As regular readers of TheChirurgeon’s Road through 2023 posts may have seen, I took home the trophy for Best Painted at the Tacoma Open. It was a great event and I had 8 fun games against good opponents, but as I went 3-5 I don’t think anyone’s going to be particularly interested in play-by-plays of all the games. Instead, I’m going to walk through my army and look at how each unit performed overall.
The List
I built this army with a couple goals in mind:
- Use primarily models I’ve painted recently, particularly being sure they’re in my current yellow formula
- Have models that stand out well from a distance
- Require minimal new painting
- Be easy to drive
The last part is key – I hadn’t had a chance to play any practice games, so game 1 on Friday was also my first game of 10th. To hit everything else, I had the option of going with either tanks or dreads, and going with dreads would let me run the shiny new ballistus and my brutalis (which I think is my best painted dread). To run tanks I would’ve needed to source some gladiator lancers, which I think are an endangered species in North America. With the dreads this list also ends up very simple to run – be durable, stand on objectives, shoot things.
Jack's Tacoma Open ListTacoma open (1980 points) Space Marines Imperial Fists Strike Force (2000 points) Gladius Task Force CHARACTER Captain in Terminator Armour (110 points) • Warlord • 1x Relic weapon 1x Storm bolter • Enhancement: The Honour Vehement Primaris Techmarine (75 points) • 1x Forge bolter 1x Grav-pistol 1x Omnissian power axe 1x Servo-arm • Enhancement: Artificer Armour BATTLELINE Heavy Intercessor Squad (110 points) • 1x Heavy Intercessor Sergeant • 1x Bolt pistol 1x Close combat weapon 1x Heavy bolt rifle • 4x Heavy Intercessor • 4x Bolt pistol 4x Close combat weapon 3x Heavy bolt rifle 1x Heavy bolter Heavy Intercessor Squad (110 points) • 1x Heavy Intercessor Sergeant • 1x Bolt pistol 1x Close combat weapon 1x Heavy bolt rifle • 4x Heavy Intercessor • 4x Bolt pistol 4x Close combat weapon 3x Heavy bolt rifle 1x Heavy bolter Intercessor Squad (95 points) • 1x Intercessor Sergeant • 1x Bolt pistol 1x Bolt rifle 1x Power weapon • 4x Intercessor • 4x Bolt pistol 4x Bolt rifle 4x Close combat weapon OTHER DATASHEETS Ballistus Dreadnought (170 points) • 1x Armoured feet 1x Ballistus lascannon 1x Ballistus missile launcher 1x Twin storm bolter Ballistus Dreadnought (170 points) • 1x Armoured feet 1x Ballistus lascannon 1x Ballistus missile launcher 1x Twin storm bolter Brutalis Dreadnought (220 points) • 1x Brutalis bolt rifles 1x Brutalis fists 1x Twin Icarus ironhail heavy stubber 1x Twin multi-melta Desolation Squad (170 points) • 1x Desolation Sergeant • 1x Bolt pistol 1x Castellan launcher 1x Close combat weapon 1x Vengor launcher • 4x Desolation Marine • 4x Bolt pistol 4x Castellan launcher 4x Close combat weapon 4x Superkrak rocket launcher Eliminator Squad (95 points) • 1x Eliminator Sergeant • 1x Bolt pistol 1x Bolt sniper rifle 1x Close combat weapon • 2x Eliminator • 2x Bolt pistol 2x Bolt sniper rifle 2x Close combat weapon Redemptor Dreadnought (225 points) • 1x Icarus rocket pod 1x Macro plasma incinerator 1x Onslaught gatling cannon 1x Redemptor fist 1x Twin storm bolter Redemptor Dreadnought (225 points) • 1x Icarus rocket pod 1x Macro plasma incinerator 1x Onslaught gatling cannon 1x Redemptor fist 1x Twin storm bolter Terminator Squad (205 points) • 1x Terminator Sergeant • 1x Power weapon 1x Storm bolter • 4x Terminator • 1x Assault cannon 4x Power fist 3x Storm bolter
Captain in Terminator Armor
I mostly took this guy because he was one of my favorite models out of the Leviathan box, but I did end up overall pretty happy with his performance. I was running him with The Honor Vehement for the extra strength and attack, which worked out well enough that on a turn when I had Abaddon as my oath target I was able to use the Epic Challenge stratagem and kill him.
Terminator Squad
My other favorites from Leviathan, these guys are taking a vacation into my display cabinet. They’re tough – but still die when any real effort is made to shift them, and not substantially tougher than my heavy intercessors. They punch OK, but not as well as a truly dedicated melee unit, and melee is not really in a great place in 10th. The assault cannon is a good gun, but the rest of the storm bolters are lucky to accomplish much of anything.
Heavy Intercessors
These guys were absolute heroes. At T6, they took just as much dedicated fire to kill as the terminators (especially with +1 to their save on objectives), while putting out more effective shooting. Sure, they can’t punch worth a damn, but they’re a whole lot cheaper than the terminators and having a bunch of S5 guns is very nice.
Intercessors
These guys are also going back into the cabinet. Sticky objectives is nice, but for the most part I’ve got other units that can just stay on the backfield objectives, and the heavy intercessors are just so much more durable for only a few points more.
Desolation Marines
I want to take these out of my list but I can’t, they’re just too good. Even doing nothing but standing behind a building shooting the LOS ignoring weapons at things is enough that my opponent has to do something to deal with them. Couple that with the superkrak missiles if I’m up against big targets and they proved their worth in every single game.
Eliminators
I didn’t end up with strong feelings either way on these. They’re amusing, especially if you roll hot, and infiltrate is useful, but only 3 shots means you have a lot of opportunity to roll cold. They’ll likely remain in my list for the moment, at least until I paint a squad of infiltrators or incursors to do the same job of snagging midfield objectives early for secondaries.
Primaris Techmarine
While he never accomplished anything particularly exciting on his own, he did keep the dreads alive and threw around the to-hit buff. I wish that I could separate the buff from the repair, or that the buff/repair happened after movement rather than in the command phase, but he’s staying in the list regardless. He’s also surprisingly scary if a weaker unit gets close, especially later in the game when a dread has died and he’s up to 7 attacks with the axe.
Brutalis Dreadnought
My favorite looking dread, but sadly also the worst. It never accomplished anything that a redemptor wouldn’t have done better. The multimeltas are worthless as a main gun, only 2 shots at 18″ means they aren’t doing shit early in the game, and you need to get within 9″ to get the bonus damage. At s9 they aren’t any better into vehicles than overcharged plasma off a redemptor. The mortal wounds when it charges is nice, but isn’t enough to make up for losing -1 damage on the redemptor. Back on the shelf you go.
Redemptor Dreadnought
In stark contrast to the brutalis, both of these pulled their weight every single game. They’re durable, have great damage output, and the rocket pod can be a sudden surprise to something like the Nightbringer with anti-fly 2+. I am contemplating testing out the heavy onslaught instead of the plasma – I think the mortal wounds from it might end up close to even into bigger targets while still letting it shoot in melee, but I need to run the math.
Ballistus Dreadnought
Also new with Leviathan, these two were absolute champions. The core of my anti-tank, they can sit back and are super reliable at putting damage into the target. The only real risk is if you come up against someone who rolls hot on their invulnerable saves, as they don’t have a whole lot of shots. The redemptors do a good job filling in there, and there isn’t exactly a high volume s12 gun hiding on something that I could be taking instead.
What’s Next
Key takeaways from my weekend:
- Terminators go away
- Intercessors go away
- Brutalis goes away
- Desolation marines GREAT
- Heavy Intercessors surprisingly great
With that in mind, I’m bumping the desolation squad up to a full 10 models, and sticking a primaris apothecary with bolter discipline in there. There were a couple times when they just barely didn’t clear something, so this’ll give them the power to take out almost anything. I think a third redemptor is going to play better than a third ballistus, and after that swap I end up with 280 points to play with. One of my bigger weaknesses was being able to cross the board, whether to threaten units in my opponent’s deployment zone or to score Engage on All Fronts. I’m adding in a unit of inceptors here to help with that (probably with plasma), and then the remaining points go to a thunderstrike speeder which can both help me knock out knights and give me another quick unit.
Jack's next listTacoma v3 (1995 points) Space Marines Imperial Fists Strike Force (2000 points) Gladius Task Force CHARACTER Primaris Apothecary (80 points) • Warlord • 1x Absolvor bolt pistol 1x Close combat weapon 1x Reductor pistol • Enhancement: Bolter Discipline Primaris Techmarine (65 points) • 1x Forge bolter 1x Grav-pistol 1x Omnissian power axe 1x Servo-arm BATTLELINE Heavy Intercessor Squad (110 points) • 1x Heavy Intercessor Sergeant • 1x Bolt pistol 1x Close combat weapon 1x Heavy bolt rifle • 4x Heavy Intercessor • 4x Bolt pistol 4x Close combat weapon 3x Heavy bolt rifle 1x Heavy bolter Heavy Intercessor Squad (110 points) • 1x Heavy Intercessor Sergeant • 1x Bolt pistol 1x Close combat weapon 1x Heavy bolt rifle • 4x Heavy Intercessor • 4x Bolt pistol 4x Close combat weapon 3x Heavy bolt rifle 1x Heavy bolter OTHER DATASHEETS Ballistus Dreadnought (170 points) • 1x Armoured feet 1x Ballistus lascannon 1x Ballistus missile launcher 1x Twin storm bolter Ballistus Dreadnought (170 points) • 1x Armoured feet 1x Ballistus lascannon 1x Ballistus missile launcher 1x Twin storm bolter Desolation Squad (340 points) • 1x Desolation Sergeant • 1x Bolt pistol 1x Castellan launcher 1x Close combat weapon 1x Vengor launcher • 9x Desolation Marine • 9x Bolt pistol 9x Castellan launcher 9x Close combat weapon 9x Superkrak rocket launcher Inceptor Squad (115 points) • 1x Inceptor Sergeant • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Plasma exterminators • 2x Inceptor • 2x Close combat weapon 2x Plasma exterminators Redemptor Dreadnought (225 points) • 1x Icarus rocket pod 1x Macro plasma incinerator 1x Onslaught gatling cannon 1x Redemptor fist 1x Twin storm bolter Redemptor Dreadnought (225 points) • 1x Icarus rocket pod 1x Macro plasma incinerator 1x Onslaught gatling cannon 1x Redemptor fist 1x Twin storm bolter Redemptor Dreadnought (225 points) • 1x Icarus rocket pod 1x Macro plasma incinerator 1x Onslaught gatling cannon 1x Redemptor fist 1x Twin storm bolter Storm Speeder Thunderstrike (160 points) • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Stormfury missiles 1x Thunderstrike las-talon 1x Twin Icarus rocket pod
It’ll be a little bit before I’ve got everything painted up, but it’ll be an interesting evolution of the current list. I’m hopeful I’ll be able to use it at the Grand Narrative this year, things could always go in a very different way depending on what the rules pack for that looks like.
