chapter approved

So Chapter Approved 2017 is out and while i haven't purchased it, i have been gathering what info i can on it online. My initial assessment of CA17 is that it's pretty much a waste of money. Ok, so there are 6 new Eternal war missions and 6 new Maelstrom of war mission, which could be fun, i still haven't played half of the ones in the rule book yet. There are also some rules changes, 6 by the looks of it, which equates to about a page in the book and not worth buying the whole book for.

We have already seen a preview of two of the new rules. One, that all troops in battle forged detachments now get objective secured, which brings them inline with the various codices available. The second rule is that to determine first turn you both roll, but the person who finished setting up first gets a +1 to there roll. Both are fairly basic and not game changing. The other two rules are that you cannot use your command re-roll to affect "mission dice". Basically, you can't use a command point before the beginning of the very first turn, so no using it for stealing the initiative or for seeing if the game ends on turn 5. Finally, there is the fact that the restrictions for targeting a character have been tightened up. This is probably the biggest change and is designed to stop some of the line of sight nonsense that people have been using. Now, you cannot target a character unless they are the closest, regardless of whether you can see other units or not. The last "new" is that understrength units can now only be taken in an Auxiliary Support Detachment. I don't know anyone who takes  understrength units and don't know why you would want to, but the option is still there, just more  restricted now. In addition to these rules, there is also the "boots on the ground" rule, but this isn't really a new rule, its just put into a proper book now.

The meat of the new book is taken up with updates for the various armies that don't have a codex yet, giving each a warlord trait, stratagem and relic. In addition there are also points updates for pretty much all the armies, including the Guard. So, the majority of the book is new missions or updates to armies i don't have. All I would be buying the book for is a page of rules and half a page of points updates. Even for the price it is, it still doesn't make sense to me, especially as i have found the points changes other places.

Having decided not to buy the book and getting the points cost changes elsewhere, what are the changes?

astropath - 15 to 30
A big price hike for a unit that I don't think is very good to begin with. At 15 points it could be worth taking one or two, at this price i don't think it is.

conscripts - 3 to 4
I get the feeling that GW do not like conscripts. With the previous changes and now this points change, conscripts are basically dead. When you can now combine two infantry squads to do the same thing better for the same price, it makes conscripts pretty useless.

manticore - 125 - 135
Not a massive change and won't cause to much of an issue for most people and is also the kind of points adjustment i would have expected. It gained power points with the codex, so not surprised to see it gain points as well.

Primaris Psyker - 28 to 38
The power of smite is being felt somewhat here. These payments were cheap for what they could do and a points increase is not surprising. Still a useful unit, even with the price hike.

Ratlings - 5 to 7
Now this is more of a problem. This price rise now means that a basic unit is 10 point more expensive, that's two ratlings. That's a big difference in terms of men and output. I guess that this shows the damage that sniper's can do and how effective this unit can be.

Taurox - 40 to 50
They are obviously struggling to find the right points balance for the taurox. It started as 55, dropped to 40 and now is back up to 50. Hopefully this will be the final points change. I'm not sure if this is a good points value for them or not as i don't have any or run any.

Taurox Prime - 65 to 80
Again, this has had a few points changes, unfortunately they have all been upwards. This is units a points jump though and when you put on the various weapon loads, the point keep going up. I feel that this may see more points changes in the future, although probably not anytime soon.

Wyvern - 85 to 95
I can't say I'm surprised by a point hike here, the wyvern is still a great unit. It still excels at taking out low toughness units and is still useful for other infantry units, although i think it still needs an ap modifier. This 10 point hike does nothing to the usefulness or effectiveness of the unit. Still a good price for what it does.

Tempest Command Rod - 0 to 5
This surprises me, as although you get an extra order from this, you have to give up shooting. 5 points isn't much but i do still deal that its a little bit too much of a price hike, especially as the other options are mostly cheaper.

Force stave - 12 to 8
This is one of the few drops in points and means that the primaris psyker's price hike isn't quite as bad as it was. It means that in reality it's only a 6 point hike overall, which is easier to handle.  I'm not sure why they have done this as there are no other options for the primaris psyker's and none of the other psychic units use it either. Why they didn't just raise the primaris by 6 point and call it done, i don't know.

Power Fist - 10 to 8
Personally i don't think this goes far enough. Even with the extra strength granted by a fist, it's still not a good choice for a guard character. I think that if it was dropped inline with the other power weapons then it might become a good option but until then i don't think it is.

Autocannon - 15 to 12
Another of the points reductions and one i do like, mostly as i use a lot of autocannons. These are my go to heavy weapon and so i will benefit from this reduction as it will offset some of the other points rises. I don't know why they have decided to reduce this weapon but it does have some benefits. It will benefit the taurox's, as if you take this option it will lessen the points rises there, especially considering the next item on this list.

Hot-shot Volley gun - 6 to 7
a slight points rise for these weapons. Given the rise in points to both plasma guns and meltas, I'm a little surprised that they raised this too. I didn't think that scions were underpriced enough to have to have all their special weapons marked up in price, but it seems to be going that way. I still think that the volley gun is a good choice for the points, but it is a shame that it's still a heavy type weapon.

Melta gun - bs4+ 12 / other 17
So it happened to plasma guns, now it's happened to meltas to. Why? Not to sure, you are after all paying more for the greater BS in the first place, so i don't get why you need to pay so.much more for the weapon. Anyway, this is going to hurt vets and scions but this still remains one of the best anti vehicle\monster guns in the guards armoury.

Taurox Gatling cannon - 18 to 20
Not only did the taurox prime get a price hike but so to did it's cheapest weapon option. These things are getting expensive now. Granted they are still a very effective vehicle with good amounts of firepower but your definitely having to pay for it. I expect more points changes for the prime in the future, how much or when is anybody's guess, but probably CA18

Vanquisher Battle Cannon - 25 to 20
This adjustment makes sense to me. It's a one shot a turn weapon, not including grinding advance, and is at the bottom of the pile of LRBT weapons options. It's a good weapon but it's pricey for its low output. I would like to see another 5 points drop but I'm happy that it's got a drop. A good weapon, now at a more reasonable price.

There are a few changes here, not as many as some got, but still quite a few. Most of them are reasonable changes, addressing some of the basic teething problems that come with a new edition, so however seem a little over the top. Conscripts for example, with all the other changes was a points increase really necessary? The points for both taurox versions seem to be a problem. Hopefully this will be the last major change there for a while, although i think the prime is now over priced but i don't have any, so i don't really know. The other big looser i think is the lowly ratlings. Although it's only a couple of points, it's a big price hike for them. I didn't hear much about them before and i think will her even less now but I'll still try them out and see how they play. Overall, i don't think the changes are anything we need to worry about and will not change the game or the way guard are played, with the exception of conscripts maybe but i have a feeling that won't upset many people!