New Detachments Review: Armored Speartip and Headhunter Task Force
Actually, when I was doom scrolling on Facebook this morning, I noticed that someone in the Dark Angels Competitive group mentioned there were two new Space Marine detachments that centered around tanks. My immediate thought was, "Don't we already have the Ironstorm for that?" I was curious and had time to go look. Now I'd like to share my thoughts with you.
Armored Speartip
It's not entirely accurate to state that the Armored Speartip is centered around Tanks. It actually centers around Transports, and more to the point around the interactions of Transports and the units that they carry around. All our Transports are also Tanks though, so it's not entirely inaccurate either, but the rules of the detachment do more for the units embarking and disembarking than they do for the boxes with guns.
Detachment Rule: Rapid Deployment
The Rapid Deployment rule states that when an Astartes unit disembarks from a Transport that made a Normal or Advance move, that unit can make a Normal move of up to D6", or if it disembarked from a Heavy Transport it can make a Normal Move of up to D3+3". Heavy Transport is a new keyword the detachment confers on certain vehicles. You've probably already guessed what they are, but I'll just go ahead and tell you they are the Land Raider and Repulsor chassis vehicles.
The exact wording of the rule states "Adeptus Astartes Transports units from your army (excluding Aircraft) that have a Wounds characteristic of 14+" I suppose wording it that way future-proofs it against further potential releases. Does it suggest there's another release that would fall under this on the horizon?
I don't love the detachment rule because it really only benefits units getting out of boxes, but I can see some play with it, particular combined with some of the other rules in the detachment. I can see it being useful to get a shooting unit into more ideal range when they disembark (Melta range, say), or makes it more likely a fighty unit can stick a charge. Disembarking after an Advance move is normally not allowed by the Core Rules, but units embarked in Impulsors can do so, and there's a strat in the detachment allows it.
Enhancements
Liberator: Astartes model: Sticky objectives for the bearer's unit or a Heavy Transport he happens to be sitting in.
Tip of the Spear: Astartes model: A Transport the bearer is sitting in has Scouts 9"
Shock Deployment: Terminator or Gravis model: Bearer's unit Shooting has Sustained Hits 1 the turn they unass their box.
Armored Commander: Astartes model: Bearer can select a Transport in Strategic Reserve and have it count the battle round number as 1 higher for purposes of coming out of Reserve.
My initial thought was, "Oh, Shock Deployment is cute, maybe the Harmacist can make a comeback." I pictured shenanigans centered around Eradicators, a Biologis with this Enhancement, and a Repulsor so they can reactively embark if they get charged. Armored Commander may be the real pick, though it might be army dependent. I'm imagining keeping a couple Impulsors with good melee units in Reserve - I'm a Dark Angels player, so I was thinking of Inner Circle Companions with Judiciars - and Rapid Ingressing one Turn 1 in midfield and Turn 2 in my opponent's backfield. For Ultramarines players, the unit of choice seems likely to be Victrix Honour Guard, and Blood Angels players may go for Bladeguard led by Sanguinary Priests, but you get the idea. The challenge to that idea is the footprint of the box may be easy to block out, so you'd definitely want some forward units to prep the area you want to bring your units in.
Moving on, I could also see some play with loading up a Land Raider Redeemer with a nasty assault unit and characters that have Liberator and Tip of the Spear. Rock that thing up to the midfield objective and tell your opponents "Come at me bro!".
All of these Enhancements seem like the have play.
Stratagems
Machine Wrath: Any phase - Allows a Heavy Transport to make a Normal or Fall Back move immediately after it has been destroyed, automatically passing any Desperate Escape tests and able to move through enemy models with the usual caveats about ending in Engagement Range. If a unit is in the thing, it makes its Emergency Disembarkation after the box makes this move.
Armor of Contempt: You know what this does.
Rapid Embarkation: End of the Fight phase - Allows an Infantry unit not in Engagement Range embark in a Heavy Transport that it is wholly within 6" of.
Ceramite Sledgehammer: Your Movement Phase - subject to the usual restrictions about ending their move, a Transport can move through Terrain Features. Additionally, Heavy Transports can move through enemy models (except Monsters and Vehicles) and auto-pass Desperate Escape.
Advanced Deployment: Movement Phase - units can disembark from a Transport that has just Advanced.
Purgation Doctrine: your Shooting Phase - An Adeptus Astartes unit adds 1 to their Hit rolls. If they just unassed a Transport, they add 1 to the Wound roll as well.
Machine Wrath is a hella important strat in this detachment, because in case you haven't noticed, there's no mechanism to allow a unit to do anything after it makes a Fall Back move. MW lets you prevent an opponent from consolidating into a unit after it makes its Emergency Disembarkation and preventing you from having it Shoot or Charge the following turn. Also, as you get to auto-pass Desperate Escape, you might run the thing forward instead of backward, leaving your opponent with some kind of close combat catastrophe running around in his backfield.
Ceramite Sledgehammer also seems like it's one of the spicier strats, as opponents won't be able to count on terrain blocking you from moving your boxes where you want them to go. It will also let you set up a box behind terrain to avoid getting shot, then just go through it instead of around it to run the box of bad news up your opponent's nose.
Speaking or running boxes of bad news up opponents' noses, Advance Deployment letting a unit get out of a Transport after it makes an Advance will help you do that. Between the detachment rule, this strat, and Ceramite Sledgehammer, one can use a Land Raider to sling an assault unit up to 37" away from its starting location.
Purgation Doctrine puzzles me. In a vacuum, it's a fine strat. +1 To Hit with an additional +1 To Wound if a unit disembarked from a Heavy Transport is nice and all, but only in the Shooting phase? It's strange to me that the detachment doesn't have a Fight phase buff, when it seems to want us to use Land Raiders, and Land Raiders are all about delivering close combat units.
Rapid Embarkation is a more restrictive version of the same strat from the Firestorm. The Firestorm version allows a unit to hop into any Transport within 6", whereas with this version it's just Heavy Transports. I suppose you might contrive to have an assault unit hop out of a Land Raider, clear an objective, and then hop back in again afterwards, but it seems to me you could get similar results out of playing a Gladius or Stormlance that lets your punchy units Fall Back and Charge as needed without the 200+ point opportunity cost of paying for a Land Raider.
My Score: B-
My initial hot take on this detachment is that it's a lateral move from the Firestorm Assault Force. The detachment rule isn't as good because once your Infantry units unass their boxes, you might as well not have a detachment rule. There are ways to contrive getting your Infantry units back into their boxes, but that's assuming your opponent obligingly doesn't target them. What this detachment seems to want you to do is run shooting units in Repulsors, and that probably would be a fun list to play, but it doesn't do anything to buff the Repulsors, only the units coming out of them. It also has a tragic lack of any mechanism for having units Fall Back and do things. It does kind of make me want to bust out my multimelta Devastators and Razorbacks for one last hurrah with them before they go to Legends, but not enough to actually do it.
Headhunter Task Force
Unlike the Armored Speartip, the Headhunter Task Force is legitimately all about the tanks. Excluding units with the keywords Fortification, Drop Pod, or Walker, or units with Fly, it gives all Astartes Vehicles the Tank Ace keyword. This includes everything you'd think it includes, but hilariously it also includes the Firestrike Servo Turret. Oops.
Detachment Rule: Target Sighted
Tank Aces auto-Advance 6".
Tank Aces that don't Advance in their Movement phase can reroll their Damage rolls in their following Shooting phase.
Up to three Tank Aces can be given the Character keyword and Enhancements can be bought for them. And you'd better do it because all of the Enhancements are keyworded to Adeptus Astartes Vehicles.
I like this detachment rule better than the Armored Speartip rule. Almost all the units Target Sighted would apply to roll damage, with the exceptions of the Gladiator Reaper, autocannon Firestrike, and Predator Destructor if you give it heavy bolter sponsons and no HK missile, and those units still benefit from the auto 6" Advance.
Enhancements: As previously mentioned, all of them are keyworded to Adeptus Astartes Vehicles
Redoubtable Machine Spirit: 5+ Invulnerable Save and regain 1 lost wound at the end of the bearer's Command Phase
Gunnery Honours: Once per phase, bearer may reroll one Hit roll, one Wound roll, and one Damage roll
Firestorm Coordinators: Bearer's guns have Sustained Hits 1
Astartes Tank Ace: 6" aura of Assault for Astartes Vehicles. It's phrased in such a way that non Tank Ace vehicles can benefit from the aura.
My first thought on reading this is it makes you really want to run 3 Vindicators, Put Astartes Tank Ace on one, Redoubtable Machine Spirit on another, and Firestorm Coordinators on the third, then run them as a group within 6" of a Ravenwing Darkshroud. I've used Vindicators to good effect in a Company of Hunters (where everything gets to Advance and Shoot) without the reliability of auto-Advance 6", so having a trio that can reliably move 15" and still shoot is bound to be good.
My meme thought was to take three Firestrike Servo Turrets, put Tank Ace on one of them, and keep the other two within 6" of it. Then I remembered you can take these things in units of 2, so you could have up to 6 of them moving 9" a turn and shooting, which doesn't seem practical, but does seem hysterically funny.
A more considered thought is to run a trio of Predator Annihilators with one of them having Astartes Tank Ace. No one who runs Monsters or Vehicles would love being on the receiving end of that.
Not to sleep on Gunnery Honours, that would let you reroll everything on both shots from the laser destroyer of a Gladiator Lancer, which seems like it would at least make that one really reliable.
Stratagems (all 1 CP)
Armour of Contempt: You know what it does.
Target Weak Point: Your Shooting phase - Improve by 1 the AP of shooting attacks targeting a Monster or Vehicle
Kill Shot: Your Shooting phase - Against a Monster or Vehicle, a Tank Ace unit may reroll Wound rolls of 1, or all Wound rolls if the target is below its Starting Strength
*Note: Target Weak Point and Kill Shot can't be used against the same target in one Shooting phase.
Rapid Gunner: Your Shooting phase - An Astartes unit may Fall Back and shoot
Reactive Repositioning: Opponent's Movement phase - a Tank Ace unit can make a D6" reactive move. Excluding units with a 16+ Wounds characteristic
Machine Vengeance: Opponent's Shooting phase - typical retributive shooting strat. Excluding units with a 16+ Wounds characteristic
I'm initially underwhelmed by Target Weak Point. The main guns of most of our tanks are AP -3 or -4 already, so why should more AP be necessary? It does give us an option if we're targeting something that has Cover and access to an AoC style strat, and it gives some AP to the plethora of secondary guns things like Gladiator Lancers or Repulsor Executioners have.
Kill Shot seems like a much more impactful strat, making shooting into a particular tough target much more reliable.
Rapid Gunnery hardly seems necessary in this detachment, as Vehicles can still shoot when in Engagement range, but I suppose it does let one prevent an opponent from being able to punch one of their tanks on their own turn. And, it's not keyworded to Vehicles, so any unit can do it, in case you have a supporting non-Vehicle unit you want to allow to shoot.
Reactive Repositioning is a little too random for my taste, though I suppose you could use it to toe a tank into terrain so it gets Cover when it wouldn't otherwise get it, or maybe get it far enough away from an advancing unit to avoid getting charged.
Machine Vengeance is good-ish, but restricting the Astartes heavy tanks from using it is a bummer. The unit I'd most like to play it on is a Repulsor Executioner, but no can do. The unit you play it on doesn't actually have to take damage though, just be targeted, so you might get to retributive-shoot with a fresh vehicle if you get lucky. To my mind, this strat definitely pushes one towards using Vindicators.
My Score: B
I don't think this detachment is going to supplant the Ironstorm as the competitive Vehicle-oriented list. It's nice that you don't need to invest in Techmarines to take the Enhancements, but you'd probably want a couple running around anyway to heal and buff your tanks. If there's a competitive build for this detachment, it's probably centered around a trio of Vindictors, though I do wonder if the detachment could make Gladiator Valiants good. The answer to that question is probably that if the unit isn't good without the detachment, then there's better units to take in the detachment.
This detachment isn't terribly enticing to me as a Dark Angels player, because it doesn't give me much reason to play my legion chapter-idiosyncratic units, besides the Darkshroud and Azrael, and an argument can be made for Lion Dad. It looks to me like yet another detachment that will work better for a player with super-Oath, so the most successful Headhunter lists will probably be Ultramarines lists.
That, honored battle brethren and fellow 40K enthusiasts, is what I have for you. Be sure to check out Dank List Wargaming and Black Crow Gaming on YouTube for Dark Angels content created by real enthusiasts for the legion chapter. It's good to be back! I'm looking forward to a new year, both for putting my skills to the test and bringing you the news of our beloved army. As always, I hope you find my work enjoyable and informative. May we all strive ever for glorious victory! For The Lion!
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