Ultramarines GT report

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

Hello fellow Scions of Guilliman,

I went to a GT this weekend with my Ultramarines and thought I’d do a report of how my games went.

It was a pretty respectable field of players, including one of the highest ranked Chaos Knight players in the world; so given our book is so old, and marines in generally are struggling a lot at the moment, my goal was to win 3 of the 5 games.  

My list was as follows:

Guilliman (no warlord trait)
Tigurius – Psychic Fortress, Veil of Time and Might of Heroes
Primaris Techmarine – Rites of War and Seal of Oath

5 Infiltrators
5 Incursors
5 Incursors
5 Intercessors with Auto Bolt and a Power Sword (I had 5 points)

Plasma Redemptor
Plasma Redemptor
Volcon with Cyclone
Volcon with Cyclone
2 Victrix Guard
2 Victrix Guard

3 Eliminators, 2 Las fusils and Carbine on the Sgt.
3 Eliminators, 2 Las fusils and Carbine on the Sgt.

2000 points, 5 cp.

Gives up 10 for Assassinate, 7 Bring it Down and 7 No prisoners including the bonus.

We play using ITC terrain layouts, so picking angles with such a shooting focused list is fairly important – I like dreadnoughts for this given their speed, and Eliminators for the ability to find firing lines and then move away to safety; they can also do some nice scenario moves and movement blocking when needed.

 

Game 1: War of the False Primarch.

Of all the other lists in attendance, there was only one other marine. That marine was a fellow Ultramarine, and their list was as follows:

Guilliman (no warlord trait)
Tigurius – Psychic Fortress, Null-zone and Might of Heroes
Primaris Techmarine – Rites of War and Seal of Oath

5 Infiltrators
5 Incursors
5 Intercessors with Auto Bolt and a AGL
 

Plasma Redemptor
Plasma Redemptor
Plasma Redemptor
Volcon with Cyclone
Volcon with Cyclone

3 Eliminators, 2 Las fusils and Carbine on the Sgt.
3 Eliminators, 2 Las fusils and Carbine on the Sgt.

Look familiar? Yeah. I always want to see fellow Ultramarines do well, and this already meant that someone wasn’t going to get a win game one. Boo. To make it even weirder, our lists are so similar.

Mission: Abandoned Sanctuaries.

My opponent was a really good guy (a theme throughout the weekend), during our chat before the game we both acknowledged that whoever went second was very likely to win this game. With no Forward Deploy in this mission it didn’t matter who won the deployment zone roll, only the roll to see who goes first.

My secondaries:

Shock Tactics
Psychic Interrogation
Oath of Moment

His secondaries:

Shock Tactics
Psychic Interrogation
We March For Macragge

Neither of us were particularly happy with the secondaries. Tigurius interrogates well, but he denies well and his Psychic Fortress can be very helpful vs Macroplasma, and Redemptor Fists/Guilliman.

Oath and March are both much better when you’re going second, as is Shock Tactics. I felt slightly more confident as I have the disposable guard and one more obsec unit, as long as I could mitigate the extra shooting of the third redemptor, I hoped I’d be OK.

With baited breath we roll off for first turn; he rolls a 5. I roll a 2. The game is now, realistically, mine to lose.

The game:

There isn’t much for him to shoot in his first turn due to terrain, and he has to move infantry forward to go for objectives. Tigurius pushes forward to interrogate (protected by terrain) and the dreads move for positioning. We go to the Psychic Phase and I deny his cast.

In my turn I respond by killing a redemptor, and also pushing infantry onto objectives. My first unit of VHG push the centre for Oath, his Tigurius denies my cast. From this point on the Chief Librarians make sure to avoid each other when interrogating.

Now the game simply turns into a trading war. We pick at each other’s dreadnoughts, there’s a lot of fighting over objectives by incursors and he throws his Guilliman at me to try and force the issue. I move block him with troops and keep shooting dreads (Guilliman really needs to lose the monster keyword).

By the end of the game mostly everything is dead on both sides, I’ve picked up all his obsec so my techmarine and 3 eliminators team up to hold the centre at the end of the battle and I win 85-64.

It was an interesting game, and we played similar lists very differently, but the game very much went how we both expected after the roll to go first.

The highlight was probably both Guillimans fighting in the centre, killing each other, reviving and then being gunned down by the enemy army.

Here’s a photo (mine’s the one in blue):
 

Game 2: A Test on the Eastern Fringe

Just so everyone is aware, at this tournament pairings per round were randomized by bracket.

So in round 2, if you had won in round 1, you played against another winner - but it wasn’t arranged by points. So I could have played the person who scored 100 round 1, or I could I have played against the lowest scoring winner.

As it turns out my opponent had won their first game 94-89 against a team-mate of mine.

Mission: Data-scry Salvage.

Opponent’s list:

T'au Sept Batallion

Crisis Commander - Novasurge Rifle, Em Scrambler, Exemplar of Mont’ka, 2 plasma, Missile Pod and 2 Marker Drones
Ethereal - Exemplar of Kauyon, Humble Stave, Sense of Stone and Wisdom of the Guides. 2 Marker Drones

Longstrike - Railgun

10 Breachers with 2 marker drones
10 Breachers with 2 marker drones
10 Kroot

5 Crisis suits - 2 plasma, Fusion, Target Lock, 2 Marker Drones, 2 Shield Drones, Iridium Suit and Stimm injectors
4 Stealth Suits, 2 Marker Drones

Hammerhead - Railgun
Riptide - Iron Accelerator, Multi-Tracker, Target Lock and Velocity Tracker

Sunshark
Sunshark

I’m not an enormous fan of Data-scy salvage, it can be tricky for a (typically) slow army like Ultramarines, but at least forward deploy helps a little here. I’ve played quite a few games against T’au and I know the main thing (for my army) is to kill all their obsec, and then die as slowly as possible whilst scoring points.

My army can maul a T’au army, but trying to win a shoot-out is folly.

My secondaries:

Shock Tactics
Bring It Down
Raise the Banners High

His Secondaries:

Aerospace Targeting Relays
A Clean Victory
Decisive Action

I was a little unsure about Shock Tactics but he didn’t have much obsec so, with some terrain hugging, I was fairly confident I could at least score a 9. Bring it down *could* net me a 10 but I wasn’t expecting to ever kill the Riptide. Banners is great here though, especially with all my infantry and he doesn’t want to close with me to take the banners down.

My opponent wasn’t happy with his secondaries, and he also hates Data-scry – so that was at least some good news!

The game:

I was in two minds about whether I wanted to go first or second here, in my experience (on ITC terrain) going second is better for keeping enemy primary low on this map, but going first would force him to Kauyon away the planes (so they couldn’t bomb me) and would enable my incursors to maul some of his obsec (as well as let me raise various banners).

As it was I went second, I’d deployed very conservatively as you’d expect but I’d made an absolutely massive error. There was a spot that one of the planes could land to shoot Guilliman.

Hands up, I just made a mistake – I was expecting the bombs (if anything I wanted him bombed, rather than wounding one of my dreads) but leaving a gap for him to also be shot was just a pure mistake. The first bomber did 5 mortals, not a great start. The second bomber does 2. Guilliman takes one missile to the face, rolls a double 1 for his saves, and doesn’t come back at the end of the phase.

Primarch down.

The other bomber does some damage to a volcon, but nothing significant. I use Avenge the Fallen on the Sunshark and it won’t be the last time I use it this game.

In my turn, I kill both planes, all the kroot and some of the breachers. More crucially, I keep his primary to a zero in turn two. The game progresses in this fashion – he can’t remove my banners, and he can’t contest objectives with anything obsec as my guns pick it up. He kills a phenomenal amount of my army (I end the game with 4 marines), but he can’t kill me quickly enough and I have enough punch back to hurt anything that raises its head – other than the riptide which gets relegated to standing on an objective in the open and shooting any of my units that expose themselves.

I deny him any main primary for two turns and score a 12 in my turn 2. Banners is also proving invaluable here.

The game ends 86-64 win. I use Avenge the Fallen almost every turn and between it and Wisdom of the Ancients I manage to keep a valuable amount of rerolls for my army, despite Guilliman taking the day off. I’m very happy with how I played the mission and managing the recovery.


 

Game 3: Wrath of the King

At this point there were a few armies who were 2-0, and my options of potential opponent was something like: Chaos Knights with Abaddon and Daemons, Bloody Rose Sisters (played by a top-ranked Sisters player), Light Harlequins, 2 Custodes lists and Ob’Sekh crons featuring the King and two C’tan.

Not the best field to be amongst with an 8^th ed supplement!

I get drawn against the Necrons, which is OK. I suspect I’ll kill most of his army but lose on points. Especially if I go first.

Mission: Death and Zeal

Opponent’s List:

Ob’Sekh Patrol, Outrider and Supreme Command

The Silent King
Chronomancer
Technomancer
Void Dragon
Nightbringer

5 Immortals

6 Skorpekhs
5 Lychguard
3 Ophydians
3 Ophydians

5 Scarabs
5 Scarabs
4 Scarabs
3 Tomb-blades

First of all, just like the previous two opponents, my opponent is an absolute gent. We have a brilliantly fun game that’s well fought and tactically interesting.

I obviously pick TSK as my Seal of Oath target, just to force him to hide behind obscuring or he’s 100% dead. Obviously my opponent has gone 2-0 so I’m expecting him to hide the King till the later game, but this in itself at least gives me a bit more breathing room as, other than the C’tan, he’s the scariest thing for my dreadnoughts.

My secondaries:

No Prisoners
Psychic Interrogation
Retrieve Data

His secondaries:

Treasures of the Aeons
Purge the Vermin
Ancient Machineries

Obviously Necrons have incredible secondaries right now, and they’re much stronger than mine. I’m not enamored with Interrogate here as he has 2 C’tan and smite can be helpful vs the phase cap, but I think it’s a fairly strong chance I score a 15 with it so there’s some trade-off there, and I know from practice that there are ways to do extra phase damage (Ultramarine overwatch, for example, is fairly reliable at doing some damage to a charging C’tan).

RND is also tricky - I have to do my retrieving with my troops but I also need them to be available to combat all the obsec. I’m sure I can score 8, but that’s probably not good enough. Banners would probably get taken down and if I go March and go first, that’s not ideal. I also don’t love Assassinate in general as a secondary (too much control in the opponent’s hands) but perhaps should have considered that given he has to be aggressive with the shards.

So I go into this game really wanting to go second.

We roll the dice and sure enough, my luck runs out and I go first.

The game:

I do some redeploying and get some shots into the skorpekhs and pick up some, I do some RND and interrogate. It’s not a bad turn, but the King is well hidden and the shards are both quite intimidating in the centre. In his turn he pushes out with the non-scarabs (and not the King) and starts scoring points, so we’re on the clock.

In my turn I do the damage I can to the shards, I kill one ophidian unit and the tomb blades. But I don’t think it’s enough. This continues back and forth, the shards plough through my VHG whilst I battle for the objectives, the Nightbringer comes in on a Volcon and gets taken down to 1 wound in overwatch (from 4), the Volcon has master of prescience from Tigurius and lives on a wound; and in my turn is where I make a crucial mistake.

Instead of moving away my full 8 inch movement, I only move 6. I intend for that volcon to finish off the Skorpekhs, freeing my models up to contend an objective, but instead I fire my intercessors into the shard and kill it… and it explodes and kills my contemptor. Order of operations failure at it’s finest...

That’s the death blow for the game, when all is said I’ve killed everything except the two Crypteks, the immortals and 8 scarabs. Guilliman is stood proudly in the middle of the table having killed the Void Dragon, but primary has been a real issue.

The game ends in an 80-96 loss (I do indeed get 8 for RND), but an excellent game all round. Here’s hoping we get some secondary help in the next dataslate!

 

Game 4: The Cult Arises

The pairings go up for day 2, so I spend some time familiarizing myself with Twisted Helix Cult.

My opponent happens to be the team-mate of my round 2 opponent (as well as a friend of a friend) and I know they’ve been pretty committed to the faction for quite some time. As any Ultramarine knows, it takes dedication to stick to your army through thick and thin so I make sure to never underestimate someone who is playing a “weak” faction.

Mission: Tide of Conviction

Opponent’s List:

Twisted Helix Brigade

Acolyte Iconward
Magus - Might from Beyond, Mass Hypnosis, Mutagenic Deviation, Psionic Blast, the Unwilling Orb, a familiar and Meditations in Shadow
Patriarch – Might from Beyond, Psychic Stimulus, Familiar, Amulet of the Voidwyrm

5 Acolyte Hybrids – Lying in Wait, 2 Democharges
15 Acolyte Hybrids – A Trap Sprung, 3 Rock Cutters and 3 Drills
5 Acolyte Hybrids
5 Acolyte Hybrids
10 Neophyte Hybrids
10 Neophyte Hybrids with 2 Seismic Cannons
10 Neophyte Hybrids with 2 Seismic Cannons

Kelermorph – Wyrmtooth Rounds
10 Purestrains – They Came From Below
10 Purestrains – From Every Angle
Reductus Saboteur

5 Atalan Jackals
5 Atalan Jackals
5 Atalan Jackals

Goliath Rockgrinder with Seismic Cannon
Goliath Rockgrinder with Seismic Cannon
Goliath Rockgrinder with Seismic Cannon

Well, that took some time to write out.

I knew that my opponent had narrowly lost their game 2 (81-86) vs a pretty ruthless custodes dreadnought army, so I was definitely cautious about how to defend myself. But I also knew from previous games against GSC that, if I could just weather the initial onslaught, I’d eventually grind through the swarm – but could I do it and score enough?

My secondaries:

Shock Tactics
No Prisoners
Raise the Banners

Opponent’s Secondaries:

Broodswam
Retrieve Nephilim Data
Cult Ambush

I was quite happy with my secondaries here. Again I could have considered assassinate over Shock Tactics, perhaps something to consider for future games, but I just envisioned some xenos characters running off into a corner and stopping my scoring.

In this mission I was fairly happy to semi-castle, and to either go first or second. My main objective was to layer enough that the majority of my force couldn’t get wrapped, so that Codex Discipline and my weight of fire could do its work.

The game:

My opponent went first and engaged very aggressively, his guns left a redemptor on 6 wounds and both units of purestrains managed charges. One unit, who’d benefited from a pre-game move, charged the victrix guard and eliminators on my extreme left and the second unit charged my incursors at the front (who I admit were somewhat of a bait unit). My opponent then had a choice about where to fight before I interrupted. He chose to strike first against the honour guard and eliminators. The Eliminators died utterly, but the honor guard took one wound and were wrapped (which was to be expected).

I then spent 3cp to interrupt with my incursors AND use Sons of Guilliman for re-roll hits. I mostly did this to position so I couldn’t be wrapped, but any stealers killed would be a bonus. It also allowed me to stand on an objective and prevent the mission tertiary from occurring for my opponent. The incursors killed 3 stealers and then, thanks to Armour of Contempt, the incursor sergeant survived – passing his morale check.

My turn saw me pick up all the atalans, one unit of stealers, a rockgrinder and I took one down to 2 wounds. My opponent used a strat in his following turn to make that truck act at full profile and launched another wave of attack. Between the shooting, psychic and combat both my redemptors died, Guilliman took two wounds but crucially I used another interrupt so that my 5 intercessors , who were stood near the Primarch, could fight the charging purestrains (who’d lost 3 to the VHG before killing them off). I killed all but one, which defended my home objective and finished off another threat; plus it prevented my contemptor from being wrapped.

At this point things had firmly swung my way. With enough remaining infantry and two functioning contemptors, as well as an angry Primarch, all the xenos were exterminated and the final result was a 92-32 win.

A tough match for the GSC and one where our chapter tactic and proper layering/interrupts can make a hard battle even more difficult.

Highlight of the match was watching Guilliman squeeze the life from the Patriarch, before shrugging off the entire remaining cult force.
 

Game 5: The Golden Curse

Some pre-amble here. I’ve been playing Ultramarines since 2^nd ed (if post histories exist you can probably find reports of mine from 5^th ed!). I took a break in late 6^th and came back in 8^th when the game appealed again.

I’ve had quite good success with Ultramarines, nothing particularly noteworthy, but I’ve won a couple of RTTs in 9^th and went 3-2 at a 64-player major. Why’s that important I hear you ask? The reason is, at said major, I won my first three games before losing to Custodes in round 4.

Since that time whenever I have encountered Custodes at a tournament, they’ve been my Achilles heel. I’ve had more than one 2-1 event where I’ve come unstuck because of the 10,000. I haven’t encountered them as much as perhaps I might have, given they’re so popular, but I’m currently 0-6. They’ve always been close games, but victory has eluded me.

My goal for this GT was to win at least 3 games, so I’d done that. But with a good enough result there’s a chance I become the highest ranked Ultramarine (in ITC rankings) in Europe. That had been my goal for the season and a 4-1 would put me in with a chance of being in that position.

The pairings go up.

I’ve got Custodes. Here we go.

Opponent’s List:

Emperor’s Chosen Vanguard and Patrol

Shield Captain in Allarus Terminator Armour – Superior Creation, Obliteratum
Shield-captain – Castellan’s Mark

3 Custodian Guard
4 Sagitarum

Contemptor-Achillus
Contemptor-Achillus
Contemptor-Achillus
Venerable Contemptor with Multi-melta
Venerable Contemptor with Multi-melta
Venerable Contemptor with Multi-melta

Caladius with Twin Iliastus
Caladius with Twin Iliastus

Mission: Secure Missing Artefacts.

So from one swarming extreme to a hyper-elite other. I know my opponent is a great player, I’d played him once in the final of an RTT (thankfully he was playing Space Wolves then and I managed to scrape an 86-80 victory).

He has far less obsec than I’m used to, but a brutal wall of vehicles.

My secondaries:

Shock Tactics
Bring It Down
Raise the Banners High

Opponent’s Secondaries:

Stand Vigil
Auric Mortalis
No Prisoners

I was surprised my opponent took Prisoners, as I only give away a total of 7 including the bonus point. But he knew that, with so little obsec, he just had to maul me as quickly as possible. I took BiD because I had to kill the dreads to survive, Banners because I knew I’d need all my activations to win the fight (and the first two banners are easy enough) and Shock Tactics because I have more obsec and reasoned I could flip objectives when I was inevitably removed from them.

We go through deployment and my opponent makes a castle of dreads, hides the infantry and the caladii hide at the back.

I’ve got phobos units all over the board, behind terrain, and one unit of incursors (who I put down last) standing brazenly 9” from his lines. I put my 2 contemptors at opposite ends of my deployment with the theory being whereever one the caladius may go, I can at least see one. And rapid redeployment and seal of oath should help me to remove one, if I go first, reducing his mobility.

As soon as I deploy my last unit (the incursors) I can see my opponent knows I’m going to jam him between the terrain and we both really want 1^st (which is unusual for me). We roll the dice.

I get a 6.

The game:

My turn one goes quite well, after we both redeploy I can still see a caladius and between a contemptor and some eliminators (plus seal of oath) it goes down. This does mean my techmarine is far from my other dreads, but his Rites of War is closer to the central objective so it’s not all bad.

My heroic incursors advance forwards, and I take great care to keep away from any possible heroic interventions. My dreadnoughts and eliminators kill an achillus, but my macro plasmas both roll 2 shots, so I only plink a few wounds on another dread.

I raise some banners and wait for the punch back. My opponent kills a redemptor via shooting, but Might of Heroes and Master of Prescience + Psychic Fortress (and his inability to get anywhere near melta range) means it takes most of his army to do so. His 3 custodians commit to the central objective to take me off it (preventing me scoring a 12 turn 2) and score him Stand Vigil. The heroic incursors die, but they’ve slowed the dreads phenomenally well.

In my turn two I kill the custodian guard, and I kill another dreadnought, but invulnerable saves and feel no pains blunt my fire against the dreads and, though I kill one, that’s about it.

A charging redemptory with might of heroes, master of prescience and veil of time puts 6 attacks into an achillus and manages a total of…… 3 wounds. Despite only needing to do 7. The redemptor promptly dies in return.

Which was unfortunate.

I’ll say now the dice on both sides were wild. I don’t like to factor them in too much, but we both had insane spikes of low and high numbers. I barely saw a 3 or a 4 all game, from either player!

In his turn 2 he now has one more dread than he expected, and he uses this to put the pressure on. I lose a volkite contemptor and 2 eliminators, 2 VHG in the middle but some Transhuman Incursors survive the attentions of the shield captain (thank you armour of contempt) which both denies Stand Vigil and nets me a 12 for my turn 3 primary.

I hope to hit back this turn and I pick up two of the wounded dreadnoughts with shooting, Guilliman gets Might of Heroes and Veil of Time and charges a contemptor in enemy lines. Said contemptor has 4 wounds remaining, and though Guilliman is the target of Auric Mortalis, If I can kill a 3^rd dread this turn I’m in a great spot (and I’m running out things that reliably hurt his dreads). I force six saves with the hand of dominion… and he makes five out of six 5+ invulns! Thankfully Guilliman survives the punch back, but that was not what I needed. I don’t score Shock Tactics as I’m still on 3 objectives and can’t shift the Sagitarum. In his turn three his captains continue to fight my units in the centre, and his dreadnoughts put their multi-meltas into Guilliman.

I desperately wanted him to live, but here’s where the primarch shows his tactical genius. He fails two saves and instantly dies to melta. He doesn’t stand back up. Whilst this is bad in terms of “How to I finish off the dreads” it’s great as it stops either dread from charging him, so Auric Mortalis caps at 5 for my opponent.

At the end of my opponent’s charge phase, my last surviving honour guard intervenes into a contemptor which is on one wound. Clearly angered by the death of the primarch, the honor guard slices its legs off.

My opponent’s injured shield captain wounds my techmarine in melee but thankfully doesn’t kill him. The techmarine does nothing to the custodian, but Tigurius takes his head clean off after heroically intervening; literally and figuratively.

I score another 12 on Primary turn 4, but my opponent has scored consistent 8s and has the final turn, so I know we’re both going to max primary. It’ll all come down to secondaries.

I keep scrapping for every point, an unfortunate explosion on my last contemptor kills my techmarine and Tigurius dies in overwatch to the sagitarum as he tries to hold them up.

We finish the game and shake hands, an absolutely phenomenal game. Very back and forth, both of us trying our best to make every correct decision; many brave marines threw their lives into road-blocking the primarch but the only remaining models on the table are two sagitarum, 1 caladius, a wounded contemptor and 5 voidsmen. Everything in blue armour is dead.

Final scores:-

Me:

Primary: 45
Raise the Banners: 9
Bring it Down: 7 (I failed to kill the second caladius and one dread survived on 4 wounds)
Shock Tactics: 6 (In a strange twist my primary success hurt me more than helping!)

Opponent:

Primary: 45
Stand Vigil: 9
No Prisoners: 7
Auric MortalIs: 5

We check, check and double check. We check secondary wordings, mission rules and everything. But we both have the same recorded score.

77-76 WIN


I can’t actually quite believe it, not only have I managed the 4-1 (which I’m thrilled with) but I’ve broken the Custodian Curse! And by the most meagre of margins. Every Ultramarine is dead. But the Primarch, in his infinite wisdom, has secured the day.

I finish 5^th overall (3 points shy of 4^th) and also manage to take home best-painted (though I disagreed with that decision, it was still nice to receive). My MVPs, as ever, were Incursors/Tigurius/Guilliman/VHG (and probably in that order). Incursors are so flexible, and combo nicely with Codex Discipline and Fall Back and Re-engage. Tigurius is just a phenomenal psyker, both with casting and denies, and The Primarch is, well, the Primarch. Sure he’s not comparable to Abaddon, and his datasheet is showing it’s age, but the re-roll 1s within 12 and the +1 to charge and advance come up so often in my games. And having something in the pocket which can punch a C’tan Shard to death, or chop through a Knight, is really handy. And in a recent league game of mine he teamed up with Tigurius to kill Abaddon, so that was satisfying!

If you’ve read this far, then well done. Any questions please let me know. In the end I didn't earn enough ITC points to hit my goal (I'm currently 2nd) but that doesn’t matter. A brilliant event with 5 fantastic opponents, pretty much all you could ask for in Warhammer.

Other than Guilliman becoming infantry.

Courage and Honour.

Edited October 18, 2022 by Brother Sergeant Scarus

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Excellent showing and an excellent report as well. Exalt !! 

[Redrandy93]

Brother nice going !    Appreciate you filling us in on your crusade.

 

 

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Dreads are one of the few good things going for SM. You leveraged them well.

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

10 hours ago, BLACK BLΠFLY said:

Dreads are one of the few good things going for SM. You leveraged them well.

Definitely. Despite feeling quite expensive when you look at, say, Armigers, dreads are still very good and I find fall back and shoot is actually consistently better on them than it is on any of the other units I've used. 

[Cruor Vault]

3 hours ago, Brother Sergeant Scarus said:

Definitely. Despite feeling quite expensive when you look at, say, Armigers, dreads are still very good and I find fall back and shoot is actually consistently better on them than it is on any of the other units I've used. 

 

Leveraging their lethality in all phases makes them a lot more viable than people realize!

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

Absolutely, the consistently deal out damage in shooting, overwatch and melee (in the case of redemptors). And we really need that kind of output from units, not giving them away too cheaply is the main aim a lot of the time.

[Captain Idaho]

When outnumbered, doing things (or threatening to) in shooting and melee is great.

 

I read the whole write up, thank you. It was good to read.

 

Do you think there's anything you might change going forward? It seems pretty much finely toned.

 

Are there any opponents you'd hate to take on with this list and why?

 

Also, congratulations with breaking the Custodes curse! And what a close game it was, so likely makes it all the sweeter.

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

On 10/21/2022 at 1:40 PM, Captain Idaho said:

When outnumbered, doing things (or threatening to) in shooting and melee is great.

 

I read the whole write up, thank you. It was good to read.

 

Do you think there's anything you might change going forward? It seems pretty much finely toned.

 

Are there any opponents you'd hate to take on with this list and why?

 

Also, congratulations with breaking the Custodes curse! And what a close game it was, so likely makes it all the sweeter.

Thanks, Idaho, and I appreciate it was a lengthy read! 

It's absolutely that; being outnumber needs you to get multiple phases out of the units you do have (which Redemptors are phenomenal at). The Contemptors are obviously very shooting heavy, but with Guilliman they can at least also contribute in overwatch. 

In terms of changes, I have another GT in a couple of weeks which uses a bit of a different terrain set. So I'm going with this:

Guilliman (no warlord trait)
Tigurius – Psychic Fortress, Veil of Time and Might of Heroes
Primaris Techmarine – Rites of War and Seal of Oath

5 Infiltrators
5 Incursors
5 Incursors

Plasma Redemptor
Plasma Redemptor
Volcon with Cyclone
Volcon with Cyclone
5 Vanguard veterans with lightning claws and jump packs
2 Victrix Guard

3 Suppressors

3 Eliminators, 2 Las fusils and Carbine on the Sgt.

2000 points, 5 cp.

Gives up 10 for Assassinate, 7 Bring it Down and 6 No prisoners including the bonus.

The reasons are that, for this terrain pack, there are a couple of pieces where I might need a dedicated melee unit to get through, hence the vanguard.

The suppressors aren't terrible as UMs, thanks to our super-doctrine, but they're also handy for turning off overwatch and there are a *lot* of Flamers of Tzeentch out there. So they'll combo nicely with the vanguard there (who'll shred flamers in melee, but just have to get there!). Both units also give me some fast-moving pieces, which is nice. 

But other than that generally there aren't too many tweaks I'm looking at. I did consider Calgar and then 120 points of other units, but it just didn't appeal as much. Guilliman makes the units so efficient when they do fight, and he himself is very handy as a melee threat. 

[Ulfast]

Late to the party but what a nice battle reports and congratualation to such good progress. I´m restarting my UM and this gives me inspirations!

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Side note - Ultramarines recently won a GT in Cali…

 

Guilliman (WL)

Captain - jump pack, relic blade, santic halo, combi-melta, WLT - Imperium Sword

Primaris Techmarine - MotF, Seal of Oath, WLT - Rites of War

 

2x Incursors

1x Infiltrators

 

3x Redemptor - macro plasma

 

Atreus

Edited November 22, 2022 by BLACK BLΠFLY

[jpwyrm]

More than 40% of the army on two models and the guy wins a GT. That's nuts!

[Ulfast]

Amazing and a very nice suprise. Will GW nerf us now? ;)

[Captain Idaho]

It's distressing that so much of what makes Ultramarines fun to play (and 40K in general) are elements that aren't that popular in the competitive scene.

 

Internal balance is just as important as inter-Codex balance.

 

Interesting though. Vehicles supported by Guilliman seems to be a staple for competitive Ultramarines. 

 

Noting that no Tigurius either. Well that's interesting in the extreme.

Edited November 22, 2022 by Captain Idaho

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

On 11/21/2022 at 10:10 AM, Ulfast said:

Late to the party but what a nice battle reports and congratualation to such good progress. I´m restarting my UM and this gives me inspirations!

I'm glad you enjoyed them, and the more Ultramarines we can get back on the field, the better!

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

17 hours ago, BLACK BLΠFLY said:

Side note - Ultramarines recently won a GT in Cali…

 

Guilliman (WL)

Captain - jump pack, relic blade, santic halo, combi-melta, WLT - Imperium Sword

Primaris Techmarine - MotF, Seal of Oath, WLT - Rites of War

 

2x Incursors

1x Infiltrators

 

3x Redemptor - macro plasma

 

Atreus

Aye I saw this! 

The Techmarine, Phobos troops, Gman and 3 dreadnoughts obviously make a lot of sense to me, but the Astreus very much caught me off guard! It feels like so many points, and wouldn't benefit from Seal of Oath, Rites of War or Guilliman's full re-rolls, but him giving it re-roll 1s to hit is at least nice. I guess a lot of lists don't have the oomph to deal with it AND 3 redemptors. 

Very well played to him is all I'll say - and he beat a Freeblade Lance by 1 point in his final game, Shock Tactics buff coming in handy!

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

8 hours ago, Captain Idaho said:

It's distressing that so much of what makes Ultramarines fun to play (and 40K in general) are elements that aren't that popular in the competitive scene.

 

Internal balance is just as important as inter-Codex balance.

 

Interesting though. Vehicles supported by Guilliman seems to be a staple for competitive Ultramarines. 

 

Noting that no Tigurius either. Well that's interesting in the extreme.

I thought the lack of Tigurius was really interesting too. Seeing as he's just 10 more points than the Captain. I do like that the captain has the Sanctic Halo for the deny, but Tigurius is just so good. And whilst he prevent Abhor the Witch and enables Wrath of Magnus, it's literally only every Grey Knights where I'm tempted by Abhor. So perhaps that skews my perspective. 

All the TSons players I know have either gravitated to 30 Terminators, or Terminators + Flamers of Tzeentch, and Abhor is a bit of a trap against both of those armies.

[Captain Idaho]

Wondering if a Fellblade might work in that tank's stead too. I'd say it's much more dangerous and similar points. Not quite as many wounds.

 

Gives me thoughts about a list with Vindicator Laser Destroyer, Kratos and other vehicles together. Similar points, less likely to be taken out in 1 go or neutralised.

Edited November 22, 2022 by Captain Idaho

[XeonDragon]

Well done you legend! 

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Need the three redemptors for muscle.

[Captain Idaho]

You'll never see me complain about Dreadnoughts being added to any list!

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Dreads fit the lore now finally. At least they got that right.