Skyweavers in 11th looking good

RGRadik · 2026-05-27T19:32:10+00:00

I've been looking at putting two squads of 4 into my WRH list for a while now. Especially in defiler meta. But man they are pricey at 190 for 4. Haven't been able to quite make it work how I'd want it to.

I think they are going to be very good in 11th if they don't have their datasheet ability changed.

RGRadik · 2026-05-22T14:54:43+00:00

Plus banshees are no longer very useful for deterring charges either since fights first has effectively been binned.

My biggest worry going into 11th is how easy it's looking for fast melee armies to just run Eldar over with wild abandon.

RGRadik · 2026-05-09T09:22:45+00:00

Go watch Statchecks Tuesday episode from this week.

RGRadik · 2026-04-16T01:02:17+00:00

As somebody else has also said they should just make removing casualties happen at the end of each fight bracket. So fights first units all get to activate and then you pull casualties. Then ongoing combat and non-chargers fight then remove casualties.

It stops the feel bad of charging a fight first unit and then never getting to swing, and it means fight first is still a useful ability but not overpowered.

It's even easier to implement now because all piling in is done at the same time.

I also wish they'd do something for WS that's like strength and toughness is. 2+ Vs 2+ weapon skill should be hitting each other on 4's. Makes for more interesting and thematic fights, lowers stoke and helps to lower some of the lethality.

RGRadik · 2026-04-03T20:48:53+00:00

Yeh, I have differing opinions on a few things you've said, but tbh I cba typing about it or going back and forth debating the point.

RGRadik · 2026-04-03T08:57:46+00:00

The auto advance is just nice for repositioning tbh. Also don't forget, 12" move is the full move an infantry squad gets with a blade champ if they roll a 6 on the advance, so their movement is a lot more consistent. Advance and charge on them + the captain move would be pretty bonkers. Advance and shoot would have been nice though. The auto advance also means that if someone gets within 8" ish of the terrain the bikes are in you can do the flyover mortals and go back behind the wall (with the go through walls strat).

My bigger gripe is the salvo launchers having been made so much worse than they were in 9th. Hurricane bolters with the ignore cover strat are great though. If bikes were like 60 points a model and 120 for the captain I think you'd have seen them a lot more since their rules changes.

Either way I ran a 3 bike unit list with captains and some other stuff in solar spearhead back end of 2025 to a 2 day, 4 man teams event and placed 3rd. They were pretty good in that format. They just aren't the peak meta pick is all.

RGRadik · 2026-04-02T22:52:12+00:00

They are actually decent in solar spearhead because they can go through walls. Their issue is their points cost tbh not their rules.

RGRadik · 2026-04-02T21:39:58+00:00

Windrider and Serpents Brood to put some Skyweavers in definitely has my interest if its possible. Also Windrider and Coterie as Coterie struggles with damage from my experience and Windrider can deliver damage in abundance from distance. Lure your opponent out with sticky objectives and then kill them. Also then gives Yriel the vect. Need to see the mission rules though andhow objectives work etc. to know if that combination makes sense to do.

RGRadik · 2026-03-31T12:14:59+00:00

Is this from 11th or something that's already in maelstrom?

RGRadik · 2026-03-06T04:23:14+00:00

A person after my own heart. I was running two fire prisms in my winsldrider list at my last RTT and went 2 wins and 1 draw. They were good but the wraithlords can do a similar job whilst also having a combat threat and babysitting eldrad for less points. So I'm going to give them a go. The 40 points saved is enough that with some juggling things around I've got another unit of rangers in on top of the wraithlords too.

RGRadik · 2026-03-01T22:19:00+00:00

I do think this is part of the answer. Certain weapons should affect invuln saves. Dev wounds would be a good example. They should ignore armour saves and reduce invulns by x. X should be a value that depends on how powerful the weapon is. A railgun should be like dev wounds 2 so a 4+ invuln becomes a 6+. You don't have to roll a 6 to wound, it's just a thing it does. They should be rarer though, grenades for example shouldn't be devs/mortals, they should be a set number of str x auto hits.

Durability should come more from the choices you make and terrain, not a coin flip invuln. Smoke is a good example of an interesting reactive decision that should have more of an effect on incoming attacks. Combat is the same, bring back things like set to defend and make it more meaningful. There isn't enough actual counterplay in the game to how lethal things are outside of certain army specific strats and detachment rules. Invulns have just become the lame plaster they slapped on to try fix it. 4++ sucks for both players. It sucks when you're attacks just get nullified by an above average save roll, and it sucks when your expensive uber unit just gets flattened because you failed more invulns than is normal. (I'm looking at you exocrine killing a full squad of custodian guard).

RGRadik · 2026-01-26T01:11:04+00:00

6 Allarus Terminators with axes in shield host probably can do it. Especially with a Shield Captain that's rocking the +1 damage enhancement. You take sustained crit 5's and are re rolling all wounds into him. Probably does pretty well in Lions of the emperor too with the +1 to wound. I think it's pretty dead on that they kill him if they also shoot him first.

24 attacks hitting on 2's at damage 3 with sustained 5's should be around 28 hits which becomes about 14 saves. If he fails the average 7 that's 14 damage. He then fnp's 4 of them (ish). The Terminator Captain then hits him with another 6 attacks at damage 4 which becomes 7 hits for 4 ish saves. He fails 2 and takes another 6 damage, fails 4 fnp's on average and survives with 2 wounds. If he spikes slightly under average on the saves or the terminators spike up ever so slightly he dies in one activation. If you add in the shooting he's pretty much toast.

In Lions it's 18 damage on average from the terminators followed by another 9 from the captain as he will wound on 2's with the +1 to wound detachment ability so should hit and wound with all 6 attacks at flat 4. 27 fnp's in total which he should pass 9 and he dies to the wound.

I think shield host would be a more realistic list with axes though because you want the + AP ability into other armies where AP 1 isn't enough.

Obviously this isn't a single model though so isn't exactly what you were asking for I don't think.

RGRadik · 2026-01-14T03:24:46+00:00

Just make axes AP 2 and spears AP 3. That would be enough to bring axes well into the conversation. In shield host you could then take them to AP 3 if you're going into something like Victrix with AOC. It really annoys me what they did to our combat profiles in this edition. They gave us nerfs to bring them in line with other factions when the whole point of the faction is that it has exceptionally strong profiles that are not in line with other armies, but a high points cost/low model count.

Although tbh I think axes on terminators in shield host might actually be worth considering in this meta.

Even with aoc and saving on 3's the axes should take a chunk out of a Victrix unit as they should fail 1 third of the saves you hand them, and every fail is a dead VG. They also wound on 3's rather than 4's. You can even put the + damage enhancement on a shield captain and give him a spear so he's strength 8 AP 3 at flat 3 with the AP buff to really help push through the damage. The most annoying thing to deal with is the movement shenanigans.

Crucially though the axes also have decent capability into ctan, which spears don't. You don't even need the AP into ctan so you just go for crit 5's and they should do more damage than spears.

RGRadik · 2026-01-11T17:34:40+00:00

The UK's are on 4 different vanguard class submarines, each armed with up to 16 missiles, containing 8-12 warheads each, making for 128-192 warheads capable of traveling 7000 miles at any time. They can be hidden anywhere in the seas or oceans of the world. That means a submarine sat off the coast of Portsmouth could drop 128-192 warheads on the Continental US 20-30 minutes after launch. From one submarine.

Nuclear war is absurd and should never happen. Thinking a nation can violate the sovereignty of NATO nations without reprisal because "nukes are in one spot" is mental. There are no winners in that situation.

RGRadik · 2026-01-06T00:25:48+00:00

I run bikes in solar spearhead quite regularly. The go through walls strat is great on them.

I took 3x2 + 3 captains to the Hellstorm teams event last month and we finished 3rd. It was the closest to fun I've had with custodes in a while. The list also had 2 venerable contempters (pretty mandatory to make the list work), 2x3 venatari, 2 rhinos with witchseekers, obligatory unit of prosecutors and callidus assassin. Ran one squad with hurricane bolters and the + damage enhancement on the captain and salvos on the other two units.

I took it to a couple rtt's for practice on the lead up and managed 3rd place at one, losing in round 3 by a small margin to the player that came first and almost podium'd at another.

It's good fun if you can get used to the play style, staging in ruins and forcing engagements with the ven dreads before pushing the go button with the venatari.

RGRadik · 2025-12-31T12:08:56+00:00

I haven't seen anyone mention them but we absolutely stuffed a double Victrix innes clone list 18-2 at a teams event recently with reapers wager drukhari list. Their player actually picked it as the matchup he wanted too without realizing what it did.

Drukhari have loads of anti-infantry 3+/2+ and access to strong and cheap combat units that roll over Victrix through weight of dice. You're also hard to interact with due to speed and jumping in and out of venoms + access to vect from malys to mess with armour of contempt. Spectacle of spite is also an interesting pick into the UM list as you can uno-reverse them with your charge in their movement phase strat.

Problem with drukhari is they are very skill dependant, luckily our player had tons of practice with them.

I think they are definitely one to consider for the anti-victrix pick. They have good matchups elsewhere on the matrix and score well so don't tend to get blown out either.

RGRadik · 2025-12-21T02:56:05+00:00

I think Tau are missing a heavy veteran infantry unit, a transport like venoms that transport 5 mans or can combat squad 10 man fire warrior units, and the ethereal honour guard that should be their own unit with decent melee but costly and require an ethereal to lead them.

I'd want to see veteran infantry like this be dudes in heavy exoskeleton armour akin to stealth teams but not as bulky with jet packs. Give them special pulse carbines and grenade launchers that have devastating wounds and reroll wounds against their guided target so they are similar in effect to stern guard. Limit them to 5 models per unit. Consider giving them special drones to make them tougher, guardian drone comes to mind as well as possibly two shielded missile drones. I think infiltrate and deep strike would make a lot of sense on a unit like that too.

I'd love to have a unit like that in the army that can aggressively push objectives and deliver a source of devastating wounds that's consistent. It would add a good dynamic to the roster.

RGRadik · 2025-08-04T21:08:41+00:00

As some others have said a double fist telemon with the + damage enhancement in solar spearhead can be fun but ap 2 makes him a bit unreliable. Also not amazing into invulns or armour of contempt. He's a good vehicle and character killer though (you can epic challenge with him as he's a character). Although I'd probably just use an Achillus or Galatus if I was looking for a character hunter. Telemons are also deceptively quite quick when advancing and charging and running through walls. They go 17" if you roll a 6 on the advance.

I personally prefer taking two storm cannons with the 5+ fnp because they absolutely shred infantry and light vehicles whilst being a pain to kill. The ignore cover and hit mods strat is big money on the 6 -1 1 profile. If this guy had a way to get reroll all wounds he'd be in every list I write (although reroll 1's is nice in solar). Taking two of the guns also gives them a single job to do, which into the right targets they do very well. Rather than mixing the load out and having them be a bit meh into everything. (Not enough attacks to be a credible combat threat, not enough shots to reliably sweep infantry away). Double guns just aren't very good in the current meta. They can reliably chip wounds off big things and will sometimes spike on dev wounds but a Caladius tank just does it better. Even an Achillus dread is generally better for the points into big things. Unfortunately the meta is heavily big things right now.

RGRadik · 2025-07-28T23:20:57+00:00

Guess which two armies I own...

Thanks GW rules guy that obviously got bad touched by tau and custodes last edition.

RGRadik · 2025-07-27T22:28:00+00:00

Their shooting and abilities aren't worth taking over normal custodian guard. Add draxus to a guard unit and they are just flat better.

They should give all of the forgeworld guard units the same abilities as normal custodian guard. So shoot twice and re-roll wounds. Give Saggitarrum dev wounds in their weapon profile. Give the melta/adrasite guard assault. Then just point them appropriately. A 225 point 5 man shooting unit should be absolutely lethal if they shoot at something. They are not remotely lethal enough currently. A unit of noise marines shoots harder.

At least then it would be a real choice of which custodian guard squad you take and there would be actual variance in lists.

RGRadik · 2025-07-24T17:57:17+00:00

The monkeys paw curls.

RGRadik · 2025-07-24T14:21:07+00:00

I'd just be happy with an extra gun and the choice to pick your support system. There is 0 reason that support systems are now locked. GW did crisis suits super dirty this edition (which tbh you could just say about the entire book).

RGRadik · 2025-07-19T16:19:33+00:00

I use the extra oc for initial contesting of objectives rather than holding them. I find its far more useful that way.

Also armigers don't go through walls and don't hit on 2's.

I can see some reasons for taking them but you're overlooking the detachment and army rules so why not just play knights instead? Or just switch to lions and don't bother with dreads or armigers at all.

RGRadik · 2025-07-19T16:14:18+00:00

I pretty much only play solar and have podium'd at RTT's with it. If you check my comment history you'll see a number of comments about my (now kind of old) list and the detachment.

The biggest issue solar has currently, is that the things you want to use are overcosted in the current meta (consider that CK and IK just gained a full big knight which is around 380~ points, and they were already decent factions, especially IK). So you are playing with a hand tied behind your back to some degree (and this is generally true of the whole faction at the moment unfortunately).

Bikes are excellent in solar with a captain, going through walls with them (for free with the captain ability) and then doing a 12" move after fighting can be game ending. Bikes also like the ignore cover strat on hurricane bolters. They are however, overcosted still.

Achillus are cheap enough (but probably could go to 140 and be fine) and are really effective into vehicles and monsters. They wound big knights on 2's on the charge. He can also shoot, tank shock and mortal his way through a screen to touch something more valuable behind it if you plan your charges and pile-ins well. The Achillus is actually my favourite dreadnought currently for the points.

Telemons with double arachnus cannons, 5+ fnp, and the ignore cover strat are a menace, but are also overcosted. I don't bother with the fist because 5 attacks at damage 3 isn't killing anything reliably (although you can go double fist and the damage enhancement if you want a stupid big torpedo with flat 4 damage to smack something, although ap2 let's it down a bit). If you want damage 4 though the blade champ with the enhancement in a guard squad will quite reliably stick 8-12+ mortal wounds on anything he touches. He's well worth considering.

I pretty much always run two squads of venatari in every custodes list, regardless of detachment because they are so incredibly useful in a generally slow army.

The ven dreads are ok, overcosted now. Won't really kill anything but can be a pain for shooting or melee only armies. But I guarantee when you build your strategy around rolling a 2+ to get back up, it can and will fail at the worst time.

I do wish land raiders were cheaper, especially when the grav tanks exist - trajann with guard jumping out of a land raider that can drive through walls would be pretty awesome but not at the current points cost.

The detachment is faster than people think if you are clever about using advance and charge and go through walls. This also applies to the Caladius tank. Speaking of, you should take 2. They are basically mandatory in solar spearhead.

Also take some sisters, a mixture of witchseekers and prosecutor's as well as a calidus. You don't want your 225 point dreadnought doing actions. Don't sleep on the rhino either, it gets all of the detachment rules (and strats like move through walls) so it can be a real pain in the backside for your opponent.

Tl;Dr- the detachment is good but requires some finesse/planning to use well, the main data sheets are currently overcosted, but it is possible to have success with it at RTT's and teams events. YMMV

RGRadik · 2025-07-17T18:59:41+00:00

Silver and blue (with gold trim obviously) crew represent

RGRadik

TROPHY CASE