There's a new edition of Warhammer 40K
coming out, and, god help me, its actually looking like it might be
good. Between daily news updates and not so much leaks as floods of
info out of Warhammer Fest, we've now got a fairly good idea how the
game will play. Its far, far, FAR too early to make judgements on
the metagame, as its looking to be the most substantial rules refit
since 3rd edition, so all of my comments here are provisional. Two
comments I can safely make however are that the game is going to be
very bloody, and that several big paradigms have shifted. So, here
are my early opinions of some of this, in an orky way.
Wagonz and Kanz
Between dice modifiers, random damage, multiple ways to play the game, and the return of the Movement stat, its a completely new game. But the thing that's drawing the most attention is the way all units have the same profile format, meaning that, yes vehicles have wounds now. This addresses probably the biggest rules quirk in previous editions, where vehicles were less durable than their infantry equivalents, which ended up with entire classes of models left on the shelf. Vehicles are now something you wear down rather than kill with one shot, or rip apart with no effort in CC. These often have wound counts in the teens, 30+ for super heavies, and while weapons cause more damage, its not a quick job. Vehicles, and comparably massive monsters, do however suffer from a decline in function with damage, this being unique to each. We've gone from vehicles shattering like glass, and monsters being 100% functional until death, to both slowly breaking down. In addition, changes to the wound chart mean that your typical sidearm can harm vehicles, Dawn of War style, which all may in result in decline of popularity for melta weapons. Mind you, just because its technically possible for lasguns to eventually take out a land raider, it doesn't mean its sensible to try. It would be like watching your own finger nails grow. Or Cricket.
The orky perspective of this is one of having been on the wrong end of the old regime, and any change is good. Orkz, and obviously myself, had a thing for the “robotic walker” unit type and this just became impractical under previous editions. Especially after the Kustom Forcefield got downgraded. Not to mention, Orky Trukks having the durability of a wet paperbag in November, and Battlewagons got more expensive and less crushy. Leaks thus far have indicated its at least worth considering these units again. Killa Kanz, Deff Dreadz, and Gork/morkanauts can theoretically duel with the big beasts of similar cost, while still being credible challenges for infantry. Trukkz look like they might survive the attention of more than one shooting phase, although it would appear you want high value units in Battlewagons instead, due to how transports die. Transports can now also be used to absorb overwatch fire, and oh happy day, the deathrolla does the business again.
Da boyz
While I've maintained an interest since, what ruined 40k for me was the most recent Ork codex. Much anticipated after many years of codex creep, this was a huge anti-climax that worked against its key themes. In an attempt to more closely match their Fantasy Battle version, Orkz now had a nasty habit of infighting when they failed morale tests, inflicting a random number of wounds on random models. As ork units were easily 20 strong, this was impractical to apply via D6, and easily happened multiple times in a single phase to the same unit. Trukk mobz tended to vanish. What is the point of an Ork army where you are discouraged from taking boyz? Plus, all the stuff mentioned above. Fortunately, GW acknowledged much of this out of the gate, with their focus article, and leaked statlines do seem to back them up. Morale tests are less frequent, if invariably fatal if you fail, but Orkz get a suitable barrier to this. Mob Rule now treats leadership as equal to the number of models of that unit, or a nearby one. Given that Boyz still come in mobs of 30, and now get a bonus attack for being that big, pairs of large mobs aren't running without suffering ridiculous losses. This is further reinforced by the Warboss and Nobz, whom also affect morale, plus a selection of support characters.
Aside from being an awful lot less
annoying to field, boyz do get a couple of benefits in this new
edition. Their statline switches them back into being assault troops
first, gaining a long overdue strength of 4, a flat 3+ to hit in
close combat, and the aforementioned bonus attack for being many. The
assault phase has of course been reworked and renamed, so temper your
expectations here, but the charger always strikes first, and pistols
seem to have more of a reason to exist now. This does present the
possibility of entirely wiping out a unit before it strikes back,
assuming you can manoeuvre such a mob into position. Ranged combat
meanwhile is less attractive due to these changes, but I do not wish
to discount Shootaboyz at this very early stage. Its still gonna be
preferable for boyz in a defensive roll or footslogging to have an
option other than running straight at the nearest target.
As fun as usually that is....
Mind you, something that's probably
going to help all orkz, regardless of what weapon fixation they
currently have, is the death of templates and blast markers. Such
things now do random numbers of hits, and I wouldn't call them
trivial in the slightest, but you don't have to worry about some git
with a flamer turning half the squad into fried mushrooms if they
have to bunch up.
Concerns
While what we have seen seems to
suggest a deliberate attempt to correct past mistakes, one thing that
does concern me is this “3 ways to play” business. The
traditional points systems has been placed in the appendix, in favour
of a more vague “power” rating and other stuff. While its nice to
see GW avoid repeating the toxic revaluation that was Age Of Sigmar's
absence of balancing, but one wonders if this truly their priority.
The complete reworking of all armies at the same time does mean if
they FAQ regularly, abuse should be minimised. But as there are other
ways to play, one being AOS laissez faire, it would be easy for them
to let it slide. Also, while I do think a unified statblock is the
way to go, the fact that vehicles don't have armour facings anymore,
or fire arcs, means some nuance is lost.
Primaris Marines
I must confess I've been eyerolling at all this. Loyalist beakies are simply the best equipped and catered for faction in the game. Yes, yes, chapter variants are a thing, but you know what I mean. The only things they don't have, horde infantry and titans, would go against their key themes. As marines are long past ubiquitous, this is a problem for GW as there simply isn't an obvious cool thing to for the next codex. This is why Centurions exist, and why they were viewed as a solution in search of a problem. Primaris Marines look to be in the same category, being essentially marines, but more so. Unless the eventual aim is to have them replace regular beakies, thus bringing the faction more in line with fictional depictions, I'm not really seeing the point. Its not that compelling a sales gimmick to me, but then I play Orkz. That said, the statlines and equipment thry have isn't easily dismissed, each inviting comparisons with multi-wound units like Nobz or Tyranid Warriors and noted cheesemongers the Grey Knights. Traditional ork tactics for killing Marines should apply here, but changes to the damage rules means they can survive the occasional power klaw blow. And speaking of which...
Primaris Marines
I must confess I've been eyerolling at all this. Loyalist beakies are simply the best equipped and catered for faction in the game. Yes, yes, chapter variants are a thing, but you know what I mean. The only things they don't have, horde infantry and titans, would go against their key themes. As marines are long past ubiquitous, this is a problem for GW as there simply isn't an obvious cool thing to for the next codex. This is why Centurions exist, and why they were viewed as a solution in search of a problem. Primaris Marines look to be in the same category, being essentially marines, but more so. Unless the eventual aim is to have them replace regular beakies, thus bringing the faction more in line with fictional depictions, I'm not really seeing the point. Its not that compelling a sales gimmick to me, but then I play Orkz. That said, the statlines and equipment thry have isn't easily dismissed, each inviting comparisons with multi-wound units like Nobz or Tyranid Warriors and noted cheesemongers the Grey Knights. Traditional ork tactics for killing Marines should apply here, but changes to the damage rules means they can survive the occasional power klaw blow. And speaking of which...
But other good stuff
When it comes to things which are nice, if perhaps unexpected, its looking like nobz have actual choices to make with weapons and gear. As there are dice modifiers in play, its no longer mandatory to take a power klaw, as a big choppa causes comparable damage without suffering the same downsides. Klaw don't strike at I1 anymore, on the charge they'll even strike first like all melee types, but suffer a -1 to hit and causes more random damage than the BC. There's a legit choice to be made. Meganobs meanwhile seem to have become even bigger bastards. They have 3 wounds now, and with modifiers and random damage in play, they should be able to absorb anti-tank fire without immediately dying. Kombi-weapons also get a dramatic new lease on life as both sections can be used without limitation.
Outlook
When it comes to things which are nice, if perhaps unexpected, its looking like nobz have actual choices to make with weapons and gear. As there are dice modifiers in play, its no longer mandatory to take a power klaw, as a big choppa causes comparable damage without suffering the same downsides. Klaw don't strike at I1 anymore, on the charge they'll even strike first like all melee types, but suffer a -1 to hit and causes more random damage than the BC. There's a legit choice to be made. Meganobs meanwhile seem to have become even bigger bastards. They have 3 wounds now, and with modifiers and random damage in play, they should be able to absorb anti-tank fire without immediately dying. Kombi-weapons also get a dramatic new lease on life as both sections can be used without limitation.
Outlook
Optimistic.
