This is an article series looking at how to make the most of the units of the Legions Astartes, fighting for both the Loyalists and Traitors and taking up roughly the first half of their two Libers. There are many, many units in this section of the book and we’ve done our best to understand their rules. We hope to look in detail at the individual Legions and beyond to the other factions in due course.
In this first article I’ll look at the High Command and Command Battlefield Roles. This is where you find the characters who lead your army and unlock the Detachments that the rest of your units will fill. When choosing your characters you need to consider the forces they unlock for you as well as their own direct influence on the game.
There has been a lot of controversy over the loss of options from units and particularly from commanders. While I was writing this article GW published an article on Warhammer Community saying they will bring some of these back in a Legacies document on release. I can’t say what will change about you “HQ” options in future so this article just discusses what’ll be in the Libers Astartes and Hereticus. At the moment we aren’t sure what’s gone so I’m not discussing that issue here. I’m sure we’ll have something to say about the massive number of new units we’re getting in the Legacy PDF when it appears.
Thanks Games Workshop for giving us a copy of the rules to review.
Table of Contents
High Command
This slot is filled by three generic Praetors and a huge array of unique characters for most of the Legions. We’ll cover those later, as we look through each Legion.
High Command characters are pretty much the only way you can get an Apex detachment. They also come with the Master of the Legion Trait*, which provides you with a bonus reaction. That’s a big deal, giving you three reactions per turn instead of two at 3000 points.
The Apex Detachment and extra reaction mean you’re probably always going to want a High Commander, even before considering their combat abilities. In fact you might feel that you have to take one whether you like it or not, as the reaction and Apex Detachment are so important.
*There’s one exception to this: Erebus is not a Master of the Legion and so Word Bearers players will need to look for their extra reaction from another source.
Praetor
This is your senior officer, with an excellent profile and access to a wide variety of weaponry from the Legion Officer Wargear list. They’ve now got 5 attacks and 4 wounds, so they’re even nastier and tougher than in the previous edition. They also don’t have to worry about instant death spoiling their fun any more, though of course there are lots of multi-damage weapons around nowadays.
Praetors are one of the few models allowed to take a Paragon Blade, which is a good weapon giving +1S and striking at AP2. It’s only 1D though, unless you roll a 6 to hit and score a critical hit for an automatic wound (saves still allowed) with +1D. I’m not sure this is the best option though when Thunder Hammers and Power Fists are also available. A Praetor with a Thunder Hammer strikes at I3 with S7 D2 AP2 attacks, which are bad news for most things. A Power Fist might be a better option, striking at I2 with S8.
Praetors can have Jump Packs for +20 points, increasing their move from 7 to 12” and giving them the Antigrav trait, letting them hop around the place. This seems like a pretty good option now that Veteran Assault Squads exist. You can also consider a Praetorian Command Squad with jump packs. And of course you may prefer to run around on foot or ride in a Land Raider, though in that case you might prefer a…
Praetor in Terminator Armour
Wearing either Tartaros or Cataphractii armour, this is basically the same guy as above, but a bit beefier. Terminators are T5 now and Terminator Praetors have 5W and 5A. They get fewer options than power-armoured Praetors, though they can still have a few toys, They come with a pretty useful Combi-bolter and power sword, which you should always upgrade for a Paragon Blade or something like a Thunder Hammer or the Terminator-only Chainfist. Paired Lightning Claws are only a +5 point upgrade and give a Praetor 7 attacks, which is pretty interesting.
The Tartaros/Cataphractii choice is free and this unit entry covers both. Cataphractii are only move 6” and gain the Slow and purposeful and Heavy rules, which prevent them from pursuing fleeing enemies in melee and generally slow them down. Tartaros are 7” move, don’t have those drawbacks and now do have a 4++, unlike in 2.0. As such the Tartaros option feels quite a lot better, except if you expect to be leading a unit that’s Heavy anyway, like a retinue of Cataphractii.
The upside of Cataphractii is that Heavy units get +1 to their CL stat to resist conditions. Going from the Praetor’s base 9 CL up to 10 actually halves the chances of failing your test, unless there are other modifiers in play.
Praetor in Saturnine Terminator Armour
The new kid arrives on the block with the stat line of a slow but unusually skillful Dreadnought. T6 and W6 make him substantially tougher than his peers in other armour though a 5” move and Bulky (4) make him awkward to get around the place, particularly as he’s Heavy and so cannot Rush. He is also somewhat hampered by his armour, with only I4 and A4, where other Praetors are on 5s for those stats.
A positive of his armour is the option of a Saturnine Teleportation Transponder. This is a 60 point upgrade, which is a lot, but lets your Saturnine Praetor and a unit of Saturnine Terminators he’s attached to Deep Strike.
Deep Strike has changed a lot in third edition. Most importantly, you can’t now charge after doing it. Nearby enemies don’t get pinned any more. Better news is that you don’t scatter, and that the enemy won’t get as many reactions as before to intercept with. Dropping in a unit of T6 guys with 2+/4++ saves is pretty safe now and you could do horrendous damage with the particle shredders.
You’d be paying 460 points for the Praetor, three Saturnines and the Teleportation Transponder though and you still have to roll for reserves, with no guarantee of success. That’s an awful lot.
In terms of equipment The Saturnine Praetor rocks up with a Saturnine War Axe and Saturnine Disruption Fist. You can swap either of these for a Saturnine Concussion Hammer for 10 points. These are all AP2 weapons, with varying strength, initiative and damage. The Axe strikes at full initiative (which is only 4) with +1S, D2 and Reaping Blow (2), letting the Praetor get up to 6 attacks if outnumbered. The Fist is -2 Initiative, +2 Strength (so usually 6) and D3. The Hammer is x2 Strength (so usually 8) with Critical Hit 6+ but -3 Initiative, also doing 3 damage. Personally I think I’d go with the Hammer and Axe. The Axe gives you a great terminator-killer while the Hammer is good into heavy stuff. The Fist kind of falls between the two.
You can also add a Plasma Blaster for another 10 points, so do that. It’s not all that amazing but it’s his only ranged option. He doesn’t have to worry too much about it overheating.
Command
This section is full of a wide variety of “Consul” characters. Each unlocks an Auxiliary Detachment and some provide their own unique ones for you to choose from. There are also unique Commanders for several of the Legions so check if your Legion has those.
Centurion
Credit: @badusernametag
Centurions were rare in second edition because other Consuls tended to bring more to the game. That changes in third as they have the Officer of the Line (2) rule, allowing them to unlock two Auxiliary Detachments instead of one. This represents that these are the people typically leading company-level forces and so they have a lot of resources to call upon. If you bring a Praetor and a Centurion you might have access to enough detachments to make an army.
Centurions have had a significant boost in stats this edition, with 3W and 4A now. They have the option of a Jump Pack for +20 points and access to a wide variety of weapons and other equipment. You can customise them quite a bit, but they’re more or less limited to bashing things in melee, most likely with a Thunder Hammer or Power Fist I think.
It’s quite easy to get a Prime Command slot, so Centurions will often get a Prime Advantage. They’re all pretty good I think but Paragon of Battle stands out for +1 A, WS and BS. There’s definitely an argument for Combat Veterans, raising LD, CL, Int and WP by +1 each – which the Centurion will pass on to any unit they lead.
There are a few Legion-specific Prime Advantages that transform a Centurion into something else altogether. The Imperial Fist Castellan is one example, getting a big gun instead of melee weapons, and there are a few others. These are good as you keep that Officer of the Line benefit and add something thematic for your Legion.
Some of the Legion-specific unique characters you’ll find in the Libers, like Camba Diaz, are Centurions and also have Officer of the Line (2) as a result. They can’t have a Prime Advantage other than Logistic Benefit.
Centurion in Terminator Armour
The same guy as above, but with +1W. You still get Officer of the Line (2), for army-building purposes and access to all the usual Terminator equipment, including the same armour choice as the Praetor. This time the Tartaros version only has a 5++ though, while the Cataphractii has 4++.
I think a Terminator Captain with a Chainfist and the Paragon of Battle Prime Advantage is a pretty useful can opener of a model. Chainfists give you -1A, which is very painful for a 2A terminator but not so bad for a character with 5A.
Optae
Basically just a Veteran who has ended up in command. No special rules but you have access to a Jump Pack if you want. They get Sergeant-level equipment, for Sergeant-level prices. This is a model you take for Lore reasons or if there’s one more detachment you need to unlock, as otherwise a Centurion isn’t that much more expensive and gives you far more benefit. He does have LD9 and 8s in all his other mental stats, which is equal to a Centurion and better than some Consuls.
Optae have a niche use for Ultramarines, where their Legion-specific detachment requires them and, in addition to granting a cheap Prime trait, gives you access to a uniquely flexible detachment containing Troops, Fast Attack and Support slots. This is going to let you go wide with a variety of different units without spending a lot of detachment slots.
Damocles Command Rhino
A Rhino with only room for six people inside. It can use the mental characteristics of models inside to do Characteristic Checks – which it will mostly use with its Command Vox Relay. This lets you add +1 to reserve rolls if it’s on the battlefield and, if you can pass an Int Check (counting as a pretty reasonable value of 8 if nobody is on board to help) you can give a unit Line (1) or Vanguard (1) for the turn. If they already had Line or Vanguard, they lose it.
The Damocles fills a Command Slot, unlocks a detachment and carries six troops. It’s a decent alternative to a Master of Signal, costing roughly the same amount but with the benefit of being able to ride around inside it. You can stick a multimelta and/or hunter killer missile on it too if you like.
Librarian
Roughly the same profile as a Centurion, with CL only 7 but WP 9, this is the guy who casts Psychic powers if you are choosing not to ignore the Emperor’s really quite clear and unambiguous instructions not to.
You pick one of six disciplines, paying between 0 and 20 points for them. Disciplines give you an “always on” special rule like Duelist’s Edge (2) for Divination, Fear (1) for Telepathy or, hilariously, Explodes (4+) for Pyromancy, which doesn’t require you to “cast” anything. The actual psychic powers include things that blow people up, frighten them, shield them from harm and so on, with some functioning as Reactions or even Gambits in duels. You could Consider the Combat Veterans Prime Advantage for a Librarian, to improve their Willpower – and other mental stats you probably won’t care about much. We’ll have a proper look through the psychic disciplines soon.
Other than that, and your choice of Psychic weapon – probably the Axe as it’s AP2 – there are no upgrades available, like Terminator Armour, jump pack, bike or combi-weapons, for a Librarian in the Liber. That’s a pretty huge change, and one that we’ll see from now on with the rest of the Consuls, with a few rare exceptions. This may all change in the Legacies document, however.
Legion Champion
The Champion has WS6 and A5 but only LD8. They come with a Paragon Blade and Volkite Serpeta, which can be exchanged for a Combi-melta – reflecting the loyalist and traitor versions Forgeworld currently makes. They can also have Melta Bombs.
The Never Back Down rule means a Champion always has to initiate challenges and can’t refuse them. The Champion also unlocks the excellent Veteran Cadre Auxiliary Detachment, containing a Retinue, Elites and Heavy Transport slot, so your Champion can bring some hardcore backup and a Land Raider or Spartan to deliver them to where they are needed.
Champions are a good candidate for the Paragon of Battle Prime Advantage, which would give them WS7 and A6. That’s enough to probably beat most other generic characters in a duel, including Praetors.
Vigilator
The sniper Consul has a pretty different profile. Only WS4 and A3 (with no options for melee weapons so far) they get BS7, Infiltrate (9), Smokescreen and a pretty scary Nemesis Rifle. If a Vigilator stands still and rolls a 5 to hit they’ll do 3 damage to a target of their choice, which is enough to one-shot an enemy Consul unless they pass their invulnerable.
It might be a useful tactic in Heresy third edition to have one model out of a big unit “toe in” to range of an objective to score it, in an effort to deny your opponent from scoring vanguard points by killing them. You could potentially counter this by attaching a Vigilator to a unit of Terminators or other Vanguard (X) unit. Have your Vigilator shoot the model on the objective dead and you earn your Vanguard points.
Vigilators also unlock the Recon Demi-Company detachment, containing three Recon slots (one of which is Prime) that have to be used for Reconnaissance Squads and one Fast Attack slot. I’m not sure you want all that many Reconnaissance Squads, but the Prime one is good to have, if only for Logistical Benefit.
Esoterist
Another Psychic Consul, Esoterists focus on summoning Daemons, or stopping them in their tracks. They have Centurion stats, though only LD7 and WP10, and are armed with a force weapon of your choice and Archaeotech pistol – because that’s what the model has.
Their Anathemata Psychic Discipline lets them fire Void Darts, which aren’t that exciting. Traitor Esoterists can Breach the Veil, bringing in a unit from a Daemonic Manifestation Detachment and Loyalist ones can Seal the Veil, which is a reaction that can muck up a Daemon unit’s charge.
Oh yeah, Traitor Esoterists let you bring a Daemonic Manifestation Detachment, which is up to three units of Ruinstorm Daemon Brutes. It’s probably worth doing this, so your Esoterist has something to summon, though until we see the rules we can’t be sure. There’s not a lot for an Esoterist to do until we see those daemon rules.
Master of Signals
Your Legion’s Battle-Receptionist comes armed with a bolt pistol, which can be exchanged for other pistols, grenades, and a master vox. They can give you +1 to reserves and give your units Vanguard or Line 1. That gives you more VPs – which is actually great. They have In10 but only LD8 and 7 for CL and WP.
We think the Master of Signals could become a staple choice, especially if the Legacies document lets them bring effective weapons. They ought to give you a few more VPs across a game, which could easily be enough to make the difference between victory and defeat. They are particularly useful for making fast units Line 1, grabbing objectives early or late in the game with something speedy.
Praevian
Another Centurion-like character, with slightly better In of 9 but no options for melee weapons, yet. They have an assortment of Mechanicum-ish equipment and special rules, making them well-suited for leading a unit of Robots. And you get to add a Castellax Battle or Destructor Maniple to your Praevian’s Detachment, letting them do just that. You’ll need to buy the Mechanicum book to find out what they do though.
Of course, if you buy the Mechanicum book you’ll find rules for whole Mechanicum armies and Allied Detachments in there. An actual Magos seems to do a far better job of leading a unit of automata than a Praevian, notably making them Score if you take Cybernetica. The Praevian’s main advantage might be unlocking a legion Auxiliary Detachment.
Moritat
Moritats now come with jump packs as standard and can choose between a pair of overcharged volkite or plasma pistols. These now have their own unique profiles, rather than modifying existing guns to allow multiple shots. I think plasma is clearly the better choice here, particularly as a Moritat’s BS6 means they score a critical hit, causing Breaching and +1 damage, on a 6 to hit.
A Moritat is no good in melee with only WS4 and no options for melee weapons. Uniquely out of the characters we’re looking at here they have the Specialist sub-type, not Command. This means they can join and leave units but can’t fight in challenges and their unit can’t use their stats for tests on things like LD or CL.
It’s a bit unclear what unit to attach a Moritat to, if anything. They don’t have the Bitter Duty rule, meaning they can join anything, though we wonder if this might be a typo. The Bitter Duty rule still exists and Destroyers, who we’ve just had confirmed are coming back as a Legacy unit, will probably have it. The jump pack units we do have now are things like assault squads but they would prefer not to have a shooty character attached, risking a return fire reaction. You could run your Moritat solo, of course, but probably not for long.
Moritats are great for situations where you use the new Volley Fire mechanic. They have the Firestorm rule, so they can shoot at full BS and aren’t forced to charge afterwards. But again, for most jump pack troops you’d rather try to reach melee with your set up move if you could, skipping volley fire altogether.
A Moritat does bring Rad Grenades, which can lower a target unit’s toughness. Maybe the best thing they can do is try to debuff a unit before their friends charge in. That isn’t all that reliable though, it wastes their pistols and anyway a Centurion with a Power Fist would probably contribute more overall.
Siege Breaker
This poor guy is weighed down by so much equipment he has the Heavy rule. Your choice of pistol, a Thunder Hammer (useful!), grenades, Phosphex bombs, Cognis-signum (for calling in accurate artillery) and Augury Scanner (for denying shrouding).
Siege Breakers unlock the Storm Battery Detachment, made up of two Rapier batteries and two armour slots for Arquitor Bombards or Vindicators. They also let you upgrade your Arquitors and Rapiers with exceptionally horrible Phosphex rounds.
Overall a good pick, especially now plastic Rapiers are available. Add him to a unit of laser destroyer rapiers so his Auspex Scanner denies shrouding to enemies they fire at, while calling in Phosphex or other blasts from hidden quad launchers. Or just send him to bash things with his hammer.
Overseer
Pretty much a standard Centurion, with CL9 and either a Power Lash or Maul, plus a pistol of some kind. You can add a vexilla and melta bombs. Overseers can join Solar Auxilia units without reducing their LD and CL, though you’ll have to take a Solar Auxilia allied detachment, or bring an Overseer as an ally for an Auxilia army, to make use of this.
Other than for fun and background reasons, there just isn’t a very compelling reason to do this. An Overseer can’t go in a Solar Auxilia transport so he doesn’t make sense to lead melee troops but what use is he in a Lasrifle squad? Shame as I really like the two models for Overseers.
Herald
These are great fun, and maybe the Legacies document will even let us use our one in terminator armour! Standard profile, with CL9 and a power weapon that can (and always should) be upgraded to a Fist, plus optional Melta Bombs. The Icon of Allegiance they carry means they gain an honour point if they win a challenge and/or or a combat. All honour points are lost if the Herald dies or gets Disgraced in a challenge. Any honour points you have at the end of the game magically become Victory Points instead, which is pretty great. Have your Herald follow a Praetor or Primarch around and get some precious victory points for your efforts.
Chaplain
These do surprisingly little, with “None” written in their Special Rules where you’d expect to find Hatred. They’re pretty good at bashing people with a Crozuis Arcanum, which is a Power Maul doing D2. This is a great weapon against stuff with 3+ saves but not much use in challenges, since most Legion characters have a 2+. They have CL10 but only 7 IN, doing the whole “mind too small to doubt” thing. You can upgrade their pistols, though they’re only BS4, and give them melta bombs. It does make sense that they can’t swap their Crozuis for anything else now, but I suppose I’ll have to use my Chaplain with a jump pack and Raven’s Talons as something else now. Maybe a…
Master of Descent
This is the first new Consul to be added, in the Istvaan V Dropsite Massacre Journal Tactica. They have Jump Packs and a free selection of the Officer’s Wargear list to choose from, though with only A3 they’re about as dangerous as a Veteran Assault Legionary.
Masters of Descent have two very interesting abilities. Their Strato-Vox lets their unit automatically succeed on reserves rolls and other Reserves arrive automatically so long as they Deep Strike. Additionally, the Master of Descent rule lets them Deep Strike on turn one so long as every model in their unit is Antigrav Infantry.
Having reserves rolls succeed automatically is excellent. I’m just not sure if it’s actually a good idea to Deep Strike jump pack infantry. Only one unit can Deep Strike per turn, you have to take the risk of intercept reactions and then you’re not allowed to charge that turn anyway. Very few jump pack units have enough shooting to make the risk worthwhile.
Having your other units, like Saturnine Terminators, Drop Pods and Termites, arrive from Deep Strike automatically is great though. You could see a Master of Descent as kind of an alternative to a Master of Signals. Instead of the MoS’s extra VPs from Line/Vanguard you get certainty of your reserves arriving and much more of a melee threat.
Finally, the Master of Descent unlocks the Planetfall Speartip Auxiliary Detachment. This contains a Retinue slot and two Elites, both of which are Prime. You can only fill these with Praetorian Command Squads with Jump Packs and Veteran Assault Squads, which is really useful. It’s a bit of a shame these can’t be any of the cool Legion-specific assault units. It might have been cooler if it had just said they had to be Antigrav Infantry.
Final Thoughts
Despite all the confusion about equipment options, for now at least, I like the way they’ve handled the Command section a lot. There’s a lot more going on with your characters now than before, where their real worth was mainly just killing stuff in melee.
If anything, the Praetors seem less interesting than the Consuls, as they don’t have any comparable special rules. If it wasn’t for the reaction and the Apex Detachment I could see myself dropping the beatstick character and bringing a Consul instead.
Commanders now play more of an active role in commanding your army. They bring your units out of statuses via Nuncio Voxes, earn VPs as Masters of Signals or Heralds and so on. Many of them shape the army you bring, via their associated Detachments.
Armies will tend to need more characters than in previous editions and that’s probably quite fun. There are narrative opportunities with each character being associated with the detachments they unlocked. Rather than looking at them as a “character tax”, I’d recommend looking at what you can get out of your army’s leaders.
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