FerociousBeast

Grim resolve enhancements and stratagems are supercharged when the unit is battle shocked.

Well, what if an army had a detachment rule of 4+ FNP versus all Psychic attacks, and enemy attacks couldn’t overcharge Psychic attacks? That would be reactive too but would be considered pretty strong in that it reduced the effectiveness of a whole swath of the rulebook. Grim Resolve does the same. Battle shock is a much bigger part of the game now than morale has been in previous editions, and while DA aren’t immune to it, they are significantly less vulnerable to it and gain a lot of buffs when it does happen. @ValourousHeart you seem to be arguing that GW doesn’t need to write clear and tight rules because “everyone knows” what the true interpretation is and they are being wicked or willfully obtuse if they choose to ignore it. I disagree with all of these premises. 1) Yes, GW needs to write rules as airtight as reasonably (and readably) possible. 2) Anytime anyone uses the statement “everyone knows” they are wrong. 3) It is not morally wrong to play the rules the way they are written. The “RAWyers” sometimes even end up proven right in their debates with the RAI crowd (which I am part of for what it’s worth).

“Optimal build” did not used to mean most expensive build. Now it usually does. Plasma vs melta vs flamer - maybe not that big a deal. Predator with extra lascannon and HK missile and storm bolter and whatever else vs Predator with just a turret - big deal.

Removing points costs for wargear upgrades flies directly in the face of the stated goal of making units tougher. If there’s no downside to adding those extra lascannons and HK missiles to my tanks… well alrighty then. I will.

There’s one thing in the DA index I’ve never seen before in this game (been around since 3rd). Due to 10th retiring the old model profile, you have to have a melee weapon to make a melee attack. I haven’t seen any rule in the rule book about default attacks, and I’m not sure how they’d be done since models don’t have strength anymore. So, if you replace the DW Strike Master’s wargear with a storm shield and storm bolter, he no longer has a melee weapon and can’t attack in the Fight phase. I’ve never seen that before. Every other edition has had the assumption of some default combat knife or sticks and stones or something that you use with your profile’s base strength and attacks.

Bug in the index: If you give the Strikemaster a storm shield and storm bolter, it cannot make any melee attacks per the new Fight rules. The Battle shocked focus of the detachment seems super devious to me. Units are going to be battle-shocked quite often now, and some entire armies focus on forcing battle shock tests (Tyranids) and the Dark Angels almost want to be battle shocked. Nasty.

I don’t care about competitive, but I do care about the rules reflecting the fluff, and I think there’s an excellent reason for the Lion not having the Deathwing keyword: he’s not Azrael++. He led the Legion before the Hunt became a thing. He never rose up through the Deathwing and into the Inner Circle. All that was an artifact of what the Legion did after losing their primarch and discovering that their Fallen brothers were still alive, scattered through space and time. If The Lion should have Deathwing, he should also have the Ravenwing, Ironwing, Dreadwing, Firewing, or Stormwing keywords. By the way, he’s not Azrael++ and he’s also not the Dark Angels’ Guilliman. What we’re hearing about his backstory is that he’s wandering through some foresty realm of existence, popping out and killing stuff like he was back in the good old days on Caliban. Chapter Master? Only time will tell if he actually wants to resume leadership of the Legion. He might be in his happy place right now, hunting traitors and camping in the woods. …and these woods are apparently attacking arks of omen, based on the latest warcom Dante article. Let’s wait and see.

Brothers. This is a day I’ve been awaiting for over 25 years. Decades ago, I visited a game store interested in finding out about this 40k thing, and left with Angels of Death. Captivated by the story of the Dark Angels, intrigued by the final revelation of the Lion sleeping in the Rock, wondering if GW would ever bring him back to the 41st millennium. Well, it’s been a journey. The game has changed and I have changed. I’ve gotten older and lost the vast majority of my interest in the game and the setting. But here we are. The Lion in the (plastic) flesh. And I am excited.

The Lion really only needs one modification to make the transition to 40k: THE LION’S REPOSE Do not set the Lion up with the rest of the army at the beginning of the game. He begins the game asleep in the bowels of the Rock. At the beginning of each turn, roll a D6. On a 3+, the Lion keeps sleeping. On a 1, he murmurs something about traitors and fiery death, then rolls over and continues his slumber. On a 2, he suddenly sits up in bed and cries out “Loyalty is its own reward!” then collapses from the exertion and resumes sleeping.

Part 3 is up. https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/04/29/part-3-grand-finale/ Also...

I'm surprised that anyone's surprised that the Dark Angels aren't included in the new Space Marine codex. It's been this way since forever (also known as 4th edition). It's the unfortunate flipside of having a dedicated codex. Which, by the way, is a ridiculous tradition to continue, I think, and I think most agree with at this point, unless they do something grand and fantastic with the next codex. Like introduce our own primarch. The time is ripe for ol' Sleeping Beauty to wake up, and if GW doesn't take the opportunity of the next DA codex to bring back the Lion, they're idiots. Bring back the Lion, and significantly shake up the DA army list. (Leman Russ, by the way, should also come back to lead the Wolves, and something similar should be done for the Blood Angels, though not the primarch. Two people need to stay dead in 40K: Horus and Sanguinius.)

Nice paint job! Of the two bases, I prefer the blue, though I think a nice rusty red might look even better.

No conflicting opinions here! I LOVE the new Money Marines! :P

The concept of assault marines has always been cool, but for several editions now, they’ve felt weak in most marine codexes. Chainswords aren’t choppy enough, jump packs aren’t jumpy enough, and the standard marine profile isn’t marine-y enough to live up to their fluff representation. Primaris was GW’s opportunity to fix the last part, but they flubbed that (IMO). 8th coulda/shoulda fixed the chainsword, but didn’t do enough.

Guilliman’s seal of approval will stop any Inquisitor in his tracks. The “Unforgiven” status can only be about shame and penance now, not fear of reprisal.