Goatboy’s 40K: Assault Centurions – Death Machines or Slow Pokes?
Goatboy here looking at going into an extreme list using some Assault Centurions. There is chatter on how nuts they can be set up with a Raven Guard successor chapter.
Ok, let’s talk Assault Centurions. You add in the +3″ to their range mixed with a +1 to assault and you start to get a pretty nutty little death ball. Mix this with the Raven Guard Stratagem to deep strike/hidden unit and it becomes a crazy turn 2 death machine that drops in, flamers a ton of stuff, and throws a crap ton of bullets out. There isn’t a lot that survives this much damage within 12″ – especially if they happen to be a character and you’ve moved your doctrine over to tactical.
The Basic Unit Setup
Let’s look at the basics on this set up. The army will be a Raven Guard Successor Chapter. This means we will pick two traits as there are two powerful options when mixed with a Deep Strike any infantry unit option within the Raven Guard Supplement. The two Successor traits you take are:
- Long-Range Marksmen (+3″ to all ranged weapons)
- Hungry for Battle (+1 to advance and charge rolls)
Then since you are a Raven Guard Successor you get access to the Stratagem Strike from the Shadows which allows you to put a unit into ambush during deployment. As you can use Stratagems more then once during deployment/set up unless stated in the Strat – this lets you put a lot of units into the Shadows. The strat lets you deploy at the end of your movement phase within 9″ of an enemy unit and since your flamers now have a 11 inch range you can come in, destroy the units in front of you, and then get a nice 8″ charge into anything left behind with all those flat damage 3 fists of doom.
There isn’t a ton that can survive that much bullet hell as well as dealing with these 4 wound/2+ save/5 Toughness jerks. Then they have to deal with a tough tick of a unit that is stuck in and causing all kinds of issues. I don’t know if 18 is worth it as it is a good deal of your points – but 12 is probably just scary enough for a lot of armies to deal with.
Shrike?
The biggest issue with going in this direction is you lose access to Shrike. As he is a Chapter Master it gets annoying to waste the CP on another one – especially since this list could use some rerolling goodness but it gets hard to make sure everyone is in range. Thus the army is more set up to protect its avenues of deployment and try to “null deploy” with a large portion of it. There are a few tricks it can do allow for turn 1 damage potential if you want using the Warlord Trait that allows the Warlord and a unit to disappear and reappear on the first turn. I don’t know if it is worth it to always plan this but it is a thought.
The List
Let’s talk about the initial set of Units that will be here no matter what. 3 Units of Assault Centurions.
- Assault Centurion Squad X 6 – 6 X Hurricane Bolters, 12 X Flamers – 312pts
This gets you 12d6 Flamer shots within 11″ and 72 Bolter shots per squad. That is a ton of firepower and while non character T8 units might be annoying – it should shred just about any troop option – even through multiple saves. Mix this in with 19 Str 10, -4 AP, and Flat Dam 3 attacks in close combat and you start to get a nutty little unit. It’s assault is great versus big stuff, while its shooting will be the Horde damage dealer. Overall it looks pretty scary for most basic armies.
From there the shell should have some Scouts or Infiltrators (to keep other Raven Guard out), some Special Missile Smash Captains, Librarians as needed, and maybe a few Sniper Tricks if you want. The loss of Shrike is annoying as I like the model and his Auras – but this army list could be a potential spoiler for any event.
Raven Guard Successor Army – Flaming Bolter Hell – V.1
Space Marine Battalion Detachment – +5CP
Chapter: Raven Guard Successor
Successor Traits: Long-Range Marksmen/Hungry for Battle
-HQ-
Phobos Captain – 99pts – -1CP RG Relic – EX Tenebris, Warlord – Master of Ambush
Captain – Jump Pack, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer – 143pts
-Troops-
Infiltrator Squad X 5 -110pts
Infiltrator Squad X 5 -110pts
Infiltrator Squad X 5 -110pts
-Elites-
Centurion Assault Squad X 6, Hurricane Bolters X 6 – 312pts
Centurion Assault Squad X 6, Hurricane Bolters X 6 – 312pts
Space Marine Battalion Detachment – +5CP
-HQ-
Captain – Jump Pack, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer – 143pts
Librarian – Jump Pack, Force Staff – 116pts
Chaplain – Jump Pack – 90pts
-Troops-
Scouts X 5 – 55pts
Scouts X 5 – 55pts
Scouts X 5 – 55pts
-Elites-
Invictor Warsuit – Incedium Cannon – 131pts
Invictor Warsuit – Incedium Cannon – 131pts
Invictor Warsuit – Incedium Cannon – 131pts
PTS: 1960 CP: +12
Options
You could tweak some stuff as also getting a unit of 10 Intercessors might be worth it as you can have them deep strike in and auto hit with a ton of bolter weapons. There is a ton of little things you can do with this shell using the 2 hammer units that is Centurion Assault squads that hold the middle and cause armies to split around and try to deal with all your warm bodies going all ove the table. The Phobos Captain is set up with the special gun that can throw out some mean damage to characters as well as grant you a nice little trick if you want a first turn set up with Warsuits, Centurions, and other fun pieces of damage potential.
~Watch out for this one, you will be seeing these Assault Centurions on a tabletop near you.
