Taking Pride in Power Armour

The Leicester GT is just around the corner, and this month I would like to present the list I am taking, to

what will be my very first tournament. The list has been two months in the making and I want it to be

finalised. Once this blog is published, I trust you all to hold me accountable if I go back and change

anything. I'll get to the list soon, but first let's talk about Dark Angels Temptations, which is not an

alluring brand of immoral confectionery.

For someone who wants to play first-born marines at a tournament, making them a Dark Angels successor

chapter looks like a no-brainer. You get access to tons of really good rules, and all you have to do is

pledge allegiance to the Lion. I have many units in my collection that could benefit from the keywords

and stratagems, and I even went so far as to buy the codex supplement to see what kind of list I could put

together. Something didn't feel right though, and I realised it was because they had stopped being 'my

guys', and I was casting my custom chapter's identity aside for the sake of a competitive edge. It was

messing with my head-cannon, which I like to have straight, whatever the game type. As someone who is

extremely unlikely to podium anyway, I thought I may as well stick to my guns and my chapter's

unknown origin back-story. This means the rules I can use will be limited to the Space Marine codex, but

this is probably for the best, to keep it simple while I am still getting to grips with 9th

Edition.

In order to fulfil a childhood fantasy, I will be presenting the list in the style of an old school White Dwarf

battle report introduction:

I know everyone says this but I was delighted when they asked me to play at the Leicester Grand

Tournament. I was even more excited when I was told I could bring my custom Space Marine Chapter,

the Broken Skulls. Casting an eye over my studio's miniatures cabinet, I could see the units I wanted to

take (Terminators!) but first I had to think about the overall composition of my army.

I knew that I could be facing anything, so a balanced force that could react to any threat would be the

order of the day. All 40k missions now require you to take and hold objectives, and a lot of secondary

missions require infantry to perform actions, so plenty of boots on the ground would be crucial. The army

size required is a 2000 point Strike Force, and for these reasons I settled on a single Battalion

Detachment.

Looking at Battalion organisation chart, I could see that there were some compulsory purchases to be

made, starting with two HQ units. I decided that my warlord would be a Chief Librarian. The Librarius

of the Broken Skulls often undertake covert missions with a small cadre of hand-picked marines, in order

to carry out nefarious psychic activities. I will be taking an appropriate secondary mission in each game. I

equipped him with the Armour Indomitus for protection, and he knows the Psychic Fortress, Might of

Heroes and Psychic Scourge powers. The Iron Resolve warlord trait will make him even more durable

give him a better chance of completing his dastardly plans. It was to this end I also surrounded him with a

bodyguard. A full squad of Company Veterans wielding power axes and storm shields would face down

any threat to their master, and the whole retinue was mounted in a Razorback with twin lascannons –

transport and fire support in one neat package.

The chapter’s inner circle have made a pact with the 5th Chaos god, and as such their brothers are Warded

and receive a saving throw against mortal wounds. Also, once per game my Librarian can summon a

Demon of Malal from the warp, represented on the table by a teleporting Chaplain in Terminator

Armour. To make him really scary, I have paid two command points to give him the Imperium Sword

warlord trait and Benediction of Fury relic. Along with his chosen litany Mantra of Strength, charging in the assault doctrine and with Might of Heroes cast upon him, he puts out 7 attacks with WS 2+, S9, -3AP,

D4. Now I know getting all of those buffs on him at once will be tricky, but I will be playing up his

potency to my opponents by threatening to punch their tanks into space. If they are wary of leaving gaps

for him to teleport into, they could stretch their forces too thin.

The next mandatory slots to fill were three troop choices. The Broken Skulls were caught on the wrong

side of the great rift, and are yet to be reinforced by Primaris marines. Because of this, my only troop

choice is the Tactical Squad. Taking three squads of ten confers the ability to split into combat squads if

necessary. I armed each squad with a melta gun and a heavy bolter to make sure they could deal some

damage to whatever horrors they faced, and the sergeant got a powersword and plasma pistol for when I

couldn't keep those horrors at arms length. Having the Bolter Fusillades chapter tactic should help with

the latter. People often forget that tactical marines also carry melta bombs, which would come in handy

against enemy vehicles that got too close. To get them into the thick of the action quickly and safely, each

squad was mounted in a Rhino.

Every assault needs a rearguard providing covering fire, and I could think of no better unit to hold the

backfield and bombard the enemy than the Whirlwind, so I took two. At strength 6, It's castellan rockets

can deal with hordes of tough orcs, and go through the standard human profile like a chainsword through

a heretic. I would have to rely on the rest of my army to deal with heavier armoured targets, however. To

spot for these artillery tanks I chose a Landspeeder, upgrading it's heavy bolter to a multi-melta, in case

it encounters anything that requires melting.

All I needed now were some units that could operate ahead of my main force, or behind enemy lines,

causing disruption and slowing them down. A Scout Squad would be perfect for this, and again I chose

to take a full squad of 10, with the option of splitting it. They go into concealed positions or to outflank

their targets taking a heavy bolter, no doubt loaded with hellfire shells.

The final unit on the roster is a five man Bike Squad, who will be tasked with screening my troop

transports, or securing objectives early. To add to their firepower, two of them carry melta guns and the

sergeant has a powersword for hacking bits off foes at high speed.

So that's the list. As is always the case, I could not include everything I wanted to (no Terminators!) but I

think I have got most bases covered. They may not deal immense amounts of damage, or be super

durable, or be extremely fast, but these are first born marines, dammit, and they will achieve the mission

they are tasked with if there is any possible way of doing so.

This is the last in the series of blog posts from me. I hope you have enjoyed them, and if you are going to

the Leicester GT this December please say hello. I’ll be the guy in the Megadeth hoody, with bullets

down the arms and the words ‘so far, so good, so what’ on the back.

I’ll be going for a beer or two, maybe a curry on the Saturday night, so if anyone needs a guide or

drinking buddy – I know if you are reading this, you must be cool – hit me up.

In the meantime if anyone wants to get in touch I’m on FB, Dakka Dakka or FUMBBL.

All the best, and stay heretical,

Kieran Lyons (aka PaddyMick on Dakka Dakka and FUMBLL)

Oh and PS: first person to approach me at the tourney and say the phrase ‘I am a heretic’ gets the Dark

Angels codex supplement. I want it out the house.