2018 Big FAQ - how will it affect your list?

[MeltaRange]

Overall, I like the changes.  The one that I am most interested/concerned with, is the new Tactical Reserves rule.  Essentially, now not only do you need to have 1/2 of you units deployed, but also at least 1/2 of the Power Level of your army must be on the table, and not in reserves.

 

Also, the fact you can only deep strike into your deployment zone if you come in on Turn 1 is a massive change.  I like it, but it will affect some lists.  One thing to note is that it specifically says that units deployed via Strike from the Shadows can be deployed outside the zone, making those abilities much more powerful.  Curious as to what people's initial reactions are?

 

See Page 2 here: https://whc-cdn.games-workshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/warhammer_40000_The_Big_FAQ_1_2018_en.pdf

[Iron Father Ferrum]

The inability to pull multiple FNP rolls for a single unit makes me upset because I made heavy use of Venerable Dreads and the Iron Resolve warlord trait for my Iron Hands. Both of these have other benefits aside from the FNP roll - better combat skills and +1 wound to be specific - but the change makes me wonder if they're worth running anymore or if I should switch to different options instead.

[Hopper21]

GMAN up 15 I don't have my books handy how much has the raptor gone up by? You know that moment you just finish painting your 2k army.....and it's not longer 2k....

[Wargamer]

No impact at all. It has made my Venerable Dreadnought slightly weaker, which is a bit of a sting as it wasn't exactly curb-stomping entire platoons beforehand, but that doesn't mean I won't field it.

[Firepower]

Man GW, you really have had it out for me ever since I went through the hell of painting my Pods. But yeah, I can see your point, first turn Stealer charges were brutal.

 

:awkward silence:

 

...You exempted Stealers, didn't you?

 

:awkward silence continues:

[Race Bannon]

I know, right? 

 

I trade stuff for a Pod shortly before the rules drop and now I'm looking at the unopened box taking space like

[Melete]

Feeling pretty happy with my lack of Fire Raptors at the moment.

[justicarius6]

Well, that was disappointing wasn't it?

[MeltaRange]

I'm going to have to change around my "typical" army list pretty significantly, but I'm actually really happy about all the changes.  I can't wait to play with them.

[9x19 Parabellum]

I know, right? 

 

I trade stuff for a Pod shortly before the rules drop and now I'm looking at the unopened box taking space like

 

Changing the Drop Pod rules to ignore the 1st turn deepstrike restriction is as perfect a way to bring the drop pod up to speed as I've seen. Would even justify the 83 point cost.

[Dracos]

One thing to note is that it specifically says that units deployed via Strike from the Shadows can be deployed outside the zone, making those abilities much more powerful.  Curious as to what people's initial reactions are?

Corax approves :D

[MARK0SIAN]

It has put the final nail in the coffin of my terminator assault squads. They were appearing less and less in my lists due to their poor cost/performance ratio but now they can’t even go for a juicy target until turn two (when most games are already decided) and still have to arrive 9 inches away. This means they potentially won’t see any combat until turn three when games are definitely over.

 

I will either swap them out for more inceptors or something heavy.

[WAR]

overall happy with the changes.....in general.  Some of the people in my group are laughing at other local players and other group members that were spamming units that they cant be spamming anymore like the plague crawlers and blight drones. 

[Ishagu]

Fire Raptor got an pretty hefty 90 point hike! Ouch.

I'm glad I didn't pull the trigger on one. GW need to be a bit more gentle with these "adjustments"

 

The bad treatment of units like the Falchion and Typhon have literally stopped me from purchasing said models.

 

There are some good changes however. The reserve alpha strike nerf is useful for Armies that don't have masses of disposable meat shields. Unfortunately it empowers those armies that do even more... Some tweaking will be required.

 

The additional command points can help certain armies, but they help the likes of Guard or Nids even more. 20+ Command points is now achievable for some armies, whilst the likes of Custodes or Grey Knights would only gain 2.

[Melete]

Fire Raptor got an pretty hefty 90 point hike! Ouch.

I'm glad I didn't pull the trigger on one. GW need to be a bit more gentle with these "adjustments"

 

The bad treatment of units like the Falchion and Typhon have literally stopped me from purchasing said models.

 

There are some good changes however. The reserve alpha strike nerf is useful for Armies that don't have masses of disposable meat shields. Unfortunately it empowers those armies that do even more... Some tweaking will be required.

 

The additional command points can help certain armies, but they help the likes of Guard or Nids even more. 20+ Command points is now achievable for some armies, whilst the likes of Custodes or Grey Knights would only gain 2.

I don't know if it really helps Guard more. They've already got enough CP for what they need to use them for, realistically, so having a few more isn't a big deal to a Guard player. What it does help is Custodes or Space Marines players who are taking a cheap Guard battalion for CP, those detachments got even better.

[justicarius6]

The hefty boost of CPs for a cheap throwaway guard battalion reinforces the desire for SM armies to include them and the nerfs to Deepstriking reinforces how powerful gunlines are. So much for wanting to get away from that playstyle for me.

[redmapa]

Honestly I was already moving away from mass deep strike, the problem is that its complete removal denies me the chance to ever go back to it and in my opinion turns Black Templar into a fairly monotone army. Now I honestly dont see any benefit from running an army with any deep strike potential as your enemy can simply move forward, spread his expendable units across the board and deny a ton of deep strike space where it effectively invalidates ever putting any unit in deep strike reserves.

 

Im just going to run 3 units of Vanguard Vets and then some Inceptors, screw it, not like theres any real options now that Terminators are beyond useless and nothing else in the codex is that good in combat.

[LucidNinja]

I still think deep strike has its ability, taking just 1 unit means your opponent needs to be ready for it to arrive, sure they can spread out and prevent them from getting into an ideal position, but it forces them to do so.

[Dracos]

Honestly I was already moving away from mass deep strike, the problem is that its complete removal denies me the chance to ever go back to it and in my opinion turns Black Templar into a fairly monotone army. Now I honestly dont see any benefit from running an army with any deep strike potential as your enemy can simply move forward, spread his expendable units across the board and deny a ton of deep strike space where it effectively invalidates ever putting any unit in deep strike reserves.

That’s one of the roles of Scouts though isn’t it? To create space giving your deep strikers room to arrive in.

[Panzer]

 

Honestly I was already moving away from mass deep strike, the problem is that its complete removal denies me the chance to ever go back to it and in my opinion turns Black Templar into a fairly monotone army. Now I honestly dont see any benefit from running an army with any deep strike potential as your enemy can simply move forward, spread his expendable units across the board and deny a ton of deep strike space where it effectively invalidates ever putting any unit in deep strike reserves.

That’s one of the roles of Scouts though isn’t it? To create space giving your deep strikers room to arrive in.

That only worked turn 1 before your opponent moved there. Without Scouts your opponent could have put his infiltrators and reserves there before you and deny you your reserves.

However now your opponent has an additional turn to move there and to kill your scouts.

 

It's not like Scouts provided a free deep strike bubble. They just provided an anti-infiltrate/deep strike bubble which in return created space for your own deep strikes. So it never worked against units simply moving there.

[Claws and Effect]

 

 

Honestly I was already moving away from mass deep strike, the problem is that its complete removal denies me the chance to ever go back to it and in my opinion turns Black Templar into a fairly monotone army. Now I honestly dont see any benefit from running an army with any deep strike potential as your enemy can simply move forward, spread his expendable units across the board and deny a ton of deep strike space where it effectively invalidates ever putting any unit in deep strike reserves.

That’s one of the roles of Scouts though isn’t it? To create space giving your deep strikers room to arrive in.

That only worked turn 1 before your opponent moved there. Without Scouts your opponent could have put his infiltrators and reserves there before you and deny you your reserves.

However now your opponent has an additional turn to move there and to kill your scouts.

 

It's not like Scouts provided a free deep strike bubble. They just provided an anti-infiltrate/deep strike bubble which in return created space for your own deep strikes. So it never worked against units simply moving there.

This.

 

Genestealers with Adrenal Glands can move 10"-15" per turn. If you end up going second your opponent has 2 movement phases to move them so you can't deep strike.

 

Since I play against Tyranids most of the time this is relevant to me.

 

And the Fire Raptor hike hurts. Mine will probably rarely see the table now. 450 points for something that is realistically only going to get 1 turn to do anything isn't worth it.

[Race Bannon]

But that turn should have serious burn and churn!

 

Yes, that was intentional.

[justicarius6]

It annoys me that this FAQ seems intent on pigeon holing Codex Space Marines (other than Raven Guard, but even they have their problems due to lacklustre melee options) back into a gunline bubble army to actually compete.

[Claws and Effect]

But that turn should have serious burn and churn!

 

Yes, that was intentional.

Yes and no.

 

It's job is to kill large numbers of weak models. That leads to a horrible points vs points killed efficiency if it does after its first turn.

 

It's highly unlikely to kill 360 points worth of stuff in a single turn, and even less likely to kill 450.

 

It's a great bullet magnet, but you have to consider the cost. If it kills 200 points 8n chaff units and dies, suddenly you're effectively fighting an 1800 point force with only 1500.

[MeltaRange]

It annoys me that this FAQ seems intent on pigeon holing Codex Space Marines (other than Raven Guard, but even they have their problems due to lacklustre melee options) back into a gunline bubble army to actually compete.

 

How is that the case?  What army are you playing that a Turn 1 deepstrike into melee was your best and only option?

 

Yes, Kraken Genestealers got buffed.  On the brightside, you're not going to be hit with 24 Devilgants coming out of a hole next to a Trygon Prime on Turn 1 and picking up a unit for your dead pile.