Warhammer 40K Meta Hotness: Space Marine Desolation Squad
Their guns might look goofy as heck but the Space Marine Desolation Squad is a murder machine in a world of more murder machines.
The most annoying thing with this unit is that it isn’t good in all the Marine options. It just syncs up very well with a few specific ones based on some old supplement powers that stack death in some insanely efficient forms. The new Desolation Squad hits the very end of 9th edition and drop-kicks your enemies with efficient long-ranged brutality.
Heck, I think their points are most likely right for most of the Marine armies, but in Dark Angels they are just amped up to the stratosphere with getting that +1 to hit for not moving mixed with the best “guard unit” in the game – 20 terminators. You throw in some Character speeders that amp up your shooting and protect you even more, and you get an army that just seems to do everything you need to do in 9th edition. Shoot, scoot, and give your opponent the boot.
Desolation Squad 101
So hey, we get a new “heavy” option for Primaris Marines. Just like all the other upgrades, they get a better version of the Classic Marine one on top of having even more no-LOS shooting. You stack up a few rules from whatever supplement you are taking, and now you get something that is borderline nuts. Heck, we talked about how rough Tau were with all the no LOS shooting not available on their sprue, and now we just get it again but in a Space Marine package.
Supplements Are How You Amp Them Up
Dark Angels seem to be the best available supplement for Marines, with the ability for these Marines to get a +1 if they don’t move when shooting. Since their range is pretty nutty this means they can ignore the LOS dataslate bandaid we have right now and hit you from all over the place. You throw the Devastator doctrine, too and they start to do more damage as well with negative AP options and other stacks. It is just a large swath of hyper-efficiency that makes it hard for armies to survive enough to get there and peel thru their 3+ armor.
Desolation Squads Do Non-interactive Damage
A lot of the issues in 9th are the lack of interactivity. This can range from not having Psychics versus a large psychic army or just not being able to take an assault. Those things can be annoying, but when a unit just shoots you while you can’t shoot back it does get very tiresome, and un-fun. It’s one of the more annoying things in the game. Hopefully 10th looks at this and tries to limit some of these options as it just feels like you are a goldfish while someone is playing your army solo.
Secondary Game is Nuts
Oh the secondary for Marine – Codex Warfare – grants you 2 VP for every unit you kill while in the Devastator doctrine. I don’t know about you, but you can easily see how this unit can just wrack up points for you as you try to get them. Since the Marines never have to leave that Doctrine now they can easily just amp up their points and get such a lead that it is hard for an army to catch up. I don’t know why this one was left at 2 VP while the other options are 1 VP, but I get the feeling the layers of trying to playtest and get all these options synced up is very hard when dealing with testing months in advance.
Example list
Mani Cheema won their Manchester open this past weekend with this monstrosity of new rules, updated rules, and Terminator armor. The Desolation Squad was a massive hit for his army, just pumping out so much damage, so many Rerolls, and a ton of secondary points. This army just looks insanely brutal in the UK meta with a lot of no LOS terrain. Heck, he wrecked thru 251 players to take the win with a unit that is most likely on the Dataslate “review” with Dark Angels.
++ Arks of Omen Detachment (Imperium – Adeptus Astartes – Dark Angels) [119 PL, 2,000pts, 1CP] ++
Arks of Omen Compulsory Type: Heavy Support
+ HQ +
Primaris Captain [5 PL, 80pts]
. Heavy bolt pistol, Master-crafted power sword and Relic shield
Ravenwing Talonmaster [9 PL, 160pts, -1CP]: Rites of War, Stratagem: Warlord Trait, Warlord
Ravenwing Talonmaster [9 PL, 160pts, -1CP]: Arbiter’s Gaze, Stratagem: Relic
+ Elites +
Bladeguard Ancient [6 PL, 90pts, -2CP]: Chapter Command: Chapter Ancient, Pennant of Remembrance, Steadfast Example, Stratagem: Hero of the Chapter, Stratagem: Relic of the Chapter
Deathwing Terminator Squad [18 PL, 330pts]: Watcher in the Dark
. Deathwing Sergeant
. . Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield
. 2x Deathwing Terminator
. . Cyclone Missile Launcher, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield
. 7x Deathwing Terminator
. . Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield
Deathwing Terminator Squad [18 PL, 330pts]: Watcher in the Dark
. Deathwing Sergeant
. . Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield
. 2x Deathwing Terminator
. . Cyclone Missile Launcher, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield
. 7x Deathwing Terminator
. . Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield
+ Fast Attack +
Land Speeders [3 PL, 60pts]
. Land Speeder: Multi-melta
Land Speeders [3 PL, 60pts]
. Land Speeder: Multi-melta
+ Heavy Support +
Desolation Squad [16 PL, 360pts, -1CP]: Superkrak Rocket Launcher
. 9x Desolation Marines: 9x Bolt pistol, 9x Frag & Krak grenades
. Desolation Sgt
. . Replace Superfrak/krak with Vengor & Targeter Optics: Vengor Launcher
Stratagem: Marked for Command, Master Crafted Vengor Launcher
Desolation Squad [16 PL, 185pts]: Superkrak Rocket Launcher
. 4x Desolation Marines: 4x Bolt pistol, 4x Frag & Krak grenades
. Desolation Sgt
. . Replace Superfrak/krak with Vengor & Targeter Optics: Vengor Launcher
Desolation Squad [16 PL, 185pts]: Superkrak Rocket Launcher
. 4x Desolation Marines: 4x Bolt pistol, 4x Frag & Krak grenades
. Desolation Sgt
. . Replace Superfrak/krak with Vengor & Targeter Optics: Vengor Launcher
++ Total: [119 PL, 1CP, 2,000pts] ++
Marines Shooting Missiles Like They Were on Sale!
The unit itself isn’t nuts but when you have a codex that has so many supplements and layers on top of it – it gets hard to truly balance it for everything. Thankfully the edition is ending soon and hopefully the dataslate update will let us have a few months without needing to groan when we try to get thru all those terminators and to the squad in the back. As they stack secondary points all game.
Eat some missiles for the Emperor!
