Goatboy’s 40K: With Necrons Done What Gets 7th’d Next?
Goatboy here. We saw how Necrons were “changed” for 7th Edition and today I want to speculate what might be coming for some of the older and meaner codexes left.
Goatboy here again and with another travel down the speculation worm hole. Right now if we look at the 7th edition only armies we have a “fairly” balanced set of rules. I know there are some combos still but they feel less abusive then the current kingsof the table top – Eldar, Daemons, Marines and Tau. With that in mind – lets think of how these top books might change.
Codex Chaos Daemons: Just Making Goatboy Paint More Daemons!
Will start with my favorite army – Daemons. I know I have complained in the past about the Eldar book but I really feel that the Daemon book has a lot more abusive games then the consistency that the Eldar book presents. Any army that can easily create more units, control a single phase of the game, and for the most part ignore a ton of game rules is bound to cause bad interactions. So how would GW change the book to make it more – 7th edition?
Necron’s basic rules didn’t change a bunch and instead went about cleaning up some of their rules. Reanimation Protocols changed in a way that makes it stronger in some ways and weaker in others. While I think the Daemon rules are not “hard” to understand or implement they are clunky with how to generate them. I wonder if the random nature of the book will be pushed back and instead we get a true assault style list. Instead of having to take 15 minutes to generate what your army does and seeing if you get lucky with the perfect “draw” on gifts we now just see things being proper upgrades. It might lose the new flavor Daemons have but it is something I could see.
The next thing I could see leaving is a major change to the benefit of the Mark of Tzeentch. The reroll 1’s is too broad as it generates bad gameplay. Look at how it helped cause a large batch of events to change the rules for this ability. Anything that causes TO’s to rewrite rules is something that probably doesn’t need to be in the game. I would expect the rule to just become the +1 to Inv save like the basic Chaos Space Marine power and the old way Tzeentch Daemons interacted. That seems to be the easiest with still giving the army some power and removing the pesky reroll save nonsense no one likes except the WAAC player who brings it week in and week out.
From there I would imagine That we might see some changes to point costs as well. Maybe will finally see a new Fiend and a bigger push for greater Daemons if the rumored plastic versions are true. I also expect a change to the Heralds. Either they limit the amount you get based on the Greater Daemon you pick or just not letting you get 4 for one HQ slot. You see how each 7th book now has the extra HQ slots coming from Formations or different detachments so you can see the Herald becoming just like the Sanguinary priest.
After that I would expect the relics to get an overhaul with the Grim getting the axe. This would also have Fateweaver getting a major change at some point too but we originally thought the new Fate was worse then the old one. Boy was I wrong on that one. If they leave him the same then just know that every Daemon army will still probably take him. Of course if the Warp Storm goes away as well then maybe he isn’t worth it. I just hope we get all the new Greater Daemons because it would be sad to see the old ones in unit slots in a new book. Oh an expect the Lord of Skulls to get rammed in at the end as a Lord of War. Heck I bet Fateweaver or the new Thirsters becomes new Lords of War for the book. Or maybe all the Greater Daemons end up becoming Lords of War. Thus freeing up 2 HQ slots for other stuff.
Codex: Eldar 2.0 aka “Death to the Derpent!!!”
The Eldar are a book a lot of players hope get a rehash pretty quickly. I won’t go into the initial basics of “Wave Derpent Hate” but expect that kit to get a severe change in any new book they print out. Then look at the Falcon becoming the default tank once again. Or a new one called something like the Star Javelin with lots of pew pew lasers.
The first change will probably be how some of the psychics work. The Ghost Helm is extremely powerful for the Eldar player. It ignores too much and allows them access to what really seems like an Imperial set of Psychic powers. I bet it is only able to be used once during a turn or either causing a reroll of the perils roll. That would probably make more sense and won’t let the Farseer just throw 6+ dice at what combo spell they want. I also expect a change up to Fortune with either only allowing Armor Saves etc. I expect some basic power changes too with the +1 armor spell going away if Fortune is tweaked.
I expect some of the Relics to go away as they generate some annoying choices for your opponent. Still will see as this is a book with Supplements so expect the basics to stay the same enough to not allow a reprint of a shiny “extra” book. I think the Eldar book just needs small things done to it to help bring them more in line with 7th edition. If you remove a few things the book stays good just not mathematically better then every one else.
There are no plastic Lord of War for the Eldar book so unless they decide to invent a new one when the book comes out (why bother really) then we might just only see Eldrad living as a LoW. They might put the Phoenix lords here as well just to complete the continued push for using the additional slot as an option for a Force Org.
Codex: Tau – Remember when you hated me?
The next book that needs a 7th tweak is the Tau book. It really feels like the Tau just have too many options. With all the “technological” war gear it becomes a bit over whelming. I would think they would remove a lot of the toolbox stuff available to the commander and instead focus of the less is more philosophy that is shown in other 7th books.
I also wonder if some of the weapons will see some drop in power. Either less shots or less “extra” rules to make them just better then other armies choices. I think the massed amount of Twin Link in the book makes the marker light generation less needed which I think is a shame. Maybe if you marker light someone everyone becomes Twin Linked to shoot at them? That might be too good but just trying to think of other ideas.
I don’t expect their over watch ability to go away. If they tweaked it maybe only let another unit do it? Or depending on where the assault unit is coming from? I don’t see this as damaging as other rules they have so I just expect it to stay. The Riptide might have some tweaks but while it is still one of the best MC’s in the game – losing the ability to be added into a super unit has been the biggest help to keeping this model in the real of “normal” for games. I still think it has an one too many wounds but again I am not a game designer just a lowly game soapbox apologist.
Lord of War wise we might see Farsight getting pushed into this slot. It is the only one that makes sense right now if you look at the book as is. It isn’t because his power level makes him fit there it is just that is the only Character that feels like he could be called a LoW. I don’t really expect to see a ton of new models if they redo the book and creating big vehicles/things just seems like a waste for the book.
Codex: White Scars, Red Scars, or Ultramarine Scars
Finally we end with Marines. I don’t think they are the best book but they do provide a good amount of tools to win big games. The biggest pain I feel the book presents is the kind of sadness you see that ever top army seems to be a different color White Scars army. This is where the book would most likely have the biggest set of changes – the “chapter” tactics the army gets.
Ask any player and they will all say the best set of chapter tactics is the plethora of rules the White Scars get. You have a “decent” special character that also gives you more rules as well as probably the best ability in the game with Hit and Run. I don’t know what they would to change this beyond just ruining Marine armies by not allowing bikes to become troops. They would remove that rule or change it but that would need an 8th edition to make sense.
I think Grav, while powerful is still ok for the game. It is very strong and I think they should just remove the whole immobilization result it generates and just let it strip a hull point. It might make it less powerful but I think it might be needed to help push the game back to cool big vehicles that are not a Super Heavy. Heck I could go on and on how vehicles should just be like Super Heavies with none of the effects matter until you remove all the Hull Points or roll a 7 on the penetration roll. If stuns/shakes actually worked on keeping embarked units for doing as well it might be different – but right now it only seems to matter if you blow it up or immobilized it.
I have hopes they help make Black Templar work as a good friend loves that army. I doubt they will but you never know. I just want them to make the other Chapter Tactics worth it and keep you from seeing the same type of Marine army over and over again. Relic wise I bet most stay the same. They might lose the powerful Shield Eternal as some of the other books have left Eternal Warrior with the LoW options.
LoW wise look at the big name characters to get shoved into here. Calgar will find his new home here. His rules won’t change but this is where the guy will live. Vulkan might find his place here too as well as Lysander. I think it would be smart to just left the Imperial Knight rest here too. They can have rules for their “army” but letting the Space Marines take a Knight as a LoW instead of just being a Knight Detachment might be pretty neat. Heck it would make Iron Hands pretty strong as they would end up with their Chapter Tactics if they left their rule the same.
I have high hopes for future 7th edition releases as I think the latest have all been pretty good with decent rules, decent armies, and an overall feeling that the committee thought of the army working within the frame of 7th edition instead of just being whatever pet army you happen to like when you write up the book. I do wish they would play test some more. Heck just proof read some more would be better. I think just saying the rules to people not attached to the game might help.
What do you want changed with the so called “best books”?
