Kill the Bloody Priest!

[River Black]

Since the Blood Angle codex came out about half of our Codex Marine players have switched over to BA creating a huge change in the local Metagame. As a result the marine armies have become more elite, survivable, and aggresive and the primary reason for this is the bloody Sang Priest. I have found that every blood angles army has at least one of these in their list either through a command squad or purchased as an elite and they have become a pretty big crutch. In order to kick this crutch out from under the Blood Angles armpit I have started to field Sgt Telion with four other scouts. In the last four games I have played Telion has singled out and killed three priests. Two of those priests were killed out right by the rending and one failed horribly with his save and FnP roll. Telion has become such a threat now to the the local BA players that they commit far more firepower to trying to eliminate him then they really should. He now sits on his objective, gets about two turns worth of shooting before the BA players commits an entire squad to try to kill him off in assault. So what do you guys think. Is he a viable way to take out the priests or have I just gotten lucky? Either way the psychological effect that he has had seems to make up for his cost.

[Allgame]

I have little experience on the tabletop, but Sgt Telion does appear to be an effective counter. Regardless the phsychological effect is worth it alone.

[Grey Mage]

Telion is a good way to counter them if theyre out in the open.

 

If theyre in a rhino/razorback just stunlock it with a missile launcher- if it doesnt move, neither does their FNP bubble.

 

And of course, hes an IC- you can single him out in CC, there are some abilities that work very well to off an IC... though not many of them work for C:SM, one thing that is useful is that if he dies at I5, they wont have FNP when you hit them at I4- so use your characters to take out the priests early.

 

Personally, Ive found Mindwar is one of the best counters to them... but obviously, thats not viable for a C:SM player.

 

You might consider bringing a techmarine of some sort or another, to get your scouts that nifty 2+ cover save.

[LardO'Blood]

Maybe try taking Lysander? strengthens the unit in cc, adds a 2+ and an invulnerable, he has bolster defenses to get the better cover save and you could maybe swap a sniper rifle or two out for a bolter to make full use of his special rules.

[minigun762]

Or just pound the squad(s) they're attached to with S8 or AP2 weaponry. Vindicator works as does Plasma Cannons, Missile Launchers, Meltaguns etc.

 

They are all fairly common SM weapons anyway.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Or just pound the squad(s) they're attached to with S8 or AP2 weaponry. Vindicator works as does Plasma Cannons, Missile Launchers, Meltaguns etc.

 

They are all fairly common SM weapons anyway.

 

This. My LGS has lots of Nurgle players, so I learned very quickly that plasma is your friend. Until it explodes.

[minigun762]

If I played Loyalists, I know that I'd spam the hell out of Plasma Cannons for my Tacs. They are nature's answer to almost everything (the Meltagun is the answer to the rest).

[Firedrake28]

Maybe try taking Lysander? strengthens the unit in cc, adds a 2+ and an invulnerable, he has bolster defenses to get the better cover save and you could maybe swap a sniper rifle or two out for a bolter to make full use of his special rules.

 

Not so much since Lysander has to actually be a part of a unit in order for them to benefit from his Bolter Drill special rule. If you're dropping so many points on Lysander you want him beating face. He's one of only a couple ICs Codex Marines can take that can realistically stand up to some of the nastier Blood Angel units and characters.

[Br0ther Rafen]

Personlly, i would feild in a Sterguard squad, reson being because he makes all of your hellfire shots re roll to hit, so it's almost every single shot is hitting whatever your shooting at. Also, don't forget to observe the rest of the board-A good comander doesn't just focus on one uber unit and ignores everything else. As for the San. Priest problem, Plasma is a good option or, in my experience, Vindie spam. Always works a treat. ;)

[thade]

I never leave home without at least three "apothecaries" in my list, and they virtually always stay in their transports (one of which is often a LR) to increase both their effective radius and survivability. My opponents can choose to either focus-fire the transports (in an effort to bring down the priests) or to just deal with the FnP. There are effective ways of dealing with FnP, not the least of which are plasma and power weapons...but of course, massive volumes of fire still do the trick. =) Also, don't forget your AP2 pie plate.

[pattison]

Since the Blood Angle codex came out about half of our Codex Marine players have switched over to BA creating a huge change in the local Metagame.

Bah, I feel really sorry for you. I would not want to play in such a community.

 

If I played Loyalists, I know that I'd spam the hell out of Plasma Cannons for my Tacs. They are nature's answer to almost everything (the Meltagun is the answer to the rest).

Hell yeah. Plasma Cannons are awesome.

[Ming]

Its not just a matter of killing one Sanguinary Priest...try pooping two and at least one Libby....

[Iron Father Ferrum]

snip. . . try pooping two and at least one Libby....

 

Only Chuck Norris can eat lead and poop 40K minis. :D

 

 

But getting back on track, the biggest problem with Sanguinary Priests is that folks are going to attach them to squads, and they are going to be amongst the last models assigned wounds from shooting. I go overboard on plasma so I can negate the FnP they give, but actually killing the Priests themselves seems easiest in close combat with power weapons/fists thanks to them being ICs so they can be picked out.

[thade]

... but actually killing the Priests themselves seems easiest in close combat with power weapons/fists thanks to them being ICs so they can be picked out.

 

Hence why many a BA player will leave that priest inside the box or out of coherency with the unit (but still within 6" to bestow the buff).

[Kay]

IMHO telion should be an almost must have in every single c:sm army.

Every army you may face have one of those models you need to get rid of asap:

Ethereals or fire warriors sgts, exarchs, IG order givers, ork boys mobs mobs, SMs HWs and sgts, BAs SP, SWs WG on units

Killing just one of the previous almost always make up for the points u paid for him

 

 

Mod Edit: Please do not use chat abbreviations like u.

[thade]

IMHO telion should be an almost must have in every single c:sm army.

Every army you may face have one of those models u need to get rid of asap:

Ethereals or fire warriors sgts, exarchs, IG order givers, ork boys mobs mobs, SMs HWs and sgts, BAs SP, SWs WG on units

Killing just one of the previous almost always make up for the points u paid for him

 

Before I switched to the BA codex I did in fact use Telion in every game I played, roughly two games a week for a span of ten months.

 

During that time, despite my constant efforts, Telion only ever managed to kill ONE model on purpose: a Nob with a Power Klaw.

 

Worth his points? No. But the model looked cool, so I used him frequently.

 

In this case, the "Bloody Priest" is hiding in a Land Raider. So Telion is wasted there.