6 replies to this topic

[Dam13n]

BATTLE BROTHERS

The beta version of Battle Brothers is a brand new matched play rule we’d like to test. When we originally wrote this edition of Warhammer 40,000 we wanted to make sure that your army could include appropriate allies. For example, in an Imperium army, Imperial Guardsmen and Space Marines should be able to fight side-by-side, and in a Chaos army Chaos Space Marines should be able to burn the galaxy alongside their daemonic minions. The rules for what units could be included in each Detachment were therefore very relaxed, but this has since led to some very ‘mixed’ Detachments that include units from far more Factions than we originally envisioned. We feel that these esoteric mixed Detachments are far better suited to narrative or open play, and so we have decided to trial this rule for matched play games. This means that you can still include appropriate allies, but now they might need to be included in a different Detachment. There are a few units in certain Index books that would be difficult to include in a matched play army following these restrictions, so we have written errata to enable players to more easily include these units in their army. These changes appear in the appropriate FAQ and Errata documents, but are shown below for convenience.

BATTLE BROTHERS:
All of the units in each Detachment in your Battle-forged army must have at least one Faction keyword in common. In addition, this keyword cannot be Chaos, Imperium, Aeldari, Ynnari or Tyranids, unless the Detachment in question is a Fortification Network. This has no effect on your Army Faction.

Edited by Dam13n, 19 April 2018 - 09:35 PM.

[STTAB]

I'm sure this will be fixed for inquisitors for chapter approved. I'm sure there will be a few other unintended consequences that didn't get thought about.

[Plasmablasts]

I don’t think this is a bad rule, although the “problem” it’s designed to address (i.e. strange, lore-straining soups of factions within detachments) is largely already fixed by the various specific benefits obtained by “pure” factions through their Codices. From an Imperial perspective, the main factions affected by the rule now are the small “Agents” factions that still rely on the Index, plus Sisters of Battle.

All of these Index factions have legal ways of forming detachments (fixes for the SOS and Assassins having been anticipated by GW). The difficulties arise more from the interaction with the new organised play restrictions on numbers of detachments. For example, I’ve seen a lot of players considering a Vanguard of Greyfax, SoS and a Culexus for anti-Psykers defence; that now would need to be three detachments, which is all you can take up to 2000 points.

I’d suggest allowing a single Assassin to be taken as an Auxiliary detachment which doesn’t count towards your detachment limit.

In a rules sense, Inquisitors don’t “need” fixing: they have three available detachment options - solo, as an Auxiliary; as a “conclave” of 3+ Inquisitors in a Supreme Command; with their Warband of Acolytes in a Vanguard. However, would other options be helpful and non-game-breaking? Well, being able to add a solo Inquisitor into an Imperium Detachment without annulling keyword benefits would seem very reasonable and “fluffy”. Alternatively, there could be a Chamber Militant rule which allows e.g. Ordo Malleus and Grey Knights to be taken together. This would help SoB with their lack of HQ choices currently.

[Gentlemanloser]

And give GK a cheap HQ option they currently miss.

 

I think the only sticking point with a Chamber Militant rule is the minor orders you can create.  Do they get a Chamber Militant?  If so, who?

 

Edit: AC used to run a Vanguard of Rex/Greyfax with three Culexes for Psychic Defense.  Now, probably the best option is a Supreme Command of Eisenhorn, Greyfax and Rex.

Edited by Gentlemanloser, 20 April 2018 - 01:50 PM.

[Plasmablasts]

It is a, probably unintended, consequence of the rule that probably the most common deployment of the Grey Knights and the Deathwatch - as single squads in support of an Inquisitor - would not be legal. I’m sure that solo squads don’t need chaperoning by the commanders of their chapters for every engagement. An OM Inquisitor with a Strike Squad or an OX Inquisitor with a Kill Team as patrol detachments would nice, fluffy and probably non-abusable adjuncts to your main Imperial force, yet the beta rule would currently prohibit them.

[Plaguecaster]

Unfortunately "because it's fluffy" isn't a justifiable excuse as why you should or should not be able to take what you want because frankly anything can be justified as being fluffy you can practically jury up any fluff that supports your force so even soup armies could be fluffy. Assassins should really only be the only ones that are exempt from the rule since they are only elites so should be able to be taken as a single Aux choice without taking up any extra slots or CPs. Sisters of silence probably as well though if anything they really deserve an actual HQ unit to be honest

[Plasmablasts]

Fully agreed, which is why I’m happy with the rule overall. However, it does have more of an impact on some of the small Imperial factions, who were probably part of the reason for opening up the can of soup in 8th in the first place. (I feel Codex: Imperial Agents, from late 7th edition, was a precursor and herald for 8th.) Thus, I think there are justifications for a small range of specific exemptions like these.