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Space Marine Librarian Tactics

Warhammer 40000 Space Marine Librarian in terminator Armour

The Warhammer 40000 universe is full of beings with strange psychic powers. These are not dissimilar to the magic powers of the Age of Sigmar game, but a bit toned down. In AoS wizards are a ‘must have’, in WH40k they are a ‘nice to have’. In the Space Marine army these psykers are called Librarians.

Librarians are not super fighters in close combat. Their stats are similar to veteran sergeants rather than the Space Marine Captains or Chaplains. This means that you do not want to throw them in to close combat. Librarians work better as close support troops. Keep them near the action, but slightly back.

Space Marine Librarians and Psychic Powers

Space Marine Librarians are better than most as they can manifest 2 psychic powers each per turn. Remember that in point matched games you can only manifest any given psychic power once per turn for your whole army. If you have several Psykers think about which psyker will use which power. The exception to this once per turn rule is the Smite psychic power.

Space Marine Librarians come with psychic hoods as standard. These help the Librarian to Deny the Witch by adding +1 to his Deny the Witch rolls. This is not a massive bonus, however worth having.

There is a selection of 6 Librarian Psychic powers found on page 202 ‘Librarius Disciplne’. The psychic powers are:

  • Veil of Time: Can speed up Advancing and Charging units.
  • Might of Heroes: Buffs up a nearby model’s Strength, Toughness, and Attacks. This can be the Librarian himself.
  • Psychic Scourge: Use to target nearby enemy with low leadership to cause a mortal wound or three.
  • Fury of the Ancients: Causes mortal wounds to all enemy models in a straight line for a random distance. To be used when you are in a tight spot!
  • Psychic Fortress: Nearby unit automatically passes Moral Tests and saved Mortal Wounds from a psychic power on 4+.
  • Null Zone: Negates invulnerable save for all nearby enemy and nearby psykers have a hard time casting psychic powers.

Labrarian’s Armour

Like the Space Marine Captain, the Librarian can take a number of different armour options. Power armoured Librarians can be given a bike or jump packs too. Choose a configuration that will allow them to keep up with the forward troops. Giving then a bodyguard of Veteran Space Marines could be a good idea if you have the points spare. Librarians do not get an invulnerable save.

Librarian Weapons

This Librarian comes with a force stave and a bolt pistol. If you are playing your Librarian as a close support I would suggest upgrading the bolt pistol to a boltgun or a Combi-weapon. This will make the Librarian more useful in the shooting phase too.

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Dark Angel Tactics for Warhammer 40000 8th Edition

Warhammer 40000 Dark Angle Space Marine Deathwing Knight

In this section we will have a look at the Warhammer 40000 Dark Angel army, the successor chapters and how to win more games using them.

To use the information in this section you will need the main Warhammer 4000 Rule Book and the 2017 Codex: Dark Angles or regular access to them.

Introduction to the Dark Angels

Ok, let’s get something out of the way up-front. Even though the Dark Angel army looks like the generic Adeptus Astartes Ultra Marine army, they are not the same and have quite a different style of play. If you play your Dark Angle army in the way that you play standard Space Marines, you will loose!

The next major point is that the Dark Angel army is not one army, but three. There in the Battle Line army with your tactical Space Marines, there is the Ravenwing with the fast strike force units, and there is the Deathwing with the Terminator armoured close combat troops. To win games you will need all three, and you will need then in the right balance.

In the 2017 Codex: Dark Angels you can find the army specific rules starting on page 134.

Dark Angle Chapter Tactics

Pre-heresy Dark Angel Space Marine

Warhammer 40k Dark Angel in pre-heresy colours

On page 134 of the Codex: Dark Angles we are introduced to the Dark Angel Chapter Tactics. These are two special rules that you can use if you have a detachment that is battle forged and only contains Dark Angel units. You can find the rules for battle forged detachments in the main rule book on page 240. Basically the Chapter Tactics are rewards for playing a well formed detachment using only Dark Angles ( or successor chapters ). If you can create a battle forged army then the extra rules certainly may it worth while!

Defenders of Humanity

This is a special rule that we have seen (by other names in all the 8th edition codexes. In 7th ed this rule was called objective secured and worked in a similar way. Basically it means that it is easier to capture and hold objectives if you have a Dark Angle only detachment. Not all battle have objectives and objective marker, but since their introduction in the 7th edition of WH40k they are very popular as they force the game to be more dynamic. Before objective marker player use to just form barricaded battle lines and shoot at each other from a distance.

With this rule if you have a TROOPS unit contesting an objective you will win it even if your opponent has more models contesting that objective. As most armies that you will face will be battle forged too this rule does tend to cancel it’s self out. However if you are not playing a battle forged detachment you will be at a disadvantage.

Notice that this ability only effects TROOPS units, not HQ, ELITE, HEAVY SUPPORT, FAST ATTACK, or any other unit type. For the Space Marines it means that it’s effect is limited to Tactical Squads, Intercessor Squads, and Scout Squads. So if you are contesting an objective and you have one Tactical Squad in 3″ of the marker, and your opponent has three ELITE Terminator Squad and a HQ Captain there, you still will the objective even though you seem to be outnumbered!

The Defenders of Humanity special rule boosts the value of TROOPS units way above the actual points cost. If winning games is what you are after, you need to see that you need to place the TROOPS units at the centre of your strategy. In a Space Marine army you will be helped with the ‘Combat Squads’ special rule and Dedicated Transport units. More about those later!

Grim Resolve

This is a uniquely Dark Angel special rule. The Grim Resolve special rule has two parts. The first represents the Dark Angel superb defensive fire control, and the second part represents the legendary Dark Angle stubbornness.

Strict Fire Discipline

Dark Angel Battle Forged Detachments can re-roll 1’s to hit in the shooting phase, if they did not move in the previous movement phase. As I understand it, coming in from reserves counts as moving, so new arrivals do not get this bonus when they arrive.

This bonus is slightly different from the Company Masters ‘Rights of Battle’ special rule. The Rights of Battle allow re-rolls of 1 for units withing 6″ of the Master, and works in the Fight phase as well as the Shooting and Overwatch phases. The Rights of Battle also works even the unit has moved. The Strict Fire Discipline only affects Infantry, Bike, and Dreadnought.

The effect of the Strict Fire Discipline is that it encourages your Battle Line troops to get in to position fast and stay there. The result of this special rule is that stationary units will hit 7 out of 9 times. This is up from 6 out of 9 for standard Space Marines. This is great except that Tactical Objective based games favour armies that are more fluid. The way around this is to have units who’s objective is to hold the line and some units that will go forth and grab objectives under the covering fire provided and some units that specialise in close combat. Enter the Ravenwing and Deathwing!

Dark Angle Stratagems

On page 135 of the 2017 Codex: Dark Angels you can find 26 stratagems for the Dark Angel army. This a good number of stratagems for a single army.

Battle Line Dark Angel Units

5 man Dark Angel Squad with Assault WaeponsYou won’t find references to Battle Line Units in the Codex. Battle Line Units is a phrase I use to identify the rank and file units of the 3rd to 9th Companies. The battle line units will be the core your army.

In the Battle Line section you will find most of the Dark Angle units. Dark Angel Battle Line Units include:

  • Azrael: Leader of the Dark Angels: Lots of toys including a combo-bolted and an area effect 4++ force field.
  • Belial: Head of Deathwing: A terminator armour clad character that boosts nearby Deathwing units to hit rolls.
  • Asmodai: Named chaplain character with lots of toys. He is a member of Deathwing too.
  • Interrogator-Chaplain in power or terminator armour: Beefed up Chaplin. What to use Asmodai if you do not want a named character. Also a Deathwing member.
  • Chaplain, Primaris Chaplain: Your basic chaplain. Not part of Deathwing.
  • Ezekiel: Named librarian character. Part of Deathwing and has lots of close combat toys.
  • Librarian, Primaris Librarian: Basic librarian with Deathwing rules.
  • Master in Power, Cataphractii, or Terminator armour: Senior Dark Angle leaders. Members of Deathwing.
  • Master in Primaris or Gravis armour: Senior Primaris leader, but not a member of Deathwing.
  • Lieutenants, Primaris Lieutenants: The de-facto standard leader for Dark Angel armies.
  • Techmarine: The go to guy to get your tanks fixed. His Servo arm gives an extra Power Fist attack in close combat.
  • Tactical Squads: The all round tactical units that should be at the hart of every Dark Angel force.
  • Intercessor Squads: Bolt Rifle only marines with Primaris armour.
  • Scout Squads, Scout Bike Squads: Light armored that can sneak forward. Scout bikes are where you go if you want two wheels without Ravenwing.
  • Apothecary, Primaris Apothecary: Medic! These characters where part of the command squad. Now they are independent Elite units.
  • Chapter Ancients, Ancients in Primaris armour: The armies Battle Standard Bearer (BSB). Was part of the command squad but is now are independent Elite characters. One last push lads!
  • Company Champion: Veteran Dark Angel with a really big sword and shield. Good in close combat. Useless in a fire fight.
  • Company Veterans: The Elite version of the Tactical Squad. This unit can be tooled up with heavy and special weapons. With careful configuration, these guys are very useful.
  • Dreadnoughts, Venerable Dreadnought, Redemptor Dreadnought: Big walking machines. Can be given big guns or close combat weapons. A mix of each normally works out best.
  • Devastator Squads: Marines with big guns. These units are designed to take the high ground and shoot at anything that moves!
  • Hell blaster Squads
  • Predator
  • Stalkers, Hunters, and Whirlwinds
  • Land Raider, Crusader, Redeemer and Repulsor
  • Stromraven Gunship

Deathwing Dark Angel Units

Warhammer 40k Dark Angel Deathwing Squad

Dark Angel Deathwing Terminator Squad

Deathwing Terminator armoured units can be tactical, backed up with Land Raiders they can even be fast, however they are too expensive to field in enough number to win games. For this reason they are best used as close combat troops, and as close combat troops they are awesome!

Dark Angel Deathwing Units include:

  • Masters in Terminator or Cataphractii Armour
  • Chaplains and Interrogator Chaplains in Terminator Armour
  • Librarians in Terminator Armour
  • Deathwing Apothecary
  • Deathwing Ancient
  • Deathwing Champion
  • Deathwing Terminator Squads
  • Deathwing Knights
  • Deathwing Cataphractii Terminator Squads
  • Deathwing Tartaros Terminator Squads

Venerable Dreadnoughts use to be Deathwing too, but this seems to have been dropped.

Ravenwing Dark Angel Units

When there is a need for speed the Dark Angles go to the Ravenwing. Like the Deathwing the Ravenwing could operate as an independent army, and on a large open battle field they would work well. However in the more close confines of the regular wh40k battle table the Ravenwing need to call upon the regular battle line and Deathwing units to go where they can not (up stairs!).

  • Sammael on Corvex or Sableclaw: Fast moving leader of Ravenwing: Boosts to hit for both Ravenwing and other Dark Angles nearby.
  • Ravenwing Talon Master
  • Ravenwing Apothecary
  • Ravenwing Ancient
  • Ravenwing Champion
  • Ravenwing Bike Squad
  • Ravenwing Attack Bike Squad
  • Ravenwing Land Speeders
  • Ravenwing Darkshroud
  • Ravenwing Land Speeder Vengeance
  • Ravenwing Black Knights
  • Ravenwing Dark Tallon
  • Nephilim Jetfighter
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Tyranid Hive Tyrant and Swarmlord Tactics for WH40k 8th Ed

Warhammer 40000 Tyranid Hive Tyrans and Tyrant Guard

The hive Tyrant is the Classic Tyranid HQ choice, and for good reason too. It is a monstrous creature, with great assault and shooting skill. The Tyrant is a synapse creature and in more resent incarnations, can fly too!

In later rule changes in the 5th edition of the rules the Tyranid Hive Tyranid was seen as such a threat that a ‘shoot the big ones’ was added where shooty armies could shoot at the Synapse Creatures even if they where hiding behind other units.In the 8th edition this has changed so that you can shoot at Characters with 10+ wounds even if they are not the closest visible model. At least the Tyranids are now playing on an even playing field with the other armies with Monstrous HQ units (Daemon Princes & etc).

Different Hive Tyrant Roles

The Tyranid Hive Tyrant can fulfil different roles in your army mainly depending on how it is configured.

Because of the flexible nature of the Hive Tyrant, you may wish to magnetise the arms and weapons. If your Hive Tyrant is pre-built, do not worry. There is no such thing as a bad Hive Tyrant. Just adapt your play style to the model you have.

Wings or no wings?

Wings add speed to your Hive Tyrant. This means that you will be able to use it’s many skills over a greater area. Wings however come at a big point cost! So are they worth the cost?

Tyranid Hive Tyrant Psychic Powers

The Tyranid Hive Tyrant is a psyker, and a powerful one at that. Casting two psychic power on your turn and dispelling one in the opponents psychic phase, this creature does make sparks fly!

Tyranid Swarmlord Tactics

When a standard Tyranid Hive Tyrant  just isn’t big enough, then you can call on the Tyranid Swarmlord.  These have wings as standard!

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Tyranid Carnifex, Screamer Killer, and Thorneback Tactics in WH40k 8th ed

Warhammer 40000 Tyranid Carnifex Generations

How to use the Tyranid Carnifex to maximum efficiency in a Warhammer 40000 8th edition game!

“It was horrible! Over the hill crest this lumbering giant of a creature appeared. It had four massive talons and the thickest bone armour. I wanted to get a pot shot of it but the smaller creatures where reaching the lines and threatening to rip our heads off. Just then Captain Barrak appeared in the Leman Russ Invincible. Invincible fired it’s Lascannon at the hulking creature and missed, then the battle cannon roared. That hit knocking the creature to the ground but the creature just got up again. We thought it was dead when it let out this terrible scream. Not so. The scream was the creature bringing up a phlegm like ball of plasma which it hurled at us on the front line. I was lucky and the plasma ball hit further down the line. Burning though cloth and armour with equal ease the poor souls that it hit where burn alive. Sentencing a disruption in the line the hulking creature then raced for Invincible at a pace that defied gravity. Leaping in the air it through itself on to Invincible. At the same time the mighty talons ripped though the tanks armour like a hot knife through butter. Invincible’s armour gave a metallic screech as it twisted and contorted under the creatures massive strength. Then as a last cry of defiance invincible exploded killing the Captain and creature in one nightmare fireball.”

The Tyranid Carnifex is one of the Iconic models in the Tyranid army. You can have three per brood, but watch the points!.

The Tyranid Carnifex and the Hive Mind

The Carnifex is subject to Instinctive Behaviour. This is less if an issue than it was.

The Tyranid Carnifex Leadership is not particularly high at Ld6. The main use of Leadership is to see if any models run off in the moral phase. One tactic here is to place the Tyranid Carnifex in front of your Tyranid Hive Tyrant. This gives the Tyranid Hive Tyrant some solid cover, and it allows you have a solid core for your Tyranid army that you can surround with your smaller Tyranid creatures.

Tyranid Carnifex Special Rules

The Tyranid Carnifex comes with a few special rules. They are easy to handle, but worth knowing that they are there!

Monstrous Brood

Different generations of Carnifex models side by side. See how she has grown!

You can have up to 3 Carnifex in a brood as one unit choice. Although Carnifex Brood models need to start near the other Carnifex of that brood they seem to get bored of each other quickly and can wander off in different directions in the first movement phase.

The reason you may want a brood of Carnifexes is to reduce the number of unit slots used in your Detachments. This only matters in really large games or ones where you are restricted to the number and types of Detachments available.

Carnifex split up at the start of your first turn. This means that if your opponent gets first turn they will have to kill all the models of rhe brood to get first blood. After your first turn only one Carnifex to get first blood!

Living Battering Ram

If a Carnifex gets to charge in to assault then it does a whole ball of damage! First as you charged in you should get to strike first. Second, you get to inflict a mortal wound on a 4+. Thirdly you get +1 to your hits that round so only a 3+ needed.

This special rule means that Close Combat only Carnifex are back in the running. This is specially true if you are Hive Fleet Kracken.

Tyranid Carnifex Strength and Weapons

The Carnifex has a number of weapon choices that you can choose from. What weapon choices you take will depend on the opponent that you are facing. The three popular configurations ( in no particular order) are close combat specialists, heavy weapons platforms, or close support fire platforms with some close combat ability.

Scything Talons

The default weapons on the Carnifex is two sets of Scything Talons. These are close combat weapons, so if you stay with the basic options you will need to make sure that your Carnifex will get in to close combat range on a regular basis, and early enough in the game to be worth the points.

The Scything talons cause 3 damage and can re-roll hit rolls of 1. With this weapon you will want to target models with more than one wound. Tanks are the traditional targets for Carnifexes, but characters make a good target (meal) too.

If you have two sets of scything talons you get an extra attack. This makes having two scything talons very popular. This is so popular that we have a special unit entry in the Tyranid Codex, the Screamer Killer!

Monstrous Crushing Claws

The Crushing Claws upgrade gives you more bite in your close combat attacks. the downside is that they hit less often.  As this is a close combat upgrade, it’s value is determined by the number of times that you get in to close combat.

Deathspitter

The Deathspitter is similar to the Deathspitter that the smaller Tyranid creatures get, however the Carnifex gets twin-linked Deathspitters. This is just as well as the Carnifex’s BS3 score means that you will only hit 50% of the time. The re-roll will mean that instead of expecting 1.5 hits per turn you can expect 2.25 hits ( ie about 2 per turn and 3 hits about every 4 turns you shoot).

If you take two sets of Deathspiters then this rate of hits will double, but you loose your close combat weapons.

The strength and AP of a Deathspitter is not over awesome either. Basically they are 18″ heavy bolters. The usual opinion is – don’t bother!

Adrenal Glands

Adrenal Glands allows the Carnifex to move an extra inch when it advances or charges. This does not sound much, but these extra inches do add up. .

Note: that you can still only declare a charge 12″ away from your target even though, with a good dice roll, you can get a 13″ charge in.

You can not advance and shoot heavy weapons. If you are configuring your Carnifex to be a heavy weapons platform with two Monstrous Bio-Weapons, then you will want to avoid this upgrade. If you are going for a close combat only Carnifex then this upgrade is a must!

Toxin Sacs

Toxin Sacs allows you to have a 1 in 6 chance of causing one additional damage if you wound on a 6+ in the Fight Phase.  This means that shooting weapons do not benefit from this upgrade, so heavy weapon Carnifex can forget about it! As for close combat ‘Fexes then have a think about what targets you are planning on tackling. If you are taking on one or 2 wound targets, or even characters then an additional wound will be very little bonus. It’s only when you are expecting to take on a few Monstrous Creatures or Tanks that the upgrade may start to pay for it’s self. On this whole it’s not likely to pay for it’s self.

Tyranid Carnifex Screamer Killer Tactics

New in the 2017 Codex is a new breed of Carnifex – The Screamer Killer!

Gramps is back! When I say that the Screamer killer is a new unit, rally it is a throw back to the original metal Carnifex. The original Carnifex had 2 pairs of monstrous scything talons and had a screaming vomit shooting attack.

The Screamer killer has two forms of attack, the Monstrous Scything Talons and the Bio-plasmic Scream. This combination means that it makes a great close support creature.

Tyranid Thorneback Tactics

Tyranid Thornbacks are a specialist Carnifex found at Forge World. At forge world they are called Stone Crusher Carnifex and come with Crusher Claws. Another option would be to create your own Thorneback with a bit of modelling.

Thornebacks are designed to be close combat troops, however you can upgrade then to have shooting weapons too. The value of upgrading is questionable. Shooting weapons are assault weapons so you can be used between assaults. In my mind though, if you want a multi-purpose Carnifex ( and these can be very effective) I would suggest going for a basic Carnifex with close combat and assault weapons.

Stonecrusher Carnifex Tactics

The Stone Crusher Carnifex is a Forge World model and has rules for WH40k 8th edition printed in the Forge Worlds Imperial Armour Index: Xenos.

The Stonecrusher Carnifex is a close combat specialist. It can be upgraded to have Bio-plasma (12″ Assauld D3, S7). The Bio-plasma can be useful to soften up troop as you charge in or as a over watch weapon if some on charges you, otherwise you only need to focus on the charge and fight phase with this one!

As the Stonecrusher Carnifex is such a close combat specialist you will need to get it (her?) in to combat as soon as possible. With this in mind you may want to team the Stonecrusher with a Tyrannocyte to get it in to the thick of combat fast!

Tyranid Old One Eye Tactics

So you want a Carnifex HQ character? No problem! Here comes Old One Eye…

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Chaos Daemons of Khorne Tactics for WH40k 8th Ed

The symbol of Chaos

Khorne is the most popular chaos god with players. Khorne is the god of war and the Daemons of Khorne are frenzied close combat killers. The other aspect of Khorne, and it’s followers is that there are no Khorne psykers.

Khorne units are all about the fight phase, how to get there with the least amount of damage to your self and how to do the most most damage to the enemy once you are there! To get to the enemy in one piece requires speed and use of cover. Causing the greatest damage requires choosing the right weapon for the target, or the right target for the weapon! Also hit the weakest points of the enemy’s army with force.

Daemons of Khorne units work well with Tzeentch units. The Tzeentch can provide psychic long range fire support that Khorne units are usually short of.

Unstoppable Ferocity

Unstoppable Ferocity is an ability that most Daemons of Khorne units have. If a unit has this ability then when they charge in to combat, get charged, or perform a heroic intervention, they get +1 strength and +1 attack until the end of that turn.

Khorne Daemon Prince Tactics

Warhammer Chaos Lord with Wings

A Warhammer Chaos Prince with Wings.

Note: The Errata has changed the Daemon Prince’s wounds from 10 to 8.

The Daemon Prince can come in a verity of configurations. If you get a chance have a look at the options available before you build the model. This will give you the chance to configure the model to fit in with your play style. You can see from the attached image that I prefer to have my Daemon Prince with wings. This allows him to deep strike and zip around the table using the maximum damage.

Khorne Daemon Prince Abilities

With a Daemon Prince you must select a Chaos God alignment. If you choose to align with Khorne then you get the Unstoppable Ferocity ability too.

Khorne Daemon princes are not psychers. They get the Might over Magic ability instead. This increases their attack characteristic by 1, so a total of 4 basic attacks.

Khorne Daemon Prince Weapons and Upgrades

Ok, the first big question is wings or no wings. Having wings on your Daemon Prince adds speed. As I mentioned above, speed is one of the main ways you can get in to assault less damaged. With wings the Daemon Prince goes from 8″ per turn to 12″. If you are playing a power level matched game then there are not points increase for having wings, so it’s a no brainer, add the wings if you can! In Point matched games the wings adds 24 points. This still seems cheap for the extra speed, and highly recommended!

Unusually for Daemon units, the Chaos Prince gets a shooting option with the ‘Warp Bolter’. A Daemon Prince may have this is it was a Space Marine that has been blessed with Daemon Prince form. Even though the Khorne Daemon Prince is thought as a close combat creature having some ranged fire power is very useful. You can do over-watch if anyone is daft enough to charge you!

Khorne Karanak Tactics

Karanak is a names HQ unit for the Chaos Daemons of Khorne army. He is a 3 headed Flesh Hound with souped up stats.

Karanak is designed to by a character assassin. He is quite fast with a 10″ move and has the 5+ daemonic invulnerable saves. These are good but his real skills can be found in the special abilities he has.

Karanak’s Brass Collar

Karanak wears a brass collar (well 3 I suppose). The brass collar disrupts psykers in the area. In the WH40 8th ed this is represented by his ability to deny 2 psychic powers each enemy turn. This is not a game changing ability, but it does help even the odds when playing against a psychic heavy army.

Pray of the Blood God

This ability allows you to pick an enemy character at the start of the game, Each time Karanak attacks that character you can re-roll 1’s to hit and wound. This means that just about all of your attacks will strike home with a -2 AP and 2 damage. It’s a mighty hero that can survive multiple round with this guy!

The rules do not say that you have to reveal Karanak’s target to the enemy. However, I do recommend writing it down at the start of the game. This means that you can prove you did not change your target part way through the game!

Karanak has a power level of 6. This means that using the Daemonic Ritual he can be summoned on 2 dice about half the time, and easily if you risk rolling 3 dice.

Khorne Soul Grinder Tactics

Warhammer Chaos Daemon Soul Grinder found in WH40k, 8th ed, and Age of Sigmar

Chaos Demon Soul Grinder

Where as most of the Chaos Daemon army was transported from the Fantasy Battles game in to 40k, the Soul Grinder was designed for 40k and been fudged in to Fantasy Battles and Age of Sigmar games. Because of this the Soul Grinder may be the most familiar of the Chaos Daemon choices to an existing 40k player.

With the Soul Grinder you must choose a Chaos God to align to. In this section we will be looking at the Soul Grinder with Daemons of Khorne alignment.

The Soul Grinder is a walker usually armed with both close combat weapons and ranged weapons.

Soul Grinder Weapons and Upgrades

The default weapons that the Soul Grinder comes with is an ‘Iron Claw’ power fist and a Harvester Cannon.

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Incoming… Tyranid Codex is here! – New for Warhammer 40k 8th Edition.

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Warhammer 40000 Tyranid Trygon

Games Workshop are certainly pumping out the Codex releases this year, and the next one is the Tyranid Codex!

As regular readers of his site the Tyranids are one of my favourite armies and there has been no secrete about my excitement at seeing the ‘Nids coming back in from the cold as far as rule updates are concerned. I have to say that the last few Codex let the Tyranids down.

The Warhammer Community site had been releasing sneak previews of the Tyranid Codex best bits, and now it’s been released, and it is fantastic!

Tyranids have been slumbering on the GW shelves for many years because of the weak codex releases. The last really good Tyranid Codex  was for the 3rd edition of Warhammer 40000. In that release you could virtually make your own Tyranid strains by mixing and matching bio upgrades.

The format of the Tyranid Codex follows the format of the WH40k 8th edition Codexes released so far. Kinks from the Index: rule books have been straightened out, new mission objectives have been created, plus other nice bits like command abilities and special upgrades.

What I really like is the addition of special rules for four different Hive Fleet types. Each of these Hive Fleets have unique special rules. This means that you can play Nid’s with different ‘flavours’. It just makes gaming more interesting. As all the models appear in all the different branches you can pick and chose with set of special rules you want to use before the game begins.

I highly recommend this release of the Tyranid Codex weather you are a new Tyranid player or a veteran.

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Chaos Daemon Tactics for Warhammer 40000 8th Ed

Warhammer Chaos Lord with Wings

point The Chaos Daemon army is not quite like other armies in the Warhammer 40k universe. This is because the Chaos Daemon army was designed for the Warhammer Fantasy game ( now replaced by Age of Sigmar  ) and ported across to 40k.

The Chaos Daemon army plays quite differently to other 40k armies. This is mainly due to the numerous special rules. The addition of these rules also make the army difficult to play. I would suggest that the Daemon army is not a good one for beginners, but a great one for advanced payers that fancy a challenge!

This page has been written for the Warhammer 40000 8th edition rules and Index: Chaos army list.

General Chaos Daemon Tactics

The symbol of ChaosOften the best was to use the Chaos Daemon army is to use it as an attachment to a Warhammer Chaos Marine army. What the Chaos Daemon units bring to the Chaos Marine is psychic powers, monstrous creatures and close combat units. The number of deep striking units are useful for snatching objectives or take out key enemy units.

Chaos Daemons come in four flavours one for each of the chaos gods; Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Slannesh. So what do you get if you use them all together? Utter Chaos!

If you are keeping with a pure Daemon army, but include faction from all the Chaos Gods then you will not be short of Characters or close combat units. Where you will need to apply some thought is to the heavy support and fast attack sections.

You need Fast Attack units to spearhead assaults and grab objectives. Look to the Tzeentch units that can fly, and the Slannesh units that are quick on their feet.

Chaos Daemon Special Rules

The Chaos Daemon army come with a number of special rules. These rules are quite different from other Warhammer 40k armies.

Daemonic Ritual

As I mentioned above, one of the joys of running a Daemon army alongside a Chaos Space Marine one is that your characters can summon daemons on to the battle field. Now be warned, this is not without it’s difficulties and risks. Also if you are playing a points matched game the points cost for the summoned daemons comes out of your reserve points. However it is great fun to do and highly recommended.

You can only summon units that have the ‘Daemonic Ritual’ ability. The Chaos Space Marine has four units listed, in the Index: Chaos you can find many more units (most of them).

All Chaos Characters can perform rhw Daemonic. Ritual. This includes both Chaos Space Marine characters and Chaos Daemon characters.

Daemonic

All units with this ability (most of them) get a 5+ invulnerable save. This is very useful because their regular save is usually awful!

The Four Gods of Chaos

The symbol of ChaosIf you are familiar with the Chaos Space Marines you will have come across the four chaos gods; Khorne, Slaanesh, Nurgle, and Tzeentch. With the Chaos Marine army the use the chaos god’s traits is optional. There are enough unaligned choices available to create a undivided army. With the Chaos Daemon army you will need to be totally conversant with the chaos gods traits.

Each of these four gods have their own characteristics. These characteristic are passed on to the gods followers.

Chaos Undivided

If you are a Chaos Space Marine player you will be use to units that are aligned to no single Chaos God. This does not happen in the Chaos Daemon army. That is except for the Daemon Prince Be’lakor, the first Daemon. Word has it that some time after Be’lakor was created he used his un-aligned nature to play one chaos god against another. Learning from their mistake, all future Daemons where aligned to a single Chaos God.

Daemon Prince Be’lakor Tactics

Warhammer Chaos Lord with WingsBe’lakor is a HQ character.

Games Workshop do not do a model for Be’lakor but as he is a Daemon Prince with a daemon blade and Malefic Talons. This means that you can take a generic Daemon Prince and state that you are using it as Be’lakor.

Daemons of Tzeentch Tactics

Herald of Tzeench for the Chaos Daemon Age of Sigmar GameThe daemons of Tzeentch give up brute force for magic and trickery. In Warhammer 40k magic is represented by psychic powers. Tzeentch units use these psychic powers as ranged weapons. Unlike the daemons that follow other chaos gods, many of the Tzeentch troop units can use magic to manifest psychic powers too. The downside though is that Tzeentch units are generally poor at close combat.

Tzeentch units work well with Khorne units that can act as body guards to the more vulnerable Tzeentch units.

Ephemeral Form

Tzeentch daemons are even less grounded in the real world than other daemons. To show this is the game they get +1 to their invulnerable saves. As most daemons get +5 save this means that you only need +4 to shrug off most hits. This is a save though so it does not work against mortal wounds.

Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch

Games Workshop Age of Sigmar Chaos Exalted flamer of TzeentchThe Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch is a cheap elite choice for a daemon army. This means that can fill you required elite slots and you do get points to spend on the rest of the army. This specially important in low point games.

Exalted Flamers have 3 options during the shooting phase.

Games Workshop do not do an Exalted Flamer model on it’s own. You can find an Exalted Flamer in the ‘Herald of Tzeentch on Flaming Chariot’ box that if you do not place on the flaming chariot, can be placed on a regular base.

Daemons of Nurgle Tactics

Nurgle units are the second most popular chaos units. Nurgle specialises in diseases and poisons. The Nurgle units tend to be tough but a bit slower than  other units.

Nurgle units work well with Slaanesh units that have the speed that the Nurgle units don’t have.

Disgustingly Resilient

The creatures of Nurgle are disgustingly resilient. Their slimy hides cause many blows and shots to slip off where the would have bitten less viscus targets. To show this in the game Nurgle units with this rule get to roll a D6 for each wound not saved and on a roll of a 5 or 6 that 1 wound is ignored. As this is not a save it works for mortal wounds too.

Nurgle Psychic Powers

Nurgle psychic powers are all about disease. The ‘stream of corruption’ has a short 7″ range but can dish out D6 mortal wounds to larger (10+ models).

Daemons of Slaanesh Tactics

Slaanesh units are focused of speed and the excess of pleasure. This means that they are fast but fragile. Slaanesh units also have access to a number of psychoactive drugs and narcotics.

Slaanesh units work well with Nurgle units that have the toughness that the Slaanesh units don’t have.

Quicksilver Swiftness

Slaanesh daemons hunger for speed and excitement. Units with this ability always fight first in the fight phase. If there are other units in this fight phase with the same special rule, or have charged that turn, then you take turns fighting with those units before fighting with all the others.

This ability tends to mean that you get to get your strikes in first. If you out number your opponent it is reasonable to expect to wipe out the enemy unit before they can react. So with this in mind you want to hit first and hit hard. Focus your assaults and choose targets that cannot call on support.

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Genestealer Cult Tactics for Warhammer 40000 8th Ed

WH40k Tyranid Genestealer Brood Brothers

In this section we will have a look at the Genestealer Cult army in the Warhammer 40000 game and how to win more games with the Genestealer Cults.

These pages are written with the expectation that you have a copy of the Warhammer 40000 rules and a copy of the Index: Xenos 2 book that has all the rules and points values for playing a Genestealer Cult army.

What are the Genestealer Cults?

Genestealer Cults are the vanguard army for the Tyranids. Purestrain Genestealers hide on abandoned space hulks, star-ship wreckage floating through the space lanes that lie between the star systems. With luck these hulks will be boarded by salvage merchants and raiders looking for valuable ancient tech that these hulks often hide. Once boarded the Genestealers will infect the raiders with their DNA. The side effect of this is that the hosts become blindly devoted to their Genestealer parasites. The Raiders then take the Genestealers to a suitable planet, smuggling them past customs and hiding in the depths of society.

As soon as a Genestealer brood find a new home they begin to infect more and more of the poor and unwashed with their parasitic DNA. However that is not the most insidious part of it. As the infected humans breed and reproduce they create 2nd generation hybrid human/Genestealers (Acolyte Hybrids). These Acolytes often have latent psychic powers. The hybrids use their psychic powers to beguile the humans around them to accept these hybrids as their leaders. The most senior Acolyte becomes the Iconward.

2nd generation Genestealer Hybrids breed 3rd generation hybrids (Neophyte Hybrids). These in turn create 4 generation hybrids. Each generation looks more and more human, and becomes more and more likely to master psychic powers. 4th generation psykers are called Magus. Non-psychic 4th gen hybrids become Primus.

All this infecting and breeding has one purpose. When there are enough infected mind controlled humans, the Genestealer Cults rise up and cause chaos and mayhem around the planet. At the same time the Genestealers subconsciously send a beacon to the Tyranid Hive Mind that this planet is ripe for harvesting.

General Genestealer Cult Tactics

The Genestealer Cult army is deceptively flexible. This is because not only can you use units from the ample Genestealer army list, but you can add Imperial Guard Astra Militarum detachments (with some restrictions) and Tyranid detachments (with no restrictions) to your Genestealer Cult army.

Cult Ambush

The Genestealer Cults thrive in the sewers and dark underworld of society. Using their knowledge of the tunnels and passages that exist below they can pop up in the middle of the battlefield part way through the game. Be aware that even the Cultists can get lost in the labyrinth of passages, so this somewhat random in it’s effectiveness. However this ability is useful enough to warrant becoming very familiar with how it works!

Unquestioning Loyalty

This is a way of giving your Genestealer Cult Characters extra wounds, at the expense of their near by underlings. If your Character has a bodyguard of Infantry close by, and the Character takes a wound, then on a roll of 4+ one model is slain. Note that you do not get a save for this model, and it looses all it’s wounds, if it had more than one. Also note that this works in the shooting, combat, psychic phase, or any other time that the Character may loose a wound.

The best way to use the Unquestioning Loyalty ability is to assign a unit of cheep Neophytes to your characters. These can be used to absorb some wounds and allow your characters to keep doing what they are good at.

Genestealer Cult Psychic Powers

There are three psychic powers listed in the Broodmind Psychic power list. All three of them are very usable. If successfully manifested, Mass Hypnosis stops a unit over watching which is very useful for an assault focused army, Mind Control allows you to get your opponents biggest and baddest units against him (great anti-cheese device), and Might From Beyond just beefs up a unit in the fight phase. This could be the psyker themselves, specially in the case of the Patriarch.

Genestealer Cult Ambush Tactics

subterranean exitOne of the main features of the Genestealer Cult arm is that many units can pop up from the subterranean sewers and passages. It is highly recommended that you get familiar with this ability and how to use it.

In matched play games half of your army needs to be set up at the start of the game. This means that in most cases you will not be able to place all your units in reserve as ambush units. As you build your army list think about which units will be in ambush and which will start in your deployment zone. You will want to arm you units differently depending on the role you want them to play.  Ambush units will need to be better equipped for close combat and the other units will need to have more fire power.

When units arrive using the Cult Ambush rule they arrive at the end of the movement phase either in turn one,two,three, or four. Any units that have not arrived on turn four are lost as casualties. Most players bring their units in on turn one, but you may have a sneaky reason for bringing then in later.

When you elect to bring a unit in you need to roll a D6 and compare the result to the Cult Ambush table. Basically the hire the roll the closer you can set your units to enemy units. On a 5 or 6 you can usually assault on the turn you arrive. On a roll of 4 there is a 50/50 change of assaulting. You do not have to decide where you place your units until the result has been decided. It may be worth using command points to re-roll bad results.

As there is a fair chance of assaulting on arrival you will want to target enemy capital units ( high value units that you can take down in one assault).

Chapter Approved 2017 Update

Games Workshop has released a Chapter Approved rule book at the end of 2017. On pages 88 and 92 the Genestealer Cult rules have been updated to keep them somewhat in line with the armies that have had a full codex released. Personally I am glad to see Games Workshop put some time in to keeping the less popular armies relevant.

Special Rules: Objective Secured

The biggest rule change is that a Genestealer Cult Battle Forged detachment gets ‘Objective Secured’. This rule has appeared in all the Codex released so far under different names. How it works is that TROOPS units can secure an objective even if they are out numbered by the enemy. HQ, ELITE, FAST ATTACK, HEAVY SUPPORT, and etc units do not get this special rule. If the enemy units have this special rule too then you are back to counting relevant models with this rule and see who has the most.

The effect of this rule is massive. Securing objectives is a key part of winning games in WH40k 8th edition. The rule change means that TROOPS units are now far more valuable then the points costs for those units. It also completely changes now to create the ‘perfect mix’ of units. To win games you now will need to make sure that you have enough TROOPS units to capture objectives. With Genestealer Cult armies remember that you have the Cult Ambush rule too. this will allow you to sneak in and steal objectives from under the enemies noses. Just make sure that you can sneak out too!

Genestealer Cult HQ Tactics

With the Genestealer Cult army list you get a choice of four HQ unit choices. There are no names special characters, but this is fine. The four available options are a good fit for the army and very usable.

Genestealer Patriarch Tactics

Warhammer 40k Tyranid Genestealer Broodlord and Genestealer Brood

A Tyranid Genestealer Patriarch ( Brood Lord ) and Genestealers

Known as a Brood Lord in the Tyranid Army, the Patriarch is an over grown Genestealer. The Patriarch is a close combat specialist. This does come at the expense of shooting abilities. He (she?) has no ranged weapons other than it’s psychic ability. This makes tactics for the Patriarch easy. Get in to assault as soon as possible and as often as possible!

Patriarch Psychic abilities

The Patriarch know Smite and one Genestealer Cult Broodmind psychic power, and he can cast one power each friendly psychic phase. If you are playing point matched games then you will want to have a different Broodmind psychic power to any other psykers in your army. This will give you the greatest range of options during the battle.

Get Familiar With Your Familiars

Genestealer Patriarchs can be accompanied by little creatures called Familiars for a few extra points or one Power Point. These are well worth having. First off, one per battle, they allow the Patriarch to manifest two psychic powers in the psychic phase, and secondly they effectively give the Patriarch two extra Toughness 5 ( T3 if the Patriarch dies) wounds. All very useful! Note that the Familiars only have a 6+ save and no invulnerable saves. This means that you will want to assign wounds that could not be saved to the Familiars, for example Mortal Wounds. Knowing which other wounds to assign to the Familiars, and which to have the Patriarch attempt to save is a skill that you will need to learn.

Genestealer Cult Magus Tactics

Warhammer 40k Genestealer Magus PsykerWhere the Patriarch was the first Genestealer that made planet fall, the Magus is the product of several generations of breeding with the local population. With each generation the most psychically gifted offspring where mated to create an ever more powerful psyker. In previous codex releases the Magus has had formidable psychic powers. In the Index: Xenos 2 this has been toned down for better game balance.

More Familiars

Genestealer Magus’s can take Familiars in the same way Patriarchs can. Note that Magus Familiars are Toughness 3. However all the other benefits are there for the Magus too. This means that they are well worth taking if you have the points / power point spare.

Genestealer Cult Primus Tactics

Where as the Cult Magus is the result of generations of breeding to create a psyker, the Primus is the result of selecting the best fighters in a colony.

The Cult Primus is a decent close combat fighter. Armed with poison weapons the Primus is defiantly better at taking on none vehicles. He will need a bodyguard though. Team your Primus up with a unit or two of Acolytes or cheaper Neophytes to absorb some wounds as your Primus closes in.

Genestealer Cult Acolyte Iconward Tactics

The forth HQ unit choice is the Acolyte Iconward. Acolytes are 2nd generation Genestealer hybrids. The icon ward does have some nice Abilities but on the whole the Iconward in not a choice HQ unit. Think about taking a Primus or Magus instead.

One reason for choosing the Acolyte Iconward as your HQ is if you are creating a themed army list based on a fledgling Genestealer Cult.

 

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Space Marine Tactics for Warhammer 40000 8th Ed

Pre-heresy Dark Angel Space Marine

Space Marines! The legions of the Adeptus Astartes – the Angels of Death (and remember that these are the good guys!), the defenders of mankind (ignoring the Imperial Guard, the Inquisition and all). These are the guys that will save the galaxy from the clutches of Chaos (just as long as they don’t succumb to Chaos themselves)!

Space Marine are easy to play in Warhammer 40k,and you don’t need many of them to make up an army. This means that they are very popular as a first army for new players. Easy to play doesn’t mean weak either! Space Marines are definitely the army to beat. If you win a game against them then you know that you have done well!

Space Marines come in many verities, some are different enough to have their own Codex. Examples are Blood Angels, Dark Angels, and Space Wolfs. However there are many Space Marine chapters that follow the standard rules for Space Marines as set down by the Ultramarines, or close enough to use the standard rules with minor tweaks. These are called the.’Codex Space Marines’. Codex Space Marines include, but are not limited to; Ultramarines, Imperial Fists, Salamanders, White Scars, Raven Guard, Iron Hands, Crimson Fists, and Black Templars. In this section we will look at the Codex Marine, their rules and tactics you can use when playing Space Marines in Warhammer 40k 8th edition games.

To make use of these pages you will need to own, or have regular access to the main Warhammer 40000 8th edition rule book and the Codex: Space Marines additional rules.

General Space Marine Tactics

Space Marines are generally very tactical units. By that I mean that units are able to fulfil several roles on the battlefield. They have good armour, good shooting weapons, and are capable of fighting hand to hand. Equipped with an armoured personal carrier (Rhino or Razorback) they can act as fast blitzkrieg / shock troops too. To aid this multi role you will find that most Space Marines are armed with long ranged shooting weapons (Bolters), short ranged Bolt Pistols, and hand to hand Chain Swords.

Common Ability: They Know No Fear

'They Know No Fear'Many Space Marine units have a common ‘They Know No Fear’ ability. this lets these units re-roll moral tests. This is most useful in the Moral Phase as it can mean that you loose less troops to failed moral checks. However be aware that there are other times when moral checks are needed. An example is when you are on the receiving end of some psychic power.

Battle-forged Detachment Abilities:

To encourage you to create ‘well formed’ detachments you get extra special rules that will help you to win. ‘Well formed’ means detachments that contain only Space Marines, and conform to the ‘battle forged’ formation structures found in the main rule book. For the ‘Defender of Humanity’ Spacial rule you can have a mixed bag of Chapters in your detachment, but for the ‘Chapter Tactics’ special rules you have to have just one chapter present.

Defenders of Humanity

Capturing objectives, or markers on the table makes up an important part of winning most 8th edition games. To capture a marker you usually have to have more models contesting a marker than your opponent does. With this special rule you can grab the objective with a single TROOPS unit regardless of how many enemy units are there. Note that all the other codexes released so far give other armies well formed the same special rule. If both players have units with this special rule contesting an objective you go back to counting the number of models in those units. The player with the most models with this ability wins it.

Notice that this ability only effects TROOPS units, not HQ, ELITE, HEAVY SUPPORT, FAST ATTACK, or any other unit type. For the Space Marines it means that it’s effect is limited to Tactical Squads, Intercessor Squads, Scout Squads, and Crusader Squads. So if you are contesting an objective and you have one Tactical Squad in 3″ of the marker, and your opponent has three ELITE Terminator Squad and a HQ Captain there, you still will the objective even though you seem to be outnumbered!

The Defenders of Humanity special rule boosts the value of TROOPS units way above the actual points cost. If winning games is what you are after, you need to see that you need to place the TROOPS units at the centre of your strategy. In a Space Marine army you will be helped with the ‘Combat Squads’ special rule and Dedicated Transport units. More about those later!

Space Marine Chapter Tactics

To add flavour to the Space Marine chapters, different chapters have been given some special rules that fit the back stories of those chapters. In game terms it allows you to have a look at the different chapters and see which special rules fit your style of play and adopt that Chapter, or a made up successor chapter.

  • Ultramarines: Codex Discipline. Ultramarines add one to leadership characteristic and you can shoot even if you Fall Back.
  • White Scars: Lightning Assault. White Scars can add 2″ to advance moves, ands can charge the same turn they fell back.
  • Imperial Fists: Siege Masters. Imperial Fists ignore cover saving throws and can re-roll failed wounds when targeting buildings.
  • Black Templars: Righteous Zeal.Black Templars can re-roll failed charge rolls.
  • Salamanders: Master Artisans. Salamander units can re-roll one failed wound in the shooting or fight phases.
  • Raven Guard: Shadow Masters. When shooting at Raven Guard from 12″ or more, the opponant must subtract 1 from the hit rolls
  • Iron Hands: The Flesh is Weak. Iron Guyard ignore wounds on a 6.

Space Marine HQ Tactics

Every army needs a leader to lead it to great victories! Well mostly, as in Warhammer 40000 you can get away with not having a leader for your army, but it is a good idea! If you do take a leader, you will find them in the HQ section.

You can take several HQ units in one army if you wish. If you do then you will want to nominate one of them as your general. It is usual to choose the biggest and strongest character as your general, but the choice is yours!

Space Marine HQ Units include:

Chapter Relics

Chapter Relics are free upgrades that you can give to a Space Marine Character if your Warlord is a Space Marine. Note that you can not upgrade a ‘Named Character’. The character could be, and usually is your warlord himself. You can find a full list of the relics and their special rules on page 200 of the Codex: Space Marines.

Space Marine Troop Tactics

5 man Dark Angel Squad with Assault WaeponsThe core of any Warhammer 40K army should be the Troop units. You should have enough troop units to make sure that you do not get out numbered.

The Space Marines have 3 main options . The Tactical Squad, the Scout Squad and the new Primaries Marine Intercessor Squads. Black Templar marines get the Crusader Squad, but not the Tactical and Scout Squads.

As mentioned above with the Defenders of Humanity special rule troop units have a much bigger role in the game.

  • Tactical Squads: The core of the Space Marine army. A Tactical Squad can do it all. It can capture objectives, give a good fight in close combat, and take on monstrous creatures with bolters, meltas and heavy weapons.
  • Intercessor Squads: Get use to S4 bolter weapons! Armed with the 30″ bolt rifle this unit can lay down a lot of fire over a good distance. Look to the upgrades to make this unit more tactical. Primarice Marines also get an extra wound and extra attack in the fight phase.
  • Scout Squads: Trainee Space Marines. Used to infiltrate and grab objectives before the first turn. However lightly armoured so die quicker. Scouts can be armed with close combat or heavy weapons.
  • Crusader Squad: Special Black Templar troop unit. This squad mixes both scouts (Neophytes) and tactical marines (Initiates). Crusader squads are very flexible in thier configuration and can have up to 20 Marines in a unit.

Space Marine Elite Tactics

Warhammer 40000 Space Marine Terminator SquadThe Space Marine army has a number of Elite unit choices. It is very tempting to dive in and have a lot of elite units in your army. However beware! Elite units  cost points. If you have too many then you will find that you do not have enough points for Troop units and become out numbered very quickly. You may want to keep to two or three Elite units in a 2000 point game.

  • Primaris, Chapter, Company Ancient: Banner carrier Character for the army. Use to be part of the command squad. Has extra wounds and minimal wargear upgrades. His banner does improve the leadership for nearby Marines from the same Chapter.
  • Chapter Champion: Close combat specialist character. Comes with a big sword but no shooting weapons. Get him in to combat quickly and often.
  • Honour Guard
  • Apothercary, Primaris Apothercary
  • Company Champion
  • Company Verterans
  • Seritors
  • Reiver Squad
  • Aggressor Squad
  • Terminator Squads, Cataphractii Terminator Squad
  • Terminator Assault Squad
  • Tartaros Terminator Squad
  • Vanguard Vertran Squad
  • Sternguard Veteran Squad
  • Dreadnought, Ironclad, Venerable, Contemptor, Redemptor Dreadnought
  • Centurion Assault Squad

Space Marine Fast Attack Tactics

Space Marine unit with jet packs

Fast attack units do what they say on the tin. They move around the table quickly adding support to stricken units or strike at an enemy’s weak spot. Fast attack can be useful for grabbing objectives if there aren’t any enemy troop units around.

Make sure that your Fast Attack units have support. They can make easy targets if they rush up the board unsupported.

  • Bike Squad
  • Assault Squad
  • Land Speeders
  • Attack Bike Squad

Space Marine Heavy Support Tactics

The game is not all about rushing forward and killing the enemy. Having a good back line too.

  • Devastator Squad
  • Centurion Devastator Squad
  • Hellblaster Squad
  • Thunderfire Cannon
  • Hunter, Stalker, Tanks
  • Whirlwind Tank
  • Predator Tank
  • Vindicator Tank
  • Land Raider, Land Raider Crusader, Land Raider Redeemer Tank

Space Marine Dedicated Transport Tactics

  • Rhino, Razorback Tanks: Rhinos are great for getting 10 man Tactical Squads around the table quickly. Razorbacks Transport 6 but has a big gun to support the troops too. Razorbacks are good for zipping Honour Guard and Veterans, or 5 man Tactics Squads around with a spare space for a Character to ride along!
  • Drop Pod
  • Land Speeder Storm
  • Repulsor Tank

Space Maine Flyer Tactics

  • Stormhawlk Interceptor, Gunship
  • Stormtalon Gunship

Space Marine Lords of War Tactics

Lords of War are extremely powerful units that can unbalance smaller games. For this reason Lords of war are usually banned from games under 30000 points.

  • Roboute Guilliman
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Imperial Guard Tactics for Warhammer 40000 8th Ed

Warhammer 40000 Imperial Guard Armoured division

The Imperial Guard, or Astra Militarum is the front line of humanities desperate battle to survive in a very hostile universe. Oh yes the Space Marines think that they are the heroes and saviours of human kind, but they are few in number in relation to the vastness of space. The true saviours are the Astra Militarum, the Imperial Guard, the vast numbers of GI Joes putting boots on the ground, eating dirt, and paying the price in blood.

In this section we will be looking at tactics for using the Imperial Guard armies in the Warhammer 40000 8th edition game. To understand these tactics you will need the basic rules and a copy (or regular access to) the Index: Imperium 2 rules

Astra Militarum General Tactics

Playing Imperial Guard armies in Warhammer 40k can be great! You get loads of troops and some of the biggest guns in the game. You are never short of number when playing this army. The skill comes in when it comes time to co-ordinate all these units to achieve your objectives. It’s all to easy to just sit back behind you barricades blasting away. However the more advanced WH40k mission involve capturing strategic locations and tasks. If you are not careful you will get out manoeuvred allowing the enemy to win the points even as he looses units. The most effective Guard armies have a solid back line with units that can capture objectives with supporting cover fire.

Imperial Guard Abilities

The Imperial Guard only has one published ability, and another that is less obvious!

Voice of Command

The Imperial Guard armies have a common special ability called ‘Voice Of Command’. this represents the structured nature of the army and how the men look to officers for direction. Most HQ units will have the ‘Voice of Command’ ability listed on their data sheet. If they do then they can issue a special order to a unit nearby. Each HQ unit with this ability can issue one command, so if you have several HQ units you will use this ability several time a turn. There are no costs to using this ability, so make sure that you make the most of it!

Command Points

If you are using the advanced rules you will need to form your army in detachments. The Imperial Guard army are no different to any other army in this respect. However because Guards are cheep in points you will find that it is easier  to create larger detachments that gain extra Command Points, or several smaller detachments that has the same effect. This means that you should be able to call on more Command Points than opponents that play elite armies ( Space Marines & all ).

Get familiar with the basic Command Point Stratagems and and additional Mission basted Stratagems. Your mastery of these additional skills will be a major bonus in your games.

Imperial Guard HQ Tactics

Warhammer 40000 Imperial Guard Lord Commissar YarrickThe Imperial Guard only has two options for HQ units. Those are the Company Commander, for your general foot slogging officer, and the Tank Commander that is more useful leading an armoured detachment.

Company Commander: The Company Commander is the de-facto standard leader for an Imperial Guard Army. His main benefits are his high leadership and ‘Voice of Command‘ ability. The Company Commander only costs 3 power points or 30 points in a point matched game.  This means that you can take a few of them even in smaller games. My advice is do it, and keep them near a unit with a Vox caster radio. Keep your Company Commanders near the centre of your army so his influence ( leadership and Voice of Command) will have the greatest support for your infantry squads.If you have a nest of heavy support teams in a building or on a hill, then this would be a great place to place a Commander too. The ‘Take Aim’ or ‘Bring It Down’ really help heavy weapon teams. Do not be tempted to get your Company Commander in to a fight. Yes I know that in most armies the HQ character is the best fighter in the army. This is true for the Imperial Guard army too. The Company Commander is a notch better than a Veteran Imperial Guard trooper, but this is still a far cry from any other armies characters. Even the Tau commanders wear battle suits that give them an edge!

Tank Commander: If you are fielding a company of tanks you will want to take a tank commander instead of a Company Commander. This is because the ability that the Tank Commander gets instead of the regular Voice of Command is designed to be better for tank platoons.

Lord Commissar: Did I say there where just two HQ unit options? well there is a third option hiding later in the pages of the Index: Imperium 2 ( page 46 ), and that is the Lord Commissar. Commissars are a double edged sword. They do add order to nearby units, but if they run then the Commissar will start shooting deserters. So which closes combat unit with low leadership scores, and enough models so that you can afford to loose one or two does this scream to you? – – Conscripts – -! Yes the best unit to team your Commissars with are conscript units, and then plough the commissar and conscripts in to your enemy troop units.

Imperial Guard Elite Tactics

The Elite section of the Imperial Guard where you find the specialist units.It is also where you find the greatest concentration of special weapons. Beware though, elite units cost more points so if you take too many you will not have enough points for the many infantry units you will need.

Imperial Guard Elite units include:

  • Master of Ordnance: This is a one man Ordnance weapon. For 2 power points you can call a Heavy D6, S8, -2, D3 ordnance blast anywhere within 100″ of him. Ok he can only do this once a game. However if he brings some of his Master of Ordnance mates along, each one can call down a strike (one strike per turn per army).
  • Platoon Commander: The Platoon Commander is a character that can issue Voice of Command commands. This means that you may have expected the platoon commander to be found in the HQ section,however it’s inclusion in the elite section opens up some interesting options.
  • Command Squad
  • Special Weapons Squad
  • Veterans
  • Militarum Tempest Command Squad
  • Ministorum Priest
  • Crusaders
  • Tesh-Priest Enginseer
  • Servitors
  • Commissar
  • Officer of the Fleet
  • Wyyrdvane Psyker
  • Astropath
  • Ogryn Bodyguard
  • Ogryns
  • Bullgryns
  • Ratlings

Imperial Guard Troop Tactics

When you need boots on the ground, it is the Troop units that you need to choose from.

  • Infantry Squad Tactics
  • Conscript Tactics
  • Militarum Tempestus Scions

Imperial Guard Fast Attack Tactics

Fast attact units allow you to support your troops quickly, strike at enemy weak points or grab objectives.

Imperail Guard Fast Attack units include:

  • Rough Riders
  • Scout Sentinels, Armoured Sentinels
  • Hell Hounds

Imperial Guard Heavy Support Tactics

When you need some punch, get some Heavy Support units.

  • Heavy Weapon Squads
  • Basilisks, Wyverns, Hydras, Manticores, Deathstrikes
  • Leman Russ Battle Tanks

Imperial Guard Flyer Tactics

Imperial Guard Flyers include:

  • Valkyries

Lords of War Tactics

The imperial Guard have access to probably the largest selection of super heavy tanks. Each super heavy vehicle costs 25 to 31 power points. This means that they are virtually armies in their own rights!

Lord of war units include:

  • Bainblade
  • Banehammer
  • Banesword
  • Doomhammer
  • Hellhammer
  • Shadowsword
  • Stormlord
  • Stormsword
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