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.
