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I've been browsing the forums for a couple of weeks and man, is there a lot of moaning, despite this easily being the best ruleset for 40k in ages, so I thought I'd get a nice, positive thread going. What about your army is great in this edition?

My army:

first round combat thanks to AoF and Imagifiers.
all of the HQ's have a 4++
Pen Engines have the potential for a second round of combat after the charge.

in all honesty the sisters are a reasonably strong army atm with the points system, not so for the power system, they loose to a lot of extra goodies that other armies can take multiple of.

My admech are now a single unified army which is just wonderful. Canticles on everything, and I don't have to worry about spamming lots of units to make them effective. Onagers are arguably even better than they were before, which is impressive. Cawl is wonderful as always.

My deathguard have lots of cool new units and options, and while they may be lacking now our upcoming releases and codex will surely alleviate that.

My stuff is weak, but doesn't insta-die. Strong contrast to 7th, and nice and fluffy.

For my first love: Genestealers are back. Gaunt hordes are no longer pants-on-head for competitive fluff-friendly (read: no WAAC) games. Monstrous creatures are considerably more monstrous. I'm not limited to Flyrant spam. Biovore mortal wounds. In short, my Nids lists feel like Tyranids again.

For my side piece: My Immolator models are finally paying off. Sisters benefit greatly from the improvement in vehicle survivability and bolters and power armour feel properly elite again, even with the mass of SM armies out there. T3 still sucks, but massed mobile infantry is viable in 8th and Sisters do it well.

I haven't had much time to dive into my DE, but they both seem vastly improved from what I've read as well as what I've seen from other players. Speed kills, or at least it's supposed to, and the glass cannon looks like it finally has some real teeth again.

Captain Tycho still doesn't do very much, but he's finally costed at a sane amount for what he does.

The Sanguinor is playable, which is an improvement on an unbelievable scale.

Mephiston is really good now. I found him less than desirable in 7e due to needing a transport, which got blown up the instant they get set on the table, and his higher toughness not mattering because he'd be with a squad average of 4, and his lack of an invuln altogether...AND the random powers....
Now with FNP 5+ and the AP system making his 2+ armor nearly always give him some sort of save, he is stout. I'm kinda surprised he didn't get his 5e statline back though.

fortifications are also really good for housing dev squads, hellblasters, snipers etc.

My Khorne Lord of Skulls, which took months to paint is now finally useful and no longer grossly over costed. Previously it cost more than two imperial knights...

Now, it costs less than two imperial knights, but its worth its points at least.

Best thing for my eldars are that they are pretty balanced now so no more dealing with people crying about them (mostly).

Thousand Sons are great at shredding infantry. Inferno Boltguns are a terrific weapon this edition, with SOT's easily dropping in and wiping any marine squad they please.

My IG is no longer joke army and even better is the fact that both my mechanised and infantry heavy lists viable. Also, holy cow is it great to have a basilisk that doesn't suck!

My dark eldar is actually scary again and no longer auto folds against armies like eldar, space marines or tau. Hell even my mandrakes are actually capable of seeing tabletime, that's a huge plus in my book!

My harlequins are still strong (I had very good succes with them last edition) and the buff to our inv save so it's now 4++ is simply amazing. My only complaint is my Death Jesters are kinda meh but that's about it.

Space Wolves - Changing my army completely was the best thing. Running on Wolf Guard Bikers, Grey Hunters and Jump Packs is like a new game.
Deathwatch - Viability.
Tyrannids - Viability.

Deathwatch I entered in a Tournament for the hell of it, and owned everyone badly enough to expect a meta change. That was not possible last edition.

For the half a decade I've owned Nids I've never considered playing them competitively. I can troop spam in this edition and expect them to last an entire shooting phase, they don't just get blown away!

I can finally build an IG infantry army that's actually functional - as opposed to in 7th when half my army would be templated to death on the first turn alone.

It's nice that my IG infantry is generally effective now. Infantry squads are cheap enough to be spammed. Scions are really good and the new deep strike rules suit them perfectly. HWSs are still fragile but are now at least cheap enough that it's less of an issue. What's more, their cheap weapons (Mortars and HBs) are no longer a joke. I like that my Company Commanders can no longer be easily sniped by regular fire (and even dedicated snipers aren't much of a concern, given how many of them I can take). I also like being able to add in units from other imperium armies so I can, for example, add in Celestine to give myself a more interesting and fun HQ choice.

I also like that my weapons are actually good now - unlike in 7th when my best weapons were orders of magnitude worse than those of other factions.


Necron RPs are fluffy and far more fun than the FNP+1 they were in 7th. My only complaint is that HQs no longer get them, which really doesn't seem right.

Also, whilst hideously expensive, the Staff of Light finally works in melee again.


Corsairs . . . absolutely nothing.

my tau don't get stuck in melee. Stealth suits and ghost keels look awesome. longstrike and hammerheads do work. crisis are better than the whiners would have you believe.

Eldar:

Seems to be toned down(especially the jetbike spam) and Wave Serpents are back which means I can enjoy running my armored Craftworld.

Dark Eldar:

Vehicles are no longer paper thin. Covens are cool, and the flyers are rocking it.

Dark Lances are proper nasty this edition, and we can move and shoot with them better than most other armies as well. Incubi are even mroe lethal in combat. Lelith can actually do something.

Tyranids function in all areas of the game and have a lot of tactics available to them once again. Nearly every model is usable, though some are less useful than others of course. They are just such a well rounded army now.

Friday night they'll be dressed to kill
Down at Dino's Bar 'n' Grill
The drink will flow and the blood will spill
And if the boyz want to fight, you better let 'em

The boyz are back in town
the boyz are back in town

My Dark Eldar are pretty universally pleasing to me. I have a couple minor wishes but just the fact that my Wych army has been taken against several lists that would have just been non-starters in a previous edition (Armies with more than half the points being superheavies, sisters flamer spam, Guard Blob, Guard Tanks) and have won is just amazing.

I have several armies (been playing for many many many years) and I'm quite pleased with most of them. Definitely the best edition change - only two of my armies require significant rework, and only one mini-army is consigned to the shelf until FAQs/further releases (my inquisition models are, amazingly, 100% illegal to use in game because of deleted equipment/the fact that you cant give a model a rifle weapon and a melee weapon like nearly EVERY inquisitor sculpt GW has put out over the years).

That's small potatoes compared to what's getting dusted off, like 4 whole 2000+ point armies can come off the shelf now. Combine that with Power Levels, which are great fun, and I'm happily playing at least once a week since 8th first dropped.

Arachnofiend wrote:
Thousand Sons are great at shredding infantry. Inferno Boltguns are a terrific weapon this edition, with SOT's easily dropping in and wiping any marine squad they please.

Yet to break my 8th Ed duck, or even field my Thousand Sons, but I'm looking forward to discovering this myself.

I'm backing them up with a Hellforged Leviathan armed with two Butcher Cannon Arrays. They're not terrible against vehicles (Heavy 8, S8, -1, Damage 2), but absolutely wreck infantry - as they inflict -2 on Ld if they cause casualties to a unit. It's my hope I'll be able to use that to let Battleshock/Ld do lots of damage, mitigating my low model count.

Commander spam is good relatively speaking.

 Gamgee wrote:
Commander spam is good relatively speaking.

The tau meta where I am playing is definately shaping up to be Commanders supported by more Commanders

pismakron wrote:

 Gamgee wrote:
Commander spam is good relatively speaking.

The tau meta where I am playing is definately shaping up to be Commanders supported by more Commanders

Well everything else we have is way too expensive. Big surprise. Even commander spam lists can be taken down it's not like some god tier tournament winning list once people find how to counter it. Jeez Tau are in such a bad spot right now. I just want the Tau army to be mid-tier so I can play my list without getting tabled or resorting to commander spam to have any chance to win.

The fact that Lucius and Fabulous Bill are now usable in some form rather then "Why aren't you taking Kharn?"

The fact that CSM monsters are now actually monsters

Warpsmiths are usable! Dark Apostles are as well! Okay sure some things are meh but overall CSM feels like most units are actually worth using in some capacity rather then needing a formation to justify them.

 Gamgee wrote:

pismakron wrote:

 Gamgee wrote:
Commander spam is good relatively speaking.

The tau meta where I am playing is definately shaping up to be Commanders supported by more Commanders

Well everything else we have is way too expensive. Big surprise. Even commander spam lists can be taken down it's not like some god tier tournament winning list once people find how to counter it. Jeez Tau are in such a bad spot right now. I just want the Tau army to be mid-tier so I can play my list without getting tabled or resorting to commander spam to have any chance to win.

I'm trying to word this carefully, as I'm not having a dig at you personally....

But given how ridiculous Tau were in 8th Ed, could their current lacklustre showings be more down to a player base with a higher-than-average number of people who never really learned the finer points of winning a game, instead relying on stupidly cheap, stupidly good stuff?

I'd also suggest the reverse is true, and that's why we're seeing IG and Nids being resurgent. Those who stuck to their armies doggedly through thick and thin are more likely to know how to squeeze the most out of their force. Now things are a bit more balanced, previously desperate tactics are paying off handsomely.

My Emperor's Children now have the flexibility to do "Slaaneshi Demonkin" without juggling lots of detachments and allies. I really enjoy that Chaos has the spotlight as the main villain. We won't be the forgotten nemesis of the Imperium.

My Tyranids feel a lot more viable at the medium bug level (tyranid warriors, raveners, hive guard, etc.). More importantly, they are now given story focus with the assault on the Baal system. Reminds me of the "Vengeance of the Blood Angels - Space Hulk" days.

Combined with all of the new people joining in my area and former players coming back, it's a great time for 40k.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

 Gamgee wrote:

pismakron wrote:

 Gamgee wrote:
Commander spam is good relatively speaking.

The tau meta where I am playing is definately shaping up to be Commanders supported by more Commanders

Well everything else we have is way too expensive. Big surprise. Even commander spam lists can be taken down it's not like some god tier tournament winning list once people find how to counter it. Jeez Tau are in such a bad spot right now. I just want the Tau army to be mid-tier so I can play my list without getting tabled or resorting to commander spam to have any chance to win.

I'm trying to word this carefully, as I'm not having a dig at you personally....

But given how ridiculous Tau were in 8th Ed, could their current lacklustre showings be more down to a player base with a higher-than-average number of people who never really learned the finer points of winning a game, instead relying on stupidly cheap, stupidly good stuff?

I'd also suggest the reverse is true, and that's why we're seeing IG and Nids being resurgent. Those who stuck to their armies doggedly through thick and thin are more likely to know how to squeeze the most out of their force. Now things are a bit more balanced, previously desperate tactics are paying off handsomely.

I'd totally agree, and is probably the case for most armies, as we really need to look at 8th ed. very differently to 7th, as everything has been rebalanced and a lot of things have even been giving new roles. But after seeing a lot of games with tau, it does seem like they're just slightly underwhelming. It's not like they get obliterated, but they certainly seem a little lacking, and I think that is due to a lot of their units costing just a little too many points.
Though, this is a "what's good about armies" thread so:

Battlesuits seem pretty awesome, especially with 2 burstcannons/flamers and that -1AP system each. Ouch.

I am enjoying the mechanicus :-) I feel like almost every unit has a purpose, or a place in the machine if you will, (still looking at you hard, dragoons!)

My problem is that the black templar itch needs a scratching lol.

While everyone is saying Death Guard are terrible, I've actually been having a lot of luck with them. I'm thoroughly enjoying:

- The Lord of Contagion. Lord Gulgoth just hacks through most units he touches and he just. Doesn't. Die. He's glorious.

- The Bloat-drone is the epitome of Death Guard. Disgusting, awesome looking and tanks entire armies worth of firepower. The dmg he can do isn't bad either.

- The Plaguecaster is the hidden gem of this army. While the rest of my army tarpits, this dude just strolls along the battlefield, dishing out an impressive amount of mortal wounds to finish off tough enemies, and/or debuffing them so they do even less dmg to me.

Overall I'm loving how the new Death Guard play and can't wait to get more stuff

T'au:

Strike Team
Cadre Fireblade
Darkstrider
Hammerhead + Longstrike
Commander
Coldstar
Y'vahra
XV9 Hazard
Pathfinders
Gun Drones
Vespids
Tidewall Droneport
Ghostkeel
Stealth Suits
Sun Shark
Tigershark Fighter-Bomber
Technical Drones
Piranha TX-42
Remote Sensor Tower

I think these are the big winners, for now

Eldenfirefly wrote:
My Khorne Lord of Skulls, which took months to paint is now finally useful and no longer grossly over costed. Previously it cost more than two imperial knights...

Now, it costs less than two imperial knights, but its worth its points at least.

Oh man, I think the LGS is getting sick of mine. The thing is a terror until the last wound lol.