40K Meta: Orks and Daemons and Wolves, Oh My!
With so many 40K releases, let’s take some time and go over exactly what changed, what is new, and what is likely to be relevant.
A guest editorial by AbusePuppy
There have been quite a few releases dropping recently; none of them have been game-changers for the most part but there’s definitely some stuff in there worth looking at.
Chaos Daemons
Of all of the factions that benefited from this recent wave of releases, I think Chaos Daemons will come out of it the best. They were in an acceptable position already- Daemons have been making good appearances at a lot of tournament Top 8 brackets for all of 6th and 7th Editions on the back of FMCs, deathstars, summoning, and the Grimoire of True Names; since they still have access to all that, they are still good. However, there are a number of important tricks that they have added to their arsenal that may potentially be able to add some additional oomph to existing lists or even open up new lists.
The new psychic power tables are the first part of this. Now the Nurgle and Slaanesh disciplines are far from bad, but for the most part neither are they going to be game-breakers; there just aren’t enough models that can roll enough times on them to realistically get the powers you really want (though I would watch out for a Nurgle Herald sneaking +3 Toughness onto a unit of Plague Flies or the like.) Tzeentch, however, gets a couple super-relevant powers: a Str D shot (albeit WC3), another conjuration, and an Ignores Cover nova. All of these things are potentially quite powerful abilities, even within the context of their limitations, and since Fateweaver automatically knows all of the powers on the Change discipline, armies can reliably have access to all of them. Count on seeing a lot more Tzeetnch around than ever before.
However, lest we think that is all the new book is, there is also the relics. In addition to the Hellforged Artefacts that daemons can get via the Rewards tables, now they also have access to a set of “standard” relics that are purchased in the normal fashion- and, as best anyone can tell, they get full access to both sets (though this may eventually change if they ever get a 7E book.) Somewhat surprisingly, all four gods have some pretty good options open to them- rather a rarity, that. Khorne gets a melee weapon that is Str D on any roll of 6 to hit for only 30pts- unreliable, but brutal when it works and even when not invoking the Dirty D it’s still AP2 at initiative. There is also the Crimson Crown, which gives +1A to all Khorne Daemons within 8″ of the bearer- we’ll come back to this one. Tzeentch gets the Paradox, which once per turn lets you swap the sides on all dice (so 1s become 6s, 2s become 6s, 3s become 4s, etc)- this is an extremely strong effect, since it means you are GUARANTEED to succeed a WC2 power on 3 dice or a WC3 power on 5 dice if you’re willing to use it. They also have a way to know all powers from the Change discipline (albeit at a bit high of a cost), a disc that lets you automatically succeed one reserve roll per turn, and an old-school Fateweaver relic that gives you a 3++ (but means you can run away any time you take a wound.) Nurgle has an aura that gives -1 Strength and Toughness to any non-Nurgle units in range, which is absolutely brutal for a variety of reasons. Slaanesh probably comes out the weakest, but the Agony Whip can prevent a character from making any attacks if it suffers a wound (and MCs can get it, negating the penalty for its bad AP value) and several “the more fights I get into the stronger I am” weapons as well.
The formations I am a bit middling on- Daemonic Corruption is a poor replacement for Objective Secured, even if it’s not that bad at the end of the day (especially an aggressive army like Daemons that wants to be pushing into the enemy zone.) +/-1 on the Warp Storm table is enough to mitigate the worst effects of it, though by and large it will still be a huge waste of both players time every turn. Their decurion’s biggest problem is similar to the Imperial Guard version- it’s just very unwieldy, with lots of expensive choices and large minimum requirements abounding. The Tzeentch core formation is probably the best, since you can use a combination of Pink Horrors for reasonably-tough warp charge generators and Exalted Flamers to fill slots for cheap (while also having a S6 AP3 torrent flamer and a S10 d3 shot gun.) However, the Khorne formations also have some possibilities due to the way they can stack bonuses- sharing a Locus off a Herald gives you either Rage or Hatred, and then +1 Attack from the formation benefit (presuming you have two units next to each other, not hard to do) and +1 Attack from the relic we mentioned a while back will give you stuff like Bloodletters putting out five attacks on the charge, or six from a Khorne Dog. There are some other possibilities in there as well- the Daemon Prince formation brings a lot of what most people are using already, though sadly the Khorne one is nothing but a tax on the others. Soul Grinders likewise get their own little detachment, which can be pretty scary in numbers or when supporting something else. Nurgle has the ability to give Plague Drones +3 attacks with a reasonable amount of reliability, which could make a deathstar truly terrifying, and an AP3 Ignores Cover Apocalyptic Blast is in the dice for Khorne, which is not something most armies like to see. All in all, I think you’re more likely to see the formations taken on their own rights rather than as part of the decurion, but it is worth keeping an eye on at least.
The takeaway from all of this is probably that Chaos Daemons, an army that was already doing fairly well, is now in it for the money. Be prepared to deal with their tricks (especially summoning and aggressive melee elements as well as FMCs in support roles) or pay the price.
Space Wolves
In counterpoint to the above, Space Wolves have not been doing well over the past couple of years. Ever since the end of 5th they have been in a pretty bad place, appearing mostly as an ally contingent for another “real” army, whether to bring Jaws of the World Wolf (early on in 6E) or to slot in a bunch of Thunder Hammer-toting fast characters with minimal investment (in the various Superfriends-styled lists these days.) In order to be anything like competitive SW need a huge shot in the arm for their ailing codex, and I’m not sure that this is it. However, there’s a couple of very interesting shenanigans that might be able to make the grade.
First off, the Wulfen are their new big unit release; the Wulfen themselves are decent-ish melee specialists with weak armor (4+), but multiple wounds, FNP, and lots of berzerker-style shenanigans to keep them in a fight even when they’re dead. They get access to a pretty nice melee weapon with very high stats and the ability to strike at Initiative when charging (but at I1 the rest of the time), as well as TH/SS for the whole unit if you want it- pretty snazzy when you’re already W2 FNP already but lack a good armor save. However, their real claim to fame is in the 6″ aura they give out, which lets all other SW units roll on a table with various benefits on it that enhance their combat abilities. The real kicker, however, is their formation that gives units +1 on the table for EACH Wulfen unit past the first within range- and the 7+ result on their d6 table is to let a unit move twice during the movement phase, which is absolutely brutal with TWC and other fast units, giving them first-turn charges almost every time. However, enabling this requires running a ton of kinda-expensive units of footbound melee specialists, which seems like a dicey plan.
The second piece of SW’s new gifts have been the changes to their units and equipment; bizarrely, their Dreadnoughts were not brought in line with the SM/DA versions, retaining their previous, crappy number of attacks. However, their Iron Priests have been swapped over to the new paradigm, so they start at two wounds, are a bit more expensive, and are HQ units not Elites. This part is particularly huge because of the Company of the Great Wolf detachment, which was often taken to bring three characters (a Battle Leader and two Priests) with no tax so they could join some other units. This can still be done after a fashion (taking nothing but WGBL in the HQ slots and solo Servitors to fill the mandatory ELs), but it’s not significantly less efficient and I think you’re going to see a downswing of this strategy even as you see other SW builds getting a bit more popular. Several SW units also have access to the new Hoarfrost Pistol or the new Wulfen hammer, but these probably aren’t going to be all that big a deal in the long run.
Like the other factions, SW have also gotten a decurion and its supporting formations. Taking a note from Space Marines, they have a ton of “sub-factions” representing the various Great Companies and their unique specialties. Many of them are mediocre at best and occasionally kinda awful, but two of them stand out as very interesting, the Iron Wolves and Blackmane’s buddies. Iron Wolves get to play as budget Battle Company- they have to pay for transports, but all of the weapons and wargear (but not relics, additional models in a squadron, etc) on their vehicles are free. They also can move further when going Flat Out (yawn) and disembark after a 12″ move (decent, but without assault transports it’s nothing special.) I think the rather steep tax on the formation makes it unlikely to see a lot of use (you’re looking at 800+pts of core units), but it is one of the two possibilities for a really workable decuion- and the decurion has some big tricks. The other one is Ragnar Blackmane’s personal Great Company, which gets a free Drop Pod for every unit that can take one and all of those Pods arrive automatically on the first turn rather than only half- this can frontload quite a lot of guys and I think is more likely to be the natural choice for players due to other stuff. They get the usual other arrays of formations, many of which are decent-ish, but none of them stand out as being a big deal, not even their faux Librarian Conclave.
The decurion, as already mentioned, is probably where the money is going to be. The core formations are pretty huge and expensive, which is a problem, but they do at least get the potential for free transports and a lot of their auxiliary options are either cheap or very useful, so they’re not screwed in that respect. Their “take two core options” ability is pretty atrocious- in return for investing 1500+ points of units, you get… Fearless and Furious Charge, hooray! Yeah, whatever. They only get one other bonus- and while it looks mediocre, it’s actually a real doozy. So, in any enemy Charge sub-phase if you have one or more of your units locked into combat, your other units from the decurion can “counter-charge” and try and assault into the ongoing fight(s). Okay, that’s kinda cool, right? But here’s the kicker- you can do this regardless of whether you disembarked from a transport or arrived from reserve. So if you can use shenanigans to get a fist-turn charge with that pack of Thunderwolves or Fenrisian Wolves (such as the Wulfen “move twice” ability we already discussed) and lock yourself in with a couple enemy units, then everything that arrived via Drop Pod will also be able to jump in to support those fights as well. Now, admittedly, this is a pretty complex plan with a lot of moving parts and a lot of potential for going badly- but it’s also one that you can build into a list that otherwise has a number of options and has the potential to devastate a lot of lists before the game even starts.
So we may actually see Space Wolves making an appearance at tournaments; maybe not at the top tables, and maybe only with one “real” build standing any chance, but given where they’re sitting right now anything is an improvement, so I don’t think we can complain too hard. There’s definitely stuff I would’ve liked to see different (improved Scouts/Dreads, etc) but they are no longer sitting in the Stupid Chair of MEQs- that spot is now reserved for Blood Angels.
Orks
Unlike the other two factions, Orks didn’t get a lot this time around. Now, like Daemons, this isn’t the worst thing in the world- they already had been doing sorta-okay for a while, even if their book had been sliding downhill ever since Eldar got their update and Wave Serpents no longer ruled the world. But their bikestar, the discount Stompa, and a handful of other things have been keeping them towards the top end of the middle tables (or the bottom end of the top tables, depending) which is not the worst place to be. However, outside of those specialized builds they were in pretty poor shape and they had particular problems with a lot of the propogation of Ignores Cover shots out there, which they have very little to deal with. So Orks definitely needed the help.
Unfortunately, while they get a solid core detachment for their decurion and pretty reasonable auxiliary choices, that’s basically all they got. None of the formations are new (just reprints of the ones from their codex and Ghazgull supplement) and the decurion itself, while far from horrible, is not likely to be a game-breaker as it gives them no new solutions to a lot of the problem units (like Centurions and Wraithknights) that they struggled with. The bonuses will be pretty good in casual play and they do a good job of enabling the main Ork strategy (hordes of melee units) by letting you Waaaagh every turn (i.e. Run + Charge) and giving Hammer of Wrath to any units that are ten models or larger- it’s not often you think of Orks as “fast” or “striking at high Initiative,” after all.
But since that’s all they got, I don’t think it’s really gonna be enough. It’s not horrible- it leaves them in a strictly better place than before, and flooding the table with Boyz will give some lists serious problems that they can’t deal with, but for the most part I don’t think they are really going to be making a lot of top spots and it really doesn’t open up any truly “new” options that the army didn’t have before. Yeah, it’ll be a bit faster (as you can just keep repeating that Waaagh, making any kind of maneuvering shenanigans on the enemy’s part a lot less useful) but it won’t help you if you run into something you can’t beat in a fight (which are depressingly-common) nor will it help you directly win missions in ITC or other formats.
The Fallout
I think these releases are a step in the right direction for Games Workshop- while they may not solve all of the problems of these factions, they at least show that GW has some dim awareness that there are problems and that they should be addressed in some way. It doesn’t make 7E any less of a clusterf@#k in general, but it at least lets them play as part of the clusterf@#ck, which is a better deal for anyone that likes those factions. Chaos Daemons are the most likely to come out of this with something resembling a winning list, but I won’t discount SW quite yet. We can cross our fingers that the other early-7E books such as DE, GK, and BA will get similar treatments to these, giving them the elements of a “proper” codex and hopefully bringing them back to something resembling relevance.
~Who do you think the new winners and losers will be?
