40K Tactics: Space Marine Heroes – Varro Tigurius
Hey guys, I am Learn2Eel and this is my Codex: Space Marines Tactica! Today, I will be looking at Mr. Tigurius – the man, the legend!. I hope you enjoy this article!
Space Marine players have access to the most extensive roster of unique characters in the game, providing so many diverse play-styles and inherent advantages that encourage players to experiment with a wealth of differing army lists. Unlike some other codices, few of these characters are solely based around damage potential; instead, they provide ground-breaking support abilities and potential for thematic army creation that you simply can’t find anywhere else. Though they are restricted to their own Chapter Tactics now, the advice given in the previous Space Marines codex very much rings true to this day; these are templates for mighty heroes to lead your forces, built to give you something you simply cannot find from a kitted out regular character. Where Marneus Calgar allows you to control the morale aspect of Warhammer 40000, Kor’sarro Khan provides free early movement to an entire force, allowing them to dominate positioning and deployment. As Helbrecht is the lynchpin for an army-wide massed and devastating assault, Vulkan He’stan gives you the means to make a Salamanders army the true masters of anti-vehicular warfare. It is such that you cannot judge these characters on the merits of combat or martial prowess alone, but on how they allow for incredible strategic flexibility in the army list creation phase, and in tactical adaptability through their considerable, palpable aura on the field of battle. These Space Marines count themselves amongst the finest heroes in all of the Imperium, and each has their own mark to leave on your army.
Varro Tigurius, Chief Librarian of the Ultramarines
Overview – Few have survived the grip of the psychic entity known as the Hive Mind, and fewer still have kept their sanity after such an encounter. But there is one amongst humanity who has seen into the great maw, and knows more deeply than any other the horror that lies beyond the galactic rim. Varro Tigurius is a master psyker of the Ultramarines, and considered by many to be the most powerful of his kind amongst the Adeptus Astartes – at least, of those still loyal to the Emperor anyway. Though the previous codex didn’t represent these rules that well, the new book has done so tremendously and catapulted him to the top of the tree in terms of competitive HQ choices. He is arguably the premier psyker in the game right now and should always be in contention to be either your Warlord, or the commander of an Allied Detachment of Space Marines; like a Dark Angels Librarian, the ubiquity of Tigurius is simply invaluable.
So first up, remember that Tigurius is not a combat psyker, unlike Ahriman or Mephiston. With only three Strength 6 AP 4 melee attacks base at Weapon Skill 5, he isn’t going to harm too many serious melee opponents. Of course, that his staff is a force weapon, has master-crafting, is concussive and even causes soul blaze makes it quite useful against certain medium armoured monsters and squads of light infantry; those extra burning wounds are quite nice to thin down hordes! This makes him quite a bit better than regular Librarians, but again, he can be quite easy to kill unless he rolls well for his psychic powers; don’t try and take on Abaddon or someone of such status! Despite having three wounds, Tigurius only has a 3+ armour save and lacks any invulnerable save whatsoever, meaning that unless he rolls up Forewarning or Endurance from Divination and Biomancy, respectively, AP3 weapons will tear right through him very quickly. Being a character means you also take a massive risk any time you accept a challenge with someone that can inflict instant-death on him; keeping him out of harm’s reach is the key to success. Decline any challenge that you think may bear even a slight chance of failure for Tigurius, as the main reason you take him anyway is for his psychic powers, which work regardless of where he is in combat.
Unlike any other Space Marine psyker, Tigurius not only has access to the four regular psychic disciplines, but Divination as well. Probably the most powerful psychic discipline, due in no small part to its amazing primaris power that gives free twin-linking to nasty units such as Sternguard Veterans, this is often reason enough to take Varro. That he is also the only Mastery Level three psyker you can get makes him both unique and very valuable. Amazingly, Tigurius has more control over what psychic powers he gets as he can re-roll the dice to determine what powers he has access to. Combined with knowing all five psychic disciplines, and having three unique powers to roll up, and you have Warhammer 40000’s most consistent psyker, and only just behind Fateweaver in terms of sheer versatility. You can plan on getting any single power, such as Invisibility or Hallucination, with far greater reliability than any other psyker in the game; though you still shouldn’t bank on innately random rolls, it is nonetheless a great boon.
As to what psychic powers to choose, that is the beauty of Tigurius; knowing every discipline, having three powers and being able to re-roll his powers means you can adapt him to almost any situation. Plan on drop-podding him with Sternguard? Take Prescience to capitalize on his Warlord Trait one turn and then psychically buff them on the next turn, giving them re-rolls to hit from minute one to maximise their alpha strike. Want to make the most of Calgar and his Honour Guard in a Land Raider? Try for both Invisibility and Endurance to turn that death-star into an immortal flurry of doom. This is the sheer beauty of Tigurius and why I think he really is the best psyker in the game, and probably the best special character Space Marines have access to. Ridiculously, I haven’t even mentioned the fact that Tigurius can re-roll failed psychic tests, giving him an incredibly low failure rate. Though he will still take wounds from Perils on a double one, as it isn’t technically a failed psychic test, the chances of this are so low, and the Perils from double sixes almost completely avoidable, that it shouldn’t be a worry at all.
His potential as an Allied commander is just insane for those reasons as well. While Eldar already get easily accessed Divination and Telepathy, they don’t really get access to Biomancy. Taking Tigurius to give a Wraithknight Endurance for Feel No Pain and It Will Not Die is downright cheesy, as is Enfeebling Terminators and their ilk so that Bladestorm and Monofilament guns can shred them almost twice as fast. Allying him to other Space Marines as part of a cheap detachment involving a squad of Scouts or Tactical Marines, plus perhaps Sternguard in a Drop Pod or even Devastators as a fire-base, is an invaluable method to provide your force with unparalleled psychic support. Giving tank-hunting Imperial Fist Devastators, or entire Crusader squads (sorry for the fluff destruction!) re-rolls to hit alone should justify his inclusion.
But where Tigurius really shows his value as an allied commander is for a Tau force. Between a Support Commander providing re-rolls to hit and ignores cover to their unit, and Tigurius giving re-rolls to hit and stuff like 4+ invulnerable saves to another, you can take two Riptide or Broadside ‘stars’ and just annihilate everything you see. Anyone who has seen Broadsides with high yield and smart missiles combined with a Support Commander in action can attest to their sheer brutality; imagine now that same unit, minus guaranteed ignores cover, but potentially plus a 4+ invulnerable save – saving them from enemy Riptides and melta weapons – ignores cover, or even overwatch at full Ballistic Skill. Remember Supporting Fire for Tau? Yeah, watch the tears flow when twelve Fire Warriors, or three Crisis Suits, or six missile drones plus their Broadside controllers all Overwatch at Ballistic Skill three (or higher with Markerlight support) rather than Ballistic Skill one. Ouch!
Adding to his already considerable abilities, Tigurius also allows reserves in his own detachment – meaning he won’t benefit Allies, importantly – to re-roll the dice to see if they arrive. Like the Autarch, this even stretches to successful rolls, allowing you to control when your reserves come down to fit your battle plan. Against armies that you know will move to counter your flyers or outflanking units with quad guns or intercepting Riptides, ensuring they don’t arrive until turn three or four will allow your starting forces to better deal with those pesky units so that your reserves don’t suffer. Particularly, it will allow your Stormtalons and the like to ply their trade without fear of losing their meagre two hull points to interceptor weaponry with skyfire.
On top of this, Tigurius has arguably the best Warlord Trait Space Marines have, Storm of Fire. Like Prescience, it targets a friendly unit within twelve inches and gives them re-rolls to hit for a single shooting phase; though it isn’t as good overall, as it doesn’t affect Overwatch fire and close combat attacks, it is effectively a free extra Prescience on a turn that you really need it. Advantageously, it also works on the turn Tigurius arrives from reserves, allowing you to give a squad of Sternguard with combi-weapons re-rolls to hit, followed up by Prescience on the next turn. Can I say, cheese? Nasty, nasty! Reasonably, you would expect a character of Tigurius more than considerable support abilities to be in the 200 points range, but amazingly, he comes out much closer to the 150 mark. Though he is still relatively easy to kill outside of some key psychic powers, what he provides for any army, primary or allied, is simply too much to pass on in any sense competitively. As well, for those budding Blood Ravens players out there, he makes a more than acceptable Azariah Kyras!
Maximising their Abilities – Tigurius is best placed in a unit where he can benefit multiple units, not just one. Ideally, that means either placing him in a defensible position as part of a larger squad in a gunline, or in a Rhino or Drop Pod as part of a concerted strike force. If you want him to boost a turn one alpha strike from the skies, you should have other units in a Drop Pod Assault as well so that Tigurius’ unit isn’t isolated and destroyed with ease. You want to make the most of his psychic powers – usually blessings with a medium range from Divination or Biomancy – and his Warlord Trait. I feel that you should save the Storm of Fire for when you aren’t using the Tactical Doctrine in game, as it effectively wastes the use of it. I would also see if you can cast Prescience on a unit that isn’t a Tactical Squad in the turn you use that particular Doctrine. As far as which psychic discipline to choose, while Ultramarines do have the Tactical Doctrine to give them re-rolls for a single player turn, I would always take at least Prescience from Divination. This gives you an extra twin-linking to any unit that needs it for a turn; prioritize heavy hitters first before your Troops squads, ideally Devastators and Sternguard Veterans, as either unit is simply brutal with re-rolls.
After eating up a power from Prescience, taking the last two rolls on Divination, particularly with the re-rolls, is always a safe bet; literally one or perhaps two of the powers aren’t helpful for Tigurius. Otherwise, Biomancy is helpful to try and get Endurance or Enfeeble, while Telepathy and Telekinesis offer great powers in the form of Telekine Dome, Objuration Mechanicum, Invisibility and Hallucination. With the re-rolls and three powers, you do have room to spread out your powers over disciplines, but be warned; the chances of rolling all three powers you need are still slim unless each is taken from the same discipline. Try to reduce dependency on particular powers, like Invisibility, when writing up an army list; relying on random mechanics that will usually not bear the fruit you seek is tomfoolery. I must also emphasize the importance of his reserves manipulation for a lot of army list variants, such as drop-pod lists or those involving an allied Farsight and Shadowsun bomb. These lists really need to have their reserves come down at the right moment, so never forget to take full advantage of this great ability Tigurius provides.
Thanks for reading everybody and by all means chime in down in the comments. How have you been running Tigurius?
