Indomitus Set Impressions - Marine Side

 

At this point, I think everyone's at least aware of what's in the Indomitus boxed set.  I've had a chance to muck around with the marines a bit, and here's where I think they'll fit in.  Note this is in advance of a new codex, and we also have plenty of rumors and teasers of re-worked weapons profiles anyways.

Primaris Captain

Hey, look at that - the marines got a captain in their side.  There are a handful of other power-armor captains out there.  You get a heavy bolt pistol, a two-damage S5 power sword, and a relic shield that ends up granting you a 2+/4++ with a 4+ save vs. mortal wounds.

This guy's a niche piece, I feel - you can get more melee punch and speed off the good ol' hammer/shield/jump pack captain.  The powerfist/plasma pistol captain has better strength on weapons.  The vanilla sheet also gets you better ranged guns.  But, if you're going to wade in and thrash, the relic shield makes this guy worth considering.

Impression - consider the captain if you're skipping a 'smash' captain and going try to crush face in melee.

Primaris Lieutenant 

So, full confession - we all love those Primaris Lieutenant memes, but this guy actually has a pretty solid loadout.  This guy has a decent melee weapon (S5 2-damage power sword), an invulnerable save via storm shield, AND a pretty solid pistol.  I mean, come on - it's two shots at S5, two damage, and potential mortal wounds.

If you're going to take a primaris lieutenant (and unless you're going for a jump pack, might as well go Primaries) give this guy a look.

Impression - I honestly think I'm gonna end up using this guy a fair amount.  He's got a decent gun, and unlike all his other lieutenant buddies, he's got an invulnerable save.

Primaris Chaplain

Um, it's a chaplain, fellas.  We already have this.  It's a neat new model, but doesn't bring anything new.

Judiciar

Now, THIS is something new.  Sure, he's got melee punch.  Here's what we care about, though - "You, you there, within 6 inches - you go last."  If you are on foot (Maybe if you're Iron Hands and still trying for the whole mob of intercessors), the enemy basically HAS to hit you with as many elements as they can at the same time.  

Why?  Well, one of them goes last.  Another one swings, and then you can pop your 2CP interrupt stratagem.  If you're in a foot mob, or delivering a large group of guys via transports, then bring this guy.

Impression - it's build-specific, but definitely worth bringing if you think your mob of troopers is going to get charged.

Bladeguard Ancient

This is basically a riff on the existing Ancient, except that it provides Bladeguard-specific buffs.  Frankly, the "act again on a 4+" isn't super-reliable, and the utility depends a) on stuff dying, and b) stuff dying when its retaliation is meaningful.

For example - bladeguard dying and shooting a pistol is kinda 'meh.'  Hellblasters gettng punched to death and swinging a couple times in melee is 'meh.'

Impression - The codex may bring more, but consider this guy only if you're already bringing a couple bladeguard squads.

Bladeguard Veterans

First, first impression - um, what's up with 3W?  You're not Gravis guys.  That aside, at first glance these guys are in a wonky spot.  They're a small unit.  However, they're kind of sick in melee - everyone's packing a storm shield (even if it is the weird new-ish one) and a master-crafted power sword.  If you're bringing these, consider bringing a pair.

Realistically, these aren't for every army - if you try to walk them across the board, expect someone to thank you, and shoot them off the board if they can.  Build around delivering a couple squads into the enemy, though, and maybe you'll enjoy 'em.

Impression - Some chapters will love them, others won't necessarily care - but don't bolt them onto any build and assume they'll do great.

Assault Intercessors

Well, it's about time we got stabby intercessors.  I have to assume that the codex will let Sarge take melee options, especially since regular Intercessors already have them.  These guys will be fine for knocking enemies off existing objectives with fistfuls of dice (outside of anything else, you're cranking out 4 dice a dude on the charge at AP-1) if you can get there.  Note that if a volume of attacks is what you're after, you can always look at the auto bolt rifle on regular intercessors.  You lose the chainsword and fancy pistol, but go up to an assault 3 gun with 24" range.  You also get a stratagem to auto-hit all your shots at 12" range.  You don't always, y'know, WANT to be punching someone to death - and you still aren't a slouch in melee.

And that 'if' means that these may not be for everyone.  It's the same idea as Bladeguard vets - you're specialists.  Build around it, or don't take them.  And ask if you're ready to give up a rifle before going into melee.

Impression - I think a lot of armies will keep to existing intercessors, unless you've got great melee rules (cough cough, white scars, cough cough).  Otherwise, if you want volume of attacks, the assault bolt rifle's an option.

Outriders

I'll admit I'm partial to these guys.  They're fairly beefy in terms of toughness and wounds (T5, four wounds a guy), but note that bikes interact with cover differently than regular infantry.  You want to break LOS if possible on the approach.

And believe me, you want to make that approach.  If you want a chaff-clearer, it's these guys.  If you make the charge with a full unit, you're throwing out a hilarious 19 attacks with S4 AP-1 chainswords that hit on 3+.  It sounds like a lot, but it's reasonable to assume you're operating outside of support.  You'll be doing all this after firing a half-dozen bolt-rifles' worth of shots into the target too.  All told, that's a dozen AP-1 bolter shots onto your target first. 

In spite of the volume of attacks, remember - these guys are probably going to run screaming well out of range of any re-roll auras you have.

Based on the volume of attacks these guys get, I don't think we'll see Sarge getting melee options.  5 Thunder Hammer swings on the charge on turn one seems...unlikely.

These guys will be useful for putting pressure on objectives early, or going for stuff like 'Engage on All Fronts.'  

Admittedly, some armies will get more mileage out of these guys, but I think everyone can get something out of them.

Impression - I'm sold.  I won't run these all the time, but I can see running a couple units of these just to mess with someone else's plans.  

Eradicators

Let's be real - these are the guys everyone focused on when Indomitus dropped.  Honestly, it's understandable - the mere presence of these guys is meta-shifting.  You have to assume that a squad or two of these guys is going to walk off the side of the board and double-tap something important.

A 24" range is just about impossible to screen against, unless you're using terrain or stratagems.  You can probably keep them out of melta range, though.  Also god help you if you managed to leave a character exposed, someone's going to have to get a bucket and a mop.

Obviously their natural prey is enemy armor, monstrous creatures, and really, really beefy infantry.  You'll rarely ever skip out on Total Obliteration.

Why?  Unless you're starting these guys on the board (and hiding them well, just in case you don't go first) these guys may not be in re-roll range.

Expect one good round of shooting out of these guys.  They're reasonably durable at T5 with a 3+ save, so if the enemy can't shoot them to death, they may just assault them.  And Eradicators have....a pistol...for close combat.  So, y'know, try not to get into a fistfight.  And expect the enemy to try to charge them to tie them up if not kill them out-right.

Army-wise, any Marine army would be happy to run a couple units.  Note that anything that makes them more accurate is great - Salamanders come to mind, for reasons mentioned above.

Impression - Most marine players will try these guys a few times.  Not everyone will ultimately keep them.  Others will eventually adapt to them, one way or the other.

Overall Impressions

Eradicators drew all the attention first - and it's not undeserved.  That being said, I'm partial to the Outriders myself.  However, don't sleep on the Lieutenant - it's a solid loadout.  Finally, most of the rest of the box has at least a situational use.

9th Edition - Initial Thoughts

 Ninth's been out on the streets for a hot minute.  Hopefully everyone's had a chance to play with it - pretty sure there've been some tournaments out there already, for those that have been lucky enough to be in a position to attend them.  The world's bit crazy and Nurgle-y these days.

Objectives - and holding them

So, if you've read any of the missions, watched battle reports, or, y'know, played - this matters.  You should be aiming to hold as many objectives as possible.  You do this by slapping durable troops on them at the beginning of the turn, and living for a turn.  You want to grab 10-15 points a turn.

You take objectives from someone else by murdering troops on them, and/or slapping more bodies with Objective Secured on said objective.  Now, killing is well and good, and most armies have ways of killing things.

What's this mean?  If you have durable troops, or durable models that can throw down in close, you're in good shape.  If not?  You're not in a great position right now.  Considering that 2/3 to 3/4 of your points in a game are coming from these, it's kind of important.

Short version - I hope you have durable troops and lots of firepower, if not both.  I also hope you have a decent number of units.  I see this HOPEFULLY changing as more codices come out and/or point values get tweaked.

Command Re-Roll Tweak

Not gonna lie - this is one of the sleeper hits of a change in 9th.  There are a LOT of things that got changed by this.  On the face it, it looks like there are a lot of things you can re-roll - hits, wounds, damage rolls, saves, advances, charges, psychic tests, deny the witch tests, or the number of tests.

There are a lot of things you're not re-rolling, though.  Most codices have a strategem like "Deny the witch on a 4+" (Hey, black templar, Iron Hands, World Eaters...).  In 8th, you realistically had a 75% chance of that working - drop a CP, roll 1d6, and then maybe drop a command point re-roll.  Also, Necrons have a neat little "My character reanimates on a 4+" which can be a 100-150pt swing.

Well, now that's back to a flat dice roll.  Look, these are probably still worth the gamble.  However, they're not nearly as reliable as they used to be.

Short version - THIS is bigger than you think it is and WILL surprise you more than once or twice.

Command Point Regeneration

You'll get one back a turn in matched play, and a number of armies can bring a way to get another one back on a 5+ or so.  If you bring only one detachment, you can have somewhere between 17-22 command points in a game.  22 is gonna be some crazy luck on 5+ rolls though.

What does this mean?  Bringing another detachment for a couple CP isn't that big a deal.  Similarly, spending a CP or two on another relic and/or another warlord trait isn't a bad thing unless you really were going to burn all 12 CP in two turns on breaking the other army's back.

Short version - Don't worry about burning a couple in the build phase.  If you can bring a way to get more back without losing a crazy important relic, think about it.

Game Length - Fixed at Five Turns

In 8th, if you weren't playing for a fixed amount of time in, say, a tournament, you could go for 5-7 turns.  Now you have five turns and then you're done.  You have four turns to score the primary take-and-hold objectives.

Short Version - you know game length now, and how/when you're going to have to score.

Secondary Objectives

You can get a lot of points off primaries - but it won't be enough to win.  So, secondary objectives matter.  Next up - man, there are some options.  Don't panic.

Look at your army list and look at the secondary objectives.  This is going to tell you if you can discard some of them out of hand.  I'd recommend doing this first.  Battlefield Supremacy, Shadow Operations, and Warpcraft all depend on your build.

Battlefield Supremacy cares about deep striking, speed, and/or outflanking from reserves.  If you can do these, consider Linebreaker and/or Engage on All Fronts.  Domination is great too if you have plenty of troops.

Shadow Operations is for people with lots of infantry units.  You're gonna be performing Actions, which take a unit offline for a turn and involve not being assaulted or shot off the objective.  If this isn't you, consider skipping it.

Warpcraft - did you bring psykers?  If not, skip 2/3 of this.  If the enemy brought psykers, consider this for Abhor the Pskyer.

That brings us to Purge the Enemy and No Mercy, No Respite - these depend on the other side's composition.

Purge The Enemy is pretty much about killing specific stuff.  You're either killing characters (the more, the better), killing Titanic Models, or killing the Warlord.  Note that the Warlord one is low-value (only 6pts).

No Mercy, No Respite is more about killing regular guys.  Thin Their Ranks is all about nailing hordes - every ten infantry you kill is a point, and everyone 10+ wound model is 10 points.  Pretty simple.  Attrition is for durable armies - 4pts a turn if you kill more than them, so if you're elite and they're not, think about it.  First Strike is a thinking man's objective - if you can off a unit in turn one, 5 points.  It's 8 total if you kill more than they do in turn one.

Note also that all the scenarios have a bespoke secondary objective as well.  It's worth thinking about if none of the other objectives look good.

Short version - secondaries aren't that bad if you think about them.  Build to hold objectives, then think from there.

Terrain

Honestly, I like the new terrain rules.  They're pretty decent once you think about them and read them a couple times, and reasonably sensible.  As much as I like the idea of true LOS, this trims down some arguments, and I'm all about that life.  It's an adjustment worth making.

Max +1/-1 Modifier

There are definitely some armies that took a hit on this - Alpha Legion and Aeldari fliers come to mind.  There are also going to be some interesting interactions on this, like infantry moving and shooting heavy weapons into dense cover and only taking a -1 to hit, after taking a pair of -1 to hit penalties.

Overall

I am generally enjoying 9th.  However, I've got concerns about some armies out of the gate - some armies are going to struggle with objectives.  I'm worried about regular Chaos Marines, for example - cultists and baseline Chaos marines are so-so at best for durability and lethality.  

You don't HAVE to bring any troops in this edition, but you can also watch a dozen terminators stare blankly at a single tactical marine on an objective - who can then be the difference between a guy scoring 10 and 15 VP in a turn, because ObSec.

Fingers crossed that we see some point tweaks and get some neat stuff in the new codices.