40K Deep Thought: Marneus Calgar IS the God of War
Today I want to talk about the game’s new post-FAQ king – Marneus Calgar
So I was working my way through the new FAQ, and believe me I think with a couple weeks of distance we will find this latest set to perhaps be the biggest change that has hit the metagame in a LONG time. So lets take a step back and examine a couple of big, big rulings from the FAQ.
Yes we know the Black Templars and especially the Dark Angels players are out there ordering up stacks of minis, breaking out Army Builder, and going to town like there is no tomorrow. Its been a very good day for them. But for the 50% of the game that is Space Marines one major ruling sticks out:
1: The “bonus” 3″ of movement ATSKNF grants to units when they auto reform. So now you have marine squads being able to bounce back 9″ and shoot, or a whopping 15″ to get a charge on any unit who was foolish enough to shoot at them.
Still how often does it come up. Units breaking happens at often inopportune times and is a very difficult thing to reliably capitalize on. In fact more often than not, marines get nailed with no retreat wounds rather than successfully fall back out of combat. If only there was some way to build an army around the Combat Tactics rule that makes them 100% reliable and somehow magically not subject to no retreat so they can fully capitalize on the new reforming ruling….
I present People’s Exhibit A: One Marneus Calgar who is now explicitly ruled in the FAQ as being not subject to No Retreat when using his God of War ability.
So lets take a look at what this means for a post FAQ Marneus Army. He clocks in at 265 (termy armor) pts , 65 pts more than Lysander. His invulnerable is 1 worse, but he has almost double the attacks standing, can shoot, and most importantly alone in the game removed the entire mechanic of morale. In fact he is the game’s only IC who turns what is normally a negative game mechanic (even for fearless armies) into a positive.
His army will *perfectly* respond to morale, falling back as needed, holding when needed, and can now factor in that massive free reform move. It seems a case for any enemies facing such a force that with proper model placement, you will effectively never be able to fire on any Marneus-army unit you plan on assaulting for fear of losing the charge.
Secondly, Marneus removes a huge amount of randomness from his army, more than almost any other IC in the game, and randomness is the enemy of the tournament player. With a lot of practice I think a post FAQ Marneus army may be the most reliable, predictable force out there – just what a pro player wants in his hands.
I can tell you, that I think he’s the best IC bar none in the game right now, leading a newly buffed Space Marine codex that is still highly competitive. I for one am desperately trying to scoop out the 65 pts I need to replace Lysander with him.
What say you? Is Marneus now Da Man, or are there other contenders for the throne?
