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I stopped playing right after 7th dropped. Now looking to get back into playing that life has stabilized, but questioning how viable my old list/play styles will be in the new edition.

I do not have any Primaris models, I have a fully customized Iron Hands army, EVERY model has some bionics done to them, so I am loath to shelve them after so much work, but I'm wondering if going no Primaris is going to be an auto loss.

My IG was also heavy mech (lots of FW tanks with custom models features) but from when I have read, it seems that tanks die super quick and are not worth putting on the table.

My only hope is I have my SoB that I have been playing since 3rd will be usable when their new codex finally drops.


I have not seen (or missed) any mention of different armies riding in other transports. I ask as I have a Landraider (FW MkIIB) that I modeled up with SoB doors and such that I used to carry my Sisters Repenta. I allied it in with a scout squad and SM capt using arbites models to maintain the theme. Can this still be done in 8th, I have read the rulebook section on transports and I didn't see any mention about restrictions.

Not really viable sorry. Iron Hands Primaris are so crazy good compared to Oldmarines that a single 6+++ can literally waste a multidamage wound on your Primaris if they happen to make it whilst a single wound model (with inferiori loadout AND stats) wouldn't even see it working.

Guard on the other hand can work a bit better but at the end of the day you still need 80+ guardmens to have your vehicles not immediately shut down by any melee unit as soon as they see them

I’m not familiar with the current SM codex and sub codices.

Regarding Guard, tanks are particularly vulnerable to Knight lists, as they have weapons that can delete a tank in a single shot. Chimeras are mechanically “worthless” as they’re just too expensive compared to either running more ground infantry, or deep striking Scions where you want them to be.

I tend to run combined arms lists, and against non-knight lists the tanks tend to do well, with a wrap of guardsmen to run interference for them. As always, the meat shields act as melee protection / deep strike protection to ensure the more valuable tanks can blast things for as long as possible (win by attrition).

As a baseline, I’d suggest on unit of Guardsmen per Russ. 2 units per 3 artillery. You can substitute Sentinels, but I find you need more points of sentinels than you need of Guardsmen to accomplish the same idea. I also find that you’d want to run said Sentinels in a “Tallarn” detachment so that you don’t suffer for moving and shooting. In fact, if you run sponsons in your Russ you’ll probably want to call them “Tallarn” as well.

On that note, running Russes as “Commander Tanks” in the HQ slot (you can have lots of HQ slots, don’t worry) is another no-brainer for the increased BS and access to tank orders... and Tallarn have one of the better Tank orders in my opinion.

If you’re facing off against Knights on a regular basis, it will be disheartening to lose tanks at the rate you will. Otherwise, you’ll likely have decent games with them.

 Salted Diamond wrote:
I stopped playing right after 7th dropped. Now looking to get back into playing that life has stabilized, but questioning how viable my old list/play styles will be in the new edition.

I do not have any Primaris models, I have a fully customized Iron Hands army, EVERY model has some bionics done to them, so I am loath to shelve them after so much work, but I'm wondering if going no Primaris is going to be an auto loss.

My IG was also heavy mech (lots of FW tanks with custom models features) but from when I have read, it seems that tanks die super quick and are not worth putting on the table.

My only hope is I have my SoB that I have been playing since 3rd will be usable when their new codex finally drops.


I have not seen (or missed) any mention of different armies riding in other transports. I ask as I have a Landraider (FW MkIIB) that I modeled up with SoB doors and such that I used to carry my Sisters Repenta. I allied it in with a scout squad and SM capt using arbites models to maintain the theme. Can this still be done in 8th, I have read the rulebook section on transports and I didn't see any mention about restrictions.

8th is relatively balanced compared to 6th, you can have success with pretty much any list depending on your goals and how much training you want to put in.

Primaris are good but Smol Marines got a pts reduction in the recently updated codex so it's not something I'd worry about unless you want to play competitive games an optimized Iron Hands list will most likely stomp a majority of casual gamers. One problem is that Iron Hands don't really jive with Tactical Squads, at all. You are sacrificing quite a bit of power here for every tactical squad you include in your army. 3x5 won't hurt you that much if you give each of them a heavy weapon, but ideally you'd use sniper Scouts or Primaris. Devastator Squads are an okay choice for Iron Hands, but I think we'll see a lot of vehicles in competitive IH lists.

Tanks are super tanky in 8th compared to 6th, especially Iron Hands vehicles are very tough. Fully-mechanized lists get countered by melee lists, for AM you'll want around 6 Infantry Squads to hold off enemy melee units and deep striking threats from getting too close to your tanks. Chimeras aren't bad under all circumstances, they've featured in a number of top tournament lists. A lot of lists thought to be useless in 8th have later turned out to be just fine if not amazing, all lists and factions are not created equal but maybe a small list change and a different approach can make a whole new type of build viable for a faction.

Transport restrictions are listed on the individual datasheet, no ride-sharing in 8th I'm afraid. Inquisitors can ignore restrictions but Iron Hands can only ride with other Iron Hands and no, Adepta Sororitas cannot be Iron Hands.