8th Edition and the Astra Militarum

We have been getting lots more hints and looks at the new edition, including a tease of the new Imperial Guard, though I will point out nothing really of substance was in the tease other than "Units you haven't used will be good" sort of things.  However, enough is starting to coalesce to start really looking at the new edition through the Imperial Guards lense.

Sly Marbo is Back

Well, sort of a surprise today.  GW, due in no small part I'm sure to community pestering, has brought back Marbo.  I think most of us long time Guard players have fond memories of this lone warrior.  Now he is different with some good and bad here.

8th Edition: Vehicles are Dead, Long Live Vehicles!

Obviously today going to take a look at vehicles and how they are looking with the new edition.  As the title suggests, old vehicles are dead, but we have new ones.  While I personally liked the rules for vehicles, the changes presents opportunities and advantages over the old vehicle rules.  Keep in mind this is what we know so far.

8th Edition Psychic Phase

Today, we got a glimpse at the psychic phase.  The psychic phase is arguably the phase that needs the strongest look and needs the most improvement.  Thankfully, the changes so far are going in the right direction.  Though there are still a few things up in the air, they have hinted at more things as well that are a welcome change.

8th Edition Rules Confirmed

Sorry for the lack of posts, been gone and tax season for my business has taken a lot of time.  But There really hasn't been a lot to talk about.  Until now.  In case you missed it, GW did a Q&A on their FB page on the new edition.  The video is still up here.  The video and a few more posts this week have started to clear things up and give us more details of what is in store.  They are being coy on the release date, but did mention they will be talking more about the new edition at warhammer fest next month, so I doubt its coming in the next few weeks but likely release is early june.

New 8th Edition Rumors

Some new rumors have come, and to be honest not to sure how accurate, but that might be more from me not wanting to believe than it being ridiculous. Also I am going to be out of town till sunday, so this is just good timing for me to talk about it before I head out.  Some salt is needed, but it may turn out to be close to the mark.

Astra Militarum Tactics: Deployment in Depth

For today going to discuss an alternate counter deep strike tactic.  In principal it is similar to bubble wrapping, but works different enough to be its own thing.  This tactic is less effective than bubble wrapping against Drop pod armies though can still be utilized.  This is best against armies that don't have a way to mitigate scatter when deep striking.  Your goal with this deployment is to give your opponent a lot of bad options and significantly increase his chances of a deep strike mishap.

8th edition and future 40k

Looking at the last year, and what we know about the near future, 40k is heading for change both narratively and mechanically.  Disclaimer, I am not privy to any insider information so this is my thoughts based on what has happened and what we know so far, trying to fit pieces of the puzzle.  This is my speculation and most will probably be incorrect, but I like thinking about this and hearing what other people think.

Krak Grenades vs Melta Bombs

A little bit of a rant today, but also some tactics.  I missed upon my first reading the changes for grenades in close combat against vehicles and MCs.  If you are not aware, the main rule book FAQ has ruled that you can only ever use one grenade/melta bomb in close combat per unit.  This is a huge nerf for armies that do not rely on strength to destroy vehicles in close combat.  What is also frustrating is that this wasn't really a needed nerf, as the armies that relied on it are not the main close combat threats to vehicles.  It is what it is.

Batrep: Astra Militarum vs Chaos Marines 1850pts

Got a game in yesterday, and apologies my camera died so only got crappy pictures from my phone, switched things up and played the cadian battle group.  My opponent was playing chaos space marines using black legion and a traitor legion formation.  We played maelstrom mission 5, keeping our objectives secret, hammer and anvil deployment.  I got to deploy first and go first, he reserved most of his army.

Guest Hobby Post: Lasgun/Small Arms Conversions

Today, going to do a guest post, as I got sent in some great conversions using the various small arms and Imperial Guard bits available.  A few a bit advanced but nothing too hard either.  This is from Mad Hawky, and I'll have his info he sent me in italics to distinguish my words from his.

8th Edition News drops from Adepticon

Well our first big news regarding the upcoming changes to 40k have dropped from Adepticon.  Not only rumors but also new Death Guard models have been revealed and Mortarion has pretty much been confirmed as the next Primarch (daemon obviously).  As far as 40k, it is looking that we are going to get some Age of Sigmar rules, but also a return of rules from Older Editions of 40k.

Astra Militarum Tactics: Nork Deddog

To continue with the Ogyrn theme, I'll be going over the Ogryn special character, Nork Deddog.  Like all the special characters in the codex he is highly priced, but for what he does I think he is not too highly priced, unlike some (looking at you Straken).  He can be taken in a CCS as an upgrade, and brings some interesting things to the table

Astra Militarum Tactics: Ogryns and Bullgryns

Ogryns and Bullgryns, the overcosted elites of the IG.  Ogryns especially, they are expensive, have crappy armor, and no real way to get into close combat.  Bullgryns, while not being the most points efficient unit, have some actual uses, they are better in CC than Ogryns, and are more survivable and can actually help your army out.   I still think both need a pts reduction, but one is at least usable.

Gathering Storm: Character Analysis

With the gathering storm series at an end, I want to go back and to take a look at the Imperial Characters again and go over the strengths for an Astra Militarum or Tempestus army.  There are quite a few good options and a couple are just ok, but workable.  I won't go into details of each statline or special rules as I have already done that in previous posts.

Which Imperial Guard Codex Was the Best

For a little fun, going to look back through time and see which of our beloved codex was the best.  Now this might be contentious for some, but really its fun to look back and see how the army has changed over the years.  Despite the first few IG codex's we really haven't been plagued with bad books, at least when taken on their own.  My personal favorite probably will surprise a few, but at the end of the day its a personal choice and its not all about which book was the Strongest game wise.

Astra Militarum Tactics: Orders

Orders.  The fundamental cornerstone of the Imperial Guard.  Without it, the guard is just a bunch of mortals armed with angry flashlights and protected my reinforced cardboard.  With it, an unbreakable wall of armor and flesh and unstoppable light.  Mastering orders will bring victory, and it is no easy task to do this, as your army and situations will change, and how you apply your orders will not be the same every time.

Astra Militarum Tactics: Imperial Agents Shenanigans

The somewhat recently released Imperial Agents book has some little gems inside it for the Imperial Guard to consider.  For the most part, there is nothing too special with the Sisters or GKs, and the deathwatch is ok, but I'd rather go the allied detachment route for DW than the detachment in the book here.  That being said there are a few choices that are strong consideration.

Armageddon Shadow War: Necromunda Reborn

GW said that there was going to be many things to come in the near future and here is our first teaser of things to come.  Armageddon shadow war is going to be a boxed game, similar to their other recently released boxed games that have been pretty darn good, that is a skirmish game set in the hives of Armageddon.  Sound familiar?  Well if you are new to the hobby, GW used to have tons of specialist games, but discontinued them a while ago, with them only returning in the last year or so.  Necromunda was one of the most popular, set in the myriad hives of the Imperium, with small gangs fighting over turf.  It was a small skirmish game.  This appears to be its spiritual successor.

Gathering Storm III: Rise of the Primarch Rules

Moving on to the rules section, this book has the least amount of rules, but only slightly.  It has three characters and a few formations and a detachment.  A little less than Fall of Cadia as it had one more detachment.  This book has a little for the fallen and grey knights, but the big detachment is for the Ultramarines and the Primarch.

Gathering Storm III: Rise of the Primarch

I got the book last night, and did not put it down till I read the whole thing.  I won't go over the rules too much, as there is nothing that really interests me, though G-man has some interesting potential.  The story though is satisfying, though the best parts are the beginning and end, the middle meanders a bit but overall not the worst storytelling ever.

Batrep: Militarum Tempestus Vs Dark Eldar

Rematch!  Going up against the Dark eldar again with my Tempestus.  Still using the Castellans of the Imperium detachment, only real changes to my list was the hydras, dropping the vendetta.  Played around with troops, dropping some guys from one squad to give me another 5 man squad.  We played Maelstrom mission 4, the one where you can steal objective cards from your opponent.  I got first turn, stealth ruins for warlord, and shriek + Shrouded + Hallucinate for coteaz.  He got the infiltrate warlord trait, but forgot to use it, and failed to seize.  Learning from my last game, I spread out more prevent being locked into a corner.  He had most of his force grouped up, using the big rock to block LoS from the Hydras.  Turn 1 I moved tauroxes up to the two objectives on my left.  The two on my right moved up as well.  Coteaz stayed in the ruins and popped off shrouding.  The assassin stayed on top of the ruins.

Astra Militarum Tactics: Hellhounds

Yesterday was about the model, today is about it's tactics.  The hellhound and its variants are all quite solid in what they have as weapons and their abilities.  Their main drawback is that they are not cheap, with them being at base cost of some of the leman russ variants.  Now they can move 12" but I don't think that is enough of an ability to justify the same price as the cheaper leman russes.  That being said, they are not bad, just not necessarily optimal.

Hobby Post: Swap-able Hellhound Weapons

To continue off of yesterday's theme, we have another cost saving hobby advice post, this time for the Hellhound kit.  The updated kit is very easy to keep it customizable for you to change it out on the fly.  This way with one model, you can have a hellhound, devil dog, or bane wolf depending on how you want to take it.  You don't need to buy three kits to have one of each!  The hull weapons are not as hard as it seems to get them to fit without glue.

Hobby Post: Keeping all your Leman Russ Weapons

Time for a quick bit of hobby advice regarding the Leman Russ Demolisher kit.  This kit is super easy to build and keep all your weapons options available, so you can switch weapons out and have any of the three russes in the demolisher kit, without having to buy another tank.  This way you can build one tank, and it can still be a punisher, executioner, or even a demolisher.

Militarum Tempestus Final Review

I love the Militarum Tempestus, but as a standalone army it is sub par.  The orders they get are good, but without senior officer, you are significantly limited in actually getting to use them.  They have no real AA for dealing with FMCs, and no way to deal with really strong units.  The army does excel at MSU and cutting through most armor saves, but with weakly armored vehicles can struggle to move about and stay alive.  Deep strike helps, but risks your army being tabled before coming in.  In short, they are fun and cool looking, but without allies struggle significantly.

Starting an Astra Militarum Army

Its been a long while since I talked about starting an Imperial Guard army, and with new start collecting boxes and changes that have happened, I feel its time to look at this again, with a focus on these sets, especially as they offer actual discounts.

Astra Militarum Chimera Shenanigans

The Chimera, the work horse of the Imperial Guard.  While not being the cheapest transport in the game, it brings a lot of versatility to the table with a wide range of weapons and abilities.  I love chimeras, both model wise and what you can do with them on the table.  This won't be the most competitive tactics discussion ever, but these are fun little ways you can play with your chimera and possibly frustrate your opponent.

Astra Militarum Tactics: Final Thoughts on the Cadian Formations

Its time to wrap up the remaining formations in the Cadian Battle Group, that can be taken on their own if you wish.  There is one remaining formation that is a real winner, another that is decent and the rest are meh.  Its unfortunate as this book was so close to really nailing it, but the Detachment is really unwieldy unless you are playing very large games, and more than a few formations that aren't really that great.

Opinion: GW doesn't get Recon units

GWs rules writing, as we all know, is not always stellar.  For most things though, even when things see saw, they do get things pretty close.  However there is one type of unit that GW struggles to represent on the table top, and that is recon units.  Recon units have specific roles and are significant force multipliers for their armies.  On the table top, they tend to be lackluster.

Astra Militarum Tactics: Leman Russ

The leman russ, the iconic tank of the Imperial Guard.  Its reputation is quite mixed, but with all the options available, it has definite uses on the battlefield and can perform well given the chance.  Now the ordnance rule does disadvantage to the two classic leman russes, the standard and demolisher.  But each variant has a place and should be considered.

Astra Militarum Tactics: Sentinels

Sentinels, one of the best models in the Imperial Guard range, and yet considered to be one of the most disappointing on the table.  Now I don't completely agree, as most of the disappointment has as much to do with what people want them to do, which may not match up with the lore of the vehicle.  That being said, they are useful and can fill a role in your army, as long as you keep in mind their limitations and what they essentially are.

Astra Militarum Tactics: Artillery Company

While the Cadian Battle Group is overall not that great of a detachment, many of the formations in Mont'ka are quite good and something to take with a CAD.  The Emperors Wrath Artillery Company is probably the strongest formation in the book, especially with how flexible it is and what it brings to the table given the current meta.  You can build a very good formation out of this and still have plenty of pts for your CAD to round your army out.

8th Edition: Hopes and Dreams

While still waiting for the Gathering Storm Book III to come out, I have been thinking on the rumored new edition and what I hope to see.  This isn't based on any inside knowledge, just on the rumors that have been coming out and some general hopes I have for guard as well for the next codex, however far away it is.

Battle Report: Militarum Tempestus vs Dark Eldar

I finally got a game in!  I wanted to test out my theories on the Castellans of the imperium detachment and how much it can help Militarum Tempestus armies.  A buddy that I used to play quite commonly was happy to oblige me, as he wanted to play another highly uncommon solo army: Dark Eldar.  So the Showdown between two of some of the least played solo armies began.

Astra Militarum Tactics: Initial thoughts on Ynnari

With the new Eldar faction introduced in the gathering storm comes a new enemy to fight.  This certainly won't be comprehensive, as this army really hasn't been "figured out", but there are some general rules to follow to mitigate its advantages that will help you out.

Hobby Post: Lasgun Conversions

Time for something fun, conversions!  And today, going to go over some ways to convert the humble lasgun for your troops.  Going to cover multiple things from sniper/designated marksman rifles, to just simple changes to standard lasguns.  Good way for you to mark out your veterans or elite squads and just to show off your modeling skills.

Astra Militarum Tactics: Armored Cadian Battle Group

As I continue going over the Cadian Battle Group, today is going to cover the only really playable way you can take this detachment.  This is really the only major success that this detachment sees, as you can take a pretty much all tank army without having to take a troop tax.  Now you won't benefit from the majority of the detachment benefits, but the formation itself makes up for most of this.  Its not the most competitive army in the current meta, but still more than capable of winning games and able to deal with a lot of threats.

Hobby Post: Astra Militarum Chimera & Salamander Conversions

As I promised, I have FINALLY!! completed these conversions, though a bit has changed since I showed them off here and here.  When the Taurox came out, I really liked the look of the turret and really wanted to have a unique looking chimera for my commander to ride in.  Over all the conversion is actually really simple.  My problem is that I used up all my hatches before counting and ran out, luckily I finally acquired another hatch to finish the turret.  Also finished my salamander scout tank.

Astra Militarum Tactics: Returning to the Cadian Battle Group

I have been re-looking at the Mont'ka book and the Cadian battle group and the formations.  It is definitely the case of the usual GW, so close to getting it right but so far away from getting it right.  It certainly has a few applications for working, but overall the detachment itself misses the mark.

Hobby Post: Officio Assassinorum

 Today, a bit of a break from the normal and show off the (finally!) painted assassin models.  I bought all four a good while back and they sat for a while primed, but nothing else.  Well this week I finally got to them and finished them.  While they won't be winning any golden demon awards, I am happy with them.  Apologize for the photo quality, need to get a new one.

Gathering Storm: Future of 40k

Today, going to take a break from looking at rules and soak in all the recent changes, both fluff and crunch, and the road ahead.  GW is not a perfect company, but in my opinion they have done a great job of turning things around in the last few years.  With large amounts of Fluff armies finally seeing the table top, and with supplements to help a few armies out, to doing something with the 40k timeline.  There will always be those that will hate on anything GW does, but I think most of us can take an honest look and appreciate all the good they have done, while still calling them on their crap when its justified.

Fall of Cadia: Castellans of the Imperium Detachment

Continuing off of yesterday, I'm going to continue looking at the Castellans Detachment, with a specific focus on Miltarum Tempestus and why it helps this army out so much.  MT is not a bad army per say, but due to exclusion of a few units, one in particular, and lack of senior officer, the army has significant weaknesses that need to be addressed to play in the current game and stand a chance.

Fall of Cadia: Detachments & Characters

With the story we get some new goodies, and at first I glossed over them, but there actually a few good things.  Both of the detachments are solid, and a few of the formations are ok.  All the Characters are solid and there is something for every Imperial player here.

Astra Militarum FAQ Updates

While not terribly recent, GW has released a new round of FAQs, with quite a few that clear things up for the Imperial Guard.  This is from the actual AM FAQ and the FAQ for the general rules.  Nothing game changing really, but does confirm a few of the things that I have asserted over the last few years.

Cadia has Fallen

Well here it is, the Fall of Cadia.  The 14th 13th Black Crusade has finally come and Abaddon has finally completed his 10 thousand year goal of destroying Cadia.  This won't be a straight up review in the traditional sense, more of a discussion of the story and minor thoughts on the new rules, as others have already done in depth breakdowns of the new units.