List Review: Liam Callebout's Ironstorm Spearhead

Hello, gentle battle brothers! Grand Master Raziel here to review another high-scoring list from the past weekend. In this case, our battle brother Liam Callebout from Vanguard Tactics went undefeated at the Nottingham 40K Super-Major the weekend of 1./13-1/14. Our man won 5 games, and his lowest score was 85 points, scoring 460 total battle points, and yet he only came in at 8th place! Apparently one faces pretty stiff competition at the Nottingham Super-Major!

As usual, I'm going to give a quick version of the list, followed by discussion of its elements, and then post the list in its entirety. 

As mentioned in the title, Liam brought an Ironstorm Spearhead to Nottingham, which seems to be one of the more powerful detachments if you have the models to run it. Here's the short version - unique Dark Angels units will be noted in green text.

Azrael
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon, upgrade: Master of the Machine War
Techmarine, upgrade: Target Augury Web
Techmarine, upgrade: Adept of the Omnissiah

Company Heroes
3 Inceptors: plasma exterminators
3 Inceptors: plasma exterminators
5 Infiltrators
5 Scouts
5 Scouts

Ravenwing Darkshroud
Redemptor Dreadnought
Redemptor Dreadnought
Redemptor Dreadnought
Repulsor Executioner
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike

Our man Liam managed to hit 2000 points on the nose, which isn't always easy to do. It's hardly surprising to see the 3 Redemptors (with macro plasma incinerators, natch) and the 2 Techmarines. It'd be weird to see an Ironstorm that didn't have them. The 2 squads each of Inceptors and Scouts make into virtually every Space Marine list just based on their sheer usefulness for scoring objectives. The Infiltrators and Combi-weapon Lieutenant are similarly unsurprising-to-see utility units. I'm not surprised to see the Thunderstrike either. It takes the Dreadnoughts' macro plasma from wounding tougher targets on 5's to wounding them on 4's, which translates into significantly more damage getting through.

For unique Dark Angels units, we've got Azrael and the Darkshroud. Azrael has popped up in pretty much every high-scoring list I've looked at, and it's not hard to imagine why. He fights well, he shoots well, he makes his squad significantly harder to kill, and he provides CP. Even if you aren't having him run into the thick of it, it's probably worth 100 points alone just to get the CP generation and have him loiter on a backfield objective with whatever you've got sitting on it. I imagine Liam is having Azrael join the Company Heroes squad, because he compliments them and they him. The combined squad can sling out a surprisingly impressive amount of shooting and close combat attacks. And, if it's advantageous to do so, they can hop in the Repulsor Executioner and ride around in style.

The other unique Dark Angels unit is the Ravenwing Darkshroud. I panned the Darkshroud in my review of the Ravenwing, but it has popped up in multiple high-performing lists. I imagine it's in the list to make the already hard to kill Redemptors that extra little bit more difficult to damage as they stomp across the table. It can also do actions without compromising its reason for being in the list, which is no doubt handy as well. I'm not sure Liam wouldn't have been better off with a pair of Gladiator Lancers instead of the Repulsor Executioner and the Darkshroud, but he went 5-0 at a Super-Major, and my best GT performance to date is 3-3, so most likely knows something I don't.

Liam's whole list is below, as copied off of Best Coast Pairing. I wonder how much longer we'll be seeing our battle brothers using Ironstorms and Vanguards, with the new codex supplement around the corner. I guess it's not going to be too much longer before we know the answer to that question. I'll close by saying congratulations to Liam, and wish you all glorious victory in all your games!

++ Army Roster (Imperium - Adeptus Astartes - Dark Angels) [2,000pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Battle Size

Detachment: Ironstorm Spearhead

+ Epic Hero +

Azrael [105pts]: Warlord

+ Character +

Lieutenant with Combi-weapon [90pts]: Master of the Machine War [Aura]

Techmarine [95pts]: Target Augury Web [Aura]

Techmarine [80pts]: Adept of the Omnissiah

+ Infantry +

Company Heroes [95pts]

Inceptor Squad [110pts]: Plasma Exterminators
. 2x Inceptor: 2x Close Combat Weapon
. Inceptor Sergeant

Inceptor Squad [110pts]: Plasma Exterminators
. 2x Inceptor: 2x Close Combat Weapon
. Inceptor Sergeant

Infiltrator Squad [100pts]: Helix Gauntlet, Infiltrator Comms Array
. Infiltrator Sergeant
. 4x Infiltrators: 4x Bolt Pistol, 4x Close Combat Weapon, 4x Marksman Bolt Carbine

Scout Squad [55pts]
. Scout Sergeant: Astartes Chainsword
. Scout w/ Heavy Weapon: Missile Launcher
. Scout w/ Scout Sniper Rifle
. 2x Scouts w/ Astartes Shotgun: 2x Astartes Shotgun, 2x Bolt Pistol, 2x Close Combat Weapon

Scout Squad [55pts]
. Scout Sergeant: Astartes Chainsword
. Scout w/ Heavy Weapon: Missile Launcher
. Scout w/ Scout Sniper Rifle
. 2x Scouts w/ Astartes Shotgun: 2x Astartes Shotgun, 2x Bolt Pistol, 2x Close Combat Weapon

+ Vehicle +

Ravenwing Darkshroud [125pts]: Heavy bolter

Redemptor Dreadnought [200pts]: Icarus Rocket Pod, Macro Plasma Incinerator, Onslaught Gatling Cannon, Twin Fragstorm Grenade Launcher

Redemptor Dreadnought [200pts]: Icarus Rocket Pod, Macro Plasma Incinerator, Onslaught Gatling Cannon, Twin Fragstorm Grenade Launcher

Redemptor Dreadnought [200pts]: Icarus Rocket Pod, Macro Plasma Incinerator, Onslaught Gatling Cannon, Twin Fragstorm Grenade Launcher

Repulsor Executioner [220pts]: Heavy Laser Destroyer, Icarus Rocket Pod, Ironhail Heavy Stubber

Storm Speeder Thunderstrike [160pts]

++ Total: [2,000pts] ++

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