40K Chapter Tactics: The Imperial/Crimson Fists
Hey guys, I am Learn2Eel and we will be diving deep into chapter tactics available to us in Codex: Space Marine. Today – Sons of Dorn: Imperial and Crimson Fists
The Imperial Fists
When the Emperor sired his Primarch children, each inherited certain traits of their father to distinguish them further from the mortal warriors they were destined to command. Angron was prey to the Emperor’s capacity for rage and brutality, just as Lorgar was a famous demagogue and charismatic beyond all others. For Rogal Dorn, the progenitor of the Imperial Fists, it was a legendary stubbornness that would characterize both his heroics, and his fall. Like the clenched fist that is all that remains of their long gone Primarch, the Imperial Fists refuse to break under any pressure, and will batter anything that stands in their way.
Their unparalleled mastery of siege warfare plays in tandem with their almost fanatical training with the bolter, and with their refusal to back down, they can overwhelm any opponent. No defence is perfect against the Sons of Dorn. It is testament to their unflinching dedication to preserving the Imperium that they have spawned two of the most famous and important successor Chapters among the Adeptus Astartes. The Black Templars, fanatical zealots that followed Sigismund’s distate of the Codex Astartes to operate at a larger size than any other Chapter, and the Crimson Fists, bereaved heroes of Rynn’s World leading a vengeful crusade against the Ork hordes, have proven that the legacy of Rogal Dorn remains true even ten thousand years after the Heresy.
Though their stubbornness has led to many crushing defeats, particularly against their most hated foes the Iron Warriors, the Imperial Fists will not rest until holy Terra is forever safe from the taint of Xenos and Chaos alike. With ageless icons of courage such as First Captain Lysander leading them into the grim battles ahead, the finest hour of the Imperial Fists is soon to begin.
The Crimson Fists
Few Chapters among the Adeptus Astartes have been swept up in tragedy and grief as the Crimson Fists, a successor Chapter of the Imperial Fists and revered for their legendary heroism and courage. None exemplify these traits more than their Chapter Master, Pedro Kantor, who bore witness to the terrible destruction of most of his beloved battle brothers. Despite this, he led the survivors of that fateful cataclysm to bring salvation to the defenders of New Rynn City, the planetary capital of their recruiting world. Though exhausted and wracked with pain, Pedro led an inspired populace to total victory over the Ork invaders, his unwavering bravery and fervent leadership an unbreakable defence against the greenskin hordes. Despite the victory, the Crimson Fists are a Chapter with a clouded future, one that will be tested time and again as the forces of disorder gather against the Imperium. Even without the numbers of the Ultramarines or the machine affinity of the Iron Hands, the Crimson Fists have proved themselves to be one of the greatest of all Chapters, and at the forefront of this depleted Chapter is one of the Imperium’s greatest heroes.
Chapter Tactics
Bolter Drill – This provides units armed with bolter weaponry, ranging from bolt pistols all the way up to heavy bolters, re-rolls of ones to hit in shooting. This gives your mainstay units, such as Tactical Marines and Scouts, a pretty hefty boost to their shooting effectiveness; re-rolls of ones to hit on Ballistic Skill 4 Space Marines means they re-roll half of their misses. However, it is less effective for Ballistic Skill 3 Scouts who only get to re-roll one third of their misses. That it applies to heavy bolters, storm bolters, bolters and bolt pistols alike means it affects almost every unit in the army in some fashion; whether causing a few extra hits with pistols before launching an assault, or adding a few extra Strength 5 AP4 hits, it is a really nice ability. There are a few notable exceptions that stop it from being abused, though, and the first of those is that it doesn’t apply to the special issue ammunition employed by Sternguard. I can see why this was done as it would be just a tad too ridiculous, especially with the Vengeance shells that would be able to re-roll their Gets Hot results, but it is nonetheless a disappointment for those wishing to use Sternguard Veterans. Additionally, as much as the fluff would allow it, the rules as written disallow Pedro’s relic, Dorn’s Arrow, in addition to the Primarch’s Wrath, from benefiting from Bolter Drill. The lack of an FAQ to clarify this is disappointing, so I hope it is addressed in the near future.
Siege Masters – This provides Devastator units clad either in Centurion Warsuits or power armour the ability to re-roll their armour penetration rolls against vehicles with their ranged and melee attacks, as well as giving them a +1 bonus to damage results they inflict against buildings. As it only benefits two units in the army, it is a pretty simple ability to cover. Now, regular Devastators are generally the more cost-effective source of anti-tank if all you want is sheer firepower for a low cost, while Centurions don’t have to worry about taking ablative bolter-armed bodies to protect their heavy weapons. The choice between the two will often come down to preference, but if you arm Centurion Devastators up with – for example – lascannons and missile launchers, even three of them will be significantly more expensive than seven Devastators armed with four lascannons. I’m generally more in favour of regular Devastators simply due to the big points delta, but this may vary based on your opponents; Centurions are usually afraid of Eldar, Tau and fast assault armies, for example. Centurion Devastators with grav cannons are a different story altogether, of course, but as they don’t really benefit from Tank Hunters due to their grav amps, it is really a moot point. In any case, Devastators armed with flakk missile launchers actually become a really viable choice behind an aegis line with a quad gun for all kinds of destruction, though lascannons are my pick for the best overall weapon.
Favoured Units
Experience and many trials have led to competitive army lists for each of the Chapters, and they usually revolve around a strong core of units unique to each list. This is the beauty of the Space Marine codex; so many units are affected in a staggering number of ways by the different Chapter Tactics, improving their viability exponentially based on the choice of army. For Imperial Fists, I have listed three units that pop up in many of their builds in some form. Please be aware that these aren’t necessarily the strongest units available to Imperial Fists or the ones that receive the most benefits from their Chapter Tactics, but some of the most common that I have seen.
Pedro Kantor – The legacy of Dorn is such that the Chapter Master of one of their most prominent successor chapters is considered amongst the Imperium’s finest warriors, and though he isn’t strictly speaking an Imperial Fist, Pedro is nonetheless a great support commander. He provides his army with massive offensive boosts against Orks, allows Sternguard Veterans to capture objectives, and gives a bonus attack to all of his brethren within 12″. His lower cost and support abilities make him a more generalist choice than the melee monster Lysander, and with many favouring the tragedy of the Crimson Fists, I’ve found Pedro to be a very popular commander both competitively and for themed army lists.
Devastator Squads – Devastators are a pretty decent unit in their own right, typically taken in medium sized squads of about seven or eight with four heavy weapons. While each of the heavy weapons has their own traits to consider, Imperial Fist Devastators will typically only take either lascannons or missile launchers with flakk missiles. The reason for this is the addition of Tank Hunters, a massive boost against vehicles that works best with the strongest anti-tank weapons. While the lascannons are the better all-round choice, four flakk missiles packed with a Sergeant manning a Quad Gun behind an Aegis Defence Line provides some seriously strong anti-air firepower that is always good against ground units too. The buffs to Devastators from the Imperial Fists are so huge that they become almost an essential unit in the list.
Vindicators – It’s true that Imperial Fists do not give their vehicles benefits in any form; indeed, the opposite is very much true for tanks owned by an opponent! However, that doesn’t mean Vindicators don’t make a natural, themed unit choice for Imperial Fist armies. As a siege tank with a giant gun, Vindicators fit with the preferred methods of warfare for the Sons of Dorn. Though they aren’t exactly reliable and can struggle against multiple flanking anti-tank units, such as mobile Crisis Teams with missile pods, there is always a space for Vindicators in an Imperial Fist army – if you can get past the criminally strong Devastators! Vindicators are a very common choice for many Imperial Fist players because they are still scary and offer a natural fire magnet in an army filled to the brim with expensive models requiring protection.
Themed Army Lists
Imperial Fists – When designing an Imperial Fists army list, a couple of units immediately come to mind as both effective and themed choices; namely, Devastators, Centurion Devastators, Vindicators and so on. Tactical Squads get more benefits from Bolter Drill than Bike Squads, though the Troops choices are all largely good to go for a list. As the Masters of Defence and with such massive buffs to their Devastators and medium ranged bolters, I’ve found Imperial Fists lists tend to be best suited to mixed-mechanized gun-lines. Using Fortifications to their advantage is a big key to success, just as it should be!
HQ
Master of the Forge w/ conversion beamer, melta bombs
Troops
Tactical Squad (10) w/ combi-plasma, plasma gun, rhino, dozer blade
Tactical Squad (10) w/ combi-plasma, plasma gun, rhino, dozer blade
Tactical Squad (10) w/ combi-flamer, flamer, rhino, dozer blade
Elites
Dreadnought w/ two twin-linked autocannons
Dreadnought w/ two twin-linked autocannons
Fast Attack
Assault Squad (5) w/ two flamers, drop pod
Assault Squad (5) w/ two flamers, drop pod
Heavy Support
Devastators (7) w/ four lascannons
Devastators (7) w/ four lascannons
Devastators (7) w/ four missile launchers, flakk missile upgrades, drop pod
Fortifications
Aegis Defence Line w/ quad gun
Total = 1849
This is an army list that I really like, one with a lot of variety that can reliably deal with almost any threat. The Devastators with flakk missiles have their Sergeant manning the quad gun, destroying fliers and light to medium ground vehicles with ease. The lascannon-armed Devastators also sit behind the horizontally straight Aegis Defence Line, giving some great extra survivability to the three hardest hitting units in the army. The two “rifleman” Dreadnoughts sit back either in support of the Devastators by also hiding behind the Aegis Defence Line, or out on the flanks to potentially distract an enemy unit into chasing after them instead. The drop pod for the third Devastator unit is there so that both of the suicide Assault Squads can arrive via Drop Pod Assault on turn one, and these two units will aim straight for Pathfinders and other pesky light infantry units. The three Tactical Squads advance in Rhinos into the midfield, equipped to deal with everything except for AV14 vehicles with varying levels of effectiveness. The Master of the Forge sits back with one of the Devastator units, providing a cheap Warlord with a powerful ranged attack; the Bolster Defences is nice against an assault army for a Tactical Squad or two to dismount early on to stay out of assault range longer. This is an army that attacks the enemy from all three parts of the table, and seeks to break them up and panic your opponent; the Assault Squads strike the rear, the Tactical Squads advance on them, while the Devastators provide brutal covering fire. This is but one strategy to employ with Imperial Fists, one that can be considered a defence force sallying out to the roar of friendly reinforcements. The dozer blades on the Rhinos and melta bombs on the Master of the Forge are there to make up the last twenty points that were spare, but they help the Rhinos get to their quandary even quicker.
Crimson Fists – While not every Crimson Fist list has to be built around Pedro, the unique abilities he provides as well as the staggeringly low number of remaining Battle Brothers in the Chapter really lends itself well to his use in many armies. You don’t even need to use him as Pedro; his rules can easily be used to represent a particularly inspirational Captain that is a Veteran of the Rynn’s World disaster. From there, one need only look at the scoring Sternguard Veterans Pedro provides to see what kind of army list they are naturally suited to. While Drop Pod armies do tend to be one-note in their application, Crimson Fist variants do have the benefit of more scoring units than usual without compromising on damage output. Besides, one of the many shorts in the codex even features a scenario where the Crimson Fists arrive by the dozen in Drop Pods to liberate an Imperial Guard garrison!
HQ
Chapter Master Pedro Kantor (Warlord)
Honour Guard (5) w/ drop pod
Troops
Tactical Squad (10) w/ combi-plasma, plasma gun, drop pod
Tactical Squad (10) w/ combi-plasma, plasma gun, drop pod
Elites
Sternguard Veterans (10) w/ four combi-meltas, drop pod
Sternguard Veterans (10) w/ four combi-meltas, drop pod
Sternguard Veterans (5) w/ four combi-meltas, meltabombs, drop pod
Fast Attack
Assault Squad (5) w/ two flamers, drop pod
Assault Squad (5) w/ two flamers, drop pod
Assault Squad (5) w/ two flamers, drop pod
Total = 1850
Ah yes, Steel Rein. This legendary tactic made famous by the Blood Ravens has recently been the domain of both the Salamanders and Crimson Fists Chapters. The debate about which army does it best will continue for a while, I’m sure, but it goes without saying that scoring Sternguard Veterans are amazing. Leadership 9 models with two attacks each and special issue ammunition. What’s not to love? This is where Combat Squads really rears its head; split each ten-strong Sternguard squad down the middle with two combi-meltas each and, when they disembark, target two separate vehicles with each unit! The small five-strong Sternguard unit is there to add a more sacrificial anti-tank unit, as well as a ninth Drop Pod so that the Drop Pod Assault can begin with five Drop Pods as opposed to four. The Tactical Squads are as you expect, with the free choice for grav weapons over plasma weapons if you prefer them. I’m usually not a fan of the flamer-carrying “delivery boy” Assault Squad units, but in a Crimson Fists list, they could actually make sense; the Assault Company, from memory, is as depleted – if not more – than any other, after all. To round out the list, you have Pedro with a unit of Honour Guard; an incredibly tough melee unit that, with Pedro’s +1 attack bonus, can put the wallop on anything that gets in its way. Honour Guard with 5 attacks each on the charge? Yes please, give me some more! The more units that get to benefit from Pedro’s Chapter Banner, the better; Space Marines do beat out the basic infantry of other units in combat generally, and with +1 attack each – 2 base for Tacticals and 3 base for Veterans – they can actually become very nasty ‘Assault Squads’ without paying for jump packs and keeping their guns.
In Closing
I hope you enjoyed the third in a series of seven articles covering each of the distinct Space Marine Chapters represented in the 6th Edition Codex: Space Marines! The Imperial Fists are the masters of siege warfare, and their fervour is such that they will refuse to back down against any foe. As true Sons of Dorn, no foe will ever stand in their way. I hope this article helped you to better employ these proud warriors of Terra in the name of the Emperor!
Thanks for reading everybody and by all means chime in down in the comments. Tell us how you have running your Sons of Dorn and what works for you on the tabletop.
