Who Let the Dogs Out? Space Wolves vs. 6th Edition!

Well, it has been a few days now since I got my copy of 6^th thanks to the logical cluster by GW but I have been on my toes and reading as well as learning as I go everything I could about the new edition. The Space Wolves blogged some of this overview also, but at some points I disagreed with their comments, granted they did publish first as I was still working on my post. I hope to have an allies concepts developed soon to go up with this...

So, let’s talk about one of my favorites on the table of late the Space Wolves and how things have changed from 5^th to 6^th Edition.

Starting with the Army Wide Rules:

Counter-Attack: Pretty much the same with a slight twist, it states now that “a” model with Counter-Attack allows a roll, now the +1 bonus on a passed LD test is valid just for the models with Counter-Attack, but is no longer weighed down by those in the unit that may lack the ability (this is pointed towards allies when you mix Space Wolves in).

Acute Senses: Now you reroll when you outflank. So, this ability is junk for most of the army short of the scouts and the Saga of the Hunter (more on both of these later).

‘And They Shall Know No Fear’ has a few interesting twists now. If one model in the unit has it, then the entire unit has the ability. This is huge when Space Wolves ally with Sister’s of Battle or Imperial Guard. It still allows you to rally below 25%, take a 3” move, then a normal move and then you can still assault. So, your basic trooper could in theory move 3+6+2d6 getting anywhere between 11” and 21” threat range on a rally. That 3” rally is nice. If caught in a sweeping advance, you remain locked in combat.

Next up Sagas:

Saga of the Wolfkin: unless you want the Imitative 5, it is easier to just add an IC with a Thunderwolf to the unit to benefit the ATSKNF based on that character’s leadership.

Saga of the Majesty: Struggles now with the Warlord perks as you could end up with a “double down and waste points” Personally if you want a Leadership bubble go for the Warlord Traits.

Saga of the Hunter:  This one got interesting as it grants “outflank” and “stealth”. The second never changed but the first now states this: during deployment, if one model in the unit has this ability you may declare the unit is outflanking. This is a huge change, now the character can confer the ability to the unit. Flanking Grey Hunters, Wolf Guard and other interesting combos opens up now. Bear in mind when you flank, you cannot assault the turn you arrive, so shooting only. Still…a gunslinger Wolf Guard Battle leader with two pistols could slip in and crack off two plasma shots at once…

Saga of the Warrior Born gets boned if you get hit with a challenge as at best you can only kill one model.

Saga of the Iron Wolf: The huge thing here is the adding d3 to the movement (say a Land Raider) that has the “assault” rule that rolls up that extra distance, Thus a Land Raider could plow forward 12”+d3+6” move from the ramp and roll 2d6 to assault! The only sad part is the unit the Iron Priest joins blows…

A look at Warlord Traits:

Command Traits are good if you have what I call a “rolling thunder army” that is an army that is highly offensive lead by a Lord or Battle Leader with several Grey Hunter elements in Rhinos and Thunderwolf units striking fast and hard into the lines. The key is keeping within the 12” bubble to get the most out of this trait is the hallmark you have to keep in mind.

Personal Traits: This is a huge perk for the go forward type list lead by a Lord or Battle Leader, You do have a 1 in 6 change of getting the counter attack option but that is the breaks you get if you want the other advantages and many of them are great such as Feel No Pain (near objectives), Character becomes a scoring unit (yea) among other good things!

Strategic Traits are best kept back for the more timid Space Wolf lists that use Rune Priests with 4 totals in a basic list fewer than 2k and 8 in games starting at 2k could be happen. Even so, this could be rough if you lack elements like a reserve unit (as several of them modify reserves).

HQs:

Logan Grimnar got a little more worthwhile at 275 points. Now able to pass off USRs to the unit he is with Tank Hunters (reroll armor pen), Relentless (able to move and fire heavy stuff with no penalty), Preferred Enemy (reroll 1’s to hit and wound, this includes shooting) makes Logan a stud for any Long Fangs to be friends with. 5 Plasma Cannons with rerrolls (yes please!), walk and fire Lascannons (yes sir! And don’t forget AP2 is +1 on the roll) or add lovely lascannons to Tank Hunters to crack open a target. Throw in a Rune Priest with Divination or a Wolf Priest to get other rerolls and wow! Don’t forget the Wolf Guard with a Cyclone or just a general wound soaker to go to the front of the line.

Njal got access to any of the psychic abilities but has to pick what he wants to go. He knows all the Space Wolves but gets only gets 2 rolls otherwise from their other options in the psychic powers of the rules. The Tempest power is still based on who goes first so, it still isn’t all that. Still, IMO he is overpriced for what you get.

Blackmane lost his +1 Imitative on the charge, making people want to shy away even more.

Ulrik had no real special changes worth noting…

Canis got interesting in a few areas but still, nothing to write home about due to the high point cost.

Bjorn wow, bummer for him…able to be glanced to death, adds VPs and objective options that could penalize you. Pass!

Wolf Lord/Battle leader: This guy is going to have some combo of either pair of wolf claws and belt of Russ or Frost Blade or Power Claw with a Storm Shield now. Runic armor or Terminator armor is automatic now (depends on how you use him). The Battle Leader can access Saga of the Hunter to bolster his unit to outlflank if you want.

Rune Priests: Runic armor got more worthwhile now as it would bounce weapons that would normally kill him back in 5^th. I would be shocked to see a Space Wolf list not have one Rune Priest with the powers from the core rules before dabbling into the book. Short of Divination the most are meh compared to the melody of options in the Codex.

Wolf Priest: At least now his Oath of War applies to shooting, he could join a unit and they could take advantage of the Saga of the Hunter to flank as well as benefit from cover bonuses.

Elites:

Wolf Guard Pack: What was nice here is they were made “characters” now if they join other units via the “pack leader rule”. Sorry, no wound allocation tricks here boys and girls! What is interesting here is that the changes of AP to weapons could now make Terminators perhaps more viable in the game as they are less likely to get swissed by most power weapons.

Arjac: The most interesting thing if note is you have to accept a challenge, so if you die before you can swing your screwed and easy prey. Worth 170pts? I think not.

Dreadnought: Now that you can be glanced to death, best to setup shop in cover with a twin linked Autocannon. Maybe worth looking at venerable again eh?

Iron Priests can repair hull points now; still they are not that great. Still they have a few nice surprises such as a flamer than is defensive on a charge! D3 hits! I do see one argument pop up soon that will need to be FAQ’d…with pistols you can fire both pistols, so a IP has a bolt pistol, a plasma pistol (on the servo) and a flamer…I can see people try to argue to shoot all three, sadly the plasma shot is because of the servo but it is a hard call.

Wolf Scouts got the finger this time, now you cannot assault the turn you arrive. So, MSU scouts, blow up a vehicle and die like a wolf. My friend and I have been discussing and plan to test scouts in cover with sniper rifles. With BS4 and the new sniper rules this could be a new perk and outlet for the Wolf Scouts. Bear in mind you can even mix a unit with a melt gun to have the choice to outflank or infiltrate. If the situation sucks, don’t flank, setup shop in cover and earn your points another way.

Lone Wolf: They got a sweet deal now, as an character they can challenge and avoid having hits against them. Still, if you pick that fight with the Ork Nob as 29 other boyz look on you may have to face a ton of rerolls….granted if you are lucky enough you could tie up a unit a turn longer than before…challenge the first round, avoid the hits, then sit back in Terminator armor with a storm shield and chainfist and wait it out. Despite FNP going to a 5+ he can still make a save against anything as he can’t be instant killed.

Troops:

Grey Hunters: Still as reliable as ever…I suspect you will see more  plasma guns appear than flamer sin units. The banner also has more value when to dangerous/difficult terrain tests among the usual to hit, armor saves and to injure rolls. I can also see lots of MSU groups with Razorbacks with Las/Plas (as both can shoot now easier).

Blood Claws: Still not that useful but they could be effective with some right combos and a Land Raider or cover layering (by this I mean having stealth, psychic powers and using good cover)….plus Lukas can now challenge and try to get killed. Makes his high point cost not so bad now. Challenge a unit, kill the champion as a nasty character hides from him, then next turn challenge again, you either kill him or you could bubble him up with your last laugh rule…

Thunderwolf Calvary: The big change is the urge now to take plasma pistols in the unit to pop tanks with the +1 AP bonuses….worth the risk to overheat if you pop a transport and chomp down the goodies inside. Frost Blades or Powerfists for your single trade out later in the options. Same you could not gunslinger with these guys that would be funny!

Swiftclaws got a bit more useful, the 5+ jink and the 4+ cover save flat out is good, not as great as a 3+ but the jink balances it out. Still the BS 3 needs to be twin linked somehow to be useful, add a Wolf Priest on Bike with that Wolf Guard or keep a Divination Psyker on hand near them! Don’t forget your I10 on a single attack also before any swings are done due to Hammer of Wrath.

Skyclaws: Same boat but not as good as the Swiftclaws without the jink but still has the Hamemr of Wrath rules.

Speeders got a bit more useful with the jink option and now squadrons are reasonable again to consider using.

Fenrisian Wolf Packs: Add that TWC IC to the unit to ensure they benefit from the ATSKNF….

Long Fangs have not really changed that much except that Lascannons may be more worthwhile to take. Make sure to put the pack leader and a standard Wolf Guard if you need a few bodies to take up the first early hits.

Predators: No major changes, a cheap gun tank but not as good as a Long Fang Unit.

Whirlwind: No major changes.

Vindicator: With cover saves reduced a trio of these guys could be bad news, but at the expense of your Long Fangs at less than 2k point games.

Land Raiders (all types): Got a bit more popular, tougher and able to assault out of it as well as able to dump huge amounts of firepower. Only downside is high cost and eats into your Long Fangs (granted you can take them with Wolf Guard and have someone else steal their ride).

Drop Pods: Able to snap fire when they land…so you need 6’s but hey who cares! 

6th Rules are leaking out!

Books are appearing early...no shock really...here is some stuff I have grabbed from the boards from someone that has a copy (or so claims).

Core System

- Change to Pre-Measure like WHFB 8th Edition.
- Force Organization Chart is still in use, no use of Percentage
- Adding new FoC Slot called "Fortification" [0-1] / see below
- Phases remains the same, Movement, Shooting, and then Assault
- No Psychic Phase
- No Initiative Phase

Movement Phase
- Movement is pretty much the same. Infantry can move 6", Jump Infantry 12" and so on.

Shooting Phase
- Rapid Fire weapons can now fire at target 24" away irregardless of moving or not. (or choose to fire twice at target 12" away)
- Pistol is pretty much the same.
- New Weapon type "Salvo" - firing at max. range & max. shots if not move, or 1/2 range and 1/2 shots if moving.
- Heavy Weapon can now be fired on the move, but will be subjected to 'snap fire' rule.
- "Snap Fire" allows certain weapon types to shoot even if moving, but with a BS of 1 (ie. 6 to hit)
- Blast Weapons cannot "snap fire"
- You can only killed as much models in target unit as you can actually see (and within max range).
- Casualties are now removed from closest to furthest.
- Wound Allocation is completely changed.
- When shooting at unit partially in cover, player can choose to "Focus Fire" to kill only models in the open (or in a less covered position).
- You can now throw (most) grenades in the Shooting Phase at the range of 8", limited to 1 grenade per unit per Phase.

Assault Phase
- Charge Distance is now 2D6" adding together.
- Unit can elect to "Overwatch" if being assaulted. Simply a "Stand and Shoot 40K version" - resolved at BS1, Template does D3 hit instead.
- Overwatch can be done only once per turn.
- Unit declaring multiple assaults will suffer from "Disoriented Charge" (not get +1A)
- Unit assaulting multiple enemy unit is subjected to multiple Overwatch.
- Unlike Stand & Shoot, Overwatch does NOT cause Morale Check or Pinning.
- Pile-in reduced to 3" and is done at the model's Initiative Step (ie. before the model could strike)
- Casualties are removed from the front rank, like the case of Shooting Phase
- Units can elect to auto-fail Morale Check at the end of Combat if all models in the unit cannot hurt the attacker at all (ie. S3 vs T10).
- Challenges are in for IC.
- Close-Combat Weapon now have AP value, ranging from AP- to AP1. Pistols don't grant more bonus than in 5th Edition.
- Power SWORD and Lightning Claws are "S: as user" AP3, though Power AXE is S+1, AP2, but is subjected to penalties (Initiative Reduced)
- Fists and Chainfists are Sx2 AP2 and Unwieldy (Intiative reduced to 1), Thunder Hammers has "Concussive" (the exact (or almost) same rules as in 5th Edition)

Vehicles
- Vehicles are now limited to move at the maximum of 12" in the Movement Phase (though it can move further in the Shooting Phase if desired)
- Vehicles can opt to move "Flat Out" in the Shooting Phase, adding an extra 6".
- Vehicles movement and weapons. Defensive and Primary Weapons are gone. You can fire all of your weapons at most of the time. But moving faster will result in less weapon fired at basic BS, the rest will be fired at BS1 (Snap Fire)
- Fast Skimmer moving Flat Out can be more lethal (fire more weapons than in 5th and moving faster [12" Normal + 18" Flat Out])
- Skimmer got a cover save called Jink, basically 5+ cover save and improved to 4+ if going Flat Out.
- Vehicles count as WS0 (auto-hit) if stationary and WS1 (3+ hit) if moved. No idea on how Fast or Skimmer will have bonus, as cover aren't used in Assault.
- Flyers are now in, with its own rules.
- Flyers can move very fast and is hard to target (6 only to hit) unless the shooter has Skystrike rules that allow them to shoot flyer at normal BS.
- When moving fast (called "Zooming") Flyers cannot move less than 12" and cannot disembark any models.

Vehicle and Damage
- New Vehicle Damage Chart, one to rule them all. 1-2 being Shaken, 3 Stunned, 4 and 5 Weapon Destroyed and Immobilised, and 6 Explodes! You only roll the table if the shot penetrate the Armour. Wrecks occur only from taking certain amount of Glancing Hits.
- AP 2 weapons add +1 to the chart, while AP1 adds +2.
- AP"-" is no longer -1 on the table.
- Open-Topped is +1 as well.
- No more "Half Strength if the center hole is off", you always use full strength for any blast that hits the vehicle.
- Hull Points - a new style "wound" for vehicles. Any Glancing Hits removes 1 Hull Point, Penetrate Hit removes 1 Hull Point as well as rolling on the Damage Chart above. If reduced to 0 HP, the vehicle becomes Wreck.
- Vehicles has 3 or 4 HP, notable 4 HP vehicles are Ghost Ark, Land Raider, and Monolith. Details can be found in the rulebook appendix. (Bloodwing stated that some player propose that the formula for Hull Points is Front + Side(once) + Rear divide by 3. Fractions rounding down - this seems to be true.

Vehicle and Passenger
- Passenger can only disembark if vehicle move 0-6".
- Disembarking rules changes, you now place models in base contact with the access point and move up to 6" - this is the furthest distance the unit may move.
- Embarking is pretty much the same.
- Unit count as moving if the vehicle moved 0.1-6", and can only "Snap Fire" if the vehicle move 6.01 - 12"
- Open-topped transport rules are the same (access points and fire points)
- Exploding Flyer that has "zoomed" will result in a S10 no armour save on its passenger. And some sort of S6 Large Blast at any unit under the point the vehicle goes on flame.

Psychic Power
- NO PSYCHIC PHASE (or whatever people are assuming they are)
- Perils of the Warp causes one wound, no saves of any kind allowed.
- Types of psychic power, witchfire (psychic shooting attack), focused witchfire (has a chance to allow player to choose the target model when removing casualty by rolling low scores on Psychic Test), nova (affects all enemy units within range), maelstrom (affecting both friendly and enemy within range), blessing (augmented friend), and malediction (de-buff enemy).
- "Deny the Witch" - every models/units have a slight chance to nullify the effect of psychic power (6+). Chances increase if your unit has Psyker.
- Psychic Hood is reduced to 4+ Deny the Witch if the target of the power is within 6" of the wearer.
- There are 5 new Disciplines of Psychic Powers in the BRB, each has 7 Powers. Each army can access different Disciplines, some cannot use them at all.
- Casting Psychic Power remains the same as in 5th.
- Psychic Powers now have 2 level, calling Warp Charge 1 and 2. Mastery Level 1 can only use Warp Charge 1 power, while Mastery Level 2 allows you to cast 2 "Warp Charge 1" power or 1 "Warp Charge 2". Higher Mastery allows for more.
- Each Psyker generate Warp Charge equal to his Mastery Level.

Characters
- Look Out, Sir! is in. Grants character 50% chance to evade the attack if he's within 6" of friendly unit (works in combat too), resolved each successful Look Out Sir on the models within 6" instead.
- Look Out Sir! is improved to 2+ for Independent Character.
- Character can issue / accept challenges.
- One model in your army will be the Warlord (one with highest LD), Warlord can roll on a table (there's 3 table, you can choose 1) to see what benefit he receive. Examples are units within 12" can use his LD, the Character count as Scoring Units, Warlord has FNP if within 3" of Objective.

Tidbits
- Fortification - a new addition to the FoC, limited to 0-1 this allows player to purchase some kind of terrain for their army. Expensive one are Fortress of Redemption (220 points) and cheap ones are Aegis Defence Lines (50 points)
- Allies - a new system that allows player to have a detachment made of another army in the list. Allies works like WFB8th Edition with best buddies, normal allies, and untrusted. The detachment is limited to 1HQ and 1 Troop(compulsory) and additional 1 Troop, 1 Elite, 1 Fast Attack, and 1 Heavy Support.

Missions
- There are 3 Deployment Types, one being the classic Pitched Battle, second one is reversed Pitched Battle (deploying along the short table edges), and third one is a triangular deployment.
- Selecting deployment zone remains the same, roll-off to see who deploys first and go first.
- Seize Initiative is still the same.
- 6 Missions with 2 Level Objectives. Primary Objectives grants more Victory Points, but harder to achieve. Secondary Objective is always 1 VP and has 3 of them. First Blood (for getting the first "kill point", Slay the Warlord (for killing the enemy Warlord - aka. general), and Linebreaker (having your units in enemy deployment zone at the end of the game)
- Deep Strike Mishap is softened now: 1 - You're Dead, 2-3 Misplaced, and 4-6 Delayed.
- Feel No Pain dropped to 5+
- There's still only 1 Level of Instant Death, no Instant Death(x)
- Fleet allows for re-rolls on Run and possibly Assault distances.
- "Hammer of Wrath" allows model to make single attack at their base strength before combat on the turn it assault. Jump Infantry and Bike have it.
- Monstrous Creature can make "Smash" attack, forfeit half of its attack to resolve attack at Sx2 against vehicle.
- Flying Monstrous Creature can make two mode of movement. One being 24" move, performing D3+1 "Vector Strike" on a single unit within the path and then shoot up to two weapons or run 2D6" in the shooting phase. However, it cannot assault or being assaulted unless it get shot and fall down from the sky first (can't remember how you fire at it, 6 only?) Should it fall from the sky, it will take S9 hit and can now be assaulted as normal.
- Sniper has rule to allow them to allocate wounds to the model of your choice if you roll a 6 when rolling to hit.
- Rage is now +2 Attack on assault.
- Many new generalization of rules...such as Armourbane (roll 2d6 for armour penetration) and Fleshbane (2+ to wound)....this also expands to weapons as well (unwieldy, concussive, etc.)

INAT FAQ or IDIOT FAQ? Part 7

WARNING: This post may be found offensive to those that support the INAT FAQ. If you are offended very easy don’t ready any further. This is simply my opinions on the INAT FAQ and the downfalls of the rulings made.

If I could complain about one thing about the Kalm is their use of the INAT FAQ. I have always had beef with it and this was my first “official” event that used the rules. My policy is that the event rules call is final and I will always respect that even if I don’t disagree with it. That has always been my gaming credo.

Personally, I call this the IDIOT FAQ simply for a few reasons...

• The rules are written by self appointed people in the hobby that are involved in tournaments but they have no official ties to GW or accreditation other than they play and/or organize tournament events.
• While some of the INAT FAQ does tackle some issues GW has not, some of the rulings are simply just either dumb responses and very poorly thought out answers.

I come from a diverse background with a Mass Communications BA and Psychology minor, my past years of working in the government sector of the state has taken me from Data Security to Contract management. My latest job has taught me much about reading into things and how they are written, that they are clear and that the legal aspects are considered. That said, I hit a rule that just didn’t make sense at all and to me is frankly stupid and the person that wrote this rule should not be allowed to make any further rulings in the INAT FAQ.

A player has an IC with Saga of the Hunter (allows him to outflank and stealth special rules) and may be joining a Scout Squad (that of course has scout/infiltrate) and the “behind the enemy lines” rule (that allows them to roll to where they deploy and works with outflank, that it states clearly in the codex).

The GW FAQ states that an IC cannot outflank with a scout squad unless they have Saga of the Hunter or some other special rule that allows them to. Which in this case the IC has the correct Saga to outflank.

The INATFAQ reads like this: P92 that a character with Saga of the Hunter may outflank with a scout unit but may NOT use the “Behind Enemy Lines” special rule. 

Now, I step back and ask why? Nobody can answer this. Let’s check this over.

·        IC has Saga of the Hunter. Allows Outflank. Check.

·        Scout Squad has Scout and Infiltrate. This allows them to use the Outflank option. Check.

·        Behind Enemy Lines uses the Outflank rule and modifies what table edge they may appear on. Check.

·        IC with squad outflanks and uses BEL special rules. Check.

So, again I ask, how did someone come up with that answer in the INAT FAQ? We had a few good laughs at other rules on the drive up to Alabama with my buddy with some of the stupid crap they stuck into this work of ork poop. After I printed and read it I wanted to go plant a tree as an apology for the paper I wasted. GW is already doing a good job giving us vague rules and bad FAQ’s. We are allowing things like this to crop up in major tournaments?

Really guys, do you proof this stuff? Do you have checks and balances? At my job with contracts it comes to my department. We read and proof it when the contract manager sends us a document. We revise and/or approve it to go on through the chain of people to review/revise and approve including legal and program administration. If you are going to do a national FAQ to be used at tournaments do it right or don’t do it at all! I'm not Mr. Perfect but really, I think I could make better rules calls than some of those published in the INAT FAQ.

Flying the (UN)Friendly Skies!

An interesting discussion came up at my LGS about templates and flyer class skimmers (those that use the flying large base) like Vendettas/Valkyries, Storm Raven and Void Raven Fighter/Bombers. Namely how people claim hits under the template as a wing for example and claims the infantry below it.

 

Here is an example of what I am saying, the hole of the template (yes not an actual template but the same size for reference. See how it covers the wing and also counts hitting the 4 models under it.

 

Here is my opinion:

 

 

Now, back when 5^th was written, something tells me that the high stem flyers was not even a concept or consideration when the rules was written. Still, this creates a huge loophole for players that use any type of template weapon on the vehicle and then still manage to score a hit on a squad under it. This isn’t like a Rhino with a Marine Squad deploying out of one or more of the exit points and when the vehicle gets hit the squad may be hit also depending on how the template hits. Squads can be under the flyer in this case (such as the wings, part of the hull and tail) which is away from the center of the base.

 

My question is how can something hitting something UP THERE hit something DOWN THERE?

 

When you look at building rules, squads on different levels are treated as separate possible targets (see page #84-85). Now these new flyers are higher than your standard speeder (that uses the same rules) and allows for you to place models under them (and around the base). In our discussion, this is how you should resolve shooting templates in this instance. You aim for the squad on ground or the vehicle in the air. You should not garner benefits to both.

 

Many flyers are already large enough making it easier to target and hit as is. Now players are getting smacked with another downside by using the Rules as Written (RAW for short) that allows an even greater bonus of hitting models on a good scatter or a true hit when it comes to a template. The old rules was written with everything on the same level (jump packs, skimmers and infantry, etc) with introducing some standard building behavior to shooting that was spun off of Cityfight. In theory there was no way for something to get under a skimmer anyway, most often if it was, it was decorative and not part of the actual vehicle.

 

There is some of you out there that says, “oh but the fire, shrapnel and shockwaves is what hits them”. Then the same physics should apply to the building rules, you hit model 2 on the 1^st floor, while the models above and below are not? To me they are closer in proximity than something way up in the air. Matter of fact it should shield them from it or give them a cover save (which most people won’t argue). It’s a game, there should be standard rules to keep things consistent.

 

I hope GW tackles this in the next edition.