Entering the 4th Tyrannic War: The Road to ToS Leviathan

[Casual Heresy]

Afternoon all.

 

I managed to secure a ticket for the Throne of Skulls: Leviathan tournament at Warhammer World in September. Having taken my Black Templars down there a few times now I wanted to mix it up a bit and take one of my other forces so I can get some new models fully painted and I've settled on my Ultramarines.

 

For the past few months I've been having a lot of fun in 9th with a dual Kratos and Guilliman list. Since lists with heresy vehicles have gone the way of the Dodo in matched play 10th, I wanted to put a list together with similar energy that was fun to play and strong, but not overpowered. My fevered mind came up with the below. The best thing is I have everything already either from the old Kratos list or waiting in the pile of potential.

 

Ultramarines: 2000pts

Gladius Strike Force Detachment

 

Characters

Primaris Captain with the honour vehement master-crafted power weapon and relic shield. 

Primaris Company Champion. 

Bladeguard Ancient. 

 

Units

Heavy Intercessor Squad with heavy bolter. 

Assault Intercessor Squad, with Sergeant with Thunder Hammer 

Incursor Squad with haywire mine. 

Incursor Squad with haywire mine. 

Scout Sniper Squad with missile launcher. 

Centurion Devestator Squad with 3x Grav Cannons and 3x Centurion Missile Launchers. 

6 man Bladeguard Veteran Squad, with sergeant with Neo-Volkite Pistol. 

10 man Desolation Squad with superkrak missiles. 

Land Raider with Multi-melta and storm bolter. 

Repulsor with Twin lascannon and las talon. 

Repulsor Executioner with heavy laser destroyer, icarus rocket pod and ironhail heavy stubber. 

 

The Captain and Bladguard Ancient join the Bladeguard in the Land Raider, while the Champion joins the Assault Intercessors in the Executioner.

 

Plan is to play quite aggressively early on. I will likely use devestator doctrine turn one to allow the vehicles to advance and shoot. The incursors will move into position to focus on 'painting' big scary targets with +1 to hit. Between that and oath of moment, I think I could reliably kill at least one big scary a turn and potentially cripple one or two others.

 

The Bladeguard unit is pretty self explanatory: activate assault doctrine, get out of land raider, charge, use Honour of the Chapter, blend target to taste or die trying. Played correctly, for one turn the captain can dish out 12 attacks with devastating wounds (6 base, +1 for BGA, +2 for Honour Vehement in Assault Doctrine, +3 for finest hour).

 

The Champion and Assault Intercessors are there as a counter attack unit or to support the Bladeguard's charge. But honestly there wasn't much of a plan with them other than I wanted to use the champion because its a cool model. The Centurion Devestators are there to sweep clear an objective, and because I've had the models built and undercoated since 8th kicked off and I finally wrote a list I was happy with them in.

 

I've got a game on Friday against Imperial Knights to test the list out. Goal isn't to win but to make sure it works as planned and its fun to play with/against. After all, It's for a Throne of Skulls tournament. I want to do well, but don't want to be a WAAC player at a casual tournament.

 

 

[Tacitus]

I assume you want feedback and the Squads are Size 5?  Or are any other than the Desoltation Squad Size 10?

 

Some food for thought based on what it looks like you're going for:

 

3 (I suggest Assault) Centurions will fit in a Land Raider which can move 10 before they hop out 3, and charge on the same turn, but not if you advance (assault ramps) in First Turn Dev.

 

2 Big Tanks filled with dudes and 2 smaller Gladiator Lancers might get more shots from the Lancers than three big tanks two filled with dudes - I see a lot of Face Punching in front of a line of Tank Pounding in your theme? 

 

Outriders were reworked to allow attaching an ATV like Bike Squads and an Attack Bike that would really benefit from first turn Dev

 

As would Bike, ATV(models which no longer Squadron and only get the TurboBoost rule in the Outrider Squad), and Attack Bike (Also don't turbo boost) Squads 

[Casual Heresy]

Thanks Tacitus, certainly some good things to consider for the future. Right now though I'm limited in what I can buy, so sticking to what has already been assembled for my Ultramarines previously, kits from the pile of potential or unpainted models from other armies.

 

Yesterdays points tweaks have forced a slight re-write. I'm determined to keep the Desolators in for now, so the Champion, Bladeguard Ancient and Assault Intercessors are out. Instead I've added in a Lieutenant for the Bladeguard and a Primaris Librarian with Bolter Discipline to attach to the Desolators. I do fully expect that a another points update or the codex dropping will force another re-write before I get on the train to Nottingham but that's a future problem.

 

Characters

Primaris Captain with the honour vehement master-crafted power weapon and relic shield. (Warlord.)

Primaris Lieutenant with Master-crafted Power Weapon, Neo-volkite Pistol and Storm Shield. 

Primaris Librarian with Bolter Discipline. 

Units

(5 man) Heavy Intercessor Squad with Heavy Bolter. 

(5 man) Incursor Squad with haywire mine. 

(5 man) Incursor Squad with haywire mine. 

(3 man) Centurion Devestator Squad with 3x Grav Cannons and 3x Centurion Missile Launchers. 

(6 man) Bladeguard Veteran Squad, with sergeant with Neo-Volkite Pistol. 

(10 man) Desolation Squad with superkrak missiles. 

Land Raider with Multi-melta and storm bolter. 

Repulsor with Twin lascannon and las talon. 

Repulsor Executioner with heavy laser destroyer, icarus rocket pod and ironhail heavy stubber. 

 

My game last week sadly fell through so I haven't had a chance to play with any variation of this list yet. But do have a game against my mates Tyranids on Saturday so we'll see how that goes. Until then though I'm going to busy myself with building hopefully getting some under coats done if the weather is good after work. I might even remember pictures!

[Tacitus]

6 hours ago, Casual Heresy said:

Thanks Tacitus, certainly some good things to consider for the future. Right now though I'm limited in what I can buy, so sticking to what has already been assembled for my Ultramarines previously, kits from the pile of potential or unpainted models from other armies.

 

Yesterdays points tweaks have forced a slight re-write. I'm determined to keep the Desolators in for now, so the Champion, Bladeguard Ancient and Assault Intercessors are out. Instead I've added in a Lieutenant for the Bladeguard and a Primaris Librarian with Bolter Discipline to attach to the Desolators. I do fully expect that a another points update or the codex dropping will force another re-write before I get on the train to Nottingham but that's a future problem.

 

Characters

Primaris Captain with the honour vehement master-crafted power weapon and relic shield. (Warlord.)

Primaris Lieutenant with Master-crafted Power Weapon, Neo-volkite Pistol and Storm Shield. 

Primaris Librarian with Bolter Discipline. 

Units

(5 man) Heavy Intercessor Squad with Heavy Bolter. 

(5 man) Incursor Squad with haywire mine. 

(5 man) Incursor Squad with haywire mine. 

(3 man) Centurion Devestator Squad with 3x Grav Cannons and 3x Centurion Missile Launchers. 

(6 man) Bladeguard Veteran Squad, with sergeant with Neo-Volkite Pistol. 

(10 man) Desolation Squad with superkrak missiles. 

Land Raider with Multi-melta and storm bolter. 

Repulsor with Twin lascannon and las talon. 

Repulsor Executioner with heavy laser destroyer, icarus rocket pod and ironhail heavy stubber. 

 

My game last week sadly fell through so I haven't had a chance to play with any variation of this list yet. But do have a game against my mates Tyranids on Saturday so we'll see how that goes. Until then though I'm going to busy myself with building hopefully getting some under coats done if the weather is good after work. I might even remember pictures!

If you have a Captain in Phobos Armor attached to a unit of 5 infiltrators with their radio upgrade, to go with some incursors and/or (sniper) scouts the Captain gets to redeploy (up to three of) them and his freebie strat on the Infiltrator Squad generats a CP on a 5+. 

[Sea Creature]

Noice list!!!

[Casual Heresy]

Thank you @Sea Creature.

 

I had a game today with the lisst against 2k of Nids, which ended in a 56-31 win for the Adeptus Astartes! 

 

The game confirmed what I had hoped: the army works but my mate didn't find it oppressive to play against. My plans for how units complement each other worked out, and the Desolators with Librarian weren't too horrible. Infact having the Librarian helped with holding the backfield when he fried a Psychophage that got too close. The Bladeguard did exactly what I planned: surging up the middle, leaped out the Raider and blended a Screamer Killer. Having to consolidate this edition was their downfall though as they moved into engagement range of the flying Tyrant, who swung and killed all six Bladeguard in one swing. The Captain and Lieutenant didn't last long after that.

 

I'll still play the list against a few more armies and tweak if neccessary, but unless athe codex comes out before and upends everything, I will be taking this list down to Nottingham in September.

 

Now on to painting! Its torrential rain today so no basecoating sadly, so I'll leave you with a pic of the final unit that was built.

 

 

I had most of the Land Raider Excelsior sprue still in the pile of potential so decided now was the time to use it and properly bling up this raider. A few brass etched details from my stash of sheets adds a little UM specific heraldry. The Repulsor and Executioner have had the same treatment. Needed a multi melta as well so a spare from my plastic Spartan's accessory sprue did the job fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tacitus]

Where did you get the rules for the Excelsior?  I can't find it in the HH Legends or the IA datasheet PDF?

[Casual Heresy]

The Excelsior is long gone I’m afraid. The last index rules for it and the Rhino Primaris were in 8th. As I said, my Land Raider is just equipped with the majority of the bling (though I’ve saved the eagle hatch and banners to kitbash a heresy era tank commander).

[Casual Heresy]

Played two games using the list today and I’m very happy with how it performed. Both games were against space marines, one against a vehicle and firstborn heavy list and the other against an infantry heavy Phobos list. Both were fun but the army is working as planned. Incursors were underestimated in both games but the bonus to hits for other units that targeted the same units was invaluable.
 

MVPs for the 2nd game though we’re undoubtedly the Desolators. They are so points efficient and being able to add a Librarian with bolter discipline makes them truly terrifying. Didn’t all go my way though. The key I think is to strike hard and fast as the list can really lose momentum when units start dying and losing their mutual support. All it takes is a few bad rolls to put me on the back foot so I’m happy that the list isn’t unbearably horrible. 
 

But now the hardest part of the prep begins: actually getting everything painted to a standard I’m happy with on time! Finding painting time is proving hard but I’ve been able to finish the blue armour on the Land Raider so far. Hoping to have it and maybe a unit of incursors done by Monday. 
 

 

[Casual Heresy]

At last some painting progress!

 

finding painting tome has been tough but I’ve settled into a nice routine of painting for an hour when I get up and on my lunch break in the office so I’ve made some progress on base colours on a few models. 
 

But today while working from home I finished the first unit! The Land Raider ‘Maximus’ is ready to roll. Named in honour of the eavy metal team’s custom Land Raider for Marneus Calgar back in 4th edition. 
 

 

Not particularly happy with the headlights so I’ll redo them later. 

 

One unit down, 11 more to go!

[Tacitus]

Where did you get the bits?

[Casual Heresy]

4 hours ago, Tacitus said:

Where did you get the bits?

 

Most of the decoration is from the Warhammer World Command Tanks kit with the icons on the door shields coming from the old Forge World Brass Etched sheet. The Multi melta is the one from the heresy vehicle sprue, modded to fit on the normal Land Raider pintle mount.