Da ich in dem anderen Post Ninja gespielt habe, und dafür abgemahnt wurde, mach ich das lieber diesmal richtig. Blood of Kitten hat coole Neuigkeiten. Necrons: I’m preparing to chat about Troops this week, but really, Yakface covered that in accurate detail. It’s funny, here Yakface collates and works tirelessly to contribute to the 40k tournament community, in a positive way, through the INAT FAQ. On REAL Earth, he designs governments for us to install on other universes. You guys know Spain? That’s one of his. So I’ve been stuck in quarantine for a bit, it turns out that I’ve caused a bit of a paradox. My brain had like… four different realities in it. Things have settled down now and I can only really remember one, and bits of others. That’s good right? Do you guys know how bad it is to have PFD (Paradox Fueled Dimensia)? It’s bad. You have to sit in a room and wait it out. Like the waiting room at the dentist, but no highlights magazine. Anyhoo, it looks like things have shifted, the sands have changed and so have some of our favorite metal immaciates (not a real word). I went over everything I wrote here, and only one thing needs changing. The big gods don’t make ALL the field dangerous and difficult. Now (or always?… I guess…) they just make Difficult terrain Dangerous. That’s a tad bit more in line. So take that for what it is worth. Ok, moving on to Fast Attack then. Flipping a coin tells me that this codex isn’t like the Grey Knights and I’ll have to roll a pyramid shaped piece of plastic. Round and Round she goes… will she land on the Jump… no… the Beasts… No… The Jetbikes?… no… THE OTHER JUMP! Well that’s a bit boring. Destroyers. Look, lets make this simple… one entry, upgrade to heavy destroyers… still fast. Blah Blah. I’m gonna talk about Wraiths instead. I know cheating. YOU’RE WELCOME. The basics haven’t changed much, strength of a dreadnought (without a fist) and a pair of wounds each. The same cost as a terminator, same save as a terminator with a shield. Squad can fit in a razorback. All in all, a solid unit. Oh, and rending, that’s the big melee upgrade. You can also give them whips, with combined with their save can let them attack some of the enemy first, thus negating the suckage of necron initiative. In addition to that they can have guns! First is the Exiler. This bad boy is a heavy single shot with pistol ranges. Rather than dealing damage it makes the unit pass a strength test or die. There is a bit of wonkyness in my memory, PFD and all, so that might get shaken up some as we go forward. It’s the most expensive of the options, clocking in at grey hunter prices. Lastly you can give them a pistol, it’s got the same strength as their attacks, so that’s a nice touch, just an extra whammy before you assault. Also good for cracking open a transport. Bit expensive as it jumps them up 25% in cost. So with fearless, the crazy save and rending, they can do a bit of damage. They only have as many attacks as a purifier, but hey, that’s still a hat trick on the charge. In games I’ve played against them they do really well against heavy hitter squads. Moving through terrain without taking tests and slamming into problem units with relative ease. A dozen wounds can hold for a long time against their equal, and you can even pull some minor wound allocation tricks (although, limited). I’m a big fan. Of course, the PFD is kicking in… and now I seem to be comparing them to Scarabs… and nobody will ever take Wraiths when these Scarabs are an option. Dammit, now I’m gonna have to go sit in a little room for a while. Neue Grundregeln I am really pissed! The recent shift in GW’s marketing strategy is only the beginning. The goal is to completely control every bit of information that is going out and make every advance sneak peek look like an accidental leak. Think of Apple and you know what they are trying to achieve. They simultaneously try to keep the internet crowd happy with some leaked bits here and there and the store crowded focused on the next release. Prepare for more of these infamous “you see one eighth of the miniature and should stand in awe” pictures. The restructured White Dwarf will be the only place for “official” news. The days when Games Days were a good source for exciting news are gone. No more seminars. Independent shop owners will get the info at the same time as the public. From autumn on product codes will be chiffres and retailers have to order bulk packages for new releases without knowing what is in it if they want to get the releases on the first day. If they want to buy the boxes individually they have to wait two weeks until GW releases the chiffres. Mail Orders won’t arrive on the day of release, they will be SENT on the day of release. So no more accidental early arrivals. If you want to buy a product on the day of release you have to go to a GW store or one of the shops that have bought the release package. There is no chance to get the products via an online store on time. The retail embargo for the southern hemisphere were initially planned for every single country, so no more exports from UK to continental Europa, but GW’s law division stopped this as it would have violated EU laws. So now they will introduce two boxes for every release with exactly the same content but different boxes. One is for the retail in a single country and comes at the standard wholesale price. The other box has all the necessary taxation and regulatory clearances for export. These boxes are virtually the same but GW is charging an extra fee for them. Online shops can choose to stop exports or accept a serious blow to their profit margins. We, the gamers, are sitting on the receiving end of this dishonest policy once more. We are treated like children and that is exactly the goal of these changes. So here are some of their plans, as long as the info is available, to spoil some of their surprises: * first 6th edition codexes, but release before or with rulebook, small release with single or two waves: Black Templars (1 waves: 2x plactic, 2x Finecast), Tau (1 wave: 3x plastic boxes, 4x Finecast), Necrons (2 waves) * first real 6th edition codex: Codex Chaos Legions, really big release in three waves, doesn’t invalidate Codex Chaos Space Marines which gets extensive White Dwarf update as Codex Renegade Space Marines * two starter sets, each with rules, dices, movement markers, mission booklet, one with Dark Angels and fitting scenery, the other with Black Legion and Chaos scenery. You can combine both to play the campaign or use one set alone to play a selection of dumbed down scenarios against every other force, first starter set that comes with a model for a well established special character * 6th edition is finished rulewise for some time now, the overall goal is to fix some of the long time problems of the game system. Expect a lot more fundamental improvements than last edition. The rules were even more ambitious at some stage of development, but didn’t get approved as they were too far away from the established rules. The main designer left company and his successors brought the rules back in line with the existing codexes. The rules are nonetheless a bigger step forward than from 4th to 5th. Changes are so big that the next edition relies partial on erratas to fix old codexes. Development relied heavily on feedback of veteran playtesters. You can see some results of this new approach by the way the FAQs were handled in the last months. All codexes since Codex Tyranids were written with the new rules in mind, especially the new mission and reserve structure. * The main design goals are: one book to rule them all, heroic characters, visceral combat, streamlined mechanism, cleaned up presentation and strategy before chance * strong narrative focus on Chaos, perspective shifting from the Empire to the struggle between free races and the Warp * the biggest rule changes: - similar ballistic to hit chart as wound chart: compare BS to target’s speed and unit type. BS 3 hits moving infantry on 4+, but lightning fast jetbikes on 6+ and stationary tank on 2+… HUGE - victory points are back, but with another twist: you get two victory points if an unit holds an objective for an entire game turn, if a scoring unit holds one, you get three and one if you destroy a squad leader or vehicle - before the game there is a bidding contest for the opportunity of the first turn, if you bid more strategic points you can go first, but the enemy can spent these points on stratagems as in Cities of Death: 22 generic stratagems – for example for one point you can decide on night fighting or place an automatic gun, for four you can shift your reserves, most expensive stratagems are at 12 points and are really drastic, every unspent point can be used once a game for a reroll - new turn sequence: prepare-movement-assault-shooting-consolidate new phase “consolidate” phase for random movements, jetpack movements, pursuits, morale checks/effects and resolving shooting reactions assault before shooting – big units are real roadblocks! Some more examples for the development doctrines One rulebook for all: - flyer rules are incorporated in the main rules - narrative rule section that expands core rules: formations, super heavies, gaining experience - modular rules, core rules can easily be expanded by narratives rules or another expansion set Heroic characters: - independent characters more powerful, armour save and invulnerable save at the same time - squad leaders more important, no more 50% rallying threshold, unit can rally as long as squad leader lives - independent characters can snipe More visceral combat: - standard cover only 5+ now, Feel No Pain (1) only on 5+ - slow slogging units very vulnerable - some weapon types are specialized in taking out specific unit types and are incredible good at doing this (sniper vs. infantry without armour), but on the other hand ordnance vs flyer isn’t going to do much streamlined: - no more random movement at all - 5 general types of psychic powers - wound allocation like 4th edition on unit basis, but attacker can chose every 5th wound to go to a single model (sniper weapon every second wound) - artillery is normal immobile vehicle squadron, crew has no other game purpose than to be a counter for rate of fire and attacks clean up of combusted rules: - there are tiers for most of the special rules. Instant Death (2) circumvents Eternal Warrior (1) for example. Feel No Pain (1) is 5+, Feel No Pain (2) is 4+ and Feel No Pain (3) is 3+. If no value is given, the special rule is tier 1. - no more difference between leadership test and morale test - terrain rules on a single page, true line of sight, non-vehicles models are ignored altogether, rules for special terrain like bunkers, ruins or deathworld mangroves in narrative rule section less randomness, more strategic options: - more elaborate reserve rules, can nominate turn of arrvial and has only small change to arrive earlier or later, or can intervene behind enemy lines, arrives randomly but can hinder enemy reserves, must be distributed evenly between turn two and three, later arrivals only randomly -no more random game length -no roll for first turn -deep striking units more than 18” from enemy away don’t scatter, but landing in 6” is much more dangerous - movement impairing effects from pinning weapons even if morale check is passed (if roll is above halved Ld), Fearless not immune to this, but only effected if rolled over full Ld - more reactions to shooting than going to the ground depending on unit type and special rules. bikes can evade (3+ cover as same as before, but cannot assault or shoot next turn), jump troops can fly high, units with Stealth can attempt to vanish, … Schwestern Sororitas It is that time again, thanks for reading and posting your questions. Let me start by letting everyone know I have no idea (or will never know for sure) about new model releases. I don’t know if the new sisters release will be resin or plastic or the numbers in the boxes, but like I said before my bet is on Finecast re-release. Now with that out-of-the-way on to new rules… What is not in the Codex * Repressors * Arbites The Units (more information than others) Canoness: Here is my special shout out to the Canoness: you are terrible. I mean grossly underpowered. Now this is going to sound like a cop-op, but I am not going into details because my hope is that she will be changed before release. It just sounds and looks like she is an unfinished product. She gets her own retinue that cannot do anything; she starts out cheap, but her upgrades are expensive and lame when you compare to everything else. So here is hoping to GW getting her fixed. Repentia: Forgot to mention they have fleet Celastians: Cheaper than a Marine, but not really anything going for them (that I know of)… extra attack. Re-roll hits for act of faith Sister Battle Squad: Can still get a Heavy Flamer Shraphim: They are pretty amazing. Cheaper than a Space Marine you get a Jump Packing, Hit and Running, and an act of faith that has them re-rolling wounds. You can also upgrade them to run with double hand flamers and melta pistols. They act both as an extra close combat weapon and become assault 2 instead of being twin-linked. So that means Assault 2 melta weapons. Dominion Squads: Still get 4 special weapons. Act of Faith twin-linked. Retributor Squads: Pretty fantastic. CHEAP! Talking under Long Fang cheap to fully kit out. Expect the return of the Heavy Bolter with these. Act of Faith is Rending. Penitent Engines: Again fantastic. Same statline (Walker). No Scout or Infiltrate. Cheaper and can be a squadron aka 9 Engines. They still get the 1D6 attacks, but any wounds generate additional attacks (don’t know if they work like Blood Talons). 6+ Invul (don’t know if they generate faith) That is all I got guys, if I get more will let you know. As always you can get a new developments by following Blood of Kittens. Best way: Register with Blood of Kittens and receive email warnings about impending rumors or news. Become a Facebook Fan of Blood of Kittens Or join Blood of Kittens on Twitter As always for those that don’t want to sign up for anything, don’t worry you will get all the same information as everyone else just no advance warning.