The wait is over! The new 40k Big FAQ is here.
This article was originally published on the Warhammer-community page.
Since the launch of the latest edition of Warhammer 40,000, we’ve been committed to making this the most balanced and enjoyable version of the game ever. Working with our playtesters, tournament organisers, and you guys (hey!), we’ve been able to declare Exterminatus on loopholes and unintended interactions, leading to a more varied, interesting and fun game than ever before.
However, since our last balance update, we’ve had a whole load of new releases and a bunch of events to provide us with data – not to mention your feedback online!
Today, we’re pulling the covers off the highly anticipated Big FAQ 2. We wanted to wait until the dust had settled from the NOVA Open tournament to properly analyse our findings, and our aim has been to refine the balance of the game while making sure that all the army lists and units you love are still functional and powerful.
Anyway, let’s get into what you came here for – the new rules. We’re covering 3 main areas in this Big FAQ update:
- New Matched Play Rules
- New Beta Rules
- General FAQs and Errata
You can download the latest Big FAQ and the various errata right now – but if you just want the key headlines, read on…
In the first Big FAQ, we introduced Battle Brothers to the game – shiny, new and ready to be tested. Having seen this rule weather a number of major tournaments and having gathered loads of feedback from around the community, we’re happy to confirm that:
- It works pretty well
- It’s leading to more interesting lists
- You guys really like it!
As such, Battle Brothers is now a fully fledged official rule for matched play, legal as of RIGHT NOW. We’ll also be printing it in this year’s Chapter Approved (alongside a whole bunch of awesome stuff we can’t tell you about just yet).
While Battle Brothers is the biggest change to the rules in this FAQ, we’ve also taken the chance to make a host of balance tweaks and adjustments to units. With Chapter Approved coming in December, we’re not making any points changes in this Big FAQ – instead, we’re looking at Stratagems and Command Points, as well as providing some errata and answers to your most commonly asked questions.
Stratagems have been a core element of the current edition, offering a rich tactical layer to the game and bringing the unique abilities of each faction to the tabletop as never seen before.
When attending major competitive events, we noticed a few combos based around certain Stratagems dominating, like the so-called “Smash Captain”* or Imperial Knights using the Order of Companions. As such, we’re upping the Command Point cost of several Stratagems in order to limit the number of times they can be used in a single game and to balance their use.
You’ll still be able to use these powerful Stratagems, but you’ll have to commit more of your precious Command Points to doing so, making them a more interesting and meaningful choice in your games.
When looking in on tournaments, we noticed that the way the Fly keyword interacts with charges was resulting in some cases where Assault Marines and other flying units could stand above (or below) their foes and make 0″ charges. Now, even if you can fly, you’ll have to measure vertically like everyone else when you’re getting stuck into close combat.
You’ll be able to find the changes to your codex (if indeed, there are any) in your relevant FAQ and errata – including the first update for Codex: Space Wolves. We’ve made all manner of small changes that’ll improve your games, like confirming just when you can make a Heroic Intervention to officially allowing Renegade Knights to summon Daemons. What could be more fitting for the 41st Millennium than a massive war machine sacrificing its own soul-essence to summon horrors from beyond the veil?
We dispatched our rules team to one of the world’s largest Warhammer tournaments as judges and observers, talked non-stop with our partners in the competitive scene and relentlessly playtested the latest rules. Now, we’ve got a brand-new set of beta rules for you to test and try – plus an adjusted version of an existing one. We’re welcoming you to try all of them out and let us know what you think – this feedback will inform future Big FAQs and printed publications.
Based on your feedback, we’re making Tactical Reserves a lot simpler – basically, now, you can’t have ANYTHING come in from Reserves on the first turn. Because we’ve changed this rule from its earlier beta iteration, we’re keeping it as a beta rule to gather your feedback. As a beta rule, it’s not official yet – but we’d like you to try it out and send in your thoughts.
We’re also changing some Stratagems slightly so they still work with the new rule – options like the Alpha Legion’s Forward Operative and the Raven Guard’s Strike from the Shadows now take the form of a free move at the beginning of the game.
Don’t worry, Genestealer Cults players – we haven’t forgotten about you! While you’re no longer exempt from this rule, rest assured that we’ll be taking it into account during the development of your codex.
That’s not all! If you end up getting the second turn in a game, you’ll get access to a new Stratagem designed to blunt the impact of your opponent’s first-turn attacks – Prepared Positions.
Costing a couple of Command Points, this Stratagem puts every unit in your army in cover on the first turn (provided they’re not Titanic). If you’re willing to give up a couple of Command Points, you’ll be able to avoid getting caught on the back foot, while armies with cover-ignoring mechanics like the Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors now have a neat tactical niche.
The final beta rule we’re adding to the game is designed to put some tighter controls on generating Command Points mid-game – the only thing you should be farming is the skulls of your enemy!
Tactical Restraint limits the number of NEW Command Points you can generate or refund throughout the game through popular Warlord Traits, Relics and Abilities, like Kurov’s Aquila. In matched play games using the Tactical Restraint beta rule, you can only ever generate or refund one new Command Point each battle round – with the exception of Stratagems that specifically gain or refund a set amount of Command Points, like Feeder Tendrils and Agents of Vect.
The benefit of this is threefold – for one, you’ll still be able to benefit from these Relics and Warlord Traits, but they won’t be exploitable through stacking. For another, it’ll cut down on Command Point generation without harming players who’ve carefully constructed their lists, and finally, it allows for new builds using a wider variety of Relics, Warlord Traits and Abilities – leading to a more diverse playing field for everyone.
You can use these rules for yourself by download the FAQS – and we’d love to hear what you think! Let us know what’s working, what you think needs adjusting, and any other feedback you have by emailing us at 40kFAQ@gwplc.com
* For those of you unfamiliar with the term, “Smash Captains” are Blood Angels Captains with jump packs and thunder hammers. It’s as awesome as it sounds – although a mite too strong in its current form when combined with the Upon Wings of Fire Stratagem.
Let’s here your thoughts on the new FAQ in the comments below!
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
Love it and all about it.
A lot of good fixes to the Competitive scene.
Can’t wait to see factions fixes in CA.
The changes are quite impactful, it will take a few games for people to fully see it but I totally agree, they’re for the better.
Clear this glitch
As far as tac reserves go, I think if they’re going to remove the ability to come in 1st turn at all then they should extend the window to 4th turn before things count as destroyed.
Not a bad suggestion.
Not happy (I know, shocker).
The changes are too tame or are in the wrong direction. Infiltration armies were not winning yet were nerfed to the ground. Deepstrike got nerfed… again. Melee got nerfed…. again. Eldar are basically untouched(esp Ynarri). The new stratagem does nothing for cover armies (admech, nids(jorm)) and for invul armies (daemons, harlequins).
The one good change in the entire thing was the CP regen nerf.
Bold predictions:
IG battalion will still be in every army.
IG/IK/BA will just become IG/IK/Custodes and will still be a top 3 list. Castellan unchanged. Imperium can just remove the CP hungry BA and still have him work just as well as before.
Knights got nerfed and buffed because their biggest threat – melee with FLY, got nerfed really hard.
Oh well. Let’s wait for CA……..
Things that weren’t fixed:
Soup being the obvious way to play with no downsides.
Ynnari…
Stacking minuses to hit
The gamebreaking top lists are still likelly to remain like that with minimal changes (could be wrong here)
An infiltrating Alpha Legion (my own teammate, actually, well done James!) recently won a big GT here in California. That style of army is quite popular in the USA and does very well. Whether you think it needed to be nerfed or not is up to you of course but obviously the game designers did.
Melee got nerfed? If you mean the auto-charges through buildings then no, that was a very sensible change that was causing lots of issues, IMO.
And the cover issue may not do anything for those few sub-factions it’s huge for everyone else, lol. That is certainly seeing the glass half empty, friend.
The goal with the FAQ is not so much sweeping rebalancing but to answer the most pressing issues in the game only.
However, you are rarely pleased by anything, haha, so I suppose no surprises here =)
Alpha Legion was the only one doing well. The others got cought in the crossfire.
Melee got nerfed because FLY can’t FLY over screens outside movement phase. Primarchs got a HUGE hit because ofthat.
And the problem with all “hey this is a cool thing for all armies” is when it doesn’t actually affect all armies and it makes them worse.
And the FAQ was sweeping changes – that’s the problem. It nerfed concepts instead of specific things. Instead of nerfing IG, they nerfed all CP regen. Instead of nerfing BA captains/DPs/etc and 0” charges, they nerfed ALL FLY melee units. Instead of nerfing Alpha Legion – they nerfed every infiltrating army.
I agree the changes to FLY should be while performing a movement action and very detrimental to assault. Limiting it to the movement phase is incredibly odd. All Hail 8th edition where shooting was king but is now Ruler of the World mawahhahahahahah.
The thing is, the best players and lists were very much geared towards assault with supplemental shooting. So the idea that assault didn’t work in 8th was simply wrong. Check the data and the lists, assault oriented armies with a healthy dose of shooting have been the top performers generally.
Yeah I’m gonna have to go with Reece here- the top two armies in the game (Castellan list, Ynnari) are ALL about melee, and both of them abuse fly to bypass screening units and get to the juicy targets they want. These changes significantly bring down elite melee units (e.g. characters) that want to walk past the bulk of the enemy’s army, while leaving more run-of-the-mill melee units (e.g. Ork Boyz, Bloodletters, etc) untouched.
The finalized change to reserves also hits shooting armies, since they can no longer arrive in their own deployment zone and fire away, while affecting melee no more than it already did.
(Also, Alpha Legion might have been the most prolific abuser of the infiltrate mechanic, but Stygies arguably used it better with Electropriests. More than a few players have stared down the barrel of 45 Electropriests pretty hopelessly.)
Well, there goes my footslogging reivers. I’m beginning to think that GW loves nerfs but has no idea how in the hell to make underpowered or underutilized units better. They might as well be telling us that they hate all infiltrators but scouts.
I agree with Reece and AP here for the most part. Except maybe I think the infiltrate stratagems. I just feel like they nerfed two armies that didn’t need them (Ad Mech, Raven Guard). It may have been also a bit too heavy handed, I think the same effect could have been accomplished by making the Strats cost 2 CP instead of 1. It would be consistent with the rest of the FAQ, and still prohibit entire armies from coming down 9 inches away, and replace it with a few key units burning most of your CP.
I also think your bold prediction is meh, IG/Knights/Custodes suffers from similar problems as “The Castellan List” except now the Custodes captains also are hurt by the fly keyword, and cost a lot more than a Blood Angels detachment.
I think what is probably going to be more true is players moving away from Blood Angels altogether and just going with Guard and Knights. Which is nastier list with the new changes.
Well yeah. Either custodes or more guard or some other subfaction. But the core of the army: IG, Castellan is very much alive and well. Castellan power wise wasn’t nerfed at all(only CP wise), he was actually buffed quite a lot since his best counter (FLY melee) was nerfed to the ground. Which means for the first 2 turns he will be as amazing as always and for the follow-up turns he will do less damage, but his survivability is increased IMO (as he will kill all anti-tank shooters in 2 turns unless your opponent is full anti-tank).
And my Black Templars remain on the shelf for the rest of the year.
Im honestly not sure if GW is actually listening or to whom, these FAQs seem to be just them patching whatever new exploit the tournament scene is using while disregarding the effects these nerfs may have on armies that are well below the competitive threshhold.
Grey Knight communities have been given them feedback for a while and their issues are still unadressed, to me thats just an implicit nod of aproval that their current state is what they desire just as they have intentionally kept other armies in the dumpster in the past.
I think you may be overestimating what the FAQ is for. The point is to change as little as possible to only limit the most damaging issues in the game at the time. Chapter Approved is where more reaching changes occur such as points adjustments, etc.
Not sure about the changes to the infiltrate/ambush armies. I sometimes play admech with dragoons every now and then, and didnt really see the call for the nerf. But i’m not too tilted about it either.
Also, we will wait and see if Imperial Fists and Iron Warrior lists start dominating the scene. (this could be construed as tongue in cheek 😉 )
Perhaps not domination, haha, but certainly a relative increase in relevance.
My Fist scouts and devs army may make an appearance or two. But of course I will end up going second every time.
Haha, such is life =)
But, even if you go first, your opponent will simply not use the strat of course, so not a big difference either way.
Prepared Positions is neat but Chaos Daemons are left out because of their 6+ will just become a 5+ which is the same as their invulnerable save.
If units at the earliest are coming in reserves turn 2, failing that charge that extra rough now. Waiting until turn 3 (if they survive) to get a chance second chance to charge (and to do damage). I think the reserve distance buffer should be reduced to 8″ or maybe 7″. To at least give them a 50/50 shot of getting in. Shooting units are not penalized as harshly as melee units, coming in from reserves.
Of course a strat won’t impact everyone equally in a game where every army is designed to be different. Some armies will get impacted a lot, some won’t at all. If you play against Iron Warriors or Imperial Fists, the strat is worthless. That’s just the way it goes when you have variety, though. Generally speaking it will be quite good on the whole.
You couldn’t deep strike outside of your deployment zone turn 1 before this so it isn’t that big of a difference outside of uncommon instances where you go second and get bum rushed by your opponent and they move into charge range. So that isn’t much of a change, honestly (and I say this as someone that plays triple Bloodletter Bomb daemons).
I totally disagree with you on deep strike for turn 1. This allowed armies to go second and control what they could lose to alpha strike army and then strike back accordingly. This is my opinion the biggest issue with the new faq.
Well, we actually were saying the same thing but a different way. I said the no reserves turn 1 wasn’t that big of a deal unless you were reserving into your own deployment zone on turn 1, which if you were, then I see why you dislike it. Using it defensively was a viable tactic, just not one most people actually used much.
To that effect though, you can still do it, you just come in turn 2 and then wherever you want. That’s how I played my deep-striking armies already. The only time I actually came in turn 1 is when a crazy fast army got in my face and I counter punched from reserves. Not being able to do that is a bit of a bummer.
I think though Chaos Daemons is one of those armies that needs Prepared Positions. For the most part, it is a low shooting foot slog army, that has limited turn 1 play. If daemons have a 5+, to get a 4+ with the stratagem, it would give a little more edge against anti-infantry or small arms, weapons that often have AP-.
Bloodletter bombs are one of the better scenarios? You can Banner of Blood them for a 3d6 charge or drop a Khorne Daemon Character next to them for a re-roll charge. In addition, an instrument of Chaos gives a +1 to charges.
I am playing Slaanesh Daemons and it is getting increasingly hard to play competitively.
I see your point. Some Daemon units do get the advantage of cover but not all. And yes, Letters do have better odds of making the charge for sure.
Frankie plays Slaanesh Daemons fairly frequently and always just starts the majority of them on the table but we also use really solid terrain making that viable. If you don’t I could see the need to use reserves for defense.
That leaves you at the mercy of the table or the deployment zone type. From my experience, ITC events have a mixed bag of terrain.
I was at Harvest of Souls GT last weekend. Lots of great tables but only 2 of my 5 tables had terrain large enough that could block LoS for 10 seekers. I am not sure what really is better, being in the open and being shot at or hiding and potentially not getting a charge off.
Slaanesh Daemons also have a somewhat unique problem in most of their units are non- (calvary, beast, or chariot) and have trouble with getting in/out of ruins.
Yeah terrain and deployment type are both huge for Slaanesh, who is pretty inarguably the worst of the four gods in that book. I one of the “long” deployments (Spearhead, Search and Destroy, Hammer and Anvil) you are looking at 2-3 turns of unopposed shooting before you can get to the enemy, which is often fairly backbreaking.
Yeah, that is pretty difficult to overcome.
Going down to 8″ might be doable, but dropping the Reserves Buffer below 8″ would be a really, really bad idea. There are a number of Units that could do some hideous Flamer bombs if they could drop within range.
Seems like it would be a good way to counter what is quickly becoming a very horde friendly meta? Can’t jump over that screen…just burn it all down.
This faq is a big let down. Deep Strike is nerfed again, it wasn’t dominant and definitely not overpowered. Why do they continue to beat that dead horse is beyond me and just hurts armies that are already average and below average like Marines and GK who need it to endure heavy shooty armies. Agent of Vect is still overpowered as you can use it every phase to just completely ignore your opponent first turn most important stratagem in every phase. It should have been one use every battle round. Eldars of all savors are still untouched and will continue to bring imbalance in the game. Good job on the knights and fly issues but this is it. GW need to look at underpowered units which are far too common. GK are terrible, most marines are just bad (anyone remember centurions, half the marines tanks and terminators). I understand that they don’t fix most points in the faq, but why they at least didn’t try some beta rules for the GK?
The Deep Strike change isn’t all bad, and isn’t that big of a change unless you were consistently dropping in your own deployment zone turn 1 for some reason.
Vect is good but not nearly as good as it was. The CP regen change and increased cost is massive. You will see that Drukhari players get to use it far less frequently.
As for things like GK and other armies at the lower end of the power curve, I feel you. However, again, the Big FAQ isn’t intended to make giant changes in the game. Look to CA for more impactful adjustments with things like points and such.
I wouldn’t hold my breath on CA doing much for under powered stuff as the last CA did nothing for a lot of them, now I admit I wouldn’t be really up to speed with tournament list but its seems like a lot of lists are just made up of certain armies & a few units of those armies, do people still use drop pod ? last time round GW’s fix for an exorcist was to drop it a few points when what was needed to make it usable was a change to its weapon a straight up 3 damage at the points it was would have fixed it.
GW’s plan just seems to be just hit on the head whatever is a problem at tournaments at that time not trying to bring a bit of balance to all units across the game, I see they say up near the top of the FAQ that soup is off the menu, so tell me Reecius do you believe that ?
Am I reading the infiltrate rule correctly? pay CP during deployment, set up and move 9″ (regardless of move characteristic) after the sieze, then say for example i get 1st turn, I move my normal movement?
It functions like Scout Sentinels, so yeah.
I don’t like some of the changes. Especially the nerfs for Blood Angels which are completely unnecessary. CP regen got hit hard. Soup is still king. No T1 reserves is silly.
Again, turn 1 reserves wasn’t really a thing before the FAQ unless you consistently came in in your own deployment zone for some reason.
BA Smash Captains were everywhere and very much complained about so the devs took what they felt was appropriate action. You may see it differently of course which is your prerogative.
You mean BA smash captain WITH IMPERIAL GUARDS were everywhere.
Preventing soup list or at least giving a good incentive to play mono-faction would have solved the issue without unnecessarily hiting the BA.
T1 Reserves sometimes helped when going second, but then I mostly just did that to drop some characters like a jump librarian with shield of sanguinius, or a jump librarian in my deathwatch army to make a crucial buff for Veil of Time or what have you.
BA captains were everywhere yes but only in soup lists. GW should have fixed soup and not gone after the BA codex. That’s my take on it anyway.
“GW should have fixed soup and not gone after the BA codex.”
This.
I’m fine with the changes.
The nerf to Daemons is kind of hilarious, literally cant buff Tzeentch units at all with Warp Surge.
I just, man. Every time I think “I’m done mining salt, I’ve shelved that army and accept it’s fate.” they go ahead and kick it while it’s down a little bit more.
When CA hits and Greater Daemons are made more expensive I will be able to be buried in my own salty, salty casket.
You can buff TZ daemons. They have 5++. Strat buffs to 4++. The ability ADDS 1 to their save rolls. So 3++ pinks are a GO still. Just not 2++ LoC or 3++ Bloothirsters
Ah, yes. The weird order of operations.
Pink horrors have a 4+ invulnerable save. Ephemeral Daemon rule does not give them +1 invuln but a flat 4+ according to their profile entry in the codex so warp surge does not work.
Ah yeah, forgot they had a different rule. They don’t have Ephemeral Form, they have Ephemeral Daemon. You are correct.
I come for the FAQ’s, I stay for the salt. I like the little changes they did. Doesn’t completely void peoples armies so no trashing models that people spend huge amounts of time into. Everyone just has to adjust to the “no longer” unlimited strat usage. I for one welcome these changes with open arms.
The CP Batteries death is worth celebrating.
Indeed. They’re still relatively awesome as they are still the best and cheapest way to get more CP, however, they are now reasonable.
How does CP regen work for points spent before the game or during deployment?
Hey Reece do you know if alpha legion infiltrate still get their normal move after the 9″ freebie? and can they be warptimed?
Yes and yes.
Stuff like this makes me think the new infiltrate strats might be more of a sidegrade than a straight nerf. You lose out on the deep strike protection, but you gain a chance of a turn 1 charge depending on deployment.
My favourite thing about this FAQ is this comments section, in which Reecius is a beacon of politeness and calm set in a maelstrom of ignorance and angst.
But I also quite like the limits placed on command points regen and deep strike.
I wonder if it’d be a good idea to force command points to be spent on strategems from the detachment that generated them. Could help with the soup, but might also be annoying to keep track of.
I was right! yesssss
A: In this case, you re-roll the D3 result (so you re-roll
rolls of 1 or 2 made on the D6).
I think the changes are in a good direction, but they feel… Not enough.
The cover stratagem is a good idea, but the 2 cp cost is too high, and it should affect the player who didn’t pick who starts the game (or the “stealed” one, in case there’s a initiative seize). IMO gw is underestimating the power of choosing who goes first.
Imperium will no longer have infinite cps, but they will still have an obscene number of cps, making profit of a codex with mediocre stratagems but a lot of cps, combined with codices with powerfull stratagems, and a normal rate of cps. My guess is that this will make aeldari and chaos (and perhaps tau) to compete, but we will see if it makes a difference for underperforming factions.
Necrons needed some love they didn’t have, but my main concern is that this ik meta doesn’t seem to get tone down. A few point cost adjustments are needed soon (castellans, gallants and necron troops, in particular), but it looks like we will have to wait until december.
2 CP to give your entire army cover is too much? It’s a bargain.
Points changes though come in CA so perhaps just wait a bit longer there.
Imperium isn’t the only army getting loads of CP, FWIW and the amount is dramatically lower than it was. Like, vastly less CP. It’s a much bigger impact than you may think at this stage, especially with some of the most powerful strats going up means many of the old tactics will be much less powerful than previously.
My first impressions, not my final thoughts. I could totally be the one understimating the effect of this changes.
2 cp… it’s a bargain for armies with 15-16+ cps and good base armour values, specially when the player is the one choosing to go second for other tactical reasons. My point is that it would be better at no cost, but benefiting only the player who didn’t have the chance to pick.
Well, I see your point but if you need it, it is awesome. Making it automatic makes it not a tactical choice, it’s just a thing. I do see your point, though.
The tactical choice is a fair point. Perhaps at 1 cp instead of 2 or free.
I still think it should be beetween the player choosing vs the other, instead of going 1st vs 2nd.
Anyway, it’s good they are looking for balancing further the starting roll (a year ago there wasn’t even a roll off). The rule is still in beta, after all.
So Necron Wraiths can’t charge 2nd floor of ruins period? They’re not infantry and not FLY. They can move into 2nd floor but they can’t charge into 2nd floor, right? Why can’t GW just add BEAST to the “can only go on ground floor” rule to avoid this confusion…
This is one of the few places where I’m 100% in agreement with you. Been saying that (or the equivalent in whatever the current edition was) for years.
I like most of the changes here but I am very very disappointed that power armour factions continue to be the only factions whose chapter tactics don’t apply to vehicles. It makes no sense from either a game balance, fairness or narrative perspective. Does giving a Space Marine a chair to sit on in an armoured box suddenly distance them from thier unique 10,000 year old genetic and cultural legacy?
I agree that MEQs should get Chapter Tactics for vehicles. It’s odd that they don’t when everyone else does. However, that magnitude of change may not have been felt to be appropriate for an FAQ.
Do you have any insight into why this has happened in the first place? Just a hang over from how Marines worked in 7th?
Honestly not sure why. But I would guess that yeah, your assumption has some basis in truth.
in regards to the vect stratagem faq can you now mix units in a single detachment and abuse vect?eg a kabal black heart unit in a ynnari detachment? From my understanding the faq just states you need to have someone on the table to use it but my area says with this you can now mix units and claim diffrent stratagems. Thanks
You can, yes, as long as you have at least one Black Heart model on the table. Of course, very few people end up taking a Ynnari Drukhari detachment, since they don’t benefit nearly as much from it as Craftworlds do, but the option is there.
It is worth keeping in mind that, compared directly across, the Marine chapter tactics tend to be stronger than their equivalents in other factions to make up for the fact that they apply to fewer models. For example, the Salamander tactic lets you reroll one miss and one failed wound each phase, whereas the Sa’cea tactic lets you reroll a single miss in your shooting phase one.
I actually really like the changes.
Sadly my Harlequins got probably hit the hardest by the general rule changes.
Flip belt only in the movement phase, this is huge for the glass hammer Troupes and the 2cp stratagem is useless for them. Maybe change it to also increase invul saves? Would be good for demons too.
On the plus side, my Wraithlords will love to deploy on the frontlines with a 2+..
I totally agree.
Both regarding the brilliant changes in the FAQ 2 – and the insanity in the Harlequin flip belt rule.
I love my Harleys but I fear they will be wiped out after 2 turns due to this. ( I have 5500p of them and there are only 8 figures to choose from – so I am really disappointed, to say the least).
Notable reaction: A quick notice of the sudden amount of Harlequin figures for sale on Ebay. A week ago there was just old Rouge Traders – now you have page after page of Harleys.
So we are many whom see what that Harleys are no longer competative.
Looks good to me. Only issue is I cannot deepstrike my Ravagers first turn anymore, oh well ill live.
Very glad to see CP farms dead. Good riddance. Concerned that soup is still strictly better than mono codex, though. There’s no reason not to take allies, and the IG batallion is still nearly always (down from literally always) the correct choice for an Imperial army.
Props for the cover strat, it’s an ingenious solution that helps a lot versus alpha strike gunlines. However, did Deep Strike need yet another nerf? Pretty much the only use for a T1DS in your own deployment zone was… to protect yourself from alpha strike gunlines. Huh.
Good on them for nerfing the IK stratagems, some of those things were (and are) ridiculous. Like, Order of Companions is between a 35% and 85% increase in firepower depending on weapon, and put all together it’s about a 50% increase in firepower for the Castellan, a point-and-click gunboat that’s already ridiculously point efficient. Hope CA nerfs it further.
Feel like the Fly restriction is gonna have a lot of unintended collateral. Some stuff like Slamguinius and Shining Spears could use the nerf, but stuff like Harlequins, Daemon Primarchs and Assault Marines take a big hit from not being able to charge over screens. I think they should revise that change to specifically indicate needing to measure vertical distance when charging. They did implement a better version of the Smite nerf than the original beta rule, so I have some faith.
I haven’t seen anyone discuss this, since it wasn’t up at first, but a couple FW Tau units got big nerfs, particularly the Tiger Shark. The Heavy Burst Cannon in their profiles got renamed to Swiftstrike Burst Cannon so it doesn’t get the improved Codex profile, just the crappy old one. So, hold on to that order to FW.
Yeah the Tigershark nerf is unfortunate. I think it’s still a good unit, but by no means the incredible near-autotake that it was. I don’t think it was OP but when you compare what it was versus what it cost…I’m not surprised it got a change in some form or other. I’ll still be bringing mine.
That’s… unfortunate to see, but it does follow the general pattern of “fuck Forge World you aren’t allowed to be part of the game.” Given its fragility I don’t think it really needed the change, but c’est la view.
I actually really like all the changes except for how infiltrate was handled.
If the verbage is going to completely change then change WHEN the strat is used. Paying CP at time of deployment is a really poor decision point to be spending CPs and easily countered by your opponent at no cost to them.
And just as bad loyalist scouts ability completely negates the strat.
I hope GW revisits their errata on this one. Something better like this:
“1 CP: use at the beginning of the first battle round but before the first turn begins. The unit can make a 9″ consolation prize move. This move cannot end within 9″ of the enemy DZ or within 5″ of an enemy unit which is outside of their own DZ”..
I really like that they reduced the effectiveness of CP battery detachments, but even with regenerating only 1 per turn this is still plenty of extra CP’s during game (not to mention a cheap +5 CP’s for many armies). That same Astra Militarum detachment is still an auto-take in nearly every competitive Imperial list. So to me it didn’t go far enough.
Plenty of solutions have been suggested to nerf what is the real SOUP armies of today (ally detachments); and I personally like the one where your choice of warlord dictates what Codex Strategems you can spend those CP’s on.
“did Deep Strike need yet another nerf? Pretty much the only use for a T1DS in your own deployment zone was… to protect yourself from alpha strike gunlines. ”
So much this.
It was also used by some gunlines (e.g. Dark Eldar) to be immune to counterfire.
What do you mean by counterfire? You can’t move back into reserves after shooting so I take it you must mean avoiding being shot at before shooting?
Imagine the gall of these DE players spending 3CP to be able to be able to use their 3 paper boats, in their own deployment zone and unable to move, after going second. Obviously it needed to be removed. /sarc
Meanwhile, in the Imperium it now costs 3 CP to snipe characters ignoring LOS, invulns, and armor!!! Balance…..
I am ok with the fly “nerf”. It makes sense that as you close in to assault you would have less mobility since you are getting so close to the enemy. Flying over things and doing fancy maneuvers should be for the movement phase.
Also, the tactical restraint won’t affect me since I never made any of those rolls more than once or twice (if at all) during any of my games so joke’s on you GW!
Hi guys in regards to the new faq, my local play area says due to this statement
Page 120 – Agents of Vect
Change the Command Point cost of this Stratagem
to 4CP.
Change the final sentence of this Stratagem to read:
‘This Stratagem cannot be used if there are no Kabal
of the Black Heart units from your army on the
battlefield, and cannot be used to affect Stratagems used
‘before the battle’ or ‘during deployment’.
you can now mix kabal of the black heart unit in a say ynnari detachment and still activate Vect. I thought you cant mix diffrent chapter units in a single detachment to abuse the stratagem selection rules. I reckoned the statement above is just to restrict vect as in you need something on the table to use it and doesnt mean you can mix units in 1 detachment and pull diffrent chapter stratagems. Thanks
Most armies say you have to all be from the same sect/chapter/Kabal etc to get x benefit. Ie for Tau if I want Tau Sept 5+ overwatch everything must be Tau Sept. I am free though to have a farsighted warlord, sacae marksman, viorla breachers and tau firewarriors…. I can now use appropriate relics and strats but no one gets a Sept benefit
Daemon princes and big flying monsters like Bloodthirsters already can’t attack models that are standing on boxes, and now they can’t charge over screens to get to the important units they’re designed to kill.
This seems like a step in the wrong direction, given that flying melee units are SUPPOSED to be used as line breakers, and now they cannot perform their role.
I get the logic, but blood Angels did not need more global nerfs. I almost would rather lose the entire captain entry in the codex.
Can’t find it in my heart to feel bad for Demon Princes. Still waiting for them to actually have to follow the Rule of Three (unless I missed something). Without Soup so many armies are still un-competitive its ridiculous. Seriously you nerfed the one Vanilla Marine that was distantly competitive. Looking at you Raven Guard?)
If by competitive you mean remove counter play and ability to respond before the “trick” happens… sure it was competitive, but similar to “I win” combos in magic, they shouldn’t be easy to perform and early.
Hardly call the Raven Guard an “I win” army. If they were I’m sure they’d seen in more top level games. It takes away a unique play style that I think three armies had access to? It’s worse for Mechanicum,
I do wonder how Prepared Positions is going to stack with other -1 to hits?
– Eldar
– Scouts with Camo
– Raven Guard and Alpha Legion
Prepared positions isn’t -1 to hit, it counts as being in cover.