MASTERCLASS - 5 Tips and Tricks for melee combat in 10th edition 40k 

After graduating from BGU (Blood God University) and received my MA in WH40KChaosTactics, I received a job in the Eye of Terror. All thanks to Professor Blog. *holds up flesh diploma with the seal of Chaos.*

As a Blood Angel player, I can’t condone your fanaticism with the ruinous powers… BUT as a fellow melee enthusiast, your tips and tricks for charging + piling in are INVALUABLE. Honestly, some of these tricks can feel “scummy”, specifically against newer players, but melee needs all the help it can get to be able to make a difference in this shooting/tank meta. Maybe the upcoming Pariah Nexus mission expansion will give us new strategies or incentives to get into melee easier

Used to use the Heroic Ingress trick myself all the time as a Custodes player. Dropping 6 Allarus Custodes was my favourite thing in the world, did not meet a single opponent who did not give me a " Are you serious? " look afterwards. Favourite instance was versus my best friend, his full squad of eight bound where ready to go slaughter my Witchseekers holding a No-mans objective, in comes the Allarus, and suddenly, he has no more Eightbound, still gives me shit for it to this day.

One other option with the 'Puncture Wound' is to charge the screening unit with Angron, but use fly to move over them and base them from behind. This can then put you close enough to the second unit to Pile In when the first unit is destroyed.

On the first tip, you can fight in two ranks as per the core rules so the bezerkers just need to base with their own unit to fight as well!? As per page 33 of the core rules "a model can fight if it is base to base contact with another model from its own unit that itself is in base to base contact with an enemy" therefore that isn't going to reduce the attacks or only by 1 berserker?

The second one blew my mind, great work!

I got totally screwed at my last event because of fighrs first, thanks for the tip! Now I have plans

This is really good. Way better content than what I was getting in the Vanguard Tactics /Art of War 40k paywall content. Subscribed!

Amazing video man ; many thanks for those tricky moves that can really help a melee list ! 👌

This is pure gold - thanks for sharing these... Melee in 10th hits like a wet noodle (unless you're playing WE/Chaos) so any strategic insights into getting more out of the charge/fight phase in this edition is really appreciated.

This was brilliant! Some nice tricks, and the splitscreen worked really well 👍

Perfect Tipps for my Next Event! Keep up the good work! Would love to see some World Eaters Battlereports

Great video around how to counter the Fight first and Interrupt stratagem.

Fantastic work my dude!

As a new player who joined on the tail end of 9th, this video is stellar. The first tip alone is super valuable. Thank you! Subbed!!

Thanks mate. Exactly the kind of video i need.

I learned a lot, very clear and informative video, thank you, mister Blood God.

The first one has confused me wouldn’t another 3 world eaters be able to attack via being in contact with a base that’s in engagement range? ‘A model can fight if it is in base-to-base contact with another model from its own unit that is itself in base-to-base contact with an enemy unit.’ Also wouldn’t the other models have to move closer to not break unit Cohesion?

Great stuff as usual mate. Cheers!

Awesome stuff Dean!

Excellent content! Good job!

These are excellent tips and tricks! Thank you!!

New sub here, awesome work and content man! Keep working on these masterclass content please!

Cheers Dean, saved that one straight to the Favourites!!

Well this video was incredible, got me excited to use some tricks next game.

This is a really interesting insight into the nuances of the Fight Phase! Really well done, mate! Greetings from a Pommie C**t!!

Excellent video!

The rapid ingress one is a good idea, but those aggressors would just shoot the hounds

1st tactic: similar to “crossing the T” in military lingo. Great stuff

Great video! One possible correction though - you mentioned Angron can't charge over the intercessors? He can, he just cant land on them.

Such a good video!

Thanks bro. Some great tricks here. On my way to a massive apocalypse day and hope i can use these tricks with my world eaters. ( I get to use my whole collection) I'll let you know how many skulls I'll grab for the skull throne.

Excellent video 👍

Some of the wording used in the piledriver example is confusing. The Objective Custodes squad IS eligible to fight, but only after you pile into it and make your attacks. The effect is to prevent them fighting first, not to prevent them fighting at all.

In the second lesson (I think) about the the Berserkers into the 2 Guard unit (1 with FF): I thought you could only end in combat range on a pile in on the charged unit. I can understand piling in onto the other unit of Custodes (w/ FF) that were not a target of the charge but it sounds like an interpretation of the WAR over WAI to pile in into the non-charged unit. I can understand consolidating into combat range with the non-charged target after fighting. Then again my interpretation could be wrong. I only have a few games under my belt, so I have my grain of salt and my eat ready to be eaten. Also another reason/excuse is I may have had that taught to me (or just agreed on locally [they have small BCP tournaments too]). Which ever, I will except correction or guidance.

Referring to the strategy you used with Antron, where specifically does it say that a unit can still make a pile in and attack when it’s charge target is no longer there? I didn’t think this was possible.

The Arena Innovations mats look nice. Do they have any with deployment zones printed on them? Having trouble finding them in Aus.

Great vid! In the pile driver, would the custodes player be able to still fight in the "remaining combatants" (non-fights first) step, since they are now within engagement range, provided there are any left?

amazing thanks

For the piledriver move fly units can still charge over units

That second one is pretty cool, but i think a bit to gotya for my tastes

That was super helpfull

Make sure neither of those Custodes units have a shield captain or blade champion. They will heroic and or interrupt for free

magnificent!

Can I make a pile in move to an enemy unit If i didn't charge that unit? Example, my trygon is set up 3" away from an enemy unit. He cannot charge after doing so. A pile in move would bring him within 1" and thus into engagement range of that enemy unit. So now he would be able to attack. Am I correct?

That second one, that guy who’s chilling in the middle to keep coherency, doesn’t he need to move towards the closest enemy, attempting to get into engagement??

Question about the Heroic Ingress one. Unless im missing something, couldn’t the enemy choose not to charge after seeing that you Rapid Ingressed a unit in? Or better yet try to shoot them to death before they charge? Theyd be wasting a turn by not charging i know, but I feel like just charging them in knowing they’ll probably die is worse

So did it change this edition so you can pile in and fight a unit you didn’t declare a charge against?

I miss the good old days of initiative values. Nice and simples.

@10:30 in case you dont kill the top squad of custodes after making your attacks, would the custodes be eligible to fight back since they are now in engagement range? Also if the top squad would heroicaly intervene, they would be in engagement range at the start of the fight phase and could use their fight first and kill your berserker or am i wrong?

A question about the Berserkers at 5:34 , after they pile in, would the half of the unit that wasnt able to get into base contact die due to unit coherency?

Working on my W.E right now hope i can finish them before they get nerded to bad

But, the fight first for Custodes gets activated at the start of the fight phase. So you can still use it. So the CSM Player has the choice to still pile into them (on the marker) or just ignore em. Wich will result in a asswhooping in the next turn. Do i get anythin wrong? My thoughts should be right with rules as writen. Start of fight phase is before pile in and Strat of Custodes does not state that they need to be in contact with another unit. Worth the use of 2CP in my point of view. But your advice is gold for many many other scenarios. Thx!

Question about the Piledriver portion of the video. I thought you could only fight targets that were declared targets of the charge, so you could NOT fight targets you piled into unless you declared them? Or is that a 9th edition thing that I never swapped out in my brain?

Just curious about the Custodes point. FF happens at the start of the fight phase. So in this situation before your unit activates you would have already known if the unit outside of engagement was given FF. if you pile in there to them then you have started your activation but moved into a unit that already has fights first. So wouldnt the unit on Objective just fight first in that case? Thanks in advance for help.

so let me get this straight, is it because Charging gives you Fights First which reads that they are eligible to fight means you can still pile in and attack even if your charge target dies? what about units with native Fights First? does this mean they can just pile in and fight on any target within 4" of them in the fight phase?

melee for the melee god!

The heroic ingress is perfect for my daemon army I’ve got a unit of 10 fleash hounds

In the first example, couldnt the world eaters still have more attacks by being in base contact with a model thats in base contact with an enemy unit? Im a new player so im still learning how this all works, but i thought that was a thing

I was 100% sure you could only pile into units you charged I guess that changed or i have always been mistaken on that. good to know.

can someone explain the pile driver , as pile in is the first thing you do before fighting thus when you pile into the custodes this would make them eligible to fight meaning they can pop fight first, no?

For the heroic ingress, can't the agressors just shoot the incoming unit prior to the charge phase?

If you consolidate move into engagement range with an enemy unit that has not fought yet can it now fight? 9:08 I’m not sure that make sense?

Does #2 work on the basis that a charging unit is no longer required to allocate all of its attacks to its charge target?

I'm a ninth legion Astartes. Don't tell my emperor I'm here.

In the second example, Piledriver, aren't you not actually in coherency there? If a unit is more than seven models it must end its move within 2" of two other models. I'm not sure that the ones on the ends were making that.

#3 could be pretty lethal with Lucius

Blokes for the bloke god Shielas for the shiela throne

in 'heroic ingress' nothing is stopping him from just shooting off the hounds with those aggressors and then charging in to the eightbound

Did i understand it right, when the opponent uses counter offensive, they dont get to pile in?

Got into a heated debate over the piledriver and despite referencing the video, got told the video was totally wrong. Opponent claimed that the top squad of guard would still make their attacks first. I tried to explain the three stages of a "fight", as my understanding from the video was that as the pile in move is the first of the three stages, and this happened before the custodes were eligible to fight, that the three stages of the beserkers "fight" could not then be interrupted. He completely disagreed and I couldn't find anything written to contradict him... please help!

I always thought as long as 1 model in my unit made contact with a opponent unit, it meant my whole unit get to fight the oppo unit 😅

Can a unit fight without being in engagement range just because it charged? I thought they changed that in 10th edition.

So piling inro to a fights first unit is not a charge, so a fights first unit can't use that ability? ? !

Tricks 2 and 3 feel very much allowed becasue of RAW rather than RAI. Which is fine, not arguing with their existence but it feels like they're pushing what the rules say to their absolute limit.

how do the khorne berzerkers get fight first ????

So the Custodes would not be able to activate fights first? That seems kinda cheesy in a way. Or maybe I'm just not understanding.

berserkers have fight first/can get fight first? am i just this bad at world eaters that i didn't know this?

Pure gold, or brass

I love you

Tip 1: World Eaters players tells all other melee armies how to defeat our most powerful unit and ability. What is he giving away the secrets?🤷🏼‍♂️

Not gonna lie, that pile driver move is something that would never fly at one of the tables I play on. Kinda wish it did, I play orks vs stodes often.

Khorne berserkers or votann berserkers :p

Can't you not pile in to a unit you didn't charge?

I didn't understood the heroic ingress thing

Are you really allowed to "abuse" the base-to-base contact rules like that? Can you move your models in such a way that the ones that move first, prevent your other models from being able to get into base-to-base contact? I thought the rules meant that if spreading out your models meant more of them could achieve it, then you had to do so, even if it meant completely encircling the enemy.

Custodes bad example

You know these are essentially gotcha tactics. This is the sort of thing that GW tried to remove in tenth with the changes in the fight faze . Yeah this is all legal but it’s not in the spirit of the game.

Such tricks are pointless in Competitive gameplay. You can charge against rhino with undivided chosen and allocate even 4 wounds but your berzerkerz are dead before the battle begins. You can charge againt accursed cultists but it's both overkill and underkill.

Rule bending, cheese and poor tricks instead of using common sense. But many 40K and warhammer players always been like that, poor, pathetic community.

second trick sounds like bit stupid and not logic in a battleground , should be change in the rules, could kill a unit who can't answer is a bit shameless

You make my day with videos like these 👏🏻🔥💯🫂 Big Thanks

I thought heroic intervention did not allow charge bonus ie fight first is a charge bonus