Rough riders!

Finally, after  a long break, we finally have our horses back!

Rough riders are an iconic unit and the new versions are faithful but sensible updates to the old units. They have kept the horses which was a bit of a worry for me, rough riders without horses would have been good but these look great and I definitely plan on getting a couple of boxes worth. As with most of the new boxsets, they have got a few new options. 

The new unit comes with 3 new Lance's, the two listed above, the classic frag tip and the new melta tip, but also the Goad tip. The main difference is that the frag and melta tip are interchangeable but the goad tip is a separate weapons profile that can be taken once for every 5 riders. The goad tip is a melee weapon with S+2 -3ap D2, but it does also have a ability that does a mortal wound for every attack you allocate to a vehicle. This means you should be able to do some major damage to vehicles when combined with melta tips on the other 4. There is also the option for a power sabre on the Sgt, which is basically a power sword by a different name (melee, S+1 -3ap D2 +1 extra attack)

In addition all the guys also have lasguns and apparently laspistols, which is a nice little bonus. Also, there are some additional rules, such as ignoring modifiers to moving, advancing and charging plus, if you do charge you gain +2 strength in addition to the Lance's bonus (for a possible +4 strength or S8)

The units stats are alright, with a slightly enhanced guard stat line, with S4 and T4 and a 4+Sv. A 12 inch move is also useful, giving quite a threat range. The only downsides to me are the fact that they only have 2 attacks and 2 wounds each. I would have like to have seen at least 1 more of each. I would have liked to have seen some attacks for the horses and maybe we will, as most other mounted units get some sort of attacks from the mounts.

The unit also has the Platoon and Core keywords, meaning they can receive orders and other bonuses such as rerolls. 

Points wise, I'm still a little unsure, the list I've seen says 20 points but I'm not sure if that right. I'm assuming it's talking each model, so between 100 and 200 points. I think this sounds about right but I'm no expert. 

All in all I'm very excited for the new rough rider and will definitely be getting a couple of boxes.

Guard leaks - Rogal Dorn

So I've run through all the leaks from the other week, apart from the new Rogal Dorn tank. This is a new heavy tank that sits between the Leman Russ and Baneblade, because what we really need was a new heavy tank, rather than some other fast attack options, such as the Tauros or Centaur.

The tank itself is a bit of a beast, with 17 wounds, t9 and a 2+ save, compared to the LRBT's 13 wounds and t8, although both have the turret special rule. Although this model can be equipped with the armoured tracks upgrade which gives ive you a +1 to your armour save against D1 weapons. I don't know if we will retain Armour of Contempt or not but I think armoured tracks is almost a must have. 

It apparently come with a twin battle cannon, castigator Gatling cannon and a heavy stubbed. It can also take sponsors, either heavy bolters or multimeltas and two additional heavy stubbers or melta guns.

If you want a bit more bang, bang you can switch out the battle cannon for a Oppressor cannon and cohax autocannon and the Gatling cannon for a pulveriser cannon, both of which have lass shots but more strength and ap. 

And you can field all this for a base coat of 250 points (LRBT's are a base 140), more with the sponsons, extra weapons and upgrades to the the main weapons. 

Now I'm not going to go into a side by side comparison of the LRBT and Rogal Dorn (RDBT I guess) but I will take a quick look at the weapons profiles. The default load of twin battle cannons is not quite a double of the LRBT's battle cannon, with 2d6 shots to 1d6+3 and ap-3 to ap-2 respectively, but it is still a good gun, 3specially when backed up by the Gatling cannon with 12 shots at ap-1. You can upgrade the battle cannon to a Oppressor cannon dropping to 1d6+3 shots but gaining 2 strength, -1 ap and 1 more damage. Similarly the Gatling cannon can be upgraded to a pulveriser cannon, which is basically a d6 shot battle cannon. Personally from what I have seen so far, I would either keep it standard or upgrade the Gatling cannon to a pulveriser cannon, slap on some heavy bolters and call it done. If you have extra points then more stubbers would work but the meltaguns really are too short a range for this tank. 

I still don't know if I will get one of these or not. While I think it might be fun to, with 4 LRBT's and a Hellhammer, I just don't have need for any and I would much rather spend my money on the new Field Ordinance Battery. 

Guard leaks - additional information

So having looked over various parts of the codex there are a number of other rules bits that have been leaked as well. These don't fit into any specific area so they are lumped together here. 

Hammer for the emperor stays but possibly has a new name, in addition adds the ability for units to use an officer's leadership if within 6" or 12" with a vox. There still seems to be some debate about whether you retain HotE if you take a regimental doctrine. For some.of the other rules I've seen then I suspect that you will. This could be one of the key choices when constructing your army.

The new Chain of command rules mean you must select an officer to be your warlord if your army includes one, in addition you can only have 1 castellan in each detachment and he must be your warlord. You can also have one of the new Lord Solar units and he must be your Warlord if you do. This is now pretty standard and also goes along with the way guard armies are fielded. 

Command squads are also back and you can now attach people to them like in the old codices. Each squad contains an officer and 4 guardsmen and you can add an officer of fleet, Master of Ordinance or an astropath. All but the officer apparently have just 1 wound. You can also attach an Ogryn body guard which has the “big rule”, this means that if you attach one, and the unit is targeted, you use his toughness etc.

One last bit of information about officers and orders, is that they will still spread out in the same way as they do now.

Other changes mean that Scions are now elites. However if you bring a full Scion detachment they may be taken as troops. There is also something about other keywords being added, but as yet we don't know what these are. There is another way of getting scions as troops and that's by taking  the Lord Solar as your warlord. There is some downsides to taking a pure Scion detachment as well, apparently if you do you loose a lot of the abilities and it makes about a quarter of the codex unusable. I honestly don't know what this means, as if you took scions on their own now, you loose a lot of units as well, so it seems, if you only loose 25% of the codex, you might actually be gaining units your can use. Hopefully it will make more sense when we see the full rules. 

Platoons are back, just in a very different way (not lik in 2nd or 3rd edition). It seems to be a Special Detachment rule, likened to the dark eldar real space raider detachment and there is a new platoon keyword that enables this.

There are a few changes and additions to various units in the new book. The one we all know about is that Cadian shock troops can carry two special weapons but are not allowed to take heavy weapons. It is also rumoured that Catachan can only take flamers. However the rumour states that for every 5 models you can take a flamer. So does this mean that you can take a squad of 5 or that you can take more than 10? Or is it just a wording issue that means you can take up to 2 flamers. DKoK also get an infantry squad, which come.with a plasma and can have up to 2 more special weapons plus a medic for ignoring the first damage a turn. The last bit about squads is that sniper rifles are now Tanith only. This seems a little strange as Tanith only have Gaunts Ghosts and as there doesn't seem to be an option for named regiments, I'm not sure how this will work.

Artillery finally seem to be the death dealing machines they should be as they apparently will dish out mortal wounds for hits. How many mortal wounds is unknown but hopefully it'll be more than 1!

There are a few now models, such as the new Castellan and Lord Solar. The new Lord Solar is apparently a cavalry unit with a move of 12 inches and some rumours have put him as a supreme command detachment model. Most characters have been rolled in to squads but Preachers (I'm guessing Priests) and engineers (techpriests enginseers) are still independent characters and apparently have more wounds.

However, it's not all good news, there are a number of options that have been removed from the codex! To be honest I don't understand why any of them have been removed, all can be built from existing boxsets. 

Conscripts have been removed but there are conflicting rumours about white shields. Some saying that whiteshields are out and others saying they are in. Personally if white shields are in then they will be just a 10 man squad, rather than the 20 to 30 man squads were use to.

Veterans are out as well. I don't understand this at all, they are a viable unit from the current boxsets with just a few rules tweaks. However, I guess with the various options for troops, they are kinds of surplus to requirements. In addition to vets, special weapons squads are also gone. Again this is strange as with a few tweaks you could easily make this squad out of a current box, like the command squads by just dropping a lasgun and restricting weapon options. 

There are also changes to Scion squads and how special weapons work. Currently you can take 4 weapons of any type for a ten man squad but now it looks like you'll only be able to.take a max of two of the same, so no more 4 plasma squads. 

Unfortunately there are also some characters being removed. Some are understandable, such as old man Creed and Kell. Paso has also been removed, which I don't think is a good move but the one that I really think is a mistake is the removal of the old man of Hades hive, Commissar Yarrick. As Ghazghkull got a brand new plastic model, I thought that Yarrick might have got a nice new model too. If he had, it would have sold well.

I'll just leave this here, Rough riders confirmed to be back

Lastly there are a couple of vehicles rules. One piece of good news is that vehicle squadrons are still around, so we still have a little bit of wiggle room on the "rule of 3". Whether all the current squadron options remain is yet to be seen. Lastly we have lost the Grinding Advance rules but gained the Turret Waeapon rule, which applies a +1 to hit to turret weapons and enables turret weapons, including blast, to be fired out of combat. Loosing grinding advance is a shame but having a +1 to hit and the ability to fire out of combat (always a major issue for Leman Russ tanks) is a good substitute.

Guard units part 2

This post will cover the new heavy weapons teams and the new Field Ordinance Battery.

The new heavy weapons teams are pretty much the old teams with some long awaited updates both to the models and if the models are believed, rules. 

Again, these are a well done refresh, keeping all the good bits of the old models and improving on all the rest. Getting rid of the shields makes them look sleeker and moving the ammo for the bolter and power pack for the lascannon makes them feel more practical. 

The addition of vox casters and Sgt models within the box is promising, as these are two of the biggest weakness in the unit at present. Apart from these changes everything feels the same and the updated models match the rest of the new Cadian range. The only issue that might present itself is that the new teams are supposedly on 50mm bases and not the old 60mm bases. This might be a little problematic as mine are modelled for 60mm bases but i guess I could redo some of them to 50mm if needed, although with a vast number of heavy weapons teams already, I don't actually need any more so I won't have to have mixed vase sizes in units.

Next up are the first brand new unit for the guard, the Field Ordinance Battery and I am for one glad that some of the rumours tired out to be false and these are not replacements for heavy weapons teams. As for the unit itself, these are the first of the previews that I am (very) interested in. With the three weapons, the missile pods, light cannon and heavy laser there is a good choice of weapons. 

 Personally I really like all three options and depending upon price I plan on getting a couple of units. There are still a couple of big questions, points cost per unit \ model, unit size and actual cost. At the moment my Hjaltland LI run two Wyverns, the only vehicles in the list and up until now there has not been any other options for artillery support, with these units that changes. I would ideally like to have two units, one with the missile pods and one with the cannon, the anti-armour role of the heavy lascannon is already taken by the vendetta and melta vet squad (if it survives the new codex). As things stand, there are three models but you only get two models in the Cadian boxset, so I suspect that you'll get parts to make 3 guns but only 2 carriages, in each box, which is fine, as I'll just buy extra carriages from third party retailers and kit bash them. One thing I really hope is that we'll get Catachan versions as well, however, I suspect that I will not be that lucky. My only issue with the unit is the fact that it will be adding to an already congested heavy support slot.

Again, both these units are great, the heavy weapons teams are very nice updates and in many respects better models than the old versions and the Field Ordinance Batteries are a great new unit that fills a void in the current line up, a small void but a void nonetheless. 

Guard leaks - orders

 Today we're looking at orders and there have been quite a few changes here. For starters there is a whole new category of orders, commissar orders. This will change quite a bit in regards to orders and the role of officers and commissars. The full extent of this change is yet to be seen but I think we will finally see a proper place for commissars. There has also been a change in how orders are issued, while infantry orders still have a 6 inch range, vehicles orders have a 12 inch range. In addition orders are now issued in the command phase with thee only exception being if an officer disembarks from a transport, then he can issue an order as though it was the command phase.

First up the Regimental Orders

FRFSRF - Heavy 3

The classic and we'll loved Front Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire has changed, mostly for the worst. Rather than doubling shots it changes the weapon to a Heavy 3. So it's now a heavy weapon, resulting in a -1 to hit when moving. This can be mitigated a couple of ways, but this encourages you not to move, in a game where movement is key. 

Take Aim +1 to hit +1 AP

This is a mixed bag. +1 to hit is always useful and with some of the traits, could end up with 2+ bs guardsmen, which sounds nice! The ap1 is less appealing, against any marine army it's useless and against a large number of other armies it won't do much. Against some of the lower armoured enemy it could be useful, such as orks and other guard armies.

Fix Bayonets +1 to hit on Melee +1 AP

This is another mixed bag, the +1 to hit is nice, but the ap1 is not as good. However, with guard melee, it's the wounding that always the hard part as you are only rarely wounding on less than a 5. A +1 to wound would have been a lot better.

Take cover - Get light cover if already in light gain dense.

This works similarly to the old stratagem and while it might be useful it's also very speculative. You have to put this on a unit before you know it's being shot at and so your opponent can simply just switch targets. Might be useful on an objective holding unit but not a great order.

Move Move Move! +2 movement if you chose to advance auto 6 (no roll )

With this I'm assuming that the results are cumulative, meaning either an 8 inch move or 14 inch advance. Not quite as good as the old version but still a good boost to movement when you need to grab an objective or get out of trouble. 

Suppression fire - target infantry unit only. Can only target 1 unit. If 5 or more hits are scored enemy unit subtracts 1 from hit rolls until your next shooting phase.

This could be useful for reducing threats and reducing the effectiveness of an Emmy unit. Possibly not the best order to be using regularly but certainly one to keep in the back pocket for those niche times. 

So the standard orders are as usual a mixed bag. There are some standout orders that I can see being used a lot and a couple that I don't see being used very regularly but none of them are useless or unusable.

Next up we have Tank Orders. As yet I do t know whether they will be restricted to just Leman Russ and the new Rogal Dorn tanks or if they will be any vehicle like they are currently.

Pound them to dust - when using blast weapons double the amount of models on the enemy unit.

I think this will be a pop one for LRBT's, as getting those shots really counts. If they remain a d6 weapon then it will be very easy to guarantee at least 3 shots and not very difficult to get the full 6. When every shot counts, you always need to maximise your shots.

Full Throttle - add 2inch movement. Count as stationary if advanced.

This could be very useful for getting into a good firing position or getting away from the enemy. Counting as stationary after advancing is really nice, as it means you don't have to worry about any penalties for moving.

Gunners kill on sight - reroll 1’s To hit.

I think this is going to be more useful on non-tank models. If you can get this on Chimeras or sentinels then this will be useful. It will also be good on non blast equipped tanks, such as the punisher.

Blitz them!! - add +1 to charge rolls. If a charge is made roll a dice a 4+ inflicts D3 mortal wounds. (Dozer blades add +1 to “hit roll”

This might be useful when charging in a vehicle, however I think that giving it one of the other orders before charging would be far more useful than the possibility of inflicting mortal wounds.

Shock and awe - Gain objective secured

This could be very useful when your trying to snatch an objective or even contest one. This is not going to be used very often but will be very useful when the need arises.

Pinning fire - target infantry unit only. If 5 or more hits are made unit subtracts 2 from movement

This is, in my opinion, the weakest of the tank orders. To get 5 or more hits is quite an ask for most units and so will rarely happen. It might work with Chimeras if the lasgun arrays work the same way but with a battle cannon and bolter combination, guarantying 5 hits is a long shot.

S with the tank orders there are a couple of real stand outs for me and a couple of really weak options, how they fare in the overall scheme of the new codex is still unknown.

The last set of orders we have are described as prefectus or commissar orders. This means that they may well be limited to commissars and possibly Militarum Tempests units.

Forwards, for the Emperor! - When shooting,the unit counts as having Remained Stationary if it made a Normal Move or Advanced

This could be good for making quick moves or using on units with heavy weapons. 

Duty and Honour! - The unit can perform actions even if it Fell Back or Advanced, and shooting does not cause actions to fail.

This is a good order and fills a gap that the guard have been lacking. Being able to shoot and perform an action is very good.

Get Back in the Fight! - The unit can shoot or charge (but not both) in the same turn it Fell Back

This is pretty much the same as the old version and was always a useful tool for the tool box and I can't see that changing. That the order will now have to be done by a commissar actually make more sense than it did before!

At All Costs! - Unit pains Objective Secured (its models each count as 1 extra model if it already has this ability),

This could be useful when your trying to take or hold on to an objective. This is definitely going to have its uses both for objective secured units, really forcing the enemy to focus down on the unit, or by buffing back died units that aren't objective secured when they need it.

Show Them Steel, Show Them Contempt - Add 1 to the unit's Leadership, and its models can ignore mortal wounds on a 5+

This is probably one of the weaker orders. Adding a single pip of leadership to a unit won't general do much, especially as you have to do it very speculative at the beginning of your turn. The 5+ to mortal wounds is a little better and you could use this on a smite sponge to add some resilience but in general your enemy isn't going to waste to many mortal wounds on an infantry squad.

Remain Vigilant - units cannot be set up within 12*, and the unit can Hold Steady if charged (and its overwatch hits on a 5+)

This could be good for pushing back the turn 1 and 2 deepstrike shenanigans. But I don't see this being used very much. Again, if your worried about being charged then other orders would work better, such as move, move, move or for the emperor. If you put this on a unit the enemy can just ignore them. 

Overall the the commissar orders are not to bad, there are as always some good, some bad and some ok. I think there are as ever a couple that really stand out and will be used quite a lot. 

My real question here is how the interaction between the various officers and commissars orders will work. I highly doubt that you'll be able to double up on orders but will you have to do orders in a certain, well, order, say senior officers, officers then commissars or can you choo and change as you like. There is still a lot of information we don't know yet but I have no doubt that we will keep getting more and more information as we get closer to the Cadian boxset.

Guard units part 1

So here is the first of what could be many Imperial guard unit previews and today we've got a scout sentinel and the infantry squad and command squad. 

First up is the new scout sentinel. Much like the current kit the new one is a dual kit, with both the armoured and scout sentinel models. There looks to be pretty much the same options for weapons and accessories, however, it appears that the accessories will now have more function that looks. The chain sword is apparently going to be a lot more useful and the search light and smoke launchers will also grant benefits, however, it appears that you can only have one option at a time. So far I believe we have seen the autocannon, lascannon, missile launcher and flamer options, but not the multilayer, however I suspect that will still be the base option. 

As for the model itself, well, it's pretty much just an updated version of the old model, a bit bigger and chunkier but still recognisable as the sentinel. The only odd bit is the weird thing that sticks out the back. I guess it's supposed to be some.sort of stability device, but it just looks a bit weird. I do like this model, but I currently have three sentinels and don't need any more and this model doesn't offer enough different things to persuade me to buy any of them.

The new infantry squads, are like the sentinel, an update of the classic models and not some reimagining. These are some great looking sculpts, with all the hall marks of long suffering troopers. There are some hints to the new rules here as well, with the two special weapons in the squads and a Sgt with some sort of rifle, possibly an autogun. 

The sculpts are really dynamic as well and they appear to be multipart kits, which is great. 

Again though, these kits don't offer anything new for me and seeing as most of my infantry are Catachan, I don't have need for Cadian infantry. Hopefully we'll get some new Catachan infantry at some point. 

Lastly we have the command squad and again these guys look great and are very nice updates. I really like the new standard bearer and the new vox caster, or possibly master vox caster? I am also intrigued by the Sgt with the power fist. Now, you cannot take a guardsman with a power fist in a command squad but you can here. Does this mean you can now take a more combat weapons rather than just a laspistol and chain sword? I guess from the fact that it's only 5 models your not going to get options for bodyguard units like.you use to.

 I'm also looking forward to fielding full command squads again, although I will have to have a look through my armies to see what commanders will need some support. I have the same issue with this unit as all the others, I just don't need any more command squads and certainly not any Cadian command squads. 

So far all the new units have looked great and really feel like sympathetic updates to the old units. I really like all the units so far and however none of these units are units I need or require and none offer enough to make me want to buy them and add to my collection.

Guard leaks - psychic, relics and warlords

After looking at the regimental doctrines, we are looking at the psychic powers, warlord traits and then relics. We will dive in to psychic powers first:

Psychic Powers

TERRIFYING VISIONS - Malediction: warp charge 6. select one enemy unit within 18" Until the start of your next Command phase Subtract 2 from the Leadership + Your opponent cannot select that unit for the Insane Bravery Stratagem and no re-roll for Morale. Also roll 2D6 and if beat the enemy Ld they fail any actions they were doing

This could be good for removing an enemy objective secured unit from an objective with the added benefit of possibly failing an action, although on just 2d6, this is not very likely. 

GAZE OF THE EMPEROR - Witchfire: warp charge 6. select one enemy model within 12" of and visible. Draw a straight line between any part of that model's base and PsYKER's base. Roll one D6 for that enemy model's unit, and one D6 for each other unit that this line passes over: on a 1-5, the unit being rolled for suffers 1 mortal wound; on a 6, the unit being rolled for suffers D3 mortal wounds,

This might be good for dealing a few mortal wounds but really it's not going to be great, especially with just a 12 inch range. This could be useful as a last resort but not worth taking in general.

PSYCHIC BARRIER – Blessing: warp charge 6. select one friendly ASTRA MILITARUM unit within 12" of this PSYKER. models in that unit have a 5+ invulnerable save.

Like the previous incarnation this is a good power, being able to put an invulnerable save on a unit is always going to be good.

NIGHTSHROUD - Blessing: warp charge 6. select one friendly ASTRA MILITARUM unit within 12" of this PSYKER. That unit gains transhuman

Transhuman is getting to be pretty wide spread these days and while my first though was that this was pretty useless, actually I think it could be quite good, especially on infantry. Most weapons will be wounding on 3's usually, with quite a few on 2's. Bumping this up to a 4 will actually keep a few more guardsmen around, especially if you can get Psychic Barrier off as well!

MENTAL SHACKLES - Malediction: warp charge 6. select one enemy unit within 18" of this PsYKER. -2" from the Move and -2 from Advance and charge rolls

This could be quite useful when put on to a combat oriented unit, such as blade guard or wytches. Reducing the max move and charge from 18 to 14 and average from 13 to 9 is a big difference. This could be quite useful on a PSYKER your planning on pushing up the table.

PSYCHIC MAELSTROM - Witchfire: warp charge 6. roll a number of D6 equal to the result of the Psychic test. for each 5+, the closest enemy within 18" + visible suffers 1 mortal wound (max 6).

This could be very swingy, as you could do 6 mortal wounds or none. Personally I don't think it's worth taking as there are better power in this list.

So psychic power are pretty much at the same.level.they were before, there are a couple of good ones, a couple of ok ones and a couple of weaker ones, and again it's the defensive powers that look strongest.

As for warlord traits we have 6 listed and there doesn't appear to be any army specific ones, the same as for all the other things listed here. I would be surprised if we dont get some sort of army specific things for Cadian, Catachan and death corps at least. The first thing to note with the warlord traits is that if your chosen warlord does not have the officer keyword, it must take the Frontline Combatants trait.

FRONT-LINE COMBATANT - melee attack: exploding 6s and +1 to wound

I think that this is not a very useful trait. To make the most of it you need to tool the warlord up for close combat and guardsmen tend not to make very good combat monsters. Most of the time i think you'll be taking an officer anyway, so can't see this getting much use at all.

MASTER TACTICIAN – 3 unit redeploy and can go in strat reserves

This can be very useful, redeploying units can be very helpful and can really throw an opponent's plans off. Definitely a good option but is a one shot deal, meaning you don't gain anything after the pregame moves.

GRAND STRATEGIST – CP refund on a 5+ (per CP spent)

In a meta where CP's are so restrictive, getting extra CP can be very powerful. You'll get about 2 CP a game back when starting with 6 CP but you may get more or sometimes less. Very swingy but great when it works. 

SUPERIOR TACTICAL TRAINING – Select one type of order the model doesn’t know, it now knows them. E.g. officers can do commissar orders

This could be very useful now that orders seem to be split up so much (I'll go over orders in another post). This is one 9f the few that gives you guaranteed options during the whole game, as long as your warlord is alive.

OLD GRUDGES – select enemy unit pregame. Units with 6 inch of warlord have +1 to wound against that unit

Another good trait and very useful for taking down that must kill unit. However, like a lot of these traits, once that unit is dead, the usefulness of the trait disappears. Still one to consider but not the best.

LEAD BY EXAMPLE - can issue Orders to its own unit, even though you cannot normally select OFFICER.

This could be useful but a lot depends upon what the officers or command squads are capable of doing. If you can tool them up with special weapons  or if you have a specific role in mind for the squad than this could be useful, otherwise I think there may be little utility in this one.

So as usual with the various guard options, there seems a couple of good options, a couple of ok options and a couple of weaker options. Really I think that only Frontline Combatant is a really terrible option, all the others have a use, which you choose will partly depend on other rules we have yet to see. 

Lastly we have the relics, the biggest section here with a massive 8 options. Some names are familiar but most have changed how they work.

THE EMPEROR'S BENEDICTION – range 18 Pistol 3 S4 AP1 D2 Abilities: ignore the Look Out, Sir rule. unmodified wound roll of 6 does 1 mortal wound in addition

I'm guessing that this replaces a bolt pistol rather than a laspistol but even so, it's not a great option. Yes the buffs are decent but ap1 won't do much to most characters and 3 shots at D2 won't kill many even if they all hit.

TACTICAL AUTO-RELIQUARY OF TYBERIUS- issue +1 order

Extra orders are always good and with the command squads going down to just one order a turn, adding an extra order in is alway going to be useful. I can see this option being taken quite a bit.

DEATH MASK OF OLLANIUS – bearer + their unit gets a 4++

A 4+ invulnerable save is always good, especially as most characters will likely have a 5+ save and with all the ap around an invulnerable save is now even more important.

THE BARBICANT'S KEY Grand – Dark matter crystal/viel of shadows equivalent (e.g. pick up and put down same turn)

The option to move a unit around the board is very powerful, however, it seems that there is quite a bit we don't know. If this can be used on any units, then it's very good, if it's only on infantry it's not quite as good. Either way, it's a good choice.

KUROV'S AQUILA – Vect equivalent (e.g., 1 enemy strat costs 1 more CP for the game)

Again, another good relic. In a game with limited CP, upping the cost of a strat at a critical time in the game or even forcing an opponent not to use a stratagem is alway useful. 

GATEKEEPER 72” rang.: Blast. Turret Weapon. Heavy D3+6 str 9 ap-3 D3

While this looks like a good option, as we don't know the standard profile for a battle cannon, we don't know how much of an improvement it is. At a guess it will have more shots, better strength and better ap. If your going heavy on armour this could be a good option for a bit of extra fire power.

RELIC OF LOST Cadia- Cadian only. Once per battle. (Aura): CADIAN INPANTRY in range get +1 WS and BS and attacks and Ld

The first of the restricted options we've seen and while it carries a good number of bonuses, it could be very restrictive. Unless you build completely around Cadian units, this will have limited use.

ORDER OF THE BASTIUM STELLARIS – Transhuman for bearer and unit

 We have another transhuman option. This will be taken on command squads, especially if your warlord is contain within it. A good option for keeping your command squad and warlord alive.

PSY-SIGIL OF SANCTION Psyker model only know +1 power, cast +1 power

While being able to cast an addition power can be useful, guard psykers are not exactly power houses on the field. This could be useful but on the whole, I don't think this is going to be much use. 

ARMOUR OF GRAF TOSCHENKO bearer gets 2+ save and +1 wound

This relic goes up against the death mask and I would rather have a 4+ invulnerable rather than a 2+ save. The extra wound could be useful but with all the ap around I still think the death mask is a better option. 

LAURELS OF COMMAND Can issue one order (from a specific subset, not all orders) in the enemy turn. Once per game 

This could be very good or completely useless, it's very hard to know without knowing what orders are included. I suspect it's ones like fix bayonets and take cover. Hard to judge right now but I still think it will be of limited use.

As always, there are some standout options here and some not so good options. My pick here are probably the death mask and armour, but we will have to see what the rest of the rules are like before deciding.

Guard leaks - regiments

 Im a few days behind the curve on this one but I'm going to cover it anyway, as I've a few thoughts on what's been leaked. Unfortunately they are not always good thoughts! As of writing this post I haven't actually had time to listen to the video, so I'm going from the list only but even so, I'll post up several post covering the whole leak, broken down in to sections that are related, at least vaguely. First up the main army wide rules, the Regimental Doctrines.

We don't have full details of these yet just a name and brief description but it's enough to get the idea. 

1)Mech infantry - may disembark after moving.

Could be useful for full mechanised armies

2)Parade Drill - remain stationary, lasguns and hotshot lasguns become heavy 2

Maybe useful for turn 1 and 2 but after then everything is going to be in half range and your loosing movement. 

3)Cult of Sacrifice - gain "cult of sacrifice" l, +1 hit below starting strength

We don't know what "cult of sacrifice" means yet but the +1 to hit is always useful.

4)Armoured superiority- Sentinels count as 3 models for objective’s. Other tanks 5. Super heavies count as 10

It's likely we'll loose our spearhead ability, so could be useful on armoured and mechanised lists.

5)Blitz Division- costs halve PL when working what goes in reserve. Can deploy on turn 2 with the “turn 3” rules for setup

I guess this means you can put a greater percentage of your army is reserve and come on further up the board earlier, good for the "alpha" strike type armies but leaves you weak turn 1.

6)Bombadiers - if a Vox or sentinel can see a enemy unit and is within 12 from an artillery piece add +1 to hit

Should be good for artillery heavy lists, how useful artillery will be is yet to be seen but currently this wouldn't have much use.

7)Heirloom weapons +4 inch range

Extra range is always good, just depends on which weapons this affects, all weapons and it's very good, just 24" plus weapons and less useful. 16" flamers anyone?

8)Brutal Strength - moving and shooting heavy weapons no -1 hit, first turn in combat and +1 str for infantry

No negative to moving heavy weapons is good but confused by the second one, does it mean you get strike first and +1 strength or +1 strength in first round of combat? Either way, not great as guard don't like combat.

9)Grim Demonour - do negative rolls for combat attrition

Could be useful but guard tend to either not suffer enough that combat attrition is an issue or completely wiped out, might have some worth depending upon other rules.

10)Guerilla fighters - ranged attacks more than 18 inches away give infantry and sentinels soft cover

Cover is always useful and will help out early game, but late game it's probably not going to have much affect.

11)Elite shock troops - reroll one hit roll per unit

Free rerolls are always useful, again though will this affect all units or just infantry. All units will be great, just infantry is still good but possibly end up only usable by half your army.

12)Industry efficiency - treat Ap1 as AP0

Armour of contempt. If this works on everything it's will be great, even ap1 is bad for guardsmen, as with a few others, if this only works on vehicles your not making full use of the doctrine. 

13)Swift as the wind - infantry gain +1 inch movement. All others gain +2. Also add +1 to charge rolls

Great for fast moving armies, in a game where movement is key, this could be very useful.

14)Trophy hunter - attacks against monsters and vehicles get +1 str

Limited use no matter how you look at it. Also does this affect all weapons and attacks or just melee attacks? If all attacks, then it's good but if just melee, it's a bit weak.

15)Recon operators - Cavalry and sentinel units get a pre game move must end further than 9 inches away from the enemy.

This could be very useful for stopping early game assaults and things but again, your using half a your doctrines before the game and that's it. Unless your going heavy on cavalry and sentinels this isn't very useful.

So that's all the doctrines, however, these seems to be some confusion over whether you will loose Hammer of the Emperor when you choose a doctrine. If you do loose it, it makes a number of these look very weak and not worth while taking, however, if you get to keep it then there are very few weak option just very niche, like Recon Operators.

Personally there is still a lot of unknowns for me, such as whether some abilities work for every unit or only certain types, hopefully when I get around to.watching the video there will be some additional information.

Also I thought I would cover tank aces here. I don't yet know if they will operate the same way as before or if you'll be able to pay points for them. 

1)Name Unknown - SUPER-HEAVY model only. This model gains the OFFICER keyword and knows Mechanised Orders. In your Command phase, it can issue one Order, and the unit you select for that Order can be an ASTRA MILITARUM TITANIC unit.

Possibly useful if you have multiple super heavies but I think your better off with one of the other tank aces.

2)METICULOUS CALIBRATOR – Ignores Enemy Light Cover

Could be very useful for some of the weapons, such as demolisher cannons by reducing saves or even bypassing them altogether.

3)MECHANICAL PACK RAT- Transhuman on a tank

Useful for a high priority tank to keep it alive but there is very little in the game that can wound a LRBT on less than a 4.

4)VETERAN COMMANDEER - Pick a bonus regimental doctrine

This looks one of the best options, being able to give your tank an additional doctrine could be big, especially if you don't have much armour in the list.

5)KNIGHT OF PIETY - This model has a 5++ invulnerable save. Ignore mortals on a 5+,

Invulnerable saves are good, not as good as they once were but will help keep your tank alive for longer, especially against the dedicated anti-tank weapons that tend to push your saves up this high.

6)MASTER OF CAMOUFLAGE- Get light cover from ranged attacks over 12 inches away. Titanics must be 18”

Being able to get a cover save for a vehicle is good, it will help early game to keep you valuable tank alive but becomes less useful as the game goes on.

7)STEEL COMMISSAR – Gains Commissar Orders, can order ogryn.

The main question is whether it gains the rest of the commissar abilities, such as leadership and moral bonuses.

Overall, there are a number of good options here, it will mostly come.down to how they work, as they like present options as replace a warlord trait or are they a point bases upgrade.

So far I'm happy with these options, there are definitely some better than others but on the whole I'm positive about these changes 

 

Cadian boxset

 So last week we got a whole raft of Guard previews and over the next few weeks it sounds like we will be getting several more. I will cover all the previews but it may take me a while to get around to everything. First up we have the Cadian boxset. This appears to be the standard practice for GW these days, a big release box with some shiny new models and codex then a gap of several weeks until we get the proper release and standard codex. Straight off the bat I won't be getting this set, mostly as there is only 1 unit that I actually have any interest in. 

The box set looks like quite good value, with two of the new infantry squads, the new command squad, the new sentinel and the new Field Ordinance Battery. It's this last unit that I'm interested in, partly as a replacement to my Wyverns in my Hjaltland LI, as this will remove all the vehicles from this list, although I might need to make a few modifications to the models to make it look fully foot mobile.

There have been a few other bits noted on from the box art, namely the silhouette of the tank, which matches other bits and pieces around and about and is most likely the new heavy tank. 

So what do I think about the new guard so far? Mostly positive. I do like the new guard sculpts, there hasn't been any I haven't liked from this release so far. The new sculpts keep true to the old ones, and look like they will blend into existing armies without much bother. Yet, they have been updated, with new details and getting rid of some of the more silly elements of the old models. The new scout sentinel has a couple of bits that look a little silly but I'll cover that in another post. 

The only bit that I'm not so keen on is that the command squad are now, apparently, on 28.5mm bases. This is a bit annoying as all my models are on 25mm bases and I'm not keen on rebasing my models but I'll wait and see what happens.

The only unit that I'm interested in is the new Field Ordinance Battery and it's three options. Now, I'll go in to details on the new unit in another post but I'm keen to get some more information on these guys.

Overall how do I feel about this box set? I'm not going to be getting it but I am looking forward getting a look at the new codex and figuring out how it's going to affect my armies.

Guard rules previews

So along side the preview of models we have also had some rules previewed and teased in various articles. I'll start with the main preview and move on to some of the teasers found within the various Warhammer Community articles. 

The main preview we got was around how army rules will work. As it stands, you have to choose a regimental doctrine either from the main armies (Cadian, Catachan, Mordian, etc) or create one from the various custom doctrines, going forward it appears that you will just have a list, much like the custom doctrines, to choose from to create your own army wide doctrine and then various units within your army will have there own special rules based on their own regiments, such as the Cadian infantry squad not having heavy weapons but two special weapons. The two examples they give are "Cult of Sacrifice" and "Parade Drill"

 Of these two, I can see "Cult of Sacrifice" being used far more than "Parade Drill", but this does lead into the second part of the post, rules we can infer from WarCom articles. "Parade Drill" turns the lasguns from, we assume, Rapid 1 to Heavy 2, which means that the rumours that the Front Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire order has most likely changed from making the weapons Rapid 2 to Heavy 2, which isn't great.

Additionally, as I mention above, we have been able to see how the army compositional changes are effecting the infantry squads. We know that Cadian squads will have no heavy weapons but two special weapons, both from articles and images but we also know that, despite rumours to the contrary, standard infantry squads will still have the option for taking a heavy weapons team. 

In addition we also know that there will be addition changes to the heavy weapons squads, with the addition of "spotters, loaders, Sergeants and more". Loaders are I suspect just the extra guy we've always had but spotters could be interesting, maybe helping remove cover or similar. Sgts will be helpful for leadership, not that heavy weapons squads tend to suffer much through leadership, but an extra pip of leadership never goes amiss. The "and more" section I suspect will include Vox casters as we've seen them on on the images but I can't think what else they might include under here.

We've also had various references to the Command squads, both in articles and also on the live stream GW did and we know that they will be back to their old format, with a full 5 man squad including the commander. How this affects the squad or the look out sir rules around the commander is anyone's guess right now, as is how orders will work. 

Talking of orders, we have a little bit of information on orders. When talking about the new Castellans, it mentions that Castellans get to issue two orders a turn, which likely means that other officers only get to issue one order a turn. We also know that orders are going to change, but how we don't know but we can guess a couple, as we're told order will "encourage units to hit harder, pin down foes, and surge across the battlefield in mass human waves", so most likely reroll 1's of some sort, a bringing back of pinning tests or reduction in movement, and an updated move, move, move order.

Lastly we have the new Castellans themselves, which reinforces the rumours that you can have mixed armies but stating that "It can be used with any Astra Militarum army, Cadian or otherwise – even the Death Korps of Krieg and the Catachan Jungle Fighters". Plus we know that it will have a reroll bubble for core units, most likely a reroll 1's to hit bubble but maybe full rerolls, although this is unlikely.

So it seems that there will be a few changes. 

Edit: I've edited this just before I posted it as by now we've probably all seen \ heard the leaks. I'll do a full post on these as soon as I can but I'm on holiday so it might take a while.

New models for the wee one!

So in an effort to safeguard my nicely painted models, I decided to ask around at the local club if anyone had any old models or bits that the didn't want and would like to donate to my son. I've furnished him with a few bits and pieces, some models I don't need anymore or have acquired as part of other deals, but that was only a hand full. Thanks to the generosity of a couple of club members we now have quite a little collection for him. 

Some of the good guys.

The old metal chaos dread is mine, as were the blue space marines and the random chaos marine in the middle, the rest were donated and there's some nice models in there, including an old metal lascannon and multimelta. 

The big guns

He was also lucky enough to get a couple of vehicles, two Russ, both in pretty good condition, a turret less Predator and a Land Speeder, minus guns. The Russ's may find their way in to my collection at some point but not anytime soon, as may the Land Speeder, again, not anytime soon. 

Da bad 'uns

Along side the Imperial models, he also got a large number of orks, of various vintage. There's a few old single piece monopose models, possibly from Space Crusade or at least that era, right the way up to one of the modern models. 

Da Grots

There was also some Grots in amongst the orks, just a handful but still, some.very cool little models in there.

 One thing I have to note is the bases on some of the models, they have the weirdest little bases I've seen, just about big enough for the models feet. I don't know what the bases are from but they just about work, as long as the floor your putting them on is flat. I guess on a battle mat they would work fine, but on the floor when my little.one plays a lot, they tend to fall over.

The one I kept

This model was among the collection but I decided to pocket this one for myself! Slightly cheeky I know but I did tell the lad who donated some of the models that I was going to put this one aside for me. I've got a newer version in the AdMech start collecting box but having two would be a good bonus and I 0lan on fielding this guy with my tanks next time I play 

GSC Wyrmblade proxy kill team

The last of my kill teams that I'll paint up for a while, here is my Genestealer Cult Wyrmblade proxy Kill Team. 

I do still have a couple of kill teams paint up, the Tyranids and Vet Guard, I won't be painting either anytime soon. My son said he'll paint up the second half of the vets as he did the first 10 and I'm waiting for a bespoke team for the nids before I start painting. So, what have I actually built for the GSC?

As you can see, these are all Chaos Cultists, with only minor modifications to make them more GSC compatible. Most of them are just standard cultists and I'll run them as a proxy team, saying that they are a cult of existing cultists who have been duped by a patriarch into thinking they are worshipping Tzeentch and the changer of ways, when the actual "change" is the Genestealer DNA doing its thing. Now, being a Wyrmblade team, I haven't had to deal with anything other than neophytes or similar sized models, not aberrants, acolytes or hybrids, which was nice. It also means that the team is actually semi-competitive, as opposed to purely narrative. 

Leader and icon bearer

The leader is fairly basic, a standard cultist champion, but for the game he will have to be equipped with a cult knife for 1ep to make up for the rather large blade that he's carrying around with him. If it was a small knife or something, I could have just ignored it but the sword is a bit big to just ignore I think, so the cult knife equipment sorts that out and gives a small buff to combat as well. The icon bearer to his left is technically incomplete, as he doesn't have an icon at the moment, mostly because I don't have a suitable one in my bits box. I've a large chaos icon but I think not would be to much, I need a sort of GSC \ chaos crossed thing that will need to be kit bashed together from bits I don't own!

The gunners

We're actually a gunner down on the roster, as you can take two of each types but I didn't have a model I could use for either the mining laser or seismic cannon. As it stands, there is a Webber, flamer and stubbed. The Webber and flamer are the same model, just with the barrel of one of the flamers chopped down to make the two look different. Apart from this basic change, the models are again, as made.

The neophytes

The main group are just standard cultists, no modifications or changes, just painted as is with their autoguns. Basic, simple and easy. 

Now, for some reason, I don't have any pictures of the two models that I actually did do some conversion work on! The last two models in the team are a sanctus sniper and a sanctus talon. For the sniper, I took a model and added a barrel extension, extra sights to look like optical and electronic arrays, plus some extra bits. For the Talon, I switched out the pistol for an extra sword, a short sword, and replaced the original knife with a longer blade, giving him a short stabbing \ blocking blade and a longer dueling blade. These guys are a real meat of the team, taking up 4 roster slots between the two of them. They are just basic kit bashing, nothing fancy but they do the job.

While this now give me several xenos and chaos kill teams to choose from, I don't know how much play these guys will get, as I'm just not getting the time to play at the moment. Maybe that will change in the future, but I honestly would hold my breath on that fact, so I'll just enjoy modelling and painting for the moment.

 

Ork kill team

Back to a kill team for a couple of posts! I haven't posted up about kill team in a few weeks but there has been a bit of work going on getting some more kill teams up and running, probably never to be played with! 

This is the Ork Commandos from the Octarius launch box and initially I was going to sell these on, as I'm not a great lover of orks, however, I was persuaded to keep hold of them by my son and I'm glad that I did. Having spent time painting them up, I have found a liking for them that I didn't realise I had. Now, they are not going to become my favourite faction,  not even one of top 3 really, but I do think that they have a wealth of character and are fun looking models. I have gone with a very basic paint scheme, mostly dry brush with a few highlights of colour and I think it's worked out quite well.

The whole gang.

Spot colours popping quite nicely on some models.

The boss and his minions.

Now, the observant amongst you have probably spotted that fact that the grot is not the correct grot model, ninja grot has gone full ninja and disappeared. I'm pretty sure my youngest has spirited him away some where but as yet I have no idea where he is, so a stand in model has been acquired from said youngest's collection. I really like the squig model, as it's such a fun looking model but still easy to paint. 

The gunz, all da gunz!

Next we have the guns, all the guns! Ok, so maybe not quite but it's the Dakka boy and two normal Boyz. The Dakka boy is as intended and is another great model, all all the commandos are but the Boyz are modified slightly, with both models duel wielding pistols. Although this doesn't actually give you anything in game, I thought it looked a lot cooler and more Orky than holding a knife. One of the things like most about these models is the Dakka boyz hat, very reminiscent of the old WW2 commando hats. 

Getting up close and personal

The short range commandos are up next, with the slasha boy, Comms boy and Breacha boy. There's not masses to say about these three, there built as standard for the most part. The only change for some of these are that all the models have a mask or face covering of some description. I've done this to give them a more specialist, sneaky special forces look, similar to the CQB special forces looks you see. 

Da special boyz

The last three are the specialists, the Burna boy, Rokkit boy and Snipa boy. All of these three are built as instructed, so very little to say again. I did add some extras here and there, as with all the models, just to add some flavour.

I really like these models and even with the simple paint job they look good. The red spot colours on they symbols and such also really pop nicely and add some colour to the otherwise quite dull colours. When these guys get played or not is another matter, as I haven't had a game of kill team in ages! I've another team that I've painted up to showcase here then it's on to other projects, mainly my Deathwatch but also AdMech.