Editing Intercessor (section)

== Tabletop ==

At a glance, ''''light' Intercessors''' appear similar to Tactical Marines, and in truth there's a good deal of overlap between their rules. However, while both units ''are'' flexible, flexibility means something different to each. For Tacs, flexibility is the ability to shoot at a variety of targets efficiently by adding a heavy weapon to the squad. For light Intercessors, you can only really efficiently engage one kind of target, but you have the flexibility to do so efficiently in ''either'' ranged or melee combat, the latter of which is a notable weakness for tactical squads due to their very low number of attacks.

This is the primary divider between Tactical Marines and Intercessors, so keep it in mind when choosing your troops. Against almost all targets, Tactical Marines will shoot better if backed up with the proper heavy weapon, so pick them if you want a pure gunline unit or to spread out your heavy weapons so they can't be picked off in tidy chunks by a savvy opponent. However, if you want a unit that can respond quickly to stall or even stop hostile advances while still being able to contribute effectively against most enemy infantry in the shooting phase, then light Intercessors are a reliable pick.

'''Assault Intercessors''', surprisingly, fill a completely different role in your army. Pistols and chainswords mean they're a pure melee unit, with little to nothing in the way of tactical flexibility. For this reason, they're best looked at as a completely different unit rather than just a mild variant of light Intercessors. The primary reason to take these guys is, unsurprisingly, melee-focused lists, but do bear in mind that they're no faster than any of your other Troops and as Primaris, it's expensive to box them up and ship them to your enemy's front line.

Nonetheless, Assault Intercessors have their uses. The combination of newly-buffed Chainswords plus Shock Assault means they can absolutely ''drown'' enemies in attacks, which is usually more than sufficient against most enemy troops; a squad of 10 will run you just 190pts, and shit out 40 S4 AP-1 attacks even before accounting for buffs. But the primary advantage here is that you're doing this with a Troops unit. Yes, they're going to cost significantly more than Vanguard Veterans if you give them a transport in lieu of jump packs, but it means one more unit of Elites on the field, and the Elites section is very competitive for Marines in 9th.

Finally, '''Heavy Intercessors''' fill a similar role to light Intercessors, but with more of an emphasis on durability than damage output. There is absolutely no scenario here where the boys in gravis will outdamage their lighter brethren for points, so if you want damage output, skip them and drop a few extra points in your Elites and Heavy Support slots.

Offensively, Heavy Intercessors are about as flexible as light Intercessors, hitting just as hard (though less points-efficiently) in melee, so they can fill the same general role. However, where they really shine is defensively. T5 and 3W with a 3+Sv means that most armies just don't have a way to shoot at the efficiently; anti-chaff will bounce off, and they aren't nearly expensive or threatening enough to justify wasting high-power weapons on. Even weapons dedicated to murdering MEQs usually average 2 damage, meaning they're effectively twice as durable.

Heavy Intercessors are therefore best used in one of two roles. The first is the same as light Intercessors; frontline speedbumps who can move to intercept and stall enemy charges from clogging up the guns of more valuable units. The second, as ''incredibly'' efficient objective holders who can simply absorb so much punishment that it isn't worth wasting time shooting at them. They're effective in either role, but their low damage output efficiency means they must be supported by strong damage dealers elsewhere.