I thought I would jump in and jot down my initial thoughts before Spicerack really tears the new dex to shreds. He and I sat down for about 15-20 minutes this morning, going over what had changed, and what was made worse or better. Here is what we came up in summary.
The new orders are way better. Especially being able to give units the Ignores Cover Special rule. Creed is the ultimate badass here, being able to smash three of them out per turn, forcing re-rolls if they fail. He will definitely be making a come back.Figuring out how to protect him long term will be the new challenge, as the CCS is still pretty weak in their defence. We initially figured that you could give Ignore cover to Medusa batteries (from IA:1), but without an FAQ the "units from Codex: Astra Militarum" pretty much stops this....for now. Otherwise it is going to be a field day for IA allowed events.
Primaris Psykers are going to be in EVERY guard list. ML2, Divination and the option to come as 0-3 (WITHOUT taking up a HQ slot) is ridiculously good. Prescience will be being thrown around everywhere, and once the 4+ invul powers start to be rolled up, the real hilarity begins. Conscripts and Psykers will be best friends. 50 conscripts with the possibility of Prescience, 4+ invul and a priest is just plain crazy, and cheap too. Sure your lasguns aren't killing all that much, but they will just form a huge unmoveable blob smack bang in the middle of the table. You could ally in tiggy for that extra assurance for the invul power.
I am hugely impressed by the points drop on the Leman Russ eradicator. It's seriously worth considering now, especially with Tau and Eldar spamming the field. I haven't made my mind up about Tank commanders yet, so I will leave that to Spicerack to dissect. The same with the Deathstrike. Sure it is hugely hilarious, but it can still be shot to death in the first turn. If these guys appear, they will be hunkered down on a skyshield with camo netting for 2+ cover and 4+ invul. Or hidden behind a wall of AV14.
Those are my first thoughts for now. As I said, I'll leave it up to Spicerack to really dissect it as Guard are his little baby.
- Out.