Tactical Termies

[Zynk Kaladin]

Basically I finally finished painting some tactical termies and I wanted to know how to make them work semi-competitively. I won't play any tournaments with them, but I just want to know how they would work in the grand scheme of a marine army (or even a Blood Angels army). They're the best models I've painted so far so fielding them every once in a while is a MUST :rolleyes:

 

My friend is a new tyranids player and I would like to have a couple fun games to get him into it all before I wreck his sh... Any advice/ideas on a competitive but fun tyranid game would be nice, but I mostly want to know how tac termies work and what tactics to use.

[Brother-Chaplain Gaius]

they're not seen much in competitive lists. It doesnt mean they "wont work" however.

 

I can think of 2 ways to use them.

 

deepstrike them, chainfists and assault cannons can do amazing things

 

or deploy them in cover with a librarian. cyclone missile launcher is nice and gate of infinity and null zone are your best bets

in cover they will atleast get a 4+ cover save, as compared to a less than favourable 5++.

[LardO'Blood]

I primarily play tyrannies and I alway bring at least one squad. I find they are great at tying up all those annoying deepstrikint/outflanking units nidz have. I always run an AC squad but once I buy one on eBay I will run them with a cyclone. Try and deepstrike them later to screw with their warriors and carnifexes. Otherwise use them to support devastators and tactical squads in the mid-back field. They work best when they attack a thined down enemy so I often have them stand with some combat squadded tacticals. By the time the horde of gaunts/hive tyrant arrives they should be reduced to a few wounds, easy for the terminators to chomp through.

Or you can be smart and play DA Deathwwing for uberness

[Brother_Fatiswon]

they're not seen much in competitive lists. It doesnt mean they "wont work" however....

....deepstrike them, chainfists and assault cannons can do amazing things

i would build on this, and say, add the TDA libby w/SS w/Gate and Vortex, make him a Espi, and add in Calgar in AoA Tda armor..have them Gate each and every turn. use Vortex to clear out the fronts of squads and after you make them look like that cheese with the holes.

[DarKHaZZ13]

I used to run this before I switched to my sisters;

 

PA captain HQ with a squad of marines with a teleport homer in a rhino with EA and SL's zooms as far forward as possible and pop smoke in turn one,

while you have a 5-10 man termie squad (persoanlly I have 5) with assault cannons, lead by a termie chaplain, sit in reserve

 

turn two Deep strike by the rhino. dissemabark the marines (they will probably be near a squad by now) have the marines fire everything they have got, along with terminators at a squad (marines count as having not moved if you havnt moved the rhino obviously) so thats what? 10/20 for the marines and 10 for the termies + four assult cannons shots, and the 2 shots from the storm bolter on the rhino, 1 from the captain and 2 from the chappy = 25/35 bolter rounds = 1 squad beat up pretty bad.

 

turn three. have the captain leave the marines squad, and join the termy squad. have them move, fire and change at a squad. thats 15 power first attacks, 4 chaplain power weapon attacks and 5 captain/chapter master power weapon attacks on the charge

24 attacks total, all re-rolling to hit. (thank you chaplain) if the quad you charges survived the first bout'

the wont survive the almost guarnteed hit, wounded, no amrour save and instant death from the power firsts.

 

In my ecperiance thats two enemy squads decimated in 3 turns, and potentially 3 objectives claimed. + whatever else you have in the army backing you up (I like two assult cannon dreads personally)

[Zynk Kaladin]

Hmm, I've been considering getting a termie libby for a while so I might try that out. I've always wanted to try gating around the map like a loon.

 

I might also try a sanguinary priest with the termie squad if I do decide to go blood angels for a while.

 

thanks!

[Xeonic]

I see little reason to deep strike termies with their respectable effective range(54" with a cyclone barrage! :D ), you miss out on a couple-few turns of shooting waiting for(more like gambling for) reserves. With assault cannons and an optional libby you want to keep them moving/gating to keep 24"(assault weakened or ranged specialist units when opportunity strikes of course), and with cyclones you want as many turns of shooting as possible. 10 tac termies I will attest are also completely brutal on the charge vs anything that doesn't have a significant invuln(or, you know, lots of power weapons that strike at I).

 

My suggestion is to take cyclone launchers and hug terrain getting as many shots off as they move around as possible, or pack assault cannons and maybe a chainfist or two and walk/gate(admittedly gate is risky with a large squad!) around killing stuff with massed storm bolter fire and rending shots. I love my 2 AC termie squad because rends make me smile, and on the smaller boards I often play on I don't even bother with gate, I just walk up to midfield cover and shoot until everything is dead or thinned enough to powerfist to death. If you want to take a min sized squad I say go the cyclone route all the way, the cyclone is basically two relentless missile launchers strapped together, which doesn't replace the termie's storm bolter(and he can fire both).

[Myxx]

Pics please? By tactical termies do you mean the shooty kind, or is it some other variant?

[Ming]

Termie squads work great vs non-horde opponents, or tables with good amounts of terrain. Tactical termies (have storm bolters) are great to either deep strike once, or to deply and intercept or block opponent key units. If taking a landraider, might as well stay 5 in number. Add in either a TDA librarian or TDA Captain. More often than not, these terminators will not get the charge in, but be charged, so a chaplain does not provide a good bonus for them. Since tactical termies have only the sergeant at I4, the rest laying fists or chainfists at I1, any WS4 I4 mobs can put the hurt on you quickly. These termies are most successful vs MCs, dreads, ICs, or small high-value elite units. Otherwise, they are good at countercharging.

[Zynk Kaladin]

Pics please? By tactical termies do you mean the shooty kind, or is it some other variant?

 

Yes, the type with guns. I'd love to post some pics of them, but unfortunately I don't have my camera at the moment.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

If you're still shopping around for a character to lead them, look at Pedro. He grants +1 attack per model to every squad within 12", so I've considered putting him in with Tac Termies in a Land Raider. That's four power fists per Termie on the charge, four power weapon attacks from the Sarge, and four more fists from Pedro himself. Put a hurting on anyone.

[ShinyRhino]

If you're still shopping around for a character to lead them, look at Pedro. He grants +1 attack per model to every squad within 12", so I've considered putting him in with Tac Termies in a Land Raider. That's four power fists per Termie on the charge, four power weapon attacks from the Sarge, and four more fists from Pedro himself. Put a hurting on anyone.

 

Pedro is typically a crappy close-combat HQ unit. Attacking at I1 withhis fist, alongside a bunch of I1 Terminators means he gets chopped down without much effort.

You're actually better off leaving Pedro inside the Land Raider blowing kisses while the Terminators charge off and take advantage of his 12" bubble.

[Ming]

As a Pedro fan, I'm with Shiny on this. Pedro should ONLY get into CC as a last resort. Keep him in the car...not on the field. Pedro can get popped by as few as 4 ork boyz and a bad luck dice roll.

 

A scratch built captain with TDA, relic blade, and SS might be useful at I5 to bolster the terms in assault. Otherwise, they are better off running around alone.

[BearersOfSalvation]

I think tactical terminators don't make it onto competitive lists because assault terminators are just so good at melee, and the shooting of tactical terminators is not that impressive compared to sternguard or lots of regular marines. They're not by any stretch a weak unit though, they just get overshadowed. They can provide a constant hail of slow, steady moving fire and a serious counter-assault with powerfists - there are a lot of elite melee units that have a hard time with a 2+/5++ S8 squad, especially if you get the charge on them.

 

Going specifically against Tyranids, I'd try running a big squad with Lysander - he's basically an MC himself, and you'd actually get to use bolter drill on the squad. Cyclones would probably be optimal, but I'd use assault cannons because they're my favorite weapon and I hardly have a use for them in 5e. You should be able to mow down the little stuff with bolter fire and frag templates, and melee down whatever MCs the rest of your army can't shoot instead of being scared of them.

[Br0ther Rafen]

Another thing that you might want to consider is putting 5 CC Termies w/ claws and a chaplain in a drop pod. they can come down and assault on the 1st turn, and the chaplain makes their hits/wounds re-rollable,

with no armour saves and I4. :P or you could place them in a LR, also good.

[Icechiang]

Sorry man, but it says that a unit that arrives by drop pod cannot assault the turn it came down on said drop pod. If only they could, if only....

[Br0ther Rafen]

Wow that sucks :)

I guess my friend would be pissed if he found out about that rule ;)

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Getting back to the Pedro commentary, yes, I agree that it makes more sense to leave Pedro in the Land Raider and send the Termies out alone to take care of business. But that's also not very heroic behavior for a Chapter Master, and I play for fluff & fun, not to WAAC. Regardless of that, my statement remains valid -- Pedro's presence nearby still increases the capabilities of Tac Termies in close combat, providing a 50% boost in their number of attacks.

 

 

Another thing that you might want to consider is putting 5 CC Termies w/ claws and a chaplain in a drop pod. they can come down and assault on the 1st turn, and the chaplain makes their hits/wounds re-rollable,

with no armour saves and I4. :) or you could place them in a LR, also good.

 

First of all, the OP asked about TACTICAL Terminators, whereas claws only come on ASSAULT Terminators. Oops.

 

 

Wow that sucks :(

I guess my friend would be pissed if he found out about that rule :P

 

Second, in your shoes, I would admit to my friend that I jacked that one up before he finds out and screams "cheater." He's going to find out about it eventually, I'm sure, and its always nice to nip these misunderstandings in the bud.

[Brother_Fatiswon]

Another thing that you might want to consider is putting 5 CC Termies w/ claws and a chaplain in a drop pod. they can come down and assault on the 1st turn, and the chaplain makes their hits/wounds re-rollable,

with no armour saves and I4. :cuss or you could place them in a LR, also good.

not to rub salt in the wound, but Terminator, under Space marine Codex, can NOT use drop pods, never mind about the not assaulting rule..

[Icechiang]

I was actually wondering about that. I was reading the codex and it only explicitly says that Terminators cannot use rhinos or razorbacks. It just says that for transport, each terminator counts as 2 models. If I am missing it somewhere else then please tell me cause I thought that terminators cannot ride the drop pod, but couldn't find anywhere that said they couldn't.

[Zynk Kaladin]

I was actually wondering about that. I was reading the codex and it only explicitly says that Terminators cannot use rhinos or razorbacks. It just says that for transport, each terminator counts as 2 models. If I am missing it somewhere else then please tell me cause I thought that terminators cannot ride the drop pod, but couldn't find anywhere that said they couldn't.

 

Under Dedicated Transports for, say, a tactical squad or sternguard squad it says "May select a Rhino or Razorback. If the squad numbers 10 models, may take a Drop Pod". However, under Dedicated Transports for Termies it only says "One Terminator squad in the army may select a Land Raider of any type as a dedicated transport".

 

 

I like the Lysander idea, but we're going to be playing lower point battles at first because my friend doesn't have a lot of models right now.