Goatboy here with some thoughts on the latest big faction rules updates. I won’t be going over every last thing and instead will look at the things that affect you the most. There is a lot here and it has me really thinking about what I plan on doing these next few months.
I had just finished an event with my Emperor’s Children build and this update kinda blew that whole list up. Or at the very least has me having to paint up some new things to change it. It is kind of a bummer but that is ok as most likely I will go back to World Eaters as the changes given to them were much kinder. They got point drops and their disposition tweaks didn’t hurt nearly as much as my EC friends. With that in mind let’s talk about the general feeling about this update.
Normal Caveats – Don’t Follow Busted Trends
First GW will shift things. With so much of the game living in a digital space with the Dispositions and Points living in an 40K App it continues to be a game where if something feels too good don’t invest a ton of time in getting it painted up. The game will change to fit into the win percentages they want so if you are looking at getting into a new army don’t go for the new hotness nearly as much.
Updated Dispositions
This leads me into saying the biggest updates were to dispositions. GW heavily hit any of them 1DP-costed Purge the Foe detachments. This was in response to the feeling that Purge the Foe was the “easier” of the dispositions to play due to the nature of what their missions want to do. They usually just want to kill things and hold a few objectives. This is fine as I don’t think this was winning the most games but I do wonder if that was more so the idea that many armies could do Purge the Foe but a few armies were even better at completing Take and Hold missions. I will probably still try to play Purge the Foe with my World Eaters and most likely dabble in Priority Assets based on the army style I like to run. We’ll talk about some of the World Eaters builds I am looking at on Friday.
Necron Characters
The armies hit were obviously Necrons and their regenerating character options. I think this is a good thing and something we saw already with Tacoma. The army is still really good just doesn’t feel hopeless. It also helps let Precision be a powerful rule still as you can take out the leader and then if he stands back up with a Stratagem he isn’t joining back up with the unit. I am wondering if we’ll see some other hits coming to Necrons in the future. They still seem really good and are more just overshadowed by the brutality of the Orks.
Orks – Minor Nerfs/Tweaks
What is wild is that looking at the Ork winners there were a ton of different builds doing well. The big thing I see with all of them is that the bigger issue with Orks is just they are too cheap. They fixed the double leader issue in the Boyz Squad, increased some points, and messed with Dispositions to help fix things. I don’t think they will go away at all as Orks are still good, love the use of Cover, and score points really well. I wonder if the lighter touch is due to the new book coming soon and will see how all their datasheets shift. I want to talk about that a bit more tomorrow.
Space Marines – Minor Point Increases
The Marines still feel good with Ultramarines getting hit in the points department. I expect that army to stay good with the only worry coming to them is what Marine units the new book will “Legends” away. How many of the old tanks are going to survive the culling that is coming for our Armoured friends. I wouldn’t invest into making a new Marine army just yet, beyond figuring out what to do with your Armageddon stuff.
Sisters, Custodes, and Inquisitors – OH MY!
On the Imperium side I get the feeling Sisters might show up more with a ton of points shifts and the abilities to score in all their dispositions. I also expect Custodes to do ok as living and dying on a 4+ invulnerable save seems good. I am interested to see how they will shift whenever they get that new shiny book bringing in some of the new 30k models. If you go look at the Warhammer Academy there is a nice hint of new Custodes models listed for them. Oh and Imperial Agents now have 2DP detachments so they can take that and the Assassin Detachment to feel like a real army.
Daemons, World Eaters Win – All Other Chaos Loses
The other loser in a lot of this is Chaos options just shifting around everywhere. I think Daemons stay really strong but CSM gets hit, Thousand Sons get hit, Death Guard get hit, Emperor’s Children shifts a lot, Chaos Knights are odd, and only World Eaters see something of a win with their update. The Defiler just got more expensive for just about everyone and that hurts a lot of the smaller model option armies that needed the Defiler to help them be good.
40K Metawatch – The Verdict
I think will are set up for another wild few months as things shift even more. I expect an update coming end of year or maybe sooner if someone shows up with something just brutal at one of the GW opens. I know WTC is coming and their lists might be interesting too so will see if something angry shows up. Overall I am pretty happy with the changes and while I thought more would come it is still great to see GW willing to shift things around. It is a good thing for the competitive player as it means GW cares about the game enough to make sure things are balanced or as close as they can.
Now get out there, and may you always roll 6’s!
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Thomas Reidy, aka Goatboy, the ever-evil member of BoLS. I do arts, play 40k, and even paint a lot of stuff. I have been playing Warhammer 40K since the 1990s, and have won multiple national events including Adepticon and GW GTs. I’ve been writing for BoLS for 15 years. Look at my Instagram to see what I am working on – or working on for someone. I am always doing something hobby related.
Source: Bell of Lost Souls
