Codex: Astra Militarum Top Changes | Warhammer 40,000 Faction Focus

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After much waiting, the Astra Militarum finally receive their 9th Edition Codex! Join Chef and Bard as they delve into the Guard and discuss some of the big changes held within!

00:00 So here we are once again…
00:55 Intro
02:04 Detachment Rules
03:45 Regimental Doctrines
07:44 Army Rules
08:30 No, you don’t get to use the Balance Dataslate…
08:59 Turret Weapons
10:44 Orders and Regimental Tactics
17:16 Battle-forged Rule – Stratagems
21:32 Battle-forged Rule – Tank Aces
24:04 Battle-forged Rule – Psykana Discipline
25:06 Battle-forged Rule – Warlord Traits
26:39 Battle-forged Rule – Relics
30:05 Datasheets – HQ
35: Datasheets – HQs Pt 1
35:57 Datasheets – Leman Russ Weapons
39:34 Datasheets – HQs Pt 2
42:31 Datasheets – Troops
43:36 Datasheets – Elites
46:46 Datasheets – Fast Attack
50:43 Datasheets – Heavy Support
55:59 Datasheets – Transports and Flyers
56:30 Datasheets – Fortifications and Super Heavies
57:36 Datasheets – Tempestus Scions
59:17 Points
1:05:17 Army Balance
1:07:20 Final Thoughts

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44 thoughts on “Codex: Astra Militarum Top Changes | Warhammer 40,000 Faction Focus”

  1. PSA regarding AoC/Indirect Fire, cos there's only so many times I'm gonna answer the same comment 😅

    AoC is not in the Codex
    Ignoring Indirect Fire penalties is not in the Codex

    The Codex shouldn't be used in Organised Play until the standard Codex is out, which won't be until after the New Year (both of these statements come straight from GW on WarCom)

    As such, at a tournament at least, though you can infer in all games, you should be using the 8th Ed Codex, which is what the Slate is for, until the Codex comes out on general sale.

    In friendly games, or with TO permission, use the new Codex, and have a blast!
    But using the Dataslate will be, imo, a patently unfair and unnecessary buff you're giving to yourself, for an army that doesn't need it.

    Yes, CSM got AoC, but their Codex dropped as a Standard, available to everyone at the same time Codex, so the Slate didn't need to be changed.

    The current Slate isn't going to be updated for around 3 months, which will likely coincide with the Guard release, and I can all but guarantee AoC and the Indirect Fire rules won't be staying, as if they were, they'd be in the Codex (again, this was directly stated by GW on a WarCom article, that "certain" elements had been rolled into the Codex)

    Put another way, if you want AoC and the Indirect Fire rules available from the Slate, logic dictates you'd also still use Hammer of the Emperor, which is now Born Soldiers. So having Hammer means you'd never need Born Soldiers, and so could have 2 other Doctrines- you know that's absolutely not the case 😅

    If your opponent agrees, fine, but looking at their new rules you really don't need AoC nor the Indirect boost, so getting a bigger advantage would be handicapping your foe unfairly, doing your generalship a disservice as you'd be playing with unnecessary extra rules, and are setting yourself up for disappointment when they inevitably get removed.

    We'll continue to play them without the Slate, and if they stay, I'll eat my hat 😅

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  5. I think Chef is overblowing lasguns. While hitting on 3+ and AP -1 universally is great, they wound targets on 5+ for the most part, elves, cultists, and tau firewarriors not withstanding. The take aim buff is also good for buffing special weapons, but not everybody is going to take, the obviously-statted-to-be-the-best-option, cadians. Furthuermore, Hammer of the Emperor was only so effective with squads and hordes of lasguns was because it sidestepped that very wound roll. While marines do get 2+ saves in cover against anything with less than AP -2, having to make ten of those saves and would still end up with a whopping 1 dead marine or so. Adding the AP -1 to lasguns doesn't affect drukhari with their invulns, demons with their demon saves, or marines with AoC. From my experience, Hammer of the Emperor was an enormous prop for the guard that kept them playable. It was a boon to tanks, but it kept the infantry from essentially being wound protection for whatever special or heavy weapons you have in the squad.

    The tanks are better, but the leman russ also had to be worked on with how clunky it was in 8th, limping around or having minimally effective fire when you the unfortunate occurrence of rolling three 1s for damage rolls. Maxing the damage roll perpetually is the other end of that, but the model has been generally buffed, in anticipation of losing AoC for guard I suspect.

    The orders are fantastic across the board with them fulfilling numerous roles from utility, mobility, and buffing unit capabilities, but the orders are also dramatically more restricted when compared to how many order sources are available in the 8th edition codex.

    I think guard commanders will have to relearn the army, as the organization, statlines, strats, and orders have all changed in a lot of places. Then, they will have to test and adapt to find what mix of doctrines and army comp. works with their play style and in the game. Based on this video, and theory-crafting with other guard players on info from the leaks, I think the book will be good, but it will not be broken outside of particular extreme synergies that may exist in it and have yet to be fully unveiled.

    Personally, I don't like that you essentially have a platoon commander and his command squad, an army or subsector commander with the castellan options, and the Lord Solar of the segmentum as your officer tiers to field. I think it's weird to be fielding the commander of a sub sector or segmentum alongside a platoon or two of infantry. It removes a significant amount of regimental structure from the guard and replaces it with high-level staff officers that are randomly on the front line.

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  7. The new cadian models are bigger and have bigger bases. Your existing models are going to look dumb next to them. The scale increase is not good for our fellow guard. I never thought we would receive the primaris treatment. Next up tyranid gants are going to be bigger and require bigger bases. GW is dumb.

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  11. Here's the thing, if the designers had created these codex's with the intent to build around the theme of that particular army while giving them reasonable limitations both in the codex and how it applies to the core rulebook itself, we could have fantastic utility and strength in every codex like what we see with Sigmar. However, each code is inconsistent with its design that they are either wildly too strong or are fairly balanced, which makes for games that will play in similar ways.

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  15. I really wonder why GW is missing out on adding Rogue Traders or Inquisition as subfactions, since it would make total sense with the upcoming games: Darktide and Rogue Trader. Would be a good cross promotion and might get some more people into the hobby.

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  17. Personally i HATE that scions do not get any doctrines… stormtroppers is ok, but lets be honest i reckon 80-90% of us scion players would trade that for 2 of the other doctrines… all our flavour got taken away 🙁

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  18. I really appreciate both of you decided to grow beard just to leave mustaches for the review.

    Also Guard needs to usurp the term "Doomsday" for their tank guns instead of whatever pile of shit Necrons can field with that name XD

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  19. Never played with Yarrick but I do miss him!

    Also, very happy with the initial impression of the guard codex, as you say the data sheets are mostly fine (looking at catachans, Deathstrike and mortal wound strategem mainly) as they are and can easily be balanced through point tweaks.

    I also understand the difficulty of predicting a meta and balance of the game some 6-8 months ahead of a codex release and sometimes they will do quite nicely balanced, like GSC and chaos knights, and sometimes it's gonna be harlequins and tau. And I get wanting to err on the more powerful side of the scales rather than underpowered through arguments like selling but also as a player I want a glow up, not like a sidegrade of the same shit, and it's okay if the glow up gets toned downed once it's dropped.

    IMO GW should have a standard of releasing a mini FAQ/balance slates for codex release within 3-6 weeks after it's dropped where they are also allowed to tweak points. That way a broken codex from broken point coat isn't gonna remain there for five months just because it was released just after a season point update. In this re-tweak I would expect very little to change, if anything, for most releases but if there would appear another harlequin we would know a tweak is coming shortly.

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  20. The books looks pretty solid (and after 5 years, it’s a welcome change)!
    I will say though, most of Chef’s complaints come down to GW’s lazy rules writing by making all upgrades free. If you had to pay points points for the guns I really don’t think it would be a problem. I want to play a game with points, not power level…

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  21. Deathstrikes actually seem kind of bad. The Godspear will never hit anything, or if it does because you are surrounding something in combat, you're probably already winning. Also 3" around a point doesn't actually cover an objective since the objective marker itself increases the point's area. The Plasma seems like the best, but will probably only hit 1 to 2 units if you use it perfectly. The Vortex seems pretty fun, but seems like you'll throw it on a point and just hit 1 unit that's holding it most of the time, which is kind of like a smite everyturn on a 4+ but easier to play around for your opponent.

    I feel like I want to throw it in front of the opponent's army to threaten them to stay back, but I feel like a good opponent will move one unit in there to take the damage and do what they wanted to do anyway, or just barely avoid the Godspear since it's so small while still doing what they want to.

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  27. Great video guys. +1 for the staches.
    I really think the design of the codex is much better. The doctrine changes are so much better as I disliked having to play "Cadians" to get access to certain strats, relics, etc. The flexibility feels much more guardsman and I look forward to really showing off my custom regiment that has troops from multiple worlds. I think list building is much more enjoyable with this codex. I definitely feel like I want lots of cp for all the great and fun strats in this book.

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  30. I really like the new Guard. They still take loads of casualties so you won't be fielding the "Death Stars" of Chaos, Blood Angels, etc., and if you keep your gun line in bounce range they're much more vulnerable to melee. Also, AP -1 lasguns in the AoC meta currently is basically AP 0. Bascially, I see them as a halfway house between Orks and Tau – the MAJORITY of your turn will be in the shooting phase, but they CAN do stuff in other phases. Something else to consider is that since their Artillery have lost the 1-3 per slot, you won't have to deal with the "Parking Lot" that you have to deal with now of "Here's 3 Basilisks AND a Manticore AND a Mortar pit and they're going to be out of sight ALL GAME". They've gotten a lot more vulnerable, so yea they've gotten some shooting buffs. But after turn 1 when they're taking casualties left and right I think you'll find they're pretty balanced.

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  34. But since you measure out the 3 inches from the 40mm marker you can always hold an objective even when a godspear comes down. The damage sounds awesome but I just don't see the use… you can always just shimmy out of the way…

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  37. Scion command squads have command squad keyword yes? If I add an attaché to that command squad like an astropath or an officer of the fleet, so they lose deepstrike?

    For the pure scions detachment can I still take advisers and auxila? If I add in a vulture gunship do they no longer count as troops?

    Does the tempestor prime go in the command squad like the company commander or are they still lone models?

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  39. Not the biggest fan of either of the new horse kits, though lord horsey can be improved a lot by ditching the GW colour scheme and going for something darker (wish he came with a head swap though). The rough riders….ouch. It may just be me, but I bloody hate the blanket thing, and will without a doubt be looking for alternatives.

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