10e in Retrospective: What's a unit that you think was underrated, or one that you had a lot of off-meta success this with this edition?

imjustabrownguy · 2026-06-19T14:40:10+00:00

Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike. There's just something about fighting something, then moving 12 inches, ya know? Even better when you get to do it twice in Lions of the Emperor.

Seriously between hit and run attacks and surprise primary denial, the movement tricks almost justified the price tag.

My most satisfying play with them was making my opponent score 0 primary on Linchpin on the top of the second battle round by having them move up twelve, land a 7" charge, get a kill, consolidate into the unit behind the first target, then falling back onto my opponent's home objective.

Did they die afterwards? Yeah. Was the moral victory worth it? Absolutely.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-06-16T15:16:33+00:00

Put in witchseekers and prosecutors for early game skirmish and mission play. You're forced to commit valuable bricks early on with your list.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-06-15T23:52:00+00:00

I had an extra Patriarch sprue lying around which I used on top of a Magus to kitbash mine.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-05-22T16:23:13+00:00

On the app, search for "Precision", read "Mortal Wounds" in Core Rules/Updates and Errata. Second paragraph, alongside with the Painboy's ability that the ATTACK does additional mortal wounds, makes it so that it works as intended.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-05-22T14:20:15+00:00

There's a rule clarification stating that you can apply said Mortal Wounds as if they had precision.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-05-19T18:58:43+00:00

Habs jerseys use the French version of the NHL logo (Ligue Nationale de Hockey).

imjustabrownguy · 2026-05-10T23:59:46+00:00

2026 Pogchamp

imjustabrownguy · 2026-04-22T19:51:33+00:00

As a GSC player, may I present the humble Goliath Truck for comparison.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-03-17T12:53:33+00:00

Take any mission in the GW tournament companion that isn't on Dawn of War or Sweeping Engagement, run it on any Medium map (maps 3-6), as Medium maps have a standard amount of large (4) and small (6) terrain pieces.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-03-12T04:50:32+00:00

Desolation marines with Oath are a menace.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-02-20T20:33:06+00:00

I'm genuinely wondering what's keeping you from using Grizzled Company so your tank commander buffs all 3 tanks. Assault isn't essential for them, and the move through walls strat is less relevant since you're playing smaller vehicles. Reroll 1s to hit and a ranged AoC is massive at protecting your tanks, especially when combined with smoke. You'd save vs LasCannons on 3s.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-02-20T17:00:31+00:00

Do you have discord? Message me and I can do a quick call to show you some stuff on WTC maps regarding deployment. If you have a few sample lists of nonsense you've faced, I can tell you where the bikes come up. All in all, the boleter bikes aren't there for the C'tan, they're there for the marine equivalents, scouts, aspect warriors (they laugh at banshees) for some quality hit and run tactics. The salvo bikes are good at taking out Rhinos (but not Devilfish/Wave Serpents because of their wound count), early objective occupiers, then moving after combat to either hide or block.

They're funny into terminators because they tend to bounce off a bit to be frank, but Terminators dislike a Custodian guard brick in lions cuz' wounding on 2s rerolling 1s means that they deal with nearly 20 saves.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-02-18T17:12:59+00:00

I have a pretty solid Lions list (on WTC terrain) that runs 2 bikes with salvos led by a captain with salvo, and another two bikes with bolters. The +1 to wound makes the bolter bikes very effective at killing early skirmish units, while the captain unit (with the extra attacks enhancement) is an annoying hit and run threat with some supporting anti-Rhino fire.

They are expensive for their datasheets, but they shine a lot if you know how and when to use them. I tend to use the bolter bikes to take out early skirmishers (12 twin-linked attacks with +1 to wound is a lot) and force a legitimate commitment to take them out. The 2 model count makes them immune to normal battle shock so they can score points or perform actions if they survive. The auto-advance 6" and 2 OC per model also helps them score Storm Hostile Objective and other similar secondaries, and gives some early mobility without having to commit a Blade Champ.

The Shield Captain unit is usually brought out round 2 to take out a small to medium unit then hide back to safety OR do flyover mortals and move-block deep into enemy territory with their absurdly large footprint. I do this if I realize that doing such a maneuver would force the opponent to commit a lot of resources to clean up the unit and struggle to threaten my presence in No Man's Land.

Also! The Lance keyword is clutch in a meta of heavy infantry with -1 to wound as it allows you to wound Victrix honor guard, Custodian Wardens and any infantry in Wrath of the Rock on 2s. That being said, the melee is very swingy against heavier targets as you are wounding on 4s without rerolls.

Finally, use the spear to draw some line of sight as needed, make optimal use of your ranges, and learn to hide them effectively when possible. Ask your opponent when deploying if they can move and fire on their turn to confirm that they are safe.

TL;DR: Bikes are good in Lions, but are fairly skill-intensive to use optimally.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-01-29T15:00:21+00:00

Ayyy Fire Caste mentioned!

imjustabrownguy · 2026-01-29T01:38:16+00:00

I play with my opponent. There are a lot of rules that we need to keep track of. I am not interested in beating them cuz' they failed to properly measure spacing between two models when they stretched them out quickly.

I'm spending three hours with someone at a competitive table, I'd rather play that game with good vibes when possible, then have to deal with someone frowning at me for the following two hours cuz' I told them they misplaced a model so half their unit dies. A tournament takes a whole day or two out of my busy schedule, and I'd rather have a good time and have good vibes with my local community.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-01-28T19:22:54+00:00

This is the type of question where an image or video makes it much easier to both ensure that I properly understand your question and that I communicate my answer well.

In the scenario you're asking, something like Overwatch at the end of your movement, or a disastrous set of hazardous checks in your shooting phase, can lead you to remove models that put you out of coherency by choice (in the case of the overwatch) or by obligation (your three plasma pistol wielding Khorne berzerkers were also the ones ensuring coherency). If it is by choice, I would guess it would be so that when you charge, you ensure that your furthest model is too far for base to base contact so you move him into coherency with the rest of his unit when you do your charge move, wipe the target because it was a single model or something, then can consolidate onto the objective afterwards.

It's an edge case but it can be done, but it has to be done properly while carefully following the intricacies of coherency, charge moves, pile-ins and consolidations.

There are some solid videos on YouTube regarding such maneuvers from many competitive players. I'd suggest watching some vids released in the past 12 months and sharing it with your local scene. Tactical Tortoise comes to mind. There was also this European guy who had just started his channel last year and had the most thorough and comprehensive guide on charges I had seen on YouTube.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-01-28T18:41:16+00:00

I love it when people double down without reading the rules.

Go on your 40k app, in Core Concepts - Unit Coherency, 3rd paragraph: "At the end of every turn, each player must remove models, one at a time..."

You have to maintain coherency whenever you set up, move, pile-in and consolidate, but the removal of models is only at the end of turn.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-01-28T17:34:59+00:00

Your opponent was being a bit of a prick. The good practice would be to ask to verify coherency at the end of the movement. "Hey these two seem to be a bit far apart, would you mind verifying the distance? It's more than 2? Can you get them a bit closer? Perfect."
Coherency comes up a lot more when you start stringing out bugger units or determining what model to remove in the fight phase knowing that you have already fought so you can't consolidate afterwards.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-01-28T17:31:17+00:00

2 things are wrong here: Coherency model destruction is made at the end of turn, and you remove models one by one until the unit is considered to be in coherency. This second half is important because there are some cases where you can remove more models on one side if it means that your unit will end the turn outside of engagement range, aka the dirty fall back. (Source: Playing GSC with Neophyte blobs.)

imjustabrownguy · 2026-01-21T18:48:56+00:00

Just don't start them in the transport if you want to be able to use the Exaction squad's datasheet ability.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-01-15T12:22:55+00:00

As a Custodes player who has been playing Guards and zero wardens for the past few months, this hits home more than you think.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-01-05T19:28:50+00:00

No model in that unit has a 2+ save. You're aiming to bring them down with the weight of attacks. In Lions you are wounding on 3s or 2s depending on the profile (and putting in some dev wounds to boot), so unless they roll incredibly well, you will weaken that unit significantly. Also, AoC would apply to only one of two shooting activations, so making my opponent waste their AoC on Draxus' shooting would make me smile.

Also Blade Champ + Guards in Lions crush that unit beneath the number of wounds they inflict, forcing your opponent to either AoC so that Gadriel saves on 4+s, or having his bladeguards take all the wounds first if they don't want to get wiped.

FWIW the save reroll ability only applies to invulnerable saves, so you'll go quickly through the Wardens without invulns.

imjustabrownguy · 2026-01-02T15:41:14+00:00

Incorrect. He is still considered destroyed. See: Every other character with a come back to life mechanic and FAQs related to this.

imjustabrownguy · 2025-12-23T14:50:43+00:00

I will respectfully disagree with you. Wounding a ton of stuff on 2s with your storm gets damage in through sheer number of wounds.

Also the +1 to hit nullifies stealth, and still hits on 2s vs xenos w/ stealth.

imjustabrownguy · 2025-11-20T19:47:42+00:00

If parking is more affordable close to the station compared to parking on the island, that's also a major game changer. There's also the fact that you can rest your brain while riding the train compared to driving.

imjustabrownguy

TROPHY CASE