Centurion Squad
Hey, you! Tired of just one heavy bolter? Wish to crush your foes with their own armour? Wonder why your devastator sergeant doesn't have any heavy weapons? Crave GIANT FUCKING DRILLS? Then the new centurion warsuit is for you!
A centurion squad is a new type of space marine squad available with the release of 6th edition, which are a real pain in the ass to paint. Centurion armour is a warsuit whose STC printout was discovered after the Age of Apostasy. After getting the "not heresy" stamp from the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Imperium of Man began supplying space marine chapters with them, who dubbed them "centurion" after the former officers of the Legiones Astartes. The centurion is a specialist piece of equipment used for sieges or line-breaking. Despite not interfacing with the space marines' black carapace, which has no in-game benefit anyway, it gives the marine durability (+T and +S) that is rivaled by that of a dreadnought, without the requirement of losing their spine and three out of four limbs in a heroic but probably avoidable last stand. Instead of recruiting out of the chapter's First Company veterans, centurion pilots are recruited from the assault or devastator squads, as centurions are only useful in specific roles of assault and heavy weapons, and their pilots need to be immersed in a specific type of warfare. This doesn't make much sense as an explanation though, since tactical marines already went through being devastators and then assault marines. Unfortunately, only the sergeant can be upgraded to a vet, which makes assault centurion cry, as that extra attack would be nice.
While you won't be blam'd for calling them "reasonable dreadnoughts", it should be noted that their current status makes them inferior to true dreadnoughts DUE TO THE LACK OF HEROIC SACRIFICES.
They are also commonly referred to as "Space Marine inside a Space Marine" or "baby Dreadknights" by fa/tg/uys. Sometimes "tubinators" by less fa/tg/uys or "Matryoshka Marines" by Russian wannabes. Actual Russians call them "Kolobki".
Those who hate how it looks compared to the awesome to fail art can kitbash cataphractii and some weapon bits. Those who are lazy and have some money can use graviton weapons Forge World bits to to represent grav-cannons, maxim bolters or rotor cannons for hurricane bolters and cyclones for missile launchers. Just buy a squad of cataphractii, the special weapon sets, and the Iron Hands Forge Lord to represent the sergeant and paint them the colors of your chosen chapter.
If you don't mind how they look you may as well kitbash from other models anyways. Seriously, as selling a kidney or becoming a drug dealer is required to afford two Centurion squads and the Land Raider or flyer you want to put them in. Ass-Cen Kitbashing will require some extra cash and searching to represent the drills with Meltaguns or Flamers. However you might happen to be a masochist as they not as good as their shooty Battle-Brothers.
Tabletop
So how are they on the table? Well, it's complicated. You see the squads have a lot of power but come with drawbacks that you're not used to seeing in marine armies. Both squads are very durable with T5 W2 and 2+ saves, have a wide selection of mostly twin-linked weapons, and can move, and fire both in the same turn and still assault thanks to Slow and Purposeful.
Dev-Cens wreck armor with access to lascannons, and missile launchers, or pump out tons of bolt shots, or both if you mix and match, which is generally a terrible idea. They also can be equipped with grav-cannons, which are the ultimate MEQ and TEQ killers. Ass-Cens, meanwhile, can wreck anything in assault, particularly asses, with 2 S10 AP2 Armorbane (specialist weapons, not that that matters) attacks, at initiative, along with twin-linked flamers, or meltas, with either hurricane bolters, or ironclad assault launchers.
On the other hand, both squads are very expensive, clocking in at just under terminator cost before wargear. It costs a fortune to take a 5 man unit of either, the Dev-Cen especially, having to pay an extra 20 pts per if they're replacing their base heavy bolter. Now for the drawbacks. Slow and Purposeful keeps the squad from running, sweeping advancing, or overwatching, which with the exception of the restriction on sweeping advance are very foreign concepts to marine units.
In summary Centurions are marines cranked up to 11, but marines that don't fill any roles their army didn't already have covered by another, cheaper, unit. They have their uses but can be very situational. Dev-Cents are the ultimate TEQ deleters, if you get them close enough, and can also carve chunks out of strong-armored Monstrous Creatures. Ass-Cens, sadly, are useless. (Kidding aside, these guys were released coinciding with Stronghold Assault; they break buildings and do a pretty fine job of it. At-initiative S9 AP 2 and a 2+ also means the serge can hunt for all kinds of challenges. They're a specialized unit, but not a totally useless one.)
A certain build called the Grav-Star has four to six of them with Grav-Cannons and hurricane Bolters paired with Tigurius rolling for Gates of Infinity and then whatever goodies he can get on other tables, then paired with whatever other HQs you feel like having (such as a beatstick build a chaptermaster and/or some psykers for more buffs) that can then be further paired with a Tau Buffmander. This can become very expensive (nearing 1000 points for a six cent build with all the bells and whistles!), but has the durability and firepower to devastate just about anything it meets while weathering the storm itself.
Mathhammer Minute
| Points | AV | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | ||
| 2 Centurions with TL Lascannon and Missile Launcher | 160 | 2.89 | 2.37 | 1.85 | 1.33 | 0.81 |
| 4 Lascannon Devastators + Sergeant (Signum) | 150 | 2.83 | 2.36 | 1.89 | 1.42 | 0.94 |
| 4 Missile Devastators + Sergeant (Signum) | 130 | 2.36 | 1.89 | 1.42 | 0.94 | 0.47 |
| 4 Heavy Bolter Devastators + Sergeant (Signum) | 110 | 2.83 | 1.42 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Now, a centurion squad with gravs is actually the best way to go with armor too. They, on average, inflict 3 Immobilized (read: 5 HPs removed if it's only a single vehicle) against ANY kind of AV. So against things like Land Raiders and Leman Russ's front, they are the best option.
External Links
Gallery
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Devastator Centurions
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Assault Centurions
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Daaaaaaawwwww.....
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The Emperor's finest.
