Astra Militarum 1850pt competitive list- need critique

[Harley]

Foot shlogging naked Veterans with Plasma guns? They are as good as dead. If you must leave them on foot, they need Forward Sentries for Camo Cloaks so they can hide in ruins, bushes etc. At this point they are better off with and assortment of Sniper rifles, Auto cannons and/or a Lascannons.

Remember, Plasma guns need to be within 12" to maximize effectiveness. How are you going to get them that close on foot? You can't just expect your enemy to always come walking right up to you. A better Plasma load out is simply:
Vets, 2 Plasma Guns, Chimera - 155

You need to ask yourself, how are you going to capture objectives instead of just passively sitting on your own. You need a plan for this. Consider dropping a Sentinel squad and putting those Vets in a Valkyrie. With those 3 Plasma guns they can drop down from the Valk, rapid fire with Plasma and annihilate a camping enemy troop while stealing the objective. Even better, put a Primaris Psyker with them and roll on the Divination table to possible give the Valk/Vets a 4++ invulnerable or trade in your power for Prescience to twinlink the Veterans.

[karandras]

"The company command squad will blob with the guard infantry squads while maintaining ordnance fire and dishing out orders where necessary"

Unless I am misreading this, you cannot do this.

Plasma Cannons on Sentinels are a bad idea due to the inherant risk of gets hot. I run mine cheap with either Multilasers or Autocannons. They are a distraction unit and nothing more.

I completely agree with the feedback in regards to mobile troops. I think 2 units in Chimeras are kind of a prerequisite in any list due to objectives.

Good Luck!

[John Bower]

Yeah, I may not be a competitive player but those plasma guns/cannons will put you in a world of hurt, unless you take psykers. You're wanting to go tourney play so psykers all the way. Maybe lose the company command squad to free up the points for them. That way the extra twin linking you can get on the plasmas will stop them killing you. And as said, the vets need a transport desperately, I'd likely go with meltas or similar on them rather than plasma, perhaps put them in a Valkyrie so they can drop out right next to an enemy tank on turn 1 using the 'grav chute insertion' rule and get that vital First blood, just keep them cheap and cheerful for when the return fire extinquishes them.

[Lord Krungharr]

I'll put in my 2 cents here. Wyverns are amazing, I would up the squadron to 3 and reduce the Sentinels somehow. Just gotta bubble wrap them with bodies and walls to prevent melta guns from getting in range, including the 9" Tau meltas. And if one of your psykers gets Forewarning, maybe stick that one back with the body blob and cast it on the Wyverns, or maybe the dudes, depending on what your enemy has in store for you.

I agree, Vets need Chimeras, they just do. Unless you have Cypher or some other way of Infiltration/Outflanking, which unfortunately Harker no longer does (darn it!).

I really really recommend taking a Punisher or Executioner on Pask's tank. The rending Punisher with rerolling To Hit is just awesome with 20 shots, and that makes it viable anti-flyer as well. The Executioner on any other tank has a 25% chance of causing at least 1 glancing hit on itself with Gets Hot. Add plasma sponsons to it and that's even worse. Pask's Executioner gets the single large blast which is better for less hotness, and the Blind rule, which can pay off in the next player turn of course.

If you can deepstrike Sentinels or just keep them in Reserves with 48" range, that's the best way to use them probably. The chicken-walkers are always cool on the table

Heavy weapons in Infantry squads actually can be very good ideas. I think there's an Order now that they immediately make a shooting attack and then Run, isn't there? If so, they wouldn't have to move, then they could shoot (and with a Prescient Psyker, they'd be twin-linked) and still move D6". Not bad at all. I would almost prefer special weapons squads to heavy weapon squads and stick them in Valkyries or Chimeras.

Lastly, the Company Command Squad isn't bad, but I like them cheap as possible, though maybe with an Officer of the Fleet if you have things in Reserves a bunch. Good in a Chimera because of the Command Vehicle rule.

Master of Ordnance doesn't seem all that great, never hits anything for me. But indiscriminate bombardments are a....BLAST!

[Katharon]

Don't give the Veterans Chimeras. They've lowered the number of models that can shoot out the top hatch -- now only two models can fire, instead of five like in the old codex. That means that Veterans can no longer use the Chimera to the same effect as they use to (mobile bunker). Best option is just to give Veterans their armor and camo cloaks.

Master of Ordnance, Krungharr, is a 20-point Basilisk...I mean, come on.

[Harley]

Katharon, I agree but how do you propose a better way to get scoring units across the table? Valkyries are fine but they are also much more expensive. Chimeras took a hit but are still viable as they don't need to be a mobile gun boat, they are essentially 65 points to move your Vets 12-18" in one round and have mobile cover, nothing more.

[Katharon]

Katharon, I agree but how do you propose a better way to get scoring units across the table? Valkyries are fine but they are also much more expensive. Chimeras took a hit but are still viable as they don't need to be a mobile gun boat, they are essentially 65 points to move your Vets 12-18" in one round and have mobile cover, nothing more.

Crazy as it sounds, I walk mine. I always give them 2 or 3 Doctrines (but always cloaks) and have them advance across the table from cover to cover -- just like real infantry would. Usually I have so many other targets, some of which are more dangerous, that the enemy ignores my Veteran squads for the first couple (or if I'm lucky, three) of turns. There are not as many weapons that Ignore Cover as there tend to be thought of so it's never been an issue for me. I'd rather spend that 65 points towards either another Heavy Weapon Squad or getting better upgrades for my Leman Russ squadrons.

[Harley]

Good point. Food for thought, Marker lights can't hit your Vets if they are within a Voidshield, and thus won't be able to ignore their cover! May give it a try.

[Katharon]

Good point. Food for thought, Marker lights can't hit your Vets if they are within a Voidshield, and thus won't be able to ignore their cover! May give it a try.

You can also take cover saves from Marker Lights. They're still a shooting attack, even if they don't cause damage.

[Aegwymourn]

You can also take cover saves from Marker Lights. They're still a shooting attack, even if they don't cause damage.

You don't get saves of any kind against Markerlights.