In my last post I got inspired by a recent article and starting thinking about how vanilla Space Marines can take advantage of the Stubborn USR. I covered what I feel are the keys are to using Stubborn effectively in my last post: Redundancy, Killing Power, Target selection and wound allocation. In this post I will try to pick out units in the codex that can accomplish all of these keys to the maximum extent possible, thus enabling Blue Lysander to see the light of day. Or the light of the local game store, either way.
Redundancy is the first key. If I want to maximize the benefit of Stubborn, my models need some staying power. Space Marines aren't IG, so I can't run a 40 man unit and eventually whittle down an opponent in close combat. Furthermore, if one of my units gets stuck in I can't let that wreck the rest of my plans. I need redundancy both in terms of staying power and tactical flexibility. Space Marines can't achieve staying power through numbers, but they're fairly durable in terms of armor saves and toughness. I believe those characteristics in a 10 man squad gives me some decent staying power. As for tactical flexibility, the more squads I have the better. I'll still be able to accomplish a goal if I have a squad stuck in, and it may buy my other squads time to exploit emergent situations.
Killing Power is up next. Yeah, Stubborn will allow my units to stick around in combat for a while and allow me to tie up an opponent's unit, too. But I don't want to sit there the whole time getting my ass kicked. I need to eventually kill off his unit or at least greatly diminish its combat effectiveness. Space Marines are absolutely not as good in close combat as other armies, so how can Space Marines kill stuff with a reasonable degree of certainty in close combat? The short answer is power fists, STR 8 power weapons that hit at initiative 1. Put one on a Space Marine sergeant and he's got good chance of causing at least one wound with no armor save allowed every time he's in hand-to-hand. Is it as good as some other armies can pull off? Hell no. But the goal here is to buy time for my non-engaged units and gradually whittle down the opposing unit. Normal Power weapons also prevent armor saves and they're 10 points cheaper than a fist. In short, they can give your sergeant more opportunities to cause wounds by virtue of more chances to hit, but fists have a better chance to wound when they hit.
So far it looks like 10 man squads are best at meeting the Redundancy key, and slapping power fists or power weapons on models can provide some decent Killing Power. Looking at the codex, I see that any unit except a Command Squad can go up to 10 members; and any unit at least has the option of obtaining some flexibility but using transports, infiltrating, outflanking, etc. That's good, but it doesn't help me pick units that can best take advantage of Stubborn. Ditto for Killing Power - any sergeant can take power weapons or fists, and both Honor Guard and Vanguard Vets can spam the crap out of them. Time to move on to the last two keys, maybe that will help me narrow down my choice.
Target Selection is third. Some enemy units will always be better to tar pit than others. "Pick your battle" so to say. For Space Marines satisfying the Target Selection key is a two-fold process. As the mighty general, roller of dice and mover of little men I have to 1) pick a good enemy unit to tar pit and 2) be able to get that unit into the tar pit. The best unit type to tar pit will change based on opponent and game type, so the tactical flexibility I should have by meeting the Redundancy key should help here. Actually picking out the tar pit target? That's largely dependent on experience.
Last up is Wound Allocation. I think this one is pretty straightforward: try to keep the guy with the highest Leadership value around. For Space Marines, this is typically a sergeant which has the added bonus of keeping some Killing Power in my squad. With a leadership of 9, I have a 75% chance of staying in a combat so I can tar pit my opponent longer.
So far the keys I've outlined largely align with basic Space Marine characteristics: durability, flexibility, and decent killing power. Good Target Selection is comprised of experience (which isn't dependent on unit characteristics) and flexibility. Stubborn certainly isn't one of those USR's a player is going to go out of their way to use, like Furious Charge. Its job is to mire units in close combat, period. Stubborn will not win a battle or even a close combat by itself, and choosing an HQ based solely on the fact they make an army Stubborn isn't a good plan. Is it always advantageous to have a unit stuck in close combat? No, not at all - but remember, it's not always advantageous to the opponent, either. As a matter of fact, it can be a downright disadvantage with good Target Selection. The thing Stubborn Space Marines should probably try to avoid in most cases is being multi-charged. One enemy unit charges my two Tactical Squads, for example. That could be bad as sticking two Stubborn units in close combat will almost certainly hamper my flexibility, as they may both be there for a while.
I'm still not any closer to identifying the *perfect* unit to take in a Stubborn army and quite frankly I'm not sure there is supposed to be one. Sure, I can take 30 Assault Terminators and they would have both staying and killing power, but they aren't the most flexible of units in terms of moving around. Plus 30 terminators doesn't leave much points for anything else. Wish me luck trying to capture an objective, too. The ubiquitous Tactical Squad is another choice and seems like a pretty good one in this case. They're Troop choices, and I can give them wheels for flexibility and a hidden power fist/weapon. Bikes are another possibility, though I'll need a Captain on a bike to get the most out of them. Toughness 5 Troop choices that can move 24" in a turn, and bring along 3 melta weapons and a power fist? Seems good. They will be pricy, but not outrageous; and their flexibility isn't going to be hampered by losing their transport. They also provide more Target Selection flexibility thanks to their mobility.
Next post will have some army lists that feature Pedro Kantor and (Blue) Lysander.
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