Hey everyone, Reecius here with a bite-sized tactical tidbit for you: getting your Devastator Centurions back on the table! Be sure to check the Tactics Corner for more great articles to up your game!
Centurions, you remember those guys; the scourge of 7th ed? Well, the bizarro Space Marine baby carriers have been absent from tournament tables for some time now, but I’m here to tell you that you can make them work again. Read on to find out if I’m right, or just crazy!
So, I’ve been playing Marines a ton this edition, by far the most of any of my embarrassingly large collection of armies. Mostly I’ve done it to prove to people Marines can win if you put your mind to it and I’ve done really well with pure Marines, taking 15th at NOVA two years in a row with them, and at various smaller events plus in our 80 person league here in San Diego. In fact, I am on my way to the League winter finals game tomorrow to battle it out for the top spot vs. a nasty Eldar list. Here’s that list if you’re curious (and come on, we’re all want to see dem lists!):
| Unit | Force Org | Cost | # | Total | Weapons | Cost | # | Total | Total | Notes |
| Brigade | Ultramarines | Command Points | 12 | PL | ||||||
| Tigerius | HQ | 115 | 1 | 115 | 0 | |||||
| Telion | HQ | 65 | 1 | 65 | 0 | |||||
| Captain on Bike | HQ | 88 | 1 | 88 | T.Hammer | 21 | 1 | 21 | ||
| 0 | S.Shield | 10 | 1 | 10 | ||||||
| 0 | Twin Bolters | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| Primaris Ancient | Elites | 63 | 1 | 69 | Bolt Rifle | 0 | 1 | 0 | Banner of the Emperor | |
| Apothecary | Elites | 55 | 1 | 55 | 0 | |||||
| Vicitrix Honor Guard | Elites | 26 | 2 | 52 | Power Sword | 4 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 0 | Storm Shield | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||||||
| Scout Bikers | Fast | 21 | 3 | 63 | Twin Bolters | 2 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 0 | Storm Bolter | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| Scout Bikers | Fast | 21 | 3 | 63 | Twin Bolters | 2 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 0 | Storm Bolter | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| Scout Bikers | Fast | 21 | 3 | 63 | Twin Bolters | 2 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 0 | Storm Bolter | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| Scouts | Troops | 11 | 6 | 66 | Sniper Rifle | 2 | 6 | 12 | ||
| Scouts | Troops | 11 | 5 | 55 | Sniper Rifle | 2 | 5 | 10 | ||
| Scouts | Troops | 11 | 5 | 55 | Sniper Rifle | 2 | 5 | 10 | ||
| Intercessors | Troops | 17 | 10 | 170 | Power Fist | 8 | 1 | 8 | ||
| Scouts | Troops | 11 | 5 | 55 | Sniper Rifle | 2 | 5 | 10 | ||
| Scouts | Troops | 11 | 5 | 55 | Sniper Rifle | 2 | 5 | 10 | ||
| Thunderfire Cannon | Heavy | 55 | 1 | 55 | 0 | |||||
| Thunderfire Gunner | 26 | 1 | 26 | Plasma Cutter | 5 | 1 | 5 | |||
| 0 | Flamer | 6 | 1 | 6 | ||||||
| Devastator Squad | Heavy | 13 | 5 | 65 | Heavy Bolter | 10 | 2 | 20 | ||
| 0 | Cherub | 5 | 1 | 5 | ||||||
| Devastator Squad | Heavy | 13 | 5 | 65 | Heavy Bolter | 10 | 3 | 30 | ||
| 0 | Cherub | 5 | 1 | 5 | ||||||
| Devastator Squad | Heavy | 13 | 5 | 65 | Heavy Bolter | 10 | 1 | 10 | ||
| 0 | Missile Launcher | 20 | 1 | 20 | ||||||
| 0 | Cherub | 5 | 1 | 5 | ||||||
| LoW Detachment | Ultramarines | Command Points | 3 | |||||||
| Guilliman | LoW | 400 | 1 | 400 | Warlord | |||||
| Totals | 69 | 1765 | 235 | 2000 | ||||||
| Command Points: | 18 | Detachments: | 2 |
That list has proven to be very potent, with a stupid amount of mortal wounds at range, decent melee, loads of CP and devastating close ranged firepower. However, I’ve been playing it a lot and got a bit bored with it as it is a list that likes to sit and shoot, so lately I’ve been playing with some units you don’t see as much to really good effect!
With the changes Bolter Discipline brought to Marines and Chaos, a lot of units have gotten a big boost! It’s surprising how much of a difference it makes. So, I decided to take a unit of Devastator Centurions for a spin with maximum Dakka and you know what? It was pretty damn awesome!
Each Cent kitted out like this has 6 Heavy Bolter shots and 12 Hurricane Bolter Shots! That’s 18 shots a dude, and they can move and shoot with no penalty plus they ignore cover! So, with a unit of 6, you have a whopping 108 shots. That’s serious firepower.
I decided to give them a whirl in my Ultramarines list and found them to be very strong. Moving up the table with Guilliman, an Apothecary, an Ancient with the Relic Banner and Tiggy as my go forth and smash force, they were very nasty. I found they simply deleted anything they shot at, even very tough models like Mortarion withered to that level of dakka. The Apothecary gives them the ability to heal up or revive, and when you bring a Centurion back to life that is pretty amazing! The more I play with Apothecaries the more I love them. I won’t bring a Marine list without one, now.
The Ancient is also clutch as when one dies, on a 3+ it shoots in your opponents phase and powered by the magic of G-man, that is lethal firepower. One Centurion can delete a small unit. And again, if you’re Apothecary brings him back to life in your turn, he gets to do it all over again! In my last game my opponent killed 3 of the 6 but I still finished the game with 5. Go, go, Apothecary!
They are pretty slow at only 4″ movement though, and while they lack an invul save, a 2+ at toughness 5 with 3 wounds is nothing to sneeze at. Plus, Tiggy handing out a -1 to be hit is golden. The Castellan is a problem of course, but hey, the Castellan is a problem for everyone. Stupid Castellan… Gripes aside, as they are Infantry, they can move through ruins so that does help offset it a bit.
They don’t like to get stuck in melee but that’s where G-man comes in! He protects them and as Ultramarines, they can leave combat and fire at a -1 penalty. So, as long as you don’t get wrapped up and unable to leave, it isn’t the end of the world if you do get touched in combat. I also find a screen unit for them is important but that is true of anything in the game. If you play pure Marines, I have used Intercessors, Scouts and even Catapharacti Terminators as that 4++ is great, they move the same speed and they also benefit from Bolter Discipline to pump out 40 shots at 24″ which with Roboute cheering them on, becomes very lethal. If you’re a soup lover, a unit of Conscripts or some Guard units to bravely stand in front of them also works quite well.
With the points drop to 40pts per model in CA, they clock in at a reasonable 70pts a pop with full kit. Not too bad considering what you get.
And, if Ultramarines aren’t your thing, you can go with Imperial or Crimson Fists for some truly scary firepower out of this unit with less of an investment. Crimson Fists give you +1 to hit if your target outnumbers you 2 to 1 or more which is amazing as you almost always will be. On top of this, with Bolter Drill, they can get an obscene amount of shots as it would trigger on a 5+.
Imperial Fists have a crazy good detachment for them in Vigilus Defiant in the Siegebreaker Cohort. It allows you to deal Mortal Wounds to your target on wound rolls of a 6. When you combine this with the Bolter Drill strat which gets you an extra shot for each 6 to hit you roll and you have devastating damage output vs. vehicles and buildings. You can expect to deal around 20+ mortal wounds with a re-roll aura in addition to normal damage. That’s a dead Knight!
So far, it’s been a lot of fun to play and is surprisingly nasty. When it fires to full effect there is very little in the game that can take that level of dakka. I take my Vicitrix Honour Guard to help keep the characters safe from all the silly snipers out there these days (and if you aren’t using them yet, you should. They rock!) and some units to hold backfield objectives, run around to score points, etc. and you’ve got a fun, dynamic list. You move up-field blasting things to bits with buckets of dice and then eventually, Bobby G gets close enough to get stuck in, buffed by some of Tiggy’s psychic mind magic, and chop things into even smaller bits!
I think you could have some fun with Grav Cannons, too, if that is how your Centurions are already modeled and it isn’t many more points than the Heavy Bolter version. And, I have been thinking about giving Assault Centurions a whirl, too, as they have the Hurricane Bolter dakka as well, plus some very reliable meltas and fearsome melee attacks it may be a workable unit.
What do you think about Dev Centurions after the changes in CA and Bolter Discipline? Hawt or not?
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