PSYCHIC FOCUS
With the exception of Smite, each psychic power can be attempted only once per turn, rather than once per psyker per turn. In addition, unless the psyker attempting to manifest Smite has either the Brotherhood of Psykers (see Codex: Grey Knights) or Brotherhood of Sorcerers ability (see Codex: Thousand Sons), you must add 1 to the warp charge value of Smite for each attempt (whether successful or not) that has been made to manifest Smite during a given Psychic phase, to a maximum warp charge value of 11.
For example, if an Ork psyker attempts to manifest Smite during a Psychic phase in which two other psykers have already attempted to manifest Smite, then the warp charge value of Smite is 7 for that attempt (note that if the result of the psyker’s Psychic test is more than 10, it still inflicts D6 mortal wounds instead of D3 as normal).
TARGETING CHARACTERS
An enemy Character with a Wounds characteristic of less than 10 can only be chosen as a target in the Shooting phase if it is both visible to the firing model and it is the closest enemy unit to the firing model. Ignore other enemy Characters with a Wounds characteristics of less than 10 when determining if the target is the closest enemy unit to the firing model.
This means that if any other enemy units (other than other Characters with a Wounds characteristics of less than 10) are closer, whether they are visible or not, then the enemy Character cannot be targeted.
DETACHMENT COMMAND BENEFITS
When creating a Battle-forged army, the Battalion and Brigade Detachments are seen as not offering enough command points for the number of units you must include. As a result, we will increase the Battalion Detachment’s Command Benefits to +5 Command Points and the Brigade Detachment’s to +12 Command Points.
ORGANISED EVENTS
If you are using matched play for an organised event such as a tournament, you can only include the same datasheet in a Battle-forged army up to a maximum number of times, depending upon the points limit for that game, as described below.
under 1,001 Points 2 per army
1,001 to 2,000 Points 3 per army
over 2,000 4 per army
This does not apply to units with the Troops or Dedicated Transport Battlefield Role, nor does it apply to any units that are added to your army during the battle that cost reinforcement points.
There are also many new FAQ's for the Codex and Index books. These include:
YNNARI - ARMY OF THE REBORN (Index: Xenos 1 Page 76)
Replace this paragraph with the following:
If your army is Battle-forged and the Warlord of your army is either Yvraine, the Visarch or the Yncarne then you can include any of these models in any Craftworlds, Harlequins or Drukhari Detachment (as defined in their respective codexes), provided that the Detachment does not include any of the following: Urien Rakarth, Drazhar, Mandrakes, the Avatar of Khaine or any units. You can include these models in the Detachment even if you are using the Battle Brothers matched play rule.
If Yvraine, the Visarch or the Yncarne is included in a Detachment, all Aeldari units in that Detachment gain the Ynnari keyword. These units cannot use any of the following abilities, and are not considered to have them: Ancient Doom, Battle Focus, Rising Crescendo, Power From Pain. Instead, Ynnari Infantry and Biker units gain the Strength from Death ability, as described below. The Detachment is still considered to be a Craftworlds, Harlequins or Drukhari Detachment, and so can use Craftworlds, Harlequins or Drukhari Stratagems, Warlord Traits and Relics respectively. Note that these units will not, however, gain any of the Detachment abilities listed in their respective codexes (such as The Path of War, Craftworld Attributes, Masque Forms, Drukhari Obsessions, etc.).
YNNARI - WORD OF THE PHOENIX
The Word of the Phoenix psychic power appears to have too low a warp charge value for its effectiveness. As a result, we are increasing its warp charge value to 8.
CRAFT WORLD UNITS
Dark Reapers was 5, now 12 points
Farseer was 100, now 110 points
Spiritseer was 45, now 65 points
Warlock was 35, now 55 points
Warlock Conclave was 30, now 45 points
TYRANID UNITS
Biovores was 34 now 50 points
Hive Tyrant with Wings was 170, now 190 points
RULE BOOK ERRATA
Q: When a unit that can Fly declares a charge move against a unit that is on the upper levels of a ruin, do I need to include the vertical distance when making the subsequent charge move for the unit?
A: No. A unit that can Fly effectively ignores vertical distances when making a charge move. Note though that the charging unit must still be within 12" (measured directly ‘base-to-base’, i.e. diagonally) to be able to declare the charge in the first place.
Two suggested Beta Matched Play Rules:
TACTICAL RESERVES
Instead of being set up on the battlefield during Deployment, many units have the ability to be set up on teleportariums, in high orbit, in Reserve, etc., in order to arrive on the battlefield mid-game as reinforcements. When setting up your army during Deployment for a matched play game, at least half the total number of units in your army must be set up on the battlefield, and the combined Power Ratings of all the units you set up on the battlefield during Deployment (including those that are embarked within Transports that are set up on the battlefield) must be at least half of your army’s total Power Level, even if every unit in your army has an ability that would allow them to be set up elsewhere.
Furthermore, in matched play games, any unit that arrives on the battlefield during a player’s first turn must be deployed wholly within the controlling player’s deployment zone (even if its ability would normally let it be set up anywhere). This does not apply to a Genestealer Cults unit that is being set up according to the Cult Ambush ability, or to units that are set up after the first battle round has begun, but before the first turn begins (such as those set up via the Forward Operatives or Strike From the Shadows Stratagems). Finally, any unit that has not arrived on the battlefield by the end of the third battle round in a matched play game counts as having been destroyed.
BATTLE BROTHERS
All of the units in each Detachment in your Battle-forged army must have at least one Faction keyword in common. In addition, this keyword cannot be Chaos, Imperium, Aeldari, Ynnari or Tyranids, unless the Detachment in question is a Fortification Network. This has no effect on your Army Faction.
For armies without an HQ choice of their own, worry not! Your Sisters of Silence, Officio Assassinorum et al are all allowed to be fielded in a Vanguard Detachment without one. Likewise, your Ynnari faction leaderscan still be used in Craftworlds, Drukhari and Harlequins detachments.
With the exception of Smite, each psychic power can be attempted only once per turn, rather than once per psyker per turn. In addition, unless the psyker attempting to manifest Smite has either the Brotherhood of Psykers (see Codex: Grey Knights) or Brotherhood of Sorcerers ability (see Codex: Thousand Sons), you must add 1 to the warp charge value of Smite for each attempt (whether successful or not) that has been made to manifest Smite during a given Psychic phase, to a maximum warp charge value of 11.
For example, if an Ork psyker attempts to manifest Smite during a Psychic phase in which two other psykers have already attempted to manifest Smite, then the warp charge value of Smite is 7 for that attempt (note that if the result of the psyker’s Psychic test is more than 10, it still inflicts D6 mortal wounds instead of D3 as normal).
TARGETING CHARACTERS
An enemy Character with a Wounds characteristic of less than 10 can only be chosen as a target in the Shooting phase if it is both visible to the firing model and it is the closest enemy unit to the firing model. Ignore other enemy Characters with a Wounds characteristics of less than 10 when determining if the target is the closest enemy unit to the firing model.
This means that if any other enemy units (other than other Characters with a Wounds characteristics of less than 10) are closer, whether they are visible or not, then the enemy Character cannot be targeted.
DETACHMENT COMMAND BENEFITS
When creating a Battle-forged army, the Battalion and Brigade Detachments are seen as not offering enough command points for the number of units you must include. As a result, we will increase the Battalion Detachment’s Command Benefits to +5 Command Points and the Brigade Detachment’s to +12 Command Points.
ORGANISED EVENTS
If you are using matched play for an organised event such as a tournament, you can only include the same datasheet in a Battle-forged army up to a maximum number of times, depending upon the points limit for that game, as described below.
under 1,001 Points 2 per army
1,001 to 2,000 Points 3 per army
over 2,000 4 per army
This does not apply to units with the Troops or Dedicated Transport Battlefield Role, nor does it apply to any units that are added to your army during the battle that cost reinforcement points.
There are also many new FAQ's for the Codex and Index books. These include:
YNNARI - ARMY OF THE REBORN (Index: Xenos 1 Page 76)
Replace this paragraph with the following:
If your army is Battle-forged and the Warlord of your army is either Yvraine, the Visarch or the Yncarne then you can include any of these models in any Craftworlds, Harlequins or Drukhari Detachment (as defined in their respective codexes), provided that the Detachment does not include any of the following: Urien Rakarth, Drazhar, Mandrakes, the Avatar of Khaine or any
If Yvraine, the Visarch or the Yncarne is included in a Detachment, all Aeldari units in that Detachment gain the Ynnari keyword. These units cannot use any of the following abilities, and are not considered to have them: Ancient Doom, Battle Focus, Rising Crescendo, Power From Pain. Instead, Ynnari Infantry and Biker units gain the Strength from Death ability, as described below. The Detachment is still considered to be a Craftworlds, Harlequins or Drukhari Detachment, and so can use Craftworlds, Harlequins or Drukhari Stratagems, Warlord Traits and Relics respectively. Note that these units will not, however, gain any of the Detachment abilities listed in their respective codexes (such as The Path of War, Craftworld Attributes, Masque Forms, Drukhari Obsessions, etc.).
YNNARI - WORD OF THE PHOENIX
The Word of the Phoenix psychic power appears to have too low a warp charge value for its effectiveness. As a result, we are increasing its warp charge value to 8.
CRAFT WORLD UNITS
Dark Reapers was 5, now 12 points
Farseer was 100, now 110 points
Spiritseer was 45, now 65 points
Warlock was 35, now 55 points
Warlock Conclave was 30, now 45 points
TYRANID UNITS
Biovores was 34 now 50 points
Hive Tyrant with Wings was 170, now 190 points
RULE BOOK ERRATA
Q: When a unit that can Fly declares a charge move against a unit that is on the upper levels of a ruin, do I need to include the vertical distance when making the subsequent charge move for the unit?
A: No. A unit that can Fly effectively ignores vertical distances when making a charge move. Note though that the charging unit must still be within 12" (measured directly ‘base-to-base’, i.e. diagonally) to be able to declare the charge in the first place.
Two suggested Beta Matched Play Rules:
TACTICAL RESERVES
Instead of being set up on the battlefield during Deployment, many units have the ability to be set up on teleportariums, in high orbit, in Reserve, etc., in order to arrive on the battlefield mid-game as reinforcements. When setting up your army during Deployment for a matched play game, at least half the total number of units in your army must be set up on the battlefield, and the combined Power Ratings of all the units you set up on the battlefield during Deployment (including those that are embarked within Transports that are set up on the battlefield) must be at least half of your army’s total Power Level, even if every unit in your army has an ability that would allow them to be set up elsewhere.
Furthermore, in matched play games, any unit that arrives on the battlefield during a player’s first turn must be deployed wholly within the controlling player’s deployment zone (even if its ability would normally let it be set up anywhere). This does not apply to a Genestealer Cults unit that is being set up according to the Cult Ambush ability, or to units that are set up after the first battle round has begun, but before the first turn begins (such as those set up via the Forward Operatives or Strike From the Shadows Stratagems). Finally, any unit that has not arrived on the battlefield by the end of the third battle round in a matched play game counts as having been destroyed.
BATTLE BROTHERS
All of the units in each Detachment in your Battle-forged army must have at least one Faction keyword in common. In addition, this keyword cannot be Chaos, Imperium, Aeldari, Ynnari or Tyranids, unless the Detachment in question is a Fortification Network. This has no effect on your Army Faction.
For armies without an HQ choice of their own, worry not! Your Sisters of Silence, Officio Assassinorum et al are all allowed to be fielded in a Vanguard Detachment without one. Likewise, your Ynnari faction leaderscan still be used in Craftworlds, Drukhari and Harlequins detachments.
Not really happy about these changes overall. I like the Smite progression, the command point rise, the unit/point limit. Not sure if the Ynnari rules will work for better or worse, a few inconsequential changes (targeting characters) but my biggest grievance comes with the delay to 'deep striking' units. An army that relies upon getting stuck in and can deploy it's fighting force at the end of the movement phase, now has to wait around for another turn while getting the crap blown out of it or comes in when defensive buffs have been set. This will further encourage big shooty model heavy armies and take it from Gav and I, this is not an enjoyable progression. To balance this, perhaps we should say that no one is allowed to shoot in the first round either? Or just not adopt it? And why, out of all the broken units I have faced in this new era, have the Eldar been singled out for such a rough points raise? I agree that Dark Reapers are a bargain and have no problem with their points raise, but in isolation I do. And what's with limiting psychic powers and raising Eldar psyker Points as well? I feel the dagger in the back is now being twisted! I hope that the points increases to the tyranids include those with 24 shots!
ReplyDeleteThe deep strike change is a 'test' rule and, so far, we have not been implementing test rules. I do not see that changing for this rule.
DeleteThere is an email address for suggestions on ways to improve this beta rule for those who try to adopt it. One suggestion was to create a universal Stratagem at 2CP to ignore the turn limit for a unit.
That said, I like this new rule. I like 'deep strike' armies but not necessarily 'Alpha Strike' armies. Being able to deep strike without scatter and without having to roll on a random chance of arrival is a massive benefit over seventh edition.
Nb. This new rule doesn't prevent 1st turn Reserves but it limits where they can be placed on turn one.
PS My 24 shot Flying Hive Tyrant has indeed gone up in points.