40K: 5 Awesome Fluffy Rules for 8th
I’ve been looking over and playing a ton of armies for 8th. Here’s my favorite faction rules that really bring the fluff to the tabletop.
There is a lot of love about 40’s 8th Edition.
It’s an edition that MAKES me WANT to play, over and over – in a way I’ve not felt since 3rd. EVERYTHING is new again and every few minutes I make a rediscovery that blows me away. Looking over the five army compendiums feels like meeting old friends I haven’t seen in years.
But perhaps my favorite thing about 8th is how the Datasheets really bring the fluff right off the page and onto the tabletop. Some of these things are large faction rules, while others are little subtle gems that make a unit finally sense.
Here’s five of my favorites so far:
Chaos Marines
Death to the False Emperor: To hit rolls of 6 in the fight phase generate extra attacks for Chaos models targetting units with the <Imperium> keyword.
It’s just perfect. The CSMs are bitter and twisted, but boy do they HATE the lackeys of the Emperor. They kind of go berzerk when they are up close and personal – just like they should.
Dire Avengers
Battle Focus lets the squad advance and still fire weapons at full effect. That’s 7+d6″ a turn. Defense Tactics lets the Avengers hit on Overwatch fire on a 5+ instead of a 6.
For decades these most numerous of Aspect Warriors have been described as “deadly on the attack and immovable in defense”. Now their rules reflect that duality in an elegant way.
Callidus Assassin
Reign of Confusion: Means on 4+, any Command Point abilities used by your opponent cost an extra point. You roll after they spend the default points and if they dont pay the tax, the power doesn’t work AND the CPS are gone-wasted… Extra mean and a very cool way to represent the misdirection and confusion an enemy force faces when there was a Callidus in their midst for days before the battle.
Farsight / Shadowsun
Both these commanders emphasize the opposing Mont’Ka & Kauyon philosphies. Normally A tau commander may call one of these once per battle to gain army special effects for a single turn. Farsight may call an addition turn of Mont’ka while Shadowsun can call in 2 turns of Kauyon per game. It’s very cool and illustrates their contrasting styles of command as well as their genius compared to standard Tau Commanders. It’s also awesome!
Lukas the Trickster
What a master of mischief Lukas is. Master of Mischief lowers the LD of ALL units within 3″ (even friends), Pelt of the Doppegangrel make enemies suffer a -1 to hit Lukas in the Fight phase. Best of all is The Last Laugh which promts a d6 rolloff between players if Lukas dies in the fight phase. If he wins, the enemy takes d6 mortal wounds – BOOM-HAHAHAHA!
~That’s only the merest scratch at the rules. What are the most fluffy rules you’ve discovered?
