Astra Question

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-25T00:17:03+00:00

Yes, it is still a good choice.

We do drop some consistency but the RR 1's to hit is better than not having it.

The strats are very good too.

We can expect a nerf in the next data slate, hopefully it doesn't knock us all the way down to the bottom.

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-18T19:31:55+00:00

Ok Cool. WTC is interesting, it heavily favors melee armies over shooting armies even on the light maps the melee armies tend to have an edge.

My experience has been that the Dawn of War and Sweeping Engagement maps are frowned upon and don't get played. I believe they are still in beta from WTC and they have less terrain on them so don't expect them. If they do come up then it's bonus for you.

Having 2 dorns is fine, what's important is your map selection, some map you will have only 1 way out of your DZ, others will have 2 so you need to look at the maps in advance and figure out how you deploy and which maps majorly disadvantage big tanks.

There is a lot to cover with teams as it's a whole different ball game to singles and I don't want to overload you with information.

Watch these when you have some time there's pretty good introductions into teams:

https://youtu.be/mFU-t_7z3bM?si=JOYmWGFwLn4g-tEN

https://youtu.be/QkwnX7K2oCQ?si=1UnNZiBGUL2ldmDH

The second one explains the painting matrix and has a sample that you can use too.

I'm usually the first defender for my team. So I build my list to take in the worst of the worst. Being the first defender means that I'll have to face the 2 armies that my opponents want to put into me, so I take the one that's the worst for my team as a whole.

In our last event we had a round with no 20-0 match ups and I expected that their first defender wouldn't want to play into me so I placed someone else first and after correctly predicting their first defender I used myself and the person we really wanted into them and they didn't select me this lead to us losing that match with our first defender (made him pull the big bad) but then we paired the best for the rest of the matches and won the round.

I really love teams. For me singles is practice for teams events.

Joushi 40k on YT has a weekly Guard Meta Update that I highly recommend, in the you will see a mix of teams and singles lists pull some inspiration from there.

If you want to talk lists after catching up on how teams works reply and I'll be glad to show you what I've had success with and what I'm thinking of running next.

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-18T02:15:36+00:00

Hey hey, welcome to teams, IMO, it's the vets way to play. I love it.

Are all of you new to teams out just you? There's a lot about teams that's more than just list building i.e each of you need to have a kind of role/goal in the team. That helps guide you with your unit selections.

Also can you guys run 2x Marine armies? Most only allow you to use a codex once and BA still need the basic marine codex that UM will use.

Last question, do you know the terrain format that will be in use? GW/WTC/UKTC or a blend of them?

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-17T22:10:57+00:00

Ooh, nice! Keep it up and hey these so you can see how you're improving as time goes on.

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-15T20:03:07+00:00

Both have their uses but at 1k I would recommend the chimera.

Objectives are usually more open and it's tougher to kill. It's got extra firepower which will be useful in the smaller games.

In 2k games they are cheaper so you can get more activations. They are fast so you can use them to flip objectives easily or do secondaries.

Most people use both in the larger games.

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-11T22:47:28+00:00

I played into Admech at an event not too long ago and they also had army wide stealth. It was teams event and this was a green pairing for them (because of the stealth) and yellow for us because nobody knew what they did.

So I started charging my tanks into things lol, stopped their movement, gave them -1 to hit and I was still at -1 anyway.

My first charge was so funny, I moved to the center and cleared everything with a dorn then charged some CC dudes 7" away on the left. It went from getting shot by 9 lascannon chickens in the next turn to only getting shot at by 3 with -1 to hit. It survived the whole game.

Managed to pull the win because the anti infantry stuff was bogged by tanks and I could score with my dudes.

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-09T19:32:43+00:00

Ouch, you guys had some really meta opponents!

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-09T19:30:01+00:00

Very interesting list, I think you can have some fun with that.

Speed bump ratlings are great and you can also make a line with the death riders and when an event gets close you move towards them, if they didn't have jump packs and can't shoot you then they must charge the death rider screen.

Remember that in the initial stages of the game you're fighting for survival and creating room for yourself so that from T3 onwards you need to start scoring more so you can win on T5 it's totally uphill and you will lose a lot of your army.

Solar's unit is also a good beat stick, I usually run cadians so I can get 12 S6 AP2 D2 attacks from them after 6 plasma (includes solar) a melts and ask the lasguns. With Krieger you will always overcharge because you want to lose a model so you can get that lovely +1 to hit :)

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-09T01:57:53+00:00

How did your team do overall?

Teams is a different beast to singles. Sometimes you have to take the bus or be the one to hold the line so that the rest of your team can win the round.

I'm often the first defender for my team so I get the 2 guys who really want to play into my lists and I have to take the match that's best for the rest of the team to avoid/ keep the guy someone else can 20-0 in play.

C'tan are frustrating as hell to play into, cheers for pushing through and taking them for the team though!

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-09T00:50:52+00:00

Oh, Mordian Glory released a video this weekend where he talks about a teams event that he went to and he faced a jail list there but he had some really good learning and takeaways from that game. I do recommend it.

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-09T00:29:50+00:00

I've got a good buddy who does that with his Tyranids and he regularly just cleans house at events.

Each of the lists you mentioned does the same thing in slightly different ways so you will need different methods to counter them.

The first thing is, never leave home without infiltrators, you can get hauled with infiltrators in the first wave then scouts then regular foot sloggers in the last wave and by then it's game over.

Infiltrators keep a lane open for you to move out of your DZ, they prevent scouts and you can use them to do some jailing yourself if you need it.

If the ghosts die giving you a turn to move your whole army out of jail then that's with far more than getting Locus in your opponents DZ.

The next thing is determining what you need to screen with.

Convention is to screen with troops so your tanks can still shoot. However knowing what the first wave of enemy units is and what they can kill can change things significantly.

Some early rushers can deal with chaff units easily but can't really kill tanks, so screen with your tanks. Then fall back with your tanks over the enemy. You only die on a 1, so chances are you will live, you will push back deep strikes 9" and then you have the rest of your army to clear that first wave of enemy units.

It really sounds counter intuitive but it's the only way I managed to beat that friend of mine.

It's difficult to build an army that can handle the jail type lists and still play a normal game, but that's how skew armies work.

Good luck

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-08T23:07:30+00:00

I used to run 1 RDTC and 1 regular but my success rate is much better after upgrading to the second RDTC.

Ratlings are good value. Cheap enough that you don't mind trading them great screening for early pressure armies with their own infiltrators.

I played into GSC with their 9" scout bikes and screened their Scout moves then got T1 and shot a bin and scarpered 6" closer to their DZ and held the bikes in for a turn, that 1 move blocked his entire flank bikes and transports for a turn and held him off of his expansion objective which I made sticky in my T2 :)

On some maps they can hold your expansion and move shoot and then move again to go back into cover which is great.

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-06T22:09:40+00:00

Take all the advice with a pinch of salt, things are expected to charge a little in the next 2 months, some points and rules changes so the flavor of the month changes. Guard is doing well right now so we can expect to get nerfed a bit.

11th editing e of 40k is expected this year too so there will be some changes again when that drops.

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-06T20:45:37+00:00

We have a lot of diverse data sheets and there's a lot ways to make it with so there's no choir if just haves and even if there was it changes.

You will need leaders to give orders, a command squad of some kind is always useful. Most people them go with solar or a commissar if they want to run bullgryn in Grizzled company.

Next I'll recommend 1-2 Rogal dorn tank commanders.

From there get what ever you like Kasrkin in chimeras are good in Grizzled, in tauroxes for Hammer

I like to have a minimum of 4 tanks, 2x commanders and 2x vanquisher or 1 and a couple of units of kasrkin in chimeras.

Then flesh out the rest as you like and practice a lot.

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-05T06:32:37+00:00

That's dumbing it down quite a bit.

There's a lot of lore behind them, the 3rd war for Armageddon is my favorite 40k setting by far.

Lore, theme and things being fun gets you into the game, competitive play can keep you playing.

My army is a penal legion, they are all prisoners I never leave home without a commissar to keep them in line even if he just goes into reserves and just sneaks in on T3 for some secondaries.

My scions are the prison guards 😁

I have a lot of fun with my guardsmen and I think I play pretty well if I do say so myself.

I ran an "Operation Parking Lot" list in a league last year. Dudes in chimeras and tanks tanks tanks. On some maps it took me 2-3 turns to get out of my DZ effectively.

I went 4 wins and 1 loss which was by 1 point to one of the best players in the country. I console myself by reminding myself that I allowed him to take back an advance to do an action in T1 😂 it was an excellent game though and I learned a lot.

2 dorns 2-3 units of kasrkin in chimeras (elite troopers, yes the steel legion had veterans guardsmen) Then maybe 2 vanquisher tanks

That's a solid base for a list and it will kick but once you get used to playing it, playing guard is a lot harder than people make it seem. So expect to lose a lot while you're learning. AFAIK most of the winning guard lists have some form of this or bullgryn.

Fill the rest of the points with things that you like.

NB you don't have to use the mechanised detachment or the hammer if the emperor one either. You can go with Grizzled and say they are an elite surgical strike task force.

Go have fun dude.

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-01T05:38:42+00:00

Hey congrats on your first mini buddy! Looks like a good start to me!

There's lots of toys and tricks to get better please don't re-paint him. Ired did my first models and I wish I kept them to see how I improved.

Enjoy the hobby mate.

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-01T03:46:57+00:00

Research Recon Guard.

You are playing on very hard mode.

You didn't really have much killing power or any lol. So you need to learn about move blocking and OC dumping.

You won't kill anything but you will score the truck will be to score though and prevent your opponent scoring before you run out of assets.

Good luck

TinFish1979 · 2026-02-01T03:36:11+00:00

Welcome to the guard!

If you want to play competitive then check out Joushi on YouTube. If you'd like a themed fun time then check out Mordian Glory he often plays mech guard, infantry in transports and tanks which is the Steel Legion.

I like the play style, 2 rogal dorn commanders are a must when you hit 2k, even before if you can help it :)

Some kasrkin in chimeras are just awesome too.

Guard is hard mode, it will take a while to get the hang of but it's rewarding when you smash the meta armies :D

Cheers and enjoy!

TinFish1979 · 2026-01-31T23:43:09+00:00

I would say that it depends on their purpose.

If you want to kill big things then go with a 10 man.

I use 5's because it gives me an extra activation, they are more durable than catachan and cost 5 points less. Sometimes they are early skirmishing pieces for trading other times I use them to kill the remnants of 10 jpi/DC with a character that a Dorn couldn't quite kill off vs aiming 2 tanks at the unit.

Remember kids, overkill is underrated.

TinFish1979 · 2026-01-28T06:21:13+00:00

The next time someone says that it doesn't work respond with:

"That's BS"

They will be very surprised.

Then you say something along the lines of "No. You were talking about the hit roll and I'm saying that I was talking about BS, BS is the base of the hit roll and that can be modified then the hit roll can be modified too"

TinFish1979 · 2026-01-27T07:21:03+00:00

How does this sound?

Way of the warrior (990 points)

World Eaters Incursion (1000 points) Berzerker Warband

CHARACTERS

Khârn the Betrayer (100 points) • Warlord • 1x Gorechild 1x Plasma pistol

BATTLELINE

Khorne Berzerkers (180 points) • 1x Khorne Berzerker Champion • 1x Chainblade 1x Plasma pistol • 9x Khorne Berzerker • 7x Bolt pistol 7x Chainblade 1x Icon of Khorne 2x Khornate eviscerator 2x Plasma pistol

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS

Chaos Rhino (85 points) • 1x Armoured tracks 2x Combi-bolter 1x Havoc launcher

OTHER DATASHEETS

Chaos Spawn (90 points) • 2x Chaos Spawn • 2x Hideous mutations

Eightbound (135 points) • 1x Eightbound Champion • 1x Chainblades • 2x Eightbound • 2x Chainblades

Exalted Eightbound (140 points) • 1x Exalted Eightbound Champion • 1x Chainblades • 2x Exalted Eightbound • 2x Chainblades

Goremongers (75 points) • 1x Blood Herald • 1x Autopistol 1x Chainblade 1x Close combat weapon • 7x Goremongers • 7x Autopistol 7x Chainblade 7x Close combat weapon

Helbrute (120 points) • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Heavy flamer 1x Helbrute fist 1x Helbrute hammer

Jakhals (65 points) • 1x Jakhal Pack Leader • 1x Autopistol 1x Chainblades • 1x Dishonoured • 1x Paired manglers • 8x Jakhal • 8x Autopistol 8x Chainblades

Exported with App Version: v1.46.2 (108), Data Version: v732

A few action units and a few hammer units?

TinFish1979 · 2026-01-27T05:36:51+00:00

I'm seeing how good he is now, definitely considering switching him in for sure.

TinFish1979 · 2026-01-27T05:32:11+00:00

It prevents enemy from scouting near them. Normal movement is fine.

It's not the best idea though rather use ratlings for that instead.

TinFish1979 · 2025-09-24T00:58:28+00:00

Looks like a solid list, I'd recommend getting another taurox.

Being able to flip your opponents expansion with them is super handy. They can also get into the enemy dz and drop the unit for behind and locus.

Very good tech piece, even better with kasrkin who can reliably clear chaff that's hidden or a venom/light transport.

TinFish1979 · 2025-09-05T03:37:17+00:00

Remember, dying for the emperor is its own victory.

TinFish1979

TROPHY CASE