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.