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Hey there,

Relatively new player, played 10 games so far, 3 of which were at an ITC tournament last weekend. here is the list I ran:

Space Marines, Sternhammer Strike Force (Imperial Fists)
Demi Company
- Cap, Term, shield eternal Relic Blade
- 3 5man tacs, one in a pod with melta+combi melta, 2 in rhinos with melta, one with combi melta too
- 5 man dev's, 4xlas
- Landspeeder with 2xHB
- Dread, ML+tllc
1st company
- 5man Assault terms, 5x Th+ss
- 2 5man Sternguard
CAD
Terminator Libby with Stave,storm bolter, ml1
2 5man Scout squads, one with Cloaks and snipers, other with CCW
Stormtalon, skyhammer
Stormraven, Tl Assault cannon, Tl multi melta

Overall I'm happy with how things work but i want to start planning out improvements. I play a gunline with the devs, Sternguard and dread supported by the Libby. The 2 rhinos advance and do there thing. The drop pod gets melta in rear armour to explode a key tank. The Scouts Infiltrate into annoying places if possible or I keep the snipers as part of the gunline. My flyer's come in and go after hard targets and the raven gets the terms plus cap a good charge. My Captain tanks wounds and hurts hordes etc to protect the terms, who generally deal with stuff pretty well. The Speeder advances to get linebreaker and objectives late game, and I generally keep it well hidden before that.

I got to play a Knight household plus Bikers and was able to kill all 3 knights with some good melta explodes rolls and a final Terminator assault and win on maelstrom + bonuses. Another game against assaulty CSM was basically a turkey shoot which I honestly felt bad for the guy.

The one game I didn't do well at all was against a Sammael/ravenwing command/conclave deathstar. I tried to spread out and keep distance but I still ended up getting charged right away and the star eventually rolled my entire army. They were rocking veil and invis every turn with Sammael tanking all the hits with 2+,3++, 2+fnp rerollable. I might be confused on the exact combos of saves, but I did over 45 wounds and caused no damage.

I've had a few suggestions that sound good. One is to swap out for a cm+chaplain who can both fit in the stormraven. Another is to fit in a 10man Dev squad with 4grav and combat squad them in a pod for obvious effect. Yet another is to go full stormwing and maybe add a comms relay in a voidshielded bunker. Another is that the Sternguard are a waste standing in gunline, even with full rerolls so do something better with the points.

My normal meta is pretty varied with SM, Gk, Sw, tau, Eldar all running pretty decent lists and I plan to do more ITC. I like having a semi fluffy list that's fun to play but still decent. Super appreciate any feedback or suggestions anyone has about dealing with specific types of standard tournament lists with what I got and list alterations that would make me a better all comers list.

Thanks for reading!

The main thing to do is switch out that relic blade for a fist. With EW, you have no worries about striking at I1.

You also need to lose the Terminators from the 1st company and get more Sternguard. It is a crime to let that bonus go to waste.

Some tips/suggestions:

Sternguards are great in Sternhammer, MUCH better than termies (sadly), keep them naked and give them pods.

Heavy bolter attack bikes would be a good sub for the land speeder as they would get TL on the HBs while retaining speed and ObSec.

Grav devastators in a pod with a Cataphractii captain + shield eternal make for a good anti-elite shooting platform but will attract firepower. Support them accordingly.

Alternatively, Sternhammer is one of only 2 detachment that allows you to take the Skyhammer formation as an auxiliary choice. You can also take single TFCs which can do a lot of work against the right opponent.

With the new flyer rules the Stormwing formation can do some work with the ignore cover positioning. Not everyone uses the new rules though.

An imperial Knight would solve/alleviate your deathstar problem thanks to D and stomp. A Culexus would be an ok deterrent too but it's lost much mobility since you can't pod them anymore.

Thanks for the tips! I've play tested a few changes and things are coming a long I think. I'm trying the captain without a shield to spread out points, and I'm gonna try subbing in a chaplain for the Libby. With PA I can get both in the stormraven which I think will be a nice punch. The captains roll changes from a wound tank to protect terms to a horde/marine killer who the terms protect.

I've decided the Sternguard have to get transport. One is going in a rhino with 2 combi melta, other in a pod with 3 combi melta. I dropped the one dreadnought to fit this in. The last thing I'm toying with is changing dev's to a 10man with 4 grav cannons in a pod, but it's a hell of a lot of points