Reinforcements have Arrived!

Well I've read through the codex, and here are my thoughts:

1) Overall, its pretty good.  its been 'dumbed down' a good bit to simplify the army overall.  Which of course is the trend of the 5th ed 40K.  The codex is alot like the space marine codex.  No need to buy specialized wargear...all options are included on the unit entry.  Sort of sucks out some of the 'personalization' of the old codex, but not too bad.  I'll sacrifice that for ease of game play.

2) Alot of the old 'Doctrine' rules can be approximated.  In some cases, it kind of sucks...especially if someone made a REAL crazy list based on the REALLY wacky doctrines in the previous edition.  But generally, you can do the same stuff.  And in some cases, its better.  For example, there are no longer any sharpshooters, but you CAN get veteran squads (for a single troops choice) with a BS 4.  In addition, some of the 'orders' a commander can give can make your shots count as twin-linked which lets you re-roll ALL misses, not just 1's.  Coloner Shaeffer and his last chancers?  Not there anymore (at least not as wacky as they used to be with the million options they could take), but you CAN take Penal Legion squads and their skills are pretty nasty.  Playing straight catachans?  The lose alot of the specialized jungle rules (such as better cover), but the 5th ed rules for them are better now anyways...plus they can now get lascannons (which they couldn't before).

I'll miss Close Order Drill (+1 I and Ld when all models are in base to base), but since 5th ed makes cover so much more important, I'll just use that.

No more mechanised companies, but most units can take chimeras anyway.  Those that dont?  Take a Valkyrie!

Alot of the wierd stuff is gone like the morale boosting doctrines and the 'army type' doctrines like jungle fighters and light infantry...but I never felt those gave much to the army anyways.

Etc etc...

3) The sheer number of tanks now is STAGGERING!  Seven different leman russ tanks, four artillery tanks, three 'hellhound' variations, plus manticores, hydras (I can't WAIT to get one of these while facing Eldar and their skimmer tanks), chimeras, valkyries, and the all mighty Deathstrike missile. 

Even more evil is you can take three leman russ tanks as a SINGLE heavy choice.  Or three hellhound as a single fast choice. :Shudder:  Expensive, but NASTY.

The new tanks are all very cool, but frankly this has me a little concerned.  I'm afraid I'm going to see tons of min-maxed armies with a minimum of infantry and swarms of tanks.  Granted you MUST have troops choices to take objectives, but with the sheer number of pie plates on the board during the shooting phase, will there be any troops choices left for the opponent to use?

4) Heavy weapon squads and special weapon squads are now part of TROOPS!!!  Can you say WOW????  In my basic army list, I now have NINE troop units on the board to take objectives!!!  I thought orks got crazy with 5 or 6 troops choices...but nine?  That is going to be tough to win against.

5) Infantry squads can now combine into a SINGLE unit.  This means you could potentially have a single unit of basic troopers numberingFIFTY models.  Sure its only a single troops choice for taking objectives, but with those numbers, you can spread out and control multiple objectives.  Thats just cool!  One army list I have has a 30 man unit with 3 flamers, a single vox, and a commissar lord to boost their leadership enough to keep them running forward and taking orders regularly.

6) The regimental advisors are pretty neat, but not game breaking.  Almost a toss up if you'd take one...except the master of Ordnance (basically giving one free basilisk shot a turn)...he's pretty neat. :)

7) The 'orders' rules are really cool.  A command squad can tell a unit to shoot 3 lasgun shots at 12" instead of 2, or go to ground with a +2 bonus on the cover save instead of +1, or count all weapons as twin-linked (hello anti-tank squads!), etc.  The only thing I DON'T like about this is you MUST be within the command range of the commanding unit...voxes don't let you do oders over long distance...they only let you reroll Ld test to see if they follow the order.

So you can do some real crazy order shennannigans with a command squad, but they typically need to be up close to the front lines to do so.

I'm currently envisioning 6 squads of infantry carried into battle on Valkyries, 3 Basilisks and half a dozen tanks as heavy support.... Then bringing a copy of "Ride of the Valkyries" to every game I play.

DAAAYYYYYAAAMMMMNNNN!  That'd be expensive, but awesome to see.

Yeah, I'll probably never do it, but it might be fun to proxy one day just to see how it plays.

So I found a few tricksy strategies in the guard codex for new guardsmen:

1) The psyker battle squad can reduce a target unit's leadership by up to 9 (minimum of Ld 2) points!!!!  SUPER useful for your pinning mortars, sniper rifles, and other leadership tests.

2) Buy a single, plain old scout sentinel.  No upgrades except a single spotlight.  Only 1 extra point, and a scouting sentinel is always useful.  But if, while rolling up missions, you get the night fight rule, you have a mean little surprise.  Sentinels get the 'scout' rule allowing them to get a free move before the game begins, then combined with their normal move on your turn they should be close enough to illuminate pretty much anything with the spotlight.  Then you're long range heavy guns can go nuts.  Best yet, the spotlight is only on a super cheap sentinel...so if they hit it, its no big deal.  You probably already did alot of damage with your Leman Russes to make up for the loss.

3) The "INCOMING!" order is excellent.  Use it alot on cheap Infantry squads that are keeping an objective (usually placed in ruins or other cover).  That +2 cover save usually gives them a 2+ save!!!  Good luck rooting them off an objective! 

And if you want to be real mean, use the "Get back in the fight!" order to force them to pop up (they effectively lose two turns of shooting if they take the 'incoming' order) and do some lovely rapid fire shots on a close combat unit that was sneaking up to the ruins to clean them out.

4) Deep strike is nice, but often too random to be relied on when you really need those troops.  The new Storm troopers can take the "scouts" and "move through cover" rules if you wish.  With that move before the game starts, and easier movement in cover, they become a tough unit to root out, and devastating to heavy infantry when they finally pop up to fire, not to mention they'll likely be in a good position within the first 2 turns of the game (no need to wait).

5) Since infantry squads can band together and count as a single squad before the game starts, try making a 20 or 30 man unit with 2-3 special weapons, and a commissar, and maybe a single vox.  The commissar gives the unit stubborn, so they are less likely to break.  The unit becomes a rather scary proposition trooping down the field with all those guns. 

For extra fun, add a Lord commisar (so the squad can use his leadership), and/or a Primaris psyker (to use his nightshroud ability - enemy units must pass a Ld test to target your squad, and he also has some impressive firepower.)

All very cool ideas.

I'm also looking at Veterans as a "poor man's Storm Trooper." It's possible to build a squad of vets that's nearly as good as Storm Troopers for a fraction of the cost.

Definitely.  They lose some of the special 'missions' and the hot shot lasguns, but having 3 special weapons is pretty sweet.  Add something like a heavy bolter and moutn them in a chimera, and you have alot of firepower.