40K 9th ed

[Lyraeus]

Power Level Update

https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/A643OEwxln6ZS8H4.pdf

It is a big PDF

[Ish]

The Android app has already been updated, the iOS app should be updated in another day or two.

(Also, I really wish GW would include a column with the old power level or points value next to the new ones in docs like this.)

[Lyraeus]

21 minutes ago, Ish said:

The Android app has already been updated, the iOS app should be updated in another day or two.

(Also, I really wish GW would include a column with the old power level or points value next to the new ones in docs like this.)

Hahahaha that is a lovely wish. They dont even do that for points. 

[Ish]

Just looking at the points changes for the Adeptus Custodes, it looks like almost everything has stayed the same base Power Rating, but the cost to increase squads has gone down significantly. For example, the basic Custodian Guard squad was PL 8 for a unit containing three Custodian Guard that could include up to seven extra Custodian Guard for a cost of +3 PL per model. Now the unit's PL only goes up with the fourth, sixth, and ninth man added to the squad. So a full-size ten-strong unit that used to be PL 29 is now a mere PL 26!

Valerian and Aleya still remain illegal to field in a Battleforged army. Because reasons.

[Lyraeus]

4 minutes ago, Ish said:

Just looking at the points changes for the Adeptus Custodes, it looks like almost everything has stayed the same base Power Rating, but the cost to increase squads has gone down significantly. For example, the basic Custodian Guard squad was PL 8 for a unit containing three Custodian Guard that could include up to seven extra Custodian Guard for a cost of +3 PL per model. Now the unit's PL only goes up with the fourth, sixth, and ninth man added to the squad. So a full-size ten-strong unit that used to be PL 29 is now a mere PL 26!

Valerian and Aleya still remain illegal to field in a Battleforged army. Because reasons.

Did you send an email to the Faq team?

[Ish]

People have been complaining about Valerian and Aleya's quirky rules since they were originally released. GW has said they'd be fixed in War of the Spider (they weren't), then said they'd be fixed in the War of the Spider FAQ (they weren't), then said they'd be fixed with Ninth Edition (they weren't), then said they'd be fixed with Ninth Edition FAQ (they weren't), and so forth.

At this point, I honestly think GW just doesn't understand what the problem with the unit actually is. 

[Inquisitor66]

I think they just don't want them in matched play.

[Lyraeus]

3 minutes ago, Ish said:

People have been complaining about Valerian and Aleya's quirky rules since they were originally released. GW has said they'd be fixed in War of the Spider (they weren't), then said they'd be fixed in the War of the Spider FAQ (they weren't), then said they'd be fixed with Ninth Edition (they weren't), then said they'd be fixed with Ninth Edition FAQ (they weren't), and so forth.

At this point, I honestly think GW just doesn't understand what the problem with the unit actually is. 

Send an email

[Ish]

I don’t even own the models and don’t really have any strong desire to buy them; Valerian doesn’t offer anything much beyond what a generic Shield-Captain does and certainly doesn’t compare favorably to Trajann Valoris... Heck, his model isn’t even all that interesting.

It just amuses me how GW botched it with these guys.

[Munkie]

The 9th edition FAQ came out and I've got to say, I really hate their new Look Out Sir system. The original version was really badly written (because they refuse to ever learn) and needed a re-write.

The new system is just illogical.

For instance, I can surround a character with 3 units of 2 Talos and you can shoot him all day. If I have 1 squad of 3 Talos, he cannot be shot. 3 offers more protection than 6, because...reasons.

I'm genuinely at a loss of what to do with my HQs. They're slower than everything else in the army, can't fit in transports, are very fragile, and are now almost impossible to screen.

They really, really, really hate Dark Eldar not space marines.

[Lyraeus]

28 minutes ago, Munkie said:

The 9th edition FAQ came out and I've got to say, I really hate their new Look Out Sir system. The original version was really badly written (because they refuse to ever learn) and needed a re-write.

The new system is just illogical.

For instance, I can surround a character with 3 units of 2 Talos and you can shoot him all day. If I have 1 squad of 3 Talos, he cannot be shot. 3 offers more protection than 6, because...reasons.

I'm genuinely at a loss of what to do with my HQs. They're slower than everything else in the army, can't fit in transports, are very fragile, and are now almost impossible to screen.

They really, really, really hate Dark Eldar not space marines.

Its intended to make infantry more prevalent.

It also helps in the fact that you can't hide characters with low wound or model count units.

We might see a revision but right now I think GW is trying to push people away from cheap units to screen where possible 

[Ish]

Drew Carey Dark Eldar need a “start with a blank page” rewrite; GW hasn’t really seemed to know what they hell they wanted to do with them in the last couple codices... 

[Lyraeus]

16 minutes ago, Ish said:

Drew Carey Dark Eldar need a “start with a blank page” rewrite; GW hasn’t really seemed to know what they hell they wanted to do with them in the last couple codices... 

The 8th ed codex was a good codex. Skari loved it. It just got overpowered by the cheese of Imperium

[Ish]

7 minutes ago, Lyraeus said:

The 8th ed codex was a good codex. Skari loved it. It just got overpowered by the cheese of Imperium

I don't think I ever saw anyone run a Dark Eldar army last edition. I saw a lot of Ynnari armies with Dark Eldar in them, but not a lot of Dark Eldar armies.

[Lyraeus]

2 minutes ago, Ish said:

I don't think I ever saw anyone run a Dark Eldar army last edition. I saw a lot of Ynnari armies with Dark Eldar in them, but not a lot of Dark Eldar armies.

We did not see them in ITC as much because people liked the Imperium cheese. In ETC and in Canada Dark Eldar did pretty good. There were a few people in our area who owned DE but didnt come to the clubhouse to play much

 

[Munkie]

32 minutes ago, Lyraeus said:

The 8th ed codex was a good codex. Skari loved it. It just got overpowered by the cheese of Imperium

They were/are good, just not well designed. It's basically 3 very small books trapped in one. Each mini-book has 1 HQ "choice", and 1 troops "choice". One has no elites or fast attack, one has no heavy support, and the other has no fast attack. You can fill elites and fast attack with mercenary units, but they have absolutely no synergies with our auras or traits (obsessions). Venoms have max transport 5 so can't carry a squad and an HQ, can't screen an HQ, and offer a 1/6 chance of killing my HQ outright if I buy him his own transport him to keep up. And also, nobody benefits from his auras while he's inside standing on the deck of a vehicle.

The problem now is, the stuff that was good before, is better now and the stuff that wasn't very good before, mostly still has problems.

As an example, if I'm looking for an HQ that is able to leverage his aura, and has a minimal risk of being shot in the process, you know where it points? An Archon giving re-rolls to Ravagers. The ravagers have 10 wounds, so they protect him until they die, at which point he doesn't matter anymore.

Black Heart Archon with Writ of the Living Muse relic and Labrynth Cunning warlord trait with 3 ravagers is where competitive lists started last edition, and this change, along with several others (our troops going up by 50%, 33%, and 25% respectively) only encourages that (except it will often be 2 ravagers because patrols, but already people are taking 2 BH patrols just to get that 3rd ravager and never leave 8th edition).

I'm not discouraged from taking Talos, they're bonkers good in 9th (and they were great in 8th too). I'm encouraged to drop a transport and a squad of troops inside to skim points to make it 2 squads of 3 Talos instead of 2 squads of 2. Then my HQ gets to extend his aura to more models and he isn't at risk. I can't spend an equivalent amount on infantry and expect them to keep him alive--they're much too expensive to be nothing but babysitters.

Aside from mandatory HQs and troops you will expect to see:

-Ravagers
-Talos
-Razorwing Jetfighter
-Voidraven Bomber
-Reaper (if using forge world)
-Grotesques
-Mandrakes
-Sslyth

On that list, the only 2 newcomers to the competitive scene will be mandrakes and sslyth. The only unit you saw in some competitive lists that you'll not see as much of is wyches.

 

[Ish]

I really hope GW reverses course on the “no auras from inside vehicles” design decision. Okay, yeah, maybe the game is better off without Space Marine Chapter-Masters handing out bonuses from inside Land Raiders, but maybe just dial it back from being a game-wide thing into a special rule for only some units in some factions.

A Dark Eldar Archon should totally be standing on the back of a Venom or sitting on a throne aboard a Raider, directing his minions with a casual wave of his hand and a cruel sneer; An Armageddon Steel Legion Platoon Commander should totally be screaming orders into his voxcaster in the back of a Chimera calling down artillery strikes at Danger Close coordinates; if the psychic anathema of one pariah is enough to cause even a well-trainer sanctioned psyker discomfort, then the aura of ten Sisters of Silence shouldn’t be contained by a mere Rhino...

 

[Munkie]

I think it should be open-top vehicles only (with a price adjustment to match), but with vox upgrades and the like you could project your aura to a single unit. Something to change the game up from the standard aura sharing we played with all of last edition.

It was an interesting mechanic to introduce, but it's gotten a bit stale.

[Lyraeus]

14 minutes ago, Munkie said:

I think it should he open-top vehicles only (with a price adjustment to match), but with vox upgrades and the like you could project your aura to a single unit. Something to change the game up from the standard aura sharing we played with all of last edition.

It was an interesting mechanic to introduce, but it's gotten a bit stale.

Would make Salamander troop carriers a thing again

[VonVilkee]

21 hours ago, Munkie said:

The 9th edition FAQ came out and I've got to say, I really hate their new Look Out Sir system. The original version was really badly written (because they refuse to ever learn) and needed a re-write.

The new system is just illogical.

For instance, I can surround a character with 3 units of 2 Talos and you can shoot him all day. If I have 1 squad of 3 Talos, he cannot be shot. 3 offers more protection than 6, because...reasons.

I'm genuinely at a loss of what to do with my HQs. They're slower than everything else in the army, can't fit in transports, are very fragile, and are now almost impossible to screen.

They really, really, really hate Dark Eldar not space marines.

I think they fixed it!

 

• A friendly unit that contains 1 or more Vehicle or Monster models with a Wounds characteristic of 10 or more
• A friendly non-Character unit that contains 1 or more Vehicle or Monster models
• A friendly non-Character unit that contains 3 or more models

[Munkie]

3 hours ago, VonVilkee said:

I think they fixed it!

They did! Bless their mustache twirling hearts! 

[Ish]

Well, GW just confirmed a whole raft of rumors: two Wounds for every Marine (three for Terminators), massive boosts to weapon profiles, changes from Codex: Space Marines also affecting Chaos Marines... 

...strap in, hold on, and bite down (Non-Necron) Xenos players, it’s gonna be a rough couple months while you wait for your codices.

[Ish]

[Lyraeus]

21 minutes ago, Ish said:

Well, GW just confirmed a whole raft of rumors: two Wounds for every Marine (three for Terminators), massive boosts to weapon profiles, changes from Codex: Space Marines also affecting Chaos Marines... 

...strap in, hold on, and bite down (Non-Necron) Xenos players, it’s gonna be a rough couple months while you wait for your codices.

Even as a necron player its going to be hard...We did see the statline of the Deathmarks and the Immortals. They are T5 now

[Ish]

Presumably the Necrons will have plenty of other goodies in the new codex which is being released soon. So you won’t have to wait for parity with the Space Marines, whereas the other Xenos factions will need to wait longer.

(Also, can I grumble for a second about 12” flamers? I just bought and painted a squad of Aquilon Terminators with firepikes. I bought the firepike version instead of the mathhammerically superior boltgun version because I thought 12” flamers in a world of 8” flamers would be novel. Grumble, grumble.)