GW News: BIG N' SMALL WAAAGH! COMIN'

Following the trend of posting 9th edition leaks, i have found a leak for the cover of the necron codex.

 

YES!!!!! Some new cover art at last!

Even though I’ve been rather put off playing this new edition by the dumb rule allowing tanks to shoot in combat (ridiculous - any unit attacking a tank in melee would be swarming round it outside the guns’ blind spots - a reworked Tank Shock rule that would allow tanks to move out of combat and force every model in its path to take an Initiative test or be run over would have been much better), I was still considering getting the new Necron Codex if there was going to be one just to read about the Silent King’s return and the new units, and develop some unofficial 6th Edition rules for them. That great new cover art has sealed that deal.

 

Funnily enough this didn't exist in editions prior to 8th, as if you tried to lock a tank down with a horde of models like Termagants or Gretchin in those editions, they wouldn't be able to do anything to it due to Strength 3 and below being too weak to even glance a vehicle's armour, and in the vehicle's turn it could simply drive backwards and disengage, making that tactic pretty much useless. It's only when they changed vehicles so that they were treated like other units in 8th that they had to remain engaged.

I still think a tank in this situation shouldn't be able to shoot at all, not just because of the 'blind spots' that I mentioned before, but also if you were firing an explosive shell at something right in front of you, you could risk doing substantial damage to your own tank. It would be madness - why do that when you can just run them over with the tank's great treads?

They they should have brought back Tank Shock from the older editions, but made it more realistic than before by allowing the tank to disengage and any models in its path should take an Initiative test. If they pass, they immediately get to make a free move to take them out of the tank's path while remaining in unit coherency, while if they fail they are squashed and removed as a casualty. I'm actually using this as an improvement to the subpar version of the rule in 6th Edition as a house rule, and this rule would still put paid to the problem in 8th they're trying to fix but in a more realistic way.

Not to mention that it buffs pretty much every army that relied upon blasting enemies with their tanks to near invincibility, because even if you manage to get your monsters or tank-hunters into combat, they can still get blasted to pieces if they don't kill it in the first round of combat.

I'm sure Robin 'Treadhead' Cruddace must have put that rule in so that his Imperial Guard and Howling Griffons would have a whale of a time against Tyranids and every other anti-tank army he doesn't like.

However, if they have to have that rule, then at least it would make some sense to have a to hit penalty for firing in close quarters.

 

Yeah, I don't know why GW haven't noticed the near-continual prejudice against Tyranids since 5th and 6th Edition and got someone less biased in to fix it.

But then, at least Necrons are probably going to be made stronger now with all their new models at least so I'd be happy with that for a while if I decided to have a go at 9th

Honestly, if my old Warhammer gaming buddy who played Guard was still playing, he'd be in his element right now with this new rule. In fact it'd probably inspire him to start playing again if he knew.

Towards the last few times we played games together he just focused on squeezing as many tanks into his list as possible, while I took more balanced lists and ended up losing all my monsters early with only a few units of Hormagaunts and Termagants left who could do nothing against it. He was a nice chap, but he had a bit of the urge to win in him that I didn't have.

 

Because that is time, focus and effort that can be "better" directed at Space Marines / Primaris instead!

 

@Killer Angel according to this article monsters can shoot in combat as well as tanks, so Tyranid monsters will be able to use their own missile weapons against the tanks they are attacking in melee too. That levels the playing field a bit. Also, whenever units fire a Heavy weapon at enemies in combat with them they do suffer a -1 penalty to hit rolls, so assault weapons like pintle-mounted bolters can shoot without penalty (which does make more sense) but that Battle Cannon mounted on the turret will suffer a penalty. They even give us Tyranid players a mention:

I'm happy with that actually. True, that Guard tank will be able to shoot at my Carnifex as he's trying to kill it in melee, but my Carnifex will be able to shoot back if he has any ranged weapons of his own. What's more, given that in editions prior to 8th all Tyranid missile weapons were Assault weapons (and I'm assuming Tyranid weapons in 8th and 9th are too) I would still have a slight advantage as the Guard tank would suffer a -1 penalty to hit with his Battle Cannon while I'd be able to blast at him with a Venom Cannon at full accuracy.

EDIT: Blast weapons have also made a comeback in this article, and as part of their new rules they can’t be fired in close combat, which resolves my concern earlier about firing a Battle Cannon at point-blank range hitting your own tank, so the Guard Tank wouldn’t be able to fire its Battle Cannon if they keep it as a Blast weapon (it was in editions prior to 8th). Of course I wouldn’t be able to fire my Venom Cannon in combat either, but my Carnifex would have his melee Abilities to fall back on.

 

Seems to be lots of Necron and new Primaris stuff out there, but I noticed at least one lost opportunity:

Captain:





Chaplain:



"Judicar" who is a 'supernatural swordsman, aka Emperor's Champion,

Some veterans:



Close combat squad:



They are Ultramarines, but they could have EASILY been rebranded as Black Templars! Such a missed opportunity!

 

Make way for the far more awesome new Necrons!

First off we have a pretty darn cool-looking new Overlord sculpt with a Hyperphase Sword on a stick and our first glimpse of what a Tachyon Arrow really looks like (it's been around as an option since the 5th Edition book but GW have only now shown us what one officially looks like):

Next we have a Royal Warden, a new minor character who's pretty much a Vargard with a penchant for ranged combat:

And what's this? GW have actually decided to bring back the Cryptek disciplines, starting with the Plasmancer, or Harbinger of Destruction:

The ability to give your Crypteks different disciplines was one of the most thematic parts of the 5th Edition Codex and I was so sad to see that disappear in 7th and 8th, so it would be fantastic to see this customisability return. This chap certainly reminds me of all those Necron Cairn Wraith conversions I've seen people make, and he's got friends with him:

Allowing your Cryptek to have bodyguards is pretty useful given that Crypteks themselves can't do much in melee, so I can see these chaps being used in lots of army builds as you no longer need to babysit your Cryptek with some Lychguard or Praetorians.

Here's the Skorpekh Lord we saw earlier in all his monstrous glory:

And some of the ordinary Skorpekh Destroyers:


We can finally see that the Hyperphase Reap-blade mentioned earlier is a specialist option, and the main option the rest of the unit has is paired Hyperphase Threshers (once again a variant of the Hyperphase Sword mounted on their wrists).
Next we have a Plasmacyte, a support unit that is probably an additional option that can be taken by the Skorpekh Destroyers to boost their damage potential:

Love the way it's clambering over some fallen Imperial masonry there.

Now we have the Necrons' answer to War of the Worlds Martian Tripods, the Canoptek Reanimator:

Wow, this is a magnificent model, and another way the Necrons can boost their Reanimation Protocols rolls is always helpful. Also it's about time the Necrons got a decent non-Forge-World monster to add to their menagerie of constructs.

Finally we get to see the new Scarabs and Warriors in all their glory:




Necron Warriors now have a new weapon option called the Gauss Reaper, which is essentially a shorter-ranged version of the Gauss Blaster.

These models are all brilliant, and I can see why they priced the upcoming box so high given you get 20 Warriors plus everything else mentioned above. I look forward to seeing the full rules of all the new stuff so I can make up some 5th-6th edition rules for them.

 

Yeah, I saw they did have a transfer sheet that allowed you to give them one of four different Chapters, but it's a shame to see Black Templars aren't one of them. I'd much rather have seen Black Templars put on the sheet than the nancy-boy Blood Angels.

Oh, and more Necrons! We have a new Heavy Destroyer model that puts the Heavy back into Heavy Destroyer:

I wonder if we will be having a new kit for ordinary Destroyers too, maybe GW are keeping them back for a later date to release them alongside the other new Necron stuff they showed us that won't be in the boxed game?

Plus, if you thought the Canoptek Reanimator was big, look at this chap:


The Canoptek Doomstalker, a massive Reanimator that has replaced its Reanimation Beam with a Doomsday Cannon. What a magnificent model. Given the Reanimator looked about Carnifex size, this one is probably the size of a Trygon.

I wonder if these are going to be the Easy-to-build sets released alongside the boxed game like the Death Guard Myphitic Blight-Hauler and Lord Felthius and Tainted Cohort that were released alongside Dark Imperium?

 

Given that we know the full extent of the forces in the main boxed game now, we can also hazard a guess as to what will appear in the smaller £50 set when it arrives by analysing what was in Dark Imperium and Know No Fear.

In Dark Imperium the Space Marine side consisted of the Captain, 2 Lieutenants, Ancient, 2x5 Intercessors, 3 Inceptors and 5 Hellblasters, and the Death Guard side consisted of the Lord of Contagion, Blightbringer, Plaguecaster, 7 Plague Marines, Bloat Drone and 20 Poxwalkers. In Know No Fear this was condensed to the Captain, 5 Intercessors, 3 Inceptors and 5 Hellblasters on the Primaris side and the Lord of Contagion, 5 Plague Marines, Bloat Drone and 10 Poxwalkers on the Chaos side.

In Indomitus, we'll be getting a Captain, Lieutenant, Chaplain, Justicar, 3 Bladeguard, a Bladeguard Ancient, 3 Eradicators, 10 Assault Intercessors and 3 Outriders on the Marine side and the Overlord, Royal Warden, Harbinger of Destruction, Skorpekh Lord, 20 Warriors, 6 Scarab Swarms, 3 Skorpekh Destroyers and the Reanimator.

In Know No Fear we have the main leader and 3 units on each side, so I imagine in the corresponding 9th Edition budget box we'll probably get the Captain, Eradicators, 5 of the Intercessors and the Outriders for the Space Marines and the Overlord, 10 Warriors, the Scarabs and either the Skorpekh Destroyers or the Reanimator for the Necrons. I certainly think that's a reasonable assumption and that both sides would be quite evenly matched there.

 

What are you going to do with the second Overlord?

 

Demand a more beneficial deal, I'm sure there's some players willing to go for a 40/60 split, or even lower, as long as the space marines remain a relative bargain compared to getting the stuff seperatly.

Also @NIGHTBRINGER: 1.

 

Those new necrons do look pretty sweet!

 

@NIGHTBRINGER wanted a Void Dragon C’Tan when the 5th Edition Necron Codex was first rumoured to be on its way... and was disappointed when no such thing appeared. Now, 9 years overdue, his wish has come true:


True, it will only be usable officially in 9th Edition, but a determined gamer could write and playtest some unofficial rules to use him in earlier editions...

And we finally get to see Szarekh, the last of the Silent Kings, in his full regal glory:


What magnificent new models (expensive, but magnificent). I’m looking forward to writing some unofficial rules to use these in earlier editions!