FAQs are here!

The FAQs are up, and the world of 40k is shaken most mightily. Of particular note is that ALL the 5th ed codices (Grey Knights, Blood Angels, Space Wolves) and the Orks have lost their codex specific psychic powers in favour of the new 7th ed powers.

It is also worth noting that the little summary card that comes with the Psychic Power Cards was in fact meant to indicate what powers could possibly be taken in a faction, but is NOT a blanket statement determining what is available to all psykers within that faction.For example, Chaos Marine players rejoiced on seeing Divination get a tick in its happy little box. However, that just refers to such things as the Hamadrya or the Banestar of Mammon. Alas, the Master of the Corvidae, Ahriman, STILL has no access to Divination. Shame on you, GW...

Here's what's going on with the other factions I play:

Blood Angels
Fine, no more Sanguine Sword and what-have-you. I can live with that. And I can definitely live with the fact that upgrading a Librarian to a Epistolary is now 25 pts, rather than the insanely priced 50 pts. Also, the Furioso Librarian is a level 2 psyker, which makes more sense.

On the downside, Blood Angels still have the most absurdly expensive Land Speeder Typhoons, at 90 pts compared to the rest of the Imperium's 75 pts. Also, there appears to be some kind of typo - Blood Angel Razorbacks, Rhinos, Vindicators, Whirlwinds and Predators have all lost Fast. Since there was no accompanying revision to the points costs of these vehicles, I think it's safe to assume that these vehicles did NOT, in fact, lose Fast, it's just that whoever prepared the document was either too lazy, too ignorant, too careless or too feckless to noticed he omitted one of the Blood Angel's defining characteristics.

Astra Militarum
Nothing much. The Primaris Psyker and Wyrdvane Psykers now add Daemonology to their repertoirs.

Chaos Space Marines
The Heldrake has lost it's ridiculous bendy gun, and now fires like it bloody well should - as a hull-mounted weapon, to the front. The Spell Familiar didn't change, so I'm guessing one gets to reroll a failed attempt to cast a psychic power.

Dark Angels
Psykers add Daemonology to their repertoirs. This FAQ still doesn't address the question of whether Deathwing Terminator Sergeants can switch out their weapons for thunder hammer and storm shield. And Blades of Caliban are still the most absurdly useless weapon in the book, coz who the hell needs an AP3 Unwieldly weapon, eh?

Necrons
Canoptek Spyders have had their Gloom Prism updated - it gives +2 to Deny the Witch in a 3" bubble. Also, if Deathmarks choose an Independent Character as a target, they wound any unit the IC joins on a 2+ as well. Nice! Other than that, nothing new that I can see.

Grey Knights
Saved the best for last. Since these guys have lost their codex powers, they've ALL been replaced with the new versions from Sanctic Daemonology. Pretty much everything with Hammerhand now has the new, improved Hammerhand AND Banishment. The Purifiers (including Crowe) have Cleansing Flame as well. All the vehicles which had Fortitude now have Banishment and Sanctuary. Grandmasters and Brother Captains now roll for their powers, with access to Sanctic Daemonology, Divination, Pyromancy, Telekinesis and Telepathy.

The Aegis now means rerolling 1's on Deny the Witch attempts. Reinforced Aegis means the unit can reroll any failed Deny the Witch attempts.

Yay for 7th ed Psychic Powers!

Well, the new 7th ed Psychic powers have leaked. I won't bother with detailing how the new Psychic Phase works - there are plenty of posts up on the net which do just that. Truth be told, I'm rather chuffed at how it's looking and here's why. In 6th ed, everybody wanted a piece of Prescience. Most of the time, it could be cast with a 1 in 12 chance of failure (assuming Ld10, 1 in 6 at Ld 9), which is practically as reliable as it gets, and it's a pretty massive force multiplier, regardless of what army you play. And since it was a blessing, there was nothing the opponent could do to stop it. Now, take a look:

Not sure if you can see it, but that's Warp Charge 2. Coupled with the fact that now, everybody (but Orks, Nids and Necrons) have access to Divination, this is pretty big. Now, from the previous 1 in 12 chance of failure (about 8%), we have, depending on the number of Warp Charge expended:

1 dice - No way.
2 dice - 75% chance to fail.
3 dice - 50% chance to fail.
4 dice - 31% chance to fail.
5 dice - 19% chance to fail.
6 dice - 11% chance to fail.

Even throwing triple the bare minimum number of dice required, we can't match the reliability of 6th ed Prescience. Now that's assuming you even managed to generate that many Warp Charges to throw at Prescience in the first place. If you're plodding about with a single level 1 psyker, you're not going to come up with 5 dice all that often. And we haven't included Perils of the Warp in our calculation. Or indeed the efforts of enemy psykers to nullify your spellcasting efforts. Good luck to you if you're fighting Grey Knights or Eldar...

And this is AWESOME! I love how this mechanic both eliminates Prescience as an auto-include power and makes all the other powers suddenly a lot more viable. Now having 3 Primaris Psykers with your Astra Militarum does not necessarily mean all 3 will be tasked with casting Prescience. Also, I love how it makes pure Grey Knight armies the psychic nuclear weapons they were meant to be. Time to dust off some pretty old models, I think...

Three things about the new edition...

Time to dust this guy off? 

We've all seen the rumours bouncing around the net and the tantalizing nuggets from White Dwarf #16. There's 3 things about the upcoming edition in particular that interest me (in combination with the Unbound armies):

1. Psykers - Each Psyker generates warp charge equal to their level, you say? Sooo, in theory, I could have a 1,750 pt Unbound army comprising 20 Solodins and 3 Grey Knight Librarians, giving me 26 dice to roll in my Psychic Phase?
2. Snap fire - Last I heard, this is just -2 to BS. This is a massive boost to BS4 armies, and funnily enough, makes the Vindicare Assassin a pretty fearsome anti-aircraft weapon. That said, it certainly feels suitably fluffy. There was something extremely odd about, say, a Chapter Master being reduced to the competency of a grot when getting charged. 
3. New vehicle damage table - YES! I love my vehicles and if they get tougher in this edition, so much the better! Also, I'm really glad I haven't chopped up any minis with meltaguns and swapped them out for plasmaguns...

So, yeah, 3 little things that have me pretty excited about the new edition. I'm really hoping this makes Grey Knights and Blood Angels shine a little more - I'm kinda in the mood to put them on the table soon... 

Earned their stripes...

... and almost ready for duty. At 3 pts per model, duty mostly consists of stopping bullets. Holy crappe, these little dudes are TEDIOUS...

In other news, it is with great trepidation that I wait for 7th edition, especially with this:

Well, crap. I swear, if they don't have at least a plastic Greater Daemon to go with this daemonology silliness... But you know what? The hell with it. 6th ed has been great fun and I've every intention of getting a couple more games in with my Astra Militarum. And it's worth looking back at the doomsaying over the advent of 6th ed. Can't really say which way the beautiful game is going to swing, but I'll happily wait and see...

Taurox! How about NO...

Well, the pics and the rules have been doing the rounds on the Internet, and frankly, I'm far from impressed. It just looks to me like the Taurox simply doesn't add anything to the Imperial Guard, excuse me, the Astra Militarum, at all.

Nice model, though. That said, in terms of what it costs in real world money and hobby time versus the tabletop benefits, it's really nothing to shout about. Compared to the trusty Chimera, it has fewer fire points and weaker armour. The Taurox Prime is significantly better, boasting superior speed, weaponry and ballistic skill, but... soddit, I think I've got better things to do with my money.

Oh, yes, please! Well, maybe. I've always loved the fluff for Stormtroopers, but felt they weren't cost-effective enough to stick in a list. Also, there had never been suitable plastic Stormtroopers, until these guys came along. Looking at the rules for Scions, I'm honestly not convinced they warrant a squad in my army. Yet.

So, long story short, the new models are nice, but rules-wise, they simply don't add anything to the Astra Militarum (that I'm willing to invest time and money on). I will wait and see what Codex: Astra Militarum brings. For now, I'm holding on to my money.

Do want...

Hell, yeah... 

What I wouldn't give to put one of these on the board to tear a Riptide or Wraightknight into itty bitty pieces... Pics from http://gmortschaotica.blogspot.com/. In other news, I was kind of disappointed to note that GW really is going to change the name of the Imperial Guard to Astra Militarum. I don't know, it really doesn't seem to have the same gravitas as Adeptus Astartes or Adeptus Mechanicus or Adeptus Sororitas or indeed any of the other pig-Latin names we've come to know and love from the 40k universe. 

Anyway, yeah, Knights! That right there is a worthy target for this year's meager hobby spending!

From the depths of the internet... Dark Angels incoming!

Saw these floating around the intertoobs. That can of ivory paint is looking like a very worthwhile investment right about now. I'm not so sure about the new Land Speeder, though...

Khador players rejoice!

I knew it! I knew it! I looked at the Demolisher, Spriggan and Devastator and verily, I said to myself, THAT is a plastic kit waiting to happen, and lookie what just turned up on the Privateer Press website:

Hell, I'm grabbing at LEAST 2 of those, thank you very much! On a side note, I didn't realize it before, but with the shield arms locked in front like that, does the Devastator not look like a humongous helmet on legs?

AaaAAaaarrrgggh! My poor wallet!!!

Here I sit, waiting for bits of several fledgeling  armies to arrive, most notably:

1) My mechanized IG: 3 x Chimeras, 2 x Leman Russ Demolishers, 2 x Valkyries, 1 x Manticore and 1 x Leman Russ Battletank;
2) My Warmachine Battlebox, which includes a 20-point army each of Khador and Menoth; and
3) More Warmachine stuff from eBay: A Khador heavy Warjack, War Dog and Manhunter.

And now THIS!

Oooh, now the gears are working in my twisted little head for the Crimson King to march with Wraiths...

For more details of prices and other GW May releases, go here. More pics of Necron stuff, including the Triarch Stalker and Tomb Blades, go here. 

A New Codex Looms: Necrons!

Saw this thread and I'm now fairly excited! Seriously, this is so awesome! I've been eyeballing the Necrons for ages and always had a soft spot for the fluff, but never got into them, mostly because the 4th Ed codex is rubbish, there're too many metal models (yuck!) and nothing about actually playing them as an army actually appealed to me. Now this!

Lotsa new models (PLASTICS!!! YEEEAAAAHH!!!) lotsa new rules and from the look of the rumours, the new Necrons will be playable as a horde army, which is absolutely up my alley. Looks like I've a lovely new project for 2012...

In other news, I've just sent off an order for some Blood Angel-y goodness. Am looking to complete 1750pts of all-jump goodness, then try out another list using an Assault Terminator death star. As such, my gaming expenditure will be on hold for a couple of months...