Today the Valhallans are up for a Codex Preview. Back when I first joined the game, these were the guardsmen I wanted in their trenchcoats on icy planets. I never did get them, perhaps something cool is coming that will allow us to jump in without going all metal.
via Warhammer Community
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/09/28/regiment-focus-valhallans-sep28gw-homepage-post-2/
The Valhallan Ice Warriors are ruthless, even by the standards of the Astra Militarum, and are renowned for their willingness to expend the lives of their troops to secure victory for the Emperor. On the tabletop, Valhallan armies can keep fighting regardless of horrific casualties, fire directly into units engaged in close combat and even return destroyed units to the field. Not bad!
The Regimental Doctrine
Grim Demeanour helps make up for the generally poor morale possessed by Astra Militarum units – after all, the last thing you need on the battlefield is for a few casualties on a unit of Veterans to cause your key special weapons to flee. Similarly, vehicles in the Valhallan army have a much longer effective life span than others, meaning your opponent will be forced to fully destroy them rather than just relying on crippling you.
Best Units
Conscripts have seen some changes in the new Astra Militarum codex, designed to make them fit their background more appropriately. If you’ve got loads of these guys on hand, don’t worry! They’re still a very handy unit (particularly in the Valhallan army). Firstly, Conscripts can only be taken in units of 20-30, reducing the effectiveness of stacking orders on a block of 50. Secondly, orders only work on Conscripts on a 4+, and, should they fail, no more orders will work on the unit for the rest of the turn.
Conscripts are still very useful, and in a Valhallan army, we’d recommend using yours to hold enemy units in place before using Fire On My Command, the new Valhallan Order, to shoot into the combat. In this way, you can neutralise an enemy unit’s shooting without any loss of effectiveness for your own!
Should all your conscripts die, you can always Send in the Next Wave! – this stratagem is also a great way to recoup the loss of an expensive unit of Veterans, or a Command Squad.
What better way to transport your infantry to the front than with the Stormlord? With more than enough room for almost an entire platoon of Guardsmen, this tank suits the close-assault tactics of the Valhallans to a T, while Grim Demeanour ensures that even devastating damage won’t stop you from making the most of the Vulcan mega-bolter. What’s more, the Steel Behemoth rule has been updated so that Baneblades of all types don’t suffer penalties for shooting Heavy weapons after moving.
One very scary combo with the Stormlord involves a deadly new vehicle stratagem, Crush Them! All Baneblade variants are equipped with adamantium tracks and have 9 Attacks, but only have a Weapon Skill of 5+. With Crush Them!, all your attacks will be hitting on a 2+, and you’ll be able to advance and charge. Use this to get your Stormlord across the table quickly, destroy a key enemy unit and then disembark your infantry next turn before falling back and firing on the enemy.
Valhallan armies are perfect for you if you want a truly relentless regiment. Tomorrow, in the last of our previews of the codex, we’ll be checking out the armies of Armageddon, and looking at how the warping of Armageddon has changed how this regiment fights.
