If you’re not aware, one of the biggest Age of Sigmar events starts this week in Amsterdam. AoS Worlds.
The singles event kicks off today, and you can keep up with the action on TSportsNetwork Twitch stream. Throughout the rest of the week and into Sunday, they’ll be streaming the rounds live for both the Singles Event (Weds & Thurs) and the teams event (Fri, Sat & Sun).
The primarch of the first legion has awoken from his slumber and returned to our tabletops. His rules are the latest Warhammer Community reveal. Let’s take a look at what he offers.
His stat line is very comparable to Guilliman’s, which makes sense as he could be argued as the ‘vanilla’ primarch. However there are some improvements including number of attacks and, most surprisingly, an additional leadership point.
The Lion does not come across as being especially tough either. With only toughness 6 and 9 wounds it would not take much for heavy weaponry to remove him from the field. There is currently no mention of a resurrection rule for him either so once he’s gone that’s it! He does have a couple of tricks up his sleeves though…
As with most Space Marine characters the Lion comes with a 4+ invulnerable save in the form of his shield. Whilst this is pretty solid it wouldn’t take many unsaved shots from heavy damage weapons (or a certain faction that can ignore invulnerable saves…) to put him back into his slumber.
This also has the ability to reflect melee attacks, dealing mortal wounds (to a maximum of 3) on any unmodified save rolls of 6. So coupled with his sword, Fealty, he is a definite melee threat.
The sweep profile will give him a total of 20 attacks into a single unit so, at strength 6 and AP of -3, that is most standard units sliced up in quick succession even without the 2 damage each wound causes. Then there is also a strike profile that gives him strength 10 attacks at AP -5 and 4 damage apiece. With a potential 40 damage output (averaging about 5.5 successful wounds, or 20- 22 damage, against most targets up to toughness 9 before saving throws) he has the potential to deal with most large foes.
The most interesting reveal is his ability to deep strike using the Forestwalk ability.
This is a particularly good deep strike as it allows you to re-roll a charge roll. As the Lion appears to be fairly fragile against shooting this would be a game-changing roll.
As is the current issue with the existing edition, I see the Lion being another high value model that will either be snuffed out before he finishes his morning coffee or an absolute machine that will decimate an army as he moves from engagement to engagement. We have, however, not been shown his entire ruleset yet and there is no mention of a firearm. There is definitely one on the model and I doubt somehow that it will just be a heavy bolt pistol.
What are your thoughts on the Lion? Are his rules even worth looking at with the imminent re-write coming with 10th edition? Let me know!
One of the major announcements for 40k’s Tenth Edition was the changes to the datasheets and the production of data cards with all the unit information included. One of my favourite parts of Age of Sigmar, and other similar games, is having as much information on the table top in front of you as possible, so you don’t have to constantly look at apps and books. So this is a very welcome addition!
Let’s take a closer look at what is included on the cards:
The unit stats appear to stay mostly the same in regards to Movement, Toughness, Save, and Wounds. Leadership is still present, but there is talk of a new way of applying Battleshock, which will be revealed in the coming weeks. What we know so far is that it will be included in the command phase and will affect how the unit acts rather than killing models.
There is also a brand new stat included, which is listed as “OC”. According to the FAQ article, on the Warhammer Community site, this stands for Objective Control and is ‘a measure of how good a unit is at holding a contested objective’. Now, will this be a measure per model? As a unit of 20 termagants could have an OC score of up to 40 if they sit around an objective (to be fair, not much else will get on the objective if that is the case!). We shall see!
Interestingly, the Strength, Ballistic and Weapons Skills and the Attacks characteristics have been moved to the specific weapons instead of being in the unit stats. I imagine this is to remove the weapon modifiers and instead have the given characteristic in the weapon information. For example – a marine with a thunder hammer currently has a WS of 3+, and the hammer’s weapon abilities state “Subtract 1 from the attack’s hit roll”. I can see this instead of just saying WS 4+ on the weapons stat line. This can also apply with weapons like the Astartes Chainsword (+1 attack) and the Power Sword (+1 strength). I personally welcome having these modifiers included in the stat line as it will be easier to apply stat changes to help balance weapon profiles.
I have also noticed that there doesn’t appear to be a space for specific weapon abilities outside of the keywords listed alongside the weapon name. This must mean they are going to make full use of their new “Universal Special Rules” application to simplify this. I am intrigued to see more on these moving forward!
The abilities section is also useful as having all the unit abilities listed for reference will make it much easier to remember everything that is going on.
Apparently, a lot of the abilties and stratagems are going to become reactive. The example given on the Termagant card, “Skulking Horror”, appears to be a good example of this as it allows you to move the termagants, once per turn, up to D6 inches away from an approaching enemy.
I like this approach as it will make you feel a lot less helpless when you see that a mistake you made, or perhaps an advance roll that didn’t quite get you enough movement, is about to cause you a lot of pain. This particular rule also requires some thought on your opponents side. Let’s say those Termagants are not quite on an objective, your opponent moving a unit within 9” of them could give you the extra few inches to take control and gain some valuable victory points in your next command phase (assuming scoring works the same way).
The last section is the Key Words, split into unit and faction specific. This appears to work in the same way as the current edition.
I, personally, am quietly hopeful that these changes will make the game much more playable with less time flicking through books and less of a heavy reliance on remembering all these stats. My only concern is the frequency at which GW amend rules with FAQs, will it make those shiny datasheet cards you purchased obsolete quickly (I am thinking of the existing datacard packs and how often the wording is changed). There are ways around this such as FAQ sticker packs that could allow you to stick the new wording or stat line over the existing printed card but I see this as being more of a third party item than something GW will produce. But we shall see!
Let me know your thoughts, are you excited for this, cautiously optimistic or do you have a slight feeling of dread for these changes?
With all the excitement around the new edition of 40k coming soon I thought I would do a bit of a sift of the glorious cinematic they released and try to find any little glimmers of what kind of models to expect in the new box. As we know from the last editions release they do like to tease us with small details.
This is all obviously speculation and entirely my own opinion as to what we may have seen. Please feel free to point out my errors or anything I missed. I am hoping to start conversations about the game I love!
So let us delve into the grim darkness and see what we find.
Let’s start with the Tyranids and, with what is likely the most obvious, the screamer-killer.
Now we already have a screamer-killer variant of the existing carnifex model, from 2005, but this looks more like the old-school 1992 version to me, with less of a hunchback and less armour around the head. We also see the bio-plasmic scream in action, so it seems unlikely to be anything else. Perhaps a new dedicated model influenced by the original?
We have already had the new termagant model revealed, so we know that is coming. The last little tidbit I spotted for Tyranids was in this image…
Now, bear with my (hopeful) flight of fancy here but this coupled with a few more still looks like a possible Lictor? It is being displayed as a stealthy-boi with two giant appendages so…maybe? The existing model is from 2005, and in dire need of a refresh, so it is not beyond belief. There is also another image that helps add evidence to this.
Okay, so that last one is as clear as mud, like any good conspiracy photo, but when you watch those few frames, the bioform that grabs the apothecary and slings it around like a dog with a chew-toy very much resembles a Lictor. Again, this may be hope driving me to find connections that don’t exist but you never know…
Moving onto the marines, things are a little clearer here.
Yep, that’s another Redemptor Dreadnaught variant called the Gunslinger. I think that just about covers all the vairants the original Dreadnaught kit could built (ranged, hybrid and close combat) so should we start the retirement party now?
Not much else on new models here.. oh wait, there was something.
..
Terminators are back! Well, they never really left but they have a new sculpt. I am hoping the assault terminators will not be far behind (love me a thunder hammer and storm shield!) but at least we know the reliable old guard are not going anywhere. Including a new Terminator Librarian (who looks badass!)
I also spied some possible new weapon options for Primaris marines…
I believe that Reiver is holding a combi-flamer? And is that a Primaris Intercessor with a flamer? (Don’t roast me too hard if it’s not an intercessor, power armour variants were never my strong point!) I don’t think I have seen those weapons on any existing models so perhaps they are teasing at new weapons for these kits?
Let me know if you have seen anything different? Or if I missed anything entirely, or am living in a fantasy land. As always, this is for the fun of speculation and discussion!
See you in the grim dark!
Adepticon gave us a lot of new reveals this week for Age of Sigmar. New Seraphon range, a first glance at the new Cities of Sigmar range and some new heroes for Soulblight and Bonereapers.
But, what you may not have noticed is Games Workshop basically announced an entirely new as yet to be revealed book. What am I talking about? Take a look at this image:
You probably all saw this during the announcement. But let’s have a look at the current factions without 3rd Edition Tomes;
7 factions, right? The trouble is that the picture above has 6 revealed factions and 2 unannounced books. One of those could be Flesh-eater Courts, so that accounts for the full AoS faction listing as it stands now. But what’s the eighth?
In all liklihood, as pointed out in the comments below and on our Discord, this book will likely be a Season of War book. In the same vein as Thondia last year. Rob, of Honest Wargamer fame claims it will also include a new Spider Incarnate as well. Could it include the long talked about update to Path to Glory as well?
If it was a faction, and I was a betting man….
Yup, I think we’ll see Chaos Dwarfs Duardin return to AoS. I say return, as Forgeworld produced a whole range for the diminutive dudes only to pull them back in 2020.
But, its just a guess. What do you think the mystery 8th book holds? Let us know in the comments below.
Warlord Games have entered the final weekend of their 4 boxes for the price of 3.
This covers many of their game systems, such as Bolt Action, Konflict 47′, Black Powder, Epic Battles, Hail Caesar and a lot more.
If you’re looking to get into and of these gaming system then this is definitely one way to do it that would save you a lot of money!
I know that there are many hobbyists concerned about the direction of flow of Twitter and that’s because it has been a great source of hobby over the last ten years; a great way to meet new people, discuss the latest releases, and show off models. (Although you will need to regular use the block option if you encounter a gate-keeper).
There are also sometimes gems that people mention or notice and Mike Ellar had a good one yesterday morning!
Mike is a regular contributor on Twitter and after a short attempt to make Big Waaagh! work with Kruleboyz in early 2022, he is now trying the same with Kruleboyz. And it is not an easy task. He can be found regularly writing on Goonhammer. Go and check his articles out – I’ll be waiting for you when you get back!
Now, trying to make Kruleboyz work isn’t the easiest of tasks and so Mike has been reading the core rules and spotted an interesting one:
What does that mean for the rest of us? Well the big news is that it *could* impact who benefits from the new GHB22 (part 2) rules, although we think the rules-writers may have noticed the risk so either it’ll be covered in the book, or in a quick FAQ.
The main benefit here is the mount traits! And now more units can have them. Obviously look out for core-word locked options (particularly Monster keyword) but there are some mount traits out there without them.
This would be particularly useful for some of my Big Waaagh lists where I leave the Maw Krusha at home (mainly during the Purple Sun crises of July 2022)! But it does mean Fast ‘Un now has some additional options with the Wurgogg and there are bound to be other options in the books.
So, have a look in your Battletomes at any mount traits that are available; and then checkout those units with companions. There might be some Secret Tech hidden away in there that’s been missed.
What is does show is that it’s often worth reading the core rules again when a new Battletome of GHB drops to see if there are any interesting interactions – however if you want to do something you’ve never seen before; just chcek with you friendly neighbourhood TO! And don’t win on a ‘Gotcha’.
— Declan & Eeyore
* okay it’s possible Peter was slightly quicker to post than me… but you get two news articles in two days so its all win-win!!
An Eagle-eyed member of our Discord found the following post from the Warhammer Community team.
This answers a lot of those questions you’ve all had hanging in the air in regards to our beloved pot-grot Timmy.
They’ll be no holding back Timmy now!
Wow, outta nowhere Warcom just dropped some big GHB22 Season 2 reveals.
There’s a lot to digest even in such a small article, so let’s dive into some hot-takes – but not before offering up a kudos to GW for continuing the great new trend of accompanying reveals like this with a design interview video, that really helps us see a bit behind the curtain.
The first new rules to sink our hungry teeth into are The Key To Victory and Desperate Action. TKTV was rumoured for a while and is going to bring a lot more small foot heroes – WITHOUT a mount, not unique and under 10 wounds – out to play, for the obvious reason that your 100-150 pt hero, often with a clutch spell or aura was always super vulnerable to being sniped from half a table away by some coward with a good eye, and -1 to hit from Look Out Sir just didn’t cut it. But now, they’re safe in the knowledge that their companions aren’t just going to yell a half-assed warning to them, but they’ll make damn sure they can get the job done – UNLESS, of course (and this is mentioned in the video), your put your sneaky shooters into the Sharpshooter battalion which will allow them to target Galletian Champs as normal. It’s Bounty Hunters vs Expert Conqs all over again – only without one side of the equation being utterly broken and skewing the entire equation!
Desperate Action is an awesome new rule, and for my money represents the best things about AoS. Firstly, it adds a small incentive to whomever wins priority to actually think about taking 2nd instead of just smashing that DOUBLE button, and for the unlucky second-turner, they get an extra responsive action to help balance the odds – and as we move onto the next reveals we’ll see how that can be even more impactful beyond adding a CP chance to your hero heal, etc. Very cool and something I’m really excited to see, on the face of it.
Now these are going to tilt people immediately, but on closer inspection I don’t think it’s anything too scary – and in fact, I think it adds a really cool dimension to the game. Strike at the Opening is mitigated when you consider that the majority of foot heroes in the game are support heroes and therefore don’t hit very hard – with the exceptions being things like the Orruk Megaboss (and this def seems like a stealth Orruk buff).
Lead by Example looks again at first glance to be utterly brutal – but when you read closely you’ll see that not only will you have to be going 2nd to fight with your hero AND unit, but it essentially discourages you from then charging with either later in the turn, uses up both your heroic action slots AND requires that your opponent decided to stay in combat with you – or of course, charged you and didn’t kill you off. So, obviously it has potential but I think it’s really balanced by the timing of the activation, and will offer some good options against pin-type lists that rely on bogging you down and preventing you from scoring at all – and that’s the kind of tactical flexibility that could make this coming season one of the best yet.
Following in the footsteps of the 1-2 hero phase punch is a battalion that does exactly the same thing but in the normal combat phase – you may be familiar with this kind of rule if you’re a Soulblight or OBR player – and it’s not hard to miss the appeal of. I wonder if we’ll see the restriction here being non-reinforced infantry units? Either way, it’s an interesting rule that puts Orruk Brutes back on the menu and will hopefully see another few more recently maligned units get some more table time.
A knee jerk winner from this is Slaves to Darkness. With the way the Lord on Krackerjack works, combined with say, an Exalted (8 attacks, 4/4/1/2) and unit of Chosen in Galletian Command, you could activate four times in a row. I can see Orruk, S2D, Ogor, and SCE doing very well out of this.
Finally, some extra morsels.
These new options unlock fresh tactics and opportunities for devious generals, but they’re just the start. The General’s Handbook also includes a Realm spell for punishing units camping out on objectives, a new command ability to trade piling in for extra attacks, and a stockpile of artefacts and unique Aspect of the Champion enhancements reserved for GALLETIAN CHAMPIONS.
Warcom
Fairly self explanatory, but exciting to hear there will be some new, unique ways to kit out our little champs. The article also confirms that the book will merge matched play rules – meaning half the Battle tacs, grand strats and battleplans will return from Season 1 – and surely the new ones will revolve around Galley Champs.
Overall, this means your lesser-seen utility heroes, whether they can also throw a punch or not, will no doubt be crucial to scoring, so should really impact list making. Armies with access to good infantry shooting – think DoK bow snakes, KO, and Ogors, may run rampant with their ability to snipe Galley Champs and prevent extra scoring potentials.
All told, I think this is a hugely exciting preview.
And let me be the first to say (well, probably not, but I’ll say it anyway):
Fuck you Bounty Hunters, and good riddance.
Yup, you didn’t hear it here first. You probably heard it in the Hollywood Reporter, or was it the BBC? No? the Guardian?
Well, it’s bloody everywhere so I’m sure you have heard it by now. Amazon have agreed a deal with Games Workshop to make a Warhammer 40,000 TV series. Perhaps even a film….
And yes, Henry Cavill is involved. Henry Cavill stepped down from his role as Superman on Wednesday, reportedly heard saying as he left “Feck this, I can play Inquisitor Eisenhorn!”¹
According to Warhammer Community, the series will be set in the Warhammer 40k universe.
In terms of plots, anything by Dan Abnett is on the table. Abnett already having been involved with Marvel comics and Guardians of the Galaxy. But which of his works could they use? Or, would it be an entirely new character and storyline? Here’s some of his more popular work:
Eisenhorn
This is probably the lead in terms of fan choice. It makes sense in that it would give anyone experiencing the Warhammer 40k universe for the first time, a good overview of everything from civilian life to life in the combat zones, as well as the grim dark feel of 40k.
First and Only
Gaunt’s Ghosts. Or Sharpe in spaaace! If you want to be thrown in the deep end of combat and the grim dark 40k, this would be a great choice.
Horus Rising
While technically not 40k, what better story than the story that started it all? Son against father, brother against brother and the whole reason the 40k universe is what it is today?
What do you think? What story would you like to see made into a series?
¹This is entirely fictional and didn’t actually happen.
