Category Archives: News

Incoming… Tyranid Codex is here! – New for Warhammer 40k 8th Edition.

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Warhammer 40000 Tyranid Trygon

Games Workshop are certainly pumping out the Codex releases this year, and the next one is the Tyranid Codex!

As regular readers of his site the Tyranids are one of my favourite armies and there has been no secrete about my excitement at seeing the ‘Nids coming back in from the cold as far as rule updates are concerned. I have to say that the last few Codex let the Tyranids down.

The Warhammer Community site had been releasing sneak previews of the Tyranid Codex best bits, and now it’s been released, and it is fantastic!

Tyranids have been slumbering on the GW shelves for many years because of the weak codex releases. The last really good Tyranid Codex  was for the 3rd edition of Warhammer 40000. In that release you could virtually make your own Tyranid strains by mixing and matching bio upgrades.

The format of the Tyranid Codex follows the format of the WH40k 8th edition Codexes released so far. Kinks from the Index: rule books have been straightened out, new mission objectives have been created, plus other nice bits like command abilities and special upgrades.

What I really like is the addition of special rules for four different Hive Fleet types. Each of these Hive Fleets have unique special rules. This means that you can play Nid’s with different ‘flavours’. It just makes gaming more interesting. As all the models appear in all the different branches you can pick and chose with set of special rules you want to use before the game begins.

I highly recommend this release of the Tyranid Codex weather you are a new Tyranid player or a veteran.

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Genestealer Cult Tactics Added for WH40k 8th Ed

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Warhammer 40k Genestealer Magus Psyker

From the passages beneath come the Genestealer Cults. Chaos and confusion will reign as Cultist Guard show their true colours and the population take up arms against the Imperium.

The Genestealer Cult army is a very sneaky one. Lacking in heavy firepower they need to use guile to strike at their foe when they least expect.

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Free Age of Sigmar Army builder online

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Do you want to build an army list for Age of Sigmar games quickly, easily, and freely? Well you can! Over on the Warhammer Community site.

The army builder allows you to build a Matched Play army or a wound count balanced army list. One item of note is that you are able to select the General’s hand book or the General Handbook 2. Now I do  not know of a second General’s Handbook, so there may be another publication on the way!

How to use the Warhammer Community Army Builder

The army builder is easy to use.

  1. Select the version of General’s Handbook you are using
  2. Select the Grand Alliance you are wanting to build
  3. Select a faction and Alliance that you want to start with. You ca re-visit this section later if you want to have units in your army from several factions!
  4. Notice that the headings on the next line suggest the maximum number of units you can have for each section (after the slash) and the number of units you have added to your list (before the slash)
  5. For each of the sections click on the ‘Add Units’ button. There will be a number on the add units button showing how many unit types are available in the section for that faction. This means if there are zero choices available, don’t br too surprised that no unit choices are displayed!
  6. Notice that each unit added showed the number of wounds(marked by a hart), and the number of points(marked by a star). Also note that there is a dustbin icon that allows you to remove the unit from your list, and a copy icon that lets you duplicate a unit easily.
  7. Notice that if a unit has options that these can be set with drop-down boxes in the unit boxes. For example there is a ‘Genera’ on/off button where you can select a unit as your General.
  8. At the end of the units box there is a grey vertical bar. You can click and drag this bar to re-organize your units within a section.
  9. Right at the bottom is are a set of Save, Load, and Clear buttons. For excitement I will let you discover what these are for, but they are good, so give them a go (hint: use the save button first!)
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Warhammer 40000 8th Edition nearly here!

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Warhammer 40000 8th edition Dark Imperium Rookbook

The much anticipated new 8th edition of Warhammer 40000 rules are about to be released. some have managed to get copies early and there are videos on YouTube showing the box set, main rules, and additional Index Books (army codexes).

At is stands, the new rules look to be everything that Games Workshop have promised. The basic rules are going to be free. This will help new players get in to the game with the fewest obstacles. For more advanced players there will be an advanced rule book and ‘index’ books with the unit by unit rules for existing models.

As I write the new box set ( which includes the advanced rules), the Advanced Rule Book and the Index books have been made available for pre-order. Following a moth or two of solid marketing I expect that early orders for these items will be strong and if you want to ensure that you get them on release day, or soon after ( if you are mail ordering), then I highly recommend that you place an advanced order. You can order the new box set and rule books through your local Games Workshop store, or through the Games Workshop website, however if you want to buy them with a discount I would recommend buying them through a reputable online Games workshop stockiest like Element Games.

As you may expect, I will be getting my hands on the rules as soon as possible and update these pages with new tactics for the new game!

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Loads More WH40k Pre-release Updates

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Games Workshop Community Pages have not been holding back with Pre-release drip feed updates on the new Warhammer 40k version. In the last few weeks we have had updates about all the different turn phases, and so far, I like what I see!

Since my last article on the new Warhammer 40k release we have had articles on the shooting phase; assault phase, vehicles and monsters, moral and break tests, amongst others.  Now we are getting updates about how GW see the new rules affecting the different existing armies starting with the armies that are seen to benefit most from the new rules.

Shooting Phase

After the Movement and Psychic phase article was released the next article covered shooting. On the expectation that these articles are released in some semblance of order, I expect that there will be a separate psychic phase after themovement phase and it will not be handled in a command phase like Age of Sigma (boo!).

Warhammer 40k Imperial Guard Chimera troop transpoter

Vehicles with several different weapons will be able to pick multiple targets too!

The shooting phase has changed a bit moving closer to what we see in Age of Sigma. The main feature is that the members of a unit can choose different targets.  This means that heavy weapons will be more useful in a tactical squad, but also squad members with basic weapons can take on different targets too. If you take out all the members of one unit and some squad members have not shot yet then the remaining squad members can take a different target.

Unit profile will have a ‘to hit’ ballistic skill. This will give you a score that you will have to beat to hit your target. This score looks like it will be modified by terrain, night fighting, or smoke.

Cover saves look like they are charging too. At the moment it is often not worth placing your Space Marines in buildings as their 3+ armour save is better than the 4+ building cover save. It looks like in future cover saves will be a modifier that improves your save roll in the opposite way to weapon rend scores reduce the save roll target.

Assault / Fight Phase

The talk of unit activation makes me think that the fight phase will be more like the AoS combat phase. The note that charging units will go first is ambiguous though. In AoS units only charge in the controlling players turn, so only one unit is guaranteed to hit first in the combat phase. I suspect more details about this will be released eventually!

I will be keeping an eye on the release news and report back here with any insights gleaned from the community pages!

 

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Wh40k Update News – Phychic Powers!

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Soul Steal Spell

Games Workshop have released details of the new Warhammer 40k psychic phase, and as expected they are looking a lot like Age of Sigmar psychic rules :

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/04/28/new-warhammer-40000-psychic-phase/

The similarities to Age of Sigmar magic are:

  • A set number of psychic castings per model
  • 2D6 to cast
  • Everyone knows one or two basic psychic powers, probably plus a signature psychic power.

What we don’t know is if there will be a psychic phase, or if the psychic phase will be rolled in to  a command phase like Age of Sigmar. Personally I think that the Age of Sigmar combined command and psychic phase is working very well and I hope that this has been brought over to the new WH40k!

Smite is Right!

Smite is the power that all the psykers will know, and it does look like Arcane Bolt with 18″ range and an extra kick if you roll 10+. It is probable that 18″ will be the standard distance for psychic powers and dispels / deny the witch. If 18″ is the standard distance then it will be awfully close. Standard weapons range is 24″ and I don’t see that changing. Also 18″ is on the edge of assault range. I suspect a 24″ range on psychic powers would work better.

There is mention of perils of the warp, but no mention of how you peril. I am thinking of a double 1 roll, but we will have to wait and see!

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WH40k Update Official News Released

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Warhammer 40k Dark Vengeance Box set

We all know that it is time for Warhammer 40000 to be updated. It has been 3 years since the 7th edition came out and that was a fix release from the 6th edition that came out a year earlier!

Don’t get me wrong, the 7th edition of 40k has been very popular. The addition of objectives forced gun-line armies out from their barricades and give assault based armies an even chance. The move away from Standard formation armies to factions and themed armies has added co;our to the game too.

However to keep the game fresh the rules need to change and grow from time to time, and basically the time is right!

Here is the latest post on the changes due in the next version:

Warhammer 40,000 News from AdeptiCon

From the post I suspect / expect that Games Workshop will be taking some of the best bits of Age of Sigmar and bringing them back in to Warhammer 40,000.

The first on the list was the recognition that the Generals Handbook and the ‘3 ways to play’ have been a great success in Age of Sigmar. I do have to echo this recognition too. The simple free play version of Age of Sigmar makes it very easy for new players or occasional players who have a handful of nice looking models to get in to gaming with little effort and no extra cash expenditure. This has had the effect of drawing new players in to the game. Some of these new gamers will stick with the game and become more competition later. Warhammer 40000 has had less difficulty drawing new players, however a lower entry point will be a bonus to adding new blood to the game.

Another success from Age of Sigmar that seems to be coming to 40k is the war scroll idea, where all the points and rules for a unit can be found on one page (weapon special abilities, movement rates, etc). This is not massively new to 40k, the newest codexes have been redesigned so that upgrade points costs are on the fact sheets instead of having to search two section at the same time while building your army lists (upgrade options in one section, points costs for the upgrades elsewhere). From the GW post it looks like any unit special rules will be joining them on the unit fact sheet. This should slim down or remove the Special Rules section of the rule book, and thereby halving the rulebook size!

Moral check changes where mentioned in the Games Workshop post too. These proposed rules look exactly like the Age of Sigmar Moral tests. I didn’t think that there was anything up with the current Moral tests, but one system that covers both games will make it easier if you are swapping from one genre to the other!

All told, I suspect that the new rules are being heavily play tested in GW towers, and any rumoured changes still have time to change again, however this is one player who is waiting for the new release with expectation!

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Great 4 Handed game highlights armies strengths and weaknesess

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On Saturday we had a great game of Warhammer with 2 Chaos forces ( Chaos Space Marine and Daemons of Tzeentch) face 2 forces of Order (Using AoS) armies of Space Marines and Tau.

Richard and I had a quick pre-game match to get use to our new armies. Ghks was the first time I have played Chaos Daemons in 40k so I was flipping back and forth through the Codex getting use to the Daemon Special Rules. Richard also got to grips with the raft of new weapons availible to the Tau since the last Codex.

In the afternoon Lee and Mark arrived for the main battle royal. Lee brought Space Marines with him and Mark had Chaos Space Marines. This is what Richard had suggested would be the case so no big surprises there.

As Richard and Lee where long time 40k comrades and because it made a better match to the background fluff Richard and Lee teamed up as the forces of order against Mark and I who where the new comers championing  the forces of Chaos.

My first surprise was when I saw the army that Mark brought. As we where playing 1000 points per player I was surprised my how HQ heavy and troop unit light his force was. It did not bode well as my force was fast and light but a bit short of solid troop and heavy support units. This brought up the first learning point, where possible, in a two handed game, check with your team mates what they are bringing to the battle or you could end up with a mismatched force.

 

It was great fun testing out my Chaos Tzeentch Daemons in a WH40k game, even though it was not a winning outcome! Many thanks to Richard, Lee and Mark for the battle.

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Small Screen Site Changes

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Wargame Tactics

I have been tweaking the website design recently as it seems that most of you ( 60% ) are using smart phones to read these pages. The improvements you may notice is that the search result images are now under the headlines so that the results fit better on these smaller screens. The right column content still drops under the main content so you can access the search features and menus. All these changes have been tested on larger screens so that the 39% of you using desktops and 1% using tables still get a great looking site!

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