Uses for Librarians

[terminatorAM]

so i have never used a librarian before but i am seeing how usefull they could be as counters for alot of psyer lists ive seen lately, not least amoung them my primary opponent's Eldar list. so my main question is how to primarily use them on the field with the psychic hood as a constant deterant?

 

my 2 ideas:

1) put him in terminator armor and deep strike in w/ tactical termies and lysander and gate around to troubled areas and cause mass destruction (use w/ gate and either null zone or machine curse)

2) have him barebones riding in a LRC with a command squad for counter changing purposes or to put that extra pressure where its needed most (use w/ null zone and the cc power)

 

what looks best?

[Dosjetka]

you can't have a command squad for librarian in the 5th edition 'dex. so will change the second option or stick with the first?

 

BBL

[NightrawenII]

you can't have a command squad for librarian in the 5th edition 'dex. so will change the second option or stick with the first?

 

BBL

Moot point, if he have captain as his first HQ.

[Validar]

I usually have my libby driving around in a rhino along with a sternguard with combi-meltas. I use avenger and curse of the machine spirit. In that way he can stick his little psychic-hood head up from the rhino and curse the big tanks to (atleast!) prevent them from shooting (works well with the massive tanks such as some of the IG stuff or a land raider).

When they get close to infantry and want to screw them up by using the special issue ammunition along with rapid fire, the librarian is usually close enough to fire off avenger (AP3 flamer, mmmm).

[Warprat]

I have found the force weapon to be nothing but a glorified power weapon. A couple games ago, I charged my Librarian in alone against three Tau Broadsides and a couple Shield Drones. The force weapon is really hard to wound with, and you need to get through the save to use the force power. Big Whoop... ;(

 

Of course that was against toughness 5, and he did last for three turns before dying. It was a decent gamble, because the Broadsides would have fallen back off the table.

 

Seems like he should be a bad@** in combat, but he's not. But, I guess compared to a normal Marine, he is. Just not worth the 100 pts for his CC value alone. Maybe on a bike... with sarg powerfist backup.

 

 

Use him for the special tricks he can do. The Avenger power is pretty neat, and Gate can provide some unexpected mobility, if you don't mind bunching up. The longer range of Storm Bolters or Stearnguard Bolters work pretty well with the probable Deep Strike scatter. Normally, just Gate to a fairly open area and pray you don't roll high. Or, in a desperate situation (win or lose,) gamble for a hit somewhere difficult.

 

 

He, he... just though about how funny it would be to Gate some bikes over some dangerous terrain. Kind of like jump packs... funny, but better to use some other power.

 

Warprat ;)

[Koremu]

You basically MUST tool his Psychic Powers (and wargear) to the role you want him to fulfil.

 

You want an Infantry Support Librarian? Force Dome and Avenger.

 

You want a 'fex killing Force Weapon user? Might is your friend.

 

You want mobility? Gate.

 

 

They've got lots of possibilities, but you have to pick one to excel at to make them work.

[Justicar Valius]

You wanna kill zoanthropes sporeing into your lines? null zone is a must (also prevents their powers nicely too)

[IvorTangrean]

I run mine with Sternguard in a rhino using Null Zone and Force Dome. He may not do much on his own but combined with the firepower and durability of the Sternguard they make one tough cookie. The only kicker is remembering to use the dome every turn, the next thing to hit you most often after your rhino goes tends to be AP 2-3.

 

I have had them perform so well that now my regular opponent (Necrons) just runs from them rather than fight b/c he knows that he will lose.

[Warprat]

I run mine with Sternguard in a rhino using Null Zone and Force Dome. He may not do much on his own but combined with the firepower and durability of the Sternguard they make one tough cookie. The only kicker is remembering to use the dome every turn, the next thing to hit you most often after your rhino goes tends to be AP 2-3.

 

I have had them perform so well that now my regular opponent (Necrons) just runs from them rather than fight b/c he knows that he will lose.

 

 

Seems like a pretty good setup for a plasma gun command squad, or honor guard as well.

[minigun762]

I can think of 3 good locations for a Librarian

 

1) With 5-7 TH/SS Terminators in a Land Raider. Give him Terminator Armor for the protection and take Null Zone + something else (I like Avenger). It gives your squad some I4 attacks and ignores those silly Inv Saves

2) With 10 Assault Marines. Give him a Jump Pack. Take Force Dome and either Null Zone or Avenger. Now your whole squad gets a 5++ save and you can hit a unit with 3 template weapons if you wanted.

3) With 10 Tactical Marines in a Drop Pod. (Can also be done with Sternguard). Take Force Dome and either Null Zone or Avenger. Works similar to the Assault Marines, you have some extra protection from shooting when you land or a good offensive power.

[Giga]

I take my librarian with no upgrades, and put him in a LR with 5 th/ss terminators. I usually have avenger and null zone on him. This way he's a real nice support kind of dude that can also lay some hurt with avenger. Not too shabby for 100 points, and is very useful in all-comers lists.

[kiwitexansfan]

If you just want a psychic hood to stop opponents psychic lists, ally in an Inquisitor or Inquisitor Lord. We still have the old psychic hoods with limitless range so you don't need to be close to stop the psychic power going off. And it would be cheaper too.

[minigun762]

I take my librarian with no upgrades, and put him in a LR with 5 th/ss terminators. I usually have avenger and null zone on him. This way he's a real nice support kind of dude that can also lay some hurt with avenger. Not too shabby for 100 points, and is very useful in all-comers lists.

 

You don't worry about the lack of an Inv Save?

[ShinyRhino]

I take my librarian with no upgrades, and put him in a LR with 5 th/ss terminators. I usually have avenger and null zone on him. This way he's a real nice support kind of dude that can also lay some hurt with avenger. Not too shabby for 100 points, and is very useful in all-comers lists.

 

You don't worry about the lack of an Inv Save?

 

With that selection of powers, he's a cheap throw-away booster for the Hammernators, looks like. Busts out either an AP3 flame shot before the charge to whittle down MEQ, or a Null Zone to help crack TEQ. If he does in close combat, he's already done his job for the turn, so why cry over spilt milk, I suppose.

Also, since he's an IC, anyone wanting to smash him in the face with an ID hit would have to base him first. If you're on the charge, move those hammernators into the S8 model(s), and route the Libby away from it. Not foolproof, but worth trying. Heck, if you already blew your one Psychic power for the turn on Null Zone or Avenger, you could just not get the Libby into base at all, and skip his piddling S4 power weapon attacks anyways,since the Hammernators already get 3 each on the charge at S8.

[kaiserstole20]

I attach a librarian to my captain's command squad. The librarian has a plasma pistol and command squad has 4x plasma gun. I gate next to big nasty creatures or behind armor and gun them down with plasma.

[Muctar]

I think a good use for a epistolary libby is to put him with tac termies who have a cyclone, use gate of infinity to get around, and use null zone. This gives you the best chance to use null zone quickly, maximize coverage & its effective range, and the same goes for his 24" hood, both of which are cohesive support with the termies storm bolters as well. This becomes much more effective when you throw in drop pods with locator beacons to nullify potential scatter.

 

If you don't want to run an epistolary you can use the same setup, just not GoI and NZ on the same turn.

[minigun762]

I attach a librarian to my captain's command squad. The librarian has a plasma pistol and command squad has 4x plasma gun. I gate next to big nasty creatures or behind armor and gun them down with plasma.

 

Wouldn't it just be cheaper to take the S4 AP2 shooting power for free? Sure its not S7 but it still kills Terminators or MEQs well.

[Koremu]

I attach a librarian to my captain's command squad. The librarian has a plasma pistol and command squad has 4x plasma gun. I gate next to big nasty creatures or behind armor and gun them down with plasma.

 

Wouldn't it just be cheaper to take the S4 AP2 shooting power for free? Sure its not S7 but it still kills Terminators or MEQs well.

Costs 50 points to do that and Gate.

 

Plus were you doing two powers with that setup, you'd prefer Force Dome (or I would, anyway)

 

Mind you I wouldn't take the Plasma Pistol.

 

Generally I take counts-as-Tigurius unless I want a Terminator Librarian.

[terminatorAM]

great advice, i think ill try out the idea with tactical termies and gate. deep strike in close to a vehicle w/ cyclone missiles and machine curse then gate to the front of combat next turn near objective or enemy soft spot and unload storm bolter fire before assaulting in later, could be fun. to bad teleport homers dont work for gate though...

[Giga]

You don't worry about the lack of an Inv Save?

Nah, that guy is just support. A lot of the time he spends the entire battle inside the land raider, anyway. He costs 100 points, and does the following;

 

24" psychic hood bubble from the land raider

24" null zone bubble from the land raider

str5 ap3 flamer template when needed

 

In case I don't need his supportive abilities/flamer template, I can simply throw him into close combat and not care, since he brings 4 WS5 power weapon attacks on charge. This is rather okay against stuff that doesn't have any power weapon attacks (such as necrons, devastator squads, long fangs, guard, tau, etc.) and can even insta-kill things like nobs, nid warriors, warbosses, etc. with his force weapon.

 

Invulnerable save would've been nice, but in reality he already sucks in close combat so there's no point in trying to make him more survivable on his own. The best way to keep him alive is to keep him inside a land raider and/or accompanying another unit. Also, as ShinyRhino said, keep him out of base contact with all them power fist dudes.

 

He's quite invaluable in 1750+ all-comers lists, I think, as he goes a long way towards making my army MUCH more killy/survivable against daemons, CSM, necrons, eldar, nids, and marines of all types. He's not so useful against guard (unless they're fielding plenty psyker choruses), tau, dark eldar, and some specific builds in other armies, but in general the dude is excellent support for small points.

[kaiserstole20]

I attach a librarian to my captain's command squad. The librarian has a plasma pistol and command squad has 4x plasma gun. I gate next to big nasty creatures or behind armor and gun them down with plasma.

 

Wouldn't it just be cheaper to take the S4 AP2 shooting power for free? Sure its not S7 but it still kills Terminators or MEQs well.

 

I find the 15 points for a S7, AP2 shot is definitely worth it. It gives a nice punch against rear armor as well as against MCs. I'm not a huge fan of the epistolary upgrade but if I did that I wouldn't take the plasma pistol.

[DerekLee688]

I don't like deepstriking without pods or beacons. Too much bad could happen or at least scatter.

 

Librarians are my default HQ choice with little or no upgrades. I use him as a super sergent in a tac or sternguard squad in LR or 9x stern in rino. With flame template and whatever I find useful at the moment. Vortex, strength booster, etc...

 

I know tac squads arn't proper LR filling, but I have a limited collection to play larger games that warrent terminators.

[CF Scout]

My primary Librarian is on a bike and I normally used him with smite.

 

I am planning on building up a few bike squads with a bike captain to build a force that will better utilize him.

[Commander Proteus]

I'm toying with the assault squad option for my Raven Guard. Basically, JP libby with smite, and either might, or force dome, and leading a ten man squad. I'm a bit iffy on the last two, because I'm so balanced. If I take Might, he's strong enough to whoop some MEQ's with ease. Plus, he has a shot at armor, since meltabombs aren't an option for him. But then, I'm open to counterattack with no Inv. saves, which is why I then think I want Force Dome.

 

Most would say go with a chappie in an assault squad, and they'd have a good point. But a libby can do some boss stuff too. Force weapon is nothing to sneeze at, properly used. Same with the powers, they can do a lot in the right hands.

 

-Proteus