Editing Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Kill Team(9E) Imperium (section)

==Phobos Strike Team (Moroch)==
===Why Play Phobos Strike Team===
*'''Pros'''
**Each model is a massive mountain of wounds. They can reliably tank lasguns and things like that fairly easily, and their armour can mitigate quite a bit beyond that.
**All of your marines have at the very least a 3+ WS/BS with their weapons and their sergeants are usually at a 2+. They'll usually hit their marks.
**Your average marine has 3 APL, allowing them to handle objectives while gunning down the opposition.
**Free-reign combination between all of your various Phobos marines.
**Lots of fuckery between special actions given to the various sorts of operatives and the ability to freely swap between Conceal and Engage orders.
*'''Cons'''
**Your entire force is stuck to their basic bolters. Sure, some have bells and whistles to them, but they'll still deal 3/4 damage and nothing you can do changes that.
***While your army is capable in melee, your Infiltrators are the least-equipped to handle it, with Incursors only being slightly better. Even your Reivers, your best melee boys, are pretty barebones with their tools.
**No Silent, so you can't stay hidden while shooting. You're relying on Guerilla Warfare for that.
**The absence of Ony in Death Does Duty End means that any deaths you suffer won't have any chance for revenge if you lack a helix adept to revive them.

===PST Wargear===
*'''Frag Grenade (2 EP):''' Frag grenades have limited damage, but Blast lets them hit multiple people at once. As a grenade, this also carries a range cap and Indirect to go through cover.
*'''Krak Grenade (3 EP):''' Krak grenades are more dangerous than the frag grenade and use AP1 to punch past armor.
*'''Grapnel Launcher (1 EP):''' {{W40kKeyword|Reiver}} operatives only. This allows the reivers to traverse up and down terrain far more easily, making your drop distance count as half the distance while climbing far higher.
*'''Grav-Chute (2 EP):''' {{W40kKeyword|Reiver}} operatives only. Like the grapnel launcher, this allows the spooky marines to float down from a vantage point as if they could fly. In addition, if they're within your DZ during the Scouting step of the game, they can fly 2 circles/4" around, giving them a chance to get better ground immediately.
*'''Purity Seal (3 EP):''' Allows the bearer to trigger the Command Re-Roll tactical ploy once for free when using it on a fight, shoot or save roll. This is pretty important and will likely be used to preserve a vital part of your team.
*'''Shock Grenade (2 EP):''' {{W40kKeyword|Reiver}} operatives only. This is another single-use grenade that allows them to potentially rob AP from an enemy on a 4+ (-1 if the enemy is concealed) if within the blast zone.
*'''Smoke Grenade (3 EP):''' Throw a single-use grenade to make a bubble with a radius of 2"/circle, allowing your team some protection from enemy fire for the turn. Note that this is for all lines of fire going THROUGH the smoke cloud, not just those inside it.
*'''Throwing Knife (2 EP):''' A single-use throwing weapon. While it does little damage normally and has a short range, it has Silent and its crits can be particularly nasty.

===PST Special Rules===
*'''Guerilla Warfare:''' A special action for all of your stealth marines, this lets them all spend an action to swap orders after the first turn so long as they aren't within 6"/pentagon of an enemy. You'll be relying on this a lot as your supposedly snipey guns lack Silent.
*'''Multi-Spectrum Array:''' Part of the reason why Incursors make cover into a joke. Not only do targets need to be further away from obscuring terrain to count as being behind cover, but smoke grenades mean nothing to these marines.
*'''Omni-Scrambler:''' An activation-denial tool given to your Infiltrators. Once per turn you can shut down an enemy visible to an operative with this rule, locking them to GA1 and denying them from activating until they either activate ALL of their operatives or just activate as many operatives as operatives you have with this rule, whichever comes first.
*'''Saboteurs:''' A special action tied to a specific Tac Op. All of your operatives can pick up a nearby Saboteur token as an action, but only the Infiltrator Saboteur and Incursor Minelayer can do this while engaged with the enemy.
*'''Terror:''' The Reiver's totally-not-a-banshee-mask, now made an action. When used, enemies within 3"/square of this operative must spend another AP to accomplish objective actions, which can shaft APL2 enemies hard. In addition, enemies count their APL as 1 less when trying to contest an objective against your Reivers.

===PST Campaign Additions===
<tabs>
<tab name="Tac Ops">
*'''Shock and Awe:''' Score 1 VP for each turn where you wrest objectives from enemy control.
*'''Saboteurs:''' You and your opponent help set up three special Sabotage tokens on the board that are at least 6"/pentagon away from your DZ and 3"/square away from the board edges at the beginning of the game. Your operatives have a special Saboteurs action to let them snag these tokens, scoring 1 VP if you remove at least two of them and another VP if you take the third.
*'''Guerilla Tactics:''' Score 1 VP for each turn where you score more kills than the enemy.
</tab>
<tab name="Spec Ops - Tormentus Doctrine">
''Note - This counts as the Purge Order Spec Op for terms of repeating''

#''Shock and Destruction'': Finish five games where you scored VP from the Shock and Awe, Rout, or Saboteurs Tac Ops. Lots of ground to cover, lots of things to steal.
#''Wrath of Angels'': Finish one last game where you win VP through the Execution or Guerilla Tactics Tac Op.

Completing this Spec Op scores 4 XP to share among your operatives and 2 RP. You also get either one piece of Rare Equipment or improve your Asset cap by +1.
</tab>
<tab name="Spec Ops - Scout and Sabotage">
''Note - This counts as the Demolition Spec Op for terms of repeating''

#''Strategic Scrying'': Finish five games where you scored VP from the Plant Signal Beacon, Triangulate, or Vantage Tac Ops. All of these require covering ground to reach certain spots, so be sure you can get there with minimal interference from the enemy.
#''Sabotage Strike'': Finish one last game where you score VP from the Saboteurs or Sabotage Tac Op. 

Finishing this Spec Op scores you 1 RP and the option of either a piece of rare equipment or improving your asset cap by +1. One of your operatives who accomplished that last Tac Op also gains a hefty 6 XP as a reward.
</tab>
<tab name="Battle Honors">
#'''Ghost:''' This operative can use the Guerilla Warfare at a 1AP discount once per game, usually meaning that they can pull it off for free after sniping the head off a leader.
#'''Assassin:''' This operative can charge while under the Conceal order. This is best saved for your Reivers with their big knives.
#'''Mobile:''' This operative can fall back at a 1AP discount, which is incredibly handy if you intend to kite enemies around or keep them away from fighting.
#'''Raider:''' This operative can charge while engaged with another enemy. Best used if your guy's up against something you're sure can kill them immediately and you know there's someone nearby that's easier to wipe.
#'''Guerilla:''' Reduces the minimum range enemies must be for this operative to use the Guerilla Warfare action from 6"/pentagon to 3"/square.
#'''Dynamic:''' This operative ignores all APL and movement modifiers. There's a lot of these out there, so this can easily trigger plenty of enemies.
</tab>
<tab name="Requisition">
*'''Adaptation in the Field (1 RP):''' Before or after a game, you can replace one operative with another. While they can re-select any Battle Honours they earned, they retain any Battle Scars they suffered and set their XP to the lowest amount needed for their rank. Way more useful for lower-ranked operatives, but a lot harder to justify as campaigns go on and especially as the XP piles up.
*'''Rapid Resupply (1 RP):''' Lets you either replace 1+ piece of equipment with extra equipment of equal or lesser value or replace 1+ assets with an equal number. Pretty much lets you re-shuffle all that you have available to guarantee a perfect counter to whatever your foe has set up.
**Does not count Rare Equipment, but that's because it's really hard to find that stuff anyways.
*'''Solemn Oath (1 RP):''' An operative takes an Oath of Moment, giving a special objective to either score the most kills, score the most VPs, or move into the enemy's DZ. They score 2 XP for fulfilling this Oath but failing it auto-inflicts the Cerebral Affliction Battle Scar. In any case, you can only have one operative take one Oath at a time, with each operative only able to take each oath once.
**Some of these tasks are a bit of a gamble depending on the game's setup, but the XP boost is a worthwhile reward to consider, especially for those behind the curve.
</tab>
<tab name="Assets">
*'''Lodestar-Class Auspex:''' Lets you use either the Vanguard or Elite Reconnaisance ploys at the beginning of the game without spending CP. Neat setup tricks.
*'''Shroud Skulls:''' Lets you add +1 to one Casualty or Recovery check, helping ensure that your troops remain operational.
*'''Enhanced Surveillance System:''' Lets you re-roll when determining who is the attacker who is the defender.
</tab>
<tab name="Rare Equipment">
#'''Artificer's Blade (3 EP):''' {{W40kKeyword|Reiver}} or {{W40kKeyword|Incursor}} operatives only. Their knives gain +1 critical damage and Lethal 5+ to see it happen more often.
#'''Umbra Shroud (3 EP):''' Enemies must re-roll critical hits when shooting the bearer of this gear. Expect to see a lot of anger when facing snipers.
#'''Exogheist Scrambler (2 EP):''' {{W40kKeyword|Infiltrator}} operatives only. This improves the Omni-Scrambler by now making it ignore LOS when targeting enemies and the bearer will count as 2 operatives for the sake of determining how many can go before the targeted foe can finally act. Absolute dickery taken to a whole new scale.
#'''Aerial Tracking Augur (3 EP):''' Infiltrator Commsman only. Lets you re-roll initiative once per game.
#'''Enhanced Optic (2 EP):''' Improves the BS of one gun to 2+. Useless for Sergeants, save for somebody else. The Infiltrator Veteran's variable bolter is a pretty easy pick, as are any of the Incursors with their cover-denial.
#'''Reaper Rounds (3 EP):''' {{W40kKeyword|Reiver}} operatives only. Their bolt pistols gain Silent and AP1, making them far more dangerous whether they're hidden or not.
</tab>
</tabs>

===PST Units===
This Recon/Security/Seek & Destroy Fireteam is composed of:
*1 Infiltrator Sergeant or Incursor Sergeant or Reiver Sergeant
*5 of the following:
**0-1 Infiltrator Commsman
**0-1 Infiltrator Helix Adept
**0-1 Infiltrator Saboteur
**0-1 Infiltrator Voxbreaker
**0-1 Infiltrator Veteran
**0-5 Infiltrator Warriors
**0-1 Incursor Marksman
**0-1 Incursor Minelayer
**0-5 Incursor Warriors
**0-5 Reiver Warriors

*'''Incursor Sergeant (Marksman, Scout):''' Your elite Incursor, complete with the mandatory bonus wound and a 2+ BS, oddly not giving a 2+ to WS despite having a legitimate weapon. They gain a unique action that lets them generate 1 CP when not around any enemies, which can help free up a re-roll when necessary.
*'''Infiltrator Sergeant (Marksman, Scout):''' Your elite Infiltrator, complete with the mandatory bonus wound and a 2+ BS. They gain a unique action that lets them generate 1 CP when not around any enemies, which can help free up a re-roll when necessary.
*'''Reiver Sergeant (Combat, Marksman, Scout):''' Your elite Reiver, complete with the mandatory bonus wound and a 2+ WS/BS. They gain a unique action that lets them generate 1 CP when not around any enemies, which can help free up a re-roll when necessary.

*'''Incursor Marksman (Marksman, Scout):''' The marksman's bolter is a bit more capable of handling the competition with AP1 and Lethal 5+ but it's ultimately still just a bolter. The reason you take him is because he has a special action that lets him immediately shoot overwatch to interrupt an enemy's action, foiling whatever it is they were doing. Whether that's objective actions or just attempting to charge an exposed operative, this can offer a bit of extra security in wasting turns, especially when using Terror as well. Just beware that your gun lacks No Cover like the other Incursors, so you'll require that vantage point.
*'''Incursor Minelayer (Staunch, Scout):''' An Incursor with a mine that you can set up and then explodes when the enemy moves within 3"/square of it. This mine relies on Lethal 5+ to deal serious damage and trigger Interference, not only stopping targets dead in their tracks but also robbing them of 1 AP - even if it has to come out of their next activation. If you're using the Saboteurs tac op, then you might want to consider taking him to at least handle that while also being able to fight.
*'''Incursor Warrior (Marksman, Scout):''' Your base Incursor comes with a bolt carbine that can see through any cover. Combine that with the Multi-Spectrum Array and you can pretty much hunt down the enemy from wherever. While their knives are a little better than bare fists, they aren't going to be able to do a lot more when compared to the Compendium.
*'''Infiltrator Commsman (Marksman, Scout):''' This Infiltrator comes with a Comms Array to feed other operatives an AP. Unlike most Comms operatives, this can be done anywhere on the board, allowing them to hide wherever they have to while supporting the rest of the squad.
*'''Infiltrator Helix Adept (Staunch, Scout):''' The mini-apothecary of the group. Not only does he get the revival ability offered to other medics, he also gets to heal 2d3 wounds to a nearby operative if he didn't resurrect them. Considering the mountain of wounds your operatives are, you'll likely only use it to keep them out of the Injured state and little else.
*'''Infiltrator Saboteur (Staunch, Scout):''' This Infiltrator comes with more dangerous explosives, dealing 5 damage with AP1 on a normal hit. Unlike the minelayer, this bomb has to be manually detonated and will hit friendlies, so you'll need to plan out the explosion a little better.
*'''Infiltrator Veteran (Marksman, Scout):''' For some reason, this Infiltrator is able to tinker with their gun. Fortunately, this gives you a decent range of mods from which you can pick two of: Balanced, Lethal 5+, No Cover, MW1, P1 and Rending. This allows you to tailor your weapon to the opposition and pick out what matters the most to you.
*'''Infiltrator Voxbreaker (Marksman, Scout):''' The debuffer of the Infiltrators with an aura that bars an enemy within 6"/pentagon from re-rolling any hits. Their special ability marks a concealed enemy within 6"/pentagon and lets an ally within 3"/square to shoot them as if the enemy used the Engage order. While this will likely require the voxbreaker to accompany another operative in their goings-on, their debuffs will be vital in flushing out any snipers and other cover-campers.
*'''Infiltrator Warrior (Marksman, Scout):''' The Infiltrators are the more efficient in shooting, as their bolters come with Lethal 5+ for extra crits. While not as capable up close, they can still fight and their Omni-Scramblers can help shut down a key enemy from accomplishing anything until it's too late to remedy the situation.
*'''Reiver Warrior (Combat, Marksman, Scout):''' While their bolt carbines are little better than mere bolters, their melee loadouts are more deserving of being the dedicated melee warriors. Their knives are not only more dangerous than the Incursors', but they also have AP1 on their pistols to compensate for their limited range. Combined with Terror, they can handily overpower nearby enemies while they try to accomplish objectives.

===PST Ploys===
<tabs>
<tab name="Strategic Ploys">
*'''Bolter Discipline (1 CP):''' This allows any of your marines to fire all their bolt weapons twice until the end of their turning point so long as they don't fight up-close. 
*'''Deadly Shots (1 CP):''' A whole new ploy introduced in the Q3 2022 Balance Dataslate. If an operative scores a crit while shooting and hasn't moved, charged or fallen back, that crit gains the P1 rule if it doesn't already have that rule or AP. Especially dangerous on your Infiltrators with their Lethal 5+ bolters.
*'''Shock Assault (1 CP):''' This allows any of your marines to fight twice until the end of their turning point so long as they don't shoot. A lot of your weapons are quite dangerous, and this is especially the case for your Reivers and Incursors, who carry something more than mere fists.
*'''Vanguard (1 CP)''' Whenever any operative is activated, they add 1"/triangle to their movement, auto-pass jump tests and ignore the first 2"/circle of climbing, making your forces a good bit more mobile.
*'''And They Shall Know No Fear (1 CP):''' Your operatives ignore all penalties to APL and can ignore the Injured condition, letting you handle key objectives and surmount any AP debuff auras your enemy might impose.
</tab>
<tab name="Tactical Ploys">
*'''Stealth Assault (1 CP):''' When an operative under the Conceal order is activated, your first two hits in melee (no shooting) are registered at the same time, circumventing any attempts to parry them.
**Note that again, you'll need Guerilla Warfare to make use of this unless you have the Battle Honour to charge while concealed.
*'''Transhuman Physiology (1 CP):''' Your operatives can count one normal save into a critical save, negating Brutal weapons like power fists. This can be useful considering how you'll run into guns that fire enough times to overwhelm your defenses.
*'''One Step Ahead (1 CP):''' You can swap out one operative for another. Arguably one of the most meta, as it gives you free license to just make one slot your floating member. Better hope you have everything magnetized though...
*'''Elite Reconnaissance (1 CP):''' During the Scouting phase, you can immediately deploy two operatives and select a different Scouting option, though initiative will be determined by your first option.
</tab>
</tabs>

===PST Strategies===
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'''Tactics:'''
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
Phobos marines are unique in that they can get more CP back over the course of a game, in theory your likely to get 1 or two  CP with your strategizing leader. As such it can often be very worth it to play somewhat passivily during the first turning point, so that when you go into the second you have a CP advantage letting you pop off more ploy's and rerolls then your opponent.
</div>
</div>
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''Counterplay:'''
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
The best way to deal with SM is experience. Really, once you see the opponent's list, you may know what he can do, but SM are the ultimate jack of all trades in KT, and can adapt well enough to most situations. Generalist lists only get you so far, though, and will leave the player using them rather exposed to the strategy of his opponent. 
Weapon-wise, marines are strong against basic weapons, particularly when wielded by BS4+ models since they can reliably save most hits and have the wounds to soak a bolter shot before feeling the effects. A single shot from something like a meltagun or overcharged plasma gun however has a high likelihood of causing critical existence failure, and those weapons are often powerful enough that any cover a marine uses to protect his ass ends up mostly irrelevant. Any team that can get plenty of AP should also enjoy good success against marines, as those guns will very reliably whittle the marines down in just a few shots.
The main weakness off a marine team is the low number of activations. With the exception of scouts, which are a whole nother deal to the rest of their brothers, marines cap out at 6 operatives. This means that for every additional model you have on the table above that, you can keep a hard-hitting gunner concealed and ready to strike until after each marine has moved. 
Marines can use their 3APL to do some cool tricks, but if you conceal your operatives - especially behind heavy cover if there is a high ground for the marines to abuse - they will be forced to engage to clear out your operatives from objectives eventually. Once they do, they will be exposed to whatever horrors you have in store for them. Wait until your last activation possible to ensure you do not eat any overwatch on the return. Even if your gunner dies on return fire, this is a positive trade for most teams; once a marine team loses two or three operatives this way, they'll no longer have the presence on the board required to contest objectives effectively against even your basic models.

There are three big tricks that marines can use against you if you don't stay aware of them. 
First, always remember that 3APL lets a model move up, shoot, and dash away. In combination with either the right kind of heavy terrain or a vantage point, this lets a marine stay invulnerable while still going on the attack. If at all possible, do not let a marine player do this.
Another trick of the increased actions of a marine is the ability to pop the heads of two enemies in one turn. This is where bolter discipline becomes a problem, especially when those bolters are more than just your standard D3/4 basic gun. Furthermore, this sort of 2 kills in one activation can be done even without the strategic ploy by charging, fighting, and then shooting from the new position. Be careful if you have a model weak on wounds within charging distance of a marine. 
Fortunately, any marine that goes on the offensive only has one more action for movement for that turn. If it has to move out of concealment for this, then you can earn compensation by taking the marine out later in the turn. However, just about the biggest loss you can take is to expose two models to a marine waiting with a conceal order. This lets them kill or injure both and then move away back into cover.
Finally, Only In Death Does Duty End can be a serious tool for vengeance in their hands. You cannot easily avoid this, but it is good to keep it in mind so you don't get taken by surprise. It allows the marine to potentially go out guns blazing for one or even two kills, or to run up and press an objective to deny VPs.
tl;dr use plenty of conceal early in the game, use higher number of models to force the marine player to engage first, don't let them cheese you, and then start trading your gunners one-for-one for marine lives. 
</div>
</div>

===PST Example Teams===