Hey everyone, Reecius here from Frontline Gaming to share a guide to the very cool Forge World Legacies of Glory. In part 2 of this series, we’ll look at the Chaos Space marine versions. Check out the Tactics Corner for more great reviews!
First of all, how do these work? The rules are found in IA 2, 2nd Edition. These are unique vehicle upgrades that can be purchased for any Space Marine faction vehicles. You can give 1 vehicle 1 or more Legacies per full 1,000pts. So for most games, this means 1 upgraded vehicle. If you play 2k, then 2, etc. You may only ever have 1 of any specific legacy in an army.
Let’s hop in there! We’ll stick to our traditional Good, Bad and Ugly review format to give you not just an idea of what they do but how to use them and their relative power level in the opinion of myself. As always, feel free to disagree as some of these may be awesome for your local meta even if they may not be the coolest thing for a general tournament.
The Good
Battle of Keylek: May be taken by any vehicle with a blast weapon, and gives the vehicle’s blast weapons Ignores Cover. WOW! This is one of the best, if not the best, LoG. Let your imagination run wild with this: Vindicators with Ignores Cover jump out in most minds right away, but don’t forget the FW Scorpius which is absolutely lethal with this upgrade. And the Relic Predators with the Magna-Melta (Large Blast Melta weapon), Plasma Destroyer (3 shot Plasma Cannon), or Heavy Conversion Beamer all become just brutal with the ability to ignore cover. For 35pts, this is a great choice. You can also take in on a Super Heavy for 75pts, and is obviously even better, but we don’t allow this upgrade in our events as we have found it is just too much with 10″ blast weapons that have AP2 and 3. YMMV though, and it would be a lot of fun in an Apoc game.
The War of Murder: Once you get past the incredibly silly name, this is a great piece of kit. It gives the tank Monster Hunter which in 7th edition is solid gold. On top of this, it makes all friendly Space Marine units within 6″ Fearless which is nice when it comes into play. For 20/40pts (standard/super heavy), it is a cheap upgrade that can really give you a solid boost. The Sicaran with its high rate of fire and rending weaponry is a great choice for this upgrade. A Land Raider Crusader would also be a solid choice.
Battle of Sarosh: 30/60pts, that allows you to once per game give the vehicle with it Skyfire, Interceptor, Tank Hunter and Night Vision. Nice one! This makes a vehicle a powerful threat to Deep Striking and Flying targets that would otherwise not be. It’s pricey and only works on a single weapon on the tank, but, on the right tank (again a Sicaran jumps to mind with a 6 shot, twin linked, rending Auto Cannon that ignores Jink), you can take down an enemy flyer reliably before it even fires, or take a nasty chunk out of a ground unit that comes out of reserves. If you play in a meta with a lot of armies that sport 1-2 flyers, this is a great choice and you can even get away with taking this and no other AA units if you’re feeling risky. When you hit the 3 and higher number of flyers, this won’t suffice as an AA solution but will compliment your AA strategy quite nicely.
Schism of Mars: This is an absolutely outstanding piece of kit. Possibly the best of the bunch depending on your meta and what your list needs. It gives the vehicle with it Tank Hunters, +1BS vs. enemy units with the Deamonforge rule, and ignores Haywire attacks on a 4+. WOW! For only 25/50pts, this is an absolute steal. This does a lot, it gives you a deadly tank hunter AND defense vs. one of the deadliest tank hunting weapons: Haywire. A great tank for this is, again, the fantastic Sicaran. With the ability to ignore Jink, and Tank Hunting on the sweet Accelerator Auto Cannon, this here is a Wave Serpent killer. It will routinely drop them in a single shot, while remaining pretty dang durable to return fire. Things like Necron Voltaic Staves or Tyranid Electro Shock Grubs are greatly reduced vs. a vehicle with this upgrade, too, which is great. This also gives you a big boost vs. Knights, which is always welcome. In all, two huge thumbs up for this LoG!
The Bad
Ullanor Crusade: Preferred Enemy (Orks). Meh. Ultra specializeds, and at 25pts, a bit pricey. However, if you are playing in a campaign or league and know you will be playing Orks, awesome! Any high rate of fire tank will love this bad boy. Models attacking the vehicle also have to reroll successful hits in the first round of combat, which is pretty cool as a bonus. For general purpose events with unknown opponents, it is too specific a piece of kit.
Isstvan III: Preferred Enemy (Chaos Space marines) and automatically pass Dangerous Terrain in ruins. As with the Ullanor Crusade, this is great for campaign play where you know who you will be playing against. But in general format play or pick-up games, it is too specialized.
Battle of Calth: Preferred Enemy (Chaos Space Marines) and enemy Warlords within 12″ suffer -1 Ld. Meh. Same strengths and weaknesses as above.
Battle of the Phall System: 40pts, gives a Storm Eagle a +1 Jink, and a Thunderhawk a 6+ Jink. Too specialized, too expensive.
Thramas Crusade: 40/80pts, gives a 12″ Fearless bubble from the vehicle. Chaos would kill for this piece of kit, Space Marines have ATSKNF which is better so there is not much reason for this expensive piece of kit in most lists.
Battle of Terra: 40/80pts for IWND. Wow, way, way too many points for this upgrade. At 1/2 to 1/3 the price, it’d be worth looking at.
Icon of Glory: 50/100pts that grants the vehicle either +1WS or BS, if your Warlord is within 2″, he extends his Command Trait Warlord Trait by 6″. If this vehicle is destroyed, the opposing player gains and extra +1 VP. You pay a ton of points for a marginal gain and a potentially game losing penalty.
The Ugly
Burning of Prospero: 20/40pts, the vehicle gains Adamantium will, and a further +1 to DtW if targeted by a Witchfire. Not bad, some of the maledictions out there can be really nasty vs. vehicles, but, for the cost, unless you play against lots of psychic debuffs or shooting attacks from armies like Daemons for example, this upgrade won’t be worth the price cost.
Isstvan V Dropsite Massacre: 20pts, a vehicle that can Deep Strike does not scatter when it does so. Really, only Drop Pods gain a ton of benefit from this and while yes, a Drop Pod that you simply place wherever you want it on the table is pretty cool, Drop Pods are already really accurate and so the points cost is a bit of a put off. If you had a dual Multi-Melta Land Speeder with this upgrade he turns into a solid little tank buster for only 100pts. It could be useful on a Deep Striking Flyer too, to get your choice of armor facing. Again, not a bad choice, but not incredible, either.
Battle of Signus Prime: 35/70pts, grants the vehicle Preferred Enemy (Chaos Daemons) and all friendly Space Marine units that begin the turn within 6″ gain the Furious Charge USR. You take it for the Furious Charge bonus if you take it at all, and the Preferred Enemy vs. Daemons is a bonus when it applies. A transport vehicle like a Land Raider with an assault unit inside is a solid choice here, or get crafty and stick it on a Drop Pod that lands in the middle of Assault Units before they go in for the assault. Still, you can get FC much easier with various Chapter Tactics, but, there is room for some cool combos with this piece of kit.
Shrouded Provenance: 30/60pts, grants the vehicle the Venerable rule, but, is treated as an Ally of Convenience by your own army, or as a Desperate Ally by other allies in your army. It’s OK, on the right vehicle such as a Super Heavy where it means you will rarely get an Explodes! result and really preserve your investment which is awesome. It does mean, unfortunately, that it can’t function as a transport vehicle due to the allies rule, and you can’t cast and psychic powers on it. So, really only good for a gun platform Super Heavy, IMO, but great in that role.
And there you have it! These are some fun upgrades to give vehicles a much needed boost in 7th ed. Which is your favorite?