Legion Line Units for VP farming.

[choppyred]

Which legion line unit is best for just sitting on an objective and gaining Victory Points for the cause?

 

 I was thinking Iron Hands Tactical squad as their legion rules give -1 to the strength of incoming fire making them more survivable.

 

 What is everyone else's experience? Are there better objective campers available in any army?     

[Agramar_The_Luna_Wolf]

I don't know if it's the best, but I think Death Guard inductii are pretty nice.

[N1SB]

I'll be playing Iron Hands for the Dreadnought (who get that -1 Strength, so immune to Bolters!), so you actually helped me on a thing.

 

From watching games, Tactical Squads are indeed the go-to for their Line (2) objective scoring, but they're susceptible to 2 things:

 

• Vindicators: their Demolisher Cannon's so strong that -1S sadly doesn't help
• Status effects: which prevents them from doing Their Thing, which is to score

 

(Traitor) Emperor's Children have this Stupefied effect that makes them immune to Statuses.  Brother Kraskor pointed this out like on Day 1 and I didn't realise how important that was until I watched my 1st game.  They'll still eat that piping hot Vindicator Pie when it comes their way, but at least they're immune to those Status effects, but that's like being immune to half the problems that TacSquads face.  And the way Allied Detachments work, EC TacSquads are easy to plug & play into an army.  I myself will be going for maybe 2 of these.

 

I haven't gotten to the point of no return yet, so I'm keen to hear better options before I commit.

[Cadmus Tyro]

I’m toying with the idea of Lernaean terminators for my Alpha legion. They’re a pretty durable line unit, but pricy and slow. Their conversion Beamer option does help them engage at longer range though…..

 

Cadmus

[choppyred]

Interesting, with regards to status effects effectively turning off the squads ability to score victory points.

 

 Have you or anyone else considered Blackshields with The Flesh is Weak Oath of Moment which turns the squad in to the Automata type which I believe makes them immune to status effects at the cost of making reactions.

 

 Would that be worth it?

[Gorgoff]

3 hours ago, choppyred said:

Interesting, with regards to status effects effectively turning off the squads ability to score victory points.

 

 Have you or anyone else considered Blackshields with The Flesh is Weak Oath of Moment which turns the squad in to the Automata type which I believe makes them immune to status effects at the cost of making reactions.

 

 Would that be worth it?

If you play Blackshields and like to build half men half robot marines go for it.  

[Razorblade]

17 hours ago, N1SB said:

I'll be playing Iron Hands for the Dreadnought (who get that -1 Strength, so immune to Bolters!), so you actually helped me on a thing.

 

From watching games, Tactical Squads are indeed the go-to for their Line (2) objective scoring, but they're susceptible to 2 things:

 

• Vindicators: their Demolisher Cannon's so strong that -1S sadly doesn't help
• Status effects: which prevents them from doing Their Thing, which is to score

 

(Traitor) Emperor's Children have this Stupefied effect that makes them immune to Statuses.  Brother Kraskor pointed this out like on Day 1 and I didn't realise how important that was until I watched my 1st game.  They'll still eat that piping hot Vindicator Pie when it comes their way, but at least they're immune to those Status effects, but that's like being immune to half the problems that TacSquads face.  And the way Allied Detachments work, EC TacSquads are easy to plug & play into an army.  I myself will be going for maybe 2 of these.

 

I haven't gotten to the point of no return yet, so I'm keen to hear better options before I commit.

Keep in mind that you test to remove status before scoring (and you probably also get a vox before that) so they aren't that much of a concern to objective sitters 

12 hours ago, choppyred said:

Interesting, with regards to status effects effectively turning off the squads ability to score victory points.

 

 Have you or anyone else considered Blackshields with The Flesh is Weak Oath of Moment which turns the squad in to the Automata type which I believe makes them immune to status effects at the cost of making reactions.

 

 Would that be worth it?

Nope because they replace line with a strictly worse rule that also caps at +1VP. Blackshields have completely insane rules for farming VPs regardless of objectives though

[Brother Kraskor]

As mentioned above by N1SB, I think the humble Tactical marine under EC Hereticus rules has got to be the most reliable, points-efficient objective scorer. Just turning off statuses entirely means you never have to worry about it - regardless of how much Fear etc. the enemy is packing, or if they have some Phosphex knocking around. It also means you have to kill every last one of them, so enemy assaulters have to be reasonably determined - they can't rely on just being killier than the Tacs and making them flee. And on top of that you get a 6+ FNP thrown in as icing on the cake!

[Razorblade]

3 hours ago, Brother Kraskor said:

As mentioned above by N1SB, I think the humble Tactical marine under EC Hereticus rules has got to be the most reliable, points-efficient objective scorer. Just turning off statuses entirely means you never have to worry about it - regardless of how much Fear etc. the enemy is packing, or if they have some Phosphex knocking around. It also means you have to kill every last one of them, so enemy assaulters have to be reasonably determined - they can't rely on just being killier than the Tacs and making them flee. And on top of that you get a 6+ FNP thrown in as icing on the cake!

As above, I'm not sure that status effects are enough of a problem to simple line-farmers for this to be significant. Not being routed in combat (and thus also denying potential vanguard) is very good, but you need to get shot beforehand or use a charge reaction. The FNP is nice but you only get it after you've been shot (or charged) at least once, so the trait is entirely useless against units that can lift an entire tactical squad in a single shot. 

They're very good but I'm not sure that they're always better than Salamanders, Raven Guard or Iron Hands.

[Brother Kraskor]

On 10/19/2025 at 11:19 PM, Razorblade said:

As above, I'm not sure that status effects are enough of a problem to simple line-farmers for this to be significant. Not being routed in combat (and thus also denying potential vanguard) is very good, but you need to get shot beforehand or use a charge reaction. The FNP is nice but you only get it after you've been shot (or charged) at least once, so the trait is entirely useless against units that can lift an entire tactical squad in a single shot. 

They're very good but I'm not sure that they're always better than Salamanders, Raven Guard or Iron Hands.

 

In my experience the mind games it forces on your opponent, even when dealing with Line farmers, does make it significant, even if we take the view the status effects aren't an issue (I'd posit they aren't until they are, and then they very much are!). The charge reaction isn't limited to once per game, and if your opponent is scared of shooting you because of this effect then that's a win for Line anyway. Sure, it can't beat being wiped in a single shot, but then if your enemy is pouring that much firepower into Tac squads again you're doing well! I've played with this trait a good few times and it has always, always been commented on by both me and my opponent throughout the game as really strong. 

[choppyred]

Can any Iron Warriors players comment on how their  Legion Tactica - The Bitter End: units ignore any penalties to Cool or Leadership checks from Stun/Panic/Suppressive/Pinning weapons

 work in practice. Does it help with resisting status's and scoring VP's? 

[Gorgoff]

16 hours ago, choppyred said:

Can any Iron Warriors players comment on how their  Legion Tactica - The Bitter End: units ignore any penalties to Cool or Leadership checks from Stun/Panic/Suppressive/Pinning weapons

 work in practice. Does it help with resisting status's and scoring VP's? 

You ignore modifiers to these test while making them. If you fail you still get a status but modifiers doesn't make those test harder for you because you ignore them.

[Pacific81]

I haven't played any games yet, but have read that the vox operator helps line units a lot in terms of scoring, and that those are a 'must have' in tactical or other line units.

 

One thing I did read mentioned is that right now these are very useful, because the missions are so weighted to objective capture, but there is every chance new books/missions will change this balance. So might be something to consider before spending £100s and months of hobby time just building tactical guys.

[Gorgoff]

On 10/24/2025 at 10:55 AM, Pacific81 said:

I haven't played any games yet, but have read that the vox operator helps line units a lot in terms of scoring, and that those are a 'must have' in tactical or other line units.

 

One thing I did read mentioned is that right now these are very useful, because the missions are so weighted to objective capture, but there is every chance new books/missions will change this balance. So might be something to consider before spending £100s and months of hobby time just building tactical guys.

They already released new missions in the latest journal and they were also had their emphasis on scoringn objectives.

I guess they won't go back to missions where objectives are more or less irrelevant. 

Besides tacticals always were and always will be worth taking because they are awesome. 

[choppyred]

Ok so which is the best prime benefit for line 2 tactical marines ?

 

 Combat veterans

 

 or

 

 True believers  ?

[Razorblade]

4 hours ago, choppyred said:

Ok so which is the best prime benefit for line 2 tactical marines ?

 

 Combat veterans

 

 or

 

 True believers  ?

True believers tough nuncio voxes make noth pretty redundant. I'd argue the best prime advantage for tacticals is Interdiction cadre