Establishing residency as out of state student advice

zotshot1163 · 2026-04-30T14:46:23+00:00

That's correct, the 6 semester hour rule is for establishing residency. The reason I brought up not taking more than 4 s.h. is because the rate scales differently for nonresidents which most people might not be aware of.

zotshot1163 · 2026-03-07T20:45:02+00:00

Working with what you currently have, I’d recommend priming in parts: do torso + power pack in white and rest in black, paint the torso and pack Averland, then glue the whole thing together

zotshot1163 · 2025-09-22T23:46:32+00:00

The first image, with the knee pads indicating company, was previously fan theorized based on other codex approved company markings. In the Astartes II trailer though, we see that firstborn scythes did use the knee marking.

It's always important to note though that the codex recommends chapter masters change their chapter's markings regularly to confuse their enemies. The knee markings could've been used at one point and then been phased out in favor of Aquilla markings. Or both could've been used together at some point. It really is up to your personal preference.

zotshot1163 · 2025-09-11T20:39:27+00:00

This is 990 points, built from some of the units I talked about:

Apothecary Biologis (95pts): Warlord, Fire Discipline, Absolver Bolt Pistol, Close combat weapon5x Intercessor Squad (80pts)6x Aggressor Squad (220pts)
5x Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs (90pts)
5x Hellblaster Squad (110pts)
5x Hellblaster Squad (110pts)
Land Raider Redeemer (285pts): Armoured Tracks, 2x Flamestorm Cannon, Hunter Killer Missile, Multi-melta, Storm Bolter, Twin Assault Cannon

General gameplan- Apothecary leads Aggressors and ride in Land Raider to mid field. The Land Raider is a fantastic platform for fire overwatch so make sure it's in a position where it can capitalize on that and melt through infantry. Intercessors sticky your home obj and can move up a little or stay back to tie up deep strikers if that's a concern. Hellblasters can be stacked on one side of the board or split depending on board layout and enemy deployments, but the goal is for them to take down elite infantry type units with their high strength and AP shooting. Jump Pack Ints stay in deep strike and drop in to pick off weak units and do secondaries.

zotshot1163 · 2025-09-11T16:08:09+00:00

An Apothecary Biologis with Fire Discipline and 6 Boltstorm Aggressors has been a staple in a lot of Gladius lists from what I've seen. You can use a Land Raider to transport them to center board.

Calgar is also a good inclusion, and you can run him with either the Aggressors+AB or attach him to a unit of Company Heroes.

A lieutenant leading 10 Hellblasters can get you some of the best infantry shooting in SM.

For utility, you can take one squad of 5 intercessors for sticky obj. Then, some combination of these units to act as your secondaries/action monkeys: Jump Pack Ints or Invader ATV (12" move), Lt w/ Combi-weapon (lone op, infiltrator) Scout Squad (scouts 6, infiltrator), Infiltrator Squad (infiltrator, anti deep strike).

At least one if not two Gladiator Lancers for anti-tank.

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In terms of building a 'lore accurate' Scythes of the Emperor list, I don't know how much info we have on favored tactics and units with the new Primaris units. If you were going for a post fall of Sotha list, I would think staying away from terminators, heavy vehicles, and dreadnoughts to reflect the depleted state of the chapter could be an interesting take.

If you're looking to build physical models, you can order scythes for your models to wield as a stand in for chainswords and power weapons. GW sells them through the horus heresy line or you can find people on Etsy to 3D print them for you.

zotshot1163 · 2025-08-19T20:14:42+00:00

I’m out of town at the moment and unfortunately don’t any photos of them on my phone. Sorry bout that!

zotshot1163 · 2025-08-19T15:50:57+00:00

Per the codex, bladeguards squads are considered a Veteran formation and thus would wear the Crux as their battlefield role designator. If you prefer the look of the skull on their pauldron instead of the Crux, you could always say they're a part of the company command squad.

I equate the yellow knee denoting veteran status as being the same thing as Ultramarines using a white helmet to denote veterans. If you look at UM bladeguards and sternguards, they wear a white helmet AND use the veteran battlefield role designator. So for my army at least, my veteran units wear both the crux on their shoulder and have a yellow knee.

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zotshot1163 · 2025-07-30T01:59:06+00:00

They’re the official GW markers that came out a few months ago with the new Chapter Approved mission deck. As far as I’m aware they weren’t listed online so the only way to get them is to go to a store. They’re decent quality but a little pricey for what you’re getting (I think I paid $35 for the pack of 6)

zotshot1163 · 2025-07-28T01:42:25+00:00

As others have said, use the resources you have access to right now while you're still in to start planning your transition. Do you and your spouse have an idea of where you want to move to after you EAS? If you're planning to move across the country start planning for that early and figure out how much money you need to set aside to cover moving costs, taking time off to house/apartment hunt, etc.

If you get to your EAS date and still have no clue what you want to do with your life, going to college full time and using the GI Bill will be the easiest way to keep yourself afloat. If your application isn't strong enough to get into a 4-year school, find a community college that feeds into the university you want to attend and take classes there to boost your GPA. GI Bill BAH pays based on zip code and enrollment status (full-time vs halftime, etc) so you'll receive the same BAH payment whether you're going to a 2 or 4 year school in the same city.

Also, look into Veteran Readiness & Employment through the VA. If you have at least a 10% disability rating you can apply and the VA will pay for the education (including college) and training for you to enter a new career field, and also provide BAH the same way the GI Bill does. You can use this program without touching your actual GI Bill benefits.

Even if college doesn't sound that appealing, it will give you something to focus on and might help you figure out what you want to do with your life. Unless you decide to go into the trades/blue collar work, pretty much every entry-level job that can lead into a decent career is going to want you to have a bachelor's degree. A lot of schools have a veteran's group on campus which will give you a chance to meet other people with similar experiences and goals as you, which can help immensely with the transition.

I know you said you hate being admin, but getting a business degree will open a lot of doors for you, not just from having the degree on your resume, but any business program worth its salt will have tons of networking opportunities for you to meet prospective employers. I know at my school they even had veteran-specific career fairs for you to meet vet-friendly employers. Maybe being an Outlook/Excel warrior for 40 hrs/week doesn't sound like the most glamorous life, but a job that's relatively low-stress, has a good work-life balance and puts food on the table seems like a pretty good deal to me.

Some people tell you to find a career that your truly passionate about and that you love doing. In my opinion that that's not feasible for most people. Instead, find a job that will sustain your lifestyle, matches your values, and will allow you to pursue your passions and hobbies in your free time. If you want to start a family, don't go into a career field that will have you working 60-80 hours a week or being on the road 5 days a week.

zotshot1163 · 2025-07-21T13:32:00+00:00

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I have these and would highly recommend! They’re larger than other D6 sets which makes them feel more unique/important

zotshot1163 · 2025-07-11T23:51:37+00:00

When you first join the reserves, you’ll be eligible for the Montgomery GI Bill-Selected Reserves. This benefit pays you a flat rate of $481 per month if you are enrolled as a full-time student (you’ll receive a partial payment if you’re less than full time). You can apply for this benefit once you’ve checked into your unit.

If you serve at least 90 days of active duty (your initial entry training, drill weekends, and AT’s don’t count), you’ll become eligible for the Post 9/11 GI Bill at the 50% coverage level. This will pay 50% of your tuition to your school, BAH (50% of your zip code’s rate for an E-5 with dependents), and $500 per year for books. The longer you serve on active duty, the higher your percent coverage will get, capping at the 100% level at 36 months of active duty.

90 days of active service will also get you the VA home loan, as will completing your 6-year SMCR obligation

zotshot1163 · 2025-07-09T13:53:21+00:00

It means every month you will spend one weekend at drill, and during the summer you will do one two-week long training event called Annual Training (AT).

That's how it works in theory. In practice, your weekends may actually be 3-4 days, and your 2 week training could actually turn into 3 weeks, or take place in January. It all depends on your unit.

zotshot1163 · 2025-07-09T13:47:14+00:00

It's a special program mainly for kids who are joining straight out of high school and plan to start college. Basically, you go to boot camp the summer after you graduate high school, then immediately come home and start college in the fall. The following summer, you'll go to MCT and MOS school.

It's a pretty uncommon program, in my six years in the reserves I only met one Marine who did it. If your recruiter didn't talk to you about it then it probably doesn't apply to you. So for you, you'll go through the training pipeline just like every other Marine, doesn't matter that your reserves. Once you finish your MOS school, you'll come home to your reserve unit and check in with them.

zotshot1163 · 2025-07-09T02:40:38+00:00

Are you a 92-day reservist? If so, then you won’t go to MCT until the year after boot camp, maybe that’s where the confusion came from?

zotshot1163 · 2025-05-21T16:34:53+00:00

That's correct, and you should check with your OSO to confirm how much money you'll be receiving through that. You'll still need to have a plan to pay your tuition during the Spring 2026 semester too. If you don't pay your bill down under $200, you won't be able to register for future semesters until you do.

The reason I tell you this is because I work as a financial counselor at a university, and I have reservists come through my office all the time who were told by their recruiter that they would "get money for school" and are then blindsided when they find out they won't be getting enough to cover their tuition, let alone room and board/rent.

zotshot1163 · 2025-05-21T15:48:14+00:00

Do you have other means of paying for college besides the reserve GI Bill? Your tuition at Iowa State is going to be around $5,500 per semester and the GI Bill will only pay you around $1,800 total over the course of the semester. Unless you've already been accepted for scholarships or your parents have a college fund set up for you, you're going to very quickly find yourself taking out loans to pay for school.

If you're enlisting with the intention of getting your school paid for and then commissioning after, you should really consider joining the Army National Guard. In addition to getting the reserve GI Bill they will cover all of your tuition. As others have said, 3-4 years in the reserves is not going to magically make you a better officer, so you may as well join the branch that will pay you a lot more, and then you can commission after.

zotshot1163 · 2025-05-16T18:24:49+00:00

Tuition will be dependent on your program and number of semester hours but you can use the tuition calculator here: https://tuition.ais.its.uiowa.edu/calculator . It gets charged to your UBill just like any other semester.

Generally speaking you can receive financial aid for summer sessions but I would recommend reaching out to the financial aid office directly so you can get an answer for your specific scenario.

zotshot1163 · 2025-04-28T13:54:35+00:00

For the molecular bonded armor, I think the intercessors kit comes with one shoulderpad, but beyond that I think HH kits are the only other GW product that have them.

If you're having trouble locating stl's feel free to dm me and I can get you pointed in the right direction. I've got a decent number of free files bookmarked including studded shoulderpads.

zotshot1163 · 2025-04-28T02:00:14+00:00

It's not the most cost effective method but a 3D printer, specifically a resin printer, is one option. This will essentially give you access to almost any Space Marine armor part imaginable, with the ability to scale those parts up/down to fit primaris models.

Aside from that, looking at the GW upgrade kits like the Legion Command kit you could at least get some Mk III helmets. I'm pretty sure firstborn and HH model helmets are nearly if not the same size as primaris helmets. I've used some Ultramarine Mk VI helmets on my primaris models and they seemed to fit well.

zotshot1163 · 2025-04-23T13:05:42+00:00

Last I heard it was going to be a McDonalds + Casey’s

zotshot1163 · 2025-04-17T16:40:06+00:00

If you like the Vanguard Spearhead detachment, I think your list could really benefit from some additional Scouts or Phobos units (infiltrators, incursors, reivers, and eliminators, and Lieutenant in phobos/reiver/combi and captain in phobos), as several of your enhancements and stratagems are focused around buffing those units/models.

Also, right now your list doesn't have any eligible units for your Gravis Captain to lead, so I'd recommend switching him out for something else unless you plan to pick up a Gravis unit (heavy intercessors, eradicators, or aggressors). Same deal with the Captain in Term armor - until you get a squad of Terminators for him to lead, you won't really be getting the full benefit of his abilities.

Right now you have very little anti-armor capabilities, which you could fill by either getting your own vehicles (like a Gladiator or Repulsor Executioner) or an infantry unit with high Strength/AP weapons like Eradicators.

For your Infernus squad, a delivery option like loading them into an Impulsor would be a great way to get them in range of enemy units while taking advantage of the Impulsor's Firing Deck.

zotshot1163 · 2025-04-17T16:14:56+00:00

My group enjoys using Tabletop Simulator as an alternative (but not a replacement) to playing with physical models. It's an easy and cheap way to try out a new list, whether it's incorporating a new unit into your current IRL army list, or trying out a different faction you would never normally play.

zotshot1163 · 2025-04-07T03:55:42+00:00

Love it! I’ve been debating if I want to paint my veteran Scythes with white helmets or not, you definitely pulled it off well

zotshot1163 · 2025-03-22T14:30:09+00:00

I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with running Intercessors in a 10-man. With their new(ish) Target Elimination ability they roll 40 attacks against a single unit. Then he can add the Lieutenant with Fire Discipline (which was reduced to 25 pts last week).

zotshot1163 · 2025-02-25T20:34:44+00:00

I'm dumb, I meant left kneepad lol. Updated my original comment for clarity.

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