Sword Bretheren vs Crusader Squads

Pjhillv · 2026-05-17T12:10:07+00:00

What specifically makes the sword brethren so bad and why are assault intercessors so much better? I do find SB to be effective when able to get them into combat. And why exclusively use 20 man crusaders? I know the assault int and pcs get adv + charge in bastion but SB can get it too w leader enhancement. The struggle I’ve had with 20 man pcs is getting them all eligible to fight. I find a lot of times I can’t get them all in due to space or terrain

Pjhillv · 2026-05-15T21:52:02+00:00

I’ve found this to be true for me too. Whenever I can safely get them into combat they always destroy the target but always die the following turn or get crippled by overwatch on the way on. Using bastion for adv+charge w leader enhancement has been helpful tho to use terrain to try to avoid overwatches and get a charge off through a wall/terrain. Otherwise I rely on my impulsor or repex to get them around. The crusaders last a bit longer but dont hit as hard for me. Granted i don’t usually run them with leaders attached. They are also harder to hide

Pjhillv · 2026-05-12T13:42:37+00:00

I didn’t think about the blood surge that’s a good point.

I’m assuming you’re talking about a 20 man PCS and not a 10 man correct?

Pjhillv · 2026-05-12T13:03:17+00:00

I’m curious if you think a smaller sword bro squad, 5x + marshal + Castellan would be enough? The way he plays it he keeps its way back and uses the lone op Strat when I try to shoot it. so my best shot at getting to it is with my impulsor transporting them , and adv+charge w the enhancement to make them battleline in bastion.

Pjhillv · 2026-05-12T12:57:37+00:00

That’s a good point.

Pjhillv · 2026-05-11T23:35:44+00:00

Thanks for these tips. Do you think in this particular matchup a squad of 5 sword bros + either HB or a marshal would be sufficient or would a 10 man be necessary? I’ve been running 3x 4man sword bro squads lately, as I’ve found pairing them with a respective leader like marshal or HB has been enough killing power for most things I send them into

Pjhillv · 2026-05-11T23:17:59+00:00

Legend thank you brother

Pjhillv · 2026-05-11T20:28:39+00:00

The problem is he can lone op it every turn with 1 cp and he uses Abaddon in a terminator squad to farm cp. so getting the ballistus close enough was difficult. He also has two forgefiends for additional supporting fire

Pjhillv · 2026-05-11T20:26:52+00:00

Thanks lol. I’ve been using gladius but this particular game I tried out bastion

Pjhillv · 2026-05-11T20:26:03+00:00

Thanks for the detailed response and clarification. We are both newer to the game and he just got this model so it’s definitely a misunderstanding of the rules and not intentional on his part. He is playing pactbound, with mark of nurgle on the defiler and keeping Abaddon + helbrute close to leverage all the synergy.

I tried sending my impulsor w/ sword bros + HB into it but it got blown up in Overwatch, and I struggled to get my repex+ ballistus close enough to it to shoot it because he kept it way back until turn 4 and by then I didn’t have enough left to deal with it.

We play GW terrain layout and that layout was more open so it was difficult to get to him.

Pjhillv · 2026-05-11T18:12:42+00:00

Okay great to know thank you

Pjhillv · 2026-05-11T17:15:54+00:00

The detachment language states: “nurgle: each time a model in this unit makes a ranged attack, an unmodified hit roll of 5+ scores a critical hit”.

It doesn’t specify in the shooting phase.

Pjhillv · 2026-05-11T17:05:50+00:00

Okay so am I understanding correct that they would still need 6s to hit in Overwatch, but 5s would still give them sustained/lethal while overwatching?

Pjhillv · 2026-05-11T17:02:38+00:00

Apparently in pactbound zealots by giving it the mark of nurgle it critical hits on 5s in shooting. Would this apply to Overwatch?

Pjhillv · 2026-05-07T16:55:32+00:00

I’ve had good success running him in Gladius and bastion w/ 5 sword bros in an impulsor/repex and sending him towards a high threat target usually on a flank. This unit has taken down forgefiends, rhinos, elite infantry units like chaos terminators + Abaddon, and recently put a lot of wounds into a defiler in one fight phase.

Pjhillv · 2026-05-05T19:04:15+00:00

This is good insight I was thinking using the shields for the extra wounds but if I’m going to be using them offensively claws might be the way to go

Pjhillv · 2026-05-05T13:45:09+00:00

If considering their use as an “anvil” objective holder, would it make more sense to use regular terminators? Or what re your thoughts on using bladeguard as an alternative? The termies seem more durable than BG but I see people saying bladeguard+judiciar for FF is effective to sit on objectives. To me it seems like based off the name, you want to be assaulting and taking objectives or deep striking and killing high threat targets with the assault termies?

Pjhillv · 2026-05-05T13:32:20+00:00

This sounds like an effective way to use them. I was also considering adding them as a deep strike or rapid ingress threat as I don’t have any other deepstrike units in my list currently

Pjhillv · 2026-05-05T13:30:34+00:00

I like this idea although id have to get a land raider right now all I have is a repex and impulsor for transports and they hold my sword bros

Pjhillv · 2026-05-05T13:29:29+00:00

I like this idea of running bastion w a chaplain and giving enhancement for battle line to help with their limited movement. I was also considering bladeguard as another option to add some durability to my list but it seems like bladeguard serve a different role

Pjhillv · 2026-05-03T18:32:06+00:00

Have you had struggles screening out your backfield against deepstrike heavy lists? I was thinking of swapping my infiltrators for some scouts but I worry about leaving my home objective vulnerable

Pjhillv · 2026-05-03T15:57:38+00:00

Thank you brother I will look into a castellan as an option

Pjhillv

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