Editing Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Death Korps of Krieg(8E) (section)

===Elites===
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*'''Death Korps Command Squad:''' No heavy flamer, medi-pack, or heavy weapons teams in this command squad, but what you do get is the ability to use the Regimental Standard. It only affects Cavalry and Infantry, but grants an additional attack on top of the Ld bonus, making your troops more effective in close combat. They are very useful for providing that easy Ld buff, and I would recommend running them as bodyguards/buffs for your HQs.
**These guys are surprisingly underwhelming compared to Combat Engineers, since you pay the same cost per model and don't get a 4+ save or acid gas bombs; furthermore, they obey the same 2 special weapons per unit limit as the Engineers.  Even if you do spam them, you're not going to achieve anything you couldn't achieve only better with Combat Engineer spam; they're too slow to keep up with Death Riders, they can't be Medics.... really, <s>there's just about never a good reason to field these guys over Combat Engineers.</s> There is only ONE reason to take this squad. The regimental standard. 
**I feel that comparing this unit to Engineers is somewhat of a misnomer; this unit is not a combat unit, it is a support unit. Comparing these guys to engineers is a little unfair; they are not designed to kill things, their job should not be charging up the field to kill things. It should be staying in the back or moving up with your infantry providing them with some light special weapon support and a buff from the regimental banner. Stack beautifully with a priest.
*'''Death Korps Combat Engineer Squad:''' Shotgun infantry with decent armour. Overall not super inspiring until you see their shotguns have Carcass Shot, which wounds anything (except Vehicles) on a 2+. Carnifex? 2+ Wound. Ogryns? 2+ Wound. You lose the model if you roll a 1 on the hit roll. BUT buff them with a nearby <s>Guilliman (gross, or don't and have some class. You are a Guard player after all, not a WAAC Tau reject left over from 7th)</s> Yarrik and say hello to rerolls of 1 to hit. Carcass Shot vs GEQs, MEQs and TEQs is basically a Plasma Gun with AP 0.
**You can use the Grenadiers stratagem to toss up to 10 acid grenades at once.  
**These guys are ''incredible'' - they cost a point ''less'' than Grenadiers for what amounts to the same model with the addition of an acid gas grenade (actually are the same price now that hotshot lasguns are free), although they are Elites and hence cannot get Objective Secured.  You can keep their shotguns, which, unlike hot-shot lasguns, are worth spending a point on, or swap out for special weapons to demonstrate superiority over Grenadiers - 2 plasma gunners, a boltgun on the sergeant, and a heavy flamer team will get you the same output as a Grenadier squad with the same loadout, except your guys also have acid gas grenades and cost ''less''.  The plasma gunners can carry meltaguns instead, of course, and either way can be stuffed in a Valkyrie and dropped in sets of 3 squads directly into your enemy's lap.
**A bit of MathHammer shows the following averages: 864pts of Combat Engineers will put out 216 shots, hitting on 3s and wounding GEQs, MEQs and TEQs on 2+ with a 5+/3+/2+ save respectively and 2 wounds, killing 640pts/160 models of GEQs, 1040pts/80 models of MEQs and 960pts/20 models of TEQs; while losing 288pts/36 Engineers in return. Thus, ignoring other factors the kills to deaths ratio will always be in your favour by a factor of 585:1300, 360:1300 or 390:1300 respectively and Carcass Shot is most productive when used on MEQs.
*'''Death Korps Death Rider Command Squad:''' A must-have for any list focusing on Death Riders. Taking this squad along allows them and up to 5 other Death Rider units to deploy via outflanking at the end of any movement phase. Use in combination with the Death Rider officer, above, and a few squads of Death Riders, below, to outflank an entire detachment! Aside from this they're the same as an understrength Death Rider Squad, as they lost the ability to take a Standard.
**As of the current FAQ, you may only bring one Command Squad or a Rider Command Squad per Death Korps officer, but any type of officer will do.
*'''Death Korps Quartermaster Cadre:''' This is where the Command Squad's Medi-pack went. One creepy guy and up to 4 servitors wielding scalpels that wound non-vehicles on a 2+ and get buffed to WS/BS 4+ and Ld 9 as long as they stay close to him. They also grant nearby Infantry and Cavalry the ability to ignore an unsaved wound on a 6+, making it mutually beneficial for them to stay close to a big squad of infantry. This is a fantastic unit buffer, a bubble of up to 21" x 12" (if you position the unit in a line with 2" between each member) of 6+ FnP for 50-60pts is a really good deal.
*'''Master of Ordnance:''' Gone is the hilariously inaccurate mini-basilisk of 7th edition; the MoO is now a fire support coordinator, which is arguably closer to the fluff. The fluff changed him very slightly; instead of buffing specific named units, he's now entirely keyword based - nearby {{W40Kkeyword|<regiment>}} {{W40Kkeyword|Basilisks}}, {{W40Kkeyword|Deathstrikes}}, {{W40Kkeyword|Manticores}}, and {{W40Kkeyword|Wyverns}} can reroll 1s on the hit roll if this guy is about and the target is more than 36" away (because he can't really help if the gun is direct firing, apparently). If that isn't enough to justify his cost, he can call in a favor from a nearby battery once per game, dropping a basilisk shell anywhere on the map - though if he can't see the target, it hits on 4s. Unfortunately, thanks to his one-shot syndrome that one shell is going to do almost nothing (at least it won't kill your dudes now). Take this guy for his re-roll ability; that way, you're pleasantly surprised if the artillery strike does something instead of basing your strategy around such an unreliable, one-use attack.
**As of the change he can now support an Armageddon Pattern Basilisk, but he still inexplicably cannot support the other Forge World variants, like Medusae (vehicle or either Battery), or the Battery variants for Basilisks, or Wyverns (that last meaning Heavy Quad Launcher Batteries).
*'''Atlas Recovery Tank:''' Believe it or not, this thing is almost useful now. It's a standard "battle Chimera" tank (T7 W11 and a hull heavy bolter) with S7, but rather than a battle gun, it has an enginseer's ability to heal a vehicle (but not itself). Compared to the enginseer, it's more expensive (both in points and money), but more mobile and less vulnerable to sniper fire. Unfortunately, while being a tank means it can't be picked off by snipers, it's not a character, so it ''can'' be targeted by anything else. Still probably too expensive for what it does, but a lot better than what it used to be.
**''Important note:'' Unlike the Enginseer's Master of Machines rule, the Recovery Vehicle rule doesn't stipulate that a given vehicle may only benefit from it once. If you have a Lord of War on the field and want it to stay alive, an Enginseer and a few Atlases can give it a serious survivability boost. Highly situational, but potentially useful.
*'''Hades Breaching Drill Squad:''' A Vehicle with a squad of "Veterans" (who all have Sergeant grade LD, but none of whom have Veteran grade BS, all with shotguns, AKA crazy... or very unlucky) that emerges anywhere more than 9" away from enemies. Once it shows up, the Drill and Veteran Squad become separate units entirely. The Hades Drill itself is a big 'fuck you' machine, with 1d6 WS3+ S10 AP-4 D1d3 melee attacks (D1d6 against Vehicles), and it has a 4++ invul in the fight phase thanks to its whirling blades. With T7, W7, and Sv3+, it's pretty durable, too.  The Veterans are significantly worse than normal Veterans at shooting, with limited special weapons access on top of their nerfed BS, in that they can only take 2 special weapons in the squad, with no heavy flamer or heavy weapons team; the squad amounts to a tax on the drill, because it is so much worse than your other options, but it can still do ok with a pair of flamers. Makes for a delightful Distraction Carnifex; cackle with glee as your opponent shits himself trying to kill this thing before it crawls up his Gargant's ass and cores it like an apple! There is apparently an email from Forge World that confirms that with the Death Korps, the Hades is supposed to have the Combat Engineers instead of the crappy vets, and to simply use the point costs for them provided in the Imperial Armor book. Many people play it this way, however, according to the rules thus far this is not legal, which is a shame. If you plan to do this, it shouldn't be much of a problem, just make sure it is okay with your opponent. Hopefully there will be an FAQ that will fix up this likely error. Engineers with a Hades is such a ubiquitous unit for the Death Korps, they are even sold together as a set on Forge World, and it would be a terrible and rather aggravating mistake if they decided not to allow Death Korps Hades to take Combat Engineers.  
====No Regiment====
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=====Adeptus Mechanicus=====
*'''Tech-Priest Enginseer:''' Found in the AdMech list as well as the new Guard codex alongside Servitors. Repairs D3 lost wounds on a single Astra Militarum vehicle or AdMech vehicle with the same Forge World keyword as himself within 3" of him. This opens up some interesting listbuilding ideas, such as combining mechguard troops with Skitarii snipers or Cult Mech deathrobots, as the Enginseer can repair whatever he pleases from either list as long as they share the same Forge World. An auto-include if you brought a Baneblade. He can also repair Questor Mechanicus Knights, albeit only for a single wound per turn. 
**Imperial Guard codex kept Tech-Priest as an Elite choice, and allows him to bring in his Servitors with him as another Elite choice.
*'''Servitors:''' 4 Guardsman bodies which are slower, have poor BS of 5+, and have a 4+ save. Two of them can take a Heavy Bolter, Plasma Cannon, or Multi-Melta. If Tech-Priest is babysitting them, they increase their BS to 4+ and Leadership to 9. A poor choice all around, even with two Plasma Cannons.
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=====Adeptus Ministorum=====
*'''Ministorum Priest:''' Streamlined from 7th Edition, his War Hymns are now a +1 attack for every Astra Militarum infantry ''unit'' within 6". He also still has Zealot, though since it's not an AoE buff and only offers the first turn re-roll, he no longer assists with morale. Not a bad idea if there's a likelihood that your boys will charge or be charged. He synergizes well with {{W40Kkeyword|Krieg}}, especially when taken with the regimental standard for A3 on your basic infantry during the fight phase. He's also great for any infantry units you plan on getting in close combat. He also buffs nearby {{W40Kkeyword|Adeptus Ministorum}} infantry, too, so there's obvious synergy with their dedicated close-combat units as well.
*'''[[Crusaders]]:''' A dedicated close-combat unit that, while not as tough or strong as Bullgryns, pack a 3+ invulnerable save (and that's before Psychic powers or stratagems) and Power Swords. They're identical to their entry in Index: Imperium 1 with the exception of the added {{W40Kkeyword|Adeptus Ministorum}} keyword, including the otherwise Sisters-exclusive rule '''Act of Faith'''. At the start of your turn, roll a D6, and on a 2+, you can immediately move as if it were the movement phase, shoot as if it were the Shooting phase (which is hilarious because these guys don't have any shooting weapons, but the rule was lifted from the Sisters), fight as if it were the Fight phase, or heal a wound/bring back a dead model as if it were the Healing phase. You only get one Act of Faith per turn, no matter how many units of these guys you have, and you can't give them more using Celestine or an Imagifier since they aren't {{W40Kkeyword|Adepta Sororitas}} and don't have an {{W40Kkeyword|<ORDER>}}. Still, with base 2A and Zealot, these guys can easily overwhelm their points in MEQs on the charge, and they love taking Priests with them. They can be made even tankier by using Psychic Barrier, as unfluffy as it may be to have them tolerate the presence of Psykers. They're one wound wonders, but you can bring one back each turn on a 2+ so long as the unit hasn't been destroyed. They're not quite as points efficient as Bullgryns, but they can come back from the dead, andthey have an easier time fitting into your list, as they can be taken in groups of 2-10 and are cheaper per model.
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=====Astra Telepathica=====
*'''Wyrdvane Psykers:''' Very mediocre. If you have 6 you get to add 2 to psychic tests (getting them all the way up to succeeding ''two thirds'' the time for Smite, and ''one half to one third'' for the Psykana powers, ugh), but you only roll 1d6 for both Psychic and Deny tests (the bonus for having members only applies to Psychic tests, though). And without having the character keyword, expect them to die quickly. It is, however, impossible for you to peril.
**'''Alternate take:''' If the Guard teaches us anything, it’s that cheapness and numbers have a quality all their own. Switching over to Power Levels for a moment, for simplicity, you can make a Vanguard Detachment consisting of one Primaris Psyker and three (3-model) Wyrdvane Psyker squads for 5 Power Level. In a typical 80 Power Level game, that means that you can take 16 of those detachments. Hitting on a 4+, your 48 Wyrdvane squads alone could potentially drop an average of 24 Smites (and roughly 36 mortal wounds) a round, with no Perils. Oh, and you’ll also have 16 extra command points to re-roll Perils on your Primaris. This is, of course, a terrible idea, but just imagine the look on your opponent’s face when you lay out 160 Psyker models and begin the longest Psychic Phase outside of the Thousand Sons.
*'''Astropath:''' Only 1d6 for Smite (but you should be casting Psychic Maelstrom or Gaze of the Emperor for damage anyway), but ''astoundingly'' cheap at only 30 pts per model. Camp a few of these guys behind your gunline and deny powers. The only reason not to bring these guys would be if you ran out of Elites slots, because Primaris Psykers are HQs.
** Unlike Primaris Psykers Astropaths lack the '''It's For Your Own Good''' rule, so Commissars are unable to stop them from blowing up in case they die from Perils of the Warp. However, it's also impossible for Astropaths to Perils while casting Smite (as they're limited to only rolling 1D6). 
** Players often forget about the Astropath's ''other'' special rule (note this is not a psychic power) - '''Astral Divination'''. Pick an enemy unit within 18" of an Astropath, and for the rest of the shooting phase that unit loses its cover save against IG models within 6" of your Psyker. A great way to fuck with Eldar Rangers, Space Marine Scouts, or anything that relies on cover saves.


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=====Officio Prefectus=====
*'''[[Commissar]]:''' His ''Summary Execution'' rule means that all Astra Militarum squads within 6" of him ''may'' re-roll (as of the latest FAQ, which also dropped their points cost considerably) their first failed Morale test in any given phase at the expense of a single model dying (the newly dead unit doesn't count for the re-roll), which means you should be picky about when you use the Summary Execution ability. Thanks to the Aura of Discipline ability, those same Guard squads will be given Ld8. Compared to his senior ranking Lord counterpart, he has one less wound, a 5+ save, WS and BS 3 instead of 2, and no Invulnerable save of any kind. However, he's ''much'' cheaper.
**His ranged weapon should ''always'' be a bolter; you shouldn't buy him a melee weapon, as he should be staying out of melee and providing buffs instead.
**The cheapest Commissar you can take is 15 points (16 with a Bolter), while Lord Commissars have to take a Power Weapon as well, raising them up to 34 (35 with a Bolter). They're Characters, so what you primarily need them to live through are sniper rifle shots; their points divided by how many ratling sniper rifle shots it takes to kill them are 76 and 165, respectively (using the versions that took a Bolter).  The Lord Commissar fills up an HQ slot, which is better, and if you ''do'' take one, higher Leadership is better, to try and minimize losing models to Summary Execution.
**Now that you don't have to use his ability, he's gone from being a hindrance to a situational buff.
** Consider using the Officio Prefectus Command Tank stratagem instead of taking a Commissar. For just 2CP you get a 6" LD'''9''' buff with a much better version of Summary Execution... in addition to being a goddamn tank.
***Other Stratagem options include paying 1 CP to take a test on 1d3 or 2 CP to auto-pass; if you're low on CPs, you're playing Guard wrong, especially now that a Brigade nets you 12 goddamn CP.
** Other superior choices, provided you can get them in, include an Inquisitor or Guilliman (who will both need their own detachment to avoid breaking Doctrine, which isn't hard for Guilliman since he's a Lord of War choice), or an Astropath or Primaris Psyker using the Fearless power (which the Inquisitor also has). 
** 4/16/2018 FAQ notice: In case you have missed it, '''Summary Execution''' is an optional re-roll now. Commissars also faced a steep price decrease, now being 16 points instead of 31 at base.
*'''Death Korps Commissar:''' A basic Commissar. Given all the buffs to Ld you can get with the Death Korps along with their Cult of Sacrifice rule, you can skip him. The models are pretty nice though.
** As of April 2018, the cost of a Death Korps Commissar has gone down to 15 points, from 30. They’ve become a pretty handy Ld buffer for melee.
*'''Death Korps Death Rider Commissar:''' See above, but with a horse. Forge World doesn't seem to make these models anymore so you'll have to kitbash them.
**While the Death Korps Commissar and the other Forge World Commissars were FAQed to have the new Summary Execution Rule, the Death Rider Commissar was overlooked. While this is an obvious RAW interpretation, [[That_guy|the Death Rider Commissar therefore still only allows a maximum of 1 model to be lost to morale.]]
** Same as the foot-slogging Death Korps Commissar, this Commissar got a point reduction to 35 points. They’ve become useful, if not viable, as your Death Riders will be getting stuck into melee.
**Remember that while your army is immune to casualties caused by shooting it can still be battleshocked by losses incurred in melee - which is exactly where you want your LD6 Deathriders (even MSU squads aren't invulnerable). Deathrider Commissars are ''essential'' for keeping your horses on the table. 
*'''[[Severina Raine|Commissar Severina Raine]]''': The main character in the up coming book "Honour Bound" and a bit of a mixed bag in terms of stats. She has the standard Commissar stat line and Comes with "Summary execution" and "Aura of discipline". She is also 16 points more than a Commissar with a powersword and doesn't have much to show for it. The biggest disappointment is her Sword, "Evanfall" which is AP-1 with no buffs to strength or extra attacks meaning she is even less useful in a fight than a regular commissar. Though with her special ability, you actually don't want her to kill what she charges. Her 4+ armor save is nice and her Bolt pistol "Penance" is Ap-1 which means she is slightly more effective in close range firefights than charging in close. Her special rule, "Leading from the front"  allows all friendly guard forces within 6" auto pass morale checks is she is 1" from an enemy unit. This means she lends herself to being run along side a squad of Grenadiers or Engineers, to aid them in the close range shooting with her Bolt pistol and to keep them Immune to morale if they are charged, but she won't able to carry the squad in melee so next turn have her and the squad fall back and shell the squad that charged with artillery (or use '''Get back in the fight!''' to shoot the unit you coward). Overall, interesting but quite overcosted.
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