Medicinal Carrots

Some initial thoughts while skimming through the points: - Seems like a nail in the coffin for VanVets now that we know they cost more than Assault Marines. 5 more points per model on foot, and 3 more in the air. - Servitors at 55 points for a couple ablative wounds and a couple of heavy weapons? Not bad, but I'm not sure how much play they'll get since they can only be slapped onto Tacticals or run by themselves with a Techy - Assault Centurions only being priced for min or max squads is particularly awkward, since you'd really want them in a transport, and the most efficient transport options are for 4 or 5 models. Meaning you either waste points or waste space - Command Squads at 165? For 5 models? With limited options? No, just no. - At least they made the ablative wounds of the additional 5 Devastators cheaper, but comparing the cost to the Tacticals, I don't think 10 man Dev squads are going to be running around - Infiltrators and Incursors are cheaper than Intercessors? Seems like a no brainer to slot some in - Hunter at 100 points has some potential - Ballistus and the old dreads look like they may be worthwhile at those points. Not sure about the Brutalis and Redemptor at the higher costs - Land Raiders are a big chunk of points, so probably a 1 of unit if taken. Repulsors being cheaper might make them a viable transport for heavy infantry that don't want to charge. Hell, the Stormraven seems a viable alternative too - Jump Librarian being the same as foot Librarian is interesting - Outriders are a significant points bump over regular bikes - Sniper Scouts are definitely going to see some play at that cost to pick off the ubiquitous characters - Stalker is 40 points more than a Hunter? Noooope - Tacticals look good. Being stuck at 10 man sucks, but at least they won't break the points bank - A 10 man Terminator block is going to be a pretty chunky points investment - Thunderfire Cannons look like they're at a point cost where they'd be worth taking for some harrassment - Special characters mostly look like they're a small bump in cost over the base leaders, so I expect to see some of the better ones played

Unit's Toughness Characteristic (aka mixed toughness) is interesting with Ogryn Bodyguards. Having one makes the whole unit effectively T6

5+ to crit hit with sustained hits 1 is equivalent to a 3+ to hit on average. Someone snuck some green marines into those Dakkajets

A bit of a repost and update/expansion from my post in the preview thread on Dark Pacts: For anyone with a 6+ Ld, without a reroll, you'll average ~ .56 wounds per activation. With an icon or other reroll (e.g. Abaddon), it's ~ .15 per activation. Without a reroll, that's 1 wound suffered every 1.8 activations. One dead marine every 3.6 activations. One dead terminator every 5.4 activations With a reroll, it's 1 wound every 6.48 activations. One dead marine every 12.96 activations. And One dead terminator every 19.44 activations For 7+ LD, without a reroll, ~.83 wounds per activation, or ~ .35 with a reroll. Without a reroll, 1 wound/dead cultist every 1.2 activations, or every 2.88 activations with a reroll If you're pacting for sustained hits and hitting on 3s, let's compare Undivided to Nurgle/Slaneesh: Undivided's rerolling 1s will average you about a 97% hit rate (every 36 shots you make, you will average 35 hits) Crit hits on 5+ will average you a 100% hit rate (36 shots will average you 36 hits) If you are going for lethal hits and hitting on 3s, which one's best is going to depend on what you wound on. Not going into the full numbers, but if you'd normally wound on 2+ or 3+, undivided is better. If you'd normally wound on 4+, 5+, or 6+ (i.e. the targets you might want to use lethal hits against), then Khorne/Tzeentch are better Undivided is good if you might be pacting for sustained hits or lethal hits on alternate activations, if the unit is fairly balanced shooting and melee, or if you need it for a specific character, strat, or enhancement. Otherwise, the math says get off the fence and pick a god.

D'oh! I completely missed that part making the whole question moot.

Plague Marines in a CSM detachment do get Heretic Astartes. They don't get Dark Pacts, though after a cursory search through the core rules, I don't think it's clear how an attached leader with Dark Pacts would work. I would think that attaching a Dark Pacts leader would still let it be used for the attached unit, and apply to the whole unit since it's a unit wide ability and leaders would be much worse in general if their abilities that didn't specify working while attached shut off, but it's gonna need an FAQ.

I doubt the power weapon having fewer attacks is a mistake, as chainswords seem to have incorporated their +1A they had already.

You can use a Gladius and not miss out on any units or unit rules. You swap out the detachment rules, strats, and enhancements. But you can still use all of the same units and the Kill Teams faction rule. You're Space Marines Plus

Friggin' warp storms

Indeed. Space Wolves are still Space Marines Plus, they're just not Space Marines Plus+ like some of the other divergent chapters.

Yep, and in a Gladius, they can take up to 6 of each as long as they forgo multimeltas on 3 of them

Gladius does seem to be the better detachment for Wolves. You lose out on some flavor, but you're still at least as good as Codex marines and potentially better that way.

In a Gladius they can. The restrictions are only for their unique detachment. In a Gladius, they are identical to codex marines plus they have additional options. They cannot be worse than codex marines, only equivalent or better.

They can still take a Gladius, so baseline they cannot be worse than codex marines.

Multiple small units/minimum size units. Two 3 man units have the advantage of flexibility over one 6 man unit. You can split them up to go two different places (e.g. send 3 to claim an open objective and leave the other 3 in range to shoot and be an obstacle, or spread out more to block more area). You also can shoot with one squad, then shoot with the other, potentially choosing a new target. This can be useful to reduce the chance to overkill without having to guess before shooting whether or not to split fire, and can potentially let you dodge or bait out defensive strats. It also increases the chance your opponent overkills and wastes attacks. Downsides are worse leader efficiency (not an issue for Inceptors), and worse strategem efficiency. Aggressors I think can go either way, but I'm leaning towards larger squads. You can slap a gravis captain and or apothecary on them, and more models mean more impactful buffs from them. And since Aggressors are a unit you want to both shoot and fight with, there are more strategem options available, which also benefit larger squads. On the flip side, if you aren't planning to attach a character and plan to use your CP elsewhere, small squads could be better.