Week 4: The Crusader and their Line Brothers

The Crusader Squad alongside Grey Hunters is the ideal line squad for much the same reason that Intercessor and Reivars have been discussed throughout these last few weeks. They are jack of all trades, while each having their own focus or role they excel, they don’t do poorly in any role. Of those four units, Crusader Squads are special. They are only of the four without battlefield flexibility, only strategic flexibility. Flexibility determined in the list building stage. That is all vaguely nebulous, let’s focus on Hunters, and Crusaders vs Tacticals. Why are Tacticals bad?

1. They are what is essentially a tactical firefight unit, they want to get within 12” for maximum effectiveness. However they lack the ability to follow up once they are in optimal engagement range.
2. The Chaos equivalent, to Tacticals, the Chaos Marine Squad, doesn’t have that issue, being able to go ChainBro. So why are they still worse than Crusaders and Grey Hunters?
   
   

That is the riddle for the ages, but the key difference is that, Crusaders are cheaper. A basic example at 14 Man Crusader Squad of Equal Neo/Init, has saved a plasma gun worth of points. The other ideal Grey Hunters have Bolter&Chain, so can engage before turn two, while once getting in rapid, have an appreciable number of attacks, so are able to receive a charge. It’s also an important in that some folks may personally dislike Power Swords on 1 attack models, it does increase our offensive potential. Especially vs units were things like Guardians with Platforms things or Deathgaurd. It’s not much, but it’s just enough to allow you win combat in an efficient fashion. In contrast, Chaos Marines and Tacticals limited to two power weapon attacks. 

What is perhaps more important than even that? A power sword for 4 Points let me iterate does increases the damage output of a squad. For 4 Points (say that 5 times fast). The cheapest special for Marines is 9, and the cheapest Heavy is 10. Power Sword is saving you essentially half a marine, the cost which we can then use to pay for the power sword on your Sword Brother. Finally, a squad of ChainBros want to advance every turn. Meaning you are forced into Flamers or Meltaguns as specials. Or limited to 6” movement, making you very static. Grey Hunters while would nominally suffer this same issue, can afford to be more static as they can engage from afar. Then using their rapid specials still do damage and then can receive enemy charges. All while avoiding the dreaded one’s on charging or advancing. 

1. Weapon Options, Crusaders and Grey Hunters Weapon access enables them to do the role required for line squads
2. Neither squad suffers an identity crisis, that affects other ChainBros or BolterBro Squad
   
   

Just to expand on 2, yes split firing exists. But while this squad is rarer than unicorns, a unit of 10 Tacticals with Heavy/Special/Special has around 9 models, that want to get in 12” rapid range. Meaning the squad is gonna want to be moving each turn. Depending on the squad, you have a 20+ Point Heavy, that is normally only single shot and wants to stay still. 

Even if the Lascannons tank hunts while rest of squad shoots infantry. If you are moving to allow proper targets, your Lascannon at -1 to hit. This is why heaviers with high rate of fire like HvyBolters and GravCannons are good for line Squads. Plasma and Grav Specials, for most part cannot advance and shoot. Meaning a chainbro Squad that wants to get into around 12” at start of there turn. Takes two movement phases to get their against a non moving opponent, and getting in range by turn 3. When you have a squad like Grey Hunters which while like to be within 12” are still useful out of it, it’s less of an issue.

But a unit like ChainBro Chaos Marines or Crusaders that a death sentence. Your delaying your charge by at least a turn. And in exchange you get two rounds of special shots. At which point why are you using ChainBros? (Answer once in magic, need ChainBros needed to seal the deal). This makes that 4 point power sword, important as unlike other upgrades it doesn’t drag the squad down by diluting your role focus. 

So how does it come back together to what makes Crusaders good and best Tactical or Line Squad (beside maybe Grey Hunters)? Because every part of the Crusader Squad is used when properly setup. You don’t have chaffBros, your Bolter or ChainBros are a fundamental and intrinsic part of the squad and how that squad functions. They aren’t afterthoughts, they are the squad. If you need a certain unit in the army at List building, Crusaders can be and are your answer. Ultimately that idea applies to all good line squads and what makes a good line squad from a bad one, is that good line Squads don’t see non-CoolWeaponBro as ChaffBro, but see them as fundamental and necessary part of how the unit engages the enemy. 

​And in comparison to other good 'tactical' squads (Intercessors, Strike Squads and Grey Hunters especially), is while those squads are good 'tactically'. Meaning on the battlefield able to role shift to whatever, well role you require of them at that moment in time. Crusader Squads are good strategically, in that whatever role you need them to fill, they can fill at list building stage. At the end of the day that is important, because being Troops, it makes leveraging at Battalion or Double Battalion easier for those sweet command points. A pure Templar list should at 2000 be able to easily leverage two double battalions, 2 Castellans, 1 Marshall, and the Emperor's Champion, with two backrow FauxDevi Crusaders, two Tide Crusaders, then either 2 Intercessors, Fire Support Crusaders, Scouts or just third tide and third MSU FauxDevi Crusaders. 

~~Schlitzaf~~

Intercessors and Crusaders are the basic line Squads available to Black Templars. No weird deployment gimmicks, just some basic weaponry and squad configurations. And fill the niche of bulking up our army, for (relatively) cheap. Now as awesome as Crusaders are, hold your horses, I’ll be talking Intercessors first.

Hello everyone!  Every once in a while, you want to play games that give you supreme enjoyment in the game no matter how the list performs.  You play it for the rule of cool, rather than competitive prowess.  This is one of those lists, that takes competitive traits and puts it in a more casual list.  In this case, its an army many people have probably fantasized building.  Let's take a look at it.

The Units I refer to as Line, which is short for frontline, are the ‘bulk’ Unit. They are what defines the army strategic game plan, even if they are supportive in the Tactical sense. Our great Chapter has access to 5 Line Squad; Crusader Squad, Intercessor Squad, Assault Marines, Reivers and Scout Marines. Okay we have 6, sense we also have access to Tacticals, but Crusaders are better most of the time.

Hello all.  Today, I want to bring up somewhat of a controversial idea that is starting to sink in about my thoughts of 8th Edition.  And that is mechanization and how it impacts our lists.  In general, there are a lot of benefits to mechanization.  Mobility and adaptability comes to mind.  In the case of transports, you gain the protection of their wounds before you have to put the boots on the ground.  Not to mention, they are often pretty tough to take out quickly.  However, there is a distinct con to vehicles in this new edition for Space Marines -- high points cost.

For a lot of the choices in our codex, this is mitigated by being very effective at what they do.  An example is the Predator.  It puts out a ton of firepower for the price.  The same with Ven Dreadnoughts.  They validate their points by being great sources of survivable fire support.  So they aren't really my problem.  Its the transports.  Do you think transports pull their weight?

So lets look at the rhino.  What do we get for those 72 points?  You get a transport capability of 10.  The ability to bumber car assault.  You also get some line of sight blocking from them, but that is about it.  Not really worth the points, when we are so strapped for points elsewhere.  What about Razorbacks?  At least with these, we get some guns with it.  But even the most basic version is 87 points and you're looking at twin heavy bolters.  If you go for more powerful weaponry, you pay a premium.  Is it worth it?  I don't think it necessarily is.  In my list building, I've almost started to consider transports a tax that isn't needed in lists.  Just think about it:  I lose a bit of mobility, but I gain a ton of points that might be more beneficial to my army.  More bodies, more firepower, additional weaponry.  A ton of things.  What do you think?  Are transports obsolete?

Each 8th Edition Space Marine List is made of several parts.  In my experience, the defining aspect of a Codex Space Marine Army is “the Center”.  An example is the Ultramarines.  A common center is Guilliman + 3-4 Razorbacks or Fire Raptor Gunships, and Tigurius all cuddled up around all around him. Or non-competitively, a more common center in general is Captain or Chapter Master, Lieutenant, and three to four line squads of player preference.  Tacticals, Intercessors, or their equivalents is a good example.

My personal list has a center of 2 14-Man Tide Squads, 2 5-Man Intercessors w/ AutoRifles, Champion, Marshall w/Helm, Cenos and Deep Striking Castellan w/Teeth.

The existence of that centers defines my army play-style and style of engagement: melee anvil.  My army is then built to support that style of engagement. However, why is the center important? How does it define your army? Well in a word, the center is your army.

That Gulliman list might have a couple units, perhaps a few backfield Devastators, or the generic Space Marine List a few forward deploying scouts. The Blood Angel list at LVO with its numerous Intercessors, was spearheaded by Hammer Captain, Mephiston and other Characters, alongside Sanguinary Guard and Death Company Bombs or Deathstars. Each Center presents is own unique challenges and advantages.

A classic or basic center of a double character (Marshal and Castellan or Champion for us) and 3-4 Line Squads is able to secure a position. It’s highly inflexible in movement, as you try to stay bubbled. That inflexibility renders is vulnerable to flanking. If an enemy say Scion Squad hits your left flank. A classic center needs to delegate or separate one of its line squad to handle the scions. A Razorback center instead would disembark its contents and send a couple MSU Squads to handle it.

But those MSU squads would risk the counter attack or the opponent’s BolterBro/(or equivalent fire) taking them out.  Though, in theory, the amount needed is give or take take 50 Bolters Shot per 5 man squad, or 10 Shots a Marine. For context a 5 Man MSU with DoublePlasma puts out 25 Bolter Shots in Rapid/Charging.

In contrast a center like Fire Raptors, cannot take and hold objectives, reliant heavily on its supporting characters to clear enemy off midfield (at least those who cannot be shot off). But unlike the above examples given it has a larger array of weaponry can respond to flankers without separating from its support elements.

Where do as Black Templar fit into all this? Well, first and foremost, our Crusader Squads are one of the best power armored Line Squads in Warhammer 40,000. They can be whatever you want a line Squad to be. 5 Man MSU in Razors? 5-4 Rhino Fire Support? 13-15 maybe 20 Man, Tide Squads. The innate weakness of said Crusader Squads is battlefield flexibility. We lack combat squad and thus unable to respond to a changing battlefield scenario.

Tide Crusaders especially suffer that weakness. Meaning we have to build our army to incorporate and reduce that weakness. I use Mechanicus Skitarri; though Space Marine Biker Squads, Scouts or even cheap Assault Marine can fill the same function. In addition to my two tide Squads, I run two Intercessors Squads and Cenobytes. Intercessors armed with Auto Rifles, follow behind my Crusaders.

If the enemy force requires me to separate I move one of my two Intercessors to engage. And if I need to hold a midfield and keep moving on, I leave my Cenos behind to claim the objective. Third, the issue is getting to enemy force. Advancing turn 1, means I am likely within range (average distance is 7”-9” well within reason for our tactics). But I need to survive the critical first two turns.

So I utilize 10 reserve Reivers, Ponies, Scions, and Castellan w/ Teeth, alongside two Rattling Squads. A pure list could use Scout Marines, Assault Terminators, Interceptors, or more Reivers, to achieve a similar effect. But they are important as they force the enemy to spread out and being unable to bring their guns to bear on my Center army or force.

The flankers and deep strikers, work together to support my Center. If my Center were Rhino focused, I’d not have the flank support or as many deep strikers (Ponies notably). But I do it this way so the rest of list is setup to support them. If you have a weak center your list fails.

A lot of players I see take the minimum troops and then load up on toys. Minimum troop/squad size only good for Razorspam style lists. If you are taking a couple Storm Ravens or LRC, then throwing MSU Squads, maybe a single overly upgraded Vanguard and Ironclad Dread into the list, it’s gonna fail before it begins.

Furthermore different styled centers require different characters, Helbrecht and Grimaldus do not belong in the same list. Helbrecht supports high elite Pseudo Star Lists where they need his full re-rolls to bring maximum effect. Use Grimaldus instead for a black tide list for when his ability can become most relevant.

These character you take them or you have a list that can utilize them. In either scenario, your ‘army’, not a single unit defines your force. A good list starts with a firm foundation.  In most lists, that should be the troop section.

~Schlitzaf~

With the exception of a couple of sub-links that still need to be updated (e.g. Building a Competitive 8th Edition List), the BT 101 guide is functionally done.  I still have to add some additional stuff to Part One, but for all intents and purposes...the core guide is updated for 8th edition.  Yikes!  That took much longer than I thought it would take.  Of course, I will be continuing to update and expand these articles as time goes on, but they are finally at the baseline that we need for our newer players to start learning from.  Enjoy!

Hello everyone!  Today, I would like to announce some exciting news.  As everyone knows, blog content has been irregular at best, over the course of the past few years.  Even the BT 101 guide hasn't been updated to the standards that I expect of myself.  Well, 8th Edition is a revival of sorts for a lot of players and Implausible Nature is no different.  I want to continue putting out quality blog content for the competitive-minded players out there.  And the best way to do that is to draw on a tactic I used in the past:  guest authors.

I have been following this person's posts and assistance given to other players on B&C for some time and after some one-on-one conversation, I feel this is an excellent fit for both the competitive BT community and IN going forward.  So it is my pleasure to announce that Schlitzaf will be joining the IN staff of one, as a guest author for the blog.  I am glad to have you on board!

~Marshal Laeroth~

Hello all!  As promised, I got some work done on the BT 101 guide on Wednesday, completing the update to 8th Edition for the first few sections of the guide.  Part One and Part Two have been completed.  I will be trying to get the sub-links completed as well (by next Wednesday), such as BT 101: Building Low-Point BT Armies.  Once those are completed, I will move onto Part Three of the guide.

Also, please be sure to update your bookmarks.  If you may have noticed, we are now using a secure connection here at Implausible Nature and the updated SSL has messed up some of those links.  If you are reading this, you are probably fine...but...yeah, the downtime over the past couple days was due to renewing the domain and updating the SSL.  See ya all soon!