And not even two years later (May 2014), [[Games Workshop]] released [[Warhammer 40,000 7th edition]].
And not even two years later (May 2014), [[Games Workshop]] released [[Warhammer 40,000 7th edition]].
==Fluff Update/Business as Usual==
==='''General'''===
'''Disclaimer: In no way has the Fluff deviated from the 5e, as of yet. Anything specific will most likely be changed in that faction's Codex (e.g. Heldrakes, Helbrutes...). This is just highlighting points of interest that may or may not have been in previous rulebooks.
Craptons of fluff. Explanation on daily life in the Imperium, how the Imperium is governed. The Imperium is even more almost-doomed than before. Timeline mentions vast swathes of the Imperium falling to rebellion, alien attack and Chaos rape. Lots of detail on stuff not usually mentioned. It appears that those that wrote about each army are fanboys of that given army. As such you will not find too much negative comments in a race's description. Pages 166-177 are mostly filled with old lore, nothing new at all in those pages. As such expect to see a lot of copy and pasting from previous codices, giving not even the Lexicanum anything interesting to write about in 6th edition that already hasn't been written about.
*The Golden Throne is failing and the Techpriests say it is impossible to repair. As usual. I wonder if they've tried kicking it.
*13th Black Crusade is still underway as it was apparently back in 3rd edition. Against all odds, [[Abaddon]] has managed to take half of Cadia and is [[Abaddon#Failure_no_more.3F|continuing to gain ground]].
**'''Possible Update''' - Abaddon has nearly captured Cadia and rumors have surfaced of the Daemon Primarchs leading the charge through the Eye of Terror. Though this could be a typo.(Codex: CSM)
**'''Possible Update''' - Dark Angels have decided to move their Fortress towards the Eye of Terror with every successor chapter of theirs headed in the same direction as one gigantic mega-fleet. Codex Astartes be damned.(Codex: Dark Angels)
**'''Possible Update''' - Creed's current tactic is keeping the chaos forces at bay until reinforcements come, in about a week, which includes every single Cadian Guard Regiment that's available.
**'''Possible Update''' - Abbadon's "keep throwing daemons at Cadia" strategy seems to be working, as the increased psychic energy is causing the pylons to resonate unusually; closer inspection by Techpriests reveals numerous cracks beginning to form.
*The Time of Ending - Basically boils the entire 40k universe into a retelling of the Rapture. Humanity is in decline, and every alien race is trying to kick their ass, yet all evidence points to them failing to do so.
*Ultramarines and Tau dislike each other.(pg 177) Two times it is pointed out that the Ultramarines regularly fight Tau, with one reference stating "After killing a bunch of Tau, the Ultramarines...".
*[[Squats]] and furries on page 405.
===Space Marines===
*Arguably more favoritism to Dark Angels as they are one of the factions in Dark Vengeance. Ultramarines are still used in crunch diagrams, but other than that the Dark Angels minis and illustrations are slightly more numerous than the other chapters (Dark Angels get almost no fluff, though).
*Six Marine Chapters are given little summaries. Ultramarines, Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Imperial Fists, and Grey Knights.(pg 187)
*Deathwatch still Ordo Xenos specialists.
*Grey Knights still Militant arm of the Ordo Malleus.
*Primarchs given a page dedicated to them. Not much detail, though it does say "One by One they Disappear..." (pg 186)
*Astral Knights kick some Necron Ass, destroying a Necron World Engine.
*Ultramarines have some connection with Necrons, many of their relics are made with living metal, may have fought them during the Heresy.
*Imperial Fists giving more background, like their successors chapter are a crusading chapter Sentinels of Terra also has their [[Chapter Master]], Vladimir Pugh, killed while punching a Norn Queen, and then be replaced.
**Sentinels of Terra also gives more background for Darnath Lysander, as well as more information behind the circumstances of his captivity and introduces his archnemesis, Warsmith [[Shon'tu]]. Additionally, the [[Phalanx]] has been invaded by an Iron Warriors strike force seeking to hijack it. The Imperial Fists (with the aid of the Legion of the Damned) are putting up heavy resistance, but the battle could still go either way for them.
*Iron Hands given a Chapter President. They're all a bunch of tsunderes now as well.
*Luther is still alive thanks to a stasis field kept in his prison. Interrogator-Chaplains have tried to get information from him, but he's too batshit insane to be helpful most of the time.
*"Cypher" is in fact a title instead of an actual name, so it's possible there may be more than one of him. It's suggested that he's not actually aligned with anyone and may even be testing the Dark Angels' resolve on behalf of the Emperor.
*Lion El'Jonson has fully healed from his injuries and is waiting for the Emperor to send him the signal to wake him up.
*Legion of the Damned sort of refluffed-apparently the Fire Hawks origin is only one theory (albeit the one favored by the Space Marines). Others include the possibility that they're actual ghosts, the Imperial equivalent of Daemons, or [[Awesome|time travellers from an alternate future sent back to alter history in Humanity's favor]].
===Astra Militarum===
*Don't be fooled by the new name- it's still the Imperial Guard.
*Now it sucks more than ever to be in the IG. Apparently so many Catachans were thrown at the Tau during the Damocles Gulf crusade that they almost ran out of laser-bullets.
===Sisters of Battle===
*Actually presented as a competent military force. Otherwise nothing new.
*Given one page dedicated to them. (pg 185)
*Codex gives a page describing each of the most famous Orders.
*Section dedicated to their retrieval and protection of Artefacts, both real and fake. Implying that even when faith is misplaced in something it is still enough to piece the toughest armor.
*Sanctuary 101 is talked about. All Sisters are killed and even though no evidence is left, everyone figures out its the Necrons.
===Orks===
*Waaagh! Grax. Took over a bunch of Forge Worlds and moons. Also the Crimson Fists are now hurting because of it. (pg175)
*Waaagh! The Beast. Nearly took over the Galaxy... One sentence long description. And it can't be Thraka, "the Beast of Armageddon," since the description says this warboss is "known only as the Beast," which obviously isn't true in Ghazghkull's case.
*Octarius Empire and the Tyranids have had their stalemate broken by Eldar purging all planets in their general vicinity; Eldar are still preservers of the status quo, though less than before.
===Eldar===
* Necrons got their chocolate space ships inside the Eldar's peanut butter [[Webway]], but the webway is still under Eldar control.(pg 205)
* Eldrad is no longer dead as 6th edition has been retconned back to the beginning of Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade. (Codex: Eldar 6th ed.)
* A New Challenger has appeared in the form of the "Crimson Hunters" Aspect Warriors/Pilots. Basically a cop-out to give Eldar another aspect while not really giving Eldar another aspect (they would have gotten fliers anyway). Like most fliers in 6th edition codices, their use is debatable. (Codex: Eldar 6th ed.)
* Small(ish) versions of Eldar titans are introduced as a model that is even larger than the Riptide. This "[[Wraithknight]]" is crewed by a living Eldar and the spirit stone of their deceased twin. Fluff implies that to make more of these extremely rare constructs, [[grimdark|Eldar twins occasionally meet with "accidents" in which one of them will perish, making the pair a perfect candidate to fuel the needs of their desperate and dying race.]] Apparently they use Wraithknights collect Spirit Stones from Crone Worlds. (Codex: Eldar 6th ed.)
* The new codex features mountains of Saim-Hann miniatures, despite most of the forces not made up of a stereotypical Saim-Hann force (jetbikes). Iyanden seems to come in second in terms of painted minis, while most of the other Craftworlds are left a picture or two each. (Codex: Eldar 6th ed.)
* Expanded fluff for the minor Craftworlds (Altansar, Il-Kaithe, Lugganath, Iybraesil, Yme-Loc, and Mymeara) including what they specialise in and what their world-rune means. Otherwise, little new fluff other than a bit of expansion on what already existed and a couple battles thrown on the timeline. (Codex: Eldar 6th ed.)
* Iyanden is given more fluff other than "nom by nids" and retcons the reason they were nommed so badly to nids from inexperience to overconfidence. The Harlequins were apparently involved with Yriel's return and his taking up of the Spear of Twilight.
===Dark Eldar===
*Nice artwork, though that is not fluff.
*Black Library description is there.
*Imperium is racist enough to not be able to tell the difference between Eldar and Dark Eldar.
*Dark Eldar are Battle Brothers with the other Eldar, but are not good friends with anyone else, including the Grey Knights, even though *Dark Eldar don't use Psykers for fear of Chaos (Of course, the fact that the Dark Eldar are so selfish they'd rather perform atrocities like upholster their chairs with skin from flayed humans rather than deny their desires is why Slaanesh noms their souls in the first place).
===Necrons===
*[[Matt Ward|Allies of Convenience with Grey Knights]] (Guess the Xenophobia towards "monkey upstarts" isn't quite so prominent).
*Tombs upon activation send signals, it doesn't appear to be to attract prey as Necrons are weakest in this state.
===Tau===
*Imperium still doesn't know why Tau are able to convert people so easily. The idea that a generic hippy/communist/socialist attitude is part of the reason is not brought up.
*Hive Fleet Gorgon heads towards Tau and the Imperium does nothing to warn them.
*Multiple implications that the "Greater Good" is a lie or at least heavily skewed in the Ethereals' favor.
*Ethereal's use of mind-control on the Tau outright stated and confirmed.
*A full backstory for Commander Farsight. He apparently fought Daemons on Arthas Moloch, and realized that the Ethereals had deliberately concealed the existence of Chaos. While he still believes in the Greater Good, he fears that revealing what he knows to the Empire as a whole will lead to a second Mon'tau. And yes, he's the same Farsight- while he doesn't realize it, the Dawn Blade extends his life for every living being he kills using it. Also some fluff on "The Eight"- Farsight's retinue and closest companions.
=== Tyranids===
*Hive Mind believed to be a single host organism that the Tyranids originated from. (pg 215, The Hive Fleets)
*At least 9 Hive Fleets known about or worth mentioning.
*Doom of Malan'Tai is no longer a [[Zoanthrope]], but instead some other soul-eating Tyranid. [[Games Workshop|Overall a pretty flimsy excuse as to why he's no longer a model]] (*the real reason is due to GW's model-making dispute with Chapter House) .
*Parasite of Mortrex has vanished from the Tyranids Codex with no reason given in lore (see * above for the reason).
===Chaos Daemons===
*Still have the Big 4. (pg 222)
*Eye of Terror is still there.
*Any time a Chaos God has majority control those outside of the warp feel it. I.e. Khorne brings war, Nurgle brings disease, Slaanesh brings hedonism, and Tzeentch brings mutation and warp-related '''FUN''' <font size=5>*</font> (fluff changes?)(pg 221)
===Chaos Space Marines===
*From the BRB:
**Get a fluff piece detailing the traitor legions and the forces that took part in the 13th Black Crusade.
**Chaos renegades known as The Purge kill billions. Now for the weather.
*From the Codex:
**Helbrutes are the new Chaos Dreadnoughts. They're still basically mutated Loyalist Dreadnoughts where the confined Marine went a bit crazy, but they're significantly more mutated-looking now (although, if you want old-style Chaos Dreads, Forge World still sells the Legion-specific ones, and it's easy enough to mod Loyalist Dreads).
**Warpsmiths are basically just Chaos Techmarines that love merging daemons and machines; they're responsible for all of the Daemon Engines made by the Chaos Marines, although it seems that the Chaos Gods aren't particularly fond of them, since they kidnap so many daemons. It's not clear whether the [[Iron Warriors]] [[Warsmith]] still exists or not, but they serve a completely different role anyway.
**Dark Apostles are back, although now they're just super-charismatic Chaos Chaplains without as much emphasis on the Daemon summoning; it's not clear whether they're still Word Bearers-exclusive.
**The 'Fiends (Mauler and Forge varieties) are big, dinosaur-esque Daemon Engines. Maulerfiends are fast and melee-oriented, focusing on destroying vehicles and fortifications (and they're apparently sometimes called "stalker-tanks," which might be a retcon of the [[Stalk Tank]] of [[Blood Pact]] fame). Forgefiends are slower, but very, very shooty.
**Warp Talons are Raptors that went crazy in the Warp and act more like attack dogs than Space Marines; they [[Awesome|literally cut into a battle from the Warp with their lightning claws]].
**Speaking of which, Raptors are just Chaos Assault Marines now (and they have Heresy-era jump packs now). No Raptor God, no animalistic instincts... that's all Warp Talons now.
**Mutilators are melee Obliterators, although it's apparently more complex than that, because Mutilators are just Terminators that became obsessed with melee weapons to the point they merged with his body, whereas Obliterators have the Virus... or something. It's not really clear anymore.
**Heldrakes are a new type of Chaos flier. They were originally Space Marine fighter craft, but they became possessed by Daemons and turned into giant metal dragons (with the crew trapped inside for all eternity). They're surprisingly [[Awesome]].
**Cultists are back in the book, although there's nothing really new about them.
*From the Black Legion Supplement:
**[[Abaddon]]'s [[Black Crusade]]s have not always targeted Cadia, nor have they all failed. (Codex Black Legion)
*From the Be'lakor Dataslate:
**[[Be'lakor]] has been introduced from the WHFB continuity. Still the first Daemon Prince, and obsessed with killing all other champions of Chaos to prove that he's the only true Chaos Champion.
*From the Crimson Slaughter Supplement:
**The [[Crimson Slaughter]] warband is introduced, and is apparently one of the most feared warbands around despite the fact that it has never even been mentioned in the fluff until now.
<font size=1>'''*The [[Chaos Gods]] do not guarantee fun. Fun subject to early termination at Tzeentch's discretion. Fun is to be taken in context of [[Dwarf Fortress]].'''</font>
==Allies Matrix==
==Allies Matrix==
Revision as of 02:04, 21 October 2016
This page is in need of cleanup. Srsly. It's a fucking mess.
Conceptually, the Allies matrix is a nice addition. In practice, the Allies Table is an Emperor damned mess that shoots itself in the foot a bunch of times:
Black Templars don't like the Battle Sisters much, even though there's a number of fluff examples of them fighting together and the Codex directly states that the Black Templars are adherents to the Imperial Cult. Even more egregiously, the merging of Black Templars into Space Marines gave GW a chance to fix it... and they didn't!
On a related note, Black Templars have a better relationship to Tau and Eldar than Adepta Sororitas... even though they're zealots that hate all xenos.
On another related note, the Black Templars' relation to the allies table is... odd. On the one hand, the Space Marines Codex directly states that Black Templars still use the Black Templars allies table... but then that doesn't appear in the newer mini-codices, implying that Black Templars should use Space Marines allies table.
Imperial Guard are Allies of Convenience to Chaos Marines. This angers players that wanted Traitor Guard (who should be Battle Brothers) and players that think Imperial Guard is loyalists-only (who should be Come the Apocalypse).
The Necrons are friendlier to the Grey Knights than the Blood Angels, despite the whole Rainbow Pony Princess Best Friends Forever controversy. But on that note, why are Necrons friendly with Grey Knights at all? How do they even know the Grey Knights exist?
Tau are Battle Brothers with the Space Marines. Apparently a squad of the Emperor's finest will take orders from some no-name Cadre Fireblade.
Eldar and Dark Eldar are Battle Brothers, even though they've usually been written as disliking or even hating each other (and, at the very least, they don't trust each other at all). This has been justified by a number of fluff additions where the two fight together (and it will probably be elaborated on in the next Dark Eldar Codex), but it was an odd sight to see when 6th first dropped.
Tyranids have no allies. Yes, this makes sense, but it stings even more given their shitty Codex.
The mini-codices (Inquisition, Legion of the Damned, and Imperial Knights), meanwhile, just ignore this outright; they can all be taken in addition to an allied detachment
On the whole the allies chart is full of fluff violations, making the whole system a bit silly. Why GW did this is unknown but there are a fewsuspects (especially how the allies chart really favors Space Marines).
Pros
Allowing for team ups is a great idea that many people have probably experimented with already. For example you can have Chaos Imperial Guard now, along with Blood Axes working together with the Imperial Guard. The Rule that even Battle Brothers can't use your transports helps stop other armies from using Drop Pods when they shouldn't. All in all will allow for a lot more different army combinations, such as having Orks act as muscle for the squishy Tau instead of Kroots.
Cons
For the most part it seems that the Allies table is written from the viewpoint of one of the two races instead of both races together. As such you have alliances like Grey Knights and Necrons, because Necrons are not affected by Chaos. Even though Necrons hate every other race (actually, knowing the Grey Knights, this alliance still shouldn't work, but that's a discussion for another article). Also Tau are so peace, love, and friendship that they are best friends forever with everyone except Dark Eldar and Sisters of Battle. For some reason Tau are able to see past the cold inhuman exterior of Necrons and reveal that they are puppies needing a good hug, or GW is still trolling us with the suggestion that Farsight is under Necron influence. Tau would be allies with Tyranids if they could just get past the language barrier... and of course the constant eating of their diplomats.
Allies Matrix
Space Marines - Battle Brothers with every Space Marine Chapter, including Tau and excluding Grey Knights. Rumors says its because Tau are the Emperor's artificial race, because they are not affected by Chaos, though whenever Tau is mentioned in passing Space Marines are killing them. Dislike Sisters of Battle for some odd reason, probably because part of inquisition. they are Sons of Rawboat Girlyman Matt Ward Sisters and Marines never liked each other, for Sisters its because Marines are transhuman (therefore going ageist the Imperuim's "purity of the human form" ideal), and Marines consider the Sisters' zealotry to be pointless for a man who proclaimed himself as NOT a god.
Black Templars - Same as Space Marines, though they hate the Tau and for some reason hate Sisters of Battle, and will never work with Orks. They will work with the Eldar though (because the Black Templars are so renowned for working with Aliens and Psykers...How many roleplayers had to die to make this possible, we do not know). The new SM Codex that they've been merged into paints them as best buds with the Sisters of Battle, and they no longer show up in the allies matrix of the newer codices, so they're possibly the same as Space Marines' allies options now after the merge.
Blood Angels - Same as Space Marines, though hate Tau and will never work with Eldar or Orks.
Dark Angels - Same as Space Marines, though dislike Space Wolves and Tau.
Space Wolves - Same as Space Marines, though dislike Dark Angels, Necrons and Tau.
Chaos Daemons - Battle Brothers with Chaos Space Marines. Will never work with anyone else, except Imperial Guard. Sometimes they work with Dark Eldar (WHAAAAAAAT?!?) Orks or Tau but they hate them.
Chaos Space Marines - Same as Chaos Daemons, though they are better allies with Tau, Orks, Necrons and Dark Eldar for some no discernible reason.
Dark Eldar - Battle Brothers with Eldar, because as long as they are close to the same race everything is cool. Hate everyone, but especially Necrons, Blood Angels, and Dark Angels.
Eldar - Generally dislike everyone, but will never ally with Necrons and all of Chaos. Also hate Orks and Sister of Battle. Battle brothers with Tau for some reason yet again.
Inquisition - Battle Brothers with any and every Imperial force (Anything else would be outright retarded), Allies of Convenience with Eldar, Desperate Allies with DEldar and Tau (They like the manipulative pricks BETTER than space commies - kind of strange, but there are several instances in the fluff where the Inquisition and the Eldar worked extensively with one another). Everyone else can go suck Exterminatus (Which means no Freeboota Inquisitorial warbands for you!)
Legion of the Damned - Battle Brothers with all Imperial Forces, Allies of Convenience with Eldar (I guess Idharae's not supposed to exist for some reason?), Desperate Allies for Tau and Dark Eldar. If this sounds fishy to you, then yes, GeeDubs was too lazy to make a new allies chart for the Legion and just copied from the Big I.
Orks - Neutral to Imperial Guard, Necrons, Tau, and Chaos Marines. Hostile to Black Templars, Blood Angels, and Sisters of Battle. Desperate Allies with everyone else.
Tau - Overall Neutral to everyone except Tyranids. They're even Battle Brothers with Space Marines and Eldar... this probably has more to do with the Tau themselves rather than the Marines/Eldar. I guess all that Greater Good idealism is contagious.
Necrons - Before you ask, yes: Necrons and Blood Angels can be Desperate Allies. So can Necrons and Black Templars, so take it with a grain of salt. Otherwise Necrons pretty much dislike everyone except Orks and Grey Knights. Also, they're hostile to Chaos Daemons, but Neutral to Chaos Marines... yeah.
Sisters of Battle - Battle Brothers with Imperial Guard, Hostile to Chaos and Orks, and different shades of Neutral with everyone else. They dislike the Black Templars and Tau, though.
Imperial Guard - The village bicycle (slut). Everybody gets to ride, except Tyranid cause six legged bugs can't ride bicycles. Battle Brothers with (almost) all other Imperium forces, neutral to everyone else. Yes, they're even Neutral to Chaos(actually makes some sense because it allows for Chaos Militia to be played with official rules, that of the Imperial Guard, alongside Chaos).
Tyranids - ALLIES WITH NO ONE!! EVER!! OM NOM NOM!!! (Updated: Can ally with itself as per new Codex rule)
Current Rules Debates
Character Squads - Because Characters are described on a page as sometimes being Sergeants of squads, there is beginning to form a group of people who believe that certain Squads made up of only Characters should not be considered such on the table. Examples:
Ork Nobs, since the Nob statline is used for both the leaders of Ork Boy squads and for every Nob in a Nob squad. As such all Nobs are considered characters, even though characters are defined as either sergeants or independent characters.
Space Wolves' Wolf Guard, since a Wolf Guard Pack Leader is considered a character by the FAQ, which some think mean that since its a character the others are not.
RAW - Errata'd. At one point they were all considered characters as long as their statline said so. That meant that the Character Type was non-conditional, meaning that Character Type did not disappear if in.
Resolved - Nobz, Wolf Guard etc who were considered characters are now listed as Infantry. Only the Sgt upgrade is considered a Character. Paladins are also no longer considered Characters. On a related note, Look Out Sir can only be given to the closest model to the Character, meaning no more distribution of wounds.
LoS! and Perils of the Warp - The Use of Look Out Sir with Perils of the warp. In RAW LoS! is only mentioned as being possible for Assault and Shooting. But because there is nothing written in the Psyker section, some people believe it is possible, because its still a wound. Even though the book states only for shooting and assaulting.
Resolved - Perils cannot be LoS!, but it can be saved using Feel No Pain instead.
Mad Dok's Gift - Ork HQ Mad Dok Grotsnik is allowed to give Cybork bodyparts to any model in the army. Does that extend to Allies? Could Imperial Guard take Cybork bodyparts? There is no limitation of it for Orks only.
Resolved - Allies of Convenience(Highest Allies Orks can have) cannot be targeted by Abilities of the primary army.
Template Weapons and Swarms - When using an insta-kill template weapon on swarms does it cause double the number of insta-kills? If the weapon is AP as well do said swarms die horrible horrible deaths? eg. 4 scarabs hit with 8 insta-kill attacks?
Resolved - It deals an Instant Death wound to each swarm wounded by the weapon, and then doubles them. 4 Scarab Swarms hit with a Flamestorm Cannon, if wounded 3 times, will lose 3 bases. Essentially, the wound-doubling is lost unless the Swarm in question has Eternal Warrior. (Nurglings) 6e codex.
Tau Multitrackers - Can they be used for Overwatch?
Resolved - Tau multitrackers can only be used in the shooting phase as per the new codex under multitrackers.
This page is in need of cleanup. Srsly. It's a fucking mess.
