Thoughts on 2500 Emperor's Children TaC

[dicebod]

With the announcement of the Sabre strike tanks and my discovery of some of the old EC transfer sheets for a reasonable (!!!) amount of shekels on ebay, I'm starting to think about jumping into some IIIrd legion, specifically Maru Skara.

 

For background, my current 30k army is no ROW Imperial Fists, and I wanted to take this opportunity to try out some units that I don't have for the VII.  So this list can occasionally be awkward, but keep in mind my local meta at least isn't particularly beat-face.

 

Emperor's Children - 2500 Points - The Maru Skara ROW

 

HQ

 

Lord Commander Eidolon (185 pts.)

 

Legion Champion (150 pts.)

-Artificer Armor, Jump Pack, Paragon Blade, Refractor Field, Sonic Shrieker

 

Elites

 

Destroyer Squad (320 pts.)

-Sgt - Artificer Armor, Phoenix Spear, 1x Phospex Bomb

-9x Destroyers, 2x Toxiferran Flamers, Melta Bombs, Jump Packs

 

Palatine Blades (319 pts.)

-Prefector - Melta Bombs, Phoenix Spear

-7x Palatine Warriors, 3x Phoenix Spears, 4x Power Swords, Artificer Armor, Sonic Shriekers

 

Troops

 

Assault Squad (296 pts.)

-Sergeant - Artificer Armor, Phoenix Spear

-11x Assault Marines, 1x Power Axe, Melta Bombs

 

Tactical Squad (205 pts.)

-Sergeant - Artificer Armor, Melta Bomb, Phoenix Spear

-9x Tactical Marines

-1x Rhino, Multi-Melta

 

Tactical Squad (205 pts.)

-Sergeant - Artificer Armor, Melta Bomb, Phoenix Spear

-9x Tactical Marines

-1x Rhino, Multi-Melta

 

Fast Attack

 

Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw Drop Pod (115 pts.)

 

Sabre Strike Tank Squadron (220 pts.)

-2x Sabre Strike Tanks, 2x Neutron Blasters, 2x Multi-Meltas

 

Xiphon Interceptor (215 pts.)

-Ground Tracking Auguries

 

Heavy Support

 

Sicaran Arcus Strike Tank (270 pts.)

-Lascannon Sponsons, Armored Ceramite, Dozer Blade

 

--

 

My thinking here is to put Eidolon + Palatines in the Dreadclaw (hence no jump packs) and have my hidden blade be the Xiphon, Destroyers w/ Champion & the sabres.  Tacticals are there for mobile objective grabbing, the assault squad is honestly just fun (and can provide some early game pressure) and the Arcus is shooty.  I've never used destroyers but they could be fun outflanking, and outflanking eliminates a lot of the downsides of the sabres.  I know the lightning is better for fighter support, but I already have one for the Fists so I wanted to try a different flyer here.

 

Between all the melta bombs, sabre, Xiphon and Arcus I don't think I'm lacking for AT.

Edited December 12, 2019 by dicebod

[Imren]

Consider reducing the palatine blades by one and add an apothecary that goes with the squad + Eidolon in the dreadclaw.

 

You legion champion is 150p and only 2 wounds. I suspect that you will get more mileage out of those 150p by ditching him, increase the jump pack squad to 15 and squeeze 3 power axes in total, put power fist on the sergeant and also add in an apothecary in there as well. Now this assault squad will be more versatile. Can threat TEQs with 3 power axes, dreadnoughts and vehicles with the power fist giving you more tactical flexibility compared to the spear.

 

The assault squad will most likely be reduced to 10 man before they reach in close combat so increasing them to 15 will give you a margin for around 10 reaching close combat.

 

What are your plans against AV14? Against a spartan with deathstar and additional land raiders? If you charge the vehicles to clamp meltabombs on them you wont get the charge against the passengers and get use of your phoenix spear advantage, perhaps switch to power fists instead?

[dicebod]

@Imren - thanks for the feedback!

 

The champion has to stick around because of the limitations for the Maru Skara, but you make a good point on the assault units.

 

AV 14 is a tough nut to crack for really any army.  Experience has taught me that regardless of any shooting I hurl downrange, that LR or Spartan is going to get into my lines anyway by turn 2 roughly 90% of the time.  So better to have things to deal with what it drops off/the rest of the opponent's army.  

[Imren]

Except for the Arcus (despite it being fast) you have a rather mobile army, you could play around the spartan, avoiding it and play the missions/objectives.

 

You might sacrifice the static Arcus (it's fast but get shooting buffs if it stands still) against a spartan deathstar rush and focus on the other enemy units.