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Every day unveils a new boon for the dark angels - an apoc game last night, my opponents used some DWC's - as Alpha Legion, I have a lot of character assassination shenanigans, and the DWC rules allow you to ignore precision shots, strikes and the sniper rule. With 3 of the group playing DA's I need a work around - is there any way to get around it, or is the only way to kill all the companions? They can also take wargear to get an outrageous 4++ against shooting (10pts/model, I think a refractor field is 15pts for a 5++?). My first thought was lots of High S firepower - maybe a conversion beamer from 42+"away, maybe lots of breaching plasma, but then the 4++ comes into it. Is there a decent way to kill these guys to get at the juicy HQ choice, or is it best just to ignore them?

++Thousand Sons Unit of the Week++ ++Magnus the Red++ New codex, new discussions about units! As we already have in other faction sections, this is the Thousand Sons Unit of the Week series, where each week we select and dissect a datasheet found in the book, and discuss how we use the unit in-game, favoured loadouts and combos, essentially how to use these units best. What have you found that works, and what doesnt? Please try to stick to the idea of making the unit in question work, as opposed to pointing out other units that might do a better job - we'll get to those in time! This week, we will be discussing Magnus the Red - the big bad overfiend of the Thousand Sons Legion. Clocking in at almost 500pts, this behemoth is a psychic powerhouse, however not seen on the table too often. Have you been using them in games, and how have you used them? Th Mauler fists in particular have great damage potential at D3+3, and with a move of 10", the fiend is capable of getting into combat. What are you thoughts, and how best would you use the unit? To compliment a list, or to build a list around? Will you be running multiples? What <GREAT CULT>, loadouts, spell relic and Stratagem support do you prefer and how much does it depend on the above choices? Are you buffing this unit, and if so, how? Are you building as a damage dealer or buff-provider? Uses in Matched, Narrative and Open Play How have they fared for you in-game? Over to you. ++Thousand Sons Unit of the Week Index Link++

So I feel compelled to make this topic, and I'm a bit surprised I haven't really seen it yet. While I do enjoy my Ultramarines, my longest standing army going back decades is my chaos collection. In playing my Ultramarines it's been a continual tug of war between enjoying the benefits of the new rules, while shaking my head in dismay at what we (chaos) have had released over the last 3 months. I came to the conclusion that things aren't going to change any time soon for Chaos. We had a warning when GW clearly stated... this is not a new Chaos codex, it's meant to be a compilation of the relevant data sheets. So be that as it may, we have to come up with some clever, hard hitting ways of fighting back. I truly don't feel we're anywhere near on equal footing, but even so I do think we have certain advantages to leverage. Perhaps one of the biggest of these advantages is the amount of "Infantry" I'm seeing for Space Marines. I think Chaos is good at killing infantry overall. I know that's going to get heavily skewed with Iron Hands which I believe will be one of the easiest 'go to' armies for competitive play. And in that case we'll see a lot of Leviathans, and survivable vehicles that can really take a beating. I'm starting to think we need to reduce the quality of shooting, and increase the volume of it. Most of the 'good' infantry is multiwound. Intercessors, White Scar bikers, Ultra Aggressors, Centurions, etc, etc. The vehicles? I think we need to focus on Mortal Wounds. Plenty of them. I anticipate (fingers crossed) that Psychic Awakening will give us greater leverage into that area but for now we have to assume we'll be relying on smite. Unit wise: I just bought two more boxes of Havocs. I still have fun with the Oblits, but the Havocs are a better buy in my opinion. They're easier to hide, and to duplicate. They move faster, and aren't nearly as expensive. I still am relying heavily on Chaincannons. For Vehicles. I really don't know right now. I'd like input. I have recently pulled all my (3) Lord Discordants. They've been dying so easily lately, and I can't seem to get real mileage out of them, but they are a fistfull of great attacks against the right units.... Vehicles. Is this the best solution? What are you guys thinking as far as keeping up with the loyalists?

Hey all. I thought that, since Kill Team has finally hit the shelves, it might be worthwhile to throw together a tactica thread and discuss the new rules and kill team builds, as well as giving people an opportunity to show off some of their new teams. With that in mind, I've thrown together a fairly basic Heretic Astartes team to start off with whilst I get to grips with the system.

Tactics for Units: Seraphim Welcome once again to another exciting installment of my multipart 8th Edition Adepta Sororitas tactica, Tactics for Units. This instalment will be looking at those angelic gunslingers called Seraphim, as iconic a Sororitas unit as exists. Seraphim are pistol wielding, jumppack riding, angelic veterans deployed as a fast moving strikeforce, delivering the Emperor’s wrath where the fighting is thickest. They are those Sororitas who’s Faith shines strongest. Statistics Seraphim are, in terms of statistics, roughly average for Sororitas. Strength and Toughness 3, Leadership 7, 8 on the Sergeant, that nice little BS3+. But they have two places where they stand out, with WS3+ and a Move of 12”! Now, the WS3+ isn’t as great as it could be, with the standard Seraphim only having 1 attack, but 12” of movement is huge for letting these ladies get where they need to be. And with the Fly keyword, they can really capitalise on that movement, both to get into position, and to get out when things get sticky. Overall? Good standard stats, though don’t let the extra WS fool you, these ladies don’t have the attacks to carry an assault against anything tougher than a pre-mauled Guard Infantry Squad. Special Rules So, as always, we start with the basics. Shield of Faith and Acts of Faith. Shield of Faith grants a 6++ Invulnerable save, which is very nice to have even though it’ll rarely come up, given how AP works. It’s unlikely that, with a 3+ save, your Seraphim will be saving on anything less than a 6+ anyway, but as I said, it’s nice to have. It’s going to save a Seraphim against a Meltagun ⅙ of the time, so that’s pretty great. It also grants the unit the ability to Deny The Witch with a single d6 instead of 2d6, making it not hugely useful as you will only be able to deny a power cast on a 5 at most. But it’ll happen occasionally, especially with the increase in buffs that cast on 4s in the newer codexes. As a general rule, Shield of Faith is a pair of minor benefits that are mostly going to surprise your opponent by tripping them up for making some assumptions. Acts of Faith is the gold standard for Adepta Sororitas special rules. This is where the magic is. This rule allows, on the roll of a 2+, one unit with this special rule to make an action before the Movement Phase of their player turn. For Seraphim, the act with the most immediate utility is probably Hand of the Emperor, which allows for an As-If-Movement-Phase move. With their 12” move, this lets the squad really rocket across the board, and get into the exact position you want them to be in. Of note, if you Advance in this move, then you can’t shoot or charge in the Shooting Phase, so make sure you only do this if you really need the extra d6 of move. Also, Advance in your real movement phase as well. Divine Guidance is a close second, giving the squad an extra Shooting Phase. As Seraphim are primarily a shooting unit, this is a great option. If you use this and then are in a position to shoot later, that’s 4 bolt pistol shots per sister. Storm Bolter whom? It gets even better if you’re taking either of the special pistol options, because they are unfortunately expensive, so you want to squeeze every shooting phase possible out of them. Spirit of the Martyr is always a solid choice, as regaining a model is always welcome, but you do need to weigh the utility of the extra model against the above options. The Passion is a pass, honestly. Seraphim only have one attack each, and only the Superior has access to a power weapon. Which is only a power sword, for her two attacks. If you’re in assault, then just shoot your pistols. 2 s4 attacks is better than 1 s3. If you’ve somehow given the unit +1 s and attack then maybe, but even then I’d still prefer the shooting. The next Special Rule Seraphim have is Sky Strike. This allows the unit to be deployed in reserve, brought in at the end of your movement phase, and set up more than 9” from enemy models. This is obviously a pretty powerful rule, allowing you to bypass large sections of the board and place your ladies almost exactly where you want them. However, due to when they get set up, they can’t benefit from Acts of Faith, and their special pistols are both out of range of being used at 9”. Additionally, there are no buff characters that can use a similar rule, so the Seraphim will be hanging out on their own, unless they get deployed quite close to your own lines. Overall, a powerful but situational rule that you should think carefully about before using. The final Special Rule is Angelic Visage, and it is pretty great. This allows the Seraphim to reroll failed Shield of Faith Invulnerable saves. This is functionally almost as good as a 5++ save. If you’re pairing it with St Celestine’s +1 to SoF saves, remember that rerolls happen before modifiers, so you’ll reroll all 1-5s, then any 5 and 6s will be successful saves. This isn’t an enormously powerful rule given the restricted circumstances SoF is useful for, but it’s very good for keeping your ladies alive a bit longer than expected. Overall, a nice selection of Special Rules which give a fairly flexible unit even more flexibility and and surprising amount of durability. Equipment Seraphim come with two bolt pistols and both frag and krak grenades. Bolt Pistols, as I am wont to say, are a great basic pistol to have, as s4 is a solid strength level to be at, but it’s nothing special, due to a lack of AP and extra damage. But you have two of them! So that’s just wonderful. The Frag grenade is always a good option to toss if you’re against infantry, and the Krak grenade is nice to have to throw against monsters and tanks, though the short range on both grenade options does let them down a little. Just try and remember them! Up to two Seraphim may replace their two bolt pistols with either two hand flamers or two inferno pistols. These are both fantastic options, and you should definitely consider grabbing them. It’s best to pair up with the same type of pistol, as they have two rather different targets. The Hand Flamer is a s3 pistol that deals d3 (originally d6, but FAQed to d3) automatic hits within 6”. Two of them is thus 2d3 automatic hits, and it should do roughly twice the amount of wounds as a pair of bolt pistols. Of note is that, because it auto-hits, it bypasses any negatives to hit like Tau Stealth Suits or Death Guard Miasmae of Pestilence. They’re also quite cheap. The Inferno Pistol is a heavy hitter, make no doubt about that. With the profile of a half range Meltagun, a pair of these has the potential to wreck a majority of vehicles out there in one volley. That said, they’re not going to automatically hit or wound, so keep that in mind. On average, they’ll hit and wound on 3s, so you’ll probably get one wound through. With AP-4, and d6 Damage, you’ll probably get 3 Damage through. A 6” range means that you’re quite unlikely to get into melta range, so you do lose out on some reliability from that, but d6 damage is still a Lot. The biggest drawback of inferno pistols is their cost. Buying a pair of them for a pair of sisters may make your Seraphim a nightmare for anything with an armour save, but it’ll cost you almost as much as an entire new unit. Worth the points in my opinion, but the expense does restrict your choices elsewhere in the army. The Seraphim Superior has the option of swapping one of her Bolt Pistols for either a Power Sword or a Chainsword. They’re both alright options. The Chainsword is free, and grants a third attack for the Superior, but doesn’t change her Strength, AP, or Damage. The Sword is a small 4 points, and gives her AP-3 which is lovely. But, like the Chainsword, it doesn’t change her Strength or Damage, and s3 means not a huge amount of wounds are going to happen to benefit from the increased AP. I would suggest the Chainsword, though neither option is bad. The Superior can also swap out another Bolt Pistol for a Plasma Pistol. This one is a hard yes from me. S7 and AP-3 is fantastic, given how little she has to pay for it. Of course, if you don’t want to, it is by no means a compulsory choice. Tactics Seraphim are designed for fast moving harassment strikes. They have the movement to get into places that your opponent will find inconvenient, and they can strike well ahead of your main force without the need for much support. As I see it, there are two main uses for Seraphim. One is as an assassin unit, with a small unit with two ladies carrying Inferno Pistols. This squad is intended to find something expensive, fly next to it, and annihilate it. With luck, they may survive to repeat the process, but this is to be considered an unintended benefit. Low bodies keep this unit cheap, which helps offset the price of the inferno pistols, and helps mitigate the pain of inevitably losing them to a counterstrike. The second use is as a firesweep team. This is a large unit with two ladies carrying hand flamers. This squad is supposed to take on chaff and screening units, knocking them back with sheer weight of fire. The large unit does make it an investment, but the extra bodies do help the squad’s survivability, and their highish leadership should help offset morale. So that’s the Seraphim! A flexible and fast moving squad with a number of unique features that make for a truly unique unit. How do you use your Seraphim? What’s your views on the Special Pistols? Any tips or tricks you’d like to share? Any particularly fantastic battle experiences? I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

My scout units have survived nearly every game I've played in 8th (only about 10 games so far). I have experimented with boaters and sniper rifles, with and without camo cloaks, and with heavy weapons, yet my opponents seem to just leave them alone. Now this might sound like a good thing, especially since I use my scouts primarily to control board space at deployment and for holding objectives. They are doing almost everything I want them to do. But I want them to be a bigger threat. So I am asking for some RG veteran wisdom: How do you equip and play your scouts for maximum impact? Do you consider camo cloaks to be a maybe or a must, or perhaps not worth the points? How many snipers does it take to be a threat? Do you use the shotgun or combat knife varieties? How many scouts do you put in a unit? Do you use Land Speeder Storms? If so, how do you use them and equip them? Thanks for the help!

Tactics for Units: Retributors Welcome back to another installment of my on-going set of 8th Edition Adepta Sororitas tactica articles, Tactics for Units. This installment will be giving a look to the heavy weapon wielding warriors that are the Retributors. Retributors are Sororitas who have a particular propensity for the precise and overwhelming application of heavy firepower. They are formed together into squads on the battlefield to best utilise their practiced skill and heavy weaponry. Statistics There’s nothing here that should stand out as unusual, for a regular battleline Sororitas. Strength and toughness 3, 3+ save and Ballistic Skill, 4+ Weapon Skill, so on and so forth. As usual, the Retributor Superior has +1 attack, and +1 Leadership, so the unit has LD8 while she’s around. A 6” move is nothing special, but obviously it takes them where they need to go. Which, given they’re carrying heavy weapons, isn’t far. The BS3+ is really good for a shooting unit, as you may expect, allowing you to handle a few negative To-Hit modifiers, such as the penalty for moving, and still be able to shoot relatively straight. The 3+ save is very nice, meaning you should save around two thirds of oncoming fire, AP notwithstanding. If they sit in cover, that jumps to five sixths, which is very nice. Special Rules Retributors have the two standard Adeptus Ministorum special rules, Shield of Faith and Acts of Faith. They don’t have anything beyond that, but they don’t exactly need more. Shield of Faith is a neat little rule that grants a 6+ invulnerable save, and a Deny the Witch on 1d6 rather than 2d6. The latter is neat, but as you might already be thinking, not super useful, given average dice rolls, and the average Warp Charge on psychic powers. But it’ll come up from time to time, and it does mean that you’ve got a little something in the Psychic Phase, unlike most armies that don’t have psykers. The 6+ Invulnerable save is pretty neat. More likely to come up than the Deny the Witch, but still comparatively rare with the way AP works. For a 3+ armour save to need better than a 6+ roll, you’re looking at a -4, so things like melta, neutron lasers, volcano cannons, those sorts of things. But it’s nice to have, and any 6+ save you make will be by the Grace of Him-On-Earth, so that’s always fun. Acts of Faith is the heavy lifter of Sororitas special rules, and no mistake. This allows one unit in your army to make an out of phase action before the Movement phase begins. This occurs at the same time as anything else that occurs at the beginning of the turn, such as Canticles of the Omnissiah. Of particular note for Retributors is Hand of the Emperor. This allows the unit to make a move as if it were the movement phase. The penalty on shooting after moving with a heavy weapon is on the preceding movement phase, IE the move you make in the movement phase only. As Hand of the Emperor occurs before the movement phase, you can use this to reposition your Retributors, then have then sit still in the movement phase, and fire to full effect in the shooting phase. However, be aware that the restrictions on Advancing and shooting are in effect if you advance at all before you shoot. Divine Guidance is also gold letter Awesome for Retributors. This Act of Faith allows a squad to shoot as if it were the shooting phase. Self explanatory. Awesome. Spirit of the Martyr is great on Retributors, as it allows a model previously slain to be set back up. Heavy weapons are expensive, so getting one of them back is worth so much. It also gives your squad a little more resilience than your opponent might be expecting. The Passion allows the unit to pile in and attack as if it were the fight phase. Retributors do not want to be fighting in combat, so I’d say avoid. Statistically, you’re better off using Divine Guidance to get the Retributors to shoot the bolt pistols they all have, because they’re more likely to hit and wound with that. Maybe worth considering if the Superior has a power weapon, and there’s hardly any retributors left, but even then, I’d avoid using The Passion. Equipment As standard, Retributors all come stock with bolters, bolt pistols, and grenades of the frag and krak variety. All are solid enough options, with the bolter and pistol being the reliable workhorse armaments you want. S4 is good, and rapid fire/pistol 1 are good, though firmly nothing special. Frag grenades aren’t bad if you’re against a large unit of T3 bodies, though not if they have a decent save, and kraks are a solid option against most things. If you’re within 6” when you shoot and you have a Retributor without a special or heavy weapon, give throwing a grenade a serious think. While the stock armaments are solid enough, that’s not why you’re taking Retributors. What you’re taking them for is the fact that up to four of them can take a heavy weapon. Oh yes, very nice. The heavy weapons the Retributors can take come, as everything Sororitas does, in three flavours; Heavy Flamers, Multimeltas, and Heavy Bolters. Heavy Bolters are solid choice if all you want is some heavy firepower that sits in the middle of your deployment zone that can handle shooting at just about anything. 3 shots at AP-1 and S5 means they’ve got a good chance at wounding most things, so you’ll seldom have a wasted turn of shooting with them. Multimeltas are somewhat more specific in use. In previous editions, a multimelta Retributor squad was generally considered a terrible waste of points, aside from some very specific and niche uses, but in 8th they’ve had somewhat of a renaissance. 24” range does mean the squad will need to be moving a lot, but with decent access to Dedicated Transports, and moving only imposing a -1 to shooting, Retributors have the tools they need to actually use the multimelta. And when the unit gets into range? Boy howdy. 4 shots at S8 and AP-1 is going to make anything short of a Super-Heavy have a bad day. The gun’s special rule means that at 12” (half maximum range), you roll 2d6 and pick the highest for damage. That’s a hefty proposition. A squad of Retributors with 4 of these is a scary group of ladies. Take them, and watch them wreck vehicles and monsters. Heavy Flamers are similarly specific in use, but that’s largely due to their rather short range. Like regular flamers, Heavy Flamers automatically hit d6 times, at an 8” range. Which is practically touching distance. That said, d6 automatic hits at S5 and AP-1 is pretty fantastic. The strength means most things you’ll be setting on fire have a reasonable chance at hurting, and the AP is nice to help ensure a few of the wounds stick. The d6 means that the Heavy Flamer isn’t a bad choice for taking on larger groups, and in a group of 4 has the ability to put out a lot of hurt. But, even more so than the multimelta, heavy flamer retributors need help to be mobile. A transport is a must, and using Hand of the Emperor to help get them into position is a strong choice. Of note, because the Heavy Flamer automatically hits, if effectively ignores the -1 penalty for moving with a heavy weapon. So keep them moving! Now, you can mix and match your weapon choices, but I’d recommend sticking to one type for much the same reason as I did in the Dominions Tactics for Units; redundancy and focus. Retributors aren’t the place to build a flexible workhorse unit, for that take Battle Sisters, and let them hold onto an objective with it. Retributors are a tool to be used to do a specific thing. The Superior can swap her bolter for a different Ranged Weapon or a Melee Weapon, and her bolt pistol for a different Pistol. Ranged Weapons include the ever nice stormbolter, which is cheap enough to take if you just want a little more firepower but don’t have the points. It’s an effective choice for the same reason that a bolter is a good workhorse. S4 is a solid strength, and throwing dice at a problem often solves it. The Condemnor Boltgun is a hard pass. I try to avoid outright recommending against choices, but the condemnor is just bad. It’s a bolter than does d3 damage if the target is a psyker. That’s it. It is only 1 point, but it’s spending 1 point to have what’s almost entirely just a bolter AND to not be able to take a different ranged weapon. Combi-weapons are worth a look, though they’re all a touch pricey. A Combi-flamer has obvious synergy with heavy flamers, as you’ll already be within range of the same target, and an extra d6 shots is always nice, even if they’re at a lower S and AP. A Combi-melta doesn’t synergise immediately with any squad loadout, being too short ranged to effectively work with heavy bolters, the melta stats are appropriate for different targets to the heavy flamer, and the range difference compare to multimeltas makes it a bit awkward to use, but taking it does allow your squad to handle a few more threats than otherwise. As I said earlier, mixing loadouts isn’t something I’d recommend, but if you do, taking a single combi-weapon to cover your bases is definitely a better option than mixing heavy weapons. The Combi-plasma is interesting. It’s a plasma weapon, which Sororitas can’t normally take. It’s relatively cheap, closer to a combi-flamer than a combi-melta, has good Strength, AP, and ok range. The damage isn’t great, but overcharging it is a possibility. Taking one doesn’t necessarily support any particular load out, but plasma fire seems to be something that can pretty easily find a place. Just a warning, don’t overcharge at the same time as you shoot the bolter portion! The -1 to hit means the model will die on a 1 or a 2, and that’s decidedly undesirable. Tactics Retributors are probably best used in one of three styles; Anti-Infantry, Anti-Big Stuff, and Generalist. Anti-infantry is a unit taking 4 heavy flamers, and shoving them into a transport of your preference. They’ll pile out, set something on fire, and then move on. 4d6 S5 hits is going to put a lot of hurt on even heavily armoured infantry. Anti-Big Stuff is the amended anti-vehicle, but it’s also the anti-monster, and anti-things that are large but aren’t really either monsters or vehicles, but Anti-Big Stuff is probably easiest to say and type. Anyhow, Anti-Big Stuff is four multimeltas, maybe in a transport? Regardless, they hike their way over to something big and scary, and they do their best to carve it up like a Sunday roast. Generalist is four heavy bolters, stashed somewhere where they can see a lot of things, preferably in cover, and left to find targets of opportunity. Taking additional retributors doesn’t allow you to take more heavy weapons past the standard four, so there’s some efficiency to be had just taking the base squad plus weapons. Plus, this lets them fit into both Immolators and Rhinos without worry. But that’s not to say that extra sisters is a bad idea. Taking the extra bodies gives you some insulation between losing heavy weapons to return fire, and the extra bolter shots can help shift things through weight of fire. Note that taking more than one additional retributor will prevent the squad from riding in an Immolator until they’ve taken some casualties, and taking any will prevent a character riding in an Immolator with them. If you want a Character to tag along in a Rhino, don’t take more than 9 Retributors in total. It’s a solid idea to have a Canonness babysit a squad of Retributors, as her reroll Ones aura is fantastic for anyone not automatically hitting. She also provides some combat threat to a unit that is otherwise almost completely shooting. If you’re running heavy flamers or multimeltas, it’s likely that you’ll be getting into combat quite soon, and a Canoness with an eviscerator or the Blade of Admonition can really help. She also provides an opportunity for another combi-weapon, if you’re interested in that. Another character to consider pairing up is the Imagifer. As I’ve mentioned before, Acts of Faith are fantastic on Retributors, and the Imagifer allows for the chance at an extra Act of Faith for a unit within 6”. So, if you’re expecting to have a lot more opportunities for Acts of Faith than you have actual Acts available, and you really want your Retributors to use theirs, consider an Imagifer. It’s not a guarantee, but nothing in life really is, right? So that’s the Retributor Squad! Now that I’ve had my say, what are your thoughts? Tips and tactics? Dirty tricks? Any general suggestions on how to get the most out of them? Looking forwards to hearing from you all!

So I haven't had a chance to play against a pure Custodes army... in truth I only see one local player trying them that way, and the rest seem to be content making them allies with other armies. That's no surprise, but it's worth mentioning that it appears out of the gate Custodes are probably not seeing single faction competitive/semi-competitive play. I started thinking about making GK lists that would tackle Custodes best. For the sake of argument let's say we are talking mono-Gk vs. mono-Custodes. On the surface GK provide the 'magic bullet' against the mono-Custodes army... that being mortal wounds, and psychic powers. But I think it goes beyond that: - So we have psychic might. Unless the Custodes are exceptionally lucky using the odd trick in the codex, pretty much anything is going through. This helps with mobility against an army that has very little board coverage so something like Gate becomes more valuable here. - Mobility. GK have a lot of inherent deep strike. Usually we're struggling to keep something on the ground to make lists legit. On the ground we have a few choices with inherent speed where the Custodes seem to be heavily relying on bikes. Their bikes are amazing, and super cost effective, but that's the core of mobility plus their own flavour of termies. - Durability. I think to be fair the Custodes have it here... hands down. The numbers aren't going to be numerous for either force, and less so for the Custodes but at T5, plus the legion trait of basically a 4++ is nice. However in a lot of cases I will argue it can be negated, or not a factor. But it definitely helps, and I'd have to say there's probably not a lot of debate on this point. - Shooting. I think overall, and looking at unit options, the GK actually have more flexibility here. I think the stock shooting on the Strike is adequate, and you have some flexibility in the dreads, and definitely the Flyers. (I think a lot of GK players get a little caught up in elite units and Stormtalons / Stormravens are still decent choices). This essentially means GK -should- have the advantage in 'softening' up the opponent from range. Especially combined with deep strike positioning. So that leaves the Custodes specialization: - Close Combat. 8th is really weird for CC in my opinion. The more I engage in it, the more finicky it becomes... characters can be left in the cold, and interrupting can make a multi combat absolute hell for the player initiating it. With point 1 we could argue Thousand Sons could really excel there as well, but there is the problem of Close combat. I would suggest that GK force weapons are murderous on multi-wound, specialized units. I find the force weapons really come into their own here, whereas facing cultists, orks, etc, then they can feel frustrating. Of course Custodes hit like a gold brick, but in 8th it's really about the charge and I'd argue a lot of GK units can and do severely threaten the livelihood of any Custodes that get charged. Character wise Gk are no slouch here either. I mean I personally love Voldus for fluff reasons as well as game play, but Draigo is a beast, and we know how strong the Brother-Captain Dreadnights are. Let's be fair, almost 100% of soup lists that cherry pick GK take THIS unit. Do you think that wold change with Custodes? Perhaps a character on a bike, surrounded with Custodes bikes (detachment) will be the norm but for the sake of this argument, I don't know enough about all the choices Custodes have, but I still think GK have some of the most fierce, infantry based, characters in the game. I started to realize out of all the armies I play perhaps GK would present the biggest threat to Custodes.... What do you guys think?

Tactics for Units: Celestians Welcome back to another exciting instalment of Tactics for Units, a multipart tactica series for Adepta Sororitas in 8th Edition. This time we're going to be looking at the much maligned Celestian squad. The Celestians are Adepta Sororitas veterans, usually found at the heart of any battle, where their experience will prove most useful. They are hard bitten and experienced warriors, capable and deadly. Celestians have traditionally suffered from being a close combat unit with the equipment of a ranged unit. This hasn't exactly changed. What has changed is that the equipment of a ranged unit has become much less hostile to close combat. The standard issue boltgun allows the Celestian squad to lay down similar firepower to an equivalent number of regular battle sisters, and the squad can carry the same number of heavy and special weapons. What this means, in essence, is that a Celestian squad is roughly similar to a battle sister squad, except that it can survive in close combat a bit better, and is slightly less vulnerable to morale. Statistics Celestians have a fairly standard statline for Sisters of Battle, with BS3+, and 3s everywhere you’d expect to see them. They do however have rather nice bonuses over regular Battle Sisters in the form of WS3+, and an extra attack and point of Leadership. This means the squad is testing for Leadership on the Superior’s Leadership of 9! That’s pretty great! The Superior is also throwing around 3 Attacks in her own right, which is certainly nice. However, it doesn’t gel particularly well with the Strength 3 “enjoyed” by Sisters. They’re likely to have difficulty making their higher number of attacks stick, especially against anything with a Toughness of 6 or higher. Overall, it’s a solid enough statline, wrapped up with a neat 3+ save bow, but it’s nothing particularly interesting. The squad can go from the base 5 models up to 10, and each Celestian is expensive, but not obscenely so, being 1pt above Dominions and 2pts above Battle Sisters. Special Rules As expected, Celestians bring the classic Acts of Faith and Shield of Faith rules. Shield of Faith grants a 6+ Invulnerable Save, which is always nice to have, even if it doesn’t come up hugely often. It also grants a modified Deny the Witch roll, rolling on 1d6 rather than the usual 2d6. It won’t deny much more than the occasional lowballed Smite, but there are an increasing amount of low Warp Charge buffs in new codexes, so keep it in mind. Acts of Faith are the gold standard of Adepta Sororitas special rules. Before the Movement Phase begins, on a roll of a 2+, you can choose a unit in your army with this rule to make an out-of-phase action. Hand of the Emperor is always a solid bet, as an extra move can help you get into a useful position faster than your opponent might be expecting. Of note*, if you Fall Back or Advance with this move, you can’t charge or shoot later in the turn, as these are both contingent on whether you’ve performed the action in the same turn at all, not in a specific phase. So, if you do either, consider Advancing in your subsequent Movement Phase. An extra d6 (Or 2d6 if you Advance twice!) of move will only amplify the exciting mobility this AoF grants. HotE grants a bit of a workaround for the Heavy Weapon movement penalty, in contrast. The -1 for moving is counted from the previous Movement Phase, so you could redeploy a squad of Celestians with HotE, stand still in the Movement Phase, and then fire at full effect in the Shooting Phase. As a Shooty Unit in a Shooty Army, Divine Guidance is an excellent choice of AoF for Celestians. Getting an extra shooting phase is fantastic, even if it’s only for one unit. If you’ve got your Celestians in a good position to shoot a unit, then fantastic! Note, if you’re firing Heavy weapons, the -1 to hit is predicated on the previous Movement Phase, which means if you moved last turn, you’re at a -1. This isn’t too big of an issue, given the only two Heavy weapons you’ll be worrying about are the Heavy Bolter and Multimelta, which will each be one weapon out of 5 (or more). The Passion is an interesting one, as Celestians DO have an extra attack and that lovely WS3+. My gut feeling is that you’re likely to have better candidates for your AoF than getting Celestians to fight a second time, but if that’s not the case, it’s statistically more likely to do wounds than having the ladies Divine Guidance with their pistols. Spirit of the Martyr is never a bad option, in my opinion. Especially with an expensive per-model unit like Celestians. SotM helps keep even heavily damaged units in the fight, meaning your opponent can’t afford to just leave a unit alive, no matter that it consists of a single Bolter Sister. Prioritise Special and Heavy Weapons, and the Superior, for the most bang per buck, although these are the models likely to be removed last. Celestians have, in addition to AoF and SoF, a neat little special rule called Bodyguard. This cool little number allows Celestians to intercept wounds lost by <Order> Characters within 3” of the unit. On a 2+, the Character doesn’t lose a wound, but the Celestian unit suffers a Mortal Wound instead. This is, obviously, a bit situational, but it could be a good way to extend the lifespan of your Warlord. Of note, the rule kicks in when the Character loses a wound, so after Saves, after damage is rolled, and after any special rules that might interrupt Wounds, like the Rulebook Warlord Trait. It’d work best if you start with a larger unit of Celestians to cushion the loses you’ll be taking. *There is some contention as to whether HotE grants a move with the same restrictions as a move in the Movement Phase, or if, because it’s in a different phase, you can ignore the restrictions, IE Falling Back refers specifically to the Movement Phase, so if you’re not in the Movement Phase you can ignore the Falling Back section. I’m following the former, as it’s the interpretation I’ve been working from with all my Tactics for Units, and it’s also the one that makes more sense to me. Equipment Celestians have, in a nutshell, the exact same equipment and equipment options as the regular Battle Sister Squad. I’ll still go over it all as usual, but there’s going to be a fair bit of overlap, so be aware. The Bolter is nice as a basic workhorse weapon, and the Bolt Pistol is a solid side arm, as it can be fired into the combat that your Celestians are likely to get into. Frag and Krak grenades are always fun, giving the unit a bit more kick in either anti-horde with the the Frag grenades, or Anti-tough things with the Krak Grenade. Remember to throw one if you’re within 6”. Special Weapons The Stormbolter is nice, being essentially two bolters taped together. But, obviously, that’s not going to do much to boost the flexibility of the squad. Anything bolters will have trouble with, the stormbolter will also struggle with. The Flamer is in a similar position, because other than d6 automatic hits and being an Assault weapon, but they both do very well at helping sweep hordes. They’re both quite cheap weapons, which is nice always. The Meltagun is kinda in the exact opposite of this. Low shots, expensive, high strength, ap and damage. It’s range is midway between the flamer and the stormbolter, but the best range is half of that and thus shorter than both, as that triggers the ‘roll two and pick highest’ rule for damage. All three weapons have a firm purpose, and like the Celestian squad itself, will be best off if you pair the weapon to the purpose. Heavy Weapons You know them, you love them. The Heavy Bolter is always a classic, with better number of shots, better Strength, better range, and better AP than the standard Bolter. 36” of AP-1 and S5 shots is pretty great. Doesn’t pair super well with the range of the squad’s bolters or the special weapons, though. The Multimelta is a meltagun with double the range. Hard to go wrong, and it pairs well with bolters, what with the whole ‘Getting better at 12” range’ thing they share. The Heavy is much the same as the heavy bolter, having better AP and Strength than its special weapon sibling, but doesn’t increase in weight of fire or range. Still great, mind you. All three weapons have ‘Heavy’ as their weapon type, which means they’ll be getting a -1 to hit if the bearer moves in the preceding movement phase, so keep that in mind. Except, of course, the heavy flamer, as it hits automatically. The multimelta and heavy bolter are somewhat situational, but the heavy flamer is a straight upgrade over the standard flamer, and I’d only recommend not taking it if you’re lacking for points or you plan on advancing and shooting a lot with your Celestians. The Sister Superior gets the standard set of options. Swap her bolter for a stormbolter or a combi-weapon, or for a melee weapons, and swap her bolt pistol for another, fancier, pistol. A ranged weapon is a chance to support the special and heavy weapons you’ve given the squad. A stormbolter in a squad with another two stormbolters, or a combi-melta to give a third meltagun shot. Or you could use it to give the squad some generality, like giving a melta armed squad a combi-flamer in case they get charged. The combi-plasma is nice, given Adepta Sororitas haven’t got a huge amount of ways to get the deliciousness that is 8th edition plasma, but do remember to not overcharge and shoot both barrels of the combi-weapon. That -1 to hit doubles your chances of losing your Superior to ⅓. Probably best to skip over the Condemnor, unless you’re planning on running a cheap squad against a psyker heavy army. It’s cheap, but the d3 damage is so situational that I struggle to say it’s worth even 1 point. Melee weapons are a mixed bag. You’re likely to be looking for them, given the extra attacks and weapon skill of the Celestian squad, and this is the only way to jam one into the squad. The Chainsword is free, of course, and grants a bonus attack, bringing her all the way up to four. Gosh! That said, it does nothing to combat the main issue with Sisters in combat, being that they’re still strength 3, and the chainsword brings no AP to make the wounds you’re not making stick. It’s not bad, but nor is it good. It’s just… Free. Power Weapons are a sliding scale of extra AP to extra strength. The sword is AP-3 but brings no extra strength, the middle of the road axe has AP-2 and +1S, and the maul brings a nice +2S and AP-1 to the table. The Axe is 1pt more expensive than the other two, but brings a nice balance. Of the cheaper two, it’s best to stay away from the sword, but the maul is definitely a nice choice, especially for a point less than the axe. With 3 attacks, you’re likely to get a decent amount of mileage out of a power-weapon, and the maul and axe are both solid options to run with. Pistols are of either the Plasma or Infernus variety, but both boast more than decent strength and AP. The plasma pistol is, frankly, cheap as chips, and you have the option of overcharging it for strength 8 and 2 damage, though you risk losing your Superior altogether. The infernus pistol is a bit situational. It’s comparatively expensive and has a mere 6” range. BUT d6 damage is always nice to be throwing around, and if you’re in melee with a unit, you’re practically guaranteed to be within half range for the 2d6 pick highest damage to kick in. Tactics The Celestian squad has two main uses, as I see it. One is the Bodyguard Squad, which functions as a Battle Sister Squad that stands near your Warlord Canoness and helps prevent her dying. In this case, you’ll want to have a bigger squad, to maximise the amount of bullets they can sponge, and keep them cheap, so losing models won’t hurt you too much. You could run them 9 strong in a Rhino, or 5 strong in an Immolator. Stormbolters and flamers are decent choices for special weapons, as they both boost the firepower of the squad but aren’t expensive. As for heavy weapons, the Canoness is heavily geared towards melee, and so are the Celestians, which means you’ll be moving around a lot, so stay away from the heavy bolter and multimelta. The Heavy flamer may have a place, but it’s expensive so that’s up to your personal discretion. The other option is an elite killsquad. In this case, they function much like Dominions, in that you load them up with a specific weapon type, pop them in a transport, and have them try and knock out something expensive. Dominions do this better, between more access to special weapons and their Vanguard move, but Celestians do have the admittedly niche ability of being able to charge a unit and for it to not be categorically an awful decision. Which makes them good(ish) for killing off an expensive infantry unit. Something with comparatively low toughness, maybe with not great saves as well, though toughness is the bigger of the two. These two approaches can be combined, if you’re happy to throw a Canoness at a problem. Gear her up with an Eviscerator and an infernus pistol, and have the Celestians run interference. What’s your experience with Celestians? How do you use them?

Tactics for Units - Repentia; Sisters and Mistresses Welcome back to Tactics for Units, my multi-part series on Adepta Sororitas tactics, for Adepta Sororitas units. This time we’ll be looking at somewhat of a controversial unit in 8th Edition; the Repentia. We’ll also be examining the Mistress of Repentance, as her abilities and fluff mesh so well with Repentia that it’d be more difficult to examine them separately. The Repentia are heavy infantry and light vehicle slayers, and a potentially deadly close combat threat to most anything else. They are lightly armoured, of average speed, and occupy an Elite Slot that is currently more diverse and competitive than ever before. The Repentia are those Sororitas who have committed acts so heinous to the Sisterhood that the only redemption to be found is in a glorious and sacrificial death. Divested of their regular wargear, they wield enormous eviscerators, and hunt down the greatest of threats on the field. The Mistress of Repentance supervises the Repentia, both driving them on to greater fervour, and restraining them from ill-advised assaults, helping to maximise their battlefield effectiveness, and the likelihood of their redemption. Statistics The Repentia have a good, though fairly standard stat line at first glance. It's the same veteran line you'll see on Sisters Superior and on Celestians. Of note is the 2 attacks and Weapon Skill of 3+, as befits a dedicated combat unit. Like other Sisters, the strength and toughness of 3 are a bit mediocre, especially on a combat unit, but leadership 8 is great to help them stick around. And you'll need it, because these ladies have a 7+ save. That's right. They don't even have shirts on. They die easily to a harsh look. The Mistress of Redemption has what you might consider a Canoness-lite stat line. WS and BS are 3+, and she has 4 wounds and 3 attacks. Pretty good! Everything else is standard for a Sororitas character; LD8, Strength and Toughness of 3, a power armour 3+ save. Overall, a nice little character with a bit of heft. Special Rules Repentia share the two standard Adepta Sororitas special rules, Acts of Faith and Shield of Faith. Shield of Faith is very important for Repentia, as it actually gives them a save. Sure, it's only a 6++, but, as it's an invulnerable save, you'll always have it, which can't always be said. It's important, but it's not necessarily going to be very useful. Repentia will still die in droves if you're not careful with them. As ever, the 1d6 Deny the Witch exists. It might happen. Probably won't. But you never know! Acts of Faith is going to be roughly as useful to Repentia as it is to most other Sororitas units. Of particular note, Hand of the Emperor’s extra move phase would really help position the Repentia where they need to be to do the most damage, and Spirit of the Martyr can help patch up the fact that this squad will be taking considerable losses. Repentia are also one of the few Sororitas units that might want to use The Passion, as their strength is certainly in the assault, so why not double up on that? And it's a fight phases free of retribution, which definitely sounds good for the paper thin ladies. Just remember that you need to already have the unit engaged in assault to use this one. The Mistress of Repentance has the shared rules Acts of Faith and Shield of Faith, and a couple of her own. Shield of Faith means the Mistress will always have that 6++ save, and given she actually has an armour save to speak of, she might survive long enough to pass the one 6++ roll she might have to make. The Deny the Witch is not likely to come up, but maybe it'll work. There's always a chance. Acts of Faith are, as ever, always going to be wonderful. Hand of the Emperor could allow the Mistress to keep up with her Repentia charges, which is a perennial issue with 8th Edition and unit specific buff characters like her. With the random nature of charges and Advancing, a unit can quite easily get pulled out of coherency with their buffing character or vice versa. Hand of the Emperor helps rectify this. Avoid Divine Guidance, as her shooting is lackluster and you are almost guaranteed a better use of your Faith. As with any multiwound model, Spirit of the Martyr is great to keep her wobbling along the battlefield a little longer. Like the Repentia, The Passion is worth a look, as an extra chance to deal out her lovely 3 attacks is certainly nice. The Mistress’ other special rules are Angelic Visage and Driven Onwards. Angelic Visage allows the Mistress to reroll failed Shield of Faith invulnerable saves. Ooh yes please. Statistically, this boost the likelihood of passing the save to 30%, which is almost as good as having a 5++. Driven Onwards is the Repentia-specific buff rule you're probably bringing the Mistress for. It allows <Order> Repentia to reroll Advance, Charge, and To Hit rolls. It's a 6” bubble, but notably does not affect the Mistress, as she lacks the Repentia keyword. With a 6” bubble, you could potentially get several Repentia within range at a time. Equipment Repentia have exactly one piece of equipment; the Penitent Eviscerator. Don’t be fooled by the eviscerator title, this isn’t the beastly queen of close combat that the Canoness can take. This is still good, don’t get me wrong, but in a very different sense. Strength x2, AP-2, and 2 Damage is great, and in many ways more reliable than a standard eviscerator, but losing out on the AP-4 hurts a bit. The 2 Damage helps rectify things, though, as it is something reliable on what is often an unreliable platform. Attacking with these gives a -1 penalty to hit, so it’s good Repentia have WS3+. The Penitent Eviscerator means that Repentia are perhaps best in the role of heavy infantry and light vehicle shredding. The Mistress of Repentance has Neural Whips, and both Frag and Krak grenades. The Neural Whips are AP-2 power weapons that grant a +1 to wound if the target unit’s highest leadership is less than 8. Which is great. It doesn’t work on Vehicles, though, so she’ll be striking at her mediocre S3 against tanks and Space Marines. Overall, a solid enough weapon, and she has 3 Attacks to actually make use of it. It’s important to remember frag and krak grenades, of course, as she doesn’t have any other ranged weapons, so if you’re within 6”, have her chuck one. Frag is useful if you’re against T3-5, and if you can hope to force a few failed saves. The low strength and lack of AP can be annoying, though, and there’s always the chance of rolling a 1 for the number of shots. The Krak grenade runs the risk of just outright missing, but against most things it’ll be wounding on a 3 or better, and d3 damage can really help take out an annoying character or vehicle. Tactics Repentia hit hard, but they’re fragile as anything. With that, and their average move stat in mind, they really need a transport. Either a Rhino or an Immolator will do you well, though my money's on the Rhino, as the Immolator’s weapon can make it tempting to shoot, when you really need to be Advancing across the battlefield. Barrel across the field, drop them off, and have them charge something valuable. Don’t expect them to survive after this, though. Alternatively, you can use them as a counter-charge unit in your backfield. You’ll still want to put them in a vehicle, though. The Mistress of Repentance is almost an Auto-Take with the Repentia, as rerolling to hit rolls alone is worth the ticket price, but rerolling charges really helps guarantee the Repentia will be charging where they need to be. She’s also comparatively good at clearing chaff that might slow down the Repentia. I’ll be honest here. I haven’t used Repentia very much, and when I have, they certainly haven’t impressed me. I’m not entirely sure how to recommend their use. As such, I’m just going to throw open the floor to the community. How do YOU use Repentia? What do you think of them?

Welcome to the second in my Adepta Sororitas Tactica series, Tactics for Units. This time, we're going to be looking at the humble Battle Sister Squad. The archetypal Adepta Sororitas unit if ever there were one, the Battle Sister Squad is a flexible and practical ranged unit that will form the backbone of the majority of Sisters lists. While it is our only Troops choice, there is little the BSSquad can't do, and what there is that is covered adequately by our specialist squads. It excels, as all Sororitas do, at delivering short range firepower, but is vulnerable to assault due to both a lack of melee options and mediocre statistics. The BSSquad compares favourably to an Astra Militarum Infantry Squad in terms of firepower and seriously increased durability, and almost approaches the legendary flexibility of the Space Marine Tactical Squad, though it loses out on durability and melee power. As such, it may be best to consider the Battle Sister Squad as a better Infantry Squad in use and tactics, than to attempt to compare them to the Tactical Squad. Statistics: A standard stat line for baseline humans, and favourably comparable to the average Guardsman, though with the notable exceptions of Leadership 7 (8 on the Sister Superior), and Ballistic Skill 3+, which are both excellent and on par with the average Space Marine. BS3+ puts the BSSquad on par with a Tactical Squad in terms of firepower, hitting with a full two thirds of their shots, which is pretty great and supports the squad’s primary role as a ranged firebase. Weapon Skill 4+ however, is a step back, and combines poorly with the unit’s Strength 3, leaving the squad comparatively vulnerable in assault. However, with the Sister Superior’s 2 attacks and access to melee weapons, and the removal of Initiative from the game, a charging BSSquad has the potential to deliver at least a couple of wounds to the unprepared. Toughness 3 is important, as it means most basic weaponry will be wounding the squad on 3s, which pretty severely impacts their survivability. However, with the 8th Ed To Wound chart, T3 is more durable to S5 attacks than ever before, a Strength that is likely to be seen in high numbers across all armies. A 3+ save rounds out the package, the same armour as a Tactical squad. Between this and T3, this gives the squad slightly less durability than said Tactical Squad, but that is far from something to be sneezed at. 3+ means two thirds of AP- firepower should bounce off, and the squad will still be getting a 6+ save against Lascannons and Plasma. Pretty sturdy, all things considered! Finally, the BSSquad starts at 4 Battle Sisters, and one Sister Superior, and has the option of an extra 10 Battle Sisters, for a total of 15 models. Nice bit of flexibility. Just keep in mind that a full 15 Sisters won’t be able to ride in a transport of any sort. It’s also notable that even a minimum size squad can take both Heavy and/or Special weapons, but a full size squad is still restricted to the same. More Battle Sisters provide exactly that, and no more. Extra Battle Sisters. Special Rules: The Battle Sister Squad has no unique special rules, just the two Army wide rules, but they are both great utility rules. Acts of Faith is huge, giving the BSSquad a chance to either shoot out of phase, take an extra move, fight in combat, or even resurrect a fallen member. As a primarily ranged squad, taking the extra shooting phase is a great option, doubling that squad's firepower for free, and will rarely be a bad idea. Taking the extra move can help you get the ladies where they need to be,whether that's onto an objective, out of combat, or into a firing lane. Worth noting are how this move interacts with the various special movement options. If they Fall Back out of combat, they then cannot shoot, charge or advance later in the same turn. This means your squad can Fall Back, and then move freely in the Movement Phase, but they are still locked out of shooting. Similarly for Advancing, if you Advance, you cannot shoot or charge later in the turn, though you can Advance in the Movement phase AND with the Act of Faith movement, so if you're planning on Advancing in either phase, consider Advancing in both. And finally, the -1 To Hit penalty for moving Heavy weapons is counted from the Previous Movement phase, so you could use the AoF move to redeploy your squad, then remain stationary in the Movement phase, and fire your Heavy weapon at full effect! Potentially very useful for maximising that single Multimelta shot. An Extra Pile-in and Fight may seem like a poor choice, but it does come with freedom from retribution. Consider using this to bloody the nose of something that charged your Sisters but didn't quite manage to finish them off, and then Fall Back as normal. Most likely you'll be able to think of a better option, however, as bolt pistols can be fired in melee range, and are S4 compared to the Sisters' S3. Resurrection is a great little option, as with T3 it is likely that your BSSquad will get a bit bloodied over the course of a battle. With the ability to return models free from the constraints of a medic, this means no squad is ever out of the fight. Prioritise special weapons and Sisters Superior, though they're likely to be the last models removed anyway. This is never really a bad option. Shield of Faith: This rule grants a 6++ Invulnerable save, and a modified Deny the Witch. of Faith allows any unit with it to Deny the Witch as if they were a psyker, but they can only roll one dice when they do so. As you may guess, this isn't going to stop much, but there's always the chance to deny a stray Smite with a mere Battle Sister Squad which is a possibility worth rolling for, and this is an ability that is practically unheard of outside of Sisters. Like the 6++, it's nice to have, but won't come up particularly often. Equipment: As standard, each Sister in the squad has a Bolter, a Bolt pistol, and frag and krak grenades. One Sister has the option of taking either a Heavy or a Special weapon, and a second may take another Special weapon. The Sister Superior may take a stormbolter, a combi-weapon, a special pistol and a melee weapon. The Bolter (also referred to as a Boltgun, these terms are interchangeable) is a reliable standard weapon, at S4, Rapid Fire 1, and 24” range. Though this is nothing special, it's hard to go wrong. With BS3+, the BSSquad can send a decent amount of bolter fire down range, reliably threatening anything short of T8. Similarly, Bolt Pistols are reliable, but nothing special. Of note is that Pistols may be fired when the unit is within 1” of an enemy unit, and all your Sisters have one. Might be nice to give the BSSquad an extra shooting phase with an AoF, and unleash a bit of short range hell. One model per unit can throw a grenade, so try not to forget it (as I usually do). Frag provides d6 S3 shots, which is a nice way to boost the squads fire against a large unit. Or a smaller unit than you want to try and drown in saves. Krak grenades are better against single targets, with S6 and d3 Damage but only one shot. They also have AP-1, so they are an option if you're getting annoyed at your opponent's save. Special Weapons: Three varieties, in traditional Sororitas flavour. The Stormbolter, the Flamer, and the Meltagun. When choosing Special and Heavy weapons, keep in mind ranges. While you can fire any weapon at any other unit, you want to try and pair ranges together to help you bring your firepower to bear the best. A flamer and a heavy bolter have rather different favourite targets, for example. The stormbolter is the cheapest option, and essentially doubles the firepower of the Sister holding it. Statistically, it's a bolter with Rapid Fire 2 and no other changes. Excellent if you want to drown your opponent in bolter fire, as is only right. Best taken in twos in the squad, at the expense of a Heavy weapon, with a third on the Sister Superior. The flamer. You know it, you love it. 8” range and d6 auto-hitting S4 shots. Hard to go wrong here. It's also an Assault weapon, so you can Advance and fire it, and the auto-hits ignore the normal -1 penalty. Very nice. It's worth remembering that these auto-hit in Overwatch too. Consider pairing with a Heavy Flamer for maximum burning, or with a different Heavy weapon to deter would-be chargers. Hard to go wrong, really, as d6 auto-hitting S4 shots will hurt most things, at least a little. Meltaguns are the heavy hitter of the special weapons. S8, AP-4, and d6 damage is scary, as is their ability to roll two dice for damage, and select the highest, provided they're within half range. What's not scary is their range, which is a short 12”, and their rate of fire. While it's not as short as range as the flamer, it lacks the potential number of shots, and it doesn't auto-hit. At Assault 1, you're going to want to make sure this one shot counts, but you can try and Advance into half range, at the expense of a -1 To Hit. It's also by far the most expensive of the options by way of points. Consider taking two for a squad that can hunt Big Game with the best of them, or pairing one with a Heavy Flamer for a squad that can respond fairly well to any potential threat. Heavy Weapons: Again, these come in each of the varieties of the Holy Trinity. Heavy Bolter, Heavy Flamer, and Multimelta. In most cases they have better range, strength, AP, and rate of fire than their special brethren, and they are commensurately more expensive. The Heavy Bolter ups it's fire to a pleasant Heavy 3, a range of 36”, and an increased S5 and AP-1. Very nice in all cases. It'll threaten light vehicles, heavy infantry, and monsters all the same. As mentioned earlier, S5 is a useful strength, as it allows your Sisters to hurt most infantry on a 3, and vehicles and monsters on at most a 5. And AP-1 is hard to go wrong by. As a heavy weapon, it does suffer a -1 To Hit penalty if you move in the preceding phase, but this can be avoided by clever deployment and AoF usage. The cheapest heavy weapon. Very good for adding some reliable firepower to a squad. The Heavy Flamer is essentially the same as standard flamer, but with an increased S5 and AP-1. Like with the heavy bolter, S5 and AP-1 is always nice. Unlike the regular flamer, however, the Heavy Flamer is a Heavy weapon, and thus loses out on being able to Advance and still shoot. However, auto-hitting does bypass the annoying -1 To Hit of Heavy weapons. If you're taking a flamer, consider taking the heavy flamer instead. In all ways but the Advance-and-fire thing, it's a direct upgrade over the flamer. Unless you're Really hurting for points, I suppose. The Multimelta is a double range meltagun that trades Assault for Heavy. That's the long and the short of it, really. The increased range makes the multimelta a good choice for a firebase, or an interdiction squad. Not much wants to come in range of S8 AP-4. Like the meltagun, it's expensive, and lacks rate of fire, and is a comparatively short range weapon, for anti-tank. Unlike the other heavy weapons, the multimelta doesn't pair well with its special weapon counterpart, as the disparity in ranges makes getting the most out of both difficult. Consider pairing with a heavy bolter or a stormbolter for a squad to sit in the mid field and just be bothersome and pump out a tonne of 24” fire. Sister Superior weapons: The Sister Superior gets a wide variety of useful upgrades, which come in each of three varieties; Melee weapons, Pistols, and Ranged weapons. Ranged weapons are powerful upgrades over the regular bolter, but do prevent you taking a Melee weapon. The Stormbolter is the first option available. Cheap as chips, and you can’t go wrong with literally doubling your Superior’s firepower. See above for more detail. Good when paired in a squad with more Stormbolters to drown your foe in boltshells. Combi-weapons are an interesting bag. For a few more points than taking the standard special weapon, you get a bolter taped to it as well, and you can fire both weapons at a mere -1 to hit! Very nice. Consider the Combi-flamer and Combi-melta either to give a unit a third melta/flamer, or to put one of them into an opposing weapon squad to give it some flexibility. A double flamer squad could definitely benefit from carrying a meltagun along too, if you want, in much the same way as you might take a Meltagun/Heavy Flamer squad. Similarly, double melta squad really boosts its overwatch with the addition of a combi-flamer, and is also much better equipped to fight hordes than before. It becomes a question of flexibility or specialisation, really. The Combi-plasma warrants specific attention. This weapon is one of two places Adepta Sororitas can get plasma, and plasma is really looking good in 8th Ed. In terms of range and weapon type, it pairs beautifully with boltguns, and brings AP and strength almost as powerful as the melta, but with a better rate of fire. It loses out on damage, but it can be boosted to 2 damage and S8 at the risk of overheating. Of note, you should never fire both weapons in a combi-plasma if you’re also overheating it, as this doubles your likelihood of rolling a 1 and dying outright. The combi-plasma isn’t part of the Holy Trinity, which will put some people off, but I reckon it’s well worth considering. The Condemnor boltgun is… Well, I don’t want to say worthless, because it really is very cheap and it’s got a nice benefit to it for how cheap it is. But a bolter that does d3 damage to psykers is pretty mediocre, given how likely it is to ever come up, even being the cheapest upgrade it’s possible to pay for. Pass, unless you’re playing Tzeentch or Grey Knights, I guess? Pistols are an interesting bunch. The bolt pistol is nothing special, but it does it’s thing. The Plasma pistol is great. Surprisingly cheap for what you get, and you only overheat if you overcharge it. The Inferno pistol is interesting. Meltagun stats, but only 6” range, which is not much at all. It’s also expensive, which makes it a definite decision to take. But remember, if you’re firing into Melee, then you’re always within 2d6 pick highest range for your damage. Melee Weapons: The Chainsword isn’t a bad place to start. It’s a free swap with your bolter, and gives the Sister Superior an extra attack, bringing her to 3. Nothing else to write home about, but it’s free. Power Weapons, of course, come in their three varieties, the armour slicing AP-3 sword, the middle-road axe with AP-2 and +1S, and the high strength +2S and AP-1 maul. Remember, however, that the Sister Superior only has two attacks with these, and they’re hitting on 4s, with S3 base. If you want to spring for a power weapon, I’d suggest the maul to help you actually land wounds, or maybe the axe if you want to keep some AP. Tactics: Now, there’s probably about three big ideas around running BSSquads, and I’ll do a quick rundown on each of them, and then move onto a more general discussion. First there’s the MSU approach. Multiple Small Units is an approach that takes advantage, primarily, of how small units can still take two heavy/special weapons. This means more special weapons for fewer points. In the case of the BSSquad, that means a minimum sized squad, with special weapons. Other benefits include a certain measure of protection from Morale. With the LD 8 of the Sister Superior, you need to lose 3 models to be at risk of losing any more, and that’s if you roll a 6! That’s not really too bad. And finally, if a squad shoots at your small squad, the most you can lose is five Battle Sisters, rather than potentially killing a whole fifteen Sororitas! As benefits go, this is somewhat reduced from how useful it was in previous additions, due to the inclusion of system-wide split fire, but few opponents are going to decide to only shoot half a squad’s weapons at one small BSSquad and the rest at another. However, five Sisters is relatively easy to wipe off the board, so these small units benefit from redundancy and specialisation. Double-melta, double flamer, and so forth. Take them with a purpose, and don’t take one where you can take two. Don’t take two if you can take three, etc etc, etc. Second, there’s blob squads. These are squads of a full fifteen Sisters and are meant to primarily be hard to shift. Fifteen Battle Sisters are going to take a concerted effort on your opponent’s part to get rid of. Additionally, that’s a lot of firepower, especially in rapid fire range. Also, with the way controlling objectives works, you want more models on it than your opponent. Fifteen Sisters is a good starting point. However, fifteen models is too many to fit into any of the transports Sororitas have available, so these sisters are forced to walk. Finally, the size of the squad leaves relatively vulnerable to Morale. More than four casualties and you’ve a 50/50 chance of losing another model, if not more. Consider using these sisters as a firebase, so stormbolters are a great option, maybe a heavy bolter. Since you’re not going to be moving these ladies around much, a Multimelta might not be a bad idea either, just to really amp up how scary they can be. Finally, there’s the ten Battle Sister Squad. It’s a midway between the size of the blob squad and the cheapness of the MSU squad, and is small enough to be able to ride in a transport. It is in all respects a middle ground. Less firepower than a blob, more than an MSU, less vulnerable to Morale than a blob, more than the MSU, so on and so on. They can manage flexibility better than an MSU in particular, as they are more likely to survive long enough to use different weapons to their full potential, and they have the numbers to cap objectives well. However, ten Sisters is easier to shift than two squads of five, or one squad of fifteen (Obviously), and they can’t ride in an Immolator, and nor can a character ride with them. You could easily run one less sister to make room for a character, of course, and this can be a solid idea in some cases. The next two points are characters, and transports. Both of these are force multipliers that can increase the value of your BSSquad immeasurably. Hospitalier - The Hospitalier can return a slain model to a unit (or heal a model for d3 wounds) on a 4+. This means a great increase in endurance for a squad. Good for larger squads, but a blob squad will likely be losing more over a turn than the Hospitalier can return, and you might find it shovelling against the tide. MSU squads will typically get wiped completely out before they can really get rebuilt by the Hospitalier. Dialogus - The Dialogus grants a bubble of Morale test rerolls. Which is nice. Quite good for blob squads. Obviously less good for MSU, and YMMV for ten sister squads. Imagifer - A 4+ roll every turn to get an extra Act of Faith. Yes, please. In terms of AoF efficiency, larger squads are better, because you activate One Unit, so a big unit obviously gets more out of this than a smaller one. That said, any unit will benefit from a chance at an extra AoF. Not much else to say than “Nice” Canoness - A bubble of Reroll Ones to Hit is always great, and the Canoness can lend an extra bolter or combi-weapon to the Squads’ firepower, or even pitch in to save them if assault happens. Plus, you’re going to have one or two already in your list. Never a bad idea, but not necessarily the best. Priest - Not really a good choice, honestly. The Priest has a nice array of weapon choices, but the only buff they provide is a +1 attack bubble, and your Battle Sister Squad shouldn’t really be spending too much time in assault. Somewhat more viable with a blob squad, because that’s an extra 15 attacks, and that’s pretty nice. Transports are divided between the Rhino and the Immolator. There’s also the Repressor, but that’s a Forgeworld unit so I’ll just be skimming right over those. Both the Rhino and the Immolator have the same chassis, stats and Special Rules. Their main difference being that the Rhino repairs one wound per turn and carries ten models, and the Immolator carries six, and has a Twin Heavy weapon on top. The Immolator meshes well with the MSU, as they’re the only size BSSquad that can really ride in them, AND the Immolator carries a huge gun to back them up. There’s also space for a character to further back up the squad. However, the Immolator is expensive, and you have to pay for the big gun, while a Rhino only carries a stormbolter or two. The Rhino’s benefits are largely that it’s cheap, it repairs, and it carries ten models. Take if you just want a tough box to get a unit from A to B, and you will be pleasantly surprised. Both of them have Smoke Launchers, so if you have nothing to shoot at, or you’ve driven right into a firing lane, remember to use them! A -1 to hit your Metahl Bawks is a better defense than you may think. Generally, your BSSquads are going to be your utility squads. Between the squads in your list, they should be able to deal with most things you’ll come across on the battlefield. Or at least hold them down while your specialists get involved. If you’re playing objective games, then BBSquads do well at that, due to their generalist nature. They won’t typically be involved doing other things, like vehicle or monster hunting, so they’ll hopefully be free to try and cap objectives. Due to their cost, flexibility, and place in most Force Organisation Charts, expect to be using these as the backbone of your army. Thanks for reading, and I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Yeah that's partly it too. On that note, is there any kind of Tyranid build emerging? Everyone was hyping them prior to release, but I haven't seen much impact since.

Hi I bring you The Complete Guide to Buffing Astra Militarum Infantry! You can read it here https://cadianshock.com/buffing-astra-militarum-infantry-guide/ It also contains (embedded in the page) a little helper app, you can view that as a stand-alone page too here https://cadianshock.com/infantry/ The article includes everything and anything that can help Astra Militarum Infantry on the battlefield and the help app makes looking up which unit buffs which other units very easy. See image at the bottom of this post. Please let me know any feedback, mistakes and your experiences!

Come forth, brother and sisters, and let us unite our psychic might to dominate our foes with our occult mastery of algebra! The goal of this topic is to enable you to benefit from and contribute to this excel sheet, in order to determine the optimal loadouts to spill the blood of those who seek to oppose us. It shows the average number of dead models after shooting at them once from a given weapon available to us. It is far from being complete (and probably full of mistakes), that's why your help is more than welcome! The exact formula is: mean number of shots * chance to hit * chance to wound * chance to not save * min( mean weapon's damage, target's wounds) / target's wounds I preemptively apoligize for any mistakes you might encounter, and for the ugly look of it, which comes from its uploading to google sheets.

When you think of the Guard at war you think of two things first - the Guardsmen themselves and the ubiquitous Leman Russ Battle Tank. So much so that when people talk of Leman or Russ chances are they're not talking about the Primarch! How best to get use from this mighty tank though? With so many variations we are spoilt for choice and as a die hard tread head who better to get the ball rolling on a Russ tactica? Author's Note As with the Tactica Generalis this isn't going to be a comprehensive list but rather a summary of the Russ tanks and their good uses. New recruits will hopefully find this useful for getting to grips with all the choices we have and for the veteran tankers out there a springboard to add your own tactical wisdom! Index Imperialis The Leman Russ - The basics Sponsons - To sponson or not; that is the question Leman Russ Battle Tank - The old stalwart Leman Russ Exterminator - Autocannon prime Leman Russ Vanquisher - Reach out and touch someone Leman Russ Eradicator - No cover for you Leman Russ Demolisher - These 24" are mine Leman Russ Punisher - Fury made manifest Leman Russ Executioner - Not using that 2+ save are you? Tank Commanders and Pask - Russ+ Russes and You - A primer on basic use Closing - Omnissiah be praised

So, with the release of 8th Edition having been several weeks past, I figured we'd all had a decent amount of time to play some games, do some theorycrafting, that sort of thing. This is intended to be the first in a series of topics along the lines of the fantastic Unit of the Week that're all over the place. I can't exactly commit to doing a post every week, and sometimes the discussion doesn't fit as neat a timeframe as a week. But, like the UotW threads, these are meant to be all about discussion of each unit. Please feel free to share your thoughts, any comments on my analysis, your experiences with the units in game, anything. An old favourite, and a mainstay of the Adepta Sororitas. Between the utility she brings, our unfortunately sparse HQ slot, and the multitudes of detachments available, you can expect to see her on practically every Sororitas list, and usually more than once. Statistics: With both WS and BS 2+, she's a reliable and kickass combatant, and is almost guaranteed to hit whatever you point her at. As you might expect, her Strength, Toughness and Move are all nothing much to talk about, all laying at the regular human level, which means she's going to be relying on her wargear to make the most of her 2+ WS/BS and 4 attacks. Leadership 9 is nice, but she has no way of sharing that with her army, so it ends up being much of a muchness. Useful against attacks that target leadership, but not much else. Her save of 3+ and wounds are both pretty solid, but nothing special. Overall, pretty standard for a captain-level hero. Special Rules: As a Sororitas, the Canoness has the ever lovely Shield of Faith, though with the demise of Adamantium Will, it's anti-psyker efficacy is questionable at best, and the invulnerable save is overpowered by the Canoness' Rosarius special rule, which gives a 4++ as standard. Oh well, you might deny the occasional Smite? Act of Faith is the other Sororitas rule for the Canoness, and unlike SoF, it's a real doozy! The chance at an extra movement, shooting, or combat is huge. That said, you're likely to have better choices for your AoF than the Old Girl, but it's worth keeping in mind. It pairs well with a combi-weapon, effectively doubling the special weapon fire she throws out, and can let her throw plasma or what have you at two different units. If she's already in combat, then an extra 4 attacks when she can't be hit back could help turn the tide. Rosarius, as mentioned in SoF, gives a 4++ to the Canoness, which is fantastic, and helps deal with her less than perfect armour save. You'll never be saving on worse than a 4+ with this. Golden. Lead the Righteous: Aha, here we go! This rule is where the Canoness goes from good to great. A 6" bubble of rerolling 1s To Hit. Glorious. It's a Keyword linked ability, only working for <Order> units, but that's unlikely to be an issue, outside of cases such as Celestine or Priests, or if you have the Old Girl babysitting some allied Guard. Note that this bubble includes herself, so pairs wonderful with her 2+ to hit. Consider using plasma, as rerolling ones drastically reduces the chance of her killing herself by overcharging. Note that, as ever, rerolls happen before modifiers, so don't overcharge and fire both weapons in a Combi Plasma. Rerolling 1s will not save you. All in all LtR is a great utility rule that helps boost the firepower of the army around her. Equipment: The Canoness comes with a bolt pistol, chainsword, and frag/krak grenades. Swapping the bolt pistol for a boltgun is free, and trades being able to shoot into combat for range and extra firepower. As ever, bolt weapons are a solid work horse. No ap does hurt them, but s4 will hurt anything short of t8 on 5s or less, and her BS2+ and LtR will mean you're hitting most of the time. Given they're free options, you can't go too far wrong with them. The chainsword is about as good as you might expect. It grants an extra attack when used in combat, giving the Canoness 5 attacks. Like before, 2+ WS and LtR means she'll hit often, but at s3 and no ap, she's unlikely to really hurt anyone bar guardsmen. The bolt pistol can also be swapped for anything on the pistols, melee, or ranged weapons lists, and the chainsword can be swapped for the latter two or an eviscerator. Nice, though it's a shame we've lost gunslinger Canonesses as an option. We all know and love the bolt pistol. A solid budget option. It can be swapped for either the plasma or inferno pistol, which are both interesting choices. The inferno pistol is a pistol meltagun, with all the delicious s8, ap-4 and d6 damage, but suffers immensely from a tiny range of 6". It's likely to kill anything it touches, but getting it to touch is the problem. It gets the most out of the pistol ability to shoot into combat, as the short range means you're practically already in combat. Being in combat also means that you'll be within the inferno pistol’s remarkably small melta range. It's expensive and not the most versatile, but it is certainly deadly. The plasma pistol has become a much more enticing option with the new plasma rules. A risk free s7 ap-3 shot is pretty nice, even though it is only damage 1. And with LtR, overcharging the pistol for s8 and 2 damage is much lower risk than it appears. Compared to the inferno pistol, it's cheap, it's versatile, but it's much less deadly to anything with 3 or higher wounds. Ranged weapons. The Stormbolter is an enticing choice, as it effectively doubles the firepower of the Canoness compared to a regular bolter, for a staggeringly low price. All the good stuff of bolt weapons in a cheap, high volume package. However, unlike some of the choices here, it won't let her kill things much better than she already does. The Condemnor boltgun is almost embarrassingly mediocre, being a boltgun that does d3 damage to psykers. It might be useful if you play Grey Knights a lot? Otherwise, I'd pass. Combi-weapons are probably some of the best options for the Canoness, or indeed any captain equivalent, making fine use of their BS2+. Being a bolter AND a special weapon, they're a straight upgrade from a bolter. Plasma has similar range stats to a bolter, at 24” rapid fire 1, so it meshes well with the boltgun portion. Overcharging a Combi-Plasma has the same risks and rewards as the pistol, but be careful to not overcharge and fire both weapons. A Combi-melta lets you threaten just about anything, thanks to its high strength and marvelous ap. A combi-flamer is a useful overwatch ward, and hitting automatically means you ignore the -1 to hit for firing both weapons. Both the -melta and -flamer are assault weapons, so you can use them AND keep mobile, very useful considering the relatively short ranges of them. Melee weapons. The Eviscerator and Power weapons. Power Weapons come in three varieties, each with their own benefits and problems. The Power Sword, a Sororitas staple, comes with an excellent ap-3, but no other bonuses. If the Canoness wounds, that wound is pretty likely to go through, barring decent invulnerable saves. However, the Canoness is still only s3, so wounding in the first place is.... Tricky. Good if you’re against low toughness with low armour saves, like, ironically, Sisters. Against opponents like guard, you’re almost better off with a chainsword and it’s extra attack. Against marines, it’s not good, but it’s not bad.You only wound on 5s, but they save on 6s, so it evens out a bit . The Power Axe comes in as a nice middle Ground, with a lower ap-2, but a neat little +1 to strength. It’s a solid choice, but it won’t excell at anything. The other end of the curve is the Power Maul. The least ap of the group, but the most bonus to strength. +2 strength will help the Canoness wound, but at only ap-1, those wounds aren’t likely to stick. Useful against armies with bad armour saves, or only invulnerables, like daemons or Imperial Guard, as the ap-1 is less important than the bonus strength. The Eviscerator is perhaps the Queen of melee weapons, as far as the Canoness is concerned. It has the highest strength bonus (x2), best ap (-4), and best damage (d3). It is, however, the most expensive, at over 4 times the most expensive of the power weapons, and it comes with a hefty -1 to hit. What it does well, however, is let the Canoness threaten anything on the battlefield. At s6, most vehicles and monsters will be wounded on 5s, and the lighter varieties on 4s or even 3s for some Aeldari. Most anything else on the field will be wounded on 3s, and the ap-4 is going to ignore any armour save other than a 2+. The d3 damage allows her to reliably threaten other characters and monsters, the very same that she’s somewhat reliably wounding with the higher.strength. Tactics Honestly, you can just throw a Canoness where you want to reroll some 1s, and go from there. An Eviscerator Canoness hanging out with Retributors and Exorcists boosts their shooting, and provides a potent counter-charge unit for anything trying to gank you from behind. A Power/Combi-weapon Canoness can lend your advancing squads a hand. Match their combi weapon to the needs of the squads around, and Power Weapon to Taste. Same thing can be done with pistols, just with slightly less firepower. Thanks for reading all the way down here. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

This tactica is intended to give a broad overview to a Guard army, things like approach, structure and overarching strategies and tactics to employ and think about. It will not deal with specific tactics, wargear, lists etc - aiming instead to look at the larger picture. As such neither will it delve into rules which should give it use in 7th Edition and beyond. Author's Note This is not a master class by any means, nor is it the only way of doing things - just mine. You'll hopefully be reading quite a bit and learning nothing new, what I am aiming to do is outline what I have learnt over many years of relevant interests and experiences. By trying to break this down into the smallest parts I wish to help new recruits find their footing and hopefully give some fellow grizzled veterans a new angle to consider. Like Guilliman's tome in the Codex Astartes this is a living document so I welcome any additions or clarifications you may have. Index Imperialis The Emperor's Hammer - How the Guard works List Construction - What makes a good list? List Concepts - Strategies for tactics Metagaming - Metas and their impact Agency - Your opponent's influence Playing the Game - Tips and advice Closing - No examples! Index Auxilia Enemy Unit Types - Vash

++Thousand Sons Unit of the Week++ ++FW Heavy Support++ New codex, new discussions about units! As we already have in other faction sections, this is the Thousand Sons Unit of the Week series, where each week we select and dissect a datasheet found in the book, and discuss how we use the unit in-game, favoured loadouts and combos, essentially how to use these units best. What have you found that works, and what doesnt? Please try to stick to the idea of making the unit in question work, as opposed to pointing out other units that might do a better job - we'll get to those in time! This week it's a bit different. We're too small a community to really discuss all these options individually without spamming the forum with 1-2 post topics, so lets take all the lesser-sed/owned options together and have a holistic discussion about Forge World/Imperial Armour Heavy Support choices in general, then we can split anything appropriate off into it's own topic. Please use this space to discuss the following units: FW Chaos Land Raider Achilles, FW Chaos Land Raider Proteus, FW Chaos Sicaran Punisher, FW Chaos Sicaran Venator, FW Chaos Vindicator Laser Destroyer, FW Chaos Whirlwind Scorpius, FW Chaos Deimos Predator What are you thoughts, and how best would you use the unit? To compliment a list, or to build a list around? Will you be running multiples? What <GREAT CULT>, loadouts, spell relic and Stratagem support do you prefer and how much does it depend on the above choices? Are you buffing this unit, and if so, how? Are you building as a damage dealer or buff-provider? Uses in Matched, Narrative and Open Play How have they fared for you in-game? Over to you. ++Thousand Sons Unit of the Week Index Link++

I thought I'd kick off some tactical discussions about the new codex - tentatively under the [Hivemind] heading (to maybe make them easier to find?) to help us get the most from the codex and win more games! This topic will cover general secodnaries for Tyranids, and also their new specific secondaries - let us know what you're taking, how well it's working, and how you're building your army to maximise these secondaries. Tyranids Specific Secondaries Summary: Synaptic Insignt (Direct copy from GT: Nachmund) - No Mercy, No Respite Kill 4, 3+ wound models in your turn with synapse creatures to get 3VP, max 12. Cranial Feasting - Purge The Enemy Kill characters and unit champions in melee with tentacle face beasties Spore Nodes - Shadow Operations Perform action with a Troops Unit within 6" of opposing DZ, 4VP each time. ------------------- My thoughts: Spore Nodes: Of these, this would seem to be the easiest to complete, with the others requiring specialised units (or luck) and to kill stuff in combat. Nodes competes with things like banners, nachmund data and homers. For us, this is strictly a better homers, and reduces the ramdom roll for nachmund data. If you were doing either of these, you can probably switch to nodes and have a lot of success! Feasting - to max this you need to kill the warlord in melee, get a reroll, then kill eight (yes, eight!) other characters or unit champions - all with tentacle units/genestealers. This is a very hard ask for me - the only instance I can think of picking this over assassinate would be if my opponent was fielding MSU (10+ weak units that all need to be in buffing range) and I was running a genestealer themed army. Synaptic Insight - If you have a shedload of synapse, then this might be doable, though it's also really dependant on your opponent's army, which is the downfall. If 2W models counted, but you needed to kill more, this would be ok, but against marines, unless they're running a pure gravis army, you'll struggle to score. If you're facing a buggy list, for example, you need to kill 2 buggys get get 4 synaptic tally, which is 4VP, which is better than the 2VP you get via Bring It Down...however BID can be completed by anything. How often are your synapse creatures going to be killing large models? Maybe this will change with the new heavy venom cannon, and a psychic heavy army might do wonders here!

++Thousand Sons Unit of the Week++ ++Sicaran Battletank++ New codex, new discussions about units! As we already have in other faction sections, this is the Thousand Sons Unit of the Week series, where each week we select and dissect a datasheet found in the book, and discuss how we use the unit in-game, favoured loadouts and combos, essentially how to use these units best. What have you found that works, and what doesnt? Please try to stick to the idea of making the unit in question work, as opposed to pointing out other units that might do a better job - we'll get to those in time! This week, we will be discussing The Standard Sicaran - once an amazing unit seen in many lists, it's not seen too often now - do you have one and how do you run/use it? What are you thoughts, and how best would you use the unit? To compliment a list, or to build a list around? Will you be running multiples? What <GREAT CULT>, loadouts, spell relic and Stratagem support do you prefer and how much does it depend on the above choices? Are you buffing this unit, and if so, how? Are you building as a damage dealer or buff-provider? Uses in Matched, Narrative and Open Play How have they fared for you in-game? Over to you. ++Thousand Sons Unit of the Week Index Link++

++Thousand Sons Unit of the Week++ ++Leviathan Dreadnought++ New codex, new discussions about units! As we already have in other faction sections, this is the Thousand Sons Unit of the Week series, where each week we select and dissect a datasheet found in the book, and discuss how we use the unit in-game, favoured loadouts and combos, essentially how to use these units best. What have you found that works, and what doesnt? Please try to stick to the idea of making the unit in question work, as opposed to pointing out other units that might do a better job - we'll get to those in time! This week, we will be discussing Leviathan Dreadnoughts. A bit weaker than they were at the start of 8th where they seemed to dominate the game, these big beasties are still pretty strong. What are you thoughts, and how best would you use the unit? To compliment a list, or to build a list around? Will you be running multiples? What <GREAT CULT>, loadouts, spell relic and Stratagem support do you prefer and how much does it depend on the above choices? Are you buffing this unit, and if so, how? Are you building as a damage dealer or buff-provider? Uses in Matched, Narrative and Open Play How have they fared for you in-game? Over to you. ++Thousand Sons Unit of the Week Index Link++

++Thousand Sons Unit of the Week++ ++Rapier Carrier++ New codex, new discussions about units! As we already have in other faction sections, this is the Thousand Sons Unit of the Week series, where each week we select and dissect a datasheet found in the book, and discuss how we use the unit in-game, favoured loadouts and combos, essentially how to use these units best. What have you found that works, and what doesnt? Please try to stick to the idea of making the unit in question work, as opposed to pointing out other units that might do a better job - we'll get to those in time! This week, we will be discussing Rapier Carriers - these mini heavy weapons platforms pack a punch way beyon their size, and as ARCANA ASTARTES get a 5+ invulnerable save with us. What are you thoughts, and how best would you use the unit? To compliment a list, or to build a list around? Will you be running multiples? What <GREAT CULT>, loadouts, spell relic and Stratagem support do you prefer and how much does it depend on the above choices? Are you buffing this unit, and if so, how? Are you building as a damage dealer or buff-provider? Uses in Matched, Narrative and Open Play How have they fared for you in-game? Over to you. ++Thousand Sons Unit of the Week Index Link++

++Thousand Sons Unit of the Week++ ++Rhino++ New codex, new discussions about units! As we already have in other faction sections, this is the Thousand Sons Unit of the Week series, where each week we select and dissect a datasheet found in the book, and discuss how we use the unit in-game, favoured loadouts and combos, essentially how to use these units best. What have you found that works, and what doesnt? Please try to stick to the idea of making the unit in question work, as opposed to pointing out other units that might do a better job - we'll get to those in time! This week, we will be discussing Rhinos. Seen in all editions of the game, with varying usefulness, Thousand Sons Rhinos are maybe the best of the bunch with an innate 5++ and ability to get 2x inferno combi bolters, putting out 8 shots at range - almost the same as a small squad of Rubrics. What are you thoughts, and how best would you use the unit? To compliment a list, or to build a list around? Will you be running multiples? What <GREAT CULT>, loadouts, spell relic and Stratagem support do you prefer and how much does it depend on the above choices? Are you buffing this unit, and if so, how? Are you building as a damage dealer or buff-provider? Uses in Matched, Narrative and Open Play How have they fared for you in-game? Over to you. ++Thousand Sons Unit of the Week Index Link++

++Thousand Sons Unit of the Week++ ++Land Raider++ New codex, new discussions about units! As we already have in other faction sections, this is the Thousand Sons Unit of the Week series, where each week we select and dissect a datasheet found in the book, and discuss how we use the unit in-game, favoured loadouts and combos, essentially how to use these units best. What have you found that works, and what doesnt? Please try to stick to the idea of making the unit in question work, as opposed to pointing out other units that might do a better job - we'll get to those in time! This week, we will be discussing Land Raiders - formerly the most powerful tank in the game, feared by all and rarely used due to their points cost, Land Raiders are rarely seen as other things are so much bigger and scarier these days. 4 Lascannons and the ability to transport are things the Thousand Sons need, however, so how would you get the most from these, if at all? What are you thoughts, and how best would you use the unit? To compliment a list, or to build a list around? Will you be running multiples? What <GREAT CULT>, loadouts, spell relic and Stratagem support do you prefer and how much does it depend on the above choices? Are you buffing this unit, and if so, how? Are you building as a damage dealer or buff-provider? Uses in Matched, Narrative and Open Play How have they fared for you in-game? Over to you. ++Thousand Sons Unit of the Week Index Link++

++Thousand Sons Unit of the Week++ ++Heldrake++ New codex, new discussions about units! As we already have in other faction sections, this is the Thousand Sons Unit of the Week series, where each week we select and dissect a datasheet found in the book, and discuss how we use the unit in-game, favoured loadouts and combos, essentially how to use these units best. What have you found that works, and what doesnt? Please try to stick to the idea of making the unit in question work, as opposed to pointing out other units that might do a better job - we'll get to those in time! This week, we will be discussing theHeldrake - the speedy flyer available to CSM and Thousand Sons, this was in fashion for a while, but increasingly it seems the hell turley is no longer on the table. Have you been using them in games, and how have you used them? Th Mauler fists in particular have great damage potential at D3+3, and with a move of 10", the fiend is capable of getting into combat. What are you thoughts, and how best would you use the unit? To compliment a list, or to build a list around? Will you be running multiples? What <GREAT CULT>, loadouts, spell relic and Stratagem support do you prefer and how much does it depend on the above choices? Are you buffing this unit, and if so, how? Are you building as a damage dealer or buff-provider? Uses in Matched, Narrative and Open Play How have they fared for you in-game? Over to you. ++Thousand Sons Unit of the Week Index Link++