Let’s start with the HQ

The company command squad is essentially the anchor for the entire army and is the starting point for your approach to the game, whether leading on the front line or in some cover next to the bulk of the firepower, they work in almost any situation…. Not well though. By itself it’s not that great but the regimental advisors give the HQ that bit of OOMPH! I swear by the Master Of Ordinance, a 30 point earthshaker cannon that adds a bit of indirect fire always makes for a treat but then I use my command as a firebase. Unfortunately his scatter rules make him a tad unpredictable especially if you’re going to charge, but is a must have against horde or swarm armies. Officer Of The Fleet is incredible and should be taken if your opponent uses reserves (which is everyone!) but otherwise is a waste of points and the Astropath I find to be only useful when out flanking my entire infantry platoon (thanks to Al’rahem). The astropath tends to be counterproductive with Marbo. Also people, read the fine print, REMEMBER your company commander has a refractor field (4+ invulnerable save). Almost everyone except the hardcore pros have forgotten this at some point.

I tend not to use Creed or Kell because they’re a big waste of points! The scout’s move from Creed is nice but is not worth 90 points. Otherwise he’s designed for close-combat which I think is a silly way to play Imperial Guard anyway. Speaking of excessive points going into one model, Mother @#$%ing @#$% of a @#$%. Commissar Yarrick is nowhere near effective enough to justify the points used on him (great for storyline abuse when versing Orks) as are Deddog, but man oh man. If only they were say 50 points cheaper, they might deserve a second glance. Lord Commissar is a cheap choice as a sort of surrogate Yarrick and will keep your troops s**ting their pants. What’s a flesh eating alien the size of a house compared to a commissar with a laspistol?

Stracken is one of the coolest mofo’s in the whole damn codex. He can basically punch through tanks, it’s insane. He would be at the forefront of any close range offensive command squads.

This brings me to the Primaris Psyker who is brilliant for a cheap HQ when low on points especially in conjunction with a Psyker Battle squad to reduce your opponent’s squad’s leadership, then make him test it to shoot at you. Also great to throw in a Chimera for the added durability, otherwise known as the Psyk Out or Psychic Armoured Fist.

I really don’t like Ministorum Priests as they’re too preachy but work well in conjunction with a Commissar Lord to give a charging squad most of the benefits Yarrick without the cost. The 4+ invulnerable save is nice too. Techpriest Enginseers with a bunch of servitors are way too expensive for the “possibility” of fixing a gun but can hold their own in combat, especially with those metal arms.

Now to Troops

First thing’s first, our infantry suck, but Holy Christ we can take lots of them. We can basically out-swarm swarm armies, which thanks to first-rank fire, second-rank fire means we get 160 lasgun shots in rapid-fire and 100 out of rapid-fire (PCS + 5 IS) to work with which has to do something. Close combat guard seems like a cool idea but starts to make firing risky as it disallows the Huge Ordinance Guns (Henceforth The HOG’s), that you should be taking as your playing Guard, to shoot in case of scattering on your already fragile enough guardsman. “We will not tolerate friendly fire”

Swarm guard is great, but I prefer taking veterans decked out with shotguns, 3 meltaguns and a demolition charge which is a bit pricy but can hold its own in a gunfight even against 2+ armour, but risking suicide bomber status (scatters on itself). This squad then infiltrates thanks to Harker (with a scouts move from Creed) or I throw them in a Vendetta (affectionately nicknamed the Veto Vendetta or V for Vendetta) and objective hunt with enough firepower to actually hold it. Another place to put them is in a slightly less durable chimera and abuse the fire points. This works really well and is worth doing just to see your opponent take down your chimera only to have 10 pissed off veterans jump out ready to blast them to infinity and beyond (thanks to the ever reliable BS4).

I also recommend not taking conscripts unless you’re trying to build a meat shield for a firebase, in which case take Chenkov with Send In The Next Wave for the ultimate reincarnating meat shield. Otherwise I don’t usually take conscripts or Chenkov.

Penal Legion Squads are cool because of their storyline but otherwise suck as they are just like regular guardsman, albeit more expensive guardsman with an unpredictable special ability and NO UPGRADES. I’ve never taken and do not plan on ever taking Penal Legion Squads.

Al’rahem and his infantry platoon are the Bees Knees of the entire 5th ed Guard codex and one of my favourite units to use. They are a KO combo as coupled with an Astropath (only time I take an Astropath) will dependably come in around 3rd turn by which time you have used your HOG’s to shoot down all of your opponent’s anti-infantry fire. The infantry platoon is completely shielded from fire as they aren’t even on the board until about 3rd turn, when they come in kitted up to take down your opponent anti-tank fire, which will struggle to take down waves of infantry. Imagine your opponents face, he’s spent two turns taking out all of your tanks at the expense of his anti-infantry firepower, which haven’t had any infantry to fire at (anti-infantry firepower is mostly ineffective against tanks anyway) when 3rd turn an entire infantry platoon, led by Al’rahem, pops up right next to him covered in Lascannons, Meltaguns, Melta-bombs and whatever else will kill a tank, when all he’s left with is anti-tank firepower. Sure, you’ll lose a few guardsman, but you’ll overwhelm them with sheer numbers. This works great unless your opponent is, yep you guessed it, the Tau (sometimes Eldar and Marines), whose weapons can damage pretty much everything especially the interchangeable hammerhead which will mow down both your infantry and your tanks. Fully expect all of your tanks to die using this strategy. It is risky though because if god forbid they manage to destroy all your tanks by 3rd turn, there’s nothing left on the board so you immediately lose. Don’t worry about that so much, the Leman Russ’s can hold their own and the strategy will win 9 times out of 10 (So long as your opponent doesn’t see it coming). Like Al’rahem you have to have the element of surprise. Technically you don’t need Al’rahem to use the strategy but his order Ride “Like the Wind” Bull’s-eye will allow your Heavy guns to shoot and move.

As to Sergeant Bastonne, I never take him because he looks too much like a pretty boy. Harker is good as he adds manoeuvrability to your list. He also works as a sweet combo with Creed if you’re going first. Infiltrate the veterans kitted out with shotguns (always choose the ASSAULT weapons so you can assault them into safety, it is worth sacrificing the extra lasgun shot), 3 meltaguns and a demo charge. With scouts you’ll be in melta-range first turn so anything that has massive armour is gone. Your veterans will probably get blown to smithereens next turn unless you can infiltrate them near some cover. If you want to get pedantic with points, you’re better of just taking a Vendetta. Again, REMEMBER Harker has Feel No Pain (4+ save).

The Chimera is the staple of any Guard army because it almost pays for itself in firepower plus it gives our fragile little guardsman some durability. Amphibious is helpful with the recent surge in water features but otherwise overlook-able. The fire points are what really makes it a worthwhile investment and don’t let those ignorant rule-Nazi’s bully you out of those firepoints. Ignore the ambiguous wording in the codex and fire using your proper weapons, they are not lasguns turrets. Personally I put a squad of veterans with meltas and tank hunt with the Armoured Fist.

No one will defeat the Elite.

Ogryns fall under a strange category because they are really good at what they do providing the best assault unit guard can muster and a pretty damn fine counter charge unit or meat shield. It’s just that they’re 40 points a model with a maxed out squad being a whopping 430 points and a mobile squad with a chimera being 305 points. Now even though they have furious charge, they could never unleash the same amount of ferocity as 2 Leman Russ’s. I don’t usually take Ogryns.

A Rattling squad is pretty cool, doesn’t really do much but is pretty cool. It’s cheap and fairly reliable at what it does. With infiltrate and stealth, just shove them in some cover and take potshots at infantry and anything with a high toughness and a low save as sniper rifles Rend, Pin and wound on a 4+. If that wasn’t enough, couple them with a Psyker Battle Squad using Weaken Resolve on a unit and your almost guaranteed (unless they roll double 1) to pin them. I call this move, the Bullstopper (Thank you Matthew Reilly). Plus I hear Ratlings are good cooks…. “Can you recommend a good wine with that ration pack?”

The Psyker Battle Squad is another must have in any Imperial Guard army as they are just so damn versatile. Using Soulstorm gives you a HOG equivalent S9 AP D6 pie plate which is assault 1 meaning you can fire out of a Chimera. And if that wasn’t good enough, Weaken Resolve allows you to lower your opponent’s squads’ leadership by the number of sanctioned psykers giving them some really cool combos with Ratlings or the Primaris Psyker… And just for some icing on the cake, if they suffer a perils of the warp instead of rolling wounds for all of them, you just remove three.

As much as everybody keeps bagging it out, the Storm Trooper Squad is really cool. Because of Special Operations, this makes them an incredibly versatile unit and they can be kitted out for almost any task, mainly decoy dummies. Throw them right next to something big and you’re opponent has to shoot at them…. That’s a whole turn where they’re not shooting at something else! A little bit pricy, but they more than make up for it by just being able to use a squad called Storm Troopers, albeit Storm Troopers with better aim. I’m a Star Wars fan, back off.

Last but not least, Guardsman Marbo is the cornerstone of any imperial guard army because you just never know what he’s going to do. He may come in and take out a full squad of Marines or he might become a suicide bomber (Demolition charge scattering on himself). He is just so unpredictable. He can however, in some exceptional circumstances be effective against 2+ armour saves that are taking potshots at you, such as Broadsides, Terminators, Obliterators etc as his ripper pistol is AP2 as well. Just be prepared to have him blown away next turn. Always take Marbo! What else are you gonna spend the points on Pask, Bastonne… makes me sick. Also if you are lucky enough to be really unlucky with your reserve roles Marbo comes in 5th turn and contests the objective way on the other side of the board… you know, the one you were never going to get to because its in the middle of cover with a whole troop choice on top of it. “Didn’t see that one coming, did ya?” Also opponents frequently forget you’ve taken him…. Just casually forget to role for reserves every turn.

Fast Attack is Back

Scout Sentinels and Armoured Sentinels are really overpriced units for what they do and as such I never take them. On second thought, Scout Sentinels are very effective as throw away searchlights when the night fighting rule is in effect. Use their Scouts move to get closer to a big tank or something, illuminate it with the searchlight, and have all your HOG’s blow it into nothingness.

Hellhounds are really good against cover dependant armies like Kroot, Eldar etc but otherwise aren’t really worth taking as their points are impinging on a Vendetta. Devil Dogs with melta sponsons are pretty good for some roaming guns that can take on anything but again is starting to impinge on a Vendetta or HOG. The Bane Wolf however is a god among men. This 130 point FAST tank, will deny all but the strongest of armour, has a S1 gun (so it is counted as a defensive weapon), and wounds EVERYTHING on a 2+. Throw in some heavy bolters and you’ve got a Marine killing machine. You mess with the Guard, and we’ll set the dogs on you.

I really like Rough Riders and they make a brilliant counter charge unit because of their Hunting Lances. I always take Mogul Kamir for the furious charge, however due to rage, your opponent could be sneaky and send them chasing after a decoy dummy. I usually get around this by placing them outside line of sight or in a transport (Can we do that?). Place them in some cover next to your HOG’s and wait for a Carnifex, Warboss, Deamon Prince etc to try and charge your tanks, only to see that smile gone from your opponents face, as a squad of Rough Riders comes galloping towards them. Before they start their charge, I always imagine the Horn of Gondor blaring in the background.

Now to the Valkyrie and Vendetta. What can I say, they’re just perfect in every way. Personally I prefer the Vendetta (30 points for 3 MOBILE twin – linked lascannons), and use it as a transport instead of a Chimera. I use their Scouts move to run them as point or as a forward Gun emplacement and hold back, taking potshots with the twin-linked Lascannons until the final turns when I zoom them up and capture or contest objectives. They’re quite bulky though so expect them to be shot. Another favourite is to put a squad of hootin tootin veterans inside kitted with some meltaguns and demolitions. 2 of these if you’re going first and you’ve just punched through their line…..FIRST TURN. Boom baby…. Boom %@#$ing Boom! The Vendetta model is large, cumbersome and intimidating so it will always get shot down first (rule of thumb biggest model on the board always goes down first) so in the scout’s move attempt warp speed and zoom the full 24” to get the cover save.

Heavy Support

Finally, we get to the backbone of the Imperial Guard army, The Huge Ordinance Guns (The HOG’s).

I’m repeatedly told how unreliable Ordinance guns are so I did the math. Assuming an average BS3, it is already a 5+ to hit, as there are two hit symbols on the scatter die. You then minus your BS from the 2 D6 rolled for scatter. Now the radius of the large blast marker is approximately 2.5 inches, so any scatter of less than 6 will hit (especially now that partial hits count as proper), making HOG’s just better than a 4+ to hit. AND this is when you’re only aiming at one model, usually HOG’s will be aimed at squads where even if you miss and it scatters by a lot there is still a chance it’ll hit something. Even if you’re really unlucky and it scatters off your opponent’s squad entirely, there is still a chance it’ll hit something else, especially if you’re against a horde army, making HOG’s very reliable pieces of firepower.

Now since there is a vast range of Leman Russ’s, everybody has their own favorites and they all work well in their given situations, so I’m not going to go into it much. My favorites are the ever-reliable, sturdy Battle Tank, The Vanquisher (works well with Knight Commander Pask for a tank sniper rifle), The Demolisher for a close range tank and The Executioner (with sponson plasmas, for 5 plasma shots a turn). However never take The Punisher, even with Pask, don’t be fooled by Heavy 20, it’s rubbing s**t in glitter and giving it to ignorant folk. The Exterminator is overrated as well.

I’ve never actually used a Hydra Flak Battery for swatting skimmers, which is what it was designed for, so I can’t comment on its usefulness there. I can say that it’s an excellent anti-infantry gun if a bit expensive.

I don’t usually take Ordinance Batteries as they take up an entire Heavy Support Choice that could go to a squadron of Leman Russ’s. Also I don’t like not being able to shoot in the turn I fire. But those that do, again it’s a similar situation with the Ordinance Batteries as it was with the Leman Russ’s, different players will have their favourites and each will work effectively in their given circumstances. My personal favourites are the Basilisk placed outside of line of sight, a Medusa with Bastion-breacher shells if my opponent has lots of vehicles or if there are lots of buildings to shoot at, and a Griffin if I’m playing a horde army and low on points.

To my favourite piece of artillery and another cornerstone of any Guard list, The Manticore Rocket Launcher is another god among men, with potentially three S10 AP4 pie plates a turn for only 160 points, they will decimate infantry at a ridiculous rate. The limited ammunition special rule may seem like a handicap at first but by fourth turn, unless you’re really lucky, your Manticores will probably all be dead anyway because let’s face it, they’re pretty fragile. I always take one Manticore Rocket Launcher in every list for some dedicated anti-infantry firepower and with S10 and Barrage, even works well against vehicles after all the infantry are gone.

Finally, the Deathstrike Missile Launcher, 160 points of sheer enigma. A cursory glance leaves me with the impression that it is the biggest piece of @#$% but somehow it didn’t get moderated out of the codex so there must be something I’m not seeing. Any thoughts on when it could be used EFFECTIVELY are welcomed….

Hybrids

I’m predominately a purist so personally play a pure Guard list. I’m not big into hybrids so this is the part I’m unsure about. Since the release of 5th Ed the rules for Hybrid lists such as Daemonhunters, Witchhunters etc have become a bit … ummm… convoluted. Same thing with assassins. Any clarification would be appreciated? From someone with experience, newbies put down your hands….

Long story short Daemonhunters give you powerful infantry that can’t be shot at but are very expensive so you can’t afford many of them. With Witchhunters you’re essentially paying for the 3+ save and the acts of faith, some of which are really cool, especially the 3+ invulnerable save for every model. That royally @#$%s over those opponents who’ve got the math behind their turns down pat. Always…. ALWAYS use Guard as the parent list. The Hunters are great and all, but the sheer brutality comes from the Guard HOG’s which can’t be taken if they’re the subordinate list. Also taking un-upgraded Guard without tanks or artillery is just plain ridiculous.

Assassins. Fun fact, something I only learned recently, all of the assassins are girls….. Damn I want me one of those. Basically Eversor and Vindicare are expensive and mostly redundant.

Vindicare will sit their and snipe independent characters until they get close enough to wipe him out. Eversor will charge into battle, pistols blazing Dirty Harry style and will destroy whatever it gets into close-combat with, if it gets that far, then die next turn. She’s suicidal, you send her in for the template against squads or for the Armour denying against 2+’s (which the Callidus is better at anyway). What will actually end up happening is you’ll infiltrate her in some cover and stalk your opponents 2+ armour or squad of 4+ or more and watch your opponent spend the next turn carving your Eversor into oblivion. Remember you’re infiltrating outside 18” so 6” movement plus 12” assault leaves you just out of range.

Callidus is brilliant; she’s like Marbo on steroids (polymorphine to be exact) and gives you (in my opinion) the most ridiculous rule ever written in the history of 40k. She’s worth the points already this is just overkill; getting to move an opponents unit 6” at the start of the game is absurd. If I ever took her I would boycott this rule. She is unstoppable, turn she comes in place her ANYWHERE and just f**k s**t up! Gun is AP1 S8 ASSAULT TEMPLATE so no saves; she’s instant-deathing most infantry and almost everyone are under the template. The leadership damage is weird though. Have her come in next to a squad of 2+ or some particularly nasty infantry, fire, then assault to protect her from fire. Next turn, jump back, fire, then assault to protect her from fire. Repeat until dead.

The Culexus assassin is the other semi-worthwhile assassin choice; she’s the combo hitwoman. By herself she’s kind of hopeless but once that creativity starts flowing: Guard can take whole squads of psykers. Surround her in psyker squads (put them in Chimera’s so they don’t run away) and let her fire that Psychic Machine Gun of hers to mow down Marines. S5 AP1…..Assault 20…. Buddy! She gets +1 Assault for each psyker near her, God help them if she’s shooting at psykers as well.

I have never ever seen a COMPETETIVE close-combat Guard army and hope I never will. It’s perverted! (Sweeping Advances also make it nye impossibl) The three prevailing Guard strategies are Mechanized (everyone has a transport), Long Range Fire Bases (self-explanatory) and Overwhelming Swarm (too many for an opponent to shoot down) / Horde Gun Emplacements (lots of guns = lots of shooting). Everybody kind of has a general idea how Guard play and any other strategies are based (sort of) on one of the above core strategies after mixing and matching the various units and tactics.

A word on Orders. They are all fairly self explanatory. ALWAYS ISSUE AN ORDER!!! There is an order for almost every situation and the benefits always outway the down side. Even if the order is completely useless, which it shouldn’t be, issue it anyway! Your shooting priorities should be in sync with your orders.

That’s all folks….

Anecdote Time:

So I was playing a 40k tournament and was on fire…. I might add. Made it undefeated to the semi-final and was against some smug 17 year old kid (they just keep getting younger). For those of you who don’t know, my army are Nazi’s (anybody make a rule Nazi joke I’ll slap you). The whole ensemble is painted in a Nazi theme, the Leman Russ’s have big Swastika’s on the side and the Vendetta has a tiny Nazi flag sticking out of the cockpit. I even have a giant Nazi flag, a Gestapo uniform and a fake moustache to complete the whole shebang, which I wear whilst playing in tournaments, suffice to say, I regularly win the prettiest army awards. Now this kid’s old man’s old man had come to proudly support his grandson and was a veteran of the concentration camps. One look at my army and he was pissed as hell, on the verge of tears. Took me an hour to explain I’m not actually a Nazi. I ended up withdrawing from the tournament, kissing that shiny trophy and the comparatively pathetic prize money goodbye and leaving with my tail between my legs and thoroughly embarassed. What else could I do? This is just a game to me but this guy has seen the real deal and I wasn’t going to offend someone who’s been through something so horrific. So I came back the next day to see the final, decided it would be fun to see how the kid goes and to apologise to the old guy. I turned up and what do I find, no old dude…… The kid had hired an actor. I was stunned speechless. Talk about psyching out an opponent…. @#$%! The kid eventually won the tournament and was laughing his arse off as he told me what happened. Greatest warhammer 40k moment I’ve ever had….

Hummingbird Out!

This article will focus on some helpful hints for the new Fantasy player and how to avoid some common pitfalls. I’ll also go over some basic strategies and a list that can be helpful in judging the strength of your army. Hopefully this will prove useful to new players and provide a nice base to build some more in depth strategies on.

Keep It Simple

Fantasy is a daunting game at first for many new players. Units of all shapes and sizes running around the board, terrain killing and strengthening both armies, magic tipping the scales every turn, the list goes on. It’s enough to make a new general lose focus on the little things and unfortunately that is often where victory is decided. Here are a few hints to keep your eyes on the prize.

Take a Step Back

Before starting your turn, take a step back and look over the field. Momentum swings quickly in Fantasy and you will often be playing damage control while trying to keep the pressure on your opponent. Look at the situation each of your units is in and how the battle is progressing. Now you can start to formulate plans for your units with the big picture clearly laid out for you.

We All Need a Little Support

Make sure your units have the proper support and tools to get their jobs done. Missile units need an open line of sight or a weak infantry unit may need backup to lend combat support. It’s important you know what your models need to be successful and work to give it to them.

Use Your Terrain

Terrain is a double edged sword in Fantasy, especially the “Mysterious” variety, so place terrain where it will have the most positive effect for you. If your army stays back and shoots, place cover in your deployment zone or if you push towards the enemy, place it in the middle to screen your assault. Certain structures have positive or negative effects, these can be used to lure or keep an opponent away from part of the battlefield. Consider how terrain will affect both armies before placing it to get the most out of it.

Have a Plan

Seems simple but many new players start the game without a clear plan, which only snowballs once the game begins and things start to go wrong. It’s important to have a rough idea of what your army wants to do, even if it’s as simple as running a unit of heavy cavalry down an enemies flank. A basic plan gives you something to fall back on when the game starts to get away from you.

Be Adaptable

Fantasy is a random game and the rules almost assure things will get out of hand sometimes. Warmachines will destroy themselves, charges will fail, Wizards will Miscast, etc. It’s important to mentally recover from these setbacks and pick up the pieces. Make the best of a bad situation where possible, perhaps a failed charge lets you move another unit in a position to flank if your opponent charges you. If the situation isn’t salvageable, look to other units to get the job done if it’s a necessity. The worst thing you can do is panic and make further mistakes.

Look Before You Leap

We all make mistakes and often these mistakes lead to losses. Being a good general is about policing your own mistakes before turning an eye to your opponent and exploiting his. Avoiding pitfalls is one of the few things you can control in Warhammer, here’s how to avoid the common ones.

Measure Everything

Fantasy allows you to measure most everything at anytime, this is an invaluable tool. Before declaring anything, measure to see if you’re in range or if you think you can pull off the necessary distance. Check to see if missile troops require a march or regular move to get into position or if moving a unit puts them in probable charge range. Knowing distances can help you plan for future turns and prevent you from wasting them.

Know What You’re Getting Yourself Into

If you aren’t sure what something does, ask. Before charging a unit, ask what they can do, what their stats are and what special rules they may have. Know what your opponents spells do so you can dispel the right ones. Know what his movement is, what his shooting can do, everything. Information is a controllable element of the game and there’s no excuse not to have it. Knowledge of an opponent’s army will let you make better tactical decisions and avoid the dreaded “I wish I could take THAT Back” moments.

No Model Left Behind

Never forget to use any of your models. Before going to the next phase of a turn, make sure you used everything you needed to. Did you move everything, did you cast all your spells, and were all the close combats resolved? The responsibility is yours to remember your unit’s rules and to use them; often forgetting something simple like a march move can shred your battle plan.

Acceptable Casualties

Warhammer is a bloody game and many of your models will die over the course of a game, so the trick is knowing what you can and cannot lose. Take steps to keep your most valuable units alive while losing the expendable ones. Know what threatens your needed units the most and have a plan to remove those threats, or give them more attractive targets. Sometimes the best support is taking one for the team.

Greater than the Sum of the Parts

Every good army is a selection of models that support one another; even an army that relies on a super unit to win needs support of some kind. The problem most new generals run into is using these parts together. It’s tempting to run powerful units into the enemy army and hope they’ll cut through single handedly, or rely on shooting/Magic to crush every unit that comes towards you. In reality, these plans rarely work. Elite units need help whittling the enemy down before they attack, shooting units need ways to slow or stop enemy movement. Make sure you keep the big picture in mind and don’t get fixated on one unit or one phase of the game.

Start From the Ground Up

Even the most complex strategies and maneuvers are grounded in the basics. Learning and practicing the simple stuff will allow you to see how a tactic could be tweaked or change to better suit your needs and will help you develop an eye out for when opportunity comes knocking. Here are a few very easy tactics that even the most experienced veterans employ.

Bait and Switch

The Bait and Switch is the act of making an opponent charge one unit only to come up empty and in range of your own units. How you force this on an opponent is situational and can be anything from making not charging look like a poor idea to ensuring the unit will be out of the game for a few turns if they don’t take the bait.

Your bait unit is ideally something you can afford to lose. When a charge is declared against it, you Flee, resulting in a failed charge for the enemy which pulls them out of position. You than have a more powerful unit ready to charge in your turn, granting you an advantageous combat or forcing the enemy to Flee in turn.

This is easier for horde style armies to employ as they often have many throw away units but few powerful units. If the bait never rallies or is run down, the loss is insignificant compared to the tactical gain. The ideal bait unit is cheap and fast, able to out-distance chargers and then get back into the fight. Fast Cavalry are particularly well suited for a bait role being fast, cheap and able to move after rallying to pester an opponent again.

Hammer and Anvil

Hammer and Avil refers to holding a unit in place with one unit, the Anvil, before striking with another, the Hammer. This is commonly done to prevent Flee reactions, set up Flank or Rear charges or get slower moving units into combat but can be broader, such as holding a unit in place and shooting them as Skaven can do.

The ideal Anvil will be any unit likely to hold the enemy up. Luckily the new rules for Steadfast make this easier than ever before, granting Stubborn to any unit with more ranks than the enemy. Other possibilities are Unbreakable units or just any unit unlikely to flee after one or two rounds of combat. While the enemy is unable to move, you maneuver a second unit to charge into the flank or rear, giving you a large bonus to Combat Resolution and increasing your odds of winning the combat.

This is best employed by armies that have extremely powerful units that an opponent is likely to avoid at all costs, or a mix of powerful and throwaway units.

Keep Away

Keep Away refers to keeping an extremely powerful unit away from your army where it can do serious damage. There are two ways to do this; one is to tarpit the unit with a unit unlikely to break, as with the Hammer and Anvil strategy. The other is to lead it on a chase, either keeping it out of the game or buying you time to whittle it down.

The tarpit version requires a unit capable of holding a powerful unit up for several turns. It’s not necessary to beat the enemy; you’re just trying to keep them out of the game in any meaningful way. Try to angle the tarpitters so if the enemy overruns they’ll be in a bad position, requiring further time to get to your army.

Leading a unit on a chase is harder but more rewarding, saving you from tossing points away while possibly earning some. This can be done in many ways, from Fleeing charges to enticing an opponent to follow one of your units around but moving to buy extra time. When leading a unit around, try to slow them down, or drag them through terrain that will hurt them. It’s also good to have shooting or Magic to damage them or further slow them down.

Checking It Twice

No matter the army, there are a few things every roster needs to shore up basic weaknesses. The quantity these are taken in are up to personal taste but everything should be at least basically represented.

• Stop the Winds

Magic can cripple armies if allowed free reign, so it’s important to be able to counter at least some spells. Items that grant extra dispel dice, remove power dice from an opponent, increase the likelihood of Miscasts or outright counter spells are all excellent defense when added to the basic dice granted by the Winds of Magic.

• Reduce Their Numbers

Charging into full strength enemy units often isn’t advantageous. Even a few casualties can remove a rank bonus which can be the difference between winning and losing a combat. Whether it’s through Magic or Shooting, find a way to remove enemy models before close combat.

• Shatter the Glass Cannons

Warmachines and Missile Troops can be just as devastating as Magic but don’t rely on power dice to get the job done. They’re also resilient to shooting, using the high toughness of the machine to protect the squishy crew, being far away or in cover. Having something to stop these units from weakening your army is imperative, either through close combat, or your own Magic/shooting.

• Deathstar Stoppers

Some armies run deathstars, units that will never lose a straight up fight and can roll over a whole army. Whether it’s by using throw away units to keep a deathstar out of the game, or having the ability to weaken and destroy it, you need the resources to keep these one unit armies from beating you.

• I Must Break You

Being able to break an enemy unit is the easiest way to capture banners and victory points for whole units. Shooting and Magic are hard pressed to destroy entire units alone, so sometimes you need to get your hands dirty. Have units that can break the enemy based on your needs, depending on how badly you’re capable of weakening them before combat.

Wrapping Up

So those are the basics I’ve used as I get more and more experience with Warhammer Fantasy. Hopefully this can give other new players room to create their own tactics and ideas while preventing those moments where you know you just beat yourself. Happy gaming guys, feel free to reply with your own basic dos and don’ts, I’d love to hear them.

First, let’s consider your opponent’s choice of army.  Someone who fields Orks is going to have a completely different mindset than someone who plays Mech Guard.  The one is clearly set for close quarters fighting, the other for avoiding close quarters as long as possible, or at least until they have a decisive advantage.  Since a lot of armies can be fielded a multitude of ways (hey, even Blood Angels can be fielded as a shooty army), you have to pay very close attention to your opponent’s unit and wargear choices.  Most tournaments I’ve played in are open list, and I suggest taking advantage of that opportunity and at least give it a quick glance.  After all, a better informed general is one capable of making better decisions.  Is his army entirely geared for close combat?  Is his army designed to just castle and bomb the crap out of you?  Is it a mobile mech army designed to just run circles around you?  The first thing you need to establish is what sort of list your opponent is fielding, and whether or not that list has an obvious goal.  An Ork horde that’s loaded with slugga boyz and some nob bikers has an obvious goal – getting into assault and killing you.  A marine list with three vindicators, tactical marines and sternguard is obviously designed to bomb you into oblivion.  Hyrbid lists can be trickier, because different parts of the army have different goals, but these are generally obvious.  An Eldar list with war walkers, rangers and howling banshees has clearly defined parts – the first part is to sit back and shoot, the second to either advance to threaten objectives, or to stay back for the countercharge, but in either case it’s obviously for assault.

Alright, so that crap is obvious, every player should know it, but it needed to be said.  It’s amazing how lots of people will focus so heavily on their own army or parts of their opponent’s army (OMG!!! TH/SS Termies!), that they won’t consider the army as a whole.  But what does this tell you?  Obviously, a player with an all-assault army is going to be extremely aggressive.  All of his points have been spent towards close combat, and as long as his troops aren’t fighting in hand-to-hand, those points are being wasted (or lost from your shooting).  Such a player will be much more likely to get taken in by a bait unit – blinded by his own lust for violence and frustration and being unable to harm you, throwing an easy target in his way should result in the unit being gobbled up, which is just what you want.  Don’t expect to have enough time to set things up perfectly against this type of opponent.  The extreme likelihood is that they will come at you as fast as possible, so things like Reserves might not be as effective as putting everything on the table, especially if you have more ranged fire than melee power.  However, if you do have a cheap scoring unit that can Deep Strike or Outflank, definitely leave at least one in Reserve for an objective mission, as this sort of opponent is not likely to leave much back to hold and defend objectives in his deployment zone.  The best way to frustrate this sort of player is to stay out of combat for as long as possible.  The longer you stay out of combat, the more desperate he will be to get into combat, and the easier it will be for you to bait him into unfavorable assaults.

If your opponent has his points sunk into shooting, well, I think their plan is just as obvious.  Shooting units, as a rule, are not good melee units (except for Grey Hunters and Long Fangs).  But the real challenge has always been surviving long enough to drag them into melee.  Fortunately, there is an easy way to mess with a ranged player’s head – don’t give him a target.  5^th Edition is wonderful in the fact that it allows you to hold anything and everything in Reserve in every mission.  This is especially useful if your opponent goes first.  How worrisome and frustrating it must be to have many big guns, but you are required to sit there, your guns silent, as they have nothing to shoot at?  This is also a great tactical decision as well, because this means your opponent will only have four, five or six shooting phases as opposed to five, six or seven.  In addition, if you have units that Deep Strike or Outflank, do so.  Even if it may not be the most tactically sound approach, often times having the threat of enemy units popping up all over the place is enough to unnerve defensive players, and you’ll see the common tactic of castling everything in the center to guard from deep striking and outflanking.  Well now, if you have any pie plates yourself, they just served up some nice targets.  Not to mention that when you do get into assault, you might be able to assault and tie down multiple units, and when you end up out of assault, your opponent may find that his own men provide cover saves, or you’re simply too close to hit with template weapons.  Another tactic to try is to throw away cheap units by making them a target.  While the bait unit against a shooty army won’t lure the enemy into an assault (in most cases), it can work to redirect some fire.  Remember Target Priority from 4^th edition?  Some players are still stuck in that mode.  If Target A is closer than Target B, A is clearly the graver threat.  Nevermind that Target A is a Combat Squad in a Rhino, and Target B is a unit of Vanguard Vets in a Land Raider.  And, worse comes to worse, you play against someone with a good head on their shoulders who realizes that B is truly the greater threat, well, you just go ahead and drive that combat squad right up there and assault things like heavy weapons squads, dev squads and lootas.  Even if it’s an unfavorable assault for you, provided you can survive that first round of combat into the second one, you’ve just tied that unit down and prevented it from shooting.  Hell, assault multiple such units, if you can.

There’s one more psychological trick I’d like to point out.  You know that guy who spends hours and hours painting his centerpiece unit?  Or that other guy who insists he can’t win without Yarrick/Vulkan/Abaddon?  Ya know how to mess that guy up?  Blast his precious unit/character to kingdom come!  Now, at a tourney you’re likely not going to know your opponents personally (at least, at a non-local tourney).  But it is possible to at least guesstimate what their prize unit is.  If one unit clearly has hours more work put into its construction and painting, that is likely to be the unit.  Or if one unit costs three times as much as the next expensive unit, well, that unit is likely to be it.  Named characters tend to be a dead giveaway.  And if your opponent is stroking his favorite model and hissing “My precioussss,” or has a single unit that he removes from a bullet-proof, steel case that’s handcuffed to his wrist, well, that’s just obvious.  I know a guy who used to quit every game once you annihilate his money unit.  While your opponent may not quit in a tournament (I’ve rarely seen it happen), destroying that unit can really destroy their morale.  Once a player no longer cares about a game, that’s when you have them on the ropes.  I’m not a WAAC player, but I do know that this is the best possible situation in a tournament.  Once they’re down, keep them down.  Don’t be a jerk.  Don’t rub it in.  Be polite while you dismantle the rest of his army and secure yourself a Massacre with bonus points.

In short, pay close attention to your opponent.  Look at his list and figure out his goals and objectives.  Hell, listen to what he talks about.  If you’re deploying your armies, and he takes out a Land Raider and says, “This baby wins me games,” well, I think he just painted a huge bull’s eye on the side of that thing.  If you look through your opponent’s list and see Kharn, Berserkers and close-combat Defilers, that list says one thing, “KHARN IS GONNA EAT YO’ FAMILY!!!”  Unfortunately, these tricks won’t work on everyone.  More seasoned players have played many a game, lost many a prized unit and still managed a win or a draw, and thus are harder to demoralize.  Some players simply don’t care, and although they’re playing in a tournament, are just there to have a good time, meet new people and see new armies.  And there are those players that just don’t pay enough attention.  These are the types who have a battle plan and stick to it, no matter what.  This player is a whole other type, and if you’re a bit seasoned yourself, you should know exactly how to handle them.  So remember – figure out your opponent, frustrate him and let him make mistakes.  And when I say frustrate, I don’t mean upset.  Remember this game is all about having fun.  But who says messing with your opponent’s hopes and dreams can’t be fun?

Kinne out.

The Throng of Zanzuhf Kazad – This is the Dwarf army that I’ve had for over seven years.  We were only playing 1,000 points, so I had to scale it back a little.

Dwarf Thane Gotrek Hammerfist — Great Weapon, Shield, Rune of Stone, Master Rune of Spite, Attached to (H)

Master Engineer Ufdi Burntbeard — Rune of Stone, Attached to (ST)

(H) 15 x Hammerers — Standard, Musician, Shields

(I) 15 x Ironbreakers — Standard, Musician

(Q1) 10 x Quarrelers — Musician, Shields

(Q2) 10 x Quarrelers — Musician, Shields

(ST) Stone Thrower — Rune of Accuracy, Rune of Penetrating

J’s Lizards – Yeah. . .I couldn’t think of a better army name.  And I apologize if I can’t provide every equipment choice just right, but I was doing this from memory.

Saurus Scar Veteran — Shield, Attached to (SW)

(SW) 14 x Saurus Warriors — Standard, Musician, Spears

(K) 27 x Skink Warriors — Standard, Musician, 3 x Kroxigors

(S1) 3 x Salamanders

(S2) Stegadon

Deployment

In 8th edition, now you roll D6+4 for pieces of terrain, and take turns placing them like before.  You can use pieces of terrain from your collection, or make D6+4 rolls on the Random Terrain Generator (we elected to make only two rolls on said table).  We rolled Mysterious Wood and Mysterious River, and, to keep things simple, decided to count both woods as mysterious.  Then we rolled Dawn Assault for scenario, WHFB’s Dawn of War.  Deployment zones are your standard 12″ from the board edge, but you divide your deployment zone into Left/Right Flank and Center.  Each flank is 18″ from the short board edge (which we shortened to 12″, since we were playing on a 4′ x 4′ table).  When you go to deploy, you roll a die for each unit.  On a 1, they deploy on the Left Flank.  A 2 means they deploy on the Right Flank.  A 3 – 5 is the Center, and a 6 means you can place them wherever you’d like.  The big kicker in this scenario is that one player deploys his/her entire army first.  I was said lucky player, and after our random rolls, the board looked as it does above.  Ordinarily, the player that deploys first gets the first turn, but this scenario has what amounts to Stealing the Initiative — the player that deployed last rolls a die, and on a 6 can choose to go first or second.  J rolled a 6.

Top of Turn One — J’s Lizards

J marched his entire army straight at me.  I had two missile units and a war machine, all of which have far better (and more reliable) range than his Salamanders, and most of his army was close combat anyway.  His Stegadon climbed the hill and took a potshot at my Hammerers, but missed.  Once the Salamanders reached the Mysterious Woods (and yes, I always say that with the cheesy, overdone “spooooooooky” voice), J rolled on the chart.  He rolled a “1″, which is Normal Wood, so I made him roll again.  A 2 — Abyssal Wood.  Any unit within an Abyssal Wood causes Fear.  Well, Salamanders already cause Fear.  Bummer.  Anyway, he was done and it was on to my turn!

Bottom of Turn One — Zanzuhf Kazad

Needless to say, my first turn was much more fruitful.  I advanced my melee blocks to the water’s edge, but was afraid of getting wet.  While rivers are no longer Impassable or Very Difficult (the latter something that has gone the way of the dodo), rivers do have some side effects, which I’ll describe later.  My second unit of quarrelers moved forward to garrison the building to their front.  The stone thrower took its first shot of 8th edition, right at the massive form of the stegadon, but even with the Rune of Accuracy (re-roll scatter), it couldn’t hit.  The first unit of quarrelers, however, managed to cause three unsaved wounds on the Toughness 6 beastie.  Go go Gadget Crossbows!

Top of Turn Two — J’s Lizards

Well, now it was charge time.  The Skinks and Krox, heedless of any river (those aquatic jerks!), charged right through an into my Ironbreakers.  Oh, and what did J roll for the Mysterious River?  The scariest result on the chart — 1, normal river.  The stegadon also attempted to charge, but ended out of range with a low roll, and trundled forward.  The rest of the army again advanced.

Combat – Here the new combat rules really showed the changes.  The skinks, at the highest Initiative (of three. . .wow), swung first but did no damage.  Now the Ironbreakers got to strike before the S6, great weapon-toting, charing Kroxigors (which is an odd change to veteran fantasy players), and managed to kill one before it did anything.  The remaining Kroxigors killed one dwarf.  I was up in combat resolution by one (one rank, three wounds, banner vs. two ranks, one wound, banner), but as the lizards had more ranks than I did, they were Steadfast, ignored any modifiers, and passed their Break Test.

Bottom of Turn Two — Zanzuhf Kazad

My Hammerers attempted to get into the fight.  Getting to pre-measure now, I saw that I was 14″ away from the Stegadon.  Not to be dissuaded, I attempted the charge. . .and rolled a total of 13!  Nuts.  So the Hammerers eeked forward and set themseleves up for a nice charge by the Saurus Warriors.  Meanwhile, between the two units of Quarrelers, I managed to bag me a Stegadon (I’m still not sure exactly how that happened).  The stone thrower lobbed a shot at the Saurus, but again scattered, clipped one model and failed to wound (stone throwers are all S3 now, and allow armor saves).

Combat – Once again, the skinks had a hard time getting through hard-forged Gromril armor.  My dwarfs managed to take down another kroxigor and a skink, and the last krox failed to do anything in return.  Once again I was up in combat res, but the lizards were still Steadfast and held.

Top of Turn Three — J’s Lizards

Now things were getting crazy.  The Saurus Warriors, as expected, charged into the Hammerers.  The Salamanders moved up and fired into the building at my quarrelers.  They managed to kill one, but six handlers were eaten as a result of misfires.

Combat – The skinks managed to tackle an ironbreaker to the ground and stick a knife in him, causing their first casualty.  Well, my ironbreakers liked that not at all, eliminating the final kroxigor and three skinks for good measure.  No longer Steadfast, the skinks fled and hid behind the salamanders.  My dwarfs gave chase, but couldn’t keep up with the little lizards.  They did, however, manage to smack right into the salamanders.

Across the field, the scar vet and Gotrek Hammerfist squared off in a challenge.  Gotrek escaped unharmed, but managed to put a wound on his opponent.  Right at this critical moment, J’s dice failed him in the most epic fashion I have yet witnessed.  All of his S4 attacks availed him a single unsaved wound.  My ten S6 attacks in return killed six saurus.  Without enough ranks to count as Steadfast, and down quite a bit in combat resolution, the saurus warriors turned and ran, but were not fast enough to escape their pursuers.

Bottom of Turn Three — Zanzuhf Kazad

At this point, the game was essentially over.  But J was a good sport, didn’t curse at his dice (much), and graciously agreed to finish the game so as I could write this here battle report.  My Hammerers, now facing off into nowhere, took full advantage of the new musician rules, and passed a Leadership test to full reform and then make a normal move. With little else to shoot at, the stone thrower took a blind shot at the skinks (yes, stone throwers can fire out of LoS now) and killed eight.  The quarrelers chipped in to take out six more.

Combat – The Salamanders did not fare much better in combat than the rest of J’s army.  They managed to kill an ironbreaker, but the beardies responded by killing a salamander.  A stomp attack took out another dwarf.  Again down in combat res, the lizards managed to stick around.

Top of Turn Four — J’s Lizards

One of the nice changes about 8th edition is that you can rally, even if below 25% of starting unit strength, by rolling Snake Eyes.  Unfortunately, the Skinks failed to do this.  But they DID roll snake eyes for their flee distance.  This is probably the best example of how J’s dice were treating him all day long.  With nothing else to do, we went straight to combat.

Combat – The two remaining salamanders eliminated two more ironbreakers, but the dwarfs managed to kill one of the two big lizards and put a wound on the second.  That was, apparently, enough for the salamanders, as they fled.  It was not fast enough, though.  The ironbreakers managed to run them down, and to settle a grudge from earlier, plowed right into the skinks and eliminated them as well.  It was a victory for the Dwarfs!

I would like to attribute the victory to tactical brilliance, or sheer determination. . .but it was all with the dice gods.  J’s dice abandoned him right after he rolled a 6 to steal first turn.  He couldn’t buy a hit for any money.  Tactically it should have been a solid matchup, but it wasn’t in the dice.

Looking back on the game, I enjoyed it quite a bit.  The 8th edition rules just seem. . .clean.  Since terrain doesn’t slow you down, when you pre-measure your charge range and see that you’re 7 15/16″ away, you know that if you roll a total of 8 or higher, you will reach.  If you roll a 7 or lower, it’s a failed charge.  Pre-measuring does change the game somewhat drastically, but now you have to win with tactics and strategy, and not movement shenanigans.  It also eliminates arguing on whether or not something is in, because you can figure it out before you declare it, and if you’re not in, oh well, shoot at/charge something else.  Warmachines are no longer the be all/end all I was expecting them to be.  Bolt throwers are exactly the same.  And while there are no partials, stone throwers are S3 now and allow armor saves, which makes a huge difference.  You’ll score a lot more hits, yes, but against things like Chaos Warriors, those hits will be hard to wound with, and they will make quite a few saves.

At this point, I’m going to (tentatively) say that 8th edition is a major improvement.  The rules seem simplified, clear and easier.  The game pace just plain moves faster.  And since you don’t have to sit there an worry about overly complex rules, you can spend more time focusing on what you should be focusing on — throwing dice and having fun!

First off, let us examine the unit in detail – they are only 3 pts per model more expensive that a normal chaos space marine, and for that you get the veteran skill infiltrate. You already have Ld 10, so they are solid in that department, as well as the option to take a broad variety of ranged weapons as well as some nice close combat options. This tactical flexibility is what the Chosen are all about – they are the pick ‘n mix, intended to be outfitted to support your army, and can often be cheaper than you’d expect. A tricked out squad can cost between 150 – 200 pts, which is perfect for building on a budget.

As pointed out, the Chosen come with infiltrate. This little ability makes your chosen good. On the surface it can seem bad, but careful investigation reveals that you can outflank them in a transport. This, coupled with a literal boatload of special weapons and power attacks can really put the pressure on an opponent late game if they aren’t careful.  Nothing says ‘tactical prowess’ then putting that one unit of chosen aside, then sweeping on from the board edge, and hammering the enemy from where they didn’t expect it. Having recently fallen to chaos, I have found a small unit of 5 chosen in a rhino, coupled with 3 flamers and a champion with lighting claws is a brilliant unit to use against hordes, and even marine squads when they aren’t looking in the right direction. You don’t need to get out of the rhino – just drive by toasting their precious mob of orks, and wait for them to pop the rhino, and then give what’s let of them both barrels.

However, Chaos Chosen are not perfect, and there are some downsides to them. The first is that they have a glass jaw a mile wide. If you take a squad 5 models wide, and their alpha-strike fails, they will die. Consider them in the way of Orks – if they unit they attack isn’t crippled or destroyed in the first round of combat, then they will die, and there is no question about it, barring freak intervention. The other weakness is that they are in the elites slot, meaning there is a lot of competition with other elites choices – in particular, combi-melta spam in the form of terminators. Finally, outflank can, and will go wrong. There will be moments where you really need the chosen on one side of the board, and they have to slog their way to the other side of the board, sometimes way too late.

In my opinion, Chaos Chosen are underplayed and undervalued – many people do not think about the potential for carnage these merry fellows can accomplish for your warband. They can be particularly helpful if your opponent has a hold of their objective by a spaghetti strand, or they have pesky artillery giving you lip.

Do you run chosen in your chaos list? If not, why not? If you do, what is your loadout?

Wrong.

While a deployment mistake or a forest being placed in the boards center won’t cost you the game straight away like it can in Fantasy, these two pre-game steps can grant significant advantages. In this article I will address how to place and use terrain to your benefit, examples of using deployment to swing the game and some common techniques to use when deploying.

Using Terrain to Your Advantage

Now before I go further, I’m aware some players prefer to have a third party set terrain, as it is supposedly fairer. I would advise trying setting up terrain between opponents at least once for the following reasons.

1. Even an impartial third party can place terrain giving one army an advantage, with the other general having no recourse but to accept it.
2. In fluff terms, it’s more exciting to imagine the two forces clashing in an area with features that favor them in the upcoming battle.
3. Getting to setup how your battlefield looks is fun, cinematic and sometimes very cool.

Now, assuming you’ve figured out how many pieces to use and who places first, you have decisions to make and a blank canvas to work with. You do not know the mission being played yet but you do know what you are fielding and probably what your opponent is fielding. Take a minute to consider all the units that will be involved in the game. What prefers cover? What do you think will be Outflanking or Deep Striking? What needs Line of Sight the most?

Once you have that in your mind, have an offensive or defensive plan for your terrain placement. Here are two generic examples.

An Ork player knows his Lootas are likely to be shredded by his opponents Leman Russes is left in the open. He places a forest in his back corner to give the Lootas something to use for cover.

A Mechanized Space Wolf player hasn’t much need for cover but his Imperial Guard opponent relies on it. He places a building in the center where the Guard player cannot deploy into it.

See how simple that was? The players had a concern and took an easy step to alleviate it with terrain. The former example had the defense of his unit in mind, the later had the destruction of a unit in mind. Of course, a piece can be used for both offense and defense, like putting a unit in a tall building for a cover save and a better vantage point. The point is, always have a plan for your terrain, not just “I guess this crater can go here” and you will be setting yourself up for success.

Deployment: How to Maximize Advantages

By now you have your battlefield setup and just as importantly, you know your mission. Both of these will hugely affect your deployment, sometimes forcing your hand. Still, having a plan and using the information available will let you make good decisions.

The most important factor of deployment is who deploys first. Some people love having first turn, others like to having a more informed deployment. This often changes on a game to game basis, so try and decide your preference before the dice are rolled. Luckily, both have their advantages no matter what happens.

Deploying First

Deploying first has the obvious advantage of a 5 in 6 chance of going first. But just as importantly, it gives you a chance to put your opponent in reactionary mode before the game even begins.

Imagine you are a Guard player going against Space Marines. You know he has a Devastator unit with Missile Launchers that can really hurt your lighter tanks, so you deploy a Leman Russ in some ruins. The ruins give your Russ cover but not your opponent and it can see the whole board except for a small area blocked by a building.

Now, your opponent immediately registers the Russ as a threat. You go on to place a few Chimeras where they have cover but are careful to make sure they’re placed where a unit hiding from the Russ cannot see them. You also place nothing threatening that could see into that small area, just a few Platoon Squads with Autocannons.

What options have you given your opponent come his deployment?

1. He places the Devastators as planned, to kill Chimeras. His targets have cover and are somewhat resilient AV12. He probably has cover but the Russ has a much greater advantage, wounding easily and possibly even making the unit run.
2. He hides the Devastators from your Russ, reasoning there is a few Platoon Squads to shoot at that cannot really hurt him so it’s not a safer position.

See how you may have dictated his play? If he goes with his original plan, there’s a risk the Devs get killed without accomplishing anything. If he thinks of hiding them, you’ve supplied a nice, expendable bait target to make him think it’s not such a bad idea avoiding that Russ. Your Chimeras are now free of a threat and your Russ will have other targets, or can move against the Devastators over time.

This is obviously a very rough example but it goes to show the chess game deployment can be. You can make a good move seem bad, and give an alternative that’s less than ideal for the opposition but safer. You’d be surprised how many people subconsciously love safe options.

Deploying Second

Going second has the easier to exploit deployment advantages, but carries only a 1 in 6 chance of going first and reactionary pressure. The good news is, you get to make good reactionary decisions rather than trying to force an opponent into bad ones.

First, always take a long look at what your opponent deployed, how he deployed it and the terrain. Look at all firing lanes, estimate how fast an assault unit can reach you and imagine where the enemy might move. If you aren’t sure what something does, ask, you want all the facts before placing units.

Second you want to assume you opponent is going first, so play defensive where you need too. Second turn means you don’t get to move where you’d like before taking shooting, you have to deploy there. Also, your opponent gets to move before shooting, so what looks like a safe position may not be for long.

Your Tyranid swarm is deploying second against a fearsome, but static, Imperial Guard gunline. He has Platoon Squads all over the length of the board but there are two buildings you wisely placed in the center.

The plan is to get as close as you can to his lines while taking as little damage as possible, but the buildings don’t block enough LoS for your whole army. Seeing your opponent has gone with a lot more anti-infantry guns than anti-Monstrous Creature, you deploy your MCs on your swarms flanks and let the buildings protect your infantry from shooting by running up the middle.

The Imperial Guard army doesn’t know it yet, but he’s in a bad situation. While he happily shoots away at the MCs for a few turns, the swarm advances without loss. The MCs get battered but some will likely live because only half his army can be brought to bear on either side and his guns aren’t optimal.

Now, the swarm rushes through the building into no mans land as do the MCs. Next turn, everything will be in assault range. Does the IG player try and finish off the MCs at all costs? Does he focus everything on the swarm and let the MCs live? Or does he split fire and risk not damaging anything enough?

Because you placed terrain with knowledge of what you had and what you were up against, you had the tools to deploy the best way possible and go from there. If you’d gone first, the IG could have simply placed his answers to whatever was in LoS, resulting in bigger losses for you but because he had to deploy first, he spread everything out evenly and wasn’t in ideal position to deal with a swarm or MCs.

Deployment Techniques

Although deployment will always be different game to game, many players have a few go to techniques that favor their armies, or disrupt an opponent. I will go over a few of the basic ones and their advantages/disadvantages as well as what army types to use them with or against.

The Bunker

Bunkering is the act of keeping your force very close together, so every unit has each others support. Usually you would do this in a corner to present a smaller front and maximize cover but it can be done in the center just as easily, to avoid Outflankers for example.

You want your expendable units up front so the units behind are protected from assault and benefit from cover. It’s also a good idea to keep static units in the back so they don’t block movement. Try to keep from granting your opponents cover if you can by shooting through friendlies, though this will often be difficult unless you have some terrain.

Advantages:

• Gives your units maximum support.
• Presents a small weak side to assault and shoot.
• Denies Deep Strikers and Outflankers weak units to go after.

Disadvantages:

• Clogs movement lanes.
• Vulnerable to templates.
• Often grants opponents cover by firing through units or terrain.

You’d usually want to Bunker against armies that have a lot of Deep Striking and Outflanking and sometimes when an opponent deployed first and spread out. This will give the units you deploy opposite from a long  trek, so you can safely ignore them for a bit.

The Refused Center

Refusing Center is the act of placing nothing in the center of your deployment zone. You want to maximize cover on the boards sides so you can use it and keep it out of the middle where your fire lanes cross. Refused Center is often a bad idea when deploying first as your opponent can overload on the flank he wants and crush it. On the other hand if you’re mechanized this is a great choice for deployment as you can drive away from danger, deploying first or second while still shooting and actually overload one of your opponents flanks.

Advantages:

• Punishes big armies for spreading out.
• Lets mechanized armies ignore portions of the enemy.
• Gives centrally deployed armies a hard decision for movement.

Disadvantages:

• Hard to properly split your army.
• Gives Deep Strikers and Outflankers easier targets.
• Non-mechanized armies could see a flank die early to overwhelming force.

Horde armies and assault armies hate to see Refused Center. A horde army can’t spread out or you can focus fire one flank and punch through, getting behind him. An assault army can’t bring it’s full compliment of fighters to bear against your full army and is at risk of failing to get into assault, sparing a flank entirely.

The Blitzkrieg

Blitzkrieg is the art of completely overwhelming an opponent with a fast attack and punching through, throwing his army into disarray. This is a very good assault army technique and works very well against shooting  and horde armies.

The idea is to pick a section of the board and make it yours. It can be a flank, or the center, it really depends on terrain and the opponent. It’s risky to Blitzkrieg when deploying first as your opponent can counter by conceding you that board section and giving you a farther walk in return, a bad trade for you, so be careful.

Advantages:

• Overwhelms an area of your choice.
• Can deny certain enemy units counter-attacking or shooting.
• Punches through a portion of the enemy, letting you roll up a flank.

Disadvantages:

• Very dependent on terrain.
• Often backfires when deploying first.
• Reliant on speed and strong hitting power.

A fast close range army that’s deploying second would be the ideal Blitzkrieg force. If you own a flank, you decimate the flank opposite and than start rolling up your opponents deployment zone. Transports and expendable units can soak fire and grant cover so the bruisers can keep the push going. This works the same deploying centrally except it’s harder to roll up the deployment zone, you have to pick a flank or go after both, less than optimal.

Well that concludes my college length lecture about terrain and deployment. I hope there was something to learn and at the very least some proof the pre-game phases matter. There are many more deployment techniques and ways to use terrain, enough to make a textbook, so experiment, find what works for you and share it!

Tankbustas are an under-used and often overlooked unit in the Ork player’s arsenal. Let’s break it down.

WS 4, BS 2, S 3, T 4, W 1, I 2, A 2, Ld 7, Sv 6+

Wargear

Rokkit Launcha 24″ range, S 8, AP 3, Assault 1
Right here our first problem with this unit. An Assault 1 gun in the hands of a BS 2 model. Ouch. The offset to this is two-fold. Everyone in the unit has one, and the high Strength/AP of the gun. Tankbustas cost 15 points/model. Keep in mind that a normal Boy with a Rokkit Launcha costs 16.

Tankbusta Bombz are used like Krak grenades with an Armour pen of 2d6+6. Not quite a Melta Bomb, but still better than a Krak grenade.

Special Rules

Furious Charge gives you +1 S, +1 I on the charge. Standard issue for Orks.

Mob Rule allows you to substitute your unit’s Ld value for the number of models in the unit. 11 or more is Fearless. Also standard issue for Orks.

Waaagh! means that the Tankbustas can gain Fleet of Foot when the Ork player decides to unleash his Waaagh! Standard issue for Orks.

Options

Bomb-Squigs cost 5 points each, and you can take up to 3 of them in your Tankbustas mob. On a 2+, they will move 18″ towards the nearest enemy vehicle, causing an S 8 hit. On a 1, they go after your closest vehicle within 18″. These are great. One of the best ways to off-set that horrible Ballistic Skill is to have a few of these around. While shorter range than the Rokkit Launcha, they hit on a 2+! The strength is the same. You know what else is awesome about Bomb-Squigs? According to GW’s FAQ, they are unhindered by difficult/impassable terrain and do not require line of sight!

Tankhammers are free, and you can take up to 2 of them in your mob. These are interesting as you trade your ranged weapon for a two handed melee weapon. The good bit is that it is S 10. If you can get into h2h with a vehicle with that, you’re golden.

Some of you may have noticed that I still haven’t addressed the elephant in the room: Glory Hogs. This part is important, so I saved it for last.

Glory Hogs is the biggest reason a lot of Ork players don’t take this unit. Tankbustas must “always shoot at and/or assault an enemy vehicle if there is one in line of sight, regardless of range.” Hmm, that “and/or” is a bit vague. Well, according to GW’s FAQ, the Tankbustas are free to move as they like in the movement phase. Glory Hogs takes effect in the shooting/assault phase, forcing you to shoot at and attempt to assault an enemy vehicle in LOS.

Glory Hogs can be a fun and fluffy rule, though a wise opponent can use this rule to control and negate your unit. This is why they aren’t taken much. Too much chance of losing control. Lets talk about ways that you as an Ork player can work around and overcome this.

Plan your movement. Remember, the movement phase is yours. You get to position your Tankbustas before Glory Hogs takes effect. Don’t want to shoot at a vehicle, but rather at the Marine-boys nearby? Position yourself so that no vehicle is in LOS. It takes a lot of strategic thinking, staying ahead of your opponent by a turn or two to keep them away, but it can be done. Also, keep in mind that whatever a Bomb-Squig targets does not affect the target of the Tankbustas unit. You can fire away at who-ever, and still release a squig after a vehicle 18″ away even if out of LOS.

Put them in a transport. Maybe you do want them shooting at vehicles, but the problem is that your opponent is kiting them around the board? Staying always out of range yet staying in your line of sight, thus forcing you to waste shots at something way out across the board? Put them in an empty Trukk, or even a Looted Wagon. A Looted Wagon costs 35 points. Keep it Open-Topped, so that all (up to 12) your Tankbustas can shoot. Hell, throw some Big Shootas or Rokkit Launchas on the Wagon to help out… they’re cheap. This additional movement will allow you much greater control over your Tankbustas, meaning you’ll be within range of that vehicle you want to shoot more often.

I give them a transports so they can be sure theyre in range of any vehicle, using my bigger battlewagons to block their lines of sight. (Scuzgob of Adam’s Level 3 Team Project Blog)

Having an entire mob of Boys with S 8, AP 3 guns can be a very powerful tool. Having savvy uses for this underestimated unit can really put the hurt on your opponent.

The_King_Elessar (of Mind War, FTW!) brought up a good point about Tankbustas competing for the same Elites slot as Lootas. I would argue that as far as vehicles and Marines go, Tankbustas are better at it. Against mid-armored troops like Eldar/Tau you’d be better off with the Lootas.

Assuming 10 Tankbustas vs Marines, you’re looking at causing 2.5 wounds/round, due mainly to the AP3.

Assuming 10 Lootas (D3 shots, so assuming average shots of 2/model) vs Marines, you’re looking at causing 1.5 wounds/round … because a Deffgun’s AP is 4.

Against T4 or lower, the difference in strength won’t matter much unless you’re shooting at a multiwound T4 model (in which case a Rokkit causes Instant Death). Against vehicles, though … You’ll want the S8 Rokkits over the S7 Deffguns, despite the increased range.

What have your experiences been with Tankbustas? Hit me up in the comments, and I may just add it in the post!

An article provided by Master Darksol

For Troops selections, Fire Warriors are one of two options (The other being Kroot Carnivores). They are also the more popular of the two by far, so expect to see a lot of them.

WS:2 BS:3 S:3 T:3 W:1 I:2 A:1 Ld:7 Sv:4+

From what you can see above, I’m sure it’s no surprise that Tau suck in melee. What they do excel at is ranged shooting. They cost 10 points a model as well, so you can easily get a good number of guns on the field.

Pulse Rifles: 30″ range, S:5, AP:5, Rapid Fire
These guns are awesome, and at S:5, you have some ability to take out light vehicles (especially at rapid fire range). This is one of the two reasons Fire Warriors are awesome at shooting. The other reason is their ability to benefit from shooting at a unit tagged by a Markerlight. One of the benefits you can choose from a Markerlight is to have your Fire Warriors fire at +1 BS. BS:4 (with Marker Lights), 30″ range, S:5, Rapid Fire? …at 10 points/model? That’s pretty hard-core.

Shas’ui
For 10 points, you can upgrade one of your Fire Warriors to a Shas’ui (sergeant). He gets +1 Attack, +1 Leadership, and access to the Infantry Wargear list. The extra attack isn’t worth it, but to have your squad benefit from a Ld: 8, as well as the capability of a drone/markerlight/etc. is probably worth the extra 10 points.

Photon Grenades: +1 point/model. These are defensive grenades, negating an assaulting enemy’s charging bonus attack. I may get some flak for this, but I’m not convinced this upgrade is worth it. They suck in melee anyways, this just seems like postponing the inevitable. The benefit doesn’t carry past the initial round of combat either, so it’s not effective in the tarpit sense… I don’t know. Assuming a 10-man squad, photon grenades cost 10 points. What else can I buy for that? A Markerlight for the Shas-ui. A bonding knife and a target lock…

EMP grenades: +3 points/model. These are used when assaulting vehicles. Roll a 4 or 5 to damage for a glancing hit, and a 6 for a penetrating hit. That flat out sucks for how expensive those are. 30 points? That’s as expensive as an XV25 Stealthsuit!

OK, let’s check out some non-standard upgrades only available if you upgrade a Fire Warrior to a Shas’ui…

Markerlight: You can equip your Shas’ui with a Markerlight for +10 points. That’s not bad for how awesome Markerlights are. Only downside is that the squad that contains it cannot benefit from it. Only another squad can benefit from it (since it’s not a Networked Markerlight).

Bonding Knife: 5 pts. Allows regrouping even if below half strength. For 5 points, I’d take this. The better the chances I can keep my guns operational and on the field, the better.

Blacksun Filter: 3pts. Awesome for nightfighting… which at the moment only applies during the first round of a Dawn Of War mission setup. Hopefully there will be more nightfighting in the new Missions book, and this piece of wargear will actually become useful.

Drone Controller: Free. Allows you to take one or two drones. You just pay for the drones you want.

Gun Drone: 10pts. BS2, Twin-linked Pulse Carbine. Pulse Carbines are 18″ Assault 1 versions of the Fire Warrior’s rifles. Twin-linked helps to offset the BS 2. Great for added fire at mid-close range and while mobile.

Marker Drone: 30pts. BS3 (due to an equipped Targetting Array), and a Networked Markerlight. The Networked Markerlight means the Fire Warrior unit it is attached to can benefit from the Markerlight.

Shield Drone: 15pts. It has a 4+ Invulnerable Save.

Multi-Tracker: 5 pts. This would enable your Shas’ui to fire two weapons in one turn. An example would be if you bought him a Markerlight as well. He would now be able to fire both his Markerlight and his Pulse Rifle.

Target Lock: 5pts. Enables your Shas’ui to fire on a different target unit than the rest of the squad. Also useful if you have a markerlight.

One last option available to a Fire Warrior team is to replace all of their Pulse Rifles with Pulse Carbines for free. Pulse Carbines are 18″ range, S:5, AP:5, Assault 1, Pinning. Again, I’m not totally convinced of the worth of this option. Pinning can be useful, but really only for enemies with low Ld. I do like the 18″ Assault, though. This gives you a bit more range when on the move compared to the rifle (…though the full rifle gives you 2 shots at 12″).
A unit of six carbine equipped firewarriors can be a useful ‘sacrificial’ unit when you want to rapid fire the assaulters to death. So few mini’s mean your attacker is bound to succeed (which you want). The assault 18″ weapon and the chance of pinning makes them just annoying enough to provoke the charge. (Suneokun of Pathfinder)

How to use your Fire Warriors

One method I’ve seen used often (though it’s gone a bit out of favor due to the whole mechanized movement in 5th ed.) is the straight-up gunline. 12-man ,standard equipment, Shas’ui, Bonding Knife = 135 points. Put them in cover with a good lane of fire and fire away. 30″ range is a big deal. If you have points to play with, give them a Marker Drone for added support.

Another great tactic/setup I’ve seen (and used) is 12-man, standard equipment, Shas’ui, Bonding Knife, Devilfish = 215 points. Mechanized and mobile, you are able to respond to threats easier. A great tactic I’ve seen used (lovingly called the “Fish of Fury”) is to move your Devilfish up to ~3 or 4 inches in front of an enemy unit. Disembark your Fire Warriors (all exiting the rear access point, within 2″ of the back. The Devilfish is 6″ long and as a skimmer (as long as it’s not wrecked or using it’s landing gear) will not block line of sight. This puts your Fire Warriors in Rapid Fire range, as well as puts a vehicle in the way that (assuming the enemy would want to assault) will prevent them from getting into melee. They would have to go around the Devilfish.

While I like squads of 12, Suneokun prefers squads of 9. 12 isn’t always the best, unless you are deploying in devilfish. 9 firewarriors will break after 3 deaths, the same as twelve. But 4×9 gives you four scoring units with decent firepower and the same breakpoints compared to 3×12. Plus 9 FW and a Shas’Ui are 100pt (makes the math easier). (Suneokun of Pathfinder)

Bryan prefers to use Kroot, so his Fire Warriors have a much smaller role on the field. FWs are ok…but i run mine as 6 man squads in a fish…they move around and contest and control objectives. (Bryan)

Any tactics or insights you have that I haven’t covered? Drop in a comment and I’ll add any viable comments to the review (with credit given)!

With the new codex, everyone’s taking a second look at all of their favorite units of old. Let’s see how they treated genestealers.

WS:6, BS:0, S:4, T:4, W:1, I:6, A:2, Ld:10, Sv:5+

Cost: 14 pts/model.

Brood Telepathy: Genestealers are not subject to Instinctual Behavior. They don’t freak out when out of synapse range.

Fleet: Allows you to assault despite making a “run” move.

Infiltrate: Allows you to set up on the board outside of your deployment zone. This used to only be available to genestealers attached to a Broodlord as a retinue.

Move Through Cover: Lets you roll an additional d6 when moving through difficult terrain.

So What Changed?
Stat-wise, absolutely nothing. Points-wise, they’re 2pts cheaper/model.

The real difference here is in biomorph selection. Biomorphs in the new book have changed drastically from what they were in the last book. In the old codex, they adjusted your stat-line. In this book, they give you a special rule (most of them USRs).

Scything Talons: 2 pts/model
Scything Talons allow you to re-roll any 1′s to hit in close combat. The old codex gave you +1A.

Adrenal Glands: 3 pts/model
Adrenal Glands give you the Furious Charge USR, meaning you hit at +1S and +1I when you charge into close combat (only for that first round). The old codex did not have this option.

Toxin Sacs: 3pts/model
Toxin Sacs give your attacks the Poisoned (4+) rule, meaning you always wound on a roll of 4 or more. In addition, if your Strength is equal to or more than your opponent’s Toughness (in this case, anyone with a T of 4 or lower), you get to re-roll all failed to-wound rolls. In the old codex, this biomorph gave you +1S.

The old codex had a few more biomorphs available as well; Acid Maw, Feeder Tendrils, Implant Attack, Scuttlers … but the most felt absence I believe is Flesh Hooks. Flesh Hooks were assault grenades, allowing you to assault effectively into cover. Now, genestealers no longer have the ability to assault into cover viably. This means you’ll have to take care with your ‘stealers to avoid this scenario. Assault first with a lesser brood (gaunts, gargoyles, rippers, etc) then come clean up with the stealers.

I’ve used genestealers a couple of times now, and they’re not completely pointless … but they really have changed from a frontline shock troop to a more commando ambush and hold objectives role. Their biggest weaknesses are the 5+ save and the lack of flesh hooks. In the games I’ve played it’s the versatility of a 5-man stealer brood that make it tactically useful. Going second, you can infiltrate … hold in reserve to back up your backfield or flank. At 70pts, they won’t break the game if they fail … but they are STILL stealers, and that’s not to be balked at! (Suneokun of Pathfinder)

Broodlords
Another big change is the option of taking a Broodlord as an upgrade to your troops unit of Genestealers. Before, they were ICs that took an HQ slot.

WS:7, BS:0, S:5, T:5, W:3, I:7, A:4, Ld:10, Sv:4+
46 points to upgrade one genestealer to a Broodlord, so he’s basically 60 points (still less than before).

Your Broodlord can take :
Scything Talons (2 pts)
Implant Attack (15 pts) – Instant Death on any 6 to wound. It’s like “rending +”
Acid Blood (15 pts) – Any wound inflicted on the Broodlord forces the wounder to make an initiative test or suffer a wound with no saving throws.

Also, the Broodlord is now a psyker!

Aura of Despair causes all enemy units within 12″ to suffer a -1 Ld penalty. I saw an interesting article on GW’s site that this can be used in conjunction with the Hive Tyrant’s Psychic Scream to increase the effect. This confused me, as AoD is used in the beginning of the Assault Phase, and PS is a shooting attack. So… it retro-actively helps PS? I think the GW article writer needs to pay closer attention to their own material.

Hypnotic Gaze causes a Ld roll-off with one model in base-to-base with the Broodlord. If the Broodlord wins, the loser cannot attack in the close combat that turn.

Since he’s just an upgrade he can’t be singled out, but he works great to single out and ignore that powerfist or IC. God forbid these things run up against something like a wraithlord, or a single character. He could be taking serious lumps. (Xzandrate of The Kabal of Agony)

Any thoughts on the new codex’s genestealers? Any tactics/insights into their use? Please drop a comment.

As you read through this article, I would like you to keep in mind that most of the points made here are based on my personal knowledge and experience with Raven Guard. None of the opinions or suggestions presented in this article should be considered to be written in stone. In fact, I highly encourage you to not only follow this article’s advice but to also expand it and adapt it – that is, after all, the Raven Guard way. Readers of the previous version of this article may notice that some points and concepts remain the same, or at least very similar. This is intentional. While many units and rules changed or were added in the 5th edition codex, many more still yet stayed the same, so I feel that the previous version of this article covered the points adequately.

The 5th edition Codex: Space Marines allows for an excellent hybrid of competitive nature with what I call the ‘fluff factor.’ This holds especially true in the case of the Raven Guard. While this article will help you design a fluffy army list, I will do my best to keep the competitive nature of gaming in mind as well so that both facets of the hobby may be appeased.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you find this article beneficial.

~Lost Nemesis

2. Raven Guard Fluff

From Index Astartes:

The Raven Guard combat doctrine is one of tactical prowess. Where other forces barge straight into battle, the sons of Corax choose instead to plan out their battles. It is not uncommon for Raven Guard forces to employ the use of guerrilla or assassination tactics to avoid direct combat with the enemy and make for an easy victory.

One of the wonders of Raven Guard fluff is that the force is a mainly Codex chapter. This allows a player a large amount of freedom in choosing models for his or her army list because it means that the Raven Guard, while giving preferential treatment to certain units or tactics, does make use of just about every available model in Codex: Space Marines in some fashion or another.

Though the force allows for a freedom of choice, typical Raven Guard fluff revolves around a few key units. When designing my Raven Guard army lists, I try to adhere as closely to the established fluff as possible. In order, a fluffy Raven Guard army list should incorporate Assault Marines, Scouts, Drop Pods. From this point on, this concept shall be abbreviated as ASD.

Over the course of this article, you will read several quotes that are commonly associated with the Raven Guard and with Raven Guard fluff. Each of these quotes is taken from a number of sources including Codex: Space Marines and Index Astartes. Read them, and consider how they may apply to your army list and how it plays on the table.

3. The Basics

Raven Guard saying:

When you’re designing any army list, not just the fluff lists or the competitive lists, it is a good idea to sit down and think carefully about each individual unit you choose to include. What role(s) will they fill? How will they work in certain scenarios, and how will they work alongside the rest of the force?

These questions are all things you should think about when designing an army list, even a fluffy one. Just because you are writing a fluffy army list does not mean you have to limit yourself to a noncompetitive list, and Raven Guard are one of those armies that you can be fluffy AND competitive with.

Consider the quote above. It describes the common fluff approach to Raven Guard tactics – strike quickly, strike decisively, and do not give the enemy a chance to retaliate. How will that apply to your army list and, eventually, your overall tactics with it? The saying calls for speed and stealth and power, all of which are at your fingertips as a Raven Guard player. Remember the concept of ASD – Assault Marines with their speed and melee might, Scouts with their stealth, and Drop Pods with their element of surprise and tactical flexibility. They are all competitive yet fluffy choices for a Raven Guard force.

That said, designing a fluffy list does differ in some ways to a purely competitive list. Below I have compiled a basic list of do’s and do not’s when creating your list based on fluff:

Do:

• Consider the ASD concept when designing
• Feel free to develop your own characters and unit names
• Embrace all aspects of Raven Guard fluff
• Design and playtest several different styles of army list
• Enjoy yourself!

Do Not:

• Limit yourself to only a few choices, even ASD
• Ignore established Raven Guard fluff
• Design your lists purely around winning, such as min/maxing etc.
• Become obsessed with victory

Remember that fluff does place certain bendable restrictions on your choices, but that as long as you can develop well thought out explanations as to why you include what you do, just about any unit in Codex: Space Marines is an option to you.

4. Unit Breakdown

In this section I will go over a basic breakdown of each Raven Guard unit. In some cases, more than one Force Organisation selection will be placed in a single summary – this is because the units are similar enough in gameplay or fluffiness that they do not necessarily need their own separate summary. Each summary is numbered, and the order the units will be discussed is Troops, Fast Attack, Elites, Heavy Support.

4.0 Summary of Units

This is a summary of how fluffy each unit choice in Codex: Space Marines is, based on the common fluff. Each unit is given a value range between 1 and 9, with 1 being the least fluffy for Raven Guard. Below this section you will find a more in-depth analysis of each individual unit.

[8-9] Assault Squads, Scout Squads, Tactical Squads, Vanguard Veterans
[5-7] Bike & Attack Bike Squads, Land Speeders, Sternguard, Dreadnoughts
[3-4] Terminator & Terminator Assault Squads, Devastators
[1-2] Techmarines, Ironclad Dreadnoughts, Heavy Tanks

4.1 Tactical Squads

Tactical Squads form the backbone of every Space Marine chapter in existence. Not only are they probably the fluffiest selection for any chapter, these squads are also some of the most versatile selections in Codex: Space Marines. The Raven Guard commonly deploy these squads via Drop Pods according to common fluff, so for your fluffy army list, this deployment method is definitely the way to go. Tactical Squads give you potential anti-tank firepower, fire support and, importantly, bodies on the table.

4.2 Scout Squads

Where Tactical Squads are the backbone of the Raven Guard, Scout Squads are the meat of the force. After suffering dire losses during the Horus Heresy, it has been difficult for the Raven Guard to fully recuperate. To help offset their loss of numbers, they have enlisted a large number of Scouts to help fill out the ranks. Part of the ASD concept, Scout Squads are excellent support squads and objective holders, utilising their Infiltrate USR and with the option of Camo Cloaks. Forces following the common fluff should always take Scout Squads.

4.3 Assault Squads

A second of the three choices in ASD, Assault Squads provide valuable melee support. Swift and tactically flexible, it is difficult to imagine a fluffy Raven Guard force without at least one of these squads.

4.4 Vanguard Veterans

Sergeant D’Kestrel, Raven Guard 1st Company:

Vanguard Veterans are a uniquely interesting squad for a Raven Guard commander to consider. Jump infantry are extremely common for a typical Raven Guard force, and the squad’s Heroic Intervention special rule truly embodies the concept of striking from the shadows. They could possibly seem like a no brainer decision for a fluffy Raven Guard list. However, their cost often offsets their tactical flexibility, with players quickly choosing to spend the points elsewhere. Vanguard Veterans are risky to use but can often surprise you, and should be considered carefully when planning an army list.

For those players seeking to recreate the old Shrike’s Wing from the 4th edition Codex: Space Marines, this squad is excellent for that purpose. They are even roughly the same cost, when you include all of the upgrades, and make an excellent squad for Shrike to command in larger point games.

4.5 Bike, Attack Bike & Scout Bike Squads

When it comes to quick and flexible units, Bike and Attack Bike Squads tend to fit the bill quite well. While not nearly as common as jump infantry, the tactical application of a squad of Bikes is not something above the Raven Guard. ASD should typically take precedence over your choice, but a Bike Squad would not be out of place in a Raven Guard force.

4.6 Land Speeder Squadrons

A common misconception about Land Speeders is that they are every bit as fluffy a choice as ASD. I disagree with this idea. While another quick and flexible choice, Land Speeders are another of those choices that should fall lower on the scale than ASD. Like most other choices in the codex, however, they are as fluffy a choice as you can make them.

4.7 Terminator & Terminator Assault Squads

The Raven Guard is one of the original founding Legions, and due to that fact are now one of the oldest chapters of Space Marines. It is safe to assume that they will have some of the most venerable pieces of equipment available to Space Marines, including Tactical Dreadnought Armour. Due to the nature of the common Raven Guard tactical doctrine, however, Terminators are put to rare use and your fluffy lists should often not include more than a single squad of them. Both types of Terminator Squads are useful additions to your army, packing a solid punch and providing a resilient unit to help secure objectives.

4.8 Sternguard Veterans

The second of the two groups of Veterans included in Codex: Space Marines, Sternguard can be a very fluffy choice for a Raven Guard list. Such an old chapter will undoubtedly include many veterans in its ranks. They are one of the most versatile ranged squads in the codex, and deployed via Drop Pod Assault (remember ASD?) they can be where you need them, when you need them.

4.9 Dreadnoughts & Ironclad Dreadnoughts

Dreadnoughts, like Terminators and Veterans, can easily be explained due to the age of the chapter. However, they are not as commonplace as in other chapters, and when they are used they are usually deployed via Drop Pod along with a large chunk of the main force. This should all be reflected in your fluffy army list – at most take only a couple Dreadnoughts, and deploy them in Drop Pods.

Ironclad Dreadnoughts, however, are much less fluffy than your regular Dreadnoughts. Designed specificall for siege warfare, the Ironclads would very rarely be used by a chapter who prefers to strike from the shadows over assaulting a solid formation head on. Ironclad Dreadnoughts should probably be left at home.

4.10 Techmarines & Servitors

Every chapter, even Raven Guard, incorporate Techmarines and their accompanying Servitors into their ranks. Due to the nature of Raven Guard tactics and their focus on infantry rather than armour, however, it is rare to field a Techmarine for any reason, making them a less fluffy addition to your force according to common fluff.

4.11 Legion of the Damned

It is simple to explain the presence of Legion of the Damned in a Raven Guard army. And that explanation is that it is not explainable! The Legion of the Damned show up when they choose, where they choose, and they leave the field of battle just as mysteriously as they arrived. Although expensive, a squad of these shadowy Marines can provide excellent support to your army as well as a nice few models to show off. If you choose to include them in your force, their fluff speaks for itself!

4.12 Heavy Support

According to Raven Guard tactical doctrine, your force should be swift and brutal. There is a focus on ASD and the power of infantry. Rarely do surgical strikes or guerrilla warfare incorporate the heavy tanks of the Imperium.

I have placed the Heavy Support section of Codex: Space Marines into one category because the overall picture does not fit with the common fluff of the Raven Guard chapter. Potentially the fluffiest choice in this section of the codex would be Devastators, supporting your forces from the ground.

For an army list designed around the concept of ASD and the common fluff, most Heavy Support choices should be avoided unless it is absolutely necessary to take them.

5. HQ Breakdown

Every non-special character choice available for a Space Marine army is a potentially fluffy choice, so it is very difficult to go wrong in this section. However, each choice has a variety of different options that I feel should be gone into in some detail to give you the ‘inside scoop’ on what’s what in a fluffy Raven Guard army list.

Make sure to keep in mind the concept of ASD even when choosing your HQ choices, as choosing between jump infantry, Drop Pods, etc. can alter your HQ tactics greatly.

5.1 Chapter Master & Captains

Essentially identical in stats, Chapter Masters and Captains are both very fluffy choices for your Raven Guard army. Of the two, taking into account both fluff and competition, the Captain is probably your better bet. The Orbital Bombardment of the Chapter Master is often not worth the cost in medium sized or smaller games, and the Chapter Master of the Raven Guard remains unnamed and surrounded in mystery in the common fluff.

Captains are very solid choices for a variety of reasons. They can be kitted out to be ranged support, melee support, or a hybrid of both, providing a great leading character for your force. Choosing a Captain also allows you to create your own fluff for him, which itself is a great reward.

5.2 Honour Guard & Command Squads

Similar to the required characters to choose them, Honour Guard Squads and Command Squads are very fluffy additions to your force and, when kitted correctly, can be very solid units as well. It is typically expected in a fluffy Raven Guard army to deploy these squads, like others, via Drop Pods. Not only can these two squads be kitted out to be tactically flexible units in their own right, but they make marvelous fluff and modeling centerpieces as well.

5.3 Librarians

Librarians are not as often taken as the other choices available to a Space Marine commander, but they are still a very useful and fluffy addition. Most chapters will have a small force of Librarians at their disposal and the Raven Guard is no exception. They can provide valuable melee support as well as a variety of offensive and support abilities via their psychic powers. Like the other choices, deployed via Drop Pod or Jump Pack are usually the main methods of delivery in a Raven Guard list.

5.4 Chaplains

Like most Space Marine chapters, the Raven Guard have a number of Chaplains who see to the day to day prayers and battle rites of their brothers. This fact makes them an automatically fluffy decision, and in terms of your army list, Chaplains provide a lot for a little. Coming in as one of the cheapest HQ selections, Chaplains can add a lot to an already formidable Assault Squad by taking a Jump Pack and utilising their Liturgies of Battle and Hnour of the Chapter special abilities. Chaplains are a common HQ choice for a fluffy and competitive Raven Guard list.

5.5 Master of the Forge

It is likely that the Raven Guard counts a Master of the Forge amongst their ranks, being one of the oldest chapters in the Imperium. However, like Techmarines, their skills are not tailored to the typical combat doctrine of the chapter whole, which makes the Master of the Forge the least fluffy HQ choice for a Raven Guard army list.

5.6 Kayvaan Shrike, Shadow Captain of the Raven Guard 3rd Company

Captain Kayvaan Shrike:

The only Raven Guard special character to date, Captain Shrike is a fluffy choice by definition. Improved since the 4th edition Codex: Space Marines, Shrike now sports an invulnerable save that improves his survivability while he still maintains an incredibly efficient anti-infantry role. His ‘See, But Remain Unseen’ special rule adds a whole new dimension to your force’s deployment options and his Chapter Tactics makes your melee units frighteningly fast.

The only drawback to selecting Shrike as your HQ is the limitations on fluff – he has pre-established fluff and can’t stray from that too much, which restricts your ability to create fluff for your HQ. Beyond that limitation, however, Captain Shrike is one of the best HQ choices a fluffy Raven Guard army list can take.

6. Sample Army List

This is a sample 1500 point army list, utilising the ASD concept as well as the rest of the common Raven Guard fluff.

HQ1: Shrike
HQ2: Chaplain w/ Jump Pack
EL1: Dreadnought w/ Assault Cannon, Heavy Flamer, Drop Pod
TR1: 5 Scouts w/ Camo Cloaks, Sniper Rifles, Missile Launcher
TR2: 10 Scouts w/ 4 Shotguns, 5 Bolt Pistol/CCW, Power Fist
TR3: 10 Tactical Marines w/ Meltagun, Missile Launcher, Power Fist, Drop Pod
TR4: 10 Tactical Marines w/ Meltagun, Missile Launcher, Power Fist, Drop Pod
FA1: 5 Assault Marines w/ Flamer, Power Fist
FA2: 5 Assault Marines w/ Flamer, Power Fist

Total Points: 1495/1500
Scoring Units: 4
Total Models: 48 + 3 (Drop Pods)

This force gives you two fluffy HQ choices, both respectable close combatatants, to lead two identical Assault Squads to be supported by the ten man Scout Squad. With three Drop Pods raining upon the enemy, and a solid core of models, this is a well balanced, reasonably competitive and, most importantly, very fluffy Raven Guard army list.

7. Conclusion

Raven Guard motto:

In the end, deciding which units fit into the fluff of a Raven Guard army list lies solely with the list’s designer. The entirety of this article is based on my personal experiences both with ‘theoryhammer’ and on the table battles as well as my personal knowledge of Raven Guard fluff. Most of my information comes from Index Astartes as well as the Lexicanum wiki for 40k fluff.

I fully recommend you, the reader, to try out a variety of options in your Raven Guard army lists and not to restrict yourself to only a few choices. Expand and adapt the contents of this article to fit with your own personal playstyle as well as your own interpretations of the fluff of this wonderful chapter of Space Marines. I encourage you to write as much fluff as you want, create characters and unit names and form a solid background for your force even as you collect and assemble your miniatures.

Keep in mind the common fluff presented by Games Workshop, upon which the concept of ASD was based primarily on. But also keep in mind that not even this should restrict you completely; do not let the common fluff hold you or your Raven Guard back.

In the end, I hope this article will aid you in designing your own fluffy Raven Guard Army list. Thank you for reading!

Here it goes, did you win your last battle, what army did you play, who was your enemy and what size was it ? Lets hear it all and find out about or readers skills on the battlefield.

Please comment below, let us hear your story

Sergeant Rorik scanned the shadows of the woods that lay before his squad, his keen gaze searching for the genestealers that were cautiously sneaking up on them between the tree trunks.
When the first silhouettes showed, his squad readied their boltguns. “Steady…” he advised them, still waiting for the genestealers to decide on their course of action. As there were no reinforcements to be seen nearby, the Space Marines must have appeared to be an easy prey – the trap was all set, and Rorik wasn’t going to blow it by setting it off prematurely.

Then the genestealers leaped forward and came charging out of the shrubs’ protection. “Now!” Rorik exclaimed, and his squad turned and ran up the slope behind them, genestealers slowly catching up. “Acknowledged”, a voice answered to Rorik via comm, and the sergeant nodded contentedly.
The genestealers had almost reached them now, but the ridge was only a few more paces. As soon as the superhumans reached it they went to the ground on the other side, seeing their brethren in the landspeeders approach at full speed as planned.

As soon as the first genestealer’s head came into sight the enemy was met with a hail of heavy bolter fire, tearing through their carapace hide, spraying their insides into the air and across the rocks and killing them by the dozen. Some of the vile creatures turned for the woods, but it was too late.
Sergeant Rorik waved a powerarmored glove as a greeting to the landspeeders that sped past above his head, and he casually walked the few steps back to the ridge to glance over it and watch as the speeders pursued the genestealers on their pathetic attempt to escape.

It was over as quickly as it had begun. Soon the landspeeders’ guns went silent, and the torn bodies strewn about the slope were the only sign of the bloodbath that had occurred. Only a single Tyranid had reached the woods but it didn’t save him. The tree trunks around him were broken, branches blown off, wooden splinters all around the genestealer’s body proved that he had been safe from the bolters. But the torch marks on the plants and his burnt flesh gave testimony to how he had met his end nonetheless.
None had survived the massacre, made possible by the fast-moving heavy fire support of the Nebula Raiders’ highly-revered landspeeders. The gunboats had done it again, secured another victory for humanity…

Landspeeders are some of the most powerful units in the Space Marines’ arsenal. Toting an amazing amount of heavy weaponry for few points and being some of the most mobile weapon platforms in the entire game, the landspeeder can really put the hurt on any enemy force.
Though fast and furious, the landspeeder’s weakness is its fragility. This tactica teaches how to employ landspeeders to work around that weakness and employ them to best effect.

FOREWORD

I have always liked landspeeders very much, personally. In fifth edition they have become quite effective on the battle-fields too, and I have played battles with almost any number of them – from none to nine.
Interestingly enough, the order of doing so was exactly that listed: I started out with none, added some, and continually added more until I finally reached the possible maximum. The reason for this is the surprising performance of landspeeders, which turned out to be very effective and devastating.
I play landspeeders out of personal liking (just love anything that’s fast), fluff reasons (they’re my chapter’s most prominent unit), and even points efficiency. I recommend landspeeders for Space Marines in every list, because they are a very good complement to almost any army build.

I will talk about the different landspeeder builds and their primary functions first. Then I will introduce some secondary uses for landspeeders.

[Note that this tactica is based on the landspeeder in Codex: Space Marines, not other codices. A lot of the data provided here may prove valuable for landspeeders or even generally skimmers in other codices nonetheless.
Also note that this tactica does not cover the landspeeder storm transport. If you ignore the transport capacity, anything listed below applies to the landspeeder storm too, but there are a lot of differences. Open-topped further adds to the speeder's fragility, scout-BS makes it little reliable, scout move allows for a first turn strike or outflanking. Moreover, the landspeeder storm needs a fast attack slot on its own and can not be squadroned. A breakdown of the landspeeder storm by the author is to be found here.]

LANDSPEEDER BUILDS

Every landspeeder comes with either a heavy bolter, heavy flamer, or multi-melta. It may then choose to add a heavy bolter, heavy flamer, multi-melta, assault cannon, or typhoon missile launchers, but need not take any of these options.

To be effective, the landspeeder should be versatile, yet be able to use its weaponry to full effect no matter the mission, and have the potential to deliver a serious punch. The most common choices usually are the torando-pattern (with either two heavy bolters, heavy bolter and assault cannon, two multi-meltas, or multi-melta and heavy flamer), the typhoon-pattern (usually with heavy bolter and typhoon missile launchers) and the simple multi-melta landspeeder.
I shall discuss these choices and their effectiveness in a little more detail…

One Multi-Melta
This build is cheap and simple, designed for one task: tank hunting. It can be a “one-hit wonder”, but unfortunately it only has a single shot to deliver that hit, penetrate and do serious damage. Therefore it needs to be fielded in multiples for reliability. It is also very close-ranged, a vulnerability that tends to cause it to be taken out after its first attempt to fulfill its mission.

Two Multi-Meltas
This build is the same as the above, except that it isn’t as cheap. The potential of two shots may seem very appealing, but since movement is usually required to get into melta-range of the target, the actual opportunity to shoot both multi-meltas is very rarely given. Since this landspeeder is equally vulnerable due to its low effective range, making this “suicide” unit more expensive than it needs to be is not considered wise by the author.

Multi-Melta and Heavy Flamer
This is a versatile landspeeder often used in all-comers lists. It has both: devastating infantry and vehicle killing potential. Its downside is that usually only one of its guns is effective at any given task, even if the landspeeder did not move far and could use both. Its low range makes it very vulnerable.

Heavy Bolter and Assault Cannon
The classical tornado-pattern is a very versatile build, able to kill lots of infantry or tanks of any kind, and is a very effective at killing squadrons of light vehicles like enemy landspeeders, sentinels, etc. Unfortunately it is very expensive and the assault cannon’s range is decent but yet nothing that could be considered a safe distance.

Two Heavy Bolters
A very cheap and very effective infantry killer that can also take on light vehicles. Its guns’ range ensures that it needs not move so far that it mustn’t shoot both of its weapons and at the same time keeps it out of range of most handguns and other retaliation fire.

Heavy Bolter and Typhoon Missile Launcher
Rivaled in cost only by a multi-melta typhoon speeder (which isn’t very sensible), this build is the most formidable of them all due to a variety of reasons that are seldomly accounted for.
Not only does it feature superior range to all other landspeeder builds and is the best MEQ, light vehicle, and MC killer among them. It is also the only one that can use a defensive weapon: a typhoon may move 12″, fire its secondary gun as its primary weapon, and still chip in some frag missiles just in case. It is a very flexible build, able to very effectively take on anything but the heaviest armor. The typhoon launchers being mounted above the hull enables them to be fired over cover or other landspeeders’ hulls unobscured, which has often been an issue in the author’s battles. (“But I get a cover save.” – “I don’t think so. Take the laser pointer and check the launchers’ line of sight, mate…”)

The author recommends the use of typhoon landspeeders above all others. The double-heavy bolters tornado and the simple multi-melta or heavy flamer landspeeders have the potential to be very effective units too, depending on the force they are supposed to complement.

THE SPIRIT OF LANDSPEEDER USE

Landspeeders are high output, low input units. They deal a great amount of firepower, but their big -and only- weakness is their fragility. Landspeeders thus need to be employed in a way that allows for delivering their firepower while overcoming or at least coping for their vulnerability. There are three ways to go about this:

• The Gandalf-way: “keep it hidden, keep it safe”. Stay in cover and as far away from the enemy as possible, avoiding most enemy fire entirely.
• The Roadrunner-way: “meep, meep”! Move flat out, gaining a cover save and limited protection from close combat hits.
• The Aragorn-way: “for Frodo”! Don’t bother about keeping it alive, just charge ahead and strike the enemy hard before it can hit back.

Of all these, the Gandalf-way is the best for keeping the landspeeders alive, despite often being conceived as an unfitting approach for fast-moving firing platforms. While the Aragorn-way has the most potential to deliver really decisive blows, the Roadrunner-way may seem little appealing as no weapons can be fired and thus no damage done. But this should be more of a temporary solution than a tactical approach anyhow, and it serves well in conjunction with some dirty tricks.

To minimize the danger of firepower redundancy, it is advisable to use landspeeders in a single fast attack slot each as long as they are available. They will each be able to pick their own target -or the same, if they so wish- while they move independently (good for dirty tricks) and need to be targeted separately.
But using them in squadrons is equally viable. Unfortunately heavy firepower from a single unit is often able to hurt an entire squadron while they could otherwise only target a single landspeeder at a time, and landspeeders that would normally only be immobilized are destroyed. Yet squadrons can claim cover more easily (only one landspeeder out of two being obscured secures saves for both) and are harder to take out entirely, giving away less kill points.

BATTLEFIELD ROLES

Landspeeders should be assigned a battlefield role and used and equipped in a way to best suit it. The following two tasks are the most common primary missions for landspeeders and fulfilled sufficiently well by them:

• Fire Support: the landspeeder lays down a constant hail of fire, serving as an assistant unit to the main force.
• Line Breaking: the landspeeder spearheads the assault and tries to take out important enemy targets very early.

The author is not a fan of using landspeeders for line breaking purposes and recommends using landspeeders for fire support, but will discuss both uses nonetheless.

Fire Support
This tactic is pretty much self-explanatory: shoot the enemy turn after turn…

• EQUIPMENT: a fire support landspeeder should be far-ranged, the double-heavy bolters tornado or the heavy bolter typhoon landspeeders serve this purpose best.
• HANDLING: in a fire support role landspeeders should be used in the Gandalf-way. The Roadrunner-way can be used for emergency redeployment or for dirty tricks. Note that it is important to move your landspeeder every turn, even if it is only for the fraction of an inch. Any surprise assaults (outflankers and such) will only hit on a 4+ in close combat instead of automatically.
• RESERVES: reserving fire support speeders is a very viable approach, ensuring they have at least one turn of shooting before they can be targeted themselves, and enabling them to position themselves ideally after the enemy has already committed its force to certain areas of the battle-field. Deep-striking fire support landspeeders is not advisable, though.
• SQUADRONS: using entire squadrons of fire support landspeeder works very well if multiple slots are unavailable.
• ARMY TYPE: fire support landspeeders benefit any army but are best used in addition to balanced forces or forces that are in desperate need of high-output and/or long-ranged firepower.

Line Breaking
Line Breaking enables landspeeders to deal decisive blows but involves a high risk of losing the unit. More often than not this approach leads to a suicide trade-off, attacking and hopefully seriously damaging or taking out a more expensive or valuable enemy target.

• EQUIPMENT: devastating close-ranged weaponry suits this approach best. The simple multi-melta (for tank hunting) or heavy flamer (for infantry hunting) are best used with this tactic.
• HANDLING: line breaker landspeeders should be used the Roadrunner-way until they are able to reach their target the Aragorn-way and deliver their deadly load. These units rarely survive to be used for dirty tricks later on.
• RESERVES: reserving line-breaker units is generally not advisable as you will want to deliver your blow as soon as possible. But since landspeeders in fifth edition may still fire a weapon upon having deep-struck, deep-striking multi-melta landspeeders can be very viable, not giving away where it will strike until it is too late, while minimizing the risk of being destroyed before taking its shot, and being able to easily reach even hidden targets blocked from line of sight in the enemy’s deployment zone. Since the heavy flamer greatly depends on perfect placement, deep-striking it does not seem very effective due to possible scatter.
• SQUADRONS: the author does not recommend squadroning line breaker landspeeders. Squadrons of two will work in dire situations, but it is best if each of these suicide units can pick its own target and if each of them has to be targeted by the enemy on their own.
• ARMY TYPE: line breaker landspeeders are best used to fill niches and complement forces that have trouble at very specific tasks such as a close combat force lacking tank hunting capability (multi-melta landspeeders) or a stationary gunline force unable to dislodge enemy troops from cover at a distance (heavy flamer landspeeders).

SECONDARY USES

Landspeeders come in handy in various scenarios and can often be used in more than one way to surprise or at least annoy the opponent. A handful of common dirty tricks are at the Space Marine commander’s disposal, and the author has decided include some of them in this tactica.
These dirty tricks become especially attractive once your speeders have suffered shaken damage results or have had their weapons destroyed.

Impro Cover
Landspeeders can be positioned in front of other landspeeders in the Roadrunner-way. They will count as being obscured because of having moved fast, while they also confer a cover save to the landspeeder they are shielding, which still be able to use its guns. This is especially effective when using a single shaken landspeeder to protect a squadron of two, as both gain the cover save as soon as one is obscured.

Objective Denial
Being able to move very far and able to ignore enemy units and terrain in their way landspeeders are perfect for contesting objectives. Move into position on turn four, ready to block an enemy objective on turn five by using the Roadrunner-way to get within 3″ of the objective.
If your opponent went first, a single landspeeder suffices entirely. If you went first yourself, you may want to send two so that eventually at least one of them will survive your opponent’s attempts to wipe it away. With a cover save and being hit only on sixes in close combat, landspeeders can take considerable punishment before going down. This also draws fire away from your precious troops who will -at this stage of the game- have probably already been dangerously decimated.
If the game does go on, the speeders should not stay in position but instead use the Roadrunner-way again to contest another objective or move into safety while another speeder moves flat out to contest the objective, so that the protective measures are sustained. This is what the author calls the “merry-go-round” of objective denial and has been illustrated here.

Protective Wall
Landspeeders can be used to shield off more important units. This is best done in the Roadrunner-way in order to claim a cover save and be safe in close combat. This dirty tricks unfolds its full potential if the landspeeders face parallelly to the direction of the wall they are building in order to block as much space as possible. Lining them up just a little less than 3″ apart will force even the smallest units to stay put or move around them, having a base diameter of 1″ and being forced to stay away at least 1″ from each of the speeders. Larger spacing may be used when confronting models with larger bases. [Note that even landspeeders in a squadron may be up to 4" apart from one another.]
This procedure creates a transparent shield: your units can draw an unobscured line of sight beneath your speeders while the enemy is deprived of the ability to close in with the protected unit(s). As soon as the enemy decides to shoot at or assault your landspeeders it is too late for them to move any closer to your protected units or assault them even if they manage to blow a hole into the wall. This is best used with cheap landspeeders, though any will do. Dedicated close combat units can suffer serious delays, as for example Eldar banshees or Tyranid genestealers are unlikely to breach the wall but are vulnerable to return fire. Same goes for Space Marine dreadnoughts, Tyranid carnifexes, Eldar wraithlords and other beasts that are easy to block off and forced to stay out of the safety of close combat for another turn, killing one landspeeder at maximum but being prone to return fire.

Cage of Skimmers
This dirty trick is a variation of the protective wall that is especially effective against transports or vehicles with dangerous hull-mounted weapons that thus have a very limited firing arc, though it requires the use of at least four speeders. Boxing those vehicles in by putting a landspeeder on either side of them only 1″ away will force them to stay put, being unable to move, disembark passengers, or even only turn.
Once the shooting phase offers the chance of destroying the cage it is already too late for the caged unit to close in, disembark passengers, or face a vulnerable target. Tanks can attempt to ram through the cage, but -being skimmers- the speeders can evade and stop the attack on a 3+, and even if they are hit, the maximum strength is five (AV 14 tank, maximum movement of 1″ which does not confer any bonus) which has only a very small chance of actually hurting the speeder.
Caging in a land raider crusader with eight assault terminators and tying them down is a very nasty thing to do, even though the tank’s assault cannons will probably take out one of your precious vehicles.

AUTHOR’S RECOMMENDATION

Buy the flexible typhoon landspeeders, keep them far from the enemy and in cover, even if this seems like a waste of a mobile firing platform. Once the end of the game draws near or the speeder is shaken or has lost its guns, consider some of the secondary uses. This is the most effective way to field and use landspeeders to their full potential. A very potent unit that can definitely win games.

I hope this tactica proves helpful to some. Any comments and feedback are welcome!

Please note that this tactica is simply meant to give a general overview of each unit choice and a few examples of good setups for that unit. I am sure that everyone will have varying opinions on squad size and / or gear, the examples listed are those that myself and variuos others have found to be effective.

General equipment

After writing the initial tactica I realized that there were some options that are available for most squads in general that I just did not mention. I decided to go back and write a section that cover each of these options, giving the rundown on them.

Plasma Pistol: Now one would think that since plasma guns are so popular that plasma pistols would be great as well. Unfortunately this is not the case ( with a few very specific exceptions) In most cases the plasma pistol can only be taken on a unit champion, a champion which often times has a power fist. The vast majority of players, myself included, are not prepared to take the chance of losing our expensive champion to a gets hot roll. In the case of characters, no one likes losing a wound on often times the most expensive single model in their army. The one place where plasma pistols may find a place is with Berzerker squads where they are the only special weapon option for the normal marines.

Combi-weapon: In the old dex these were generally not used outside of terminators but they have come to be an interesting option in the new dex. The two main uses that I see for them now are first of all for terminators (obviously) and second of all for use on normal marine squads that are running below the 10 man squad size. Here they help to preserve the number of special weapons in the squad while cutting back on points.

Melta Bombs: In general these things are not worth the points unless taken as filler on independent characters. Almost every squad that these might have been useful on already has weapons capable of dealing with armor (meltas, power fist, krak grenades, plasma). The only squads that I could see these being useful on are assault oriented noise marines and perhaps Berzerkers in the absence of a unit powerfist.

Personal Icon: The usefulness of these totally depends on your armies overall composition. If you have deep striking termis / oblits(who would?) / raptors and / or lesser daemons then they can be a worthwhile investment on your HQs and cult marine squads. Otherwise they are useless.

HQ Choices

Abaddon the Despoiler: Overrall it can be said that Abaddon is quite the monster in the new dex due in large part to the fact that he counts as having a daemon weapon that doubles his strength. The downsides seem to outweigh the upsides however. Abaddon is slow moving and he costs more than a 10 man marine squad with all of the fixins. In order to get him into action you either have to teleport him, which becomes troublesome due to the fact that he may come onto the board before or after any termis you intend as an escort, or you can stick him in a landraider which in anything less than say 3k points is like handing your opponent free VPs.

Fabius Bile: Now Fabius has his upsides and his down sides just like Abaddon. On the upside he has a nice number of attacks at decent strength, feel no pain, and he allows you to take enhanced warriors. On the downside he is slow and none of his attacks ignore armor. The movement issue can be solved by grabbing him an empty seat in a rhino but the fact that he doesn’t have any armor ignoring attacks should prove to be a deterrent to all but his die hard fans and those that want to use him in fun / fluffy games.

Huron Blackheart: Once again we come into this with the good and the bad. Huron has some good things going for him in this version of the dex though he used to be better if I remember correctly (2nd edition). Huron has a heavy flamer and both a powerfist and a power weapon, allowing you to choose how you would like to use his attacks, he can use the warptime ability and comes with the invulnerable save that so many special characters lack. His only real downside is the recurring theme of being slow though once again this can be solved with the use of an empty rhino seat. All in all he is one of the best Special characters in this edition of the dex.

Typhus: On the upside Typhus a weapon that counts as both a daemon weapon and a force weapon as well as auto passing his psychic tests, being able to use his force weapon no matter what, and being equipped with blight grenades. The downside is that he runs into the same mobility issues as Abaddon. He can deepstrike in alone or he can go in a landraider though both options are somewhat iffy.

Kharn the Betrayer: Overall kharn is one of the better special characters in the dex. He has not changed all that much but the changes that were made were for the better. He retains his high weapon skill and number of attacks, his “betrayer” ability, as well as his immunities to psychic powers and force weapons. He gained a slight boost in the form of furious charge and stayed around the same price he was in the old dex. Point for point the best CC Special character in the dex.

Ahirman: This guys has finally become the psychic monster that he was meant to be from the beginning. Now that he can make up to three psychic tests a turn and use multiple shooting powers a turn he has the equivalent psychic potential of Eldrad Ulthran, though it comes with the same mobility problem though depending on the powers that you use this may not be an issue. Once again the option of sequestering him away inside a rhino comes up but that will only hinder his psychic potential. The mobility issue coupled with his hefty point cost lead me to believe that only die hard 1k sons players will field him with any kind of frequency.

Lucius the Eternal: Lucius is another character that has changed for the better in the new dex. This is due to a combination of different factors: He now has a firm WS score, has an invulnerable save, has the fueled by pain ability, and is equipped with the lash of torment (blight grenades) and a doom siren. Overall I would say that for pure troop killing potential he rivals kharn. The only thing I don’t quite understand is why they would give him an ability that lowers the amount of incoming attacks along with an ability that benefits from attacks made against the character. Once again his major drawback is mobility though he is my personal favorite of the special characters.

Daemon Princes: At last we have a separate entry for these monstrous beasts and rightly so. The daemon prince has an overall impressive stat line along with immunity to instant death. It seems that wings are a must have for these guys as they have no other way of getting into combat quickly. There are many different variation s of this guy wandering around out on the forums, below I am going to list just a few with a couple of notes no how to use each.

DP w/ MoK + Wings
140 pts

Cheap and simple, this thing puts out a decent number of attacks and is mobile enough.

DP w/ wings + warptime
155 pts

Slightly more expensive than the above prince but with the ability to make sure that almost every attack counts.

DP w/ MoS + wings + Lash
155 pts

This is a really popular build mainly due to the fact that it can let you get off a first turn charge with this guy.

DP w/ MoT + wings + warp time + wind of chaos
205 pts

This guys is the most expensive of the builds that I have listed but rightly so. He is more resilient due to his increased invulnerable save and has amazing killing potential due to the fact that warp time not only lets you reroll the dice for close combat but for wind of chaos as well.

Chaos Lord: Here we have the all rounder of the chaos HQ choices and imo the often overlooked MVP of this portion of the FoC. With the right combinations of marks and weapons + movement modifiers this guys is a veritable killing machine, capable of ripping up entire squads all on his own. He has the ability to dish out many more attacks than the daemon prince and though he is a little bit more squishy statwise he does benefit from IC status which is something that the DP cannot claim. Here are a few setups with some short notes describing each.

Lord w/ Daemon weapon + bike
160 pts

This guys is the all purpose HQ. One of the major drawbacks of the chaos lord in this edition is the fact that it is hard to upgrade any of his stats, mainly his low strength. This is why the unmarked lord is so appealing especially when coupled with the extra toughness and movement given to him by the bike. My favorite setup…

Lord w/ MoS + Daemon weapon + steed
165 pts

This is another effective choice for a chaos lord though it does have different strengths from the build listed above. This setup is perfect for taking out multi wound HQs and monstrous creatures. The steed is perfect for getting him to where he needs to be and the extra attack certainly doesn’t hurt. His high initiative means that he will strike before all but the fastest enemy units, use him wisely and he should not fail you.

Lord w/ MoT + Daemon weapon + flight/steed
165/175 pts

This guy is as close as we can get to the old kai flier lord that seemed so prevalent in the old dex. He is a good bit more expensive than he used to be but he makes up for it with his impressive invulnerable save and extra attacks in CC.

Lord w/ MoK + Daemon weapon + flight
160 pts

This build is for all of you that like taking chances. With the bloodfeeder he is much more likely to wound himself but he gets a lot more attacks. I guess it is really up to you though I think that an 11/36 chance of wounding yourself and doing nothing every turn is a little too high.

Chaos sorcerer: Finally GW has brought us the psykers that we should have had all along. These guys are great at what they do and a good value for the points. Their stats are slightly lower than those of the Chaos lord though they do come stock with a force weapon which more than makes up for it imo. Below I will detail a few common builds.

Sorcerer w/ MoS + flight + Lash of Submission
145 pts

Here we have the most common HQ choice that chaos has ever had, at least until the FAQ comes out. The lash has so many combinations with other units that it is hard to list them all. A few of the best are grouping units together for battle cannon / demolisher cannon / plasma cannon shots, drawing units towards your assault troops, pushing units away from your ranged troops, moving enemy units out of LoS of your units, pulling units out of cover. The possibilities are endless and they beg the question of what in the warp was GW thinking when they made this power?

Sorcerer w/ MoT + steed + warp time + wind of chaos
215 pts

This is by far the most expensive HQ choice that I have detailed in this tactica and for fair reason. This guy will kill any type of enemies in droves with the combination of warp time and wind of chaos coupled with his already potent CC abilities. He is the scalpel where the similarly tooled daemon prince is the hammer. Where as the daemon prince can charge just about anything and come out grinning this guy you should be a little more careful with and use his IC status to strike where and when he will be most effective.

Greater Daemon: The new generic greater daemon is actually quite amazing for its point cost. Its stats are quite impressive and now due to the fact that you no longer have to declare a daemon vessel it becomes easier to get it to where you need it most. Its only drawback is its slow movement but this is not such a problem since it is summoned. If this is any indication of what the god specific greater daemons will be like then I think good things are on the way!

Elite Choices

I have to say that I am extremely happy overall with our elites section. I believe that having oblits in the elites section in the last dex was a huge mistake. It made chaos much more cheesey than it was ever intended to be. Thankfully they have been changed over to heavy support and traded out for the dreadnought.

Chosen CSM: Alas this is what our veteran skills have come to, a single army list entry with a single veteran skill and no choices about which one it is. At least it is arguably the best one of all. The chosen have really started to take on the role of forward firebase since the release of the dex. With so many options literally anything is possible though some combinations are far more effective than others. When infiltrating the chosen it is important to remember that they are relatively slow moving, this is why it is important to give them weapons with decent range, meltas and flamers generally will not work as well as plasma or represent as big a threat. They do have the option of taking a rhino instead of using their infiltrate skill though in general unless tooling out a CC squad it would be much more prudent to use havocs for their reduced cost. Here are a few common setups.

8x chosen, 4x plasma, Icon of (your choice)
204-254 pts

This squad will bring the heat so fast and hard to the enemy that they will barely know what hit them. In my estimation it is important to keep these guys cheap as more than a few will likely burn themselves out rapid firing and the more expensive they are, the more it hurts losing one.

8x chosen, 3x plasma, AC w/ fist, Icon of (your choice)
224-274 pts

This squad is very similar to the above but packs a bit more of the CC punch with the powerfist to help in case they find themselves in CC trouble. In general I do not run this setup as I think that it is a bad idea to split their purpose between CC and ranged nastiness. As with all CSM units it is important to give each squad a role.

8x chosen, 1x melta gun, 4x pairs of lightning claws, IoS + Rhino w/ combi melta
309 pts

This squad is just an example of the uber CC units that are possible to create using the chosen entry. It is a good bit more expensive than a normal marine squad though it will tend to be much more lethal when it hits CC.

Terminators: I am pretty sure that everyone that had been a fan of the terminator for fluff reasons in the previous edition and was disappointed by their performance is smiling right now. The new termis are simply amazing due to a number of changes. First of all they have had a decent point cost reduction and secondly their weapon selections have never been better. Most of you know that in terms of weapon selection I am hreferring to the the combi plasma. Never before have we been able to put this devastating weapon in the hands of something as survivable as a terminator. The fact that it can only be fired once in a game is not such a drawback when the whole squad can be armed with them. The other weapon that is currently becoming popular is the heavy flamer. What was once never even considered to be an option by most has become an almost compulsory upgrade due to its almost insignificant point cost. The reaper autocannon on the other hand will now become what the heavy flamer used to be due to the fact that you can give 5 termis combi plasma for the cost of a single reaper. As far as icons go on these squads the most useful in my estimation is the IoK due to the fact that the termis are carrying power weapons and due to their heavy armor do not benefit as much from the IoS. In regards to the other marks, I do not think that they are nearly as effective when their cost is figured into the equation, termis work best on the cheap! Below are a few unit setups with short descriptions.

4x termis, 4x combi plasma
140 pts

Cheap and effective, also known as the Karmoon special. These guys can either hitch a ride in a landraider or deep strike where they will be most effective. They are quite capable of destroying an entire MEQ squad in a single turn.

5x termis, 4x combi plas, 1x heavy flamer + chain fist
190 pts

More expensive than the previous setup but a little more versatile with the extra body and inclusion of the heavy flamer and chain fist.

5x termis, IoK, 1x pair of LCs, 3x combi meltas, 1x heavy flamer + chain fist
225 pts

Even more expensive than the other two units but they will pack a whole lot more heat in CC. These are my personal favorites for deep striking next to enemy armor /transports. If the meltas don’t work to pop the armor then the chain fist will. Position them carefully, use the tank/transport you intend to pop to block LoS.

Posessed: Many of us had high hopes for the possessed in this version of the dex but it seems like it was all in vain. One has to wonder what GW was doing when they created this unit. They are still more expensive per marine than any of the cult marines and a the fact that rhinos are now necessities begs the question of why 2 of the 6 powers they could potentially have affect their movement. These will only be used by friendly gamers who either like the models or care more about the fluff than the effectiveness.

Dreadnoughts: Overall the dreadnought became much more dangerous for us to use in the new dex largely due to the fact that when it fire frenzies it now just shoots at the nearest units, friend or foe. Below I will list some common setups.

Dread w/ extra DCCW + Heavy flamer
105 pts

The ultimate close combat dready. If he decides to fire frenzy the worst you are going to get is some bolter shots to the rear so he is safe enough to run along side most of your other units.

Dread w/ plasma cannon + ML
105 pts

This dread is a little harder to use than the other but it can be very rewarding if used properly. He works best when used in conjunction with lash of submission due to the fact that he can produce two templates normally and four when he fire frenzies. It is usually best to position him all by his lonesome on a flank. He is one of those units where either the enemy deals with him early or he pays for not dealing with him later. If the enemy does decide to take him out it’s not that big a deal because he really didn’t cost that much.

Troops choices

Chaos Space Marines: Here we come to the crème de la crème, our basic trooper. This guy has easily become the single best basic troop in the game. The main reason for this is that we have gained what most are calling “Uber Grit”. Basically every marine now comes with a bolter, bolt pistol, and a close combat weapon. It used to be that we had to make a choice between having our marines geared for CC or geared for range but now we get the best of both worlds. We can rapid fire bolters and still get our +1A in CC. Due to the loss of veteran skills in the new dex it has now become almost necessity to take rhinos for these squads as otherwise they will be hard pressed to get to where they are going. In terms of icons the IoCG seems to be the most cost effective though I have used the IoS as well to get shots in before our loyalist brethren. The other icons are too expensive to see much use imo. Below you will find some common builds with some short notes on each.

10x marines, IoCG, 2x melta, AC w/ power fist + Rhino
255 pts

This is your basic all around assault unit. They roll forward in their coffin and pop tanks with the melta on their way in to CC.

10x marine, IoCG, 2x plasma, AC w/ power fist + Rhino

This option is very similar to the one listed above but is intended for more mid ranged fire support.

8x marines, IoCG, 1x melta, AC w/ power fist, combi melta + Rhino
225 pts

This unit is for those of you who miss the 8 man squads from the last edition of the dex. It loses just a little bit of AT power in exchange for a cheaper squad overall. I recommend this setup for lower point games and also for use if you absolutely need to cut points for something else.

Rhino: I figured I would spend a short time talking about the chaos rhino and the serious face lift that it has gotten in the new dex. Not only was the price dropped by the cost of a marine but it now comes standard with smoke launchers and a search light. It also now has the option of taking a pintle mounted combi plasma which is looking like quite an interesting option to me. Overall it is an amazing improvement from the last dex.

Plague Marines: When looking at the special rules and weapon options for plague marines one can’t help but get that “wow” feeling. They are by far the most survivable power armoured marines in the game though it comes at a pretty high point cost. As a warning I just want to say that it can be easy to get “plague marine fever” but that an army composed entirely of cult marines will inherently have trouble dishing out enough volume of fire to deal with swarms, try not to go crazy with them. Due to the feel no pain special rule plague marines are much better suited for handling plasma than their normal CSM brethren, below is the most common loadout.

7x plague marines, 2x plasma, PC w/ Fist + Rhino
266 pts

For roughly the same cost as a 10 man marine squad you get 3 less bodies though each is much more survivable. For a little added fun try out a combi plasma on the PC.

Noise Marines: These are the cheapest of all the cult marines although this changes as soon as you add the sonic weaponry. The sonic blaster is a decent upgrade for the bolter though I think it is a little overcosted, 3 pts would have been more appropriate imo. The Doom siren is simply amazing and unfortunately the blastmaster has been made so expensive that it will see little to no competitive action. Below are a few common setups.

6x noise marines, 6x sonic blasters
150 pts

This squad generally works best in lower point games where the range of the sonic blaster can make up for the squads lack of mobility. It pumps out enough shots at range to give just about anything cause to hesitate.

6x noise marines, 5x sonic blasters, AC w/ power weapon, doom siren + Rhino
215 pts

This squad costs a good deal more than the generic squad listed above but packs much more of a punch at close range due to the AC and has much higher mobility due to the rhino.

Khorne Berzerkers: Most people were simply outraged when they heard that zerkers were going to lose bloodrage but I simply cannot understand why… They had the potential to fleet but with the drawback of losing control of the entire squad. IMO they seem much more true to fluff now than they did before. Zerkers are now killing machines with their increased WS, A, and furious charge. They are by far the most effective assault troops that we can field. My preference for the skull champion is to give him a power weapon to take advantage of the increased initiative from furious charge. Below is a common setup

8x zerkers, Skull champ w/ power weapon +Rhino
233 pts

Thousand sons: In this version of the dex the 1k sons have traded their extra wound for a shiny new invulnerable save. It is hard to say which is better but overall their survivability has not changed too much. What really has changed is the damage that they dish out in the form of AP3 bolters. Since they still come with slow and purposeful the 1k sons can always fire their bolters out to maximum range making them a threat to just about anything. The sorcerer squad leader accounts for much of the total cost of these squads but it is not so bad when you consider that he helps with their S&P rolls and that he comes stock with a force weapon. Below is a standard loadout.

8x 1k sons(incl. Sorc.), doombolt / bolt of change + Rhino
266/281 pts

This squad is pretty straightforward. The rhino takes them to where they can be most effective and then they unload AP3 hell on the enemy. If you need some extra AT then take BoC it has received a pretty decent buff.

Lesser Daemons: These guys received a lot of flack early on for not being as good as their god specific counter parts but considering the new rules for daemon summoning and the fact that they do not suffer from instability I actually think that they can be quite effective. They can popout anywhere that you have an icon on the turn they become available, instant assault troops at a decent price…

Fast attack

Chaos Bikers: Overall chaos bikers really have not changed that much. There point cost has stayed pretty close to what it was before and their stats have not changed significantly. They have received a slight boost due to the fact that the IoN now will allow them to reach T6. There is some confusion over whether or not the IoT will allow them to reach a 2+ invulnerable save when they turbo boost. I am with the camp that believes this to be true for two reasons: 1. they already allowed something similar with the IoN stacking with the increased toughness gained from the bike and 2. the codex specifically mentions that a 2+ invulnerable save is the best invulnerable save possible with the IoT. Despite the few buffs they have received, bikes seem to be outclassed in general by raptors due to the fact that they are so much cheaper. Below are a couple of simple setups.

3x bikers, 2x meltaguns
129 pts

This is simply a suicide tank hunting squad. They should turbo boost first turn, take out a tank on the second turn and then if they do not get roasted they can serve to tie up an enemy unit for a turn or so.

6x bikers, IoS, 2x meltas, AC w/ Power weapon
268 pts

This is your all purpose bike squad. The icon comes down to personal preference, if you want them to have T6 then go for the IoN. Personally I like the IoS because you want them to get in as many hits as possible before getting hit back.

Raptors: Holy flying evil Batman! Raptors that are even cheaper than loyalist assault marines! Raptors have certainly made a comeback in the dex and for good reason, they are now quite reasonably priced and retain most of their weapon options. As far as icons are concerned the IoK and the IoS seem to be the most common as they help to augment the raptors combat skills. Below are a few typical setups.

8x raptors, IoS/IoK, 2x melta, AC w/ lightning claws
240/250 pts

Pretty straightforward squad here. With the IoS they will strike before their loyalist brethren and with the IoK they will dish out a metric ton of attacks on the charge and can always pop tanks with the meltas if need be. The choice of lightning claws over the powerfist will prove to be a common one on raptors imo due to the fact that they are likely to draw a lot of heat on the way into combat and it is important to get the ACs attacks in before the squad is wiped out.

Chaos Spawn: In my opinion this is probably the single worst entry in the codex. It has no save, has very unpredictable movement speed and number of attacks, and you have absolutely no control over where it goes. I might have taken them at half the points cost as filler… It is such a shame because the models are quite nice.

Heavy Support

Chaos Havocs: altogether havocs have stayed much the same as they were in the old dex. Now that we can no longer give them tank hunting I have a feeling that the missile launcher will see more use on these guys. Unfortunately in the mechanized environment created by the new dex havocs will tend to lose out in favor of the armoured choices to help draw fire away from our rhinos. Below are a couple common setups.

6x havocs, 3x missile launchers
150 pts

An all purpose squad, capable of popping armor or taking care of swarms. They lose some effectiveness against MEQs but it for the most part they will do well.

8x havocs, IoCG, 4x flamers, AC w/ powerfist, combi flamer + Rhino w/ combi flamer
245 pts

This is an idea that has been kicked around on the forum recently and it certainly seems like an interesting one. Watch your opponents face when you tell him you are going to be firing 6 flamers at one of his squads.

Obliterators: Obliterators received the nerfing that we all knew was coming, their toughness was reduced, their weapon selection changed, and their points cost increased. They are still usable as they are but will usually end up being shelved in favor of armored choices just like the havocs.

Chaos Predator: The changes to the predator were very interesting, some builds got cheaper and some build became much more expensive. Unfortunately daemonic possession is not really an option on these things any more due to the decrease in BS. More often than not you need your predators to hit what they are shooting at as they are on of our few reliable ranged AT platforms. Below are some common setups.

Predator w/ AC + LC Sponsons
130 pts

This is the cheap and easy AT predator. The twin linked lascannon turret has become way to expensive to see much use in the new dex. For it’s points this baby will give you the best amount of AT fire available.

Predator w/ AC + HB Sponsons + Havoc Launcher
115 pts

Here we have the “dakka” predator. Capable of spewing out enough hot lead to choke a horse. This thing is usually seen running beside two of its AT brethren in larger sized games, the enemy should be so focused on killing the AT predators that this should receive little to no attention.

Chaos Vindicator: a shiny new toy for us chaos generals and one that has already received a good bit of attention. It is just as survivable as a predator but the thing that makes it even more of a pain to the enemy is that it can take advantage of the benefits of daemonic possession without having to worry about the drawbacks. Below is the common configuration.

Vindicator w/ daemonic possession
145 pts

Chaos Defiler: Remember how in the old dex you rarely ever used the reaper autocannon and the twin linked heavy flamer? Well now we have options that let us chuck them in favor of more CC attacks and now that the defilers is armed with DCCW and gets fleet of foot it has become a true CC machine, capable of 6 S10 attacks on the charge. The only downside is that to fleet you have to forego using that juicy battle cannon shot. I think we will see people slowly advancing it firing the battle cannon and then using fleet on the turn that they want it to hit CC. Common setup is below.

Defiler w/ 2 extra DCCW
150 pts

Chaos Landraider: Here is another entry that has received a little bit of much needed attention in the new dex. I see it becoming quite popular in the near future due to the decrease in its point cost and the fact that it can now take daemonic possession without losing its ability to transport troops. It will be affected by the decrease in BS but not as much as other vehicles due to the fact that its weapons are all twin linked. Terminators in Landraiders have now become much more feasible. Below is the most common setup.

Landraider w/ Daemonic possession
240 pts

General Rules for the Chaos General

Now that we have taken a good long look at the different unit options available to us it is time for a few general guidelines for how some of these units can be put to best use. This is generally for the newer chaos players who have not as of yet learned some of the basic dos and don’ts of the army.

Overall army composition is a very tough thing to teach though I will try my best to get some of you on the right track.

Never mix Special / heavy weapons: The bottom line is that it is not a good idea. Say for example you have a heavy bolter and a flamer on the same squad. One of the weapons needs to stay still to fire and has a decent range, the other weapon needs to get up close and personal and can fire on the move. No matter what one of the weapons will not be working to its full potential.

Chaos units cannot afford to be “versatile”, each unit works best when it is tailored to a specific role.

How are they getting there?: This hrefers to how marines are going to get to where they need to be. If you have a squad tooled out for assault but have them footslogging up the board, your opponent will likely just rip them apart from afar. Unfortunately since infiltrate is now limited to chosen we now have to turn to our only other option for getting our marines close to the enemy, the rhino. The only exception to this rule is the static gun line army that forces the opponent to come to them. These armies can be fairly decent yet will run into some trouble when going up against armies that are inherently shootier than they are (Tau / elder / IG).

Armor, lots or none at all: This is a very important rule that often gets overlooked by those new to the hobby or army.

Let’s say that you take a 1.5k points army with two rhinos as your only pieces of armor. Now your opponent has the option of either firing his shiny lascannons at the closest footslogging troops or at those rolling coffins that we call rhino which will enable him to shoot up your squads since you now have to footslog what was in them… tough choice(sarcastic voice)…

Now let’s say that we have the exact same scenario but you have 0 pieces of armor in your list (NOTE: This does require tailoring your list to function well without rhinos and other armor). Now instead of firing at the tanks he expected to see with his expensive anti tank weaponry he is stuck firing at “Joe CSM”. Sure he may kill a few of your guys but in general those weapons of his are wasted points.

Once again we find ourselves in the same scenario except that this time you have 3 rhinos and 3 predators in your list. Sure your opponents AT weapons have things to shoot at now but you are forcing him to decide which things he needs to shoot at first. Does he shoot at the rhinos full of berzerkers and CSM or does he shoot at the predators which may destroy his tanks if he doesn’t? Sort of a “Spawned if you do, spawned if you don’t” situation…

You have tanks? Well so does your opponent!: This comes down to one thing, do you have enough anti tank firepower in your list? The amount needed will vary according to the point limit being played. Generally I go by the rule that you need at least 2 units capable of anti tank fire for every thousand points in your list.

For example a 1k points list could have an oblits and raptors with meltaguns.

A 2k points list could have 2 AT Predators and 2 units in rhinos with meltas.

These are really the high points of army composition. It is possible to get more specific but not without looking at individual lists. If you need a little bit more help feel free to post a list in the army list forum and some of our experts will try and help out as best we can!

I sincerely hope that my thoughts on the new dex have helped some of you!

To play a Daemonhunters army is a difficult task. You’ll have a fair amount less models on the table than most other armies. This means that you have to use everything to the fullest of its abilities, and that the loss of every model really hurts. But you have a lot in your favor – thanks to the Deepstriking rules on much of your army, and Orbital Strike, you have the ability to ruin everyone else’s battle plan, leaving them easy pickings for a quick-striking DH force.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Puritan or Radical?
A: Everyone has their own opinion on which is better, but the truth is that both make for fun and challenging armies. Puritan armies are a noble force of the Emperor, and are allowed to include Grey Knights. Radical armies are more sinister, as they include Daemonhosts. This brings up an important point: You can never include Daemonhosts and Grey Knights in the same army. Choose whichever one appeals to your sense of style and tactics more. Neither one is more powerful than the other, they just have very different styles of play. Note: Puritan armies do not NEED to have Grey Knights, nor do Radical armies NEED to use Daemonhosts, so you can leave both at home if you like.

Q: Do I need an Inquisitor/Inquisitor Lord to take an Assassin in my army?
A: Yes. No way around it. You need either an Inquisitor or an Inquisitor Lord to be able to field any kind of assassin. No exceptions of any kind! GW has clearly stated many times, that Codex: Daemonhunters REPLACES Codex: Assassins (as in, Codex: Assassins is NO LONGER VALID). This applies to a DH army AND to other Imperial armies – no matter what army you play, you cannot have an Assassin without an Inquisitor!

Q: Can my Justicar take a psycannon?
A: No, sorry. Although the FAQ states that “Justicars/GK Heros” can take wargear from the Daemonhunters armory, that doesn’t include weapons. GW has been consulted many times by a lot of different people, and the majority answer is that Justicars may only have the Nemesis Force Weapon/Stormbolter combo. Don’t be so sad though, that means you have a high-S power weapon guarding your heavy weapon squad!

Q: Can I ever get Grey Knight AND Space Marines in the same army?
A: In fact, yes! A base-SM army is allowed to induct DH allies (including GK), as long as they follow the rules on DH codex page 21. See the sections on Army Building for more details on how to use them.

The Daemonhunters Army List

I’m going to go right down the list in the DH Codex and give you my experiences and opinions on all the entries, along with some ideas on how to use them. The squads and equipment I’ve laid out are just ideas. Vary the guns and gear a bit, and it should work much the same.

HQ

1) Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Lord
This is the only HQ choice available to Radical armies. That said, I wouldn’t take one of these guys in a Puritan army. He has the same strength and toughness as a standard human, which in an army of superhumans is a bit depressing. He’s also the least expensive of the three HQ choices, making his appearance in small forces a lot more common. Unlike the Elite Inquisitor, this guy MUST have a retinue. But since he also has a higher maximum retinue size, you can build a nasty unit right around this guy. The Inquisitor Lord is very versatile, and when tooled up for his role, can make your opponent cry. But he can only be effectively tooled up for one job – trying to make him an all-around Character will end up wasting you a lot of points when he fails at one or both of the jobs you’ve given him.

Weapons: Obviously, his role decides what weapons to give him. For a shooty Lord, I prefer either a psycannon (if you can afford it), a combi-weapon, or a plasma pistol (if you want to risk the overheat on an expensive character). For an assaulty Lord, you have more choices. A Daemonhammer is essential for Daemon-heavy foes. A Force weapon or pair of Lightning Claws (my fav) lets the few hits you’ll score do more damage. If you need to save costs, just a power weapon is fine. Whenever you buy a CC weapon for him (with the exception of the LC pair), also buy him a pistol for the extra attack – usually just a bolt pistol will do.

Wargear: Lord’s come with power armor, which is good enough for a shooty build. Auspex is a must for a shooty Lord (no targeter is needed, warrior henchmen come with them). An Assaulty Lord gets a bit more gear: Usually Artificer armor & some kind of Invulnerable Save item (Icon or Refractor, up to you). For fighting Chaos, give him Sacred Incense, and possibly Grimoire of True Names.

Psyker Powers: Despite the possible combination of Consecrated Scrolls & Familiar(s), I’d suggest only taking one psyker power if any. Holocaust is a great anti-horde power, but only if your Lord will see CC. Scourging is decent, and if you have a pair of LC claws, allows you to have a shooting attack that you normally wouldn’t have. Destroy Daemon is the best anti-Daemon power, followed by Banishment then Sanctuary. Hammerhand isn’t that good – it acts like a powerfist without the ‘power’. Word of the Emperor can be useful – you’d rather charge the foe than have them charge this already-expensive squad!

Shooty Henchmen: For a Shooty Lord, I’d suggest 2 Sages (ALWAYS!), 1 Mystic, 3 Warriors (1 Plasma Cannon & 2 Heavy Bolters; OR 3 Heavy Bolters; OR 3 Guardsmen with melta or plasma weapons are the typical builds), and 0-3 Acolytes (combi-weapons OR plasma pistols).

Assaulty Henchmen: For an Assaulty Lord, I’d suggest 1 Familiar, 0-2 Heirophants (Only worthwhile against Daemons), 3 Acolytes (aside from being wounds, you can give them power weapons for a cheap(er) kick than Warriors), 3 Warriors (1-3 Combat Servitors, 1 Guardsman with a Flamer for pre-charge).

Transports: If you’re making an Assaulty Inq, give him a Rhino or Chimera. A Land Raider for this unit is going overboard.

2) Grey Knight Grand Master (GM)
If you’re fielding a Puritan DH army, there’s no better HQ for you – there are very few HQ’s better than this in the game. Although massively expensive, he gets a force weapon, a whole list of nasty special rules and more. That said, if you’re playing a game under 1500 points, I’d downgrade this guy to a Brother Captain, or take an Inquisitor Lord as my HQ. This guy is a close combat beast, through and through. Beware: every low-AP weapon the enemy has will point at this man, so you can’t march him. The GM can (safely) be used in two basic ways: Deepstrike(DS) him onto the enemy, or load him into a Land Raider/LR Crusader and deliver him manually. Either way, a turn out of combat with this guy is a turn wasted.

Delivery: Deepstriking, especially with the GK’s special DS rule, is awesome, and my choice of delivery. Considering the cost of the alternative, I don’t see any other viable way of getting him to the fight. Despite his awesomeness, DO NOT Deepstrike the GM without support! Even a GM + Bodyguard are vulnerable. I try to include 1-3 units of Teleport GK and in bigger games a second Deepstriking GK Terminator squad. These guys work like all other Deepstrikers, so DS them near cover, not in front of the enemy’s firing line. The other method is buying a Land Raider/Land Raider Crusader for the GM to ride in. This is more expensive & probably safer than DSing. For more on LR/LRC’s, scroll down to the Heavy Support section.

Wargear: Every GM that I’ve ever used I’ve given Icon of the Just. It improves his inherent Invulnerable save by a little – not much for the price, but essential for this guy. Bionics is a much cheaper (but much less guaranteed) way of protecting your GM. Combining the two is a good way to make this expensive unit live longer. That said, I’d suggest going light on other wargear for a GM. He’s expensive (and kicks enough ass) already. Sacred Incense & Grimoire of True Names are essential if you’re fighting Chaos. Teleport Homer is useful if your army has a lot of DSing units – it lets the GM call down support to him, making one unit behind the enemy’s line into a horde behind the enemy’s line!

Weapons: Since his Nemesis Force Weapon actually counts as a Force weapon, I would NEVER drop it in favor of an alternate weapon (although it can be worthwhile to mastercraft the NFW). For a gun, I usually leave his stormbolter alone. Some people like the combination of a psycannon on terminator armor, but I prefer to spend the points elsewhere. An incinerator is a bad idea – it’s a waste of his higher-than-other-GK BS.

Psyker Powers: I tend to not take any for my GM – they’re all useful in specific situations, not all-around. If he’s going to be fighting Daemons a lot, Banishment or Destroy Daemon (my fav) are useful. Holocaust is handy against horde armies.

Bodyguard: Always give your GM a bodyguard of GK Terminators! If you can’t afford it, downgrade to a Brother Captain & bodyguard (more on that later). It doesn’t have to be a full bodyguard – in fact, I prefer 3-5 myself. A GKT Bodyguard can only have one special weapon, so choose wisely – either choice is useful, depending on your preferences. The rest of the bodyguard gets the standard loadout of NFW/SB, or can upgrade to a Thunderhammer & Stormshield. I’d suggest sticking mainly with the standard loadout – high-S power weapons that strike with Initiative are a GREAT thing – for most of them, with one or two TH/SS combos for the big baddies. You can buy Holocaust for the squad – if you also buy it for the Hero, that’s two shots in one turn! Devestating tactic against some armies, but expensive. My own GM’s bodyguard consists of 2 GKT with NFW/SB, 1 GKT with NFW/Incinerator, and 1 GKT with TH/SS.

3) Grey Knight Brother Captain (BC)
If you can’t afford the GM, but want a pure-GK army, well, this is your man. He’s a mid level HQ point-wise and ability-wise. The downside is fewer wounds than either other HQ choice! I use him in place of my GM in games under 1500pts.

Use: The BC’s NFW is NOT a force weapon, he has few wounds wound, and he attracts just as much fire as the GM does on the field. What this means is that the BC should be used carefully. Look at the GM entry for ideas on loading him out. Icon & Bionics are a good safety net. A mastercrafted NFW is less useful than on a GM, but still a possibility. I wouldn’t want to toss this guy against a GD/DP unless I had to, so the only anti-Chaos wargear he usually gets is Sacred Incense. Holocaust, if you need a power. Same as the GM, ALWAYS give him a bodyguard. If this is a REALLY small game we’re talking about, drop the bodyguard and join him to a PAGK unit on the field – it’s better than letting him walk around alone.

Inquisitor Tocamada mentioned a good point: A GM’s Force weapon is negated by the Collar of Khorne (which most Khornate players use on their characters). In that situation, a BC would be better – you wouldn’t waste the Force weapon, and you’d be able to buy two more GKT with the points you’d save!

Elites

1) Ordo Malleus Inquisitor
These guys are great in both Puritan and Radical armies. Cheap as all hell, multi-wound, no minimum henchman rule like the Lord, and still has access to all those nifty weapons and wargear.

Use: There are two basic ways to use an Elite Inq: same as you would use the Lord, or join him to another unit. If you can’t afford a Lord but still want to make an Inquisitor firebase, this guy works just as well – I used to use two squads, each consisting of 1 Inq, 1 Plasma Cannon, 2 Sages, and 1 Mystic in my old army. The only place I’d say he’s weaker in is anti-Daemon – having fewer wounds and fewer attacks isn’t a big drop, but against a GD/DP, you’d need them. Other than fighting Daemons, he’ll perform much the same but for fewer points than the Lord.

The alternate use of an Elite Inq is joining him to another squad to take advantage of their protection, while he provides high leadership and an extra kick (remember all that wargear?). Joining him to a squad of GK – not so bright. He’s got the same basic stats as a human, remember, so he’ll be the weakest member. But joined with a squad of Inquisitional Storm Troopers, the Inq shines! To join him, he CANNOT have a retinue of his own. The best way to join him to a unit of ISTs is to outfit him similar to the squad he’s joining. If the IST squad is anti-tank, then give the Inq meltabombs & a combi-melta. If it’s a skirmishing unit, give him power armor, power weapon, & a bolt pistol. I used to put them with a squad of ISTs in a rhino, and give him only a bolter and teleport homer. He’d drive as far as he could into the enemy, and then call down the Teleport GK to throw a wrench in things. Joining an Inq to a squad of ISTs works well when you also give the squad the Veteran Sergeant upgrade – TWO inexpensive models with access to the DH armoury in one squad. Inq & Vet with power weapons, bolt pistols, and power armor, 8-strong squad of IST with 2 flamers, and a rhino make a great (and cheap) assault squad.

2) Daemonhosts
Daemons trapped inside a bound human, they cause the Inquisitor who owns them to be excommunicated from the Imperium and branded a Radical. Multi-wound, hard hitting, and very random, these guys are the powerhouse of a Radical force. Note: Using Daemonhosts means that you cannot have GK or GK vehicles in your army!

Uses: Too random to really depend on in a battle, but that also means that the enemy can’t anticipate what they’ll do – a big advantage. These guys tear things up in close combat – the problem is getting them there. They cannot join other units or take transports for protection, but they can Deepstrike like GK. I’d also suggest keeping them away from your own models, as some of their psyker powers also affect friendly models.

3) Grey Knight Terminators (GKT)
Very powerful, cool models, and amazingly expensive. I prefer to pass over the Elite GKT and only take a GK hero & bodyguard. In larger games, a unit of these guys can be useful.

Uses: Same as with a GK Hero & Bodyguard, these guys’ll tear up the enemy in assault, but need to get there safely. Again, either Deepstrike or give them a LR/LRC – DON’T MARCH THEM! These guys are led by a Brother Captain, with the same stats as the HQ choice BC. He can take wargear, etc. Use the same tactics with them as I outlined in the GK Hero entry. Feel free to mess with the BC’s weaponry a bit, as he doesn’t have the free Force weapon the GM does – I sometimes like a chainfist in place of the stormbolter for some anti-armor.

4) Death Cult Assassins (DCA)
Awesome models, great in assault, inexpensive, multi-wound. But they’re fragile, and hard to get to combat. Note: You CANNOT have an Assassin in your army without also having an Inquisitor.

Uses: What do DCA do best? Kill rank-and-file troops! These girls will tear apart anything in close combat, provided they can strike first. That means avoid tooled-up Characters. Their strength is too low to hurt enemy tanks, so avoid those as well. Because of the power weapons, these girls are great for fighting 3+ save models (SM, CSM, Necrons). Toss them against a powerfist-loaded terminator squad and watch your opponent’s jaw drop (“But… that squad cost 300 points!”)! The downside: Low save, low toughness, and PERMANENTLY independent. That means you can’t join them to a unit for protection or buy them a transport. But what they can do is infiltrate! Deploy them into cover, wait for the enemy to close, jump out, shred, repeat. Alternately, march them behind a vehicle. It’ll block LoS (even in the new 4th rules), and give whatever’s inside the transport a great additional CC kick when they reach the enemy lines.

5) Officio Assassinorum Operative
This category covers all four types separately, but some basics first. All four have the same statline. All four are specifically geared towards different things, so if it performs badly for you, you might be using the wrong one. NONE will survive concentrated fire, so NEVER march any of them across the field (use the same tactics as the DCA’s above). You can only ever have one type of assassin from this category in your army! No combining temples, and no multiples of any one temple. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, you CANNOT have an assassin without also having an Inquisitor!

-Vindicare Assassin (sniper)
I’d rank him third out of the four Temples. He gets some nice special rules like his stealth suit (functions like shrouding for GK) and marksman (allows him to ignore the usual independent character rules, very useful), and best of all, he gets three special rounds that can each be used once per game. BUT, this assassin is NOT good at killing Characters! Concentrate on removing squad leaders and heavy weapons teams. And unless you’re using a special round, stay away from Invulnerable-saved models – the rifle’s low AP value is much better used against armor saves than Invulnerable saves. Because of his slow rate of fire, he will rarely make his points value back, so beware when you buy him.

-Culexus Assassin (anti-psyker)
I’d rank him last out of the four Temples. He’s only effective against psyker-heavy armies. Keep this guy away from your combats – he lowers the leadership of ALL models near him – with the 4th rules on fearless, that’ll even effect GK now! If you’re fighting an army that has medium to low amounts of psykers, leave this guy at home.

-Callidus Assassin (anti-HQ)
I’d rank her first out of the four Temples. She has three amazing skills that allow her to deploy mid-battle, flee doomed fights, and disrupt enemy deployment, and two amazing weapons. She’s meant to tear up HQ/Characters, and she does it well. All that coolness aside, she IS the most expensive of the four, she has a low save and toughness, and she will NOT win you friends. If you were going to call anything in this army cheesy, it would be this girl – not even the GM compares!

-Eversor Assassin (anti-troop)
I’d rank him second out of the four Temples. He gets a pimped out pistol, an insane CC weapon, a huge charge distance, and after he dies, he gets to place a template of damage to signify the toxicity of all the drugs in his system. This guy is the lawnmower to the enemy’s horde. Plus, he has the coolest model of the four Temples (I want a skull helmet too!)

Troops

1) Grey Knights
These are among my favorite rank-and-file models in the game, and definitely my favorite Troops choice. They’ve got better firepower than a standard Tactical Marine, deal more damage in assault than any other Imperial army, and best of all – Fearless! BUT (and what a big BUT this is…), they’re almost double the cost of a standard SM, and they die just as easily.

Uses: Out of all the types of GK in the DH army, the power armored kind (PAGK) is my least favorite. They can’t take any kind of transport (including speed boosters like bikes and packs) other than a Land Raider (too damn expensive), and despite their special rules, still fall to heavy fire. With the upcoming new edition, you’re unable to properly meatshield your PAGK with cheaper troops. What about the Deepstriking option, you ask? That upgrade makes them into FA choices, which is no good for the HQ + 2 rule. So how do I get them to the enemy? I don’t!

I only use PAGK when the enemy is going to come to me, and then I toss 1-2 psycannons into each Troop squad. They’ve got the firepower of twice their number of marines (minus heavy weapons), and some rules that keep them from being ‘psykered’ to death or shot at longer ranges. So I’d take my first turn or two with them getting into some cover – the edge of a forest or a building’s windows/doors is a good choice – so they can still target the enemy when he gets in range, but it becomes doubly hard for the enemy to do the same (cover save + shrouding). And when the foe closes on your positions, let him assault you in cover (true grit!), or charge out and take advantage of the new 4th rules concerning assault weapons. In any situation where I need to get to the foe, and there isn’t an insane amount of terrain in use, I’d prefer to take a unit of Stormtroopers in a transport.

Upgrades (other than Deepstriking, that’s in the Fast Attack section): Psycannons are great for mobile firepower (variable ranges makes for a great weapon, imo), but very expensive. Only use them if you know you’re going to get use of the range – if you’re defending an objective, for example. Incinerators are better used on FAGK squads – how often would a defending GK unit be in that kind of range in their own turn? If you don’t know what you’ll need to do with the unit, one of each weapon is a possibility.

Justicars: Meltabombs if your enemy is attacking or has a lot of vehicles (they’re more effective on FAGK, but can be useful here too). That’s it. In a DH army you’re ALWAYS on a tight budget.

2) Inquisitorial Stormtroopers (IST)
Unless you’re really psycho about having nothing but GK models in your army, these guys are the best DH Troops choice in my opinion. They may have the stats of a Guardsman, but they have the COST of a Guardsman as well, something desperately needed in a DH force.

Uses: These guys have a lot of possible roles, with a short list of special weapons (flamer, grenade launcher, plasma gun, & meltagun) and transports (rhino, chimera, non-GK Land Raider) available to them. Also, they can take a Veteran Sergeant who has full access to the DH armory. Did I mention that they can buy transports? Nine times out of ten, I put them into a Rhino or Chimera (depending on the task at hand).

My favorite role for IST’s is tank hunting: Give the squad a Rhino and 2 meltaguns (possibly a Vet with combi-melta as well). Toss an H/K missile onto the Rhino. Drive around the enemy’s flanks, hit the sides or rear of enemy armor columns if possible. If not, the meltaguns can pop even AV14 with luck (more so if within the meltagun’s bonus range).

Another good role is the doormat: Give the squad a Rhino and a Vet with TP Homer. Drive them to wherever you’d like your troops to come down, disembark (behind the transport gives you cover for the incoming troops too), and use the TP Homer. Using multiples of this squad can really confuse the enemy and give you alternatives as to where to bring the heavy hitters in.

A third common role is as a mobile firebase: Chimera with multilaser or HB turret, HB sponsons, squad with plasma weapons. Get the Troops into cover asap, and park the Chimera hull-down nearby for support/pull-out. You have 3 heavy bolters and 2 plasma guns worth of firepower on incoming troops, and a quick escape if your foe is CC-heavy.

If you’re afraid of your IST getting assaulted, especially when they’re using one of the builds that includes a transport to get them closer faster, then giving the Veteran some assault kick is an option – a power weapon, and possibly power armor. This’ll toss a nice CC boost into an otherwise weak unit. For example: the anti-armor unit usually drives up to a tank, pops it, and drives away. But if it’s a transport you pop, you’ll have some rather unhappy enemy troops right next to you. If your squad contains a power weapon (or two, if using the Elite Inq idea from way above), the enemy is in for a surprise! But remember, IST are NOT meant to hold the line for you. They’re merely there to fulfill the special roles that PAGK cannot.

3) Transports
On transports in general: *Always* include extra armor and smoke launchers on your transports (and all vehicles, for that matter). They may not be used every game, but can potentially save your ass in a bad situation. And for their very low cost, not a big hit on the bank.

-Chimera
Middle of the pack, cost-wise. This is basically a light tank. It can lay down a good deal of firepower (even more, considering the new 4th rules on moving and firing vehicles). I prefer a multilaser turret (for the higher S) and the hull-mounted heavy bolter (for the rate of fire). If you’re fighting a horde army (especially ‘Nids), a heavy bolter turret and hull-mounted heavy flamer or heavy bolter could definitely cause significant damage. Note: the lasguns on the side are ALWAYS lasguns – they’re mounted to the vehicle, not weapons ports. GW has stated this in FAQ’s and emails. So sticking a unit of IST’s with Hellguns into the Chimera does NOT mean that you have 6 Hellguns sticking out the sides – sorry.

-Rhino
Cheapest of the three DH transports. Good for throw-away IST units (armor hunting, objective claiming, etc). Don’t forget the option to toss another stormbolter and/or a hunter/killer missile on – it gives you extra firepower where the enemy least expects it.

-Land Raider
Ah, the Land Raider. Subject to endless debate over it’s usefulness vs. it’s cost. My opinion: there’s never a time in a DH army that a Land Raider is useful – I’d rather take the Grey Knights Land Raider/LRC discussed later. Since you can only put ISTs or Inquisitor(Lord)s into these, their usefulness is rather low. Although, if you have a massively tooled up Inquisitor Lord (the anti-daemon Lord build comes to mind), this transport would let him get where he needs to go and cause a lot of damage on the way.

Fast Attack

Only one choice here:
1) Grey Knights Teleport Squad(FAGK)
One of the greatest tools in the DH army! I’ve never fielded less than one squad of these, and all attempts at using three squads have paid off. Very few enemies can cope with the randomness and damage these guys cause, especially when used in en masse in conjunction with GK Terminators.

Uses: There are a few things you must be aware of to properly use FAGK. One, they need support to be used properly. Don’t DS one squad by themselves away from any fire or infantry support, they won’t survive. Don’t DS them far enough away from the enemy that the FAGK take more than one turn to reach them – they can’t survive concentrated fire they always draw. Don’t worry about getting so close that the enemy charges first – the combination of True Grit & the new 4th rules on a model’s reach in CC guarantee that anything shy of a Greater Daemon or Monstrous Creature will regret charging you.

Justicar: Meltabombs, always – you never know when you’ll have the opportunity to DS behind the enemy’s artillery line. Mastercrafting his NFW is an option, as FAGK always see a lot of combat. Possibly a hrefractor field (especially if you DO Mastercraft his weapon). Nothing else is that useful (or cost-effective) on a model with his stats and save.

Squad Upgrades: For FAGK, I’d suggest keeping as many standard NFW/SB loadouts as you can. They lose the S bonus and True Grit when you upgrade them – a bad thing considering the amount of CC they’ll likely face. I’d say one special weapon or less per unit. My favorite is the Incinerator – cheap, and potentially devastating. A lot of people don’t agree with that – you can only get one shot off, or less if the enemy charges you before you get in range. I wouldn’t ever do this, but a lot of people like one of each special weapon in their FAGK squads, for versatility.

Two special notes about FAGK: First, always take the largest possible units you can. Two minimum sized squads will die faster than one maxed squad. Second, in a DS-heavy army, consider giving Teleport Homers to some or all of your GK Heroes and Justicars. This allows one successful landing to be followed by a LOT of scatter-less follow-ups.

Howling Coyote mentioned this: One or two incinerators in FAGK squads against armies with 4+ or worse armor saves can sometimes wipe out entire squads without even having to charge.

Heavy Support

This section is where the DH really lack. Granted, they have 5 choices for Heavy Support (compared to 1 FA or 2 Troops choices), but all five are very expensive and/or hard to use.

1) Grey Knights Purgation Squad
This unit gives a great mental image: The Emperor’s Finest, working to purge and burn the daemons from the galaxy! In gameplay, they act like a SM Devastator Squad, except with less-effective weapons. I like them, and have used them on occasion, but there are better (and cheaper) choices for fire support.

Uses: A Purg squad works much the same as a Troops GK unit, except they can take twice as many special weapons. They have the same special rules (Shrouding, Aegis), and the same disadvantages (no transports, expensive, fragile). The best way to use them is to take advantage of their weapon range & shrouding – few enemies will be able to hit back at the distance you’ll be shooting them from. If there’s terrain, use it. The edges of a forest or windows in a building will let you combine Shrouding & a cover save. Granted, this all assumes you’re using psycannons. Which you should be. Four incinerators is a waste in one unit, even when facing an army that comes to you (you won’t want to be close enough to use them all, you’ll either get charged, or charge and be short a few high-S attacks).

Justicars: Auspex & a targeter. Why no psycannon of his own? GW has clearly stated that you CANNOT give weapons to a Justicar, just wargear. So no 5-psycannon Purgation squads, sorry (if you NEED another psycannon or two here, buy Elite Inquisitors with psycannons, and join them to this unit). But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing – that means your heavy weapons team is guarded by a high-S power weapon – good against deepstrikers and other strangely-deployed units (wolf scouts come to mind) that would try to have their way with the team.

2) Orbital Strike
NOT a guaranteed damage dealer, but GREAT for destroying what little sanity the foe has left after dealing with the other DSing troops. At a relatively small points cost, this can sometimes be useful, but they won’t always gain their points back (come on, Strike’s have a rule called “(In)accuracy”.

Uses: Orbital Strike comes in three flavors, each of which is used differently. All three types use the big template & all three have secret deployment (scares the hell out of enemies not knowing where this’ll come down):

-Barrage Bomb:
Cheapest of the three, lowest damage dealt. Only really useful against low-T and lightly armored foes (but then again, who wouldn’t want to toss an ordnance template against a unit of Nids, Orks, or Guardsmen?). This Strike is best used to block the path of oncoming foes, letting them come to you. Place it on a bridge or a mountain pass, and watch the fun ensue.

-Lance Strike:
Medium cost, highest damage. On the chance that it hits something, it’s instant-kill on most things in the game. Good at taking out armor (but not as good as the Melta Torpedo). I like to place this on terrain smack in the opponent’s deployment zone. It may not actually HIT anything, but it WILL cause him to move all his troops – closer to you. And since when is making your opponent waste a turn redeploying his heavy weapons teams and light vehicles a bad thing?

-Melta Torpedo:
Most expensive of the three, medium strength, bonus against armor. This is THE anti-Guard weapon. It’ll instant-kill everything they can field, and will DESTROY their armor section. Place this Strike where you know the enemy will deploy his artillery, for example. Same as with the Lance Strike – making the enemy waste a turn moving is priceless, and if you hit, then you’ll do a lot of damage. Alternately, make use of the odd AP value of this melta weapon. Unlike every melta in the game, this one does NOT negate Terminator armor. What that means, is that you can run your GKT through this Strike and not be (too) worried. Target this Strike on the objective you need to take and hold, for example, then DS your GKT squads onto the objective. Only other Terminators can come inside and contest that objective with you safely.

3) Grey Knights Land Raider/Land Raider Crusader
I don’t like Land Raiders much. There, I said it. Too expensive in this army. But they DO cause a lot of damage. If you don’t want to risk losing your GK Hero to the Warp with DSing, this is the way to go.

Uses: All Raiders are great for soaking up damage – and because of their reputation, the enemy WILL shoot them a lot. Some armies will be able to tear it apart with shooting (Armored IG, Tau, Eldar/DE), and some will be able to literally tear it apart in assault (‘Nid Monstrous Creatures/’Stealers, Dreadnoughts, GD/DP’s), but no one will likely be able to do it before you dish out a lot of damage. Always put extra armor and smoke on these guys (mandatory on the LRC). I’d think about using Blessed (when fighting Chaos) and Psycannon Bolts. A Dozer blade let’s you make your own path to the fight. Adding on the optional stormbolter or H/K missile gives you some extra firepower as well. A good tactic with these guys is to use them as cover for multiple units – the squad inside, and another unit or two (assassins come to mind here) marching behind it. As long as you can stop the foe from flanking you, he’ll have to take out the Raider to get at the guys behind it.

As for which one to take… LR: Great anti-tank firepower, low number of GKT model capacity. I’d leave this guy at home, or if you do buy one, don’t use it to drive Termies around, use it just as firepower. LRC: Great anti-horde firepower, good close range anti-armor (multimelta), and a higher capacity for GKT’s. if you’re going to take a Raider, take this one. Delivers your prized assault troops to the foe, gives them a bonus when they charge, and is almost impossible for many army’s to stop when it’s en route.

5) Grey Knights Dreadnought
I love Dreadnoughts. Especially GK Dreads, as they provide the cheapest heavy support that the DH army can buy. Remember, a Dread falls easily to heavy fire, and taken by itself makes a target for every anti-armor weapon on the table.

Uses: If you’re only taking one of these guys, give him a TL-Lascannon. Even against ‘Nids – the TL-Lascannon works great against TMC’s. If you’re taking multiple GK Dreads, you can vary the equipment some – Plasma Cannon or TL-Autocannon are good choices to replace the TL-Lascannon. Whenever I use GKD, I keep them far from the front lines – they’re more valuable as fire support than CC in an army of high-S weapons. Therefore, I usually drop the CCW/Stormbolter arm for a Missile Launcher. They’re great against armor AND hordes. Conversely, if your GKD get into combat a lot, keep the CCW arm and upgrade the Stormbolter to an Incinerator – this makes for a great pre-charge kick.

For upgrades, I always give them extra armor (more time spent shooting) and smoke launchers (in case of bad positioning or no LoS one turn). Blessed is good when fighting Chaos forces, and against any armies that have psykers that regularly mess with your vehicles. Probably my favorite upgrade for the GKD is a Hunter/Killer missile. High-BS, TLLC, ML, and H/K missile makes for a fearsome anti-armor unit. If you want to keep the CCW/SB arm, adding on an H/K missile is a good way to maintain that anti-armor power.

4. Inducting Allies

One of the major perks of building an Inquisition army is inducting troops. At the moment, there are 3 possible choices (IG, SM, WH) and a 4th choice once GW finishes the codex (Alien Hunters). Needless to say, I can’t go in depth on nonexistent armies or on each unit choice of other armies – look to other FAQs for that. But what I *can* do is offer suggestions on how to mingle DH with another army for better results. Note: you can only induct from one army at a time. That means no using DH to mix IG and WH, for example. No exceptions.

Inducting Imperial Guard Allies into a Daemonhunters Army:
If I was going to induct any other army into my Daemonhunters, this would be the one. They give us the numbers and the heavy weapons that we lack, while depending on the core DH units for the CC kick.

Troops are the core of every force, even inducted ones. I would add two Infantry Platoons as a start, while ignoring the Armored Fists choice (they’re basically IST). Infantry Platoons let you take many heavy weapons, which are their biggest draw. I prefer Lascannons (anti-armor) or Missile Launchers (versatility). One in each squad of the Platoon is the best way to go (what would you use a heavy weapon-less squad of IG for in this army – especially with the new anti-meatshielding rules in 4th?). Two Platoons set up this way give you a minimum of 6 heavy weapons in only two FOC choices!

Next, I would take Sentinels & a Leman Russ. The Sentinels I would give either the multilaser or lascannon patterns, or a mix thereof. They give you great flanking and armor hunting ability. The Russ, use like any other tank. Protect it’s sides and read, and let it blast away at the enemy. NOTE: The IG armory has a vehicle upgrade called “Improved Comms”. This upgrade is priceless in a DH army that uses a lot of Deepstriking. If you induct any IG vehicles, DEFINITELY take this option once.

Inducting Space Marine Allies into a Daemonhunters Army:
Inducting Space Marines is a tricky thing. First of all, if you induct SM, you *CANNOT* have ANYTHING that has the ‘Grey Knights’ designation in your army. No Dreadnought, no GK Land Raiders, no FAGK, and most importantly, no Grand Master! This is a huge disadvantage to a DH army. But in return, you CAN use your Daemonhosts, and have access to all sorts of heavy SM weapons.

Because of this disadvantage, I wouldn’t ever suggest having a base-DH army with inducted GK. That limits you to IST as your core troops choices, and an Inquisitor Lord for an HQ. It also limits the amount of inducted Fast Attack & Heavy Support choices you can take from the SM army. If you want SM in a Daemonhunters army, I would instead suggest building a Space Marine army, and then inducting DH allies (additional rules for that on pg 21 of the DH Codex). This let’s you build a normal SM army without odd restrictions, and then induct the CC power of the DH army. NOTE: This also allows you to have GK in an SM army – it’s the ONLY way!

Inducting Witch Hunters Allies into a Daemonhunters Army:
Apparently the Codex: WH states that a DH army can now induct WH/SoB allies much the same as they can induct IG or SM support. I can only think of two useful ways to do this, although I’m sure there are other ways I just haven’t heard about yet:

Inducting Battle Sisters squads: They have the stats of regular humans, but with the armor of Space Marines. And they’re cost is similar to that of IST. That makes them a lot more likely to survive the battle. This is basically an inexpensive way to add bodies to your army.

Inducting Seraphim squads: Same as above, except they have jump packs & Deepstrike! The only use I’ve seen of inducted Seraphim is anti-armor. Give them inferno pistols, meltabombs, and the like, and go tank hunting.

5. Army Building – Puritan

Puritan armies are forces that include Grey Knights and therefore exclude Daemonhosts. They are the Emperor’s Shining Justice, and will go to any length to destroy the daemons of the Warp. Playing a Puritan army means you’re fielding less models than almost any other army in the game. Your base troops will have more CC power than any other base troop choice in the game, and better-than-average shooting power (ignoring the lack of heavy weapons, that is). Your army can be a mix of Grey Knights, Inquisitors, Assassins, Stormtroopers, and inducted support. This gives you a LOT of choices as to how to build your army. I’ve included a few ideas to get you started (all around 1200-1400 pts, giving you room for wargear and upgrades):

HQ: Shooty Inquisitor Lord & Retinue
Elites: Callidus & Death Cult Assassins
Troops: 2x 9 IST in Chimera, Vet with TP Homer
Fast Attack: 2x 7 GK
Heavy Support: Lance Strike
For ranged support, you’ve got a tooled up InqLord, two units of IST, and a Lance Strike. For assault, you’ve got 2 units of FAGK and multiple CC assassins. Use the IST to call down the FAGK. March the Assassins behind the Chimeras for protection, and when they call down the FAGK, assault with both the GK and Assassins at once.

HQ: GK Hero & 4 GKT Bodyguard
Elites: Ranged Inq & retinue
Troops: 2x 7 GK (1 psycannon)
Fast Attack: 10 GK
Heavy Support: GK Dreadnought (TLLC & ML)
This list is an example of a mainly GK army. You could easily drop the Inquisitor and add more GK – maybe a purgation squad, or another FAGK unit – and make a Pure-GK army.

6. Army Building – Radical

Radical armies are forced to omit Grey Knights. While this is a huge blow, you get Daemonhosts instead. This army will contain a lot of assassins, Inquisitors, & IST. I just want to point out that a better way (imo) of playing a radical DH army is by having a base-IG or base-SM army with DH as allies, as outlined in the final section.

HQ: Assaulty InqLord & Retinue, transport
Elites: Eversor & Death Cult Assassins
Troops: 3x 10 IST, Rhino
Heavy Support: Melta Torpedo
This list has a fully tooled-up combat HQ, and three very mobile troops choices. The Melta Torpedo will help with enemy armor. The Eversor can be marched behind any one of the vehicles for protection. The Daemonhosts will do what they do best, trash the enemy’s game plan.

7. Army Building – Inducting

If you want to make your DH army better balanced, inducting support might be your thing. There are three lists in this section, one with inducted IG, one with inducted SM, and one with inducted WH:

HQ: GK Hero & 3 GKT Bodyguard
Troops: 2x 5 GK (1 psycannon); 2x Inducted IG platoon (1 lascannon, 2 missile launchers)
Fast Attack: 9 GK
Heavy Support: Inducted Leman Russ Battle Tank
This list has a LOT of heavy firepower, thanks to the IG, and a fair amount of CC force as well. Troop GK protect the Guardsmen and Russ, HQ and FA units Deepstrike where needed.

HQ: Shooty Inq Lord & retinue
Elites: Death Cult Assassin; Daemonhost
Troops: 10 IST; 9 IST & Vet in Rhino; 2x 10 Inducted SM; 10 Inducted SM in Rhino
Fast Attack: Land Speeder Tornado
Heavy Support: Predator Annihilator
This list provides decent firepower from the DH side, and a LOT of firepower from the SM side. The Daemonhost & DCA are close combat beasts, supported by the marines in the Rhino.

HQ: GK Hero & 3 GKT Bodyguard
Troops: 5 GK (1 Psycannon); 10 IST in Rhino; 10 Inducted Battle Sisters in Rhino
Fast Attack: 2x 8 GK; 8 Inducted Seraphim
This is a fast army. Two out of three troops are in Rhinos. Three Deepstriking FA choices, and a Deepstriking HQ.

8. Army Building – As Allies

This is another place where the Daemonhunters shine, as allies for an existing Imperial army. In my opinion, there are three main reasons to induct DH: You fight Chaos a lot, you want a relatively evil army that includes Daemonhosts, or you want to include an Imperial Assassin in your army. Since everyone has their favorite army list for their choice army already, I’m not going to give examples of IG or SM or whatever armies with inducted DH, just the various DH forces you can induct and why.

Anti-Chaos:
If your army fights a LOT of Chaos, you may want to induct some Grey Knights to give you a hand at destroying those foul daemons. If you know you’ll be facing a lot of Daemons, induct a GK GM & Bodyguard. Against Daemon packs, PAGK do well. Max Volumenz pointed this out: Inducting GK into your army to fight Daemons means that the enemy benefits from the Daemonic Infestation rules in the DH codex. So if you only induct one or two units, you’re giving your foe a huge advantage. It may be smarter to instead induct an Inquisitor/Lord, assassins, and/or IST instead.

Close Combat Kick:
If your army needs a CC boost, picking up a few units of GKT are a great solution. An Inq Lord with assaulty retinue also works, for a substantially smaller price. Just inducting a unit or two of PAGK is a relatively cheap way of adding a lot of power to an army (especially IG).

Radical Army:
The best way to make a proper Radical army (imo) is to have a base-SM or base-IG army, and induct an Inquisitor Lord and Daemonhosts. Fluff-wise, this is as if the renegade Inq Lord took over the troops (as they tend to do), because the troops believe that the Inq Lord is still sanctioned by the Inquisition. Build the army however you like it, and add in 1-3 Daemonhosts and an Inq Lord. In an IG army, tool the InqLord up for combat. In an SM army, tool him up for whatever your army is lacking. NOTE: There is a chapter of loyalist SM called the Relictors that use Daemon weapons (rules in a past issue of WD). Using a Relictors army list with Inducted Inquisitor Lord & Daemonhosts is a great way to make a fluffy AND powerful army!

Assassin
With the release of Codex: Daemonhunters, there is only ONE way to include an Assassin in your Imperial army: Induct an Inquisitor & Assassin. You cannot induct an assassin unless you also induct an Inquisitor Lord! Since you need to have him there, why not tool him up for something specific? As above, if you’re inducting into an IG army, tool the Lord up for assault, and into an SM army, whatever you’re already lacking. NOTE: You can instead induct a WH Inquisitor Lord & Assassin (they have the same assassin choices) instead of a DH Inquisitor Lord & Assassin if it fits the fluff/regular enemies of your army better. They have different weapons, wargear, and psyker powers, so check out the Codex or the WH forum for ideas.

9. Where to start?

Now what?

Since all armies in Warhammer 40K have the base requirement of one HQ & two Troops choices, start with that. At the same time, you have to decide what army to play – there’s no sense buying a Grey Knight Hero if you want to have a Radical army!

Paint the figures you buy, and play a few small games against friends with them. Hopefully, you’ll figure out what tactics suit you best. If you favor fast moving armies, I’d suggest buying more FAGK and IST’s in transports. If the Daemonhosts caught your eye, then make sure to have a good Inquisitor Lord and decide whether you want to play a Radical DH army, or a different army altogether with inducted DH. Add on another Troops choice or two. Then, depending on what play-style you like, add a couple of units from each FOC choice. Overall, keep the HQ to less than a quarter of your total points, and the Troops to at least 1/3 of the total. This’ll keep your army roughly balanced while still giving you a LOT of room to work.

Good luck!

But I wonder if we’ve got the right idea about them.

I was out for a walk one evening along a road lined with a hedge of oleanders, and paid attention to the size of the things. The average height is around three metres, with some towering up to four or even five metres tall. They are very nearly as wide as they are tall in some places. So thick are they that it is, on occasion, difficult to see the setting sun on the other side.

Now, oleanders grow not from a single trunk, but from a root bole, and tend to grow as clusters of stems over an area, and can easily leave no room between plants. You can cut your way through, but it is difficult, and you really want a natural gap, or at least a regularly pruned one.

On another evening, out walking again, I came across yet another set of trees that I hadn’t really paid much attention to in the past. This time it was a wind break of pine trees (I’m not sure of the name, but they grow roughly conically with solid branches at right angles to the trunk). They’ve been there for a few years now, and have begun to grow into each other with their lowest branches. Give them a few more years, and it will be impossible to move through them (the lowest branches are around half a metre from the ground), and also difficult to see through them.

Then there’s the traditional English hawthorn hedge, a big, thick, bristling thorny thing, which, so I am told by those living in England, bears no resemblance to the short and neatly trimmed hedges we represent on our tabletops – I have read it described as “organic barbed wire”.

And finally, the French are fond of a monster of a hedge, named bocage, which is grown on an embankment, and grows very thickly indeed, in a similar manner to the oleander, and has thorns as well. And this hedge reputedly gave the Allies and their tanks (during the Normandy campaign) some difficulty in World War Two…

My thanks to the members of the gw-warmaster e-mailing list for these last two.

And the point of all this? Well, it doesn’t seem to me that wargames represent hedges very well – or rather, they do if you assume the neat little box hedges of around chest height that we like to use as terrain pieces. With the fully developed oleander hedge I walked along, there is simply no way that you will see anyone on the other side from any sort of distance, nor will they see you. Such a hedge would completely block line of sight, and a hill won’t help you see someone lurking at its base. Supposing your scouts spot the enemy behind the hedge, you won’t be able to shoot through it because of the prolific growth inside – a hedge should not give a bit of cover from archery, it should be treated much like a brick wall. As for cavalry forcing a way through, or even vaulting gracefully over – forget it, its not going to happen. Conceivably you could hack a way through, and then walk your horse through the hole, but at the same time you present yourself as a wonderful target to the enemy (and create a bottleneck for the cavalry, which makes them useless). What cavalry need (and infantry as well) is a large break in the hedge.

The windbreak is a bit different. The thin pine needles would not block sight as well as a hedge, nor shooting (although shooting would be difficult – you certainly would not be shooting from behind it), but you would not be moving through it without bringing woodcutting tools.

I imagine that hawthorn and bocage would be similar matters.

So, my conclusion? Well…

1 – hedges should not be represented by chest-high topiary.
2 – shooting from a safe position behind a hedge should not be permitted
3 – shooting through a hedge at someone hiding on the other side should not be permitted either.
4 – movement through a hedge should be quite difficult, and available only to infantry, not cavalry.
5 – hedges should block line of sight, even from a hill (but then so should woods, and where do we see that?).
6 – in games where the proximity of the enemy matters, hedges should cause the enemy on the other side to be ignored.
7 – some allowance should be made for the destruction of sections of hedges, because it is conceivable for a commander to wish to prepare the ground in that way, even during a battle. Perhaps this could be left as part of a scenario’s special rules.

Thoughts?

Reproduced with permission from:
Jason Job © 2003

Let us take a look at a wraithlord being hit by a las cannon, and a dreadnought being hit las cannon. The wraithlord will take a wound on a 3+ meaning that they can get hit by 4 lascannon shots before dying.
The dreadnought will take a penetrating hit half time time and a glancing hit 1/6 of the time. As half of the penetrating hits will kill the dreadnought, they will survive about 2 or 3 lascannnon hits total.

Furthermore, wraithlords never actually get damaged. They are either at full functionality or they are dead. Unlike dreadnoughts, you can never lower the functionality of a wraithlord. They are either dead or they are not.

The wraithlord is cheap. When you compare the cost of a wraithlord to a carafex, the wraithlord has the same strength, 2 more toughness, two more initive, one more attack and one less wound. They are also 15 points cheaper than the carnafex.

Wraithlords hit with a strength 10 attack with no save allowed. This will auto kill most characters, and will keep necros and death chapter marines from coming back from the dead.

Wraithlords are immune to morale. They do not know fear.

Wraithlords can take advantage of cover. They count as models and not as vehicles so you can hide behind a tree and get that cover save.

The final beauty of the wraithlord is they do not HAVE to have a heavy
weapon on them. This means that you can have your wraithlords focus on what they do best, hand to hand.

The Purpose

As my friend once told me, you should always throw 3 wrathlords into an army just to keep your opponet honest.

The wraithlords are hand to hand monsters. Few things are more fun than to see your wraithlord tear through an entire squadren of chaos bezerkers. Its even more fun when your opponet realises that they need at least a strength 5 weapon to wound your wraithlord, and then they know that its just a matter of time until your wraithlord kills them all to a man.

Wraithlords fit very nicely into a guardian squad for this purpose. After your oppents get torn apart by wraithlords, they will be very afraid to get in close with them again, and will try and shoot them up first.
This means they will avoid hand to hand with your guardians as long as there is a wraithlord threat in there. That means that your guardians can keep moving foward and then spraying the upsurt races with their catapults.

Wraithlords are tough, but should not be expected to take the full brunt of a shooter army alone. If you are going to fight an army such as imperial guard or Tau, its best to try and run them up outside the main fire corrodors.

Remember, the goal of your wraithlord is to get into hand to hand as quickly as possible. They only thing that hurts is that they have to plod along to the fight.

The Weapons

Some players like to put starcannons on their wraithlord. While this is a good trooper to have a heavy weapon on, it is important to note that the wraithlord is designed to get into hand to hand, and if you spend your time shooting then they are not filling their function.

A weapon also nearly doubles the price of the wraithlord. At 75 points, they are a steal. At 125 points, they are worth their value.

Wraithlords already come with either two flamers or two shuriken catapults.
You want to use two flamers. Why would you want to add another weapon and make one of those unuseable.

Wraithlords already attract a lot of fire. Spend those 50 points on a vyper which will be albe to move around more quickly to line up those shots that you need. The wraithlord will still attract the fire it needs.
In essence, dont put all your eggs into one basket, but spread them out a bit.

What bikes mean to Characters

The point I am going to start with is all impotant for this section. It deals with the reason people do not like to put bikes onto Characters so read it very carefully.

In 3rd edition, a character on a bike was required to have one hand free to drive the bike. This rule was stated in the bike and jetbike section of the 3rd edition rulebook. What this meant was that most characters had to do without the extra attack from a close combat weapon if they wanted to ride a bike.

This is not the case in 4th edition.

Biker and Jet bike rules no longer incorporate this. Aside from the point cost, there is no negative to mounting your precious HQ on a bike.

Now as to whether you should use a bike, I definitely believe so. I am sure that anyone who has played Warhammer 40k will agree that being able to move 12” as apposed to 6” is a fantastic ability. Just look how popular assault squads are. So you ask why not take a jump pack for 10 points cheaper?

While a jump pack lets you go over terrain effectively ignoring it, there are many things you get from a bike that a jump pack just can not offer. Consider the following:

24” speed boost in movement phase, turns normal armor save invulnerable.
+1 toughness, although not for the purposes of auto killing.
TL bike mounted bolter. Mounting on bike removes Rapid Fire negatives.

For starters the 24” Boost allows a second turn charge. Now that the disembarkation rules have been scaled back, quick assault methods are ever so precious. It also comes pre-packed with the invulnerable save to keep your character alive. Im sure I don’t have to spell out that a librarian on a bike in artificer armor (now he has a 2+ invulnerable save) has about as good a chance as you can get in this game of surviving. Add in the other defensive bonuses he has or equipment he could be given and smile when you calculate the odds. I have heard many people say that the inability of the model to shoot or assault after boosting invalidates it as a tactic. Well, to those people I say that had you moved normally you most likely would not have gotten a shot anyways. Boosts are most used on the first or second turn of the game where these units are just to far from the enemy to do anything, or at the end of the game to grab table quarters or mission objectives. So I get there faster, putting my guys to use a turn or two earlier then otherwise AND I have an invulnerable save for the one turn I am a sitting duck. Well, better a sitting duck with a big shield then a sitting duck buck naked.

Any character with a bike adds +1 to their toughness value. I know I know, what’s +1 right? Well, it’s a lot. Especially since we are dealing with 6 sided dice here. Consider: a marine is tough; the majority of armies need a 5+ (33% chance) to wound a marine in close combat (due to a strength of 3). When you add the +1 toughness ALL armies have this less then effective chance of wounding you in close combat (even other marines!). In addition those who have strength of three now need a 6+(16.5% chance) to wound! I am sure at this point you are coming to appreciate what a boon a bike can be to a character.

As to the TL bolter, it’s fantastic. You see the fact that it is TL is not so important. It is nice, especially for the bike squads but with a ballistic skill of 5 your character doesn’t really need it. What is especially good is the fact that regardless of whether you want to move or assault or both you may fire the bolter in either of its modes, once at 24” or twice at 12” range. Normally firing rapid fire weapons stops you from assaulting on the same turn. Moving, by the same token, keeps you from firing at 24” range. Both of these restrictions are removed so you can suddenly move 12” fire into a squad twice and then assault it. You must remember of course that before that one round (yes that was all done in one round) you will be able to fire on this squad with the 24” mode all the while moving forwards. The only exception to this is boosting, as it does not allow you to shoot or assault afterwards.

Bike Squads

Ah the bike squad, the most underrated conveyance of the Emperor’s wrath. We have already gone over the benefits of a bike and they apply to these units to. They come outfitted with frag grenades and unfortunately lack any way to give them the extra attack for having 2 close combat weapons.

Now because of the boost ability obviously they make a great entourage for a character. I do this in nearly every game I play and love to give my sergeant a power weapon, bolt pistol (strictly for the extra attack) and a combat shield (5+ invulnerable save for 5 points, gimme!) note he has terminator honors in order to allow him access to this equipment in the first place. In addition I like to outfit 2 of the bikers with melta guns. The short range of the melta gun is nearly meaningless with the maneuverability of the bikes and it is an assault weapon ( as opposed to the plasma gun) so will not stop you from assaulting your enemy. This combo works great against transports, blow it up within 6” with the melta guns and then charge the squad it disgorges. I am sure that is why they come with frag grenades, it all works to nicely together otherwise. Flamers also work fantastically on bikes as you can really get to that sweet spot where you’ll engulf the most models.

The most common complaint I hear is that they are expensive. While they are not cheap costing a little more then double a standard marine they are more then worth it. They last longer, move faster, shoot more and assault better (they come with frag grenades, remember) then a normal marine. You will be the final judge but in my opinion they are well worth the points and I urge you to give them a fair trial.

Scout Bikes

The bike squads little brother. With an armor save one worse then standard bikers and the scout ability to make a free move before the game begins for nearly a 1/3 drop in points is well worth it. Needless to say that the lower armor save does have a greater effect here then on normal scouts. The fact that between the free scout move and the 24” boost these will in all likely hood be well ahead of the rest of your army. Then again, with a 2 turn charging range of 54” (scout + boost + move + assault) you can have them in the most unlikely places. It’s a good thing it is a little easier to loose them due to their lower point value as the 4+ invulnerable they get from boosting just wont save them most of the time. That’s not to say they wont make it, but plan on loosing a couple if you do use them.

Just like standard bike squads they have the option to be upgraded with melta bombs on the cheap. This makes them even more useful in reaching out and touching someone.

Attack Bikes in standard Bike Squads

Fantastic, amazing, stupendous. Adding these bad boys to your bike squads really gets that extra firepower you need. An extra TL bolter and heavy weapon, not to mention 2 more attacks on the charge. Do not underestimate 7 TL bike mounted bolters and a heavy bolter. That is maneuverable enough and more then enough firepower to take out a squad. By the same token a bike squad containing 2 melta guns and a multi melta will slice through vehicles like a knife through hot butter. Considering how most people in general like Attack bikes I am not going to spend more time on them. The community as a whole knows the value of them and I am sure that says more then my tactica ever will.

Attack bikes in squadrons or alone.

Be very careful here. After just saying the community likes attack bikes I am going to tell you not to use them in squadrons or alone. The reasons being they no longer have a 2+ save. They have been given a second wound but that wont help them if they are auto killed. This will be the case nearly every time you play, I assure you. At least if they are in a squad you have the squad as protection. 1 – 3 of these will die horribly and are too expensive to leave so vulnerable. I love them, but getting them killed is not the idea here. If you need those particular weapons and just want one unit, go with a speeder (and look for my upcoming speeder tactica!) it will survive better all by itself.

The Traight “Be Swift As The Wind”

This section is strictly to inform you that ANY bikers can be used as elites or as troops. Bike squadrons, scout bike squadrons and attack bike squadrons. This info can be found on the GW forum in an interview with one of the developers.

Because bikes are pricey if you want a large bike squad I would recommend using a scout squad (not a scout bike squadron) as your second troop choice. Reason being that if you spend to many points on 2 squads, your army will be short on its headcount and will not have enough targets to present.

As to the veteran squads, they are fantastic. You MUST pay for the furious charge ability but this is truly a boon.

Conclusion

I could have spent this time telling you what to do with your bikes as well as what to put on them. The reason I did not do this is because there are still far to many people who do not understand that bikes are a fantastic troop. Look for my next article; SM Bike Tactica II: What to do with bikes. I will cover various strategies and tactics that your new found friend the bike squad excels at.

OK so we have several, good but somewhat dated SOB tactica, particularly Sister Mels (for those of you that don’t know her, she used to be a moderator around here in the good old days before Codex Witch Hunters). Now codex WH has introduced some changes that do rather change things, coupled with the more ready availability of minis such as Exorcists and immolators without having to do a “Brinks-matt” job to pay Forgeworld. So below is a new tactica for SoB.

Fistly let me apologise, this is a very polarised view, I am not covering non-sisters units. There are several reasons for this, firstly I started playing Sisters well before the days of codex WH and so am far more interested in a pure sisters army. Secondly, WH inquisitors are not the uber-killers that DH are. Thirdly, because I believe a pure sisters army offers the best choice for a WH army.

General tactics:
Tanking it
The introduction of codex WH provided veteran SOB players with a much missed option – a transport for the troop squad. Generally it is unadvisable to have one or two vehicles in an army, they present too easy targets for your opponents anti tank weapons, and accordingly conventional wisdom says all or nothing. Personally, the weapons available to sisters and how faith effects play makes me mechanised through and through, with the exception of seraphim, every sisters unit used in non-combat patrol games has a transport of some shape, size or description, this means in 1500 points, 2 rhinos, 2 exorcists and 2 immolators, I believe a mechanised sisters force to be far superior to the alternative but will detail options for the foot slogging armies, because some players do like them and a large army of the faith is quite fluffy.

Unbelievable
The use of faith can transform an SOB army, don’t be afraid to do it, learn when to use those precious points. Without faith SOB are a weak marine equivalent (MEQ) but with the power to make weapons AP1, or make their saves invulnerable, they become an unpredictable nightmare for an opponent. Other acts of faith have their uses, but those 2 abilities alone are the ones most consistently used.

How do they play?
SoB, for the uninitiated, live in the world of short to medium range weaponry, they have some options to do other stuff (long range and assault), but it is there that they win or lose. Accordingly you need to control the range to your opponent, this is why I prefer the mechanised units. Whilst somewhat resilient thanks to powered armour, without faith, they can not compete toe to toe with MEQ in assaults. The plan for most SOB players is to get up close and then let loose with a hail of fire.

UNITS
SOB Heroine
(That is the female version of Hero, not the white powder)
Wherever possible take the Canoness not the Palatine – the points difference is more than justified.
The heroine is unusual for a HQ, with the right wargear they can tear through light infantry, but will struggle against MEQ. On the other hand they can be turned into lethal HQ killers. Convention says equip the Canoness in one of 2 roles, either on her own with a jump pack, zoom around and hunt HQs, -less risky than you may think, or with a body guard and transport, the latter is my favourite as it gives me more tanks!
Either way, a blessed weapon is pretty much a must, a bolt pistol or inferno pistol is needed too, the latter is considerably more expensive but gives her some good anti tank options. Cloak of St Asprila is very common and a must if you go down the jump pack route, don’t forget faith can turn her save invulnerable.
Littanies of faith are a good option, particularly if you want to be certain of having an inv save. The rosarius presents an inv save option that does not require faith, personally I don’t bother because my Canoness has a bodyguard. DO NOT FORGET – frag grenades. Mantle of St Ophelia is a good option if you are worried about insta kill, particularly from sniping las cannons if you go down the jump pack route. The only other item commonly used is the book of St Lucious, personally again there is no point because she already is with a squad, however some people do take her to bolster moral.
Your Canoness should now be capable of killing anything smaller than a C’Tan. Use faith to stop her dieing (however bad your luck is, failing3 2+ inv saves is pretty difficult) and hit your opponents HQ like mad, use more faith to supplement your damage if you need to.

Repentia
OK I know people love these, and they are not bad assault troops, but generally they do not fit with a mechanised force and in a foot slogger force against a decent commander they are likely to draw ordinance and get flattened before they get there

Celestians and SoB squads
These two squads are used very similarly, for a mechanised force, equip them with at least 2 flamers or a flamer or heavy flamer, take and imagifier and the VSS upgrade and either give the VS a brazier of holy fire or tool her for combat (power weapon or more commonly eviscerator). Zoom the squad up in a rhino (with extra armour or smoke) or an immolator or the celestians, leap out, really close to your opponent, use faith to make your guns AP1 and shoot, this will wipe out a full MEQ squad, you can then either hold your position, wander around looking for other targets or get back in the rhino and do it all over again.
For foot slogging armies, take squads as large as possible, with even numbers, the imagifier is less important. You are gonna walk up the field, your chances of stopping, with your enemy stood still in flamer range is low, I much prefer storm bolters or melta guns for these squads

Dominions
Many SoB players (including, regrettably, myself) neglect these for the much loved Serephim, Dominions can be used very like SoB squads and Celestians, wuith 4 flamers to play with, the genuinely can burn the heretic. An alternative is to take 4 meltas and go tank hunting. Since dominions can not be taken without a transport, they really have no place in a foot slogging army

Seraphim
Much beloved by most sisters players, Seraphim present all sorts of interesting possibilities, there are numerous ways of using them it is possible to take a small squad tank hunting and make a decent fist of it, but personally I feel this is a waste of their talents.
Many players make the mistake of assuming they are an assault squad- they are not – hit and run is for use in emergencies, people point out seraphim can shoot, charge, use faith for 2 rounds of combat to get inv saves, then pull back and shoot again, but this takes a prolific amount of faith and is rather pointless against true assault troops, the best use of seraphim is to get up close and once more deliver AP1 bolter death, don’t forget they are twin linked, throw in as many flamers as you can (2) and you should, once again, blow away a MEQ squad in one round, then by all means charge one or two survivors. To do this you need a large squad, numbers below 8 mean the act of faith is risky and even 8 is a bit iffy. A VSS is a must for her imagifier abilities. Equiping her is a matter of taste, generally, either a brazier of holy fire, a power weapon or an eviscerator are preferred.
Some people like to mix the odd twin linked inferno pistol into the squad, and this does make it more versatile, but at the expense of some of its ability to do its basic role. It is a valid choice, it depends on the rest of your army and your style of play. Personally having played Eldar for about 20 years I am more than used to specialist units so I don’t bother.

Retributors
These are a common sight in a sisters army, conventional wisdom says get 4 heavy bolters, nothing else is gonna get the range unless you stick in a transport, in which case you may as well have taken dominions. For a foot slogger force, try and pad the squad out with sisters to get you chances of AP1 and to give you some resilience. For a mechanised force, take a squad of 6 and take an immolator, the tank can wander off and reek havoc without the retributors ever getting inside

Immolators
I have rarely seen anyone take an immolator on its own since codex WH came out, take them as transports for your squads, save you HS slots for other stuff. Immolators are quite fragile and should always have extra armour and probably smoke launchers
Heavy flamers are good for immolators actually used as transports as you end up close to your opponent anyway, multi meltas can be used to provide very good anti tank, but should only really be used for immolators which do not carry troops (usually the one for the retributors) and generally will result in the tank drawing a lo of fire which it can not withstand.
Heavy bolters are really only of use vs light infantry or light armour, unless you know you are facing these stick with the flamers

Exorcists
This is the anti tank option for SoB, accordingly unless I am playing combat patrol, both my immolators will be featuring in the army. This presents a problem for foot sloggers, do you put a couple of tanks on anyway for their anti tank ability and hope their armour holds out? Not a problem us tread headed SoB players worry about. I do not intend to put much more on Exorcists as there is already and excellent tactica on their use on the US GW site.

So there you go, against MEQs get your sisters in their tanks, zoom up the field, leap out, get AP1 though faith and shoot., do this under covering fire from a couple of exorcists and a retributor squad and you should be there.

Force Organisation Chart
Warhammer 40k Armies are separated into what they like to call “Force Organisation Charts.” These effectively tell you what you may and may not include in your army. There are mandatory
items in the Chart as well as optional items in the Chart, and I will do my best to explain them here. Italics will be optional, normal font is Mandatory:

1 HQ Choice
2 Troops Choices
1 HQ Choice
4 Troops Choices
3 Elites Choices
3 Fast Attack Choices
3 Heavy Support Choices

Usually, if a squad has the option of a “transport” (usually a tank of some sort) these stats are posted in the “Troops” section of the codex (for example, a Chimera). This does not
count as a Troops choice, but merely an OPTION for the Troops choice!

With that said, here are the basics of the Imperial Guard Organisation:

HQ
“Command Platoon”

This stands for your HQ command squad and any attached support squads. This is the only “platoon” that can field:

Senior Officers
Heroic Senior Officers
Fire Support Squads
Anti-Tank Support Squads
Mortar Support Squads
Sentinel Support Squads
Special Weapons Support Squads

The following are mandatory in an HQ Command Squad:

Officer (Junior, Senior, Heroic Senior)
4x Guardsmen

On top of this, any Advisors (Priests, Psykers, Commissars) MUST be attached to this “Command Platoon” before you may assign them to other Command Squads. These attachments and the
ability to select a better Officer is what makes the HQ Command Squad different than the Troops Command Squad.

Troops
“Infantry Platoon”

This is probably one of the most confusing aspects of Imperial Guard. We’ll start off with this: Every Platoon counts as a single Troops choice on the Force Organisation Chart.
The below list will show you what is mandatory and what is optional in a single Platoon (single Troops choice, when taking Platoons). Normal font is what must be taken and Italics
is optional:

Junior Officer + 4 Guardsmen (Command Squad)
Sergeant + 9 Guardsmen (Squad)
Sergeant + 9 Guardsmen (Squad)
Sergeant + 9 Guardsmen
Sergeant + 9 Guardsmen
Sergeant + 9 Guardsmen

A single Platoon consists of 25 to 55 soldiers as you can see above. I do hope this will prove to be a useful topic and answer some of the questions for new Imperial Guard
players.

Reminder: A single Imperial Guard Platoon consists of 25 to 55 soldiers and counts as a SINGLE Troops Choice on your Force Organisation Chart.

Troops “Options”
Conscripts and Armoured Fists

There are two variants of Troops choices you may take in an Imperial Guard army (not counting the Grenadier Doctrine). These are Conscripts and Armoured Fist squads. However, there are
special rules regarding both of these:

Conscript Platoons (Italics are optional):

Ten Conscripts (Squad)
Ten Concsripts (Squad)
Ten Conscripts
Ten Conscripts
Ten Conscripts

Armoured Fist Squad:

Sergeant + 9 Guardsmen
Chimera Transport

In order to take a SINGLE Conscript Platoon OR Armoured Fist Squad you MUST take a normal Infantry Platoon. For example, if you take two normal Infantry Platoons then you may opt to
take: two Conscript Platoons, two Armoured Fist Squads, or one of each (or just a single one, but you may get up to TWO “not-normal-Platoon” Troops choices).

Infantry Platoon “Remnants” Squads
Imperial Guard platoons are very unique in that they can take a “remnants” squad instead of a full one. Many take this as that they can take a Remnants squad after you’ve taken all five
Infantry squads – therefore giving you more than 55 men. This is not true. In order to take a Remnants squad, you must have:

Junior Officer + 4x Guardsmen
Sergeant + 9x Guardsmen
Sergeant + 9x Guardsmen

You may then take Remnants squads (Sergeant + 4-8 Guardsmen) to fill up the 2 to 5 Infantry squads. The Remnants squads are listed as an Option for an Infantry Platoon, and
therefore they do count as one of the maximum of five Infantry squads allowed in your platoon. Meaning the maximum number of Troops in your Platoon is still 55 men but it
can be lower.

Reminder: You may only take a SINGLE Remnants squad per platoon. On page 44 of the Imperial Guard codex you can see the rest of the information about Remnants squads.

Army Style of Play: Kroots are not a polyvalent force like the Space Marines or Eldar, they are more like Dark Eldar, fast, up close and personal.
Going face to face with the oppenent takes you kroot to a certain doom, so using the mobility and infiltration skills of the whole army helps getting your squads where you want, when you want , kind of like in mech tau, but only in the deployment and first turn because after that it’s Close Combat or Death By Bolter.

Use Terrain as your friend and if you get to have some wood terrain well your in bussiness, Because bumping that 6+ save to a 4+ or more cover save makes a big difference, changing a race to the opponent to a shooting Stand off in certain occasions

When deploying your infiltrators, this means your whole force, seek the weaker sides of your opponent, isolated units for instance, and maximise the flanking, it thins down the fire power your opponent can drop on you before you get to combat, and have you heard of Divide And Conquer?

Important note against Tyranids, don’t bother trying o get the charge, just rapidfire in the Swarm to make a quick job of gaunts and warriors. Leave the Hive tyrant to the eviscerator goodness !

Designing a Kroot Mercenary force.
If you wish to make an all mercenary force, carefuly choose your theme. Knowing your theme will help you choose the proper adaption evolution to achieve your goal.
Signature Evolutions
There are 5 evoltions available to the kroot

Ork Hybrid
My favourate, for 2 pts you augment your chances of survival by 16% in averge, wich is really great. Toughness is all you have when you don’t have a save, and it pays off.

Cameleon
a the second most useless skill, it’s a shame this ability is not included in the kroot’s genes for the start. Plus I can’t Roll 6′s, it’s beyond me.

Nocturnal
I’ve never seen more than 1 night fight scenario in a tournament much less in a casual game worst ever.

Fast Reflex
I used to think about using it against Space marines, but they now get the furious charge, so it lost it’s effectivity IMO

Bold
It is interesting to get +1 to Ld, but having the master shaper joing the bulk squad of the army does the same job, and leaves space for another evolution.

Sixth Sense
Dodging templates is only good Vs Imperial guard, but then the toughness 3 kills you when shot at with the Imperial flash Lights, a dishonourable death by an epileptic attack.

The War Gear
In this section, is mentioned only the special wargear the average gamer isn’t familiar with.

Kroot hawk Totem: getting a better chance to start as never hurt anyone, especially Kroot!

Melta Gun: Either on the council or the Master Shaper every force should have at least 1 to 4.

Eviscerator: Every Shaper should not leave the War Sphere without it. Getting tank hunting capabilities in every unit of the force is something not to miss out on, plus if you would use a power weapon, you would still go last on marines and others, so might as well hit hard.

Blood Of the Stalker: Good item, give it to very unit with the hyperactive nymune, with the surefoot charm it assures first turn close combat, unless you roll a terrible amount of 1′s

SureFoot Charm: See blood of the stalker

Veneration Charm: good use with the meltagun, makes the BS 3 much more reliable.

units:
Here’s the available units to the the kroot mercenary force and the pros and cons they bring to the battle field.

The master shaper

This guy is very interesting as he is a shaper with Ld 10 and as Initiate 4 instead of the regular 3. I Never try to over spend on this guy, he is around 120 pts for me, but it is still alot compared to the almight Space Marine Chaplain.
He is best suited for combat with the Mark of the Favored Child, Kroot Hawk totem (if not on a council ), power weapon and melta gun and possibly a veneration charm for the melta gun

Shaper Council
These guys can become power armor killing machines or a tank hunting squad/ fire support or even just meat shields with their 3 wounds each.
They key to using them is to keep them as cheap as possible and give them some hounds to make them much more durable and with the hyperactive nymune they get in place very fast.

Troops

Kroot Carnivore Squad
I like them for their cheap cost, wich makes them more expandable than the other units and can be used for sheer fire support, getting 20- 40 shoots a turn at S4 is kind of good for 8 pts a model, and makes the space marines roll dice.

Elites
Head Hunter Kindred
At a first glance they really look good. They get to always wound on 4+, and have acces to the hyperactive Nymune upgrade. Well they are not as good as they sounds, here is why. At 2 pts cheaper, the kroot hound squad get the Hypreactive Nymune, but also get the hounds wich is a better option than having poison attacks anyway, since each model makes 1 poison attack, might as well attack with the regular 2 attacks. Takes these guys out only against a triple Wraith Lord and Avatar eldar force, other than that….

Stalker kindred
these guys are really the underdogs of the army. they look expensive at 11 pts but getting to ambush and get some hounds makes them a good solution for the purpose of taking objectives at the last minute, to lay an ambush or simply grab a table quarter on turn 5-6.

Fast Attack

Tracker kindred
A big disapointment for me when I looked up the stats on these guys, at 18 pts they don’t get a better save for riding a big steed, don’t get steed attacks and get to shoot or move. You can guess why I don’t play them, but I am buying them for the forge world models

Vulture Kindred
These guys are assault marines at 2 for 1 in cost with infiltrate! with the jump pack they don’t crash and get in combat on the first turn when they infiltrate. Gotta love them.

Kroot Hound Squad
this unit can have alot of fleet of foot figs at a cheap cost, since the hounds get it for free.
Hounds: at 6 pts hounds are a amazing, mainly because they get Initiate 4 and 3 attacks on the charge great to let loose on Space Marines or Grey Knights, just make him roll alot of dice for is save.

Heavy Support

Traps
Have you seen a Catachan player use traps? Well kroots won’t change that either.

Kroot Ox Herd
Well Kroot Ox are great In close combat but they remain useless for shooting because of the rapidfire nature of the gun, plus a plasma guns kills it outright, but most importantly, they can’t infiltrate.

Hunter Kindred
they are the cheapest snipers in the galaxy! great fire support, need I say more?

Well that’s most of it, Feel free to comment or add your own piece of tactica to this
thread.

Edit: Changed some facts and added some more Tips.

After guiding my beloved Vampires through only 9 games, of which I must admit I only won the last 3, I’m already starting to be brave enough to put some information on the net regarding how to play with Vampires. At least how I think it should be done. I mostly did this because I noticed a big lack of Vampire Strategies (I actually found none). I also hope to at least give some starting Vampire players something to read, and maybe something that helps them play better then I did. (Well, except for results I actually had a very good start I think, getting a 194 Team Rating in only 9 matches….)

P.S. I play my matches with 4th edition rules, new event rules replacing the card system from Deathzone, and no appearance fees except for ready-made starplayers from BB, DZ and BB-Mag. 1.
(It’s hard to find a League in Holland, but if you, my dear Reader happen to be a Student from Utrecht playing in a League there, I would like to know more…)

Off for a Bite.

Q: Is ‘Off for a Bite (OFAB)’ as bad as it seems?
A: ‘Yes it is.’
Off for a Bite can be a real bitch for especially starting Vampire teams. One drive all your Vampires are there, and you’re ready to kick ass (or bite it), the next your thralls are the only ones on the pitch ready to help your Vampire Lord out. With only 8 or 9 players on the field, all but one of which are thralls, you can expect some trouble, especially against very fast or very strong teams (Wood Elves, Dwarves). If one of your vampires rolls double, my advice is, especially in the beginning, when your low on players, to get rid of the OFAB whenever possible.

The best advice for OFAB is though, Learn to live with it, and see that it has something cool though; I have made an extra column on my playsheet in which I keep track of the number of Bites each of my Vampires has taken, just like you would do for TD’s or Casualties. (Even though you don’t get experience for this.) Some of my Vampires seem to made a contest out of it, fighting to determine who’ll get the most Bites. Lothar von Drack is still on the lead he’s had since my very first match, with 23 Bites. (OK, as one of my starting Vampires, he has had more chance.)

Starting and Evolving a Vampire Bloodbowl Team.

In the beginning you’ll notice that your team will be very low-powered, or just plain bad. Just fight, survive and get as much experience from your games as you can. Build up your Vampire Lord, and let him smash his way through the opponent, getting most of their more aggressive and violent players’ attention directed towards him. His Strength of 5 (same as Rookie Big Guy!) combined with his Block/Dodge combination and AV 9 will usually keep him alive. Regenerate will also help, but it can often be good not to use your Apothecary on your Thralls, saving him for the Lord (you can only ever buy one, and can’t replace him! Besides, he’s expensive enough!).
Don’t make too much fouls just yet, your team will have great difficulty in receiving those; let IGMEOY protect you.
And of course, remember who did what to you, and let your Vampire take revenge whenever they get a chance later.
If necessary, take your revenge when the opponent is old and retired, but always take your revenge!). (Dwarf experience talking – Ed.)

My starting Line-up was:
1 Vampire Lord 180,000
2 Vampires 220,000
8 Thralls 400,000
2 Re-Rolls 100,000
9 F.F. 90,000
Total: 990,000

This meant I had 10,000 left, unused. I did have a huge Fan Factor though, and money is what you really want, especially when getting started, since you’ll need more Vampires. And they are Expensive (yes, with a capital E).

Like with any other teams, get a Apothecary soon, and also get players fast, especially Vampires. (This is where the Special Plays come in.)
What I did is count how much players I really have, averaged out, simply by counting OFAB Vampires as 1/2 and other players as 1. For Example, my team now has 16 players, one Vampire Lord, 7 Vampires and 8 Thralls. All my Vampires still have their OFAB’s and thus count for 1/2, which means on average I have only
1+7×1/2+8=12 1/2 players. The minimum number of players I have, if the OFAB’s are against me is only 1+8=9! On maximum, however I would be able to field 1 Vampire Lord, 7 Vampires and 3 Thralls! 7 Str 4 players on the pitch… All with agi. 4 too! Now how many other teams do you know that could match that?
(Except for Big Guy Teams).

The Players

The Vampire Lord
Always start with a Vampire Lord; he’s the most powerful and useful player in the game, slow advancement being the only drawback on him. Then start to love him. I used my Vampire Lord a lot during my first few games, him being the only player scoring TD’s.
After getting him his second skill-increase, I started using my other Vampires a lot more, enabling them to get much needed experience as well, the third increase is very far away anyway.

Skills:
Tackle (take out annoying dodgers with ease as well)
Mighty Blow (make sure they stay out)
Side Step (you choose where you’re blocked to, very useful!)
Guard with Stand Firm (This combination can make your Vampire Lord a real Line of Scrimmage (LOS) monster!)
Other useful skills could be those helping him out in his ball handling, like nerves of steel, catch and so on. Very in spirit with the background would be Leader of course.

The Vampires
Not as good as the Vampire Lord, but very good players anyway; your Elven Linemen with the very nice Strength Increase. In quality they suffer a lot from their OFAB trait. Slow progression does form a problem, however, you’ll see that since they have a high strength and agility, they are very useful players and thus they will gain their experience fast enough. Use them for as much as possible, and when your lord has had his share of points, try to give these guys as much as possible, hoping for that double.

Skills:
Block (This is the first skill to give to some of your Vampires, making them a lot better in blocking and getting blocked. The only thing preventing me from giving it to al of my Vampires is the slow progression.)
Dodge (If you want to involve a bit of a runner type of guy, evading the enemy rather than knocking him down.)
Guard (We all know Str. 4 guys with Guard in the LoS can be real sons of bitches, especially if they have Block and/or Stand Firm too.)
Stand Firm (with the Guard) or Side Step (in combination with Dodge (!))
I’m still waiting for a chance to give one of my Vampires Frenzy. With Str. 4 and Block, that should be a very nice Trait to have, even though it has become a bit negative too, since in the new rules you have to Block/Blitz when standing next to someone at the start of your turn (BB-Mag. 2).
Again Ball handling Skills or maybe Skills like Sprint/Sure Feet can be handy as second/third skill.
I would advice getting some Blocking and some Ball handling Vampires, not specialising them too much unless
they have already lost their OFAB. (If you count on one player too much, and he/she decides it is more useful to bite some nice necks in the public, and thus doesn’t show up, that could mean trouble.)
Get some Vampires with Block first, they are just too annoying for you opponent not to have.

The Thralls
These players are only present to fill up your ranks and replace Vampires not on a diet.
But wait, they are overpriced (compare them with Human or Norse linemen), but why shouldn’t I make them useful. Especially their low cost and inexperience during the first few games make them good Line of Scrimmage (LoS) food, and later, maybe you can get one or two with Guard and Block, and use them with your Vampire Lord or some (experienced) Vampires to make a nice and tough LoS instead.
Also these men will be there to do what your Vampires don’t want to do. In my case that’s picking up the ball, and often make the pass too! (Like you could have read, my Vampires really don’t like doing that.)
I would advice, however, to prevent scoring with them, if there is a Vampire in an equally good or slightly worse position. Your Vampires really need all the experience they can get!
One last thing to remember though;
“Better one Thrall playing on the Field, than 10 Vampires sucking in the Stands!”

Skills:
Block, Guard on doubles.
Sure Hands, Pass (They are not as agile as Vampires, but still very useful for a relatively safe position as Thrower.)
Things like Leader or Kick are always nice skills to fill up Blank fields for these guys, however, considering the Background for Vampire teams, with their Lord & Master, I would never give a Thrall Leader. (I think enjoying your team and its background to the full is just as important as playing games. That’s also the reason I’m glad there are no Vampire team models, and I just have to convert them all myself. (It’s just a bonding thing I’ve never had with any other team.)

For all players I could advice Pro, when you really don’t know anymore, but I’ve never had that problem; always had plenty of skills I wanted to have…

Special Events Choice
My first matches I played against very experienced teams, having ratings around and above 180. This meant I could usually count on having 2 Special Events at my disposal and also, (very useful in your slowly progressing team), 2 Bonus MVP’s. This really sped up my advance.
I would advice you always get the Random Events, and just hope for those “That boy’s got Talent” or “Special Offer” results. I actually got a Special Offer twice, but both these matches also cost me one of my Thralls. (Apparently they got revived as Vampires.)
Later, when you’ve got 16 players, you could start thinking about getting any of the other cards. (Else you’ll be boring and predictable). Random Events will probably be the best choice still anyway IMHO.
…One day I will get that Bloodweisser Sponsorship Deal….

Strategies

Offence
At first I always used my Vampire Lord in the offence; he’s the only Vampire that’s always on the field, he has Strength 5, Block and Dodge, and I wanted him to get some skills fast, in order to make him even stronger still. I simply Blitzed-away the Defence near (not at!) the sidelines with him, and then sent him forward with some other players Vampire or Thrall, forcing the opponent to spread his attention. The fact that he’s not the only thread and his high strength (5) usually kept him safe, and ready to receive the ball in the next turn from a pass made by a Thrall. (My Vampires seem the fail at almost every pass-attempt with impressive displays of rolling 1 twice, while my thralls seem to be successful every time!). He then Blitzed himself away from the opponents and scored.

Even though this is still a very useful strategy, I now prefer scoring with one of the ordinary Vampires, since they have become more numerous, and also need the experience. My new strategies are still pretty much the same, though. I blitz a hole with the Vampire Lord (If I need his Tackle; I got him that as soon as possible.), and walk through with him and some ordinary Vampires, and sometimes some Thralls too. Then I pick up the ball with, usually, a Thrall, and get him in a safe position, ready to make either a Pass, or a Hand Off followed by a Pass in the next turn, getting the ball to a Vampire in more or less the best scoring position. This is a bit of an Elfish tactic, but for me it works rather well. Especially since Str. 4 or 5 players are a lot more difficult to tackle than Str. 3 players.

Making a Cage with Str 4. Players is usually a very good idea, however I’m not too good at that, and so I don’t usually do so. What you choose to do (cage or be Elfish) should mostly depend on your and your opponents style of play.
The way you put up your players should not be too different for both strategies though, some on the LoS, either Thralls or Vampires (I already talked about this when I was talking about the Thralls), some wide, two players (I use Thralls for this) back, to pick up the ball, and the rest on the side at which you plan your breakthrough. The players standing wide on the other side are used (if necessary) for shielding of my ball carrier.

Defence
You’ll see that once your team has evolved a little, it’ll be very suited for taking advantage of the mistakes your opponent might make. Learn how to do this. It usually means moving one or two of your Vampires (might include your Lord) into your opponents half in your turn. Here they will be ready pick up the ball if it is dropped, Blitz/annoy the Ball carrier, keep some opponents busy defending the Ball carrier, and later, they might catch a Ball if you conquer it in your half of the Field. Mind though that each Vampire in the opponents half of the Field, will be one less defending, and sometimes it is a lot wiser to keep them somewhere between the ball and your end zone. That just depends on your opponent, and even more on the number of players you have on the Field. The high strength/agility and large number of skills of your Vampire Lord means that when there’s a small hole in the cage your opponent has around his Ball carrier, he will often be able to use this and Blitz the Bastard. (Or Blitz someone next to him and get a Tackle Zone on the Bastard by Following him up.) In addition it often means that he can still roll one or two dice in doing so! (This might take some help from your other Vampire near there.)

Defence against Elfish and similar teams thus means annoying the Passers, and Blocking the Catchers. Defence against Dwarves and other Cage teams, should be done by slowing them down. Try and do this the Elfish way, keeping your players one step away from the opposition, especially Thralls. AV 7 is just asking to get killed otherwise.
In summary, defence is not that different from most teams, like humans or Elves. (I think playing Vampires is a lot like playing Dark Elves.)

Putting up your players should not be too different from attack, but now they’re equally spread between left and right (of course). I don’t usually keep my backfield players back as far as I do in attack, when they have to, in order to pick up the ball, but I do keep in mind the maximum reach of my opponents players, making sure I can still Blitz that Gutter Runner if he runs through, or get in front of him. (Also, in offence my two back players are standing next to each other, five steps from the sidelines, now they often are in front of each other, with a Vampire standing back the furthest.)
Furthermore, remember not to leave holes in your line big enough to walk through without having to dodge!

Final Remarks
- Get a nice Team Song (If you don’t like metal, think about songs like “We only come out at night” by The Smashing Pumpkins, found on the great album Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.)
- Remember to do something that will stop you from getting too annoyed by the OFAB skill. Else, it could get you a heart attack. If your heart was still beating, that is.
- Nickname your players whenever they achieve something worth nicknaming them for; all my Vampires are one family and thus are all named Von Drack. One of my Thralls once achieved killing a Treeman, who tride to block him, and rolled double “Both Down”. My players’ nose wasn’t even bleeding, but the Treeman never got up anymore. Needles to say that ever since, my Thrall proudly bears his nickname “The Lumberjack.” Some of the Fans even started singing songs about him being a Lumberjack… However, with some less enthusiastic or qualified players it might just be necessary to give them a lesser nickname, too ‘encourage’ them a little. “Food”, “Stone-Cold” or “Dead Meat” might do the trick.

Now, get out there, and start biting those fans, I mean, uh, killing those opponents.

Remarks, Questions or Advice, please mail me.
Reinier Van Noort

Deployment
One of the beautiful things about the Whirlwind, is it doesn’t need line of sight.
You can deploy it wherever you want and it will still be able to fire at full effect.
Having said that, the best place to deploy the whirlwind is at the very back of you deployment behind some terrain, depending on the size of the board your using you may want to deploy it a bit closer to the middle of your deployment. From here your whirlwind will be able to steadily pummel away at your opponents armies without too much fear of retribution.

It’s often a good idea to deploy a small 5-man tactical squad with a heavy weapon in line of sight to the whirlwind, as a “just in case” way to make your opponent think twice before he tries deep striking a unit to get rid of the whirlwind and to stop any land speeders or the like heading straight for the whirlwind.
And hey!  The more thinking your opponent has to think the more likely he’ll make a mistake.

Battlefield Role
The Whirlwinds role on the battlefield is fire support, usually against mass numbers.
If there’s a massive squad of grotz, which you cant/don’t want to get messed in with, that’s when the whirlwind steps in.

Targets
Always make sure your shooting at the right unit, firing at a unit of space marines wont achieve too much. Always try to target a unit with an armour save that the whirlwinds missiles will ignore. This way, all you have to do is wound the enemy, which usually shouldn’t take too much with the missiles strength 5. With a range of 48” (on a standard 4’x4’ board) you’ll be able to reach what ever you want, and as long as your good at guessing ranges the scatter hopefully wont move out of place too much. So you’re bound to get a couple of hits with that nice 5” blast template.

Notes
Armies which Whirlwinds do well against: Imperial Guard, Tau, Eldar, Dark Eldar, Orks, Tyranids and Kroot Mercenary Armies are all very vulnerable to Whirlwinds due to their poor armour saves or toughness.

Armies that Whirlwinds aren’t to good against: Space Marines, Chaos and Necrons.

Upgrades: Don’t bother giving the whirlwind any extra upgrades such as extra armour and such. Usually an opponent won’t bother sending anything after a tank worth only 75 points.

How do I legally take an assassin?

Well, if your playing one of the Inquisition Codices (Daemonhunters, Witch-Hunters, Alien Hunters), you have no problem. You can take your choice of assassins from your codex as an elite choice. However if, like most of us, you play a different army from these and you want a cool assassin character for your army, it means you will have to take an Inquisitor Lord. Note you can’t take the normal Inquisitor as you can only take one allied elite slot, and that is going to be your assassin! Instead you must take the Lord, which takes up a HQ slot. This means your going to be paying for an extra HQ character too, and also means you can only take one HQ from your own codex. However I would argue that the Lord is actually a very good character for his points cost, and will probably be a very good HQ for your army. He is cheaper than SM characters, and better in close combat than IG characters.

The next problem you must face is that the Lord requires some kitting out, your going to have to take a small retinue for him (minimum of three henchmen). The henchmen though are fairly cheap, and add to the Lord’s already formidable powers.

A sample Lord I would use would be:

Lord + Power Weapon + Sage + Familiar + Warrior –
Here you have a power weapon wielding 3 wound character with better than marine BS, WS and I. No bad for around 85 points….it’s very probable he will kill his cost back.
To sum up, what you need to take an assassin is:

Troops
Compulsory Troops Choice
Compulsory Troops Choice

Assassin Types

The Vindicare

Ah, everyone’s favourite, the incredible sniper assassin. Perfect for killing enemy HQ characters……wrong. The reason I’ve started with the Vindicare is that it is probably the most misused assassin, in that it actually is not designed to kill enemy HQ characters at all. Assuming that you hit and wound every time, the Vindicare is going to take at least three turns to kill the average HQ character. By that time the enemy Archon/Lord/Farseer has probably done a lot of what he is trying to do. Combine that with the fact the Vindicare’s single shot only ever wounds 50% of the time, and the enemy HQ probably has an invulnerable save (admittedly possibly ignorable for a single round of shooting), and you start to realise that the Vindicare is not the character killer his reputation makes him out to be.

Useless then? Far from it.

The trick with the Vindicare is to use him correctly and realise he does cunning tactical applications. The Vindicare is a sniper, his role is to pick off key enemy support troops. You just have to aim for the right targets.

Thinking of using the ‘hidden’ Power Fist on your veteran sergeant to knock out my Dreadnought?

‘Bang’

Oh dear, you can no longer hurt my Dreadnought… goodbye Mr tactical squad.

Going to use that commissar to make that bunch of conscripts near unbreakable?

Oh dear, your now testing on LD5 (before modifiers).

Going to use that Aspiring Champion as a Daemonvessel to summon your Greater Daemon close to my lines?

Oh no, your Greater Daemon popped out too early, and now he’s testing for istability on 3D6.

You getting the point yet?

The Vindicare should be used to knock out squad member specialists that are important part of your opponent’s game plan. An example I used to use in third edition was to kill the Hive Node beast in gaunt broods, forcing my opponent to run his gaunts with his slow monstrous creatures rather than take instinctive behaviour checks. This has been nullified by the fourth edition Tyranid Codex, but you get the idea. Apothecaries, Standard Bearers, people carrying melta-bombs/melta guns uncomfortably close to your tanks…all of them are game for the Vindicare.

The Callidus

The Callidus is my personal favourite assassin, unlike the Vindicare the Callidus is a more than capable character killer. The Callidus is the most expensive assassin, but this represents her capabilities. The Callidus can deep strike anywhere and assault on the turn it arrives. This means than unlike lot of deep strikers, you know exactly where she is landing and than you will get to single out and attack your chosen target.
Don’t expect her to kill anything and everything, attacking any monstrous creature will probably get her killed due to her S4. However when you attack things with similar or lower toughness than her, she comes into her own. The C’tan sword allows no saves of any, so say goodbye to that annoying Farseer, rune armour or not.

One concept important about all assassins, but particularly the Callidus is the nature of the save. The +4 invulnerable means she is good against few particularly powerful shots, but gets killed quickly by large numbers of attacks. The number one thing to avoid is being swamped or pelted with fire. The best tactic I can recommend is to carefully position the Callidus so she can charge her target, but also that she can flame as many of her target’s bodyguards with that AP1 flamer of hers. The HQ character is probably LD 10 anyway, so your not going to wound them, but you can cause havoc in their retinues. An example is when I used the Callidus against my friend’s DE. Out she popped next to his Jetbike squad with attached Drachon, and covered all the jetbike squad with her flamer in the process. The template killed all but one, and so avoided the Callidus being swamped with close combat attacks. In the close combat with the Drachon she was victorious due to her save, but then popped out right next to a 10 man DE sniper squad with two Dark Lances.

What happened next illustrates my point about the Callidus’s save. The DE warrior squad fired both Dark Lances at the Callidus….and both were saved. The Callidus withstood them unwounded, but when my friend followed up with 10 ‘measly’ splinter rifle shots, the Callidus was quickly dead. Get my point? The Callidus can withstand quality attacks easily, but dies quickly with quantity.

A few other points I’ll make before I leave the Callidus is that her other rules are also very useful. ‘A word in your ear’, is a great underestimated power. It cannot be nullified, you will get to move an enemy unit 6” without restriction. Move that Leman Russ behind a tree…move than enemy squad 6” close to your infiltrators (and so in charge range)… move that Techmarine out of Btb with those enemy tanks….many great applications. Another one is ‘jump back’. If your outnumbered at the end of the enemy assault phase, use it to get out of btb. Then in your turn simply re-position, flame them, and charge back in. Oh and don’t forget to use ‘Poison Blades’, because I never remember.

The Eversor

I’ve got to admit, I’ve never used either of the next two assassin types, seeing as I only have the models for the Vindicare and the Callidus. But looking at them, the other two types seem pretty nasty themselves. The Eversor seems a nasty CC character based more on squad killing than on character killing. It seems that the Eversor was probably intended as such as an opposite to the Callidus. The Eversor seems a good general purpose compromise…and is also the cheapest of the Assassins.
The Eversor’s weapon is basically an Agoniser, and we all know how lovely those Agonisers are.

The always wounding on a +4 means the Eversor can do something the Callidus can not, i.e. the Eversor is a threat even to enemies of T5 or more. Indeed if you think you can get the charge the Eversor can be deployed similar to an Archon and take down Wraithlords and Monstrous creatures. The potential for 9 Agoniser attacks on the charge is amazing! The Eversor is particularly great at this seeing as it has a 12” charge distance, so unless your playing nids, if you get charged you must be doing something very wrong. Remember though, the great weakness of the Assasins comes into play here again.

Charge a unit of Raveners and you will probably win.
Charge a unit of Ripper swarms and you will probably lose.

Assassins do well against few powerful attacks, numbers means death to them. Let your assassin ever get rapid fired by anything and it WILL die.

So as always the Eversor should be used against powerful single models. It’s the Battlesuits, Raveners, Wraiths and the monstrous creatures you should be charging with the Eversor. However if you cannot get the charge against a monstrous creature don’t count on winning the combat. Lacking the Shadowfield and the high base number of attacks, without the incredible charging bonus the Eversor is unlikely to win, seeing as it probably will only take one failed +4 save and the Eversor goes splat.

Here though comes another great feature of the Eversor…it explodes! Killing the Eversor is probably a very bad idea, especially if you have T3. The great thing about the meltdown, is that if the Eversor hasn’t already killed 95pts worth of stuff already (unlikely), it gives it one last chance to win it’s points back. And the chance of having the Eversor explode amongst a big squad of Incubi, Striking Scorpions, Howling Banshees etc should have everyone drooling.

Culexus

The Culexus is the most specialised of any of the assassins. The Culexus is the most anti-psyker model imaginable, which both limits and accentuates it’s deadliness.

So basically, if your playing Eldar (especially Ulthwe, the Culexus is Ulthwe death), Tyranids (remember synapse is a psychic power, see bottom of page 31 in the nid codex if you disagree), Thousand Sons (got to love the Animus Speculum against these guys), Inquisition armies, Undivided Chaos armies with Tzeench models/Sorcerers or some Space Marines armies with tricked out Librarians, the Culexus is nasty horrible death.

Against anyone else, take a different assassin or just don’t bother.

Right, the most valuable and most straightforward of the Culexus rules is Soulless. This is simply a great rule, especially as so many of the powers of the Culexus depends on making tests against enemy LD. So you will be making comparison of your LD10 against their LD7….your going to have to have some pretty awful dice rolls to lose. Don’t forget though, Soulless swings both ways….keep your own models a respective distance from your Culexus.

First lets think about the Animus Speculum. Consider this, a Culexus assassin in range of a typical favoured Thousand Son squad gets 11 BS5 S5 AP1 shots from the one model. Can you say devastating? However the better option against a Seer Council is the other shooting weapon Psyk-Out grenades due to their ignoring invulnerable saves. Against a Farseer it’s the reverse of Mind War….how’s that for revenge?

It’s a pretty similar situation in assault due to the Life Drain attack, designed basically to get around high T Monstrous Creatures, and the Rune armour of Seer Councils. This is why the Culexus is deadly against psykers, simply because it relies for wounding on many tests you will be making on 10 and your opponent on 7. Saying this, it is still hard to argue for taking a Culexus against non-psychic opponent. The Culexus is simply a precision weapon, properly applied it is devastating. A final note though I would like to make is simply that a Culexus thematically belongs in a Witchhunter’s army. With all their psychic abilities, it is both fluffy and believable to take a Culexus in a Witchhunter army. And if you ever play them Thousand Sons…it’s also devastating.

First… Here are some of the different types…

(1) The Standard melee army:

This type of army… is best used against armies with lots of generally weaker, less diverse troops (eg. Tyranids, orks). It contains lots of crusaders… I like to arm then with a mix of close combat weapons with ranged weapons 50:50 is good, and also, if you only plan on having one squad of terminators they should be regular terminators… because they can offer great fire support, but if you have 2 squads of then, make one regular and one assault. I’d advise having a dreadnaught on hand because they are extremely useful for a myriad of different battlefield roles. Try to take some sword brethren because in close combat, they are absolutely devastating. Also it is good to have a few ’5-man’ fire support squads armed with bolters + 1 special + 1 heavy.Take some assault troops as they are great at taking out units that are keeping their distance.

(2) Vehicle army (best used against armies with few strong units, eg: daemonhunters etc.):

I know it sounds odd for an assault oriented army… but it is possible to field an army composed of your core choices going as follows: Commander/Chaplain with Command squad (or alone), each troop choice made up of 6 crusaders. and max out your elite choices with dreadnaughts (armed however you want, ill get to that later), and your HS choices with vindicators and predators (whichever predator is up to you) anihilators if you are fighting heavily armoured troops, destructors for light etc. What you can also do is use one HS choice for a land raider or crusader to mount your command squad in. transports dont take up space so you can put the other 2 ’6 man’ squads in transports (i would advise razorbacks). even some land speeders will do well. Note that you will need to have an Emperor’s Champion if your army is over 750 pts. you can even have a squad of terminators either deep striking or by putting them in a crusader… I’d deep strike.

It’s a rather points expensive army, and you cant use all of my suggestions above without going over 2000pts… But its still fun.

(3) Ranged army:

I would say that if it is a ranged army you want, you should burn your copy of the Black Templars codex because it is definately not what you are looking for… But if your stubborn and want to use black templars units, but don’t want to get your hands dirty, this is what you do. You arm your with all boltguns, special and heavy weapons, none of the super convenient close combat options that are open to you, that you would have to be foolish to pass up. and arm any dreadnaughts with an assault cannon or a lascannon and a missile launcher (depends on the enemy your facing, an i’ll get to that later. maybe throw a few tanks in there.

Second… Using these armies…

(1) Standard melee army:

The best thing to do with this army i find is to get your crusader squads to the enemy lines as fast as you can, and back them up with your dreadnaughts and fire support squads. Avoid sending your dreadnaughts into close combat with a squad that is too big, because if you lose, the ‘overrun’ factor can see you to an embarassing end. Any fire support squads should be stationary and firing at harder targets like vehicles and Terminators with its heavy weapon (or just as well taking objectives if the heavy weapons aren’t immediately needed). Your Emperor’s Champion should be in the melee with your crusaders. If you have chosen to take terminators… i would advise buying them a shiny new ‘drop pod’, this way they can deep strike right onto the enemy and avoid having to walk across the board and be killed by heavy guns. If you have a command squad, it should either be in the melee with everybody else, or capturing objectives.

So what the battlefield will look like, is… your crusader squads and every close combat capable squad (encluding Champion) will be fighting every locked enemy, and your dreadnaughts and fire support teams will be picking off other targets, or capturing objectives, Assault squads will be hunting tanks etc.

(2) Vehicle army:

This army is best used as a mobile, objective taking army. Your tanks should be used to press foreward while at the same time blasting big chunks out of the enemy’s lines. While your relatively small amount of infantry disembarks from transports to hold off assaulting units, Your emperors champion can just hide behind vehicles and jump an enemy unit when the time is right. terminators can either walk amongst the tanks or use a drop pod so they can be safe until dropped onto the enemy at an opportune moment. The best way to take objectives is to drop termies near them, or to move a loaded transport for the disembarked occupants to take it. Dreadnaughts are best used as mobile fire support, or to assault enemy vehicles. If you have a LRC put your terminators in it and smash it into enemy lines, then spill boiling hot “TERMINATOR TEA” on them.

(3) Ranged army:

taking the swords away from a black templars squad doesnt make them inferior in any way… they are still equal to space marines… and they still have crusader seals and vows…

your crusader squads will likely be used to grab objectives at this point, with the assaulting being done with terminators and the long ranged killing being done with tanks and dreadnaughts… this army is used just like a regular space marine army only with some extra rules and different use of scouts… although I would not advise using black templars in this way, as they are easily the best close combat space marine armies you can get (not counting grey knights).

Heres a slightly more detailed look at indavidual units in the Black Templars army:

Using the Emperors Champion:

It’s easy really, I have seen an emperors champion hold his own in some pretty large assaults. and if you have one… you need to either hide him behind tanks, among your own units… or find some indirect and safer route. Because if you can smash the Champion into a flank Your opponent will probably make some pretty unwise decisions with a ‘ginsu’ in his side.

Using Dreadnaughts:

I personally love dreadnaughts because they are so versatile. I don’t glue the arms on to them, so i can make switches before the game to best suit the army im fighting. Refrain from sending your dreadnaught into an assault against a whole squad, because he will be quickly surrounded, beaten, outnumbered, and destroyed. Instead, send him into an assault against an independant character, or a monstrous creature. This will prevent him from biting off more than he can chew. Also, if your enemy has alot of heavily armoured units, (terminators, Orks w/ mega armour, etc.). Don’t be too hasty in choosing a lascannon instead of the assault cannon. The assault cannons ‘rending’ rule increases the chance of taking out a heavy enemy outright, and you also get 4 shots instead of 1, it also makes you feel less guilty if you miss a few shots than if you miss your ’1′ lascannon shot.

Using Tanks:

Tanks are best used as support units, staying stationary and firing all of their guns. Maybe moving if they have to. But it is also extremely effective to use the ‘tank shock’ ability to help your assaulting units. Land raiders and Land raider crusaders are transports, heavy ones. So they are best used to smash into enemy lines, and let some terminators or sword brethren disembark so they can ‘dole out the harshness’.

Using Crusader Squads:

Crusader squads are both the shield and sword of your BT army. A squad can’t kill your rampaging dreadnaughts if it is being hacked to bits by a single squad of 20 guys (ten initiates and 10 neophytes). they are also good for taking and holding objectives.

Using Terminators:

I would suggest either putting them into a Land Raider, or a Drop Pod. This way, your opponent will not be able to pick them off as they waddle half way across the table to their doom. Nothing hurts more than when you think you might win an assault then you find that your opponent had a little ‘failsafe’ in the form of 5 models that are already too close to stop. Choosing assault or reg is entirely up to the way you like to play.

Sword Brethren:

They are just space marines with cool robes and veteran skills, I would suggest not giving them any heavy or special weapons at all, keep them with close combat all the way. And for skills i would choose Furious Charge, or Counter-Attack, as infiltrate is too limited. Best used to stop enemies at chokepoints. or to re-enforse your main assault.

Using Assault Squads:

I’d suggest using assault marines against enemy tanks, keep their pistols. Meltabombs work amazingly well against tanks. I would only suggest giving them storm shields if you are planning on turning then into your honourary, ‘Character Whoopin’ squad.

Using Techmarines:

They are not really a ‘must have’ for a BT army, so i’d say if you like to paint creepy lookin models like servitors, get a techmarine.

Using Bikes:

Although I am not a big fan of the whole ‘bike’ thing, i know how to use them… They should mostly be used as tank-hunters, as they are fast and can have multi-melta strapped  to it.

Best for use in city terrain where roads mean that you dont have to risk being destroyed to move fast.

Using Speeders:

Alot of people I know really don’t like speeders, I don’t know why this is, speeders are perfect. They are really fast, terrain dodging, bullet deflecting, Anti-tank platforms. And not soley tanks either. If it’s heavy and bothersome, your land speeders can take it out. Best in city fights, where the enemies can’t run away. And it doesn’t hurt that you can have 9 of them in your army for 450 pts only… 450 pts is a terminator squad.

P.S. Please don’t give bad names to dreadnaughts… like bob, or like “Lieutenant Dan!”.

It crosses, way to many lines.

As an example of what I meant in my post replying to Tuomas, I presented a simple little scenario, where everyone is skirmished. It’s my way of bringing to Warhammer the sort of mission with objectives that you get in 40k, where you have to actually achieve something instead of just forming up in a big line and killing more of the enemy than they kill of yours… Here it is for anyone interested in using it:

Now, this is just something I’ve sat down and typed – don’t expect it to be flawless. But please do point out any glaring deficiencies I don’t know if this will work well with all the armies either – certainly Dwarves will have a difficult time with anything but Goal 3, and I have no idea how you can twist the Dogs of War to fit in. As for whether or not it favours certain armies… Let me know how it goes if you use it – you never know, it might just work and be fun

The scouting party
The enemy are out there, but where? Several scouting expeditions have been sent out to locate the enemy and learn the lie of the land in order pick the best place to give battle. You are in command of one of those scouting groups. You must complete your mission while avoiding or eradicating the enemy’s scouts, who will of course also be looking around…

Rules
All models can skirmish. This is a stealthy situation – big blocks of men marching in formation might not be the best thing to use. Remember though – skirmishers do not get rank bonuses, cannot reform without a musician, and do not get the benefit of the general’s leadership.

Skirmishers do not cause panic in formed units. Lone men aren’t going to be a worry – it’s when a block of men bolt past that you start to worry…

March moves are not halted by enemy which are beyond a terrain feature which blocks a direct line from the unit to the enemy (in other words, if they could not be seen by the unit no matter which way it faced, they don’t stop march moves).

Army selection
Armies are picked from up to 500 points worth of eligible troops.

No war machines are permitted, including any chariots which come from the troops allowance. No allies can be selected, nor monsters.

No model can be equipped with heavy armour or barding – those which normally come with such equipment cannot be selected for this scenario. Both slow down the trooper too much, and also have a tendency to make a noise at just the wrong time.

Each army is led by a hero. This hero can be given any equipment from his army list (except heavy armour and barding), and may have a single magic item, worth up to 50 points. This hero counts as the army general. He can ride whatever cavalry mount is available to him.

Each army may contain a single level one wizard, equipped with one magic item worth up to 50 points and any mundane items allowed to wizards. He can ride whatever cavalry mount is available to him.

No other characters, except champions for each unit of 5 or more models, can be taken.

No other magic items are allowed. (if you like a bit more magic, you could change this to 25 point items for champions and 25 point banners for those who are allowed them)

In the case of Chaos warbands, the retinue rules do not apply – you are free to choose your units as everyone else does.

Units do not have to be the usual size of at least 5, but if they are smaller than 5 then they MUST skirmish, and can take neither champion, musician or standard. Keep in mind the deficiencies of skirmishing as well as the benefits.

Set up
The table must have four hills, one in each quarter. There must be at least two forest sections, and may be more if you like.

Each army is set up along its long table edge, against the edge. Units can begin skirmished. The army with the least units can advance up to 4″ for each unit before the first turn.

Roll a d6 to determine who goes first.

Limits and Victory
Each player must select one of three goals for his scouting party to accomplish -

Goal 1) Break through the enemy cordon – you must fight your way through the enemy scouts to gauge the strength of their army. You must get at least two units of more than 5 models off the far edge of the table by the end of the game.

Goal 2) Find and kill the enemy scouts – you must stop them from learning your disposition. You must kill or cause to flee at least two thirds of the enemy models by the end of the game.

Goal 3) Claim the field of battle – you must find and hold the high ground in preparation for the arrival and deployment of the main part of your forces. You must, at the end of the game, hold at least two hills by having a formed up unit of at least 5 models on it unopposed.

These goals are written down for later, but are kept secret during the game (or you could tell your opponent if you want things to be a bit different).

The game lasts 6 turns

Each unit destroyed or fleeing at the end of the game is worth 1 VP. Achieving your mission goal is worth 5 VPs. The enemy leader and wizard are each worth 2 VPs.

Reproduced with permission from:
Jason Job © 2003

Purposes of the squad

Tank Hunting is one of the most common uses of bikes as they are fast and can be equipped with anti-tank weaponry and veteran skills. As stated before, there is no need to have more than three bikes: two with assault weapons and one Aspiring Champion (AC).

Daemon Summoning Mobile Beacon (DSMB) (Also more commonly known as the Daemon Bomb) is another common tactics, in which turbo boosting plays an essential part. You move forward to the enemy and summon all you can on turns 2 and 3. This tactic will allow your daemons to flank the enemy instead of charging upfront, usually against units that are not meant to be assaulted. Again, you don’t need a big squad to accomplish this goal, you mainly need the invulnerable save provided by the turbo-boosted move.

Variation : Mobile Teleport Homer (MTH). As the name imply, you can use your bike, by equipping your AC with a Teleport Homer, to position your terminator exactly where you want them to arrive. They may then act as support for your biker squad or fight on their own. This alternative can be combined with any of the other alternative presented on this post.

The third technique is to Hunt Fragile or Fast units (HFF). Based on my own understanding of the game, middle-sized squads should be enough to accomplish this task. The objective is to target elusive targets and to empty all your magazines on them before assaulting. Assault weapons are recommended and your AC should be kitted with power weapons and spiky bits as all your attacks will count (smaller squad, need more punch). By fragile or fast units, I mean Havocs, Devastators, Land Speeders, Tau Battle suits, Dark Reaper, Bright Lance Squad, Raiders transport vehicles, etc.

The fourth tactic is to use them is Assault. I, personally, would not recommend this in games under 1500 points as bikers are a big point sink and this technique requires more models. From what I’ve heard and read, bike assault squad should be bigger than five models. Also, they should use whatever marks you can give them (we’ll cover this later). This squad’s purpose is to run into enemy line and kill as much as they can. Because they move fast, you’ll need to send support quickly to avoid all opposing units to concentrate on this sole target and flush your 300+ point unit on turn 2. Having 2 of such squads could be nice, especially in a Night Lords army.

The last tactic is to use them as Melee Support unit in a stand and shoot army. Playing against horde army with a stand and shoot configuration usualy imply that you will eventually be assaulted. Now, as the game goes on, you will see that your line will show some weakness, unnoticed during deployment. This is where your bikes come in an handy. Use them to support assaulted squad that needs more hands. If deployed in the middle, they can travel 24″ a turn in any direction. No matter what, you can use them as regular firing squad in shooting phase.

Deployment

Bikes are made to move fast so they don’t need a Line of Sight (LOS) at the start of the first turn. Therefore, the best place to deploy them is behind cover. I would suggest that unless you plan to send them straight up the enemy front lines that they be deployed on sides of the board. If you choose to use them as melee support, deploy them in the middle of your army, behind the front line.

Where to strike

To this question, most answers goes to Flank and Rear, never front. I would agree, unless your objective is to create anarchy in the enemy front lines. As the bikes allow you to easily flank your enemy, you should always tank hunt the side or rear armour of vehicles.

Daemon summoning

Remember that daemons are summoned before you can move. This means that you should end your previous movement exactly where you want the summoning to occur. Be sure to allow for some scatter, as daemons rarely land exactly where you want them to.

Marked units

Marked bikes squads are an excellent option. There are only two marks other than the Mark of Chaos Undivided (MoCU) that can be applied to biker squads:

Khorne is excellent for two reasons: The favoured number of Khorne is perfectly suited to the Assault Purpose detailed earlier due to the extra attack bonus, and it gives a Khorne army a controllable element to their armies that they would usually otherwise lack. You can all figure the outcome of a melee including eight Khorne ‘Bikezerkers’.
Slaanesh is also very good with the possibility to upgrade your Twin-Linked bolters to Sonics Blasters at a low point cost. The fact that they count as a stable platform means they’ll usually triple their fire power in the 13 to 24 inch range.

How to dress your AC for the occasion

Huge Assault oriented squad and Tank Hunters: Power Fist, Spiky bits.
Small DSMB: Whatever you like, the squad will mainly be used to summon. Best to outfit for some assault so that they have a purpose after summoning is finished.
Melee Support: Power Weapon or lightning claw (1).
HFF : Kai Gun; Power Weapon and Daemonic Strength or lightning claw (1) as you want to inflict a lot of damage fast.

Please note that this tactica is simply meant to give a general overview of each unit choice and a few examples of good setups for that unit. I am sure that everyone will have varying opinions on squad size and / or gear, the examples listed are those that myself and variuos others have found to be effective.

General equipment

After writing the initial tactica I realized that there were some options that are available for most squads in general that I just did not mention. I decided to go back and write a section that cover each of these options, giving the rundown on them.

Plasma Pistol: Now one would think that since plasma guns are so popular that plasma pistols would be great as well. Unfortunately this is not the case ( with a few very specific exceptions) In most cases the plasma pistol can only be taken on a unit champion, a champion which often times has a power fist. The vast majority of players, myself included, are not prepared to take the chance of losing our expensive champion to a gets hot roll. In the case of characters, no one likes losing a wound on often times the most expensive single model in their army. The one place where plasma pistols may find a place is with Berzerker squads where they are the only special weapon option for the normal marines.

Combi-weapon: In the old dex these were generally not used outside of terminators but they have come to be an interesting option in the new dex. The two main uses that I see for them now are first of all for terminators (obviously) and second of all for use on normal marine squads that are running below the 10 man squad size. Here they help to preserve the number of special weapons in the squad while cutting back on points.

Melta Bombs: In general these things are not worth the points unless taken as filler on independent characters. Almost every squad that these might have been useful on already has weapons capable of dealing with armor (meltas, power fist, krak grenades, plasma). The only squads that I could see these being useful on are assault oriented noise marines and perhaps Berzerkers in the absence of a unit powerfist.

Personal Icon: The usefulness of these totally depends on your armies overall composition. If you have deep striking termis / oblits(who would?) / raptors and / or lesser daemons then they can be a worthwhile investment on your HQs and cult marine squads. Otherwise they are useless.

HQ Choices

Abaddon the Despoiler: Overrall it can be said that Abaddon is quite the monster in the new dex due in large part to the fact that he counts as having a daemon weapon that doubles his strength. The downsides seem to outweigh the upsides however. Abaddon is slow moving and he costs more than a 10 man marine squad with all of the fixins. In order to get him into action you either have to teleport him, which becomes troublesome due to the fact that he may come onto the board before or after any termis you intend as an escort, or you can stick him in a landraider which in anything less than say 3k points is like handing your opponent free VPs.

Fabius Bile: Now Fabius has his upsides and his down sides just like Abaddon. On the upside he has a nice number of attacks at decent strength, feel no pain, and he allows you to take enhanced warriors. On the downside he is slow and none of his attacks ignore armor. The movement issue can be solved by grabbing him an empty seat in a rhino but the fact that he doesn’t have any armor ignoring attacks should prove to be a deterrent to all but his die hard fans and those that want to use him in fun / fluffy games.

Huron Blackheart: Once again we come into this with the good and the bad. Huron has some good things going for him in this version of the dex though he used to be better if I remember correctly (2nd edition). Huron has a heavy flamer and both a powerfist and a power weapon, allowing you to choose how you would like to use his attacks, he can use the warptime ability and comes with the invulnerable save that so many special characters lack. His only real downside is the recurring theme of being slow though once again this can be solved with the use of an empty rhino seat. All in all he is one of the best Special characters in this edition of the dex.

Typhus: On the upside Typhus a weapon that counts as both a daemon weapon and a force weapon as well as auto passing his psychic tests, being able to use his force weapon no matter what, and being equipped with blight grenades. The downside is that he runs into the same mobility issues as Abaddon. He can deepstrike in alone or he can go in a landraider though both options are somewhat iffy.

Kharn the Betrayer: Overall kharn is one of the better special characters in the dex. He has not changed all that much but the changes that were made were for the better. He retains his high weapon skill and number of attacks, his “betrayer” ability, as well as his immunities to psychic powers and force weapons. He gained a slight boost in the form of furious charge and stayed around the same price he was in the old dex. Point for point the best CC Special character in the dex.

Ahirman: This guys has finally become the psychic monster that he was meant to be from the beginning. Now that he can make up to three psychic tests a turn and use multiple shooting powers a turn he has the equivalent psychic potential of Eldrad Ulthran, though it comes with the same mobility problem though depending on the powers that you use this may not be an issue. Once again the option of sequestering him away inside a rhino comes up but that will only hinder his psychic potential. The mobility issue coupled with his hefty point cost lead me to believe that only die hard 1k sons players will field him with any kind of frequency.

Lucius the Eternal: Lucius is another character that has changed for the better in the new dex. This is due to a combination of different factors: He now has a firm WS score, has an invulnerable save, has the fueled by pain ability, and is equipped with the lash of torment (blight grenades) and a doom siren. Overall I would say that for pure troop killing potential he rivals kharn. The only thing I don’t quite understand is why they would give him an ability that lowers the amount of incoming attacks along with an ability that benefits from attacks made against the character. Once again his major drawback is mobility though he is my personal favorite of the special characters.

Daemon Princes: At last we have a separate entry for these monstrous beasts and rightly so. The daemon prince has an overall impressive stat line along with immunity to instant death. It seems that wings are a must have for these guys as they have no other way of getting into combat quickly. There are many different variation s of this guy wandering around out on the forums, below I am going to list just a few with a couple of notes no how to use each.

DP w/ MoK + Wings
140 pts

Cheap and simple, this thing puts out a decent number of attacks and is mobile enough.

DP w/ wings + warptime
155 pts

Slightly more expensive than the above prince but with the ability to make sure that almost every attack counts.

DP w/ MoS + wings + Lash
155 pts

This is a really popular build mainly due to the fact that it can let you get off a first turn charge with this guy.

DP w/ MoT + wings + warp time + wind of chaos
205 pts

This guys is the most expensive of the builds that I have listed but rightly so. He is more resilient due to his increased invulnerable save and has amazing killing potential due to the fact that warp time not only lets you reroll the dice for close combat but for wind of chaos as well.

Chaos Lord: Here we have the all rounder of the chaos HQ choices and imo the often overlooked MVP of this portion of the FoC. With the right combinations of marks and weapons + movement modifiers this guys is a veritable killing machine, capable of ripping up entire squads all on his own. He has the ability to dish out many more attacks than the daemon prince and though he is a little bit more squishy statwise he does benefit from IC status which is something that the DP cannot claim. Here are a few setups with some short notes describing each.

Lord w/ Daemon weapon + bike
160 pts

This guys is the all purpose HQ. One of the major drawbacks of the chaos lord in this edition is the fact that it is hard to upgrade any of his stats, mainly his low strength. This is why the unmarked lord is so appealing especially when coupled with the extra toughness and movement given to him by the bike. My favorite setup…

Lord w/ MoS + Daemon weapon + steed
165 pts

This is another effective choice for a chaos lord though it does have different strengths from the build listed above. This setup is perfect for taking out multi wound HQs and monstrous creatures. The steed is perfect for getting him to where he needs to be and the extra attack certainly doesn’t hurt. His high initiative means that he will strike before all but the fastest enemy units, use him wisely and he should not fail you.

Lord w/ MoT + Daemon weapon + flight/steed
165/175 pts

This guy is as close as we can get to the old kai flier lord that seemed so prevalent in the old dex. He is a good bit more expensive than he used to be but he makes up for it with his impressive invulnerable save and extra attacks in CC.

Lord w/ MoK + Daemon weapon + flight
160 pts

This build is for all of you that like taking chances. With the bloodfeeder he is much more likely to wound himself but he gets a lot more attacks. I guess it is really up to you though I think that an 11/36 chance of wounding yourself and doing nothing every turn is a little too high.

Chaos sorcerer: Finally GW has brought us the psykers that we should have had all along. These guys are great at what they do and a good value for the points. Their stats are slightly lower than those of the Chaos lord though they do come stock with a force weapon which more than makes up for it imo. Below I will detail a few common builds.

Sorcerer w/ MoS + flight + Lash of Submission
145 pts

Here we have the most common HQ choice that chaos has ever had, at least until the FAQ comes out. The lash has so many combinations with other units that it is hard to list them all. A few of the best are grouping units together for battle cannon / demolisher cannon / plasma cannon shots, drawing units towards your assault troops, pushing units away from your ranged troops, moving enemy units out of LoS of your units, pulling units out of cover. The possibilities are endless and they beg the question of what in the warp was GW thinking when they made this power?

Sorcerer w/ MoT + steed + warp time + wind of chaos
215 pts

This is by far the most expensive HQ choice that I have detailed in this tactica and for fair reason. This guy will kill any type of enemies in droves with the combination of warp time and wind of chaos coupled with his already potent CC abilities. He is the scalpel where the similarly tooled daemon prince is the hammer. Where as the daemon prince can charge just about anything and come out grinning this guy you should be a little more careful with and use his IC status to strike where and when he will be most effective.

Greater Daemon: The new generic greater daemon is actually quite amazing for its point cost. Its stats are quite impressive and now due to the fact that you no longer have to declare a daemon vessel it becomes easier to get it to where you need it most. Its only drawback is its slow movement but this is not such a problem since it is summoned. If this is any indication of what the god specific greater daemons will be like then I think good things are on the way!

Elite Choices

I have to say that I am extremely happy overall with our elites section. I believe that having oblits in the elites section in the last dex was a huge mistake. It made chaos much more cheesey than it was ever intended to be. Thankfully they have been changed over to heavy support and traded out for the dreadnought.

Chosen CSM: Alas this is what our veteran skills have come to, a single army list entry with a single veteran skill and no choices about which one it is. At least it is arguably the best one of all. The chosen have really started to take on the role of forward firebase since the release of the dex. With so many options literally anything is possible though some combinations are far more effective than others. When infiltrating the chosen it is important to remember that they are relatively slow moving, this is why it is important to give them weapons with decent range, meltas and flamers generally will not work as well as plasma or represent as big a threat. They do have the option of taking a rhino instead of using their infiltrate skill though in general unless tooling out a CC squad it would be much more prudent to use havocs for their reduced cost. Here are a few common setups.

8x chosen, 4x plasma, Icon of (your choice)
204-254 pts

This squad will bring the heat so fast and hard to the enemy that they will barely know what hit them. In my estimation it is important to keep these guys cheap as more than a few will likely burn themselves out rapid firing and the more expensive they are, the more it hurts losing one.

8x chosen, 3x plasma, AC w/ fist, Icon of (your choice)
224-274 pts

This squad is very similar to the above but packs a bit more of the CC punch with the powerfist to help in case they find themselves in CC trouble. In general I do not run this setup as I think that it is a bad idea to split their purpose between CC and ranged nastiness. As with all CSM units it is important to give each squad a role.

8x chosen, 1x melta gun, 4x pairs of lightning claws, IoS + Rhino w/ combi melta
309 pts

This squad is just an example of the uber CC units that are possible to create using the chosen entry. It is a good bit more expensive than a normal marine squad though it will tend to be much more lethal when it hits CC.

Terminators: I am pretty sure that everyone that had been a fan of the terminator for fluff reasons in the previous edition and was disappointed by their performance is smiling right now. The new termis are simply amazing due to a number of changes. First of all they have had a decent point cost reduction and secondly their weapon selections have never been better. Most of you know that in terms of weapon selection I am hreferring to the the combi plasma. Never before have we been able to put this devastating weapon in the hands of something as survivable as a terminator. The fact that it can only be fired once in a game is not such a drawback when the whole squad can be armed with them. The other weapon that is currently becoming popular is the heavy flamer. What was once never even considered to be an option by most has become an almost compulsory upgrade due to its almost insignificant point cost. The reaper autocannon on the other hand will now become what the heavy flamer used to be due to the fact that you can give 5 termis combi plasma for the cost of a single reaper. As far as icons go on these squads the most useful in my estimation is the IoK due to the fact that the termis are carrying power weapons and due to their heavy armor do not benefit as much from the IoS. In regards to the other marks, I do not think that they are nearly as effective when their cost is figured into the equation, termis work best on the cheap! Below are a few unit setups with short descriptions.

4x termis, 4x combi plasma
140 pts

Cheap and effective, also known as the Karmoon special. These guys can either hitch a ride in a landraider or deep strike where they will be most effective. They are quite capable of destroying an entire MEQ squad in a single turn.

5x termis, 4x combi plas, 1x heavy flamer + chain fist
190 pts

More expensive than the previous setup but a little more versatile with the extra body and inclusion of the heavy flamer and chain fist.

5x termis, IoK, 1x pair of LCs, 3x combi meltas, 1x heavy flamer + chain fist
225 pts

Even more expensive than the other two units but they will pack a whole lot more heat in CC. These are my personal favorites for deep striking next to enemy armor /transports. If the meltas don’t work to pop the armor then the chain fist will. Position them carefully, use the tank/transport you intend to pop to block LoS.

Posessed: Many of us had high hopes for the possessed in this version of the dex but it seems like it was all in vain. One has to wonder what GW was doing when they created this unit. They are still more expensive per marine than any of the cult marines and a the fact that rhinos are now necessities begs the question of why 2 of the 6 powers they could potentially have affect their movement. These will only be used by friendly gamers who either like the models or care more about the fluff than the effectiveness.

Dreadnoughts: Overall the dreadnought became much more dangerous for us to use in the new dex largely due to the fact that when it fire frenzies it now just shoots at the nearest units, friend or foe. Below I will list some common setups.

Dread w/ extra DCCW + Heavy flamer
105 pts

The ultimate close combat dready. If he decides to fire frenzy the worst you are going to get is some bolter shots to the rear so he is safe enough to run along side most of your other units.

Dread w/ plasma cannon + ML
105 pts

This dread is a little harder to use than the other but it can be very rewarding if used properly. He works best when used in conjunction with lash of submission due to the fact that he can produce two templates normally and four when he fire frenzies. It is usually best to position him all by his lonesome on a flank. He is one of those units where either the enemy deals with him early or he pays for not dealing with him later. If the enemy does decide to take him out it’s not that big a deal because he really didn’t cost that much.

Troops choices

Chaos Space Marines: Here we come to the crème de la crème, our basic trooper. This guy has easily become the single best basic troop in the game. The main reason for this is that we have gained what most are calling “Uber Grit”. Basically every marine now comes with a bolter, bolt pistol, and a close combat weapon. It used to be that we had to make a choice between having our marines geared for CC or geared for range but now we get the best of both worlds. We can rapid fire bolters and still get our +1A in CC. Due to the loss of veteran skills in the new dex it has now become almost necessity to take rhinos for these squads as otherwise they will be hard pressed to get to where they are going. In terms of icons the IoCG seems to be the most cost effective though I have used the IoS as well to get shots in before our loyalist brethren. The other icons are too expensive to see much use imo. Below you will find some common builds with some short notes on each.

10x marines, IoCG, 2x melta, AC w/ power fist + Rhino
255 pts

This is your basic all around assault unit. They roll forward in their coffin and pop tanks with the melta on their way in to CC.

10x marine, IoCG, 2x plasma, AC w/ power fist + Rhino

This option is very similar to the one listed above but is intended for more mid ranged fire support.

8x marines, IoCG, 1x melta, AC w/ power fist, combi melta + Rhino
225 pts

This unit is for those of you who miss the 8 man squads from the last edition of the dex. It loses just a little bit of AT power in exchange for a cheaper squad overall. I recommend this setup for lower point games and also for use if you absolutely need to cut points for something else.

Rhino: I figured I would spend a short time talking about the chaos rhino and the serious face lift that it has gotten in the new dex. Not only was the price dropped by the cost of a marine but it now comes standard with smoke launchers and a search light. It also now has the option of taking a pintle mounted combi plasma which is looking like quite an interesting option to me. Overall it is an amazing improvement from the last dex.

Plague Marines: When looking at the special rules and weapon options for plague marines one can’t help but get that “wow” feeling. They are by far the most survivable power armoured marines in the game though it comes at a pretty high point cost. As a warning I just want to say that it can be easy to get “plague marine fever” but that an army composed entirely of cult marines will inherently have trouble dishing out enough volume of fire to deal with swarms, try not to go crazy with them. Due to the feel no pain special rule plague marines are much better suited for handling plasma than their normal CSM brethren, below is the most common loadout.

7x plague marines, 2x plasma, PC w/ Fist + Rhino
266 pts

For roughly the same cost as a 10 man marine squad you get 3 less bodies though each is much more survivable. For a little added fun try out a combi plasma on the PC.

Noise Marines: These are the cheapest of all the cult marines although this changes as soon as you add the sonic weaponry. The sonic blaster is a decent upgrade for the bolter though I think it is a little overcosted, 3 pts would have been more appropriate imo. The Doom siren is simply amazing and unfortunately the blastmaster has been made so expensive that it will see little to no competitive action. Below are a few common setups.

6x noise marines, 6x sonic blasters
150 pts

This squad generally works best in lower point games where the range of the sonic blaster can make up for the squads lack of mobility. It pumps out enough shots at range to give just about anything cause to hesitate.

6x noise marines, 5x sonic blasters, AC w/ power weapon, doom siren + Rhino
215 pts

This squad costs a good deal more than the generic squad listed above but packs much more of a punch at close range due to the AC and has much higher mobility due to the rhino.

Khorne Berzerkers: Most people were simply outraged when they heard that zerkers were going to lose bloodrage but I simply cannot understand why… They had the potential to fleet but with the drawback of losing control of the entire squad. IMO they seem much more true to fluff now than they did before. Zerkers are now killing machines with their increased WS, A, and furious charge. They are by far the most effective assault troops that we can field. My preference for the skull champion is to give him a power weapon to take advantage of the increased initiative from furious charge. Below is a common setup

8x zerkers, Skull champ w/ power weapon +Rhino
233 pts

Thousand sons: In this version of the dex the 1k sons have traded their extra wound for a shiny new invulnerable save. It is hard to say which is better but overall their survivability has not changed too much. What really has changed is the damage that they dish out in the form of AP3 bolters. Since they still come with slow and purposeful the 1k sons can always fire their bolters out to maximum range making them a threat to just about anything. The sorcerer squad leader accounts for much of the total cost of these squads but it is not so bad when you consider that he helps with their S&P rolls and that he comes stock with a force weapon. Below is a standard loadout.

8x 1k sons(incl. Sorc.), doombolt / bolt of change + Rhino
266/281 pts

This squad is pretty straightforward. The rhino takes them to where they can be most effective and then they unload AP3 hell on the enemy. If you need some extra AT then take BoC it has received a pretty decent buff.

Lesser Daemons: These guys received a lot of flack early on for not being as good as their god specific counter parts but considering the new rules for daemon summoning and the fact that they do not suffer from instability I actually think that they can be quite effective. They can popout anywhere that you have an icon on the turn they become available, instant assault troops at a decent price…

Fast attack

Chaos Bikers: Overall chaos bikers really have not changed that much. There point cost has stayed pretty close to what it was before and their stats have not changed significantly. They have received a slight boost due to the fact that the IoN now will allow them to reach T6. There is some confusion over whether or not the IoT will allow them to reach a 2+ invulnerable save when they turbo boost. I am with the camp that believes this to be true for two reasons: 1. they already allowed something similar with the IoN stacking with the increased toughness gained from the bike and 2. the codex specifically mentions that a 2+ invulnerable save is the best invulnerable save possible with the IoT. Despite the few buffs they have received, bikes seem to be outclassed in general by raptors due to the fact that they are so much cheaper. Below are a couple of simple setups.

3x bikers, 2x meltaguns
129 pts

This is simply a suicide tank hunting squad. They should turbo boost first turn, take out a tank on the second turn and then if they do not get roasted they can serve to tie up an enemy unit for a turn or so.

6x bikers, IoS, 2x meltas, AC w/ Power weapon
268 pts

This is your all purpose bike squad. The icon comes down to personal preference, if you want them to have T6 then go for the IoN. Personally I like the IoS because you want them to get in as many hits as possible before getting hit back.

Raptors: Holy flying evil Batman! Raptors that are even cheaper than loyalist assault marines! Raptors have certainly made a comeback in the dex and for good reason, they are now quite reasonably priced and retain most of their weapon options. As far as icons are concerned the IoK and the IoS seem to be the most common as they help to augment the raptors combat skills. Below are a few typical setups.

8x raptors, IoS/IoK, 2x melta, AC w/ lightning claws
240/250 pts

Pretty straightforward squad here. With the IoS they will strike before their loyalist brethren and with the IoK they will dish out a metric ton of attacks on the charge and can always pop tanks with the meltas if need be. The choice of lightning claws over the powerfist will prove to be a common one on raptors imo due to the fact that they are likely to draw a lot of heat on the way into combat and it is important to get the ACs attacks in before the squad is wiped out.

Chaos Spawn: In my opinion this is probably the single worst entry in the codex. It has no save, has very unpredictable movement speed and number of attacks, and you have absolutely no control over where it goes. I might have taken them at half the points cost as filler… It is such a shame because the models are quite nice.

Heavy Support

Chaos Havocs: altogether havocs have stayed much the same as they were in the old dex. Now that we can no longer give them tank hunting I have a feeling that the missile launcher will see more use on these guys. Unfortunately in the mechanized environment created by the new dex havocs will tend to lose out in favor of the armoured choices to help draw fire away from our rhinos. Below are a couple common setups.

6x havocs, 3x missile launchers
150 pts

An all purpose squad, capable of popping armor or taking care of swarms. They lose some effectiveness against MEQs but it for the most part they will do well.

8x havocs, IoCG, 4x flamers, AC w/ powerfist, combi flamer + Rhino w/ combi flamer
245 pts

This is an idea that has been kicked around on the forum recently and it certainly seems like an interesting one. Watch your opponents face when you tell him you are going to be firing 6 flamers at one of his squads.

Obliterators: Obliterators received the nerfing that we all knew was coming, their toughness was reduced, their weapon selection changed, and their points cost increased. They are still usable as they are but will usually end up being shelved in favor of armored choices just like the havocs.

Chaos Predator: The changes to the predator were very interesting, some builds got cheaper and some build became much more expensive. Unfortunately daemonic possession is not really an option on these things any more due to the decrease in BS. More often than not you need your predators to hit what they are shooting at as they are on of our few reliable ranged AT platforms. Below are some common setups.

Predator w/ AC + LC Sponsons
130 pts

This is the cheap and easy AT predator. The twin linked lascannon turret has become way to expensive to see much use in the new dex. For it’s points this baby will give you the best amount of AT fire available.

Predator w/ AC + HB Sponsons + Havoc Launcher
115 pts

Here we have the “dakka” predator. Capable of spewing out enough hot lead to choke a horse. This thing is usually seen running beside two of its AT brethren in larger sized games, the enemy should be so focused on killing the AT predators that this should receive little to no attention.

Chaos Vindicator: a shiny new toy for us chaos generals and one that has already received a good bit of attention. It is just as survivable as a predator but the thing that makes it even more of a pain to the enemy is that it can take advantage of the benefits of daemonic possession without having to worry about the drawbacks. Below is the common configuration.

Vindicator w/ daemonic possession
145 pts

Chaos Defiler: Remember how in the old dex you rarely ever used the reaper autocannon and the twin linked heavy flamer? Well now we have options that let us chuck them in favor of more CC attacks and now that the defilers is armed with DCCW and gets fleet of foot it has become a true CC machine, capable of 6 S10 attacks on the charge. The only downside is that to fleet you have to forego using that juicy battle cannon shot. I think we will see people slowly advancing it firing the battle cannon and then using fleet on the turn that they want it to hit CC. Common setup is below.

Defiler w/ 2 extra DCCW
150 pts

Chaos Landraider: Here is another entry that has received a little bit of much needed attention in the new dex. I see it becoming quite popular in the near future due to the decrease in its point cost and the fact that it can now take daemonic possession without losing its ability to transport troops. It will be affected by the decrease in BS but not as much as other vehicles due to the fact that its weapons are all twin linked. Terminators in Landraiders have now become much more feasible. Below is the most common setup.

Landraider w/ Daemonic possession
240 pts

General Rules for the Chaos General

Now that we have taken a good long look at the different unit options available to us it is time for a few general guidelines for how some of these units can be put to best use. This is generally for the newer chaos players who have not as of yet learned some of the basic dos and don’ts of the army.

Overall army composition is a very tough thing to teach though I will try my best to get some of you on the right track.

Never mix Special / heavy weapons: The bottom line is that it is not a good idea. Say for example you have a heavy bolter and a flamer on the same squad. One of the weapons needs to stay still to fire and has a decent range, the other weapon needs to get up close and personal and can fire on the move. No matter what one of the weapons will not be working to its full potential.

Chaos units cannot afford to be “versatile”, each unit works best when it is tailored to a specific role.

How are they getting there?: This hrefers to how marines are going to get to where they need to be. If you have a squad tooled out for assault but have them footslogging up the board, your opponent will likely just rip them apart from afar. Unfortunately since infiltrate is now limited to chosen we now have to turn to our only other option for getting our marines close to the enemy, the rhino. The only exception to this rule is the static gun line army that forces the opponent to come to them. These armies can be fairly decent yet will run into some trouble when going up against armies that are inherently shootier than they are (Tau / elder / IG).

Armor, lots or none at all: This is a very important rule that often gets overlooked by those new to the hobby or army.

Let’s say that you take a 1.5k points army with two rhinos as your only pieces of armor. Now your opponent has the option of either firing his shiny lascannons at the closest footslogging troops or at those rolling coffins that we call rhino which will enable him to shoot up your squads since you now have to footslog what was in them… tough choice(sarcastic voice)…

Now let’s say that we have the exact same scenario but you have 0 pieces of armor in your list (NOTE: This does require tailoring your list to function well without rhinos and other armor). Now instead of firing at the tanks he expected to see with his expensive anti tank weaponry he is stuck firing at “Joe CSM”. Sure he may kill a few of your guys but in general those weapons of his are wasted points.

Once again we find ourselves in the same scenario except that this time you have 3 rhinos and 3 predators in your list. Sure your opponents AT weapons have things to shoot at now but you are forcing him to decide which things he needs to shoot at first. Does he shoot at the rhinos full of berzerkers and CSM or does he shoot at the predators which may destroy his tanks if he doesn’t? Sort of a “Spawned if you do, spawned if you don’t” situation…

You have tanks? Well so does your opponent!: This comes down to one thing, do you have enough anti tank firepower in your list? The amount needed will vary according to the point limit being played. Generally I go by the rule that you need at least 2 units capable of anti tank fire for every thousand points in your list.

For example a 1k points list could have an oblits and raptors with meltaguns.

A 2k points list could have 2 AT Predators and 2 units in rhinos with meltas.

These are really the high points of army composition. It is possible to get more specific but not without looking at individual lists. If you need a little bit more help feel free to post a list in the army list forum and some of our experts will try and help out as best we can!

I sincerely hope that my thoughts on the new dex have helped some of you!

Battlefleet Gothic, like most Games Workshop (GW) games, consists of metal or plastic models which must be assembled and painted. These models have certain options to consider which affect game-play, namely different weapon choices, etc. If you’re on this site, you’re probably familiar with the idea. The rules are available for FREE in the form of a downloadable Living Rulebook on the Specialist Games website, and a reasonable 1500 point fleet can be assembled for $100.00 to $200.00 US. Compared to other offerings, BFG is easy to get into. Before long, however, most players have branched out into new fleets to try differing play-styles, which can lead to a rich and rewarding hobby.

Terrain in BFG is simple and easy, and can consist of cardboard cutouts, or styrofoam planets with rocks used as asteroids fields. As with most scenery, it can get as complex as you wish it to.

BFG is a Specialist Game, and as such is weakly supported by GW. In most cases, the GW Online Store is your best bet for obtaining models, as most GW stores will have to bits order what you want.

Fleet Choices

Imperial Navy
The Imperial Navy is one of the two cheapest and easiest fleets to use. The Starter Set from GW contains four plastic IN ships, easily almost half a fleet. IN tactics resemble those used in the Age of Sail. Broadsides and the Line of Battle are the tactics of the day, relying on the heavily armored prows of most of its ships to bash into the middle of the enemy and slug it out at close range. The Imperial fleet also has very few special rules, and can be considered one of the more basic fleets.
Strengths:

When the fleet is used as a team, each ship in concert with others, this fleet can be devastating. A large range of models makes it one of the most interesting fleets to build and play. This gives each fleet some originality, as each ship has a distinct role in the fleet. The forward Torpedo salvoes of Imperial fleets can also be very impressive.
Weaknesses:

Imperial ships working alone are more often than not easy pickings. Low front armament can make it hard to deal damage during the critical period before the ships can heave to and fire. Fighters and bombers can be relatively limited, as this fleet tends to rely on cruisers and the gun line.

Chaos Fleet:
The Chaos fleet is the other of the two cheaper and easier fleets to use, as the Starter Set also contains four plastic Chaos ships. Chaos tactics resemble World War II naval tactics, with Fighters and Bombers being a mainstay of the fleet. This fleet’s tactics tend to vary with the player’s use, but tend to stand off and bombard as much as possible, and rely on strong escort vessels, fighter’s, and bomber’s for part of the fleet’s punch. This is also a fleet with very few special rules, making it an easy beginner fleet.
Strengths:

Chaos ships can take a beating when standing alone for longer than some of the other fleets. This fleet also has a large range of models, including two large special units. A variety of tactics makes the same fleet play differently on different occasions. Cruisers are flexible and durable, and even small fleets are relatively easy to put together.
Weaknesses:

Chaos ships work best in pairs or triplets. While one Slaughter or Murder cruiser, for instance, can be overwhelmed, three become formidable working in concert. While the resilience of Chaos ships can tempt a player to throw them in alone, they are best used in groups of about 500 points in sub-fleets. Ordnance can become overwhelming with the cheap carriers available, and the Chaos player should plan in advance for supplying these.

Eldar:
The Eldar fleet has several special rules, including a second movement allowed in the Ordnance phase that can allow for some very good tactical advantages. High leadership makes for a very precise fleet that will generally perform as their admiral wishes them to in battle. Eldar ship speed is dependent on their orientation to the sun, which is a table edge nominated in advance of the battle. These extra rules can make them difficult for a player to master, however, especially a new player.
Eldar fleets are also most often escort-laden fleets, with sometimes only a single or no cruiser taken. Eldar battleships are rarely seen in battle, except in large fleet actions.
The Eldar also have two distinct fleets available, pirate fleets and Craftworld Eldar. Both play similarly, but offer the option of two unique looks. Most of the following apply to both fleets.
Strengths:

Eldar ships are fast and highly maneuverable. Their special equipment, “Holofields”, make it more difficult to hit them, and their ordnance is superior to most other fleets. The second move allows Eldar to quickly duck behind terrain, so a terrain heavy board is very advantageous to Eldar. The models are very organic and fluid, making them a striking fleet to field. Tactical choices available to the Eldar, with their special movement and armor rules, are superior to many other fleets. Eldar can make for a very frustrating opponent when played well.
Weaknesses:

Eldar ships have been called “made of wet toilet paper”. Hits have extra chances to go critical, and they do not have the number of hit points often seen in other fleets. They can be very difficult to master, and playing them poorly usually means losing quickly.

Dark Eldar:
Dark Eldar are considered one of the most unusual fleets in BFG. The ships are all supposed to be “unique”, reflecting the desires of their captain. As a result, the models are identical basic hulls with an option to add various bits from a single sprue. Many players have looked down on the fleet for this trait.
Dark Eldar do not have the Eldar’s second move in the ordnance phase, but do have special rules attached to them. Their ships aren’t as fragile as the Eldar, and play more conventionally then they do. The longer Dark Eldar stay on the board the worse off they are, and they should attempt to take an early lead. Dark Eldar are more specialized for boarding then Eldar, for the purpose of taking slaves.
Strengths:

The slowest Dark Eldar ship travels at 35cm, making them very fast ships. They have special equipment that allows them to mimic their enemies, allowing for “sneak attacks”.
Weaknesses:

Dark Eldar fleets tend to downturn quickly as they take damage. High points costs for small ships makes for a very small fleet on the board. They have no battleships, and their cruisers are best described as light cruisers. They are also required to take three escorts for every cruiser. This can make for a limited fleet choice.

Orks:
Orks play like Orks in most GW games. Randomness is the name of the game, and the fleet allows for a lot of “Orkiness”. Most of their forward guns are randomly determined, making each turn a guess on how much firepower you have – devastating, or weak. There are very few special rules for Orks, but the one’s there are make them very true to their form.
Orks have a couple of special units, Hulks and Rocs, which are very high in hit points and firepower. They can be very intimidating on the field.
Orks CAN, however, be hard to master, and often brutalize themselves in the course of winning to the point of a draw.
Strengths:

Orks have a wide range of model choices, and allow for some fun conversions since there are no models for Hulks or Rocs. Ork ships have a lot of character, looking in most cases like piranha’s or other vicious fish.
Tactics-wise, Ramming is an Ork tactic that they get bonuses for, as well as boarding. Ork Fighter-bomba’s are both fighters and bombers, and are twice as survivable as most ordnance when intercepting enemy ordnance. Orks get free “All Ahead Full” orders as well, not having to make a leadership test to use the tactic. Ork cruisers also have more hit-points then ships their size usually do, making them more survivable.
Ork Ramships are tough and cheap escorts, and can do four points of damage with a strike. They are often sacrificed in the process, however.
Weaknesses:

Orks have low leadership. This means it can be hard to get your fleet to be where it needs to be to be most effective. Their ships aren’t very tactically flexible, having really one tactic available. Get in close with All Ahead Full, Ram, and Board everything in sight. While this can be a weakness, it can also be strength, making them a simple fleet tactically. Without All Ahead Full, they are a very slow fleet. Rear armor is also rather weak, and shields of any kind are rare.

Necrons:
This is the fleet that chills most BFG players to the bone. It is the fleet most often accused of “cheese”, over-powered and un-beatable strength. Necrons have some of the most devastating weapons available to any fleet, and their speed assures that they will be where they need to be to use them. Necron fleets are usually small with lots of points tied up in each ship, and rightfully so. Necron ships will often take out most of their enemy vessels, often by turn three. Their ships are so good that they count for double victory points, and if a certain percentage of the fleet is damaged the entire fleet “phases out”, vanishing from the table. Special rules abound, especially ones concerning the make-up of the fleet itself, but the fleet is not so complicated that a relatively new player can’t play it.
Strengths:

Point for point, Necron ships are probably the most vicious ships in the game. Necrons move in and out of fire-arcs quickly, and end up in a fleet’s rear annoyingly often. On Brace for Impact, these ships can handle a punishing amount of damage, and also have the ability to heal at an increased rate.
Particle Whips and Sepulchre’s are excellent weapons in close combat, and these ships are able to get into it very quickly. These are the fastest ships in the game outside of Eldar ships using their ordnance movement.
Weaknesses:

Fragility is again a weakness of the Necron fleet as with the Eldar fleets, but in particular shields are replaced with a 6+ armor save (4+ on Brace for Impact) along with the high victory points for a Necron ship. A Necron player can loose comparatively few ships compared to his enemy, and find himself the loser in the end of the game if he hasn’t taken care to keep his own fleet relatively un-harmed. Phasing out is also a danger if his enemy can concentrate on hitting a small sub-set of the Necron fleet hard enough to remove it from the game. Players facing Necrons will often pick out one or two high value targets and beat them to a pulp, the victory points from that one or two kills making up for their losses.

They can often out-maneuver their own admiral, as their speed can be hard to keep track of and remember where the ship will be in the next turn when you are setting up your next move.
This is also the fleet most likely to fall victim to over-confidence. It can be a devastating weapon for the enemy.

Tau:
Tau ships are available in two forms, depending on how much you’re willing to spend. Tau Battle fleets are available from the regular Games Workshop avenues, and ForgeWorld produces Tau Protector fleets in entirety. Rules for the first are available in the Living Rulebook or the published book, Armada. Rules for the FW models are available in Imperial Armor Update Three. GW ships are very blocky and almost Star-Wars like, whereas the FW ones resemble Tau tanks and other ground equipment more closely.
The rules for the Tau Protector fleet are very hard to come by without buying the above-mentioned book, and as no one available has been willing to do that for the BFG rules alone we’ll have to make due with only the rules for the Tau Battle fleets in Armada.
Tau have only one important special rule, that their torpedoes, missiles really, can turn before moving.
Tau ships have some special ships representing allies that play slightly differently to represent the diversity of The Greater Good, the Kroot warsphere and the Demiurg ships. Their “orbitals”, stations that cannot move, can be used in certain scenarios and can be modularly built to resemble anything from a light cruiser to a battleship.
Strengths:

Tau ships are very cheap point-wise, allowing for more to be fielded. Their ships almost all have two variants, making them gun platforms or carriers. Tau bombers are more resilient then regular ordnance, and roll a die to see if they are removed when coming in contact with other ordnance rather then being removed. Their weapons are relatively powerful, especially in close range, and most of them are mounted in turrets allowing them to cover more than one fire arc.
Weaknesses:

Tau ships are relatively cheap in part due to the fact that they have less hit-points than most other race’s cruisers. They have upgrades available that can increase this, usually, but this negates the cheaper cost. More ships means more models to buy, as well. Most players consider Tau ships to be underpowered for the points value. Tau are also required to “tow” their escorts into battle, which means that a player must sacrifice guns on the main battle-line to have any escorts. Tau only have one true battleship, the Hero class, although it has variants.
Tau lists also restrict very carefully the number of each type of ship that a player can take, making Tau lists very often overly similar.

Tyranid
Tyranids are an advanced fleet with perhaps the most complex set of special rules attached to them. “Instinctive behavior” decides the actions of all ships not within 15cm of a Hive Mind node, causing them to be moved according to a flow-chart of possible behaviors. One of their most common escorts has NO GW or FW model, so it will have to be scratch-built.
Strengths:

Tyranid launch bays are not limited in the amount of ordnance which they can play on the table like other fleets, making this the most deadly carrier fleet. Players will often build up ordnance clouds and send them at the enemy in a massed attack that can be very devastating. Tyranids are the fleet most commonly customized, making for monstrous modeling opportunities.
Weaknesses:

Tyranid “instinctive behavior” rules can be complex, and can work to the advantage of the enemy. Ruthlessly attacking capital ships in the fleet can take away the Tyranid player’s leadership of his fleet. Close in, most Tyranid ships are devastating, but at long range most other fleets are far more effective. The Tyranid player works to flood his enemy with ordnance to cover his advance into close range with his heavier weapons. Since the tactic is usually predictable, it can be countered with practice. Of course, it’s also not their ONLY tactic… which opponents often find to their detriment against experienced Tyranid players.

Space Marine
Space Marines are a nice basic fleet for beginning players. The fleet tends to depend on its great Battle Barges, with their bombardment cannons, for the backbone of it’s fleet. This is an expensive large vessel, but a necessary centerpiece of an SM fleet. Escorts are available, but regular Imperial Escorts are available too as “Rapid Strike Vessels”. Rules are very basic, and fleets tend to be rather small.
Strengths:

The BattleBarge is a tremendously strong battleship. Thunderhawk assault fighters serve as both Fighters and Assault Boats for Space Marines, but they do not have access to Bombers. Thunderhawks survive one confrontation with other ordnance fifty percent of the time, making them very survivable. SM fleets cruisers tend to be rather fast, as well. Like all other light cruisers, Strike cruisers have 90-degree turning capability. The reliance on this type of cruiser gives the SM fleet considerable maneuverability over other fleets.
Weaknesses:
SM cruisers are light cruisers by any other fleet’s standards. Although heavily armored, with 6+ armor all around, they are lower on hitpoints then comparable cruisers from other races. If SM fleets are hit hard in the early game before Thunderhawks can inflict critical hits on enemy ships, they can often be forced on the defensive. Ordnance heavy fleets tend to fare well against SM fleets

Conclusion.
It is said in Battlefleet Gothic that the ships are far less important than the admiral commanding them. There is no “killer template” for a fleet or a particular race, as every fleet has well balanced strengths and weaknesses. Players of the same race will often disagree with the usefulness of certain ships or tactics, unlike in many other miniature games where clear favorites are chosen by all (Ever see an IG army without a Basilisk?).

The trick is in finding a fleet whose tactics mirror the type of game-play a player loves most. While Imperial Guard and Chaos are the most popular fleets in BFG, it is mostly due to the fact that the fifty U.S. dollar starter box contains most of the backbone of both fleets. Most players use these basic fleets to get the idea of the rules, build and develop one or both of them, and then find themselves drawn to other fleets to try other styles and tactics of combat.

This article was not the sole product of one player, but a combined effort worked out in the BFG forum of LO by the following group: darkreever, JORMAGI, mEGALOmANIAC, Pazradym, Quick, Rogoth, $hourglass, Will J, and Wolf_Pack.

Wargear / Options

Single Handed weapons:

• Bolt pistol - An extra attack for one point, get this for everyone who isn’t in Terminator armour.
• Close combat weapon – Cheap but worthless. Does not give any bonuses that a bolt pistol doesn’t.
• Chainfist / Thunder hammer / Powerfist – Not recommended for Independent characters, as they fight separately form any squad they are attached to or lead. It doesn’t take much to kill an Independent character before he can switch on his powerfist. Good for non-Independant characters, who cannot be singled out from their squadin the Assault phase.
• Single handed lightning claw – not a good option by itself, you are better off with a pair.
• Pair of Lightning claws – extra attack for +5 points, good for Commanders in Terminator armour or against high-toughness opponents.
• Plasma pistol – Expensive for Independent characters, too risky for non-ICs.
• Power weapon – Moderately cheap and effective. All ICs should have a weapon that ignores armour saves.
• Storm shield – Cheap but not suggested, as you cannot receive an extra attack for 2 Single-handed weapons when you use this.

Two-handed weapons
Ok, the only useful Two-handed weapon is a Storm bolter for models with Terminator armour, but it may be worthwhile to just simply pay 10 more points for an extra attack by means of a power weapon. Everything else is either too expensive or not effective on an Independent character.

Wargear
Artificer armour – Excellent on bikes, as you can turbo-boost and receive a 2+ invulnerable save. Otherwise, don’t bother. Terminator
armour is a better investment if you want a 2+ save, and the only thing to worry about in combat is power weapons, which ignore artificer
armour anyway. Auspex – Only handy against armies that use a lot of infiltrators, but cheap.

• Bionics – Good points filler, gives you a 1 in 6 chance of ignoring a failed armour save.
• Combat shield – Cheap and useful, seeing as how you should fear power weapons in close combat.
• Familiar – A must for non-Terminator Librarians, Initiative can be a turning factor in assaults, gives you a better chance of killing Independent characters and multi-wound models.
• Frag grenades – Cheap and lets you attack opposing units in coversafely.
• Krak grenades – Say no to Krak, kids! For 3 more points, you are waybetter off with melta bombs, and ICs shouldn’t even assault vehicles anyway.
• Master-crafted weapon – Definitely not worth the same amount of pointsas a Space Marine, Space Marine commanders have a high enough WS thatthey should hit with most of their attacks, and if you want to re-rollhits, you might as well get a chaplain.
• Purity seals – Pointless, especially since Space Marines almost neverfall back.
• Space Marine bike – A worthwhile investment for ICs that do not have a command squad, gives them +1 toughness and the ability to turbo-boost.Stick them with a bike squad, or else just get a jump pack instead.
• Jump pack – Commonly use with chaplains in order to join an assault squad, or for ICs that need to get somewhere quickly.
• Teleport homer – If you have deep-striking Terminator squads, givethese to your main assault units to deliver them safely.
• Terminator armour – Gives a good armour save, an extra attack, theability to deep-strike and an invulnerable save, all for 5 more pointsthan Artificer armour. Give this to guys who you want to lead Terminator squads and deep-strike. Note that you may not perform asweeping advance if you have Terminator armour.
• Terminator honours – Give this to every IC. You need as many attacks as you can get. Think of paying a marine’s worth of points for an attack that does more than the marine could do.

Artifacts and Relics
Each army may only have one of these, and they are generally expensive. SInce I have explained Standard bearers already, I’m only going to explain the others. Ion halo – If you have someone who is loaded with close combat gear and costs a lot of points, you might as well make him more expensive and give him a 4+ invulnerable save. Invulnerable saves are a lot more important on Independent characters because the only things they should fear in combat are power weapons, and Invulnerable saves give you a sense of security. Adamantine mantle – This is a way to give you a sense of security against powerfists and the like. This is a little too expensive for its worth, however, as your Independent characters should be in a command squad anyway, so they couldn’t really be killed by a lascannon, and you can easily keep them away from powerfists.

Librarian Psychic powers
It is important to know how to choose powers effectively. When choosing powers, think of which ones will get their points back the most efficiently.

“Shooty Powers” – I don’t suggest any of these unless you take a second assaultish power. Storm of the Emperor’s Wrath – This power has a very short range of 12”, but since you should be up and close to an enemy unit anyway (to get into an assault), it can be a useful pre-charge attack, to soften up a unit before your initial charge, or to hurt units with a good armour save. Fury of the Ancients – A good power against horde armies, as this doesn’t have a range and can potentially hit a lot of models. However, like all shooty powers. It isn’t going to do very good in an assault. The most potentially tactical part of this power is that squads that take casualties from this must take a pinning test. This could potentially keep opposing units from shooting, giving buying you a turn or so to get into an assault. Vortex of Doom – This is a Necron killer, but against models with a high initiative, this is almost useless. Although potentially you could kill a 250 pt model, most likely, they will have a high initiative, and most models that are expensive and have no initiative are monstrous creatures, which aren’t affected by this power.

“Assault Powers” – Back to my original point, which was that HQs are assault units, these powers enhance our already assault-adept abilities in combat.
Might of Heroes – This power has more tactical potential then you would think. This power (if successful) give the librarian or anyone in the same squad D3 extra attacks. Let’s say that your librarian is doomed, and you know this (say he is in base-to-base contact with his squad against a Wraithlord). Let’s also say that your sergeant is also able to attack the wraithlord. The librarian could double the sergeant’s attacks, which could potentially kill the Wraithlord (although the LIbrarian is doomed). Let’s also say that the librarian is in the same squad with a Master with Lightning claws, and the squad charges a bunch of Space Marines. The best weapon against the Space Marines is the Master’s Lightning claws, so you would give the attacks to him. This power has the most potential to get the Librarian’s points worth back, and it only costs 5 more points than it would cost for a Librarian to have Storm of the Emperor’s wrath. Veil of Time – This power costs a lot, but could potentially save your librarian from a lot of harm. Basically, you re-roll everything for the librarian. That’s like having a chaplain in your squad and LIghtning claws for free in combat, and Armour saves and invulnerable saves. Let’s say that the librarian has a 4+ invulnerable save form an iron halo. You could go from a 50% chance of saving a wound against a power weapon to 75% chance of saving it. However, this power only works in your turn, so I would suggest taking an additional power (like Might of heroes) to use on your opponent’s turn.

Fear of the Darkness – This power can have mixed results. It basically makes enemy units with low leadership to run away. This power is by far most effective when used with a deep striking unit, particularly a drop pod. It is good if there are bothersome units with lascannons or the like near your command squad that you want to get rid of, but could be bad if you scare everything away. If enemy units are scattered too far away to charge them next turn, you are really in
trouble, because you will be vulnerable to enemy shooting for at least 2 turns.

Popular HQ Combos
Here, I will discuss the most popular and effective HQ combos.

Chaplain with Assault squad
Just as it sounds, this unit is a big Assault squad led by a chaplain. The Chaplain (Usually a Reclusiarch) has a Jump pack, Terminator honours, a bolt pistol, and frag grenades, costing 122 (Reclusiarch) or 137 (Master of Sanctity) points. The Assault squad consists of ten men with Jump packs, two of which have plasma pistols, and one of which is a veteran sergeant with a powerfist (costs 260 pts). It is important to have as many men as possible in this squad, because it will probably be shot and suffer at least four casualties before it reaches combat.

If this squad gets to its target without casualties (It should be assaulting infantry), it will first shoot two shots of plasma pistols, and then nine shots from the bolt pistols. If you are doing this to a 10-man Space Marine Tactical squad, this will usually kill about 2 marines. Then you charge. The Chaplain gets 6 power weapon attacks that re-roll to hit (will kill about 2 marines), and the rest of the squad will get 27 S4 attacks that re-roll to hit (will kill about 3 marines). Finally, the sergeant, with 4 powerfist attacks that re-roll to hit, will kill another 2 marines. That’s at least 9 dead marines in one charge (10 if you consider that I rounded the results down).

With a 12” movement and the ability to jump over terrain, this squad is indeed very deadly if used properly.

Chaplain with Bike squad
This squad is very expensive and difficult to use, but if used right, can be even more effective than the chaplain-led assault squad. You basically have a Chaplain (Reclusiarch, Terminator honours, bike, bolt pistol, frag grenades) and a maxed-out bike squad (5 bikers, 2 meltaguns, attack bike, veteran sergeant w/ power fist). The problem is that this squad costs a hefty 397 pts. And at a total of seven models, you don’t want to suffer any casualties.

The main bonuses of this unit is it’s maneuverability, toughness, and firepower. Being able to move 24” and claim a 3+ invulnerable save is good enough as it is, but having +1 toughness will also make this a very difficult unit to destroy.

Because of the bike rules, this squad can shoot all of its weapons as if it didn’t move and still assault. That’s 3 Heavy bolter shots, 2 meltagun shots, and 6 to 12 twin-linked bolter shots, followed by a charge. At least 5 marines will go down there. In the charge, you will get 6 Chaplain attacks that re-roll to hit (2 dead marines), 11 S4 attacks that re-roll ot hit (2 marines down), and 4 power fist attacks (2 more). That’s an average of 11 dead marines.

With the extreme maneuverability and survivability, this squad, if used carefully, can cause some nasty devastation.

Librarian with Terminator squad
This squad can potentially get the most victory points out of the 3 popular squads. You have a Librarian (Codicier, Terminator armour, storm bolter, Fear of the Darkness, furious charge) and a 4-man Terminator command squad (2x Storm bolters, 2x assault cannons), in a drop pod.

Against low Ld armies with lots of models like Imperial guard and Tau, this unit will cause some serious havoc. Because the squad is mounted in a drop pod, you can easily land right in the middle of the enemy battle lines safely. When the squad pops out of the drop pod, the Librarian will use Fear of the Darkness. This will make enemy troops scamper like mad, and with t he right positioning, can make hundreds of points worth of units run right off the board. Any survivors will be
blasted to pieces by the storm bolters and Assault cannons.

It is so easy to use this squad effectively and safely that his strategy can almost never go wrong.

Other HQ Combinations
With all the options available, the combinations of HQ are almost limitless. Now I’ll go over some of the other combinations that can be effective or suicide.

Chaplain led Terminator Assault squad in LRC
This squad is right on the verge of suicide and effectiveness. It is rarely the latter of the two. Basically, you have a souped up Chaplain in Terminator armour (130-160 pts) that is attached to a 7-man Terminator Assault squad with Lightning claws and furious charge in a Land Raider Crusader. The good
thing about this squad is that if used successfully, you will charge with 28 S5 I5 Power weapon attacks that re-roll to hit and wound, along with the chaplain’s attacks. I don’t care what you say, nothing is gonna survive this, C’tan, Carnifex, whatever.

The bad news is that the whole unit will generally cost around 700 pts. So why use this squad? Well, mostly, you shouldn’t bother. With a
few Lascannon shots, the LRC will get blown apart and the passengers will get shot to crud. Your opponent will know that this is a huge points investment, and will usually do whatever it takes to get rid of it.

In order to have the least amount of harm done to this squad, you need to use it where it is less of an investment in your army and less of a threat to your opponent: in huge games. I’m talking about 2,500 point mega battles, where 700 points is nothing. Also, the bigger the game, the more for them to kill, and the more effective it will be.

HQ in Power armour with drop pod and Command squad
This squad can be used well with any HQ; LIbrarian, chaplain, or commander. All you need is equipment for attacks and a deadly command squad. The best way to do this is to give the HQ model a bolt pistol (plus it’s mandatory power weapon), terminator honours, and some form of invulnerable save to keep it alive in combat (Iron halo, 4+ save is free with chaplain). This will cost between 110 and 150 pts. He goes with a 9-man command squad with 2 meltaguns and a veteran sergeant w/power fist.

When you deep strike, you will have enough firepower to take care of any immediate threat with the meltaguns and many bolters. When you get into combat, you will probably kill at least 6 marines.

This squad is relatively cheap (300 pts) and effective.

Crazy souped up Terminator command squad
This squad is definitely suicide. The basic idea is to have all 3 character types with Terminator armour with a Terminator command squad. It will be very good at shooting and assault, and can deep-strike, so will probably get close to your enemy.

The problem is that your opponent will throw everything he’s got at this squad, because it will cost over 750 pts, and a few Plasma cannons are death to this squad. This squad is an ideal unit to charge with the Chaplain-led Assault Terminator squad.

Although this will probably look cool and will scare your opponent, it will never get those 750 points back. Leave this unit where it belongs: on the display shelf.

Chaosbyrnn’s Crazy Bike And Artificer Armour Command squad
This squad is very, very complicated. You have 2 HQ guys on a Bike with Artificer armour, the veteran sergeant, apothecary, and champion on Bike with Artificer armour, and the infiltrate skill. What does this do? A few things, really. First, it is very difficult to destroy. If you add 2 regular marines with Plasma cannons, you can rest assured that they will be alive for a long time, since the hits in shooting will go to the 2+ save bikes with toughness 5 first. Secondly, psychological warfare! Your opponent will be scared ****less while deciding whether or not to put an unproportional amount of shots into this squad, or assault it, both of which are difficult to do well!

Of course, the downside is that it costs about 800 pts, so it suffers from the same weaknesses as the Chaplain-Terminator squad, and 2 plasma cannons aren’t going to do much for 800 pts.

Chaosbyrnn’s (other) Crazy Terminator command squad
First, let’s get something straight: No where in the SM codex does it say that non-ICs can not take Terminator armour from the armoury.
Therefore, your characters in a regular command squad could take Terminator armour. Let’s say that the 4 characters and 2 attached ICs take Terminator honours. That’s basically six Terminators in a command squad that can infiltrate!

If you take this squad, you might as well take the trait scions of mars, which reduces the cost of terminator armour to 15 points for single wound models. However, even if you do this, the squad will cost over 600 points, so don’t bring these to anything under 2000.

Boom!
Some final notes:

1. Assault. Despite what people say, your HQ units have the best potential for assault than anything else. So equip them that way.
2. Movement. Your squad needs some conventional way of moving, so that it can get into assault. Since Rhinos can be blown up with a measly 2 missile launcher shots, I suggest not using these rollingcoffins. Drop pods and bikes are the only ways to go.
3. Shooting. Despite being built for assault, HQs can still have an enormous shooting potential. It could be assault cannons, meltaguns, or even two plasma cannons with Chaosbyrnn’s Crazy squads.
4. Don’t use artificer armour, unless the model is by himself and turbo boosting, and give him an invulnerable save. When in an assault (which you should be!), the artificer armour isn’t going to do much against power weapons.
5. Don’t spend too much on HQ! Even though your HQ can turn out to be devastating souped up units that can cause severe devastation, your opponent will know this and devote a lot of his firepower to wiping it out. In larger games, your squad will seem like less of a threat, so will be ignored more. If it’s very small, you HQ can still cause a lot of damage and be passed as a minor threat.

Predator, Shmedator
Almost every large SM army seems to have a Predator as the owner’s prized heavy support unit, that or a Land Raider of some variation. This strategy does not involve them, in fact I rarely use them at all. For this stratgey I suggest either filling all three heavy support slots with Whirlwinds or two whirlwinds and a 8 to 10 man devestator squad. The idea behind this is to get as many mine fields on the table as soon as humanly possible and reserving points for squads to have heavy weapons.

What’s With All the Large Blast Templates
The idea behind this tsrategy is to use the intimidation of the mine fields to force your opponent to go where you want him to go or to force a squad to stop advancing. The strategy even looks at defending a squad of your own units. Launching missile after missile of Castellian missiles will lay so many mine fields that the enemy will be sweating bullets every time they take a step. Why mine fields you ask…why not? Think about it, the Whirlwind is an ordinance barrage weapon, meaning no line of sight is needed. Also, it has a special rule that it may target a unit or it may target terrain, open or not. Furthermore, skimmers can cruise over them and vehicles get hit in the rear armor when they detonate a mine. Even more, mine fields can lay on mine fields, can lay on mine fields. This means two mine fields on top of each other means two chances to kill units, and three fields gives three chances.

Getting Fields Fast and Providing Cover
The main reason I suggest having three WW in the army is the need to get mine fields out fast. If you want to force an army to go one way, the fields need to be there. This will lead to undesired attention towards your “launchers of doom,” so you nee to give them time to fire. This is where scouts with sniper rifles come in handy. Use the sniper rifles to try and force enemy units to take pinning tests. and just in case, I keep a scout with a heavy bolter in each scout squad to give some extra punch to the firepower. Also, keeping your whirlwinds behind terrain and at the back of the army is important, it provides terrain cover for the unit and forces the enemy to fight your whole army before handling the WWs. If all else fails, try to drop a mine field on top of units moving where you don’t want them. This makes them choose between holding stationary or marching through the mine field.

Covering Your Own Units
Have you ever had a squad of termies get mowed down in close combat? We all have. However the WW offers a chance to stop this. This is a somewhat risky move, so make sure you have line of sight with your WW if you do this, because two scatter dice just suck when you are this close to your own. Simply drop a mine field as close as you dare to your termies, or even on top of them if you plan to keep them stationary (they only have the chance of getting damaged if you move through the field). Now, in order to assault you, enemy units will have to take damage from the mine field before they get to hit.

Using Assault Squads
Occassionaly an enemy unit will break through mine fields with little damage and make a break for a whirwind while you are busy with your units mowing down the enemy with heavy fire. To fix this problem shove some assault marines at the enemy and tie them up in a round or two of close combat. You will either buy time or toast the enemy squad, either way, its all good.

What to Funnel the Enemy Towards
So far we have talked about how to push the enemy where you want, now what should be waiting for them when they get there? This is all personal preference. I enjoy a squad of termies with an assault cannon, cyclone ML, and storm bolters. Also a dreadnought with strom bolter and assault cannon. Assault termies are good too because instead of lumbering towards the enemy, you are forcing them to run at you. I make sure my assault termies have at least 4 lightning claws and all have furious charge. Next, deck out some tac squads with bolters and a heavy weapon, since it will be close quarters for the enemy (hopefully), a ML wouldn’t be a bad heavy weapons choice.

Brief Example
I won’t give a detailed battle report, but one of my great victories was against the Tyranid swarms in a city setting. Using mine fields I forced the enemy to run down a central street where I had my army poised and under cover. The result was the massacre of the entire Tyranid army with minimal losses (one WW, 1 tac squad, half of the assault termies, and a couple of assault marines).

Conclusion
This strategy is sometimes highly effective and costs very little, as far as points are concerned, to pull off. It is also highly customizable and very fun since you can force your enemy into a deathmatch arena. Give it a try, change it up, and have some fun!

Well, lets just start of with the basic High Elf units, shall we?

CORE:

Archers:
The High Elf archers are good archers, but with their Longbows low strength, I dont think they will kill off much. When you use archers, be sure to concentrate your fire as much as you can. Fire all arrows possible on a single unit, and try to get 25% casualties, otherwise kill off a lone character (but needs alot of arrows, probably, as most characters pack a high save) .
Personally, I use 10-20 in a 2000pt army, as I dont feel that I need more. I
use them to pose a small threath to anything moving up to my Repeater Bolt
Thrower(s) and to kill flyers/light cavalry/scouts. I never use any form of
command for them.

Spearmen:
Very very useful unit (i suppose you knew that) . Citzen Levy is a great skill. They should be used to soup up charges, and set the charging unit up for flank attacks by harder units (Silver Helms etc) . Use them for adding rank bonus.
Personally I use them when I can afford them. They are the best infantry
unit at Core level. Give them banner for sticking in HTH, and a champion if
you can. Musician if you have extra points.

Lothern Sea Guard:
These guys are spearmen AND archers. Seems nice, eh? Well, they arent =( .
Since only the first rank can shoot (2 if on a hill), you would have to reform from line to block when expecting a charge, to max your shooting and rank bonus. This means alot of the time all you do is reform. And with their horrendous pt cost, the arent worth it in my book. Personally, I never use them.

Silver Helms:
These are the core cavalry units, which you can fit with light armour, or give them shields and heavy armour. This allows for a versality which is unique. Either weak 18″ chargen hardhitters, or 16″ charge with hardhitting wellarmoured cavalry =) .
Personally, I use these ALL the time. When I “know” they wont get hit back in HTH (IE they surely will break the enemy) I dont fit them with shields and HArmour. But normally I use them with total armour. They are the core of my army most of the time. Use SBearer and Champion with them. Leave the Musician, as you wont be needing it.

SPECIAL:

Ellyrian Reavers:
Well, they are the HE light cav. Get bows, but leave the spears (unless you can afford them) . They are an harassment unit with the bows, and can target warmachines, lone characters, or other light troops. I use them for blocking march moves, picking on units, and for setting up charges for my other units. ALWAYS give them Musicians. Dont bother with SBearer or Champion. I use themwhenever I can, to support my Silver Helms. They arent Dark Riders, but not THAT much worse =) .

Dragon Princes:
They are really not much different from the Silver Helms, except that they get Ithilmar Barding, which gives them a good advantage, and Dragon Armour, which makes them immune to Fire. Slightly higher WS, I and Ld. I use them in units of 5-8 =) . Give them SBearer and Champion at least. If you can, use a Musician. Stick your Prince/Commander in there to give them that extra “umph” in their charge, and also a nice banner if you use a large unit, you may use the Battle Standard Bearer with Battle Banner in it, to make sure you get the results you want.

Swordmasters:
Well, they chave the charging power of knights, but the armour of spearmen. They are feared, and will probably be THE target for any arrows in the opponent army, and they will probably die too. Use them well protected, and dont stick any important banner in them (like the Banner of Sourcery) since if they run form a battle, or off the table, its lost… Rather give them a banner which helps their unit (if you give them a magic banner at all) . Use them for flanking units for the spearmen if you use them. Use them at 15+ if they are to be vs a shooty/magic army. If not, just protect them
15+ from charges, and use them at about 10. Give them full command if you can. Least
important is of course the musician.

Shadow Warriors:
Good for mage sniping if they are deployed somewhere near the enemy dep zone. Also good for stopping march moves. I use them because I like them =) . You could use them as a screen for your other units. Lets say you screen spearmen with a unit of 5 to 10 SW. They wont get hit as much by shooting due to skirmishing, and if they are charged by a strong unit, just have them stand/shoot, get hit, fail the combat, and run off. Your spearmen will probably not be affected by this, and the charging enemy overruns right into the spearmen. This means the combat will be worked out in YOUR CC phase, which means you get to charge the flanks, and even rear of this charging
unit. When using that tactic, make sure it is worth it. Do it vs those 8+ Dark Elf
Cold One Knights, but not vs the 5+ Dark Riders.

Tiranoc Chariot:
Well, its a chariot. not much to say other than the usual. They are great when charging with your Silver Helms or Dragon Princes to ensure a victory. Dont put them in the line of enemy shooting (as they dont come good out of such hails of arrows). I use them for backup for my Silver Helms and Dragon Princes. Remember that they dont negate ranks.

RARE:

Phoenix Guard:
Have their ability to cause fear. They are at low save (thus have the same problems as Swordmasters) . I dont use them at all. If anyone can give me a reason to use them (besides fluff reasons), please contact me. I’d imagine they would serve as support units for spearmen like the Swordmasters if they are used.

Repeater Bolt Thrower:
Though not as badass as they were in 5th ed, they still pack a punch. With no possibility to misfire, and with their great range, they are good in any game, really. Use for weakening enemy units before a charge, causing fear tests along with the archers, and for getting those hard armoured ones down, which the archers cant. I take one for every 1000 pts nowadays. Up until recently I used as many as I could =P . Remember that you get 2 for 1 Rare choice

White Lions:
Good vs tough armoured armies (can anyone say Chaos?) . Also, with their lion cloaks, they are good for running up through woods, towards that archer unit or warmachine you want gone, and with them behind the enemy lines, the enemy should be concerned =P . Remember that they have heavy weapons, and as such strike last =( . But with their enormous strength, they are goooood =P. I dont use them as much as Id like to, I assume… I might work with them some more.

Great Eagles:
The High Elf flyers =) . They are goood for blocking march moves, awesome at killing off warmachines (can even take out them all, before the enemy can react) . Also, they are good for being charged, then run, to set up a nice charge for your own units. Even better than the Reavers, since the Great Eagles cost less then 5 Reavers. Remember that you can take 2 for 1 Rare choice. I havent used them much, but now things are changing =).

Hmm.. That sums up my few thoughs on the units. Hmm what next. The characters? Well.. Not much to say about them, except that the mages using High Magic get an extra spell, the Drain Magic spell. Also, dont think that a Prince can take down an army by himself. The elven strength is in using the units together. You should kit your characters to do specific jobs, and make sure they do them. If you fight chaos, get a char with some weapon that negates armour save. If you fight skaven, get him something with added attacks, etc. And dont use a Prince to do what a Commander can do just as well. Thats just wasting points.

My personal thoughts on the elven army, perhaps? Well… Where to start? I am trying to focus on cavalry with my lists (some of you may have seen that), and thus I use lots of Silver Helms. They hit hard, and they should be used to break the enemy units. All High Elf units should have the main goal of Breaking the enemy units. 8 Silver Helms and a Chariot can break stuff. When they get a flanking unit in there, they most likely will break the enemy. So combine your units, and use them with eachother.

The Lure
is a well known tactic for most people. You try to get the enemy to charge a unit, then flee with that unit, making the charge fail. This is used to set up the enemy unit for a charge of your own in your turn. Use Reavers or Eagles for this. Note that you can set up the enemy unit in whichever direction you’d like. Use this to get in flank charges for tearing down rank bonus.

The Screen
is good for blocking units like Swordmasters from enemy fire. Take scouts and make them skirmish infront of you. They are at -1 to hit, and as such wont get hit as much as normal. Abit costy, though, with Shadow Warriors =(

The Expendable Unit
is when you take, for instance, said Shadow Warrior unit 1″ in front of a Spearmen reg. The enemy charges the Shadow Warriors, kill them, and overrun into the Spearmen. “My Gods” you might think. But this is good. Since it was an overrun, the combat is resolved in YOUR hth phase. This lets you charge his unit before any hits are allocated. The spearman reg will take some hits, but thats what they are there for. The loss of the Shadow Warriors is a tragedy, but when used vs scary stuff, like say 10+ reg of Dark Elf Cold One Knights, its well worth it if you can get them overrun. You can substitute the Shadow Warriors for a Great Eagle or a Reaver Unit. Anything small, really. Try to make it look not too obvious, as the enemy “might” know what you are planning.

The MSU/MSE tactic:

The Multiple Small Units / Multiple Small Elites tactic is a tactic where you use small infantry units (10 strong) to set up flank charges and such for eachother. Say you have a small spearman regiment which recieves a charge. Then a unit of Swordmasters and a unit of White Lions charge the charging units flank. I havent tried out this tactic yet, but you get more units/more attacks than if you use many models to add rank bonus instead of hitting power. That, I think, is the main concept of the tactic. 20 Spearmen make 3 ranks and a max of 12 kills which is +7 CR. But 2×10 attacking spearmen may produce a max of 20 kills, which is of course, better. This tactic helps you shape the game, and control it, as you will be able to field loads of small units, manouvering around the table, charging, countercharging and flankcharging. I think that a problem for this army is an all cav army or a really shooty army, since you either get charged all the time, or you get shot to pieces due to slow movement.

Keep in mind that I will be updating this over time, and that they are my own thoughts, not nessecarily right =P .

Next up I will write in some magic item combos, which me and King_Ulrik thought of the other day.

If you have any comments, suggections, ideas for what to add to this text, what to change, any questions, or just about anything except ridicolous hatemail, be sure to drop me a message either by EMail to RKristensen@hotmail.com or by PM in the Librarium-Online Forum =) .

DISCLAIMER: I do not in any way try to take credit for strats or such in this text. I have picked things up here and there. Thanks to all my opponents through the time who have taught me a lesson or two, and Asmodeus for the MSU/MSE tactic thingie. He linked me to a Dark Elf page (Ulthuan.net) which talked about it.

BY SLAI

Points versus effeciency

Obviously, you can’t use terminators in a 250 pt game, but who would want to? Terminators cost a lot of points, often taking over 250 in a Space Marine list, but here’s how you should really look at it. To kit out a sergeant to be like a terminator, including
terminator armour, storm bolter, and a powerfist, it would cost 60 points. 5 of them would be 300 points. You should take comfort in the fact that 5 Terminators only cost 200 points.

If you compare points vs effeciency, two Tactical squads could be made for the sole purpose of wiping them out, and then the Terminators won’t live up to their points potential. In a 500 pt game, that’s half of your force gone, putting you in a rediculous
state to fight back.

The verdict: Terminators use up a lot of points, so it is imperative that you make them get every single point back, and make sure they aren’t the core of your army.

The Stats

We’ll start with the first thing you see when you look at the entry in Codex: Space Marines. The main differences between these and those of a Space Marine are the Ld, Attacks, and armour save. Models with terminator armour automatically get +1 attack and Ld, as with terminator honours. The big thing, though, is that remarkable armour save and the free invulnerable save that comes with it.

Terminators are the calcium of your army list diet. Yes, 5/6 of the wounds suffered will be saved. The chance of surviving an AP 1 or 2 weapon, however, is only 1/3. Therefore, it is very important to keep your defenders of the imperium out of harm’s way.
This is described later in the mobility section.

The biggest threat to Terminators in the shooting phase is getting hit with lots of small arm’s fire, and requiring 2+ on 30 dice isn’t all that nice. If you field these guys, rest assured your opponent will pour a huge amount of fire into this squad. Therefore,
against armies like Tau, Imperial Guard, and Necrons, where it isn’t uncommon to be hit with twenty shots, Terminators are most effective where the opponent rolls the least dice: Close Combat. More on that later.

The +1 attack is handy, especially since the storm bolter is 2-handed, denying an extra attack from having 2 weapons.

The +1 Ld is definitely useful, since you will generally be fielding these guys in relatively small numbers. In a 5-man squad, only 3 kills are required to lose -1 to the Ld when checking for morale.

Squad Size

Obviously, you don’t want a ten man squad in a 1,500 pt game. Usually, terminators are effective at squad sizes of five, since they have good protection, and five is the minimal you can have anyway (except with Command squads). If you have more than five, the squad will become a large target for AP 2 weapons. Five is the best amount because it keeps them as small a target as possible. If you Take a Land Raider Crusader, you could take eight, and have the same protection that five would get from a regular Land Raider, but It becomes a much bigger target.

Movement

Terminators, like all other basic Space Marine Troops, can only move 6” a turn. Let’s say you are playing a 6-turn game, and the enemy is 36” away. You wouldn’t get in combat for at least 5 turns. That being said, if your goal is combat, use the two alternative modes of transportation (actually 3).

1) Land Raider or Land Raider Crusader. These are generally saved for games over 2,000 pts. They have the best AV available for vehicles. They can go up to 18” a turn (given that there are some roads), and the nastiest thing they have is the ability to spit troops straight into combat.

Regular Land Raiders have TL lascannons and heavy bolters. If they move 6”, they can shoot one TLLC and the heavy bolters, plus the other TLLC with the machine spirit. This can be useful if you plan to dump out the Terminators near a vehicle with a blast weapon of AP 2 like a Vindicator and its demolisher, which the lascannons will make short work of. Yeah, people say that a Predator Annihilator with lascannons is better for less points, but they forget that a Predator will normally have to move in order to get a sight on a target, making the side sponsons useless. With power of the machine spirit, 2 lascannons can be fired.

The Land Raider Crusader offers assault cannons, hurricane bolters, and a Multimelta. This vehicle has a good balance of weapons, combining antitank (melta) and anti-infantry (Assault cannons and hurricane bolters). It also lets a unit that charges out have free frag grenades, and can carry 3 more Terminators than a regular Land Raider.

Both vehicles will be top priorities for the opponent to destroy, so position them away from S9 or higher weapons. Necrons and Eldar have a few tricks up their sleeves to destroy these vehicles, such as gauss weapons and bright lances. It is imperative to avoid such things. Monstrous creatures pose a major threat when charging vehicles, so back off and shoot away.

2) Deep Strike. The best way of getting up close and personal. Also the most dangerous. If you get too close to the enemy, you can say good-bye to 250+ points that have amounted to nothing, other than target practice for the bad guys.

If you Deep Strike Terminators, be cautious of where your opponents’ weapons are. The best weapon against deep striking terminators is a plasma cannon, which can annihilate a squad just like that. Keep away from AP 2 or 1 weapons, especially if they are template weapons.

Don’t get too close to impassible terrain or enemy soldiers. If you come within 1”, you’re dead. It also stinks to be in the range of thirty bolters.

Don’t be too far away, either. It’s even worse if you end up 24” away from the bad guys. It gives the bad guys plenty of time to get themselves in a perfect shooting position.

The solution: When you roll 2D6, the average roll is 7. Therefore, it is a good rule of thumb to keep about 8” away. At most, it will take them 2 turns to get into combat, and the chances of hem running into the bad guys is slim. The other solution, and now the
much more effective one, is to use the third mode of Transportation.

3) Drop Pods. Essentially the same as #2, except that you arrive with a vehicle that can have a 5” blast weapon, and you can’t get wiped out for landing on the enemy (you move the minimum necessary to get them out of harm’s way). This only costs 2-Space-
Marines-worth of points, and guarantees safety upon landing. It is an excellent choice, and give the opponent two units amongst their own to worry about.

Teleport homers are a popular way of teleporting Terminators. It lets Terminators that deep strike near a model with a teleport homer stay where they are without scattering. This is a potentially lifesaving device for our heavily armoured friends, and offers
the same safety as a drop pod. The only problem is getting the model with the teleport homer close enough to be effective. A popular tactic is using scouts to infiltrate and give the Terminators a good position to go to. Another issue is if the model with
the teleport homer is killed. An excellent tactic is getting the scouts into combat, and teleporting the Terminators right behind them, using the combat as cover from shooting attacks. Another tactic is turbo-boosting bikes right up where you want the
Terminators to go, giving the enemy another big target to worry about, and making them take a morale check in order to to shoot past the bikers. Both methods are equally useful, but if you are trying to save points, scouts equipped for combat are the way to go.

Foot slogging (a term for moving on foot with no transportation) is not encouraged, since you will probably be shot at long before you have the opportunity to fire. However, Terminators can move and fire heavy weapons, so if you equip them with Cyclones, they have a 54” shooting range in the turn they move, maximizing their usefulness in the shooting phase. Furthermore, giving them the Tank hunters skill gives them an extra edge against vehicles.

Shooting

Don’t let the Terminator’s great close combat ability become more important than shooting. Terminators are some of the best shooting units we have. The next thing to be discussed will be the effectiveness of weapons used by the Terminators. Note that you can have two of these, doubling the Terminators’ effectiveness in the shooting phase.

Heavy Flamer. Probably the most useless weapon for Terminators. Worthless unless they pop out of a vehicle, or against enemies that don’t move much, such as Necrons or Tau. Do NOT use them against Tyranids. Most Tyranids have leaping fleet, so at most,
you will use the Heavy Flamers once (if you’re playing against an inexperienced general) before you are charged. Read the flamer tactica “To Flame or not to Flame.” The template is only 8” long. If you are going against something like Tyranids (which can Assault up to 18” a turn), it isn’t likely that you will use it more than once. The Storm Bolter, with a better range, ensures that you can hit something.

Assault Cannons. An amazing weapon, spitting out 4 rending shots. Excellent against anything; rending makes it possible to blow up a Land Raider or wipe out enemy models with good armour saves. Excellent deep strike weapon. Don’t forget that Terminators
can move, shoot heavy weapons, and still assault. Also excellent against models with a 4+ armour save (Karskins, Tau). And, with a Strength of 6, you can insta-kill Toughness 3 models (Scarabs, Imperial Guard).

Cyclone Missile Launchers. Better than they seem, since you can move and still shoot them 48”. If you are going against an army that stays back to shoot (Dark Angels, Tau) and deep strike isn’t an option, this is an important weapon, so that you can use it
every turn (assault cannons are only 24”). Also doesn’t replace the storm bolter like the Assault cannon and heavy flamer do, so with five Terminators and two cyclones, you still get ten storm bolter shots plus the two cyclones.

Note: In the new Space Marines codex, you do not lose the powerfist when you get a cyclone. In 3rd Ed, you lost the powerfist ability for a targeter, but this is not so with the new Terminators. It is a good Idea to use the extra chainfists that came with the
new Terminators to replace the targeter on metal models, to avoid confusion amongst opponents. If you don’t want chainfists, you can just cut off and smooth down the chain part. Also note that you lose the storm bolter when you get an assault cannon or
heavy flamer.

Storm Bolter. Not much different from a Bolter, except that you can shoot them twice up to 24” and assault. If you move, they have an effective range of a Tau Pulse Rifle, except that they can shoot twice. Note, however, that it is not a single-handed weapon, so you do not get an extra attack in close combat.

Assault

Terminators can be completely devastating in close combat. However, they can also be obliterated before they get the chance to hit. At initiative 1, they are slow. They will therefore hit last against almost everything.

A good advantage is the 2+ armour save. They will shrug off most of the attacks that hit them. Not to mention, the average strength (3) needs a 5+ to wound them in combat. This gives good survivability until they can hit with their powerfists. Despite a great armour save, there are many things that can obliterate them. Your biggest fear should be power weapons and heavy close combat weapons.

Power weapons deny you of your 2+ save, forcing you to use an unreliable 5+ invulnerable save. Imagine your five Terminators get charged by ten Howling Banshees and an exarch. All of the Howling banshee attacks go before yours. You get hit with 34 S3 power weapon attacks. 18 of them will hit, and about 6 will wound. With your measly 5+ invulnerable save, 4 are still killed. Your one remaining Terminator will kill one Howling Banshee before he realizes that he is seriously outnumbered, and then he will fall back. Will he survive another turn? Unlikely. The worst part is that the Howling banshees will cost less than your terminators.

Heavy Close combat weapons force you to roll a 4+ instead of that wonderful 2+. half of your saves will fail. Orks and Khorne are the main bad guys with these.

Aside from the above two examples, Terminators will annihilate pretty much everything. Imagine 5 Terminators charging a unit of 12 Fire Warriors. With 15 attacks on the charge, ten Tau would die. The remaining 5 would flee, but would be caught and destroyed.

Terminators can also be great against multi-wound models. In a combat against Scarabs or Crisis suits, a single round of combat is all that’s needed to wipe out the opposition.

A minor drawback is that the sergeant is armed with a power sword. He is therefore worth less than the others. You could give him a powerfist from the Space Marine armoury, but for the same cost, you could have another space marine.

If you are fighting someone like orks, whose heavy close combat weapons force you to roll a 4+, you could choose to not use powerfists against them.

If the Orks went first, which they would, because you are using powerfists, you would probably die. However, you could choose to fight like a normal model would, without the powerfists. Therefore, you would go first, fighting with strength 4 with armour saves
allowed. Since you are fighting Orks, their 6+ armour save is already terrible, so the only drawback is that you wound on a 4+, and they have a 1 in 6 chance of saving it.

Nevertheless, if you are fighting Orks, i is best to stay back and shoot with weapons such as Assault cannons and Cyclones (frag missiles deny their armour save).

Terminator Variants

Command Squad. Basically the same as a regular Terminator squad, with the exception that you can have only 4 Terminators if you want, and Characters are attached to it. It also doesn’t take up space on the Force Organization Chart. An advantage is that
when determining casualties in combat, the Independent character counts as a separate unit. Therefore, if you had to check their morale (say the IC dies), and you only had 4, you would have to be down to one to be below 50% of starting strength. In a 5 man
squad, if you were brought down to 2, you would still be below 50%. Has all the normal upgrades and options as a normal squad.

Terminator Squad. What we’ve been discussing this whole time.

Terminator Assault Squad. This is basically a Terminator squad suited for close combat. They have either Thunder hammers and Storm shields or Lightning Claws. The Thunder hammers are basically an advanced powerfist, and can stun vehicles, and slow
down units in their next assault. They are not much better than a regular Terminator to make up for the lack of a Storm bolter, however, so if you do choose to use them, only have about one for every four Lightning claws. The Lightning Claws, however, are
terrific. They give the model an extra attack (2 weapons) and re-roll failed dice to wound, as well as counting as a power weapon. Against models with a good armour save (Terminators, Space Marines, Necrons, Chaos Space Marines), they are deadly in close
combat, usually wiping out a squad in a single turn. A squad of eight Terminators with Lightning Claws charging out of a Land Raider Crusader could wipe out twenty Necrons in a turn, while taking no casualties in return.

The disadvantages of a Terminator Assault Squad are moving and shooting. As such, Assault Terminators have no shooting weapons of any sort. In 3rd Ed, you could mix and match storm bolters/powerfists and close combat weapons, but this is no
more in 4th Ed. Now, they have no guns of any sort, unless you attach a character (mind you, a chaplain attached to a Terminator assault squad can be nasty). Therefore, they will walk around the battlefield until they assault something.

Obviously, you could give the squad a Land Raider or LRC, but as this makes a big target, your opponent will shoot it until it blows up. A lucky ordnance hit will destroy the vehicle and the crew, wiping out 500 pts worth of models!

Deep Strike is suicide for Assault Termies, since they will be left for a turn with no defense whatsoever aside from their armour. A squad of ten Space Marines with a Plasma Cannon and Plasma gun could wipe out five Terminators in one turn.

If you choose to walk these guys up the battlefield, a good general will avoid combat with them entirely in assault.

The best way to get these guys into combat is obviously a Land Raider, but for obvious reasons, you shouldn’t include them in games of under 2,000 pts.

Skills

Terminators can take either Furious charge or Tank Hunters skill.

Furious Charge. Gives the unit a bonus in Strength and Initiative when the unit charges. Great with Assault Termies, so always give it to them. Note that Powerfists don’t get the Initiative bonus, since the Initiative reduction of Powerfists comes into effect after any bonuses like furious charge. Useful in a Command squad to give the IC an edge in combat.

Tank Hunters. Gives the unit a bonus with armour penetration rolls. Give it to Terminators with Cyclones, as it effectively turns them into Lascannons. Without the Tank Hunters, you will have a 1/6 chance of damaging a Land Raider, whereas with Tank
Hunters, it is 1/3, with a chance of penetrating. Almost useless with assault Termies, unless you choose to use Thunder hammers to destroy Tanks, but then again, a tank could easily outmaneuver by a the Terminators (12” vs 6”). Stick to the Cyclones if you
choose to use this ability.

The Deathwing

The Deathwing are the Terminators of the Dark Angels. They are all stubborn, and can be fielded as an army of nothing but Terminators, which sets them apart from other armies. They can obviously be used as Elites choices from a regular Dark Angels
list, but a pure Deathwing army is composed of nothing but Dreadnoughts, Terminators, and Land Raiders (including LRCs). All HQ characters must have Terminator Armour (duh!), and everyone is stubborn, including HQ. Deathwing armies will always be
outnumbered, even against Grey Knights. A Deathwing Terminator costs the same as a Grey Knight Terminator. It is very important, therefore, to balance out your army as best you can.

Dreadnoughts should be shooty, since with Deathwing, every single unit must kill something each turn to be effective. Every time you miss a chance to kill something, it is another chance for your opponent to kill you. Deathwing is a shooty army anyway.

Deep Strike isn’t encouraged. If you Deep Strike, the squad misses at least a turn of shooting. The more units you deep strike, the more firepower you opponent can focus on the rest of your army. However, you could Deep Strike a command squad with a
Librarian to use the Psychic Power Fear of the Darkness, which originated from the Dark Angels power, weaken resolve. This is especially excellent against Tau or other Armies which have a disadvantage with morale. Other than this deep striking squad, stick to Cyclones, whose long range guarantee for them to do something by turn 1. If you want to assault, then you have something that can shoot the whole way until you get there.

You should definitely be focused on making sure that your Terminators make up each and every single point they have taken up. Putting them in situations that passing morale checks is beneficial, however, you should avoid being seriously outnumbered in
combat.

Conclusion, how to rely on them and when.

Obviously, Terminators have it tough with maneuverability, their greatest weakness. Also, if you choose to field them, make sure you have some back up. The greatest blunder a commander can make is putting way too much points into a single unit and
having it decimated. Therefore, a Terminator squad should not be used as the core of your army (unless you are playing an all Terminator army, that is!). So use the following guidelines:

1) Keep them mobile
2) Do something with them every turn
3) Don’t foot slog
4) Don’t assault enemies with power weapons, unless you go first

I started a Wood elf team mainly for aesthetical reasons: I really loved the quality of the 2nd ed. minis sculpted by Jess Goodwin, but also because the tactics that apply to them are totally different from the ones that apply to my all time team: the Undead. It was thus a refreshing change.

Before deciding to coach them strictly from a powergaming point of view it is my opinion that you have to take a look at the context and rules of the league: Wood elves are at their best when they have time to develop, they are a long term team that can have trouble early on with so expensive players and lack of skills (basically dodge) which are a must for their gameplay.

Long term, however, they have a potential unmatched by any other races, due to both their stats, the access to agility skills & the over the top position players; even the humble elf lineman is a very flexible player with just a couple of skills…the woodies just need cash and time to reach this stage.

Based on the above, forget coaching them if you are playing in a league using Vainilla injury rules & no restrictions to fouling…your team will most probably be massacred by any competent opponents before it has time to develop. However, if the league uses advanced injury rules as Sigurd’s and has implemented some restriction to blatant fouling then you have a decent chance of keeping your expensive players alive and get them the skills they need to rule the league.

Starting Team
The context in which you are playing should be considered before deciding the starting lineup: if you are facing a team with MB in your initial game (Mummies or BGs hitting your crappy AV7!) or, even worst, you are facing Dirty Players either because you are entering a developed league or some Star Player has the skill…then maybe you should seriously consider including an apothecary in your starting team.

Otherwise, and assuming the league’s injury & fouling rules are not too harsh I would counsel starting without one as you will be going through a lot of trade-offs to create your team.

In My Opinion (IMO), 2 rerolls are a must in a starting elf team because you are going to make a lot of dodge rolls to keep your players alive without skills to back them up. I do not like starting teams with low FF either as it’s the only thing you cannot buy later on (and helps winning games to boot!)…these two facts do not leave room for much considering that the basic lineman costs 70k.

Following the above I would recommend the following starting team:

• 10 lineelves 700k
• 1 wardancer 120k
• 8 ff 80k
• 2 rr 100k

If you want to make room for an apothecary you will have to sacrifice some of the above, either the WD, the FF or 1 RR.

Normal BGs Treemen are not recommended in the starting lineup as they are too unreliable with the Take Root skill, and Star Players are too expensive to be afforded so early.

The good thing about having so many Linelves early on is that they will gain the MVPs and develop without falling behind the more skilled position players, they are also easier to replace if the worst happens and you lose one or more players in the initial games.

Buys after the first game should be:

1.-The apothecary if you do not have him already.
2.-Whatever your money can afford: the 2nd WD, a Treeman or a Catcher
3.-Consider a wizard as soon as you be confident that you can field a decent team even after suffering a couple of casualties. If you use the Compendium racial wizards get yours even earlier as he will keep your players alive.
4.-Keep filling up the 16 slots after having all the above, Get Deeproot Strngbranch if your league allows him, he rocks. Get also a re-roll here and there, if possible through Extra Training.

Choosing Skills
Catchers
You have access to the 2nd best catcher in the game (the Gutter Runner is slightly better because of mutations), so use him to his full extent.

There are many development paths you can follow here, I would counsel against trying to turn all your catchers into one turners, as you would miss a lot of the potential they have if you do not get the right rolls (so, no choosing of Sprint always as 1st skill IMO).

If you get +1MA early on (1/12 chance) the development path is obvious: Sprint & Sure feet next and you will be able to score in 1 turn with your 10+3 squares MA…if the player develops further get things like Leap, Stand Firm…that allow him to be better at getting through the defenses.

Use this guy to score at the *end* of the half, not at the beginning of it…you do not want to allow your opponent a whole half of hitting your elves and scoring on turn 8.

+1AG-> Leap first, then Stand firm on doubles and things like Block to increase his survivability of Sure Feet to increase his range.

+1ST-> turn him into a ball retriever with Block & Strip ball…you can also develop this type of player with Dauntless instead of the +1St.

Sprint in one of the catchers is good though, he allows you to score in one turn if Quick Snap is rolled in the kick-off table (a lot of “ifs” in this…but it happens now and then: chance to roll 8 on 2d6 is 5/36, not too bad). If you enjoy a passing game maybe you should consider skills as Diving Catch or Nerves of Steel…these are not my priorities though.

Right Stuff can be good too to develop a catcher throwing game…AG4 and 9MA certainly help in this (Vanilla rules allow this tactic for elves, house rules might not or might penalize it with extra bands), other skills good for this guy are Sure Feet/Sure Hands/Pro.

Wardancers
Best rookie players in the game, even better than many experienced players, so use them wisely and keep them safe.

These guys should be your ball retrievers in defence, keep them behind the lines until a gap shows and then run them through and sack the ball carrier or take advantage of turnovers, in offence they are your last bullet for desperate situations.

A must have skill for a WD is Strip Ball, get it to them earliest.

On doubles I would go for Stand Firm to dodge in & out without fearing those double ones, then either Dauntless (if league allows Big Guys or Star Players) or Sure Feet to increase range.

Mighty Blow might be good if you want to turn your WD into a hitter, then go with skills like Pro/Dauntless or Tackle.

+1ST or +1AG are a gift from the Gods in a WD, you might want coupling a +1ST with Diving Tackle or Frenzy, while the +1Ag works wonders with the skills he already has as rookie, and with Stand Firm. +1MA is not so good here, so if it is 5+5 I might get the double.

Basically, almost any skill is good on a WD as he already has the basic ones, just try to choose skills that work in combo and maximize each other.

LineElves
They should definitely get Dodge as first skill, then Block for the combo. On doubles get them Guard as they will be the ones holding the line and need as much help as they can get…I’m not a big fan of Jump up for low armour guys as most of the times they will either be face down or fouled out, if their 3rd skill is not a double get them Side Step.

Anyone that gets +1AG should go the Leap,Dodge & Block route (maybe in different order). Anyone that gets +1ST should consider either the Dodge+Block combo or Block+Diving Tackle or Block+Frenzy…all of them good.

+1MA is the worst roll for these guys, as it means delaying any combos.

Dodge versus Diving Tackle: I prefer Diving Tackle on players with high ST (so they can get 2 dice their choice) or with a lot of skills that work in combo with it (Block, Dauntless, Pro &/or Mighty Blow)…otherwise I think Dodge is a better skill (even more if the player has AG4).

You need a player with Kick soonest (maybe a catcher with defensive skills), otherwise a linelf…you might need a Dirty Player early on too (depending on the league) and a another one with Leader.

Throwers
Only 1 skill for a whole extra 20k is not great value for money, and I’m not a big fan of risky passing. Plain elves are good enough at quick passes without help from skills, so I would go for a very conservative route with these guys. I would get them late in development and turn one into a runner (Dodge,Block,Sure Hands/Dump-off) and the other into a long range thrower (Accurate,Strong Arm & either Sure Hands/Sure Feet/Safe Pass or Dodge).

Treemen
If your league allows rookie Treemen, first thing to keep in mind is that they are sloooow to develop with their negative skill, so do not plan on getting more than 2-3 skills at most unless you join a league that will stretch for very long. There are a lot of house rules regarding Big Guys (negative skills or not, MB or not, access to +1ST on doubles or access to agility skills on doubles…), so trying to summarize:

* Remove any negative skill soonest, you want your tree on the pitch. Consider getting him MB if he doesn’t have it: the Treeman needs all its help to get SP points.

* Get him Block soonest, same reasons as with MB and also keeps him on his feet.

Other skills to consider are Throw Team Mate (to couple with Catcher with Right stuff) & Multiple Block (can hit 2 opponents with 2 dice with just one assist). Guard would be sweet too but he probably won’t get that far.

+1ST is great, +1AG sucks, +1MA has mixed feelings for me (IMO this would *not* allow him to get up without rolling, as the restriction is a racial one, but this is open to discussion [check your local league ruling on this] ).

If you can get agility skills on doubles Jump up would be great to get rid of the “get up” roll, and it works in combo with Stand Firm & AV10 too.

Tactics on defense
This is where Elves have to win the game in my opinion, having a great offense will only help you tie games at best unless you have a one turner machine…you have to score when the opponent receives to win.

How do you do that?: get groups of players deep into the opponent’s half, try to hit the ball carrier soonest, before any cage is created. take advantage of the Kick skill to place the ball deep by the wide zones against slow teams, maybe in the wide zones near the scrimmage line if you have a turnover causing card or your opponent’s setup is too unbalanced to the other side.

Cause turnovers with cards & wizards and use your speed to pick up the ball and take it far from any opposing players.

Use those wardancers with Strip Ball.

Take advantage of Blitz rolls on the kick-off table and of your opponent’s fumbles…you must be ready for the opportunity and grab it when it shows, and that requires some planning ahead.

I have used TTM defensively after rolling blitz on the kick-off table to throw a Catcher and get the ball before my opponent even started moving (we play Place ball, roll on table, scatter ball, move…others do it different so you should check with your League Commish regarding this). This tactic needs a certain kick-off setup as you need the Treeman & the Catcher starting one by each other’s side or the Catcher wouldn’t be able to move after being thrown. I used the following setup at the time:

….|..LLL..|….

..L.|L..T..L|.L..

….|W..C..W|….

L: Linelves

W: Wardancers

T: Treeman with TTM

C: Catcher with Right Stuff

|: Wide Zone Lines

Note also from the setup that all position players are more or less protected and cannot be blitzed on the first turn, also only 3 sacrificial lambs in the line. You might wish to set the players 1 additional square back to protect against Quick Snap.

If you do not succeed at robbing the ball early on and your opponent forms a cage then you must start falling back, dodge your players 1 square away and keep the pressure on, use your speed to isolate and surround a player here and there and try to block/foul him out. Keep one player as a scoring threat in case you manage to get the ball and, generally speaking, try to minimize the damage your team suffers while you wait for your opponent to fumble a roll…do not leap your WDs blindly into the cage as that would probably just end getting them injured and not being on the pitch when their opportunity shows: Either get the ball quickly or be patient if chances are not good yet.

Tactics on offense
Wood Elves are the team better suited for offence, and you shouldn’t have much trouble with this part. You can play a passing game even without using position players, or you can play a running game using your speed…you should be able to mislead your opponent by dancing from left to right at will…he will not be able to match your speed.

Two points worth noting though:

* Beware of cards & wizards: Even if your opponent’s players are too unskilled to stop yours he might have something in his sleeve that might screw you…so try not to run a player with the ball solo through the opponent’s half if you can avoid it…keep someone nearby in reserve whenever possible.

* Timing: even if you can score in two turns you must decide if you really want to; do you want to leave your opponent 7 turns to equalize? maybe you should hold the ball a couple more turns…this is something you must ask yourself in each game, sometimes it will pay to score quick (maybe you have cards to rob the ball and score again), others it will be better to leave the other coach less time.

A note on gaining experience: If you have time, re-rolls and are not hard pressed in offence – just do a quick pass here and there in a safe pocket: basically every player should get 1 SPP just in case he gets awarded a MVP…of course every player that gets a MVP later on should be the one picking the ball next game and passing it to get a skill. Just do not overstretch this and take unnecessary risks.

As mentioned before, if you have a Catcher with Sprint and there’s only 1-2 turns left just set him in the line by the wide zones just in case you roll Quick Snap.

Apart from the above example & the MA10 & Sprint one turner, there’s a 3rd way for woodies to score in one turn by using TTM, the procedure is more or less the following:

Set the Treeman & catcher as far forward as possible without putting them in opposing players tackle zones (all those -1 add and might make the tree fumble the throw). Set your fast players spread out.

You need to throw the catcher before he gets the ball, because otherwise the failed pass (and it will be most probably a failed pass with the Treeman’s AG1) would cause a turnover if the Catcher had the ball.

So, you throw the catcher to a more or less safe spot nearby taking into account possible scatter (have a re-roll ready for the possible fumble), catcher needs to land on his feet (AG4 means 3+ to land on failed pass, 2+ if the treeman rolls a 6), after this the Treeman has taken his action, but not the catcher…you now need to get the ball and hand it to him (you have already used your pass action for the turn)…then it’s just time for the Catcher to run and score. As you can see, many rolls which can fall, but it can be done…the more skills you have to minimize chances of failure, the better.

I think it’s worth mentioning again that all these one turn scoring tactics only pay at turn 7-8 of the half…if you score in one turn in turn one your opponent will only say “Thank you, please set up your guys so that I beat them for the rest of the game”…. a game that you might end up losing 1-2.

Cards, Cards, Cards
Always get 1 Magic Item, you need those Healing Scrolls & magic helmets more than anyone else.

Apart from that, Random Events early on, and Dirty Tricks if money ever stops being a problem…you will need the cards which cause turnovers.

Wood Elves compared to other elves
You might ask yourself: I want to coach an Elven team, but which one?

If that is your case, maybe the following can help you:

Wood Elves are the finest of the finesse teams, they take all Elven advantages & disadvantages to the fullest, so they are the more skilled, but also the more frail & expensive.

In My Opinion Wood Elf position players are better than their counterparts, but the Lineelves are weaker. Why? you might ask. Because a lineman’s first task is to hold the line and take a beating, and AV8 is much, much better than AV7 for that. The extra MA woodies have doesn’t pay for that disadvantage.

So, if you plan on playing fancy Elf play to its fullest, go for Woodies…otherwise maybe you should consider a more solid bet by going Highs or Darkies.

Wood Elf Star players are also better than their counterparts in Vainilla BB, that should also be considered in leagues that use them…finally, if your league uses very restrictive Injury as fouling rules (as “Naturals” & IGMEOY) there’s no team better suited for this context than Wood Elves, as number of deaths will be minimum (IMO, they are even unbalanced in this situation…they just have too much more potential than anyone else).

Hope this guide will be helpful to anyone that took the pain to read it.

Good dicing,
Pepe

When you add Enhance to the warlock group, you get a squad with a 4 weapon skill and a 5 initive and 3 attacks when charging. That is not a bad unit at all.

One nice advantage of the storm guardian squad is that they can take full advantage of the ‘fleet of foot’ rule, which limits their defender counterparts.

The Size Matters

There are two approaches to take, and each is valad.

When working with a squad like this, you want to go for as big of a squad as possible. The reason is becuase you want the squad to have as much of a chacne to get into hand to hand with the enemy as possible.

A large horde of storm guardians will also increase your numerical number over the opponet, and decrease the chances of fleeing. In summary, its not a bad idea to get a 20 strong soul squad of these soldiers.

There is another solid arguement to run with 7 soul squads. This would include 6 guardians and one warlock. This gives a number of advantages.

Seven is a magic number for break purposes. As a squad must be below 50 percent, that means your squad must lose 4 people before its under the 50 percnet mark.
While this is easy to do because there are only 4 members in the squad, it actually does not have to worry about the 50 percent rule until it is at 3/7 (43%) size.
This is a small advantage, but one worth noting.

This means that 2 our of sevin people in your squad will be equipped with flamers. This gives a large number of flamers to the table. As the flamer guardians and the warlock will be the last to die, it means that you will have a pretty sure chance of getting the flamers to the battle.

Alternativly, 2 of the seven people can have fusion guns. While they are not as powerful as fire dragons, they are much cheaper. Also, your opponet is not likely to worry about a little storm guardian until it lands on his lap with a fusion gun blasting.

The final advantage of the small squad is it means you can have more warlocks per guardian. While warlocks can be expensive, they are a great troop to have, and with a witchblade can prove quite an asset when tearing apart troops or tanks.

The Purpose

There are many different ways to have this squad fit into your army.

The first solution is to have a horde of guardians soak up some hits from your enemy. This allows for you to form a mass of 21 troops which march down the center of the board.

If you have 2 or 3 of these units, you can easily make a Tyranid player blanche when he sees a horse of 63 screaming bloodthirsty guardians ready to charge at the enemy.
If you add one wraithlord per unit and place the avatar at the center of the mass, you can have a mass of hand to hand destruction on your hands.

You can use the small squads in one of two ways.
You can make them small tank killers. Add haywire gernades and two fusion guns, and suddenly you have a squad that can take down tanks just like a fire dragon.

You can make them flamer heavy, which will make a sister of battle army gasp in astonishment at how many flamer templates you can put on the board. Have your warlock use Destructor, which has the same exact stats as a heavy flamer. Five of these squads gives you 35 souls on the board with 10 flamers and five heavy flamers (destructor).
This, combined with fleet of foot, gives you a lot of flaming firepower.

Remember, flamers work wonderfully aginst tyranids and orks, but have a lesser effect on hard targets such as space marines.

The Eqipment Choices

The gear you give your squad depends on what duty you wish for them to fill.

The fact that they get both plasma and krak gernades for only two points a model is worth noting.
While a krak gernade is only a 6str hit vs a vehicle, a large number of them can cause some serious trouble to a vehicle.
As an added bonus, it means the models can also ignore cover.

Haywire gernades are just rude. They take down vehicles like its nobodys buisness and they can reduce any vehicle to rubble in nearly no time at all. Melta bombs have a better chance of getting a penetrating hit on most things, but haywire gernades are still a great thing.

For two points a model you can have smoke gernades. (as per Chapter Approved) This can give your models the moment of cover they need to help advance to the enemey. Is this worth the horde of points that it costs you? Maybe. If you have that 60 troop stong force, it may be worth 120 points to give them cover for a turn, but you need to realise how much that cover is. I personally do not think that its worth it. Basically what you are buying here is an insurance plan that gives you 1/3 more survivability for one turn at the cost of 2 points a model. When your models are only worth 8 points in the first place, that insurance policy becomes questionable.

The Warlock

As stated earlier, there are two pathes to go here. The first solution is to go with enchance, and this greatly improves the hand to hand abilities of the unit, including the warlock himself.

This gives your warlock a weapon skill of a five, putting him on par with an exarch.

You can also go with the destructor option, which gives you a large number of heavy flamers on the board. The cost for this ability, conviently enough, is excally the same as a heavy flamer.

Quick Numbers

7 Soul Flamer Squad (82 points)
===================
4 Guardians with Shuriken Pistol and Close Combat Weapon
2 Guardians with Flamer
1 Warlock with Shuriken Pistol, Close Combat Weapon, and Destructor

7 Soul Tank-Killer Squad (101 points)
===================
4 Guardians with Shuriken Pistol, Close Combat Weapon and Haywire Gernades 2 Guardians with Fusion Gun and Hawyire Gernades 1 Warlock with Shuriken Pistol, Witchblade

21 Soul Zergling Squad (208 points)
===================
18 Guardians with Shuriken Pistol and Close Combat Weapon
2 Guardians with Flamer
1 Warlock with Shuriken Pistol, Witchblade, and Enhance