Crimson Fists at 2k

[Mandragola]

Since the start of 9th edition I've been playing around with army lists for the Crimson Fist army I started at the beginning of 8th, when the Primaris line was first released. I've got quite a lot of models now, painted to a standard I'm pretty happy with. I'm faced with a choice to either continue with this army or make something new for 9th. It's not a particularly urgent decision, since I'm in lockdown and can't play any actual games. Good time to paint models though.

 

So the idea is to build on what I've got already to have an army that can properly play 9th edition 40k but that still makes sense to play as Fists. This is tricky because our CTs and super doctrine both took nerfs in the new book and FAQ. My stalker bolt rifles and Onslaught Gatling Cannons won't benefit from Legacy of Dorn any more.

 

On the other hand though, Pedro continues to be pretty useful, thanks to his auras granting Obsec and +1A. These are serious traits to have in 9th edition, which is all about controlling midfield. As such I've designed an army to take and hold the centre of the board through sheer brute force, rather than any particularly clever tricks. Here's the current iteration, which I'd value your opinion on.

 

Pedro Kantor 155

Warlord

 

Primaris Librarian 95

Null Zone

Psychic Fortress

Probably some sort of relic - not sure what.

 

10 Intercessors 220

Auto Bolt Rifles

2 Auxiliary Grenade Launchers

Power Fist

 

10 Intercessors 220

Auto Bolt Rifles

2 Auxiliary Grenade Launchers

Power Fist

 

10 Intercessors 220

Bolt Rifles or maybe stalkers

2 Auxiliary Grenade Launchers

Power Fist

 

Primaris Apothecary 80

 

5 Aggressors 225

Fragstorm Grenade Launchers

 

Redemptor 185

Icarus pod

Onslaught Gatling Cannon

 

Redemptor 185

Icarus pod

Onslaught Gatling Cannon

 

5 Inceptors 250

10 Plasma Exterminators

 

3 Attack Bikes 165

Multimeltas

 

I don't actually spend any CPs in army creation or deployment, which is nice. I could, perhaps to get something like the Eye of Hypnoth for one of my Characters from the Imperial Fists relics. I could just have a dreadnought use Wisdom of the Ancients but it would be nice to have the option of using that for rerolls to hit, to increase the places I could deploy the Inceptors.

 

So the basic idea is that the three Characters, dreadnoughts and Aggressors will usually be pretty central. Intercessors can combat squad as required to cover bits of the board.

 

I could potentially swap out some intercessors for incursors. This might help me do early game secondaries and screen out deep strikers. I do like the weight of dakka the intercessors give, but the incursors do fairly well on that score as well.

 

I'm having a fun time chopping up an Invader ATV and making it into an attack bike. I think these are marginally better than Eradicators for me, due to their extra wound and the fact their multimeltas benefit from Legacy of Dorn. They can also split fire if needed and move a lot faster than Eradicators can. If I had any kind of deployment schenanigans the Eradicators would be better, but I don't.

 

I've left out my Leviathan, which feels a bit odd. Lacking the Core keyword really hurts it though I think. I'd love to use the strat to make it have every doctrine so it could maintain Legacy of Dorn, but without that I think the Redemptors might be better. It's still a fantastic firebase though.

[Alcyon]

Looks like a solid list to me. I was going to suggest breaking the Intercessors into six squads of 5, particularly because we don't re-roll morale checks anymore, but of course you can do that pre-game like you said. 

 

I do think having units with Concealed Positions is very strong in 9th and I think Infiltrators can be a really powerful unit if you have any serious deep-strike in your meta; Incursors I'm a bit less excited about, but I have heard people using them to hem your opponent in their DZ turn 1 which has been really effective for me with other units.

Edited November 16, 2020 by Alcyon

[Mandragola]

Yeah I think I agree with that. It would make sense to swap that third Intercessor squad for 2x5 Incursors. Maybe I could go with 5 incursors, 5 inercessors with stalkers and upgrade the Apothecary to a Master.