The History of Eighth Edition Warhammer 40k

Eighth Edition can be broken down into the following phases:

Pre Imperial Knights Codex

Imperial Knights Codex

Chapter Approved 2019

Prior to the release of the Imperial Knights codex Eighth Edition was in many ways the golden age of Warhammer 40k. Sure we saw some Lords of War such as Daemon Primarchs and Baneblades but they were manageable from across the table.

What set Imperial Knights apart from all other Lords of War is the whole host of over the top relics and stratagems that made them all but unbeatable. Sure some really love their Knights but many don’t and find them to be no fun to play against. There are no bad Households to choose from either.

This all came to a culmination with the Dominatus class Castellan rocking the Iron Bulwark relic for a 3++ invulnerable save via the stratagem Rotate Ion Shields fueled by cheap as chips Astra Militarum Battalion command point farm. The Castellan can easily delete two or more enemy units per turn which had a drastic effect on the meta... many units became basically unplayable due to being too much of a potential liability.

Finally following the big win at the Las Vegas Open earlier this year Games Workshop nerfed the Castellan. Sure Imperial Knights are still very good but not quite as good prior to Chapter Approved 2019.

If we look at what Games Workshop has released to preview the new Apocalypse its apparent that they still want to push over the top Lords of War on the market. To be honest I’m not excited in regards to what I’ve seen so far. For me one of the things I loved about playing an Apocalypse scale game was the stories that unfolded over the course of a game. If only Games Workshop could understand that the majority of hobbyists love the narrative aspect of the game.

So now looking forward we have Chaos Knights coming in the near future. Sure this is nice for Chaos players but I have to wonder how over the top these new Titans will be and how they will impact the meta.

Hordapaloosa

Hi everyone Black Blow Fly here to discuss 8th Edition Warhammer 40k (WH40k). I recently wrote another article comparing Age of Sigmar (AoS) to WH40k. One conclusion drawn is that in many ways the rules for AoS are the foundation for 8th Edition WH40k. If you play both games then you’re probably aware that there are many horde armies in AoS such as Flesh Eaters Courts.

Much like in AoS the WH40k horde units tend to benefit from some amazing buffs, such as advancing and still being able to charge (Orks, Genestealers, etc.), however this is typically not the case for elite units in WH40k. In general horde armies are enjoying a golden age in both systems - for example former detriments like morale can be easily circumvented or simply ignored. Elite armies in AoS such as Stormcast Eternals on the other hand can hold their own and are truly strong but typically this is not the case for WH40k armies like Space Marines... for whatever reason GW missed the boat this time around.

The Vigilus campaign was released a few months ago which could have been an excellent opportunity to help address some of these issues but in reality all it did was just hand out moarwin rules for factions that really don’t need any help - for example when was the last time you saw an Ork army that doesn’t feature the super-duper Shock Attack Gun or a Genestealer Cult army that doesn’t include the Anointed Throng? Devotion Til Death is just ridiculous. Space Marines on the other hand have to invest a metric ton of command points for mediocre at best stratagems... if you’re playing competitively it’s just not worth it. So all Vigilus did was just make a lot of the top tier armies even more top tier - thanks for that GW.

Another issue is that tabling an opponent often no longer results in automatic victory which can be quite the crutch for horde armies. They have a large foot print and quickly rack up lots and lots of victory points and objectives the first half of the game gaining a huge lead that can be insurmountable for elite armies.

I don’t have any solutions to offer, this is the responsibility of GW’s development team. Currently it doesn’t seem like they really care and I think this all goes right back to AoS. Ideally there should be at least one developer who is dedicated to the underdogs and has a strong desire to address these issues.

Tears of Isha

Warhammer 40k Video Batreps

Hi everyone Black Blow Fly here again to discuss the subject of Video Battle Reports. I think it takes a lot of work to produce real quality and often we just take it for granted. Some of my favorite channels are from the United Kingdom:

D6evolution
Grim Resolve
Hellstorm Gaming
Moarhammer
Striking Scorpion 82
Tabletop Tactics
Twisted Dice
Winters SEO

These guys understand what makes for an enjoyable game to watch. I like to see a narrative element along with an exciting game featuring interesting armies matched up against each other with some banter.

Now I’d like to make a brief public service announcement regarding Grim Resolve and they are by far one of my favorites. Sadly their studio was recently broken into and all their recording equipment was stolen. They have created a Go Fund Me site so you can help them get back on their feet again:

https://www.gofundme.com/grim-resolve-youtube-channel-recovery-plan

Here’s one of their many excellent video Battle reports featuring Harlequins versus Renegades, see if you can guess what the comet brings:

https://youtu.be/PDVfuLV5TL0

All of their reports are free, no paywalls for content. Check them out... I think you’ll enjoy them.

Now I’ll cover what I think makes for a good VBR and what doesn’t.

1. Beautiful armies and great terrain.
2. Interesting armies and scenarios versus overly competitive.
3. It’s very important to get the rules right as much as possible... lots of mistakes just ruins it. The channels I’ve listed above are all very knowledgeable regarding rules and when they do make a mistake often they own up to it and correct them.
4. One of my biggest pet peeves are people that have the choice to use a command point for a reroll and instead of just rolling the dice they spend five or more minutes discussing all the reasons why they shouldn’t but then finally they do. It’s annoying at best and really puts a damper on games.
5. My next biggest issue is when people continuously apologize to their opponent throughout the game when their dice are literally on fire or continually draw great cards for Maelstrom games. Lopsided games are not fun to watch.
6. Another peeve is when one player turn takes more than half the length of the entire battle report. There’s a reason why the good channels don’t waste your time showing every dice roll. Good battle reports split the time evenly between both players.
7. My last gripe is when a player wants to go back a turn or more to do some action they forgot such as shooting with a unit of theirs... that’s just poor sportsmanship plain and simple. The channels I’ve listed above play on and just let it go - good sportsmanship on both sides of the table is everything.

What are things you like and what are your peeves ?

Female Marine Spotted ...

Modeling to avoid Line of Sight Sniping

Modeling to avoid Line of Sight Sniping

Here is a picture of how I’m modeling my new unit of Vertus Praetors...

The lances are down and no plumes. I found this really helps to avoid long arguments about whether or not your opponent can draw line of sight. This is not modeling for advantage either, it is a practical consideration if you play competitively.

I used to do a lot of really cool conversions to simulate actions such as leaping into combat and banners but it’s really not worth it now unless maybe you just play narrative missions. I have heard about modeling lascannons sticking straight up so they can draw line of sight over terrain... that could work against you though so be careful.

New Smash Captain

LVO and the Current State of the Meta

Hi everyone Black Blow Fly here again to discuss the most current state of the meta following the recent LVO 40k Championship this past weekend. The final match was well worth watching and extremely exciting, especially compared to last year. The ever proverbial Castellan with Imperial Guard versus Altioc Ynnari with some dark eldar for Vect was there for the final round. If you like the mirror match the LVO had that too in the semi finals with the Castellan with Imperial Guard slugging it out against each other... it doesn’t get any better than that either. One of the great things about running the Castellan with Imperial Guard is you have some points left over to add some tasty flavor.

When it comes to hyper competitive events it’s important to remember this is not about playing narrative games in your garage or what you’d like to see win... cheer up because you can always watch a vast myriad of fluffy video batreps on YouTube. These events show us what are the very most competitive armies love it or hate it.

You must bring the most venomous list that has been play tested to the end of time and have your tactics and dirty tricks locked down real hard for the major events. Certainly some interesting army lists made it to the final day but they were all swept aside going into the quarter finals. The semi finals featured three Castellan with Imperial Guard armies and one Altioc Ynnari with some dirty dark eldar army for the Vect stratagem. It just seems like the days of sleeper armies winning big is over now. It’s all about the nastiest army lists. Do you remember when some people were still up in arms about the loyalist Primarch ?

Soup is still on the menu and in a very big way. If we look back to NOVA the past year not much has really changed in terms of the current meta. I was personally hoping Orks could shake it up but the Boyz failed to produce the desired results. Oh well maybe the new Genestealer Cult (GSC) can produce a sustainable spike. Sisters have a new official codex to release this year too so here’s to hoping for some change.

I’m not going to say that GW completely missed the boat not increasing the points of either the basic guardsman at 4 points per model or the Castellan with the release of CA2018 so I am supposing they really like the way things are now for an indefinite amount of time... get used to it. I look at it this way as an ardent Space Marine player - Imperial Guard get almost three guardsmen per Space Marine Scout and the basic guardsman is infinitely better in every way due to the plethora of traits they have to choose from when designing an army list. Eighth Edition is all about board control and at 4 points per model nobody does if better. I’m not bitter either... just telling it as I see it.

If we look back to Fifth Edition we can see a striking trend... yes I’m talking about Robin Cruddace the current head of development for Warhammer 40k. He says he loves his Howling Griffons but really he’s not fooling anyone. Imperial Guard was the first step towards the ultimate shooty as heck army which then featured the ignominious leaf blower army and unkillable Chimeras full of veterans with red hot plasma death. Imperial Guard was the most competitive army in Fifth Edition until finally the release of Necrons that ate cold armor like no tomorrow. Grey Knights and Space Wolves we’re both inevitably melted off the table, it’s just the way it was back then. Imperial Guard fill another roll now with the ever tasty Soup but the end result is the same when we look at the penultimate army currently dominating the meta. Honestly I don’t see GSC or Sisters changing anything so I suppose we will just have to wait for the next FAQ following Adepticon.

How do you feel about the current state of the meta and does it affect you as a gamer? I’d love to see what you have to say so let us know. If you like to see a change tell us how you’d like to see it implemented.

Crucify

On that day I took you up

It was now or never

And I savored all you were

On our road to nowhere

I don't want to get out without you now

But you're the same as always

I know you could, but you won't leave them

I know you're cool, but you won't listen

You crucify yourself

Look what's happened baby

Are you still by yourself?

'Cause I can't reach you lately

All you said was not enough

I could not wait forever

If I had stayed to hold you up

It would not make you better

I know you could, but you won't leave them

I know you're cool, but you won't listen

You crucify yourself

Look what's happened baby

Are you still by yourself?

'Cause I can't reach you lately

You said you'd leave this

So run away

You don't need this

So run away

You said you'd leave this

I know you're cool

You crucify yourself

Look what's happened baby

Are you still by yourself?

'Cause I can't reach you lately

You crucify yourself

Look what's happened baby

I know you're cool

I can't reach you lately

Look what's happened baby

Shield-Captain vs Yvraine

Poor kitty !

Sarah Connor ...

+++ Ork Warlord Traits, Relics and Strategems +++

Rogue Trader & Blackstone Fortress

Can Mono Faction Armies Still Compete

Black Blow Fly here to discuss list building for 40k in the 21st century... There are players that want a winning list using only one codex and there are players that have no qualms whatsoever as long as they are winning. One thing I recognize is that GW loves some allied armies going back as far as 6th Edition the worst Edition except for 7th Edition... they went so far as to say Soup is no longer on the menu but in reality if you still play competitively it is still is very much a thing BUT not quite as much so following the second big FAQ for 8th edition. For whatever reason GW is still all up into allied armies. Is it time to turn back the clock for the sake of the hobby ? Mono armies using one codex can do some work and if you don’t believe me just look at Dark Eldar and this is ORKT0BER.

I know what I like to play and I don’t like to design my army lists to chase the meta. Eighth Edition is all about the horde lists that have inherently intrinsic rules that are so much better than elite armies. A basic guardsman is more than twice as good as an Assault Marine when you do the math. That’s doesn’t make any sense to me nor is it properly reflecting the background accurately either. Horde units are very low cost in terms of points and by buffing them with auras, psychic powers and stratagems they are much more powerful than elite units. If you play progressive missions such the ITC or NOVA horde armies can very early rack up lots of the points simply sitting on more objectives because of their inherent low cost. Elite armies cannot compete against horde armies when it comes to holding objectives.

All the best armies can do some horde too just look at Thousand Sons. Take a full squad of 30 Tzrangors with a Twistbray so they can deep strike 1" closer to enemy units. Deploy them on the table some place safe. You’ll need a character with the Dark Matter Crystal that lets you deep strike a unit already deployed (see Tzrangors). Buff the Tzrangors with easy to cast psychic powers for +1 invulnerable save, -1 to hit then cast Warp Time on them... hilarity ensues and you haven’t used any precious command points yet but why not go ahead and burn one for +1 to wound? Seriously GW and you say you have legitimate play testers ??! To me it’s the proverbial case of the foxes guarding the hen house.

GW has unsuccessfully been trying to dial it back down from day one but Horde is still the king and this is ORKT0BER. A lot of people are ready to jump on the mean green band wagon and GW officially said this will be the very best Ork codex ever. So yeah mono faction is still a thing and here we see GW really really wants it’s so bad they straight up tell us publicly... good times for sure. Remember there are people that say more Primarchs can only be good for the game... Fulgrim is just around the corner too.

Ask yourself if that is really a good thing? To those that are truly true to the Waaaaagh they are deserving and good for them. One thing to always keep in mind is that playing Orks means lots and lots of models to purchase, build and paint... enjoy.

Now let’s take a look at the best and most competitive armies in Eighth Edition so far:

At first Ultramarines lead by Guilliman were over the top alongside Smash Brothers. Neither of these type of builds were fun to play against. Do you remember the short term success of Ravenspam? For me the army I personally hated the very most was Imperial Knights-Astra Militarum-Blood Angels with an infinite amount of command points to rock totally absurd strategems for six or more Battle Rounds. And what about Ynnari with Soul Burst and -4 to hit with ranged weapons ? Why does GW not understand ?

By the manner in which armies are designed only a very few select factions can really even be top tier competitively which typically revolves around extremely undercosted overpowered units... no brainer and very abusable - look at Dark Reapers and Shining Spears as two examples. On top of that armies like Ynnari often function on the obscure interaction of certain rules, for example such as being able to field Altioc and Ulthwe units in the same detachment. If you play Eldar you aren’t making any friends at the gaming table... there has always been just something about them. There are only three actual Ynnari models as well and all you ever see is the obligatory Cat Lady... seriously how did this ever get to be a thing ?! I always laugh when I think about GW saying Soup is off the menu... they are truly clueless. Like I said if you ain’t got Horde you ain’t got shite.


So what is the best solution? Will the next Chapter Approved bring the game back in line ? This is ORKT0BER.

Big FAQ 2.0 Winners and Losers

Hi everybody Black Blow Fly here to discuss the new FAQ and various errata - it’s all about how this will affect the meta. Overall I think the GW development team did a great job but there is still some stuff that appears to have flown right under the radar... however that said there is still the next Chapter Approved for the proverbial one-two punch - GW loveth to give but truly they loveth to take the most. Also this is Orktober and GW has said this will be the best Ork codex ever, which they didn’t say about any other xenos codex so keep these trailing items in mind as you peruse this article. So now I’ll dive right into the the discussion... first let’s talk about the losers.

Losers
Right off the top of the bat the biggest loser is the Imperial Soup army everybody loves to hate - Imperial Knights with allied Astra Militarum and Blood Angels. I know some people are still in denial but this army was utterly gutted. Sure some will say it’s still good because you have lots and lots of command points (CP) but really that’s not true at all. This army is extremely CP hungry to the level of disgustedly so and it’ll never be the same again. At most now you can regenerate 6 additional CP over the course of a six round game and guess what - those amazing Imperial Knight stratagems you loved to burn through without a second thought all went up in cost. I have played several games versus this type of army following the release and sure enough it’s no longer the scary monster it once was... not even close.

Two of the next big losers are Alpha Legion and Raven Guard. What is important to note is the developers were overall very consistent with their changes to the game - they don’t want any first turn melee shenanigans any more. There were those that said this original beta rule was no good but GW decided to double down... for the most part you can’t even deep strike first turn any more now. Cultists got nerfed hard too since they can’t infiltrate any more either.

Fly
The keyword Fly has been changed such that units with it no longer can magically move over enemy screens and this hurts big units such Shining Spears and models with big bases such as Daemon Princes. Suddenly the Talos pain engines took a big hit too and it’s not like they ever needed the keyword Fly. Not being able to avoid any longer the chaff means these units are now exposed to more rounds of enemy shooting and even counter charges which is a really big deal. You can easily hide Daemon Princes so if you’re patient it’s not the end of the world but any unit you can’t hide behind other units is in for a world of pain - as such you’ll probably being seeing them on the tables less often now... welcome to the ranks of the Bloodthirster.

Many have said that the Blood Angels Smash Captain also took a big hit from the nerf bat as well but I disagree... the reason I feel this way is because Slammaguinius is mounted on a 32 mm base and can also easily hide, plus Blood Angels have a stratagem that allows you to deep strike a unit already on the table. This forces the opponent to make sure all their vulnerable units are properly screened which amounts to pressure, which in turn can lead to mistakes.

Winners
So now let’s talk about the winners. While many have said Tau made out well and I disagree... every army going second has access to the new stratagem that provides +1 cover the first turn for all units in their respective deployment zones if the army goes second. I see this as more of a buff to Space Marines in general for the sweet sweet army wide 2+ cover save but more particularly so to Imperial Fists whom flat out ignore cover. It might not seem like a big deal but it’s something that gives them an inherent advantage.

A lot of people have said eldar came out smelling like a rose because they didn’t "really" lose anything but on the other hand they didn’t gain anything either. No gain is not winning. Sure they are still really good but not more so which is important to note. I don’t see any really big winners to be honest, it’s just that the meta is not skewed so much any longer... which brings me to my next point...

Orktober
Orks are the next big thing like it or not. I think a lot of people are really excited about the upcoming Ork codex and rightly so. If you are planning to jump on the next big band wagon it’s going to require a bit more effort than Imperial Knights because it requires lots and lots of models. I’m sure we will all be seeing a lot more Orks on the table as certain players continue to chase the meta and it’s all win-win for Games Workshop.

League Update

First I’d like to apologize I don’t post more batreps. That said I went 4-2 in a local league so I should be making the playoffs. My list which consists of Blood Angels, Deathwatch and Custodes is really coming together now. I will be at the next LVO taking it there. More updates to follow.

Another Day at the Office Part 2

Russ release this September

A big cookie for my blueberry custard ...

I love doing bases cuz you can just be creative and have fun with it.

Space Marine Domination

According to the Internet Space Marines are THE worst army in Eighth Edition. I am planning to bring my Ultramarines to a large GT in SoCal next month. I have been practicing with my army since I first started to build it over a year ago. In my opinion while Bobby G gun-line is no longer a thing (which is a good thing) Space Marines are still okay and can get the job done. Sure they are not top tier but what about players that want to play what they love and do well with it.

The GT I’ll be attending is using the ITC Missions which is pretty much all I play. I have heard SoCal is a meta for 40k but I come from the east coast. I look forward to facing off against xenos and Knights. I should mention I have some allies but Ultramarines form the bulk of my list. I will post some more leading up to the GT plus a report on the event.