The Upilion Crusade

I’m sure there are others like me who decided to go with a Primaris only killteam due to the looks. I figured I’d jot down some of my reasoning and thoughts so others might tell me where I could improve! Sticking with Intercessors and Reivers is pretty limiting, especially when it comes to AP, due to this I’ve taken the liberty of subbing in a Hellblaster model as Tactical Marine Gunner with Plasma Gun. Once the upcoming book Elites arrives, we’ll have many more options to explore, but for now here is what I’ve learned after a mere handful of games.

Typical Team for Arena (100 points)

• Reiver Sergeant – 18, Leader: Combat knife, Bolt Carbine, Krak grenade, Frag grenade, Shock Grenade, Grapnel Launcher

• Intercessor Sergeant with Power Sword – 18, Combat: Auto bolt rifle, Power sword, Frag grenade, Krak grenade, Bolt pistol

• Tactical Marine Gunner with Plasma Gun – 16, Sniper : Plasma Gun, Frag grenade, Krak grenade, Bolt pistol

• Intercessor Gunner with AGL – 16: Auto bolt rifle, Bolt pistol, Frag grenade, Krak grenade, Auxiliary Grenade Launcher

• Intercessor with Auspex – 16, Comms: Bolt Rifle, Bolt pistol, Auspex, Krak grenade, Frag grenade

• Reiver – 16 : Combat Knife, Frag grenade, Krak grenade, Shock Grenade, Heavy bolt pistol

Reasoning and Options

Both Sergeants are fantastic combat characters, but one needs to be the leader. As the Intercessor has the superior Power Sword giving him Combat is optimal, so the Reiver becomes the leader. I’ve given the Intercessor Sergeant an Auto Bolt Rifle as I’m expecting him to be advancing towards the enemy whenever he’s not directly charging them. Those characters are essentially locked in for every battle, which is why I’ve given the a Grapnel Launcher to the Sergeant even though this should be for Arena games.

Our special weapon units are the Intercessor Gunner with Auxiliary Grenade Launcher and the Tactical Marine Gunner with Plasma Gun. The AGL can be used to fire a single Krak grenade or D6 Frag Grenades which against most targets is probably going to be better. I’ve given him an Auto Bolt Rifle so he can choose between advancing and shooting or moving and using the grenade launcher. One option is to make the Intercessor Gunner a Demolitions specialist giving him +1 on wounds against obscured targets and allowing him to use the Custom Ammo tactic to add 1 to wound rolls, unfortunately you spend the CP before you get to see how many shots you’ve got.

The Plasma Gunner is a Sniper to let him reroll 1s to avoid catastrophe if you’ve decided to Supercharge the weapon. As a lowly Tactical Marine he has 1 less wound and 1 less melee attack. Against teams where AP isn’t as important he can be dropped for a tougher option.

The last specialist is the Intercessor with Auspex as a Comms specialist. Auspex and Scanner abilities combined can make either of the special weapons a hell of a lot more effective. He isn’t just a support character though, and should be effective with his Bolt rifle. We might later be looking to free up points, dropping the Auspex is an option.

The lost slot is taken up by a single Reiver. As I’m expecting much of the game to be locked in close combat I’ve gone for a Combat Knife rather than a Bolt Carbine on the reasoning that the drop in turn 2 effectiveness (as we close) will be improved in turn 3 and 4 (when we’re locked in combat). This could easily have been another Intercessor if we were going in the shooting direction.

Lets comparing the standard Intercessors and Reivers. Reivers have the option of Shock Grenades, but they are very situational and we’ll be using the AGL more often. They also have Terror troop, but that does seem like a minor advantage. To a certain extend they are very similar armed as they are with Auto Bolt Rifle (or Bolt Carbine), Bolt Rifle, or Stalker Bolt Rifle. A decent amount has been written by this already all favouring the Bolt Rifle. In Arena, typically combat ranges are within the 12″ zone for the Bolt Rifle to get it’s 2 shots so often this will win out due to the -1 AP. The Stalker Bolt Rifle is a heavy weapon which is a strike against it, but it does have good AP at -2 and opens up the Masterful Marksmanship tactic which adds 1 to hit and wound rolls for 1 CP. For 1 shot and 1 damage though, the Stalker is never really going to be worth it. The effectiveness of the Auto Bolt Rifle or Bolt Carbine has definitely grown on me. Being able to get even the extra D6 move and still get some shots off can be important. The final options are around the Reivers. Outside of Arena you want the Grapnel Launcher (but not the Grave Chutes) which give a lot of extra flexibility in movement. As the Grapnel Launcher cannot be used with charges, the Bolt Carbine is a better option to the Combat Knife. The option of trading the Bolt Carbine for a Knife gives an extra attack in close combat but the Reiver now has to rely on the Heavy Bolt Pistols 1 shot with a 12″ range. So the real options are Intercessor with Bolt Rifle at 15 points, Reiver with Combat Knife at 16 points, or Reiver with Bolt Carbine and Grapnel Launcher at 17 points.

Assuming we lock in the two Sergeants, that leaves 4 characters at a total of 64 points each. This means, if we want to take Reivers with Grapnel Launchers we need to take an Intercessor to balance them out. So there are some options, but not a lot. We could go with 4 Reivers with Combat Knives for a pure close combat list. We could take all shooting with Plasma, Aux Grenade Launcher, and Intercessors. We could have 2 Carbine Reivers with Grapnels and 2 Intercessors with Bolt Rifles. Or we could mix and match as needed. Against high armour targets, we’re probably going to need the Plasma. If we add 3 more Close combat Reivers (1 Scout, 1 Veteran), 2 Reivers with Bolt Carbines and Grapnels (1 Scout, 1 Veteran), 2 Intercessors with Bolt Rifles, 1 Intercessor Gunner with Auto Bolt Rifle and AGL but with a Demo speciality this time. We could include an Intercessor with Stalker Bolt Rifle Add a Leader to taste and we have a Roster! We can focus on shooting or melee and can add some special weapons if needed. It’s not super flexible, but it is something.

Tactics of note

Obviously there are plenty of key tactics that can be used, but personally, I often find the number of available options overwhelming so I wanted to focus on a few of the faction specific ones that seem worth keeping in mind.

• Death Denied: THE reason to play Astartes. This 2 CP tactic allows your team to take a real beating and still walk way. Try to always have 2 CP ready for this and as you spend those CPs remind your opponent ‘The Emperor Protects’. Notably, tactics can only be used once per phase, so you can’t use it to save against 2 of your enemies shooting attacks you can spent it against a Psychic phase attack, a Shooting phase attack, and a Fight phase attack. As you only get 2 CP a turn, this is really going to limit your options. Everything after this takes away from your options to use Death Denied.

• Battle-Brothers: This tactic allows spreading the damage across your multiple 2 wound characters. It only costs 1 CP but it has to be after the saving throw is failed, so if you didn’t use it there would be a chance of getting lucky on the injury roll. Effective use of this will mean you don’t need Death Denied.

• Honour the Chapter – 2 CP to let either of your Sergeants attack again at the end of the fight phase is big. If you’re still stick in combat, 4 more attacks will be well worth those 2 CP.

Lessons learned

Everyone apart from the Reiver Sergeant has a Pistol. It is super easy to forget these, but around turn 3 the board is likely to be a mess of melee combats. There is a danger with this as a successful pistol kill could drop your Marine out of combat leaving them vulnerable to attack by an enemy shooter. They are also handy if your opponent sneakily manages to charge around a corner and gets within 1″

Everyone has frag grenades and these are hands down the best option for overwatch. For most that’s just 6 inches but the Gunner has his AGL to increase the range. In Arena, you can use the 1CP tactic to let you get the drop on them at the right time. With D6 shots hitting on 6 you have about a 45% chance of getting a 6 rather than the normal 1 shot 16% or 2 shot 30%.

Objectives are key. This is a small team, so everyone is going to have to pull double duty. Typically this means splitting the team into three groups of 2. In a successful game you will typically get your team into position and your opponent won’t be able to remove them. In an unsuccessful game, you’ll end up blocked and having to spend turns killing your way to get to the objective. It can be super tempting to go for kills but victory points win games.

Many of the games are focused on controlling objectives, when you move to claim an objective push out a little bit past it. You want to be positioned so you are within the 2″ to contest it but anyone who charges in to attack you is not and there is no room to get past you. With Arena’s tight corridors and how hard it is to kill even a single Marine it is possible to lock down areas.

All the Primaris characters are able to hold their own in close combat, they don’t have great AP but it isn’t something for any of them to fear.

Movement in melee is very tactical and should be taken advantage of. Use your 3″ Pile in move to get a better position around your enemy and use that Consolidate move at the end to re-position if you need to. Keep objectives in mind. If you still have an opponent in melee, assume they will be falling back and try channel where they go with that. If possible, lock them into a corner where they cannot get out!

Conclusion

Despite my self-imposed limitations, I’ve had tons of fun with my Black Templar team so far.