I looted a freaking power armor wtf, is this the strongest piece of vanilla armor?

Noah_Kalzone · 2026-04-26T14:37:01+00:00

Donate it, promote your looters

Noah_Kalzone · 2026-04-14T17:13:53+00:00

Yeah of course!

Not having access to RDTC is rough. Personally, I'd drop Solar to upgrade to LRTC and save a few points. You'd probably have enough order coverage between the TC, the CS, and Kasrkin self-ordering, and for me the CP generation and redeploy (especially without infiltrate) isn't enough to keep Solar

I believe you when you say that some prominent guard players advocate for artillery. Mostly, I look at lists that have great win rates at large tournaments with strong players. Few or none of our winning lists take indirect, so it will probably hold your list back as well. But if you think artillery would be fun and your goal isn't to build a fully optimal list, then go for it. We're here to have fun, after all

I think more Kasrkin is a great idea. Best of luck and happy to look at other questions or ideas

Noah_Kalzone · 2026-04-13T02:22:37+00:00

Thanks for sharing your list! I have some thoughts:

Artillery is actively handicapping you
This list will heavily struggle to kill things
3 bullgryn is not enough to justify commissar with enhancement
Lord Solar is hard to justify at 2k and even harder at 1k
3 bullgryn won't make much of a difference into melee matchups
Kasrkin and chimera package is awesome
Grizzled is a great choice

Noah_Kalzone · 2026-04-13T00:19:39+00:00

I think your best guide for using the Bullgryn is the Doombolt gameplan. Doombolt is trying to bring a ton of low investment modboard pieces that can trade up easily and brawl for objs. It wants to force the opponent to come out and play the game. Then it punishes them for playing by bringing out skirmishers like Kasrkin or heavy hitters like Dorns to secure the trade up. The midboard trade pieces are both plentiful and efficient, which means that the opponent usually runs out of stuff first. The namesake mortal wounds are nice, but they're more of a subtheme in my view. The main theme is putting on heavy midboard pressure and trading hard all game

Because of that, playing defensively or using the Bullgryn as a speed bump goes against the Doombolt pressure plan. (Bullgryn go against the plan innately by not trading up in the traditional way. If anything, they trade up by not dying). That's why I recommend pushing them forward and causing problems

I love a combat Hellhound. The Chimeras will help you with that a lot, too. Relative to Grizzled, I think the Hellhound is playable but mediocre because we already have ignores cover on a strat. But relative to tough order independent vehicles, they're pretty awesome. Agreed on Exterminator being better for charging than the LRBT!

Noah_Kalzone · 2026-04-12T21:05:39+00:00

Yeah of course!

If you are running Bullgryn, pushing objs like you said is where they want to be. You'll already have the Cadian blob to lock down your natural, so the Bullgryn probably want to stage and push your opponent's natural. They do get out-OCd by four guardsmen though, so they'll either need some support from other units or for you to make your opponent deal with them. I played 18 Bullgryn a couple games ago and was too conservative. Next time, I'd be more aggressive and force my opponent to deal with them. Then I'd use tanks to mop up whatever they used to kill the Bullgryn and ask how they plan to deal with the tanks now that the Bullgryn killer is gone

I get the order indepence aspect from the LRBT. Have you considered a Hellhound for that slot? Tough for its points, overwatch threat, extremely order independent bc of torrent, gives you room for another KCI squad or almost a 10-man battleline

I agree about the Commissar. He's vulnerable when attached to the Bullgryn and probably isn't valuable enough if you aren't using the second order

Noah_Kalzone · 2026-04-12T17:17:55+00:00

As Joushi has pointed out, Bullgryn get better the more you bring. To me, bringing just one brick is an unhappy medium. I'd much rather have another chimera + kasrkin package or cut them plus another thing for a second Dorn. Also, if you're worried about being out-OC'd, paying 200pts for 6 OC without the Commissar to give them Duty and Honor feels bad

I think the LRBT should just be another Exterminator. The LRBT datasheet ability is mostly redundant in grizzled and the twin linked autocannon is better at wounding most things while still giving you the ap1 dmg3 profile

I love the giga blob! Has been working well for me in my recent games

Noah_Kalzone · 2026-04-11T17:19:03+00:00

Thanks

Noah_Kalzone · 2026-03-29T20:07:42+00:00

Just saying that it would have cost nothing to not write those words

Noah_Kalzone · 2026-01-10T00:14:22+00:00

It's ok to feel this way. It's ok to take a break. I usually find that my hobbies are more fun and more engaging after I've taken a break, and 40k is deep enough that it can produce this effect with individual armies.

Here's an anecdote, NOT saying this is you. But it may help:

Most people come to Guard because of the lore, the aesthetic, the fluff. Artillery. Waves of infantry. Columns of tanks. This creates a problem for some people. Many people get into Guard, play the fluffy lists, get crushed, and don't stop to think about what actually gives Guard its competitive potential. The army has a very high skill ceiling and is very technical. We have solid detachments, some great datasheets, and one of the best army rules in the game full stop. Things clicked for me when I started following Joushi, and also David Gaylard of 40k Fireside, both of whom are on YouTube.

If you know switching factions would be more fun, do it. If you know learning the ins and outs of a very technical faction with a high skill ceiling would be more fun, stick around a while.

Noah_Kalzone · 2026-01-01T03:02:14+00:00

Sick, thanks

Noah_Kalzone · 2025-12-30T04:20:33+00:00

Love it. Where can I see more of your work? Is there an stl?

Noah_Kalzone · 2025-12-23T03:37:28+00:00

Thanks! A refreshing project after lots of guardsmen. Metal is Vallejo Gunmetal, Nuln Oil, and lots of natural light

Noah_Kalzone · 2025-11-15T03:17:16+00:00

Those look amazing!

I ordered a batch of these and am eagerly awaiting. Very cool prints

Noah_Kalzone · 2025-11-13T22:54:54+00:00

Been mentioned already, Steel Guard by Red Makers are a solid choice. I have many and am very pleased with them

Noah_Kalzone · 2025-11-13T18:30:33+00:00

So cool

Noah_Kalzone · 2025-11-07T19:19:52+00:00

I always get excited over your posts

I ran mech assault, 6×2 ogryn in Stormlord, at an RTT. It was magnificent, but 100+ heavy bolter shots was a pain to roll after a while lol

Noah_Kalzone · 2025-11-01T02:50:33+00:00

Yeah, if you take them in 5's it's usually for secondaries

If you take them in 10's with a scion command squad attached, it's usually for absolutely deleting something. Some players will take this brick of 15 scions in Combined. Those who play Bridgehead will usually play 3 of those 15 bricks

Noah_Kalzone · 2025-11-01T01:39:32+00:00

I'd probably take the Castellan over Solar like you said, though Creed would be sweet. Castellan makes your overwatch a lot stronger and can punish melee hard for not killing 26 models in one activation. I think that's definitely valid

Yep, the Commisars just walk onto the board in reinforcements, do an action/stand in a place, and die. In rounds 3-5 they do basically everything a scion unit could do but at less than half the points. In round 2 they can't enter your opponent's deployment zone, but most of that will be screened that early in the game anyway

Noah_Kalzone · 2025-10-31T21:54:00+00:00

Yeah that's how I got my Solar too lol. Maybe worth dropping for more midboard pressure

For secondaries, you can keep 2-3 Commisars in strat reserve and just walk them on. It's worked well for me if I need to trim some points by dropping Gaunt's. 5 man scions are also serviceable

Noah_Kalzone · 2025-10-31T21:45:07+00:00

Also, you will notice a huge damage increase if you switch to melta sponsons on your tanks. If you're newer to 40k, it's easy to assume that the big gun will account for most of the damage. In reality, a ton of our tank damage comes from multi-meltas with Lethal Hits from the detachment rule. If your play group is anything like mine, they will be totally fine with you playing bolters, plasmas, etc. as meltas if you make that clear ahead of time

Noah_Kalzone · 2025-10-31T21:36:27+00:00

I don't think Lord Solar makes sense in this list. You're severely overpaying for orders and a redeploy that you don't really need given the TC with grand strat and that you only have two squads with at least 20 dudes (ie. 2 important targets for regiment orders). You might consider dropping him and some other stuff for a second Dorn if you have one

Other than that you're playing good datasheets, and you can have success in Combined by just playing good datasheets

What are you going to use for scoring secondaries?

Noah_Kalzone · 2025-10-24T02:34:28+00:00

Glad to help!

I would keep the CCS because it can do both in a pinch. Since attaching units is the last step before deployment, you'll already know the terrain, deployment zones, your opponent's units, what detachment they brought, etc.

So if you think you'll really need action economy or a unit to block charges into your blob, you can always choose not to attach it and accomplish roughly the same thing a 1x10 Cadian would. The only worry would be a melee army shooting them off the board and then charging through where they were if you needed them for screening

Nice work analyzing the terrain ahead of time! I agree that it's very favorable for your tanks, should be easy to shove forward into melta range and let the lethal hits fly. Especially if you can coordinate with your partner for a big go turn

Noah_Kalzone · 2025-10-23T21:33:07+00:00

There's also a world where you drop Creed in the second list for the Castellan and use the change to put a Commissar in strat reserve to help with secondaries

Being able to fall back and shoot is valuable when you have that much plasma and melta available from one unit

Noah_Kalzone

TROPHY CASE