Tabletop Teacher

I'm old enough to remember the first Cities of Death expansion for 40K, and so I'm rather pleased to see this come in on release! The main claim to fame for the old version was doing away with templates, as they tended to get stuck on terrain making them impossible to fit on a unit hiding in rubble. Instead, units within the range took a random number of hit, which certainly sounds familiar . Rules for 8th Edition we can pick out of the release over at Warhammer Community : Only infantry get a natural cover bonus for being in cover. Monsters and vehicles must be obscured to gain a bonus (no more toe-in-cover for you Mr. Wraithknight). Specific rules for Cities of Death specialist missions include: Doubling the cover bonus for infantry that don't move. Flying units can jump from rooftop to rooftop... although I don't see why they can't in normal missions... Grenades thrown in ruins always have the maximum number of shots possible (does this appl...

In the follow up to Friday's Vehicles reveal , we now have the Transport specific rules . Here are the specifics Models now disembark before the Movement Phase. Disembarked models can move and shoot normally Disembarked models may charge! Multiple units can share a transport up to capacity (Taxi!!) Embarked models in an exploded vehicle are removed on a 1... No more wounds and armour saves As I've explained a few times, transports can be used as a durable shock trooper. Games Workshop confirmed that in this reveal, and I wonder how many other blogs and mini-news sites have commented on it. Since we're unloading at the start of the Movement phase, we're no longer using transports as a way to give units a 6" threat extension. Now it's literally to get them somewhere on the battlefield, and that's it.... apart from some sneaky tricks below. Assault transports are no longer a thing, since everything can charge from a transport. There's...

I think everyone has heard of a T'au T'ide W'all, or an Imperial Aegis Line, but I don't think the majority of players actually use them. The rules for buildings have always seemed a bit obtuse, and were considered an add-on rather than an integral part of the game. 8th Edition is no different, but will have "advanced" rules for strongholds and structures at release. A few quick points, as Games Workshop has been light on this reveal: New Batlefield types and deploments New Strategems (shown above) Extra specialist rules for blowing up Buildings etc. Buildings will have Toughness and an armour Save, with more than a dozen Wounds The direction this seems to be heading in is for Narrative games, or fun set pieces rather than competitive matched play. The good old Void Shield may still be around, but at least the marketing thrust seems to be geared towards charging the other guys castle, or holding out in a bunker. Not much new here, apar...

A quick discussion today, as I have to work. Well, work I get paid for. Education, future of mankind, passing exams etc. The close combat weapons for 8th Edition were revealed today . The power weapons are listed as below, and it's nice to be confirmed on both the prediction I mad about them and Force weapons in the Thousand Son data sheet release . Force weapons are the same, but give d3 damage. Which is nice! The chainsword has also ben upgraded, leading to some questions about attacks models can have. The extra attack is going to be fairly critical for turning close combat units into multi-attack monsters. Striking Scorpions and Assault Marines will be happy with this, and I think Chosen and Grey Hunters will have a great time with them! The question this raises is the attack bonus for having 2 close combat weapons or a pistol and close combat weapon. I seem to remember the answer being no, but I'm a little too pressed for ...

The latest hit of 40K hype is all about vehicles, and what they can do. Here's the data sheet for the Necron Annihalation Barge, as revealed from Warhammer Community : Right away the vehicle is made tougher, by giving it more wounds and an armour save. The Toughness value assigned is roughly equivalent to old AV10, but the armour save deflects a good chunk of firepower (about half for the Barge!), and the extra wounds give a buffer against Bad Dice Days. Just like the Dreadnought, and just like I predicted back in the  charge phase reveal , vehicles now have WS values and can fight in combat. They have a strength and toughness, and may have weapons attached. These would be the standard issue Dreadnought power fist, or the non-standard issue Ork wrecking ball! The WS of a vehicle will generally be low, to represent the difficulty in trying to manouver a tank tread over someone running around, and have been advertised as "high strength". Looking at the above...

T'au have been buffed in 8th Edition with a new apostrophe drone, giving them an extra cover save against plagiarism and copyright cases. I believe this to be a good idea, and will be upgrading selected names with this drone. The T'au release is extremely information dense compared to the other faction reveals. Since this seems to be directly counter to my criticisms of the Faction spotlight, I wonder if someone from Games Workshop marketing is reading this blog and adjusting tactics accordingly. This would mean that half my readership works for G'ames W'orkshop. Go me. Here's a summary of the information dropped when talking about S'tormsurges: S'tormsurge has 10 weapons S'tormsurge at least will be able to target different units with each gun. S'tormsurge A'nchor doesn't fire twice, but adds +1 to To Hit rolls. Single M'arker l'ights allow you to re-roll 1s (No word on whether or not this a token that is used up...

... are essentially gone as Universal Standard Rules. Instead, what we get are rules specific to each unit. Much like Age of Sigmar, scatter is out, but the distance you can get to your target is much more restricted. here's an example: This is for the Tyrnanid Trygon, a creature evolved after the Hive Mind ate someone who had read Dune, and thought Sand Worms were just the best thing since sliced bread/anything organic. With the loss of a catch-all rule for Deep Strike, Infiltrate, Scout etc. Games Workshop can now play with any kind of cinematic deployment method. Not that this didn't happen before, it's just that deployment is now specific to each unit, with less chance of broken synergies occurring. The interesting thing with the Trygon example (which I'm sure any Skaven player will recognise !), is that it can carry a unit with it. Why is this cool? Tyranid drop pod, that's why. You won't get a huge unit of Gaunts to fit in the bubble arou...