Blog Wars 7 - A Quick Word on 7th Edition

Blog Wars 7 is just under six weeks away (meaning the list deadline is under four weeks away) but there are still 9 tickets available for anyone wanting to join us. Head over to the BW7 page for more details.

Today I just wanted to post about the rumoured new edition of the 40K rulebook and how it will affect Blog Wars 7 (since a few people have been in touch to ask me). As it stands new codices are permitted provided they're released before the list submission deadline (in this case May 31st). In this current world of weekly releases though, a codex released on May 31st itself would not be permitted. Codices don't have far reaching implications for the rules of the game itself. Of course, they may shift the meta in a different direction but the core rules stay the same. Obviously that isn't true of a new edition of the rulebook.

Rumours currently have it that 7th edition (or 6.5th depending on your view) will be with us on May 24th. That means potentially that pre-orders will be announced on that date for release on May 31st. Even if the book itself is in peoples' hands by May 24th that would only give people a week to digest the new rules and change their armies accordingly in time for the submission deadline. That simply isn't long enough. Trouble is, we may not truly get a 7th edition but rather some tweaks to 6th that don't change things drastically. In that case it would be quite feasible for people to read up on the changes in a week and they aren't likely to affect peoples' lists significantly. My personal view is that the latter is more likely and the supposed "7th edition" will actually just be all of the crazy shit we've had released in various forms rolled into a single rulebook. This will help prevent the dicussions about what is or isn't legal in standard 40K.

Realistcally though, with the best will in the world and a copy of the rulebook on release day, I'll simply not have time to digest the changes to decided whether or not to use it at Blog Wars 7. I think the best course of action then is to say that the current rules will be in force. Think of Blog Wars 7 as your last chance to play the old rules before the new ones come in. Ironic really that my 7th tournament may be the last of 6th!

As always, keep questions coming about rule clarifications and anything else you're unsure of before the event.

UPDATE: Now that we have something more concrete and we know it'll be released on 24th May I can confirm that BW7 will NOT be using the 7th edition rules but will adhere to the 6th edition rulebook. Looking forward to the new book but I really don't know what the fuss is about Unbound armies. It was always an option to ignore the FOC and most tournaments won't allow it. Still, always exciting to get a new ruleset.

Being Put Through the (Rumour) Mill

I may have been pretty quiet on my own blog recently but that doesn't mean I'm not keeping up with the raft of blogs on my reading list. This is mostly because I can browse through them on Feedly on my phone whereas I find using the phone too fiddly to do blogging of my own. Anyway, one of the blogs on my list is Faeit212. To be honest it's the one I read the most, which is in no small part down to the fact that Natfka posts more regularly than the rest of us.

If you aren't familiar with Faeit212 it's predominantly a rumour blog which helps to tie together the various rumours, leaks and whatnot from the forums and other blogs. Natfka does a fantastic job of compiling everything and it's been an excellent source of everything coming up in the 40K world (and a few other systems). He's helped break several big rumours and pointed us all in the direction of those leaked pictures of new units that we're all desperate to see.

Trouble is, I find I'm actually less desperate to see these things now. Don't get me wrong I'm still excited about the hobby but most of the time we're seeing these images a couple of days or a week at most before they're actually on the GW site. There was a time when I lapped it all up and wanted to read everything I could. The new Tau book was a great example of this. There were leaked pages in Spanish that I bothered to translate to find out details about the Riptide etc. Perhaps I've just learnt patience but right now I'm quite happy just to wait until concrete information is available. This is for a few reasons which I'd like to explain.

We're fed that many rumours now that it's very difficult to know who to believe. The whole 7th/6.5th edition thing is a prime case of this. Once it looked a bit more concrete that we're getting a rules update we suddenly had tons of information coming out e.g. the FOC percentages and sidebars etc. Perhaps all this is true but the cynic in me thinks that there's just some rumourmongers jumping on the bandwagon and simply making stuff up or else wishlisting. This means that when the actual releases hit I've already got preconceived notions about what they'll include. When only some of the promised things happen I'm sometimes relieved but more often disappointed. That disappointment is created by the rumours plain and simple. Obviously I have my own wishlists for new releases but the rumours just build expectation.

The other problem is the, often bilious, commenting that appears on the site despite Natfka's best efforts. This kind of thing is the reason I got into blogging in the first place. When I played EVE Online I used to spend a lot of time on various forums and quickly grew tired of the whinging and complaining about various trivial things. The blogosphere didn't seem as vulnerable to this but there are a few of the more popular sites that have an infestation. I'm sure I'm guilty of the same negativity but reading some of the petty insults and arguments really puts me off the hobby sometimes.

I actually still love 40K though. A few games recently have made me realise why I love the game so much. Reading about every little glimpse of new stuff that we may or may not ever get is actually getting in the way of enjoying the hobby. There's a sense of urgency in the hobby that GW has intentionally created. You get the feeling that everything is a limited edition. For a couple of releases I've been down at my FLGS on release day to pick up the new book and sometimes a few of the new models. They've then often taken me ages to actually get round to assembling. I've got an Astartes Stormwing that is still shrinkwrapped for example. That's absolute madness when you take a step back and look at it. The models are always still there a couple of weeks later when I pop into my FLGS to buy some paints. I've got codices for armies I don't own because I thought I might collect them e.g. Eldar and Tyranids. I could've easily waited and not bothered getting the books but I felt like I needed them straight away on release day. Obviously some stuff is limited edition but you get my point.

I think the tournament scene is partly to blame for this need it now attitude. You feel like you've got to stay on top of the latest thing to be competitive and that's getting more and more difficult. Perhaps that's because having a child has limited my free time to spend reading through codices but also the relentless pace of releases isn't helping. I'm determined to draw a line in the sand though. I've got 5 armies at the moment (SW, DE, DA, Tau and Orks) and strictly speaking not a single fully painted model. Of course a huge swathe of them are table top standard but I can still see work I want to do on them. Why the hell would I want to keep buying new stuff then? You may not like GW's policy on rumours and their blatant money grabs but for suckers like me it clearly works! I can't promise I won't be tempted by Orks, Wolves and DE when they get updates but I'm just not get caught up in the furore and buy stuff I don't need.

Coming back to Faeit212 though. I've got a lot of respect for Natfka and what he does and the site is excellent. I've been enjoying features about other game systems and looking at some of the projects from readers of the site. That Ork Sunshark was particularly nice. Anyway, that aside I'm going to stop reading the blog and see if it improves my attitude to the hobby. I'm quite happy not to read any of the rumours. It'll cause less confusion when I read the actual book as I won't be looking for rules that were supposed to be in there but aren't and I think I can wait a couple of days longer to see new models without needing to look at leaks.

Finally, I think it's interesting that the 40K community seems to think it's the only group who obsessively speculates about what may or may not materialise from a company that doesn't reveal much. It's a similar story for video games, football player transfers and even car manufacturers. As a species we seem to be obsessed with hearing snippets about what might be coming in the future. I guess none of us are that patient!

In the mean time, Matt is heading over tomorrow for a few games so expect some battle reports from those games, some more reviews of the AM book and, of course, plenty of Blog Wars build up. Let's find the love for this excellent game again.

New Imperial Guard Codex (Astra Militarum) - Warlord Traits, Orders, Heirlooms and Army Bundles

The rumours were true and what we once knew as Imperial Guard will now forever be referred to as the Astra Militarum. Well, realistically everyone will still call them "Guard" but nice try GW. Anyway, the new codex is another of the now very familiar 104-page format. There's a decent chunk of fluff at the front of course but the notable thing for me is that, despite the rumours, GW haven't done away with everything except Cadians. I can only assume these rumours were based on the Militarum Tempestus book or something.

With the exception of Orders there aren't really any army-wide special rules which is the same as the old book. Of course, being a new codex there is a dedicated Warlord Trait table and as I'm sure you've seen in the rumours by now there are some new orders available along with some changes to existing ones.

Warlord Traits

The first thing to note is that tank commanders can only take the first three traits (which makes sense when you read them). I have to say that as trait tables go the AM one is pretty solid. You're getting Outflank for D3 units, Preferred Enemy for his unit (although only for one codex which is an issue against allies I suppose), a morale bubble which is better than most other books, Relentless for his unit, the ability to give orders or extend order radius/give an extra order. I can't really see any of them being particularly weak. Obviously Relentless is only useful for certain units but still there's a strong selection here. 

Voice of Command (Orders)

Orders work in a similar way to before with the unit receiving the order need to pass a leadership test to accept it. As before the unit must shoot immediately (although "immediately" isn't actually spelled out) and a double 6 prevents and further orders being issued that turn. What's different though is that a double 1 doesn't give a free order but rather means that subsequent orders from that officer are automatically successful. Difficult to say if that's an improvement or not as frankly a 1/36 chance of it happening is hardly game changing. 

There are now 9 orders with the first 6 available to any officer but the last three limited to Senior Officers (who can issue two orders). Here's a quick rundown:

• Take Aim! - Precision Shot special rule
• Smite at Will! - Split Fire special rule
• First Rank, Fire!, Second Rank, Fire! - extra shot for lasguns and hot-shot lasguns
• Forwards, for the Emperor! - unit must Run after shooting
• Move! Move! Move! - Runs with three dice (as before)
• Suppressive Fire! - Pinning special rule
• Bring it Down! (Senior only) - Tank Hunters and Monster Hunter special rules
• Fire on my Target! - Ignores Cover special rule
• Get Back in the Fight! - regroups/unpins a unit which can then act normally

Bring it Down has therefore changed from twin-linked and First Rank, Second Rank now specifically includes hot-shot lasguns and Fire on my Target now completely ignores cover rather than a re-roll. Otherwise, the old orders are the same. The new ones could be pretty useful though particularly Take Aim and Forwards for the Emperor. It's a shame that Incoming! has gone but a lot of the time units are getting +2 for going to ground anyway e.g. behind Aegis lines or in area terrain.

Next, it's worth looking at who can actually issue orders and at this point it's worth noting that Chimeras still allow orders to be issued from inside. Anyway, here are the guys doing all the ordering:

• Company Commander (Senior Officer)
• Platoon Commander
• Tempestor Prime
• Yarrick (Senior Officer)
• Creed (Senior Officer, 3 orders with re-rolls)
• Straken

Finally, there are new Orders available for Officers of the Fleet and Tank Commanders. The Navy Orders (OotF) basically offer reserve manipulation but the Tank Orders are always issued at Ld9 and are as follows:

• Full Throttle! - Flat Out with 6+D6" even if Heavy
• Gunners, Kill on Sight! - basically Split Fire for the Tank Commander
• Strike and Shroud! - allows smoke launchers to be used after shooting

Not hugely useful but I can see that extra smoke coming in handy for the Tank Commander's unit. I'll discuss orders further when I talk about the possible combinations in my units reviews but I thought this overview would be helpful.

Heirlooms of Conquest

Like all of the new books the AM codex has some special wargear. Most of the time these things are overpriced for what they offer but let's give them the benefit of the doubt and take a look:

• The Tactical Auto-Reliquary of Tyberius - allows all doubles to count as Inspired Tactics. Not hugely useful for the cost especially when only two orders are issued per turn. Also has possibly the longest name for a piece of wargear ever!
• The Laurels of Command - good in combination with Get Back in the Fight! but still pricey and situational, 6" isn't much of a range to be useful
• Kurov’s Aquila - a 6" Preferred Enemy bubble is always nice but there's a whopping points premium to pay for the privilege 
• The Blade of Conquest - pretty expensive for what is effectively a master-crafted frost blade but not totally useless.
• The Emperor's Benediction - decent way to spend those spare points I suppose. Precision Shot is a bit of a weird rule for it to have though when it can only be taken by Characters who get it anyway!
• The Deathmask of Ollanius - actually reasonably priced considering you get 4++ and IWND. Fear, as we know, is pretty useless though. Obviously EW would be nice but you can't have everything.

As ever then these are mostly overpriced. The SM  (or should that be Adeptus Astartes) book actually had a decent selection which makes these look a little weak in comparison. Guard haven't ever really been about fully tooled up elite units though so I can't say it's a big loss.

New Army Bundles

Finally, it's worth noting that there's a couple of new army bundles available with the launch of the AM codex. There are two Defence Forces one for Cadians and the other for Catachans. Both contain essentially the same models but with different clothes on and both are on sale for £100. Depending on how you add up the individual cost of the units you could save up to £33.50. Obviously buying the Heavy Weapons teams in the triple pack and getting some cadians with your chimera brings this saving down a bit but still it's worth thinking about if you're new to Imperial Gua...err... Astra Militarum. 

There's also a the Hammer of Cadia which gives you three Hellhounds, three Leman Russ battle tanks and a Hellhammer. This set offers a saving of £66 against the individual sets! If you're fancying a wall of tanks then definitely worth thinking about although you may want a different Baneblade variant. Still this trend of offering bundles with the new codices is welcome, even if it effectively means the "battleforce" now costs £100!