Blood Angels Unit of the Week series Unit of the Week: Chief Librarian Mephiston

[Jolemai]

 

Welcome to part one of the Blood Angels Unit of the Week series!

 
Following the release of the 10^th edition Index, there is no better time to discuss all the units we have access to. Each week a different unit will appear, with the idea being that we discuss how best to use that model on the battlefield. Where part one will discuss the units from the units found within Index: Blood Angels, parts two to four will discuss Index: Space Marines, part five will be Imperial Armour, and part six will be Legends.
 
Note, this isn't to lament any nerfs, etc, from previous editions; the rules are as they are so try to unlock its potential for those who wish to use them all the same. Similarly, this thread is only for using the option being discussed; it matters not if you feel something is a better choice as such comments aren't constructive to the topic and shall be removed.
 
Without further ado, here's this week's entry:

 

Chief Librarian Mephiston

What are you thoughts here folks? How best would you play Chief Librarian Mephiston?

• To compliment a list, or to build a list around? 
• Sons of Sanguinius or Gladius Task Force?
• What weapons will you use with The Quickening?
• What unit is he leading, if any?
• What delivery options are you using? 
• What deployment options are you using?
• Stratagem synergy of note?

 

Over to you.

 

[Jolemai]

Should you want your model on display here (or on another thread), then submit a photo here please.

 

(Once I work out how best to float it!)

 

***

 

As an aside, the thread setup may change over the coming weeks until I'm happy with them. This includes the photos.

[Karhedron]

I love Mephiston, he is perhaps the most iconic Blood Angel character, leaning heavily into the Vampire aesthetic. He is an absolute beatstick in melee with 6 S9 attacks. His psychic shooting is not the most powerful but Sustained Hits can give some fun. He is most powerful for buffing melee units as Fights First is a really strong ability in 10th. Between this and his Transfixing Gaze, he can provide a lot of protection to any squad he leads.

 

Which leads to the big question, who should he lead? This is where he falls down slightly. Ideally you want him leading a powerful melee to gain maximum leverage from his buffs but his armour locks him out of a lot of possibilities and for some reason, he cannot lead Bladeguard Veterans (I wonder if this is oversight). The choice of Assault Intercessors,  Intercessors or Sternguard Veterans feels a bit weak.

 

Assault Intercessors seem like the obvious choice but there are plenty of other decent Characters to lead them. I am actually going to go out on a limb and suggest he pairs well with Sternguard. Sternguard want to get up close to the enemy in order to maximise their firepower but this leaves them vulnerable to melee. With Mephiston backing them up, melee is no longer such a dangerous place to be. His psychic shooting attack pairs well with the Rapid Fire range of their bolters.

 

The only slight problem is that this package probably needs a Transport to get where it is going which means forking out for a Land Raider or Repulsor as they will not fit in a Drop Pod. Mephiston is fairly pricey at 120 points so suddenly you are looking at a 600 point package. Is it worth it? I am not convinced but it is the combo I can think of and should at least be fun to run.

 

Edited July 12, 2023 by Karhedron

[Cleon]

I've not got a 10th ed game in yet, but Mephiston with a 10 man assault intercessor squad to be wings'd up the board into position by a Librarian dread is on my 'to do' list.

[Karhedron]

30 minutes ago, Cleon said:

I've not got a 10th ed game in yet, but Mephiston with a 10 man assault intercessor squad to be wings'd up the board into position by a Librarian dread is on my 'to do' list.

 

That certainly sounds like a more cost-effective package than my suggestion.

 

YEET! 

[Cleon]

I'm thinking the Dread runs with a beatstick unit like Mephy and friends and a couple of more tactical units and he can throw tacs/intercessors onto or towards objectives if the gap isn't there to launch Mephiston (or in later turns if you suddenly need to be on a different objective,

[Jolemai]

There is some discussion online that Sternguard Veterans are proving to be the preferred bodyguard squad for now. 

[Cleon]

1 hour ago, Jolemai said:

There is some discussion online that Sternguard Veterans are proving to be the preferred bodyguard squad for now. 

Personally I can't see the appeal. With no Sgt upgrades available the Sternguards 4,3+,4,0,1 melee statline is inferior to the basic Assault intercessors 4,3+,4,-1,1 even before you equip the Sgt - Then the Sternguard want to stay out of combat to use their firepower (and potentially their one per game ability) whereas the Assault intercessors want to be there to benefit from their re-rolls of 1 to wound, and I want Mephiston fighting in as many combat rounds as I can. Is there a rule interaction or stratagm I'm not seeing? My plan for the Sternguard (unless a better datasheet drops with more options with the multi part kit) was to have them as the second wave, shooting up and weakening the enemies counter charge units before piling in to tip the balence - I've always assumed Mephiston with his rather direct combat focus is on the tip of the spear.

[Karhedron]

I can't comment on others' thoughts but I see Mephiston as compensating for the Sternguard's weakness in melee. Yes Assault Intercessors are better in melee but if you want a speartip unit, there are much better choices than Assault Intercessors.

 

Mephiston cannot join any of our true speartip units (why he cannot join BGVs, I cannot fathom). But a lot of people want to take Sternguard for the Mortal Wounds they can dish out. Sternguards' weakness is in melee, putting Mephiston there offers protection and will make the enemy think twice about assaulting your Sternguard. It is also enough to allow them to bully weaker units in melee. Remember that Falling Back from melee and still shooting is quite easy either by using the Tactical Doctrine or Adaptive Strategy.

[burningsky25]

On 7/12/2023 at 2:24 PM, Cleon said:

I've not got a 10th ed game in yet, but Mephiston with a 10 man assault intercessor squad to be wings'd up the board into position by a Librarian dread is on my 'to do' list.

Wow, totally missed the things a Libby dread made possible.  So many options for making otherwise slow infantry squads show up in the backline!

 

Relevant to this thread though: I think Mephiston + 10 AINT, or 10 Sternguard, either could equally benefit from that.  Specifically if they try have cheap objective holders, Sternguard could potentially get to fire twice, then be resilient to all but heavy melee threats.  That's pretty neat.

 

Libby dread aside, Mephiston definitely provides something useful for either of those squads.  I would love Mephiston + BGV, but there's something nice about having more than one 'ideal' squad.

Edited July 15, 2023 by burningsky25