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A good stetch of time has passed since the release of the recent Imperial Guard codex. When it was still in its infancy however this forum seemed awash with chatter about the new Psyker battle squad and how it soulstorm would become the new lash. My question is, has the PBS been as effective as was theorised? Or is it one of those units that look amazing on paper and are mediocre in the field?

I think you mean Weaken Resolve for the "new lash". Soulstorm is the pieplate they shoot on those turns they dont have a good target for Weaken Resolve.

I think it was a bit overrated in the preview/early days of the new IG codex. But as I remember people were still figuring out how important mechanization was at the time, so that's part of it.

I think of it as a 200%/70% issue. Against some armies (fearless, heavily mechanized, etc) it performs at 70% of it's point value since you're basically blasting pieplates out every turn. Not a bad thing... but not super great for their point value. Against other amies (footslogging MEQs, Nob bikerz, Necrons, etc) it performs at 200% of it's point value since you're running expensive units away. And it combos VERY well with some IG army designs.

Be aware that the armies who are vulnerable to it are often aware of the fact. Stick the Chimera hauling the PBS behind something that grants cover (arm12 at range with a cover save is hard for lots of armies to deal with)... and I've had many games where the PBS didnt do anything offensively... but soaked up so much enemy attention that they justified their point cost from that alone.

Agree with the above, I've played it vs Necrons, and it was game-breaking, while in a tournament where I pretty much only faced mech-armies, it was just decent. It is hardly the new lash

Woops brainfart there. Yeah I meant weaken resolve.

Ok so it seems good but not amazing then?

Ever used it against a Fatecrusher army? Lower fateweaver's LD then hit him with an allied inquisitor psycannon. Laugh!

It's good..the problem for me is that these days there is a lot of antipsyker stuff...against eldar armies it shall be difficult to push the psychic test versus rune of warding....and of course with ld9 there is a chance of the test failing when you need it the most...

I've used the points to get other stuff instead, and in larger games I go the other way and get a psyker hood in the form of an allied inquisitor...

They can be game breaking, yes, but not a must buy.

Whether or not people take it, it has changed the metagame. You rarely see Nob Bikers anymore except as a more balanced aspect to a list, or in the new form of Nobz in Battlewagons. This isn't due solely to the PBS, but it's helped initiate the switch.

Very rarely does anyone take a low-leadership super unit in a competitive list (well, not that there are that many to begin with).

For that reason, you don't really need to take them anymore. They're still a solid addition to many lists, but to some extent they've already done their job by having the potential to show up across the table from someone.

The PBS has simply nudged lists further along the shift to 5th ed from 4th.

Excellent point!

They should do very well against most lists...just watch out for farseers with runes of warding, and drop podding psychic hoods from marines (especially Njal) although these have a short range of 24", and of course IG with inquisitorial allies with hoods (unlimited range)..by mid january onwards also those nids with the shadows of the warp ability...

It might not be that commonly seen now, because they screwed the hell out of the ork lists that were running rampant at the time. They changed the metagame, and for that they are certainly powerful.

PBS are great, but not gamebreaking against most armies.


I just had a game against a Necron player - his 20 warriors walked on from reserve and took a barrage of 2 pie plates from a Manticore, killing 7. Psykers cast Weaken Resolve, and the warriors run right back off the board.


I don't think it's difficult to set aside the points in any Guard army 1k+ to get a small Psyker squad of 6 (boost it to 8 if you have the points) and a chimera for them, because in some games Psykers will win them for you. Plus, an S6 pieplate never hurt anyone.

Reducing ld with the fast vehicles to stay within 6 to keep them running has made non-fearless death star units disappear.

I like the Psyker Battle Squad for it's Soulstorm, I mean, what isn't to like about a large pie plate that could pen a Land Raider when the squad is at full strength? The other ability is fine, but with orks, the Mob Rule comes into play, Eldar it's the Runes of Warding, and untold amount of other stuff.

I personally like the Primaris Psyker better. a 24" str 6 ap 5 2d6 assault psyker power and a power to force leader ship tests to beable to shoot at the squad he is in.

But as a combo they can be deadly.

Use the weaken Resolve, then have the Primaris either A) take out part of a squad to force leader ship or B) have him cast the other and force a leader ship to attack the squad he is in, or just him.

I don't think the Psyker Battle Squad really affected the metagame as much as people say, as by that time people had already figured out what to do about Nob Bikers. Overall I consider it similar to Lash-- a generally overrated ability that nevertheless has strong applications against "uber unit" armies. However, I also think the Psyker Battle Squad is going to become less and less popular as people start adopting more psychic defenses. It is an interesting and fluffy unit, but not one that I feel has real competitive applications.

I believe that a small 6-7 man unit of pbs in a chimera is a good unit to have in most IG lists.

The PBS is a good force multiplier. I try to find a place for it in my 1500+ pst lists. If my opponent has lots of Fearless/Stubborn units I can always default to dropping pie plates, so its never out of function.

Good enough vs some armies to warrant taking. Cheap enough to not be wasteful vs the armies they don't hurt.

There's really just not a reason to not have at least one unit at any points value. Personally, I think they're even better at lower values. Losing a 200 point unit to morale is only 1 10th of your army at 2000, but at 500 it's close to half of it...

grankobot wrote:Good enough vs some armies to warrant taking. Cheap enough to not be wasteful vs the armies they don't hurt.

There's really just not a reason to not have at least one unit at any points value. Personally, I think they're even better at lower values. Losing a 200 point unit to morale is only 1 10th of your army at 2000, but at 500 it's close to half of it...

That sword is double edged. Waisting 100 pts at 2000 is 1/20 your army. Waisting 100 pts at 500 is 1/5.

In terms of offensive power, 145ish points for another chimera + a S9 template is a solid enough investment at any points value. I don't think they're really ever a liability in a take all comers army.

i combo them with the WH inquisitor with divine pronouncement to FORCE the morale checks and with the callidus assassin to instakill whatever i want (yes, that means you tyranids because they took out your synapse's eternal warrior lol)

I also take them without the inquisitor and assassin in fun games to just annoy the enemy. its still a S9 template with a variable ap =/

Few Tactics that I've found especially useful for the PBS (I have run two in a 2000 pt. army):

1. Pinning. The PBS makes pinning a cinch. And what does Pinning do? Removes a unit from the game for two turns, effectively. Two Psyker Battle Squads with Ratling Snipers or in a doubles team with Eldar and you can keep an entire army pinned (not really, but two strong units like terminators and such).

2. Morale. You've all discussed this one at length, but my favorite combo was PBS + Callidus Assassin. Drop the Ld to 2, hit the unit with the Callidus' Neural Shredder (Str 8 versus Ld 2, so it causes Instant Death at AP1 and no cover saves). Once they break (because generally, they will), assault them. If they can't regrouped, they're destroyed. Not only that, but auto-breaking nearly anything is sick.

3. Soulstorm. Because who couldn't use a Str9 AP D6 weapon if you can't find someone to break?

All these things can be gamebreaking for someone and, I agree, has changed the metagame. And being Fearless doesn't protect you from the Callidus.