Goatboy’s 40K Thoughts: Is This Edition 8.75 Now?
Goatboy here again and today we are chatting about some of the winners and losers of the recent FAQ. Let the cries of joy and the rain or tears begin!
Wow was it a doozy and throws a wrench in the list that popped up last week. I had written that article about two weeks ago before the rumored rule of 3 was coming out. It means I have to shift up my army a bit – but will leave those thoughts for another time. Let’s talk about the big winners and losers with the recent FAQ.
Winners
Gunlines got a massive boost with the removal of 1st turn deep strikes and movement abilities after deep strikes. There are a few still left in the game – but the biggest culprits that used them no longer have access. One took a more significant hit with other changes (Chaos), and the other seems to be alright beyond not getting to use and abuse a few units (Eldar and friends). This means that static armies that plan on shooting you to death will get extra time to shoot you to death. This means good ole nemesis of Chaos – the AM builds will get tougher to handle. There seems to be some Tau builds too that utilized a wall of Fire Warriors and turrets to lay down the pain. Any army that can utilize strong shooting from their Troop options might be an issue in this new landscape of no more first turn assaults.
Eldar lost some things but gained something potent. They put the Ynarri characters into position to be used in any Aeldari army and not let them lose any CP. This is huge as the Ynarri builds can now not waste a detachment on a tax. It does hurt the Dark Eldar options, but it still feels very powerful. Sure you can’t abuse Hellions or Shining Spears like you used too – but starting them on the table and watching them move, turbo and move again will be a common thing.
New Players got a game that got more forgiving for them in the first turn. Sure there will are brutal shooting phases, but at least they won’t get nearly as destroyed with some bad deployment and small gaps. I think GW wants to try and make the game easier so finding ways to remove some of the gotcha moments from the initial turns might be a good thing. Beyond just this, it is also a good thing for any players that GW seems to be listening and trying to figure out a way to make their game better. This is great as we feel like we are listened to, and the game keeps getting better – we hope.
Thousand Sons got the best of the Chaos stuff. Brotherhood of Sorcerers allows you all your T Sons guys to cast Smite just like the old days. You could see a ton of 5 casting cost spells coming your way, and maybe we might get a chance to see Magnus on the table top again especially with the removal of some first turn deep strikes and murderous guns coming down for him. Grey Knights also got this bonus as well, but Daemon Princes and Ahriman seem just a lot better than the Silver Armored superheroes of the Imperium. The deep strike changes hurt the GK builds as their anchor units will most likely get pounded to death while they wait to come down turn 2.
Chaos Daemons got Plague Drones to become Plague Bearers. This great as the Jerkface Plague Herald loves to allow those guys to hit harder. I expect some Chaos Daemons builds to go back to 3 Plagueburst Crawlers and then a big unit of these guys to cover the table with sickening grossness.
Warkoptas finally became opened top. They are pretty cheap, and I can imagine a ton of Burnas coming down from the skies, burning things to death, and causing all kinds of problems. Or heck a ton of other options coming from them as well. They do suck to build, so there is that and look like a toddler throwing things in a box and pray for the Glue gods to take hold and create the madness that is a Resin Monstrosity.
Big bases for Units to cover as much real estate on the second floor of a building as possible! This is probably one of those rules that might get changed later – but if you can’t get your base within an inch of the guys base you want to assault – well you can’t assault it. There are a ton of pictures up there showing this, and I find it odd that they didn’t follow the rules from AOS on things like this. Oh well – until then if you cover a second floor of whatever you are on you are considered safe from any assaulting meanies.
Losers
Deep Strikers Any army that wants to deep strike in turn one and charge. There are a ton of builds that used this (most Chaos and BA), so it is pretty huge for this to go away. I know many a Chaos Player that used some Tzaangors, Bloodletters, and whatever else they could to come in, flood the table with bodies, and punch you in the face. It seems to hurt Blood Angels as they kinda had this set up within their codex. Sure they can throw some Death Company coming to town in so it isn’t entirely terrible for them. I think the Ynarri lost a big bit of brutality when they couldn’t drop in Hellions, double move them, have them charge and then burn a stratagem to kill something else if they could.
Soups got hit pretty hard by losing all Command Points they earned. You didn’t see much of this other than the mention Ynarri option (which got fixed with allowing those HQ to join other Aeldari and not have them lose the CP) and some Chaos Builds (Super cheap Battalion – 2 Renegade Commanders and three units of Nurglings). Sure you had Imperium using it sometimes with a detachment to activate some psychic options and the Saint, but it wasn’t nearly as abused as those for Chaos. It does mean the true death of the Bash Brothers list as you have to take two single choice Aux Detachments to get the two brothers together.
The Twin Linked Plasma Cannon Razorback has now become the most dangerous vehicle in the game. Dying on a 1 when overcharging is a tough thing to try and live through. Do you think the Imperium sent out some Car Safety Recall notices to Razorback owners? Maybe they can freely swap to the Twin-Linked Assault Cannon.
Multiple Stacks of FNP interactions are gone as well. I knew of a few with Chaos Space Marines – Iron Warriors 6+ then 5+ FNP for Delightful Agonies – but I had not heard or dealt with a ton normally. I am not sure why this had to go away as again it didn’t often happen with dice rolls being a 6+ most of the time.
Pox Walkers got kicked to the teeth as well as Tide of Traitors being only a one use stratagem. I agree with Tide of Traitors as it was one of the most potent stratagems in the game and most likely the Pox Walker change needed to happen as it was very annoying to play against. Games took forever, and it felt like you could do nothing. Also, a lot of players didn’t follow the FAQ stating how Pox Walkers were added to units, so it’s a good thing this was just nerfed down. I do think we could see Pox Walkers get cheaper now but will see.
All the command point rolls to gain or get back command points all got clarified they needed to start on the table to be used. This is a Loser thing as it weakens them but I am glad they followed suit adding it in. Most players I played with did it this way – but you know it leaves a chance for an argument to occur.
Dark Reapers got more expensive but still less than their old costs in the Index book. Mixed with only having three allowed and you got less Tempest Launchers on the table. Of course with the old Index Auratachs still left in the game (why oh why didn’t you kill the Index books GW?) we could see a ton still.
Speaking of the Rule of 3 – there are a ton of extreme armies that are dead now. The Plague Burst Crawler army is gone, my dumb Mortal wound Dread army is changed, massed Custodes biker armies need to be tweaked, and I am sure a ton of other stuff. This is good, and I feel like a step in the right direction by GW. Sure it is sad you can’t just copy and paste a unit a ton of times to make a list, but it is needed. I still wish everything was good in the game so any army mixed with a ton of stuff can be good. Nids get hurt from this as the good initial build was the 7th edition 7 Hive Tyrants. I am sure eBay is flooded with winged turds who love to shoot burning beetles of doom.
I am sure there are a ton of other losers and winners this is just what I saw initially. I am sad some of my Chaos builds died, but it is most likely for the best.
~I am sad I can’t play some of my nonsense, but hey that is all good as it allows the game to be better.
