HH 2.0 Serpents Lair: XXth Legion Tactica

[Brother Sutek]

Half of it is whatever you want. AL being random and all that. Not having destroyer markings was annoying but I took them off my Death Guard sheet so there is that. 

[Gorgoff]

51 minutes ago, Brother Sutek said:

Half of it is whatever you want. AL being random and all that. Not having destroyer markings was annoying but I took them off my Death Guard sheet so there is that. 

Haha great that is so AL to just steal those from other legions. 

[9x19 Parabellum]

So I played my "Headhunters" as Seekers with Kraken bolters, and they did some good work for me.

 

I infiltrated 10 into my opponents back line.  He came after me with a mixed loadout dread (claw and volkite), and because of Marked for Death, they chipped him down to 1 wound before they died, and kept the dread occupied in the backfield for 3 turns. 

 

The other unit was also decent, chipping down a terminator every time they shot. (My opponent was a 3 land raider with 3x terminator units Pride of the Legion list, so not really good targets).

 

@Gorgoff I think despoilers make the most sense with the 22 man transport capacity.   A big blob of them with an apothecary and a good combat chaplain with Hydran Excursors will be a real pain in the ass to dig out and are going to do some real damage.  I don't think waiting until turn 3 is a bad thing as 1. They wouldn't do anything useful turn 1 anyway and 2. They'd most likely get targeted for shooting turn 2.  Meaning they'd normally be dead by or not doing anything useful until turn 3 anyway (ie, without the Storm Eagle). I don't know the Anti-Air meta, so maybe your big flyer will run around untouched until he can deliver his payload? 

 

An alternative would be a 10 man destroyer squad with jump packs (bulky) or a 10 man lernean terminator squad?  Terminators get super expensive really fast but man the lols on that are incalculable. 

Edited April 1, 2023 by 9x19 Parabellum

[Gorgoff]

18 hours ago, 9x19 Parabellum said:

@Gorgoff I think despoilers make the most sense with the 22 man transport capacity.   A big blob of them with an apothecary and a good combat chaplain with Hydran Excursors

 

What's that?

Edit: found it myself. Pretty neat.

18 hours ago, 9x19 Parabellum said:

will be a real pain in the ass to dig out and are going to do some real damage.  I don't think waiting until turn 3 is a bad thing as 1. They wouldn't do anything useful turn 1 anyway and 2. They'd most likely get targeted for shooting turn 2.  Meaning they'd normally be dead by or not doing anything useful until turn 3 anyway (ie, without the Storm Eagle).

 

I never thought about that but yes, that is absolutely true. On the ther hand I wouldn't play a blob of Despoilers on foot. I'd put them in a Spartan which feels like a waste, because why not anything really dangerous instead? 

So yeah you made some very good points why I indeed should put them in the Eagle.

18 hours ago, 9x19 Parabellum said:

I don't know the Anti-Air meta, so maybe your big flyer will run around untouched until he can deliver his payload? 

 

Don't know. I'll see I guess. 

18 hours ago, 9x19 Parabellum said:

An alternative would be a 10 man destroyer squad with jump packs (bulky) or a 10 man lernean terminator squad?  Terminators get super expensive really fast but man the lols on that are incalculable. 

The former would be great on their own but the latter would be another good idea. 

Or veterans could be annoying as well and cheaper.

Edited April 2, 2023 by Gorgoff

[Gorgoff]

It is done.

I've just ordered 20 MK4 Marines plus gubbins. 

[Xenith]

What have people been using to good effect in their lists?

 

With the massive variety available to me, I'm struggling to build what I think is a fun and strong list - I don't thin it's possible to truly have a take all comers list in heresy, as the variance is too large. 

 

In general, I'm looking at jumping between recon company and Leviathal, however as with many peoples collections right now, there's a lot of terminators and tanks, which are restricted in the former and latter respectively. 

 

Has anyone had luck running pure light infantry Leviathal lists? How about recon companies? Is the loss of terms etc worth the chance to go first, and recons as compulsory troops?

[SlickSamos]

Massive caveat I've not played yet, but am also interested in a nearly all infantry AL list.  The things that seem really worth while for an all infantry list are: 

- Vigilator with Veterans to give them Scout / Infiltrate to keep up with the Recon, Headhunter & Seeker Squads to provide Mêlée support 

- Saboteur with Headhunters / Seekers to give them Shroud Bombs (which don't grant Shroud because reasons ) - this with Headhunters seem especially good as it offsets some of the risks of their very short rapid fire range

- Effrit squads look amazing, almost guaranteed to cause a Concussion Ld test (10 shots exceed 99.99% chance of forcing a test), have Shroud Bombs and have cheap access to Daggers

- Anti-Tank is probably going to be some Javelins and/or Skyhunters with Multi-Meltas as relying on Combi-Meltas isn't really reliable.  This will limit FA slots which is unfortunate.

 

As for Rewards of Treason, the biggest weakness of an all infantry AL force looks like the lack of Mêlée units.  I have been considering the following:

- Ultramarine Locutarus are probably the best in terms of stats & equipment, typically better than Palatine Blades but not the most interesting option 

 

More thematic options would be:

- Dark Furies and Raptor Squads both have Sudden Strike (amazing!) and are great anti-infantry blenders.  Raptors have higher WS & Skirmish whereas Dark Furies are very cost effective.  Raptors also are Elite which may make them easier to fit into the list. (Also twin lightning claw models can be used for either squad which is very nice for those of us who are very behind on painting)

- Firewing Cabal fit so nicely into the themes of most AL lists, only held back by their small squad size (I think they get to keep their Firewing rules as it is not technically a Legion rule)

- Falcon's Claws are very cheap & fit well within theme, I personally think they loose out to Dark Furies but man they look so silly / fun.  Might be better for ZM than 'normal' games.

- Grey Stalker Pack have Skirmish, Line and can take a wide array of weapons similar to Veterans, they are a bit expensive for their cost and aren't dedicated Mêlée units but fill a gap in the lines and can be one of the compulsory troop choices in Headhunter Leviathan.  Might be better for ZM than 'normal' games.  

 

I don't think there is a right or wrong answer as to which RoW is better. Headhunter Leviathan is probably stronger with extra points and extra survivability but recon let's you field nearly all sneaky squads and more Seekers and have almost a 1/3 chance of stealing the initiative (coupled with Master of Lies looks very punishing). But with two Vigilators it's possible to infiltrate Tacticals in a Headhunter list if required or just run Assault Squads as Compulsory Troops to catch up with the sneaky infantry quickly.  

 

I'm especially interested to hear your thoughts on the use of Vigilators and Saboteurs in games, as well as thematic Rewards units (especially if I've missed one!)

Edited April 4, 2023 by SlickSamos
Add probability of forcing a concussion test

[Xenith]

21 hours ago, SlickSamos said:

Vigilator with Veterans to give them Scout / Infiltrate

 

An IC doesn't pass Infiltrate on to a unit that he's with! You attach the character at deployment, and until the character is attached, the tacs cannot infiltrate. If you want blobs of infiltrating tacs or vets, you might be locked into Dynat as your warlord, or going with combimelta seekers. 

[Gorgoff]

So since I've ordered a 20 men squad of Despoilers I now have to build my Storm Eagle and was wondering how other people build theirs. Which weapons do you recommend?

Multimelter instead of heavy Bolters is a given but lascannons or hunter killer missles under her wings I my main concern. Both things have their merits I guess. 

 

Any input will be higly appreciated. 

[2gud2bbad]

10 hours ago, Gorgoff said:

So since I've ordered a 20 men squad of Despoilers I now have to build my Storm Eagle and was wondering how other people build theirs. Which weapons do you recommend?

Multimelter instead of heavy Bolters is a given but lascannons or hunter killer missles under her wings I my main concern. Both things have their merits I guess. 

 

Any input will be higly appreciated. 

 

I would go for the MM + 4 TL LCs. Hellstrikes = LCs without the TL and they are one-shot. For the TL alone I'd get the LCs. The Tempest are flat out worse than LCs and have worse accuracy as well. Given that the Steagle is quite survivable and is more likely to get off a second round of shooting, I'd invest the points into the LCs. 

Edited April 10, 2023 by 2gud2bbad

[2gud2bbad]

On 4/4/2023 at 5:51 PM, SlickSamos said:

Massive caveat I've not played yet, but am also interested in a nearly all infantry AL list.  The things that seem really worth while for an all infantry list are: 

- Vigilator with Veterans to give them Scout / Infiltrate to keep up with the Recon, Headhunter & Seeker Squads to provide Mêlée support 

 

This has been already pointed out. Sadly it's quite hard for to find a place for Vets in our Legion imo. 

 

On 4/4/2023 at 5:51 PM, SlickSamos said:

- Saboteur with Headhunters / Seekers to give them Shroud Bombs (which don't grant Shroud because reasons ) - this with Headhunters seem especially good as it offsets some of the risks of their very short rapid fire range

 

I tried this before. However, paying 75 pts + Wargear is just too expensive just to give a unit that is a glass cannon (HH) or should stay at their maximum range anyway shroud bombs. I'm running a lone saboteur with Dual LC and Nemesis Bolter to get HSS teams or Tacticals in the back field. Synergizes really well with his false colours SR and is fluffy. My Seekers stay at longe range anyway and HH are basically one-shot units anyway that are so close that Shroud bombs wouldn't make a difference. 

 

On 4/4/2023 at 5:51 PM, SlickSamos said:

- Effrit squads look amazing, almost guaranteed to cause a Concussion Ld test (10 shots exceed 99.99% chance of forcing a test), have Shroud Bombs and have cheap access to Daggers

 

I think that Effrit are not focused enough to do any job really well. Their shroud bombs are wasted up close when they run their shotguns and they have to buy daggers separately and they don't have WS5. If you get a min size unit to kill power armour marines in the backfield (HSS, Tacticals, Recons, etc) I think that a stock HH squad Combi volkites can do better.  

Using them with Nemesis Bolters makes use of their shroud bombs but wastes their attacks and disruptor array. Ugh

 

On 4/4/2023 at 5:51 PM, SlickSamos said:

- Anti-Tank is probably going to be some Javelins and/or Skyhunters with Multi-Meltas as relying on Combi-Meltas isn't really reliable.  This will limit FA slots which is unfortunate.

 

I love to run double Seekers and Javelins in my FA. For AL, I think that a HSS with a Armistos in combination with the Legion Trait AND Master of Lies WL Trait can be very good. You (redeploy) exactly at range (so 2" out of range  to your opponents heavy weapons and can shoot him Turn 1 whilst he has to move up to shoot you. In HHL I use a HSS + Armistos (also because of his cognis signum + scanner) and either a leviathan in a pod or a Deredeo. 

 

On 4/4/2023 at 5:51 PM, SlickSamos said:

As for Rewards of Treason, the biggest weakness of an all infantry AL force looks like the lack of Mêlée units.  I have been considering the following:

- Ultramarine Locutarus are probably the best in terms of stats & equipment, typically better than Palatine Blades but not the most interesting option 

 

More thematic options would be:

- Dark Furies and Raptor Squads both have Sudden Strike (amazing!) and are great anti-infantry blenders.  Raptors have higher WS & Skirmish whereas Dark Furies are very cost effective.  Raptors also are Elite which may make them easier to fit into the list. (Also twin lightning claw models can be used for either squad which is very nice for those of us who are very behind on painting)

- Firewing Cabal fit so nicely into the themes of most AL lists, only held back by their small squad size (I think they get to keep their Firewing rules as it is not technically a Legion rule)

- Falcon's Claws are very cheap & fit well within theme, I personally think they loose out to Dark Furies but man they look so silly / fun.  Might be better for ZM than 'normal' games.

- Grey Stalker Pack have Skirmish, Line and can take a wide array of weapons similar to Veterans, they are a bit expensive for their cost and aren't dedicated Mêlée units but fill a gap in the lines and can be one of the compulsory troop choices in Headhunter Leviathan.  Might be better for ZM than 'normal' games.  

 

Imo for Melee: 

Dark furies or Suzerains, as both units don't loose anything from their LA traits. Furies fit really well thematically, whilst Suzerains with Hammers in a Steagle with a Hydran Excursor WL are one of the nastiest Close combat units in the game. 

 

On 4/4/2023 at 5:51 PM, SlickSamos said:

I don't think there is a right or wrong answer as to which RoW is better. Headhunter Leviathan is probably stronger with extra points and extra survivability but recon let's you field nearly all sneaky squads and more Seekers and have almost a 1/3 chance of stealing the initiative (coupled with Master of Lies looks very punishing). But with two Vigilators it's possible to infiltrate Tacticals in a Headhunter list if required or just run Assault Squads as Compulsory Troops to catch up with the sneaky infantry quickly.

The trick with the vigilators doesn't work. I tried both Recon and HHL and the thing is that HHL can field most that Recon can and more because the heavy unit restriction. You only loose out on tanks, which, are not worth it to begin with. 

 

On 4/4/2023 at 5:51 PM, SlickSamos said:

 

I'm especially interested to hear your thoughts on the use of Vigilators and Saboteurs in games, as well as thematic Rewards units (especially if I've missed one!)

 

Vigilators are better than Exodus imo. Saboteurs have their use cases as lone wolves but don't fit in a completely min maxed list (which nobody of us does anyway, I know). 

 

my fav Rewards units:

Melee: already mentioned

Shooting: Iron Havocs (if no access/points for Armistos) and obviously Fulmentarus. I want to try a maxed squad of fulmentarus infiltrated with Dynat WL Trait. Just camp them out of line of sight in middle of the board with alleviates their 24" range and kill with guided fire/night vision. Sadly no way to also stack PE for them.

 

I main a HHL for AL in 2.0, and so far, I think it's one of the better RoW and has good synergy with the AL Traits and the fluffy units (Recons, Seekers, HH, etc). I always avoid using normal tacticals etc as that doesn't fit the theme of such a spec ops kind of army theme.

 

 

[2gud2bbad]

Regarding the Saboteur's False Colours SR - can he be overwatched on his first successful charge? If not, he's the premier LC HSS Hunter in the entire setting. 90 pts with Dual LCs gives you 6 WS5 attacks on the charge. Or get a Power Dagger + Power Maul to kill shank AA Sergeants in Challenges.

[Gorgoff]

On 4/17/2023 at 12:08 PM, 2gud2bbad said:

Regarding the Saboteur's False Colours SR - can he be overwatched on his first successful charge? If not, he's the premier LC HSS Hunter in the entire setting. 90 pts with Dual LCs gives you 6 WS5 attacks on the charge. Or get a Power Dagger + Power Maul to kill shank AA Sergeants in Challenges.

Problem is that he can be charged as well. But yeah, qhen the opponent doesn't do that he can :cuss: a Heavy Support Squad in turn 2+

[Brother Sutek]

If I can convince my group to increase points for our games I'll have enough free for a saboteur with LC.  I agree that the effrit aren't that optimal but I still want to build one for my army. 

[9x19 Parabellum]

I'm not seeing what is so great about Suzerains.  Can someone enlighten me?

[Slips]

8 minutes ago, 9x19 Parabellum said:

I'm not seeing what is so great about Suzerains.  Can someone enlighten me?

Axes Ap2 at initiative, Line so can score objectives, 2+/5++ with Heavy sub-type as well as 2 Wounds, WS5 AND all characters so they can freely bounce wounds among each other in a unit before any singular model goes down and tank challenges.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Slips

[HeinzD]

13 hours ago, Slips said:

Axes Ap2 at initiative, Line so can score objectives, 2+/5++ with Heavy sub-type as well as 2 Wounds, WS5 AND all characters so they can freely bounce wounds among each other in a unit before any singular model goes down and tank challenges.

Its definitely true that they are characters, but to cheat wound allocation like that, they would need too be independent characters, wouldnt they?

[Fallen11]

On 5/2/2023 at 9:30 AM, HeinzD said:

Its definitely true that they are characters, but to cheat wound allocation like that, they would need too be independent characters, wouldnt they?

Nop, if they were chosen warriors they wouldn't be able to do it. If they were IC, each of them could their own separate way. With them being characters, they can do wound shenenigans, same as lets say DA terminators.

[Xenith]

On 4/17/2023 at 11:08 AM, 2gud2bbad said:

Regarding the Saboteur's False Colours SR - can he be overwatched on his first successful charge?

 

I thought not at first, however a "successful charge" is defined as when the dice are rolled and the distance is enough to contact the target unit. After the dice are rolled is when the opponent gets to choose whether to spend a reaction point, so I'd say that they can. OTOH, an unsuccessful charge cannot be overwatched, so if you're 12" away you might as well declare for the bonus movement then give the HSS a tough choice next turn. 

 

On 5/2/2023 at 8:30 AM, HeinzD said:

Its definitely true that they are characters, but to cheat wound allocation like that, they would need too be independent characters, wouldnt they?

 

Wound allocation just specifies "Characters" not "Independant characters" so in the way you can always tank 1 wound on a 2W terminator serge before moving to another model (or tank 2W onto a Lernean serge) you can allocate 1w to each model. As above, they're an insane unit for the points. Line is the icing on the cake. 

[Brother Sutek]

Finally got to play  the Headhunters Rite this weekend against the RG. Shroud and shroud bombs hurt immensely against banestrike bolters. I wasn't going to switch to combi grenade launchers but good Lord that 18" range hurt. It was a really tight game and between his boss rolling and my lackluster rolls it stayed back and forth all game. It was a lot of fun and I do love my Headhunters but they need the upgrade if only against RG. I used Exodus and again my rolls vs my opps let me down. Exodus did well but not outstanding, I'll try a regular vigilator next time as others have suggested they are more useful. Killing line units was key and I almost lost my last recon squad but they were saved with Smoke and mirrors at the last turn. My opp didn't make any mistakes and kept the pressure on every turn and by the 4th turn I thought he had it. 

[2gud2bbad]

On 5/8/2023 at 2:48 AM, Brother Sutek said:

Finally got to play  the Headhunters Rite this weekend against the RG. Shroud and shroud bombs hurt immensely against banestrike bolters. I wasn't going to switch to combi grenade launchers but good Lord that 18" range hurt. It was a really tight game and between his boss rolling and my lackluster rolls it stayed back and forth all game. It was a lot of fun and I do love my Headhunters but they need the upgrade if only against RG. I used Exodus and again my rolls vs my opps let me down. Exodus did well but not outstanding, I'll try a regular vigilator next time as others have suggested they are more useful. Killing line units was key and I almost lost my last recon squad but they were saved with Smoke and mirrors at the last turn. My opp didn't make any mistakes and kept the pressure on every turn and by the 4th turn I thought he had it. 

 

Yes, bane strike Bolter suck, which is really sad. I wish they were breaching +5 or something to compensate for their lower range. I think it's meta to play HH in 5 man squad with 4 combi-meltas + MM, then they're quite good. Any attempt to use the normal bolters on them will get outshined by Seekers. Although I've seen people playing with Combi-Volkite, as those are free and if you get in close, you at least get a ton of shots.

[Slips]

I reiterate, again, to not sleep on the Combi-Grenade which also has infinite uses but none of the range penalties of Combi-Volkite as well as a profile that includes pinning in it.

[Brother Sutek]

3 hours ago, Slips said:

I reiterate, again, to not sleep on the Combi-Grenade which also has infinite uses but none of the range penalties of Combi-Volkite as well as a profile that includes pinning in it.

I am going to try them next game. I did this time as I did t want to seem "meta chasing" as this is a good friend. That being said his list is a lot of fun and nasty for how low level we play.  I love it. The potential pinning is so important and killing his Dark Fury and the special terminator are helped by the range.

[Imren]

The range matches the multimelta and the bolter shots, S5 krak grenades or frag with pinning, its perfect for the headhutner squads.

 

I got these for my headhunters:

 

https://popgoesthemonkey.com/collections/custom-weapons/products/10x-grenadier-mk1-w-scope-right

 

I run 3 squads of 7 headhunters, 1 multimelta and two combimelta in each squad, combigrenades on the rest. The combimeltas are used more like a charge deterrance, they ought to stay around 20-25" and just pound emeny infantry and take out sergeants, libbies, signal masters, chaplains and apothecaries.

[9x19 Parabellum]

So after about 30 games of Horus Heresy 2nd edition, playing Alpha Legion, here's my hot-take;

 

-our game is all about the Legion trait and the Legion reaction. 

-Pretty much everything else unique to Alpha Legion is a distraction, and cute, gimmicky nonsense.  It is a trap to build into it, and even worse to lean into it.  You will put your units into compromising situations trying to justify reasons to capitalize whatever unique Alpha Legion gimmick you're trying to make work.  Basically, GW said "These guys have a great legion trait and legion reaction, so everything else needs to be flavorful, but useless."

 

WARGEAR:

-Power Daggers.  Your ideal target is the basic space marine, and even then, it's not particularly good.  The ~25 pt headhunter comes equipped standard, and a 150 point unit with 16 attacks hits 8 times and wounds just under 3.  On any other 'character' that can take this, there is virtually no reason to take it over any other power-type weapon.  Going up against T5 units, or any unit that has higher WS, any unit that has multiple wounds, or an apothecary (or other source of FnP) and your damage falls off considerably from there.  Because the str of the weapon is set as 3 (as opposed to say, User -1), no buffs on the carrying unit will apply (ie, biomancy or something similar).  This weapon is a trap. Avoid it.  C tier.

 

-Venom Spheres . 10 pts for a 1 shot, 8" weapon that allows full armor saves: not worth it.  D tier.

 

-Banestrike and Banestrike Combis.  the stats look nice until you get to the 18" rapid fire part.   So your 25 pt headhunters are getting 1 beefy bolter shot at 18" and 2 at 9".   About the only useful model I can see putting these on is an assault unit, and the only assault unit that can carry them is a Veteran Squad, perhaps deployed in a Drop Pod.   D tier.

 

SPECIAL UNITS:

-Lernean Terminators.  These guys are a mess.  WS 4 for an "elite" special terminator unit puts them on the back foot right out of the gate. We already have plenty of WS4 options to pick from.  Their stat line is the same as any other terminator, except an addtl point of leadership.  Volkite Chargers are fine and all, but you don't have enough shots to really make it all work and in general you don't take terminators for their shooting.  Power Axe's are the most 'meh' of all the unwieldly weapons, and I can put 5 power fists on regular Catas and still come in under the cost of Lerneans. IWND is cute, but on a 2 wound model, and at 5+, will have very little affect on gameplay (a 1/3 chance of healing a wound on a guy assuming he hasn't been insta-gibbed).  Having the "Line" keyword is nice but less than half of missions have objectives.  Hydran Exemplars is nice in that it helps you hit, but WS4 means elites are hitting you on 3's.  So in the end we have a very expensive unit with a hodge-podge of special rules that appears to be a "sit on objective and be hard to shift", except they aren't truly tanky (no WS5, IWND is meh, and nothing else) and they aren't really killy (hit on 3's is great, but power axes kinda suck, shooting not great, still slow).  C tier.

-Headhunters.  Oh dear god. Much like Lerneans. I really want to like these guys.  Very expensive elite power armor model at 25 ppm, have a lot of great things going for them but just can't capitalize on it.  Great BS and special rules, but no truly good gun to take advantage of it.  Banestrike bolters are terrible because of range.  I've heard about putting Saboteur consul in so they can leverage his shroud bombs, but you shouldn't need to put a 120 pt consul in to make a 150 pt "elite" shooty unit function properly.  Only useful play is to swap out all their guns for magna-combis, meaning you're putting even more points into them, or minor combis (grenades) which are cute, but ultimately haven't had too much affect on my gameplay as wounding on 5's, no AP, and hoping for a wound to get through to force that pinning check hasn't done squat for me.  Even the MM to snipe out sgrs/apothecaries is tricky because you need a "4" to proc the precision shot and becuase you're BS5 it actually hurts when you hit on a 2 or 3 and can't reroll the hit because of how twin-linked works.  So even that gimmick is only going to work at best, less than 50% of the time.  Their infiltrate and scout special rules dare you to put them close but they'll just end up getting killed quickly because they have no inherent defensive capability.  D tier with stock weapons or B tier with combi-weapon meta play. 

 

-Efrit Cadre. Haven't had a chance to play them yet.  Will post my thoughts later.

 

-Consul Saboteur.  Cute; I've tried to make him work several times but he does not work as either a screen, move blocker or 'infiltrator' to get in and take out enemy vehicles with meltabombs, because you're opponent can charge him.  There's gotta be a way to make him work, but I haven't figured it out.  C tier.

 

-Alpharius.  Never played a game with or against a primarch so I can't say for sure.  But I'll say I like the way Alpharius looks on paper and suits my playstyle.  I'll give Alpharius a completely theoretical A tier rating.

 

WARLORD TRAITS and RITES OF WAR.

-Hydran Excursors.  Good; this is my go-to trait.  It is nice on it's own, and it gives you the much-needed 2nd reaction in the shooting phase which is vital to have around so you have the most flexiblity to proc your special legion reaction.  A tier

 

-Master of Lies.   I really wanna like this but it will only be useful in half your games, at best.   To make max use of this, you need to have deployed first, so you can 'fake out' your opponent, and then redeploy 3 units afterwards.  However, if you're opponent deploys first, you'll be deploying reactively anyway, which means this trait will be nearly useless.   When it is useful, it's VERY useful, but I don't like taking a warlord trait that's so binary in it's utility.  It's reaction allotment is also in the move phase, which is nice in and of itself, but for our special legion reaction we want to that alottment to be in the shooting phase.  C tier  (average of A tier and F tier).

 

-Headhunter Leviathal.  Fantastic on it's own, except for the restriction of no vehicles deployed. OOf.  I'm not *huge* on having vehicles, but I do like my infiltrating seekers in a proteus LR and I can't do that with this RoW.  The all infantry getting evade on turn 1 is amazing.   This would be A tier if not for the vehicle restriction.   A/B tier depending on whether you like vehicles. 

 

-Coils of the Hydra.  This seems like a strong RoW if you really want to lean into it.  Unfortunately, I think it clashes with most people's aesthetic/composition desires.  You play AL cuz you wanna play AL....not some other legion getting USED by AL.   Evaluating purely mechanically I'd say this is A tier but taken in conjunction with people's aesthetic/comp desires, I gotta put this at C tier.  We have 3 AL players at my FLGS and I've never seen anyone do this RoW.

 

Edited May 16, 2023 by 9x19 Parabellum