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HQs
182-Praetor with Shotgun, Lightning Claw, Thunder Hammer, and Jump Pack
+391-Command Squad with Nine Guys, all with dual Lightning Claws, Combat Shields, and Jump Packs
139-Primus Medicae with Shotgun, Volkite Serpenta, Melta Bombs and Jump Packs
150-Cataphractii Medicae with Chainfist and Grenade Harness

Elite
440-Ten Cataphractii with Vexilla, Grenade Harness, and dual Lightning Claws
+425-Spartan with TL Front Lascannon and Flare Shield

Troops
110-Ten Legion Tacticals with a Vexilla
110-Ten Legion Tacticals with a Vexilla
110-Ten Legion Tacticals with a Vexilla
110-Ten Legion Tacticals with a Vexilla

Heavy Support
310-Leviathan with Claw, Drill, Phosphex, and TL Volkite
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2,477 points total, so I can toss an upgrade or two somewhere.

This is a very basic start, but a lot can be gotten in plastic, which is nice.

It's a bit difficult to give good advice without having a Legion locked down, but here goes.


Generic advice.
- The Command Bomb. Solid scrumy unit. It'll rip through anything with a 3+ and shouldn't do too badly against 2+
- Primus Medicae. Doesn't really need the volkite serpenta. You can't fire both it and the shotgun, and assuming you're taking the shotgun for concussive, that's what you'll likely be firing before charging. So that volkite's not likely to see any use.
- Shotguns. They're honestly a bit of a trap. I've been using one with my own preator/paladin/chaplain and unless most of/the rest of the unit are shooting too, I don't feel it's worth copping the Return Fire for a small chance at concussive. Especially since you're likely to get the Overwatch as well! If your target is a melee unit with only bolt pistols or something, sure. You can probably weather that well enough. For 2 pts a piece though, they're good to have and don't break the bank.
- Terminators. Nothing much to say on this unit. They do exactly what you expect them too. They draw considerable fire away from other units and normally come out of it well enough. Again, like the Command squad, they'll tear through whatever is unlucky enough to receive them.
Watch out for plasma though. Even though it's not as outright strong as it was previously, a unit of plasma guns rapid firing at you WILL inflict more casualties then you can sustain. Avoid sicaran omegas and deredeos like the plague.
- Grenade Harnesses. Given that the termies are in the spartan, they don't really need them. You certainly don't need two (assuming the medicae is attached to the termie squad). Keep one as insurance, sure, but I don't think you'll need both.
- The Tacticals. For the 10pts the vexilla costs, i'd rather go for the artificer armour on the sergeant. If you plan on giving the tacs chainswords/bayonets and throwing them into the fray, then sure a vexilla is useful. But at that point you'd be better off with despoilers. Artificer armour helps your staying power while capping objectives while the "go get gak done units" go and get gak done.
- Can't comment on the Levi, as I don't have any real experience with them.
- Spartan. Chuck a havoc launcher on it for gak and giggles. They're good fun and


Legion Advice
I play Dark Angels, so I'll give you some specific advice in regards to running this list as them.
- Praetor. Again, the LC/TH combo is a tried and tested option that works well. Dark Angel IC's have the advantage though of being able to take Terranic Greatswords. S2+, AP3, Two-handed, Rending/Murderous Strike (5+) for the price of a powerfist. NOT to be fethed with. Absolute stonking take-all-comers weapon. DA praetors also have the option of being Deathwing which means they hit at 1+ with swords. Which gives you the edge up in combat.
- Command Squad. The Dark Angels have the option of taking Companions as a retinue. They lack the Legion Standard a Command squad has, but they all come with Calibanite Warblades (power sword with S1+) but can all take Terranic Greatswords or funky stormshields that give an invuln and can reduce an enemies initiative by 1. Companions can also intercept precision shots/strikes to keep your praetor kicking. Again, they benefit from being Deathwing so get 1+ to hit in melee. Can also take jump packs. Also due to wound allocation shenanigans, Companions can be a right witch of a unit to actually deal with on top of protecting your praetor from challenges and the whole unit hitting like the proverbial runaway freight train.
- Tacticals. Same advice as above, but as Dark Angels tacticals can benefit from the Stormwing rule. This gives them 1+ to hit with bolters, bolt pistols and combi-bolters. Although again, for a melee focused list, i'd consider running despoilers instead. Because like they too can take Deathwing which benefits their chainswords. Understanding of course that with the current lack of official options, despoilers might not be a viable option at this point in time.
- Both the terminators/spartan and the Leviathan can be run as Dreadwing which drops the strength of flame/plasma/volkite/phosphex by 1 against these units. Or they could be The Levi would also probably benefit from Ironwing which lets you reroll 1's to hit against vehicles.


Hope that helps you some.

I want to say the list would do better with some competent fire support to chip away at enemy fire support rather than the Levi and a horde of bolter dudes.

The death stars will turn out to be more fragile than you think, they will take constant lascannon and volkite fire as they close in and then again as soon as they wipe their first target.

Consider a heavy support squad of your own, or Contemptors, or at least a pair of Predators to give enemy anti tank something other to do than insta kill your expensive dudes.

Okie dokie, settle in kids this is gonna be a long one.

List Advice



Legion Choice (Traitor Only)

I mostly can only speak about the Tacticals. Even then, I might be off on a few things. But this is my experience with Tactical marines in Horus Heresy.

The optimization priority of upgrading Tacticals is something like this: Artificer Armor, Rhino or more marines, Sgt melee weapon, Vexilla, Apothecary, Vox, augury, bayonet, plasma pistol. Though, this list is fluid based on other factors (need, legion, other selected units, etc.).

Artificer Armor seems like it's always worth the points on a 10 marine squad or bigger. It's an upgrade that I feel should have a scaling points cost. Because it does range from iffy to must take.

If you are keeping 10 man squads (maybe not all squads), I like to give them a bare bones or dozer blade (maybe a combi-melta if you have points left over) Rhino. I value flexibility, and I like the durability (especially vs. templates), range and additional stuff that can get in the way of your opponent's plans with Rhinos. And Rhinos are more of a boon to shooty units than melee units. Barring that, I do like bigger Tactical squads just to be that tough to shift or tar pit. Plus, bigger Tactical squads just feel more Sons of Horus to me.

I have a difficult time not giving my Sergeants a melee weapon (usually a power sword). If for no other reason than challenges. HH is still a dice game and opponents can whiff big time with their melee monster. It's nice to have something that show those monsters they aren't invincible.

The Vexilla is a nice to have, and I'm glad I modeled all my units with one because I think it looks cool. But I find more often than not it isn't saving me much, but some of its perks could be clutch. Apothecaries usually make their points back with bigger tactical squads but not always. I believe they are an additional source of accepting Challenges, if their FNP isn't as useful anymore, too. I don't field many template weapons, but I don't think Voxs in bigger Tactical squads isn't a bad place for them. The upgrade is so embedded in there, that you get to use it for most, if not all, of the game. Maybe there's a good use for the augury scanner with Tacticals, but it seems a bit too expensive to get there to me.

I have chain bayonets on my Tacticals because I think it looks cool, and I like tactically flexible units. Plus, until plastic Despoilers are viable, I lean on melee with my Tactical squads way too much. It wasn't until several games that my group figured out the finer points of how to determine the number of melee attacks. During that time, I lamented that I paid points to lose an attack for +1 Str and Rend. However, we discovered that we were double-dipping with pistols as CCW. Bayonets are better following the rules, but I don't know if they are their points good enough. So far, I've found they aren't worth their points compared to more marines. Other than my opponent won't charge my big SoH Tactical squads with chain bayonets on an objective just willy-nilly. Since that's a fight that might go south for them real easy.

I modeled most of my Sergeants with a plasma pistol. Every time it's a waste of points. It's just a matter of how much of a waste. And I really try to put my squads in positions where I can make use of it. Those a few and far between and often result in eating a reaction I couldn't afford to be hit by.

***

About Leviathan Dreadnoughts, my melee Levi (same load out of OP) have been MVP in every game I fielded it. The drill hasn't been useful, but it looked too cool not to have it. Plus, someday my opponent is going to field a big vehicle, and I'm sure I'll be glad I have it. Otherwise, mine has felt far more broken than the Contemptor Dreadnought in the couple of games I've brought it, but I won't rule out I've been lucky with it so far. I think because it isn't an Elites choice it gets slept on a tad more.