Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: FAQ ME! First Impressions
Wow! The FAQ updated the game more than Chapter Approved! Here’s what you should look out for.
In some ways that is better as CA should be looked at big-picture seasonal refreshes instead of fixing specific broken issues. In fact, that is what I expect to happen as we see the year start to cycle up, releases get released when they should have been, and we get new armies on the tabletop. It is also why I expect another update coming in Jan or maybe to coincide with those newly announced GW events.
The Big Stuff
Chaos Nerfbat! The big update is changing all the Chaos Dark Hereticus spell stuff and Dark Litany stuff to only affect their chosen Legion now. This is huge and a big hit to the soupable nature of Chaos and most likely the biggest nerf to come down – well until the Thousand Sons codex comes out and locks in those nerfs from the Dark Spell casters book. This is huge as you won’t be seeing Morty double move like a boss anymore. It also means the big ole Monster Smash list takes a pretty big hit on what was most likely its last legs with the new Ad Mech and the new Sisters – you ain’t got invulnerable saves for a turn that is coming down the pipe. Is this the end of Chaos – I am not sure. It is a weird book and there are still some other things that could be mixed together to be powerful. It is just the end of the common Chaos stuff we have seen.
Back to the dusty shelf!
Dark Eldar Comeuppance! Next up we end up getting the extra attack nerf we needed for the Dark Eldar. We also saw some small nerfs/tweaks as well. Drahzar went up to 145 – causing issues with the whole pick the 3 most expensive unit options we currently have for Dark Eldar. On top of that Liquifers can’t be boosted by Dark Technomancers anymore – thus ending the reign of Wracks in every list. I expect some Wracks to hit Ebay before long so those on the look out – look out! Oh an Raiders went up in points too and they answered the whole – take all Patrols and you get an extra free 2 CP.
Bonus Attacks – Then we had the fix for those attacks generating more attacks and now not generating the extra “sweep” like attacks any longer. This hits all those things left that get those abilities to do some kind of multiple by X your basic attacks and then a rule that generates extra attacks. Currently, this would hit Dark Eldar, some of the Chaos stuff (Lord of Skulls noooo), and then there are a few Marine things. It is an old combo that was around in 8th edition and needed this tweak to help keep things from getting out of hand.
Odds & Ends
Other fun things – you can’t Guerilla Tactics up and out in the same turn. That seems like a big deal for some Marine players using Incursors and other things. Oh, they answered the whole – the Hypothesis of the charge to a Raider is 8 inches and not 9 inches. It is now if the rule says you are 9 inches away your charge is 9 inches. It is pretty simple and makes the whole rules lawyer aspect better. They also answered the entire – what does it mean when you use a rule that makes you count as stationary question. Well, guess what – you count as Stationary so you can do all the things as if you were well – stationary. Double shoot, shoot better, be able to shoot, charge, etc etc etc. This was something that some of the playtesters said would work this way and just never showed up. It is neat it is here now and it is cleaner and makes sense especially for future rules.
Forge World Cleanup – FW also got some updates with some things getting fixed on the Chaos Side. Their Drop Pods work now and the old Bloat drone now has Contagions of Nurgle. This is good as you can flash outbreak them now if you wanted to. So not too bad as I thought the Drone needed to match up exactly like Death Guard stuff.
The Verdict?
Overall not too bad as it helped answer some things. They really doubled down on the Whole Fight First and Fight last things in most of the books. We got some good answers on the Dark Eldar stuff just in time for Ad Mech to get going on the tabletop scene. I know I am pretty excited to see the Thousand Sons as it will give some hope to a CSM book as well as finding out actual rules for Bel’Akor at some point.
~What do think will be the biggest change to the meta after this?
