Horus Heresy Tactica: Legion Breacher Siege Squad

As part of exploring the armies of the 31^st Millennium I would to provide the community with articles of how to best use (at least in my humble opinion) the squads of the Space Marine Legion Army List. Over the next several months I hope to cover all of the units in the Horus Heresy: Betrayal army lists. Check back for regular updates! We continue today with a look at the Legion Breacher Siege Squad.

The Legion Breacher Squad is on of the units in the legion army list that does not have a standard 40k counterpart. They are basically a Legion Tactical Sqaud that swaps their Fury of the Legion special rule for a boarding shield (6++ save vs. shooting, 5++ in close combat) ,the option to take special weapons, and void hardened armor (reroll failed armor saves vs. template and blast weapons), and a higher points cost. They can be taken in squad of up to twenty.

For options the squad can be equipped with melta bombs and for every five marines one can be upgrades to take a volkite charger, flamer, graviton gun, or lascuatter. One marine can also take a nuncio vox and legion vexila.

Melta bombs for the entire squad may seem tempting but can get very expensive very fast. I always pass. For special weapons I always take the graviton gun. It fires a small blast that forces a strength test at AP 4, has the haywire special rule, and create difficult and dangerous terrain for one turn where it lands. They won’t kill very many Space Marines but will slow any squad they land on and are and 3 or more have a good chance of wrecking most vehicles. Flamers and melta guns are good but lack the flexibility of the graviton gun. The volkite charger is unfortunately overpriced and the lascutter is just plain bad.  Finally, a nuncio-vox is a great option if you have any barrage weapons (lets your draw line of sight from equipped model) or deep strikers (no scatter within six inches). A vexilla (reroll failed leadership tests) is also always a must.

The Sergeant can take the standard Sergeant upgrades available. Power fists, combi-weapon, melta bombs, and artificer armour are my favorite load out. He can also take a breaching charge. This lets you trade your attacks to place a S8 AP1 small blast template in base contact with the equipped model. You roll to hit but if you miss you roll a scatter dice to see what direction it flips. It is risky choice.

For dedicated transport options the squad may take a Land Raider Phobos. I usually pass because I like to field squads of fifteen but if you fielding ten-man squad the land raider is a good option for moving them across the table.

On the battlefield the Breacher Squad fills a similar role as the Legion Tactical Squad while having the added flexibility to effectively engage vehicles while being somewhat tougher thanks to the boarding shield and hardened armor. Their major drawback is that they quite expensive compared to a similarly sized tactical squad. Their special weapons options give them more flexibility than a tactical squad and their shield and armour more survivability but at a greater points cost.