Third Legion Tactica, Hard Lessons

First game using orbital assault. It felt good killing this knight on turn two after dropping in

I have been playing my Horus Heresy (30K) Emperor’s Children Army for many years now and have struggled with an army build that worked well for me and the group of people I usually play against. My win to loss ratio has been lackluster with this army. If I do win, it was definitely hard fought against armies that can outshoot me or tar pit me. I can certainly make a generic marine list and spam templates and basic marines, but that doesn’t seem to fit my style, nor does it match the finesse that I feel should be consistent with the 3^rd legion play style.

Playing most at 3,000 points the Maru-skara rite of war was my go to. Having the ability to outflank with three contemptor dreds could cause a lot of pain. I would also run Fulgrim in a spartan alongside a unit of phoenix guard that would act as his body guard, not to mention my required legion champion in terminator armor. One unit of 10 volkite culverin wielding marines would give cover to Lord Commander Eidolon who would join a unit of 15 assault marines. I would also have a unit of 5 Tactical Support marines with Plasma Guns inside a multi-melta Rhino looking for juicy targets. My foot sloggers included my outflanking unit of 3 contemptors and two squads of 10 basic marines with a sergeant wearing artificer armor and phoenix spear. Occasionally I would swap out a non-compulsory unit for a xiphon interceptor, but I found that the xiphon wouldn’t often cover its point cost in units destroyed.

Orbital assault tip: Using nuncio voxes can help keep your other deep striking units on target if you need them close by

The armies that I generally played against were Ultramarines using orbital assault, Thousand Sons (without Magnus) running lots of psychic termies, Custodes, and a vehicle heavy Iron Hands army. Rarely I would play against Salamanders, Death Guard, Space Wolves, and Solar Auxilia. The usual situation was that these armies all would beat me in a fire fight so I had to try and close in for assault, which I was better at (the exception being the Custodes). Often times I could make it in assault, but would not have enough strength left in the unit to make an impact. If things worked out just right I would get my contemptors close enough to assault the following turn after outflanking on turn two. Even if they were destroyed I would hope that they soaked up enough fire power to allow the rest of my army to advance unscathed; this almost never worked out however.

One of my gaming friends suggested that I might want to go orbital assault since I was often vocal about my lack of competiveness. I gave it some thought because I would have to overhaul my army and likely shelve a lot of the units I had already built. Not to mention I had bought and built way more for this army than I originally intended to. I ended going for it making the following changes. Fulgim, ditched the Spartan for a anvillus dreadclaw, which allows him to assault out of the following turn after deep striking, he also has a unit of palatine blades (3 with phoenix spears) to assist in the assault. My two basic tactical squads have drop pods. I kept the plasma tactical support and included a melta gun tactical support since I tend to struggle against vehicles. I have a 10 man tartaros terminator unit, which halve are armed with chain fists (also to mitigate vehicles), and I bumped up my phoenix guard up to 7 strong. I have an primus medicae in terminator armor to help keep one of my terminator units around and two basic apothecaries to go along with the support units. I am using the xiphon again, but I might swap it out if I pick up a dreadnought drop pod for one of my contemptors. There is an advantage now to going second by running an orbital assault army because my opponent will lose one full round of shooting since there will be no targets. I can also deploy units where they are needed (barring bad rolling). Fulgrim also can make it into melee easier since the dreadclaw is an assault skimmer after in lands. As I play this new list more I expect it to evolve slightly and I hope to have a good showing at the 2020 Golden Boys tournament in June.

Horus Heresy Project: Xiphon Interceptor Complete

Emperor's Children Xiphon Interceptor

The Xiphon Pattern Interceptor is one of the newest flyers available to the Legions Astartes. I had just recently finished one for my Emperor’s Children and I am itching to use it. Typically I struggle in my 40K games when someone takes a flyer and I don’t quick have a counter to it in my army. For 30K I thought that I would go ahead and include one since one of my friends is planning on taking a fire raptor eventually. The Xiphon is designed to take out other flyers and it’s 3+ jink ability will help it survive against incoming fire.

 

 

 

This is the first model that I’ve used the Chemos Purple airbrush spray from Forge World. I was hoping that the color would be closer to Liche Purple, but it is noticeably paler, which is unfortunate because the rest of my army is painted in Liche Purple and I will likely stop building up my 3^rd Legion once my last paint pot runs dry. I went to great pains to ensure the techmarine in the cockpit was detailed, sadly it is hard to fully appreciate once the canopy is in place. I also added some weathering to the Xiphon too. I considered not doing so based on the Emperor’s Children meticulous upkeep of the aircraft, but it didn’t look quite right so after doing to paint chipping and exhaust effects I was much more satisfied with the end result.

 

 

Horus Heresy Project: Emperor's Children Xiphon Interceptor

I had just completed the assembly of the Forge World Xiphon Interceptor and I'm looking forward to getting this easy to assemble kit painted. I think the quality on recent FW products has improved considering the fact that my lascannons came nice and straight. I only have to fill some gaps in the wings and vertical fin.

I'm a big fan of brass etched iconography and added enough on so there would be no confusion as to which legion this fighter belonged to. I might add some smaller decals in places when I'm almost finished.

I decided to paint the pilot separately since I wanted to detail the cockpit interior

Rules wise I think this fighter will be a good counter to the Fire Raptor, which will be included in one of my friend's heresy army in the near future. I get a jink bonus for added defensive bonus and my rotary missile launcher rolls 3 dice instead of 1 on the vehicle damage chart.