Space Marine Review: Formations: Centurion Siegebreaker Cohort

Hi everyone, Michael here with a review of another Space Marine formation, the Centurion Siegebreaker Cohort. For more reviews, analyses and battle reports, check out the Tactics Corner.

Overview:

This formation combines two units seldom seen on the table, Centurion Assault Squads and Dreadnoughts. Both units hit really hard in combat and gain some great special rules in the formation to make them really effective against transport vehicles and buildings. The formation suffers from the same problem that Dreadnoughts and Assault Centurions run into normally, how to get them to their target quickly and in one piece.

Formation:

• 2-4 Units of Centurion Assault Squads
• 1 unit of Ironclad Dreadnoughts

Special Rules:

• Demolition Specialists- If the unit contains an Omniscope, the squad can re-roll failed Armour Penetration rolls against Buildings, even choosing to re-roll Glancing Hits.
• Seismic Devastation- If a model from this formation takes the last hull point from a building or transport vehicle in the assault phase, any unit embarked in the building suffers 2D6 S6 AP4 hits (with Ignores Cover) in addition to any hits the unit would normally suffer.

Tactics:

As I said above, this formation combines two units rarely seen on the battlefield in 7th edition, Centurion Assault Squads and Ironclad Dreadnoughts. Centurion Assault Squads are generally inferior to their Devastator Centurion Squad counterparts (check out Scuba Steve’s review of the Centurion Assault Squad in the Tactics Corner for further analysis).

The minimum cost of this formation is 465 points, making it quite an expensive auxiliary formation for the Gladius Strike Force. I would argue that the minimum cost of the formation is around 570 pts, as you really need the three units in the formation to be embarked in drop pods in order for them to be used effectively. In addition, the Centurion Assault Squads cannot purchase drop pods as dedicated transports, so you must use two fast attack slots in order to field them.

Demolition Specialists is a decent enough special rule for taking on buildings, but I rarely see buildings used much in 40k, so it would have very little effect in my games (though your experiences may differ).

Seismic Devastation is actually a really good rule. Assault Centurions come armed with Siege Drills, that are S10 armourbane on them. Any vehicle in combat with the squad is unlikely to survive more than one round (outside of superheavies). The Siege Drills are only AP2, so you have a 1 in 6 chance of blowing up a vehicle outright. This makes Seismic Devastation very useful against transport vehicles. You are unlikely to blow up an enemy transport, but those extra 2D6 S6 hits on destroying an enemy transport vehicle will likely cause some damage to the squad inside.

The main problem with this Formation is that it features two units built for combat, that have difficultly in getting to combat, as well as surviving to get to combat. The Centurion Assault Squad has a 2+ armour save, but no invulnerable save. A 2+ armour save is fantastic in combat, but in the current meta, AP2 weaponry is so widespread in many armies, that they will struggle to survive the time it takes to cross the board. On foot, the Centurions have Move Through Cover, helping them if you want to keep them save with a cover save as you advance. However, the squad cannot run, meaning it will take longer to get to the enemy lines. In addition, the Ironclad Dreadnought also has to worry about grav immobilising it before it can get very far. As I said above, putting all the units in drop pods helps with getting the unit to the enemy faster, but you still need to wait a turn before getting to assault, and the cost of three drop pods adds more expense to an already expensive formation.

 

Overall, I think the Centurion Siegebreaker Cohort is a fun formation. It could provide a nasty surprise against an opponent who is unaware of how strong Assault Centurions can be in combat. You would probably need to attach a character with an invulnerable save to the unit to help them survive for longer and to get to combat. In a competitive environment, I simply don’t think it is good value for the points you pay.

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