Warhammer 40K: Quick Reviews – Orks, Daemons, Custodes, & Tau Detachments
GW has dropped a brand new Dataslate, updated Points, Daemon Index, and four new detachments to look over. Let’s do a quick review for each one.
Goatboy here and it is like we had a mini Grotmas this week. GW has dropped a brand new Dataslate, updated Points, Daemon Index, and even four new detachments to look over. It is interesting to see 4 new ones when we already had a big drop this past Xmas but hey more options is usually good right? These new ones seem pretty interesting too with what feels like simplified but very powerful rules interactions front loaded. Let’s do a quick review for each one.
Orks – More Dakka!
Why is it good? This detachment has one of the nicest names for any set of rules we have had in a while. Gone is the random fluff driven name with just the simple – More Dakka – covering what this detachment is about. It is a simple – hey Orks like to shoot so we are going to give it more shooting.
There are two rules to this detachment that activate a much more shooty version of Orks. The first is a simple during the shooting phase you have Sustained Hits 2 on your weapons. The second is giving all your weapons the Assault rule during the Waagh. These are available for all Infantry and Walker models in the army and this combos into creating a rather brutal shooting force.
If you haven’t found any Tankbustas yet then you will want some as these guys become a pretty insane nightmare to deal with. This is probably one of the most powerful shooting options we have seen in a while as it just amplifies the Ork shooting to absurd proportions. Heck the enhancements do wonders too with 3 that activate rules for the bearer and the unit they are attached too. The two will see are Dead Shiney Shootas that gives Rapid Fire and Targetin’ Squigs that gives a +1 to hit.
All the stratagems are great with each costing 1CP which is pretty dang good. All of them making your shooting better with Ignores cover, a reactive shooting attack, and even putting your unit into the Waagh for a phase. Oh and we even got a Reroll option too which is just amazing for Orks. These are all brutal and we might actually see this Detachment get used with waves of Flash Gitz, Lootas, and Tank Bustas in the future.
Adeptus Custodes – Lions of the Emperor
You would think this Custodes detachment would be for the Dark Angels but nope it is for the Custodes. This is all about making your individual character units or single model units better by giving a rule of getting a +1 to hit and wound if your unit is not within 6” of another unit. This is a weird one as it really wants to push you towards MSU style set up. The rule only works for Non Vehicle units too which means those other oops all Dreadnought armies wouldn’t benefit from this one.
All of the enhancements are about making your Character units better with an option for Lone Operative in Praesidius. You have the best weapon upgrade in Admonimortis that gives you a +3 to strength, +1 to AP, and +1 to Damage. You can see this on an Axe Wielding Shield Captain in the future. You even get a stand back up option called Superior Creation. There is even Fierce Competitor that gives you more attacks if you have more enemy models around you.
The Stratagems are all 1CP and they all are about making your units a bit better. You have a reactive move stratagem. You have one that lets you reuse a once per game effect. There is also a fights on death that works better for Character models and even the old Split your Terminator unit apart as well. This is an interesting army but probably not going to see a ton of play as there are other options that just work better.
Tau – Experimental Prototype Cadre
Here is a suit focused Tau detachment as well that is pushing you taking a ton of suits, experimental weapons, and getting ready to shoot your opponent with superior bullets. The main rule of the detachment is adding 6” to your shooting weapons range which is boring but isn’t bad. All of the Enhancements make specific weapons better with increases to Strength, attacks, Damage, and Armor Penetration.
Really this detachment is do you like your characters to have awesome shooting weapons and want to take a lot of suits characters? Well this one is for you. All of the stratagems are 1CP and all about doing a ton of damage. You have two Stratagems that increase your shooting potential with either giving you Sustained/Lethal combos with Hazardous or increasing the Strength by 1, AP by 1, and gaining Hazardous as well. You have a Lone Op power too as well as a healing suit wounds as well. Heck you can even force a unit to have -1 to wound you if the weapon they are using is stronger than your toughness.
This is the push to make an all suit army and while its main rule seems weak the rest of the options are pretty amazing. It makes you really wish you could take all four Enhancements as having any extra damage on a weapon is powerful.
Chaos Daemons – Shadow Legion
The last Detachment is probably my favorite as it creates the Be’lakor army of old with some super charged set of rules. There are two spokes of rules for the army. All the Daemon options gain the Shadow Legion rule which is different for each type of God they fall under. The Khorne one gets Advance and Charge. Tzeentch is just a flat -1 to be hit. Slaanesh units can’t be Overwatched. Nurgle gets a -1 to wound if the attack is above their Toughness. Undivided units get the Dark Pacts rule (as the only unmarked things in the list is CSM stuff and Be’lakor) and they also gain the Deep Strike rule. This is a ton of awesome rules for the army and lets you get some crazy stuff.
There are some limits on the army as you can only take up to 1000 points of CSM stuff which revolves around most of the infantry units, no Daemon Princes, and no Special Characters. You can’t take Daemon Princes on the Daemon side as well but that makes sense based on the Be’lakor fluff. There are four interesting Enhancments but two seem well set up to be taken all the time. Leaping Shadows gives the model and unit they are attached to a 9” scout move which can be very powerful with things like Bloodthristers coming at you very quickly. Fade to Darkness also seems strong in that it lets the Bearer and unit return to reserves to be redeployed again.
The Stratagems are interesting with how they interact with the army. They give an ability and if you are a specific Marked unit you gain an extra ability. I think the 1CP pull a Heretic Astartes and Daemon unit back into reserves seems really strong. That will probably be what is used all the time to move models around, redeploy, and cause as much mischief as you can with our options. It really feels like an interesting list and something to think about when trying to build “combo” style armies out there. I just like the fact that both sides of the army get rules that are good.
The New Detachment Verdict
Overall it is pretty interesting to see 4 detachments come out so quickly. I don’t know if the armies needed them beyond the Daemon one so it is still cool to see them. The Ork one might be the strongest as it just does a ton of damage with all your d3 shot Missiles you can throw out. I am glad it doesn’t go to Deff Koptas or Warbikes as those could be insane units if they threw out a ton of damage. Still it is a fun time to have all these new rules.
Which one do you like the most?
