Terminator Army: 9th Edition

[General Strike]

So, with the new edition rolling in, I think I'm finally going to build one of my dream armies, a Terminator army. I think it will do better in 9th, I still don't expect it to kick butt though.

 

So, with that said, what army should I choose my Terminators to be from? What army offers the strongest Terminators?

 

My thoughts were between:

White Scars: Advance and Charge

Salamanders: Strength boosts and Anvil Relic

Death Guard: Grossly hard to kill

World Eaters: Lots of attacks, no psychic support

Custodes: See above

Space Wolves: Chaos customization, loyalist toys.

[Jorin Helm-splitter]

Grey knights would be a good terminator army option as well.

[Fajita Fan]

Deathwing get plasma cannons.

[Volt]

I'd always stick with either Dark Angels or Death Guard for terminator goodness because they get the best options. Deathwing Knights are still some of the best melee terminators you can get and our squads can mix and match assault and tactical squad options for normal Deathwing Terminators. Death Guard however are the best if you want an unkillable blob of terminators that actually feel like Terminators should in terms of durability. You'll just probably lose the game due to lack of table coverage and low speed.

[tychobi]

Blood angels. They need the mobility. You are going to pay for those fists so make sure you use em.

[Special Officer Doofy]

I can only add my input for Death Guard. The models are beautiful. They are harder to shift, with both kinds being T5 2+/4++/5+++ and both use only plague melee weapons, which give free reroll ones to wound, but neither has access to a charge mechanic and can only move at half the speed of smell. 4" move with a half advance roll. That's their biggest issue, if you fail the charge they can easily be kited the whole game after deepstrike. And with the new command reroll I heard about, you have to reroll both dice, you can't just pick one so it's even worse for them now.

 

Both benefit from getting the spell Blades of Putrefaction (+1 to wound in melee and on 7+ deal a mortal wound) and then stacking Votlw for another +1 to wound.

 

Blightlord terminators also get -1ap for wound roll of 6+, so on a 4+ with the above mentioned buffs. They also have access to the flail which makes D3 hit rolls with each attack and damage spills over. Can take 2 in a group of 10 or 1 if you have less. Blightlords are better at chaff clearing and some tougher targets with the mentioned above stacked buffs. They cost 41pts with the cheapest loadout (Combi-bolter and axe, which is how to kit them all out minus the flail guys).

 

Deathshroud terminators are better at melee in my opinion now that they had a point drop last CA, and come in at 42pts a peice, but get one more attack each, and are attacking at 8str -3ap with D3 damage. They have bodyguard rules and give characters near them +1 attack (minus Morty because reasons?). They also come with free hand flamers. But they can only come in groups of 3-6 instead of the usual 5-10.

 

Deathguard specific HQ there is the LoC that can now get the reroll 1 to hit auras at the cost of 1cp, and there is Typhus who is a LoC with 2 spells, poxwalker buff, and can also have reroll 1 to hit for a CP. There is the generic terminator lord and sorc, and you can give the 5+++ for a CP each but they will still only be T4.

 

They all look sweet and are fluffy with crunch, but only if you make the charge. I don't know what the others have to offer but I know DA has access to alot of terminator support characters and have their melee knights with shields. Grey knights have alot of terminators and can take them as troops.

 

If you want just mass amounts of terminators, I would go with one of them. If you wanted to do about half the army or less terminators with some marines and tanks (Daemon engines) to back them up, DG will be an option.

Edited June 30, 2020 by Putrid Choir

[Panzer]

Blood Angels Terminators are probably the ones you can deliver the easiest thanks to the +1 to charge rolls (makes a HUGE difference) and they hit really hard with their +1 to wound rolls and turn 3+ an additional +1A. Having a 5+ FnP banner with the group makes them pretty durable as well. Then you can further buff them via psychic power (+1A), the Sanguinor (+1A) and/or a Sanguinary Priest (+1S).

Would this be the strongest BA list? No, Sanguinary Guard do everything Terminators do for less points while also being more mobile (except for having a 3++ option). If you just want to use Terminators it's definitely not a bad option though.

 

 

 

Edit:

Since you are also considering Chaos, take a look at Fabius Biles subfaction.

• +1S and +1M as legion trait
• you can let Bile upgrade them once he has caught up (you have to take him as Warlord to use the subfaction)
• a relic that gives +1 to armour saves and regenerates a wound each turn
• a Stratagem to give a unit +1 to advance and charge rolls and lets it advance&charge that turn (has to be used at the beginning of the movement phase, so not for deep striking Terminators unfortunately)
• a Stratagem that gives a unit +1T in the shooting phase
• a Stratagem to give a Character (so potentially the Lord in Terminator armour you gave the relic already) either +1S and +1T or +1 to advance and charge rolls and +1A the turn it charged or did a HI or a 6+ FnP and whenever an enemy model got killed within 1" it regenerates 1d3 wounds at the end of the fight phase
• not bound to any specific chaos god so you are free to use whatever psychic powers or stratagems you fancy from the CSM Codex

Edited June 30, 2020 by Panzer

[Brother Kraskor]

Black Templars terminators can re-roll one or both of the dice when charging and can take a warlord trait that adds +1 to charge and advance - useful if you take a lot of Cataphractii! If you are also willing to Drop Pod in some special characters they can start getting really mean.

[Medjugorje]

So, with the new edition rolling in, I think I'm finally going to build one of my dream armies, a Terminator army. I think it will do better in 9th, I still don't expect it to kick butt though.

 

So, with that said, what army should I choose my Terminators to be from? What army offers the strongest Terminators?

 

My thoughts were between:

White Scars: Advance and Charge

Salamanders: Strength boosts and Anvil Relic

Death Guard: Grossly hard to kill

World Eaters: Lots of attacks, no psychic support

Custodes: See above

Space Wolves: Chaos customization, loyalist toys.

I would say  White scars because they have a few abilities to get +3 to charge with a Terminator Psyker + no overwatch...

or

Black Templars because they can get +2 or +1 to charge and always a reroll to charge. Good against Mortal wounds and force enemie units to stay in combat. ( can advance + charge with a stratagem and gain +1 on the charge and the advance roll because a WL-Trait).

 

but honestly the strongest Terminators are the Death Guard I think.

Edited June 30, 2020 by Medjugorje

[Waking Dreamer]

Grey knights would be a good terminator army option as well.

Mono-Grey Knights (Paladin Bombs) armies were actually winning tournaments just before the COVID-19 lockdown stopped everything.

 

I mean if you want an actual ALL TDA model army...you can only ever do that with Grey Knights!

 

HQs

- Librarian in TDA

- Librarian in TDA

- Brother Captain in TDA

 

TROOPS

- 5-man Terminator Squad x3

 

Elites

- 10-man Paladin Squad (Terminators that have 3W, 3A (Leader also has WS2+) and can carry 2 Special weapons for every 5-man)

- 10-man Paladin squad (4 of them equipped with psycannons)

- Apothcary in TDA

 

^ Boom! An all TDA army that can kick butt! It has a small model count so it's easy on your wallet too! Note, the ones that were winning tournaments actually had 6x 5-man Strike squads (Power Armour models) instead of the 5-man Terminator Squad x3 for the troops. But for keeping in theme you could use the troop terminators, they're just less efficient.

 

Strat: You keep your troops in reserves and have your Characters and two Paladin Squads start on the board. Turn 1, your Characters buff one Paladin Squad with Psychic powers and with really powerful GK stratagems, then have them move/teleport in the middle of the board to claim objectives / do damage. Turn 2, Repeat with the second Paladin Squad and with your troops now teleporting at key locations all over the board.

 

It's really hard to shift a 30W unit (10-man Paladin Squad) with 2+/4++, -1 to wound, -1 damage from range - that can dish out 40 S6 AP-1 D2 shots, and if making that 9" charge will follow up with 36 (S5 AP-2 Dd3) + 4 (S8 AP-3 D3) attacks in combat on Turn 1. If their armies survives that - they have to deal with it all over again with your fresh, SECOND Paladin Squad with back-up teleporting Troops on Turn 2 (that can also Smite within 12")!

 

Grey Knights ~ "I am the Hammer!" Indeed.