40K: Regimental Focus: Valhallan Winter
Conscripts get a major change in this Valhalla rules reveal!
The Valhallan’s are cold blooded killers and are ruthless on the battlefield. They know that all that matters is victory and they aren’t afraid to spend their lives to secure it. Today, we’re getting a closer look at the warriors of Valhalla and how that icy demeanor translates to the tabletop. First up is their Regimental Doctrine: Grim Demeanour.
When you fail a morale test (and you will thanks to your paper thin armor saves and lower leadership value) you only lose half the models you normally would. Failing by 6 translates to only losing 3 models – that going to keep your units in the fight even longer than they have any right to. On top of that all your vehicles with a damage table can double the number of wounds they have remaining to determine their damage tier. That’s going to keep them running at the top levels for much longer.
Now, the Infantry thing is honestly sort of a “meh” ability thanks to the Commissars (provided their rules are the same from Index to Codex). The Vehicle thing does sound pretty neat as that could make certain tanks extremely deadly all game long. Leman Russes are going to eat this one up – but think bigger…How about Baneblades and all those variants!
The Valhallans are also getting a custom order and stratagem that really showcase their brutal resolve. Their custom order Fire on My Command allows them to take shots at extremely close range, even at units that are engaged. That doesn’t come without risk, however.
The risks see appropriate and very thematic for a regiment like the Valhallans. Unit A gets charged by an enemy unit and Unit B opens up on the combat. It’s only a 1-in-6 chance to hit your fellow trooper…
For the sake of argument, let’s say that Unit A does end up getting wiped out in that situation. Just bring them right back with the Valhallan Stratagem: Send In The Next Wave!
Well look who’s back! Unit A-2! Welcome back not-zombie unit, glad you could return from the dead join us. Sure it costs 2 CP but that could be super useful. Advance a unit all the way up to put pressure on the enemy objectives as a sacrificial unit. Then when the moment is right, bring them back on your board edge to re-take an objective you might have left open. This means you can go fully offensive and rapidly switch to defensive – that’s pretty great!
Earlier we mentioned Baneblades – well GW is also showing off a few other bits of information about them:
The Stormlord:
- more than enough room for almost an entire platoon of Guardsmen
- the Steel Behemoth rule has been updated so that Baneblades of all types don’t suffer penalties for shooting Heavy weapons after moving
Also Astra Militarum Vehicles will have yet another stratagem they can use if things get dicey: Crush Them!
Oh man – it’s about it get all Maximum Overdrive on the tabletop! Keep in mind those big tanks typically don’t hit in close combat accurately, but when they do they hit HARD. Now, you can up their chances to hit dramatically! On top of that, if they are Valhallan, they are likely going to be at the top tier of vehicle damage which typically means more attacks and/or more damage per attack.
One last thing Games Workshop has address is the 40k Boogie-Man lately: Conscripts. They have go through some changes that I think most players are going to see as reasonable.
- Firstly, Conscripts can only be taken in units of 20-30, reducing the effectiveness of stacking orders on a block of 50.
- Secondly, orders only work on Conscripts on a 4+, and, should they fail, no more orders will work on the unit for the rest of the turn.
This seems like a good fix in my mind. GW didn’t mention any changes to their points so you can still pack a LOT of them in there. However, they changed their squad sizes and their orders now have a chance to fail. Both of those changes should help curve their damage potential and survivability quite a bit. This address the issue of them having a unit of 50 wounds that wouldn’t run thanks to a random Commissar nearby. Only being a max of 30 makes the unit large, but not impossible to deal with. The change to orders is also reflective of the fact that conscripts are just that – conscripted soldiers. They may not of signed up for this and might not follow orders 100% of the time.
That’s all for the Valhallans – what do you think of the Ice Warriors? Has the Valhallan Winter finally come?!
