What This Review Intends to Cover

In these reviews I want to cover:

1. What is a unit’s role?
2. How strong is a unit?
3. How should you run the unit? Covering both unit size and weapons
4. Anything to be aware of when purchasing and modeling a unit?
5. Are there other units that perform a similar role?

At the end I’ve also included a Legion Trait review, I’ll be adding another for Formations in the future.

What This Review Won’t Cover

I’m not going to spend too much time on units-per-legion. I’ll make a few notes when I think it matters, but I won’t cover when a particular legion makes something better, unless I mention in that unit review.

This is also not a document about building a list. If you need to know what infantry options are best, or what anti-tank to bring, this has answers, but it won’t cover how much of each you should bring.

Why Am I Writing This Review?

The main reason is that I’m not aware of a similar resource online for Imperialis. Most content has moved to YouTube which has upsides and downsides but one of the big downsides is that it’s terrible as a reference. Here you’ll be able to look up what some dude (hi, that’s me!) thinks of the Sabre, without having to find the right timestamp in the right video from the right review of a Legions Imperialis supplement. And that’s the other issue, most reviews of units are point-in-time, when they were released. They don’t consider newer units that may have changed the landscape, along with FAQs, etc.

I’ll note here that Legions Imperialis is a pretty casual game, so please don’t read this guide and bring all the best units to your next game night. However, even with casual games it’s worth knowing relative power levels and quality, which is what this guide aims to do. In many respects this is a guide that tells you what not to do in a casual game.

I also think there is value in knowing what options to put on your expensive new models, I’ll try and make my build recommendations clear for all units, and highlight things that are easy to magnetize, etc.

How Are Units Scored?

S: These will be very rare but are units that warp the game

A: These are very good units you would be happy to take more than one detachment

B: These are solid units that won’t handicap your list, they may be good role-players but lack flexibility

C: These units are not very good, unless taking them with a very specific purpose they’ll be inferior to many units. They may be unfocused or outclassed

D: These units are bad. Take these for fun, or looks, or vibes but not because they’ll help win games

Legiones Astartes HQ

Introduction:

All these units have two rules that interact with nearby friendly units: Master Tactician and Inspire. The first lets you swap out a unit order for another unit, after the HQ activates. This is very good, gives you a lot of flexibility to swap around first fire/advance/charge orders should you need to. Inspire lets you share the 2+ moral of this unit in a bubble which is also great, in that bubble even a broken formation will pass most moral checks.

Next to talk about is Commander. Any unit with Commander must be attacked to a unit with the same type from their formation. This is done on deployment and means that Battle Tank commanders need to go in a Battle Tank unit, and Infantry commanders in an Infantry unit. Generally you want to put them in a medium or large sized unit to protect the commander’s buffing effects. Note you don’t have to put them in exactly the same unit, just a matching slot, watch out for things like unit speed if you are doing this.

Last let’s talk about infantry commanders. When inside a transport Inspire and Master Tactician do not work. When inside a building, they both work, and have a larger range, as you count the building footprint as their base. This means that if your infantry HQ starts in a Rhino you want to get it out of there and into a building ASAP.

HQs also get a 6+ invulnerable save, try and remember this but it’s very unlikely to matter.

Legion Command Squad: A-

Gameplay: The basic Legion Command Squad is a single wound model for the low-low price of 25 points. It’s pretty good. The Medicae rule gives a small bubble of a feel no pain save for infantry. This can now be purchased by Legion Tactical Detachments but is free here. This squad also has +4 CAF which is pretty good but as a single wound model it is risky in close combat. This is the cheapest option which is good, it’s Inspire and Master Commander work the same way as other more expensive HQs.

Modeling: You’ll end up with a lot more of these squads than you’ll ever use. You want a lot of boxes of Legiones Astartes Infantry but I think it would be rare to field more than 2 of these in a list. Build 3, 4 if you want, but you can sprinkle these models in other squads or use them for basing past that.

Legion Saturnine Command: B-

Gameplay: For 25 more points you get a number of upgrades compared to the Command Squad. A second wound is the most notable you also get Implacable and Armoured. However, overall I don’t think the cost increase is worth it. You lose Medicae, and you lose 1” of movement. At twice the price that’s not a great deal. Also very bulky greatly limits its transport options. Generally I’m only taking these in the Legion Saturnine Heavy Assault Cadre, though I have no complaints taking it there.

Modeling: What I said for the Legion Command Squad goes doubly here, you’re rarely taking more than one of these, so figure out what you want to do with spares.

Legion Predator Command Squad: C-

Gameplay: Predators are a bit forgotten in Legions Imperialis and not without reason. Predators have a number of problems, they’re fairly expensive, they only have a 3+ save, and they just don’t have great guns. With only the Predator Autocannon and Lascannons as turret weapons, other tanks with more specialized and exotic weapons outshine them. You do still get Inspire and Master Tactician but on a 60 point platform that will fold to pretty much anything.

Load-out: “Oops all lascannons” is my preferred loadout, it won’t win any awards but it gives you a reasonable amount of anti-tank firepower. Use the tank’s speed and range to keep the unit safe. Do not take pintle weapons.

Modeling: I would put lascannons sponsons on all my Predators, the turret weapons are long range, and the tanks are fast, so no real reason to rely on heavy bolters. The models come with both turret options so you can have access to both.

Legion Sicaran Commander : B

Gameplay: Sicaran tanks are very fast (10”) and have a wide range of guns. Both of these are pretty appealing.

Load-out: I think your best bet is the Punisher cannon with heavy bolters, this Sicaran loadout is one of the best anti-infantry platforms in the game, putting out a huge number of dice. I also think the twin-linked accelerator autocannon paired with lascanons is a solid loadout, which can actually go in a squad of Sicaran Arcus tanks, an option commanders can’t take, but these two weapon loadouts pair together well for a mobile firebase happy to shoot planes or tanks. Do not take pintle weapons, though a heavy bolter on your Punisher commander is not the worst way to spend 5 points.

Modeling: There are two Sicaran kits, the autocannon/plasma, and the Punisher/Arcus. Of the two the later is preferred, the Punisher is the best Sicaran, and the Arcus is one of the few anti-air tank options. Note that all Sicaran turrets can be swapped so over time if you pick up both kits you can flex turrets around. For sponsons you really want heavy bolters for Punishers and lascannons for Arcus. One option is to buy a box of each type of Sicaran, put lascannons on 4, heavy bolters on the other 4. You then have the turret options and can form squads as you please.

Legion Krytos Commander : A-

Gameplay: The Kratos has a lot to recommend it. For only 30 points more than the Sicaran you get a 2+ save, double the wound count, and get a lot more firepower. A squadron of Krytos are a lot more durable and a lot more threatening than either of the tanks we’ve already covered, and with 8” movement they’re only a little slower. The battlecannon has a strange pair of profiles. They’re strange because the shorter range, AP -4 profile only gets one attack. This means that the 10” profile is worse against anything except a 1+ save. Versus a 2+ save it averages .49 wounds, where the 20” profilile averages .55. This is kinda a bummer but we all know GW can’t do math.

Load-out: The battlecannon and lascannons would be my default, swapping the hull lascannon to an autocannon is also totally fine. These loadouts will be stand-off tanks. If you want something a bit spicier take the melta blastgun and all the heavy bolters. The blastgun gives you some anti-building firepower, and combining it with Point Defense on the heavy bolters means you can target almost whatever you want with your various weapons. Don’t take pintle weapons, but if you must a heavy bolter is fine on the commander.

Modeling: I’d not worry that much about the pintle and hull weapons but advice on them is above. The main weapon is pretty easy to swap with a bit of blue tac, just don’t glue it in when assembling the model.

Core & Support

Introduction:

Core and support have a lot of overlap due to most support detachments being able to be taken as part of core. So let’s look at support marines first, then get to the core unit, then get to the rest of the support units.

For modeling I put fewer models on bases than GW would like. I do 4 marines, and 3 terminators per base. I think this just looks better. It does mean you’ll need to source extra bases if you want this to pay off in more units.

Legion Assault Detachment: A-

Game play: Assault marines are quite good. Your basic tactical marine sucks at shooting and sucks at fighting and costs more than these guys. For 5 points less for the squad of 4 you get +1 CAF, +2” movement, and the ability to jump over things. You lose some firepower but I don’t think it matters much. These are great objective capers/holders for a dirt cheap price. With a 14” march they can reposition quite effectively. They’re not going to get a lot of kills but you take them a mobile source of bodies that if your opponent screws up, well, they can do some damage in melee. The largest downside is they can’t take most transports but with 14” movement this isn’t the end of the world, tactical marines will be faster on turn 1 if they’re in Rhinos but Assault marines are more mobile across the course of the game.

Load-out: Go min or max squad size, both are good. Always remember these guys are aiming for objectives.

Modeling: Assault marines are very dear, you only get a handful on each sprue. With their extra bulk these are a prime candidate for putting 4 to a base. This lets you get 3 stands/box rather than 2.

Legion Plasma Gun Detachment: C+

Game play: Plasma detachments are in a strange place in this game. They have better shooting than tactical marines, but really want to be within 4” which is kind of crazy. They do have the same price as a tactical detachment when taken solo, but still cost more than assault marines. It’s not all bad, a squad of 8 of these in a building can put out 16 Overwatch dice. But you probably put them in Rhinos to get them to that building and why not just take assault marines?

Load-out: If I’m taking these solo I want the full 8, they rely on weight of dice, though keep in mind unless they’re in a garrison getting all 8 within 4” could be an issue.

Modeling: Do what you’re doing for other marines.

Legion Missile Launcher Detachment: A

Game play: These are the primer space marine infantry. They’re a little pricey but have great range and two good attack profiles. You don’t want these coming down on the opponent’s side of the table but they’re great for holding back field objectives, or if in the mid-table can threaten most of the board. These guys need to stay garrisoned, they’re a lot more expensive than other marines but no tougher.

Load-out: These are flexible. Four stands are a perfectly fine way to cap an objective and lob a few shots, or take 8 as a more serious threat.

Modeling: You only get 10 in a box so building squads with GW models is hard. If you’re painting on the sprue I recommend attacking the arms to the model before painting.

Legion Terminator Detachment: A-

Game play: Terminators have a lot of changes from the units we’ve just looked at. Save goes to 4+, CAF is a mighty+4, and they have a lot of rules - Armoured (re-roll saves vs Light weapons), Implacable (don’t run away from close combat), Steadfast (+1 Tactical Strength). Most notably, they have Deep Strike allowing them to come down anywhere on the battlefield after the first turn, with some risk. This is very powerful in a game about holding objectives with infantry. I think any Astartes list should try and bring a squad just because they’re so flexible for grabbing points. As for downsides, they’re harder to transport, and cost more. Overall, they’re a very flexible unit that I recommend taking most games. Remember that you can move after you deep strike, so deep strike, then hop in a building. You can’t assault, which does add some value to taking these in an Assault Transport vehicle.

Load-out: As with most infantry, min or max is good. Min size deep striking Terminators are almost not worth dealing shooting at, max size and they’re a real threat.

Modeling: I put three on a base and think it looks good.

Legion Tactical Detachment: A

Game play: This is one of the most complicated units in the game to talk about. It starts with 4 basic tactical marine stands, but any of the preceding units can be added to it. The basic tactical marine sucks at everything. However the unit has a ton of options. First, there is one load-out choice - for +10 points you can gain Medicae for a feel no pain save. This is a great upgrade and outside of units that are min-size or with a commander it’s worth taking when you have the points.

Load-out: The options are vast. 4 models can hold a back field point, a max-size unit can do a lot of stuff. I like 8 model units as a fairly flexible size but any size can work. Below I’ll go through the various add-on options, and how I feel they rate for the Tactical Detachment.

Legion Tactical Detachment: B+

More bodies for cheap is fine.

Legion Assault Detachment: B+

Assault marines can make sense in the squad as it gives you better CAF. However, it means you can’t fit in most transports and the extra speed is of limited value. But it’s not no-value. You still do get 7” of movement making the unit a bit more flexible and letting you reach some things you might otherwise not get to. If you’re not taking a transport I favor Assault Marines over Tactical.

Legion Plasma Gun Detachment: B-

Plasma guns for a small price bump get you extra ranged firepower. This is fine, the fact that you can use normal bodies to adsorb fire makes Plasma Guns a little better than stand-alone.

Legion Missile Launcher Detachment: A

Still great, they now cost less and have ablative wounds. A squad of 4 tac/4 missile costs 50% more than 4 missiles alone but has 2x the wounds. A lot of this comes down to slots in your list, do you have spare Core or Support?

Legion Terminator Detachment: B+

Terminators are similar to Assault Marines but you get an extra +1 CAF at an extra 4 points per model, which is pretty steep. However, taking 2 has one really big upside, you gain Implacable for the unit. A Tactical Detachment with Implacable is much harder to shift from a building in close combat. The issue of course is no longer being able to fit in a Rhino or similar, but they will fit in Spartans and Land Raiders which gets expensive.

Recommended Detachments:

4 Tactical, 8 Missile (115 Pts) - Ranged firepower

10 Tactical, 2 Terminator (91 Pts) - Hard to shift objective holder in Land Raiders/Spartans

4 Tactical, 4 Assault, 2 Terminator (91 Pts) - Footslogging hard to shift objective holder

4 Tactical (35 Pts) - Cheap objective squatters

Modeling: Make sure to have a few stands with a white helmet to indicate an apothecary.

Legion Saturnine Terminator Detachment: C+

Gameplay: What a weird unit to grade. These are rare 2-wound infantry, which is quite good, but they’re very expensive, and very hard to move around the table. With only 4” movement and 8-12” range they need a transport or alternative deployment option. I think they’re an F if you don’t have one of those things, so take the above grade in that context. Your options for that are three fold: first, you can put them in a Mastadon or Thunderhawk, both are pretty appealing though the Thunderhawk can be very high risk with a belly full of these guys. Second, if you’re playing an overpowered legion, by which I mean Raven Guard or Alpha Legion you can infiltrate these, Saturnine are a lot better if they can start mid-board. Lastly, there is the Saturnine Heavy Assault Cadre - a formation which gives them Deep Strike. It’s quite good and how I’d run these outside of the prior options.

However speed isn’t the only problem, they also are in a weird spot with close combat. They’re only CAF +2, and frequently outnumbered. So they’re a short range shooting infantry unit that’s pretty tough. It’s worth noting that the disintegrators are AP -2 with no negative traits. If you can get Saturnine behind tanks they will shred them, and that’s where I see getting the best value from them.

Load-out: The fists are bad, you want guns. Disintergrators are better than bombards (Barrage is not a good rule), but the double-gun option for +10 points isn’t bad. I think the best loadouts are 3 or 6 with twin disintergrators are the best, but dual guns are also fine here.

Modeling: These are a disaster because there are a ton of fists you don’t want. You also don’t get the right number of guns for each arm, you can take the fist arms, and gun arms, and a little plastic cement to correct this, but it’s not fun.

Legion Rapier Battery Detachment: B-

Gameplay: Rapiers are technically infantry but come in very small, pretty expensive detachments. This means they can be a high risk, high reward way to hold buildings. If your opponent can’t shift them you’ve got a ton of fire power in that garrison. However if they have Ignores Cover, Demolisher, or just units to assault you’re likely to lose a lot of points. And the next point here is that they have to be in buildings and are very slow. You can transport them but with Bulky it’s not easy. These are a unit that unfortunately really shines in Raven Guard and Alpha Legion and I think goes up a full letter grade for those legions. For everyone else they’re still worth considering but I think mostly the quad launcher profile as the longest range infantry unit to hold a backfield objective.

Load-out: I think you need to take quad-launchers, the laser destroyers just don’t have the range for this fragile a unit. 2 model units can hold a back field objective and challenge your opponent to find something to shoot at them. However it is very fragile and might run at the first wound. I’d lean more toward 4 models which gives them a bit more punch and forces your opponent to send more than pot-shots their way.

Modeling: If you end up with several copies of the Legiones Astartes Support box (and there is good reason to) taking the bases that should go with your laser destroyers and using them for extra marine squads might make sense. Add some laser destroyer rapiers to the basing on your next titan.

Legion Contemptor Dreadnought Detachment: A-

Game-play: The Contemptor has some big upsides, and some downsides. First, with a 5+ invulnerable save, Armoured, and about 17 points a model they’re pretty durable. A big squad of these takes some attention to shut down. And another advantage is they have CAF +5 which is a pretty big number, these will beat most units in combat though you do have to watch out for infantry outnumbering you. Now, on the weaker side we’ve got their biggest issue - 5” speed. This is a common walker problem and they just won’t be in range on turn 1, and with assault cannons they might not be in range on turn 2. Last I want to mention that they’re pretty good as an anti-air option with lascannons. A squad of 4 averages .8 wounds on 4+ flyers, and that goes for overwatch too. So a larger squad is a real threat to planes from overwatch. I would not bring them for AA, but having some to supplement other options is good. The assault cannon is actually almost as effective shooting at planes but with only 8” range they need to come to you.

Load-out: Do not mix weapons. The lascannon is generally better because it gives you at least an extra turn of shooting, possibly 2, as well as long-range anti-air threat. That said, the Assault Cannon will pair better with their best trait - their CAF. I will also note that the Assault Cannon can be a surprisingly good anti-air weapon thanks to Rapid Fire.

Modeling: You only get 2 of each weapon in each infantry box which is a pain, but that’s why we buy a lot of infantry boxes.

Legion Leviathan Siege Dreadnought Detachment: B-

Game-play: The rules writers did Contemptors and Leviathans a bit dirty in Imperialis. They are the same speed, same toughness, the Leviathans are a slightly more expensive and this comes down to weapons. The Leviathan has shorter range weapons, a little more powerful. The big difference is the Leviathan has a melee weapon and it has wrecker making it quite effective at taking down structures. However with the same 5” move you really need to transport them in if you want to do this, however Leviathans in Mastadons or Thunder Hawks are perfectly allowed, and viable. If just foot-slogging I recommend lascannon Contemptors, though storm cannon Leviathans take the cake over assault cannon Contemptors.

Load-out: I lean toward the storm cannon. The issue with the melta is that you have Wrecker and Wrecker is better into buildings than Demolisher. Rather than shoot the building from 6” away, just charge it. The storm cannon is actually a great anti-infantry weapon, great into other walkers, and again Rapid Fire makes it great into aircraft who wander too close.

Modeling: Just be aware that the guns and melee weapons have specific pairings but idential rules for the melee weapons so do what your heard desires.

Legion Deathstorm Drop Pod Detachment: C+

Game-play: One of the highest risk/reward units in the game the Deathstorm is a very fun bit of kit. It can deep strike from turn one, and when it comes down every detachment (friend or foe) within 10” is getting hit with some light AT firepower. There are two huge downsides. The first is that the gun is Limited (1) so you get one shot to make back their points (40 for 2, 110 for 6). The second issue is deep strike scatters, if you try and drop too close to the enemy you may land on them, which destroys your pods but not them. Weirdly, the answer to this is to take larger squads of Deathstorms. You scatter a single model, then others must be placed within 2” of it. So if you take a squad of 4, place your entry point fairly far from the enemy, and your other models can be placed such that they best can deploy their 10” range.

Load-out: I think taking 4 for 75 points is your best best. Gives you good options to place them and if you’re lucky that’s 8 dice going into 3 or 4 detachments.

Modeling: Unfortunately those 4 models will be 75 points and $53 so uh, my condolences.

Legion Palisade Drop Pod: B+

Game-play: Like the Deathstorm the Palisade has some issues with placement. It has a very powerful offer, for 25 points you get a 6” bubble of a 5+ invulnerable save. This can be great back-field protection against high AP weapons. The issue is it will scatter 1d6” when you deep strike making it a little hard to predict where your fire-base will set up, and worse, it could land on them. You can mostly mitigate this by deep striking this on turn one a bit in front of your lines, and then move your fire-base up around it.

Load-out: We have literally no options here.

Modeling: You’ll need the Dreadnought Drop Pod box for this and it’s a bit awkward in terms of numbers. I’d recommend trying to split a box with a friend and each take two. Otherwise get 2 boxes and make 6 dreadnought boxes and 2 Palisades.

Vanguard

Outrider Squadron: C-

Gameplay: One of very few cavalry options Outriders suffer for a role. They’re weak in close combat due to small unit sizes and middling CAF, but they’re very fast and have strong anti-infantry shooting within 4”. One key issue with cavalry is anything that kills infantry kills them, and they can’t hide in buildings. They’re fun but very hard to get value out of.

Load-out: 2-model squads are one of the cheapest units in the game allowing for extra activations, but if looking to use these for anything you probably need 4 or 6 models.

Modeling: The box only comes with 4 stands of Outriders so unless you’re building several boxes worth keep that in mind.

Scimitar Jetbike Squadron: D

Gameplay: For 10 more points you gain skimmer and 2” of movement, while seeing your weapons change. Gone are the pair of assault weapons, in their place you have all your shots in point defense heavy bolters. This isn’t bad as it means you can march 24” and still fire. This is most useful for trying to nab objectives in the backfield, however with their small unit size and fragile stats this is a one-turn play. These do have an extremely large charge range so if there is a good charge target they can outnumber that can work. The issue is that Outriders are cheaper and do some of their job, and the next unit does almost all of their job while also being cheaper.

Load-out: You probably want six to have some weight of dice and models for contesting objectives.

Modeling: You get a max size unit in each box so if you buy several boxes for the units below you’ll end up with quite the surplus of these.

Land Speeder Squadron: C+

Gameplay: Cheaper than Jetbikes these land speeders are very fragile but do got to a 4+ save making light weapons less effective. They’re even worse in close combat but can put out some damage. I’d recommend treating them much as jetbikes, they have as many heavy bolter dice, and if a good target for plasma cannons comes up take advantage of that.

Load-out: Both loadouts send a mixed message, I prefer the plasma and heavy bolter loadout because point defense lets you split your fire. The multi-melta having Anti-tank, and the heavy flamer having Light and not Point Defense makes half your guns useless every turn, despite sharing 6” range.

Modeling: If you’re worried about What You See is What You Get these are a nightmare, I’d recommend not worrying about that and counting all 4 in the box as the profile you want.

Javelin Squadron: B

Gameplay: Back to the price of Jetbikes these share a 4+ with the Land Speeders. However the profile on these is very different, they do have a short range, not-Point-Defense heavy flamer, but they also have two options with 20 and 22” range. This puts them in an unusual spot as a fast cavalry sniper unit. One big advantage of that is most anti-infantry units have short range, between 11” move and 20+” range these should be able to keep themselves pretty safe. What do you get for that? The lascannon model comes in with okay damage, you’re looking at .99 wounds on a 2+ tank with a max sized squadron. To compare that to a lascannon Predator you’re looking at 96 points/damage for the Javelins and 92 points/damage for the Predator. Now a lascannon Predator isn’t that good, in part because of a lot of competition, the Javelin as a somewhat unique unit doesn’t have that.

The other Javelin profile is an ignores cover missile launcher. This will deal .67 wounds to garrisoned space marines per Javelin, compare this to .44 for a Missile Launcher detachment of marines, points are 17.5/model for the Javelin and 12.5/model for the marines, that’s pretty competitive. The key thing to note here is that with Javalins it’s one profile or the other, missile launchers get both. Overall I think Javelins are likely under-utilized, they present long-range, somewhat fragile, but very fast unit that will be hard for your opponent to deal with.

Load-out: I think both loadouts are worthwhile, depending on what type of offense you need to shore up. Any squad size seems fine with multiple 2 model units ideal if you have the activations and slots.

Modeling: As with Land Speeders you’d need 3 boxes for WYSIWYG full squads, so I’d not worry about weapon options too much.

Light Armour

Sabre Squadron: C

Gameplay: These are a bit of an odd duck. We’re looking at 30 points a wound but the rare 4+ vehicle save so they’re pretty squishy. 11” of movement makes them one of the fastest non-air units in the game. And then a selection of short range weapons. Really you can run these as anti-tank or anti infantry/walker and in both cases you get a lot of dice. In both cases they’re… fine. Something of a glass cannon, you’ll get one good round of shooting but then likely see them blown up. With their short range and massive movement a turn 1 March order will let them reposition around the table as needed, but the threat of them dying before they can shoot is real.

Load-out: Take neutron blaster and multi-melta, or autocannon and heavy bolter. The anti-tank loadout should be minimum size squads to maximize Shock Pulse Value, anti infantry it’s up to you.

Modeling: I’ve not built any of these but they look very cute.

Battle Tank

Predator Squadron: C

Gameplay: The Predator is very much a baseline marine tank. With a 3+ save, a couple of turret options, and 9” movement it’s a somewhat flexible platform brought down by a lack of firepower and survivability. You can take a lascannon turret or a Predator cannon. Neither terribly excites me. A Preadator squadron loaded with lascannons puts out 1.24 wounds into a +2 save tank for 115 points. A Cerberus puts out 1.17 for 85 points on a platform with a 2+ save. If we convert those numbers a Predator is paying 38.3 points per 3+ wound, a Cerberus is paying 42.5 for a 2+, a better detail versus any gun. The Cerberus pays 72.6 points per damage, the Predator 92.7. So we’re paying more for a squishier unit that does less damage, and I’ve not even mentioned Shock Pulse. Yes, I’m comparing a Battle Tank to Heavy Armour but both slots are pretty easy to find in Marine formations so I think it’s mostly fair. If you’re looking for Battle Tanks there are better options below.

Load-out: I spent most of the above time talking about lascannons because I think they are slightly better. The issue with the Predator cannon is it’s Light AT and long range and it just doesn’t really jive with the sponson weapons. So yeah, if you’re taking them I’d use las. Detachment size is really up to you, avoid 4 models for moral reasons but you do get a good discount for extra tanks.

Modeling: The turrets can be magnetized but they have a big hole so I’d recommend blu tac.

Vindicator Squadron: C-

Gameplay: Vindicators are one of the dedicated Demolisher units in the game and they come up short in a few ways. First we’ve got the typical issue of space marine armour - 3+ armor save on an expensive unit. The Vindacator is 35 points per wound and shot with its demolisher cannon, and that cannon is why you’re taking it. This compares fine to well against the Leman Russ Demolisher which is 41.25 points/shot, but does have better secondary weapons and a 2+ save. The issue is the Vindicator is one of the profiles that is most directly outclassed by another, in this case the Typhon. The Typhon pays a bit more at 40 points per wound/shot, but wow is it better. The wounds have a 2+ armour save and the shots outclass the Vindicator in two pretty important ways. First they are -4 AP rather than -3.

Load-out: No weapon choices here, just unit size. I’d generally be looking at 6 models here.

Modeling: No options, nothing really to note here.

Sicaran Squadron: B

Gameplay: The Sicaran in some ways suffers in the same ways as the Predator with a Predator Cannon. The accelerator autocannons on the Sicaran are better, losing Light AT and having the enviable no-negative-keyword profile. But then you have the question of what sponsons to use, heavy bolters or lascannons will both find times they can’t team up with the autocannons. The autocannons have another advantage, tracking. Without Skyfire this means they still need a 6+ to hit, but they’re as good at overwatching flyers than most weapons with Skyfire, which is worth something. Sicarans are let down by their high price, 45 points per 3+ wound makes these very easy to kill.

Load-out: I recommend lascannons as they fit better when you’re using these for anti air. However it does have a hull heavy bolter so doubling down on them does get you some notable point defense. For squads I’d keep them small, these are to expensive to load up on.

Modeling: The turrets are swappable between all Sicarans, use magnets or blu tac for that. I recommend having a split of the two sponson types if you have a few boxes of Sicarans.

Sicaran Omega Squadron: D

Gameplay: You lose two shots and 4” of range on the main weapon to gain Accurate and 1 AP. When shooting at an space marines this means going from .82 wounds to .75 wounds, and when shooting at another Sicaran remains consistent at .5 wounds. The biggest loss is against flyers where we go from .62 wounds to .2 wounds. Which is to say, this is a pretty bad change. You’re losing the ability to be a pinch-hitter at AA while remaining pretty flat versus other targets and losing some range.

Load-out: Heavy bolters make some sense here as they match up with your hull heavy bolter and the tank’s range. Small squads because this tank is bad and should feel bad.

Modeling: The turrets are swappable between all Sicarans, use magnets or blu tac for that. I recommend having a split of the two sponson types if you have a few boxes of Sicarans.

Sicaran Arcus Squadron: B-

Gameplay: The Arcus missile launcher has two options, a 16” anti-tank profile and a 20” Skyfire, Tracking profile. To compare to the above tanks these can’t hurt space marines but will do .67 wounds to a Sicaran and .74 wounds to flyers. It’s worth noting that this is solid and the AA profile can shoot ground targets with its 4” of extra range. But it’s not a run-away win compared to the basic Sicaran, it’s a bit less flexible and weaker into some targets. The 16” profile does have Ripple Fire allowing rerolls of 1s when on First Fire orders, but with 10” movement you’re not taking advantage of that with Ripple Fire. With 10” movement these are a very mobile AA platform, you can threaten flyers over a large swath of the battlefield, if you can activate after the flyers.

Load-out: Lascannons for sure as both missile profiles have anti-tank, and this gives you 16-22” range. I recommend a couple squads of 2-3 spread out as your AA should you go in this direction.

Modeling: The turrets are swappable between all Sicarans, use magnets or blu tac for that. I recommend having a split of the two sponson types if you have a few boxes of Sicarans.

Sicaran Punisher Squadron: A-

Gameplay: After a number of okay profiles we get to a standout. The Punisher with heavy bolters can throw 10 dice per model into infantry, and that’s pretty good. Also the turret weapon has Rapid Fire, one of the best traits in the game meaning this is secretly a good platform for anti-air overwatch. You’ll deal .66 wounds per Punisher in overwatch, a full squad is a real threat to any aircraft coming within 12”. Beyond that they can mow down infantry and with 10” of movement sneaking behind enemy tanks to shoot them in the rear is quite effective. Dreadnoughts do not want to see these guys. All around a great platform, only held by the 45 points per wound.

Load-out: I like larger squads of these to really make an impact, but small ones are just as good if you have room for a few of them.

Modeling: The turrets are swappable between all Sicarans, use magnets or blu tac for that. I recommend having a split of the two sponson types if you have a few boxes of Sicarans.

Heavy Armour

A Note on Sponsons

The Fellblade-chasis tanks have 3 weapon options: quad heavy bolter sponsons, quad lascannons, and laser destroyers. As this commentary applies to all 4 options I’m putting it here. The short version of this is that quad heavy bolter sponsons are only twice as effective as heavy bolter sponsons, while quad lascannons are two and a half times better than lascannons. The laser destroyers don’t have a direct comparison but are similar to lascannons.

What this means is the heavy bolter sponsons are comparably worse. If due to pintle weapons we want to value normal heavy bolters as 5pts, these sponson lascannons are 10pts of weapons. If we also view lascannons as 5pts, the quad lascannon or laser destroyer is 15pts of weapons. This isn’t huge, but it’s a pretty strict efficiency upgrade that will color my commentary on these options.

Cerberus: A

Gameplay: To talk about the Cerbarus is to talk about Shock Pulse weapons. If a model is hit by Shock Pulse when it next moves it is half speed, and when it next fires it can only shoot one weapon. Additionally, it does 2 damage to Void Shields, and rules as written the one weapon effect bypasses Voids. Many people play that Void Shield hits don’t trigger Shock Pulse, and there are some serious FAQ-type questions about the rule (firing a Heavy Bolter during the movement phase would let you fire your full complement in the next phase). However you play it, it’s a powerful rule and one of two ways to really put the hurt on super heavies. And the Cerberus is the premier Shock Pulse platform in the game. And this just comes down to points efficiency and range. Costing 25 points more than the Valdor Tank Destroyer it has 8” longer range and triple the Shock-Pulse firepower. Costing 45 points less than the Falchion, it loses 6” of range, a wound, and they average the same number of Shock Pulse hits, though the Falchion does have more lascannon shots.

All of that is to say that this is the premiere anti-tank choice for Astartes armour.

Load-out: Single models are great, 2-model squads are fine but a little risky due to moral. 3-model squads can be a bit overkill for Shock Pulse but the platform is still an efficient anti-tank platform.

Modeling: Put lascannons on these, the range and choice of targets line up very well with the main gun.

Typhon: A

Gameplay: We go from the primer anti-tank vehicle in the marine arsenal, to the primer anti-building option. The Typhon is a top-flight anti-building unit. With 16” range, 2 shots, and AP -4 it can take out anything short of a fortification pretty easily. Into Civitas Imperialis buildings, the most commonly used each Typhon averages .98 wounds, so 2 will likely kill a building, and 3 on very good odds to do so.

And while you should take this to kill buildings don’t discount the AP -4. The Cerberus main gun averages 1 wound into Leman Russes, the Typhon gets .87, not far behind. Of course this is without Shock Pulse and much shorter range, but the tank is hardly useless when there are no buildings to target..

Load-out: One or three model detachments make the most sense, if you use a lot of Militas Imperialis and Fortifications four Typhons will have more value. Two has the moral issue with 2-model units. Heavy bolters make sense on sponsons to allow splitting fire while shooting at buildings.

Modeling: Heavy bolters make sense due to range and splitting fire. Note that the front shield on the tank doesn’t have the best connection point, it’s easy for it to end up crooked, just be careful when gluing and drying it.

Falchion: C+

Gameplay: This guy breaks my heart but the Falchion has a lot of trouble competing with the Cerberus. The Cerbarus is a better Shock Pulse delivery system costing much less for the same Shock Pulse output (but losing 6” of range). The Falchion picks some value back up with better spons, but if you want to take advantage of those you lose your range edge.

If this was 2-shot, no Accurate but Engine-killer (1) it’d be an amazing unit, as it stands it’s just outclassed.

Load-out: Take single model squads for moral and spreading out fire reasons. Sponsons should be lascannons as their range most closely matches the main fun, but to use those sponsons you’ll need to move within 22” killing the only advantage this has over the Cerberus.

Modeling: I’ve not built one but I believe it’s pretty easy to swap the main gun with some blu-tack. However keep in mind the sponsons you want are very different between this and an Ascalon.

Ascalon: C+

Gameplay: The big flame tank. Ascalons are a brand new unit in Imperialis and they’re pretty cool. A few things are interesting here, first this is one of the handful of Firestorm profiles in the game, the flamer template is pretty good in Imperialis, particularly because if you clip and building everything inside is hit. Firestorm also allows you to place the template in a direction unrelated to your normal guns making these tanks great at split-fire.

The flame cannon is also the rare AP -2 Light AT weapon meaning it’s still AP -1 against armour, very effective against grouped up 3+ save tanks and devastating against walkers.

My main concern is how many points you’re investing to get this gun. A pair Malcador Infernus tanks only costs 10 points more, and if you’re targeting a building with 8 tactical marine stands the Malcadors (if in a squadron) would kill 6.6, while the Ascalon will kill 4, and this is with the Malcadors having an extra wound.

However if you’re running marines and want a way to clear units out of cover this is still a solid, if niche choice, I’d just start with Typhons.

Load-out: This is the Fellblade-chasis where you’re most tempted by heavy bolters but resist that urge. You can’t fire Firestorm weapons on Overwatch so these heavy bolters are unappealing there, you don’t want to Overwatch with this tank. Given that the main weapon is short range the laser destroyers make a lot of sense, they can match your range profile and shoot whatever you need them to.

Modeling: I believe you can swap main guns with the Falchion using some blu-tac, and for the sponsons it’s laser destroyers. If you’re swapping the main gun both las sponson options feel close enough visually.

Fellblade: B

Gameplay: The Fellblade falls into the “bundle of guns” style of vehicle design. There are three primary weapons - the Fellblade cannon has a fantastic profile. It has a profile that will kill an infantry stand or two and that’s fine, but the better one is 2 dice at 25”, 4+ to hit, -3 AP, Anti-tank, and Armourbane. Because the main gun is heavily weighted at shooting armoured targets that is where you want to be putting your focus. And it’s pretty good at that, I think one downside is the Demolisher cannon. You’ll never point it at structures and waste the rest of your firepower, and at 12” range it’s hard to take advantage of.

Load-out: As with the Falchion I recommend lascannon sponsons, that gives you a ton of anti-tank firepower at 22”.

Modeling: The front of this and the Glave are slightly different, but that’s not too much of a concern, so if you want just make the turret swappable and you’re good to go.

Glave: B-

Gameplay: The Glave comes with the rare Beam weapon. Like Firestorm this is very good for split fire, here you want to lay it down across as many enemy detachments as you can. It can be very powerful but as a light AT weapon your ability to effectively threaten armour is limited. The Glave is still solid due to a high damage potential as well as the ability to split its fire.

Load-out: Laser destroyers are good here, they’re only slightly shorter range than the main Volkite gun, and as that often wants a particular angle you shouldn’t have problems getting within 15” of a target. Take one model units, the beam hits friendly and enemy models, and does not avoid your own detachment.

Modeling: As with the Fellblade, you can pick one front-piece and swap turrets.

Mastodon: B

Gameplay: This is a weird one. The Mastodon is our only tank with void shields. It’s also a Very Large Assault Transport and has a bunch of weird weapons, this may take a while. Let’s start with the voids, they’re good! They make the unit a lot more durable and multi-Mastodon squadrons are extremely hard to put down, if very expensive. With the voids Mastadons are the most durable vehicles in the game, point-for-point.

On top of that they have Large Assault Transport (8). This means they can carry 8 bulky models, like Terminators. Or more interestingly they can carry 4 walkers. A Mastadon is a great way to get Levithan Dreadnoughts into close combat, or get Saturnine Dreadnoughts into range of their guns. If you’re taking 2 Mastadons you can even deliver a full size unit of 8 Leviathans which can beat anything in melee.

Now let’s talk guns. First, this has an anti-air option, this is kind of nice for scaring off flyers, but also it doesn’t line up well with their other profiles. It’s a nice little bonus but don’t rely on it. On top of that they have 2 sets of sponsons, the heavy flamers are unique and are a great point-defense option. But the real centerpiece is the siege melta-array. This is one of the very few weapons in the game with Engine Killer, which is very good. However it only has 6” range making it a bit less exciting.

In general Mastadons should be taken as the toughest transports in the game, and after unloading they should try and hunt super-heavies or just be generally annoying.

Load-out: Take heavy bolters to go with the flamers, being able to double-down on point defense makes it more effective, and lascanons don’t add much to your melta-array.

Modeling: Nothing to note here, the kit goes together smoothly and sponsons are the only option.

Artillery

Scorpion Squadron: D

Gameplay: The Scorpius has a few issues. First the cost is massive, at 50 pointes a model for just 2 dice with their primary weapons that’s a really hefty price. It is AP -2 Light AT which is nice, but at only 18” the Barrage trait isn’t as good as you might hope. It also takes you from 1 expected hit per model to .67, a 33% cut in firepower. They’re cool models and if you want to get some painted up for your Iron Warriors or Imperial Fists go for it, but I don’t think they’re very good. Also note that Barrage can’t be used in overwatch, it won’t come up a lot but losing that flexibility hurts. Load-out: No options here, just squad size. I don’t think it hugely matters, you need to try and keep these save but with only 18” range that might be hard, so I’d lean smaller size to better hide. Modeling:

Whirlwind Squadron: C

Gameplay: The Whirlwind is a huge victim of the Barrage Trait. It has some good things going for it, the weapon has no negative keywords, and 30” range is fantastic and very flexible. It also has Ignores Cover which is great, and best of all Rapid Fire, one of my favorite keywords and a huge boost to offensive output. However Barrage turns off one of Rapid Fire’s best things - doubling output on Overwatch. And perhaps more notably Barrage and Ignores Cover are a non-bo (the depressed relative of the combo). Ignores cover on this weapon will most often want to be used on units garrisoning buildings. However Barrage weapons hit every detachment in a building, but only with half dice. As most buildings will only have one unit that means this vehicle’s seeming best targets will be hit with half dice. Because of that it’s best at shooting units with weak saving throws in the open or in non-garrison cover. And the rest of the weapon profile is appealing enough it’s not bad at that. Because of Rapid Fire it will average 1.33 hits on targets which is pretty good and if they have a bad save it can do some damage, just don’t shoot it at heavy tanks or infantry in buildings. Load-out: No options but I’d lean smaller squad sizes to make them easier to hide from your opponent’s long range guns. Modeling:

Air Support

Xiphon Interceptor Squadron: B+

Gameplay: The Xiphon is the only fighter (with Interceptor) for Space Marines and it’s solid. All space marine flyers have at least a 3+ save which is nice, makes things like Light AT on overwatch less of a concern. Not a bad flyer, not a great one. Each will deal 2.01 wounds to a 4+ save flyer in a turn, 2.35 with Interceptor fire. Against ground targets it’s less impressive, wanting to shoot tanks and being fine at it. It’s range is interesting compared to Solar Auxilia competition, with 22” and 24” weapons. This is significantly longer than the range on most Solar Auxilia flyer guns, but well short of the deadly 30” Skystrike missiles. Load-out: No choices but with a solid discount for extra models I’m happy to take larger squadrons here. Modeling: No options, note that a box of 6 is a lot and splitting one would probably be fine.

Fire Raptor Squadron: B+

Gameplay: At only 5 points more than the Xiphon the Fire Raptor does something of a number on it. You have a lot of options for the side guns but if you were to take lascannons a Fire Raptor will deal 2.05 wounds to another flyer, admittedly at shorter range (16”). However it really shines with autocannons as an all-comers unit. With Autocannons it still deals 1.87 damage to flyers, but also deals 3.02 damage to space marine infantry (Xiphon: 1.24), 2.32 wounds to a Contemptor detachment (Xiphon 2.01) or .85 damage to a 2+ tank (Xiphon: 1.5). This moves it a bit into jack-of-all-trades, master of none territory, which is generally not something I like in Imperialis but I think the Fire Raptor pulls it off because as a flyer it can get where it needs to be to put out any fire you’re dealing with. Load-out: Autocannons or lascannons, I don’t think heavy bolters will be useful often enough. Of the first two options I like Autocannons more to make a unit that can really hurt exposed infantry, and when in the read arc really threaten vehicles. Modeling: I’d put on lascannons or autocannons but don’t think it matters which, they look pretty similar from 2 feet away. There is a big advantage to Xiphons I’ll mention here, you get 6 to a box versus 2 Fire Raptors. Make sure you want Fire Raptors before buying the box. Lastly, the wings have aquila symbols which I would shave off if using these for traitors, which is pretty easy with a sharp hobby knife (don’t cut yourself).

Storm Eagle Squadron: C

Gameplay: Storm Eagles are Assault Transport (5) and that is why we’re talking about them. However they’re not Large Assault Transport meaning they can’t take Bulky units meaning these are only transporting normal marine infantry, and at 8.5 times the price of a Rhino (admittedly, with 2.5x the transport capacity) that’s a hard sell. Their firepower comes in well behind the last two flyers so you’re taking this for objective capping. You can have units get most places on the board with these turn 1, but keep in mind that flying transports are very venerable to overwatch. If your opponent rolls one six you’ve got a decent chance of losing 115 points of models before they do anything. If we got something like Despoilers these would be a lot more exciting but with just tactical marines, plasma, and missile launchers as options I don’t like the Storm Eagle. Load-out: No choices here, just a question of your infantry squad’s size. Modeling: No options here but the price per model concern from the Fire Raptor persists. Like the Fire Raptor there are some molded aquilas you can shave off if desired.

Thunderhawk Gunship Squadron: B+

Gameplay: The Thunderhawk has a lot going on, let’s start that it has a 2+ and 2 wounds, this is great, but it kind of needs it with a massive 150 point cost. This is the most expensive unit outside of knights and titans and while flying it’s pretty durable, without Skyfire your opponent will have trouble bringing it down. However if it hovers and anything can hit it you’re looking at a pretty squishy unit, there are units that cost 2/3rds the price with an extra wound.

And you might need to hover it as it’s got Large Assault Transport (8). This rule means a lot of things, first off you can pack this thing with 8 Assault Marines and they can disembark without needing to hover and this is one of the best things to do with this flying tank. 8 Assault Marines are cheap and will beat a lot of units in close combat, with their movement and the Thunderhawk’s they can charge pretty much anything. Terminators might be an even better option, a bit slower and notably more expensive, they hit a lot harder in close combat. You can also take walkers. Put Leviathans in here and they can charge a unit or building on turn 1. In both the later cases you do need to Hover making the survival of the Thunderhawk more questionable, though it can now hide behind buildings. All of these options are good, but be aware they’re high risk. Your opponent is unlikely to overwatch this out of the sky but if they do you’re typically losing around 250 points in one go.

Lastly let’s talk about its guns, it has a lot! However with only one, relatively week gun having Skyfire this is not to dual with enemy flyers. No, the Thunderhawk’s guns were bread for one purpose, to destroy tanks. And it’s okay at that. When shooting 2+ tanks the Xiphon is the most effective flyer at 63 points/damage. The Thunderhawk is 84.8 points/damage. And that’s not bad when we consider it’s per-wound cost is 22% cheaper and that’s with a 2+ save, and it’s got that 8 transport capacity.

In conclusion, there is a lot going on with the Thunderhawk and you really want to have several roles for it to make the points back. Drop some troops off then use it for mobile fire support and you should be in good shape. Load-out: No options, you can take several in a squad but with minimal points savings and it makes transport of infantry less efficient. Modeling: Take your time building this one, it’s the most complicated non-titan model, and be aware at $53 a pop these are investments.

Bastion

Tarantula Battery: B

Gameplay: Tarantulas have the Automated Sentry rule which means they break a lot of how Imperalis normally works. This means:

1. They don’t count for break-point
2. They don’t get issued an order
3. You activate them in the movement phase to fire, if they have no target then you can do so again in the Advancing Fire phase
4. Based on their gun they have targeting preferences
5. They are infantry with Tactical Strength 0 and are completely immobile

That’s a lot to unpack so let’s note that they have an anti-air option and a lascannon option. The anti-air option has a large 25” range and of course, Skyfire. It is a very cheap option for providing some AA. Note that as they don’t activate in the traditional way they can not take advantage of the improved Skyfire overwatch. However being static any aircraft with more than 25” range can avoid them. This is mostly a problem against Solar Auxilia planes relying on wing weapons. The other issue of course is they can’t move. Tarantulas go up significantly in value in Alpha Legion and Raven Guard forces where they can Infiltrate.

I do want to call out that Tarantulas can garrison buildings making them much more resilient to shooting, however if they get charged their CAF -3 means they’ll likely not last long even with the building bonus. One trick you can do with air-defense Tarantulas is to place them behind a building blocking line of sight to enemy ground units while still being able to hit non-hovering flyers.

Load-out: Honestly anything works here. I generally wouldn’t take the max size AA unit as it’s overkill versus a lot of flyers, but sticking 8 lascannons in a building can be pretty effective (and annoying) area denial.

Modeling: No notes, but if you end up with a lot of Legion Support boxes this is one of the places I might look to get some spare 25mm bases.

Deredeo Dreadnought Detachment: B+

Gameplay: The Deredeo primarily taken as an anti-air unit, but unlike something like the Tarantula it offers good firepower against ground targets as well. The primary anti-air weapon is the Aiolus missile launcher which has 25” range and Skyfire. When on First Fire orders the Deredeo can also reroll versus planes. This is powerful but if leaving it on first fire they’re fulfilling much the same role as the Tarantula, denying airspace, while costing over twice as much per model. This does leave the Deredeo a little split, they also only have 5” of movement so on Advance orders they are quite slow.

Their strength really is that they are flexible shooting units that can function as AA. That’s worth having. I recommend avoiding the First Fire bonus and try and move them up the table. Remember Skyfire can split fire so you can ideally be shooting at two different targets, though the limited range of the arm weapons makes that tricky.

Load-out: I think the plasma is a bit better than the autocannons, you trade 2” of range for better firepower, at the end of the day it often won’t matter that much. I’d recommend two minimum size squads over a single maximum sized one, you can deny twice as much air space for only 5 more points.

Modeling: No notes.

Saturnine Dreadnought Detachment: C+

Gameplay: The Saturnine is a 2 wound walker which is unique but strong. You do pay for that, 2 Saturnines are only a bit cheaper than 4 Levithans or Deredeos. And they fit somewhere between those in role. They are not good in melee, they’re a shooting unit, but their shooting is pretty short range. With only 5” movement they’re in kind of a hard spot. Where I think they can excel is with a transport. Being two wounds with a lot of firepower they’re the best Dreadnought to transport because they take the same space as others while offering more. A Mastadon or Thunderhawk can bring 4 of these which will put out more damage and be a lot more durable than 4 Levithians. This also goes for Dreadnought Drop Pods.

Load-out: I prefer the Grav/Inversion Beamer loadout but both work. Getting out of your transport within 8” can you can really put out some firepower into armoured units.

Modeling: No notes.

Araknae Weapons Platform Battery: B

Gameplay: The Araknae in some way functions like a up-gunned Tarantula. And it should be costing almost 4 times as much per model. The Araknae ends up being a fairly fragile unit at 30 points for a 4+ save though it does have a 5+ invulnerable. But the reason you take these is for the guns, and you’ve got two good options and one less good option. The option I would default to is the quad accelerator autocannon. It has AP -1 against any target, five dice, and tracking. The 18” range is okay. This is a strong all-comers weapon, no one should want to get into a shooting match with these. The next option is the twin punisher which has a very good profile with Accurate and Rapid Fire, these things put out a ton of damage and are killer on overwatch. However losing 6” of range on an immobile platform is pretty rough. Last we have the Orias heavy frag missile which has the rare Blast keyword, as well as Barrage, Light, and Limited (2). This profile is great at killing infantry in the open and I don’t think Limited (2) is a big deal. As a fragile, static gun platform the odds this would shoot more than twice are not that good. However I think it’s let down in some part by the keywords. It can’t overwatch and it’s poor at shooting into buildings. This means it relies on your opponent on bringing infantry within it’s (very good!) 24” range and leaving them in the open. I just don’t think many smart opponents will do that.

The other thing to mention here is the Aegis Defense Strongpoint formation. This formation gives Araknae Platforms Point Defense on their weapons. This is very good allowing overwatch at normal shooting values. Infantry can’t charge a unit of punisher cannons with Point Defense, they’ll get shredded. In that formation these platforms get better, aside from the missiles which still can’t overwatch.

Now on how to use them, your opponent can out-range these platforms with plenty of weapons and things like lascannons will pick them apart. This means when you’re deploying them you need to keep lines of sight in mind. You want a good field of fire but keep long distance firelanes from your opponent’s side of the table blocked off. Try to cover objectives while not being visible from the other side of the table.

Load-out: I’d avoid 4 model squads, the footprint becomes too large to effectively position them. Otherwise squad size is pretty flexible and both the gun options are very solid.

Modeling: You get eight platforms in a box, 4 can be autocannon, 4 Punisher, and 2 missile. I recommend just doing 4/4 with the two gun options.

Transports

Rhino: A

The Rhino will be our baseline for Astartes transports. Any transport is very useful, infantry can move after disembarking so a marching Rhino gives your basic marines 23” of movement rather than just 10” if they marched themselves. Marines in rhinos can get to most objectives on a table on the first turn which is great, as scoring starts turn one. At 10 points with Transport (2) you can think of Rhinos adding about 75% to the cost of marines, which is a lot, but you get a lot for it.

In addition to the greatly increased speed, Rhinos mean you have another activation, and after dropping their troops off (thanks to a 4+ save you should do this sooner rather than later) you can do some pretty annoying stuff with them. Rhinos can be used to block line of sight, have them park in front of an enemy unit that wants to shoot something worth more than 10pts/model (or even better, park in front of something with only Light weapons). Rhinos also have some fire power, and with point defense on the bolters you can march 18” and still take some infantry pot-shots. Lastly, Rhinos can charge. With CAF +0 it’s unlikely the win that combat, but tying up enemy tanks or infantry for a turn can be very valuable.

Rhinos are a cheap and very effective option, for the rest of the transport choices we’ll really be looking at “what does this get me that a Rhino doesn’t?” And there are some weaknesses of the Rhino. With 4+ saves they’re very squishy. Lacking the Large Transport keyword they can’t transport Terminators, Assault Marines, or Saturnine Terminators. Lacking Assault Transport units inside of them can’t charge, this isn’t the end of the world as the better close combat units can’t ride in them, but it is still a downside.

Load-out: I don’t like vehicle upgrades and with the ability to take Rhinos from 10 to 20 points I’m not going to love them here. That said, I don’t hate the upgrades. You can get a solid upgrade to firepower against infantry or tanks and 20 point rhinos are still much less appealing targets than 60 point tanks. I think plain is probably best, but the Havoc Launcher is a fine upgrade with Point Defense, or take both Anti-Tank options. The Havoc Launcher is preferable as you stay with Point Defense allowing you to March and shoot.

Modeling: No notes here, these are not your best points/$ unit but they’re worth picking up.

Land Raider: B

Gameplay: Land Raiders and Spartans have a lot of overlap. They’re both las-armed Assault Transports. The Land Raider is half the price but with half the wounds and less transport. It also has a lot less firepower. Two Land Raiders get 1.5 lascannon hits a turn while a Spartan gets 4. Because of this I heavily favor the Spartan. However the Land Raider has a pretty big mobility advantage, gaining 1+ of extra movement is nice, but what really helps is Forward Deployment. Land Raiders can move up 27” from your deployment zone to offload infantry, and this is their real niche. If you need to get a unit far up the board, take Land Raiders, but for general use Rhinos and Spartans rule the roost.

Load-out: Pintle weapon is the only option and I’d lean toward skipping them as they inflate the already quite high price of the model.

Modeling: No notes.

Spartan: A-

Gameplay: Okay, so this out-shoots the Land Raider, cool. Why do we take either of these over a Rhino? This comes down two three changes. First, as mentioned, they’re a lot better at shooting than a Rhino. Second, they’re a lot tougher. With a 2+ save you can expect your transports to shrug off a lot more firepower making a turn one disembark less important, though still often recommended. Third, they have Assault Transport, this allows embarked units to be issued with a Charge order and come out swinging. This leads to a huge charge range for both models and is something to keep in mind. Terminators are best here due to their stronger CAF, with how expensive Land Raiders or Spartans are for them the extra cost for the infantry is negligible. Also keep in mind that a large tactical squad charging out of transports can swamp many units with bodies.

These are not auto-includes like Rhinos, if you’re taking Spartans (or Land Raiders) you should think about why and what your goals are. But they can be very effective in the right situation. They do also compete fairly effectively as anti-tank options, before you think of the transport capacity. Spartans are 76.5 pts/wound to a Leman Russ, lascannon Predators are 92.9 pts/wound, with a 2+ save, without transport (but with  7” more range).

One final Spartan note, they have 5 transport capacity, this can be a little hard to use as bulky models will only fit 2/transport, but it’s good if they are carrying squads of standard marines.

Load-out: Laser Destroyers are my recommendation, it doesn’t quite match the range of a hull lascannon but if you want to drive your infantry up the table you shouldn’t have much trouble with the 15” range. A unit of 10 marines in a pair of Spartans is 221 points and is actually pretty annoying to deal with. Throw the Spartans up the table, have the infantry get out into a building, and your opponent then has to deal with 10 garrisoned infantry and 2 strong anti-tank vehicles.

Modeling: No real notes here, I enjoy the Spartan chassis and think they’re fun to build and paint, the extra size compared to most armour feels good.

Drop Pod: B-

Gameplay: Drop pods cost the same as a Rhino but come out of Deep Strike. This means that they have more flexibility on the turn they come down, but also higher risk, and no flexibility after landing. When landing deep strike units you have to roll to scatter and it can

Load-out: No options here. You can’t take bulky units so these are command squads, tacticals, plasma, and missiles. Plasma is not a bad idea here as getting in Assault range is pretty easy.

Modeling: These are a pain to build and an even sharper pain to buy. At 4/box these are the worst point value in the game and you should only build a Drop Pod force if it really excites you.

Dreadnought Drop Pod: B+

Gameplay: Basically everything I said about the Drop Pod goes here, but I’ve bumped up the rating for two reasons. First, there are fewer ways to transport dreadnoughts. Second, there are a lot of short range dreadnoughts that are quite good at shooting. You can drop them down and while you can’t charge out of the pod, you can lay down pretty heavy fire with a Levithan or Saturnine detachment. You’re paying a premium for this but if you’re careful about where you drop them your opponent may have a hard time dealing with them.

Load-out: No drop-pod options but you need to consider your dreadnoughts. Don’t take these for Contemptors or Deredeos. With Levithans I like melta in drop pods, normally I recommend Storm cannons, but having the ability to shoot Demolisher shots the turn they come down is very nice. But really I think these are best with Saturnine Dreadnoughts, either configuration. Saturnine dreads are very tough, very slow, and very short range, all perfect things to line up with these drop pods.

Termite: B+

Gameplay: The Termite is a unique subterranean deep striking unit. This only matters in the Subterranean Assault Formation but is kinda neat regardless. The Termite is a blend of Rhino and Drop Pod. After coming down (up?) on turn 2 they’re able to move around, albeit slowly the rest of the game. I think these are generally superior to Drop Pods. If you’re taking them in-formation you can disrupt enemy units you appear near, and even outside of it the fact that the model can move around allows it to do some of the Rhino’s tricks, though generally with reduced effectiveness. I think 2 extra points over a Drop Pod is well worth it, 4 points more than a Rhino makes a direct comparison harder.

Load-out: No options here. As with Drop Pods, plasma marines will punch above their weight.

Modeling: I’ve not built these so don’t have any advice. One thing I’ll note here is they’re half the (dollar) cost of Drop Pods so if you’re interested in adding some deep strikers to your force these are far more cost effective.

Appendix A - Legion Rules

I’ll start these reviews off looking at legion rules. I’m going to evaluate each legion based on how effective their rule is, how it impacts your list building, and how effective the rule is for an allied formation.

I’ll start off by saying these rules are all over the place. Generally I’d say go with what you like but some legions are really just useless, and a handful are really just OP. I think any of the C/D legions will be at a major disadvantage in games against A/S tier legions, which is a shame, but it is what it is.

The Ist Legion - Dark Angels

Rule summary: If a detachment has three types (e.g. Core, Battle Tank, Support) you can pick a rule that will apply to Infantry, Cavalry, or Vehicle. Infantry gain Implacable (don’t run away when losing combat) and Phosphex (no CAF bonus when defending against them). Cavalry gain Outflank (deploy from sides of table). Vehicles gain Nimble (ignore difficult terrain).

Gameplay: The infantry bonus is great, you become a lot better at defending garrisons and a lot better at assaulting them. The Cavalry bonus is hard to use, you can take a Sky-Hunter Phalanx but you have to fill the Air Support and Light Armour slots to turn this on. However Outflank is very good so if you’re running Cavalry it’s one of the better legions for it. The vehicle bonus I think is pretty underwhelming. I don’t find Imperialis players to use a lot of difficult terrain, and even if they are, tanks are pretty mobile.

List-building: This is a pretty restrictive ability. Some formations like Super-heavy Spearhead will not be able to use it, and some others you’ll need to conciously make sure to hit the three detachment types. It also wants you to over-weight toward one of the unit types so you have a lot of infantry to get the bonus, etc.

Splashability: If you’re looking for a small space marine allied detachment as objective holders a Dark Angels Legion Demi-company meets the requirements for this and will give your infantry two great keywords.

Primary Force: B

Allied Detachment: B+

The IIIrd Legion - Emperor’s Children:

Rule summary: Once per game, before rolling you can take initiative.

Gameplay: Not a lot to say here, this one is a shame because it’s possible the best in the game as an ally, and kinda underwhelming as a primary. Being able to pick a turn where you get initiative is extremely strong, there can be some very important charge turns, or just getting first fire when super heavies are lighting each other up can be huge.

List-building: Another reason not to like this, doesn’t really lend anything to army construction. First turn is most likely to matter if there are a lot of important charges or crazy shooting units so maybe bring a titan or some kinght lancers? I dunno, this ability is good but kinda bums me out.

Splashability: As already said, this is one of if not the best legions to splash, take a small detachment, win a critical priority roll.

Primary Force: C+

Allied Detachment: S+

The IVth Legion - Iron Warriors

Rule summary: Infantry and walkers get plus one tactical strength for objectives, plus two when contesting an objective in your own deployment zone.

Gameplay: You’re better at holding objectives. But only with infantry and walkers.

List-building: This bonus is legitimately good, but only impacts walkers and infantry. It also only matters when the scoring is close, which doesn’t happen that many times in a game. But to take advantage of it you want to load up on infantry and walkers, which isn’t bad as they’re full of good options. Unfortunately your legion rules have no impact on the hordes of armour I envision in Iron Warrior armies.

Splashability: Much like Dark Angels Iron Warriors are worth a look if you want a Demi-company to hold objectives.

Primary Force: C+

Allied Detachment: B

The Vth Legion - White Scars

Rule summary: You get +1 to Jink saves, invunerable saves that appear on flyers, jetbikes, and land speeders.

Gameplay: This is a big buff to those units, but it’s a short list of units. This means that White Scares have some power options but are mostly playing with vanilla marines.

List-building: It’s kinda obvious here, you want a lot of planes, jetbikes, and land speeders. And all of those are good here. Unfortuntely that’s pretty narrow, none of those units are good at holding ground. White Scars will be at their best as or with allies.

Splashability:

Primary Force: C

Allied Detachment: B+

The VIth Legion - Space Wolves

Rule summary: Enemies can not infiltrate within 16” of your models or outflank within 8” of your models.

Gameplay: Infiltrate and outflank are both very good abilities. However this doesn’t turn them off, just limits them, and they won’t show up in every game. Access to those rules is pretty limited. If you see someone playing Space Wolves in LI ask them about their fursona, nicely, they deserve some joy that day.

List-building: I don’t think this impacts your list building at all.

Splashability: Just dreadful, you could take a detachment and try and spread it out to deny areas, but like, just don’t.

Primary Force: D

Allied Detachment: D-

The VIIth Legion - Imperial Fists

Rule summary: For infantry, a list of basic weapons you get Accurate (reroll hits) when on first fire orders.

Gameplay: This is good but limited. Many of the weapons on the list don’t yet exist for infantry. It does help some if your infantry are defending a building and overwatching chargers, you can put out a lot of dice and have the reroll.

List-building: Take thisn to spam missile lanuchers. You’ll get a little value from your bolters but most of this value comes from missile launchers.

Splashability: I keep bringing this up, but a fist Demi-company loaded with missiles launchers is a little too good. The rating below is in part based on that and it is not higher because that’s one very specific formation.

Primary Force: B+

Allied Detachment: A

The VIIIth Legion - Night Lords

Rule summary: This thing is a mess and GW needs to rewrite it. If you kill a marine or solar auxilia HQ enemy units within 4” suffer 3 hits for each starting wound of that model.

Gameplay: This is hard to use, awkward, and mostly relies on your opponent mis-positioning. A real disaster of a legion trait.

List-building: Nothing really plays into this, close combat can make this a little more likely to trigger.

Splashability: No.

Primary Force: D

Allied Detachment: D

The IXth Legion - Blood Angels

Rule summary: Any model winning combat can advance 3” and start a second combat if it engages an enemy who has not fought.

Gameplay: Well, you want to get into close combat and win. Blood Angels have nothing to help you win so you’ll need to take units with good CAF.

List-building: Assault marines are great, dreadnoughts are great, terminators are great. Tanks are less than great. Keep in mind one way to win combat is outnumbering someone so taking large units and cheap models is secretly buffed in Blood Angels. The general problem is this rule can be a little hard to trigger, getting into close combat can be hard. And you have to win (pray you never face World Eaters). And then if you win the biggest upside only happens with another enemy unit within 3”. Don’t get me wrong, getting a 3” re-position is nice, but it’s not nearly as nice as 2 combats.

Splashability: Yeah, if you want a close combat force it’s pretty solid. Like any focused legion a single detachment with a clear mission will gain more from this rule than the overall force.

Primary Force: C+

Allied Detachment: B-

The Xth Legion - Iron Hands

Rule summary: Feel No Pain works against Light AT in addition to Light Weapons. Also, if an Iron Warriors vehicle is hit by an enemy using First Fire orders, worsen the AP by 1 (e.g. AP -3 becomes AP -2).

Gameplay: This is really good! I think both would be underwhelming on their own, but combined you’re a rare legion where almost all of your units can get a buff. Both may sound like they’ll come up rarely but there are a lot of Light AT weapons, and making your infantry more resliant to them is nice. And the first fire downside your opponent is legitimate. Very few legions buff their vehicles in a meaningful way, and Iron Hands are one of them.

List-building: Try and fit in a lot of Feel No Pain with plent of tactical detachments and command squads. I’d be happy to start Iron Hands with a pair of Demi-companies. Keep in mind that you can join commanders to support infantry units to give them Feel No Pain.

Splashability: As a generalist legion there isn’t much reason to splash them. My only real consideration would be an Iron Hands deatchment full of tanks trying to take advantage of the First Fire rule.

Primary Force: B+

Allied Detachment: B

The XIIth Legion - World Eaters

Rule summary: You can reroll 1d6 in close combat for infantry, cavalry, and walkers.

Gameplay: This is really good. World Eaters are THE close combat legion. When rolling 2d6 this works out to an average of 10 rather than 7. This is huge, almost as good as Rend adding a d6. When playing you can think of your units having +3 CAF. This means your Tacticals are odds-on favorites to beat Terminators. This also means you’ve got the best cavalry in the game, I’d take World Eaters over White Scars here because your bikes become huge close combat threats.

List-building: Avoid spending too much on tanks. Assault marines are amazing. Terminators are good. Tactical marines are weirdly amazing also. Cavalry units are worth taking as long range chargers. Dreadnoughts get a smaller buff than you’d think as they already have a very good CAF.

Splashability: If you want to bring some close combat into a force you can’t do better.

Primary Force: A

Allied Detachment: A

The XIIIth Legion - Ultramarines

Rule summary: Re-roll hits rolls of 1 if the target has already been hit by another unit from this formation this turn.

Gameplay: This is a pretty stratighforward and good ability. Rerolls are rare in the game and you should try and take advantage of them. Small detachments can be helpful to start the re-roll chain. Likewise long-range weapons will make it easier to trigger this by having more units shooting the same targets.

List-building: This rewards large formations to maximize the number of times you reroll 1s. You also don’t really want to get into close combat often.

Splashability: This is a legion that I think suffers as an allied formation. While each formation is self-contained for the Ultramarines, I think you do want big formations and it’s a pretty cohesive game plan that isn’t that splashable. You could certainly take a tank formation here designed to use the rule, I just think there are better splashes.

Primary Force: A-

Allied Detachment: B

The XIVth Legion - Death Guard

Rule summary: You do not suffer hits from Dangerious Terrain. You get to pick two areas of terrain to be Dangerous Terrain. Alternatively each of these can become a building that is Dangerous Terrain.

Gameplay: I’ll be honest, this kinda underwhelming. If you make a building dangerous when your opponent moves out or in, they’ll take 1 hit. Also there is -1 to shooting when in Dangerious Terrain. The best thing is it turns off cover saves, but it does not turn off the penalty to shoot a garrisoned unit.

List-building: Not really any impact on your list, anti-building is a little less important, and shooting into buildings with normal weapons is a little better.

Splashability: This is a lot more appealing as a splash as you get the most importnat part of the rule (picking terrain) without commiting your list to Death Guard.

Primary Force: D

Allied Detachment: B-

The XVth Legion - Thousand Sons

Rule summary: Commander unints get Shield Generator 6+ (an invunerablity save bubble).

Gameplay: This is not as bad as it seems. But it’s not very good. A 6+ is nothing to laugh at, and this and the Palisade Drop Pod are the only ways to get it. The issue is that you rarely lose your entire save. You’ll be taking a lot of 6+ saves just with your normal armor.

List-building: Try and max out commanders, this does make 3+ save tanks a little better as they’re more likely to be able to take advantage of the 6++.

Splashability: Low, you could take this to deploy a shield bubble somewhere but just do something better.

Primary Force: D

Allied Detachment: D

The XVIth Legion - Sons of Horus

Rule summary: When using Advance Order and within 6” of your target you can reroll 1s with Light or Light AT weapons.

Gameplay: This is a very narrow bonus that can help a little but overall is underwhelming. You need to be very short range and on the advance order. One place this helps is Overwatch but rerolling 1s on Overwatch isn’t that exciting.

List-building: You want fast, light units. I think Sons of Horus kinda push themselves toward favoring close combat. As units with Light Light AT weapons can still threaten tanks in close combat. A lot of infantry pushing up the board is going to be the default.

Splashability: Low, I don’t really see wanting to bring this rule into another force.

Primary Force: C+

Allied Detachment: D

The XVIIth Legion - Word Bearers

Rule summary: Your detachments never count as broken for issuing orders. You also ignore Dread Aura a special rule on one unit in the game.

Gameplay: This isn’t bad, being able to keep any order means breaking is less bad, though it still causes moral issues.

List-building: Smaller deatchments make more sense, otherwise this not a huge factor in your list.

Splashability: This isn’t really an appealing ability to splash.

Primary Force: C+

Allied Detachment: C-

The XVIIIth Legion - Salamanders

Rule summary: Take moral checks with an extra d6 choosing what you want. Everything gains Implacable.

Gameplay: I think Salamanders are fantastic. They can mostly ignore moral if not broken, and when broken have a 75% chance of making it. Implacable is also a great rule for infantry and not bad for other units. Being able to keep control of a building or objective after losing combat is huge.

List-building: Do what feels right. I think these are very strong all-around rules. Note that generally you want to avoid 2-model detachments, but for Salamanders that’s not much of a risk.

Splashability: I think Salamanders are great, you can splash infantry like with Dark Angels. Or they can splash a Super-Heavy Spearhead with pairs of Typhons and Cerbaruses taking advantage of that formation’s extra weapon.

Primary Force: A-

Allied Detachment: B+

The XIXth Legion - Raven Guard

Rule summary: Infantry without transports gain Infiltrate. Infantry in transports, cavalry, and walkers gain Forward Deployment.

Gameplay: This is insane and broken and our final two legions are far better than the others. Imperialis is an objective game and getting to start on objectives is just too strong.

List-building: Bring infantry. You’re probably going to win on points. Keep in mind Forward Deployment is great for walkers, can give them an extra turn of shooting or combat.

Splashability: Fantastic, you don’t even need to fully commit to Raven Guard, just bring a bunch of their infantry in an allied detachment.

Primary Force: S

Allied Detachment: S+

The XXth Legion - Alpha Legion

Rule summary: For each Alpha Legion formation 3 units can gain one of the following rules. For allied detachments of Alpha Legion it is 1 unit. The rules are based on unit type, Infantry, Cavalry, and Walkers can gain Infiltrate, Outflank, or Forward Deployment. Any other detachment type will gain forward deployment.

Gameplay: This is insane and broken and our final two legions are far better than the others. Imperialis is an objective game and getting to start on objectives is just too strong. Missions really need to be written to try and limit the power of these legions.

List-building: Bring lots of formations. Smaller formations are best to maximize your legion rule. Walkers with infiltrate are fantastic due to their low range and slow speed.

Splashability: You are pretty limited in infiltration with allied Alpha Legion. They’re still good, but not as strong a splash as Raven Guard, and not as strong as Alpha Legion primary.

Primary Force: S+

Allied Detachment: A-

Appendix B - Formations (Coming Soon)

Appendix C - Changelog

2026-03-29: v1.0 published