Today we are rounding off our look at the main parts of the codex, finishing up with the Psykana Psychic Discipline and also the Astra Militarum Tactical Objectives. Following on from this will be a couple of posts, a round up of my final thoughst on the codex as a whole, looking at the best parts and the weakest parts of the codex and also the various combinations that can be created. After this I will do a post on my three Guard armies, the Hjaltland Light Infantry, the Hrossey Yeomanry and the Dagr Ormr/Hildasay PDF and what the changes in the new codex will mean to these armies. However, first we will go through the Psykana Discipline psychic powers.
Smite
Technically not part of the Psykana discipline, our psykers, like all other psykers, have access to this power. It is a fairly basic psychic power with a low (5) warp charge level and while it does have a good range, it is limited to targeting the closest visible unit. Now, while there are various shenanigans that can be used to get around this issue, like the strategic placement of chimeras, it does limit the power. While it is also not the strongest of power, only doing between 1 and 3 mortal wounds, it can do up to 6, which is pretty good, you just need some good dice rolling to achieve it. As all psykers know this power its not surprising its super powerful, but it is a good power and is probably the one I see being used most, apart from in Eldar armies.
Terrifing visions
One of the more expensive powers for the guard, this is the first of three "offensive" powers, designed to target enemy units. This power can target an enemy unit up to 18 inches away and if it is successful, will reduce their leadership by two. This can be a huge problem for some armies, but for other it will be next to useless, so check what you using it on first, otherwise it might be a waste of a power. One thing to remember though is that you will still have to case a casualty to a unit to force it to take a moral test, otherwise this doesn't come in to effect (unless I've missed something in the rule book). I do think that this is probably the best offensive power in the group, but its a close run thing.
Gaze of the emperor
A warp charge cheaper than Terrifing Visions, this is the second of the "offensive" powers and is also the most random. If you pass the test, you draw a line 2d6 long away from the psyker, which instantly drops the usefulness of this down for me. 2d6 can mean you could only be shooting 2 inches or you could be shooting 12 inches, meaning its hard to actually plan. Even if you pass, this might become useless as you won't be able to reach anything, but even if you do, you still have to roll again to see if you actually do damage, which is only a 50/50 chance itself. At least if you do manage to reach your target and hit then the mortal wound you deal out will actually do something. With this you could actually inflict multiple mortal wound on a unit, as you roll for every model the centre of the line passes over, so target through the centre of a unit and with a good 2d6 roll you could get several models. While its got a lot of potential, its to random for my liking and I think that the other "offensive" power is a much better use of the psykers roll.
Psychic barrier
The first of the three "defensive" powers, this power grants a unit within 12 inches of the psyker a +1 bonus to there save. This could be useful on several different occasions, either if you plan on pushing a unit forward out of cover and still want to give them a chance of surviving or if you know that a unit will be the target of a significant portion of the enemies firepower. Giving a guardsman in cover a 3+ save is not to be sniffed at. I like this power, as it affects one of the weakest areas of the guard, their save and with no other way of increasing armour saves these days, this is a useful power to have.
Nightshroud
The second "defensive" power, this power is cast on to a friendly guard unit but effects the ability of the enemy to hit the unit. This is done by way of a -1 to hit modifier for any units targeting the effected unit with ranged weapons. So, although it only has an effect on shooting, I assume that it will still effect pistol shots in combat, although it wont affect close combat attacks. This is another good power, but will have more of an impact on some units than others. Marines for example will not be to disrupted by this, as they will still be hitting on a 4+, but most Ork units will be hitting on a 6+, meaning that there shooting will be a lot more disrupted. Its a shame that Primaris Psykers can only cast one power per turn, as combining this power with Psychic Barrier would be a very viable strategy for keeping a unit alive. Whether this power or Psychic Barrier is a better power depens upon who your facing, if your facing a high BS (3+) army, then Psychic Barrier would be better, a low BS (5+) then this would be better.
Mental fortitude
This is the last of the "defensive" powers and one that I would recommend taking as the third power, behind one of the others here and smite. This power has a very low (4) warp charge cost and when cast on to a nearby guard unit, means that it will automatically pass its moral test. Now, this can work very well or it can go very badly. If you cast this on a unit, you will have to gamble that that unit will be the target of a enemy and sustain numerous casualties, before it actually happens. Doing so can result in a couple of things happening, firstly, the enemy completely ignore the unit, figuring its not going to break and therefore go after other targets that will or secondly they will throw everything they need to at it in order to destroy it. Either way it can be counted as a win, as they will either leave that unit intact, or they will dedicate fire to it instead of other units, meaning that these other unit will survive more intact than they would have. The only time it doesn't work is if they treat the unit as normal, reduce it down to a level where it is no longer effective and then move on. To me this is a power to be used late on in the game when your starting to run out of command points and need a unit holding an objective to stay put or die trying. Like I said at the beginning, I would take this as the third power on a least 1 psyker, as it is useful, but not as much as the other two "defensive" powers.
Psychic maelstrom
7, 18", D6, 2+ mortal wound, then 3, 4 ,5 6, continue until fail to wound/destroyed
The final power in the discipline and in some respect the most powerful of the "offensive" powers. It has a higher (7) warp charge value but a decent 18 inch range and the potential to do 5 mortal wounds. In reality your probably looking at 2 or 3, which is the same as Smite, but without the restrictions, being able to target any model in range. The power works by rolling a dice and starting on a 2 and increasing by 1 every roll, you inflict a mortal wound until you fail the roll or the mortal wound is negated, by something like Disgusting Resilience. Ok, so it is a bit random, but with a similar warp charge value to smite, the same range and potential damage, but with free reign to pick a target, this is my go to "offensive" power instead of smite.
So that's it, the 6 powers of the Psykana Discipline. While we have lost a lot of the old powers we relied on, Prescience mostly, and we have lost a lot of the choices we had before, I think that the powers are a lot more in keeping with the guard theme and I hope that they don't try and expand the powers too much.
Next up are the unique guard tactical objectives, which as standard replace cards number 11 to 16. At some point I will have to go through all the other cards, with a view towards the guard interaction with the cards, but for now, here are the 6 in the codex.
11 - Overkill - 1vp/d3vp
A simple one point card for most of us but if your using a Titanic vehicle you could get up to 3vp with a good d3 roll. All that is required is to kill a unit using a vehicle. It should be fairly easy, pick on a unit with other stuff to reduce it down to a model or two and then finish it off with the vehicle, in combat if you need to, as its not restricted to the shooting phase. This should be an easy point to score for most guard armies, as there are very few armies that I have seen that don't include at least one vehicle.
12 - Regimental Pride - 1vp
This is a little bit of a harder objective to complete, as it requires a guard character to kill another character. Now this doesn't have to be in the fight phase but in any phase, so if your running that tank commander, then this will be a little bit easier. If your running a infantry character, then this will prove a little harder, as most guard character don't have to fire power to kill an enemy character outright or the combat prowess to defeat one in combat. If you can achieve this in a turn, then go for it, otherwise I would bin it at the end of the turn.
13 - Chain of command - 1vp/d3vp
Ok, most guard armies should be able to comfortably get this objective card. It might prove harder later in the game, but issuing 3 orders in a turn should be doable to get 1 point. Issuing 6 orders a turn my not be so easy for the d3 points, but some armies maybe able to do this. If you cant achieve this in the turn you draw it, bin it, as chances are you wont be able to do it in the following turns, unless you can manoeuver in to a position to issue the 6 orders.
14 - Troops on the Ground - d3vp/3+d3vp
This is the big money card, giving out up to 6 points. This card has two levels, the first level gets you D3 points for controlling between 3 and 5 objectives. This should be fairly easy for most guard armies, especially infantry based armies. The next level is 3 plus D3 points for controlling all 6 objectives. This will be hard for most armies, even infantry guard armies, but if you do it will be worth it, with a minimum of 4 point up for the taking. If you can do this card go for it, i think that even if you have to sacrifice a unit to do it, it would be worth it.
15 - Hammer of the Emperor - 1vp
This card could be either an easy point or impossible, as it relies on the enemy holding an objective. To gain the point all you have to do is destroy the unit holding the objective, which sounds simple, but it will depend on the unit holding the objective to start with. A unit of cultists will be a lot easier to clear off than a unit of battle suits. If you can get this in a turn easily, great, if not bin it at the end of the turn.
16 - Death from a Far - 1vp
This is probably the hardest card to achieve out of all of them and at only 1 point, it may not be worth even attempting. It has a very strict criteria, being that in order to scrape the point a friendly guard unit that started your turn within your deployment zone must destroy an enemy unit that is within the enemy deployment zone. So, if you draw this turn 1 and you have a couple of artillery pieces or similar, then this could be quite easy, if it's turn 5 then it might be very difficult. For 1 point i would not try to hard for this one, especially if it turns up late in the game.
No comments:
Post a Comment