40K 8th: Vehicles Teaser
Games Workshop unleashes vehicles 2.0 with this new teaser. Get ready to shake things up!
We all knew this change was coming. Vehicles are going to work a lot like Large Creatures in 40k 8th Edition. There was a lot of speculation on exactly how that would work. Well now GW has given us a pretty good example:
via Warhammer Community
The Necron Annihilation Barge – also the first big Necron tease!
“For a start, it’s using the same stats as everyone else, so armour values on the various facings are out, and instead, we have Toughness, Wounds and an Armour Save, making it more comparable in durability to other large monsters and massive beasts of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Also, it’s got Attacks and Strength! So it can fight (albeit inexpertly) in combat. This represents it literally ramming or smashing into enemy units.”
- Armor Facing is out, Toughness, Wounds and Armor Saves are IN
- Yes – they can even “participate” in close combat
“…get hit by a Deathroller, for example, and prepare to be a pancake.”
“Vehicles will be affected by all the other new rules we’ve talked about too, so they will be able to move as any other model would, including advancing. They shoot just like everyone else does, including (with a few exceptions) -1 to hit with heavy weapons if they move. They can even charge!”
Read The Full Vehicle Teaser HERE
This is all very interesting news. Vehicles can now function a lot like creatures (well, almost exactly like creatures) as they can now charge into combat. This change effectively replaces the old tank shock rules. I’m looking forward to this for a few reasons as it allows units to attempt to bog down transports.
Remember from yesterday how GW mentioned that Open-Topped vehicles will allow their riders the ability to fire their pistols into close-combat? Well now it’s making a lot more sense. If a transport gets charged (or charges) then the riders can still play a part in the combat/shooting phase.
And if Vehicles move like other models would, then that means they will also have to execute a Fall Back move to leave close-combat. That could be a good way to avoid their shooting for a round – toss a unit at them and force them to Fall Back instead of shooting you! And how does that Fall Back move impact the riders in the transport? Guess we’ll have to wait to find out!
Now, these rules are just a teaser so perhaps vehicles will have some type of special rule that ignores the penalty for falling-back…we’ll have to wait and see. On the flip side, what if dedicated anti-vehicle units have special rules that prevent vehicles from falling back. That would be a great rule for units like Ork Tankbustas! I’m all for anything that gives Melee some hope vs shooting.
Replace Infantry with Vehicle and BOOM. No Escape for Vehicles. That’s why the Keyword system works! Maybe call it “Tankhunter” – just sayin.
We also saw that units may get different saves in close combat – the Wyches have a +4 invulnerable for close combat(again). What if units like Tankbustas has a special save vs vehicle close combat attacks? Could be interesting! Will the game get that granular? Honestly I hope not…we’ve all seen what too many special rules will do to the game. However, the fact that these type of things are even a possibility for 8th is what makes this interesting.
Regardless, these rules will help vehicles be a bit more durable on the tabletop. Will a couple of solid Lascannon shots take out the Annihilation Barge? You bet – just like now. But keep in mind we don’t know what other unit specific rules this bad-boy has on it. The Necrons have that whole “living metal” thing going on and self-repairing, too. But based on the info we have right now, I’m okay with this for now. Even if every Guardsmen has a way to hurt vehicles.
What do you think of these vehicle changes? Good? Bad? Let us know in the comments below!
