40K FAQ: 2 Xenos 2 Heretical
The FAQ for Xenos 2 has some pretty meaningful changes. Let’s take a look.
The Warhammer 40,000 FAQ’s dropped earlier this week and we’ve been showcasing some of the big changes in each one. We started with the Rulebook FAQ and have also looked at some of the big ones for the Imperium and Chaos. Today we continue our look at the foul Xenos, this time taking a look at Xenos 2 and the impact on T’au, Orks, Tyrannies, and Genestealers.
via Games Workshop
Let’s start with a few of the ‘common sense’ changes–ones that, though they make sense, do mean that the game is just that much less ridiculous, which is a good thing. I suppose.
Orr stuff only works on Orks, which makes sense. Though I do like the idea of an allied unit of, I dunno, let’s say Necrons being protected by a Kustom Force Field, or being “inspired” by Ghazghkull’s brutality. There’s just something about that idea that feels…right. Maybe this means Orks and Necrons should be the new team Fist Bump?
Don’t worry guys, you’re still the original. And the best. I guess Necrons are just team players? Who knew!
Moving on…
I guess they don’t want T’au players to be able to advance and shoot (without penalty) or to re-roll misses every single turn. No more loading up on Commanders and then just declaring something every turn, which seems reasonable.
This one’s pretty big though. It used to be that the whole reason you’d take Shield Drones at all was to shunt off enemy fire to them. Now, with the unit suffering a mortal wound instead of normal damage, Shield Drones are all but useless. With the possible exception of being a mobile screen you can use to help shield your characters from enemy fire, I can’t really see any scenario in which you’d take them over either of their counterparts. This one feels like a pretty big change, especially just for the FAQ, which makes me wonder how they intended Shield Drones to be used. Well RIP little guys, guess it’s back to flipping burgers for you.
It’s not all bad news though. Catalyst became much stronger.
This is a pretty big buff for this power. You can now use it to shrug off mortal wounds even, which is pretty great. Makes it that much harder to squash your big bugs, or to stomp on that horde of little ones.
And Genestealer’s mining equipment isn’t as accurate as an actual weapon. Which, again, makes a certain kind of sense, though it ruins the majestic image of these crazy dynamite wielding cultists, sitting astride heavy machinery.
Speaking of the most majestic army in the game, Gene Stealers do get a pretty sweet deal out of Brood Brothers. While you can’t give Cult Ambush or the Cults keyword to any Guardsmen that are their hapless pawns, you do get to make a Battle-forged army out of mix-n-matches of GSCs, Guard, and ‘Nids, which opens up some crazy options. I guess those jeans are flexible.
Glad they cleared that up. It’s been a little back and forth–but it makes sense if you think about what Ork suspension would feel like. Of course you’re gonna have a hard time firing from a sturdy platform if you’re in an Ork vehicle.
Anyway, those are most of the big takeaways from this. Now it’s time to sit back and look at how these change all the rules and army builds in the few weeks we have until the new Codexes hit. And then of course, the inevitable FAQ for each Codex.
In the meantime, just get out there and roll some sixes.
