Top 10 in the ITC & multiple Major winner Brandon Grant, Astra Militarum wunderkind and current #2 ITC ranked AM player, brings us his take on how Chapter Approved will impact the venerable Guard!
Now that Chapter approved 2018 is out, the competitive meta will be shaken up! Let’s take a look at the biggest winners and losers for the Imperial Guard. For more great articles, check the Tactics Corner!
To keep things simple I’ll be rating units before and after chapter approved 2018 between 1 and 5 stars. The rating will refer to how often I expect that unit to appear on the table for imperium armies in ITC events. The ratings are:
- 5 Stars: Meta defining unit. Expect to see nearly every faction primary army to have these, and to see them taken in allied detachments for other armies.
- 4 Stars: Excellent unit. This unit is the best overall in its battlefield role (HQ, troops, etc.), and best at what it does overall. Will sometimes be taken in an allied detachment or mixed army.
- 3 Stars: Good unit. Useful in some situations and not in others. May only be viable with certain sub-factions, or might only be viable when filling specific battlefield roles in a detachment. Will see play in competitive events but won’t be spammed very often.
- 2 Stars: Sub-par choice. Will rarely be seen outside of themed lists in competitive play, better options are available in the same battlefield role and/or at performing the same task.
- 1 Stars: Poor choice. Will almost never see competitive play, other choices perform the same role with no significant drawbacks compared to this choice.
There are a lot of small adjustments, so I will try to remain focused on the most relevant changes. That said, let’s get started!
Armored Sentinels / Scout Sentinels
Before: 1 star
Sentinels have struggled in competitive 40K for all of 8th edition. They have been reasonably tough for their points, reasonably fast, but with pathetic damage for their cost. They also tend to be easily surrounded by infantry, often rendering their scout move as more of a liability than an asset. Now a plasma cannon armed armored sentinel is only 40 points, when before it was 55 points, while a multi laser armed scout sentinel is only 35 points when it used to be 45. Even with the changes, sentinels will still struggle to deal damage efficiently compared to other guard units and be out-paced by other fast attack choices such as hellhounds and rough riders. They will still be a severe liability against melee armies as well, though their toughness will be above average. After this change I see them being taken largely to fill fast attack slots cheaply in a brigade.
After: 3 stars
Before: 1 star
Loaded with heavy weapons on a platform which generally needs to move has severely limited the damage output of Chimeras except for double heavy flamer builds, which have been worse than simply taking hellhounds instead. With the new changes a double heavy flamer Chimera is 88 points before upgrades, while previously it would have cost 109 points, a 19% decrease. The Chimera is now very tough for its cost. With this change, I see the Chimera as being a good choice for protecting special weapons, veterans, characters, or ogryns while still being a scary unit in its own right, unlike the taurox which is cheaper but may only take 2 autocannons. I expect to see some guard armies take at least one Chimera again and a few armies to be built around 3 of them.
After: 3.5 stars
Before: 1 star
The hydra has struggled with not doing the job it’s supposed to do very well. Many armies with fly are able to strike the hydra before it has a chance to shoot due to line of sight blocking terrain. Against armies without the fly keyword its damage is terrible compared to other fire support options, making it unreasonable to take multiple Hydras in a diverse meta. With a 10 point drop in cost, it is about 10% cheaper than before. It will suffer from exactly the same drawbacks as before, but if the meta moves in a direction where fly is extremely common (but not wave serpents, as wave serpents don’t care about hydras) it may see more play.
After: 1.5 stars
Manticores
Before: 2 stars
The manticore got a points increase in the last chapter approved, and this chapter approved has reset the manticore to its original cost. The manticore was fine at this cost before. It offers slightly higher damage output than a basilisk but slightly worse defense per point than a basilisk. After the change I think more people will take manticores, but not in every list.
After: 3 stars
Before: 1 star / 1 stars
A Leman Russ has a long list of disadvantages when compared to similar units: no invulnerable or feel no pain save, extremely slow, sponson weapons that are worse if you move, no indirect fire, relatively short ranged weapon options, and vulnerability to melee units (unlike super heavies). Chapter approved has reduced the cost of many turret and sponson weapons, with the venerable demolisher cannon having its points cost cut in half! The tank commanders’ base cost has been reduced by 25 points. I see some room for a tank commander on the table again. Indirect fire, fast units, and melee units will still be necessary to deal with line of sight blocking terrain and a Leman Russ will never be good (due to speed) at dealing with line of sight blocking terrain. Thus, while a Leman Russ is now reasonably more efficient for firepower, it’s still slow and relatively easy to destroy or tie up for its cost compared to other options, even with the new campaign formations from Vigilus.
After: 1.5 stars/ 2 stars
Before: 1 star
A bare-bones Valkyrie now costs 117 points, down from 140. At 117 points it is tough and fast for its cost but with pathetic damage output. It would best be used for transporting a hard hitting unit while also tying up enemies in melee, just like a wave serpent. For its price I still consider the Alaitoc wave serpent to be the 5 star transport of choice, and compared to the wave serpent the Valkyrie has better speed, worse toughness, and similar shooting, so overall slightly worse than the wave serpent. In the right build it could work well (such as a flyer themed army), but I don’t predict that ground pounding guard armies will take any most of the time.
After: 2.5 stars
Before: 1 star
While veterans shoot better and have better weapon upgrade options than infantry squads, they are still guardsmen in toughness and speed. Typically a 2000 point army could be expected to be able to clear between 10 and 40 guardsmen per turn, so when those guardsmen have expensive weapon upgrades and cost 50% more before upgrades that loss hurts much more. Tempestus Scions can simply appear where they are needed, while veterans are best when protected, such as inside of a transport. As both the Chimera and the Valkyrie are significantly cheaper than before, veterans have gotten a boost in viability. Weapon options are also slightly cheaper for bs 3+ models, and veterans have dropped 1 point per model each. The sum of these changes sees veterans and their transport costing about 15-20% less overall. I expect veterans to remain a second line or outflanking unit not commonly found in competitive games, but sometimes found in lists that have several of them in transport heavy lists, especially with the right regiment bonuses.
After: 2.5 stars
Before: 1 star
Ogryns are slow, close ranged, and were not particularly tough for their cost, having only a 5+ armor save and 3 wounds. With the points reduction they are now 20% cheaper than before. Even after the cost reduction guardsmen will tend to be tougher per point. Their biggest drawback is that they perform the same role as infantry squads but are in the elite slot, so you’re usually better off just taking more infantry to gain more command points. Generally Bullgryns are still better for pushing the middle of the board and defending your own firebase units from enemy melee as they can absorb some punishment before being slain.
After: 2 stars
Before: 1.5 stars
Scions were possibly too good at the start of 8th, but chapter approved 2017 slapped them with some high points cost increases. Now hot shot guns are free and both plasma and melta guns have seen their costs reduced slightly. They should cost about 10% less than they did before. A small number of scions could be useful for harassing an enemy backfield or making a push up the middle of the board, once enemy screens have been removed. As they don’t require a transport they are easy to drop into existing armies as a support unit, not just as part of a themed army. I predict that more players will take them, but that they will almost never be taken in large numbers.
After: 2.5 stars
Artemia / Hellhounds
Before: 4.5 stars / 3.5 stars
Artemia hellhounds are now the same cost as their non-forgeworld brethren. In addition, chem cannons (for the bane wolf variant) have now been reduced from 15 to 7 points. This allows for a bane wolf to be as cheap as 88 points, making it more resilient per point than the traditional hellhound and similar in cost to the Artemia pre-chapter approved 2018. The damage output of the chem cannon is extremely weak however, with only 8” of range and d6 hits. Overall I would rate the inferno cannon equipped hellhound as a balanced choice, most likely the best choice in fast attack for an Imperial Guard army as it provides much needed auto-hitting attacks against armies with a lot of penalties to hit. It should remain a common choice in brigades that can afford to take them over sentinels.
After: 3.5 stars / 3.5 stars
Shadowsword
Before: 2 stars
After the release of Codex: Imperial Knights, the Shadowsword stopped doing what it was supposed to do: knocking over models with the Titanic keyword. Most Shadowswords that remain are in triple superheavy lists where sheer volume of fire can be used to take down a Titanic model, particularly with the use of support vehicles to increase ballistic skill.
The Shadowsword is now 20 points more expensive than it was before. I don’t see this change altering the competitive meta, as the Shadowsword was already nearly absent. Other superheavies have changed cost slightly as well, particularly those that had demolisher cannons, but I don’t expect these changes to alter the meta significantly.
After: 2 stars
Overall Impressions:
Chapter Approved 2017 had a lot of points increases for the Imperial Guard that brought them closer to other armies with a few units that were just too points efficient. The latest Chapter Approved has focused more on bringing sub-par units to being in line with the other entries in the codex and allowing more competitive choices and builds to be available. With the new changes Guard players could build flyer or transport based list that would be far more competitive than before.
To get your creativity going, here is a sample list with some newly points cost reduced units based around transported veterans and the new Vigilus campaign book formations.
Cadian Spearhead (Emperor’s Wrath Artillery Company) (+0 CP)
- Company Commander (warlord, relic: Orbital Tracker) 30
- 2 Manticores 266
- 1 Wyvern 103
- 2 Basilisks 216
Valhallan Brigade (Emperor’s Blade Assault Company) (+11 CP)
- Company Commander, Boltpistol 31 (Relic: Petrov’s MK 45)
- Company Commander 30
- Company Commander 30
- 30 Conscripts 120
- 2 Infantry Squads 80
- 3 Infantry Squads, flamer each 138
- 2 Veteran squads: 3 plasma guns, 1 heavy flamer, boltgun each 196
- Special Weapons squad: 3 flamers 42
- 2 Astropaths 52
- 3 Chimeras: 2 heavy flamers each 264
- 3 Hellhounds 303
- 3 Heavy weapons squads: mortars 99
2000 points, 14 starting CP.
This list wouldn’t have been viable before chapter approved in a competitive game. Rather than focusing on melee directly, it relies on indirect fire to deal with units hiding out of line of sight and on the Fire on my Command! order unique to Valhallans which allows them to shoot enemies who are within 1” of friendly models. When combined with veteran squads’ solid close ranged firepower, enemies who are tying up your infantry or tanks can still be targeted in the shooting phase. I think it would be a fun yet competitive list for anyone who wants to play an infantry and vehicle heavy army style with lots of special weapons.
There’s a lot more to the codex than has been covered here. Don’t be afraid to try out new concepts! Army styles that you’d prefer to play may now be viable when before they were not.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
