Just in case you were not sure you needed to have Havocs in your Space Marine army..... some incentive beyond just heavy weapons... toughness 5! Not to mention those Reaper Chaincannons are just nasty.
via the Warhammer Community
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/03/28/heretic-astartes-tactica-havocs/
Toughness 5 is a big deal. Small-arms fire that previously wounded on a 4+ will now need a 5+. This change greatly reduces the number of wounds you’ll take from small-arms fire such as bolters. You get this, and the ability to move and shoot without penalty, for the tiny increase of 1 point per model.
Weapons Loadouts
It’s perfectly fine to mix and match the weaponry in your Havoc squads, but I recommend at least two pairs of weapons with similar range bands and profiles. For example, rather than rely on one lascannon to get the job done, by fielding a second, you can produce more predictable results and make your Havocs far more reliable.
If you’re using multiple units of Havocs, you’ll likely have enough heavy weapons to take full units with the same weapon! If you keep it low on points, you can run four Heavy Bolters for 116 points per five-man unit. However, you can (and should!) invest in the new reaper chaincannons to dramatically increase your number of shots. These incredible weapons give you 8 shots at up to 24”, but since the Havocs can move and shoot with no penalty, you have an effective 30” range – I always believe you should consider a unit’s ‘total’ threat range when determining if it’s right for you.
An anti-tank squad loadout with four Lascannons is 176 points. This may sound a lot for a five-man unit but they aren’t terribly difficult to protect – since they can move and shoot at full accuracy, you can place these guys out of line of sight when you deploy or you can set them up in a transport. And four lascannons will give any enemy a lot to think about!
Allegiance
Now we’ve picked our weapons, the next step is to look at the squad’s
It’s very tempting to give your shootiest units the Mark of Slaanesh, as this give them access to Endless Cacophony for 2 Command Points. This devastating Stratagem allows a Heretic Astartes Slaanesh Infantry unit to fire a second time at the end of their Shooting phase. You can’t go wrong here – after all, how does eight lascannon shots sound?
If you make them Emperor’s Children, they will also have the ability to attack first in the Fight phase. This offers your Havocs an effective way to defend themselves (not to mention D6 hits from Overwatch if you gave your Aspiring Champion a flamer) depending on how your opponent chooses to activate their charging units.
Alternatively, make your Havocs hail from the Purge, who have fun new rules in Vigilus Ablaze. First up, their Renegade Trait allows you to re-roll hit rolls for attacks made by their units when targeting enemies that have lost one or more wounds that turn. This means, you only need to score a single wound on a high-value target (like an Imperial Knight or unit of Dark Reapers, etc.) and your Havocs get to re-roll all hit rolls against it. This also frees you up from needing to keep a Chaos Lord or Daemon Prince nearby for those precious re-rolls – and you’ll be re-rolling all your misses, not just 1s!
Not relegating a powerful Character to the rear of your lines allows you to push a significant part of your army forward to claim objectives or simply to overwhelm your opponent with assault threats. I know Havocs are all about shooting, but they can guard your lines and offer effective fire support while the rest of your army advances – after all, I believe an assault army needs to push as many units forward as possible to be successful. For just over 300 points, you can field two units of solid backfield coverage and the rest of your army can charge forward like the crazed heretics they were meant to be.
All Life is Worthless. Not only will your opponent be thinking this as your Havocs blast their army from the tabletop, but this is a powerful new Stratagem available to the Purge. For 1 Command Point, your unit can target enemies with shooting attacks that are within 1” of friendly models. That’s right – you can shoot at things tied up in close combat (though any rolls of a 1 hit friendly models, so there is a risk). While you’re doing all this pushing forward or if you’re the unfortunate recipient of an enemy charge, you call still blow your enemies to pieces with Havocs in the Shooting phase!
If you’re the type of player who likes to spend their Command Points early in the game, Devastation Battery is an amazing Specialist Detachment available to you in Vigilus Ablaze. This unlocks the Armor Bane Warlord Trait and the Punishing Volley Stratagem. If the stars align, you’ll be able to shoot three times with a unit of Havocs before the first battle round is over!
To sum up, consider keeping your Havocs cheap. Don’t tie up points in an Aspiring Champion who will often find himself out of range. Only consider putting them in a transport if you feel like line of sight-blocking scenery will be in short supply. Take at least two of any given heavy weapon in the unit, if you feel the need to diversify at all. And All Life is Worthless!
