Unit of the week Unit of the week (10th edition index tactica) : Legionaries

[Cpt.Danjou]

+++Unit of the week+++

 

 

 

Chaos Legionaries

 

How do you use legionaries?

• Marks
• Attached Character
• Equipment
• Role

 

This is a discussion about Legionaries in the 10th edition index. Tell us your tactics, fun facts, your experience with them, and other things that are interesting with Legionaries.

 

Cpt. Danjou

[Cpt.Danjou]

If I bring them, I take Mark of Tzeentch, so I can get the lethal hits for shooting. I always equip two Havoc Auto cannons in a ten man squad, as I feel the consistent 3 wounds are better than when using a lascannonon, as they throw out more shots. In one game my a-can managed to erase one squad of 1k son terminators. I most often use them as my backfield guards, using cultists as my objective takers/holders.

 

But I don't use them as much as in the 9th.

 

Interestingly an A-can legionaries who stands still will hit on 2+ as the rules are written right now, clearly just a copy paste error, they have BS3 with the (Heavy) havoc Auto cannon.

 

Cpt. Danjou

[Kaiju Soze]

Not being able to double up on special & heavy weapons remains a pain.

 

I'd favour Exalted Champions over MoE fot them since Legionaries already have re-roll wounds in melee.

[Kythnos]

4 hours ago, Cpt.Danjou said:

I always equip two Havoc Auto cannons in a ten man squad,

 

I thought doubling up wasn't possible anymore. Or did I misread the unit entry?

[Cpt.Danjou]

1 hour ago, Kythnos said:

 

I thought doubling up wasn't possible anymore. Or did I misread the unit entry?

It looks like I have a done an oopsie, next time I will split them into 5 man squads. Damn you lazy writing.

 

Cpt.Danjou

[Iron Father Ferrum]

They provide a mid-field presence for me, and ancillary anti-infantry fire.  MoT, Sorcerer, Eye for the CP, ideally with a Helbrute nearby because I will take the three I'm allowed.  I have employed the HB/RCC combo for weaponry and the Tome to bab a little extra AP on the ranged attacks.

 

With Lethal Hits on 5s, even massed bolters can knock wounds off hard targets, and the combination of Prescience and Skinshift makes them surprisingly difficult to shift.

[WatchCaptainNavar]

I ran this unit in my first game

 

10 legionnaires 

2 heavy melee weapons

6 chainswords

heavy bolter

auto cannon 

icon

slaneesh

rhino

exalted champion 

sorcerer 

 

with the plan of using them as mission problem solvers and objective grabbers, but I think I over invested in them as even with the buffs they bounced in melee and then got demolished over 2 rounds of combat.

 

instead for my power armoured iron warriors. I prefer 3 units of havocs for firepower and cultists for screening / objective admin.

 

My last game I didn’t run any and terminators, havocs and cultists worked well for me

Edited July 25, 2023 by WatchCaptainNavar

[sonsoftaurus]

Quote

 

with the plan of using them as mission problem solvers and objective grabbers, but I think I over invested in them as even with the buffs they bounced in melee and then got demolished over 2 rounds of combat.

What did they bounce off of/get wrecked by? 

 

[WatchCaptainNavar]

It was a necron deep striking character / monster unit, but I can’t remember its name. It dipped into my deployment zone so I counter charged it with the legionaries to keep my gun line free to engage the rest of hood force Even with the dark pact hitting on 2s strength 4 and ap-1 dmg 1 doesn’t feel very effective for punching up compared to 9th.

 

What triggered the change in the list for me was realising I’d spent enough on the squad, rhino and characters to the point where a 10 man terminator squad was cheaper and they of course can carry 2 reaper autocannons, 6 power firsts, 2 chain fists. While bringing more wounds, higher toughness and better saves

 

 As a point of comparison with the loyalist equivalent a squad of havoc with autocannons did nasty things to a squad of assault intercessors in my most recent game when they caught them in the open after a failed charge and benefited from plunging fire, thanks to the 3 damage so any failed save was a kill.

[Tallarn Commander]

I've found Legionaries perform better in 10th than they did in post-CSM Codex 9th thanks to the Dark Pact rules and OC2. But that's not saying much because Legionaries were pretty lousy in 9th.

 

I've found utility in chainsword/dual heavy melee weapon/lascannon squads that support choppier units like Chosen or Helbrutes on objectives in midfield. Burning a CP to give Slaaneshi squads advance and charge really helps 'em get there. And Khornate squads can actually wound big things.

 

Legionaries are not brawlers, but OC2 does matter these days so I have found 1 or 2 squads of 10 melee Legionaries useful.

 

As an aside, I wanted to love the Havoc Autocannon but there's just so much darned high toughness stuffing my meta that the lascannon's str12 really outshines the autocannon's str9. I've also stopped taking Balefire Tomes and meltaguns in my Legionaries because these upgrades (which were quite good in 9th) are now lackluster. I just take 2 more chainswords instead.

[Cpt.Danjou]

Havoc Autocannons are now fixed and have BS4+ as they should have from the start. 26/07/2023.

 

Cpt. Danjou

[Kaiju Soze]

And for the time being, taking a plasma pistol on a legionary also gives you chainsword and bolt pistol.

Edited July 26, 2023 by Kaiju Soze

[WatchCaptainNavar]

4 hours ago, Cpt.Danjou said:

Havoc Autocannons are now fixed and have BS4+ as they should have from the start. 26/07/2023.

 

Cpt. Danjou

It was inevitable, good old gw copy and pasting the profile from the havocs to the legionaries.

 

that said I still like them, that 3 damage when they punch through is excellent for dropping marines and chunk damage vehicles. Especially when they’re high enough to benefit from plunging fire.

 

and for an adjacent autocannon the predator gained rapid fire 2 like all its cousins in other codex’s 

[Newbiticus]

For a close combat focused support unit would it be unwise to equip say a heavy bolter / plasma gun for some extra ranged punch before they land or a pair of special weapons?

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I guess it depends on how you want them to get there - if they are on foot, I would be more inclined towards the heavy weapons and more towards the special weapons if they are in a transport.

 

That said, I think you would be better off with an autocannon or chaincannon instead of the plasmagun.

[WatchCaptainNavar]

While they’re free I don’t see a reason why you wouldn’t take the maximum amount of heavy weapons. Especially as 10th favours chaos shooting.
 

I’d also go with 2 heavies that complement the mark or fill gaps in your coverage I.e las cannons  or chain cannons, especially now our rhino firing decks have been restored.

 

 I’m also in agreement that special weapons haven’t got a niche at the moment with both melta and plasma being a poor choice at the moment compared to what they were in 9th. The only place in running special weapons currently is on my havoc sergeants.

 

 All that said I’d be careful about buying new legionarie kits to build an index optimised squads as I’m sure wargear points cost will return to add some more granularity to the game and help with balancing before to long. But if you do need heavies hit the bits sites for the new heresy mk6 heavy weapon kits and some bodies to carry them.