Background.
These are the Ultramarines' vanguard: the best of the assault squads selected to form their own squads of elite jump-pack equipped fighters who excel in the timing and application of pistols and swords. I feel they could have made very good Emperor's Children personally (apologies to Ultramarines players).
Strengths.
When these marines arrive on the board of play from deep strike, they get to use all their pistols twice in an opening salvo. This is powerful, potentially, but can be somewhat over-rated depending on how they land. Hence this is balanced by having a precision intervention that allows them to re-roll their deep strike roll should they wish to.
The other main distinguishing feature here is the presence of power swords and a 2+ armour save due to every one of them having artificer armour. This is a great boon for an assault squad and turns them from something that is simply okay and a potential to take, into something that is totally worth considering spending the points on to my mind.
Weaknesses.
Not many weaknesses really, other than the random nature of deep striking in to play.
Builds.
A few builds to consider.
10 Locutarus, strike leader with power axe (285 points)
This actually only costs a little bit more than standard assault marines and is therefore the baseline squad. The power axe provides a valuable AP2 for the leader.
10 Locutarus, 2 hand flamers, strike leader with hand flamer and power axe (315 points)
Very much a dedicated flamer squad. Aim for taking enemies out of cover with this one when you get 6 flamer shots when you come on to the board.
10 Locutarus, 2 plasma pistols, strike leader with plasma pistol and power fist (335 points)
Getting pricier now, but the plasma pistols give 6 plasma shots on deep strike and the power fist gives S8 attacks. A lightning claw can be substituted here to taste. Add in a combat shield if required on the leader.
These are the Ultramarines' vanguard: the best of the assault squads selected to form their own squads of elite jump-pack equipped fighters who excel in the timing and application of pistols and swords. I feel they could have made very good Emperor's Children personally (apologies to Ultramarines players).
Strengths.
When these marines arrive on the board of play from deep strike, they get to use all their pistols twice in an opening salvo. This is powerful, potentially, but can be somewhat over-rated depending on how they land. Hence this is balanced by having a precision intervention that allows them to re-roll their deep strike roll should they wish to.
The other main distinguishing feature here is the presence of power swords and a 2+ armour save due to every one of them having artificer armour. This is a great boon for an assault squad and turns them from something that is simply okay and a potential to take, into something that is totally worth considering spending the points on to my mind.
Weaknesses.
Not many weaknesses really, other than the random nature of deep striking in to play.
Builds.
A few builds to consider.
10 Locutarus, strike leader with power axe (285 points)
This actually only costs a little bit more than standard assault marines and is therefore the baseline squad. The power axe provides a valuable AP2 for the leader.
10 Locutarus, 2 hand flamers, strike leader with hand flamer and power axe (315 points)
Very much a dedicated flamer squad. Aim for taking enemies out of cover with this one when you get 6 flamer shots when you come on to the board.
10 Locutarus, 2 plasma pistols, strike leader with plasma pistol and power fist (335 points)
Getting pricier now, but the plasma pistols give 6 plasma shots on deep strike and the power fist gives S8 attacks. A lightning claw can be substituted here to taste. Add in a combat shield if required on the leader.
2 comments:
Really loving reading these bits about the Ultramarines :-)
I am 100% sure now that i will be doing an Ultramarine 30k force (which might even double up to a 40k force as well) and cannot wait to read the rest.
A couple of quick questions.
Are the Ultramarine rules only in Tempest, or are they also potentially in one of those books for the Legion Astartes Gamers collection?
Just curious if you knew, as i now need to figure out how to buy Tempest hehe.
Hi Kraggi,
The "red" books (Legion Astartes Gamers collection) detail only the Isstvan legions at the moment. Hence the Ultramarines are not yet included. Therefore Tempest is the only location for their rules at the moment.
That said, I'm fairly convinced that at some point Forge World must be thinking about producing a catch-all compendium for 30k. When that arrives though, is anyone's guess.
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