BREAKING NEWS: New rules for tanks, and Relentless vehicles are back! The great renaissance of blitzkrieg explained!

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Hello chaps and chapettes, we're back in the classroom to discuss the new rules for tanks in 9th Edition, and exactly why I am pulling my Redemptor Dreadnought off of an eBay listing!

Warhammer Community just revealed some great new rules for tanks, but most importantly of all, the new rules for how Heavy weapons are treated in game:

In 8th Edition many tanks were severely neutered by losing the Relentless rule from 7th; that is they could move and shoot heavy weapons without snap firing (only hitting on 6s). Tanks in "real" warfare are known for a couple of things, those things being firepower, mobility and breaking down all the time. In 8th Edition they could still move and fire but at a -1 To Hit penalty, meaning that the tank became effectively artillery... just a static gun platform.

-1 To Hit wasn't bad, and certainly wasn't the infantry burden of snap shooting in 7th, or even the simply not being able to move and shoot of earlier editions. But it did mean that you were not getting the full benefit of a vehicle mounted weapon platform. You also had some very awkward synergies, such as dreadnoughts having heavy weapons and close combat weapons... you had to pick between shooting well or being able to punch things in combat well. You had the general problem, like with Riptides, where you would usually have very good mobility with FLY and a long movement speed... but you wouldn't use it because it would hamper the strong shooting which you paid your points for.

This led to some even more awkward rules; things like Knights having to have special rules allowing them to move and fire without penalty. Things like Dark Lances on Drukahari lists having a special rule turning it into an assault weapon on vehicles. Things like Target Locks becoming mandatory on any big Tau battle suit. 

Now? Pay close attention to that rule for Heavy weapons. That -1 Penalty applies only to Infantry.

Blitzkrieg is back on the strategic menu!

Now it could be argued that it was never off the table, with various competitive lists routinely fielding triple artillery/tank/monstrous creature units as a baseline. From the Drukhari ravager squadron to the classic Triptide (which I have to admit sometimes is no different to taking three cut price Imperial Knights), we have see players working around the move and fire limitation. The catch? Those two examples have some rule or item allowing them to scoot around the To Hit penalty. You can see other fields without such tricks fielding three vehicles, but they tended to be static artillery analogues rather than what you imagine when you think tank assault (triple Skorpius Disitegrators or Exorcists come to mind).

Put it this way... one of the reason Iron Hands dominated the meta in the early quarter of 2020 was because they could move and shoot heavy weapons with no penalty in their Devastator Doctrine. Big guns on the move are tremendously powerful, hence the penalty to hit or snap shooting. No doubt the points increase that was revealed a few days ago is going to take this into account, and at a guess every vehicle in the game would get a 15-20 point increase from this fact alone. 

Is this good for the game.

Oh, by the Golden Throne, yes.

Since vehicles were largely relegated to static artillery, gun lines were unfairly favoured. The T'au castle surrounding the Triptide or the Leman Russ parking lot are a testament to that. Any force that was happy to sit back and shoot was rewarded for doing so, leaving the melee and assault components to have a tremendously tough nut to crack. And you could argue that this is just a fact of modern(-ish... we are talking about space fantasy here) warfare, where guns just make defending an area so much more practical and safe than the charge.

The solution that many found in WW2 and even as early as WW1 was tanks. Highly mobile gun platforms that could roll into machine gun fire with little concern, backed up by infantry to flow into the holes they punch. Up until now, that option wasn't really available.

Not only would using a tanks mobility hamper the guns, but you'd also get tar pitted by any old grot squad that nailed you in assault. Then you were stuck... either fighting in combat with your D3 WS5+ attacks, or Falling Back and losing your combat edge. 

Now with tanks able to shoot in combat (effectively arming the lascannon Predator with a power fist!), tanks can now roll up and tackle, using their big toughness and wounds to soak up the damage that would otherwise fall on troops. This is nothing but a good thing! 

So who are the big winners?

Dreadnoughts. Loads of guns and a powerful melee presence means they can be the battering rams they were meant to be, along with Nidzillas and orky gun platforms (although most of their weapons tend to be assault).

Tanks can come back, especially the new Primaris tanks who have literally all the guns. They'd usually have to Fly out of combat, but now they can just tie up the enemy in combat and still contribute some damage.

War Walkers and other skirmishing light vehicles. Land Speeders are suddenly really useful again, and I am really happy that such a iconic Space Marine vehicle which had drifted to obscurity now have a great presence again.

Flyers? Well, they've been having a lot of good use lately. I'd expect these guys to go up hugely in price, but they're due for an update all of their own soon (probably within an hour or two of me writing this... I swear I'm either fully in tune with Games Workshop's marketing program or someone over there is reading this blog (and if you are just drop a comment below already!)).

What do I recommend? A shift in how you use tanks in your force, and research some panzer tactics. Personally I will be dusting off my Redemptor Dreadnought and rebuilding the Judge himself...

Remember to sub to the blog for regular updates, and comment below about which units you'll be pulling from the shelf as a result of this!

Until next time!

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