Imperial Fists may have made out stronger than you think with the new Vigilus Formation. Let’s take a look at some premium builds for these Space Marines!
Imperial Fists are one of the more minor Chapters in 40k. They’re decent, but nothing that can really hold their own against the meta-bruisers. However, small Imperial Fist detachments geared the right way may make a great asset to your competitive playstyle. Take a look.
Imperial Fist-Siegebreaker Cohort Formation
To bring you up to speed here’s the full rundown on the formation.
Games Workshop previewed Imperial Fists’ Siegebreaker Cohort formation. It’s what you’d expect from an Imperial Fist army…completely devastating buildings and all-around solid survivability. The Siegebreaker Cohort only costs 1CP and unlocks a new Warlord trait, a relic, and two stratagems.
- 1CP- Siegebreaker Cohort Formation: Pick an Imperial Fists detachment from your army. Captains, Centurion, Dreadnoughts, and Vindicators gain the Siegebreaker Cohort keyword.
Of course, they have to balance the formation a little bit. They only have a select number of units that can have the Siegebreaker Cohort keyword. Let’s check out the stratagems you unlock with this formation.
- 1CP- Structural Demolition: Use this stratagem when a Siegebreaker Cohort unit destroyed a building. The enemy must roll 2D6 for each model disembarking.
This stratagem would be brutal if it would include vehicles as well. There are hardly any buildings in the 40k meta currently.
- 1CP-Seismic devastation: Use this Stratagem at the start of the shooting or fight phase. Pick a Siegebreaker unit from your army. For each wound roll of a 6+, inflict a mortal wound on top of any additional damage. (Only applies to vehicles and buildings).
- Indomitable Warlord Trait: If your Warlord did not move, friendly units within 6″ automatically pass morale and may gain the benefit of being in cover even if they are not wholly within a terrain feature.
- Eye of Hypnoth Relic: Reroll wound rolls of 1 for friendly Siegebreaker Cohort units within 6″ of the bearer.
Getting a free relic that essentially turns a character into a lieutenant isn’t bad at all. It frees you up to put Lieutenant points somewhere else.
Why the Formation is Secretly Great
The formation has to be geared a right way to be brutal…but boy can it be brutal. (Remember that the Imperial Fists automatically ignore any kind of cover).
The Siegebreaker Cohort only affects Captains, Centurion, Dreadnoughts, and Vindicators. For this loadout, we’ll want something that can dish out a lot of shots so Dreadnoughts are going to be the focus.
Now, take a look at the Seismic Devastation Stratagem. –You can do a free mortal wound on a roll of a 6+ to wound against any vehicle. See where we’re going with this?
Bring a Leviathan with two Storm Cannon Arrays or even a Contemptor with two Kheres Autocannons and spend a CP to use the Seismic Devastation strat. With a Leviathan, for example, pumping out twenty autocannon shots hitting on 2’s, you’re looking at potentially 5-8 mortal wounds depending on how you roll. On top of normal damage.
That can utterly cripple something like a Knight or even seal the deal on something like an Imperial Guard Tank Commander.
People in the competitive scene were spending 1 CP to do D3 mortal wounds with a Heavy Bolter… You can easily do way more mortal wounds for the same price now!
Of course, you’ve also got a Captain in the formation that can take the relic allowing friendly units within 6″ to reroll 1’s to wound. That fills the role for a Lieutenant which is another 60+ pts to put somewhere else.
Don’t sleep on the Warlord Trait that lets your friendly units gain cover even while standing out in the open. This is actually quite powerful because you can place your heavy hitters at the right angle and still gain full benefits of cover like anywhere else on the board.
With everything broken down, will you be testing out the Imperial Fist formation? Have you already tried the stratagems out? How did it work for you? Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group.
About the Author: Wesley Floyd
