Monday, January 16, 2012

FAQ update

By TheGraveMind


So it appears that the Faqs got updated yesterday or so. I haven't had time to go through all of them, but I figured I'd share the news for others to read. I did go through the Tyranids and Blood angels as those are the armies that I play. Lets see what changed....

Blood Angels
  • Hurrah!!! The deepstriking from Reserves is finally resolved. It is exactly how I have been playing it. When a unit with the combat squad ability arrives from reserves, it can be split into two squads and placed separately.
  • It seems Infiltrate has the same treatment, but here is the kicker, two halves only seem to count as one squad for deployment. A big deal in Dawn of war!
  • Vanguard cannot assault after deepstriking out of the back of a storm raven.
  • Blood lance does not need to roll to hit. Yes!
  • Honour guard squad's priest cannot be upgraded.
Tyranids
  • Some restating of Synapse and other rules
  • Tyrants must join Tyrant guards during deployment. But now they only count as 1 KP if they do.
  • ICs cannot be part of a lictor brood while they are in reserves and lictors must be placed in coherency.
  • Every unit must take dangerous terrain test when assaulting Venomthropes. Now a units Initiative does not get dropped to 1 for assault into a spore cloud. "as the Spore Cloud is not a piece of terrain" [This goes against the core rule book which states that any unit that has to take a difficult or dangerous terrain test has its initiative dropped]
  • Units cannot take covers saves unless they are from terrain they are in or touching against impaler cannons. Does this mean that powers and abilities that give cover saves in a radius do not apply? (shield of sanguinous, Kustom force fields etc?) nor does turbo boosting or Tau disruption pods?
  • The enemy only has to be more than 1" away from spore mines when deploying.
  • ICs attached to a gaunt squad gains the benefits of the squad (so Primes now get furious charge, poison, and counter attack for free) but also suffer with the squad if the tervigon dies.
  • In addition, the unit must be in range for when the ability is used. Must be in range when making attacks or being charged.
  • Grey knights with halberts (so almost all of them) against a Lash whip will strike at Init 3. So lash whips still suck to a degree.
  • And Acid blood can cause a glance against walkers. So it still is useless.
Basically some nice things have changed, seems mostly for imperial books of course. Blood lance doesn't need to hit any more, nor does jaws. Though I didn't see anything addressing the Nid's powers needing to hit. ICs still can't join units in a drop spore for Tyranids.

Basically DoA lists got slightly better, and nothing ground breaking changed for Tyranids. One last little tid-bit, It seems the only two books that didn't get FAQs were Tau and Black Templars. :D

25 comments:

  1. Also appears this was the Necron FAQ update wave. Some good things for them. Stops the shenanigans from them.

    Other little things; Lash of submission still needs to roll to hit. Eldar cannot double ram anymore. DE dodge doesn't work against exploding vehicles and flickerfield can't be used against dangerous terrain tests. Snkirot cannot be used in a vehicle.

    Anything else people see that might be important?

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  2. Did you not read the best part for nids? Shadow in the warp?

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  3. I almost said nasty things, Aaron, until I read down to the 2nd page.

    This is my face.

    I know it's hard to see from that far, but you can probably feel the smile waves from here anyway.

    So not only does it work vs Psykers now (aka, it works), but against Eldar Runes they roll 4d6 and take the low 3 (which still gives a moderate chance for failure).

    Other things seem to be mostly how I've played them... Gants have to be in range of the mommabug when they strike, not "as they assault" (basically the worse of the 2).. but again I assumed that anyway. IC's being able to get the Brood Prog rules is an interesting boost, though I prefer to run my Primes with Warriors anyway.

    Tyrants + Guard only being 1 KP is nice... but... buh. Way too expensive to be a good unit in the first place. Sad but true. Even a lone tyrant is really too expensive for what they do, IMHO. So sad as they're incredibly pretty on the table.

    Now Hive Guard... that wording basically says no cover saves from effect bubbles (turbo-boost, ork dust clouds, psychic powers, etc). Oh snap. Nids just got snipers.

    I'd seen the rulebook FAQ (wings are part of the hull, people!), but not all the army updates... thanks for posting!

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  4. Shadow is ok. It is nice that it has changed, but it is still only 12" and doesn't really cause perils like eldar. Still not something I'd ever count on, just something to enjoy if it happens.

    I've been playing gaunts that way anyways, so I'm used to it. The guard+tyrant thing is nice as 1kp, but it also means he can't join later in the game, has to be during deployment. I've been using one lately. Yes horribly over priced, but still not bad.
    Hive guard continue to be amazing and high priority targets.

    I didn't even read the Rulebook FAQ yet. haha.

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  5. @GraveMind - Eldar never could Ram in the Shooting phase, that was dumb willful misinterpretation.
    Also, yeah, Shield of Sanguinius, Storm Caller, Kff, Smoke Launchers, Turbo Boosting and Flat Out provide no protection against Hive Guard.

    Finally,
    As Spag said, the SitW change is the biggest for Nids.

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  6. Yay they fixed platoon outflanking rules - Al Rahem is saved from the RAW!

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  7. Why can't IC's join units in Pods???

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  8. Running through the big stuff:

    BRB FAQ
    --The only big one is the completely unexpected disallowance of models using Fire Points to draw Line of Sight for anything that isn't Shooting/Psychic Powers, which in reality is a targetted Necron nerf to prevent Anrakyr from using Mind in the Machine while onboard a Command Barge, as there's very little else in the entire game it even affects.

    Daemons FAQ
    --They finally answerred the Masque question I've been asking for three years, which is neat.

    Chaos Space Marines FAQ
    --Inexplicable Warptime nerf.
    --Fire Frenzy clarified to be less-awful.

    Eldar FAQ
    --Pre-historic Star Engines problem finally cleared up

    Grey Knight FAQ
    --Halberd/Initiative modifier ruling reversed (because why not)
    --Turbo-Penetrator Rending clarified, but all the other TP problems untouched

    Imperial Guard
    --Infantry Platoons finally clarified on that horrific paragraph about counting as a single unit, and reserves mechanics
    --Weaken Resolve can be cast into combat
    --The non-slot HQs (Techpriests and Priests) are suddenly allowed to fulfill the FOC required HQ choice, for those who enjoy discount HQs

    Necron FAQ
    --Most things that needed rulings got them, and everything is pretty much as-expected.

    Ork FAQ
    --No Snikrot + Battlewagon shenanigans

    Space Wolves
    --Jaws clarified on the to-hit Psychic nonsense

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  9. @ edge; I'm guessing that GW sees it as, Pods are not Transports, and so ICs cannot join a unit in them. Because Nids are "grown" in the pod or something.

    @ dodger; Maybe I'm not getting it. Command barge is open top, so it doesn't have firing points. So the ruling shouldn't be bothered by this ruling.

    Warp time isn't a nerf, it is the way it has always been, just very few people have been playing it correctly.

    But yep, that seems to be the good majority of it, including the revised combat squad rulings.

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  10. They shouldn't have tied the ruling to Fire Points, solely because it's opening up this secondary argument, but regardless--no, it affects open-topped vehicles just as well as everything else.

    People seem to be oddly misreading that sentence as "open-topped vehicles do not have fire points" when, in reality, is says "open-topped vehicles do not have SPECIFIC fire points." Two very different statements. You MUST make use of fire points to fire out of a vehicle, open-topped vehicles just handle them differently, by allowing the LoS (of shooting specifically) and range to be measured from any point and without limit on number of firers.

    The FAQ is saying, flat out, that unless you're performing Shooting or a Psychic Power, you aren't allowed to draw LoS from inside a vehicle, regardless of fire points.

    The broader fact is, it's clearly targetted specifically at Anrakyr/MitM--in the entirety of the rest of the game, I've only managed to find two other things that ruling could even possibly apply to (one is another Necron ability, and the other is Coteaz's IBEY) so there's really nothing else for that ruling to be in reaction to in the first place.

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  11. ugh...Chaos kicked in the mouth even more. "We haven't boned them enough...now, Jaws needs no BS, but lash does...and no more warp time coolness". So not only no psychic protections, but now two of their best powers and either an additional 17% fail, or you risk a perils because you might roll bad, or might not. Who thought that was a great idea?

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  12. None of Njal's Lord of Tempest powers require Line of Sight, so it's never an issue.

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  13. I also noticed the Tau and Black Templar were not very effected by this new wave of FAQ. Not that it wasn't already, but I'd almost say that's a good sign the two are coming up soon in terms of new codexes.

    Most all of the changes here have been nice clean ups, as well as the Necrons first FAQ addressing the many things GW always seems to miss upon releases for their books. Makes me a happy wargamer :D

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  14. I'm enthused that GW seems to be trying to update it's FAQs regularly now. They updated just about every book in the FAQ list. :)

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  15. But now does this FAQ update mean that 6th is further back than we thought? GW isn't known for updating their FAQs in a timely manner, why would they go about updating all of this if the would be useless in a couple months?

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  16. I'm not expecting to see 6th until August. That's more than just a couple of months.

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  17. Justin,

    What are your thoughts on Dawn of war and the Chimera debate? I am leaning towards not chimera's as part of the platoon as the DOW says the dedicated transport of a space marine squad counts as 1 unit for the purposes of dawn of war.

    In addition, what is your thought on the weaken resolve debate?

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  18. The Lash Whip and Halberd thing is a wash: The only Tyranid worrying about that is the Venomthrope because it will hit simultaneously with the Halberd-wielding Knights, at I3. Everything else except Mycetic Spores will be attacking at I4+.

    The Chaos Space Marine psychic powers make sense: Lash of Submission and Warptime were too good for what they did. Unlike Jaws of the World Wolf which is only useful against certain Tyranid armies and virtually nothing else.

    What they should have mentioned about Acid Blood is whether excessive wounds still cause Initiative tests, to see whether a dying Pyrovore can evaporate an Ork mob or Terminator squad rather than cause up to 3 tests.

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  19. @Spag - There really is not debate about the Psykers.
    Follow:
    Psykers from Main Rulebook FAQ
    Q: Can a model use a psychic power that is not a Psychic Shooting Attack if it is embarked in a transport vehicle? (p50)

    A: Yes. If the power requires line of sight, this is still worked out from the vehicle’s fire points (this will count as one model shooting through that fire point if the power is used in the Shooting phase). If the psychic power does not require line of sight and has a range or an area of effect that is normally measured from the model using it, these are measured from the vehicle’s hull, as explained in the Embarking section on page 66.

    Pretty clear I believe. Mounted PBS units are not affected.

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  20. I didn't even know there was a PBS debate. There's nothing unclear at all there.

    Chimeras are clearly intended to be part of the Platoon--the exact same FAQ makes an explicit exception for non-dedicated transport vehicles, so transport vehicles must be included in what it's doing. The Chimeras are part of the Platoon.

    "The Chaos Space Marine psychic powers make sense: Lash of Submission and Warptime were too good for what they did. Unlike Jaws of the World Wolf which is only useful against certain Tyranid armies and virtually nothing else."

    I was a thousand percent sure this was sarcasm.

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  21. I wish I believed it was sarcasm...regardless, Warptime wasn't nerfed, it always functioned that way...

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  22. Sitll no 'Nid ICs (prime) in pods? WTF Games Workshop?

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  23. Heh. Jaws was only good vs nids...that's rich. You don't play orks or necrons or even IG, do you?

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  24. Jaws is good against any army!

    Do you know how hard it is to kill TH/SS termies. At least on Jaws they die 1/3 or the time! Same with Bloodcrushers, other Thunderwolves, Paladins, etc!

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out dang bot!

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