Warhammer 40K Tabletop Thread XLI: Secondary Opinions

[Cheesegear]

Guide to Ultramarines

Spoiler: Abilities

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Chapter Tactics - Codex Discipline: ULTRAMARINES have +1 Ld. This is good for when one of your Librarians is manifesting Psychic Scourge. Additionally, Ultramarines units can Fall Back and Shoot in the same turn, albeit with -1 to hit. This has some situational uses like for when your opponent is Turn 1 Charging you - like Harlequins or Daemons - and you need to get out of there.

If you have an ULTRAMARINES Army:
Scions of Guilliman: Whilst Tactical Doctrine is active, if your models don't Advance or Fall Back, they count as remaining Stationary when making Shooting attacks - they can still declare Charges later in the turn. Ideally, this Chapter Doctrine is supposed to mean that you can pump out Bolter Discipline all day, whilst maintaining board control. But, additionally, it means your Heavy weapons maintain relevance well into the mid-game, as moving-and-shooting no longer imposes -1 to hit.

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Successor Tactics: +1 Leadership obviously has extremely limited usefulness. Likewise, Falling Back and Shooting in the same turn, also has limited usefulness, but also it would depend on your opponent and how aggressive they are. That being said, if your opponents in your meta play aggressive armies, you're almost better off playing equally as aggressive and running units like Bladeguard Veterans. However, if you're going to do that, you're better off playing another Chapter, since Scions of Guilliman really, really wants you moving around the board with Heavy and Rapid Fire weapons:

• Bolter Fusilades. Re-roll 1s to hit with Bolt weapons. Pairs perfectly with Scions of Guilliman and Intercessors with Bolt Rifles and Stalkers.
• Long-Range Marksmen. +3" range to your Rapid Fire and Heavy weapons. What does Scions of Guilliman encourage, agian?
• Stealthy. Always a good pick for a shooty Chapter.

Spoiler: Army List Options

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Warlord Traits
1. Everytime you spend a CP, roll a 5+, and refund the CP. Remember, only procs once per round.
2. Per Round, choose a unit within 6", Tactical Doctrine is active until the end of the Round. You can choose to pop this at any time. Including in your opponent's turn, when you go to fire Overwatch.
3. Aura 6". ULTRAMARINES units within range do not take the -1 to hit penalty when using Codex Discipline to Fall Back and Shoot. Obviously useless if you're using Successor Tactics.
4. '6's to wound deal Mortal Wounds, in addition to normal damage. A Captain in Phobos Armour has a S4, AP-2, 3D weapon that ignores Look Out, Sir! Remember that CAPTAINS don't give themselves rr1 to hit, and that's where Bolter Fusilades can come in.
5. Aura 6". INFANTRY and BIKERS can perform Heroic Interventions. This is great for units with Bodyguard, since they're almost always going to be hanging around your Warlord anyway. When your opponent declares a Charge against your Warlord, dunk on 'em.
6. Heroic Intervene 6".

Relics of Macragge - ULTRAMARINES (specifically) can choose from Relics or Macragge or a Special-Issue Wargear, when choosing a Relic.

Soldier's Blade: It's The Burning Blade, except way, way worse.

The Sanctic Halo: CAPTAINS or CHAPTER MASTERS. Gain a 3+ Invulnerable save, and you can Deny the Witch like any other Psyker. Not only is this way better than The Shield Eternal, but it doesn't take a 'hand' to take, can be taken on any model, and since it's not a Storm Shield, it's actually free. Well done. Good job, Relic. I'm proud of you.

The Standard of Macragge Inviolate: ANCIENTS. Aura 6". ULTRAMARINES CORE units gain +1 Attack. Aura 12". ULTRAMARINES auto-pass Morale tests. For Melee-Ultramarines. Not impossible to do. Just not recommended.

Armour of Konor: TERMINATOR. 4+ Invulnerable, and take half damage. This would be good if Terminator Captains were worth anything.

Helm of Censure: Re-roll one '1' to hit and one '1' to wound, each time the model attacks. Additionally, against ADEPTUS and HERETIC ASTARTES, the model gains +1 to hit and wound. At the time of writing, this is almost a silver bullet to the meta. You'll have Phobos Captains dropping bodies all day.

Vengeance of Ultramar: [Storm Bolter]. It's Rapid Fire 4 (holy ****), that re-rolls to wound vs. VEHICLES... It deals 1 Damage.

Tarentian Cloak: 5+ Invulnerable save, and regain D3 wounds per turn. Not bad. There are just other priorities.

Special-Issue Wargear - Ultramarines Successor Chapters can only take Special-Issue Wargear as their Relics.

Adamantine Mantle: Ignore Wounds (5+). Yep.

Artificer Armour: 2+ Save, 5+ Invulnerable. Yep.

Master-Crafted Weapon: Choose a weapon that isn't a Relic or Master-Crafted weapon already; Add 1 to its Damage. Solid. Extra Damage is usually good.

Digital Weapons: Whenever the bearer Fights, make an additional special attack. If the special attack hits, deal a Mortal Wound. Looks useful, isn't.

Reliquary of Vengeance: Once per Battle, at the start of the Fight phase; Aura 6". CHAPTER CORE or CHARACTERunits gain +1 Attack per model. Once again, it's not that Melee-Ultramarines can't work. It's that you're building towards an army list that could be done better, by another Chapter.
That said, if you already have an Ultramarines army, and are looking to switch it up by playing a Melee Chapter, you can actually do that. The core (lower case, that is) of your list is already painted, and you can pick up some Melee units, and your whole collection will stay uniform.

Seal of Oath: At the start of the first Battle Round, choose an enemy unit. Aura 6". Your CHAPTER CORE or CHARACTER units re-roll to hit and wound vs. that unit. Very strong for an alpha strike and taking out your opponent's centerpiece on Turn 1.

Hellfury Bolts: Choose a Bolt weapon the model is armed with. You can choose to, instead of firing normally, roll to hit. Deal a Mortal Wound.

Sunwrath Pistol: [Plasma Pistol]. Pistol 2. It's a Supercharged Plasma Pistol that never explodes. First; It's still a Pistol. Second; Choose something else.

Indomitus Discipline
1. WC5, Self. Gain a 5+ Invulnerable, and all attacks against your Librarian have -1 to hit.
2. WC7. Immediately gain a CP. Or, target model within 18" can re-roll one of the following this turn; To hit, To wound or Damage.
3. WC7, 24". Roll 2d6+2 vs. target unit's Leadership. Deal Mortal Wounds equal to the difference. Very strong Power. That's why it's WC7.
4. WC6, 18". Roll a 6 for each enemy model in the closest visible enemy unit. Deal Mortal Wounds.
5. WC6, 18". Target enemy unit halves their Move value, and has -1 to Advance and Charge. Does not stack with Tenebrous Curse (Obscuration Discipline).
6. WC5, 12". Target CHAPTER LIBRARIAN gains +2 to Psychic tests and can't Perils on double 1s or 6s (but can Perils in other ways).

Spoiler: Stratagems

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All Ultramarines Successors count as Ultramarines.

Martial Precision: When an ULTRAMARINES model makes an attack in the Shooting phase, the attack automatically hits. Very strong. Combine with Hellfire Shell or Flakk Missile. Many, many applications for this Stratagem.

Vengeance for Calth: One of your ULTRAMARINES units re-rolls to hit and wound vs. WORD BEARERS units for the Fight phase. Not only this is this Heretic Astartes-specific, but it only applies to a specific subset of Heretic Astartes, so, as fluffy as it is, for most games, this simply reads as wasted page space.

Inspiring Command: During a Shooting, or Fight phase; A CHAPTER MASTER, CAPTAIN or LIEUTENANT have their Aura abilities increased by 3" - to a max. of 9". This includes Auras granted by Relics.

Cycle of War: If the Assault Doctrine was active last Battle Round, for the current Battle Round, Devastator Doctrine is active. This is perhaps one of the very, very few reasons for Ultramarine armies to accelerate to Assault Doctrine on Turn 3 - instead of waiting 'til Turn 4 - so you can second-cycle into Devastator.

Rapid Redeployment (2): At the start of the first Battle Round, redeploy up to three units, as described in the Deployment section of the Mission. Since it is no longer actually deployment - it's actually pre-Turn 1 - abilities like Concealed Positions don't work when deploying using this Stratagem.

Sons of Guilliman: In the Shooting or Fight phase, target INFANTRY or BIKER unit can re-roll 1s to hit.

Avenge the Fallen: When an ULTRAMARINES unit in your army is destroyed by an attack by an enemy unit; All of your ULATRAMARINES re-roll 1s to hit vs. that unit for the entire rest of the battle. It's baffling that this is allowed to be used multiple times per game.

Courage and Honour!: All [ULTRAMARINES in your army gain +1 Leadership for a Morale phase. Garbage.

Tactical Expertise (2): If the Tactical Doctrine is active, all ULTRAMARINES in your entire army with Rapid Fire and Assault weapons improve their AP by -1 on 6s to wound. Another army-wide buff, that for 2CPs, means that even Ultramarines Successors really want to run Rapid Fire and Assault weapons a lot, and the Chapter really isn't set up to improve Melee units...Only specific Melee units.

Fall Back and Re-Engage (1/2): This Stratagem costs 2 CPs if the target unit doesn't have the Codex Discipline Chapter Tactic (another reason to just play 'vanilla' Ultramarines, and not to bother with Successors). The target unit can Fall Back, Shoot and Charge all in the same turn. In addition, if the unit has Codex Discipline, ignore the penalties to hit, this Stratagem takes precedence.

Defensive Focus (2): When an ULTRAMARINES unit is Charged, up to three units that are within 6" of the unit, can fire Overwatch as well.

Exemplar of the Chapter: Your non-named Warlord gets a second Warlord Trait.

Squad Doctrines: Target ULTRAMARINES INFANTRY or BIKER unit has whatever Combat Doctrine you want, until your next turn.

Honoured Sergeant: Army list. Target 'Sergeant' in your army can be given; Master-Crafted Weapon, Digital Weapons, Hellfury Bolts or a Sunwrath Pistol.
These are...Not Good choices. Hellfury Bolts and Sunwrath Pistols just aren't worth it.

Tactical Insight (2): Dead Stratagem. However, the Errata for Ultramarines has left it in. What? Future proofing?

Honoured by Macragge: When choosing a Relic for one of your Ultramarines Successor models, you can choose for the Relic to come from the Relics of Macragge, instead of being able to only choose from Special-Issue Wargear or the Relics from the Codex.
Once again, play Ultramarines. Or pay resources to be like Ultramarines anyway. Why does GW do this?

Spoiler: Characters

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Lord of War

Roboute Guilliman: MONSTER, PRIMARCH. Bobby G's biggest problem is that he's not INFANTRY...Oh, and he costs 380 Points. But lets move on. He has a Rapid Fire 3 ranged weapon that deals 2 damage a pop, so he's got that. However, he also suffers from 'The Gravis Captain' problem, of having two Melee weapons, where one Melee weapon is clearly better than the other one; The Emperor's Sword is a S8, AP-4, deals 3 Damage and deals additional D3 Mortal Wounds on a '6' to wound. Very, very strong model in Melee. But he has a massive problem where he can't actually get there. Additionally, Bobby G must be your army's Warlord, superseding any model with a similar rule, and for the 'privilege', he also gives you +3 CPs, which you can use for spamming more Relics in your army. Finally, Bobby G is one of the few models left in the game with a 3+ Invulnerable save, and, the first time Bobby G is destroyed, roll a 4+, and return him to play more than 1" away from enemy models, with D6 Wounds. Yes, Bobby G can teleport if your opponent goofs. But, for 380 Points, you need a lot more than what Bobby G is. No, he's actually a massive force multiplier:

• Aura 12". IMPERIUM units gain +1 to Advance and Charge, re-roll 1s to hit, and re-roll Morale tests. Obviously, this Aura applies to Guilliman himself, and of course, it has nothing at all to do with CORE units. So this Aura hits stuff like Vehicles and Centurions, too. Ideally, this Aura is designed so that you can insert Guilliman into any Faction, any army you want. But, with army-wide Faction bonuses, Guilliman, missing key Faction...Keywords...Means that inserting Guilliman into an IMPERIUM army, is actually deleterious in some fashion. The best place for Bobby G to be, is where he belongs - in an ULTRAMARINES army. Simply because unlike every other Aura, Guilliman does affect units like Centurions and Vehicles.
• Aura 6". ULTRAMARINES CORE and CHARACTER re-roll 1s to wound. This is not a selectable buff. This is all units, including Bobby G, himself, since he's an ULTRAMARINES CHARACTER. Remember, the above Aura is larger than this Aura. Bobby G has 12" of re-roll 1s to hit, and 6", of re-roll 1s to wound.
• Fixed Warlord Trait #5. ULTRAMARINES INFANTRY and BIKERS can perform Heroic Interventions. Not useless. Just situational. Remember that you can perform Heroic Interventions, for units that aren't Bobby G. Bobby G doesn't have to get Charged for you to perform an Intervention. This Warlord Trait can create very powerful Melee-castles. Because there are scant few units in the game that are going to Charge Bobby G on purpose. Your opponent just wont do it, because they're not made of straw. But, your opponent will Charge other units. That's where Heroic Interventions come in.

The major factor that defines Bobby G, is his Auras. He is a Melee beast...With no way to get there. What is he doing, while marching up the board? He is massively improving those powerful, shooty units that Ultramarines are known for. "What units does Guilliman go best with?" ...The ones that are already good.

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HQ

Marneus Calgar: GRAVIS, CHAPTER MASTER. T5 with 8 Wounds, 2+/4++. Additionally, Calgar takes half damage from all attacks. Very, very strong Character. He carries the normal Rites of Battle Aura, and the Chapter Master selectable buff. He carries a Master-Crafted Storm Bolter, and a pair of bad Power Fists that do D3 Damage, instead of 2. If Calgar is your Warlord, you gain +2 CPs, and his fixed Warlord Trait is refunding CPs. So if spamming Stratagems is what you want to do (it is), Calgar is your guy. At only 210 Points, Calgar can be seen as preferable to Guilliman, not least because you can potentially take another 2 HQs (one of which can be a Lieutenant, to pick up re-roll 1s to wound), and still be less points than Guilliman. Be wary of taking too many Characters and giving your opponent free Assassinate. But we'll come back to this. The major point of contention between them is that Bobby G does give re-roll 1s to hit to Centurions and Vehicles - that's a massive difference and one that can't be ignored.

Chief Librarian Tigurius: PRIMARIS, CHIEF LIBRARIAN. He has +1 to Psychic and Deny tests without eating your Warlord Trait for no reason like a normal Chief Librarian would. Additionally, his Force Stave is AP-3 which is very good. But, on top of that, at the start of a Battle Round, choose an ULTRAMARINES CORE or CHARACTER unit within 6"; Your opponent has -1 to hit them. This is an extraordinarily strong ability to grant to any unit with the Bodyguard rule - your Character(s) can't be targeted, and the units that can be targeted, are at -1 to hit. Very good. Tigurius is always worth his points.

Chaplain Cassius: MASTER OF SANCTITY. T5 is nice. Cassius carries a Combi-Flamer-with-Master-Crafted Boltgun, and his Artificer Crozius. Both of which simply have an extra AP over their usual counterparts. He has Spiritual Leader. But, also he has a b0rked version of an Astartes Banner, which is both better and worse than normal; Aura 6". When an ULTRAMARINES CORE or CHARACTER model is destroyed by a Melee attack, roll a 6, and the enemy unit that made the attack suffers a Mortal Wound.
Coming home from the Deathwatch, Cassius now talks more, but speaks softer. Also T5. Remember kids, Cassius (Deathwatch) and Cassius (Ultramarines) both exist and neither are Legends'd. GW can have 'character progression' in the game whenever they want. They choose not to.

Captain Sicarius: Carries a Plasma Pistol that doesn't explode, and a Force Sword that deals Mortal Wounds instead of normal Damage. Ultimately, not very good, since he's missing a key piece of wargear; A Jump Pack. A horrific use of your one CAPTAIN slot. However, his only ability that's actually worth anything, is that every round, one ULTRAMARINES CORE or CHARACTER unit within 6" gains Objective Secured. Situational, but not useless...But also Sicarius is useless.

Sergeant Telion: SCOUT. He's essentially a Captain in Phobos Armour that doesn't take your CAPTAIN slot. His ability to ignore Look Out, Sir! is pretty potent when he deals 2 Damage with a chance for Mortal Wounds. His ability to ride around in a pimp wagon Land Speeder Storm and still shoot out the top is deceptively strong, because you effectively Telion T6 with 7 extra Wounds, on a platform that has even more weapons. If you aren't going to run Telion around in his very own ride, he does hand out BS2+ to an ULTRAMARINES SCOUT unit within 3" - not +1 to hit. However, the only real reason to do this is if you're using Scouts to fire off Hellfire Shells or Flakk Missile.

Sergeant Chronus: For +35 Points, he makes a non-Primaris Vehicle BS2+, and the Vehicle regains a Wounds every turn. He's not terrible. Particularly because any Warlord Trait he has, is applied to the Vehicle. Which has some very strong applications. Additionally, Chronus reads as a 35 Point HQ, which means he fits right in with a Combat Patrol in a 'small game' where min-maxing your army lists is king. Costing less than an Astra Militarum HQ, in a Space Marines' list, is a big deal. As always, you want to avoid making terrible units, mediocre. Your real goal is make good units, really good. To that end, the Vehicles to put Chronus in:

• Vindicator. T8, 2+ Save against ranged attacks.
• Whirlwind. Can hide out of LoS.
• Stalker. T8 with a solid 48" range weapon.
• Land Raider. The +35 points you add to the Land Raider is only a fraction of its real cost, making Chronus much more efficient, here. As always, the standard variant has the Twin Heavy Bolters (2 Damage each), and four Lascannon shots. Bonus, 'cause Chronus doesn't take a 'spot' in the Land Raider, which means you can still run a bunch of Melee models inside.

Spoiler: Elites

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FAQ
Q: Can any of the datasheets in this supplement be from a successor Chapter?
A: No. These datasheets and named characters can only be from the Ultramarines Chapter.

Rekt. Play Ultramarines. Not a Successor. Play what GW tells you to play. Although, it's arguable you wont even want to.

Victrix Honour Guard: Competing quite heavily with Bladeguard Veterans. But, we know that units of 2 models don't mean anything at all. Luckily, these models have Bodyguard, and as such, Look Out, Sir! doesn't apply. But comparing to Bladeguard, Victrix have WS2+, and 4 Attacks, which means that not only do they have more attacks, but their attacks actually connect, too. Another improvement is that as Honour Guard, Victrix have a 2+ Save, and their Ultima Storm Shields give them a 3+ Invulnerable. So, additionally, Victrix are better defensively, too. Finally, Victrix can perform Heroic Interventions (because they're actual Bodyguards), and don't take up Role slots if their Detachment includes a MARNEUS CALGAR model. None of them do. So if you can find a way to run 6 (3*2), you can do that...Although now you're looking at a situation where 6 non-Character models represent 3 Kill Points...But, Victrix are demi-Characters in their own right. As they are Bladeguard+. However, one place where they absolutely fall apart, is that they are only wielding regular Power Swords, which only deal 1 Damage apiece, and are therefore pretty, pretty terrible. But, as a Bodyguard unit with a 2+/3++, offensiveness isn't really what you're taking them for.
Remember that Guilliman's Warlord Trait is giving Infantry around him the ability to Heroic Intervention. Choose another Bodyguard unit. Victrix are clearly designed to be used with Marneus Calgar, and Hell, the rules actually reinforce that.
While we're at it, despite being a MONSTER, Guilliman is a CHARACTER with 9 or less Wounds. He can absolutely be Bodyguarded...Which is arguably the only way he should be run.

Unlike Codex: Space Marines units, the following 'Command Units' do not gain Keywords, they have the Keywords, that they have, and none of them have the Command Squad rule, and all of them are arguably unplayable because of it.

Chapter Ancient: Take a Chapter Ancient, give it a 2+ Save and a mandatory Power Sword. Lame.

Chapter Champion: Take a Chapter Champion. +1 Attack, 2+ Save, and replace its Combat Shield with a **** Dagger. This is directly in opposition to the correct way to run a Chapter Champion, which is to replace its Combat Shield with The Shield Eternal. Do not use this model. It's not worth it. The 5+ Invulnerable is better than a **** Dagger. If I've learned anything from YouTube, the most powerful defensive capability of any Infantryman, is a Shield.

Honour Guard: Company Veterans with a 2+ Save, with Power Axes and Boltguns. Dog****. These guys terrible Bodyguard units, since they're just asking to be shot at and removed anyway. Take whatever Company Veterans you currently have, make them look as cool as possible, and give them whatever wargear you want (Grav-Guns and Storm Shields, come to mind), and call them Honour Guard, because mechanically, taking actual Honour Guard? ...You need your head checked.

Tyrannic War Veterans: Sternguard, except they're only 17 Points each...Good! Because they're terrible. Except they can re-roll to and wound vs. TYRANIDS only. Oh, your opponents are playing Sororitas? Never mind. They can't take Combi-, Special or Heavy weapons. As superseded by Company Veterans as Sternguard already are, at least Sternguard have options. Do you have a meta that's full of TYRANIDS? ...Cool. Take whatever you want, make them look as cool as possible, and give them whatever wargear you want, and call them Tyrannic War Veterans.
(Bonus points if you have Primaris Marines as Tyrannic War Veterans. It's just as cool as giving your Deathwatch Librarian a Black Templars Chapter badge. )

Buff Alert? Tyrannic War Veterans only have one Wound each. That should probably change.