Which legion tactics favor infantry?

[Echidna]

Greetings brothers!

 

I have a question. As the title says, which legion rites favor an infantry heavy army? I like tanks and I like jetbikes and other fast things, but I like infantry best. I would like to know which of the traitor legions affords for such a playstyle and supports the player who wishes to field squads of twenty tactical marines, elites and terminators on foot?

 

Thanks

 

 

Echidna

[Chronotonic]

Iron warriors are good for that

 

Or maybe death guard help with that issue

 

Iron hands do decent as well with their -1 strength

[ThatOneMarshal]

All of them really ;).

 

I would say that Iron Hands are big into infantry spam due to how tough they are.

 

Seeing as you like traitor legions then I would say that alpha legion can do okay with them due to infiltrate as well as Iron Warriors. However Iron Warriors are more into walking terminators up the board with heavy weapons. Death guard can do well.

 

It's between death guard, iron warriors and Alpha Legion.

 

I think something that's important to note is how is your meta? If it's competitive with lots of things that can meq easily then you'll have a bad time running 20 man tacticals. If it's a BAC meta then you'll be fine.

 

EDIT: Should this be moved to the legion for you thread?

[Calas Typhon]

Death Guard.

 

The whole thing about them was the heaviest, most invulnerable, attrition loving, nails, gentlemen.

 

They are exactly what you are looking for, if Infantry are your thing to play.

[Echidna]

Thanks for the first replies. Matter of fact there is no meta to speak of, at least not yet, but with Betrayal of Calth my club has been slowly embracing the idea of playing HH games up to 2000 points, or at least this is what we plan time and money permitting. In general I favor infantry over vehicles and if I field vehicles I like them to be the big centerpiece ones and not squad level transports. I simply want to walk or infiltrate across the board, unload all my bolters, rinse and repeat all the while my terminators get into melee and my elites kill the important stuff. 

 

I was thinking Alpha Legion but I am wondering, what about the Word Bearers, surely their Rites of War are interesting, but are they beneficial to such an army?

[Xenith]

 

EDIT: Should this be moved to the legion for you thread?

 

Probably - That thread should be stickied so people know it's available for assistance :)

 

As for the question, any Legion :)

[DuskRaider]

I'd say as far as massed infantry, your best bets are Death Guard (I'll always recommend them), World Eaters, Word Bearers, and if you intend to infiltrate and hit the enemy first... Alpha Legion. I suppose Ultramarines as well, but I'm not up on their rules so I'd let one of the UM players throw their input up on that.

 

Death Guard: Their Rite of War lends itself VERY well to an infantry-heavy army. They gain a lot of rules to assist in walking up the board and can also take Veterans and Heavy Support Squads as non-compulsory Troops. Their Legion rules as help a lot with this. They have the most Terminator squads of all the Legions, although none of them gain an advantage from Pride of the Legion.

 

World Eaters: Not only does their Rite of War and Legion Trait list aid with an infantry heavy army, but their units themselves do. These guys are just a group of blenders that get better each time they kill someone. Rampagers aren't exactly the best, but they can be taken in multiple slots. Plus it fits their fluff.

 

Word Bearers: Again, Rite of War and Legion Trait. A lot of people overlook it, but Word Bearers are pretty formidable in CC. They can take Daemon and Imperial Army allies as Blood Brothers, which also helps.

 

Alpha Legion: What's to say? Massed infiltrating infantry hitting on the first turn. Heavy Support squads with Plasma Cannons and a Master of Signals. Rapier Platforms 18" from the enemy's army. You NEED to either go first or seize the initiative, but the Legion has a lot of tricks to do that (one being the Primarch).

[Echidna]

Interesting replies. I am half of the mind between Alpha Legion and the Word Bearers, both are awesome legions. In general terms it is infantry, large squads of it, a viable strategy (considering that it is unlikely that I will face something heavier than an Imperial Knight or the Tau big robots) and what units should be the next step from the Betrayal of Calth set for this army?

[helterskelter]

Night Lords. Because terror assault gives you the best troops choice ever. And it comes with a side order of choom

[DuskRaider]

Interesting replies. I am half of the mind between Alpha Legion and the Word Bearers, both are awesome legions. In general terms it is infantry, large squads of it, a viable strategy (considering that it is unlikely that I will face something heavier than an Imperial Knight or the Tau big robots) and what units should be the next step from the Betrayal of Calth set for this army?

 

It depends on what you normally face. There's really no good answer, TBH. At times I field a lot of Tacticals, but it's only to act as meat shields for my Terminators and scarier things. They're wicked cheap so if they die it's no big deal, but if you ignore them they have the potential to tear a lot of things apart, either through Fury of the Legion or massed CC attacks. Which brings me to the next point: Always invest in the extra CC Weapon. Always. I would always recommend a least a few anti-tank choices, although if you take Word Bearers with their RoW you're limited to a single Heavy Support slot. The upside is you take Daemons as Battle Brother Allies, which means both armies benefit from one another in multiple ways. Dark Channeling is also a good buff for WB squads, although I'd only put it on large blobs or really heavy hitters. If you go with a LoW, I'd go with something big like a Fellblade or whatnot, not the Primarch.

 

EDIT: I should also point out that with Word Bearers you can pull a ton of Psyker shenanigans you can't with other Legions currently. Especially when teamed up with Daemons. People may hate you. Your army will be mega buffed, however.

[Imperial Swine]

My ranking goes as:

 

You're opponent hates you tier -

Alpha Legion/Mutable tactics are so damn good for countering your opponents strength, i.e. player has lots of assault troops? Take counter-attack and make them wade through loads of boltershots and finish them under sheer weight of attacks. Theyre playing defensive? mass infiltrate of tacticals to get 1st turn Fury of the Legion.

Imperial Fists. Did you say BS 5? Well hello the greatest legion for the most basic troops. Boltguns will become diamonds!

Iron Hands. Very      ...                ...                   ...                Slow. But essentially T5 and thus wasting your opponent's shooting turn as his most basic troops struggle to tackle your wall of cyborgs. 

 

 

Pretty gosh darn good. 

Raven Guard. Infiltrate and fleet, good combo for getting in range quick, giving a FoTL, and then charging turn 2. Good, but are kinda weak against mechanicum and opponents who have lots of tanks and love to assault.

Death Guard. I love the Reaping. Lots of marines, lots of guns, and lots of rads. A godsend for heavy support squads

Ultramarines. Shoot, and gain pseudo preferred enemy. Pretty nice and helpful. But useless if you dont pick on the one squad or lack proper firepower to deal with range. 

 

The emperor cant complain tier.

Iron warriors. Only good thing is not worrying about running away when you get shot. Great for range, terrible when your opponent isnt worried about pumping you full of shots before assaulting. RoW is ok, but favours tanks and big blobs assaulting somehow. 

Word Bearers. great in 30k, terrible in 40k. Reliable and wont run away and falter. Just as stubborn as death guard. 

 

Everything else tier. 

World eaters get free chainaxes and love big blobs of marines.

Sons of Horus love being tactical but not with blobs

emperors children are meh tier and offer little for big blobs

Salamanders give nada

 

And the others are currently unknown. 

[Hergrmir]

I think if you're really set on infiltrating for an alpha strike Raven Guard might even edge out Alpha Legion, though with an obvious reduction in versatility. Alvarex Maun plus their RoW really loads your chances for first turn, and Mor Deythan with flame templates are pure nuts. You slow down a bit after that though, so you really need to press home your alpha strike advantage.

 

It was a toss-up for me given Thousand Sons don't have rules yet between Alpha Legion and Raven Guard, and eventually I decided I probably wouldn't see myself NOT taking infilitrate all that often, plus the FW fluff about the Imperium working to hide its own enslavement of liberated populaces from Corax was a nice piece of intriguing fluff that FINALLY picked up on what I thought was an obvious line from the initial stories of the RG. That Corax's history was in overthrowing a terrible regime could have lead to some serious disagreements between Corax and the wider Imperium, but that hadn't really been touched upon at all in fluff until recently.