Anticipating the Codex

Edit: Well, it's looking like our rules are going to be disappointing. I'm still going to get Deathwing Assault, but the models may sit on the shelf for a while until their value on the tabletop improves. At least it looks like I'll still be able to play my Firestorm Assault Force! When I get the supplement, I'll look for positives among the rules. I may be sifting through manure in the hopes of finding pearls, but maybe there's one or two in there.

This may not be of much help, but there is one way to express your dissatisfaction to Games Workshop. You can post comments on their official Facebook page. I don't know how much they pay attention to social media, but you can at least make yourself feel better. Let them know what you think.

Hello gentle battle brothers, Grand Master Raziel here. We have a new codex supplement on the horizon, so I thought I'd take a little time to discuss the teasers on Warhammer Community, what I think of them, and my hopes and fears for how it will manifest. 

I'm going to start off with the Ravenwing, because they're my jam and I have to start somewhere. For starters, I'm encouraged that there is going to be a detachment centered on the Ravenwing, the Company Of Hunters. You've probably already seen the Warhammer Community article, but in case you haven't, here it is.

I was majorly disappointed by the Stormlance Task Force from Codex: Space Marines, because it just didn't quite align with our Ravenwing units to make a compelling force. One would think a Ravenwing-specific detachment would be better designed for Ravenwing units. The detachment rule does seem spicy, at least.  Masters of Manoevre allows us extra movement to line up shots and save us CP by allowing our units to just fall back and shoot for free. That will certainly come in handy. Also, I'm hoping the rule's existence suggests Sammael is going to get modified rules, as having him able to confer shooting after advancing is now redundant.

It will also be nice to have strats that are more relevant to Ravenwing units Talon Strike here is an example. It's a little limited in scope, but opponents often attach characters to their spiciest units. Getting +1 to Wound them will be a major boon.

There's also the fact that the preview revealed that the Ravenwing Champion is gaining the Character keyword. That suggests that the Apothecary and Ancient are going to become characters too. It'll be interesting to see what combos we can do with them.

Finally, the preview article revealed that Outriders will get the Battleline keyword in a Company of Hunters. What's interesting about that is that I think it's the first time in 10th edition that a detachment confers Battleline to a unit. We'll have to see what GW does with that in the future. Outriders aren't particularly spicy in and of themselves, but if they get an extra OC per model and we have plethora of characters we can attach to them, maybe they can do some work for us.

For predictions, I think it's probably safe to say there aren't going to be any new Ravenwing kits. The preview showing the current Ravenwing Champion model would seem to suggest GW is not revising the Ravenwing Knights box. Which is fine with me. I think the kit stands up reasonably well. I had hoped we'd get a Ravenwing Lieutentant to replace the Talonmaster, but I think we're getting the Command Squad characters instead. 

Speaking of the Talonmaster, I think we can say goodbye to our flying dakka Lieutenants. The Land Speeder kit is discontinued, so it makes little sense that GW would continue supporting any units based on it.  It's too bad, but they had their glory days in 9th edition and are a shadow of that former self now. I'm not going to miss the 10th ed Talonmaster.

As for what I hope for, I'm not going to get too specific. I just hope that our Ravenwing units all get rules that makes them worth putting on the table in and of themselves, and that the Company of Heroes detachment lets us make a fun and competitive Ravenwing-heavy force.

Now let's move on to the Deathwing detachment, the Inner Circle Task Force. My feelings about the reveals for Deathwing are a little more mixed. If you haven't ready the Warhammer Community article about playing Deathwing, check it out here. 

Let's start with the detachment rule, Vowed Target. At the very least, we can definitely say it's better than the detachment rule for the 1rst Company Task Force from Codex: Space Marines. I'll take +1 to Wound rolls on an objective I choose in the Command Phase every turn over rerolling all to Wound rolls for 1 turn any day of the week. The downside to it is that your opponent can avoid it by staying off objectives, but if he's keeping his units off objectives, he's probably not scoring much on Primary.

The article also showed an enhancement available in the Inner Circle Task Force, appropriately named Deathwing Assault, allowing the character and attached unit come in via Deep Strike in the 1rst, 2nd, or 3rd turn regardless of mission rules. I have to admit, this didn't immediately blow my doors off. Don't get me wrong, being able to Deep Strike a unit 1rst turn is powerful. Having a 10-strong squad of Deathwing Knights with attached Terminator Captain to reroll charge rolls and attached Deathwing Champion for +1 to Charge rolls (assuming the Deathwing Champion is still in the codex) to Deep Strike 1rst turn and charge opponents in their deployment zone will probably win us games. I don't think it'll win us GTs, but it's probably worth 20 points just to make your opponent have to take the possibility of a 1rst turn Terminator charge into account when they deploy their forces, but I've found I often have to give opponents a turn or two to move their units before there's a space to Deep Strike even a smaller Terminator squad. On the other hand, being sure that one unit will be able to come in via Deep Strike does give some peace of mind that we'll be able to use the ability.

There were a few things in the article I'm not sanguine about. For starters, check out the price for Deathwing Knights. 58 points per model? Really, GW? You want us to buy the new Deathwing Knight models, but you're making them prohibitively expensive to put them in a list?  Well, hopefully the price of those will go down in our post-release FAQ. Either that, or the rules for Deathwing Knights better be really spicy.

I was also disappointed to read that Belial still confers Precision. I suppose it's thematically appropriate, but if I want Precision attacks, I'll just play the Epic Challenge strat. Don't get me wrong, I'll definitely getting the new Belial model, but unless he's got more to offer, I guess I'll be using that model as a Terminator Captain. 

For the rest of the supplement, it'll be interesting to see what we get in terms of detachments. I really, really hope the Unforgiven Task Force does not base its detachment rule around Battle Shock. Are we going to get a full 6 unique Detachments, or are the Company Of Hunters and Inner Circle Task Force going to replace the Stormlance and 1rst Company Task Force? I could see GW just porting in the more generic detachments like the Ironstorm, the Firestorm, and the Gladius. I've been having fun with a Firestorm, I certainly hope CaptainCon isn't going to be it's last hurrah.

Our man Azrael - he's perfect. Don't touch him GW. Throw some love at Ezekial though. I don't think we're going to see a new model for him sadly, but I don't need a new model. I just want to be able to attach him to Bladeguard, or even Assault Intercessors. I wouldn't mind seeing the Vengeance's plasma storm battery be D6+3 shots, but I'll field it with its D6+1, if I could ever find one at one of my gaming stores. Put out a wave of Ravenwing kits, GW!

With that, I'm going to conclude this article by expressing my hopes that our codex supplement is something we can all be excited about. Until then, may all of us enjoy our games, provide fun experiences for our opponents, and be credits to the 1rst Legion!