Intercessors

[Demoulius]

Hey all,

 

I was wondering how people use intercessors? And very interest in them with stalker bolters? I have 5 spare marines lying around and was wondering what kind of gear to give them. I like the fact that stalker bolters are AP-2 and essentially sniper bolters :D even though they lack the sniper special rule.

 

I play Blood Angels myself so wont have acces to the tactical doctrines but I can inmagine that with the devastator doctrine for another -1AP theyre even nastier. But I wonder if theyre more usefull over bolt rifle Intercessors who have a far higher rate of fire and who you can move around easier without suffering a penalty to hit. Or if they stay put can rapid fire at 30 inches. Great objective sitters in my opinion

 

Auto bolt rifles I dont see much of a use for tbh, even with 3 shots. They have no AP to speak off and while you can move and advance and still fire them thats kinda the only use that I see for them but youd hit on 4's and opponents would have a full armour save against them. So whats the point behind auto bolt rifles? Am I missing something here?

[salixstar]

depends on the army you are fighting.

 

auto for horde/crowd control

stalker for more elite army's or army's you want to keep at a distance.

and "normal" for middle of the road.

 

everything has a use (despite what people say) its just sometimes that use is so rare and specific no one ever brings it (and then the use case happens and you kick yourself )

[Ishagu]

It really depends on what chapter you're using.

 

For BA I'd say give them all Auto Bolt Rifles. It's more shots without burning stratagems and keeps them mobile.

[Vermintide]

As you say, use bolt rifles for objective sitters. Use auto bolt rifles if you want to push forwards.

 

Personally I like having both. Previously I've been using a mix of scouts and intercessors, but I'm planning on dropping the scouts for more intercessors- I'm starting to feel like Blood Angels in particular need some durable troops to soak up punishment that otherwise might take its toll on your valuable elites.

 

Also- The extra shots, now that auto bolt rifles are assault 3, is actually statistically better than -1AP in terms of killing potential.

[Ishagu]

Agreed. Regular Bolt Rifles are great with the Ultras specifically.

 

Stalkers are amazing with Iron Hands.

 

Auto Bolt Rifles are probably the best with everyone else, but we've not seen IF supplement yet.

[point_Zer0]

Stalkers are amazing with Iron Hands.

 

Also with raven guard for killing characters 

[Son of Sacrifice]

They can all do a job. I use a unit of stalker bolters as objective holders, and several units of bolt rifles in midfield. The rapid fire strategem is also monstrous with a 10 man bolt rifle squad, I love it.

[McGibs]

Auto bolters can also advance forward, and then pop their auto-hit stratagem, making the -1 to hit redundant. It's a good combo with the +1 to wound nearest target litany from a Chaplain if you can line up a good target.

[Lemondish]

An extra shot is always better than a single point of AP.

 

An extra point of damage, however, changes things. Stalkers won't often be targeting the same things as the other two unless they have to, so take that into account.

[Dracos]

As a RG player I have a mix of Stalker and Bolt Rifle. For BA which you mentioned, I’d go Bolt Rifle and Auto if you plan on adding some for up close. I prefer to use Aggressors up close but again , RG.

[Demoulius]

Im not familiar with what strategems work for Intercessors? Dont think us Blood Angels have acces to them

 

From what strategems I read here though they would add vastly different options then we currently have. Auto hitting sounds absolutely amazing! Would that work on overwatch?

[Lemondish]

Im not familiar with what strategems work for Intercessors? Dont think us Blood Angels have acces to them

 

From what strategems I read here though they would add vastly different options then we currently have. Auto hitting sounds absolutely amazing! Would that work on overwatch?

Yeah, the strats aren't available to you (yet), so I'd say today the decision lies between autos and stalkers for what you want to do. Rifles aren't that much worse so you're actually alright picking whatever you want, but as mentioned above - more shots is always better than an extra pip of AP. You'll also want to move those Intercessors, so you get their fire rate maximized no matter what.

 

And no, it's only auto hit in the shooting phase.

[Demoulius]

Wouldnt a static rifle unit outperform a auto rifle unit when it comes to amount of damage that they do? Ive played my Intercessors with rifles a few matches and its not hard for enemies to get cover and increase that AS to a 2+. My local store plays with alot of ruins, trenches etc. 

 

So many times I do like half a dozen wounds (or more) and just about all the casualties that my opponent gets are from the -1AP. It gets frustrating at times watching all non AP firepower just bounce off enemies because they are sitting behind some foalige or are squatting on the buttom floor of a ruin

[Kallas]

Wouldnt a static rifle unit outperform a auto rifle unit when it comes to amount of damage that they do? Ive played my Intercessors with rifles a few matches and its not hard for enemies to get cover and increase that AS to a 2+. My local store plays with alot of ruins, trenches etc.

This thread has a good breakdown of the various Bolt Rifle variants:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/358149-stalker-pattern-bolt-rifles/?fromsearch=1

 

Basically, ABRs are better, statistically, than the BR against GEQs and MEQs, unless the Rapid Fire Stratagem is used.

 

As far as static BRs are concerned, that depends. A static BR has a 30" range; a moving ABR has a 30" range too.

 

AP-1 base is certainly useful, and I think they're less universally good as they were before but they're still ubiquitous and have good value vs many targets.

[Xerxus]

Comparing Auto Bolt Rifles to the regular variety, they dish out considerably more damage against most typical targets, have the same threat range with full damage output (unless you are running the Ultramarine doctrine buff) and offer more mobility. They deal slightly less damage against 2+ saves, Bolt Storm is arguably weaker than Rapid Fire and the extra point cost can be significant. 

 

If Blood Angels get access to Rapid Fire I will run at least one 10-man unit of regular Bolt Rifles to make use of it. 

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

The stalker is great but you still need lots of dakka to clear out the chaff.

[Deadman Wade]

Stalker bolt rifle is very good against things like Ork shokk attack gun, even though it's stratagem costs 3 CP. If your scouts or eliminators failed to kill enemy character, intercessors can quite reliably finish the job. I also liked it against Death Guard, cause D2 kills plague marines more reliably.

Auto bolt rifles are less CP consuming than regular and stalker and allow to move and shoot more easily. They are also good against daemons, orks and tyranids.

The best thing about regular bolt rifle is Rapid Fire stratagem with Imperial Fists chapter tactic, which allows to wipe MEQ squads in a single shooting phase.

Overall, each weapon has it's uses. My regular troops choices are either tacticals and two 5-man bolt rifle intercessors or two sniper scouts squads and 10-man auto bolt rifles.

If you have one 5-man squad, then stalker rifles are ok choice for backline objectives holding and sniper support.