Goatboy’s 40K Thoughts – Breaking out the Crystal Ball.
Goatboy here again and today I want to chit chat about the great 40K future. Time to read the rumors and try to dissect things that make sense.
As much as we give GW crap at times, they usually have a simple way their rules work. Tokens, additions, note keeping is something they do not always do all the time and usually it only happens in initial d6’s before the games begin. So with that in mind let me pull out my Crystal ball and will see if my ideas are close to right in the next few months.
IG – Throwing Bullets at you Before it was Cool.
The first new book rumored to come out after the stunties is the new Imperial Guard / new name that is annoying. The rumors point more to model releases instead of real rules so this is just going on my gut. I think their major IG only rule will be orders. Look for some changes to the order system as it gives IG another style of “Psychic” style powers without the threat of blowing up someone’s head when it reverbs through the walkie talkie.
I expect the orders to remain the same with some additions. I bet a Battlefocus style one will be added on and maybe a way to get a 6+ FNP by being tough or inspired. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a sky fire one too but I have a feeling that might be on an expensive character that might be worthless. Look for orders to be the big thing in this book – and maybe we might see some orders hit vehicles too?
I expect GW to try and sell some Leman Russes again. Either they will introduce a new variant or drop the point cost. If vehicle damage was like Escalation these things might see more play. Heck I wish the Vehicle Damage chart was just gone and replaced with until you lose your last hull point you don’t give a crap about damage. I think it would make Land Raiders more powerful. When was the last time you saw them on the table? Or when was the last time you saw them without some kind of tricks?
Oh and expect the Vendetta to go up in price. Or at least can’t be taken in squadrons. It made no sense they let people take squadrons of stuff but didn’t have models for the squadrons. Oh yeah – look for those tanks to finally come out too. Hydras, Manticores, and the other ones I can’t remember. I do wonder if the Chimera will go up in points but I don’t see it enough other then a small way to get a point sink in the army.
The unit costs will stay the same and I think they will do something about the blobs of massed Power Axes. It is just not very clean of a design and I feel they could do something to that. So many Sarges just doesn’t make much sense when you have an army of guys. All those leaders dangit. Still look for Orders to filter down through the army and maybe seeing leaders in units give some kind of ability to replace all those special weapons they could carry.
If the IG are nerfed pretty hard then expect another year of Xenos annoyance in most events. With Daemons randomly thrown in when their dice stay hot.
Orks – Rolling 5’s and 6’s All Day Long!
After the IG the rumor mongerings are pointing to Orks coming out. Wow is that book old. I love to play my Orks and really hope the book is decent. The bits and pieces we supposedly hear about are pointing at some point drops and other random rules.
I don’t mind random rules as long as all the rules are good. I joke that they will add Animosity to this army in hopes that people hear it and the negative energy of it will keep GW from putting that in the book. I hope the only random nature in the book is just the dice rolls to hit. I expect some big changes to their Psychic potential. They won’t be getting any book powers so hopefully the Ork Mind bullets are decent.
I’m sure their will be a FNP option spell as well as the traditional Waagh spell. I am not sure what the Waagh will do as Fleet isn’t nearly as back breaking for he Orks as it was. From there we have some kind of Zzap nonsense that might actually get to hit flyers like it should. I bet we have some kind of Gork or Mork style foot spell that does damage too and could run around the army. I don’t believe the whole, keep tokens to see how much Waagh Energy you have stored up as it is a clunky idea and a clunky mechanic. It is stuff like this they barely put in with tokens meaning an ability instead of actual counting of the tokens. I think Dark Eldar are one of the few with a token style counting mechanic that is very simple and stops at a low number.
I also see the Meganobz finally getting a box and probably better rules. I see their Toughness going to 5 and maybe, just maybe getting a 5++ save. These two things would make the unit great and I hope we see it. I think there will be big changes to a lot of the elites choices so all those Loota owners (I am one too) will have to grab some new elites. I do hope Flash Gitz get a cool box as we all wanted a unit for fun games and not having cool models to paint means the idea stays in the neat hole.
I hope to see Grots as a viable option in the book. Maybe Grot upgrades to guns on tanks to allow for a BS 3 and other neat things. The Deff Rolla will go up in price most likely and maybe will see it on other vehicles. I don’t know what they need to do with the trukk as it is a pretty weak transport. I expect a cleaning rule for when it blows up and how the Orks don’t get messed up. Still will have to wait a few months to see what kind of awesome we get for the Greenskins.
Chaos Veterans of the Long War?
This is the coolest thing I have heard about in awhile as I want my Chaos Marines to be good and think this might be the way to bring them back to the table top. I also like how the abilities are not on one guy that can get sniped out or challenged out. For those wondering the rumor is we will see it in the new “White Dwarf” in a few weeks and it is additions you can give to CSM if they take that Vet of the Long War mark for a small amount of points.
Right now the talk is Stubborn is cheap and this would be a big help to these guys. I don’t know where they lost all that knowing no fear in the warp with all the blood rains, creepy Slaanesh stares, World of Farts, and learning secrets about their parents. Stubborn was what I thought they should have and getting this for less then a marine for the whole unit might see some hit the table top. Mix this in with some tricks with Huron/Ahriman and I think there could be an army there.
The rumored plastic kits sound cool too and if they give a lot of options for a decent price point you might see some get mixed up with the other marines I have to create cool armies. Heck I just want them to release all the neat plastic crack we have been rumored to see for awhile now. This rumor all see the light hopefully at the end of the month in the new White Dwarf.
Further Out?
I can say most likely Space Wolves will lose their 4+ stop to Psychic powers. I am sure they will keep it when they get targeted but look for that to go away for sure. Everyone else has either had negatives to leadership (Nids, Daemons) or lose their ability to stop stuff completely (Eldar) so don’t expect those bearded jerks to keep their ability to say “No”. I am not sure what they will do to fix Grey Knights. Changing some point values, tweaking options, or just adding something new might be what is needed.
I bet will have some more digital goodness mixed in too. We all want the Chaos Legion books and the combo Daemon/CSM books might be legit. I think they would sell alright and give people more playing options. I do expect most events to “create” their own set of allowed rules for their events as well. I don’t expect GW to do it and it will take some of the bigger events to come together and decide what they want and don’t want. I think when TO’s money is on the line for an event it is there choice to do what they want. Just like it is our choice to go. I am thinking events might try to push more fun aspects into the game with more random drawings, spread out love, and less stress on being the ultimate bad ass.
How many of these things you think I will get right?
