Tuesday Tactics - The Legion of the Damned

The Legion of the Damned is a unique unit to the Space Marine codex, and it is almost never used by players because of competition from Assault Terminators and Sternguard. I think this is a shame because they offer a marine player more diverse options than the standard "must take" options.


The Good
They come with a bucket of handy special rules: Unyielding Specters, Flaming Projectiles, Slow and Purposeful, Fear, and Fearless. They even have an extra pip of Attack each without needing a second close combat weapon. Their points decreased by five each, which is nice. They benefit from a few special character's abilities and rules, unlike last edition. Lastly, their sculpts are all AMAZING. They are such beautiful marines to drop onto the table (not literally! eek!).

The Bad
They cannot run, but this is offset by moving and shooting heavy weapons at full effectiveness. They must arrive by deepstrike, but this is offset by being able to reroll it. The real downside is not being able to Overwatch, but combined with their other abilities that shouldn't be a problem.

The Ugly
Finecast. On the other hand, this works for converting your own weapons other than what GW provides.


Discussion
To many, they are simply a glorified Tactical squad that are more expensive. Well sure, when you look at the end result, but sometimes you have to think outside the box. For instance, take into account some of their special rules. Being able to deepstrike, for a Tactical Squad, means to buy a drop pod. This also means another KP to give to your enemy. That 3+ inv save? That's the equivalent of a storm shield on each dude.

Take my basic all-rounder squad:

10 Legion - plasma pistol, power axe, plasma gun, multi-melta [305 points] (used to be 385!)

Take the standard costs listed in units and subtract them from the total (drop pods and storm shields are easily found):
305 - 35 (drop pod) - 100 (storm shields) = 170

This is cheaper than a similarly equipped Tactical Squad, by 25+ points. How about that! Not only that, but you still get Fearless, Fear, being able to move and shoot heavy weapons with full BS, reroll the deep strike scatter, ignore cover saves, and an extra attack for free too (oh, and the sergeant is WS 5)! This happy feeling is off-set by three things though: not being able to run, not being able to overwatch, and the fact they cannot make use of any Chapter Tactics. All in all, the points are truly not as high when think of it this way; you've just taken all the pimp upgrades (that a Tactical squad can't take) as part of their base cost.

One of their new abilities, Fear, will be interesting to see, should it ever come into use. Most Xenos (except Tyranids and Orks) should fall prey to it's affects every once in a while, but the far more often seen Space Marine opponents know no fear, so oh well to that.

Their closest equivalent, the oft-used hammernators, cost a lot more and have no ranged weapons while getting a better armor save and more smashface in close combat. I think I prefer to be able to meltface at 25-30" every turn instead.


Putting them to Use
I use them as a hard-to-remove mass of bodies and bolters that will always do their job. They will never abandon their objective and hold it til the end; even though they can't score it, they can certainly contest it! In objective games they're always landing on or near the enemy's, with support if necessary (it usually isn't). As they are Slow and Purposeful, you'll usually always want to land near their endgame target because they are too slow for tactical redeployment.

The big new perk for this edition is Flaming Ammunition, and this applies to every ranged weapon they carry! This generally gives them two main purposes: Anti-Infantry (hiding in cover), or Anti-Skimmer (to get past Jink saves). Good thing they have every weapon to choose from to best complete this task.

They can be used to contest and tarpit and stand happily in the open in the face of battle cannons, due to their 3+ invulnerable save. Rampaging carnifexes and daemon princes are often brought low or stopped in their tracks. Being able to shoot to full effectiveness all the time on the move gives them so many more options; rapid fire and assault, ping lightly armored targets farther away, simply assault with the effectiveness of an assault squad, etc. They are what a Tactical Squad should be, in my opinion; the true Swiss Army bolter that can take on any opponent (well, not walkers or Wraithlords in combat). Just remember, they can't fall back and weight of fire will kill them as easily as Tactical Marines. This means they should be equipped to deal with whatever they might come up against.

[Codex: Legion of the Damned only]

Should you desire to take the Legion as your primary detachment, you now can do that. Remember though, as they are stuck in Reserves, you do need to take allies so that you don't lose the game.

Consider that you still get to take 6 units from the Space Marines codex, and you'll have plenty of options for supplementing their abilities.


Special Character/Rule Interaction
The Legion of the Damned benefit from the abilities of Captain Sicarius, Chief Librarian Tigurius, Vulkan He'stan, and Pedro Kantor. They also benefit from the Standard of the Emperor Ascendant, if only part of it.

From Captain Sicarius, they gain +1 to their Reserves roll. Only useful if you want them early, but still useful.

From Chief Librarian Tigurius, you may reroll their Reserves roll (pass or fail), allowing you to make sure they come in or stay out. Combine with Sicarius to make darn sure they show up ASAP! They also benefit from his psychic potential: Endurance makes them ridiculously tough to deal with, Prescience makes them shootier, Fireshield protects them from assaulters after they arrive, Telekine dome can potentially redirect some of those big shots, and Invisibility can make them nigh invulnerable if they dropped into cover (bonus: protects from assaulters too!). The best part is that most of these powers are 24", allowing the Chief to stay far away but still help out.

From Vulkan He'stan, their melta weapons gain Master-crafted, which is good for a tank-hunting unit.

From Pedro Kantor, they gain Preferred Enemy (Orks). If they are within 12", they also receive +1 Attack, which is awesome. Drop pod Pedro next to them for a shooty/punchy combo.

While the Legion isn't affected by the first part of the rules for the Standard of the Emperor Ascendant, they do gain Hatred and +1 combat result.


Loadout
Squad Size: While I generally recommend the full ten to have best battlefield performance, there's something to be said for smaller squads too. The first and most obvious is that they cost less, but also have a smaller Deep Strike footprint. Any number in between should be relatively fine.

Special Weapon: The Plasma Gun has a nice range that matches the rest of the unit's weapons, allowing them to potentially wreck nearly any vehicle, but especially skimmers, while on the move. While there is a chance of overheating, I find it's complementary nature most useful for the unit. A secondary choice would be the Flamer, for although the rest of the unit already ignores cover saves, being able to hit a large amount of models (say, Imperial Guard or other hordes) and roasting them prevents your from taking that many more in the charge.

Heavy Weapon: The Multi-melta is a true winner, both for it's cheapness and utility. Slagging tanks on the move is so awesome, and extremely useful in any situation as it cuts through all armor and has a high strength. Now that it ignores cover, it's great for smashing tanks hidden in cover, Monstrous Creatures, or moving skimmers (especially because none are AV13+). It also keeps with the 24" theme so that you don't waste the single shot on a target far away. The Lascannon is my second choice, for while it breaks the range barrier, it greatly increases long-range infantry killing potential because of the wonky FAQ, has Strength 9, and is generally quite useful.

Sergeant Gear: The Sergeant can perform a variety of tasks, and his equipment is generally best when matched with his unit. Should you want an AP2 killer squad, I'd suggest the above plasma/melta for all general purpose units, along with a plasma pistol and power axe. His save should keep him around to cut through terminators and the like. If you want a Monstrous Creature blaster, give him a Combi-Graviton Gun and Power Fist (though this is also decent for AP2 killing). The Combi-Graviton Gun benefits from his Slow and Purposeful, giving you three chances to knock down that Hive Tyrant's (or Mephiston's!) ridiculously high Initiative to 1 (and seriously wound it too!), giving the rest of your unit a chance to finish it off before it even attacks. Should they fail, he'll be assured of getting his two punches in to do the job.

[Codex: Legion of the Damned only] The Animus Malorum can be very potent. Not only does it make your rock hard space ghost marines even harder to kill, it also improves on the Feel No Pain shared by the unit, should enemies fail Morale, Pinning, or Fear tests. Needless to say, this item is gloriously undercosted and an auto-include. Even though it costs ten more points than a Legionnaire, the overall points of the unit is still less than a similarly equipped unit from the previous codex.

Combine this item in an army that features a high amount of Morale and Pinning tests on the enemy, to better the chances of making them fail, as well as any gear or special rules that lower the Ld value of your targets. With this item, you really want the LotD in the thick of it, and it makes it so your enemy has to apply 50 to 600% more non-instant death wounds to kill off the whole squad in a given turn.


Warlord Traits [Codex: Legion of the Damned only]
The Legion got a great set of warlord traits. Soul Blaze, Leadership penalties, Feel No Pain, choice on arrival, and Preferred Enemy all have their uses, but really, Ethereal Bolts takes the cake. This turns your entire unit into a tank killer, as all your bolt weapons gain Armorbane. With the standard set up I've listed above, should you score this trait, that unit can do absolutely everything, from killing tanks, to shooting/chopping infantry, to withstanding battle cannon hits, and so on.


Conclusion
The Legion of the Damned takes a little getting used to and usually works independently of the rest of your forces, but then the abilities and personal upgrades they have allow them to do so without much trouble. In almost every single game they've given me the victory where a different unit would not have been able. They do have their drawbacks, but to me they are nothing compared to what they have to give in return.