Friday, November 20, 2015

Horus Heresy Review: Fulmentarus Terminator Strike Squad

Background.
One day, Guilliman looked around and deigned to notice his brother, Perturabo and his Iron Warriors. He saw his Tyrant Siege Terminator Squads and decided that it looked good. And in a very none-40k move decided to adopt it. And make it better. Because that's the kind of thing that went down in 30k. Innovation. Sharing of ideas. And so forth.

Strengths.
At a base level, these marines are cataphractii terminators with power mauls, combi-bolters and something that is called a "Peritarch targeter". To be clear, the Peritarch is not the missile launcher system that the Tyrant Siege Terminators have -- its just the targeter. To get the cyclone missile launcher, you have to pay extra. Or perhaps you'd like reaper autocannons instead.?

The Peritarch has advanced solutions the depend on the entire squad making scanning sweeps of the battlefield. It therefore functions at higher levels of operation the more models there are in a squad. At or above 8, cover saves are diminished by one pip. At or above 5, tank hunters. At or above 2, night vision. It therefore means that having a full strength squad is a must here to be maximally effective. Other than that, the Peritarch is basically a cyclone missile launcher.

And I almost forgot to state that these marines have increase BS which means they're going to be hitting more than they're brothers on average. Compared to the Iron Warriors they're based on, these Ultramarines are going to be much better at taking out tanks. But not better against buildings.

Weaknesses. 
I don't rate the power mauls well. I would therefore encourage players to think about upgrading to power axes - which are free - when they build their squads for the valuable AP2 they provide. A power sword could be entertained as well, but an axe is probably what they want to be wielding.

These guys are also heavy support squads and not elites. They're not going to be holding positions.

Other than that, they don't have a great range of upgrades. No combi-plasmas -- only meltas. No chainfists - only power fists. And they get expensive very quickly. The price issue is what is they big draw back here. I feel other squads can do similar things better and more efficiently.

Builds.
There are a number of ways to build this squad, depending on what you want to do with it. Here are some ideas.

5 Fulmentarus, all with combi-meltas, power fists (275 points).
Take with a land raider proteus, or in an army capable of deep striking them in to play. The melta is there to take care of tanks on the turn they enter play (i.e. they still have tank hunters and have not lost any members). The fists back this up and help mop up any contents. They're also rather good against enemy terminators. Do not forget interlocking tactics here -- its great! This squad is worth it, but arguably a base terminator squad is more points effective.

10 Fulmentarus, all with cyclone missile launchers, power axes (700 points).
The maximum squad. But look at the cost. Realize that they can take out the equivalent of a land raider every and each turn. But then look at the cost again. Is it worth it? I'm not sure. Add in combi-meltas for each of them to take the cost up to 750 points and realise they can and will take out land raiders every turn. Ouch. Both on the effect and the price. The Iron Warriors do it better at this point to be honest. Consider taking half their number if you can do without affecting cover saves and just want one round of shooting to take out a valuable enemy tank (via tank hunters).

10 Fulmentarus, all with reaper auto cannons, power axes (600 points).
The issues above remain here, but the reaper auto cannons are slightly different in strength overall. 

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