Interceptors?

[The Holy Heretic]

Emperor knows, I haven't got much love for power armour (Inquisition and paladins for me please), but I'm a bit intrigued in getting my hands on some interceptors, and was wondering how to kit them out.

 

I know people don't think highly of using them as traditional jump/assault infantry - because of the A1, and because they've got access to bigger guns.

 

But then again, a normal - triple attack on the charge - assault marine does as much harm vs. MEQ, as an A1 GK getting charged (0.25 kills) - without Hammerhand. But the added move can double this by ensuring the charge.

 

So I was considering building something like this:

 

10 man interceptor squad w. psybolt ammo, 8 halberds, 2 hammers @ 330 points.

 

Why no psycannons you ask? Well, you lose out on force weapons, and interceptors should be moving. Also what role do they fill, hammers can take out tanks, and they haven't got any range advantage - also, psybolters are able to penetrate the side/rear of chimeras and rear of rhinos.

 

Why not incinerators then? 30 points difference.. I'm tempted, but I don't really think, they're needed.

 

 

First unloading 20 S5 bolters - thats ≈ 3 dead MEQs or 11 GEQs out of cover.

 

Followed up by 16 S5 power weapon attacks at I6 - thats ≈ 5 dead MEQs or 9 GEQs.

 

And hammering time.

 

 

Pretty decent in my book, what do you think? And how do you go about using your interceptors? ;)

[Something Wycked]

No other PA codex gets shooty jump infantry. Even when you kit them out for CC like you want to do, they can still have S5 Stormbolters with an effective 36" range (or 54" once per game).

 

I think you may be going a little overkill on the melee weapons (you're a damned fine general if you can get all 10 Interceptors into an assault without losing models crossing the board!) and you'd be able to save points and still have just as good all-round combat effectiveness. But then, I'm all about the shooting, so I may be biased ;)

 

I run my Interceptors just like my Strikes- 2 Psycannons, 1 Hammer, Psybolts @ 310. They're my mobile fire support as well as my front line force, which I run alongside a DK. The DK can handle anything large with his Sword and many small things with his Heavy Incinerator, and the Interceptors can handle anything else. Its an expensive 570 point "unit" but their synergy and power on the table top are impressive.

[T3mpl@r Crusade]

just from the way my dice roll, my power armor does not do well in combat, ever, even on a charge. even my terminators struggle sometimes. I try to do more gunline, assaulting if I fel the advantage in my favor with some error involved for my crap dice rolls. But over any game ive played (and i havent used purifiers yet) power armor for me stinks in cc.

 

So I kit my interceptors out for mobile weapons platforms. I give them psybolts, psycannon, incinerator, 1 hammer. why not 2 psycannons you ask? well, If i have a no scatter 30" move, i think its worth the extra 10 pts for being able to use the incinerator in devastating ways for someone who has packed their forces too tightly. Im thinking of killing lots of armor 4 here with the right deployment. sure the psycannon can do it, but I can easily get 5 or more auto hits no cover with the incinerator.

 

You cc idea is interesting however, shunting behind some tanks to deliver some rear armor hurt, especially for the range disadvantage GK have is a much more attractive option

[Darkmagi]

personally I like to have at least 2 falchion equipped models in my interceptor units mine kinda look like this: 2x hammer, 2x psycannon, 2x falchion, 4x Halberd, its quite pricy... coming in at a whopping 350 after adding psybolt ammo... (which for me isn't as mandatory as it seems to be for most people.)

[Inquisitor Fox]

I plan on having a mobile reaction force deployed from Storm Raven. I also plan on using this same unit (less one model) as a Kill Team and putting individual modeling into them (converting old pewters to having bare heads and teleport pack, etc).

 

One hammer, MC hammer and storm bolter on Justicar (uses up points left over in Kill Team 200 limit, given Feel No Pain for Kill Team), 1 pair of falchions (furious charge for Kill Team), 1 psycannon (Relentless for Kill Team), 3 halberds, psybolts on everyone.

 

Total of 6 models (Storm Raven capacity), lose one of the halberd marines for Kill Team. I think their near unmatched mobility (along with shunting) in Kill Team will be incredibly useful, and in the 40K tabletop they can plug whatever gap I need, do a decent job assaulting (not great, but decent), provide some anti-tank capability if need be... and generally be my "troubleshooters" to plug holes and provide overall backup.

[jeffersonian000]

I go with minimal extras on my Interceptors, while sticking to the basics: max Psycannons, 1 NDH per 5 models. If I have the points to spare, Psybolts.

 

SJ

[number6]

I go with minimal extras on my Interceptors, while sticking to the basics: max Psycannons, 1 NDH per 5 models. If I have the points to spare, Psybolts.

I concur. ;)

[Aidoneus]

Mine are exactly the same as my Strikes: 2 psycannons, psybolts, and 1 hammer (master-crafted if I have the points). Like Strikes, they're not very good in combat, especially for their points, so I make use of their mobility to let me make the most of their shooting abilities. I use the squad in one of two ways. When the rest of my force deep-strikes, I'll often hold the interceptors in regular reserve to let them come on without scattering and to let them charge any enemy unit that wandered within 18" of my board edge. When most of my force deploys (typically against assault armies, when I want more time to shoot them and worry less about incoming fire), the interceptors deploy on a flank and move up to hit side armour or deny cover saves from units/terrain in front of the enemy lines. In either case, I tend to use Shunt later in the game to contest objectives (or to run away and save a KP), although sometimes I'll shunt proactively to hit side/rear armour on a particularly scary tank earlier in the game.

[spartan249]

I'm using my Interceptors like many others as a highly mobile shooting platform with 2 Psycannons with backfield harassment potential. I also use them as my end-game objective blockers to sneak out those wins in objective missions.

 

I think spending points to upgrade interceptors for CC doesn't bring much to show for the investment because of their already adequate ability before upgrading. It's the same as my opinion on Strike Squads taking CC upgrades: too expensive for too little return IMO.

[AnImA8]

@The Holy Heretic: Glad to see something new in regards to using Interceptors. Personally I think they're just fine as an assault support unit. Just enough to spring a bogged down Dreadnought or squad of strikes. I would run them with 9x halberds and 1x daemon hammer, since if I'm using them as an assault unit then I wouldn't want to combat squad them: I'd want to bring as many attacks to bear as possible. I could even see dropping the Psybolt Ammunition to save points (granted if you have 20 pts lying around and nothing better to spend them on, then by all means ;) )

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Don't need halberds, you have frags and whatever you're harassing in the backfield is unlikely to have higher Initiative than you (and will almost certainly be worse at actually killing things in close-combat).

 

I'd honestly just go hammer+incinerator, and field two seperate units. Costs the same, but you get two hammer Justicars slapping stuff to death. And it's not like FA is heavily contested, it's just them and the Stormraven.

[Amadeus Baal]

I tend to use them as a mobile gun battery too, when I field them. Sometimes outflanking and/or shunting if I really need to get behind/ los on backfield vehicles or the charge of the mech brigade's soft bits. I do sometimes kit them out for cc but tend to go with more bodies and less guns, the occasional falchion pair, but they cost alot and have seemed to have been overkill so far. That tends to be against Necrons and their cloud of doom and darkness, nid backfield lurkers and the like. I only ever take a few halberds if I task them with hurting LFs or DE annoyance, but that's fairly rare. The more I use them the more I like them and they work great with a NDK. They are great for disrupting your opponents movement plans, ruining his battle line my making him chase them, a slightly soft hammer to your anvil, and that last turn shunt to take/contest an objective can be priceless.

[shortysl]

Haven't built or played with them yet, but i'm planning on running a 7 man Interceptor Squad with Nemesis Daemon Hammer and Force Falchions. On paper, sounds like a beautiful (if expensive) unit, but am i to believe this is not the way to go?

[Gentlemanloser]

NFF giving +1A to a base 1A mini isn't worth it for thier cost.

[shortysl]

As i say, they're expensive, but i see myself using them to jump on lone, small units. I already have a firepower-heavy army (Guard) so i was hoping to veer away from the gunline approach when using the Grey Knights. That said, i'm more than willing to take advice from resident players, the experience you guys have will always outweigh my theories. Besides, it'll save me a good number of points on Falchions that i can spend elsewhere.

[Aidoneus]

For the cost of 6 Falchions, you could instead buy 2 more interceptors (and save some points).

 

6 Falchions: +6 attacks

 

2 Interceptors: +2 attacks (+4 on the charge), +4 storm bolter shots, +2 wounds, +2 bases (which can help for spreading out to contest objectives or keep 50% of the unit in cover), +2 krak grenades.

 

Sure, you get more attacks from falchions, although the difference is far less significant on the charge. However, the addition of two more models, complete with storm bolters, more than makes up for having slightly fewer attacks, especially once the unit starts taking damage.

[Gentlemanloser]

And that, right there, is why they cost too much for +1A. ;)

[Amadeus Baal]

What has been said above is pretty much the bottom line when it comes to adding falchions on the intys I'm afraid. I usually think if I have to spend loads of points on upgrades to a unit in order for it fulfil a role, nine times out of ten I should be picking a different unit. I know what you mean shortysl, on paper they do sound cool. However even though they are JI, I feel if I tried to use them say as my SG in my BA army I wouldn't be playing to their strengths. As you say though they are quite capable of handling small units in cc on their own, with only a few upgrades. I mention a few above. With all the troops that can DS in the GK army there are plenty of other troops that you can use to do a similar thing. Also add in the GKGM's ability to give the scout ability and everything that allows, you can have other more cc specialists such as purifiers and Palys running all over the field.

 

I know what you mean about the gunline, at 24" the GKs do form a pretty impressive gunline, but it's lot different to that of the IG imo.

 

Also saving those points on the Falchions allows you to use all those on the sprue somewhere else. A lot of my BAs are running around with them as power weapons and I add them to DEW to make a unit of DCA, a very tasty cc unit you might want to consider.