How viable is an infantry-heavy BT army?

[Antarius]

My Horus Heresy project has been scuppered, as my friend would rather try 10th edition (I myself have only tried two small games, both of which I found enjoyable, but as you can imagine, I am hardly an expert). We’re not looking to do competitive stuff but I think it’s probably more fun if we can both realistically “do something” with our armies. He’s looking at Orks and I’m looking at Black Templars (and Deathwatch, but that’s another story) and I generally prefer my armies infantry heavy + I don’t like the new Primaris vehicles but I could use some of my OG marine tanks or Heresy stuff, as we don’t mind Legends.

 

So, anything I should be aware of? I like the idea of three Crusader squads and some of the more macabre looking characters (I have a Castellan as well as the Leviathan and previous starter set characters) but I worry that not having a lot of heavy firepower is going to be a problem? Am I right to worry or should I be able to handle most stuff by smashing it up in cc and/or purging it with fire?

[N1SB]

Our Warhammer Store manager, who's both a good strategist and a good salesman, main'd infantry-heavy BT.

 

He's got this philosophy that I like about how people choose their factions, that incidentally also supports your idea.  In addition to wanting to at least be competitive, people choose an army for a playstyle reason.  Like if people play Tau, they tend to want Battlesuits, which also happens to be their most competitive choice as well.

 

And in that same philosophy, if people were to play BT, it's for their Crusader Squads.  I think he does 1 massive blob of Crusaders with their Neophytes and 1 or 2 smaller ones, instead of 3 equally distributed Crusader Squads.  Not sure what he does for heavy firepower now, I'll let you know next time I talk to him about it.

 

I'll update you when I get more info.  But for theme, would you consider some Imperial Knights for the big guns?

[TheArtilleryman]

I think infantry-heavy is generally a good way to go for marines this edition. When you put down your marines and almost outnumber a guard or tau or ork player, you know you’re gonna have a good game. 
 

For firepower, even without vehicles you can still field eradicators, hellblasters, centurions, desolators and devastators, so you’ve got plenty of choices.

 

You could also drop in a dreadnought or two - redemptors are insanely good, and they’re on legs, so they’re technically still infantry, right?

Edited yesterday at 01:39 PM by TheArtilleryman

[Antarius]

Yeah, Dreadnoughts are awesome - I might use the old ones though, as I have plenty of them lying about (and I prefer the models). I'm not necessarily going pure infantry either, I just don't like the Primaris vehicles. I have no idea how essential transports are in 10th but that's what Land Raiders are for, right?

[TheArtilleryman]

Just now, Antarius said:

Yeah, Dreadnoughts are awesome - I might use the old ones though, as I have plenty of them lying about (and I prefer the models). I'm not necessarily going pure infantry either, I just don't like the Primaris vehicles. I have no idea how essential transports are in 10th but that's what Land Raiders are for, right?

Agreed about the primaris vehicles. For me they look great from above as you can pretend they’re on tracks, but I just can’t bring myself to like the anti-grav from the side.

 

Land Raiders are pretty good in 10th, I believe. The vehicle buff has made them very tough and they’re the only SM tanks with the assault ramp, which is such a massive thing. The turn-1-terminators-assaulting-from-a-land-raider bomb is back in 10th and frighteningly effective.

[TheNicronomicon]

1 hour ago, Antarius said:

Yeah, Dreadnoughts are awesome - I might use the old ones though, as I have plenty of them lying about (and I prefer the models). I'm not necessarily going pure infantry either, I just don't like the Primaris vehicles. I have no idea how essential transports are in 10th but that's what Land Raiders are for, right?

Land Raiders are probably the best transport/tank option for Marines in 10th. Better than the Repulsor or Repulsor Executioner by far, and you'll definitely want the assault ramp playing BT. Repulsors are decent transports if you use the shield dome and firing deck; great for ferrying MSUs around, but there's no reason you can't counts-as a Rhino in a friendly game. Or just ignore the Primaris restriction on the Rhinos! I doubt it's going to break your games. 

Signed, 

A Wolves player who likes sticking Ragnar and a lieutenant and a pack leader with a blob of Blood Claws into a Land Raider

[Helias_Tancred]

Helbrecht + sword brethren can wreck anything, including vehicles, etc. Run them in your list and get them where they need to go. 

 

 

[MadGamerAK]

3 hours ago, Helias_Tancred said:

Helbrecht + sword brethren can wreck anything, including vehicles, etc. Run them in your list and get them where they need to go. 

 

 

100%. These guys are destroyers.

[Antarius]

I definitely want Sword Brethren! I am thinking of not bringing any special characters though, so I hope that they are still viable with a standard Chaplain or similar character in tow.