List Review: Brandon Roddy's Vanguard Spearhead

Welcome battle brothers! I'd like to call your attention to another Dark Angels list that did well the past weekend. In this case, our battle brother Brandon Roddy piloted a Vanguard Spearhead to 3rd place at the Denver 40K Fight Club January Open over the weekend of 1/5/2024-1/6/2024. He went 5-1, earning 504 Battle Points. Curiously, he scored more points on his one loss than on one of his wins, scoring 72 points on his loss in the 3rd round, but 68 points on his win in the 5th round. 40K can be funny sometimes.

Our Brother Brandon didn't use a lot of First Legion units, but a Terminator Command Squad did make it into his list, to which he attached a Terminator Ancient to make a unit where all the members of the squad are OC 3. The Terminator Ancient rocks The Blade Driven Deep enhancement so it can be infiltrated onto an objective. Personally, I might have gone with a full 10 Terminators in the squad, but I'm not the one went 5-1 at a GT. The next time I go more than 3-3 will be the first time. In all seriousness, I'm guessing the reason he didn't was that if he'd used a full 10 Terminators, he'd have been tempted to charge them off the objective they were holding, which would have defeated the purpose of attaching the Terminator Ancient to them. 

I'll put the full list as it appears on BCP at the bottom of the post. Here's the TLDR version to facilitate discussion:

Ancient in Terminator Armor, THSS, The Blade Driven Deep, Warlord
Librarian in Phobos Armor

3 Centurion Devastators: twin lascannons, Centurion missile launchers
3 Centurion Devastators: twin lascannons, Centurion missile launchers
Deathwing Command Squad: 2x Terminators wt THSS, Champ, Apothecary, Ancient
3 Eliminators: Instigator bolt carbine, 2x las fusil
6 plasma Inceptors
3 plasma Inceptors
3 plasma Inceptors
5 Infiltrators
5 Scouts
5 Scouts

Gladiator Lancer
Whirlwind
Whirlwind

Callidus Assassin

As I'm sure you're aware, the schtick with the Vanguard is to pop a lethal Shooting unit in and out of Strategic Reserve with the Guerilla Tactics stratagem to get angles on the things you want to light up. In this case, I think Brandon's primary unit for this is the 6-strong squad of plasma Inceptors, because he can then drop them anywhere on the board as opposed to along the table edges, but the Centurion Devastators make likely backup choices. I'm a little surprised it's not one squad of 6 CentDevs, but maybe Brandon has found 3 are enough, or make too big a target for opponents, or have too big a footprint to reliably put where he wants them. I imagine the Inceptors routinely start in Reserves and the CentDevs start on the table, because only 500 points can go in SR at the start of the game. The two 3-strong squads of Inceptors might also get picked up with Guerilla Tactics to light something up if  the big squad and/or the CentDevs are tied up or otherwise unavailable, while also acting as the valuable utility units we all use them as.

As for the rest of the list, the Whirlwinds give the ability to reach targets that opponents are trying to keep out of sight, and the Lancer adds some long range firepower, but honestly I think it might be a Distraction Carnifex, intended to draw fire away from the CentDevs for the first couple of turns. The Infiltrators probably sit on the home objective and keep opposing units away from it. The Phobos Librarian probably joins the Eliminators to play move-shoot/Smite-move games, the Scouts score secondaries, and the Callidus helps with scoring secondaries while hampering opponents trying to use their favorite stratagem.

If you're looking to play a competitive Space Marine list, the Vanguard Spearhead appears to be the way to go. Other than Black Templars and Space Wolves, all the Space Marine lists that placed high in this week's Meta Monday report are either Vanguards or Gladius Strike Forces, and the Vanguards easily outnumbered the Gladiuses (Gladii?) at least 2-1. I wouldn't necessarily run out and buy a bunch of Centurion Devastators if you don't already have them though. Smart money is on the Vanguard getting toned down when the January Balance Dataslate comes out. Smart money is on stricter limitations on what you can pick up with Guerilla Tactics, but maybe they'll make the stratagem cost 2 CP, or do something wacky like make Centurions Vehicles instead of Infantry. Hey, they did it with Crisis Suits.

If you have to play against a Vanguard between now and then, bear in mind that easily their best trick us Guerilla Tactics, so if you're going to use a Callidus to Vect something, Vect that. Also, it has to be triggered at the end of the opponent's Fight Phase, and a unit with an enemy unit within 3" of it can't be selected for it. So, if you can get one of your units within 3" of the likely GT strat targets, you prevent your opponent from using it the way he'd like. I wouldn't go charging CentDevs with Scouts or anything, because they have 3 attacks each with Centurion Fists that are S5 AP-1 D2, but you might charge a Rhino into them just to keep them pinned for a turn.

Also, it's probably worth building your lists with your own units to put in Strategic Reserve you can have pop out and deal with your opponent's units. That's why my Firestorm list wound up with 6 Eradicators in Strategic Reserves instead of riding around in a Land Raider Crusader. If I don't need them to deal with a Vanguard's GT targets, I figure I can use them to go after opponents' backfield units, which I've struggled to reach with the mounted units in my Firestorm.

Below is Brandon's list in its entirety:

Sneaky but Beefy (1995 Points)

Space Marines
Dark Angels
Vanguard Spearhead
Strike Force (2000 Points)

CHARACTERS

Ancient in Terminator Armour (100 Points)
• Warlord
• 1x Terminator Storm Shield
1x Thunder hammer
• Enhancements: The Blade Driven Deep

Librarian in Phobos Armour (70 Points)
• 1x Bolt pistol
1x Force weapon
1x Smite

OTHER DATASHEETS

Centurion Devastator Squad (175 Points)
• 1x Devastator Centurion Sergeant
• 1x Centurion fists
1x Centurion missile launcher
1x Twin lascannon
• 2x Devastator Centurion
• 2x Centurion fists
2x Centurion missile launcher
2x Twin lascannon

Centurion Devastator Squad (175 Points)
• 1x Devastator Centurion Sergeant
• 1x Centurion fists
1x Centurion missile launcher
1x Twin lascannon
• 2x Devastator Centurion
• 2x Centurion fists
2x Centurion missile launcher
2x Twin lascannon

Deathwing Command Squad (210 Points)
• 1x Watcher in the Dark
• 1x Deathwing Ancient
• 1x Power fist
1x Storm bolter
• 1x Deathwing Apothecary
• 1x Chainfist
1x Storm bolter
• 1x Deathwing Champion
• 1x Halberd of Caliban
• 2x Deathwing Command Terminator
• 2x Storm Shield
2x Thunder hammer

Eliminator Squad (75 Points)
• 1x Eliminator Sergeant
• 1x Bolt pistol
1x Close combat weapon
1x Instigator bolt carbine
• 2x Eliminator
• 2x Bolt pistol
2x Close combat weapon
2x Las fusil

Gladiator Lancer (160 Points)
• 1x Armoured hull
1x Icarus rocket pod
1x Ironhail heavy stubber
1x Lancer laser destroyer
2x Storm bolter

Inceptor Squad (220 Points)
• 1x Inceptor Sergeant
• 1x Close combat weapon
1x Plasma exterminators
• 5x Inceptor
• 5x Close combat weapon
5x Plasma exterminators

Inceptor Squad (110 Points)
• 1x Inceptor Sergeant
• 1x Close combat weapon
1x Plasma exterminators
• 2x Inceptor
• 2x Close combat weapon
2x Plasma exterminators

Inceptor Squad (110 Points)
• 1x Inceptor Sergeant
• 1x Close combat weapon
1x Plasma exterminators
• 2x Inceptor
• 2x Close combat weapon
2x Plasma exterminators

Infiltrator Squad (100 Points)
• 1x Infiltrator Sergeant
• 1x Bolt pistol
1x Close combat weapon
1x Marksman bolt carbine
• 4x Infiltrator
• 4x Bolt pistol
4x Close combat weapon
1x Helix Gauntlet
1x Infiltrator Comms Array
4x Marksman bolt carbine

Scout Squad (55 Points)
• 1x Scout Sergeant
• 1x Astartes chainsword
1x Bolt pistol
1x Close combat weapon
• 4x Scout
• 1x Astartes shotgun
4x Bolt pistol
4x Close combat weapon
1x Combat knife
1x Missile launcher
1x Scout sniper rifle

Scout Squad (55 Points)
• 1x Scout Sergeant
• 1x Astartes chainsword
1x Bolt pistol
1x Close combat weapon
• 4x Scout
• 1x Astartes shotgun
4x Bolt pistol
4x Close combat weapon
1x Combat knife
1x Missile launcher
1x Scout sniper rifle

Whirlwind (145 Points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Hunter-killer missile
1x Storm bolter
1x Whirlwind vengeance launcher

Whirlwind (145 Points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
1x Hunter-killer missile
1x Storm bolter
1x Whirlwind vengeance launcher

ALLIED UNITS

Callidus Assassin (90 Points)
• 1x Neural shredder
1x Phase sword and poison blades

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