Returning player looking for opinions

[Cascadian]

I'm coming back to my old hobby after a long absence. My old army is dusty, and I'm working on some new stuff. In a while, I plan to start a primaris based force, just for the love of the power armor. I don't have the codex yet, because I am thinking that a new one will be soonish. 

I am curious if anyone is willing to give me their thoughts on the mechanical value and common usage for each of the primaris squads, vehicles, etc. Yeah, this is a lot of nerd homework, but I would appreciate it. :)

If it matters, I'm going to do Mortifactors. I love the grimdark style of the chapter, and I want to do a lot of customizations in the modeling. I love converting things and kit bashing. If you have any suggested cool conversions, I'd like to hear about them. (Like if a certain unit looks amazing when you replace X with Y, from Z kit... etc.) I dig phobos armor in look and fluff function, but have no concept if it's goo on the table. I'm not a hyper competitive tourney bro, but I like to do well, and don't like fielding trash.

Thanks in advance.

[War Angel]

Well, what chapter tactics do you plan to run? And what kind of army do you want to have.

 

Personally, I don’t think you can go wrong with a few intercessor squads to make the core of your army, with some support characters. I enjoy deepstirking my inceptors on turn two to where they are needed, but keep in mind they do more damage when near your buffing characters. I like my hellblasters as well, but they require a little planing to keep them from getting killed before they can do their job. I haven’t bought any yet but impulsors will allow you to get hellblasters into rapid fire range turn one if you don’t mind using them as a suicide squad.

 

The repulsor exterminator is our best damage tank, I just finished mine, you definitely want to place it out of LOS and use it’s POTMS to move and shoot afterwards.

 

Actually, I like all of it, it just needs to be put in the right place. A Phobos Libby is probably useless without Phobos units, and reivers have a very small window of “this is their thing” and they might not even have that after 9th comes in, so maybe wait to see what happens with that.

 

I don’t like incursers, But I’m imperial fist so half of their “thing” is something I already do anyway. Maybe 9th will make their ability to shoot out of LoS more important.

Oh, and welcome to the forums, I see this is your first post.

[Cruor Vault]

if you're looking to get back into Space Marines, getting your hands on the Primaris half of the Dark Imperium box is a fantastic bargain.  You can get it on Ebay for about $100, but best do it quick, as the box is going away soon.  It will likely be parted out into a new start collecting, but we don't know the timeframe for that.  Pretty soon there is going to be a new starter kit with Necrons and Space Marines, getting one of these will be important!

 

The Start Collecting Vanguard Space marines is also worth getting, a combination of these boxes will get you most of the good infantry units.  A couple Redemptor Dreads and possibly the Repulsor Executioners should round out a Primaris Army.

 

If you're interested in customizing options I would check out PopGoesTheMonkey for custom bits.

[Dracos]

Intercessors good. Flexible, even more so with new assault version.

 

The Primaris line is a lot easier to convert than most people will admit to. St.Lazarus has done some great stuff in the Black Templar forum. Matter of fact a lot of those guys have done some good work. Highly suggest looking at our Maltese Brothers efforts. Not my playstyle but awesome set of players dedicated to their Chapter. Speaking of awesome swing by the Raven Guard. We give the best tactical advice ... I might be biased on that one *shrug* lol.

 

After say a base of 20 shooty Intercessors and 10 assault Intercessors it's going to be hard to say until 9e rolls out the new rules and missions. I personally am going for 5 x2 units of Aggressors and 5 x2 units of Inceptors and x3 Eliminators, thn flavoring to 9e. 

 

That works best as RG though so ymmv. Welcome aboard, welcome back. Exciting times.

[tychobi]

9th cometh. Truth is no one has any idea anymore. Rules and points are changing so the meta will be a brand new shiny ripe for exploitation. Buy what you want to paint. Rule of cool can never be nerfed.

[War Angel]

9th cometh. Truth is no one has any idea anymore. Rules and points are changing so the meta will be a brand new shiny ripe for exploitation. Buy what you want to paint. Rule of cool can never be nerfed.

The staples will probably still hold merit.

[Moonstalker]

There are some good articles on 1d4chan and Goonhammer that give overviews of each unit from a competitive viewpoint.  You can scroll through and read over only the Primaris units if you'd like.  I'm sure you could find problems/outdated info/etc in each article, but getting a couple different overall perspectives may be a good starting point.  Like others in the thread here have said, new edition, new meta, everything is subject to change.

[Ishagu]

Avoid 1d4chan - it's gutter trash and offensive. Goonhammer is decent.

 

Which units are you interested in, and what chapter do you imagine playing?

Edited June 4, 2020 by Ishagu

[Panzer]

The tone of 1d4chan is trashy internet banter, however the analysis of the tactica pages is usually worth considering. It's all about whether you can live with the tone or not.

[Ishagu]

Lol I should confess that I have personally cleaned up quite a bit of the trash advice they offer, but I gave up because there was bad info on most units.

[Cascadian]

9th cometh. Truth is no one has any idea anymore. Rules and points are changing so the meta will be a brand new shiny ripe for exploitation. Buy what you want to paint. Rule of cool can never be nerfed.

 

I've always played the game like this... ha! I was hoping for some basic advice so I can use what works with my own personal rule of cool. As it turns out, I mostly agree with the advice that people have given. I've considered picking up staples from the boxed set before it goes away. I looks like it has some solid staples. Although I normally don't like mono-pose models, because they are harder to convert, they can be sprinkled into the force, and mostly go unnoticed. "back in my day..." lol, old man style... People used to field a table of boxed set guys, and it was pretty obvious/un-desireable. Maybe these new models are better quality. I'll look into it and do some math. (My local shop give 15% retail for pre-paid orders, and has a 10% loyalty program. So 25% off retail and no shipping is what I compare internet deals with.)

 

Someone asked what kind of army I want to field. I want to do a fluffy Mortifactors force. They come from a cold night world that is distant from the sun. They are brutal killers that take the heads of their foes, feast on their flesh, and generally do dark things. To me, that sounds like stealthy tactics with high mobility, probably vanguard style, but I'm not sure. I haven't explored rules options to represent a stealthy predator style of play. 

[War Angel]

Definitely get some eliminators then, and you might be able to make use of some bits from the white scar upgrade kit. Incursers could be cool for your theme, but infiltrators will always be contenders for a spot in any list. Inceptors Aren’t stealthy but can deepstrike so maybe they fit that theme? Definitely strong though.

[Cascadian]

For sure! I really like the Eliminator models. Also the phobos Librarian. Those are some of my favorite in the whole line. 

I am curious how Incursers and Infiltrators are normally used. I have battle scribe, but I haven't really investigated them.

[War Angel]

Infiltrators are a good deepstrike screen, incursers can shoot through walls and ignor penalties to hit.

[Dracos]

I'm a weird one where I feel Raven Guard stratagems means they need the Phobos units less than other Chapter/Successors who want to go for a stealth and maneuver play style. But while I'm invested in having 20 shooty Intercessors and 10 assaulty Intercessors when they are available, I still have 10 Incursors. I feel with the new terrain rules they are going to have a more important role than currently.

[tychobi]

Sounds like a Blood Angel successor to me. Bat winged primaris sanguinary guard with axe bladed bayonets? Scouts and warsuits? Jumpy rather than full stealth but far more head takey. Not much head trophy to scrape into a baggie after a sniper rifle shot. You want chainswords!

[Cascadian]

You make a good point. Ravenguard enable that play style a little better. I really want to see how terrain will impact the importance of Incursors. My gut feeling is that they'll be decent, but not uber, unless they can ignore the LOS blocking terrain completely. I am hoping Reivers are buffed in some way, or the new assault intercessors will eclipse them. I could be wrong. Just idle speculation. 

[War Angel]

Reivers will still be able to deep strike, so that will always help. Changes to moral could also assist them?

 

Never underestimate a well placed deepstrike. But also never overestimate a single strength 4 ap - shot.

[Cascadian]

Sounds like a Blood Angel successor to me. Bat winged primaris sanguinary guard with axe bladed bayonets? Scouts and warsuits? Jumpy rather than full stealth but far more head takey. Not much head trophy to scrape into a baggie after a sniper rifle shot. You want chainswords!

 

You are right on all counts. I can't do BA though, because that's what I used to play back in the day. I need to do something different. Although, I could definitely explore the rules. I'm definitely doing only Primaris, or newer models in general. Things like Centurions aren't primaris, but aren't the old stunties either. I could consider those. lol.