Goatboy’s 40K: Faith & Fury of the Marines
Goatboy here. Faith and Fury does a lot for CSMs – but it really brings a ton of awesome for the Space Marines. Let’s take a look.
These new rules really make me wonder why I haven’t started building a Raven Guard army yet. With that – let’s review the Space Marine stuff from the Faith and the Fury book. We’ll go over the Chaos Space Marine stuff later. I think they got a lot of good stuff and you can compete – just in a way that isn’t common for the normal Chaos lists we are used too. Depending now what Chapter Approved brings points-wise will see what kind of army comes out for the bad guys later on this year.
New Marine Characters
The Space Marines got a batch of new upgraded characters, The Black Templar rules, and even some new Litanies to mess with. The Upgraded Characters are the real winners as they can easily slot into a ton of armies and even create a few armies with a few small tweaks. Heck, just one single model activates a fully foot-based Marine list that could be really frustrating. We call that the Iron Curtain list, and I am sure someone will get it to work. Marines got 6 upgraded characters for the Tech Marine, Librarian, Banner Holder dude, Apothecary, Chaplain, and even Chapter Champion. Each of them gets a batch of Warlord Traits you can give them and usually 2 special Relics. With the way Marines work now and options for giving out a plethora of Warlord Traits and Relics – you can expect these models to come out after spending a few CPs. This also makes me think will see Brigades start to be popular as Marine armies try to figure out the best ways to have a bank of points to burn.
Master of the Forge & Chief Apothecary
The big winners seem to the Master of the Forge and the Chief Apothecary. The Master of the Forge has a very powerful warlord trait of giving a +1 to hit on all Chapter Vehicles within 6″ as well as another one that adds 1 to the Strength and Attack characters for Dreadnoughts within 6″. I don’t expect the second one to be used but that first one could show up in some of the new Iron Hand flyer armies that will be popping up more. The Chief Apothecary is also pretty nutty for Iron Hands army as he gives all Chapter Infantry and Biker units within 6″ either a 6+ FNP or a 5+ if they have Flesh is Weak chapter tactic. You can see how this could create some crazy tentacle Marine armies as they stretch across the table and get near their friendly neighborhood drug dealer.
Chief Librarian, Ancient & Friends
The Chief Librarian seems good too as his Warlord traits let him take a Psychic spell from any discipline he has access too. This means you can take your Chapter’s new psychics and then pull in a Nullzone if you want. This can be especially helpful for White Scars that have some good powers but could always use another one. He also has one that just gives him a +1 to cast as well.
The Ancient can also be neat as one of his Relics let him have a Banner that lets people hit on a 2+ when they get activated by the Astartes Banner ability.
The Upgraded Chaplain and shout two Litanies at a time so that isn’t terrible either. If they had options like the Dark Apostle to get a 2+ to yell then we could think of some interesting things with the new Litanies for specific Chapters. As it is just a flat 3+ it isn’t nearly as good. Still, you could make a crazy Smash Chaplain if you wanted to shoot for a couple 3+’s. The Chapter Champion is cute and I don’t expect him to be used much. It is neat to have them there which is fluffy but I don’t expect people to waste CP’s on him.
Black Templars
After that, we got the Black Templar release which gives them some extra rules. Overall they are not too bad just not on par with the other Chapters. None of the characters got Primaris’d so that makes me a bit of a poopie pants. The Character rules are not as terrible because you do get a Character Chapter master that isn’t terrible. Helbrecht should show up in a lot of Black Templar armies as he does a lot, seems pretty good, and probably should have gotten bigger. Their extra ability is tied to the Assault Doctrine which is kind of a shame. They do have a strat that lets a unit act like it is the Assault Doctrine so there could be some play with a Lander Raider full of murder machines. Turn off some overwatch, charge in, and get to work boys.
Black Templars got a batch of 6 new Litanies they can use. With Grimaldus being able to recite 2 of them you could have some fun with a ton of prayers going off all over the place. One of them gives a 5+ FNP to a Black Templars unit within 6″. With Crusader Squads being pretty large you could have some fun with that. Another one stakes another attack onto the unit if they charge too. Lots of little things could work out well if you start to combo things together and roll a crap ton of 3+’s. A few warlord traits stick out with a +1 to advance and charge rolls as well as some more Psychic denial. Overall ok so it isn’t the end of the world.
I am kind sad we only have 8 more stratagems for the Black Templars. I am happy a lot of them are only 1 CP which is good. They have a fallback denial option that can keep Enemy Infantry that can’t fly stuck for 2 CP on a 2+. They can have units consolidate up to 6″ which is pretty good to pincher tie up a tank or something else. They even have that no overwatch power that is good for 1 CP out of a Land Raider. Heck, we could see some Land Raider stuff come back again. The Relics are ok – a single turn 4+ inv save for all units within 3″ seems ok for big blobs of Marines to get there. There is the Relic that allows you to turn on the Assault Doctrine at the start of the Movement phase as well. This could be good but will see.
All in all the Marines got a bunch of goodies. Chaos did too and will take about that in the coming days as I dig into it. I am actually very excited about the release, and have high hopes for the upcoming Blood Angels option with a new Buff Daddy Mephiston.
For the Emperor!
