Codex Review by me.

[nevaenuffbass]

So I have had about 24 hrs with the new codex. Im reasonably happy with it, given the current state of the game. It isn't as powerful or deep as the eldar dex, but is probably on par with most of them. 

 

I believe that the overall build options tend toward drop pod and jump pack builds, but I am sure there are other viable builds that will come out as time progresses. There is also a bit of a need for hybrid builds (vehicles, jump packs, drop pods, raven) with assault marines being dropped from troops. 

 

TROOPS

 

And that is as good a place to start as any. In selecting troops, I see no need to go above 2. The Baal strike force looks much better than standard codex build - I'd take +1 I over objective secured on scouts and tacticals any day. And as the elites slot is suddenly overflowing with choice, the extra elite slot is a clincher. So tacticals or scouts? The tacs having access to the heavy flamer is nice (mostly because it is an "assault weapon"), but not game-changing, as is the access to grav weapons in the unit. Whether you build them in 5s or 10s is a question. Can't take 2 special weapons in the unit even in 10, so depends how much you really want a heavy weapon. Heavy flamer with 4 bolters (or 3 and a frag grenade) is a reasonable anti-infantry force, which can then be expanded with 2 flamers (one combi) or even the 2 hand flamers and more bolt fire. 

Alternatively, opening up the 2 pistols with the tacs makes for a pretty good hit squad - 2 inferno pistols and a meltagun, 2 grav pistols and a grav-gun etc. (noting that this makes for an expensive SGT, but one that I think is unique to BA) 

I'll probably start experimenting with combat squadding inside a drop pod, with 5 marines anti infantry, 5 marines anti-vehicle. 

Rhinos aren't a terrible choice either, being fast and all. Razor spam is also still possible, although at the full cost of razors (which I think is prohibitive), and no longer able to be supported by 6 x AV13 front vehicles (no Baal in fast).

 

The benefit for scouts, well, they can sit back and be ignored, and they are a way to minimise the cost of the "troops tax". Load-out is ho hum, none of them are particularly good. But I don't rate scouts for more than objective sitting. 

 

ELITES

 

The elites slots are hotly contested. Death Coy, Vanguard & Sternguard Vets, honour... err I mean command squads, Lemartes, both types of terminators, sang guard. 

I'll break the analysis into two sub-sections - combat oriented and shooting oriented. 

When it comes to combat, I think the best choice is DC, particularly with cheap jump packs. Vanguard vets are just a fair bit worse, for only 1 point less (no rage, no fnp) so I don't see why you'd want them (there is that flesh tearers WD dataslate where you have to take them, and not suffering disordered charge is unique to them, but pretty situational). Sang guard are better now, in units of 10, and their weapons are still pretty sweet. Haven't done the math but they seem cheaper. Give them a sang priest with a jump pack and effectively have 2+/5++ jumping assault troops. My concern is that they still suffer vulnerability to plasma (although perhaps plasma cannons can be mitigated a little if you want to put everything on 32mm bases).

Death company warrant some discussion. They aren't as good as they were last edition, less WS, no reclusiarch to open up re-rolling wounds, and re-rolling hits is only achieved through chaplain / lemartes (? unless I'm mistaken). Still, I5 and the sheer number of attacks inc hiden fists etc makes them a solid choice. Cheap jump packs.

 

In regard to the shooting choices, it is a toss up between command squads and sternguard. Sternguard seem to have suffered the same price increase as other marines. Command squads come with a priest minus and a company champ. The annoying thing about the priest and the champ is that you cant't customise their equipment, meaning you are stuck with a power sword/combat shield. The priest minus no longer has the fnp bubble effect, only granting it to the 5 strong command squad. So while you can have 3 special weapons in this squad, I don't think they are as good as sternguard. Sternguard are limited to only 2 special weapons, but up to 8 combi weapons (at 10pts each, so not cheaply). If you really need fnp, you can add a priest to them, but I suspect that the day of fnp across the army are gone, and we'd be best just to adjust to that. 

For me, sternguard are the way to go, I like them in units of 10 in a pod, so they can be combat squaded to fulfil 2 purposes.

 

Sadly, terminator armour is a thing of editions past (according to me). Terminators are expensive, and not that effective when compared to centurions etc. Having said that, terminators (of either type) are the only way to max out on heavy vehicles, so if you want a landraider variant to deliver mephiston  while running a wall of AV13, assault termis could be your go-to choice.

I neglected the various dreads that are in the elites section. TBH I don't care for them so much. They are slow, short-ranged and fragile, even with AV13. Yep, ours are close to the best in the galaxy, but that doesn't stop them from being dreads in 7th. I guess having the libby option in HQ is  kinda cute for armies of dreads, if that's your thing. Fragioso hasn't changed, and it's nice in a drop pod, but not amazing. It is entirely probable that there is a way that mechs in bulk can work, I haven't seen it though.

 

FA

The assault squad finds itself here. I have 4 full squads, so was a tad concerned when I saw they had been relegated to FA. But it's not all bad. They are cheaper than they were, and  provide good value. They still get the +1I and furious charge, which is what made them good in late 5th ed. And they receive buffs well, from chaplains and librarians. 2 or 3 squads, beside death company has potential. Additionally, they can take 2 special weapons in 5 of them, and a combi or two pistols on the SGT. In my experiences, 3 melta shots is not enough (1-2 miss) so a fourth is useful both for anti-vehicle, anti-mc, anti-elite. They still get *free-ish* drop pods too. This is important if you want to run drop pod spam. Having 2 special weapons in 5-10 of them means they form a good unit to put IC's in. So Meph with 9 assault marines in a drop pod, or Meph and corbs in 8 of them (can do the same with death company, but they have no special weapons). Curiously, assault marines get very discounted fast rhinos. A unit of 5 can give up their jump packs (worth 3pts each) for a 55pt rhino. So, if you had a need for lots of fast rhinos, save 40pts here. 

 

Bikes are cheaper than they were before. They provide a good space for a libby (on bike) and lend themselves to grav weapons. If you are super competitive, you'll prob ally white scars bikes, which are better for the same price (I'm guessing, haven't checked) with either a combatty captain or a libby, both of whom would be welcome in a BA list. 

 

Nothing has changed much with attack bikes, land speeders, scout bikes (except that fnp is harder to get). I can't remember ever seeing scout bikes on a tabletop ever anywhere. There are a bunch of transports avail in FA, including the razor. I don't see why you'd actually take any - Meph is an IC now, and anyone who wants a transport can have one. Guess you can drop pod terminators now, if you really want to. 

 

HEAVY

New additions - Baal Pred. Kinda annoying that the Baal is here, as I liked to 2 of them and 2 fast vindis. Now it's a max of 3 of them total, and then you can't have a raven, and land raiders come with terminator tax. On the upside, vindicators are still fast, and predators are too, except that the predator is available without fast, making it cheaper fire support. 

I sense that there is some storm raven love out there. I don't share it. You pay for the ability to be an assault vehicle, but whatever is inside can't assault until T3. It has good firepower, but is expensive and not that resilient. We are a dex with few good anti-air options. 

Dev squads are here, and haven't really changed much. Efficient fire-power, noting that you can't fnp them easily any more. 

 

HQ. 

I leave it for last... 

Meph went down by 50? points and gained IC. I don't own him, and I think I will soon. He seems pretty awesome. And he was before. 

Other than that we have a bunch of cheap HQ choices - sang priest, chaplain, captain etc. They do for us what they do for any marine army. Except of course that our psykers get divination. For me, BA have always been about the buffs, and the best buffs are in the Divination powers. Chaplain is useful with a jump pack / bike, to add to the assault units. Corbs got nerfed, but bubble effects +1WS and I, making it possible to be I6 on the charge (not that this is much more useful than being I5 on the charge). He has no mobility options, whereas a priest does, so to get the +1WS bubble you need to transport (and escort) him to within 6" of where you want to assault. Makes him kinda tricky to use.

 

My choices are probably a libby (upgraded and on a bike) and meph, or two libbys, for the buffing powers. 

 

My list looks something like:

 

Libby with jump pack x 2

15 DC, jump packs, 2  thunderhammers

10 sternguard, 2 meltaguns, 3 combi meltas, drop pod

2 x tac squad, heavy flamer, melta / combi-melta, drop pod

2 x 10 assault marines, 2 meltas, combi-melta, power sword

2 fast vindicators

1 baal pred

 

Idea being that I can use jump packs either for speed, jumping behind the cover of the fast AV13 tanks, and dropping tacs / sternguard for alphas on vulnerable targets. 

 

 

 

Discuss... tell me what I've missed, or where I am wrong.

 

 

[Brother Dallo]

Assuming they can take them, replace the power swords on the assault marines with lightning claws, since I'm assuming that they trade their bolt pistol for the combi

 

Nice review.

 

Dallo

[nevaenuffbass]

Thanks mate, and good idea. 

[Xenith]

 Corbs got nerfed, but bubble effects +1WS and I, making it possible to be I6 on the charge (not that this is much more useful than being I5 on the charge). He has no mobility options, whereas a priest does, so to get the +1WS bubble you need to transport (and escort) him to within 6" of where you want to assault. Makes him kinda tricky to use.

 

Corbs is I5 base. I6 with his rule, and I7 if he is your warlord. All the time, not just on the charge. He also makes all the dudes in his unit WS5 I5 all the time, even when charged.

 

I dont think he's hard to use at all.

 

Smack him in a unit of termies with Karlaen. Counter attack, WS and I5 are tasty.

[tsijben]

Troops:

Tactical: Am I the only one who thought a Heavy Flamer was a Heavy weapon? Thanks for the info!

Scouts: I think you underestimate them, remember that they also have I5, S5 and 3 Attacks on the Charge.

Putting a Power weapon (lance) on the Sgt will really scare enemies, especially if you turn him Veteran and smash him 4 times in the face with S6, AP3 at WS4 and I5.

 

Also don't forget the DC-dread we have in our Troop-section! With IA2-SE you can still use a (more expensive) Drop Pod to get him where you want.

 

Elites:

You should buy Battlescribe PRO, just so you can change the name on all your lists to "Honourr.. er I mean Command Squad"

Veterans are nice, but other stuff is nicer indeed. It's really weird that they have this rule in the WD unless you charge with Tacticals (which is a good thing in BA).

I think it might help if we stop calling them Tactical Marines and more "Troop ASM with Bolters and no JP".

Sanguinary Guard are still scared of Plasma, but that seems to be a BA-thing: 'Get a lot of losses and then smash faces!'.

 

What 'upset' me was that they made no changes to Tactical Terminators.

They sucked before and they still suck, so I'm never going to paint the 15 GW forced upon me in their big kits.

 

HQ:

Meph went down 75! For every nerf he basically gained a buff to counter it, so that's pretty awesome.

Corbulo nerfed? In my opinion he got buffed if you ignore the cheese with his FNP2+. Five attacks with WS6 at I7, S6 with Rending seems too good to ignore.

He will probably go in a Drop Pod with some nasty unit.

[nevaenuffbass]

 

 Corbs got nerfed, but bubble effects +1WS and I, making it possible to be I6 on the charge (not that this is much more useful than being I5 on the charge). He has no mobility options, whereas a priest does, so to get the +1WS bubble you need to transport (and escort) him to within 6" of where you want to assault. Makes him kinda tricky to use.

 

Corbs is I5 base. I6 with his rule, and I7 if he is your warlord. All the time, not just on the charge. He also makes all the dudes in his unit WS5 I5 all the time, even when charged.

 

I dont think he's hard to use at all.

 

Smack him in a unit of termies with Karlaen. Counter attack, WS and I5 are tasty.

 

 

Sorry I was unclear in my post - I meant the buff to the unit would be from I5 to I6.

 

And I guess you guys are right - corbs is still good. But his fnp got nerfed, but I think everyone was expecting it. When I say he is hard to use, I mean due to his lack of transport options. he pretty much must accompany standard infantry, rather than jump pack or bike. 

 

You really think terminators are good? I think he'd go better with death company in whatever transport you were going to put the termis etc in.