Counterpoint: Seraphim

Howdy,

I've had several requests to give more than a 'they suck' article for Seraphim.

Some magic 'Stelek' way of making them useful.

Well fine, here it is:

The one time Seraphim don't suck is in an Imperial Guard army, plain and simple.

Every other time, they suck because they are easily dealt with by shooting them to death with anti-infantry weapons.  They die too easily otherwise, T3 and 3+ saves don't last long.

So I'll show you the army, and explain how it works.

2000 Pts - 5th Edition Roster - Creed w/F You Nuns

1 Company Command Squad @ 420 pts (Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x1; Lasgun x1; Camo Cloak; Carapace Armour; Medi-pack; Heavy Weapons Team; Colour Sergeant Kell; Lord Castellan Creed; Astropath; Bodyguard; Bodyguard; Chimera)
   1 Heavy Weapons Team (Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x1; Flak Armour; Lasgun x1; Camo Cloaks (Based on Squad); Carapace Armour (Based on Squad); Autocannon)
   1 Colour Sergeant Kell (Carapace Armour; Frag Grenades; Laspistol; Power Fist; Power Weapon; Regimental Standard; Listen up Maggots!; Sworn Protector)
   1 Lord Castellan Creed (Carapace Armour; Frag Grenades; Refractor Field; Hot-shot Laspistols x2; Supreme Commander; Tactical Genius)
   1 Astropath (Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon; Laspistol; Camo Cloak; Carapace Armour; Telepathic Relay)
   1 Bodyguard (Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon; Laspistol; Camo Cloak; Carapace Armour; Look out - Arghh!)
   1 Bodyguard (Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon; Laspistol; Camo Cloak; Carapace Armour; Look out - Arghh!)
   1 Chimera (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Turret Multi-Laser; Heavy Flamer)

1 Infantry Platoon @ 680 pts (Heavy Weapons Squad; Heavy Weapons Squad; Heavy Weapons Squad; Heavy Weapons Squad)
   4 Platoon Command Squad (Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x4; Heavy Flamer; Meltagun x3)
      1 Platoon Commander (Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Laspistol; Close Combat Weapon; Junior Officer)
   9 Infantry Squad (Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x8; Flak Armour; Lasgun x9; Plasmagun x1; Chimera)
      1 Sergeant (Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Laspistol; Close Combat Weapon)
      1 Chimera (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Turret Multi-Laser; Heavy Flamer)
   9 Infantry Squad (Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x8; Flak Armour; Lasgun x9; Plasmagun x1; Chimera)
      1 Sergeant (Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Laspistol; Close Combat Weapon)
      1 Chimera (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Turret Multi-Laser; Heavy Flamer)
   3 Heavy Weapons Squad (Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x3; Flak Armour; Lasgun x3; Autocannon x3)
   3 Heavy Weapons Squad (Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x3; Flak Armour; Lasgun x3; Autocannon x3)
   3 Heavy Weapons Squad (Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x3; Flak Armour; Lasgun x3; Lascannon x3)
   3 Heavy Weapons Squad (Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x3; Flak Armour; Lasgun x3; Lascannon x3)

9 Veteran Squad @ 110 pts (Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x9; Lasgun x6; Heavy Flamer; Meltagun x2)
   1 Veteran Sergeant (Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Laspistol; Close Combat Weapon)

1 Vendetta Gunship Squadron @ 140 pts
   1 Vendetta (Extra Armor; Searchlight; Twin-linked Lascannon x3; Heavy Bolter Sponsons x2)

1 Vendetta Gunship Squadron @ 140 pts
   1 Vendetta (Extra Armor; Searchlight; Twin-linked Lascannon x3; Heavy Bolter Sponsons x2)

8 Seraphim Squad [WH] @ 283 pts (Frag Grenades; Jump Pack; Krak Grenades; Twin Bolt Pistols x6; Melta Bombs; Twin Hand Flamers x2)
   1 Veteran Sister Superior [WH] (Book of St. Lucius; Jump Pack; Simulacrum Imperialis; Frag Grenade (Squad); Krak Grenade (Squad); Melta Bombs (Squad); Brazier of Holy Fire x1; Power Weapon x1)

1 Hydra Flak Tank Battery @ 75 pts
   1 Hydra Flak Tank (Auto-targeting System; Heavy Bolter; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Twin-Linked Hydra Autocannons x2)

1 Hydra Flak Tank Battery @ 75 pts
   1 Hydra Flak Tank (Auto-targeting System; Heavy Bolter; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Twin-Linked Hydra Autocannons x2)

1 Hydra Flak Tank Battery @ 75 pts
   1 Hydra Flak Tank (Auto-targeting System; Heavy Bolter; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Twin-Linked Hydra Autocannons x2)

Total Roster Cost: 1998

So, you have quite a bit of firepower at your fingertips.

It's full of Mech, which is good.

It also has (if needed) a bubblewrap unit, and while it's expensive--Creeds unit is fairly nasty as far as last ditch CC units go.  It can handle non-CC units fairly easily.  Give his unit 'For Cadia' and Tactical Marines will be running like girls.  lol

Creed is there to order the 4 HW teams around (every turn).  LD10 isn't too terrible for Orders, eh?

2 are Lascannon, 2 are Autocannon.  Simply they are different so you can beat down speeding bikes, MC, vehicles...whatever you need.

The Platoon Command and the Veteran Squad go in the Vendettas.  They can if need be, go forward with the Seraphim for a nasty first turn Alpha Strike.

Unlike many other units you can throw forward, the Seraphim are the only ones that can beat the bubblewrap tactic without much effort.  As IG, you don't always need to--but when facing other IG or Tau, you certainly want to be able to strip it away.

See, if you sit in vehicles--the meltabombs on turn 1 (they will hit you unless you sit in reserve lol) hurt bad.

If you sit on the table, 3 flamers will ruin your day (not to mention the assault forward) as they can and will easily deliver optimum templates on your unit.  As they are Sisters, it's not safe to sit anyone out in front of them--3 templates with a Faith Point to use will ruin even a Terminators day.

As the army has both a forward 'hold' unit (the Sisters using Creeds scout ability) and a last-ditch CC unit (Creeds unit) you get what every IG player wants--a left jab to stick in the other guys face, and a uppercut to knock out just about anything you haven't shot to pieces.

Of course, if you really look at the army--it's a little shy on Meltaguns (only has 2 meltagun units, and a MB unit of course) but boy does it pack range and guns.  Each Chimera should have a Hydra nearby, so they can protect each other.  I usually put two groupings into the corner, and Creed in the middle (where he can reach everyone), with the HW teams and Vendettas inbetween the center and corner groupings.  It's a big spread, but redeploying out of the way is possible.

With the two (rather silly) Infantry squads mounted up in Chimeras, you can hold them on your board edge to protect your Vendettas and Hydras from assault units--and late in the game, drive forward to sieze objectives.
These have plasmaguns solely because all the other options kinda suck.  lol  So, plasma it is.  Get lucky!  ;)

Anyway, your Vendettas hold scoring units (holding the Vets and Platoon Command squads) too although if you want you can swap the Vets/Platoon Command with the two Infantry squads by moving the transport option.  Whatever suits your playstyle.  The Infantry squads have them because they are 10 man and harder to hide at game start, where the Platoon command is easy to hide.  The Vets should imho always be in a Vendetta in case you go first.  I'd personally leave the Vendettas empty before I left the Chimeras empty, though--the Vendettas WILL die (or you WILL win lol).

Lots of flexiblity.  If you don't think you can survive a torrent of fire, you can outflank your Seraphim.  The Astropath makes it likely you can bring them on where you want--and nobody can cover an entire short board edge with 12" of troops (Jump Pack outflankers are bad news lol).

While it might not seem much, an outflanking Jump unit WILL force your opponents into the middle of the board--allowing you to park your armies in the corner.  Think of it as a Y-forced stratagem.  Nobody wants Meltabomb/Flamer equipped Sisters hitting & running through their army (they do so automatically if allowed to H&R after a combat, unlike everyone else).

Now combine that with the heavy amount of firepower you put out, and it's really quite astonishing nobody has put this army together.  (Well, not really, sadly.)

Throwing Creed + Seraphim together is fairly obvious, but building an army to properly support it isn't.

3 Hydras, 3xTL ACx2, 3x HB.
2 Vendettas, 3x TL LC, 2xHB.
2x3 LC (TL or Cover Busting).
2x3 AC (TL or Cover Busting).
4xChimera w/ML, HF.
An 'extra' AC on Creeds Command squad.
1x3MG + HF @ BS3, 1x2MG + HF @ BS4.
Seraphim having 9 MB and flamer fun.

The 'extra' bonus of Creeds quasi-CC and the Seraphim's ability to hold units in CC are like finding gold when you wake up in the morning.

Having 9 AV12 hulls on the table is also daunting--not many armies can really put the firepower out to cripple your ability to shoot back.

Having a Seraphim unit to deal with is annoying, as getting a squad out of transports to kill them will just end up costing you however many units it took to kill them.  Imperial Guard players will do a happy dance if you fire at the Seraphim instead of them.  lol

This is the only way to use Seraphim 'competitively'.  It's dangerous to ignore, and having 14 targets to shoot at (with 5 more hiding inside 5 of those targets) is what makes IG so dangerous.

Guard armies with Jump Pack Seraphim are always built incorrectly.  This is the way to do it.

If you do it, and follow the tactica--you won't be disappointed.  Let me know if you do (pics are good!).

Enjoy!  :)