So, what's the point of assault Intercessors?

[jaxom]

 

Why I say 'trap' is they are decent at what they do. And board control is a strong theme to center such a list around. And I know there will be games and match ups that these guys do astonishing things (I've seen it first hand), but the trap part is some armies just do CC MUCH better overall. So you are somewhat investing in a unit that has to be more... reserved than you'd ultimately like.

 

This sounds a lot like Assault Marines before they got expanded squad weapon options. Jump packs gave them expanded mobility, but they lacked the punch other armies could achieve in CC with their own CC specialists. It took a few games for me realize I couldn't expect them to perform like Khorne Berserkers or Genestealers.

[Panzer]

I mean they are Troops so ultimately they are still supposed to take and hold objectives instead of being THE scary melee monster in your army. While regular Intercessors will have the overall better damage output and Incursors/Infiltrators have their deployment shenanigans, Assault Intercessors will have an easier time to push an enemy unit off an objective while at the same time bringing themselves into the position to hold the same objective.

A proper melee unit like Bladeguard or VV or such can do that as well, however due the lack of ObSec they would actually have to kill the enemy unit for good since they will be most likely outnumbered (or worse, facing an ObSec unit themselves) and then their are standing there in the open for a whole turn.

[jaxom]

So they're the extra bodies for backing up all the harder hitting 3-6 model specialist melee units. That makes sense.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

They are the answer for Templars.

[chapter master 454]

They are the chaff :P

 

I would personally look at them as something you bring like a distraction carnifex. Run them at the opponent or their objectives and get them panicking then have the normal Intercessors back it up along with their specialists.

 

I don't see their full value but doesn't stop messing around with them. Going to have 2 squads of them so may as well test them out :P

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

They need Impulsors.

[Mandragola]

I don't think they "need" anything in particular. I'd put something else in Impulsors - Bladeguard and characters most likely. These guys are for holding midfield and fighting other people's troops, which they are great at.

 

They're clearly going to see more play with assault doctrine-based armies. Blood Angel assault intercessors are pretty scary, as are white scars. Templars and Wolves are probably not quite as strong, but only because their codex overall isn't really as powerful. 

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

They’ll get shot up.

[Hymnblade]

So will every other unit in the game. That doesn't mean they all strictly need transports all the time.

 

Personally, when opponents prioritize shooting my Intercessors, it means they aren't shooting at other units that will do more damage and cost a lot more points per wound, so I don't usually mind. Sometimes, simply taking a second squad of Intercessors is better than buying an Impulsor for the first one.

[Lemondish]

They’ll get shot up.

Good.

 

Better them taking shots than...well, literally anything else.

 

Most opponents don't have infinite shooting.

Edited July 21, 2020 by Lemondish

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

My philosophy is in for a penny in for a pound.

[Lemondish]

My philosophy is in for a penny in for a pound.

I like opponents like you, then. I think we'd get along on the table famously :D

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Is taht a compliment ?

[Lemondish]

Is taht a compliment ?

 

Absolutely! My normal opponents never seem to make up their mind on what they want to do and change their approach mid-game. I, on the other hand, am truly a son of dorn and too stubborn to let any roadblocks deter me. 

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Cool. :)

 

I just see them being most effective mounted up and say three Impulsors are going to be hard to deal with early on.

[MegaVolt87]

 

They’ll get shot up.

Good.

 

Better them taking shots than...well, literally anything else.

 

Most opponents don't have infinite shooting.

 

 

Yeah agreed. Unit like assault intercessors, they are the kind of unit you don't initially want to shoot up, but if you ignore them they will be annoying later. Prioritizing them early, can also be an issue, because other units have gotten into position in the meantime. Coming from CSM I am happy to pierce trade to advance my overall strategy, assault intercessors are a good unit for that, I'll be footslogging mine. 

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

It really depend... how close are they? If the Impulsor lock their primary shooting threat then suddenly they have free rein.

[Dracos]

I think we can all agree Assault Intercessors are fine at what they are designed to do. They are a close combat support unit. When the sgt gets access to the armoury they become a very good melee option, especially for the point cost and filling a Troop slot. Like any infantry, how they get from point A to point B is more of a strategic issue.

 

Which brings us to ... How they interact with the other components or the overall strategy or you army is another matter. 

[Minsc]

I think we can all agree Assault Intercessors are fine at what they are designed to do. They are a close combat support unit. When the sgt gets access to the armoury they become a very good melee option, especially for the point cost and filling a Troop slot. Like any infantry, how they get from point A to point B is more of a strategic issue.

 

Which brings us to ... How they interact with the other components or the overall strategy or you army is another matter. 

This.

 

My close combat-focused Salamander-lists will revel in the fact that I now can bring an additional (quite potent) close combat unit that's a troop-choice to boot, and I don't even play a "real" close combat-oriented chapter.

 

Last time I brought my "CC-Salamanders" my troop choices where a squad of Incursors, a squad of Scouts (with shotguns) and a squad of... Tacticals... (because you know... Thunder Hammer, yay...)

Guess which squad that will be shelved in favor of Assault Intercessors next time?

 

And if you're on the opposite side of the spectrum, then you can always ...ignore them and keep bringing whatever shooty troop-unit you usually bring. 

 

 

[Daynga-Zone]

How do people feel about assault intercessors as back objective campers since they’re the cheapest of the marine 2W bodies? They won’t provide any firepower that stalkers might with their long range but if they survive a DS charge they might can do some damage in return (although I doubt they’d survive most units that are planning on attacking them out of DS anyways).

 

I keep going back and forth on my list between a unit of these, some backline infiltrators so I just don’t have to worry about one objective or stalkers.

[Dracos]

I believe you need to have your backfield totally blocked off to deny reserves (GSC character types are going to still slip in shrug). That means spending that extra point for Rapid-fire Intercessors/Eliminators/Firestrike Turrets Dreads or some shooty combo. Make them fight through your midfield units (which should be the bulk of your army design) to get to your backfield. Layered Defence or Defense in Depth. Edited July 22, 2020 by Dracos

[Daynga-Zone]

I believe you need to have your backfield totally blocked off to deny reserves (GSC character types are going to still slip in shrug). That means spending that extra point for Rapid-fire Intercessors/Eliminators/Firestrike Turrets Dreads or some shooty combo. Make them fight through your midfield units (which should be the bulk of your army design) to get to your backfield. Layered Defence or Defense in Depth.

Ah, not to get too off topic, but my using infiltrators was specifically to block one objective from being capped by a DS bomb of some sort since 12” doesn’t allow a charge a DS unit wouldn’t be able to land until turn 2 and wouldn’t be able to be on the objective until turn 3 at the earliest. Without the DS screen units that have bonuses or rerolls to charge stand a good chance of being able to get on that objective turn 2.

 

I’m not a fan of the hammerfall both visually and fortifications alone can’t hold objectives I believe. There’s definitely other options but 10W for 95 points seems like one of the cheapest ways to do it while being moderately hard to kill for long range/ignore LoS shooting. They offer you very little in terms of fighting ability from that far back, but most things that will are substantially more expensive.

 

Edit: as far as layered defense goes, my entire army is built around taking mid board. Aggressors, intercessors, leviathan, redemptor and some plasmaceptors to wipe enemies off a back objective or counter in the middle/one of my own. After my first couple of games it became clear to me that any unit that can’t be on an objective, such as fortifications or flyers has gone down quite a bit in value. Also for some reason when you said fire strike my mind immediately went to the fortification not the turret that was revealed. Might be an option but I’m not a huge fan of it either.

Edited July 22, 2020 by Daynga-Zone

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I like Infiltrators best for protecting the back field.

[Tyberos the Red Wake]

How do people feel about assault intercessors as back objective campers since they’re the cheapest of the marine 2W bodies? They won’t provide any firepower that stalkers might with their long range but if they survive a DS charge they might can do some damage in return (although I doubt they’d survive most units that are planning on attacking them out of DS anyways).

 

I keep going back and forth on my list between a unit of these, some backline infiltrators so I just don’t have to worry about one objective or stalkers.

 

IMO if we're not talking about Infiltrators with their special ability, the best backfield campers would be Intercessors for the W2 with stalker bolt rifles so they can actually shoot, or if they're not going to shoot, then keep it even cheaper and with more utility via Scouts. Needing the cheapest W2 but without actually doing anything like shooting or fighting seems kind of niche. If they're not going to be doing anything, why not save even more points with Scouts? Do you really need the W2?

 

As a backfield counter-charge unit against deep strikers like you were mentioning, Infiltrators are even better for simply taking that option completely off the table to begin with. Historically, the game has vastly preferred pushing your assault units forward, even in counter-assault roles, than putting them in your deployment and waiting for the opponent to come to you. That specialty belongs to castling and shooting type units.

[Dracos]

In the Raven Guard forum I mapped out how you could use two Eliminators and a  Phobos Captain(?) unit to deny a deep strike in your backfield and then with the use of two Infiltrator squads deny any deep strikes in the midfield. These were obviously under perfect terrain condition of using two L shaped terrain pieces but the point was that for approx 25% of your army you would force your opponent to move forward from their deployment zone and deny use of the new strategic reserve rule. 

 

I hadn't gone to the next step but just this basically guaranteed your opponent couldn't score Primary VP until Turn 3 earlier, meaning they would have to play perfectly rest of the game. My thought is that an army that does not play with units that can Infiltrate has already given away the game to a player who can effectively use the other 75% of their army to capitalize on the work done during the deployment phase. 

 

As a Raven Guard player I personally prefer to use the Infiltrator Stratagem to shove a couple of units in support of the Infiltrator units and then have a couple Bolt-Inceptor units in reserve to counter attack. I think Assault Intercessors are a low cost low threat unit (compared to the Aggressors) that will not be prioritized in the first couple turns of the game. Save them until Turn Three and shove them onto the Objectives the Infiltrators have been removes from and you again will have an ObSec unit for your opponent to deal with.

 

You develop a synergy of units Infiltrators/Aggressors and Inceptors/Assault Intercessors to keep control of the midfield. Making your opponent throw everything they have at the midfield but because of you Infiltrators always a Turn behind - unless they also are using some type of pre-deployed Infiltration unit. (This by the way is why I'm sure we deploy UgoIgo). You can use Infiltrators in your backfield but they aren't as useful if you deploy cheaper troops with good coverage. I happen to believe those troops need to have some good shooty so I suggest Rapid-fire Intercessors, but Dreadnoughts or any shooty unit will work.

 

 

PS: I prefer Infantry as a rule but I think the Invictor would also work nicely with the Infiltrators. Could then use STrategic Reserve or in my case Strike from the Shadows on the Aggressors. Inceptors and Aggressors arriving in the same turn are just nasty, and thats without HQ help.