The big FAQ - Rules erratas

The big FAQ dropped the other week and while it didn't contain many big changes, there were a few little changes that might have a big impact on the game. I'm not going to go into every little change, just the few that I see as interesting or relevant to me.

In the main FAQ there were a few points of note, the first change and the one a lot of people are talking about is the first one on the Errata. The changes to the FLY keyword have pulled back some of its power and I am not sure that it is the best change to the rule but it will stop some of the shenanigans that we currently see, such as 0" charges. I think that it will change again, as I think that stopping them being able to jump over models when charging is a bit silly. Stopping them ignoring terrain or vertical distances is a bit still and I've always thought that measurement should have been measured diagonally from start to finish position or just to ignore intervening terrain or models. I'm not sure how I would have changed this rule but I don't think this is the answer.

The next change is to one shot weapons and brings in the options in the rules to enable you not to shoot a one shot weapon if you want. It was always silly to have it that if you shoot you must shoot with all the weapons, wasting a one shot weapon or not shooting at all. This is a good change, although I suspect that most people have been playing it this way from the start.

There is little else new in the way of actual rules changes and none that I think will really make any difference to the game itself. After the rules errata's ae the FAQ's and as usual there are a few that I thought were pretty self explanatory but apparently not. It has been confirmed that you cannot skip a phase, which I though was obvious, the phase doesn't not happen just because you have nothing to do in it, it just passes very quickly.

We also have another example that stratagems from different codices  with the same name are considered the same stratagem and there for only one can be used in a phase. I though this had already been cleared up but maybe not.

Next up is that using stratagems to shoot units that come in from reserve and how it interacts with characters. If they say "as if it were the shooting phase" that's what it means, so all the rules for it still apply. I know lots of people have tried to get around it by rules lawyering but now its set in stone. The same can be said for Heroic Interventions, no you cant do it in your turn, you never have and now its there in magenta and white. Oh, but you can in your opponents turn even if they didn't declare any charges.

There is also a bit clearing up the "Rule of Three" at the end but I've not bothered to read it as I never use the rule.

The blood Angles errata didn't change much apart from increasing the cost of the stratagem "upon wings of fire" which is understandable, it is a very good stratagem and even a doubling in price doesn't dent it's usefulness. I'll still be using this one regularly. The only other new thing is just the clarification that you can't use narthecium to bring back an armonium cherub. Makes sense, it's busy flying off to get more ammo and won't be back for a while.

The main changes in the Astra Militarum errata are centred around bullgryns and Stratagems. The wording of slab shields has been changed so it only affects armour saves, which makes sense. Two Stratagems have also been changed, "jury rig" has become a once a turn stratagem, which is ok, I'm not sure it was needed but apparently it was, not that I've used it much. The second stratagem to get changed was "take cover" and was modified so that it can only be used on infantry units, which seems sensible, being able you use it on a bloody great tank was a bit silly but useful nonetheless. Now it's just on Infantry, although there the ones that usually need it most.

That's it for the rules errata's, nothing major and nothing that's going to change the way that I play the game. I'll have s s lo at the big FAQ itself next as there are quite a few things to mention from there.