Anticipation For Rules: Index Talons Of The Emperor

[Hellex_The_Thanatar]

What units are you most looking forward to seeing from Forgeworld? This is really only looking at the golden boys themselves but I know others might want to chime in on sisters and grey knights!

To that end I built this list of anticipation! 

Sagittarum: Surprisingly, I think this is one of my most anticipated units. It's so much of what custodes are lacking, better shooting in a durable platform. Would not be surprised to see minimum units of 3, but if the gun get's a heavy bolter profile that's still quite a few accurate shots that will actually hugely benefit from a nearby shield captain. Whether you drop them in, or camp them, they will provide a great amount of dakka one suspects. 

Contemptor-Galatus: While the rules for the Achilius are contentious (harhar), most are probably even more excited for the sword and board boy as the added durability and the utter awesomeness that is a dismounted knight themed contemptor will make just about anyone drool. Another strong contender for what will likely be an amazing beneficiary of the teleport stratagem.  If he can get some glorious special rules that let him make a blender of hordes, it would be the perfect foil to the achillus who should hopefully after feedback, hit like a meteor into solo targets. 

Aquilon Termies: Oh boy. Spamming those amazing lastrum storm bolter profiles (that we saw on the achillus) and fire pikes will really help with hordes. Hopefully we can mix squads still. Plus with the fist we will finally have a str10 weapon profile! Maybe with flat 3 damage?? I can dream. As for what the adrathic destructor might be? Well Maybe we can get the imperial space marine profile gun? Pretty please? Also the first unit without a storm shield and a 3++? We will have to see I expect FW to price these LUDICROUSLY even though so many armies can spam deadly guns (looking at eldar of EVERY flavor)...

Pallas Grav Tanks: While INSANELY outshown by the bikes in the 30k game, 8th might bring these to life if the gun is a twin las pulsar giving us ranged str9 that can take some real punishment and can zip out of combat. 

Calladius Annihilator: Will custodes actually get a mortal wound gun or maybe a flat 6 shooting profile for damage?? I expect an amazing profile for this gun, and hopefully if the feedback from a ton of players is taken by forgeworld a more durable platform (like for real there are dark eldar tanks that survive shooting better than the profile for the calladius what were they thinking). This gun needs to be averaging a destroyed rhino a turn to justify the doubtless monumental price if it is anywhere near the calladius price. 

Adrasite, and pyrithite spear upgrades: Oh man suddenly custodes with REAL guns on their spears? Damn you FW I already have 55 guardians and sentinels and now I will likely need more. 


Orion Drop Ship: While the Coronus was a bad indication of points and stats to come, I really hope FW can pull out the stops with this things rules. Sure it will likely cost half your army, but damned if it won't be amazing to have this on the board. 
 

[MARK0SIAN]

I am also keen on the units mentioned above but I’m really looking forward to sisters of silence on jetbikes! I think they’ll be great!

 

I have to say, I’m not particularly bothered about the Sagitarrium squad though. If you’re paying Custodes prices for them then the gun would need to be considerably better than a heavy bolter for me, especially as our bolters already match the -1AP of the HB so one extra point of strength just isn’t worth losing the CC ability of the spear for. For me to consider them over a normal squad I’d want -2AP and at least 4 or 5 shots from each gun, preferably with some kind of ignores cover mechanic.

 

At the open day they also talked about a new flyer for Custodes, a gunship variant as opposed to a transport one but no idea how far away that is, would be cool if t made it for the book but I doubt it :)

[Charlo]

Definitely excited for Sagittarum as they're so useless in 30k that 8th could make them shine!

 

Also scared about the Orion as I might have to buy one if it's good :p

 

I own some bikes so hopefully they'll be cool and the terminators would be sweet as well.

 

Hopefully they sort out the prevalence of "D3 damage" on the Telemon too.

[Hellex_The_Thanatar]

I am also keen on the units mentioned above but I’m really looking forward to sisters of silence on jetbikes! I think they’ll be great!

 

I have to say, I’m not particularly bothered about the Sagitarrium squad though. If you’re paying Custodes prices for them then the gun would need to be considerably better than a heavy bolter for me, especially as our bolters already match the -1AP of the HB so one extra point of strength just isn’t worth losing the CC ability of the spear for. For me to consider them over a normal squad I’d want -2AP and at least 4 or 5 shots from each gun, preferably with some kind of ignores cover mechanic.

 

At the open day they also talked about a new flyer for Custodes, a gunship variant as opposed to a transport one but no idea how far away that is, would be cool if t made it for the book but I doubt it

 

You are not wrong, lastrum weapons in general seem like they will need an extra kick especially now that we see the firepower or other armies. Maybe a return of old rending? Where 6's are both a better ap and more damage? Or just give it a whole new profile instead of heavy, like rapidfire 3? This would make them utterly devastating the turn they drop in, unlike all the other units which are only deadly if they make the charge. 

[MARK0SIAN]

I like the rapid fire 3 idea, removes the movement penalty for the heavy weapons and gives a decent 6 shots each when they arrive. Couple that with decent strength and AP and I could get on board with them :)

[Darkwrath121]

I'm excited, but don't want to get my hopes up, judging by the questionable balance of the current beta units (and I doubt they'd release beta rules and get feedback for enough units in time for the Imperial Armour release ☹️).

 

Sagittarum are my main point of excitement for now. I expect just a heavy bolter with 30" range, which is still a huge improvement over the AP4 of 30k. Access to Misericordia will make them not useless in melee too, so there's lots of potential!

 

Aquilons better get a 3++, or at least more wounds if not. Firepike and power talons are looking to make a huuge difference on the table if they're decent (S+1 AP-2, 2 damage, rerolling wounds?), while like you said, gauntlets can give us some reliable anti-tank if they're good.

(Sx2 AP-4 3 damage, -1 to hit?)

 

I do hope they give the Galatus a sweep attack or something (unlikely) or an anti-horde ability, seeing how it has rampage in 30k. We need more horde killers.

[Hellex_The_Thanatar]

Do talons get a strength boost? That would be pretty monumental. The pikes +talons should put in work hopefully at dealing with a lot of things. Will we actually get a flamer with the range to use after deepstrike? That is a fairly rare thing in 8th isn't it? Who else has a 9"+ flamer? 

[MagicHat]

Do talons get a strength boost? That would be pretty monumental. The pikes +talons should put in work hopefully at dealing with a lot of things. Will we actually get a flamer with the range to use after deepstrike? That is a fairly rare thing in 8th isn't it? Who else has a 9"+ flamer?

Kastellan robots have 12", hellhounds inferno cannons are 16".

Presumably some FW models have similar ranges.

DG have some 9".

 

EDIT: personally looking forward to more SoS. HQ, and dog unit + jetbikes seems interesting.

[Hellex_The_Thanatar]

 

Do talons get a strength boost? That would be pretty monumental. The pikes +talons should put in work hopefully at dealing with a lot of things. Will we actually get a flamer with the range to use after deepstrike? That is a fairly rare thing in 8th isn't it? Who else has a 9"+ flamer?

Kastellan robots have 12", hellhounds inferno cannons are 16".

Presumably some FW models have similar ranges.

DG have some 9".

 

 

Hmmm none of those have ability to teleport or drop in that I know of. Maybe the deathguard one. 

[MagicHat]

 

 

 

Do talons get a strength boost? That would be pretty monumental. The pikes +talons should put in work hopefully at dealing with a lot of things. Will we actually get a flamer with the range to use after deepstrike? That is a fairly rare thing in 8th isn't it? Who else has a 9"+ flamer?

Kastellan robots have 12", hellhounds inferno cannons are 16".

Presumably some FW models have similar ranges.

DG have some 9".

Hmmm none of those have ability to teleport or drop in that I know of. Maybe the deathguard one.

Kastellan robots can infiltrate or deepstrike using Stygies VII or Lucius strats.

[Darkwrath121]

As for the Pallas Grav-Attack, I doubt they'd rock the boat with any weapon options. So just the standard twin Arachnus blaze cannon from the Coronus and MAYBE the Adrathic option. They don't have access to the S9 las-pulser

 

Do talons get a strength boost? That would be pretty monumental. The pikes +talons should put in work hopefully at dealing with a lot of things. Will we actually get a flamer with the range to use after deepstrike? That is a fairly rare thing in 8th isn't it? Who else has a 9"+ flamer?

They most likely will have a range of 9"+, seeing as that was part of their shtick in 30k with the torrent rule.

 

And yeah, they're S+1 AP3 mastercrafted shred in 30k

[Hellex_The_Thanatar]

 

Kastellan robots can infiltrate or deepstrike using Stygies VII or Lucius strats.

 

Oh nice! Ok so not as worried about FW stripping them of that. I really think those flamers will be super. Who is going to want to charge without a large amount of bodies since they will probably have range? And then you are charging depleted into freaking custodes terminators...

 

 

As for the Pallas Grav-Attack, I doubt they'd rock the boat with any weapon options. So just the standard twin Arachnus blaze cannon from the Coronus and MAYBE the Adrathic option. They don't have access to the S9 las-pulser

 

Do talons get a strength boost? That would be pretty monumental. The pikes +talons should put in work hopefully at dealing with a lot of things. Will we actually get a flamer with the range to use after deepstrike? That is a fairly rare thing in 8th isn't it? Who else has a 9"+ flamer?

They most likely will have a range of 9"+, seeing as that was part of their shtick in 30k with the torrent rule

 

But torrent was 12" for kastellan? I think other torrent users also got 12" now that I think about it. Like knight acheron got 12" if I recall although that was the much bigger template. 

 

[Darkwrath121]

 

 

 

Kastellan robots can infiltrate or deepstrike using Stygies VII or Lucius strats.

 

Oh nice! Ok so not as worried about FW stripping them of that. I really think those flamers will be super. Who is going to want to charge without a large amount of bodies since they will probably have range? And then you are charging depleted into freaking custodes terminators...

 

As for the Pallas Grav-Attack, I doubt they'd rock the boat with any weapon options. So just the standard twin Arachnus blaze cannon from the Coronus and MAYBE the Adrathic option. They don't have access to the S9 las-pulser

 

Do talons get a strength boost? That would be pretty monumental. The pikes +talons should put in work hopefully at dealing with a lot of things. Will we actually get a flamer with the range to use after deepstrike? That is a fairly rare thing in 8th isn't it? Who else has a 9"+ flamer?

They most likely will have a range of 9"+, seeing as that was part of their shtick in 30k with the torrent rule

But torrent was 12" for kastellan? I think other torrent users also got 12" now that I think about it. Like knight acheron got 12" if I recall although that was the much bigger template.

 

 

Haha

I meant 9+ in the sense that it could be anything above 9". I just want to keep my speculation to a minimum, though 12" is most likely :D

[Hellex_The_Thanatar]

Gotcha! Man Idk why I couldn't recall the talons being increased strength, I guess because I always had the fists as they were...well better in almost every way! 

[Helycon]

Still, having a 9" flamer makes it so you just can't reach anything, since you need to deepstrike further than 9" away ;)

[Hellex_The_Thanatar]

We know, reasonable to assume it will be 12" though. A unique niche for them over allarus who really didn't turn out to be great at horde clean up.

[Darkwrath121]

I do wonder what the new units will be for Custodes...

 

For Sisters it's those jetbikes, while for Grey Knights it's apparently access to Leviathan dreads etc.

 

I can't quite think about what could be the new datasheets for Custodes (other than the exemplar). A Shield-Captain in Aquilon armour?

[Hellex_The_Thanatar]

I do wonder what the new units will be for Custodes...

 

For Sisters it's those jetbikes, while for Grey Knights it's apparently access to Leviathan dreads etc.

 

I can't quite think about what could be the new datasheets for Custodes (other than the exemplar). A Shield-Captain in Aquilon armour?

You mean new as in never seen before? I am hoping for jetpack custodes, a fighter version of the orion, and maybe even a Knight piloted by a custodes...oh that would be amazing...

[Darkwrath121]

 

 

I do wonder what the new units will be for Custodes...

 

For Sisters it's those jetbikes, while for Grey Knights it's apparently access to Leviathan dreads etc.

 

I can't quite think about what could be the new datasheets for Custodes (other than the exemplar). A Shield-Captain in Aquilon armour?

You mean new as in never seen before? I am hoping for jetpack custodes, a fighter version of the orion, and maybe even a Knight piloted by a custodes...oh that would be amazing...

The presentation on the Imperial Armour book mentions new datasheets for each army (exemplar is one example). So completely new units seems to possibly be on the cards!

 

Jetpack custodes would be nice, exist in lore too. But they compete with the bikers.

 

Knights don't fit with the lore or Custodes style or warfare.

 

There WAS mention of a non-transport Orion actually, but I might be wrong as always haha

 

Not sure whether to get my hopes up too much for anything groundbreaking

[CaptainMarsh]

Sag. Guard are what I look forward to. I am looking at a Heavy Bolter profile with a side profile. Disintegration Beam, 12'', Assault 1, S5, AP-3/4, D d3. Against vehicles, 3 damage, and a wound roll of 6+ causes a wound roll in addition.

[Charlo]

I don't think we'll see new units.... It'll be a port of the existing resin models

[Darkwrath121]

I don't think we'll see new units.... It'll be a port of the existing resin models

Sisters are heavily implied to be getting new ones (jetbikes), so new Custodes models aren't out of the question.

 

The porting of the resin models to 40k was explicitly listed in the presentation as being separate from them saying there'll be new datasheets (they gave the example of the Contemptor Exemplar), so even if we don't get new models, we're at least getting new units and/or weapons which don't currently exist in either system.

 

The kicker is what on earth those could be

[MARK0SIAN]

 

I don't think we'll see new units.... It'll be a port of the existing resin models

Sisters are heavily implied to be getting new ones (jetbikes), so new Custodes models aren't out of the question.

 

The porting of the resin models to 40k was explicitly listed in the presentation as being separate from them saying there'll be new datasheets (they gave the example of the Contemptor Exemplar), so even if we don't get new models, we're at least getting new units and/or weapons which don't currently exist in either system.

 

The kicker is what on earth those could be

The new sisters on jetbikes aren’t just implied they’re confirmed for the new stuff for the Chondax part of the next Heresy book so they’ll be getting 40k rules. So excited!

 

They have also talked about the gun ship flyer for Custodes and at the New Years open day they said there were new Custodes models in the pipeline that we hadn’t seen yet. The only one released since then is Valdor and we had already seen him so we should definitely be getting new units. The only bit that remains to be seen is whether they’re released in time for the book, which I don’t think they will be :(

[Charlo]

Yeah, sorry I wasn't clear my man! Thought that when I hit post.

 

New data sheets based on models totally possible. The exemplar is a nice version of this.

 

Super excited for Sisters bikes :D

[Hellex_The_Thanatar]

Sag. Guard are what I look forward to. I am looking at a Heavy Bolter profile with a side profile. Disintegration Beam, 12'', Assault 1, S5, AP-3/4, D d3. Against vehicles, 3 damage, and a wound roll of 6+ causes a wound roll in addition.

Should be d6, like imperial space marine's guy's profile! I also think its rf1.

 

If the termies get that with a rf2 profile it would be bananas tastey.