40K Starter Tournament Tactica - Part Four(b)

We now have our Triumvirate and Ultramarines force. The question is (as you can guess by now) is how does it stack up against our mission objectives?

The Triumvirate are expensive, so we will have to see what goes best with their support abilities while still having an eye on capturing the Relic.

The army we've put them with is very small. I imagine most opposing armies will outnumber them significantly, even other elite Marines.
Belisarius Cawl will have a re-rollable Feel No Pain, and the ability to give himself and Sgt Chronus; It Will Not Die and an Invulnerable Save for one turn each.
Celestine and her Geminae are a fast moving, hard to permanently kill, assault force that should do well alongside the small squad of Assault Marines.
Inquisitor Greyfax  is a potent Psyker who will give the Tactical Marines both Preferred Enemy and Ballistic Skill 10 when hunting other Psykers.

That's why those units have been chosen to support them. So, onto the goals.

Goal 4 - Have Fun!

The Triumvirate seem powerful on paper, but take up half the points limit. My best bet for a trial list is to pair them with Space Marines, as you get a bit more survivability for the points than you would with other armies. it's probably going to be a low model count, so tabling is a real risk, but then the Big Three are quite survivable.

The fun here comes from in experimentation. Can the Triumvirate operate in such a small points game, or do they need more support to shine? Would we have been better off just taking one of them? Will the Drop Pod Sternguard work, or will they too often be out on a limb?
The only way to truly answer these questions would be to get some games in. I can see the unkillability of Cawl and Celestine being at odds with the probable ease in which opponents can kill off their squads. Sounds like it would actually be quite a fun game.

Goal 3 - Control the Relic

Both Cawl and Celestine are very hard to kill. Cawl is probably the better bet for holding the Relic, as Celestine's Jump Pack is wasted while she can only move 6" a turn. The aim should be to get it to him and hold it there. We probably want some Tactical Marines to form a squad with him for extra survivability. I'd suggest Terminators, but I'm concerned we wouldn't have enough points. 

 We didn't have enough points for Terminators, so instead we have the plan of dropping the Sternguard on the Relic in our first turn and trying to leapfrog them with the rest of the army. Essentially trying to put other bodies between them and the enemy. Should our opponent get to it first, the Sternguard's special ammo can help clear a squad off of the Relic. We still have the back-up plan of Cawl getting to it and seeing if he is actually unkillable.

Goal 2 - Survive opposing firepower and assault

Two of our three main characters are hard to kill. The third is disruptive. Surrounding all three with Power Armoured bodies should up the resilience even further.

 Our guys are resilient, but few in number. Our best chance of increasing their chances will be striking the enemy hard first. This hopefully stops them bringing their numbers to bear. However, I don't rate our chances of surviving much unless the Triumvirate live up to the hype.

 Goal 1 - Kill opposing models

Careful weapon choices for the Marines should do the job. this list might struggle at the killing part. That said, the Triumvirate aren't slouches in assault.

  Tabling the opponent doesn't feel like a realistic goal with this force. There will be that one squad/model that we just don't have time to reach. However, for the ones we can reach, our Primary Detachment is quite adept at killing both infantry and vehicles. Playing the mission and killing the correct targets is the way to go here I feel.

Of the three armies I've discussed on this Blog, this feels like the most challenging. And not in a good way. It does kinda feel like the games would be an uphill struggle unless played very carefully. However, I could be wrong. I could be completely underestimating the Triumvirate entirely. Maybe in such a small game they are a dominating force and the Marines just push them over the top. The only way to find out would be to play them, which brings us back to Goal 4. If you think that trying out new models this way is worth it, then this is the army for you. Otherwise you may want to try something more akin to how your chosen army normally operates, until you get a feel for the army.

Join us for the final part (Part 5) where I look at the event itself