This morning Games Workshop released their next Warhammer Fantasy and 40K codex: Daemons, regular readers will know that I have been really looking forward to this release, especially for the new units. I have to say I am not disappointed with what I have seen having pre-ordered a limited edition codex, the psychic cards and of course both the Plague Drones and Herald of Nurgle boxset. This months White Dwarf is naturally a huge advert for Marches Daemon incursion, from the battle report and various notes I managed to glean a few details such, but as per usual GW have been pretty stringent with giving away too much (and further boost codex sales as a result). Anyway I think existing Daemon players will be happy with the following details - pictures weaved in for eye candy purposes.
D12 chaos effects table/Warpstorm - From a background perspective I love the idea of it, it goes with the 6th Edition ethos of cinematic, this chart has effects that can provide negative and beneficial that range from instability tests (i think that is what is hinted) to +1 to invulnerable saves army wide, as far as I could make out, the Daemon player needs to roll each turn. How this will stack with say an Epidemius list, I can only speculate, however I have a feeling that Epidemius will be toned down in this edition to prioritise the purchase of standard Heralds.
Standard deployment with every unit be able to deep strike - I really like this from a tactical perspective, one of the comments made at the end of the battle report was that a Daemon player should take full advantage of the ability of army wide deep strike, from the out set I could see massive potential for Tzeentch alpha strike teams opening up transports for ground pounding Bloodletter, very nasty. Deployment is now tactical again and much more in the control of the player - as it should be.
Heralds have army wide purchasable effects - I like this as it indicates that they are now army enablers. Chaos/Daemonic gifts can be purchased at various levels or locus? that can affect your army in a number of ways. I noticed on the notes that the Nurgle Herald had purchased: fecundity which gives Plaguebearers FNP which sadly means basic Plaguebearers may not have the infamous FNP as a basic stat, time will tell. It also seems you can take more Heralds as the army list featured contained both a Daemon Prince and four Heralds as HQ choices.
More ranges units - Tzeentch is very much the tank killer by all accounts via the Burning chariot of Tzeentch, probably being the same in terms of game play as a herald of Tzeentch on a chariot, except it is in the Heavy Support option. The Khorne cannon is a strength 8 medium armour killer using the large template. I can see this weapon being used effectively whittling down larg units (orks and Nids?) or perhaps light to medium vehicles.
And most important (for me anyway!) Nurgle is very much about the re-rolls, apparently they are very competent combat units which force a lot of re-rolling due to the poison abilities. Both Beasts of Nurgle and the Plague drones formed a effective melee assault force during the battle report, especially considering how small the units were to start with. Based on this I assume that Beasts have been tweaked in some way or Plague drones are really that good.
From a mono-perspective I can see most of the armies working very effectively; Tzeentch by far got a huge buff in the last update, but may have been scaled down a little from what I have read; Khorne having ranged capabilities is a frightening prospect as opponents will have to worry about large Str 8 blastmarkers raining on them with Bloodthirsters and Bloodcrushers running amok from turn 2. I did not see any massive change for Nurgle or Slaanesh in terms of ranged (this does not mean there is none), but notes indicate that Slaanesh are very fast and can bust tanks appropriately, while Nurgle will rely on swarming an opponent (hopefully) with poison attacks. I anticipate that both Slaanesh and Nurgle will have a bunch of pyschic powers that could fill the ranged void and work within the background of being psychic/magical. Of course rumour mills did also say there were other units to come and these will have an effect on how army dynamics work if proven true, but from the looks of things Phil Kelly has written a nice book that should accommodate both multi-god and mono god players. Gw has stated release to be from the 2nd of March, hail to the Dark Gods!
All the new Chaos Daemon's pre-orders are up now and available from, my number one wargaming choice:
Wayland Games - Discount Wargames
The initial excitement of this game's Kickstarter revival has passed, so it's now down to details. Prodos games are continue to open up to the community's needs which is absolutely outstanding, they hit their intended goal last week early on and are now sitting on £50,000+ which has unlocked various new units and four character models for the initial release wave of: Bauhaus, The Brotherhood, Dark Legion and Cybertronica. PDF rules will be released for all backers this week, so its going to be an interesting time working out which units I want to add to my pledge.
There has been some drama however, Prodos decided to offer a free character model to overseas backers, as a way of saying thank you to the international crowd. Some members of the national community (business is set in the UK) have not taken kindly to what they see as a geographical alienation. While from a money saving perspective, UK buyers still save money compared to international, I can understand why some people feel alienated by this action. I am no Kickstarter expert; this is my first dabble, having even ignored the Kingdom death KS project; so I won't say anymore on it, however based on Prodo's interaction with the community I foresee lots of bonuses for backers the higher we go with the Kickstarter. Prodo's current goal is now £60,000 which will unlock brand new units for the current factions, concepts pictured below.
Warzone/Mutant Chronicles is a fantastic franchise that had an effect on the wargaming industry on par with early Privateer press during the mid 90's, and in my opinion is a game that will should flourish in today's golden age market. See for yourself and get a set of rules (PDF Monday onwards) for a meer £1.
To check out the Kickstarter page, check here: Warzone Resurrection
That's all for now, I am furiously building my second unit of 14 Plaguebearers in anticipation for some games this month, I look forward to sharing a army shot next week.
Thanks for reading,
DiStudios
The 14th legion
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