The Horus Heresy

[Primarch]

Guilliman's Posterboys are the newest preview.
https://www.warhammer-community.com/202 ... ble-force/
The Ultramarines' special rule is, somewhat appropriately, one that needs a bit of planning and foresight. The Strength of Wisdom special rule grants every unit +1 to hit in the shooting phase, so long as another Ultramarines unit has shot at the same target first.
In addition to the Legion rule, the preview also showed the Ultramarines' Rite of War. Each turn the whole army can be faster, better shots, more choppy or braver, thanks to the Logos Lectora. Definitely a more finesse army than just charging at an opponent and hitting them with pointy things.

[Balloonacorn]

I am liking this stuff move than I thought I would.

Love the models, the lore is great, and the rules are better than expected. I like the way they make each faction unique in the units they can take and their buffs.

I just do not trust how GW releases things. If it is anything like the release of 9th ed for 40k (and 8th, and AOS 3.0) they get everyone to buy the basics, then they bring out the stuff you need to win 6 months or more later. After the first year of 9th everyone had squads of Reivers that were ineffective, but it was the original must have-unit. Seen any on the table lately?

This seems like a good game but the main box is not limited edition and it may be better to wait and see what units and coming down the pipe and what changes they make to the rules after first balance test.

[Primarch]

I just do not trust how GW releases things. If it is anything like the release of 9th ed for 40k (and 8th, and AOS 3.0) they get everyone to buy the basics, then they bring out the stuff you need to win 6 months or more later. After the first year of 9th everyone had squads of Reivers that were ineffective, but it was the original must have-unit. Seen any on the table lately?

Those are valid points I guess, but I'm just really excited to get new, plastic 30K models.
I've always preferred building armies around models and themes that I like. Inevitably I will spend more time building and painting than I will playing, so my biggest concern is to buy minis I like the look of.

The core box really appeals, both for the models (the two praetors need some conversion work though) and for the new rules. Those tactical marines may look bland with their boltguns only loadout, but the special/heavy weapons boxes that were previewed mean that you can build a lot of different unit types easily. I always preferred the pre-8th ed. rules engine, so I'm eager to try this new version of it.

If you are interested in one of the more assault focused legions, waiting for plastic assault marines (or asking Jus to print you some) may be necessary to get the best out of your legion's rules, but Blood Angel or World Eater tactical squads aren't a terrible thing to have on the table.

Ultimately GW can radically alter their games at any time with new releases, rules updates and errata. Good stuff gets nerfed, bad stuff gets buffed, but cool models will always be worth taking. Case in point, Reivers (IMHO) look rubbish.

[Jye Nicolson]

I don't think Reivers were ever good, if I ever said anything nice about them I was probably at peak glass half full (or a narrow Kill Team use case)

I think it's safe to say the contents of the core box are not going to be a competitive army in their own right, but the hope is they remain a solid foundation. This is less because GW deliberately cripples them with later releases and rules changes and more because (as Primarch alludes to) the rules stuff is pretty random and frankly I think decoupled from buying plastic. Blood of the Phoenix was a remarkably bad box set at release and is now solid gold for ~reasons~.

That being said the recent big boxes aren't *too* bad. Blade Guard and Eradicators remain good units even if for AoC/transport/mobility reasons there are Firstborn or Dread units you might prefer in the slot if you're optimising. Assault Intercessors have a niche and are fine as troops. The characters are OK, if it wasn't for jump pack and bike variants you'd be happy with them (and my Gravis captain from the 8th box has been great all of 9th despite being slow as a wet week). Only the Outriders are really feel left out in the cold. Likewise the Dominion Stormcast are pretty decent, not optimal because dragons, paladins and Longstrikes etc edge them out and the set is very character heavy but it's all still decent stuff.

The place they tend to fall down is in comparison to their own multipart variants - sarge weapons for Assault Intercessors, multi meltas for Eradicators, 2h variant for Annihilator Stormcast etc. It feels telling to me that I usually end up buying the multipart kit too for the stuff I like . Like Prim says the HH box avoids this with the upgrade kits. "Competitive" HH might involve a bunch of tanks and Primarchs or Forge World AdMech or whatever but I'm reasonably confident I'll be able to use the beakie marines to good effect there and in 40k.

[Primarch]

Everybody can play games in a style that suits them, but 30K has, up until now, been the narrative game to 40K's more competitive scene. When every legion has access to the same toys, most differentiation comes from aesthetics and storylines. Non-marine armies had big impacts on the 1st.ed game's meta, particularly Mechanicus and Custodes. Mechanicus had some powerful builds with high toughness models. Custodes were so incredibly broken that their entire list got rewritten. By far the biggest outlier though was Knights. FW make some beautiful big stompy knights, but unless you brought an army equipped to fight them, you lost.
So, if anyone wants to be ultra-competitive and win big, bring an army of Knights with no warning. Be prepared to have a hard time getting another game though.

Personally, I aim to build armies using models I like and that I think fit the theme of the force. (Cue PTSD flashbacks to the "Winning is a theme!" motto of the WAAC crowd of yesteryear). I'll add new stuff to my armies as and when it becomes available, but I don't believe that chasing the meta is healthy for the game, the community or my bank balance. I love the stories and style of the setting, so that is what I am aiming to put on the table. If I wanted to use armies min-maxed to three decimal places of efficiency, I wouldn't be playing a game based on the made up historical back story for the narrative of a fictional futuristic game setting.

[Primarch]

The next legion has been previewed, in this case it's the Death Guard.
https://www.warhammer-community.com/202 ... s-of-guts/
Specializing in massed infantry assaults, the Death Guard Legion's rule is Remorseless. While other legions might get slowed down by terrain or pinned by enemy fire, Remorseless lets the 14th legion keep on marching. In addition, so long as they don't run, they can fire their weapons as if they were stationary.
The Death Guard also get access to Alchem flamers, packing their fuel tanks with dangerous substances to melt the flesh from any foe.

[Primarch]

Up next for a preview is the most psychic of legions, the Thousand Sons.
https://www.warhammer-community.com/202 ... -than-you/
As you might expect, their special rule is that they are all psykers. Cult Arcana makes all of their models psykers, and allows sergeants to use an ability chosen from a list before the game begins.
The Fortress of the Mind is a unique reaction rule for the legion. The Thousand Sons call upon their psychic powers to shield themselves from harm, gaining a 3+ invulnerable save for the turn.

[Primarch]

Finally the previews have reached the arch-est of arch-traitors, the most despicable of despots, the Sons of Horus.
https://www.warhammer-community.com/202 ... st-legion/
The Sons have a special rule called Merciless Fighters. Whenever they charge, or are charged, all attacks against that unit suffer -1 Strength, which is quite a useful defensive buff.
The Sons of Horus' legion specific reaction is called Death Dealers. Once per game, when someone shoots at them, the reacting unit can shoot back first with a +1 to their ballistic skill. More than enough to make an opponent think twice about targeting that squad full of heavy weapons.

[Jye Nicolson]

Pre-orders this week along with tons of kits, and surprising stuff like the Primarchs being orderable through the main site rather than Forgeworld!

https://www.warhammer-community.com/202 ... -descends/

No telling when any of this stuff will be available in Japan though.

Edit: at this stage my plan is to just get the main box and the Loyalists book and otherwise not go too far without a good understanding of the best way to use models in both games. I have to wonder what the promised 40k datasheet will look like for that Kratos tank though

[Primarch]

There are a LOT of things on that pre-order list. And I want nearly ALL of it.

Edit: at this stage my plan is to just get the main box and the Loyalists book and otherwise not go too far without a good understanding of the best way to use models in both games. I have to wonder what the promised 40k datasheet will look like for that Kratos tank though

Nearly everything should be useable in some way, but some weapon options need a bit of consideration. I'm not sure what units currently look like in 40K Vs. 30K, but the differences I'm aware of are:

Terminators
Storm Shields in 30K aren't really a thing and the kit doesn't include them or Thunder Hammers. It comes with a Reaper Autocannon, rather than a 40K Assault Cannon, and Combi-bolters rather than Storm Bolters. 30K Termies can freely mix and match their weapon loadouts, but I think 40K has either Dakka Termies or Choppy Termies???

Marines
The beakies only come with bolters, so you'll probably want to get some special and heavy weapons from somewhere.
In 30K all models in a unit MUST have the same weapon (except for the sarge). So your tactical squad will all have bolters. Your support squads will all have flamers or all have meltas etc.
There is one exception to that rule, Veteran Squads. Veterans are much more in-line with 40K tactical squads, and in some ways exceed them. Veterans can all take weapons from a long and varied list, plus 1 in every 5 models may take a flamer, plasmagun, melta, heavy bolter or missile launcher. (As of the leaked playtest rules).


Neither Veterans nor Terminators are standard Troops choices though, so you would still need some standard Tactical Squads for a legal force.
Unless...

One of the Rites of War - the 30K style of list building shenanigans - is called Pride of the Legion. PotL lets you take veterans and terminators as troops choices, bypassing that pesky requirement for tac squads. The downside is that you can only take 1 Heavy Support unit and 1 Fast Attack unit. The box doesn't have either included, so you don't really lose much to begin with.