Fall From Grace II: "Poseur Army" Lists
Fall From Grace II, the follow-up to Fall From Grace and Spring Offensive, was an informal gathering of 40K gamers from around the United States, held at the Borderlands store in Greenville, South Carolina, on August 31-September 2, 2001. I had really enjoyed myself at Fall From Grace and Spring Offensive and looked forward to re-meeting my friends from the Millenium Gate forum.

For special events like these, I like to create and experiment with what I hope are interesting and unusual army lists. At Spring Offensive I had created four "Armies with Character" that while effective, had just felt wrong: too few Troops, too many "heavy hitter" units like tanks and Terminators. I was determined that whatever lists I wrote for FFG2 would have more Troops.

For several weeks I was stumped as to what angle my FFG2 lists would take. Usually I make lists for fighting specific armies, but that didn't seem like it would be very interesting for you, the visitor, to read ("Oh look, another 1500 point list for fighting Eldar. Whoop, whoop"). 

Then I had the idea to create "poseur armies": lists based on the fighting styles of other Space Marine Chapters. I'd still be using the "vanilla" Marine rules from Codex: Space Marines, of course, just changing how I usually play. 

Getting started
To keep things simple, I maxed out each list at one detachment of 1500 points. I devoted about 750 points of each list to Troops and their transports, assigned to an "Assault Package" or a "Defensive Package" that would form the nucleus of each army (more about those "packages" in a minute). 

In addition, I tried to include every unit I own, even if they aren’t the most “effective,” somewhere in the lists. I also avoided repetition: my Predator Annihilator, for example, appears in the pseudo-Blood Angel list, but not in any of the other "poseur armies." I reuse Troops and transports, of course, from one list to another: my Marine collection is big (about 7000 points), but it isn't THAT big! 

I chose six of what I consider the more characterful Chapters--Black Templars, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, White Scars, Dark Angels, and Salamanders--to emulate. Having six lists helped spread out the "heavy hitter" units, allowing for more Troops and avoiding the "power-gaming" tendencies of the "Armies with Character." Not to mention I could just roll a d6 to determine which army to use against an opponent.

"Assault Package"
Four of the armies I chose to imitate--the Black Templars, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, and White Scars--are characterized by moving rapidly across the field to engage the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. Accordingly, I picked these Troop units for mobility (first) and close-combat prowess (second). I wanted Troops that could keep up with Bikes and Land Speeders and could back up the "heavy hitters" when the fighting got "up close and personal."

In some lists, I added more Troop units because I had the points to spare and wanted some extra "regulars." These Troop units are in addition to those detailed in the "package" for that army.
 

"Defensive Package"
The other two armies--Dark Angels and Salamanders--are (at least in my opinion) best suited for standing back and shooting. Accordingly, I picked these Troop units for firepower (first) and size (second). I wanted Troops that could blow gaping holes through most enemy units and could take quite a few casualties themselves.

In some lists, I added more Troop units because I had the points to spare and wanted some extra "regulars." These Troop units are in addition to those detailed in the "package" for that army.
 

Strikeforce: Tiger Knights
This army is patterned after the Black Templars and, accordingly, includes an Emperor's Champion and a Land Raider Crusader, the signature fighting vehicle of the Black Templars. The basic "Assault Package" is increased to 753 points with the addition of a power weapon for the Veteran Sergeant of the 5-man Tactical Squad. 
 

Strikeforce: Blood Tigers 
This army is patterned after the Blood Angels, who are best known for their frenzied Death Company, often equipped with jump packs. To replicate the Death Company, I've included a unit of Assault Marines. An appropriate leader would be a Chaplain with a jump pack, but I don't have one, so I'll use a Librarian with a jump pack instead. Finally, the Blood Angels also use a distinctive Predator (the "Baal" variation), so I've included a Predator in this list.
 

Strikeforce: Tiger-Wolves 
This army is patterned after the Space Wolves, who are required to take 1 HQ unit for every 750 points. Accordingly, I have Raja Khandar Madu and her lieutenant, Jirbu Ghosh, to lead this army. Normally, I only use Raja Khandar in games of 2000+ points (and then with a Command Squad), but I'll make an exception for this special army list. 

Space Wolves are known for their Long Fang packs, so I've included an equivalent Devastator Squad. In my opinion, Space Wolves should field lots of troopers, so I've added another five Tactical Marines to act as Gray Hunters.
 

Strikeforce: Tiger Claws 
This army is patterned after the White Scars, and includes all my bike units. It is led by Raja Shamshir Talatra, whom I ordinarily use only  in armies of 2000+ points. As with Raja Khandar Madu, I've made an exception for the "poseur army" lists.
 

Strikeforce: Dark Tigers 
This army takes its inspiration from the Dark Angels, who are well-known for stubbornly holding a defensive position. Like Strikeforce: Flame Tigers (below), this army will "stand back and shoot." I've added a unit of Terminators to mirror the Deathwing, and a unit of Land Speeders to mirror the Ravenwing. 

The "Defensive Package" was increased by 2 points because I gave the Veteran Scout Sergeant an auspex; I had the points to spare, and he already had the item modeled. I could throw in another auspex, but none of the other models in this army actually have that item represented on them, and I usually adhere rather strictly to the "What You See Is What You Get" rule. 
 

Strikeforce: Flame Tigers 
This army takes its cue from the Salamanders. Back in the Rogue Trader and 2nd Edition days, I had lots of infantry models with multi-meltas, but alas, no longer. Ah well. I had the most fun in putting together this list, as--given the Sallies' high-tech orientation, it gave me an excuse to include a Command Squad lots of cool wargear. Efficient? Probably not, but definitely in character, and there's more--much more--to enjoying 40K than crunching numbers and "mini-maxing" lists.

Jirbu Ghosh pulls double duty here, stepping out from Raja Khandar's shadow to lead her own detachment. I've also included the Dreadnought Shrendi Vashtar just because he packs a multi-melta and a heavy flamer: you can't get much more like the Salamanders than that!
 

Assessing the “poseur armies”
So there are the lists, each based around a particular Space Marine Chapter and their fighting style, and using most of the units in my (very large) Space Marine collection. Reading through the lists, you may wonder why I picked certain items: for example, why bother putting extra armor on a Whirlwind when I could just hide it behind a building? 

In cases like that, I took the item “just in case”; let’s say there wasn’t enough terrain to hide the Whirlwind—the extra armor would help out then. In other cases, the model had a certain item on it and I was going along with the WYSIWYG (“What You See Is What You Get”) rule.

So, having made these “poseur armies,” what are my initial reactions?

To begin, I'm much happier with these lists than the "Armies with Character." The "AwC" racked up 3 wins and a tie at Spring Offensive--I doubt the "poseur armies" will do as well, but they "feel" better to me. I firmly believe that 40K is best when you have lots of Troops backed up by a few specialist units.

These lists will hopefully work well against any type of opponents. I tried to include anti-armor and anti-infantry elements in each list, as well as some fast units and some close-combat units. I'll probably just roll randomly to see which list I use against an opponent, and go from there. 

So how did they do?

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© Copyright Kenton Kilgore, August 2001
 

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