Tactics against Astra Militarum

[Iron_Within]

So recently I had my first game against Astra Militarum, wow they have a lot of CP. My impression is they don't deal well with high pressure combined arms armies, I firmly believe I won because I got first turn and Pask in Punisher ate all the Lascannons in the face otherwise he would have melted my cultist horde (that is supported by IW Warlord). The big thing I felt in this game was lucky, if I hadn't had first turn, if it was Cloak and Shadows wasn't the mission then I'd have lost. What are the best tactics in your opinion against AM?

[Arufel87]

10 Slaanesh Terminators with combi plasmas/meltas & assorted ccw's, Sorceror with Warptime & Prescience. Drop them in and shoot twice with endless cacophony. This should kill 2-3 tanks of a russ type caliber. Follow this up with a charge on a unit of your choice. If you get warptime off then you only have to roll a 4 to get the charge off. The hard part is clearing the chaff from around the tanks. Focus on opening up a hole in their lines on turn one, survive their horrendous firepower and drop in for the kill turn 2 usually works for me.

[FallenSoldiers]

As a Guard player the things I’m always most afraid of are

 

1) losing the tanks i brought to “handle” your army. By that I mean, if you’re infantry heavy I don’t want to lose my punisher if you’re terminator heavy I don’t wanna lose my executioner or battle tank...

 

2) having my supporting characters sniped out. 30 conscripts are junk without a commissar to keep them from disappearing to morale. I’ll have someone with my artillery to let me reroll 1s at least.

 

3) forcing my tanks into close combat if they can’t be destroyed. A Leman Russ that falls back is useless.

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

Combi-bolters.....lots of Combi-bolters. They're 2pts apiece and can put out 4 shots at 12 inches. 10 Bikes can put out 40 shots....and with Slaanesh you can just do it again. Makes Conscripts disappear, especially if you're Iron Warriors and ignore whatever cover they have.

 

Alternately, Renegade Bikes with Combi-Bolters, Chainswords, and either Flamers or Meltaguns, can make a bloody mess of a few units at once.

 

Rhinos with Combis and Havocs aren't bad either if you are already using transports.

 

If you fancy a Death Guard Detachment in your force, Mortarion can solo most of a Guard army if he really gets going. Similarly, Magnus will destroy most of their characters and possibly armor without breaking a sweat.

 

A few squads of Renegade Marauders with Sniper Rifles can cure that pesky Commissar problem right quick.

 

Get your own Basilisks. 3 Individual Renegade Basilisks and a Malefic Lord is a Spearhead Detachment for 320 pts.

 

An Alpha Legion tactic I saw on Frontline Gaming was to start 15 Tzeentch AL Possessed in close (outside 12 in) and have a "tail" back from the squad to your lines where the Changeling sits. Enemy will be -2 to hit them and they can have a 4+ Invuln from Weaver of Fates. Then Warp Time them forward and have fun. This can be combined with Alpha Legion Berserker Horde to short circuit your enemy's target priority.

 

Then there are the standbys: Warp Time Terminators, Alpha Legion Berserker Horde, Alpha Legion Noise Marines.

 

EDIT: Sorry. Forgot that the Malefic Lord was 30, so the 3 Basilisks plus him should run you 330.

Edited October 18, 2017 by GreaterChickenofTzeentch

[Iron_Within]

More games against AM, some more thoughts on the game. To address some comments from earlier, I play Iron Warriors and I'm not willing to field other Legions units (even if they are clearly better) to gain an advantage.

• Rough Riders are surprisingly annoying, the opponent I faced fielded 25 of them which all outflanked into my backfield.
• Cultists feel overcosted vs Guardsmen, same price but they get orders, special weapons access, easy morale mitigation and better armour... :/
• Khorne Berzerkers carve through them, but with the annoying Get Back in the fight order they get shot to pieces.
• Helldrakes are good as an early pressure unit, but relies upon your opponent making mistakes in their deployment (I managed to jump my Turkey over his conscripts into his Warlord and Basilisks, ofc the Helldrake feels weak - just not enough attacks even with Daemonforge.
• Conscripts are still really annoying, with nothing to snipe out Commissars in an Iron Warrior army, they don't run away easily.

[DreamIsCollapsing]

Make them read the FAQ and destroy their annoying blob of conscript. 

 

And remember that reroll goes before malus and bonus (for our friend Night Lords, Raptor and Spawn)

[Lord Asvaldir]

 

• Cultists feel overcosted vs Guardsmen, same price but ththeiey get orders, special weapons access, easy morale mitigation and better armour... :/

 

Feel the same way every time I've faced AM, they get a lot of mileage out of their basic guardsmen while our cultists mostly just exist as speedbumps, not to mention their infantry stay alive longer thanks to better armor. 

 

I understand not wanting to use other legion's units, I play WB and also won't use other legion's stuff, but if you want to snipe commissars you could use marauders from R&H. You can take 2 sniper rifles per 5 man unit, which isn't great but at least it's something. Sniping the commissars from a conscript unit makes them a lot easier to deal with. 

[Iron_Within]

Sweet mercy the Astra Militarum FAQ is an answer to my prayers, I have a chance of getting past the conscripts now, reading the rules if I kill 8 conscripts now they are guaranteed to lose 2 more with a Commissar shooting one and losing at least one more. So bolters at close range might actually have a use now.

[Panzer]

Yeah and only if he takes that one Warlord trait, so he won't be able to take another maybe stronger Warlord trait if he doesn't want to risk losing a ton more Conscripts everytime. ^^

Just keep in mind, that with the trait he has to shoot the addition d3 only if he failed is re-roll as well and afaik the Conscripts can use the Commissars LD stat. So Bolter spam is still not going to work that well.

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

 

More games against AM, some more thoughts on the game. To address some comments from earlier, I play Iron Warriors and I'm not willing to field other Legions units (even if they are clearly better) to gain an advantage.

• Rough Riders are surprisingly annoying, the opponent I faced fielded 25 of them which all outflanked into my backfield.
• Cultists feel overcosted vs Guardsmen, same price but they get orders, special weapons access, easy morale mitigation and better armour... :/
• Khorne Berzerkers carve through them, but with the annoying Get Back in the fight order they get shot to pieces.
• Helldrakes are good as an early pressure unit, but relies upon your opponent making mistakes in their deployment (I managed to jump my Turkey over his conscripts into his Warlord and Basilisks, ofc the Helldrake feels weak - just not enough attacks even with Daemonforge.
• Conscripts are still really annoying, with nothing to snipe out Commissars in an Iron Warrior army, they don't run away easily.

 

There are things to snipe out characters in an IW army....they are just inefficient. Infernal Gaze, Gift of Chaos, Linebreaker Bombardment (VERY inefficient but can get the job done). If you're going Forge World and you want to stay pure IW, there's the Hell Talon. Just fly over them and drop a bunch of Warp Pulse Bombs or Shattercharges on their head in the movement phase. Burning them with the AOE attack from the Dreadclaw works too....it can even be used in CC. If you're in the mood to include Renegades (fluffy considering the slave soldiers in IW), then get Marauders and snipe to your heart's content.

 

Given that Conscripts are limited to units of 30 now in the Codex, you can saw through them pretty easily if you use units with a super-high rate of fire. IW were associated with Slaanesh back in Rogue Trader, so Noise Marines or cheap no-frills bikes, or even combi-bolter termies could do it (though make sure the Termies have good CC weapons so they can go do something else and not JUST kill chaff). Heavy Bolter Havocs with the Slaanesh stratagem and a Lord nearby will do it too.

[Iron_Within]

Further thoughts against Astra Militarum

 

• Placing Objectives against their armies works really well. We on quarter deployment so I placed the objectives into one half, it was risky for that deployment but it'd work better for others as it forces them to deploy in ways they don't want to which smaller armies get away with.
• Obliterators+Prescience+Veterans of the Long War+Endless Cacophony= Dead Tanks
• Obliterators+ecstatic Agonies+Ruins=Most his army trying to kill them
• Cultist Hordes in an Iron Warrior force are not as good as I'd initially hope but it's good to conga like tentacles onto objectives. I mean they do their job but they feel inefficient at it.
• Berzerkers still eat through things, but against AM Horde they die through attrition. I managed to eat through an AM horde with 3 units of 9 Berzerkers, 
• Twin Lascannon/Missile Launcher Hellbrutes are better than Havocs IMO against Guard, perhaps in most circumstances. You're getting 2 lascannons and a ML cheaper with higher toughness and more wounds than you'd get point for point than Havocs. I want to include more.
• Alpha Legion are just better than Iron Warriors at most things. It's frustrating knowing that I could get a very strong army with Alpha Legion vs Iron Warriors.

[Bonzi]

I play both Chaos and AM. The basic key is bolters and Lascannons. You need bolters to clear off the bubble wrap and Lascannons or meltas to crack the tanks.

 

Identify the vital tank and kill that one eg if your running cultists you need to take down the punisher, if you're running elite then kill the plasma tank ect.

 

Be careful with relying on deepstrike reserves to kill things. As an AM player my first move is to always push out deepstrike denial units (scout sentinels, Hellhound, infantry squads). I'm buying time for my tanks to do work (that's 90% of AM strategy, trade bodies to buy time). If I get first turn I can make 2/3rds of the board a no-go zone for deepstrikers. You need the boots and tools on the ground to open holes for your DS units to come in.

 

I think character hunting is a waste of time with AM. Their characters are cheap and usually have redundancy. The points it costs to kill off a Commissar or Commander could more easily be spent killing the units they are making better (this is only true with the new faq beating up commissars). A commander backing two infantry squads is dangerous, two infantry squads alone is still decent, a commander alone is nothing.

[Sonoftherubric21]

I run Khârn in some of my lists specifically to help deal with issues like this, I usually run him second wave, pick a target and chuck him in and watch him carve a squad apart. 14 attacks a turn will do that. (for my generic chaos that is)

Though obviously if you are dealing with redundant blobs of guardsmen it becomes tricky; I echo the "drop terminators and plug them" attitude as its easy and every legion can do it. Perhaps I have it easy as Scarab Occult are particularly suited for such a situation, -2 ap bolters make guardsmen vanish mighty fast, though I imagine endless cacophony helps a great deal with other lists. 

As for cultists; in my non-thousand sons list I quite enjoy cultists and think 4 is maybe just the slightest hair overpriced. at 3 I think they are perfect but IMO they are fine at 4 for what we get, though I get certain legions do this far better then others. 

[micahwc]

I play both Astra Militarum and Alpha Legion. Something to remember is point for point, there is nothing in the game as efficient as infantry squads. My last game was against death guard, and a death guard daemon prince held up two infantry squads and a company commander for 3 turns before killing them all, and promptly getting shot off the board by my missile launchers. My opponent thought it was a decent trade. My 2 squads of infantry and company commander where only 110 points and they kept his daemon prince from doing anything else for 3 turns.

 

Your most efficient guard killers will be storm bolters and heavy bolters, followed by missile launchers, lascannons for Russes, and then forgeworld units like Heavy Quad Launchers and your own cultists with autoguns.

 

Guard can be surprisingly mobile. Between scions deep striking anywhere, Tallarn models ambushing mid game, and Valkyries grav chute inserting things, they can get to just about anywhere in a hurry.

 

One disadvantage of guard is that they will almost always go last (or have the -1 to the roll to go first if you are playing that way). For example, a 2,000 point list I made today has literally 30 units in it over 3 detachments. It also has 19 command points before relics or warlord traits to get them back.

 

One thing to look out for is an easy way to get first blood. Some units are really squishy and will give up first blood really easily. Sentinels brought in singles are only 6 wounds. Infantry squads only have 10. Since you will likely go first most games it should be easy to get first blood on something.

 

A squad of Slanesh marked missile launcher Havoks will easily kill a squad of infantry every turn using Endless Cacophony.

 

Another thing to keep in mind is that almost anything in a guard army is disposable; ie, your opponent can lose any 1 unit and usually it wont do much for their plans since they have so many other units. My 2,000 point list I made today has two Russ punisher tank commanders which will fire twice per turn at BS 3+ with a 30" range (Vostroyan doctrine). You can go ahead and kill both of them because I have three missile launcher squads which can do anti-infantry just as well, as well as six squads of infantry with 30" lasguns. I've got anti-tank in the form of earthshaker cannons that will reach anywhere on the board without line of sight, the afore mentioned missile launchers, and 3 squads of scions with melta guns. There is a lot of redundancy that is easy to build into guard lists.

[micahwc]

Guard have a love hate relationship with assaults. They suck in assault. But I can throw 10 infantry into just about any assault unit and hold it for a turn, and if any survive they will just withdraw and shoot you with "Get back in the fight!". And if you kill them all on your turn, the 2 infantry squads behind that one will just FRFSRF you. Guard loses 40 points out of it, but your assault specialists that costs a lot more spend at least one turn not doing much, and then they all get 40 lasgun shots to the face.

[Iron_Within]

So what do Guard truly hate? They can tank assaults by feeding bodies, have redundancy of weaponry. What is there that makes them go "oh poo" when they deploy? 

I think the force from the description is armies with board control, sure they can shoot you to pieces but if you've gone 10 VP's ahead because you've taken all the objectives then you just have to survive.

 

I'm looking at things and I've used a Helldrake for shutting down vehicles but TBH I'm starting to think that simply a stronger AT weapons load out instead might be the order of the day (they cannot shoot you if they're dead).

Hellbrutes are still my VP's, cheaper than Havocs Wound to wound, still have the traits (unlike predators) and can shoot out of sequence. What do people think?

[Panzer]

Blowing up all their tanks is probably what Guard like the least. The question is how to achieve that since they have so many and if they get first turn their alpha strike hurts a lot.

[Bonzi]

Multiple durable Antitank units ruin an average AM players day. Getting their tanks tied up in assaults will also make them mad. Never miss an opportunity to kill a weaker squad and then 3" consolidate into a tank or two.

 

Just remember, nobody dies better than guard. You're not going upset most AM players by killing their units, you're going to get to them by keeping their units from shooting you.

Edited November 1, 2017 by Bonzi

[Galron]

I am on both sides of this as I play both 2 guard armies and 3 chaos armies(getting reduced to one big IW army, as in adding 100ish dudes and a slew of FW vehicles from the other two). We tend to play bigger games and the 2250 games I try and get in at my LGS are a middleground small game I am forced into.

 

Ill just use my standard guard and ignore my Elysians which are a whole different can of worms. I am odd I guess in that I don't use conscripts and my characters are justification for command squads. So if you can snipe them, have fun, it really wont hurt me that much. Oh you made it to my back line, they were just there for early round bombardment. A bunch of cheap mortar teams and inaccurate medusas and colossi, I rarely hit anything with the arty tanks anyway with my rolling.

 

My main force is the tanks and the Chimeras. All have heavy flamer hulls and the chimeras have them for turrets too. Oh yeah I have Cyclops mixed in as well for those pesky Deep strikes. If you don't target them you will be losing your deep strikers the next turn. If you do target them, I lost a 40 point unit, Ill live.

 

What you need to focus on is my chimeras. It has my infantry squads and command squads and likely the warlord. They also have twin heavy flamers. The tanks in my list make a nice distraction from the chimeras who always work in a pair to support each other. By all means shoot the tanks, I would love to say the battle, demolisher and executioner cannons are impressive but remember that thing about my poor dice rolling, yeah it applies here too.

 

All that said, someone above mentioned Morty and Magnus being great vs guard? Magnus has never lasted past the 2nd turn, Morty the 3rd. He is far more impressive than Magnus and last game one shotted a demolisher, which actually made me concentrate fire on him. I think a mortar lasgun took him down finally as he was the only thing in range worth shooting on an admitted hail Mary shot.

 

What really drive me nuts is you assaulting my tanks thus the heavy flamers on everything. I really don't like having to keep falling back eventually with guard tanks you run out of space. Not sure why the gunner cant just ignore them and keep firing since in assault the driver does all the work anyway.

 

Target priorities

1. Cyclops

2. CHimeras with squads in them

3. Tanks

4. Back line

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

I am on both sides of this as I play both 2 guard armies and 3 chaos armies(getting reduced to one big IW army, as in adding 100ish dudes and a slew of FW vehicles from the other two). We tend to play bigger games and the 2250 games I try and get in at my LGS are a middleground small game I am forced into.

 

Ill just use my standard guard and ignore my Elysians which are a whole different can of worms. I am odd I guess in that I don't use conscripts and my characters are justification for command squads. So if you can snipe them, have fun, it really wont hurt me that much. Oh you made it to my back line, they were just there for early round bombardment. A bunch of cheap mortar teams and inaccurate medusas and colossi, I rarely hit anything with the arty tanks anyway with my rolling.

 

My main force is the tanks and the Chimeras. All have heavy flamer hulls and the chimeras have them for turrets too. Oh yeah I have Cyclops mixed in as well for those pesky Deep strikes. If you don't target them you will be losing your deep strikers the next turn. If you do target them, I lost a 40 point unit, Ill live.

 

What you need to focus on is my chimeras. It has my infantry squads and command squads and likely the warlord. They also have twin heavy flamers. The tanks in my list make a nice distraction from the chimeras who always work in a pair to support each other. By all means shoot the tanks, I would love to say the battle, demolisher and executioner cannons are impressive but remember that thing about my poor dice rolling, yeah it applies here too.

 

All that said, someone above mentioned Morty and Magnus being great vs guard? Magnus has never lasted past the 2nd turn, Morty the 3rd. He is far more impressive than Magnus and last game one shotted a demolisher, which actually made me concentrate fire on him. I think a mortar lasgun took him down finally as he was the only thing in range worth shooting on an admitted hail Mary shot.

 

What really drive me nuts is you assaulting my tanks thus the heavy flamers on everything. I really don't like having to keep falling back eventually with guard tanks you run out of space. Not sure why the gunner cant just ignore them and keep firing since in assault the driver does all the work anyway.

 

Target priorities

1. Cyclops

2. CHimeras with squads in them

3. Tanks

4. Back line

Heh....my Morty and Magnus comments were based on "meta" guard armies with tons of foot infantry and a core of tanks to provide offense. Yours is MUCH more heavily mechanized and loaded with FW. That overloads Magnus and denies Morty the safety of CC and/or units to bounce between, as well as providing few large squads for Silence to murder.

 

And that leads me to agree with another poster who said that one of the major problems with fighting guard is that the army is so adaptable and full of redundancy that it can take on many, many different forms that are difficult to plan for....and your target priority changes with each new opponent.

[WarriorFish]

Just as an addition to the above; Guard work with numbers best and that's good in 8th too. Combined arms will win the day for Guard more than ever before so expect and plan for it. The more elite your army is the easier it is for Guard to tackle so numbers of your own helps (a basic Marine is more than a match for most Guard models), plus these numbers will help you fight through the infantry line to get to the more valuable and nastier units behind them.

 

Leman Russ tanks have gone from embarrassing in the index to potent in the codex, they're not cheap but are worth every point to a competent commander. They're tough to crack so unless you can mount some heavier weapons to shoot (e.g. lascannons for that S9) you may be better off dealing with them in assault - will prevent them shooting too. The trick might be to see where your opponent's synergies are and aim to disrupt them, but that depends on your opponent's plans/tactics and of course is easier said than done!

[Iron_Within]

So feelings after latest game :cuss :cuss :cuss :cuss

 

I feel atm is roll a dice to see who goes... They go first. Good game. Not feeling good about

Therre is a suggestion in my group that 1500pts is a better match up

[Iron_Within]

So I'm annoyed now. The game I played felt spoiled, my opponent felt the same as it was clear he'd won immediately got first turn and he had what neither of us thought of as a brutal list but rather a solid fluffy list. The game was called part way through Turn 3.

 

Armies

Iron Warriors, CP=8

Battalion

HQ – Chaos Lord, Chainsword, bolt pistol. Warlord, Cold and Bitter.

HQ – Exalted Champion, Power Axe, Combi Melta, Fleshmetal Exoskeleton

Troops – 15 Cultists with Autoguns

Troops – 15 Cultists with Autoguns

Troops – 15 Cultists with Autoguns

Spearhead

HQ – Sorcerer, Force Axe

Elites – 9 Berzerkers with Chainaxes, Power Fist

Elites – 9 Berzerkers with Chainaxes, Power Sword

Elites – 9 Berzerkers with Chainaxes, Power Axe

Dedicated Transport – Rhino, Combiflamer, Havoc Launcher

Dedicated Transport – Rhino, Combiflamer, Havoc Launcher

Dedicated Transport – Rhino, Combibolter, Havoc Launcher

Spearhead

HQ – Dark Apostle

Hellbrute – Twin Lascannon, Missile Launcher, Combi Bolter

Hellbrute – Twin Lascannon, Missile Launcher, Combi Bolter

Hellbrute – Twin Lascannon, Missile Launcher, Combi Bolter

Hellbrute – Twin Lascannon, Missile Launcher, Combi Bolter

Hellbrute – Twin Lascannon, Missile Launcher, Combi Bolter

 

(I might have mucked up some of these choices)

Imperial Guard – 9 CP's (yes only 9)

Battalion – Steel Legion

HQ - Colonel

HQ – Colonel

HQ – Primaris Psyker

HQ – Primaris Psyker

Elite – Officer of the Fleet

Elite – Tech Priest Enginseer

Troops – Guard Unit, Plasma Gun

Troops – Guard Unit, Plasma Gun

Troops – Guard Unit, Plasma Gun

Troops – Guard Unit, Plasma Gun

Heavy Support - Basilisk

Battalion

HQ – Scion Colonel

HQ – Commissar Lord

Troops – 10 Scions with Hotshot Lasguns

Troops – 10 Scions with Hotshot Lasguns

Troops – 10 Scions with Hotshot Lasguns

Flyers – 3 Valkyrie with 2 Heavy Bolters, Lascannons, 2 Rocket Pods

Spearhead - Cadians

HQ – Tank Commander (NOT pask), Leman Russ with Plasma Cannons and Lascannon

Heavy Support – Leman Russ with Plasma Cannons and Lascannons

Heavy Support - Leman Russ with Plasma Cannons and Lascannons

Heavy Support - Leman Russ with Heavy Bolters and Lascannons

 

Deployment Map – Front Line Assault

Mission – Contact Lost (Maelstrom)

 

Deployment

I deployed aggressively, unsurprisingly. His Scions, deployed within the Valkyries along with officers and Psykers. The board had heavy terrin, but there were two clear fire lanes. We both deployed with intention of shooting the others so he could see my Hellbrutes, and I his tanks. The placement of the Objectives was very clearly in my favour with me already holding 3 at game start. Save the Lord, there was 1 HQ to a Rhino with Berserkers. My plan was to rush forward with Rhinos, pop smoke, then unleash the Berzerkers, I didn't expect them to survive the game, but that didn't matter. The Rhinos and the like fire support and Overwatch eaters. My Hellbrutes deployed close to get the +1 to hit with the Lords bubble.

Turn 1

I had 11 units to place, so did my opponent, he placed first, so had the +1, and so took the first turn. He pushed his Valyries into my face and jumped the Scions out right in front of my Rhinos. He killed 1 Hellbrute, 2 Rhinos, 2 units of Bezerkers, 14 cultists and then tied another Hellbrute and Rhino in combat. In return I jumped out my Zerkers, Exalted Champion. I shot everything I had at his Valkyries. I stripped off 6 wounds with 6 Lascannons and 3 Missile Launchers, that's sodding it :cuss. I used Tide of Traitors to regen the 15 strong Cultist unit and throw it into his back line to tie up tanks. Naturally I failed the :cuss charge, even with a re-roll. In combat, I murdered his Scions with my Berzerkers, Hellbrutes and Characters and moved forward.

Points: AM 1 (First Blood), IW 0

Turn 2

He got the cards he wanted, overwhelming firepower. He proceeded to kill another Hellbrute, The Dark Apostle, all the Berzerkers, the reappearing Cultist unit. I got the card to kill a flyer, kill a character with a character and Take objective 4. I managed to make it into combat with the Sorcerer into a Character, and he fluffed everything, after fluffing his psychic powers (He'd cast precisely 0 in the game, in 5 games I've never successfully cast Warp time, if I did it's been dispelled). I made it into combat with the Exalted, the Lord and the Cultists against Guard, and they did a lot of damage, taking objective 4.

Points: AM 5 (Overwelming firepower), IW 1 (Objective 4)

Turn 3

End of his turn, I had some Cultists left and the Chaos Lord, he'd killed everything else, I called it there.

 

Lessons:

• Astra Militarum are overpowered, I don't feel we are underpowered (save the poor poor Word Bearers). My opponents army was a fluffy with no special characters and it still felt overpowered particularly....

• Alpha Strike is too important/too powerful in 40k. This is a general comment that will be true with Tyranids and any other army, alpha strike for how they have built the game is too much, especially with out army. I'm looking at the game atm with an eye to stopping playing, I've played 5 games of 40k now, 4 against Astra Militarum, everything came down to that first dice roll (we use the previewed Chapter Approved rules). I think I might create a whole other thread dedicated to blunting opponents alpha strikes

• Iron Within, Iron Without 6+ saves requires you to roll a 6.

• It's the 5^th November tomorrow, those :cuss dice have failed me for the last time and are going on the bonfire (I am actually not joking, well at least the bin, they disproportionately roll 2's and 5's which is messing a lot with my game enjoyment. Any advice for dice that don't veer heavily to one facing, I'm listening

• Astra Militarum is more than just a gunline when it wants to be. Scions are decent. Front rank fire second rank fire in rapid fire range with -2AP on marines hurts.