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2018/07/20 13:47:55
Subject: Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
Voila, BS 2+ baneblade. And if you're facing chaos, vengeance for Cadia still lets you reroll ALL your misses.
Now what would go well with this? Allies? I figure this list wants to go first pretty badly.
Honestly? A tone of bog standard lasrifle squads - enough to force the opponent to take a turn or two to chew through and give you an extra two turns before you are charged into melee. Make them catachan with a couple priests and more timid opponents may actually not charge at all, letting you shoot/smite with impunity.
Bender wrote:* Realise that despite the way people talk, this is not a professional sport played by demi gods, but rather a game of toy soldiers played by tired, inebriated human beings.
Before using Vengeance with those stacking to hit buffs just remember rerolls before modifiers. If you are wounding on 2s as an example having to reroll 2s and 3s to hit might not be worth the wounds reroll. Of course if you are targeting a Chaos LoW with -1 to hit Vengeance would still very much be worth it.
Wolf_in_Human_Shape wrote: It doesn’t give you a choice, you reroll failed hits/wounds for the unit. Not that the unit can, but after using the stratagem, it does.
God I hate the way modifiers work in this game. It's so gamey and annoying. This is one of the perfect examples of it.
Nothing against you of course, I just hate that this edition has been out for a year and this still hasn't been changed. It's so counterintuitive to go to reroll misses only for an opponent to say "actually those aren't technically misses yet, so they can't be rerolled, even though they're guaranteed misses" or the far more common issues with -1 armies affecting plasma overheat and abilities that trigger on 6's meaning the stormtrooper regiment trait is useless against half the armies I fight.
/Rant
On the original point, that feels like a ridiculous amount of combos on a baneblade when you're already a decent way toward a second one with all the points you're spending on those buffs. I'd rather just have another tank to be honest.
'I've played Guard for years, and the best piece of advice is to always utilize the Guard's best special rule: "we roll more dice than you" ' - stormleader
"Sector Imperialis: 25mm and 40mm Round Bases (40+20) 26€ (Including 32 skulls for basing) " GW design philosophy in a nutshell
2018/07/21 02:41:55
Subject: Re:Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
It is absolutely terrible that a simple order of operations change is effects such a large amount of the game. Re-rolls should be after hits/wounds have been determined. How can you actually determine if something hits or misses before modifiers? Its anti-intuitive and makes negative modifers overly powerful
2018/07/21 11:51:16
Subject: Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
Voila, BS 2+ baneblade. And if you're facing chaos, vengeance for Cadia still lets you reroll ALL your misses.
Now what would go well with this? Allies? I figure this list wants to go first pretty badly.
Honestly? A tone of bog standard lasrifle squads - enough to force the opponent to take a turn or two to chew through and give you an extra two turns before you are charged into melee. Make them catachan with a couple priests and more timid opponents may actually not charge at all, letting you shoot/smite with impunity.
The baneblade doesn't care much if it gets charged - it can still shoot out of it. Unless it gets charged by something that can hurt it. I was thinking more like custodes, a knight, or some flavor of marines, which can charge whatever could hurt the baneblade and survive a turn. Especially since this thing wants turn 1.
10,000+ points
3000+ points
2018/07/23 06:01:25
Subject: Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
Ig seem to be a pretty potent melle army in some combinations. Especially catachan. Basic infantry puts out 3 s4 attacks with a priest and straken. That's ork level of mellee. Yes, you only have a 6" bubble of true choppiness but it might be enough for a mellee missile. True gems are platoon commanders with fists or relic weapons. Company commanders are good too, although you pay extra points for 1 wound and order that you might not need. Still, extra hq give you extra cp.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Anywayz, here is a batrep of mellee ig vs guillimarines. Playing ig for the first time in 8th.
Biggest thing I miss in 5th for guard is true, non-strategem'd combined squads. Proper CC buffing with giant blobs back in the day were fun. Also, wIth how cover works and the small squads, its hardly worth it to buy an aegis defence line for guard to gunline with.
Which is really sad, because if theres one army that would static gunline with fortifications, its Astra Militarum/IG
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/07/23 06:27:16
2018/07/23 17:22:15
Subject: Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
Which do Hellhound variant do you guys prefer? I like the Banewolf for the -3 and the 2+ wound but I'm not sure if the standard Hellhound might be more use for the double range and shots?
2018/07/23 18:04:27
Subject: Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
fatbudda319 wrote: Which do Hellhound variant do you guys prefer? I like the Banewolf for the -3 and the 2+ wound but I'm not sure if the standard Hellhound might be more use for the double range and shots?
I've not picked up the models yet, but I do plan on getting of the standard ones. The extra range is so huge as well as the extra shots. Where it really shines is anti eldar because at s6 it hurts most of their stuff pretty well, ignores all their -50 to hit and has enough AP to where dark eldar ones need to use their invuln. The artemis one from FW can have a case made for it as well as a suicide bomber option.
2018/07/23 18:33:31
Subject: Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
fatbudda319 wrote: Which do Hellhound variant do you guys prefer? I like the Banewolf for the -3 and the 2+ wound but I'm not sure if the standard Hellhound might be more use for the double range and shots?
Why are you bringing a hellhound?
Most often its to combat -to hit stuff. Which are most often some variant of Eldar, where you don't need the ap of the banewolf. Or flyers, where the Banewolf is horrible.
Plus a Hellhound can reach across the table in 1 turn. A banewolf cannot.
2018/07/23 20:24:08
Subject: Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
fatbudda319 wrote: Which do Hellhound variant do you guys prefer? I like the Banewolf for the -3 and the 2+ wound but I'm not sure if the standard Hellhound might be more use for the double range and shots?
I love the basic Hellhound. The heavy flamer is really nice if running Catachan, and even with that and a storm bolter you're only just over 100pts. It's a reasonably durable chassis for assaulting shooting units, and it blows up on a 4+ for amazing mortal wounds. It also can do some anti-flyer work in a pinch.
It really excels under catachan, and at 2000 points I usually rock three.
For Cadians, I would look closer at the Artemia from FW. The devil dog is just too swingy for me to take seriously (d3 shots + 4+ to hit = ) The banewolf is too short range to expect to shoot too many times, and doesn't have the fireboat potential of the basic hellhound as it only explodes on a 6+.
2018/07/26 19:34:51
Subject: Re:Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
I've been toying around with putting the following catachan list together, initially to support my blood angels but eventually its own army. I get that it's probably not the most competitive but I was wondering if you guys would mind taking a look and seeing where I'm wasting points or if I've missed anything.
Spoiler:
Battalion x1 - 486 points
Catachan
Colonel Straken
Company Commander - Power Sword, Shotgun - Kurov's Aquila & Grand Strategist (I'd liked to have split these two up but I don't thin there's a more suitable target)
x2 Infantry squads
x1 infantry squad with mortar
Sergeant Harker
x2 Hellhounds - Heavybolter
Spear Head detachment - 864 points
Catachan
Command Executioner, Heavy Bolter
x2 Basilisk
x2 Leman Russ Conqueror - Heavy Bolter
Manticore
Battalion x2 - 400 points
x2 Tempestor Prime - Command Rods
x3 5 man Scion squads with x2 plasma
Command Squad x4 plasma
1750 points exaclty
2018/07/26 19:54:53
Subject: Re:Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
Seems strong, but I think there is not enough infantry to protect the tanks. I would drop a Basilisk (or a Leman Russ), thus giving enough points to buy 2 (or 3) infantry squads.
With the spare points you could upgrade the squads with some mortars or heavy bolters.
There is a little mistake also. A named character cannot be given a relic. So you will need to find a turnaround about this, if you still want Kurov's aquila.
longtime Astra Militarum neckbeard
2018/07/26 19:58:09
Subject: Re:Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
Ravajaxe wrote: Seems strong, but I think there is not enough infantry to protect the tanks. I would drop a Basilisk (or a Leman Russ), thus giving enough points to buy 2 (or 3) infantry squads.
With the spare points you could upgrade the squads with some mortars or heavy bolters.
There is a little mistake also. A named character cannot be given a relic. So you will need to find a turnaround about this, if you still want Kurov's aquila.
Thanks for the quick response, you're probably right about the infantry! The relic is meant to be on the normal commander though.
2018/07/26 20:07:15
Subject: Re:Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
koooaei wrote: Btw, can CRASSUS ARMORED ASSAULT TRANSPORT just forego all the equipment and roll around for just 200 pts?
I don't think so. The unit entry states that it is equipped with 4 heavy bolters. Then you have options to replace the heavy bolters with other weapons or to add more options.
2018/07/30 17:43:25
Subject: Re:Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
Hey all! So I was hearing from a buddy thatthe BAO tournament just took place. Of all the lists that placed at the top none were primarily guard. A few had the guard “cp farms” of 2 commanders and 3 infantry squads for cheap battalion and cp recycle.
But the other big thing was of the top 5 list 4 of them I believe were knights. 1-2 of chaos and 1-3 imperial. The chaos one I believe won it overall.
So with this said. If playing primarily guard how do we handle knights???
Also if running 3 shadowswords I wouldn’t bother taking a baneblade variant by itself because the opponent will have enough fire power to take it out. So if you don’t got first your shadowsword will be dead.
2018/07/30 17:46:19
Subject: Re:Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
tankboy145 wrote: Hey all! So I was hearing from a buddy thatthe BAO tournament just took place. Of all the lists that placed at the top none were primarily guard. A few had the guard “cp farms” of 2 commanders and 3 infantry squads for cheap battalion and cp recycle.
But the other big thing was of the top 5 list 4 of them I believe were knights. 1-2 of chaos and 1-3 imperial. The chaos one I believe won it overall.
So with this said. If playing primarily guard how do we handle knights???
Also if running 3 shadowswords I wouldn’t bother taking a baneblade variant by itself because the opponent will have enough fire power to take it out. So if you don’t got first your shadowsword will be dead.
That's why people take the Tallarn shadowsword and outflank it. That way it doesn't get shot before it has a chance to fire.
2018/07/31 06:22:37
Subject: Re:Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
tankboy145 wrote: Even then you get 1 round of shooting? And a knight I believe has a chance to rotate iron shileds and pretty much block the shadowswords attacks.
You are right about that. I play knights with allied guard for cheap chaff, and I’d make all my knights take warlord traits like iron bulwark and just rotate ion shields when needed. By my experience, though, massed dreadnoughts (4 or 5) did tons of damage, as well as lascannons. I’ve fielded like 15 lascannon teams and it seems to be able to take on knights and the like. If you ally with marines, you can take a supreme command with 3 librarians and you can bulk zone all of the knights, and that works too.
tankboy145 wrote: Even then you get 1 round of shooting? And a knight I believe has a chance to rotate iron shileds and pretty much block the shadowswords attacks.
You are right about that. I play knights with allied guard for cheap chaff, and I’d make all my knights take warlord traits like iron bulwark and just rotate ion shields when needed. By my experience, though, massed dreadnoughts (4 or 5) did tons of damage, as well as lascannons. I’ve fielded like 15 lascannon teams and it seems to be able to take on knights and the like. If you ally with marines, you can take a supreme command with 3 librarians and you can bulk zone all of the knights, and that works too.
Ironically I think one of the hardest counters IG could take against knights would be a Cadian infantry gunline with something like 10-15 infantry squads packing las plas with officer and relic support. Knights struggle to deal with hordes and "Overlapping fields of fire" is pretty much tailor made to tear a knight a new exhaust pipe.
Combine that with some stormtrooper support for turn 2 to get in behind them and take their objectives and some mortars to clear the screen they likely had, I don't know if a knight army would have the tools to stop a classic IG infantry list kitted for bear.
The issue of course is that that list folds to all the infiltrate shenanigans out there, and god help you if you met the one knight player crazy enough to ally in Raven guard Aggressors
'I've played Guard for years, and the best piece of advice is to always utilize the Guard's best special rule: "we roll more dice than you" ' - stormleader
"Sector Imperialis: 25mm and 40mm Round Bases (40+20) 26€ (Including 32 skulls for basing) " GW design philosophy in a nutshell
2018/07/31 17:50:59
Subject: Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
I was thinking HW squads, screening troops and lots of hellhounds.
This is for a new league, not tourneys.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/07/31 17:52:46
No madam, 40,000 is the year that this game is set in. Not how much it costs. Though you may have a point. - GW Fulchester The Gatling Guns have flamethrowers on them because this is 40k - DOW III
2018/07/31 20:45:22
Subject: Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
Man adding a shadowsword to a list is a pain in the ass. I had this 1500 list and wanted to add a shadowsword to it in order to get to 2k. Easy right? Nope! Because of the 3 detachment rule I have to drop one of my battalions in order to add a detachment that can take a LOW and spread out the units into other detachments non optimally.
My main issue (and its small) is ive now got 2 random infantry squads as catachan because I can only fit 6 in a battalion and no other deatchments can take troops :(
This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2018/07/31 20:53:47
With the new Knight codex a Shadowsword is no longer an effective counter.
It will wound but probably not kill a Knight if your going first or outflank it with Tallarn.
And then it just dies.
I'm with MrMoustaffa, your better of bringing 20 lascannons.
2018/07/31 20:54:52
Subject: Astra Militarum: More Competitive in 8th Edition?
Ordana wrote: With the new Knight codex a Shadowsword is no longer an effective counter.
It will wound but probably not kill a Knight if your going first or outflank it with Tallarn.
And then it just dies.
I'm with MrMoustaffa, your better of bringing 20 lascannons.
Im mainly playing against people who dont bring knights
10,000+ points
3000+ points 
) The banewolf is too short range to expect to shoot too many times, and doesn't have the fireboat potential of the basic hellhound as it only explodes on a 6+.
No madam, 40,000 is the year that this game is set in. Not how much it costs. Though you may have a point. - GW Fulchester 
The Gatling Guns have flamethrowers on them because this is 40k 