Dual portaling Librarians

[michael8]

Here is an army idea i have been trowing around in my head, and I'd like to get some ideas from others, as well as any criticisms before I go out and get the models. I have always loved librarians, and the Space Marine ones seem pretty cool too

Anyways, here goes:

HQ:
2x Librarian in Terminator Armor with storm shield with Gate of Infinity and Vortex of Doom (Maybe nullzone depending on the army I go against)

Elite:
2x Sternguard squads- 2 meltas and 7 combi-meltas (can be changed to combi-flamers depending on opponent again)

Fast Attack:
3x Scout Bike squads 4 models each with Locator beacons and melta bombs on the sarges

Troops:
3x Tac squads with meltas and multi-meltas.

Comes to about 2000 points plus/minus 10, I don't have my codex on hand.

Sternguards teleport around with the librarians, using the locator beacons from the bikes to keep from scattering. It is all pretty self explanatory really.

I think it would be a really fun army to play with, having the scouts turbo boost around and guide the librarians in to kill everything around. Has plenty of anti-tank, although the anti-horde aspect is missing. But, the combis on the Sternguard can be changed to flamers, and that will deal with horde really well.

So any comments or ideas are appreciated. I'm sure I have not been the first person to think this up, so if there are some other posts about this type of army, I'd love the links.

Thanks

[AirHorse]

seems like a fun idea, but for 2000points it seems a bit lacking in overall oomph, and maybe a bit low in body count. Are those tactical marines in rhinos btw?

[michael8]

Yes those are tactical marines, but not in rhinos.

That was one of the glaring weaknesses to me, no way to move my troops around like I would need to for objectives, and the added protection is nice as well. Mech is the king of 5th right?

Maybe drop one of the scout biker squads, and take 3 rhinos?

As far as body count, that is almost 60 marines on the table, doesn't seem too low for a SM army in my experience. Maybe because I usually play only 1750 point games . . .

[brother drakist]

Are you planning on having the Librarians port the troops around? If so it could be interesting to see some late game wins, however whenever the Librarian ports a squad scatter is an an issue. Could be pretty dangerous ....it's only a matter of time before you roll that "oh crap I think I ported/landed off the table."

[Chumbalaya]

Scout bikes aren't too robust, so you may run into problems with them dying.

20 marines being the entirety of your force is worrying, especially if the vortex backfires. I'd just stick with combi-weapons to get the most out of your special ammo.

Scouts might serve you better to infiltrate on top of objectives and hold them down, or Pods with locater beacons (less obvious target).

Overall it suffers from an "all eggs in two baskets" syndrome, just not enough men or firepower to wipe an entire army.

[GreenMarines]

HQ:
2x Librarian in Terminator Armor with storm shield with Gate of Infinity and Vortex of Doom (Maybe nullzone depending on the army I go against)

Elite:
2x Sternguard squads- 2 meltas and 7 combi-meltas (can be changed to combi-flamers depending on opponent again)

I Like the idea of this two units. Combined with the scoutbikes you will get them where you want and need. But you have only this two threatening units. So you can kill only two enemy units in one turn and will be eaten in CC afterwards.
You will also be vulnerable to templates. Especially plasma canon and other low penetration templates will be your death. I think of this often used Executioner or Demolisher or Vidicator...

As you said earlier skip one bike unit and get your tact squads rhinos. So you can support the Sernguards and with flamer and combiflamer in the tact squads you will have the antihorde.

[AirHorse]

the only reason i say its low in body count is because none of those units are that survivable, ap3 isnt that hard to come by these days, especially not in large template form.

I would say spend less points on melta weapons in your sternguard squads, 3 or 4 combi-melta max for when you need to take down a vehicle, so much melta feels like a waste of what sternguard are expensive for. maybe with the points saved on melta in your sternguard you can get rhinos for your tactical marines so they can bring their melta weapons to bear so your sternguard arent trying to do everything at once.

[Alvena]

i love your idea to teleport at evry turn, but since your archivist will join the Sternguard why do you give him the terminator armor ? wouldnt be cheaper and as effective if he was wearing his standard power amor ?

[mkerr]

@michael8: I always love new army lists. This one definitely has a Veil of Darkness feel to it!

0. You shouldn't build army lists that can be "tailored" to your opponent. Just build an all-comers list. It's not much fun for a player when you change out psychic powers/combi-weapons just to deal with his army list (and you can't do this in tournaments).

1. Drop the Terminator armor. Put Veil fo Doom on one of the Librarians and maybe The Avenger on the other. Definitely don't use Vortex of Doom -- you'll wipe out your squad on a psychic test failure.

2. Every Sternguard should have a Bolter or a Combi-weapon. You give up too much when you "upgrade" to a meltagun. The sergeant should have a Bolter too.

3. I don't think you really need Meltabombs on the Scout Bike sergeants. You might want to look into a couple of Astartes Grenade Launchers -- rapid fire S6 weapons are pretty awesome (even thought they are a bit pricey). Or consider Cluster Mines -- you are going to be avoiding difficult terrain anyway.

4. I probably wouldn't go with 3 squads of Scout bikes. I think that 2 squads are plenty.

5. Consider drop pods with Locator Beacons for your Tactical squads.

Sounds like a fun army, but it depends really heavily on your Sternguard. You are going to have leadership problems (but at least the psychic hoods will protect your sternguard a bit) and you'll suffer from being a pretty fragile army. Mystics are going to easily counter you in the tournament scene, so I don't see this working more than once in a tournament, lol.

Best of luck and let us know how it plays!

-- mkerr

[Chumbalaya]

I would definitely stick with the Terminator armor, so he can take an AP3 hit on chin with his 2+ save or an AP2/1 hit with his 3+ invulnerable.