WRATH OF DORN: Imperial Fists & Black Templars (and More)!
Here is the first list I have created with the new Space Marine codex. Lets combine two of the sons of Rogal Dorn and see what we can do.
I think this list can handle a lot of the top meta lists I’ve seen such as those that were prevalent at NOVA. My one worry is the Heldrake but I think they can be mitigated with good deployment and superior tactics.
This list harkens back to the good old days of the fourth edition codex… Basically a min max gun line army with some twists to handle newer elements such as fliers. I also consider this army to have solid background since Black Templars are a successor Chapter of the Imperial Fists. It’s exciting and I’ve wanted to build an Imperial Fists army for a long time. I’ll probably go with a Heresy theme for appearance… oh yeah !
(1995 points)
Imperial Fists
Captain Darnath Lysander (230) (War Lord)
6x Sternguard incl. Veteran Sergeant (207)
Heavy flamer – 10
2x combi-grav – 20
Drop Pod – 35
The Lysander and Sternguard combo is nothing new… Here they are a disruption unit to force the opponent to concentrate some of the firepower on them. They come in with no support and snipe a key enemy unit… So use smart placement to keep them alive for a turn.
5x Tactical Marine incl. Veteran Sergeant (105)
Missile launcher w. flakk missiles – 25
5x Tactical Marine incl. Veteran Sergeant (105)
Missile launcher w. flakk missiles – 25
Here are the first two minimum scoring units. They’ve got some flakk to help handle enemy fliers. Remember if you take flakk missiles you can still fire frag and krak. They setup behind the Aegis Defense Line (ADL) and squeeze their triggers… Simple but effective.
5x Legionnaire incl. Sergeant (155)
Flamer – 10
Heavy flamer – 10
Combi-flamer – 10
Here is another disruption unit… They drop down and torch enemy T3 units with crap armor saves. You can switch out the flamers for melta if you want to pop armor.
Thunderfire cannon (100)
With barrage now this unit is going to cause all kinds of grief for those same T3 enemy units and its not bad at all versus T4. Hide behind LoS blocking terrain and bombs away… Profit ! Also the Tech Marine uses Bolster Defense on a ruin for 3++ cover save. Expect to see one of these in practically every Space Marine army.
5x Devastator (160)
2x Lascannon (40)
2x Missile launcher w. flakk missiles (50)
More long range firepower with some more flakk for those enemy fliers… Take enough and it begins to add up. This squad will typically man the quad gun to take advantage of the signum. Note this unit has Tank Hunter due to their Chapter Tactics – nice.
An alternative to the Devastator squad is as follows:
Centurion Devastator Squad
4x Centurion incl. Sergeant (340)
3x twin linked lascannon – 60
Grav cannon w. grav-amp – 20
Omniscope – 10
They also benefit from the Tank Hunter USR. Of course this unit is more than twice the cost of the six man Devastator squad so you’d have to reconfigure the overall army list to include them. I think this is an optimal build for Centurions and has access to all the good things they have to choose from as heavy support.
Black Templars
Emperor’s Champion (140)
5x Assault Terminator (220)
5x Storm shield & thunder hammer – 20
Stormraven (205)
Twin-linked assault cannon – 0
Twin-linked multi-melta – 0
Extra armor – 5
The Champion joins the terminators and they ride in the Stormraven – dedicated melee plus more anti-flier.
6x Initiate incl. Sword Brethren (134)
Lascannon – 20
Grav-gun – 15
6x Initiate incl. Sword Brethren (134)
Lascannon – 20
Grav-gun – 15
Two more scoring units with big guns.
Fortification & Gun Emplacement
Aegis Defense Line (100)
Quad gun – 50
While I’m not a big proponent for the ADL it fits in perfectly with this army plus you get the quad gun for more anti-flier defense.
So not too much in the way of new things but some. The cost in points has dropped for lots of units so you can take a lot more boots on the ground now… That’s the way it should be too. Tactical squads just got good again since they can take heavy and|or special weapons for min sized squads.
This is basically a Swiss Army knife type of list. It’s a master of none and jack of all trades. There’s also lots of options… Such as Lysander joining up with the Emperor’s Champion and his Sword Brethren assault terminators. Of course we all know that Lysander cannot embark in the Stormraven.
Born in the Saddle
So you maybe you like biker armies… I know I do !
Here is a kernel for a new White Scars biker army:
Grand Master (250)
Shield Eternal – 50
Artificer armor – 20
Bike – 20
Thunder hammer – 30
Captain (160)
Storm shield – 15
Artificer armor – 20
Power axe – 15
Bike – 20
Command Squad (280)
Apothecary – 15
Bikes – 35
3x Power axe – 45
Power fist – 25
4x Storm shield – 40
2x Combi-grav – 20
Bike squad (162)
5x Biker incl. Veteran Sergeant – 10
2x Grav-gun – 30
Power axe – 15
Scout squad (110)
Veteran Sergeant – 10
Land Speeder Storm – 45
Heavy flamer – 0
I think this could be the basis for a competitive army and would be a lot of fun to play. The Chapter Master is a beast. Note that I chose a Captain for the storm shield… however if you take the Khan he confers Scout which is really just HUGE !
Have you messed around with the codex yet? I am thinking Imperial Fists and White Scars are the two obvious win buttons in the codex. What type of builds do you like?
