General Myndoras Odon (IA11) in 7th Ed

[Cithaeron]

So, I'm currently in the process of writing an IG list with the latest codex and for the Warlord choice I was thinking of running a counts-as of General Myndoras Odon, the commander of the Cadian 6th from Imperial Armour 11: The Doom of Mymaera. As far as I'm concerned, the benefits he grants coupled with his eminently reasonable points cost make him one of the best value Imperial Guard HQ choices out there.

 

But here's the thing. He's a character whose rules were very much written with the 5th Ed Codex: Imperial Guard in mind. That being said, most of his rules seem to translate over to Codex: Astra Militarum fairly unambiguously. For example, his Supreme Commander rule states that:-

 

"Odon can use the Bring it Down!, Fire on my Target!, and Get Back in the Fight! orders, as well as the First rank, FIRE! Second Rank, FIRE!, Incoming! and Move! Move! Move! orders."

 

i.e., all the orders available to a Senior Officer in the 5th Ed Codex: Imperial Guard. As they are referred to by name rather than by reference to the old Codex, I would say that all those orders operate by their most up-to-date definition - i.e. "Fire on my Target!" causes shots to Ignore Cover (as the order is described in Codex: Astra Militarum) rather than forcing successful cover saves from a shooting attack to be re-rolled (as the order is described in Codex: Imperial Guard), whereas "Incoming!" would work as described in Codex: Imperial Guard as that order is not present in Codex: Astra Militarum.

 

However, then you get to the Options. The exact wording is as follows:-

 

Options:

• The squad may include any of the Regimental Advisors and their Bodyguards as listed in Codex Imperial Guard.

So, unlike with the orders, this rule specifically refers to the old Codex. Now, vanilla Bodyguards, like the "Incoming!" order, no longer feature in the newer Codex. However, Odon is clearly described as being able to take them; therefore, I can only suppose, he would still be allowed to do so, using the Bodyguard profile from Codex: Imperial Guard. However, the Advisors - the Master of Ordnance, the Officer of the Fleet and the Astropath - ARE featured in Codex: Astra Militarum. And they all have entirely different profiles to their Codex: Imperial Guard incarnations. Now, going by the exact wording of the rule I suppose you'd have to take said Advisors as described in the older Codex. Which seems a tad perverse, really, especially as the orders he gives would use the updated version from the latest Codex while with his Advisors he'd be stuck with a more expensive Astropath who isn't a Psyker from the older, outdated book, for example. Plus, if the new book was still called "Codex: Imperial Guard" instead of having a different (read: daft) name, then you'd almost certainly use the updated profiles - but as the wording of the rule refers to "Imperial Guard" as opposed to "Astra Militarum", you can't, as the description can only refer to the older publications. RAI would suggest to me that it'd make more sense for him to use the updated profiles of those Advisors which have an updated profile, going by the exact same principle which I detailed earlier for the updated orders.

 

But then again, General Odon already gains quite a bit from the rules update when compared to a standard CCS - at the cost of being unable to use some of the newer orders, he still has access to "Incoming!", which can be a total lifesaver for the poorly-armoured Guardsmen under his command, and he can still take vanilla Bodyguards to soak up some wounds without having to shell out stupid amounts of points to take Nork Deddog. Perhaps more expensive Regimental Advisors with outdated rules are a small price to pay for the ability to abuse the good old "Incoming!/Get Back in the Fight!" combo?

 

I really don't know what interpretation to go with. So, I'll pose the question to you guys.

[Valkyrion]

He will get FAQd eventually by FW, though they can be a bit tardy.

In friendly games it really is a case of talking it over with your opponent, but I'd personally be inclined to completely ignore AM (forever and ever and ever, in fact I'd be inclined to pretend it never existed at all....) and just use the old IG dex until it's sorted.

 

The problem being that if you're trying to convert rules from one edition to another then getting lost in translation is certain to happen at some point and could easily lead to sticky and awkward rules disputes, especially in a tight game - it's my experience anyway that with all the good will in the world, a hybrid ruleset causes issues.