ThePenitentOne

I think both of you are reading a little too much into what I actually wrote. I don't mean to imply that every faction needs a range as big as marines. What I meant to express is that in a game where one faction has 100+ kits, it seems a bit over the top to question every potential release for a neglected faction with a mere 22 kits. Certainly I agree with the premise that trueborn/ blood brides/ haemoxites SHOULD be meaningfully distinguishable from their battle line equivalents... I just have a problem with the suggestion that neglected factions don't deserve a few extra units unless they meet an arbitrary standard uniqueness in a game where another faction has 100+ kits and far and away, many more instances of redundancy. @Mogger351 The Trueborn have a great background that shines a light on elements of the larger Drukhari society; the Blood Brides all have the title of Hekatrix, and fluffwise, each capable of serving as a squad leader, while the Haemoxites are among their Master's most durable and enduring creations. And sure, all of those things are fluff distinctions, and you're writing specifically from a rules perspective... But just because the rules told us to field 4 Blasters with an Archon in a Venom, that doesn't mean that those players didn't see them as the uncloned, badass ancients that they were. As a Crusader, I had to EARN my favoured units- first, my character would have to earn the title of a Lord of Commorragh- a requisition that can only be purchased when the Character hits Battle Hardened, Heroic or Legendary. Once they've earned that title, they may upgrade one new battle line unit to favoured status. But the narrative for Scourges was different- one of our campaign rules was that Ascendant Lords had to first capture one of the territories associated with a Mercenary type- Incubi Shrines, Scourge Spires, and Shado Districts- before they could recruit Mercenaries of that type. You may never have played a Drukhari Crusader in 9th ed. But for us, the differences between Trueborn and Scourges matter in a lot of really subtle ways, some based on fluff and others with rules interactions. And for what it's worth, I really liked what they did with all the favoured units in 9th. They didn't change load out at all; Kabalytes got really shooty, wyches really fighty and wracks really tough. My Kabal were poisoners, so my Trueborn took their battle honours as poison weapon upgrades; having that 2+ BS and ability to ignore hit modifiers was a nice multiplier given the poison specialization. It allowed for another good bit of narrative too; as a campaign rule, Ascendant Lords had to capture a Toxin Distillery before any of their units could choose from that category of battle honours.

Scourges don't fill that role from a couple of different points of view: on the flavour side, scourges are mercs: they aren't "loyal" to the Kabal, Cult or Coven as a "true" member would be; given the low adherence to loyalty as a concept in Drukhari society, it may perhaps be more fitting to say that as hirelings, they can pick and choose the jobs they take, where true members of a Kabal, Cult or Coven cannot. From a rules point of view, their lack of keywords associated with their lack of membership in a Kabal, Cult or Coven may make their strat use more cumbersome than Trueborn, Blood Brides or Haemoxcytes might. Also: if Marines get a dozen redundant unit choices, then other factions deserve a playing field that's at least a few kits closer to level. Having said all that: Ideally, carving out a different role for these units than their battle-line counterparts would be cool, and is a goal that designers should strive for. Also, the idea of every unit having its own datacard rule, love it or hate it, does help create design space to differentiate battlefield roles, so I'd say there's a good chance we'll see some of that.

For me, the reason I don't want new Kabalytes or Wyches is that the army needs so much other stuff more. We need grotesques, Court of the Archon and beasts SO badly that contemplating advocating for anything before we get these things is a bit of a trigger for me. If GW gives me new Kabalytes before grotesques, it might be enough to make me rage quit until the range gets the attention it deserves, like I did for Sisters. As for Malys? If we get her, it's better than nothing, and seeing her reassures me they aren't planning on merging with Craftworlds. The utter lack of information about Drukhari to date has had me edgy for awhile.

My apologies; when the vault debuted during the 8th (I think) edition, the rules content for all previous editions (7th and lower) had been scrubbed. Seeing that, I mostly ignored the vault from that point forward, and just assumed they had maintained the practice. My mistake, and I'm happy to be corrected. The 9th edition Crusade rules for Torchbearer Fleets and Armies of Faith is some of my favourite WD content ever. It makes me happy to know that people still have access even if they weren't fortunate enough to pick up paper copies. While I certainly appreciate the value of well written lore, my personal preference always skews to actual game content; I'm more motivated to read lore when I know there are mechanisms to help me represent that on the table. But again, that's my personal preference, not an inherent problem with Lore-only content.

As Imperial Agents, they are available to Guard as well as any other Imperial force. They get a special sheet for working with Sisters, because when they do, they get access to Acts of Faith, but any imperial army can use the IA sheet.

So if I was running a Xenos campaign as a GM, I'd go Craftworld Eldar; the narrative would be told in bursts- five to ten game mini-stories spread out along thousands of years of Eldar lifespans. Like each player pics one episode from their backstory, and then the GM helps the others weave their way into the narrative... And then you end up with pivotal moments where the lives of these characters repeatedly intersect. Some of those events could be tied to the path system- a story arch might be a character's transition from the path of the Warrior to the Outcast, for example. You'd want to give farseers hints about what is to come- dream sequences, vision quests- that sort of thing.

It's going to be in the next Dwarf, which is almost entirely EC oriented.

Yeah, you know I hadn't been thinking of them- only the Dwarfs. People often talk about how good they were, and I've never read one since they always cost FW$ and can't be impulse purchased locally. I should probably check them out. It might be different for me since I care so little about Space Marines. For a guy who likes Sisters/ Inquisition vs. GSC or Drukhari, which one is best to start with? (I also really like Kroot, but I would really want rules content for them too... Heck, who am I kidding- I want rules for it all, that's my problem).

They also rip any rules content out as soon as the edition changes, which is why even at its best, of always regarded the Vault as sub-par, if not totally useless.

Boarding Actions are great, because when you've only got 500 points, you don't see the impact of a small range. It's been a while since we've had Crusade content in a Dwarf, and so far this edition, they've been good about that (new content for Sisters, Kroot, and GSC). I was hoping to see a Path of the Outcast for Eldar. Even extra content for EC to fit the theme- their Crusade rules focus almost exclusively on making combat drugs, so they lack an overall directional focus. I'm not sure what that might be, but I think its good for the game if every faction has one.

For units that have costs listed for 5 or 10 models in the Munitorum manual usually have that written as This unit may include 5-10 models on their datasheet. I've always taken this to mean 5 is the minimum, 10 is the maximum. You ALWAYS can take a squad of 8 if you really want too, but nobody ever does because you'd have to pay for 10, so you'd be ripping yourself off. That's a Munitorum Field Manual issue, not a datacard. The could make this change GAME WIDE overnight without even waiting for an edition change.

I want to thank you for this post. The lack of Drukhari on the map had me nervous- many units have been ported to the Aeldari dex under the auspices of Ynarri, and for a heartbeat or two, I thought GW might be on the verge of making a very big mistake and squatting their dex. I think Commorragh is an excellent setting, and I've always wanted a mini-game/ campaign. I could see a Warhammer Quest game or a Kill Team Season in Commorragh. Their Crusade rules from 9th do half of the heavy lifting by themselves. The lack of rumors or information around Drukhari and the support shown to regular Aeldari were other contributing factors to my fear. I like your idea that the radio silence is due to tansition/ campaign shenanigans much, much better.

Restoring Spec Ops would be nice. I was pretty choked when they killed it.

I like the robots quite a bit, but that paint job is brutal. I want an article about the chaos boxes; the only Ksons I have are the Hexfire ones, and the new box fits nicely, but I want to see the box contents listed- was there a pair of 'bots in it? They'd be the new model, I'm so glad Karanak is back. I'm going to end up with the Khorne leggy dudes from the new KT box and they'll get a card for 40k and I've got the WH+ WE Termie guy. I want Karanak and a box hounds. I might conside a small WE force.

The same information can be gleaned from Battletome VS. Codex sales. It doesn't track directly- in god-based based books (which both systems have embraced), you can't tell directly whether people with either army like that army specifically for its Daemonic units vs. the Legion troops or Mortal Followers. But it's a pretty close approximation. You also have the hit count for DLC for both armies to go on. Which may yield more information by looking at whether the detachments used focus on the Daemonic units. On a side note: I gotta get the Slaanesh Endless spell giant head before it disappears- someday there will be a knight conversion that uses it, but I doubt I'll get around to it before the piece disappears. It'll be the knight that I use for my EC allied unit.