ARMY LIST: Relictors

4 Minute Read

Apr 16 2007

If you’ve been following my recent articles on the Imperial Assassins, you know that I’ve been endeavoring to to find new and innovative uses for these classic units. A few weeks ago I did an article on the Culexus Assassin (vowing that I could find a use for the operative in a game without Psykers). One of the suggestions I made was infiltrating the Culexus with a Fearless close combat unit. It sounded like fun, so I dusted off my Relictors and put it to the test.

The results were stunning. I took a 2,000pt Relictors army to a gamma Take and Hold mission against a tough Necron force. At the end of turn six, he had 5 Scarab bases and an immobilized Monolith left on the board. I had killed every Necron on the board (including a Lord and over 60 Warriors). My army was almost completely intact (I lost a Land Speeder and had two units below half strength).

Here’s the list. If you are a Relictor player (or any chapter of Space Marines), I recommend trying it out.

Master (Arketus Scourge, Shard of the Monolith, Terminator Honors, Bolt Pistol, Frag Grenades, and a Teleport Homer)

— Command Squad: Apothecary, Flamer, Meltagun, 5 BP&CCWs (with Infiltrate)

— Attached Reclusiarch (Terminator Honors, Bionics, Frag Grenades)

Note: The Shard of the Monolith makes my Master S5 and I6. The Scourge is similar to a Force Weapon (see below). With six attacks on the charge (re-rolling misses) and Initiative 6, he’s able to easily deal with Independent Characters. I’m considering an Adamantine Mantle or an Iron Halo in future games. A random Daemon Weapon works here as well, if you prefer.

Inquisitor Lord (Carapace Armor, Plasma Pistol, CCW)

— Retinue: 1-2 Mystics, 2 Sages, 2 Heavy Bolter Servitors, Plasma Cannon Servitor, Acolyte (Carapace Armor), Acolyte (Artificer Armor)

Note: My Inquisitor Lord allows me to deal with Deep Striking and Summoned units quite efficiently. Like a lucky charm, it keeps Deathwing Assault, Drop Pods and Daemonbombs away. In hard cover, this unit is very hard to take out.

ELITE

Culexus Assassin

5-man Terminator Squad (Assault Cannon)

Note: I use the Master’s Teleport Homer to bring in this squad. They aren’t Fearless, so I try to keep them out of the Culexus’ Souless range.

TROOPS

8-man Tactical Squad (Plasma Gun, Plasma Cannon)

8-man Scout Squad (4 Sniper Rifles, 3 BP&CCW, Heavy Bolter)

FAST

Land Speeder (Multi-melta)

HEAVY

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8-man Devastator Squad (2 Lascannons, 2 Missile Launchers)

8-man Devastator Squad (2 Plasma Cannons, 2 Heavy Bolters)

Predator Annihilator (Lascannon sponsons)

TACTICS: The meat of the army is the Infiltrating Command Squad with 2 tough characters and an Apothecary. The Culexus deploys in the same location as the Command Squad and follows them around. The Scouts deploy where they can support the Command Squad (using the Culexus’ Souless to force LD7 Pinning test). The Terminators drop nearby the Command Squad.

The Speeders deploy to snatch objectives or handle pesky armor. The rest of my army has a long-range shooting (4 Plasma Cannons, 2 Lascannons, 4 Heavy Bolters, 2 Missile Launchers, Predator Annihilator) so I setup in hard cover and shoot anything that peeks out at me.

There are two Power Combos involving the Culexus Assassin in this army:

1. The Arketus Scourge plus Culexus equals dead stuff. If the Arketus Scourge (a Relictors only Daemon Weapon from White Dwarf) causes a wound, then the model struck must roll under its Leadership on 3d6 or be removed as a casualty. This is effective on its own, but when combined with the Culexus’ Souless ability it becomes much more effective than a Force Weapon. For example, if he can put a wound on a Carnifex, he has a 91% chance of killing it. Rolling a 6 or less on THREE dice is a pretty tall order. This guy kills Big Bugs better than any model I own.

Note: Unlike a Force Weapon, the Arketus Scourge can be used more than once per turn and it can be used in each player’s Assault phase.

2. The “Bag of Hammer” tactic that I mentioned in my Culexus Tactica. Instead of using Death Cult Assassins, I use an Infiltrating Command Squad. The squad is Fearless thanks to the Reclusiarch so I don’t have to worry about Souless. Once I get into combat with a non-Fearless opponent, I can sweep a squad a turn. In my last game, I ran down three 14-man squads of Necrons (and a Necron Lord) in four close combat phases.

The army suffers against (fairly common) two opponents. The first being highly mechanized forces (like Eldar and Tau) and the second being completely Fearless armies (like Chaos Cult armies). I’m going to talk Bigred into taking one of his army’s this week to see how my list performs against Death Guard or Eldar. I’ll let you know!

As always, comments and questions are welcome!

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Author: Guest Columnist

This article was written by a Guest Columnist who requested anonymity.

Armylists Space Marines Tactics Warhammer 40k