Goatboy’s 40K: My BIGFAQ Whispers & Thoughts
As we anxiously await the new BIGFAQ this fine and lovely Monday, have to look at what I believe will most likely show up in this groundbreaking update.
The Rumormill
I have heard/read some rumblings, some gasps of leaks, and other things, so I get the feeling I know what will be seeing. It sounding like this FAQ is most likely the bigger one we expected when Chapter Approved came out last. There will be nails in different coffins, some updated thoughts on how the game needs to be played, and hopefully nothing to kick my current Chaos thoughts in the dingus. With that in mind, let’s go through some things I think will inevitably show up in this grand FAQ.
Oblits
First of all – we know for a fact that the Obliterators accidentally point difference in the new Chaos Space Marine book will be fixed. There is no way these big ole turds cost the same old cost they had when they were less tough, fewer wounds, and less warp based firepower. So that is a for sure guarantee to come out of whatever FAQ shows up. Of course, if it doesn’t, my four sets of Chaos Space Marines from Shadowspear look pretty dang sweet. Also – did you notice that one of the possessed hands looks like a cat paw. You could just imagine that big ole mutated monster pawing at a feather on a string or at your face when it wants a saucer of milk.
Castellan
Next up: the big bad guy – the Castellan will for sure get some sort of Nerf. They have a ton of data on this monster causing a ton of damage in the current meta. Heck, I played one this past weekend at the Dallas Open and well – let me say he kicked a ton of butt. Krast ones are pretty interesting in that they can charge into combat if you need to. The chatter seems to point to a points increase (Gasp I know – I thought FAQ’s don’t have point increases, but if you noticed in the big survey they asked if we wanted points updates at a more reasonable pace… I know I voted a yes on it so will see). It also points to some changes to how Knights work. The removal of a chance to hit a 3++ with their Ion Shield will be imperative as well. It is an issue and should never show up on such a big model that can do so much damage. I don’t know what else will cause any shifts in using it – but there are some other thoughts too that will hurt the army as well. Will see if they also come to fruition during this FAQ.
Ynnari
Second, we know Ynarri get some kind of nerf. From the wink and nods during discussions with some other friends at big events, the picture of the White Dwarf codex in the upcoming magazine, and the fact that everyone feels like Soulburst is a little much – this army is going to get some kind of kick in the dingus. I have heard some sort of weird First Strike nonsense for Soul Burst but who knows if that is true. I bet we see some leaks soon as the magazine should be coming out for those subscribers around the world. We all know there should be limits to going twice with anything in the game – as all the other options are either limited to massive CP usage or they have some different type of tax to allow you to do it. This means will see Craftworld show up more and maybe more pure Dark Eldar. The other part of this nerf seems to point to Doom getting an update to only allow Craftworld to use it. This would be amazing as I am so tired of getting shot by Harlie haywire guns or Disintegrator shots and watching as they reroll to wound. This would be a massive hit to these combo armies. Will see if this is a true as I hope more so for this one over the upcoming Soulburst nerf.
Soup
The next thing seems to affect all the armies as its a nerf to how builds gain CP. There appears to be a large number of options on the Imperial/Chaos side for having either the Rusty 17, the Imperial 32, or the Heretical 17. These are detachments just built to give you some CP options and are not a part of the main force. Of course, you can add more to each of these detachments, but they are there to feed things like Knights or other crazy options. The rumored rule change is that if they are not part of your Warlords army – i.e., Faction/etc. – then they only give you half the CPs – just like the GSC get only half CP from Astramilitarum Detachments. This would be pretty dang nutty and cause more bookkeeping. Of course, this would also help balance some of the single codex armies out there (Orks, Necrons, etc.) who don’t have cheap Battalions to try and use and abuse. Its a weird bit of chatter and while I agree the single books are at a disadvantage it’s just a bizarre rule to change things up etc.
Flyers
Next, up there should be something to deal with the Flyer issue. Lately, there has been a ton of flyer based armies doing well. The old problem of 5th and 6th edition where the power of a vehicle you can’t interact with has reared its head. The column of no interaction due to the nature of rules and the ability to block so much movement is too much in the current game. These things are not supposed to matter to ground troops as they are high above the sky. Why would they block any type of movement? The current chatter is they no longer block movement, you can deep strike near them (jump troops gonna wreck em), and other limits. I have seen so many reports that use the flyers to lock in larger armies in their zone.
Deathwatch
Now it doesn’t seem all Xenos is getting a kick in the pants – rumors are Death Watch lose Beta Bolter drill. If you haven’t seen the newest Marine army work – it shoots a ton. Oh, and it wounds on a 2+ versus most things. Having that many bullets come at you is something the balance gods don’t like so this one feels like a distinct possibility. It is that special ammunition causing all the issues. If they just didn’t let the army take all those Storm Bolters, then this wouldn’t nearly be as much of a problem. Still – it makes me sad for all those guys buying the 3rd party storm bolters.
Genestealer Cults
There is also some GSC chatter as the whole unlimited Mortal wound generation is going to have a cap. I think it takes so much to get the combo off that it isn’t the end of the world. I do not like powers that have no end to them as it can generate a rather unfun game experience. The Death Grip from the Knights army is one of them – but in reality, that power isn’t nearly as devastating as you have to be in combat with the model, you have to hit, and there are no modifiers that will affect the strength roll. Still, it feels like one of the few powers that make leadership debuffs matter. I wish there were more as it feels like some armies could use that bump if there were something for them (Night Lords… Cough cough…).
Keywords
The last thing is a new change to how fly works in close combat. The rumored change is to allow fly models to jump over models again in close combat – but not walls. This feels weird as a wall should be easy to fly over etc. I think the better thing in all of this would be just to make the actual distance be from base to base for any kind of assault. This would make things have to be 9 inches on deep strike assaults, and you can still “ignore” terrain/units to jump over. It would bring some power back to jump units and bikers without making a rule set that feels very unrealistic. But heck I am just glad they removed the whole Dangerous terrain check from 40k.
Hopefully, this coming week sees the FAQ, with the new Slaanesh stuff shown, and gets us excited for the upcoming year of Matched play games. Right now I am looking at getting my Chaos working as I am leaving the Imperium behind for a while. The thought is just to play Chaos for the next batch of events. I am looking at some Daemon Engine builds, and other nonsense depending on what I feel like or get painted. Let’s hope we get an exciting FAQ.
~What do you think the BIGFAQ most needs to fix?
