Coils of the Hydra 2.5k

[drogg]

hi pals-

 

heresy newbie here, spinning my wheels in the hopes of coming up with an all-comers fun coils list. 

 

fluffwise i'm imagining an armored spearhead supported by mechanized infantry designed to crush the leadership of any organized resistance.  mechanically speaking, the tacs are there to park on objectives, the seekers (with whom skorr rides in the proteus) to handle assassination, the butchers for tarpitting the biggest threat, and the heavy support as the toolkit for any outsize challenges.  the rhinos have multimeltas so they can't be totally ignored, and the proteus and spartan are big and sturdy enough to be threats unto themselves.  or so the plan goes.

 

with skorr's warlord trait and mutable tactics, there's a fair amount of customization left over depending on the specific nature of the threat.  i feel like points are stretched agonizingly thin - i'd love to max out the butchers and give them a consul escort, for example - but the impression i get is that's the nature of heresy lists. 

 

am i shooting myself in the foot trying to stay flexible? i don't intend to march this list into tournaments, but i'd like to avoid getting completely mopped up by someone who knows what they're doing...

++  Crusade (Legiones Astartes: Age of Darkness Army List) [2500pts] ++

+ HQ +

Autilon Skorr [125pts]

+ Elites +

The Rewards of Treason [755pts]
. The Red Butchers: 6x Butcher Terminator, 6x Second Power Axe
. . Spartan Assault Tank, Legion: Armoured Ceramite, Dozer Blade, Flare Shield, Laser Destroyer Array Sponsons x2, Twin-linked Heavy Bolter
. . The Devoured: Chainfist, Power Dagger

+ Troops +

Tactical Squad, Legion , Compulsory [185pts]: 9x Tactical Space Marines, Legion
. Additional Wargear: Vexilla, Legion
. Rhino Armoured Carrier, Legion: Multi Melta
. Standard Wargear: Bolters
. Tactical Sergeant, Legion: Bolter

Tactical Squad, Legion , Compulsory [185pts]: 9x Tactical Space Marines, Legion
. Additional Wargear: Vexilla, Legion
. Rhino Armoured Carrier, Legion: Multi Melta
. Standard Wargear: Bolters
. Tactical Sergeant, Legion: Bolter

Tactical Squad, Legion , Compulsory [185pts]: 9x Tactical Space Marines, Legion
. Additional Wargear: Vexilla, Legion
. Rhino Armoured Carrier, Legion: Multi Melta
. Standard Wargear: Bolters
. Tactical Sergeant, Legion: Bolter

+ Fast Attack +

Seeker Squad, Legion [520pts]: 6x Seeker Space Marines, Legion
. Additional Wargear: 6x Combi-weapon: Plasma gun, Nuncio-vox
. Land Raider Proteus: Armoured Ceramite, Explorator Augury Web, 2x Twin-linked Lascannon Sponsons
. Strike Leader, Legion: Artificer Armour, Power Dagger, Power Fist
. . Combi-weapon: Combi-weapon: Plasma gun

+ Heavy Support +

Sicaran Arcus Strike Tank [240pts]: Armoured Ceramite
. Twin Arcus launcher: Skyspear Warheads

Sicaran Venator Tank Destroyer [190pts]

Whirlwind Scorpius, Legion [115pts]: Scorpius Multi-Launcher

+ Allegiance +

Legion and Allegiance:  XX: Alpha Legion, Traitor

Rite of War: The Coils of the Hydra

++ Total: [2500pts] ++

Created with BattleScribe

[Unknown Legionnaire]

Your list looks mostly fine for a CotH list to be honest. You got scoring units, anti-tank, anti-air and a useful 'rewards' selection. 

CotH lists tend to somehow look rather 'generic', but don't let that fool you. It's the three tac squads that make it appear that way.

Four scoring units is about right, a list of that size should have roughly 4-5.

Skorr is an excellent HQ choice, and putting him in Plasma Seekers in a Proteus is my favourite setup as well.

 

 

Some things to consider:

 

1.  Like you said yourself, there's no HQ joining the Butchers, so to save up on some points, I'd consider dropping them down to 5 and putting them in a Phobos instead of a Spartan. With the leftover points you could easily buy a dreadnought or another tasty elites choice.

 

2.  Troop choices:  Your Tac Sergeants definitely want Artificer Armour and Melta Bombs at the least. For soaking purposes or anti-armour duties. Upgrades can get expensive really fast, so I'll point out the Power Fist & Dagger combo as optional.

Also, I would consider swapping one Tac Squad for an Assault Squad (they can DS and thus are fine in CotH without having a dedicated transport even when you don't pick infiltrate as your mutable tactic) for some flexibility.

[drogg]

Your list looks mostly fine for a CotH list to be honest. You got scoring units, anti-tank, anti-air and a useful 'rewards' selection. 

CotH lists tend to somehow look rather 'generic', but don't let that fool you. It's the three tac squads that make it appear that way.

Four scoring units is about right, a list of that size should have roughly 4-5.

Skorr is an excellent HQ choice, and putting him in Plasma Seekers in a Proteus is my favourite setup as well.

 

 

Some things to consider:

 

1.  Like you said yourself, there's no HQ joining the Butchers, so to save up on some points, I'd consider dropping them down to 5 and putting them in a Phobos instead of a Spartan. With the leftover points you could easily buy a dreadnought or another tasty elites choice.

 

2.  Troop choices:  Your Tac Sergeants definitely want Artificer Armour and Melta Bombs at the least. For soaking purposes or anti-armour duties. Upgrades can get expensive really fast, so I'll point out the Power Fist & Dagger combo as optional.

Also, I would consider swapping one Tac Squad for an Assault Squad (they can DS and thus are fine in CotH without having a dedicated transport even when you don't pick infiltrate as your mutable tactic) for some flexibility.

thanks for the feedback! 

 

1.  so far i've only picked up one proteus and a spartan from FW, but i was considering a second proteus - and it'd definitely save me some points to scale back in the fashion you recommend.  i'll have to play around with those extra points to see what appeals.

 

2. originally all the tac sarges had artificer armor but i was trying to claw back points to afford the last combi-plasma.  i have an unassembled assault squad, but had left them alone thinking that AL marines can't really toe-to-toe an actual close combat legion and consequently i should save the points.  having the deep strike is an appealing extra bit of flexibility, tho. 

[Erren]

I don’t have much to add other than to say I really like this list and would love to hear how it plays out for you.

[Imren]

The scorpius can be quite vulnerable and an easy first blood VP turn one for the opponent, its easy to penetrate from sides and from the rear, so an opponent will be tempted to deep strike something turn one toeasily take out the Scorpius in your back field (where you will most likely deploy it) so you might be tempted to assign a babysitter with it.

 

Sicaran Venator is a good antitank option but to some extent suffers similar issues as the Scorpius although its fast and wee bit better armour, its one unit that does one thing good.

 

I suggest to ditch the Scorpius and the Sicaran Venator, and get a Fire raptor instead with the twin linked autocannons. This flyer is way more versatile. You can take out light armour vehicles, and absolutely murder infantry. And being a flyer it gives you more tactical flexibility, you can have it go after infantry, or light vehicles or fight other flyers. I suspect you might get more out of it than the Venator and the Scorpius.

 

The left over points you use to sprinkle out artificier armour, power daggers and power fists among your sergeants.

[drogg]

The scorpius can be quite vulnerable and an easy first blood VP turn one for the opponent, its easy to penetrate from sides and from the rear, so an opponent will be tempted to deep strike something turn one toeasily take out the Scorpius in your back field (where you will most likely deploy it) so you might be tempted to assign a babysitter with it.

 

Sicaran Venator is a good antitank option but to some extent suffers similar issues as the Scorpius although its fast and wee bit better armour, its one unit that does one thing good.

 

I suggest to ditch the Scorpius and the Sicaran Venator, and get a Fire raptor instead with the twin linked autocannons. This flyer is way more versatile. You can take out light armour vehicles, and absolutely murder infantry. And being a flyer it gives you more tactical flexibility, you can have it go after infantry, or light vehicles or fight other flyers. I suspect you might get more out of it than the Venator and the Scorpius.

 

The left over points you use to sprinkle out artificier armour, power daggers and power fists among your sergeants.

good pointers! 

 

i am concerned about the fragility of the scorpius, but i figured it could potentially be used to either A) draw out threats into a hazardous position as a sacrificial lamb or B) be given a sturdier escort, like the land raider.  given skorr and the coils bonuses i can have a ~55% chance to seize the initiative if first turn doesn't go my way, so hopefully that'll give me time to at least fire a single rocket volley and hopefully earn back the 115 points wiping out a tac squad or something.

 

i had avoided taking any flyers because of how rock-paper-scissors heresy anti air feels.  in your experience, does the raptor do a better job of earning its points back compared to ground based heavy supports?  without the venator, i worry i wouldn't have any tools to deal with super heavies or knights  - the hellstrike missles on the fire raptor seem like they might not be consistently able to stop a land raider, let alone something like a flare shielded spartan.

 

here's a tweaked list based on Unknown Legionnaire's feedback(thanks again!).  the saboteur is just there for flavor right now - there are points that could be clawed back from sponson weapons and the like if there's something that would be a better fit.  ideas?

 

++  Crusade (Legiones Astartes: Age of Darkness Army List) [2500pts] ++

 

+ HQ +

 

Autilon Skorr [125pts]

 

Saboteur [85pts]: Bolt Pistol, On Foot, Power Armour (Centurion/Consul)

. Chainsword or Combat Blade: Combat Blade

. Consul: Saboteur

 

+ Elites +

 

The Rewards of Treason [565pts]

. The Red Butchers: 4x Butcher Terminator, 4x Pair of Lightning Claws

. . Land Raider Phobos: 2x Twin-linked Lascannon Sponsons, Armoured Ceramite, Dozer Blade, Extra Armour

. . The Devoured: Chainfist, Power Dagger

 

+ Troops +

 

Tactical Squad, Legion , Compulsory [200pts]: 9x Tactical Space Marines, Legion

. Additional Wargear: Vexilla, Legion

. Rhino Armoured Carrier, Legion: Multi Melta

. Standard Wargear: Bolters

. Tactical Sergeant, Legion: Artificer Armour, Bolter, Melta Bombs

 

Tactical Squad, Legion , Compulsory [200pts]: 9x Tactical Space Marines, Legion

. Additional Wargear: Vexilla, Legion

. Rhino Armoured Carrier, Legion: Multi Melta

. Standard Wargear: Bolters

. Tactical Sergeant, Legion: Artificer Armour, Bolter, Melta Bombs

 

Tactical Squad, Legion , Compulsory [200pts]: 9x Tactical Space Marines, Legion

. Additional Wargear: Vexilla, Legion

. Rhino Armoured Carrier, Legion: Multi Melta

. Standard Wargear: Bolters

. Tactical Sergeant, Legion: Artificer Armour, Bolter, Melta Bombs

 

+ Fast Attack +

 

Seeker Squad, Legion [520pts]: 6x Seeker Space Marines, Legion

. Additional Wargear: 6x Combi-weapon: Plasma gun, Nuncio-vox

. Land Raider Proteus: Armoured Ceramite, Explorator Augury Web, 2x Twin-linked Lascannon Sponsons

. Strike Leader, Legion: Artificer Armour, Power Dagger, Power Fist

. . Combi-weapon: Combi-weapon: Plasma gun

 

+ Heavy Support +

 

Sicaran Arcus Strike Tank [280pts]: Armoured Ceramite, Lascannon Sponsons

. Twin Arcus launcher: Skyspear Warheads

 

Sicaran Venator Tank Destroyer [210pts]: Armoured Ceramite

 

Whirlwind Scorpius, Legion [115pts]: Scorpius Multi-Launcher

 

+ Allegiance +

 

Legion and Allegiance:  XX: Alpha Legion, Traitor

 

Rite of War: The Coils of the Hydra

 

++ Total: [2500pts] ++

 

Created with BattleScribe

[Imren]

It does a good job if you go after power armoured infantry and other flyers. Also you get some synergy effects were the Fire Raptor takes out a enemy Rhino sitting on an objective so that my plasma squad can take out the infantry squad inside and thus deny the opponent VPs that turn.

The rock/paper/scissors effect i find you get more with getting them in from reserves, you want to use the AL buffs getting your units in from reserves early and obstructing the enemy units coming in. Having the Fire Raptor coming in early makes a big difference with all its guns and tonnes of shooting.

I find the Sicaran Arcus and Fire Raptor be the better options for anti-air in the game, they are very versatile and can fulfil several roles and will be very useful regardless if your opponent flyers or not. Although the Arcus less mobile, its quite effective if you deploy it well and don't have to move it much.

Consider switching out the meltabombs on your tactical sergeants to power fists, that way you threat enemy heavy infantry/characters as well as vehicles/walkers.

A sidenote: Since you run CotH consider also using Dynat instead of Skorr, you will have very good synergy effects between Dynat and CotH, for example, if you use Gal Vorbak (deep strike, S5 T5, power fist on sarge (S10!) and meltagun) instead of butchers, you can deep strike them in and use Dynat to deep trike in a 10 man plasma squad in or close to enemy deployment zone. These two units in the face of the opponent turn one were one blasts away an infantry squad and the other can threat pretty much everything in the enemy deployment zone combined with the Dynat/CotH buffs can be very effective.