Quick Hits - December 2018 Tyranids

Our next Quick Hit is a look at Codex Tyranids

Special Rules

Synapse
Immunity to Morale is really good for the units that can come in large numbers.

Instinctive Behaviour
If you are too far away from Synapse, you get debuffs unless you attack the nearest enemy unit. Much less crippling than it has been in previous editions.

Shadow in the Warp
Increases the difficulty of opposing Psychic, potentially deadly in combination with one of the Warlord Traits.

HQ

Broodlord
Can Advance and Charge and buffs Genestealers. It's also Synapse and a Psyker.  A strong HQ choice.

Hive Tyrant
The iconic HQ for Tyranids, especially with wings. They bring a lot to the table and are usually both the first and second choice for HQ units.

The Swarmlord
A unique Hive Tyrant, who is a literal beast in Melee. He also lets a friendly unit move instead of shooting which almost ensures successful charges every turn.

Tyranid Prime 
Good if you are taking a lot of Tyranid Warriors, otherwise pass. It feels too expensive and lacks Psychic ability.

Tervigon 
Buffs Termagants and also replenishes dead ones. I really like the idea of taking this alongside masses of Termagants as the core of a Battalion.

Neurothrope 
A Psyker that can heal Zoanthropes or itself whenever it uses Smite. Also, it is an easy to hide source of Synapse.

Old One Eye 
An interesting melee beast, but overshadowed by the other options available to the army.

Troops 

Tyranid Warriors 
A source of Synapse available in the Troops slot so good if you feel you may be lacking in Synapse.

Genestealers 
One of the best melee units in the game, especially with the tools available in the Codex. I wouldn't bother with the Infestation Nodes though.

Termagants
You can take large units of these and fill the battlefield with bodies. They are so cheap and their shooting can be surprisingly deadly in large numbers.

Hormagaunts
A large swarm re-rolls 1s for hits and wounds in Melee, and they have the speed to get there.

Ripper Swarms
Small, so you can hide them on backfield Objectives and forget about them.

Elites

Tyrant Guard
They are bodyguards for the Hive Tyrant but struggle to keep up when one has wings. A group of these supporting the Swarmlord might be okay.

Hive Guard
The weapon options for this unit are fantastic. Either Strength 8 that ignores line of sight, or Strength 7 Haywire. They are expensive though.

Lictor 
These want to hunt backline units, but they don't feel like they make enough impact when they manage to get to them.

Deathleaper 
A named Lictor that hunts Characters, so it looks worse at it is unlikely to kill its prey.

Zoanthropes  
A Smite cannon unit with a 3+ Invul. Large units are really good.

Maleceptor 
An expensive Psychic bomb, overshadowed by the other options.

Venomthropes 
They shroud your army with a -1 to hit, which gets better the more you take. Also, their weapons aren't spectacular but do D3 damage.

Pyrovores 
Heavy flamers that do Mortal Wounds as they take damage. Great for holding an Objective.

Haruspex 
Not a bad beast, it's ability to get wounds back can increase its survivability.

Fast Attack 

Gargoyles 
Essentially, Termagants that you can deep strike, the Blinding Venom helps keep them alive if they make the charge.

Raveners 
A modular deep strike unit, these are probably better at hunting backline units than Lictors.

The Red Terror 
A named Ravener, it's Swallow Whole ability could potentially kill a character instantly but is unlikely to actually work.

Mucolid Spores 
Living mines, good for doing Mortal Wounds and keeping the opponent away from areas.

Spore Mines 
Smaller mines, they do less damage but come in groups of three.

Heavy Support 

Exocrine 
It gets +1 to hit and the ability to shoot twice if it doesn't move and it's weapon is fantastic.

Tyrannofex 
More modular, I like the idea of taking two of these, one with Rupture Cannon for the big targets and one with Fleshborer Hive for helping clear Infantry.

Biovores 
If it hits it doesn't Mortal Wounds, if it misses it makes Spore Mines. I really like these.

Toxicrene 
I think this has the potential for assaulting elite Infantry and doling out more damage than it receives. If it encounters heavy fire though, it will probably drop.

Carnifexes
The Tyranid equivalent of Dreadnoughts, these can be customised for the job you want. They lack the Dreadnought weakness as there are more targets in the army to absorb the opposing heavy firepower.

Screamer-Killers 
These are really good, I think they are the best kind of Carnifex.

Thornbacks 
A Carnifex with the ability to do a Mortal Wound in melee. Not exceptionally compelling over the other Carnifexes.

Mawloc 
The ability to burrow up, deal Mortal Wounds and then block enemy movement is really good. It doesn't do much damage on its own but the disruption is amazing.

Trygon 
A deep strike assault unit that can take some Troops with it. Not bad, but the Toughness seems low for a model of its size.

Trygon Prime  
A Trygon, but with Synapse. If you are looking to field a Trygon, then this is worth upgrading to, otherwise, pass.

Dedicated Transport 

Tyrannocyte 
A drop pod. It's conceptually cool, but probably not worth fielding.

Fliers 

Harpy 
A decent mobile gun platform that also drops Spore Mines.

Hive Crone
Has a decent Strength flamer, and access to Haywire. If I want a Flier though, I'd rather have a Harpy.

Fortification 

Sporocyst 
A bunker that spawns Spore Mines, it does seem a little expensive for a unit that can't move. You can deep strike it in though.

Hive Fleet Adaptations 

I say this a lot about sub-faction abilities, but all of these are really good. There are so few truly bad sub-faction abilities in the game.

Stratagems 

Stand-out Stratagems

• Caustic Blood
• Rapid Regeneration
• Scorch Bugs
• Single-Minded Annihilation
• Pathogenic Slime
• Sporefield
• Power of the Hive Mind
• Death Frenzy
• Overrun
• Call the Brood
• Adrenaline Surge
• The Deepest Shadow
• Endless Swarm
• Opportunistic Advance

Warlord Traits 

These are about 50/50, although the Kronos one really punishes opposing Psykers.

Bio-Artefacts of the Tyranids 

Stand-out Relics

• Chameleonic Mutation
• Hyper-Adaptive Biology
• Balethorn Cannon
• The Norn Crown

Psychic Power 

The best powers here are all of the buff/debuff powers. It gives you a lot of battlefield control.

Quick Hits - December 2018 Death Guard

Our next quick hit (at long last) is a look at the Death Guard. If something isn't covered here, check out my opinion on it in the Thousand Sons quick hit or the Chaos Daemons one;

https://hiveoffunandsilliny.blogspot.com/2018/05/quick-hits-may-2018-thousand-sons.html?zx=38dce3ed9ef5db0f 

https://hiveoffunandsilliny.blogspot.com/2018/12/quick-hits-november-2018-codex-chaos.html

Special Rules

Disgustingly Resilient
The keynote rule of the Death Guard. It makes their units that much tougher to put down,  especially on the units that are tough already.

Plague Weapon
Like having a built-in Lieutenant, but only for selected weapons. This puts in a lot of work.

HQ

Typhus
Buffs your Poxwalkers and gives nearby units a Mortal Wound generating ability. Good if you are taking a lot of Poxwalkers. Is also a Psyker.

Lord of Contagion
Has Nurgle's Gift, like Typhus, but doesn't buff Poxwalkers and isn't a Psyker. Their low speed can see them easily left behind as well.

Chaos Lord/Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour
Your Death Guard Captains.

Sorcerer/Sorcerer in Terminator Armour
Your Death Guard Librarians.

Malignant Plaguecaster
A specialist Sorcerer who also doles out Mortal Wounds if he rolls high enough while casting Powers. Worth the extra points.

Troops

Plague Marines
Your "Standard" Marines, with access to a suite of Plague Weapons. They combine Toughness 5, Power Armour and Disgustingly Resilient to become hard to shift. They do pay the points for it though.

Chaos Cultists
A thing to note, these guys are not Disgustingly Resilient.

Poxwalkers
A shambling zombie horde, that can add to its number by slaying Infantry in melee. Large numbers of these are dangerous.

Elites

Noxious Blightbringer
Lowers opposing Leadership and helps Death Guard Advance faster. They almost feel like a must-have.

Foul Blightspawn
This guy is interesting, as he stops opposing units that Charged from striking first. Worth looking at for a defensive build.

Biologus Putrifier
Makes your Blight Grenades a lot nastier, especially in conjunction with the Blight Bombardment Stratagem.

Plague Surgeon
Gives a buff to Disgustingly Resilient and is pretty cheap.

Tallyman
Re-rolls for Melee and Command Point regeneration makes this guy really good.

Deathshroud Terminators
Set-up as bodyguards, but woefully slow and with woefully short ranged weapons. Pass.

Blightlord Terminators
Much like the Plague Marines but for Terminator armour.

Possessed
Random Attacks and no Disgustingly Resilient means you will almost never see these.

Fast Attack

Foetid Bloat-drone
Fast and hard to deal with, these are best with either Plaguespitters or Fleshmowers. A great unit.

Myphitic Blight-hauler
Mobile heavy weapons, these are deadly in units of three.

Heavy Support

Plagueburst Crawler
A great artillery piece, whose only weakness is a lower Ballistic Skill than you would expect.

Lord of War

Mortarion 
Deadly once he gets in close, if you can keep him alive long enough. A monstrous gamble, at his points cost, but well worth it.

Inexorable Advance

Allows units to Advance and still shoot normally, to get around their lower movement values, and great alsongside the Noxious Blightbringer. It also increases the range of Rapid Fire weapons. It makes a seemingly static army surprisingy mobile.

Stratagems

Stand-out Stratagems

• Nurgle's Rot
• Putrid Detonation
• Blasphemous Machines
• The Dead Walk Again
• Blight Bombardment

Warlord Traits

Most of these are about making your Warlord harder to kill. Rotten Constitution is a highlight.

Relics of Decay 

Stand-out Relics

• The Suppurating Plate
• Dolorous Knell
• Fugaris Helm

Psychic Powers

A good suite of powers, Miasma of Pestilence always being your first choice.

Quick Hits November 2018 - Codex Chaos Daemons

Our latest quick hit is a blast from the past, Chaos Daemons. I will separate the units by Patron God

Universal Special Rules

Daemonic
A simple 5+ Invulnerable save for everyone. Makes the AP of your opponent's weapons irrelevant.

Daemonic Ritual
This lets you summon in units, but is random and in Matched play requires you to have set aside the points in the first place. Very meh at the moment.

HQ

Be'lakor
A Daemon Prince/Chapter Master who re-rolls failed saves. Possibly a little too expensive though.


Daemon Prince of Chaos
Semi-customisable combat monsters, your first HQ should be one of these who worships your God. They gain the ability from the keyword too.

Fast Attack 

Furies 
They cause extra losses from nearby Morale tests and a small unit is quite cheap. They can't afford to be on the front lines though. They do gain the ability of the keyword though.

Heavy Support 

Soul Grinder 
You can grant them the ability from they chaos keyword you give them, but they seem like expensive tank substitutes that will attract all the opposing anti-tank fire.

Daemonic Loci 

These are all worthwhile incentives for not building mixed Detachments.

Stratagems 

Stand-out universal Stratagems

• Denizens of the Warp
• Daemonic Possession
• Warp Surge

Khorne

Special Rules

Unstoppable Ferocity
A massive buff for assault, especially on large units of Bloodletters.

HQ

Skarbrand
He has a lot of powerful Melee attacks, but as he takes wounds his movement drops drastically. It feels like his lack of wings really hurts.

Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage
Once he gets to assault, he makes a mess of big, single model units. All the Bloodthirsters (and Skarbrand) are massive targets that will attract a lot of fire though.

Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster
A character hunter, but I'm not convinced that the Insensate Rage just isn't better.

Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury
A Bloodthirster with no extra rules. Pass.

Skulltaker
A better character hunter due to his size, who also gives Bloodletters +1 to hit.

Bloodmaster
The Herald of Khorne The Strength buff, plus Unstoppable Ferocity, allows Bloodletters to bring down heavy targets.

Skullmaster
Herald on Juggernaut. Extra survivability for extra points.

Blood Throne
Herald on a throne. Even more Wounds and Toughness, plus an ability to potentially heal. I think the lower point versions are better.

Karanak
An amazing character hunter that can also deny to Psychic powers. A fantastic HQ.

Troops

Bloodletters
Their melee weapons are amazing, and with all the buffs available they can chew through pretty much any unit.

Elites

Bloodcrushers 
Great for assaulting Vehicles, as their Horns become strength 8, but Bloodletters give you the weight of numbers.

Fast Attack 

Flesh Hounds 
I thought these would have scarier stats, but they are fast and let a Khorne army deny the witch.

Heavy Support 

Skull Cannon 
A decent anti-tank weapon, these are surprisingly deadly fire-support.

Esoterica 

Best Stratagem - Banner of Blood
Best Warlord Trait - Rage Incarnate
Best Hellforged Artefact - The Crimson Crown

Tzeentch

Special Rules

Ephemeral Form
Invul saves on 4s rather than 5s. That lets them ignore a lot more hits.

HQ

Kairos Fateweaver
A fantastic Psyker, but you really want the first turn so you can establish some defences.

Lord of Change
Also a great Psyker, the Rod of Sorcery is an interesting upgrade.

The Changeling
Send this guy looking for characters. He copies their melee stats and weapon and has a good chance of offing them first.

The Blue Scribes
A great counter to opposing Psykers and they also cast a random, unstoppable power each turn. These guys look amazing.

Changecaster
The Tzeentch Herald. The Locus buff seems less relevant for non-Khorne daemons. Otherwise, this is okay.

Fateskimmer
Herald on Chariot, for added speed. I recommend the Chanting Horrors upgrade.

Fluxmaster
Herald on Disk. If I want an upgraded Herald, I'd rather take the Fateskimmer.

Troops

Horrors
A great unit for screening/tying up as you can Split them from Pinks all the way down to Brimstones.

Elites 

Flamers 
Good for attack hordes and deadly on Overwatch.

Exalted Flamer 
A source of short-ranged anti-vehicle fire as well as Overwatch to protect itself.

Fast Attack 

Screamers 
This is a surprisingly deadly melee unit for Tzeentch. 

Heavy Support 

Burning Chariot 
A combo of Exalted Flamer and 2 Screamers, but I think the individual units are better at the job.

Esoterica 

Best Stratagem - Locus of Conjuration
Best Warlord Trait - Boon of Sorcery
Best Hellforged Artefact - The Endless Grimoire
Best Psychic Power - Treason of Tzeentch 

Nurgle

Special Rules

Disgustingly Resilient
A 5+ feel no pain, this makes Nurgle Daemons so tanky alongside their natural Invul save.

HQ

Rotigus
The deluge of Nurgle is interesting, otherwise, he's a bullet magnet.

Great Unclean One
Great if you are Summoning units via the Doomsday Bell. The ability this has to resurrect models is also pretty good.

Epidemius
If you can kill the enemy, the tally is really good. Probably worth taking for that ability alone.

Horticulture Slimux
Buffs Nurgle Beasts and spawns Feculent Gnarlmaws. Great HQ for a fun army that runs around the table, not sure how good that is in practice.

Poxbringer
Herald of Nurgle, nothing special but a solid HQ.

Sloppity Bilepiper
An amazing character who increases your chance of triggering Daemonic Icons.

Spoilpox Scrivener
Gives an amazing set of buffs to Plaguebearers.

Troops

Plaguebearers 
Hard to shift when in large numbers.

Nurglings
Cheap infiltrators that can sit on objectives and easily be ignored.

Elites

Beasts of Nurgle
A tough melee unit let down by having a random number of attacks.

Fast Attack 

Plague Drones 
These give Nurgle some much needed speed, but are otherwise unremarkable.

Fortification 

Feculent Gnarlmaw 
This is good for putting on an objective and disincentivising your opponent going near it, while allowing your army and initial burst of speed to spread out. So cheap as well.

Esoterica 

Best Straatagem - Locus of Fecundity
Best Warlord Trait - Plaguefly Hive
Best Hellforged Artefact - Horn of Nurgle's Rot
Best Psychichc Power - Miasma of Pestilence

Slaanesh

Special Rules

Quicksilver Swiftness
Always striking first in combat means that once they reach your lines they will stay a threat turn after turn.

HQ

Keeper of Secrets
An interesting set of debuffs for a character that is easy to shoot, however the lack of an updated model leaves it with much more scope to hide behind terrain.

The Masque of Slaanesh
Buffs Daemonettes and punishes opposing units in combat. A solid character.

Herald of Slaanesh
Like the Tzeentch Herald, feels a bit out of place for this diety.

Troops

Daemonettes
They feel like worse Bloodletters, unfortunately, although they might be solid when backed up by The Masque.

Elites

Fiends of Slaanesh
A fast-moving unit that disrupts psykers and stops opposing units falling back. I think they are underrated.

Fast Attack 

Seekers 
These are just faster Daemonettes. Pass.

Hellflayer 
I'm not sure what this units purpose is.

Heavy Support

Seeker Chariot
Like the Hellflayer, but at least it can benefit from Daemonette buffs, I guess.

Exalted Seeker Chariot 
Like the Seeker CHariot, but bigger and therefore worse.

Esoterica 

Best Stratagem - Rapturous Standard
Best Warlord Trait - The Murderdance
Best Hellforged Artefact - The Mark of Excess
Best Psychic Power - Symphony of Pain

Quick Hits - November 2018 Orks

Our latest quick hit is Codex Orks.

Special Rules

Dakka! Dakka! Dakka!
Sixes always hit and also trigger extra shots for shooting attacks? For an army that can muster a large amount of firepower, in an edition where every gun can potentially hurt every unit, this is immensely powerful.

'Ere We Go!
Re-rolling either/both dice for Charging gets Orks in combat a lot easier.

Mob Rule
By keeping your Infantry together, you can make them immune to Morale unless they take a horrific amount of casualties.

HQ

Ghazghkull Thraka
The Twin Big Shoota is ok. The Kustom Klaw is pretty good. But you are taking him for the Great Waaagh! Allowing your Orks to charge even if they advanced and giving them an extra Attack will drown a lot of enemies in green bodies and leave them not much left to strike back with.

Warboss
Waaagh! is good and Breakin' Heads is ok. This is a solid HQ choice, especially if you aren't Goff.

Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun
The weapon is very unreliable, but great when it works. Being a Mek, he can also repair Vehicles which is something to keep an eye out for.
Big Mek in Mega Armour
Your only on-foot source of Kustom Force Field now, as the other choice is relegated to the Index. The Tellyport Blasta isn't worth taking, so the Force Field is the way to go.

Weirdboy
Having the potential to get +3 to Psychic Tests means most powers you cast will succeed and puts the enhanced Smite well within reach. Totally worth the increased chance of Perils of the Warp.

Boss Snikrot
Gives your Blood Axe Kommandos re-roll 1s in the Fight phase. I'm not that impressed with him though.

Boss Zagstruk
A decent assault character who can do an impression of a Smash Captain.

Deffkilla Wartrike
A Warboss for Evil Sunz, it's surprisingly powerful once it gets close.

Kaptin Badrukk
A surprisingly decent Shooting character who buffs your Flash Gitz, the Gunz for Hire rules makes him easy to slot into any army.

 Troops

Boyz
Green Tide encourages large units of Boyz, giving them 3 attacks each. The special weapon choices are ok, but I'd want to either make these Choppa Boyz for combat or Shoota Boyz for shooting and use the weight of dice to my advantage.

Gretchin
They get +1 to hit if the unit is large enough, but they can't use your Clan Kultur or most Stratagems. Still, they are meant to be cheap chaff and that's the job they do.

Elites

Mad Dok Grotsnik
He's a Painboy with marginally better stats and a Slugga, but he has a must charge clause. I'm not impressed.

Painboy
A feel no pain bubble and the ability to restore wounds makes Painboys really good.

Mek
A source of Vehicle repair at a very cheap cost.

Runtherd
Helps keep Gretchin from fleeing to Morale and gives them re-roll 1s in the Fight phase. Good if you are taking a decent sized mob of Gretchin or two.

Burna Boyz
Up to 15 guys, all armed with Flamers? Sign me up. There is also some mileage to upgrading one to a Spanner, for that extra Vehicle healing.

Tankbustas
Re-rolling hits against Vehicles and all having Rokkit Launchas is amazing. The Squig Bombs are just icing on the cake.

Nobz
I think I would rather spend these points on more regular Boyz.

Nob with Waaagh! Banner
+1 to hit in the Fight phase for nearby Orks makes this an amazing, yet underrated character.

Meganobz
A very killy unit, but even a 2+ armour save is surprisingly fragile in this edition of Save modifiers.

Nobz on Warbikes
Much like their on-foot counterparts, I'd rather spend the points on more regular Bikers.

Kommandos
These guys are ok for Deep Striking. Make them Blood Axe 'Ard Boyz for a 3+ save against shooting from over 18" away.

Fast Attack

Warbikers
Fast Orks, especially combined with a Deffkilla Wartrike to let them advance and still charge.

Kustom Boosta-Blastas
A decent mobile gun wagon, with amazing protection against being charged.

Shokkjump Dragstas
Amazing gun and decent melee, my favourite thing is the Shokk Tunnel isn't optional. If you Advance and roll a 4+, you have to Deep Strike in which is hilarious.

Boomdakka Snazzwagons
A decent amount of shooting, but unimpressive compared to the other new vehicles.

Megatrakk Scrapjets
Weirdly slow for a fighter jet on wheels. It's made for hunting other vehicles, especially if you take 2-3 of them.

Rukkatrukk Squigbuggies
A very versatile anti-infantry mobile gun wagon.

Stormboyz
They can Deep Strike, Advance 6" and be taken in mobs of 30. These guys are really good.

Deffkoptas
These guys are ok, I think they are best equipped with Kopta Rokkits.

Heavy Support

Mek Gunz
The Bubblechukka is trash. The Traktor Kannon is a little overhyped, but not by much. An auto hitting Krak Missile for such a low cost is impressive, but the platform itself is fragile.

Battlewagon
Surprisingly this and the other two variants only have a 4+ save. I think this isn't worth upgrading and would rather keep it as a large troop transport.

Gunwagon
Shooting twice with a Killkannon is really good, especially with Mobile Fortress.

Bonebreaka
Looking for melee, it's surprisingly deadly if it can get the Charge in early.

Killa Kans
Taking a bunch of these with Grotzookas and Buzz Saws could be fun, but they are weirdly susceptible to Morale if your opponent can kill two or three in a turn.

Deff Dreads
Suffer from the "Dreadnought Weakness" where they are targeted by all the anti-Vehicle weapons, but don't have enough Wounds to survive the attention.

Morkanaut
The Kustom Force Field one with anti-Vehicle weapons, they are hardier than other Vehicles, but can't quite go toe-to-toe with a Knight.

Gorkanaut
The anti-Infantry 'Naut. I feel the Kustom Force Field makes the Morkanaut a better choice.

Lootas
Deffguns are still a real good choice for a ranged unit for Orks. They can get a lot of shots, which makes Dakka! Dakka! Dakka! really good for them.

Flash Gitz
BS 4+ and Snazzguns, plus the chance that the unit may fire twice a turn makes these look amazing.

Dedicated Transports

Trukk
A cheap transport, with the potential to reduce damage dealt to it to 1.

Flyer

Dakkajet
Four Supa-shootas that get +1 to hit if they all shoot the same unit is really good. A great flyer for thinning out infantry.

Burna-Bommer
Skorcha missles are worth taking and the Burna Bombs is pretty good.

Blitza-Bommer
The shooting isnt as good as the other Flyers, but the Bomb is more powerful against Vehicles.

Quick Hits - October 2018 Dark Angels

Our next quick hit is Codex Adeptus Astartes Dark Angels. Many unit reviews can be found here
 http://hiveoffunandsilliny.blogspot.com/2018/05/quick-hits-may-2018-space-marines.html
so this review will cover the changes and additional units.

Special Rules 

Jink 
Ravenwing get a 4+ Invulnerable save when they advance. This gives them decent protection.

Inner Circle 
Auto-pass morale is always good. The extra ability against Fallen is gravy.

HQ 

Azrael 
Such a key HQ, re-rolling hits and providing an Invulnerable save. It's so hard to imagine not wanting to take him, his Sword of Secrets can also dole out Mortal Wounds.

Belial 
A decent support character for your Deathwing.

Sammael on Corvex 
A great support character for Ravenwing, although I would never risk overcharging his Plasma Cannon.

Sammael in Sableclaw 
A better steed for Sammael if you are expecting to face a lot of hordes of Infantry.

Interrogator-Chaplain/Interrogator-Chaplain in Terminator Armour 
Like a regular Chaplain, but with a negative Leadership aura. Not overly impressed.

Ravenwing Talonmaster 
A Lieutenant on a Land Speeder. A decent choice for a mobile buff, with a lot of built-in firepower.

Asmodai 
Gives extra attacks, but is rather unimpressive for a special character.

Ezekial
A better Librarian, but not by much, unfortunately.

Elites 

Deathwing Apothecary
An Apothecary, but able to Deep Strike in with the rest of the Deathwing.

Deathwing Terminator Squad 
The biggest things they get are access to Plasma Cannon and the Watcher in the Dark. Having a built-in, once per game protection against Psychic powers is amazing.

Deathwing Knights 
The assault version of Deathwing, they are equipped with Flails that do 2 damage each and the damage spreads across the unit. You just have to get them to combat.

Ravenwing Apothecary 
A very mobile version of an Apothecary that can heal bikes.

Fast Attack 

Ravenwing Darkshroud 
A Land Speeder that gives a negative to-hit aura. Really good for keeping things alive.

Ravenwing Land Speeder Vengeance 
A Land Speeder with a Plasma Storm Battery. There are many, many better sources of Plasma in the Dark Angels.

Ravenwing Black Knights 
With mobile Plasma, these guys are really good. The Plasma being assault means they can still shoot it when they advance and benefit from Jink.

Flyer 

Ravenwing Dark Talon 
With the Hurricane Bolters and (admittedly once per game) Stasis Bomb, this is really good against Infantry, but the Rift Cannon is great against Vehicles and Titanics. I guess that makes it a really good all-rounder.

Nephilim Jetfighter 
I like the Avenger Mega Bolter. not sure about the Missiles/Lascannons.

Grim Resolve 

Re-roll 1s to hit for shooting if you haven't moved is good for the non-Ravenwing units. Only losing one model a turn to Morale is amazing though.

Stratagems 

Stand-out Stratagems

• Deathwing Assault
• Never Forgive, Never Forget!
• The Lion and the Wolf
• Hunt the Fallen
• Weapons from the Dark Age
• Intractable
• Speed of the Raven

Warlord Traits 

A smorgasbord of standard Marine traits, nothing really stands out as Dark Angel, to be honest.

Relics of Caliban 

Stand-out Relics

• Shroud of Heroes
• Lion's Roar
• The Eye of the Unseen

Interromancy Discipline

These powers are amazing. The only bad one is Engulfing Fear, as there may end up not being any Morale tests near the Librarian.

Quick Hits October 2018 - Adeptus Mechanicus

After a short delay, our next quick hit is Codex Adeptus Mechanicus. As the Knights codex released after this and made changes to the Knights part of the codex, I won't be re-covering them here. See
https://hiveoffunandsilliny.blogspot.com/2018/07/quick-hits-july-2018-imperial-knights.html for my opinions on that book.

Special Rules

Canticles of the Omnissiah gives a random, army-wide buff each round. You can mitigate the randomness by choosing, but you then lose access to that effect for later rounds. Some of these are less than helpful if they appear at the wrong time, but the option to choose makes u for it.

HQ

Belisarius Cawl

He lets you modify the roll when randomly choosing your Canticle (in a Forge World that lets you roll twice on the table and gain both) and is also a pretty good Warlord. He is expensive and locks you into Mars though. He does bring better healing and re-roll ability than a regular Dominus though.

Tech-Priest Dominus
Brings a re-roll 1s to hit aura and can heal friendly models. Their weapon choices aren't too bad either.

Tech-Priest Enginseer
Not expected to be seen much outside an Astra Militarum army. I guess they are useful if you need a cheap HQ choice.

Troops

Skitari Rangers
Galvanic Rifles are okay as a basic weapon, especially with a range of 30". The special weapon options are interesting too.

Skitarii Vanguard
The mobile Troops choice and they can put a fair bit of damage out with some lucky rolls. I think I'd rather stick with the solid Rangers though.

Kataphron Breachers
They have melee weapons that you don't really want them to be in a position to use, and their firepower is aimed at wrecking vehicles. Shame the Heavy Arc Rifle is only strength 6.

Kataphron Destroyers
I'd want these guys armed with Plasma Culverins to put out the damage and Cognis Flamers to limit the ability to the opponent to lock them in melee. I rate these guys over the Breachers.

Elites 

Servitors 
Originally designed to accompany Tech-Priest Enginseers in older editions, you should be able to find better units to take.

Cybernetica Datasmith 
Used to be a unit leader for Kastelan Robots, now they are just another character that can give out healing. They are also used to change the Data Protocols of the Robots, but they don't have much use outside of that.

Sicarian Ruststalkers 
A pure melee unit, they can put out a bunch of Mortal Wounds with enough 6s to wound.

Sicarian Infiltrators 
With Flechette Blasters and Taser Goads, they are really good at clearing out screening units at close range. It's a shame that their "Infiltrate" puts them into Reserve, as the latest Big FAQ leaves them unable to arrive until Turn 2.

Fulgurite Electro-Priests 
A unit that in large numbers can do a tonne of Mortal Wounds. They can also improve their Invulnerable Save if they defeat a unit in melee. They are threatening to almost anything once they get into combat.

Corpuscarii Electro-Priests 
A hardy unit that is pretty good at clearing out screens once it gets close to them.

Fast Attack 

Sydonian Dragoons 
I'd keep these guys cheap and just take the Taser Lance. They are fast, hit like a truck and have a negative modifier for ranged weapons to hit them.

Ironstrider Ballistarii 
These guys have a decent ballistic skill, and can advance and fire their heavy weapons! That gives them a massive threat range and both weapon options are really good for hammering opposing vehicles.

Heavy Support 

Kastelan Robots 
I love how these guys look like 1950's sci-fi robots. They are also pretty good on the table, acting like a unit of Dreadnoughts. They can be kitted out for melee or shooting and do a great job at either. Expect them to draw a lot of firepower.

Onager Dunecrawler 
I think the best loadout for this vehicle is the Icarus Array for 10 anti-Fly shots.

Forge World Dogma 

Lucius feels like a bit of a dud, though I may be underestimating how many -1 AP weapons are in use. The rest are really good though.

Stratagems 

Stand-out Stratagems

• Zealous Congregation
• Binharic Override
• Scryerskull
• Protector Doctrina Imperative
• Conqueror Doctrina Imperative
• Tech-Adept
• Dunestriders
• Acquisition At Any Cost
• Infoslave Skull
• Machine Spirit's Revenge
• Fresh Converts
• Legio Teleportarium
• Plasma Specialists
• Steel Mind, Iron Logic
• Deafening Assault
• Knight of the Cog

Warlord Traits

Most of the options are a bit underwhelming,  although I think the Metalica one is fantastic.

Arcana Mechanicum

Stand-out Relics

• Anzion's Pseudogenetor
• Autocaduceus of Arkhan Land
• The Omniscient Mask
• The Cerebral Techno-Mitre
• The Eye of Xi-Lexum

 

Warhammer 40K - The Big FAQ

Between Real Life issues and waiting to chat with some players, it's finally time to post my thoughts on the second Big FAQ for 40K.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/09/28/28th-sept-warhammer-40000-big-faq-2-the-low-downgw-homepage-post-1/

So, let's dive straight in.

Finalised Match Play Rules

They moved three rules from the first FAQ from Beta status to full rule.

Battle Brothers

This solves the problem Games Workshop want to solve. They want you to use the Detachment system to build armies, while each Detachment remains specific to a Codex. A lot of the outcry is from people who think that the problem is armies where each Detachment is from a different Codex.

 I get it, there are people who want to play single Codex and do well. Not all Codexes are made equally and adding other forces to your army lets you take units that circumvent the weakness of a single book. However, I suspect that removing the ability to ally won't suddenly make single-book armies viable, and the top lists will just come from the strongest 2-3 Codexes. This is a separate issue from the Battle Brothers rule, and worthy of a full discussion on its own.

I'm happy with this rule, although some Index units (notably Assassins and Sisters of Silence) are a bit awkward to field now. Hopefully, they will get something in the future to make them better.

Psychic Focus

The only two armies that can reliably cast more than a couple of Smites each turn are the two that only do 1 damage per Smite. This rule has proven to be a fair solution to the armies that can take a bunch of cheap Psykers and dole out large amounts of Mortal Wounds.

I like the change. It caused people to either reduce the number of Psykers they took or made them look at the other Powers available to their Psykers.

Targeting Characters

This rule has gotten a lot of criticism, from people who look for realism in their rules. The reason that units you can't see stop you from targeting a character has nothing to do with their ability to distract you from taking the shot! It is a rule to help those characters survive on the battlefield without being gunned down by massed fire from regular weapons.

This clarifies that by making the RAW (rules as written) match the RAI (rules as intended) while stopping you from using characters to screen each other, which was allowing people to abuse the Culexus Assassin's Etherium rule.

This rule serves the purpose it is intended to and stops squishy characters like Imperial Guard Officers getting gunned down unless you really position your army poorly, or your opponent is having a good Shooting Phase anyway.

Beta Matched Play Rules

Tactical Reserves

Here comes the big one. We have returned to 7th Edition, where your reserves can only arrive from turn two onwards. At least they haven't gone back to being random.

When this rule was originally changed, it cared about Power Level, when the majority of Matched Play players didn't. It also opened up a problem where you could double a unit's Power Level simply by adding one member, allowing you to manipulate the Reserve allowance. Simple fix, well done.

Also, the ability to arrive in turn one but only in your own deployment zone wasn't fit for purpose. It stopped the armies that wanted their Reserves to assault in the first turn. Which is great. While there are still units that can get to you in the first turn, when they go first,  it's no longer half the opposing force. You can also attempt to mitigate that, dependant on Deployment.

Where it failed was it allowed shooting armies to put units in Reserve with no intention of bringing them in near the enemy, and setting up a devastating Beta Strike, while dodging the opposing Alpha Strike. I've done this, and it's not fun for the opponent. It's hard to have decent target priority when the priority targets are hiding off-table.

This change has lead to a handful of abilities getting changed. Some of these have become a pre-game movement, while Rangers have moved into Reserves. These errata attempt to let those units behave the way they are intended, while not breaking the Tactical Reserve rule. That's why this rule is Beta, as it needs more people testing it.

I'm currently in favour of this change but want to get some games in to test it before I make a concrete decision.


Prepared Positions

This is a nice Stratagem, and an attempt to take a little of the sting away from going second. It also has the slight consequence of being useless for a couple of mini-factions (there is a Hive Fleet that has this ability built in for instance), and Harlequins, while actually buffing your opponent (if they are Imperial Fists, or manage a first turn Charge with Striking Scorpions).

I'm looking forward to playing with this available. How often I use it will depend on what I'm facing and how many Command Points I have available.

Tactical Restraint

There had been some other solutions to this problem that I've seen suggested. This is the simplest one and I believe it does the job well. Finally, we will start to see more variety in Warlord Traits. My one issue is the Autarch, who spends centuries studying and practising command at war, can only get Command Points back on a 6, while many other Codexes since the Craftworlds one trigger similar abilities on a 5-6.

It's a good change and stops some armies feeling like they have infinite Command Points. It doesn't address the armies that start with far more Command Points than others, but I guess a small change is better than none.

Interim Balance Review 

We have a couple of Stratagems getting errata, and a handful going up in Command Point costs. These, again, will take some time to see the full effects of. It does show that if a Stratagem is proving either ubiquitous or key to an oppressive army list, that Games Workshop is willing to adjust its cost. I wonder if they will look at doing the same for Stratagems that support units that aren't seeing much play at the moment.

Bonus Round

Not mentioned in the article, or the FAQ itself, but tucked away in the Rulebook FAQ is a change to units with the Fly keyword. They no longer ignore terrain and models during the Charge Phase.

This makes screening units stronger, as it's harder to bypass them now. It also removes the ability to use elevated terrain to get around short Overwatch ranges. It has meant that a handful of other units have been given errata to match, like Necron Wraiths and Harlequin Flip Belts.

Summary

Overall, I can see why some people were disappointed with this FAQ. They wanted point changes, up for Knights and down for Power/Terminator Armour. That's very much the domain of Chapter Approved.

What it did do though, was cement some good changes that were Beta in the last one and offer some more changes to trial. I like the changes, and as per the last FAQ want to try them out. It's only really by getting some games in that we can really see the impact.