8th Edition 40K: Thousand Sons and Possible Invulnerable Saves
What initially put me off the Thousand Sons is just how badly priced they were. 8th Edition promises to change all that though!
Despite some new shiny models, and some excellently fluffy formations, the standard Rubric Marine was hideously over priced for what it did (as I discussed here). It makes fielding them next to impossible in low point armies, and makes getting into them a case of diving deep into your wallet and points costs straight away.
The common complaint is that they're not very resilient for how much they cost, being only one wound. They have a good 4+ invulnerable save, but that means nothing to massed bolter fire. They essentially go down to fire he same as any other Marine.
The second complaint is that while AP3 bolters look good on paper (and thus you pay a premium on them), they're only good in an open field. Cover saves make a mockery out of them, essentially turning them into, well, standard bolters.
So you end up paying double the points for a Rubric Marine which is effectively the same as a normal Marine... minus chapter tactics and with Slow and Purposeful, more of a nerf than a buff.
8th edition now has a chance to change all of that.
These are the new style stat blocks for 8th Edition, for loyalist Terminators and Tacticals. We can now expect the Thousand Son Rubricae to fall somewhere in the middle of these two.
WS, BS, S and T will remain the same. Presumably Ld will be stupidly high to represent automata level indifference to combat. Where things become interesting will be Saves and the wounds.
A quick fix that has been suggested by the community for Rubricae is to give them an extra wound. Now with Terminators rocking the extra one, we may see that given to the dusty Sons of Magnus. That would make them more elite than the average Tactical Marine, and with some super-rending Warpfire bolters would make them a really solid Troops choice.
However, the selling point of the Rubricae has been their Invulnerable save, with Death Guard claiming damage absorption through high toughness meat shielding, and oddly enough Slaanesh getting good Feel no Pain rolls. How would this be represented in the new 8th Edition paradigm?
Let's borrow some rules from Age of Sigmar.
This is the bog standard Stormcast Eternal. The reason I've put this here is so you can see the rules for Sigmarite Shields.
Nearly every unit in the game that carries shields will have some unique mechanic to make them more tanky. Whether it is the Liberator re-rolls of 1s, or the Orruk 6+ ignoring of wounds, these little mechanics give each unit a unique way of mitigating damage.
Whereas before we only had four ways of reducing damage, restricting army designs, we now have many. The common argument would go, "Let's give Thousand Sons Feel No Pain, because they're robots that feel no pain." To which someone would say that's only for Nurgle or Slaanesh. You'd also have the dissonance between mechanical armies (Mechanicum and Iron Hands) getting Feel No Pain, as well as distinctly biological ones (Nurgle and Tyranids) getting the same rule.
We'd also have the relative uselessness of an Invulnerable save, which wasn't helping Rubricae or Terminators survive lasgun fire. With this new paradigm of having unique rules on data slates, we can now have all kinds of helpful ways of mitigating damage.
It's likely the Crux Terminatus for Space Marine Terminators will be the same as the Liberators above. They are, after all, the Age of Sigmar version of Space Marines, and their stat blocks really match up quite well. As for the Rubricae, well, this gives us one more nice way to really inter-lock the two settings, and make the overall theme of Chaos or Order more consistent.
Here's a Tzeentch Kairic Acolyte. Look at the shield:
I wonder if Rubricae will be getting that Feel no Pain after all...
Until next time!
Thanks for reading.
If you liked what you saw, and you want to help out, please leave a comment. Sharing this with your friends, and following me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ would also be hugely appreciated.
If you have anything you want me to look at, let me know in the comments below. I'll probably be able to write an article about that topic within a day!
If you really love what I do here, you can make a one off donation at my PayPal, or become a true hero to table top education and make a regular donation to my Patreon. Every Little helps!
Despite some new shiny models, and some excellently fluffy formations, the standard Rubric Marine was hideously over priced for what it did (as I discussed here). It makes fielding them next to impossible in low point armies, and makes getting into them a case of diving deep into your wallet and points costs straight away.
The common complaint is that they're not very resilient for how much they cost, being only one wound. They have a good 4+ invulnerable save, but that means nothing to massed bolter fire. They essentially go down to fire he same as any other Marine.
The second complaint is that while AP3 bolters look good on paper (and thus you pay a premium on them), they're only good in an open field. Cover saves make a mockery out of them, essentially turning them into, well, standard bolters.
So you end up paying double the points for a Rubric Marine which is effectively the same as a normal Marine... minus chapter tactics and with Slow and Purposeful, more of a nerf than a buff.
8th edition now has a chance to change all of that.
These are the new style stat blocks for 8th Edition, for loyalist Terminators and Tacticals. We can now expect the Thousand Son Rubricae to fall somewhere in the middle of these two.
WS, BS, S and T will remain the same. Presumably Ld will be stupidly high to represent automata level indifference to combat. Where things become interesting will be Saves and the wounds.
A quick fix that has been suggested by the community for Rubricae is to give them an extra wound. Now with Terminators rocking the extra one, we may see that given to the dusty Sons of Magnus. That would make them more elite than the average Tactical Marine, and with some super-rending Warpfire bolters would make them a really solid Troops choice.
However, the selling point of the Rubricae has been their Invulnerable save, with Death Guard claiming damage absorption through high toughness meat shielding, and oddly enough Slaanesh getting good Feel no Pain rolls. How would this be represented in the new 8th Edition paradigm?
Let's borrow some rules from Age of Sigmar.
 |
| Taken from GW website |
Nearly every unit in the game that carries shields will have some unique mechanic to make them more tanky. Whether it is the Liberator re-rolls of 1s, or the Orruk 6+ ignoring of wounds, these little mechanics give each unit a unique way of mitigating damage.
Whereas before we only had four ways of reducing damage, restricting army designs, we now have many. The common argument would go, "Let's give Thousand Sons Feel No Pain, because they're robots that feel no pain." To which someone would say that's only for Nurgle or Slaanesh. You'd also have the dissonance between mechanical armies (Mechanicum and Iron Hands) getting Feel No Pain, as well as distinctly biological ones (Nurgle and Tyranids) getting the same rule.
We'd also have the relative uselessness of an Invulnerable save, which wasn't helping Rubricae or Terminators survive lasgun fire. With this new paradigm of having unique rules on data slates, we can now have all kinds of helpful ways of mitigating damage.
It's likely the Crux Terminatus for Space Marine Terminators will be the same as the Liberators above. They are, after all, the Age of Sigmar version of Space Marines, and their stat blocks really match up quite well. As for the Rubricae, well, this gives us one more nice way to really inter-lock the two settings, and make the overall theme of Chaos or Order more consistent.
Here's a Tzeentch Kairic Acolyte. Look at the shield:
I wonder if Rubricae will be getting that Feel no Pain after all...
Until next time!
Thanks for reading.
If you liked what you saw, and you want to help out, please leave a comment. Sharing this with your friends, and following me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ would also be hugely appreciated.
If you have anything you want me to look at, let me know in the comments below. I'll probably be able to write an article about that topic within a day!
If you really love what I do here, you can make a one off donation at my PayPal, or become a true hero to table top education and make a regular donation to my Patreon. Every Little helps!
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