How to equip a Strike/interceptor Justicar

[GOFADK]

Hi everyone

 

How do you equip your Justicars?

A you still giving him the hammer like in 5th, or is it now a sword or mayby a halberd?

We could use the ekstra attack on the hammer against vehicles and MC, but in a challenge against normal uints he would strike last and might not strike at all.

With a halberd he would allmost allways strike first, and can take out a sergant with a pw or pw, but then the hammers has to be on a regular PA with only two attacks on the charge.

 

What do you guys do?

 

- Casper

[BrotherWasted]

2 hammers gives you 4 hammer attacks on the charge from your unit, as opposed to the 3 you would get from the Justicar.

 

A Hammer Justicar will never get to use his hammer due to challenges and initiative. Take a halberd, every time. You will kill, or neutralise the opposing squad's leader unless they're in TDA or initiative 7+.

[Vash]

With interceptors you should be the one choosing where to fight. They are fast and expensive.

With that said, you should be able to pull of a charge with them. That means a normal interceptor will have 2 attacks on the charge contra 3 attacks the justicar would get.

Now, the safe bet is to keep the hammer on a normal interceptor, due to challenges. But as you are the one choosing where to fight, I dont really see the problem to add the hammer on the justicar.

 

It all comes down to what you are going to target with your interceptors in general. Is it vehicles or is it infantry? If it is infantry, will it be close combat oriented/well balanced or support infantry?

 

If your target is vehicles and support infantry I would definitely add the hammer on the Justicar. That extra attack against vehicles makes a difference, and vs infantry is will probably assure you a win.

 

Against close combat, or balanced units (aka space marine = balanced) I would not add the hammer on the justicar.

[stephane4985]

I totally agree with Vash. Strikes and interceptor are not good at going head to head with CC oriented units. So either you assault something you know you can beat, or (if it is an assault unit) you start by shooting it and only use CC to mop up the floor.

 

So in either case, both can be good.

 

I prefer getting it on the Justicar to have a better chance against vehicle. But again, against transport there is a good chance that even halberds and swords can glance it to death, unless it is a dreadnought or something bigger.

[number6]

I ended up switching to the halberd on the Justicar because of challenges. I still keep one hammer in the unit for general utility, however.

 

What I did in 5e was go purely MSU: 5 guys, 1 psycannon, hammer on the Justicar. And a psyback for good measure, though the guys were generally not embarked.

 

In 6e the changes to shooting and combat has led me to instead maximize my units and combat squad them into a "shooty" half and a "fighty" half.

 

10 models: 2 psycannons, 1 hammer, justicar w/halberd. 235 pts for Strikers. 295 pts for Interceptors. One combat squad consists of 2 psycannons and 3 normal dudes, the other has the justicar and hammer (and in the case of Strikers, usually start embarked in the Razorback).

 

It's not that either Strikers or Interceptors are all that "good" at combat. BUT ... with both a hammer and an Init 6 Justicar and force weapons everywhere ... you'd be surprised how little people want to engage any of these combat squads. There's a lot of firepower, which is the main thing. The ability to give some actual "sting" in assault is a reasonably priced bonus.

[thade]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned taking a warding stave on a Justicar just for challenges; it's still AP3 and still a Force Weapon...but instead of the +2I it's a 2++ save for those challenges.

[Vash]

I think its safe to say, there are many thoughts on how to equip the Justicar, and all alternatives are right IF used right.

[number6]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned taking a warding stave on a Justicar just for challenges; it's still AP3 and still a Force Weapon...but instead of the +2I it's a 2++ save for those challenges.

I don't do that mostly because of expense. Having both a hammer and the Justicar's halberd costs less than even a single warding stave, and I feel like you get more offense, too. The best defense is a good offense! :woot:

 

If I'm compelled -- or feeling compelled -- to fight enemy terminators/MCs/assault professionals ... well, the warding stave won't make that much of a difference anyway. My poor, overmatched GKs are gonna die anyway. :rolleyes:

[Inquisitor Fox]

My Interceptor Justicar Tuuri has two nemesis force falchions because they look awesome :D My Strike Squad Justicar has a halberd. My Terminator Justicar has a force sword. So it varies really... I think we can agree that if the Justicar in question is not wearing Terminator armor, avoid giving him a hammer. If he's in terminator armor, then you can probably get away with it.

[shortysl]

Every Justicar/Knight of the Flame in my army has a Halberd, purely for challenges. That said, every unit in my army also has a Daemon Hammer because i like making things go squish. I don't mind giving a Hammer to a single-attack model because i believe in making sure i get the charge, and Krak Grenades give me options against anything that warrants a Hammer.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Strikes are going to lose combat with anything decent, I'd keep them cheap. Psybolts is probably a better investment, they're shooty, melee is an absolute last resort for them (5 or less enemy manz, any more and you risk losing).

 

Interceptors aren't fighting real combat units, their job is to murder backfield units who suck in combat (Fangs, Lootaz, Broadsides etc). In that context, putting the hammer on the Justicar gets you an extra swing, which can mean another dead manz from the enemy unit.

 

The Flame Knight for Purifiers wants a halberd. As a mid-field shooty/counter-assault unit, Purifiers are going to get charged by someone decent (they flat-out murder hordes or other basic MeQ units attempts). Halberd lets you snipe the Sarge, and if they send in Terminators you're already dead (sorry, its true, 2+ is that powerful now in melee). I'd keep a Purifier or two with a hammer in the unit, for wrecking walkers/MC's without Eternal Warrior who try to ninja you.

 

Purgators...everyone else has incinerators (all four of them), so the Justicar might as well get hammering.

[Zeratul29]

If I had to go with an upgrade weapon, I would definitely go halberd, for challenges purposes of defeating enemy sargent powerfists and the like and getting the force weapon activation off first.