monster hunter.

Stick 'em on a Skyshield Landing Pad.

Depends what you are trying to.achieve. If you want.them alive all game go with CM and/or Tiggy. If its simply to keep them from getting tarpitted just babysit them with a few CC scouts.

Also, want the CM tanking wounds, go for the SE as the bike is wasted mobility while he can still be insta-gibbed.

I ran the Centurions with the CM I listed a few posts above.

The Centurions performed very well, I was impressed by them.

The reason I took the bike was to unlock troop bikes but the CM had
a stinker and was dead turn 2 (rolled 3 ones from 4 saves first time he was shot)

Next time I plan on either taking Tiggy or switching to Lascannons and
leaving them at the back in cover.

I also used a Stalker for the first time and was relatively impressed, it had
no flyers to target but I was playing Eldar so could shoot skimmers.
Pleased it isnt on a basic Rhino chassis, the extra pip of armour helps a lot.
Isn't really that effective against AV12 but for 75pts is worth a go if you have
a HS spot to spare. Will definately give it another run out next time.

No point in running a CM on a bike to tank for them. If he moves he gets a jink save. Therefore he has a better cover save then the cents. Therefore the cents can be focussed fired upon, thus bypassing the CM...

Poly Ranger wrote:
No point in running a CM on a bike to tank for them. If he moves he gets a jink save. Therefore he has a better cover save then the cents. Therefore the cents can be focussed fired upon, thus bypassing the CM...

Yup. Amazing how many people miss that. If you need the mobility give him a jump pack

 DarknessEternal wrote:
You keep them safe by including other things in your army that are equally pressing targets.

Those don't exist in C:SM.

Bastion with an Escape Hatch. Gives insane board reach and threat bubble, even without Gate, while protecting them from Orbital Bombardments and everything else.

I also like to stand O'Vesa in front and tank with him if the bastion goes down, he's probably the tankiest unfortuned unit in the game.

 Leth wrote:

 CrownAxe wrote:

 minigun762 wrote:
Cheap option is Captain with SS. You should be able to get majority T5 so you're immune to S8-9.

The captain still gets ID'ed on his T4

Not in 6th edition.

Fixed the misquote.
Yes, in 6th edition. You roll to wound based on majority toughness, but Instant Death (p16) applies based on the model's toughness that's suffering the allocated wound.

I give mine a LR. Ok now wait for everyone to say its too expensive.. Yes it is pricey but a LR (I use godhammer for my cents) is a metal box that many people are not prepared for. After it dumps out your cents it becomes a pretty potent threat itself. It can also block line of site and create fire lanes for your cents. Additionally it takes that 24" range and turns it into 36" on turn one. As far as the loadout I was in the camp that LC/ML cents are the best. They are not. At all. the GC/HB is by far the best option. It can threaten vehicles and all forms of infantry with this loadout. Hell even guardsman have to be scared of the gravcannons thanks to the reroll to wound. The LC may look better but its still just a few dice. 3 bad rolls on those three LC can make the unit utterly useless. If you're going for long range AT/AA then just take a contemptor with 2 TLLC's and a CML. It'd be cheaper and better at the job.

 anonymou5 wrote:

Poly Ranger wrote:
No point in running a CM on a bike to tank for them. If he moves he gets a jink save. Therefore he has a better cover save then the cents. Therefore the cents can be focussed fired upon, thus bypassing the CM...

Yup. Amazing how many people miss that. If you need the mobility give him a jump pack

Very good point, that had never crossed my mind. Thankfully it didn't cross my opponents either. Jump Pack from now on then