Tuesday 24 April 2018

FAQ updates - main rulebook and chapter aporoved


So here is the second part of the FAQ review and in this part we will be looking at the changes to the main rulebook and chapter approved 2018. I'll start with the rule book and then go on to chapter approved. I will only be looking at the new information and not all the previous updates and information. There will be the occasional overlap with the Big FAQ review from last time and when there is I'll just gloss over those sections.

The main rulebook has had a few changes outside of what we saw in the big FAQ. The first change noted on the update is about ignoring wounds, which we've already talked about. The next item is changes to the embarking process. It is more of a claificlarifimore than anything, as the actual process hasn't changed, you still need to be within 3", it's just confided to the movement phase now. I guess with things like Eldar "fire and fade" or similar, you could have embarked at other times. Not so any more, although I can think of at least one time you can get around this, with the armageddon mount up order.

Next up is an odd one for me, as it's an update to the warlord rule. Now I thought that this was fairly simple, but there seems to have been a few bright sparks out there who have been bending the rules slightly and nominating a fortification as there warlord! Ok, so that old rules just said a model, so the fortification counts but it's not exactly very realistic now, is it? The update specifically says it can't be a fortification, so that loophole has disappeared. I just wish I'd though about it!

The next two and final updates for the main rulebook are about the organised events box, which i covered last times and also the changes to command points for battalion and brigade detachments, also covered previously.

That's the sum total of the changes to the rules in the main rulebook, however there are a few questions that I wanted to highlight.  Now I'm not going to go in to every question in detail, just go over the bits that I find interesting.

First up they cleared up the issue around being able to kill things you cant see, as in, you measure and check ranges before shooting and you keep shooting until you run out of shots, not until you run out of visible targets. Second up is a very interesting one, if two squads are in terrain and fire pistols in close combat, then they both get the benefit of cover! Also, when shooting the pistols, you have to shoot at the closest enemy models, on a model by model basis, whether your within one inch of them or not.

We also got the proper clarification that you can use stratagems from other codices as long as they meet the criteria on them and also stratagems with the same name from different codices  are considered the same stratagem. I don't think that this comes up very often, outside of the marine and chaos codices.

The modifications that advancing makes to movement characteristics can only be modified once in the movement phase, so if you get to move a second time, such as with a stratagem, you cannot advance again but your movement characteristics stays as the modified value. Also in regards to movement, you can never move if you are deployed from reserves and you cannot use any stratagems that you are required to use in the movement phase.

There was also some clarifications on the charge phase. A charge is only successful if you actually make the charge, if you fail the distance the charge is failed and you cannot do anything that requires you to have charged. The next questions answers the question if with the FLY keyword can measure charge moves diagonally. Now we know that they can and measure directly from base to base. Lastly, is you cant place a model within one inch of a enemy model at the end of a charge then the charge fails. So all those models hiding on to of a ruin, wobbly model syndrome doesn't seem to come in to effect and if there really isn't space to fit the base, then you cannot charge.

The next section covers reserves and starts off with what I am assuming is a change to previous versions. It now appears that you can now no longer make a unit bigger then it starts as, without paying reinforcement points. There is now also no argument for saying that you cannot move after deep striking, its now in black and white that you can, but you cannot use any ability to move, such as psychic or stratagems. So, no more warptime. The last two points clarify that using a stratagem to shoot at incoming deep striking units still follow all shooting rules in regards to characters and that a unit that drop pods in cannot be targeted but the drop pod can, however, you can shoot at the drop pod before the unit disembarks. So get those stratagems working on those heavy weapons.

The next section is about transports and we find out that aura abilities don't affect open top transports and all embarked units count as having moved if the vehicle has moved. Also embarked units count towards your deployment total, so deploying a Rhino with 10 characters in still counts as 11 units deployed for the purposes of the tactical reserve rule. Also they have put a stop to embarking in any phase other than the movement phase, which makes the Armageddon Steel Legion order more effective as it means that the ability is quite rare now.

There are quite a few questions answered in regards to units and weapons. Firstly, you can definitely use abilities such as Gate of Infinity and I guess the BA Upon Wings of Fire, to jump out of combat, which could be very useful. Also if something says fight again then that's is what you do, repeat the entire fight phase for that unit. The downside to this is that if this happens in the turn that you charge, if you destroy your chosen target, you cannot use your "fight again", as you cannot pick a unit you didn't declare a charge again. For abilities that allow you to shoot twice, you can select a separate target for the second attacks and you complete the first attack before starting the second. There are a few other questions that were answered but several are ones that I would have though were pretty self-evident but I guess nothing really is.

The last section is all about the missions. Distances from objectives are measured in all directions, including diagonally. Also any abilities that must be used before the battle must be used before deployment starts and that deployment is not a phase. Also if you deploy units in a flyer, you had better make sure that you have other units on the ground because they don't count for the sudden death rule. The last thing to note is that vehicle squadrons, once deployed act as separate units and each counts for first blood.

I'll go over the Chapter Approved changes here, as there are very few changes. Firstly there is some clarifications on the Skyshield landing pad, don't know what this means, as I don't have one. There are also some points updates, I'll go over the guard changes later, but the ones that interested me are the Eldar ones. The points increase to Dark Reapers is good as far as I can see, they are very powerful. Why the Death Corps changes are here I still don't understand.

There are a few questions answered but there is only one that caught my attention. It refers to weapons that don't require line of sight, such as mortars, and how they interact with the character rules. As many thought, the "does not need line of sight" bit does override the character requirements for being the closest and VISIBLE model. So, as long as its the closest, you can hit it even if its not visible. So bring on those mortars!

Next up is the last part of my look at the new FAQ's and its probably the one that will take the longest as its all about the Guard, with a little bit of marines thrown in for good measure.

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