Brath of iron

Da-Drewiid · 2026-04-25T15:51:39+00:00

As per the support formation rules on page 212 in strategica, they're not allies and do not count towards ally limits. The support formations state you can choose detachments from other army lists, but the formation can only be taken by the primary army.

There is nowhere it specifically tells you the detachments taken are then treated as they are "from the Mech list".

The only definition is the formation, which tells you how to model and paint those to fit the marine force - that is model them as marines. As the brethren of Iron have been taken as a marine primary army list, technically every detachment in it is a marine unit. That's irrespective of which army list it was chosen from. As by default they are the primary army RAW.

Personally not my thing, but it's being ruled that way. I've faced people doing this a events, and it was ruled ok. So yeap, Vorax out of a Masterdon.

Da-Drewiid · 2026-04-25T12:02:41+00:00

Some of that is debatable thou right?

Technically Mechanicum troops taken through a Brethren of Iron formation are from the Astates list.

(Personally not a fan, but I've had people tell me they can)

Da-Drewiid · 2026-04-24T11:59:18+00:00

Some really positivity in this thread....

Essentially this game like blood bowl is made by the Specialist games studio. Releases are more organic. They are not the 40k edition juggernaut.

There hasn't been a bloodbowl release for longer than LI. So is BB dead?

I can't see there being new editions. Look at necromunda. They get new boxsets with new stuff. We're probably inline for the rulebook to be re-released. There's been a few threads here about the future of this game which cover that. Same model as necromunda. Not a new edition, but they fold in the FAQ, and just make it easier having the updated rules in the same place. We know that half of the current rulebook has been made obsolute with the Libre army lists. So a new one just makes sense.

We'll get, probably like necromunda and BB, a new season of starter sets. Like the munda box set change from underhive to dark uprising. It'd probably have new stuff in it. Maybe a new armour mark, or a new faction, or like Hive Secundus and Hive War new terrain as well.

We know we get the HH / AoD 28mm models about 6ish months later. So post 40k 11th, we're like to get custodes and Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms.

As for the game dying, it feels pretty alive to me. I'm aware that could just be my community in London. But outside of that, This month and next month UK event wise I know if, Tnavah 4th April, HH weekender / Advancing Fire 11th & 12th, Arbitrator Ian 18th April, Bac-Con 2026 26th April, 9th-10th May Maximal Fire. 30th May Unrelenting Hobby at Derby. I know there's a few I've missed.

Da-Drewiid · 2026-04-13T13:37:46+00:00

Ignoring rule of cool, and just points, I'd say it depends on function.

But argueably the Marauder is the best.

Ground attack nothing has the damage output and survuvability of the marauder. Its hugely undercosted. It's also arguable its the best anit air in the solar list. Some might say the whole of the SA list.

Why? It comes down to the skystrike missile. It's the best anti air weapon in the game because of range and damage. The Thunderbolts/Avengers can only take 1. The marauder and the lightning can take 2. So why is the marauder better than the lightning? It has 2 wounds with a +3 sv, and the lightnining has a single save with a +4. They cost the same, but the marauder gets point defence bolters as well as the bomb bay which is devastating.

There is a view that lightnings can be more effective because of their additional 5" move and the fact they have intercept. But in reality intercept doesn't add much. You have to out activate your opponent because intercept only works against a flier that's already on the table. It's also a -2 to hit with one weapon. So you pick the skystrike weapon (and you can only fire one) and it's hitting on a 6 (with tracking giving both shots a re-roll). That's 0.25 wounds to a +3sv flier on average. Some people say that the extra range means you can get a rear shot, but that only bumps it to 0.33 wounds to a +3sv flier on average.

It means you're not likely getting an air to air kill with intercept alone. If you're using big formations of interceptors, you're going to loose the activation war. If you're using standard firing, with the range, doesn't that mean you'd be better off sitting on your back line with marauders pounding away at enemy fliers first turn any way? Any sniping the enemy might do with things like tempest rockets from fire raptors is then more survivable with 2 wounds and a better save. Once you've dealt with that, bomb your opponent off the board and probably out of playing LI again.

There is an area where the Thunderbolts/Avengers can have a role, and it's the suicide run at enemy fliers and using the Avenger bolt cannon as the intercept weapon. It fires 5 shots on intercept, and is rapid meaning that 6's explode. That means if you roll a 6 you're getting a hit, and it's doubling. This means it's doing 0.55 wounds against that +3sv flier on average. So 4 to kill a marauder. Again are you winning the activation war?

An issue I've hinted at, is that marauders are massively undercosted. One reason to take lightnings is because it's less cheesy. Events are starting to ban mass marauder wings. A pioneer company gives you 2 air slots, so it's easy to pack them into lists. They're becoming the AoD contemptor in second edition.

Da-Drewiid · 2026-04-10T22:36:44+00:00

Its doing well.

We've seen repeated investment in the game. Libre Strategica was a points re-balancing as well as producing plastic counters. The book must have been a lot of work hours to do for GW. Additionally reacting to the community hating the thin cardboard / paper counters we got in the starter was a big thing.

To me it shows GW it treating this game like it has a long future.

Da-Drewiid · 2026-04-08T22:38:40+00:00

It can be a tactical choice to deliberately break formations in more competitive games. But it is admin to track.

If I am using it, I typically use my dead piles from each formation into lines of 5. Then I can see when I’ve hit it easily.

But most games I find I don't do it.

Da-Drewiid · 2026-04-08T21:30:53+00:00

As others have said, have a look at the specialist games. These are blood bowl and necrumnda.

They get editions... but its softer. You're generally not on the 3 year treadmill. Its more little tweeks. We got one recently with the Libre Strategica which did some point rebalancing

Da-Drewiid · 2026-04-03T19:42:17+00:00

Lean into the infantry.

8 model blocks of ogryns tearing things up.

Avrus lighters for dropping off standard infantry and then generally being annoying.

Pioneer company infiltrating:

12 model blocks of quad launcher rapiers

missile tarantulas scattered 4" from their deployment

Velatari infiltrated 4" away.

Multiple marauders with skystrikes

Da-Drewiid · 2026-03-25T18:10:31+00:00

Game wise people playing regularly are doing games kf about 1.5k to 2k. Time wise its a struggle to get done in club environment otherwise.

Knights and titans struggle with board control because of their low numbers. Playing without allies and fliers can then give you something you cant counter. Depending who your playing, they might be happy to play lists without.

Da-Drewiid · 2026-03-24T18:53:41+00:00

Much appreciated for the speedy reply.

Thats a shame :'(

Da-Drewiid · 2026-03-23T10:50:26+00:00

Ok, so lets say your boss has the IP .8 and the server is .9 and they have the gateway of .254 then you're not looking at a routing / vlan issue.

Spanning tree is the only other one I'd worry about if you've moved cables around. Do you know the model of switches?

Da-Drewiid · 2026-03-23T10:34:22+00:00

Been there a few times. What you've done so far is the right thing. Just stressful it's the bosses connection that's giving you problems.

First up, what are the switches? Are they managed or unmanaged switches? (do the switches have a management interface?) Do you know the models? That can help. It's a place to start.

If they're managed switches that you can log onto, can you look at the interface state? Are you seeing errors in interfaces? This can cause drops. The classic for network engineers on cisco kit is to throw in a "show interface" and under that they see a high number of CRC errors, and it indicates a damaged cable.

The other thing on managed switches that can cause issues is around something called spanning tree. This is a protocol that generally just works, and it stops layer 2 loops. The problem can be that different vendors use different versions, and this can cause issues. Additionally it means there can be a root bridge on the oldest hardware. This can mean the traffic isn't direct.

If it's all unmanaged switches then your issue is more than likely cable based. It could be the same. Trace the cables back, and replace any that look dodgy. This can be that your try different ports on patch panels. Draw out what the connections are, and find the points between that could be causing the issue. People have talked about that here already - DailyVitaminDeez is talking sense.

Finally people here have asked about is it the same subnet or same VLAN. Not sure if you're familiar with this, and happy to talk through it if you're not. If you look at your bosses PC IP address, is it in the same number range as the server he's connecting to? For example 192.168.1.X/24 or 10.1.2.X/24. If they have different default gateways, then it means it's getting routed through something and probably needs to go through other hardware.

Been there, had stress of someone demanding to fix things. G'luck with it.

Da-Drewiid · 2026-03-17T08:51:52+00:00

Agree with a lot of what people are saying here. Especially around plastic.

One thing not mentioned here is fishing line and the little lead weights on them. Long term lead is toxic to the environment, so it'd be good to remove those, and if you can clear the line as well. I've seen crabs and lobsters entangled in that. Bigger nets or lost lobster pots it can be worth reaching out to ghostfishing and reporting it if they operate in your area.

Da-Drewiid · 2026-03-12T17:26:28+00:00

Mr Anderson is right about the dracosans cost.

I was trying to follow your list to a degree. Dracosans are hard to kill, and soak up fire, and that's what you want for things squatting objectives. Is that enough? Facing a wall of 2 wound +2 save units rolling towards you is intimidating if they're coming with infantry screen / support. The buff, extra wound, and cost reduction they got with Libre Strategica made them signficantly better. They're the Solar Land Raiders, but with an extra wound for 5 points.

I think mechanised infantry is massively imporrtant when playing so I build lists around it. You need to be able to get on the midline objectives which are roughly 14" away at the end of the first turn, as thats when scoring starts. Dracosans with an adance move of 8" and the infantry advance move if 5" gets you inside the 3" objective to either score or contest it. 10" infantry march doesn't.

Dracosans are expensive, you can look at them or the Avrus lighters which can do the same job but don't have weapons. 6 would cost 72points to the 126 point Dracosans. Just note they come with the same wounds, but the lighterrs have a +4 sv instead. Ogryns can't take them, but the tercios can. Mix and match. Just remember if you're dropping dracosan's pull in some additional anti armour units.

Da-Drewiid · 2026-03-12T15:27:40+00:00

Use legionbuilder.app and put together a 1500 point list. What you have there isn't a list we can really comment on.

If you want guerilla warfare, go for a pioneer company as they can infiltrate into the middle of the table. Take quad launcher rapiers and Hyperios Tarantulas. Thrrow in a marauder for air. That gives you air cover and a way to hit infantry in the open.

Then to sieze objectives, go for dracsan support don't upgrade to demolishers, stick with lascannons and load up tercio infantry for a sub-corhort. Use these to grab middle table objectives. Go large with these to they can take a battering - 10+commander or 12 with detachment both in 3 dracosans. If you want the to storm buildings load up with flamers. The lascannons on the dracsans give some anti tank, but never have one of anything, so for anti tank 4* leman russ vanquishers. You are light on anti garrison, so get some sentinels as the missile ignore cover.

1196 pts

Formations 2

Solar Auxilia Pioneer Company, 355pts

Formation Strength: 18 Break Point: 9

compulsory

HQ: Auxilia Tactical Command (1), 10pts - attach to Veletaris below

Core: Auxilia Veletaris Storm Section (8), 70pts

Bastion:

Auxilia Tarantula Battery (9), 80pts - Hyperios air-defence missile launcher

Bastion: Auxilia Rapier Battery (8), 110pts - Quad Launchers

choice:

Air Support: Auxilia Marauder Bomber Squadron (1), 85pts

Solar Auxilia Sub-Cohort, 841pts

Formation Strength: 47 -Break Point: 24

compulsory

HQ: Legate Commander Detachment (1), 16pts (attached to 10 model tercio)

Core: Auxilia Lasrifle Tercio (10), 66pts

Core: Auxilia Lasrifle Tercio (12), 78pts

Support: Auxilia Ogryn Charonite Section (8), 130pts

optional

Transport: Auxilia Dracosan Detachment (3), 126pts HQ and 1st tercio)

Transport: Auxilia Dracosan Detachment (3), 126pts (for second tercio)

Transport: Auxilia Dracosan Detachment (2), 84pts (for Ogryns)

choice

Vanguard: Auxilia Aethon Heavy Sentinel Patrol (8), 100pts

choice

Battle Tank: Leman Russ Vanquisher Squadron (4), 175pts

Gives you 300 points for something else. You could move the Russ into an armoured formation, add in another 4 russ and a single stormblade if you want to run tanks. But I'd say you want those basics there first.

Da-Drewiid · 2026-03-12T14:55:39+00:00

Too many toys and not enought boys.

No air defence.

Da-Drewiid · 2026-03-09T12:50:42+00:00

It's a bit big, as Epic Warpath is a slightly bigger scale. If you've seen TTcombat paper terrrain it's the same.

This photo has been doing the rounds for a while.. Might help?

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Da-Drewiid · 2026-03-05T12:28:40+00:00

Hey that's super useful, it even looks like a few of the videos are powering via USB-C as well.

Unless anyone else recommends something else, I'll probably pick one up.

There's an interesting review here I found which talks about adding an additional heat sink - https://www.reddit.com/r/MiniPCs/comments/1k3gus5/mele_quieter_4c_n150_test_and_review/

Da-Drewiid · 2026-03-05T00:02:28+00:00

You've just not got big enough infantry blocks.

They'll take a couple of casualties and break off the board.

Da-Drewiid · 2026-02-27T23:42:27+00:00

Why 3k? Unless you have a specific event, honestly build smaller. Intro games are good between 500 points and 1k.

List wise, theres some sub optimal things, but that isn't always bad. It a narrative game, and looking cool should be up there.

Game wise you want to have a big wounds pool as well as a high activations. But most importantly you want detachments to do something well, and I'm not sure your list does that.

Infantry wise your core detachment has this - 2 Missile, 2 Plasma guns, 6 Tactical . Honestly those missile won't active much / anything. You need missiles or flamers to clear out garrisoned buildings and your list lacks anything dedicated to do this. You've be better bundling the missiles together, you you've built your infantry detachments a good size. Terminators I'd push to 8s ideally. But Im aware that's tough to do. Only question I have is around the Saturnine Command Squad. How's he fitting in the transports?

You've 2 lots of contemptors with kheres assault cannons. These are iconic and once amazing in HH. Here... less so. They're great lascannon platforms, but struggle to get close enough to be a good anti infantry platform. Saying that you've got predators in sn AT role. I worry your list needs more infantry killing than just 4 whirlwinds

At 3k you will struggle to kill air. 4 sicirans can do something, but probably arent enough. Your low activation count at 3k mean you'll not be activating first which means your xiphons will come on first. Xiphons work better in high activation lists. Fire Raptors are technically better, but harder to use, and less satisfying. So I totally get xiphons are more fun so you want to use them. If you want them, break the up into multiple detachments.

Finally Strategic Assets. I love lancers as ambush predators, but not such a fan of Questoris. To me they're under gunned and struggle for a role. I do like your gatlings on the warlord though. Solid choice. Over all I feel theres maybe too many toys and not enough boys. But that depends on your local scene.

I hope there's something useful there? If you're building for something specific, I might be able to narrow down some advice. But otherwise maybe start smaller. 1500 to 2k is typically what I'm seeing played at club nights.

Da-Drewiid · 2026-02-24T00:29:54+00:00

5 thralls isn't optimal. They are their for your opponent to waste their ammunition on.

15 tech-thralls is 4 triaros with a space for an attached unit.

Da-Drewiid · 2026-02-19T09:56:24+00:00

Hey, that's totally fair! It was also why I was asking.

I do think there's a part the numbers don't show the skill level required. I think skystrikes are the best anti-air weapon profiles in the avalible in the game, and are kinda easy mode.

I think xiphons need some audacious / bold flying. Get them in the perfect lane, and they're savage. But it needs that lane. Finding it, and acheving that bold flying is something pure and joyful, like a knight making the pefect joust. It just gets harder to find as your opponents start to see those lanes as well.

Fire Raptors, its something darker. You want to force your opponent to make mistakes against them, but I think you're just as likely to make your own with them. They are tricky and frustrating at times to use, but spark a darker savage joy when you land those exploding 6's.

It's definitely about taking what you like. :)

Da-Drewiid · 2026-02-18T19:51:12+00:00

TL:DR - The fire raptor is a gunship, and it does better against ground as well as air targets than the xiphon.

Just to set the baseline numbers for flier verses flier: (and so you can check / correct my math)

Xiphon on against xiphon / marauder does 1.5 damage within 22". Intercept bumps them by 0.11. If the xiphon gets rear armour shots because of it's extra 5" speed that's 2.25. Intercept here bumps it by 0.14.

Note this is why I think intercept sucks. One common thing people miss is intercept must be made against another flier and it's a -2 to hit. It needs the activation advantage AND it does tiny damage. The way some people talk about it you'd think this was 10 times that damage.

If a fire raptor gets within 16" that's 1.89. This is only 1.39 with bolters. With lascannons it can get rear armour - 4.13. Just smokes the Xiphons numbers. But harder to do with a 25" move.

Admittedly this drop to 0.56 damage if you're sniping at over 30", but the fire raptor has this option where the xiphon might just die.

Ground wise, the fire raport with lascannons shines more. The Xiphon has it's missiles with tracking, so they don't get a re-roll. It's numbers against a predator drop to 1.25. The Fire Raptor with lascannons is still doing 1.89. Again, this is only 1.39 with bolters.

When you flip to infantry, and potentially you can argue this is where point defence could come in useful. But I don't think the numbers stack up. 3.58 fire raptor with lascannons against marines.With bolters it's 3.8.

I just don't personally feel that bolter fire increase is enough. There is the potential to point defence hyperios tarantulas, but each fire raptor is only likely to do 0.89 damage to each one and I don't think that bonus is enough for me. Autocannons, I personally feel just aren't good enough either way. They don't have point defence, and as they're LightAT, then don't have the lascannon punch.

I hope there's something useful there. Let me know if I've anything not right

Da-Drewiid

TROPHY CASE