Where do you place your HQ choices in your Horus Heresy?

[Kolonel Grotsnik]

My original question is below but with the Thousand Sons coming out soon I thought I'd rephrase the question to...

Where do you place your HQ choices in your Horus Heresy?

It seems to be very difficult to place a character with any sort of squad in a transport unless it's a Spartan or Storm Eagle and I ain't planning on getting those just yet.

 

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I've just started collecting Thousand Sons for Horus Heresy, however I'm finding the most difficult part of my list is finding a spot for my Praetor to go.

Both my Terminators and 2 Tactical Squads are going in Transports so I won't have any space to put him inside with any of them. A Storm Eagle or a Spartan seem the best way to fix this however I ain't buying those till much later down the line. He seems wasted with the rear Devastators and Batteries so I'm looking for some advice on where best to put him. 

So where would you recommend placing a Praetor?

 

Note - My list is still incomplete but so far will consist of 5 ML Devastators, 2 Tactical Squads, Terminators and 2 Quad Mortars, 2 Rhinos and maybe a Land Raider. If I can't find a good spot for him I may just go Centurion and stick him with the laser batteries for the T6 from shooting.

[Gorgoff]

Why do you want a Praetor anyway?

A Centurion will do just fine, if you only need him to be your HQ.

[WhatTheBlazes]

You could change the terminators to a 4-strong command squad and whack them in a regular Land Raider along with the Praetor?

Alternatively, look at a veteran squad in a rhino as a suitable bodyguard?

 

Are there any rites of war you fancy? That could influence your choice. 

[Gorgoff]

There'll be some Mambojambo psyker ROW anyway, when Inferno drops. Untill the I'd keep my army vanilla without any focus on RoW.

[Marshal Loss]

Just wait till February, not long to go now and no doubt what is in that book (rites of war and basic legion rules/'restrictions) will heavily influence how you want to use your characters/units.

[Kolonel Grotsnik]

Well how about I rephrase the question because with most HH squad sizes it's hard to place a character with them in a transport.
So ignoring the fact Thousand Sons are coming out in February I'll rephrase the question to

 

"Where do you place your HQ choices in your own Horus Heresy armies?"

[DuskRaider]

I transport my Cataphractii Praetor in a Phobos Land Raider along with his 4-man Cataphractii Command Squad. The Land Raider travels with my Spartans and they all hit the enemy's front line at once.

[Dhar'Neth]

Caestus Assault Ram alongside large Terminator squad OR Land Raider/ Damocles Rhino alongside veterans/seekers OR "on foot" alongside large tactical/ assault squad with aphotecaries. Hope that helps

[IronDrake28]

I have a Master of Signals in a Heavy Support Squad. I also have a bunch of HQs (Forgelord, Champion, Praetor, Chaplain, Herald) that go into a big melee unit of some veriety, whether it's terminators, a command squad, a despoiler squad etc. Then I have a Vigilator who usually just goes in a Veteran Tactical Squad with combi weapons, and a Moritat who has a retinue of Destroyers.

 

If it's a shooty unit they walk or go in a Rhino, if it's a choppy unit they get a Dreadclaw or a Spartan.

[norngahl]

I usually take a praetor on jetbike on his own.

 

It is the only unit the provides raw speed with some cc ability without beeing to points heavy (jetbike cc units get really expensive).

 

Once I put him into a dreadclaw with veterans. They usually attracted too much attention. Beside this, once the dreadclaw went down, they were pretty immobile and a soft target. So I decided to go with the bike, as it provides permanet speed, t5 and is easier to hide from LOS.

 

The Praetor usually attacks duck in units, mobs ob small survivor units of initial attacks or denies markers.

 

I'm a friend of target saturation rather than fielding death stars. Praetors are by no way as tough as 40k counterparts.. and it's hard to make centurions work.

 

I don't see characters in 30k as equal to 40k force multiplers or standalone killers. They are rather a gap filler to compensate the needs your other units can not fullfill.

[Lord Blackwood]

My HQ is usually in a spartan usually with a bodyguard

 

There are also times where my HQ will be a tank so that's not a problem.

 

Jetbike and bike HQs I normally put with corresponding units. Again they are innately mobile so that's not a problem. I wouldn't run a bike or jetbike character alone though that would leave them insanely vulnerable

 

Certain centurions work well in squads of infantry like a siege breaker in a heavy support squad.

 

If you are gonna roll assault marines you can stick a jump pack HQ with them which helps them out.

 

Basically you either make them mobile on thier own to roll with a unit or you get bigger transports to work with them.

 

Command squadibg a terminator squad as opposed to taking 5 so you can fit in a raider is a good fix if you only have a raider.

[norngahl]

Noticed we should talk about a point level for this discussion, as 2k, which I usually play, is a totally different thing as 3k, where it is way easier to fit a retinue in and field a way more balanced armylist as well.

 

At 3k, a jetbike command squad to guard the praetor is pretty fine for me... Or.. taking the face shift relic and run with a hoard of levy blobs (yes, pretty save, as no one likes to direct fire against a 50 bodies 100 points squad.. and if it soaked too much fire, simply teleport to the next unit).

 

I hate those spartan / praetor / primus / terminator builds.. thats over 1000k on a single unit that will barely make it points back unless the enemy is stuipid enough to bring no grav and/or shoving his own expensive cc unit into yours.. lets face it.. a knight lancer will easily chop a huge part out of your unit until you can bring him down. Or you will get cought in trap levys. Or someone will build rhino walls or even drop pod / dreadclaw obstacles to slow you down easily.

 

I have rendered so many deathstars useless with these tactics.. not a good idea to put all eggs into one basket.

 

Get rid of the idea that a praetor must earn his points back. Sometimes psychological warefare / board control / having an Intervention unit in the backhand can turn the game into your favour without actually dealing much damage.

 

Without eternal warrior and 3++ the praetor will never be tough enough to simply ram.it.down the opponents throat.

[Grim Dog Studios]

My Praetor rocks with a squad of 7 suzerain, an apothecary and a chaplain in a LR Phobos! Comes in at like 800 points which is nearly half my army in a 2000 point game.

[Perry]

Night Lord Praetor with Terminator command squad in Dreadclaw

 

Turn two charges on unit of choice

[LtDan]

My tartaros pretor hangs around with deathshroud either running or in a Spartan if it's a big game.

My nightlords one will be on a jet bike.

[Gorgoff]

Cataphracti Praetor walks with my Tyrants, Master of Signal to (because of Splitter Fire), Delegatus hides in the backfield most of the time in a HSS, so he just spend me one Victory Point, Chaplain goes into huge blobs, Psyker in Thudd Guns (re-roll those Scatter Dice), Vigilator in Seekers, Forge Lord in TSS with Chargern in Rhino....

[Caillum]

Armillus Dynat is my man. He sits in a unit of Siege Tyrants to give them +1BS.

 

I have Autilon Skorr too, who is great in Zone Mortalis when running "Chosen Duty".

 

The other HQ I use is a Saboteur with a combi-melta. Massively underrated model. Currently working on a suitably epic name for him. :)

[Unknown Legionnaire]

Let's see ... obviously XXth Legion here:

 

Dynat  -  Depending on the RoW I'm running he either joins Lernaean Terminators or a unit of Vet Tacs when running PotL, or a unit of Melta- or Plasma- Tac Support when going for Orbital Assault.

Skorr  -  He normally joins Vet Tacs when running Chosen Duty, or teams up with some Recon squad when I run Legion Recon Comp.

Librarian  -  If I bring him along as a second HQ choice he joins whatever unit has still some room in their dedicated transport, or joins a unit of scoring Tacs when I select Infiltrate as my Mutable Tactic (which is not very often).

Forgelord  -  When I run Alpha Legion as an Allied Detachment for my Warp Cult main detachment I often bring this guy. He either joins some Tacs with Bolt Pistol & CCW or teams up with Vet Tacs kitted for melee.

2 Saboteurs  -  Obviously these don't join any unit but outflank on their own instead.

 

There we go.

[God-Potato of Mankind]

A blob of Firedrakes is a superior choice for my Praetor, Primus Medicae and Chaplain.

 

Alternatively World Eater troops become even more insanely OP.

[Withershadow]

Armillus Dynat is my man. He sits in a unit of Siege Tyrants to give them +1BS.

I have Autilon Skorr too, who is great in Zone Mortalis when running "Chosen Duty".

The other HQ I use is a Saboteur with a combi-melta. Massively underrated model. Currently working on a suitably epic name for him.

I assume in this case the tyrants are given deep strike by Dynat to meet coils requirements, and he doesn't need to meet the requirement because he's not an "infantry squad"?

Intriguing about the Saboteur, a single penetrating hit (even at AP1 with Dynat), doesn't seem worth the 100+ points that otherwise can't do much else of note.

[01RTB01]

Depending on style of force I do the following:

 

Eidolon/ delegatus with jump pack palatines with chaplain

 

Moritat with destroyers

 

Iron warriors:

Siege breaker + siege tyrant terminators

 

Delegatus with breachers (in a proteus when I get another...)

[Caillum]

I assume in this case the tyrants are given deep strike by Dynat to meet coils requirements, and he doesn't need to meet the requirement because he's not an "infantry squad"?

 

Intriguing about the Saboteur, a single penetrating hit (even at AP1 with Dynat), doesn't seem worth the 100+ points that otherwise can't do much else of note.

Yeah, that's exactly what Dynat does.

 

As for the Saboteur, he is 95 points of potential. His initial AP1 hit has Ignores Cover, which is great against Dreadclaws/Kharybdis'. And having an AP0 combi-melta and melta bombs means he can wreak havoc on vehicles in the backline. Not always going to make his points back, but will definitely mess with my opponent's head. :)

[foamy248]

At 2.5K, my Praetor goes in a Spartan with some firedrakes. Probably not the most competitive tactic, as it takes up nearly half of my army's points allocation, but they utterly murder anything close to them. Also thinking of doing a BA chaplain with an assault squad.

[Withershadow]

I assume in this case the tyrants are given deep strike by Dynat to meet coils requirements, and he doesn't need to meet the requirement because he's not an "infantry squad"?

Intriguing about the Saboteur, a single penetrating hit (even at AP1 with Dynat), doesn't seem worth the 100+ points that otherwise can't do much else of note.

Yeah, that's exactly what Dynat does.

As for the Saboteur, he is 95 points of potential. His initial AP1 hit has Ignores Cover, which is great against Dreadclaws/Kharybdis'. And having an AP0 combi-melta and melta bombs means he can wreak havoc on vehicles in the backline. Not always going to make his points back, but will definitely mess with my opponent's head.

Cool beans, it's just I usually find points even at 2500 points so tight that 95 points make my cheap ass wince. That's it, just a combi-melta? No artificer, no invulnerable of any sort, no paired power daggers? I've been wondering what to do with my Imperial Space Marine.

[Unknown Legionnaire]

Saboteur should look like this:  Centurion / Consul: Saboteur / Combi-Melta. 

And nothing more.

Clocks in at 95 pts.

IF ever I give them a single power dagger when there's the odd 5 pts. leftover in list building, but its rare.

 

That being said ... I tend to bring two Saboteurs plus Dynat for maximum fun.