After doing fine at LVO I’ve had a couple weeks off of tournament hams (except my 3 games last Saturday against new GK to get some reps in. notes: There is something there and I am nearing the end of my paint log…) I’m geared up to go north of the border to lovely(?) Brandon, Manitoba for the Wheat City Open, a true destination in checks notes February when it’s checks weather app …currently -2 degrees (F) out.

As I’ve been hinting at for the past five months of my Admech run, it’s time to put marines on the table while marines are good. I have a huge collection of marines built from 5th edition onward and I will inevitably circle the drain back to the loving embrace of power armor and bolters in some sort of mechanized or multiple small unit form. So what is it this time?

Look, sometimes being part of the problem is the solution.

Adeptus Astartes Brigade

Iron Hams: Master Artisans, Stealthy, Iron Hands Successor



HQ

Captain, Thunderhammer, Storm shield, Jump Pack

Librarian

Techmarine, Warlord

Troops

5 Intercessors w/Stalker Bolt Rifles

5 Intercessors w/Stalker Bolt Rifles

5 Intercessors w/Stalker Bolt Rifles

5 Intercessors w/Stalker Bolt Rifles

5 Intercessors w/Stalker Bolt Rifles

5 Scouts w/Bolters

Elites

Dreadnought w/Lascannons, Fist/Stormbolter

Relic Contemptor Dread w/Lascannons, Fist/Stormbolter, Typhoon missiles

Company Champion

Fast Attack

Landspeeder w/Heavy Bolter, Typhoon missiles

Suppressors

Suppressors

Heavy Support

5 devastators w/4 grav cannons, cherub

Thunderfire Cannon

Eliminators x3

Eliminators x3

Eliminators x3

Dedicated Transport

Terrax Drill w/Volkite

The Iron Hams

Editor’s Note: This section was written the Friday before the event

I played something similar to this up in Minot a couple months ago and this a more refined version of that “Good Stuff” brigade. The Invictors got dropped since they seem to trade away poorly and I’ve added a Relic Contemptor with a fist to be a melee threat and an anvil while providing excellent shooting. The Speeders became Suppressors as I’ve found their volume of fire and deep striking extremely valuable and Eliminators were added to deal with character issues and proving both more strong direct fire and some indirect shooting. Finally the pod has become a drill as a bit of an homage to my admech having a deep striking threat to help grab recon and bonus points. However this drill is much more dangerous. It gets Chapter Tactics unlike admech Canticles so it gets the Master Artisan rerolls, Stealthy, and rerolling 1s on the 8 shot Volkite it puts out. In addition instead of just carrying troops and hoping for the best the grav team, scouts and the company champ are along for the ride providing a great hammer blow and some strong melee threats to clean up. Also the drill replaces the thing I hated most in the previous list: the pod. Now the delivery mechanism for the grav is a threat in it’s own right instead of being a model you can charge to prevent being shot at.

Overall I like the extra melee threats the front line, the more flexible battle plan compared to the Invictor list, and better secondary denial. Being able to hide most of this army in not a lot of terrain is nice. I also get the option to do dumb Shield Drone things with the Contemptor if I feel it’s more valuable than having the untargetable dreadnought. Pregame the decisions I’m usually making are to use the Chapter Master Stratagem, give the Ironstone and Adept of the Omnissiah to the tech marine, use March of the Ancients on one of the dreads and the free relic being the Tomb Of Malcadore on the librarian if I need an extra spell or the Burning Blade on the Champ to make him a nightmare in the backfield. However Target Protocols is certainly an option if I want more offense, and the Contemptor could easily also have All Flesh is Weakness if I’m all in on character dread defense or Merciless Logic for exploding hits on 6s. Finally, Student of History on the smash captain is always tempting for some sick plays. Overall I usually start with 10 or 11 CP.

On writing this preamble the Friday before the event, I’m expecting to go 4-2. This feels like a strong list and I’ve had four games with it. However I think there is a skill ceiling I’m not going to quite reach on my first GT outing with marines in literally years. That combined with playing the army everyone is out to beat makes me feel bearish on how this event will pan out. The list has elements I like (drill, suppressors) but with slower scoring elements and not a much of trash to grab objectives I feel I won’t be able to be as sloppy as I sometimes am since I don’t have a lot of ability to triple cover objectives. I’m also concerned about not having a good Engineers target. Double Intercessors can cover well enough but marines die every day. However I’m alright at Recon with the Drill, Suppressors, and general “can just walk forward” pressure that most of the army has. Let’s see how this goes.

Game 1: Reid Gobin’s Chaos Space marines