Astra Militarum Tactics: The Bloody Infantry PT1 v2.0

So its finally time to get back to looking at the humble Infantry Platoon and how it fares now under a new codex and edition.  There are a lot of little changes that have a big effect, though overall they still function as before.  These are the back bone of many a IG Regiment and will be what most will be relying on to carry the day.  I think that the Infantry Platoon is hands down the best single troops choice in the entire game.  It has the advantage of large hordes, multiple squads, heavy weapons, special weapons, and conscripts.  The sheer number of models you can field in one troop choice is staggering.  You can have 137 models in a single troops choice that is just mind boggling in the amount of men you can bring to the field.  Added to the fact that this is all damn cheap, being 865 pts for all of this (no upgrades).  This means if you are looking to field endless waves of guardsmen, you have found what you are looking for.  The other rule that is important is combined squads, which is sort of the reverse of combat squads for SM, you can combine infantry squads together at the start of the game, they then act as single unit.  This is where the often mentioned blob squad comes from. Now for this one I am going to break it down by the individual units within the platoon and then go over unit tactics.

Please note this is a longer read

Weekend Update

So back finally from camping with family this weekend.  Had a good time and was a lot of fun.  Sorry if you were looking for posts, not happening this weekend.  However expect to see some more tomorrow, as I continued working on my infantry tactics post as it is a big one and should be ready for viewing sometime tomorrow.  I am tired though and no way going to finish it tonight :p.  So see you all tomorrow!

GG

Starting an Astra Militarum Army: Building Your Core

For the second iteration of this series, I will be expanding off of the general concepts of starting an army and moving on to focusing on how to build a good core.  As a note this will generally still be applicable to building an armored army, but that one is generally the most different and will have to be covered separately.  So what is the core of the IG army?  Infantry, and by infantry I don't just mean the troops.

The Creeping Green Tide

Ah the orks, a long awaited release that...is kinda boring.  Is anyone really talking about orks?  It seems the occaisional post surfaces, but god its been so long since the first pics hit about a month ago.  Now though I am an IG player, I have a special place in my heart for these crazy bastards.  Mostly because I like killing them :).  But I have always wanted a large ork harley biker gang, and there is just something iconic about orks and 40k.  That is why this release seems to almost be depressing.

Hobby Post: Converted Taurox Turret for Chimera

Alright switching gears and time for some hobby.  I am still working on my loads of new scions, so that is taking some time.  But I had an idea back when I first looked at the Taurox turret for converting it for use on the Chimera.  This was probably one of the easiest conversion works I have ever done so if you like the look you can do this real easy.

Astra Militarum Tactics: Primaris Psyker

At last time for the final HQ in the Imperial Guard codex, the Primaris Psyker.  With the major changes to 7th with the psychic phase, there are a few things that change with this guy, though nothing that is too major.  He is one of the cheapest pyskers in the game with access to some good tables, though my favorite telepathy is not to him.  Overall this is one of the strongest support units available to the IG and will still be seen in a lot of armies.

Starting an Astra Militarum Army: Where to Begin

To shift gears slightly, I am going to start a series of articles on getting into the hobby, specifically on collecting an Imperial Guard army (of course).  I have gotten a lot of messages and comments on this subject and while I take for granted the knowledge I have from being a guard player for so long, I realize there are a lot that are going through the same issues I face more than a decade ago (emperor help me!).  I intend these to be more than me just spouting at you, so please leave comments or emails if there is anything specific you would like me to cover.

Astra Militarum Tactics: Techpriest Enginseers

To change things up I will be finally returning to the Astra Militarum/Imperial Guard codex and continuing with the reviews.  Today will be the techpriest enginseer, a nice support unit that has gotten better with the new codex and 7th edition.  You prob won't be seeing a whole lot of them, and they are not a must take unit, but there is a lot of use out of them that previously was not the case.

Militarum Tempestus Codex Review: Final Thoughts

I want to go back to look at the Codex, having spent a few months playing with it and with 7th changing things.  Playing with it, I have come to the conclusion that it is a good codex that is a lot of fun and more than capable of holding its own.  That being said there are some misses that would truly make this a great codex and army.

Militarum Tempestus Tactics: Air & Ground Formations

On to the final units of the Militarum Tempestus codex.  While these aren't truly units, I am talking about the Air and Ground formations that are available to the Tempestus Scions.  Both have some significant advantages and are quite good.  They revolve around the transports, one having valkyries, and the other tauroxes.

Militarum Tempestus Tactics: Scion Squads

Well its time for the final unit in the Tempestus Codex, the back bone of the army, the Scion squad.  They are your troop choice and are going to make up the most of your army.  They are the best the Imperial Guard has to offer and can access some of the best equipment in the imperium.  Though not the toughest unit in the galaxy, the can hang in a firefight surprisingly well and more than dish out punishment in return.

Blog Milestone and Updates

Well just the other day my blog reached another milestone and one that I am happy to have reached.  Yesterday I topped over 300,000 views , two months from when I reached 200,000.  I am happy that the blog is continuing to grow and people are reading and discussing, I appreciate the support and will continue doing what I am doing.  Ok enough about me.

Militarum Tempestus Tactics: Command Squads

On to the most important unit in the Tempestus book, the command squad.  These bring you valuable orders that really are the reason you are using this book, besides it being cool.  Unfortunately they lack the senior officer special rule, a big misstep in my opinion as the army really doesn't get a whole lot in terms or orders, so using your orders and your command squad effectively go hand in hand.  Unlike Imperial Guard command squads, these guys generally perform a combined role in your army.

Militarum Tempestus Tactics: Warlord Traits

An important part of playing your tempestus army is in choosing warlord traits.  With 7th edition you have some better choices now, and unlike the Astra Militarum book, the Tempestus warlord table is not so good that you should not consider others.  With the battle forged bonus being able to reroll, you have a much better chance of getting a useful trait to help you in your battles.

7th Changes to Astra Militarum Artillery

There have been a lot of little tweaks to barrage weapons in 7th, the most obvious in terrain and ruins.  Loss of pinning is another.  There is one thing though that negatively affects some of the IG artillery and impacts how they function, and with it the basilisk takes the biggest hit.

Hobby Update: Customized Scion Plasma Guns & Taurox

With my Storm Scion box coming this week I have been doing a lot of hobby work, not so many games.  Today I sate down and worked on building the scions, as I had completed the Valkyrie, Tauroxes, and Commissar.  Since the Golden Throne Gt is now combined with the BAO, I will be heading there and had to change my army to 1850 and adjust for their rules.  I needed a full plasma command squad so first order was building them.  As i already did a hobby post on how to modify them already I won't go into too much detail.

Cerastus Knight Lancer

Today, I want to go in a different direction and talk about the forge world knight (and the others on the way).  As a reader reminded me that I love knights, though I have been heavily distracted by my scions recently.  I am a big fan of them and the FW one is a really cool addition, though honestly I am more excited about the others that are on the way.

Tips & Tricks to Counter Invisiblity

Now there is another 40k boogy man out there that many are decrying and calling for nerf.  Again this is really shortsighted and patience needs to be exercised, especially when there are ways to get around it, besides simply ignoring the invisible unit until it fails to get it off.  I don't see the need for a nerf, it is one of those thing that is powerful when it works, but requires a significant investment to do so at the risk of unreliability.

Why Daemon Spam Isn't a big Deal

There still seems to be a lot of teeth gnashing over daemon summoning, and while it can be a potentially powerful army, its not something to be truly feared.  That army has a lot of issues and relies far too much on chance to be truly effective and I really don't see a need to nerf it through some combination of capping warp dice or other measures.

Militarum Tempestus Tactics: Valkyries

The Scions only have access to one aerial vehicle, and that is the valkyrie.  Because of this it is very important to not only use them, but to use and equip them correctly.  For the scions they bring needed firepower and mobility, getting them safely and quickly to the fight.  There are certain roles that the valkyrie excels at and others it does not.

Segmentum Command Episode 4: 7th Edition

For your listening pleasure here is episode 4 of Segmentum Command.  Had some techincal dificulties but it is here and good to go.  As will not surprise you we discuss the new edition of 40k.  Please listen in the sidebar or head on over to our new site that will be the home of the podcast from here on out. 

Dawn of a New Age of the Imperium

A new age has dawned, as the Imperium's darkest hour closes in its armies gather to repel the closing dark.  Xenos invasions have encroached on Mankind's rightful realm, the archenemy advances ever closer to Terra.  New alliances are being forged while old ones are broken.

Militarum Tempestus Tactics: Using Orders

Continuing on with the scions tactics, this will be covering the most import part of the Tempestus codex: Orders.  With the way the codex is built you are limited on the order givers you have, with multiple CADs this can be mitigated, or bringing one of the awesome formations.  In either case, it is the orders that make this army work so well, but you have to use them at the right time and know what they work against.

Militarum Tempestus Tactics: The Taurox

To continue with my theme of Scions, I will be discussing some more tactics for the Tempestus army, more specifically on their transports the Taurox Prime.  Its a great vehicle that has impressive shooting for its size and great mobility.  It keeps your troops inside alive, and with embarked troops having more buffs than before, they are even better now.

Militarum Tempestus Tactics: Basic List Building

With my local shop under renovation and waiting for it to be done, as most of the table will be in the new space, I prob won't be getting too many games over the next few weeks.  Which is fine as I have more models to build and paint and need to refine my lists.  On the subject of lists I want to go over the basic principles of building a Militarum Tempestus army list.  For sake of argument going to limit the discussion to a single CAD with a little bit on allies.

Hobby Post: Tempestus Scions Painted and Done

Time for a less rulesy post.  Since my scions are fully painted, as I finished them for the tournament I played in, I thought it would be right to post them up with some better close up pictures.  I have my three Tauroxes, two command squads, two of my old storm trooper squads, and my plasma scion squad with my modified plasma gun.

Building Armies in 7th

In this new edition we have new ways to build armies.  Ignoring unbound for now as there is little to discuss there (bring what you want).  In the rule book there are three official detachments,  Combined Arms Detachment, Allied Detachment, and Formations.  These detachments have certain rules and restrictions that change how armies are built from 7th.

Astra Militarum Orders & 7th

With 7th edition, there are some changes that affect the Imperial Guard orders, most are minor though some are a little bit clearer.  Nothing has been nerfed but there needs to be clear understanding how the orders operate when used to make sure they are being used right.

Scions: Astra Militarum vs Militarum Tempestus

I have been on my Scion kick for quite a while now, with no sign of stopping (I just bought the Storm Scion deal, more to follow on that).  In my recent tournament experience I got to test my Scions against some serious enemies, including a seer council, really just a lot of eldar and some Tau.  Which are powerful enemies to be sure, but I still have other tough ones to face and see how they do.  Despite that I have found them to be a tenacious army that keeps on punching till the end.  They are tough to use right but when done so they excel.  Now the big question is whether to take Scions out of the main IG codex, or out of the MT codex.  The answer to that depends on what you want your Scions to do.

How 7th Changes the Astra Militarum/IG

The Imperial Guard have benefited from the new edition quite well, though depends if certain things are FAQ'd and I'll mention that later.  There are a lot of little tweaks and the changes to scoring bring a lot of units out sidelines and have some serious uses now.  With orders, IG have their own "psychic" powers that are more reliable and just as effective as many.  In addition IG have a nice amount of psykers that they can bring as well if you want to focus on that phase.  While IG cannot compare to the number of WCs as daemons or elder or grey knights, when compared to others they land right in the upper middle.

Tournament Report: Last Hurrah of 6th

I went to are local area's tournament yesterday, it was the last hurrah for 6th up at game matrix in tacoma WA.  Was a lot of fun and had great opponents all around.  Was nothing fancy, a 1999 pt tourney with no stronghold or escalation, but other stuff was ok.  Don't think anyone was limited to only one ally/formation etc, as I saw no one brought any more than one ally anyway.  I somehow played against all the eldar players that attended lol, first round against an all eldar list that was pretty standard, second was against Tau/dar, and third was against a seer star.  This is a long post.