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I know grav cannons are amazing. I use them all the time and they do serious work. They require over 400 points of HQ to make them work though so really I have to wonder if there is another way to make centurions work.

TL LC and Rocket is some pretty good firepower for what I think is a fair price on a tough platform and might synergize well with a thunderfire cannon. Bolster defense on some ruins and you have a squad thats pretty hard to remove - tiggy or a couple lvl 2 libs for ignore cover and 4++'s - it would probably work best with imperial fist tactics cause then they'd get tank hunter right? Cents pop transport - thunder firecannon cleans up. Plenty of points will be left over - where would you go from there in a 1850?

I've had good luck using them with IF chapter tactics (which gets them Tank Hunter). If you have a nice piece of LOS blocking terrain in your deployment zone, you can hug that and try to avoid getting shot at, and so try to abuse the 48" range of your weapons as much as you can. That's something regular devastators can't do (nor can lascannon predators, really). Having that longer range keeps them safe against some S10 stuff (Vindicators, Thunderwolves), but I've still had them get nuked by heavy wraithcannons.

With tank hunter, they're pretty killy against vehicles - it's rare that I've failed to kill an enemy vehicle in a single round of shooting. But only having three AP2 weapons makes them kind of crap against 2+ MCs and things like that (they're also bad against Wraithknights, as the ML only wounds on a 4+).

Grav Cents are still pretty much objectively better (even against vehicles).

 DanielBeaver wrote:
I've had good luck using them with IF chapter tactics (which gets them Tank Hunter). If you have a nice piece of LOS blocking terrain in your deployment zone, you can hug that and try to avoid getting shot at, and so try to abuse the 48" range of your weapons as much as you can. That's something regular devastators can't do (nor can lascannon predators, really). Having that longer range keeps them safe against some S10 stuff (Vindicators, Thunderwolves), but I've still had them get nuked by heavy wraithcannons.

With tank hunter, they're pretty killy against vehicles - it's rare that I've failed to kill an enemy vehicle in a single round of shooting. But only having three AP2 weapons makes them kind of crap against 2+ MCs and things like that (they're also bad against Wraithknights, as the ML only wounds on a 4+).

Grav Cents are still pretty much objectively better (even against vehicles).

No doubt grav is better vs the majority of things. Thats kinda what I'm looking for though - my local group complains about the grav a lot and I completely understand So I want to try something different with them. I think they will still be very destructive vs vehicals and be hard to kill - thats all im looking for and an opportunity to use the thunderfire cannon I just got.

I dont think you need to Gate Grav Centurions to make them useful. You can put them with a basic divination psyker in a drop pod and they will do plenty for a competitive army. I actually think the Gating Cent star is a lot of eggs in one basket....

 Xenomancers wrote:
No doubt grav is better vs the majority of things. Thats kinda what I'm looking for though - my local group complains about the grav a lot and I completely understand So I want to try something different with them.

I'm with you - I generally find grav spam boring to play, and even worse to play against. Cents with LC/ML require a bit more decision-making (especially if you're doing omniscope shenanigans), and make my opponent less pissy. The non-grav cent configurations are perfectly serviceable, grav just stands out as tournament-winning.

 Kholzerino wrote:
I dont think you need to Gate Grav Centurions to make them useful. You can put them with a basic divination psyker in a drop pod and they will do plenty for a competitive army. I actually think the Gating Cent star is a lot of eggs in one basket....

The big issue is they will get tarpitted or flat wiped out in assualt - It might take a few turns and with an IC they might even win combat against middle tier assault units. This biggest advantage of gates is you can break out of any combat. IMO it's the only reason why centurions are viable with 24" guns. If you are in assault you aren't shooting overpowered gravs.

Thats why they synergize best with armies that have very mobile assaulty support (TWC or White Scars bikers)

I think they're too expensive for lascannon work. Devastators can bring 4 lascannons by half the price of 3 cents, and DSing land speeders with 2 MMs are criminally cheap.

Amnd if you want S8 AP3, Scorpion Whirlwind (IA2) can fire d3+1 BLASTS if not moving

 Vector Strike wrote:
I think they're too expensive for lascannon work. Devastators can bring 4 lascannons by half the price of 3 cents, and DSing land speeders with 2 MMs are criminally cheap.

Not going to argue that it completely makes up the point difference, but do remember, the 3 las cannons the cents bring are twinlinked, and can fire on the move. Additionally, while AP 2 may be more prevalent than normal, the 2 wounds and 2+ save aren't exactly something to scoff at.

If it helps anyone's opinion, I'd rather have 3 Heavy Destroyers than a Devastator squad. Only 3 lascannons, but with Preferred Enemy, can move and shoot, and is T5 with more overall wounds. So in reality, LasCents aren't really that bad of an idea...