Merry Grotmas! Games Workshop is releasing a new series of detachments – one per army, every day until Christmas. In this series we’re looking at these new detachments, covering what’s in them, how they play, and how they’ll fit into the broader meta and your games.
Where do you go with Space Marines when the time comes to add a new Detachment? The faction has a broad range of them already, and any new one also has to contend for attention with Codexes for some of the non-compliant Chapters. That makes creating a cool new Detachment a challenging task, but happily in this case the studio has done a pretty great job of it. Librarians have been under-utilised in 10th, as the bonuses they provide have generally been underwhelming compared to other options, but this Detachment changes that, bringing in classic Psychic discipline themes and flexibility, and rewarding you heavily for including a scattering of Librarians among your units. It means you have to re-evaluate where you’re spending your Leader points to get the most out of it, but it definitely hits a sweet spot of being interesting, unique and fun, so even if it doesn’t end up turbo-competitive (and there are some good combos), it’s a Grotmas win.
We’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of these rules for Review purposes.
Detachment Overview
In simple terms, this Detachment wants you to run psykers, which means attaching Librarians to your units to enable the rules to work at all. A couple of the effects work if you’re in range of and/or can see a friendly psyker, in particular Iron Arm which will help your melee units to get something out of it even if they don’t have a Librarian attached, but 99% of what’s here wants you to have the PSYKER keyword on the target unit.
When I started drafting this I saw the name and thought oh well, this will be bad so at least it will be easy to write. Then as I started looking at what it actually does I thought it might be real after all. It’s probably still the case that being so reliant on Librarians will give it a ceiling, because there’s only so many PSYKER units you can get into a Space Marines army before you’re spending too many points on mediocre characters, but what’s here is pretty cool, with powerful effects throughout the detachment rule, enhancements, and Stratagems.
Pour one out for Librarian Dreadnoughts, they would have loved this.
The Video Version
If you’d rather watch this review through your mind’s eye than read about it, we’ve got you covered here:
Detachment Rule: Psychic Disciplines
At the start of each battle round, you can select one Psychic Discipline to be active until the end of the battle round. All of your ADEPTUS ASTARTES PSYKER units get the effect. There’s five to pick from:
- Biomancy: +2” Move
- Divination: Re-roll Hit and Wound rolls of 1
- Pyromancy: +1 AP for ranged attacks against enemy units within 12”
- Telekinesis: -1 Strength for enemy ranged attacks targeting your unit
- Telepathy: Can ignore any or all modifiers to WS, BS, and/or the Hit roll
A flexible set of options that should always give you something relevant to pick from each battle round.
Enhancements
Each Enhancement here interacts with one of the Psychic Disciplines – and Fusillade interacts with two of them, so that each Discipline is covered. All of them must be taken on a PSYKER, and Prescience cannot be taken on a TERMINATOR model.
- Prescience (25 pts) – A standard reactive move, with the twist here being that your unit makes a Normal move of D6” or an automatic 6” move if the Divination Discipline is active.
- Celerity (30 pts) – The bearer’s unit can Advance and charge. In addition, if the Biomancy Discipline is active you can Fall Back and charge. This one is expensive but the possibility for +2” Movement Terminators with Advance and charge is pretty real.
- Obfuscation (20 pts) – Enemy units cannot use Fire Overwatch against the bearer’s unit, and if the Telepathy Discipline is active they cannot be targeted with ranged attacks outside of 18”.
- Fusillade (15 pts) – Ranged weapons in the bearer’s unit have ANTI-MONSTER and ANTI-VEHICLE 5+, and either SUSTAINED HITS 1 (if Pyromancy is active) or +6” range (if Telekinesis is active).
This is a pretty great set of enhancements, though the best stuff comes in at the expensive end.
Stratagems
Similarly to the enhancements, each of the Stratagems has an interaction with the Psychic Disciplines (except Armour of Contempt, which is the same here as everywhere else).
- Sensory Assault (1 CP) – Used in the Command phase on one of your PSYKER units. Pick one enemy unit within 18” and visible a PSYKER model in that unit; until the start of your next turn that enemy unit is pinned and suffers -2” to their Move characteristic and -2” from any Charge rolls made for it. In addition, if the Telepathy Discipline is active, that enemy unit takes a Battle-shock test at -1. The pinning effect here is really good, though needing to be within 18” in your Command phase is a limiter.
Curie: It can be used in either Command phase, which sets up a pretty fun opportunity to mess with your opponents plans. - Fiery Shield (1 CP) – Fight phase, one of your INFANTRY or MOUNTED units that was selected as the target of an enemy’s attacks and is within 18” of one of your PSYKER models. Until the end of the phase, attacks that target your unit are at -1 to hit and if the Pyromancy Discipline is active, enemy weapons that target your unit have HAZARDOUS. The -1 effect is decent by itself, and the Hazardous can be potentially funny too.
- Iron Arm (1 CP) – Fight phase, one INFANTRY unit within 18” of one of your PSYKER models and has not been selected to fight yet. You get +1 Strength for your melee weapons, or +2 if the Biomancy Discipline is active for your army. As we’ve seen with Liberator Assault Group, +2 Strength is a pretty big difference-maker for Space Marines, so relatively easy access to it is good stuff.
- Assail (1 CP) – Your Shooting phase, one PSYKER unit from your army that is eligible to shoot. Pick one enemy unit within 18” and visible to one of the PSYKER models in your unit; roll six D6 and do a mortal wound for each 4+, or 3+ if the Telekinesis Discipline is active for your army. There is a clause in brackets here that excludes Lone Operatives from being targeted, which weirdly seems to stop you ever using it against them even if you could ordinarily shoot them. Otherwise a way to double up on mortal wounds effects, and a potent one too since it can work on a 3+.
- Prescient Precision (1 CP) – Your Shooting phase, one PSYKER unit from your army that has not yet shot. Until the end of the phase, that unit gets LETHAL HITS, and if the Divination Discipline is active, IGNORES COVER as well. This is a great look on a unit of Hellblasters, especially with Divination up.
Playing This Detachment
As mentioned above, the biggest challenge here is going to be getting all this great stuff onto your units. Librarians aren’t the greatest platform, as they don’t attach to a couple of things you’d like (Bladeguard) and have relatively mediocre output and defences of their own. That said, they’re relatively cheap, and the effects from the Detachment are very good, so there’s potential here – an obvious one is attaching a Librarian to a unit of Hellblasters, who love pretty much all of the Disciplines, get great benefit from the 4+ invulnerable save from Mental Fortress, and like Prescient Precision and/or Pyromancy-powered Fusillade a lot.
Equally, while it’s a shame you can’t get a Librarian onto a unit of Bladeguard, you can put them on Sternguard in their new buffed form who absolutely love what’s on offer here. Attaching a Fusillade Librarian to them allows you to be putting some horrific firepower into an Oathed monster or vehicle – with Pyromancy active you’re re-rolling Sustained Hits, re-rolling ANTI-5+ Devastating Wounds. A squad of 10 in Rapid Fire range will do an awful lot of damage – with the Librarian’s shooting as well, you’re within touching distance of being able to one-shot a Knight, and you can of course soften it up with an Assail or Grenades beforehand if needed.
More low-key but still good is a unit of Eliminators with a Phobos Librarian and Prescience – reactive moves are great for keeping these fragile guys alive even when used aggressively.
Melee isn’t a totally dead letter in this either. You can attach a Librarian to a unit of Assault Intercessors, or do a brick of Terminators, both of which like the extra Movement and the ability to Advance and charge with Celerity and the +2 Strength from Biomancy. The Terminator Librarian handing out SUSTAINED HITS 1 on baseline means that your suddenly fleet-of-foot Terminator brick can be putting out an awful lot of attacks. Meanwhile, although baseline Librarians can’t attach to Bladeguard, Tigurius can, so there’s another reason to run Ultramarines as if one were needed.
Despite the buffs in the dataslate to Codex-compliant Chapters, it’s also worth thinking about what the divergent Chapters can do here. Mephiston, of course, is very funny with all of this. Who doesn’t love that guy with extra Movement range? On the other half of the classic Angels of Death, Inner Circle Companions can be joined by a Librarian, and get good mileage out of Iron Arm and Celerity.
Finally a reminder that Inquisitors exist and can attach to BATTLELINE units; this mostly doesn’t help you, but a small unit of your newly-buffed Intercessors with Draxus attached can be a fun piece to play with.
Strengths
- When you can get them rolling the effects are very powerful.
- You will finally learn what Librarians can be attached to.
- Big flavour win.
Weaknesses
- Very limited benefits to non-PSYKER units.
- Probably helps Codex Marines less than divergent Chapters, which can do funky stuff with attachments (Dark Angels) and or have the vampire wizard (Blood Angels).
- Is Assail meant to not work at all on Lone Operatives?
A Sample List
If you’re wondering which units non-Terminator Librarians can join, the good news is that we’ve done that homework for you already:
You’ll note that Mephiston isn’t on here as he’s locked into wandering by his lonesome, and the special Blood Angels units only allow Chaplains to join – no nerds allowed. That said, don’t count out the Blood Angels, who many not have the fancy unit pairing tricks, but do just fine with their Chief Librarian. On that note, two lists for the price of one here, with James’ Codex version and Liam’s Blood Angels.
Wings’ Librarius Conclave - click to expand Age of Librarius (1990 Points) Space Marines CHARACTERS Librarian (80 Points) Librarian in Terminator Armour (105 Points) Marneus Calgar (200 Points) ◦ 1x Gauntlets of Ultramar ◦ 2x Victrix power sword Uriel Ventris (95 Points) BATTLELINE Intercessor Squad (80 Points) ◦ 1x Bolt pistol ◦ 1x Bolt rifle ◦ 1x Close combat weapon ◦ 1x Astartes grenade launcher ◦ 4x Bolt pistol ◦ 4x Bolt rifle ◦ 4x Close combat weapon OTHER DATASHEETS Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs (90 Points) ◦ 1x Plasma pistol ◦ 1x Power fist ◦ 4x Astartes chainsword ◦ 3x Heavy bolt pistol ◦ 1x Plasma pistol Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs (90 Points) ◦ 1x Plasma pistol ◦ 1x Power fist ◦ 4x Astartes chainsword ◦ 3x Heavy bolt pistol ◦ 1x Plasma pistol Company Heroes (95 Points) ◦ 1x Bolt pistol ◦ 1x Bolt rifle ◦ 1x Close combat weapon ◦ 1x Bolt pistol ◦ 1x Master-crafted power weapon ◦ 2x Bolt pistol ◦ 2x Close combat weapon ◦ 1x Master-crafted bolt rifle ◦ 1x Master-crafted heavy bolter Company Heroes (95 Points) ◦ 1x Bolt pistol ◦ 1x Bolt rifle ◦ 1x Close combat weapon ◦ 1x Bolt pistol ◦ 1x Master-crafted power weapon ◦ 2x Bolt pistol ◦ 2x Close combat weapon ◦ 1x Master-crafted bolt rifle ◦ 1x Master-crafted heavy bolter Gladiator Lancer (160 Points) Scout Squad (70 Points) ◦ 1x Bolt pistol ◦ 1x Boltgun ◦ 1x Close combat weapon ◦ 4x Bolt pistol ◦ 4x Boltgun ◦ 4x Close combat weapon Sternguard Veteran Squad (200 Points) ◦ 1x Close combat weapon ◦ 1x Power fist ◦ 1x Sternguard bolt pistol ◦ 1x Sternguard bolt rifle ◦ 9x Close combat weapon ◦ 9x Sternguard bolt pistol ◦ 7x Sternguard bolt rifle ◦ 2x Sternguard heavy bolter Terminator Assault Squad (360 Points) ◦ 1x Storm Shield ◦ 1x Thunder hammer ◦ 9x Storm Shield ◦ 9x Thunder hammer Vindicator (175 Points) ALLIED UNITS Inquisitor Draxus (95 Points) Exported with App Version: v1.23.0 (3), Data Version: v507
Ultramarines
Librarius Conclave
Strike Force (2000 Points)
Wings: My version goes for the Ultramarines package in command of proceedings, as doubling up Ventris and Calgar with Heroes in the mid-field is a great way to skirmish and cause problems, which is handy while you’re projecting the threat of the Terminators. Ventris lets you Deep Strike the Sternguard, so you can reliably bring them in for a big swing at the opportune moment. The rest of the list is very similar to Liam’s, though I do wonder putting Draxus with the Intercessors is too indulgent in this version – maybe one more Librarian somewhere would be better.
Librarius Conclave Blood Angels sample list - click to expand librarius conclave (1980 points) Space Marines CHARACTERS Chief Librarian Mephiston (125 points) 1x Plasma pistol 1x Vitarus Librarian (80 points) 1x Force weapon 1x Smite Librarian in Phobos Armour (95 points) 1x Force weapon 1x Smite Librarian in Terminator Armour (105 points) 1x Smite BATTLELINE Intercessor Squad (80 points) 1x Bolt rifle 1x Power fist 4x Bolt pistol 4x Bolt rifle 4x Close combat weapon OTHER DATASHEETS Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs (90 points) 1x Power fist 3x Heavy bolt pistol 1x Plasma pistol Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs (90 points) 1x Power fist 3x Heavy bolt pistol 1x Plasma pistol Eliminator Squad (85 points) 1x Close combat weapon 1x Instigator bolt carbine 2x Close combat weapon 2x Las fusil Gladiator Lancer (160 points) 1x Icarus rocket pod 1x Ironhail heavy stubber 1x Lancer laser destroyer 2x Storm bolter Gladiator Lancer (160 points) 1x Icarus rocket pod 1x Ironhail heavy stubber 1x Lancer laser destroyer 2x Storm bolter Repulsor (180 points) 1x Hunter-slayer missile 1x Las-talon 1x Repulsor defensive array 1x Twin lascannon Scout Squad (70 points) 1x Bolt pistol 1x Close combat weapon 4x Bolt pistol 4x Close combat weapon 1x Missile launcher 1x Scout sniper rifle Sternguard Veteran Squad (200 points) 1x Power fist 1x Sternguard bolt pistol 1x Sternguard bolt rifle 9x Sternguard bolt pistol 7x Sternguard bolt rifle 2x Sternguard heavy bolter Terminator Assault Squad (360 points) 1x Thunder hammer 9x Thunder hammer ALLIED UNITS Inquisitor Draxus (95 points) 1x Power fist 1x Psychic Tempest
Blood Angels
Strike Force (2000 points)
Libarius Conclave
Liam: The basics of this are pretty much as laid out above in the “Playing this Detachment” section, with the big bricks of Sternguard and Assault Terminators rocking around with their respective buff Librarians. The Sternguard have a Repulsor to ride in and add some anti-tank along with the two Lancers and the reactive move Eliminators, while both regular and jump Intercessors plus the Scouts hang out for the purposes of scoring objectives while the death bricks hopefully touch their best targets and remove them. Finally there’s Mephiston, great in his own right and fits in this very neatly as a self-supporting Lone Op who can do it all and likes pretty much everything this detachment can give him.
Final Thoughts
That wraps up our look at the Librarius Conclave. Admittedly, when we first heard this was going to be a Librarian-focused Detachment, we were pretty sure it was going to be bad. Then as we looked at the rules and started thinking about the combos, we started to really come around and even get excited. Do we think this is going to be the strongest way to play marines? No, probably not – it’s just hard to top the raw power of the Gladius Task Force. That said, there are some pretty powerful tricks in here and a lot of versatility, and we’ll be shocked if this isn’t immediately competitive.
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