@Prot, what is your confusion with the psychic phase and secondary actions specifically.
"Actions" for secondaries seem to indicate I can't kill anything. This is in place of a normal test, but acts just like a psychic test otherwise.
So what I've come to conclude is.... that this test is not a 'real' power. It's simply passing a test on a WC 4. (your opponent can deny it). But you can't kill anyone with this test, or cast any actual power this turn.
Not only that but it stops you from having an aura (all Actions do this).
So It really looks stinky to me. I thought it would be something that let your Psyker cast a power... and the success of that power would still result in a kill or result in a buff, or whatnot. But I don't think that's how it works.
If the way I'm reading it is correct, your psyker gets to a specified area (one is 6" of center, and another is within18" of an opponent's character) and 'pretends' to cast a power that has no real result, forgoes doing anything else, and collects a few VP for it.
Considering how hard it is for us to get characters in an army now (really disappointing for me) this would be relegated to something like a Tzaangor Shaman but even then he loses his aura for doing so.
It doesn't look like we can put DPs and Ahriman/Sorc in Supreme anymore though, right
No it doesn't... but as mentioned we haven't been able to confirm what a Supreme Command unit is.
It does look fantastically difficult for Chaos Space Marines/Death Guard/Thousand Sons to get the necessary characters in the game.
Not only that, but after my last game we have to remember we are really lucky to have an 'ignore perils' Strat because the command Re Roll strat is always all the dice involved in the roll. Which I found stinks.
Again, I'm not too sure how good or bad this is. Chaos generally uses the psychic phase to make amends for the horrible unit types we typically have to buff to make 'playable'. But if you are generally stuck at 3 HQ's total, or forced to take Magnus as Warlord... .that is really tough.
Not to mention how much more difficult I'm finding keeping my Chaos characters from being shot to death. They need to be -near- the action, unlike Castle Characters. But you take the new Coherency rules, combined with Look Out Sir, and those characters are a lot harder to keep alive.
That was a lesson I learned quickly. However Scarab Occult might become a real thing. I have no idea at this point, but Rubrics too. Rubrics in a forest (light terrain) are great.
Don't mean to be too negative, so I apologize, but I've had about 4 games of 9th edition so far, so still lots to learn, however I am finding I have swapped from believing this to be a 'pro-assault' shift in the meta to a 'mid range shooting' kind of game.
BTW: Tau still look very, very good which goes in the face of what I originally thought.
Another note on units that I liked from my Black Legion game for a Thousand Sons perspetive:
- Heldrake. Fantastic. This went from dud to stud. Ran into a Riptide in 2 turns (no one like to shoot at them.) and saved the rest of my army from getting completely unloaded on for 1 game turn. (I wish it could have been 2 turns, but trust me, the -1 to hit from heavies on a Riptide into a Heldrake for one turn didn't change it's killing output much at all.)
I think you have to view the Heldrake as a hail mary unit.
- Termies. (wish we could take plasma since the rules change). Termies as a body guard are decent, but again in squads over 5....be away of coherency. It's a nasty new rule that absolutely punishes expensive/elite mid to large size units.