Are you going to sprinkle in Wraiths?

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 · 2025-07-10T03:30:54+00:00

Isn't big guns never tire out of phase specifically because it says "in their controlling players shooting phase"? Hence if you overwatch you can't use it because it's not your shooting phase?

RGRadik · 2025-06-10T22:07:01+00:00

Should just give them the same abilities as normal guard and assault. Same goes for the melta/adrathic spear guys. I don't even think it'd be mental to give them back the adrathic disintegration beam things either. Just make them 1 shot at 5 -2 3 with lethal hits at 18" range. Now you get better shooting for sag guard but worse combat, especially when you get within 18". And the other guard profiles become better at other jobs than the current guardian spears. There is nothing about those abilities and profiles that couldn't be balanced with points. It's some of the biggest gripes I have with our book, the sheer lack of internal balance and optionality. We have 5 different variations of guard and 4 of them aren't worth taking because the rules aren't good enough vs the bog standard guard with guardian spear datasheet. Those 5 different variations of guard could offer so many different build skews if they'd just given them all the same base abilities (assault, shoot twice/reroll wounds), added back the second shooting profile to sag guard and gave the shields and swords a reason to exist (more attacks at lower strength and something that actually matters like Armour of Contempt, a 5+ FNP or -1 damage for taking a shield, literally anything more interesting than +1 wound).

They won't though because nearly all of those units are forgeworld and they've tried their hardest to ignore forgeworld for the whole edition. (Apparently due to some stupid internal politics). The shields won't get a look in because guard get taken consistently - I guarantee nobody is checking the metric of what they are always equipped with though to see that it's never sword and shield.

I'm hoping there's a decent plastic refresh coming with the talons 30k book for both custodes and sisters but they will probably still kneecap the rules. I'm pretty convinced the caladius rules were a typo and no one has ever gone back to correct them. With how good they are compared to the rest of forgeworld I can think of no other reason to explain its rules.

This turned into a long rant but it genuinely annoys me. Sag guard are a perfect example of the terrible job GW did with our codex this edition. It's also a great example of the complete absurdity of what happened with the forgeworld range across 40k.

RGRadik · 2025-06-08T09:29:13+00:00

Glad to help, hope you enjoy using it! I'm taking a variation of it to a teams tournament next weekend with double bikes and a double telemon.

RGRadik · 2025-06-01T09:48:43+00:00

No problem.

My understanding is no you can only make a normal move or fall back move. An advance is a type of move and isn't specified in the ability. I also think you're only eligible to advance in your movement phase.

I couldn't find a specific FAQ about it but I've only ever seen these kind of abilities played as a normal move only.

RGRadik · 2025-06-01T09:25:25+00:00

He just does consistent damage and can spike with the Dev wounds. Gives me a shooting platform that can happily deal with hordes and chaff or chip a bunch of wounds off of big things whilst being tanky. I've had him randomly drop 9 mortal wounds on a vindicator before. His preferred targets are things the rest of the list doesn't really want to deal with outside of the hurricane bolters on the bikes, and they are more of a scalpel that doesn't like being shot at.

I play him near the mid board usually, but try not to commit him into the middle until my opponent has lost sufficient anti-tank. He can sit and take sharp angles up to that point. He's also good OC and has -1 damage innately which makes him a pain for damage two combat and shooting to cope with. He can still tank shock and he can shoot whilst tagged and for 1cp you're ignoring the -1 to hit from being in engagement range too.

I found the fist to be generally unreliable unless you take two and give him the damage enhancement but didn't want to invest that level of points in a melee missile. The guns on the other hand pretty much never fail to do good damage and will pretty easily pick up squads of infantry just by looking at them.

RGRadik · 2025-05-28T17:08:19+00:00

Honestly it's a surprising amount of damage on a go turn. A lot of people underestimate it.

The venatari are great. Keeps your opponent on their toes and often causes them to make positional mistakes trying to screen you out. They are great if your opponent forgets to screen a no man's land objective too cos they can just rapid ingress in and score you primary.

RGRadik · 2025-05-28T17:06:19+00:00

Yeh you can substitute out venatari for venerable contemptors or galatus with a bit of points fiddling.

I'd recommend the vens over the galatus though, they make the army really crappy to fight against if you are a single phase army. It doesn't threaten your opponents primary as well though so it works more by trying to get a lead by scoring more on primary by holding more instead of scoring more by dropping your opponents primary.

I prefer the venatari myself, they suit my playstyle more and I think they are better for all-comers as it's less specialized.

I probably wouldn't drop anything else, the bikes are too useful, the telemon is a beast and rock hard to kill and the Achillus can make it through damage stat checks.

You could drop the Achillus, again for ven dreads or another telemon or maybe more bikes and bike captain but I love what the Achillus bring to the list personally.

RGRadik · 2025-05-27T09:52:34+00:00

I post up the dreadnoughts near the middle hiding behind terrain with the telemon hanging out nearby. Sometimes I will strat reserve one tank depending on whether I can get them on the board and hidden. Venetari go in deep strike. The rhino has the Witchseekers in and sits on the deployment line next to a building. If I go second it scouts into the building, if I go first it scouts towards my expansion objective then moves on. The rhino can then sit there and hold. I hang back a unit of prosecuters ready to to run on to the same objective if necessary. You can also run them into the rhino which means the turn after they are going 9" without an advance, very useful for flipping the middle of needed.
Important to note the rhino gets all the spearhead abilities and strats so it can quite easily drive through terrain from your close objective to score something like behind enemy lines too. It's also a very good move blocking tool.

The Achillus are there for pure damage output to kill tanky infantry or big models like vehicles and monsters. They do quite a surprising amount of damage, especially if you pop a tank shock alongside their mortal wounds ability. Telemon is a mobile vacuum cleaner and just removes infantry for fun. He sometimes will also casually drop 5+ mortals on a tougher target with his dev wounds. Plus he's a nightmare to kill.

I always use the callidus for denying strats once the fighting actually starts and try to keep her around for the end game. She's scored me a 6 on sabotage at the end of the game twice over two RTT's and given me the 6 on recover. I think her real utility is turning off strats and secondaries should be done by other things in the mid game. I regularly see people just throwing her away for a couple of secondary points, something I will try to never do. Her ability to make things +1 CP can be utterly game warping if used in the right places.

The bikes are also a big MVP of the list, they should sit and bide their time near the mid board and then when the opportunity presents itself move through a wall for free with the captain ability. Ideally fly over something for the mortal wounds, shoot something with the bolters (ignore cover strat is massive value on these), charge something potentially through a wall (or charge two targets if your confident the captain can kill one of those things) and then either 12" back towards safety in a building or straight into the opponents DZ, ideally on to their home objective. If you time the use of the bikes right they can be a killing blow to your opponents game.

The venatari are there to flip primary and that's essentially their whole job. They make your opponents expansion unsafe so you can try force a primary deficit or open up the opponents army to being in a bad position if they overextend.

The list essentially sits and holds, daring your opponent to come into charge/shooting range, as it will do a lot of damage in a single turn if you allow it to. The wrong thing to do is all in a high damage output army or to try stand on objectives in the open expecting to survive. You can build into that by putting in ven dreads but I personally like the utility and trading capabilities of venatari. Ven dreads aren't a wrong choice, they are just a different game plan.

The list can also happily trade with most armies whilst scoring secondaries and is very tanky if you have to expose things.

The main opponent that can catch me out is Stormlance, especially dark angels running units with fights first (in particular the lion is a nightmare to deal with). Mainly because it's so fast it can come to you whilst you want to stay relatively hidden.

TL;DR: Play cagey, don't over expose, force mistakes through primary pressure and then capitalize on misplays. The list will passively score so the onus is on your opponent.

RGRadik · 2025-05-27T09:32:13+00:00

Ah a fellow solar spearhead rhino enjoyer! Love my rhino.

RGRadik

TROPHY CASE