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Crusader Intercessor Squad (Troops, Power Rating 6)

4-19 Crusader Intercessor: M 6"; WS 3+; BS 3+; S 4; T 4; W 2; A 2; Ld 7; Sv 3+
1 Bladeguard Crusader: M 6"; WS 3+; BS 3+; S 4; T 4; W 3; A 3; Ld 8; Sv 3+

If this unit contains 6 or more models, it has Power Rating 11. If this unit contains 11 or more models, it has Power Rating 16. If this unit contains 16 or more models, it has Power Rating 21. Every Crusader Intercessor is equipped with: heavy bolt pistol; Astartes chainsword; frag grenades; krak grenades. The Bladeguard Crusader is equipped with: heavy bolt pistol; master-crafted power sword; frag grenades; krak grenades; storm shield.

Wargear

Wargear Options

Any number of Crusader Intercessor models can each have their heavy bolt pistol and Astartes chainsword replaced with 1 bolt pistol and one of the following: 1 auto bolt rifle; 1 bolt rifle.

For every 5 models in this unit, one Crusader Intercessor's heavy bolt pistol can be replaced with one of the following: 1 hand flamer; 1 plasma pistol.

For every 5 models in this unit, one Crusader Intercessor's Astartes chainsword can be replaced with one of the following: 1 power fist; 1 power sword; 1 thunder hammer.

For every 5 models in this unit, 1 Crusader Intercessor equipped with an auto bolt rifle or bolt rifle can be equipped with 1 Astartes grenade launcher.

Abilities

Angels of Death: See Codex: Space Marines.

Keywords

Faction: IMPERIUM, ADEPTUS ASTARTES, BLACK TEMPLARS

Keywords: KEYWORDS: INFANTRY, CORE, PRIMARIS, INTERCESSORS, CRUSADER INTERCESSOR SQUAD

Keywords (Bladeguard Crusader): SWORD BRETHREN

Points Costs


New Stratagem: No Pity! No Remorse! No Fear! (1/2 Command Points)

Black Templars - Epic Deed Stratagem
The Black Templars fight until the Emperor's glory has been spread across the stars, a crusade without end.
Use this Stratagem at the start of the Fight phase. Select one CRUSADER INTERCESSOR SQUAD unit from your army that is within Engagement Range of any enemy units; until the end of the phase, each time a model in that unit piles in, consolidates, or is destroyed, it can make one attack with one of its melee weapons. If the unit made a charge move this turn, this attack does not need to target a unit it declared a charge against. If the selected CRUSADER INTERCESSOR unit contains 10 or fewer models, this Stratagem costs 1CP; otherwise, it costs 2CP.

New Stratagem: We Follow The Sword (1 Command Point)

Black Templars - Battle Tactic Stratagem
The elite Sword Brethren guide the neophytes and initiates of the Black Templars into battle with centuries of bloody-handed experience and holy fervour.
Use this Stratagem at the end of your Movement phase. Select one CRUSADER INTERCESSOR SQUAD unit from your army that includes a SWORD BRETHREN model and is within 2" of another friendly CRUSADER INTERCESSOR SQUAD unit that does not include a SWORD BRETHREN model. If the combined total number of models in both units is 20 or less, both units merge into a single unit, and are treated as such for the rest of the battle.

Repulsor Deliverer (Heavy Support, Power Rating 16)

1 Repulsor Deliverer:
M 10"; WS 6+; BS 3+; S 8; T 8; W 9-16; A 6; Ld 9; Sv 3+
M 5"; WS 6+; BS 4+; S 8; T 8; W 5-8; A D6; Ld 9; Sv 3+
M 3"; WS 6+; BS 5+; S 8; T 8; W 1-4; A D3; Ld 9; Sv 3+

A Repulsor Deliverer is equipped with: heavy onslaught gatling cannon; 2 ironhail heavy stubbers; twin heavy bolter; auto launchers.

Wargear

Wargear Options

This model can be equipped with 2 krakstorm grenade launchers.

This model can replace 1 ironhail heavy stubber with 1 onslaught gatling cannon.

Abilities

Angels of Death: See Codex: Space Marines.

Assault Vehicle: Units embarked within this transport can disembark even if it has made a Normal Move this phase. Any unit that disembarks after this transport has made a Normal Move cannot charge this turn.

Explodes: When this transport is destroyed, roll one D6 before any embarked models disembark and before removing it from play. On a 6 it explodes, and each unit within 6" suffers D6 mortal wounds.

Hover Tank: Distances are always measured to and from this model’s hull.

Transport
This model has a transport capacity of 16 <CHAPTER> PRIMARIS INFANTRY models. Each MK X GRAVIS model takes up the space of 2 models. It cannot transport JUMP PACK models.

Keywords

Faction: IMPERIUM, ADEPTUS ASTARTES, <CHAPTER>

Keywords: KEYWORDS: VEHICLE, TRANSPORT, MACHINE SPIRIT, REPULSOR FIELD, REPULSOR DELIVERER

Points Costs


Automatically Appended Next Post:
A Primaris analogue to the Crusader formation; there's not really a lightly armoured Primaris equivalent of Scouts, which is a pretty key part of the aesthetic, so instead I've leaned on the other core parts of Black Templars Crusader Squads; the large unit size (deployable in a Land Raider Crusader), the flexible weapon setup, the access to melee weapons as "special weapons", and the use of a veteran Sword Brother to act as "Sergeant".

These therefore work like Veteran Intercessors, mingling the options from Assault Intercessors and Intercessors, but with a maximum unit size of 20. You can't take Stalker Bolt Rifles (too slow!) or use Combat Squads (big blobs are what we want), but your Sergeant weapon options go on regular models in the unit instead, allowing for 1-in-5 plasma/flame pistols and a 1-in-5 power weapon. In place of your actual Sergeant, you get a Bladeguard Veteran model, who leads the squad.

Tempted to bump down the Bladeguard Crusader to 2 wounds, both for ease of book-keeping and to make him cost more than he's "worth" compared to a regular Bladeguard Veteran; at the moment this unit is basically nothing but advantages (at least in terms of flexibility) over Assault or regular Intercessors, except access to Combat Squads (eh), Stalker Bolters (only relevant if Black Templars ban actual Intercessors when introducing these guys) and the Rapid Fire Stratagem. Then again, the same could be said of regular Crusaders; they're just Tactical Marines with more options.

Meanwhile, the Repulsor Deliverer is a variant of the Repulsor that uses the Executioner top-armour plates, and would involve chopping up the back for a proper Impulsor-style assault bay. It trades 2 storm bolters, 2 krak grenades, a hunter-slayer missile, and an Icarus stubber (plus most upgrades/options) for an extra 6 transport slots and the Assault Vehicle rule. This vehicle probably ought to have a wildly different loadout, like twin heavy flamers instead of heavy bolters, a different main gun (some kind of rotating grenade launcher that stops Overwatch, or something), and maybe a special bonus for charging, but a straightforward gear-check seemed simpler for now, and I'm tired.

Two new Stratagems accompany this unit: No Pity, No Remorse, No Fear! is a Crusader Intercessor answer to Honour The Chapter; you don't get the extra pile/in consolidation, but it scales to about the same number of attacks per CP, and it works "faster".

We Follow The Sword is just a loose idea I had floating around; the Crusade never stops! It's Mob Up/Consolidate Squads, but requires your Bladeguard Veteran Sergeant to have died. Which will probably happen relatively quickly, since with 2+/4++ he's perfect for soaking up hits before you start removing your regular marines. The main use here, then, is to ensure your units get to stay behind the honourable bullet sponge. Numbers are capped at 20 for sanity reasons.

I think the Deliverance Formation could run into a number of rules issues, and if there are rules aimed at a unit consisting of a single vehicle, there's the chance they could become a bit OP if suddenly they can affect all vehicles within this particular formation.

I personally don't think it's necessary, as that's always been a catch when taking Crusader unit. While Firstborn can take an LRC, perhaps you could create a new Repulsor with extra transport cap but reduced weapon output.

 Valkyrie wrote:
I think the Deliverance Formation could run into a number of rules issues, and if there are rules aimed at a unit consisting of a single vehicle, there's the chance they could become a bit OP if suddenly they can affect all vehicles within this particular formation.

I personally don't think it's necessary, as that's always been a catch when taking Crusader unit. While Firstborn can take an LRC, perhaps you could create a new Repulsor with extra transport cap but reduced weapon output.

Thank you for the feedback! Yeah, the Deliverance Formation is basically a crude rules-based workaround for wanting to be able to deliver a massed assault Primaris unit in the traditional Black Templar style, without asking anyone to convert a whole other model. An alternative I considered was "Crusader Seals: For every 2 models in this unit, 1 other model in this unit does not count for the purposes of transport capacity", but that's just as artificial, and would have called for a price hike on the Crusaders. I did have a Repulsor Deliverer on the drawing board; I might just dust that off and bring it back here.

In terms of the problems caused by turning those TRANSPORTS into units... I think it'd actually be fine? Almost all Space Marines abilities that refer to VEHICLES say "VEHICLE model", specifically, so it'd still only affect the one Impulsor/Repulsor. The only exception is the Ironstone, but otherwise it'd be almost entirely downsides (i.e. more vulnerable to Machine Flense, etc). That said, you're right that it's overcomplicated and opens the door to mechanical weirdness; I'll remove it here, but revisit the idea elsewhere, I think.

I'm not a huge fan of potentially having a unit of 38 Assault Intercessors and one Bladeguard Veteran fight twice.

That's kinda bonkers. Even if we assume you take more than just 3 wounds of damage on the first squad (say, take 13) that's still 33 Assault Intercessors able to Fight Twice.

Alright, added the Repulsor Deliverer. It's a straightforward variant of the Repulsor that would use the Executioner top-armour plates involve chopping up the back for a proper Impulsor-style assault bay. It trades 2 storm bolters, 2 krak grenades, a hunter-slayer missile, and an Icarus stubber (plus most upgrades/options) for an extra 6 transport slots and the Assault Vehicle rule. This vehicle probably ought to have a wildly different loadout, like twin heavy flamers instead of heavy bolters, a different main gun (some kind of rotating grenade launcher that stops Overwatch, or just the Shock Grenades keyword), and hell, maybe a special bonus for charging (Grav-Ram?), but a straightforward gear-drop seemed simpler for now, and wow am I tired.

 JNAProductions wrote:
I'm not a huge fan of potentially having a unit of 38 Assault Intercessors and one Bladeguard Veteran fight twice.

That's kinda bonkers. Even if we assume you take more than just 3 wounds of damage on the first squad (say, take 13) that's still 33 Assault Intercessors able to Fight Twice.

Yeah, that's a good call. It was a lazy Honour The Chapter copy-paste that didn't take into account how much more powerful a) double max unit size, and b) Mob Up/Combined Squads would be as a multiplier. Even ignoring We Follow The Sword, that goes from 10 Assault Intercessors giving you +40 attacks, tops, with a free pile in/consolidate, to 20 Assault Intercessors giving you +80 attacks, tops.

I've swapped it for a totally different effect, which gives each model a free attack when it piles in, consolidates, or dies, with a cost boost for being over 10 models. That works out at roughly the same attacks-per-CP (10 Assault Intercessors get +20-30 attacks per CP, 20 Assault Intercessors get +40-50 attacks per CP), and it trades the extra pile in/consolidate for a) working at the start of/throughout the phase, for better charge-synergy, b) synergy with the BT "extra pile in" Strat, which can combo with this to give that unit an extra +1 attack each for 1CP.

I've capped We Follow The Sword at 20 models, to avoid silliness.

There more I look at this, the more I think, why do you need a Black Templars Primaris unit? Why not just add a reverse Combat Squad Black Templar Stratagem and call it a day? Something like:

Crusader Formation (1 CP) - Black Templars Battle Tactic stratagem: At the start of deployment, before any units have been set up, select 2 to 4 Black Templar Intercessors units totaling no more than 20 models between them. The models in these units become one unit and gain the Crusader Intercessor Squad keyword while losing Intercessor Squad, Assault Intercessor Squad, and Veteran Intercessor Squad keywords and the Combat Squads ability. You may use this stratagem on a unit formed from using Combat Squads.

I don't see the purpose behind giving this unit specific stratagems. Is there something about Firstborn Crusader squads that makes them show pity, remorse, and fear?

 MinMax wrote:
I don't see the purpose behind giving this unit specific stratagems. Is there something about Firstborn Crusader squads that makes them show pity, remorse, and fear?

Assault Intercessor Squads get Honour The Chapter, which is their primary selling point. As this is a different datasheet, it doesn't get that, so it needs something else to keep up; and it can't just have Honour The Chapter, because it can have up to twice as many models as an Assault Intercessor Squad (albeit mainly for flavour reasons), which makes the Stratagem much more powerful.

Though considering Fury of Khorne, it might be fine to just give them an Honour The Chapter equivalent and have it cost 2/3CP depending on unit size.