Dual Repulsors

[Brother Captain Ed]

So, Santa brought me a pair of Repulsors this year and I have gone from no heavy armor to 600 points of it.

 

Has anyone had much success with Repulsors? I know that "Run 2 or none at all" is the generally accepted wisdom, but what's your experience? I think Ishagu loves them in his primaris list, but I can't recall anyone really discussing them.

 

Thoughts?

[Tamiel]

I see repulsors as heavy troop transports with four lascannons on them. All of their other weapons are a bit underwhelming. Vehicles that can transport troops generally pay an unseen fee for it, so I find that getting the most bang out of them requires that you also use them as transports. That's my philosophy, at least. 

[Panzer]

They are great imo.

Expensive but that's to be expected with what they all got. They do what Landraider are supposed to do and actually can do it well thanks to the FLY keyword. Where Landraider either are too expensive as heavy weapon platform or waste all their expensive weapons by getting locked in melee while acting as transport the Repulsor can just fall back and keep shooting without a care.

4 Lascannons is always great but the rest is also not to be underestimated. Sure it's just lots of S4 AP0 D1 and similar dakka but it really is a LOT of it. My default loadout has 3 Stormbolter, 2 Fragstorm Launcher (I wish I could replace them with Stormbolter as well ...), the Ironhail Heavy Stubber, of course the Onslought Gatling and 2 Krakstorm grenade launcher. That's at 12" an average of 19 S4 AP0 D1 shots, 3 S4 AP-1 D1 shots, 6 S5 AP-1 D1 shots and 2 S6 AP-1 D1d3 shots ... and this isn't even the anti-infantry loadout which would trade the Lascannons for 18 more S5 AP-1 D1 shots.

So yeah don't underestimate all the small guns on the Repulsor. They are a serious threat to any nearby infantry unit and can be easily forgotten by the opponent since the 4 Lascannons and the units it carries are the more obvious threat.

 

It's tempting to put Hellblaster inside and if you don't have a lot of infantry to draw fire in your list it's probably the better idea as well but I for one prefer to put my Intercessors inside so I don't have too many eggs in one basket. The Repulsor isn't much more durable than a Rhino after all unless it gets shot at with Autocannons and similar.

Drive them to the middle of the board and declare it yours with your army. That's how Marines work best imo and the Repulsor helps a lot with it.

 

I got no experience in a mixed list but theoryhammer says that you should have it easier to give more targets to your opponent due other cheaper armour in form of Razorbacks and the like and other heavy weapons like Devastators making the opponent maybe decide it's not that important to focus on the Repulsor and what it carries right now. Pairing them in a list with Stormraven could be interesting as well since those as well are basically just better Landraider due being able to FLY and with their high movement speed they could draw away a lot of fire from the Repulsors as well.

I can't say how it works out in actual games tho and I indeed haven't seen anyone talking about using Repulsors in a mixed list so far. Curious. 

[Lemondish]

Neonmole over on the BA side of the board has been running multiple Repulsors alongside a couple Redemptors to some surprising success. You can find a few breakdowns of his battles in tournaments on his GrimDark Blood Angels Blog thread over there. His list is the inspiration for my next project.

 

Anyway, his experience with them might give you some ideas. Despite being BA, there's really not much of the list that is specifically BA focused.

 

Repulsors with Guilliman sound amazing, quite frankly.

[Ishagu]

I run them all the time, they are brilliant as a pair.

 

Probably the best tank Astartes have. You can never take one as it gets focused on. I run two alongside a Sicaran Venator.

 

Put a 5 man squad of Hellblasters in each, and some Intercessors.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I cant wait until people are saying they are way OP .

 

:D

[Gothical]

What's the best option for the guns on a pair of Repulsors, especially in a Primaris-only (well, except Guilliman and Stormhawks too) force?

 

I was thinking HOC and Twin Las, then sticking some Macro-Plasma on Redemptors to maximise AT firepower, for some reason I am just not a fan of the Las Talon (I can get it on the Stormhawks so feels weedy as an MBT main gun) and the HOC in that turret looks so sweet - but is the all-Las build simply superior in this context?

 

+EDIT+

 

As for what they transport - and I agree with the point above that you are paying for the transport capacity and can actually use it well - I think it is best to have a list that gives you options to retain in-game flexibility. Naturally have a plan that you want to use them for, but don't straitjacket yourself.

 

For example, if you have a unit of Hellblasters, a unit of Aggressors and a unit of Intercessors you can use the Repulsor to either 1) ferry your Plasma troops and a Captain to a prime firing spot and protect them from early turn firepower; 2) get your Aggressors and a Chaplain into melee range unmolested, though Aggressors admittedly aren't the most powerful combat unit; or 3) mount up an Intercessor squad to zip across the battlefield and drop an Objective Secured unit onto an objective and provide fire support.

 

Also remember you can transport multiple units. 5 Intercessors and 5 Hellblasters supported by a Replusor is one hell of a combat block on the battlefield, though you will need to find another way of getting your auras up close.

[Ishagu]

Twin Las and Las Talon.

 

Onslaught Gatling and Ironhail Stubber as upgrades. The rest is personal choice.

 

HOC is not worth it as Primaris have plenty of anti infantry Dakka. They need high strength anti-tank.

If a new unit appears in the coming months that can cover the anti-tank role then it might be worth revisiting the HOC, but as it stands the Las Talon is the better option.

[Panzer]

^ seconded.

The Repulsor already has plenty anti-infantry dakka regardless of whether you go with the HOG and HB or not but what Primaris armies are lacking is anti-tank. The Redemptor with Plasma is pretty underwhelming anti-tank imo ... I'd even say giving him a HOG and move him towards the enemy so it can eventually try and punch some tanks is better than trying to have him sit back with the Plasma.

[Gothical]

Cheers guys. I was planning to magnetise anyway, but I'll see if I can abide the Las Talon for now (and I do prefer the look of the HOC on the Redemptor over the, to me, Tau-ish MPI).

[Ishagu]

Oh the HOC looks better, but the Las Talon is the necessary option.

[Lemondish]

^ seconded.

The Repulsor already has plenty anti-infantry dakka regardless of whether you go with the HOG and HB or not but what Primaris armies are lacking is anti-tank. The Redemptor with Plasma is pretty underwhelming anti-tank imo ... I'd even say giving him a HOG and move him towards the enemy so it can eventually try and punch some tanks is better than trying to have him sit back with the Plasma.

 

I wouldn't completely discount the Redemptor with plasma. That weapon is almost statistically identical in damage output against most targets as twinlas, just performing better against 3+ non-invuln vehicles (due to the extra point of AP). The range is lower, but it's 9 points cheaper and can help contribute to wiping out 1 wound targets as well. The only caveat is that it sometimes causes you to lose a wound. Since most players keep their anti-tank as immobile as possible unless the platform ignores movement penalties for heavy weapons, I feel that's a negligible issue since it can be almost entirely ignored with a captain aura (which it can supply itself, if you need it). 

 

Of course, you're spot on about it being a platform that wants to get up close to use that fist, but in a firebase it acts as a fantastic counter-charge threat for that very reason, so it isn't entirely wasted. 

 

Oh the HOC looks better, but the Las Talon is the necessary option.

 

I will disagree here. I believe it's probably the most efficient option today (by far, but hopefully not for long), but I wouldn't call it necessary. I've seen people have success with the HOG and Twin Las combo alongside squads of Hellblasters as their anti-tank. With the continuous rise of more and more horde lists, the extra dakka never seems to go to waste. Honestly, the worst part of the lastalon aside from its looks is the atrocious range forcing your hand - have to get real close, or it goes to waste. 

 

For those looking to build their Repulsors, I highly suggest you magnetize them. Once more Primaris answers for heavy armour hit the field, you'll have a perfectly valid option at that point to repurpose the turret and save yourself 10 points a pop. 

[Brother Captain Ed]

I run them all the time, they are brilliant as a pair.

 

Probably the best tank Astartes have. You can never take one as it gets focused on. I run two alongside a Sicaran Venator.

 

Put a 5 man squad of Hellblasters in each, and some Intercessors.

What would you do if you didn't have a Forge World fire magnet to run with them, Ish?

[Panzer]

 

I run them all the time, they are brilliant as a pair.

Probably the best tank Astartes have. You can never take one as it gets focused on. I run two alongside a Sicaran Venator.

Put a 5 man squad of Hellblasters in each, and some Intercessors.

What would you do if you didn't have a Forge World fire magnet to run with them, Ish?

Probably still run them. He isn't the only one who uses double Repulsors successfully and the others don't necessarily use a FW tank alongside. Heck neonmole even uses tripple Repulsor lol

[Brother Captain Ed]

 

 

I run them all the time, they are brilliant as a pair.

Probably the best tank Astartes have. You can never take one as it gets focused on. I run two alongside a Sicaran Venator.

Put a 5 man squad of Hellblasters in each, and some Intercessors.

What would you do if you didn't have a Forge World fire magnet to run with them, Ish?

Probably still run them. He isn't the only one who uses double Repulsors successfully and the others don't necessarily use a FW tank alongside. Heck neonmole even uses tripple Repulsor lol

I'm sure he's not, but he's the Ultramarine I know that sings their praise the loudest, so I am starting with his opinion.

 

Having played around with the points cost, I am having a hard time making it all come together.

[Ishagu]

The way I run them comes to 610 points for two. They offer so many advantages to a Primaris focused army I honestly can't imagine not running them.

 

There's a trick to them, and that is redundancy. Fill them with the same type of units in each one and don't spend too many points.

 

I had most success when I put a 5 man squad of Hellblasters and Intercessors in each one. First of all, it reduces the number of drops which is an advantage, and they can help with moving the infantry about. Even if you disembark on turn one before the tank moves you get extra distance meaning the Hellblasters have a 24" rapid fire range. If you can keep the Primaris infantry mostly unharmed they become really tough for opponents to shift in turn 3 onwards!

 

One rule that people forget is the penalty to units that charge them. If a unit drops down from reserve it will need an 11" charge to make it into combat, and there's no guarantee of that even with re-rolls.

 

I've seen people running three and honestly that might not be a bad idea but the list becomes less interesting that way.

 

I run the Venator because it looks amazing and performs well, but it also worries opponents to see a FW unit which leads to them making a mistake or two with target priority.

[Lemondish]

The way I run them comes to 610 points for two. They offer so many advantages to a Primaris focused army I honestly can't imagine not running them.

 

There's a trick to them, and that is redundancy. Fill them with the same type of units in each one and don't spend too many points.

 

I had most success when I put a 5 man squad of Hellblasters a Intercessors in each one. First of all, it reduces the number of drops which is an advantage, and they can help with moving the infantry about. Even if you disembark on turn one before the rank moves you get extra distance meaning the Hellblasters have a 24" rapid fire range. If you can keep the Primaris infantry mostly unharmed they become really tough for opponents to shift in turn 3 onwards!

 

One rule that people forget is the penalty to units that charge them. If a unit drops down from reserve it will need an 11" charge to make it into combat, and there's no guarantee of that even with re-rolls.

 

I've seen people running three and honestly that might not be a bad idea but the list becomes less interesting that way.

 

I run the Venator because it looks amazing and performs well, but it also worries opponents to see a FW unit which leads to them making a mistake or two with target priority.

Lots of important points in here. 

 

It's absolutely true that they're such a boon to Primaris focused armies. It gives you anti-tank fire support alongside decent anti-infantry capability on a mobile, durable, transport capable platform that can't be tied up in combat. 

 

Redundancy is absolutely the name of the game here - it's tied to the last point Ishagu made as well. You want to confuse your opponent's target priority. In his case, the Repulsors are both carrying the same payload and there's a big scary FW tank that demands attention first. Each Repulsor is equal in threat, so you're split on which to target and will likely base it off their position. For neonmole's triple Repulsor list, he has two Redemptors rushing up the field at the same time. This was even before the price drop - but you can't target Redemptors when you have three Repulsors bearing down on you. So the Redemptors end up making their points back easily by covering their biggest weaknesses through staying obscure. An opponent will be battered from multiple turns of attrition spent taking out the Repulsors that they may not have the units capable of taking on a couple Redemptors squatting on objectives afterwards. 

[Prot]

I don't think that they are particularly great per say but if you run Primaris as much as me, you're pretty much forced to do this.

I sold my painted Ultra Repulsors, but luckily Calgar signs out my Deathwatch Repulsors on the regular. :D