Ultramarines Tips and Tactics – Old HQs and New Troops
Let’s discuss some tips for getting the most out of your Ultramarines – with both Classic and Primaris units.
Hi everyone my last article on Ultramarines tactics delved into specifics regarding my go to units and how I play them. I am enjoying playing a mono faction army. Space Marines in general, with the exception of Blood Angels, excel at shooting and therein lie their major buffs. A couple of beat stick HQs to guard the gun line is all that is needed for melee. Ultramarines are blessed in many ways this edition such as arguably the best Chapter Tactic and the best suite of special characters to choose from for your army.
Protecting the Boss
A critical aspect of fielding a competitive Space Marine army is protecting your HQ and Ultramarines have access to one of the best means of doing so in Victrix Guard. Victrix Guard work much like drones for Tau but are much more resilient and have the ability to completely shut down enemy snipers and foil filthy Genestealer Cult psykers casting the much hated psychic power Mental Onslaught. Crippling these enemy units completely takes them out of the game. Victrix Guard are also an excellent defense versus other enemy sniping psychic powers such as those cast by Thousand Sons.
Mind Games
Varro Tigurius is hands down one of the best psykers in the game and can reliably cast Null Zone which can be a real game changer. There are two mistakes I often see made when it comes to psykers. First, most psykers are quite fragile in melee and can die quickly. Sure Daemon Princes and the Lord of Death are proverbial beat sticks, but they are both the exception to the rule. Psychic buffs are clutch, and once you lose them, they are gone forever. Most psykers should never be in melee. Second, don’t get greedy casting psychic powers – one Perils of the Warp can be quite the buzz kill. The three choice psychic powers from the Librarius lore are Might of Heroes, Null Zone, and Psychic Scourge.
The Grunts
Now I would like to touch on troop choices. The two go to choices for Space Marines are Intercessors and Infiltrators. I like to always have four troop choices, and these are your workhorse units plus they can do some serious work. Vigilus grants access to Veteran Intercessors – Ultramarine Veteran Intercessors have leadership 10 and access to a Rapid Fire 2 stratagem – yes they can shred, and the Sergeant has four base attacks, as such I always arm mine with a power fist. Most characters have four base attacks… think about it. If you cast Might of Heroes on a Veteran Intercessor Sergeant rocking a power fist he has five attacks at S10 – wind him and watch him go. Ultramarines don’t need a Lone Wolf.
Infiltrators shutdown any enemy units using reinforcements and can infiltrate just like Scouts… they are the new Scouts and totally worth every point they cost. They are great for board control and can act as meat shields to protect your vital characters from being targeted.
~Next week I will have some more tactics for you. I hope you enjoy using these.
