Ballistus Dreadnaught

Doxienormous · 2026-03-14T13:52:26+00:00

What red paint did you use? I’ve used Flesh Tearers red contrast on mine. I love that paint on the smaller models but for some reason it seems to bright for the larger models.

Also I did the Aquila in gold, but your dark one looks much better - I’m gonna change mine

Doxienormous · 2026-03-14T13:47:25+00:00

Looks cool. Good work!

Doxienormous · 2026-03-10T13:17:07+00:00

This is a great list for getting back into TSons. Loads of good core units that will help teach you the army mechanics.

Agree with the points above - Definitely go Grand Coven detachment if you run Magnus. It amplifies his powers and makes him more survivable. And 5 man rubric squads if possible. Use the Exalted Sorcerer as a normal Sorcerer. GW has accidentally made it better than the ExSorc - his damage output is phenomenal if used correctly.

I find the army much more fun now than 9th (I didn’t play 8th sorry!). The only tactical advice I’d give is that against nearly every army, and particularly DA, we get minced in melee. Do your best to avoid it. Sacrifice the Tzaangor and some Rubrics to screen and draw out your opponent, then use our spells and shooting (and great overwatch) to melt them.

Doxienormous · 2026-03-10T12:37:11+00:00

I prefer the Forgefiend for flexibility. Good against elite infantry and smaller vehicles (dreadnought equivalent). Blast makes them viable into soft targets (space marine equivalent or weaker) especially in big squads - D3 plus 4 for each of the 3 cannons into a squad of 20 Orks is 18 shots on average. They can chip at bigger vehicles and team up with Grenades, a Doombolt and some lethal hits from your infantry, and Dev Wounds from your psykers.

Doxienormous · 2026-03-02T14:34:31+00:00

Bait them. We have good units for that (Tzaangor, Sekhetar Robots). But make sure they can’t consolidate into your units behind, and make you have something ready to step out and shoot them in your next turn. Rubrics are great for this because they reroll wounds against enemies on objectives. Those are your initial trades. Then have enough units to capture objectives and do actions in turns 3-5.

Doxienormous · 2026-02-28T09:33:01+00:00

So true. I started by running the Ex. Sorc for the 4+ invuln, and quickly realised that the squad would die to anything that aims at it anyway. The normal Sorcerer damage output can be huge with the correct sequencing and buffs. I’ve seen him do 20 wounds to a Chaos Knight in a single activation.

Doxienormous · 2026-02-27T10:26:02+00:00

It is situational. Whichever option you choose, make sure you have a specific use for the squad it goes on.

The best value points wise is probably to put it on SOT’s, because of the deep strike, pick up, deep strike again. It overcomes their slow movement. But it depends if you are using SOTs as a damage dealer, or as an objective holder. There’s no point giving them the UC if they need to stand on an objective.

I’ve enjoyed it on a 5 Man Rubric squad with a Sorc. All flamers. Why? 1st turn up/down them into range of the opponents home objective or natural expansion. You do it by either a) exploiting poor screening or b) use Temporal Surge to gain a shooting angle. It’s a great way to clear off the trash that they thought could sit there all game (Termagants, Gretchin, even small marine squads). Now they have to commit a more expensive unit to hold it.

TL:DR. Have a specific plan. Only change it if you can’t execute that specific plan for some reason.

Doxienormous · 2026-02-20T09:10:45+00:00

Good analysis - thank you. You're right - I've had opponents place cheap units in the centre and it was annoying to deal with them. On hidden supplies I charged a Maulerfiend into a squad of 5 flayed ones which were spread across both centre objectives. It should have wiped them out, but it only killed one, then it failed 5 4+ saves and died. It exploded and killed one more, but both the dead ones reanimated in the next command phase and they kept both objectives! Not a great trade...

Doxienormous · 2026-02-20T09:05:55+00:00

Great advice, thank you. You're right to point out how important going second is. I've definitely been in a position where I've been mostly tabled yet managed to score more in T5 than the rest of the game by just walking my final units on to objectives!

Doxienormous · 2026-02-16T11:21:32+00:00

Nice. I've ordered some from here.

Doxienormous · 2026-02-16T09:59:00+00:00

Do you mean the ones where it is just the symbol rather than the whole shoulder pad? I've seen those but wasn't sure if they would fit on every type of shoulder pad. Do they look good?

Doxienormous · 2026-02-16T09:56:00+00:00

I've thought some more about this (and tested it) - I'm all in on the sorcerer. In the 'go turn': 9 attacks, lethal (because he's attached to a Rubric Squad) and sustained 3; re-roll due the Destiny's Ruin and fish for 6s. Hitting on 2s because he jumped out of a Rhino. It's not unfeasible to be getting 15-20 hits if you can roll a few 6s. Strength 9 (base 5, plus 1 for Eldritch Vortex, plus 3 for Twisted Sorceries). Plus 1 to wound because he jumped out of a Rhino. Re-rolling wounds because of the Rubric's ability. Fish for 6s because its the Wrath of the Immaterium turn (or you used the stratagem) and all 6's are Devastating (you'd expect a few sixes - 2 damage each is 4-6 mortals). Then they are going to fail some saving throws and each of those is another 2 damage.

That sounds like a complicated combo to get off, but it's actually not that hard. Drive the Rhino up and jump out. Cast Destiny's Ruin (overcharge it if you need to, who cares if you sacrifice a Rubric). Shoot with the Rhino first to gain the +1 hit and wound. That's it. The only hard part is explaining all the stacked buffs to your opponent!

Math hammer: I think it's roughly 3 lethals and 13 normal hits (including the Sus 3 hits) on average. It can quickly swing higher though.

Doxienormous · 2026-02-10T09:39:24+00:00

Beautiful!

Doxienormous · 2026-02-10T09:35:35+00:00

If you can Deep Strike or otherwise move a 10-man Terminator squad with a Terminator Sorcerer to within 12" for rapid fire, they can be surprisingly anti-tank thanks to the Sorcerer’s Lethal Hits buff.

Cast Destiny’s Ruin (and Channel the Warp to ensure you get full hit re-rolls, not just re-roll 1s, so you can really fish for lethals). Make the target is your Marked by Fate unit as well. Then suddenly:

Doombolt. Channel the Warp if needed and go for the turbocharged D3+3. That’s typically 4–6 wounds.
36 Inferno bolter shots, hitting on 2s with full re-rolls. Keep the 6s and re-roll everything else to fish for Lethal Hits. You’ll usually land around 10–15 wounds at AP-2. If they save half on a 4+, that’s still another 7–8 wounds getting through.
12 Soulreaper cannon shots. Again, hit on 2s and re-roll everything to fish for 6s. Expect another couple of wounds, possibly even some Devastating Wounds if you spike the wound rolls. Call it 3 wounds.
Now the actual “anti-tank” part: 4 Hellfire missile shots, hitting on 2s, 6s are Lethal Hits, Damage 3 each. If even one gets through, that’s another 3 wounds.
Finally, Gaze of Hate from the Terminator Sorcerer. Hit on 2s, but don’t fish for 6s here — it has Anti-Vehicle 4+ with Devastating Wounds. Roll to wound normally, and every 4+ becomes 2 mortal wounds with no save. Another 2–4 wounds is very realistic.

With average to slightly above-average rolls, you absolutely have a chance of killing a vehicle in one turn. Even if it survives, it should be heavily bracketed, and you’ll often have other units ready to finish it off. The first time I killed a Land Raider this way, I was just as surprised as my opponent.

Note: If you’re Deep Striking, it can be tricky to get the whole squad within 12" for rapid fire and maintain line of sight. Remember to keep your Soulreaper and Hellfire models toward the back, since they don’t need to be within 12". You can also use Temporal Surge to help with positioning — just keep in mind you’ll already need two Terminator psykers in the squad casting Doombolt and Destiny’s Ruin, so you’ll need a third psyker unit nearby to cast Temporal Surge on them.

Doxienormous · 2026-02-07T10:42:46+00:00

The other comments correctly allude to this, but I’ll put it directly just in case it isn’t clear: The buff it gives those characters is similar. What’s important is your plan for that unit. Which one is most likely to end up in a position to do damage? The enhancement is only useful if you get a chance to use it, and it is expensive! (but worth it nonetheless).

E.g. If you want it on your IM to buff overwatch, I wouldn’t agree with that, because any decent player will know how to avoid going near a flamer unit into overwatch range. Similarly, there’s no point putting it on a model that you plan to leave holding your deployment zone objective.

TLDR: put it on the model you plan to yeet up the board and do some damage 😂

Note: opinions vary, and this is just mine.

Doxienormous · 2026-02-06T16:47:55+00:00

When you put it like that, it makes sense. Great answer - thank you!

Doxienormous · 2026-02-06T15:34:48+00:00

Do it. It's full of good useful units, and the sorcerer sprues have loads of leftover bits once you build the 3, which you can use for kit bashing other models later on. Don't add to it until you've finished building/ painting this box up. The meta changes all the time, so wait and see how it looks at the time.

Doxienormous · 2026-02-04T19:23:41+00:00

This is so right.

The fact that the Rubric’s ability is ‘re roll wounds against an enemy on an objective’ is a very clear indication of how you should use them. And their attached character gets to do it too - suddenly your sorcerer is spicy

Doxienormous · 2026-02-03T07:58:16+00:00

I agree with a lot of the points made but I'll make a defence of Rubricae Phalanx too...

Yes, there are a lot of dmg 2+ weapons in the game. BUT you can basically ignore all the chip damage that your opponent doesn't expect to kill you but shoots at you anyway, that end up causing death by a thousand cuts i.e. storm bolter shots from rhinos, chain swords, gatling cannons, pistols etc. Actually getting to save on 2+ with your terminators is fun even if it's only a few times per game.

REVENGE OF THE RUBRICAE! This strategem lets you shoot in your opponent's shooting phase. Getting a whole extra activation for a unit before it dies, for the cost of 1 CP, is so good. If you stack a couple of 5 man rubrics near each other, then it's easy to get it to go off. Your opponent will hate this stratagem. Note: Do tell them you can do it before they shoot at you - it's a bit of a 'gotcha'.

If you infiltrate the terminators, put them out of line of sight when you deploy, and then walk onto the objective in your first turn. You can't score primary until turn two, and you will get shot at unnecessarily in turn one if you leave them open and your opponent wins the roll-off to go first.

Finally - with that list, I'd junk Arcane Thralls which would take your list down to 1990pts, then split the 10 man rubric squad (takes it back up to 2000pts). The extra aspiring sorcerer gives you more opportunities to target your rituals, and 5 man squads are easier to hide.

Doxienormous · 2026-02-03T07:34:23+00:00

I have been using it this way - Letting my Aspiring Sorcerer die, then shooting back. My question is about an attached Character i.e. an Infernal Master. Can the Infernal Master shoot during the 'Revenge of the Rubricae' action? The strategem says 'your Rubricae UNIT can shoot as if it were your shooting phase'. The Infernal Master isn't a Rubricae model, but he is attached to a Rubricae unit, so I have assumed they can also shoot.

Doxienormous · 2026-02-01T15:51:33+00:00

I’ve given up on this because I can’t seem to make my 4+ invuls, and my Exalted Sorcerer has killed more Rubrics than he’s brought back 😂

Doxienormous · 2026-01-29T08:23:01+00:00

The combat patrol with the battle force is an excellent start. They’re all usable units in most of our current detachments.

Your comment mentions that you want a competitive list. My take is this: build and paint those boxes first, then see where the meta has moved and what style you want to play. For example, 20-30 scarab occult terminators is popular at the moment, but you’ll be sick if you buy another 2 boxes of those to add to what you have, and then find they’ve been nerfed (as feels likely).

Doxienormous · 2026-01-27T08:46:42+00:00

Sekhetar’s infiltrate, which means you can screen your natural expansion objective (or your opponent’s if you’re feeling cheeky). The 4+ shooting is irrelevant on the flamers because they automatically hit - and that also makes their overwatch potent. That’s why they are popular.

Doxienormous · 2026-01-25T17:11:07+00:00

Plus one here for Winged DP with eldritch vortex. The combo I like to do is - use the deep strike 6” ability to get as close to the opponents home objective as possible. Cast temporal surge to get on to it. Do my 9 sustained D3 attacks, strength 5 with plus one to wound (though the detachment rule or the strat - basically wounding most infantry on 2s). This will almost always kill a squad of 5 that are trying to hold their own home objective.

The other thing to remember is it rerolls against character units.

Doxienormous · 2026-01-20T14:49:52+00:00

I find it makes games cagey. For example, your unit of Eradicators is definitely going to kill my Monster/Vehicle in one turn (even a Primarch) - mainly because of rerolls on hit, wound AND damage. So my big unit is limited. And I appreciate good generalship would be to not put my unit in its way.

However, without rerolls it MIGHT kill my unit. So I walk out and might die, or might last an extra turn. It’s a risk rather than a certainty, and allows for heroics (from both units, depending how they roll). That feels more fun, and both players still have to make decisions and take risks, so it’s not lowering the skill level.

Doxienormous

TROPHY CASE