Indomitus Crusaders

[Captain Idaho]

Are they really? Is it because folk are taking too many toys and not enough Boyz?

[Lemondish]

Orks are doing terribad at LVO .

Not accurate - there's still two Ork lists in the top 20. That's top 3% of LVO lists still.

 

Are they really? Is it because folk are taking too many toys and not enough Boyz?

Well, aside from Orks actually doing well, the two lists in the top are mostly tons of boyz or gretchen. One even rocks 25 CP lol

 

NN is running tons of boyz, some index HQ options, and at least 3 weirdboyz

[Prot]

I thought Nick was at 5-0 last I checked in.

 

There are guys that play the same armies over and over for the entire season that are dropping unexpectedly. But more importantly for this forum.... I think there are Ultra's rockin' top 32 as of this morning.

 

Let's keep Ork LVO talk .... somewhere else please. :) (Damn Orks get into every crack of the forum.)

 

@Tamiel- What I did in my last game was completely ignore the mass of Lootas until the Orks were out of CP. I put much more effort into the TankBustas Battle Wagon because they were a true threat to all my elites/Landraider, and Repulsor.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Nick lost to Alex Harrison. I don’t think there are any Orks in the top eight.

There’s one Astarte army in the top eight though.

[Prot]

I just finished another game with this Specialist detachment. That’s 2 more games this week in total with ins scheduled for tomorrow.

 

This latest iteration has 2 squads on Intercessors, 9 and 10 men respectively, both with fists.

 

The first game against Orks shocked me. I never know who I’m playing beforehand but Orks have become so popular here I now feel I understand what to expect, until this game. I played against 6 tanks, many of which are T8. No lootas, but tank bustas. It’s rare I have a game lately where someone doesn’t let you rethink target priority, but this was the type of game it would be.... I lost my Centurions in T1 and they did nearly nothing.

 

The tanks were too difficult to take on and they all had Boyz in them which pushed forward and kept me on my heals making the real estate game quite difficult.

 

His numbers and tanks were extremely aggressive and I had 2 Intercessors left on the table and lost all characters including Calgar. Only Tigurius remained. Somehow I had my Landraider but his tanks all had a 5++ invuln.

 

A very strange and super tight game. In the last turn he thought I had lost my mind wrapping my last 4 Intercessors into an assault against a tank, near a boss on bike.

 

I knew I couldn’t grab an objective via typical movement so I made this Hail Mary move in hopes of stealing his objective preventing him scoring and me scoring it instead for a two point swing. I did my best with the assault, tried to prevent the Heroic Intervention,and of course I knew I couldn’t kill the tank.

 

At this point he realizes and what I am doing but he can only kill 2 Intercessors which gives me the two point swing to win the game.

 

++++++++++

 

Next was Necrons. I know this guy well and I’ve helped him with his list and it just so happens his list is nearly identical to the guy at the LVO who finished top 32 with his crons.

 

This game was truly bizarre. I of course cannot touch his massive ark tanks with my lascannons because of the frustrating quantum shielding.

 

In an act of creative desperation I decide to use beta Bolters, plus Rapid Fire Strat witnreroll auras from Calgar and Lt to manufacture 40 Boltrifle shots on one of the tanks. Admittedly it was still a long shot but it worked.

 

His reanimations were as crazy as I’ve ever seen in one turn reanimating 7 sword and board Lychguard, several immortals and a 6 repair on the other Ark tank.

 

His 6 man Destroyer squad is a massive threat to my largely Primaris squad so I try a trick.... I hang my Redemptor out as bait a bit, and I play Grey Shield Chapter Tactics for Raven Guard. So in his T1 he needs to get within 12” or he’s -1 to hit and I put Tigurius’ ability on the Redemptor.

 

He takes the bait, moves in but fails to remove my Redemptor.... next turn I come in with the Plasma Inceptors, over charge within my preset aura of Calgar and Lt and manage to down the Destroyers in one hail on my second turn. The Bolt rifles are free to Rapid Fire again into his last Ark tank taking it down.

 

I use Tremor Shells on his massively refreshed Lychguard squad which he’s trying to reach my lines with, causIn his total more with an advance to total 4 inches. Life saver there, my Centurions breathes a sigh of relief.

 

I lose the Landraider to the Ctan but I hit very hard with about 16 Intercessors and Rapid Fire was a big factor in this game, as was the grey shield ability.

 

++++++++++++++

 

Oddly enough the Orks were a very hard matchup where I seemed to steamroll the Necrons which is weird. I think the Necron player deployment probably wrecked his game because on paper I think he was well matched

 

I am still finding the detachment fun, but just too CP hungry and expensive making my trypcla dual Batallion a distant memory. That being said it’s fun and makes Marine Intercessors feel a lot more involved in the games.

[mel_danes]

I find the veterans are fun, can seem to do damage. The expense in CP is to high to really slam dunk it.

Fun report, thanks for writing it.

[Emicus]

Had a 1500 point versus deathguard, fairly casual. had a 10man veteran intercessor squad that just went to town.

40 shots with the stratagem is hot.. my opponent couldnt believe the amount of dice i was throwing around, and that was before the charge! I popped the 6+ to hit for extra attacks stratagem and threw out another ~40 attacks in melee.

I'm not sure I would upgrade a second squad though, let alone the 3 squads I bring. I suppose my opponent wont let that veteran unit be alive long enough to pop the stratagem next time, so two units? The melee attacks are useful regardless of double shooting.

 

What else is there to burn CPs on effectively? Extra relics and warlord trait seems meh.

[Tamiel]

 

What else is there to burn CPs on effectively? Extra relics and warlord trait seems meh.

 

This may be a bit unrelated to Indomitus Crusaders, but one of the best stratagems we have is Honour the Chapter. Comboing it with Might of Heroes on a captain gets you a lot of damage in one turn. I've been using Intercessors as both anti-infantry and as a delivery method for my captain in gravis armour. The intercessors get him to the enemy safely, and then he goes to town in melee (along with my Leuitenant, Librarian, and Intercessor sergeants with power fists/power swords). Of course, everything I've said applies even better to Guilliman or Calgar instead of a captain.

 

People say Space Marines are not a melee army, and they're right in some ways, but Might of Heroes and Honour the Chapter are too good to pass up. And, on top of that, when you look at a Primaris Captain or Captain in general... they have really good stats for melee. Especially considering their price. And then you have Cato, Marneus, Guilliman. All characters who can do more than hold their own in melee. In fact, to say that they can "hold their own" in melee is a bit of an understatement when you think about it. Space Marines can definitely do work in melee.

 

Now when you combine all of this with about 30 (or more) Intercessors escorting your hero units safely to the enemy frontlines? Things start getting interesting. Not to mention those intercessors' bolt rifles make short work of enemy chaff units, meaning your hero units get to swing at what matters instead of being bogged down by cheap infantry. 

[Prot]

Had a 1500 point versus deathguard, fairly casual. had a 10man veteran intercessor squad that just went to town.

 

40 shots with the stratagem is hot.. my opponent couldnt believe the amount of dice i was throwing around, and that was before the charge! I popped the 6+ to hit for extra attacks stratagem and threw out another ~40 attacks in melee.

 

I'm not sure I would upgrade a second squad though, let alone the 3 squads I bring. I suppose my opponent wont let that veteran unit be alive long enough to pop the stratagem next time, so two units? The melee attacks are useful regardless of double shooting.

 

What else is there to burn CPs on effectively? Extra relics and warlord trait seems meh.

 

 

That's my finding.... for Marines there's so little that really makes an impact with the Strats, that it's pretty acceptable to use the Indomnitus Strats. There's no way I would do this if I had the strats of another army like... let's say Deathwatch or Custodes. But as it stands it's not a hardship.

 

Two things always happen when I play this list; 1- my opponents are always completely shocked how many CPs I use before the game starts, and 2 - my opponents are always shocked how much potential damage out put the squad can have.

 

Conversely I've had quite a few games were all those attacks still bounce, and the fists are incredibly annoying at -1 to hit. 

 

That said it's a really heavy use of resources, but results in some fun lists and I have always loved Intercessors and the idea of playing very troop heavy lists. This lets me do that, even if it isn't considered top teir. 

[chapter master 454]

So far, I am testing this detachment out and I think it is pretty good. Though my approach is building around it a little more and expecting to use it. My list I used recently has been updated to something else now, just because scouts SUCK at what I want them for. The list effectively has 8 CP, burning 2 for two detachments (siegebreaker and indom), then another 2 for vetercessors with bolt rifles then in this version I go for field commander so I can have both storm of fire and indomitable (that siegebreaker trait is DISGUSTINGLY good btw imo). With double battalion my 13 points go down to 8 and by all accounts, I expect all 8 to be gone in turn 2 as my list contained 2 captains, 2 lieutenants, 2 intercessors, 4 scout squads, 2 squads of 4 lascannon centurions, rhino primaris and a full squad of sternguard. All of it imperial fist.

My use of stratagems (in battle) include: Masterful Marksmenship, Bolter Drill, Seismic Devastation and Rapid Fire.

 

The entire point of the list is to spray bolt rounds down range at a hellish rate. The Sternguard being more of a "light" anti-tank unit but also being able to just mop up infantry left and right. Intercessors form the front of the castle, benefiting from cover from captain root-foot no matter what means they have 2+ save and by all accounts, don't discount 3 attack intercessors as a front if the enemy wants to get choppy. The thing that got the big test was bolter drill + rapid fire...ho boy that gets fun with +1 to hit (you may of missed the rhino primaris. Yep, that's its job. +1 a squad a turn). It was fun because the orks wanted to throw dakka at me turn 1. Yea well I showed him how to do it. 40 shots, with an extra shot for every 5+ I got? yea I wiped out an entire boyz squad with that (full 30).

 

Certainly I would say it is a strong investment, a lot of CP going into what does feel like a lot of wasted potential but with beta bolters, rapid fire is disgustingly good (Storm Bolters with Ap1?) and right now my list has evolved. Sadly the siegebreaker cohort didn't get to shine...I really wanted to combo bolter drill and seismic devastation together!

The changed list is now 3 detachments, 2 battalions and 1 spearhead. 1 captain, 1 lieutenant, rhino primaris, 3 intercessors (2 with bolt rifles, 1 with stalker), 9 centurions with lascannons and the loyal 32 with still 100 points to spend (was wanting to try and save points for the assassins since they are coming soon). This list is yet to be tried but I feel it is more refined towards what I need.

 

Key things: the detachment isn't a set-it and forget-it sort of thing. You have to build with it in mind. Don't think you can throw it in without considering how to apply it best and work with it. I certainly say that you get more benefit from the detachment the more you invest it in. One squad is easy pickings, two squads will get things done nicely but above that you are going to see some serious issues from the opponent. Again as marines we don't exactly have many good stratagems but if you work with it and look for the combos, you could likely detonate some poor fool. As someone say, Honour thy chapter with Liberator? A full squad is 31 attacks (because the sergeant is 3 attacks and also gets +1 so has 4) and with double fight, providing none bite it that would be 62 attacks, of which with back of the napkin maths means 10 will trigger so that would total 72 attacks. Not counting if you went for re-roll buffs and the like. Sadly you can't force the trigger (being unmodified 6s...BOOOO BAD DESIGN. It feels so bad!)