Hey guys, this is BangBangTequila's several part series on the latest and greatest to come from a galaxy far, far away. This chapter will focus a little on units and stats, but mostly I'm going to cover my general thoughts on the book and the broad changes made since last edition. Without further ado...
1> First thoughts.
This book is beautiful. I bought the enhanced iPad version, and I'm wildly impressed. The artwork, the interface, and the way you can have long, independently scrolling windows of sub-text is just great. The way rules can be brought up and inspected with a tap is wonderful, and means I never have to pick up my BRB unless a game rule is in question. Very sleek, and the Force Requisition program is a phenomenal start up as an army building app. There is a great deal of recycled fluff and artwork, particularly at the beginning, but I can deal with that. After all you have to respect your beginnings before you can add meaningful background to a race, unless you do a full retcon a la Wardian writings, which I would not enjoy at all. I was only initially disappointed by the artwork because they kept the same tired colour schemes. I wanted Gorgon! Or Eurimedes!
2> Big Changes
At first, I got the impression of laziness. Things weren't balanced... In a vacuum. Things seemed nerfed, or discounted, or actually cost more. No biomancy. Instinctive behaviour became less of a mild inconvenience and more of a cripplingly dangerous situation. Some of our best stuff, such as scything talons and instant death, ap 2 boneswords got turned into jokes. Then, I read a little deeper. Lash whips and our two assault grenade equivalents are exactly what we needed, if not in the best spots. Venomthropes became incredible. Biovors got cheaper and better. Carnifex became just, mind blowing. Tyrannofex got an enormous discount, making them damn near a must-have. The powers became almost universally force-multiplying. The Horror may not be too devastating on the surface, but it could easily become the difference between a key turn of shooting or overwatch from an enemy unit. Fire Warriors become Ld 6! Crisis Suits getting pinned down when they were expecting to jump back, or a bunch of Eldar trickey bastards getting pinned in the open. Catalyst is amazing, Dominion became one of the staples to consistent success by extending your synapse web. Venom Cannons became way less terrible, and most of our guns became a little cheaper. Mostly, most of the codex became drastically cheaper. You get 10-25% more units in the same list as before, and the fundamental way in which you have to play the game has changed. We don't have the same sort of "build-and-win" lists we used to, but played well with a little luck and good use of target prioritization and threat-saturation you can do very, very well.
3>New Guys
You can play this well, and have fun. Haruspex, which comes from the ancient term referring to a type of oracle that reads the future from the entrails of the dead, is a fantastic unit. It is damn near guaranteed to kill whatever it fights, being able to fully mow down infantry and heal itself of those pesky powerfist wounds that come creeping up on it. The Exocrine is a game changer for sure, able to lay down unit-shattering firepower. Blasts will demolish high end infantry, and the 6 shots means things like broadsides and crisis suits have very good reason to fear closing in. The Crone is... disappointing. It is certainly neat, and is a huge threat but it is very vulnerable, and pretty much has to vector strike to be useful. While a nice gimmick, it isn't reliable enough to be viable at the points cost. It has a purpose, but the drool cannon lacking torrent really hobbles this unit as the staple we were hoping for. Vector Dancer, and torrent on the drool cannon and she'd be a hero. As is, a C at best.
So, in conclusion, I'm happy. I loved the monster mash before, and lovely balanced gribbly-swarms with a smattering of monsters. Like a chocolate chip cookie, it will be balanced and glorious. Enjoy, and as well like and follow me! Stay Hungry!
You don't need vector dancer, FMCs have a 360 firing arc. Still doesn't make the Exocrine very good because interceptor and nearly every other flyer will murder it.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the firing arc, it's the strength 8 vector strike! If you could move 90• twice, it would really allow a maximized targeting. It would be really hard to chase down another flyer with limited turning and a need to fly overt to harm it, and 12" less movement.
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