Hosts: Robert Chandler and Daniel HestersSpecial Guest: Seth "Mad Dok" Oster, winner of Best Overall at Warzone Giga-bytesMusic: Heroic Demise by Matthew Pablo licensed under CC-BY available here
The CTA Podcast returns! Daniel and Robert sit down to discuss 9th edition, what we've been up to during the COVID-19 Pandemic. We also interview Seth Oster of the Dangli Boyz to talk about his big win at Warzone Giga-Bytes GT with his Ork Buggy list. Finally, we break down the Warhammer 40,000 Grand Tournament Mission Pack Secondaries with opinions on list design and capitalizing on making the most out of secondary selections in the new 9th edition missions.

COVID-19 has definitely changed how we do things in our everyday lives these days, and Warhammer 40k is certainly no exception to that.  With 9th edition on the horizon most people are taking a pause from playing the game as we get ready to focus on the new edition which is fast approaching. However, if you still need to scratch that 40k itch and the quarantine has you down, fortunately Tabletop Simulator is a great way to get some games in.  There is a large community supporting the game on TTS which has grown exponentially since the virus hit.  
In this short tutorial video I explain how to get setup with playing Warhammer 40k in Tabletop Simulator, how to get the files you need installed and how to build a list the simple way in the program.

With a heavy heart we have to announce that Warzone: Come the Apocalypse will be canceled for 2020 due to COVID-19.  We will return in 2021 and look forward to bringing you a top notch event for 9th edition! Thank you all for understanding and stay safe everyone.

This past month saw the release of the latest offering in the Psychic Awakening series, Blood of Baal.  This volume includes new rules for Blood Angels and Tyranids,both of which got some pretty good buffs, the Blood Angels really came out on top with this book.  So much so, in fact, that it is my opinion that Blood Angels are now a tier one army in competitive 40k.
Rather than go on a long review about the book itself, I'm going to highlight what I feel are some of the best changes, some tactics and synergy to use to make the most out of the new book and finally a look over my current Blood Angels army list.



The Big Changes

First, we have updates to several datasheets including, of course, the new Primaris version of Mephiston. He is essentially the same as before only he now has 1 more attack and wound.  And he got a points reduction. He was already good but now is probably an auto-take in most Blood Angels armies henceforth.  Additionally we saw updates to Astorath and Lemartes which now have access to the coveted Litany abilities, themselves big game changers for the army.  We also get the official Sanguinary Priest with the option to add a jump pack which is actually quite an important addition for the army.  Of course there are several other datasheets presented in the book, including Death Company Intercessors, and the newish units that released long after the original codex.



We finally have access to Combat Doctrines just as normal Marines, which is honestly a huge boost.  Additionally, Blood Angels have their own special ability which triggers during the Assault Doctrine if your army is entirely composed of Blood Angels; Savage Echoes.  While the Assault Doctrine is active (turn 3 onward) when a Blood Angels unit charges, is charged or performs a Heroic Intervention, add 1 to the attacks characteristic of models in that unit.  This also combos with Shock assault which basically does the same thing. What this means is that when you get to turn 3 your Blood Angels units are putting out some real pain on the enemy. We'll get to more of that in a bit.

Red Thirst has also seen an update from the standard codex version. Now in addition to giving Blood Angels +1 to wound in the Fight Phase, it also lets them add 1 to all Advance and Charge rolls. This is a huge boost for the army.  Flesh Tearers also get their own version of this, but it is simply not as good as Red Thirst.  Being able to need an 8 out of reserves to make a charge is a huge boon for this army.



As mentioned above, Blood Angels now have access to the litanies for Chaplains, which is really nice. They even have their own special litany which allows you to choose a Blood Angels unit within 6" and when that unit makes a wound roll during melee all unmodified 6s become AP -4.  Not a bad buff, by any stretch, but Canticle of Hate is where it's at for Blood Angels.  If this litany is inspiring then any units within 6" of the Chaplain may add 2 to their charge rolls and pile-in and consolidate an additional 3".

New Stratagems. Boy there are a lot of new stratagems in here for Blood Angels. Many of them were simply ported over from Codex Space Marines, but Blood Angels have access to several clutch stratagems which I will cover here:

• Refusal to Die: 1 CP Once per turn only. Give a Death Company unit a 5+++ to ignore wounds. This goes a long way to help increase the survival of those Death Company. An amazing strat.
• Death on the Winds. 1 CP During the Fight Phase select one Sanguinary Guard unit. Until the end of that phase treat a result of a 1 on the d3 damage as a 2 instead. Sanguinary Guard can dish out a lot of pain in this updated and this really ramps up the damage.
• Unbridled Ardour. 1 CP Select a Blood Angels unit during the Charge phase. That unit may perform a Heroic Intervention as if it were a character and may move 6". This is probably one of the more underrated strats in the book, but it is extremely good for counter charging units. 

These are just 3 of the main standouts. Naturally there are some other amazing strats such as Transhuman Physiology, Duty Eternal and Hero of the Chapter. And of course they have all the strats in their current codex as well. This means that of all the Marine variants, Blood Angels have the most stratagems available to them which gives them a lot of flexibility in list design.


Blood of Baal Tactics and Synergy
These updates have really ramped up Blood Angels to a tier one level. In the hands of a capable general they can really cause havoc on the table top.  Let's take a look at some of the key synergies you should be running.
Death Company blobs supported by Lemartes.  15 Death Company with 4-5 thunder hammers and chainswords and boltguns on the rest. Sure you can deploy them on the board and move upfield with Forlorn Fury if you go first. But that requires deploying them on the table and risking them getting shot up. We don't want that especially given the rise of units such as the Thunderfire Cannon and other units which ignore line of sight. It's best to just stick this blob in deep strike.
Lemartes you will want to actually deploy on the field. With units such as scouts and infiltrators to screen out, Lemartes will most often be safe. You will want to deploy him either last or close to the last drop. And you'll want to put him down near where you want the Death Company to hit in turn 2. At the start of the battle round you want to pop off the Canticle of Hate. Move him up and advance if needed (don't forget your +1 to the roll if you advance).  On turn 2, the Death Company will come down by Lemartes and the fun begins. 
When the Death Company drop, you'll likely want to send in your Smash Captain with Angel's Wings first to prevent overwatch.  Losing Death Company to overwatch is one of the most frustrating things to deal with and Blood Angels have no way to stop that other than using either the Angel's Wings relic or the Flesh Tearers warlord trait character to deny overwatch. So, if facing a nasty gunline like Iron Hands, who can buff up overwatch to 4+ to hit, you'll want to keep that smash captain close by so he can deny that overwatch.

So, the Death Company have dropped and now you need a 7 on the dice to make a charge and next to Lemartes you can reroll this giving you about an 82% chance of sticking that charge on 2d6.  Which is nice because this means you are no longer dependent on Descent of Angels. Sure, you can use it if you want, but your chances are high enough after the litany goes off to hold back the CP if you wish and have a great chance of landing that charge.  You'll want to leave enough room for Lemartes to get in there as well. Because we want to get the extra movement on pile-in and consolidation. Getting 6" on these gives you some incredible distance to cover and goes a long way in allowing you to finish off a couple of good targets and wrapping up a unit to prevent the Death Company from being shot in your opponent's following turn. This can often be a game changing move if pulled off appropriately.
Now it is turn 3 and you're going to drop in the Sanguinary Guard at this point and this is where the meat grinding begins. Savage Echoes is kicking in at this point meaning that combined with the Sanguinor buff, which you will most certainly want nearby, each Sanguinary Guard is swinging 5 attacks each! That is a ridiculous amount of attacks. Throw Unleash Rage on them and now that number is 6 attacks each. This is a murder blend unit of death and by the time they come in, they should be in a good position to get to something good. If not, don't be afraid to drop them down behind terrain and wait maybe another turn to make a move. Having a unit like this in the late parts of the game when resources are thin for your opponent can be devastating.


Ideally, on turn 3 you'll want to drop them in perhaps next to Astorath (who can throw down 2 litanies) for Canticle of Hate.  For sure you're going to want the Sanguinor, Sanguinary Ancient, and probably a Sanguinary Priest with the new relic Icon of the Angel.  The Icon is, in my opinion, one of the best relics in the army and easily an auto-take.  It allows any unit within 3" of the bearer to re-roll any number of dice when making a charge move.  That is huge combined with +1 to charge rolls.  Now, the Sanguinary Guard, Sanguinor, and Sanguinary Ancient are needing an 8" with a re-roll to get in. This is still only around a 65% chance to get in. But having Descent of Angels in your back pocket with a re-roll for Sanguinary Guard, something they did not have before this update, is huge in ensuring they get in. It also helps make sure your buff characters like Sanguinor aren't trailing behind and not in combat.  
When this unit sticks it's charge you are looking at 45-50 power fist attacks on Turn 3! You'll want your warlord or a similar character nearby to give them a re-roll buff. With the Priest in range of the unit they are STR 10 which combined with Red Thirst is enough to wound anything in the game on 2s.  And of course with the Sanguinary Ancient you'll be re-rolling 1s to wound.   Let me make this perfectly clear, there is nothing in the game that will likely survive this sort of damage output. Not a knight, or a similar super heavy. You'd be hard pressed even to find a titan that would not fall from this barrage of attacks. Simply put, whatever this unit touches dies. Period.
The Sanguinary Ancient relic banner Standard of Sacrifice is still the go to here. The new relic to give the unit an extra 2" to movement is nice, but these guys need to survive. Between Transhuman Physiology and the Standard of Sacrifice, you have a unit that is incredibly hard to remove and capable of dishing out some pain. 


My Current List Post Blood of Baal
Blood Angels have always been a CP heavy army and with the release of Blood of Baal they are even moreso than before.  So, we want a list that can maximize their CP.  At minimum I think you need 2 Battalions.  The list I'll be running features 3 Battalions. That is 18 CP and most likely by turn 3 you'll be out of Command Points entirely. But hopefully by then you've done enough damage that it won't matter. Anyway, on to the list
++Battalion++ Captain, Jump Pack, Thunderhammer, Storm shield (Angel's Wings, Hero of the Chapter: Artisan of War) Mephiston
3x 5 Scouts, Combat Knives
++Battalion++ Lemartes Astorath
2x 5 Scouts, Boltguns 5 Infiltrators
++Battalion++ The Sanguinor, Warlord Sanguinary Priest with Jump Pack (Icon of the Angel)
3x 5 Intercessors
15 Death Company with Jump Packs, 4x Thunderhammers, 1 Power Fist, 10 Chainswords, 11 Boltungs 9 Sanguinary Guard, 9x Power fists, Angelus Boltguns Sanguinary Ancient, Sword (Standard of Sacrifice)
In the pre-game you're spending 3 CP to take all the relics. Another CP for Hero of the Chapter, which is clutch as it lets you get that smash captain up to 4 damage on his thunderhammer without basically giving your opponent the Warlord kill.  And we'll spend another CP for Death Visions on him to get that extra attack on the charge and 6+++ (which we can boost to a 5+++ in turn one with Refusal to Die.)  That leaves you with 13 CP to spend during the game. Plenty to do most of the tricks you'll want to do with the army over the first few turns.
The first turn is generally about movement and positioning. You're moving Lemartes near where you want the Death Company to drop in turn 2. Most of the time this will be at the heart of the army.  You're also deploying with forward pressure with the Infiltratos and combat scouts to hit screens hard in turn one. Intercessors are typically in the backfield slowly advancing upfield or sitting on objectives as needed. 
Turn 2, the Death Company drop in, as described above, with Lemartes buffing them they can cause a LOT of damage and can wrap up a unit to keep them from being shot up. This also helps protect incoming characters like Mephiston, Smash Captain (if you haven't sent him in already) and Astorath. 


Turn 3 the Sanguinary Guard drop and the real party begins. As noted above these guys just begin to plow through anything on the board. 
I have tested this list over several games against a variety of builds and it has performed quite well. It is, of course, not without it's weaknesses.  Infiltrators really make this army hard to work using deep strike shenanigans.  Tau and Iron Hands overwatch can hurt as well.  Against many armies, and dare I say, most armies, however, you can do a massive amount of work with the new Blood Angels.

In Episode 31 we cover our recent Warzone: CTA GT which was this past weekend. We chat about Warzone: Atlanta and how to list design for the Warzone missions. And we chat a bit about SoCal Open.

Hosts: Robert Chandler, Daniel Hesters, Derek Rowe

I know what you're probably thinking.  Assault Centurions? For Space Marines? Are those even a THING?  The answer is yes! Not only do they exist, but most Space Marines armies either will be using them or should be using them.



When Space Marines were released back in 6th edition, Centurions were the new hotness and, as with most new model releases, had an immediate impact on the game, which lasted well into 7th edition. In those days, however, crazy deathstars were being built around Devastator Centurions.  No one ever considered Assault Centurions, and for good reason. They were slow, had mediocre shooting, etc. Devastator Centurions were especially awesome because of access to what was then devastating Grav Cannon firepower.



Fast forward to 8th edition, Primaris marines are the new hotness, grav weaponry in general is just mediocre, and Centurions have been sitting on the shelf for years. With the release of the newest Space Marines codex, and particularly their respective codex supplements, Centurions are seeing play again, but this time it's in their assault loadout. Not only are Assault Centurions good now, they are actually great and many lists are being built around them as the primary core component.


Let's take a look at their basic profile. The Centurion Assault Squad is an Elites choice in Codex Space Marines. The unit contains 3 models each armed with Centurion Assault Launchers, 2 Flamers, and Siege Drills.  They have a Move characteristic of  4" so they don't move especially fast.  A WS and BS of 3+, Strength and Toughness of 5, with 4 Wounds each, 3 Attacks each (4 on the Sgt), Leadership of 8, and a Save of 2+. They have the Angels of Death special rule, Omniscope (which allows the unit to ignore cover), and the Combat Squads ability.  Centurion Assault Launchers allows you to roll for each model that is within 1" of an enemy unit after finishing a charge move and on a 4+ that unit suffers a mortal wound...meh.



Their base profile is underwhelming, until we look at their wargear options. Assault Centurions can replace their mediocre Assault Launchers for Hurricane Bolters. In doing so, they lose the ability to cause a mortal wound on the charge, but thanks to Bolter Discipline, can fire off 12 shots each from 24" out! Not too shabby.  And when they do make combat, they have 4 attacks each (5 on the sgt) thanks to Shock Assault that hit at STR 10, -4 AP (-5 if the Assault Doctrine is active), and 3 Damage flat. Wow these guys hit like a freight train if they can get in there! Sadly with a 4" move, that makes it pretty difficult. That's where the new Codex supplements come in. There are quite a few tricks you can use to make Assault Centurions go from medicore on paper to absolute nightmares to deal with on the table top!

Before we deep dive into some particularly nasty combos with Assault Centurions, we need to consider the basic considerations from Codex Space Marines.  Regardless of which Chapter you decide to go for in order to really make these guys work we need to look at putting them into a detachment that is designed around custom Successor Traits. In particular we are looking at Long-range Marksmen.  This trait extends the range of all ranged weapons for any unit by 3".  This is extremely important as now those 2 Flamers each are 11" range instead of 8".  This makes a difference when we get into Codex Supplement details because there are many tricks you can use to get these guys in close out of reserves. As for the second Successor Traits, that can be built maybe to maximize the other elements of your list, but I think Master Artisans is a good consideration.

Now let's look at some specific combos that make Assault Centurions the devastating beasts they are in combat.

White Scars



Assault Centurions will appear most frequently in White Scars armies. Why is this? Because of the Encirclement Stratagem.  For 1 CP you can deploy these guys off the table. On Turns 2 or 3 they can then come in off any battlefield edge, more than 9" away from enemy units. With Long-range Marksmen now they are within range of those 2 Flamers they are each equipped with. So, a squad of 6 of these guys is throwing out 12d6 Flamer shots and 72 Bolter shots. That is well over 100 shots on the turn they come in! Throw a buff character nearby allowing re-rolls and you have some incredibly dangerous firepower. Toss in a Librarian throwing Ride the Winds and Storm-Wreathed on them and now the unit adds 2" to their charge roll and cannot be Overwatched! And when they get into combat? Well, they are putting out 25 attacks with their Siege Drills. If you're in Turn 3 and the Assault Doctrine is active, Those Siege Drills are doing 4 damage each at AP -5!

They will roll over anything they touch in combat usually. And, if you tag team them with your warlord nearby with Master of Snares, on a 4+ you can keep a unit from falling back. But, if they do fall back, so what. For 1 CP you can use Butchered Quarry to make attacks on them when they attempt to fall back which will usually be enough to kill anything lucky enough to have lived from your initial charge. And even if after all that a unit gets away freeing your Assault Centurions to be shot? For 2 CP you toss Transhuman Physiology on them and now you have a unit with Toughness 5, that can only be wounded on a 4+ regardless of the shooting weapon's strength, with a 2+ save, making them incredibly hard to remove.

Raven Guard



While White Scars offers a great turn 2 or 3 beta strike with Assault Centurions, Raven Guard can get out there and punch you in the face turn 1 with a devastating alpha strike. An ill prepared opponent will find the game over in the first turn if they do not know what they are in for and how to guard against it. This combo centers around a Raven Guard smash captain with the Master of Ambush warlord trait. At the start of the first battle round, before the first turn begins, the warlord and one Raven Guard Infantry unit may be removed from the battlefield and redeployed more than 9" from the enemy deployment zone and enemy models.  Obviously you want to do this if you go first as it allows you to pick up your Assault Centurions, drop them within 9" before the first turn begins, then move, shoot and charge with them. Throw a Raven Guard librarian nearby to cast Enveloping Darkness on an enemy unit to deny them Overwatch, and suddenly these Assault Centurions are right in your lines crushing your army on turn 1.

If this tactic is too bold for your taste, you can always pay 1 CP for Strike from the Shadows and put the Assault Centurions into reserves, allowing them to come in anywhere on the table turns 2 or 3 more than 9" away from enemy models. Again, we are using Long-range marksmen so we can be in range to use those 2 flamers each on the turn they come in.

The Centurion Assault Squad, when given the proper wargear, traits and support, can make for a unit that can shift a game entirely. A unit of 6 with hurricane bolters is 312 points. A great value considering all the tricks you can pull with them to maximize their use.  Expect to see them a lot on the top tables in the future.

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last month or so, you probably know by now that the new Iron Hands Codex Supplement has arrived and boy is it a nasty one. Iron Hands is likely to shake up the meta quite a bit in competitive Warhammer 40,000, but it is not an insurmountable matchup to overcome. The list can be beaten by employing the proper tactics.  Let's take a look.

How Does it Work?
Before we can really deep dive into the question of "how do I beat this army," we must first understand how it functions.  There are several list build archetypes you will see with Iron Hands but the parameters fall under two categories; Repulsor Executioner spam or Shooting Dreadnought spam.


The core of most of the Iron Hands lists that you will see will include the new unique Iron Hands character, Feirros.  Feirros is a great buff character as he grants several amazing abilities including a 5++ Invulnerable save to any Iron Hands unit within 6".  This is huge as it gives units that otherwise would be very vulnerable to dying quickly, such as Repulsor Executioners, some amazing survivability.  Additionally, at the start of the Shooting Phase he can pick an Iron Hands unit and give it BS 2+.  Again, quite good on units with great long range firepower that degrade.  To top it off he has the ability to heal any Vehicle within 3" a whopping 3 wounds per turn. Not to mention, he can use a stratagem to do it twice...to the same vehicle.


The core components of the primary build centers around 3 Repulsor Executioners or 2 Repulsor Executioners and a Leviathan Dread with dual Storm Cannons. Follow that up with Feirros, a Chapter Master upgrade Captain with the Ironstone relic, a Lieutenant and a Librarian and now we have a giant bubble of death. 
The Leviathan in this build is particularly deadly here because of the Space Marines Duty Eternal stratagem that allows you to halve all damage inflicted on a dreadnought backed up by a character carrying the Ironstone relic to further reduce that damage by 1. You have a Toughness 8 gun platform with a 2+/4++/6+++ that is halving damage and reducing it furthermore by 1. This Leviathan is hard as hell to bring down.


Another build archetype you might see are various Dreadnought platforms with twin lascannon/missile launcher combinations that are all made Characters using the Iron Hands pre-game stratagem. Now you have several dreads firing powerful shots, with less than 10 wounds that are characters and thus cannot be targeted by enemy shooting unless they are the closest enemy unit.  
Both of these build archetypes will also feature units like Infiltrators and Scouts to make it very difficult to deep strike close to the death bubble units.
Sounds pretty scary yes? Indeed, it is, but not unbeatable.  In fact, I believe that in ITC Champions Missions, the Iron Hands army is more of a gatekeeper list. That is, one you must be prepared to fight and have a gameplan to beat if you plan to make it to the top table of an ITC Major event.
General Weaknesses
Going into the Iron Hands matchup, there are several weaknesses that the list has which can be exposed by generally any army. 
1. The army is slow. This army does not want to move much. In either variation, the list will not move much if at all for the first few turns. This is to capitalize on shooting the Executioner's primary gun twice.  In the dreadnought variation, the dreads don't want to get close usually as they want to maximize their ability to remain untargeted while putting out damaging firepower. This allows you to utilize terrain and mobility to your advantage. Iron Hands lists are designed to maximize the "kill more" portion of the mission and will focus on secondaries revolving around killing units such as Butcher's Bill, The Reaper, Titanslayers, etc.
2. Bunched up units. As Feirros's heal and increased BS ability has a short range of 3", coupled with the fact that Feirros himself isn't exactly very fast, the bubble of Repulsors/Leviathan/Characters will all be relatively close and bunched up together.  While we noted above that it is slow moving, it also lacks speed.  Against certain matchups, such as Eldar Flyers, this isn't that important as most of the time they'll be able to draw line of sight on the planes in their bubble. Against many armies, however this provides a problem unless there is just no good terrain on the tables at all. Most competitive events feature decent line of sight blocking terrain though, meaning you can position many of your units around to block out line of sight and reduce the shooting ability of the death bubble.


3. Mortal Wounds. While the Ironstone can reduce damage by 1 from attacks, Mortal Wounds are dealt individually 1 at a time. Meaning that if you can crank out some mortal wounds (looking at you Ad Mech, Ork Shock Attack Guns, and Imperial Fists Cohort) you can chew through the death bubble. Iron Hands have a stratagem that allows them to shut down any psychic power on a 4+ AFTER a deny the witch attempt as well, however, meaning they can negate super Smite casts. Generally speaking however, the army will struggle to deal with some builds that can dish out lots of mortal wounds while being protected by chaff units. Example being the Jim Vesal style Chaos list.
4. Combat. While Feirros is no slouch in combat by any stretch, Iron Hands have no access to anything which allows them to Fall Back and shoot. This means that if you can get within 1" of a Leviathan or other dreads you can shut their shooting down for a turn. This is important for moving and positioning. This will be difficult to do for many armies because of Infiltrators and the Leviathan being protected by Heroic Intervening characters and Repulsors which reduce charge distances by 2". That said, if you can get into and touch the Leviathan you can limit it's efficiency. Repulsors of course have Fly so simply touching them will not work.
General Strategies
When facing off against Iron Hands in ITC Champions Missions, you're best suited going for board control secondaries. The Iron Hands lists are incredibly elite but have units that seemingly just will not die. In a game of attrition, very few armies can deal with them in a shooting match. That makes other ITC Secondaries such as Engineers, Recon, and Ground Control more appealing. It might be tempting to take Big Game Hunter, but this is a trap. The likelihood of you killing 4 Iron Hands vehicles over the course of a game is very low for most builds.


In turn, the Iron Hands army wants to kill your units. Most of the time they will pick Secondaries centered around killing things. If they pick Marked for Death, for example, on one of your nasty units, then just hide the unit from them. Sure you may miss out on the killing power, but as we are noting here, you're going to struggle killing them anyway. You're better off playing the deny game in many cases.
Understand that most likely you will not win the Kill/Kill More battle. Basically anything that is exposed to the Repulsors will die. And in retaliation most of the time you won't be able to put enough damage on them fast enough to get Kill More. Instead, focus on Hold/Hold More on the primary. As noted above, Iron Hands are slow and want to kill you. They certainly have the capacity to hold a couple of objectives a turn, but in the larger scheme you want to be earning Hold/Hold More as often as possible to beat them.
If you do decide to expose a unit to shoot at one of their units, ensure that you can kill it. You will not win by simply chipping away wounds off of Repulsors or the Leviathan. You can calculate the risk you might take but understand that when you send a unit in to do the job, they need to do it completely. That might be GSC units with Rocksaws, Assault Centurions, Ad Mech Robots firing mortal wounds, etc. But have either some way to protect these units or ensure that whatever they target will die. Keep in mind that assaulting this death bubble is hard because they can Overwatch on 4s, re-rolling all hits, and can also reduce charge distances, as we noted above.
Have a Plan and Implement It
When you get to the table against the Iron Hands player, analyze the terrain relative to where the objectives will be placed for the match. If possible try to put them into deployment zones where the terrain is favorable and provides your army with as many hiding spots as possible while still being able to score the objectives.
Understand how you plan to deploy relative to the Secondaries they select. If they Mark For Death your units have a plan to protect some of them, if not all of them. You want to reduce their ability to get points and outscore them. 
If the terrain is not very favorable then try and saturate them with as many threats as possible so your troops units can move into position to hide and score points. That might be pressing a unit forward that you know will die sacrificing it to ensure your units can get into more favorable areas of the board without getting shot.
These are just some general guidelines and tips on how to deal with Iron Hands. Many factions have very specific answers to Iron Hands. If you have questions on faction specific tips, comment below for some advice on how your faction can handle Iron Hands.

Recently I was contacted by app developer Jacob Noble, to take a look over his new MathHammer app. He was kind enough to give me a free version of the app to review and being more than a little bit of a mathhammer nerd I was more than happy to oblige.  So, does this app deliver? Let's take a look.
First, off some of you might be wondering, what exactly does the term "Mathhammer" mean anyway? In the world of Warhammer 40k, the term mathhammer is used as a means of understanding how efficient a unit's weapons/attacks are at wounding or killing opposing units.  It's basically a breakdown of the "odds" of damage output on an average dice roll. 
Figuring out all the numbers on your own or within a spreadsheet can be cumbersome, to say the least. Especially if you're not exactly mathematically inclined (like me for example.)  That's where the MathHammer App comes in to do the heavy lifting for you. 
You can download the MathHammer App on the Google Play store and it will soon be available on the App Store for iPhone users.

Pros:

The MathHammer app has a lot of cool features.  The user interface is very user friendly and intuitive.  The app has variables for just about everything you can think of. Want to know how efficient a unit of 10 Intercessors is shooting at a squad of Plaguebearers? The app can figure in the invulnerable save, and Disgustingly Resilient rules to give you an average number of models killed.

One of my favorite features of the app is the ability to save "Profiles" for units so you can easily load them up. This is such an awesome feature and really saves a lot of time. You can set up profiles for your attacking units as well as enemy units as well. It even includes a field to input the unit's points to see the unit's efficiency vs that target!  The app also includes a handy FAQ which I advise anyone planning on using the app to read and look over.

Let's take a look at how efficient a Repulsor Executioner Laser Destroyer, buffed by the Forge Father, and a Lieutenant is at hurting an Imperial Knight with a 4++ Invulnerable save.

We've loaded up the Repulsor Executioner Laser Destroyer weapon here and factored in the BS of 2+ from the Forge Father, firing twice, re-rolling 1s to hit, and re-rolling 1s to wound. To make it even better, we've also included the exploding 6s stratagem available to Iron Hands.  All of these can be adjusted  in the Settings for the unit. We've also set up the Defender's profile as an Imperial Knight Crusader with the Rotate Ion Shield stratagem for a 4++ invulnerable.


As you can see the expected damage output to a knight with a 4++ using the Repulsor Laser Destroyer is around 9.5 wounds. Not too shabby.

And that in a nutshell is what MathHammer will be able to do for you. You know, that you can expect a fully buffed out Repulsor Executioner shooting twice to put around 9-10 damage onto an Imperial Knight with a 4++.

Cons:

Honestly, there aren't many. Presuming the built in math is correct (and I have no reason to believe it isn't), the app doesn't have a lot of drawbacks. There are some settings that need to be updated, such as the full re-roll for Chapter Master's and Guilliman which have been changed since the launch of the Space Marines codex. As of now, the app will allow you to re-roll hit rolls in the settings, but this is factoring in modifiers applied after re-rolls. As we know now, with the new Space Marines Rites of Battle for Chapter Masters, they ignore the requirement to apply the modifiers after the re-rolls. That being said, Mr. Noble has assured me he will be working to add this feature in the future.

Is it worth it:

The app is only $3.50 in the Google Play store, which isn't a bad price considering what the app can do for you. I for one, love mathhammering out units for efficiency so I find the price to be a great value. If Mathhammer isn't exactly your thing, then maybe you won't find it worth your money. I have used the app a lot since I have downloaded it and find it to be a great little tool and a good value for the money.

Episode 30
Hosts: Robert Chandler, Daniel Hesters, Red Powell

We are joined by The Worthiest Adversary, Red Powell, as we chat about the common pitfalls and mistakes players make in competitive 40k and how to avoid them.

Also we chat a bit about Iron Hands and the new Space Marines and how they will impact the meta as well as previewing upcoming events including our own Warzone: Come the Apocalypse GT.

Hosts: Robert Chandler, Daniel Hesters, Nick St Amour
Special Guest: Tony Pierce

In Episode 29 we bring on Tony Pierce, head TO of Carolina Crusade, to discuss his first major event, lessons learned and plans for the future. We also recap Nick's journey to number 2 at the Landmass RTT in Biloxi, MS

Link to the Forge World Imperial Fortress-
https://aminiatureodyssey.wordpress.com/2015/07/15/forge-world-imperial-fortress-walls-part-i/

You've been collecting Warhammer 40,000 miniatures for a bit now. You and your buddies have gotten some games in, or perhaps you play weekly or monthly at your local club or game shop with your army.  You see advertisements at your club and in your Facebook Groups for local tournaments but you're not sure what that means or even where to begin to learn about tournament play.  
If you're new to tournament competitive Warhammer 40k then this post is for you.  The goal of this article is to provide you with useful information to help you get started on this new journey of learning to play Warhammer 40k at a competitive level.
Getting Started
Assuming you have purchased a rulebook, an army codex and some miniatures to start your collection, this section will focus more on going to the next level in the game.  The rulebook is divided into several sections, but the sections most relevant to competitive 40k are the Core Rules and the sections on Matched Play and Advanced Rules.  The term "Matched Play" is used to refer to tournament level play, although the rules contained within them are not specific to tournaments only, the Matched Play rules are used by most Tournament Organizers around the globe as a basis for their events. 
All tournaments use Battle Forged armies.  The rules for creating a Battle Forged army can be found in the Advanced Rules section of the rulebook and contain information on how detachments are constructed and are critical to building an army list for tournament play.
Additionally, Games Workshop publishes updates to the game via the Warhammer Community website.  These updates, or FAQs, are published twice a year in the Spring and Fall and make changes or clarify questions regarding the core rules of the game. Additionally, they add rules specific for Matched Play and tournament play.  Also, when a new Army Codex is released, they will publish an FAQ for that army within a month.  All current FAQs can be found at the link below:
https://warhammer-community.com/faqs/
Finally, Games Workshop publishes an annual softback book called Chapter Approved which contains updated points changes to units and wargear for all armies while also including new missions and styles to try for Matched Play.  The point values contained in Chapter Approved supersede those contained in your Army Codex.
Occasionally, Games Workshop will produce new content such as Campaign books (like the Vigilus series) which contain new rules for Matched Play including new detachments, stratagems, and even new units and datasheets.
Tournament Formats

Ok, you've gotten your army together, you have the latest FAQs and you've created a battle forged army. Where do you go from here?  There are multiple tournament formats used throughout the world, but the links to the most popular are presented below:
Independent Tournament Circuit (ITC) - https://www.frontlinegaming.org/community/frontline-gamings-independent-tournament-circuit/
European Team Championship (ETC) - https://www.glasshammergaming.co.uk/latest-rulespack/


The ITC is the most popular format in North America and Canada and most events utilize the ITC Champions Mission packet for their events. 
The ETC is more popular in the UK and other parts of Europe and has it's own separate mission packet which generally features a mixture of Eternal War and Maelstrom missions.
Additionally there are a multitude of other tournament formats and missions used across the globe including the NOVA missions, Adepticon, Warzone: Atlanta, and Renegade Open mission formats.

Tools for Tournament Players
There are several useful tools available to you as a tournament player, some of which you might already be using in your casual games. 
BattleScribe - Available on Google Play and the Apple App Store.
This app is invaluable as a tool for list creation and building. It is free to download and the data files used to build armies and lists include points and options to change wargear as needed. It allows you to build lists in minutes rather than hours you might spend to build a list using pen and paper. It is a very popular app and chances are, you are already using it. 


Best Coast Pairings Players App (BCP Players) - Available on Google Play and the Apple App Store
https://www.bestcoastpairings.com Best Coast Pairings specializes in tournament management software. This tool allows Tournament Organizers to run events and automate pairings, submit lists and much more. The Players app is a fantastic resource for players as it allows you to view ITC events across the globe and look at winning army lists to get help and inspiration and to see what armies are performing well in the meta.  It comes with a subscription fee of $5 a month to view prior events and lists, but is the best $5 you will spend as a tournament player. Otherwise use of the app is totally free.  This is a must have app for anyone pursuing serious tournament competition!  Additionally, Best Coast Pairings lists local upcoming tournaments for those looking to find events close to their area.
Mathhammer - Fields of Blood - https://mathhammer.thefieldsofblood.com/
What is "mathhammer?"  Mathhammer gives you the statistical odds of how units in your army might perform in game based on statistical probability. Want to know just how many genestealers a 10 man unit of Tactical Marines can kill? Or how likely your 6 lascannons are to actually drop an Imperial Knight? This is mathhammer. The site factors in a multitude of options including modifiers, armor penetration, invulnerable saves, etc. It is an invaluable resource for players as it helps you understand how to prioritize your targets in the game with the units you have available. Obviously you cannot use this during a game, as it will take too long, but it helps in preparation and list design.
Online Resources and Media
There are a multitude of websites, blogs, podcasts and social media outlets that focus on competitive play. In fact, there are more now than ever before.  Below are some of the best in the business.
Social Media - Comp 40k - https://facebook.com/groups/Competitive40k Largest collection of competitive players online in the world
r/WarhammerCompetitive - Sub-reddit for competitive 40k advice and discussion

Websites- Frontline Gaming - Home of the ITC. Also features hundreds of review and tactics articles.
Glasshammer Gaming - Home of the ETC. Also features a pay program to help you improve your 40k experience. 
Nights at the Game Table - Features articles on tournament play and list design. Also features a pay program to get personalized coaching from former ITC Champion Nick Nanavati.

Video Channels- Frontline Gaming - Weekly video cast with updates on Competitive 40k
D6Evolution -  Features tactics videos with top players, Battle Reports and more
Tabletop Tactics - The best in the business when it comes to Battle Reports. Free videos on YouTube but the best content is behind a pay wall of $4 a month. Well worth the investment.
Vanguard Tactics - YouTube channel focused on competitive 40k battle reports
CanHammer - YouTube channel of the Canadian ETC team focusing on competitive 40k battle reports and tactics videos
Glasshammer Gaming - YouTube channel of the UK ETC team focusing on competitive 40k battle reports and tactics
Almost Pro Gaming -  YouTube channel devoted to weekly tournament and meta analysis. Want to see what lists are winning events? Almost Pro Gaming covers this very well
Hellstorm Wargaming - YouTube channel focused on competitive 40k battle reports



Podcasts-
There are number of Podcasts out there that focus on competitive 40k (including our own monthly show). All of these can be found on Google Play or iTunes.  Some of the best include:
Best in Faction Facing the Grey Tide Fog of War Flying Monkeys Life After the Cover Save TFG Radio Signals from the Frontline Veteran Gamer Reenlisted Wide World of Wargaming CanHammer Dangli Boyz Chapter Tactics Come the Apocalypse The Best General The Battlehosts MOB Rules Forge the Narrative
Get out There
The best way to get into competitive tournament Warhammer 40k is to just get out there and jump in. Find local events close to you and find out the requirements. Do they require a fully painted army? What is the point level? What missions etc. Put a list together and get out there and play. The competitive community in Warhammer 40k is one of the best in gaming. Most players are happy to help a new player learn the missions and format. It might sound daunting to get into at first, but it is well worth investing into if you are fan of this hobby.