Celebrants (Ultra Successors) 2k All-comers Gladius List - core from Leviathan

[Lysimachus]

Hello all,

 

As the title says, here's a start on a list, basically includes the units I already had plus the contents of the Leviathan box. Idea is that the Celebrants are Ultra Successors, so trying to build something reasonably balanced and able to take on a variety of missions. Tried to work out some practical ways to put the various characters and squads together, and make the most of the available Enhancements.

 

 

Celebrants List (2,000pts)

 

 

Primaris Captain 80pts (WARLORD)
Heavy Bolt Pistol, MC Power Weapon and Relic Shield
Enhancement: Adept of the Codex 20pts
+Primaris Ancient 55pts
+Infernus Squad (10) 180pts
This unit is my key objective grabber and holder. Infernus Marines' flamers should make Overwatch pretty good, shooting also improved by Captain's RoB and AotC. Ancient boosts their OC.

 

Primaris Chaplain 65pts
Enhancement: The Honour Vehement 15pts
+Assault Intercessor Squad (5) 90pts
Sgt - Power Fist
Counter-assault unit, probably back up the Captain's unit.

 

 

Primaris Librarian 70pts
Enhancement: Bolter Discipline 25pts
+Sternguard Squad (5) 105pts
Not much to add here, figured the Librarian+SG would be a good combo, giving the unit an Inv Save and the Bolter Discipline might add a few extra hits?

 

 

Terminator Librarian 90pts
+Terminator Squad (5) 205pts
Between Fury of the First, OoM and Sustained Hits from the TDA Libby, these guys should be able to drop in and kill something that needs to die!

 

 

Primaris Apothecary 55pts
+Hellblaster Squad (5) 125pts
+Impulsor 95pts
Standard combo, move up, burn stuff from the Firing Deck, Apothecary resurrects one Hazardous victim per turn.

 

 

Phobos Lieutenant 60pts
+Infiltrator Squad (5) 90pts
Lt. is the Leviathan model, but I don't like the rules (unless facing nids, in which case might be worth it…) Not 100% sure, but could Infiltrate this unit to protect/block off the TDA Teleport Homer? And/or maybe grab objectives?

 

 

Intercessor Squad (5) 95pts
Backline objective holder, support the heavy guns.

 

 

Ballistus Dreadnought 170pts
The heavy guns.

 

 

Gladiator Lancer 145pts
The heavy guns.

 

 

Stormhawk Interceptor 165pts
Las-talon, Typhoon Launcher, Assault Cannons
No specific plan for this, I just love the model and think it will look awesome in Celebrants colours! I don't think the loadout is actually bad, though. It should be able to do some damage against armour or infantry, especially against anything with Fly.

 

 

Total: 2,000pts

 

 

 

I'm not a tournament gamer by any means, this is mostly just to make a playable list out of the models I've got! C+C always very welcome! 

 

[CCE1981]

A note about the Leviathan Lieutenant, ignore most of his rules, all you really care about is Lone Operative, and can move away from enemy units.  Think of him as an action monkey, multiple missions require a unit to forgo shooting and charging, he is one of the best units to do that. 

 

You are a bit light on the heavy guns, you are gonna struggle to bring down tough vehicle/monstrous creature lists.  

 

Your Intercessor Squad can take a Grenade Launcher and Melee Weapon on the Sergeant.

 

Think about a Thunderhammer on the Assault Intercessors with re-rolls wounds against units next to an objective you have a good chance of getting those Devastating wounds in.

 

You really need transport to get that Infernus Squad into the fight, only a 12" range is gonna hurt.

 

[Orange Knight]

I have played a few games now. My advice is to cut the number of characters right down.

Focus on 2 or maybe 3 characters that join big, key units.

Expensive heroes that have a big impact can also be potent.

 

I think we get caught in the trap of wanting to run many characters as upgrades to a bunch of squads, but before long it starts to take away from the critical mass of the army.

[Tacitus]

2 hours ago, Orange Knight said:

I have played a few games now. My advice is to cut the number of characters right down.

Focus on 2 or maybe 3 characters that join big, key units.

Expensive heroes that have a big impact can also be potent.

 

I think we get caught in the trap of wanting to run many characters as upgrades to a bunch of squads, but before long it starts to take away from the critical mass of the army.

I was wondering how long until people saw that trap.   There's two parts to it:  Wanting to run every unit full size, and wanting to put at least one character in each unit. 

 

Most SM Armies probably want 2-3 full size, and the rest MSU units.  The sad fact is 10 man Tac Squads will make you feel like you're playing discount Custodes.  You'll still have few units, but they won't be as good.

 

Of course I also think there's a path to victory by saying Screw the Objectives for two turns, for a double-turn alpha strike such that the opponent can't play the objectives for the final three turns while you still can. 

 

That's probably the long way around to saying I think we have many many more ways to play this edition, but Hero Hammer still isn't one.   All the gimmicks and combos are smaller so you get to mix and match the wombos of combos you like, but only within the framework they've allowed. 

 

[Malakithe]

I agree with Leaders = trap. At least for SM. Necrons on the other hand want leaders in every unit possible due to their bonus they get for just a Leader being there. My current generalist list only has 2 Leaders. At one point there was only 1 Leader as I was trying to squeeze in a much stuff as possible. 

[Lysimachus]

Hmm, thanks all. It's a valid point. And agree my anti-armour is a bit lacking.

 

What units are best for that role in the Index? A RepEx is the probably deadliest, but it's very expensive? Maybe a second Gladiator Lancer would be the best option?

 

I suppose I could cut out the Bolter Discipline Libby leading the Sternguard and the Phobos Lt. That would give me 155pts to spend and free 1 Enhancement slot.

 

A second Lancer is 145, so that would be 10 pts spare. I guess I could shove Arty Armour on one of the other Characters, maybe the Apothecary as he doesn't have an Inv Sv?

 

 

 

Edit: Also, I know it doesn't matter for this list, but if I expanded the army to 2.5 or 3k my first pick would be an allied Freeblade, probably Canis Rex (mainly cos it's cool, but also very good anti-tank/monster!)

Edited July 22, 2023 by Lysimachus

[Tacitus]

Yeah, Bolter Discipline is more for Aggressors.   It still works with Sternguard though.  With Dev Doctrine you Crit Hit on a 5+ - so within 12" for Rapid Fire 1 you've got 

 

~30 shots,  20 hits, 10 bonus hits - 30 hits, 6 Devastating wounds, 12ish wounding hits, 6ish damage  Tack on Storm of Fire and it turns into 8-9ish damage,  + 6 Mortals for 15ish damage and 7.5 dead Marines.  Vs an MSU 5 person, you can trigger Bolter Drill with a second round of shooting (And Getting Double Duty out of Storm of Fire, and Dev Doctrine) - say for the Character who is now standing there all alone in the right situation you'd be looking at 16-18 damage after saves + 12 mortals.   

 

Its maybe not as good really as the Aggressor stacking, but its pretty close.  Trading some extra -3 AP  wounds for some Mortals. 

 

I'm not much of a fan of the Ballistus - I'd swap that for another Lancer first. 

 

The Apothecary doesn't resurrect the Hazardous victims because the Impulsor is the one shooting their guns (Assuming you're using the Firing Deck - in which case you want a Techmarine who can hop out and repair the Impulsor) until the Impulsor is destroyed, then the Hellblasters will be shooting their own plas. 

 

I'm not really a fan of Aircraft.  They have to start in Strategic Reserves and give up a lot of time on target that way. 

 

I think Regular Intercessors are more of a cleanup crew.  After your hammer unit sweeps through an area, the intercessors come in behind and Sticky Cap it. 

 

I'm not fond of the Infernus Squad unless you're really theme building into Battle Shock - Reivers, Reaver Lieutenant, Infernus, Whirlwinds, and Brutalis  - Reivers to hand out -1 to the test, all the other units push out more and more tests.  the 6+ LD of a Marine goes to 7 with the Reivers which is a 50/50 roll, you force 2 tests, and 75% of the time they're Battleshocked. 

 

Indomitus Captain + Indomitus Lieutenant + 6BGV  actually makes Adept of the Codex superfluous - and you can move the Honour Vehemtent here unless you're looking for Tac Doc + Move 6 from Squad Tactics which I think plays well with the Indomitus unit here but needs proper setup while Honour Vehemtent has more reliable payoff. 

 

I like partnering the Phobos Libby with Infiltrators/Incursors for the Super Stealth. 

Edited July 22, 2023 by Tacitus

[Malakithe]

Im all for 2 Lancers as they have a great main weapon and are mostly independent since they have a semi-OoM built in. They are much cheaper and more focused then the RepEx since the RepEx has this weird identity crisis of having a :cuss: load of multi-range guns and a small transport capacity. I can never find a unit thats worth putting in there to make use of the transport part and if your paying that many points you better use every aspect of it.  

[Malakithe]

3 hours ago, Tacitus said:

I'm not fond of the Infernus Squad

To me the only good use for them is a 10 man in a drop pod. 10d6 auto hits wherever you want them is going to make a mess of a lot of stuff. Of course for the same price basically you can get a new shiny Termie unit

[SkimaskMohawk]

3 hours ago, Tacitus said:

I'm not fond of the Infernus Squad unless you're really theme building into Battle Shock - Reivers, Reaver Lieutenant, Infernus, Whirlwinds, and Brutalis  - Reivers to hand out -1 to the test, all the other units push out more and more tests.  the 6+ LD of a Marine goes to 7 with the Reivers which is a 50/50 roll, you force 2 tests, and 75% of the time they're Battleshocked. 

 

Here's the general issue with a lot of the battleshock mechanics; you apply it in your turn via shooting and getting into engagement range with reivers, and then the rules tell your opponent that it lasts until the start of their next command phase.

 

So they still score, they can still fall back without issue, they can still qualify for secondaries, and they can still be combod by strats in their turn. Kinda extremely niche use to turning off defensive strats from the reivers since that happens before targetting (unlike the shooting versions).

[Tacitus]

Yep, not much use to them, but if that's your mojo that's your mojo.