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Chapter Approved Review

Reecius

Chapter Approved is here and making waves as was expected. Read on for a review of the product!

So first of all, what is this book? It is a lot, a combination of supplement and update. It provides a ton of material for open play, narrative play and matched play 40k. So, it’s got something for everyone that enjoys 40k, really.

You can pre-order this new 40k supplement at a discount, here.

Open Play

Our customers have been most juiced about the Apocalypse rules as many of our regulars mostly play Apoc. Some were excited about the VDR rules coming back and everyone was laughing about some of the wonky Land Raiders it allowed you to field, but I have to admit it would be a lot of fun to make a custom Land Raider! I am glad it is only for Open Play at this time though, as I could see this causing some issues with Matched Play. Interestingly though, the Terminus Ultra falls under these rules and so has been moved to Open Play. There’s even a Chaos version, the Hades Diabolus, which rocks a Reaper Autocannon, two Heavy Bolters and two Twin Lascannons!

There also rules and tips for running large games, with scenarios, ways to stay organized, and how to determine the winner of what can be massive games of 40k, sometimes played over multiple tables. Apocalypse is a lot of fun but you really need to stay organized to ensure it doesn’t turn into a never ending game!

Narrative Play

The Narrative Play section gives us Planetstrike rules which I think is a good spot for them. You get unique detachments, stratagems, Warlord Traits and scenarios for games of Planetstrike. These come with unique deployments too, that while they certainly wouldn’t be too good for Matched Play games, provide some fun and interesting scenarios to play through to recreate famous battles from the 40k books. One player defends while the other attacks. These scenarios are challenging and provide a different way to play 40k if you aren’t the type to grind out matched play missions in a quest to master your list, which many people aren’t.

We also get Stronghold Assault back as well! This also comes with its own scenarios, Warlord Traits, stratagems, and custom detachments. These missions are a lot of fun and really mix up your normal games of 40k as you attempt to either destroy or defend fortifications in scenario driven missions. It also comes with new datasheets for many terrain pieces in the game.

Matched Play

Matched Play games get a lot of attention, too. There are some fairly large shake-ups. For one, the Character targeting rule changed, disallowing you from targeting them if any enemy models are closer, whether they are visible or not. This is both good and bad, as for one, a hidden unit closer to you stops you form shooting a character in the wide open which is annoying, but it also prevents “Rhino-scoping” which is intentionally moving models to block your line of sight to anything but a character, thereby getting around the old Character protection rules, which was also mega annoying.

Also, we got official ruling that CP cannot be used to re-roll mission rolls, such as first turn, or to end the game.

The new missions are a lot of fun and we get 6 of both Eternal War and Maelstrom. There’s also a fun section with ideas for making custom objective markers for your army.

Excitingly, there are new rules for many 40k factions, too. These include Warlord Traits, Relics, and stratagems. You will notice not everyone got something and the book points out these are for patient gamers who play factions that have not gotten a Dex yet. Some of those not included are factions like Dark Angels, Blood Angels and Daemons which we know are getting Dexes very soon.

Adepta Sororitas

Wow, not bad! The Sisters get some really useful kit. The ability to use Acts of Faith again after a unit dies is very good, and the ability to stop enemy psychic powers is very powerful. The Relic too, is great, and means you can expect to see a Cannoness near you flying around chopping things in half. While the Warlord Trait isn’t amazing it is also far from bad as Sisters don’t have a lot of way to mitigate morale and the ability to re-roll a flubbed morale check will keep more of your ladies on the table. In total this is a very solid set of rules for the Sisters.

Deathwatch

Solid rules, indeed. The Warlord Trait particularly is nice as it works in shooting and melee. That makes your Warlord quite deadly against big targets. The Stratagems won’t always come in to play but when they do are very useful. And the Relic is awesome. Anything that gives you extra movement, especially that much extra movement, is very powerful. You can create some solid combos, bring a unit from hiding to the other side of the table to join in on an Alpha Strike, gran an objective, etc.

Drukhari

Wow! Drukhari came out well. The Stratagem alone is massively good for them, allowing them to keep some of their fragile units off of the table. And trust me, having been on the receiving end of 20 Warriors deep-striking in multiple times, it is pretty savage. However, you can see how good this is with any of a wide variety of units both for offense and defense. The Warlord Traits are likewise extremely good and the Relic is also, very powerful, particularly on a melee character that gets stuck in and can give itself another round or two of longevity as it regains lost wounds.

Genestealer Cults

Again, some really useful upgrades for GSC. The Heroic Intervention Warlord Trait is a lot better than it may seem as it allows scrubs to get in the way of enemy charging units, or to just engage enemy units in their turn. The Stratagems are obviously awesome and provide a ton of utility and increased mobility for the GSC player. Both of them are going to see a ton of play. Lastly, that relic is just fantastic. Boosting the strength of your units means a massive increase in damage output in melee for your army.

Harlequins

Outstanding. Webway assault for the fragile Harlequins is great and allows you to deliver a tough unit or two into the enemy lines while also keeping them safe at the begenning of the game. And the 3++ after advancing strat is clearly incredible! As Harlequins can advance and still assault, this is crazy good. The relic is also nice for the morale debuff as Harlequins do a lot of damage and stacking an additional negative modifier in there can help further damage nearby enemy units.

Imperial Knights

So, yeah, lol. These are very good. A Knight with a 4++ for one phase per turn, and a bonus attack at higher stength with increased accuracy is fantastic. Obviously. Might actually see Reaper Chainswords on the table again!

Necrons

Necron players will be very happy with these. The ability to give Canoptek units RP is very powerful as is re-rolling 1’s when trying to bring back larger units. The Veil of Darkness is fantastic for getting what can be slower Necron units up the table to engage the enemy and combos with many of the other abilities like this they have access to. A clever Necron player can end up with a big chunk of their army right in their opponent’s face on turn 1. Lastly, that Warlord Trait is savage. Necron Character can already be tough nuts to crack, and damage reduction makes them even more durable.

Orks

The Ork bonuses are a bit more subtle than some of the others. The Warlord Trait is cool if you are facing a lot of toughness 7 vehicles as it boosts your Klaw (if you are using one) up to strength 14, meaning you wound them on 2’s which is quite a boost in damage output. Mob Up is extremely good for mission play as it can be used to deny your opponent a Kill Point. It also allows you to fill out some of the CP rich detachments like the Brigade but then combine units together once the game begins to take advantage of Mob Rule, etc. Dakka has taken some criticisms but I really like it for units like War Bikers, Lootas and especially Flash Gitz, although it is quite good for just basic Shoota Boyz, too. Mathematically it isn’t going to set the world on fire of course, but I think it is important to remember it is only 1 CP and if you really need to take something down and want to trust a bit to luck, this is a good one. I think it will get used quite a bit more than some folks think. I use it pretty much any time I shoot my Lootas, Tank Bustas or Flash Gitz, personally unless I am saving the CP for something specific. The extra damage can be extremely useful. Lastly, the relic is awesome. It allows you to wound most infantry targets on a 2+, and can deal Mortal Wounds. A very solid choice.

Space Wolves

Very, very good. Cunning of the Wolf alone is a game changer. As you’ve heard us say time after time, anything that can keep units off of the board is solid gold. You can then bring in hard hitting units behind your opponent or on a flank where they can strike without having had to take enemy fire on the way in. True Grit is likewise awesome for the ability to blast things while stuck in and really helps to crank up the damage output of your units. Striking first in melee is very powerful as anyone that has played against Slaanesh units can attest to. The Sword is surprisingly good as it is essentially a strength 5, AP-4 lightening claw. On a Wolf Lord with a Jump Pack for example, you can do massive melee damage to even heavily armored infantry. Not as good against some high wound targets, but great for clearing out units.

The ability to re-gain CP is always solid and as it works when either player uses one you can expect to pick up an additional 2-4 CP in most games. The stratagem is quite good as it takes a lot of the variability out of Markerlight allocation. A lot of what the T’au do depends on landing those Markerlights and this is a way to crank that up reliably without requiring too many resources. As you use it after you hit a target, you can judge if you need to use it or not on the fly which makes it very efficient. The Warlord Traits are a bit limiting and will require a unit built to take advantage of them to be chosen over some of the generic traits in the BRB but I am sure we will see clever T’au players making good use of them.

Thousand Sons

Some very powerful rules, here. The ability to re-roll Deny, and to not be denied are super useful and sure to be seen quite a bit. The new Psychic power is also quite good for sniping out low wound Characters with a bit of luck. The stratagem likewise can be incredibly useful for getting that critical power off when you really need it. All around a lot to be excited about for Tzeentch players.

There are also some expanded terrain rules and campaign rules and guidelines, too. These help you get a fun ladder campaign going in your local scene. Lastly, and most interesting to many matched play players are points updates. These always cause controversy but I have to say I while some may sting a bit, they are largely very positive for the game as a whole. Many of the very under-costed Forge World units have gone up to reasonable price points (although some folks certainly debate how close to the mark they came, as is always the case). For example, Malefic Lords went up to 80pts, is a much more accurate representation of the models abilities when compared to other psykers. Another example is Bobby G and Celestine going up to 385 and 200 respectively. These models are seen in so many Imperial armies it’s crazy. They were too cheap for what they did and are now priced more fairly.

Inversely, many units that were under-performing got a points reduction. Many of the Primaris Marines went down in points, and units like the Kataphron Breachers and Destroyers dropped down to 30pts base.

Not every army got points changes and I will leave you all to figure that out but there is a logical reason for it which is not that GW doesn’t like your faction. A little patience will see that mystery resolved I am sure. And, while we may not all agree on each specific points change, it is great to see GW moving to balance the game which makes it more enjoyable for more people.

Which changes do you like the most or dislike the most? Why?

 

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