Tactics and state of play - Moritats

[Captain Idaho]

I wanted to get all theme going for strategic, tactical and overview analysis for units common to the majority of Legions players, so thought I'd start with the Moritat since it was iconic in it's place within the player base largely for it's unusual capacity on the table and fairly unique theme.

 

The Moritat has seen plenty of adjustment already in this edition, with Bitter Duty being added after release. A single rule being that large an adjustment? Yes really. It means the choice of accompanying unit has been severely amended, in turn affecting the delivery system to get the most out of the Moritat.

 

What is the Moritat? A solid weapons platform and infantry killer, quite frankly. A Specialist rather than Command choice, thus limiting what Prime Benefits you might be inclined for, namely the Paragon of Battle.

 

Nevermind, this dude still has solid killing power. He has a pair of high powered pistols; Overcharged Volkite Serpenta and Overcharged Plasma Pistols.

 

Now, the good money goes on the plasma... for a meagre 10pts you get higher strength and a decent breaching score but only a "piddly" 6 shots... which is good really.

 

However, Volkite is still good as you get 8 shots plus Deflagrate, meaning you can still put damage on opposing infantry, lighter though. You are wounding on a 2+ for thr main shots whilst the extras are generally wounding Marines on a 3+.

 

If you want to go fluffy and fun, you're not doing terrible with Volkite and to be fair, Cataphractii shouldn't be shot by either really!

 

Delivery system I'd generally advise jump packs personally as getting out of a transport means a disordered charge and thus you can't shoot twice a turn. Sure, you can go Land Raider or Spartan but normally that's your choppy unit taking up space.

 

Because he's probably going Jump Pack, the Moritat should be attended by Destroyers similarly equipped. They can soak damage crucially as it is definitely an attrition based warfare they rage, with enemy Snap Shots or Overwatch being in retaliation.

 

They can all leap forward and put the hurt on infantry and snatch objectives. Firing twice due to shooting and snap shots in melee means they can put a lot of pressure on even large infantry units, despite only having bolt pistols.

 

This is because you're adding the Moritat into the mix which is where he shines. Firestorm means he performs better at snap shots and crucially - no one has to charge!

 

I wouldn't worry about him using Rad Grenades in the shooting phase to soften up a target ready for melee shooting, as you're better off firing a 2nd set of shots than -1 toughness, especially as you're wounding on a 2+ generally anyway. His Destroyer friends can use their Rad Phage missile launchers to pull that trick anyway, whilst maintaining a kill count on anything up to medium infantry like Marines.

 

In summary, I like the Moritat and he provides a solid leader to Destroyers who are nice at rushing forward and hurting objective campers scoring points. Vanguard 2 can help them return a winning formula or blunt an enemy attack on your own objective line units.

[tksolway]

There are so many options for dealing with infantry in this edition, and a lot of them are going to more reliably take down a Tac squad for less points.  

Let's look at your suggestion:

 

Destroyers (5)

10 Pistol Shots (Shooting Phase) = 6.6 hits, 3.3 wounds, and 1.1 kills
10 Pistol Shots (Volley Fire) = 3.3 hits, 1.7 wounds, 0.6 Kills

 

Moritat

6 Plasma (Shooting Phase) = 5 hits, 4.2 Wounds, (2.1 Breaches)+(0.7 failed saves) = 2.8 Kills
6 Plasma (Volley Fire Phase) = 3 hits, 2.5 wounds, (1.25 Breaches)+(0.42 failed saves) = 1.67 Kills

 

Thus, 205 points gets you a squad that kills an average of 6.17 Tac marines, prays for them to fail their panic check, and then gets charged on your opponent's turn because firestorm leaves them with their ass hanging in the wind in front of your opponent's front line.  200 points to kill 60% of a 100 point unit isn't going to cut it.  

 

You can up the size of the destroyers to 10, but then you are paying 295 points for 8.7 kills.  300 points gets you two predators or a squad and a half of terminators, which are going to do more and survive longer.  

 

If you are really looking for a mobile threat to Tacs, you are far better off just running a Veteran Assault Squad, as they have a better Vanguard, and you can add pretty much whatever support character you like.  A 10 man squad would do better than the option above without character support (assuming you actually charge them in afterwards).  Meanwhile, any legion that has good legion specific options are going to blow this out of the water.

 

Finally, the destroyers are just expensive tacs with one wound.  Everything your opponent has to deal with Tacs (and any decent players has a lot) is going to chew through them easily, quickly getting to the juicy Moritat middle.  

 

Moritat's are cool, and if you're playing them for the rule of cool, go nuts.  Running them with destroyers is probably the best way to run them.  But be under no illusion that they are "good".  

[Agramar_The_Luna_Wolf]

I think Moritat now aren't as useful as in the previous edition. Too limited in weapons, options and rules. Maybe, more useful in ZM environments.

 

By the way,and maybe a little bit out of this matter,but did you notice that in the Disintegrator sprue are two Disintegrator guns,one right handed and another one left handed? Curious, when since 2.0 the position of CCW* (*Close Combat Weapon) and pistol are fixed. Maybe something in the future in mind for the Moritat? Or just something planned in 2.0 but not usable now in 3.0?

Edited December 12, 2025 by Agramar_The_Luna_Wolf

[Captain Idaho]

On 12/12/2025 at 6:52 AM, tksolway said:

Moritat's are cool, and if you're playing them for the rule of cool, go nuts.  Running them with destroyers is probably the best way to run them.  But be under no illusion that they are "good".

 

Rule of cool is always a theme!

 

By the way, your maths is off because of the Firestorm rule. Those units hit at full BS in Snap Fire.

 

****

 

Whilst I'm aware there are issues with units having large points costs vs others, there are some factors that do make the Destroyers and Moritat credible. Phage in particular is quite damning for anything in power armour from Destroyer missile launchers, since they can fire on the move quite easily.

 

Speed is important too. Spending points on Terminators is great, I love me my Cataphractii. But they do suffer from snail pace and paying points for it. Inevitably you'll need to invest in a Spartan or Land Raider which means we end up comparing apples to oranges here.

 

I'm not sold that Destroyers are an uber unit by any stretch, I just think they have some utility and alongside a Moritat will commit some damage on units.

[Cadmus Tyro]

Slightly off topic from mortitats, but…..
 

I think destroyers are worth a look, I felt the same about them until someone pointed out the rad grenade rules.

 

As far as I can tell, there’s no limit to the number of rad grenades that can be thrown by the squad. The frag grenade wargear entry limits them to a single model in the squad. But Rad grenades are a weapon entry…..so no limitation.

 

So 9 dudes lobbing Rad grenades (AP3 poisoned (2+)) plus Phosphex from the sergeant. Rinse and repeat in the charge phase…..that’s a lot of potentially dead MEQ, with “phage” softening up what remains. 
 

Cadmus 

[Captain Idaho]

That is a solid point I overlooked. It changes their effectiveness further, into the realms of actually deadly against anything power armoured or less.

 

Charge that turn and you shoot bolt pistols at (odds are) T3 troops.

 

That's another point that's annoying too. It's possible to spread the

Phage around enemy units with missile launchers , turning a squad a turn into T3.

 

Options are always good. 

Edited December 16, 2025 by Captain Idaho

[Cadmus Tyro]

Just realised that rad grenades and Phosphex bombs lack the assault trait and destroyers don’t have implacable, so you’re making volley attacks with pistols.

 

This might be where Rad missiles come in, as they do have the assault trait so can volley at full BS (firestorm). 

 

Thats assuming the squad doesn’t rout to the Phosphex…

 

Cadmus 

[Captain Idaho]

The beauty of routing a unit in the shooting phase is, especially with Phosphex and it's modifier to leadership, you might garner the Routed status in the shooting phase but you don't actually fallback move in the shooting phase. So you can confidently declare a charge in the assault phase and then attack said unit again with Firestorm boosted Snap shots.

 

Rad missiles are always worth firing for whatever Destroyer has them. It provides 2 shots, superior range and all the perks of grenades too.

 

Wounding on a 2+ is just fiendish. AP3 is a boon alongside it.

Edited December 16, 2025 by Captain Idaho

[Captain Idaho]

So in theme to above posts, I'll try my hand in the same manner.

 

My math-hammer ain't perfect, but going by rad grenades and 2 Destroyer missile launchers in a full 10 man squad, I make it:

 

7.15 kills

 

Approximately an additional 2 for the Sergeant throwing phosphex, but very variable with blast markers and hits, so let's count him as an additional rad grenade right now:

 

7.8 kills

 

That's pretty good against power armoured foes.

 

They then get to fire 18 bolt pistols and another 4 missile launchers rad shots in melee, against toughness 3 at this point too.

 

That's 2.6 pistol kills and another 2.2 missle kills for a total 4.8.

 

Overall for a single turn that's 12.6 and we can add the Moritat's 5.6 and we have a healthy 18.2 kills in a turn. 

 

Of course, casualties on the way in might reduce the Destroyer and Moritat's output, but then that works both ways for their target and there's also target saturation to protect the Destroyers which are things relevant too.