The units and gear affected by Chapter Approved changes are spread across various books, so I have attempted to compile them into one easy to read table that shows the before and after impact of the new changes.

There are two pieces of good news for Guard players. The first is that you are now off the hook; enough units have been hit with tweaks and points increases that your wins are going to be harder to come by, and you are going to have to work harder to claim each victory. This isn’t sarcasm either; personally I find it liberating when army building is more challenging and opponents less likely to blame your codex for their losses.

The second is that despite the price increases, and there are a lot of them, the Astra Militarum remains a potent army. In my personal opinion it has dropped behind the current king-of-the-hill (Chaos), especially with all the stackable minus to hit being loaded in to the game, and might join the majority of armies in finding the new Tyrannids a real challenge, but it is still a good, strong book with lots of options.

But as of now, bunkering up with cheap forgeworld artillery and masses of conscripts ain’t one of em. 😀

A B C D 1 WAS NOW DIFFERENCE 2 Astropath 15 30 15 3 It’s a full doubling of the unit’s cost, but still a deserved increase. Note that the model would be 36pts with the Stave (and would have previously been 21 with it), but most people drop that useless piece of equipment. These cheap psykers were never good at Smite (they cast on 1D6), but will still make it in to lists as cheap sources of utility spells like Psychic barrier. 4 Conscripts 3 4 1 5 The final nail in the conscripts’ coffin. They now cost as much as vastly superior Infantry, have much lower LD, lower BS, lower WS, no sergeants, no special weapons, no heavy weapons, no wargear options and only pass orders half the time. Under 8th Edition rules, large units are uniquely vulnerable to Morale, and the commissar nerf already took the wind out of conscript’s sails. Are we done here? 6 Manticore 125 135 10 7 143 with its hull Heavy Bolter. Still worth taking, but it’s worth considering other options. 8 Primaris Psyker 28 38 10 9 The old version was really 40 (mandatory force stave), and the new one is really 46 (the model costs 10 more, but the stave costs 4 less) 10 Ratlings 5 7 2 11 9pts with their rifle. 12 Taurox 40 50 10 13 Increased by 10, BUT note taking two autocannons dropped by 6. The real increase was only 4pts. 14 Taurox Prime 65 80 15 15 A 15pt increase, but the popular Gatling Cannon also increased by 2 so most players will feel it as a 17pt increase. 16 Wyverns 85 95 10 17 A 10pt increase in a tank that was always decent, but already struggling to justify inclusion against both cheaper units like Mortar Squads and more expensive ones like Punishers and Taurox Primes. 18 Weapons / Equipment 19 Autocannon 15 12 -3 20 A deserved 3pt drop. AC may make it back into some lists 21 Force Stave 12 8 -4 22 You’d never buy this on purpose, so dropping the cost makes sense now the Primaris is 10pts more. 23 Hotshot volley gun 6 7 1 24 Recently decreased in price, only to now be slightly increased. 25 BS4+ Melta 12 12 0 26 No change 27 BS3+ Melta 12 17 5 28 The recent changed to cost of BS3+ Plasma reignited the Melta v Plasma debate. This probably ends it: Plasma. 29 Powerfist 10 8 -2 30 You know what? I might buy one on a Guard model for the first time ever. Just for fun. In a list with Straken and/or a priest this is actually pretty efficient, assuming its T3 5+ wielder is alive to swing. 31 Taurox Gatling Cannon 18 20 2 32 A small increase for a great gun. 33 Tempestus Command Rod 0 5 5 34 This took me by surprise; it is wargear that requires a MT officer to drop their gun, and the benefit is just that they issue 2 orders like the other HQ officers which cost 10 (and now effectively, 15) points less.

At 45pts this model is getting perilously close to the cost of a 5 man squad hotshot squad (50pts).

Also @GW please let this poor guy also carry a pistol! Even blind astropath get one. He’s the only model that can go into combat unarmed, and it’s bad for the men’s morale. 35 Vanquisher Battle Cannon 25 20 -5 36 Not enough. Still a weapon you should avoid. 37 38 Forgeworld 39 Armageddon Medusa 103 115 12 40 41 Artemia Hellhound 100 73 -27 42 Hello flametank! The now-superior standard hellhound just changed to 2D6 1-damage shots, so this one with its D6 (roll 2 pick the highest) 2-damage shots needed a price drop to make it competitive. What makes it competitive on price is that the Artemia Inferno Cannon is 0 points, so the unit with a heavy flamer runs at just 90, compared to a Hellhound with Inferno and HF at 110. 43 Avenger Strike Fighter 125 150 25 44 45 Cyclops Demolition 40 60 20 46 These cute little tanks were deceptively deadly. They had it coming. 47 Dominius Siege Bombard 450 600 150 48 Earthshaker Battery 75 115 40 49 The unit deserved an increase, but as this puts it at a higher price point than the Basilisk that comes with the same weapon, plus a Heavy Bolter and the ability to move, there is a case to be made for this being an over reaction. 50 Earthshaker Carriage 75 105 30 51 Crew 4 4 0 52 As above, it needed a price increase but players will find this steep. 53 Heavy Quad Launcher 73 85 12 54 crew 4 4 0 55 Hydra Battery 90 75 -15 56 One of a short list of Guard units that have had a decrease in cost, it’s still not a must-include 57 Imperial Fortress Walls 400 800 400 58 Sure. Whatever. Why not. Its faction being ‘Unaligned’ might be one reason, I guess 🙂 59 Leman Russ Annihilator 132 122 -10 60 The Leman Russ Annihilator has dropped by 10pts from 132 to 122, before weapons.

Remember that as of the October 2017 FAQ, FW tanks operate the same as Codex varieties: ‘Grinding Advance: If this model remains stationary or

moves under half speed in its Movement phase (i.e. it moves a distance in inches less than half of its current Move characteristic) it can shoot its turret weapon twice in the following Shooting phase (the turret weapon must target the same unit both times). Furthermore, hit rolls for this model’s turret weapon do not suffer the penalty for moving and shooting a Heavy weapon.’

This is a heavy-duty vehicle destroyer, coming from the factory with a twin lascannon turret and a heavy bolter (now 170pts), but often upgraded to carry a hull lascannon and pair of plasmacannons (now 212pts). Plasmacannons have taken a real hit recently (fire at a Alaitoc Lightning-fast-reaction skimmer for example and you’re overheating on a 1, 2 or 3), but even without sponsons this is a serious tank killer. 61 Leman Russ Conqueror 110 122 12 62 The Conqueror with hull HB will now be 122+25+8=155, compared to the Codex Leman Russ with battle cannon and HB at 152. (Note in the previous FW FAQ it was briefly priced at 132 base rather than 110, so this price could be seen as a discount).

The main difference between them is the standard Leman Russ has a huge range advantage (72 vs 48″) on the main gun, while the Conqueror has a co-axial storm bolter that gives the main gun rerolls to hit provided they both target the same enemy within the 24″ range of the stormbolter.

The standard leman russ may be better on the 1st turn as player 1 (where you don’t want to roll forward and be within 24″) and the late turns (when the remaining targets are some distant back-field models), but since 40K is turning into a knife-fight, the Conqueror is better on the turns in between, and especially is better on Overwatch. If you’ve already got some very long range weapons in your list, it’s worth considering the conqueror. 63 Leman Russ Stygies Vanquisher 165 160 -5 64 The codex version is 155 with Vanquisher cannon and HB, while this one would cost 168 as delivered. It is better than the codex Vanquisher against close-range targets thanks to the co-axial stormbolter, and +1 to hit with the main gun if the model did not move at all, but still an unfortunate underperformer with 1 S8 -3 D6 (highest of 2) shot. 65 Lightning Strike Fighter 95 125 30 66 All the FLYERS in this list went up in price, but none were that outstanding before the changes. 67 Gorgon Heavy Transporter 300 68 Griffon Mortar Carrier 70 77 7 69 I own a Griffon but rarely took it; I’d anticipated a price drop rather than increase. It’s not a bad unit, but it is outclassed by units above and below it. 70 Manticore Battery 80 110 30 71 A fair nerf. 72 Medusa Carriage battery 80 100 20 73 Crew 4 4 0 74 A fair nerf. 75 Primaris Redoubt 300 700 400 76 Sure… OK. 700pts. Why not. Moving on. 77 Rapier Laser Destroyer 70 80 10 78 crew 4 4 0 79 80 Salamander Command Vehicle 75 110 35 81 A huge increase for a poorly-armed light tank (now 135 with its mandatory HB HF). Its job is to add 1 to the BS of one unit per turn, so it was taken with superheavies or expensive russes, and helped compensate against the -1 or better to hit armies. I know some people will still take it, but it’s very hard to justify at this cost. You can buy a real tank for this sort of price. 82 Stygies Destroyer Tank Hunter 170 160 -10 83 The Stygies Destroyer Tank Hunter fires a Heavy Laser Destroyer Array which is basically a D3 lascannon with 60″ range (heavy D3, S9 AP-3 D6) and that rolls 2 dice and picks the highest for damage vs Vehicles 84 Stygies Thunderer Tank 170 160 -10 85 The Thunderer is reputed to be a budget demolisher because it can only take that one main weapon; the demolisher cannon. However, even after this discount it will still be a 160+40=200 point tank. 86 Tarantula Battery 10 20 10 87 Unlike SM tarantulas, the Guard ones come from Heavy Support and are thus less useful at filling out a brigade. With their price before guns doubled and still lacking the ability to control their targeting, they aren’t a very compelling choice. 88 Thunderbolt Fighter 100 125 25 89 0 90 Defence Searchlight 0 20 20 91 The defence searchlight was already nerfed to only affect infantry. There are still fringe cases where this is worth taking (eg Militarum Tempestus 10 man squad with 4 plasma) but it’s generally simply better to buy more men. 92 Hellstrike Missile 20 30 10 93 Twin Assault Cannon 35 44 9 94 DEATH KORPS 95 Command Squad 7 7 0 96 Combat Engineers 7 7 0 97 Grenadier Storm Squad 8 8 0 98 Leman Russ Mars Alpha 132 122 -10 99 Something worth noting about the Mars Alpha tanks is that they get +1 to saves vs Strength 4 or less. That may not come up very often vs shooting, but it can be handy vs massed close combat attacks. This would be the tank to drive into combat with Ork Boyz and Nid swarms -it’s a shame it’s locked to Death Korps as a regiment. 100 Storm Armour and Mine Plough 0 10 10 101 Twin heavy Stubber 0 8 8 102 Previously unavailable, now there are rules to match the model. 103 Vanquisher Battle Cannon 25 20 -5 104 ELYSIAN 105 Command Squad 7 7 0 106 Veteran Squad 7 7 0

Practical Example of impact

I will use my own list from last weekend’s Western Australian Masters event as an example.

Note that I don’t use forgeworld very often (and didn’t at all at this event), so am spared some of the worst impact.

PRICE INCREASES IN MY LIST’S UNITS

60 Conscripts +60 points

1 Primaris Psyker +6 points (after stave is factored in)

Astropaths +45 points

Manticores +30 points

Celestine +50 points

4 Meltaguns +20 points

=211 points

PRICE DECREASES IN MY LIST’S UNITS

1 Autocannon -3 points

=3 points

Nice! I made 3 points back lol.

So in this real-world example, I would need to drop 208 points from the list I took in order to make it legal. That is a lot of hardware, and it came hot on the heels of other changes like the nerfing of conscripts, obsolescence of Commissars (seriously, take an inquisitor if you want a LD bubble and get a free cast/deny), plasma gun and mortar increases etc.

That’s quite a chunk of an army by anyone’s reckoning.

But as mentioned in the opening paragraphs, I would hope that it should be enough to shut down complaints about Guard as a codex and get people back to focusing on beating their opponent.

– Matt