So, the Gathering Storm Campaign has finally ended. Many things happened – Cadia has fallen, a new Eldar God has been born, and the Ultramarines primarch has been resurrected and taken the command of Imperial forces. However, If you take a closer look, nothing critical has happened – we still have the same positional war, but on the other positions, and with the other command. All key figures are alive and factions’’ goals are the same.
And what about the rules? The 3rd book has brought a lot of new ones, indeed, and we need to discuss them.
The new Triumvirate – Roboute Guilliman, Cypher and Grandmaster Voldus determines the new rules for 3 factions – Ultramarines, Fallen Angels and Grey Knights. Previous Triumvirates presented the whole groups – Imperium and Eldar with the bunch of general rules. These rules are only for the separate factions.
Cypher. There are no changes except for the model. SO, his role on the battlefield won’t change – he will still be taken to those ugly deathstars with Tigurius, Draigo and Centurions for his Hit’n’Run and Shrouded. All his special rules which give the VP for his killing to the Dark Angels are the same. However, he used to be only in the dataslate, and now he has a solid place among the other characters.
Good news is that now he can take a company – Fallen Angels! It’s a self-sufficient (no) new faction. The interesting thing is that they are green allies to both Imperium and CSM. Does it mean that you can join them with both characters? Share your opinion in the comments below. All Faction is one unit of spacemarines for 100 pts, which is exactly the same as Chaos Chosen, but with no marks of Chaos, no dedicated transport and 10 pts more expensive. Also, there’s a special formation where you can take 1-3 units of them and Lord Cypher himself. It gives all of them Infiltrate and ATSKNF if they are close to Cypher. Infiltrating plasmas or meltas are fun, but… CSM now has Alpha Legion, where you can do the same, but in vehicle and for any number of units. SM have their droppods… So, a strange squad, indeed. If you’ve always loved background of the Fallen and dreamed about taking them into the army – it’s for you. 10 men squad painted in the right colors will look great and it’s easy to include in any roster. Otherwise – forget about this faction.
Grandmaster Voldus. A strange choice of character for such Triumvirate. They said, this Grey Knight will be Loken himself – that would be awesome. However, here’s previously unknown guy. He has a usual Grandmaster’s statline (you’d never guess), but with ML 3. He also knows one additional spell from Sanctic and has a hammer, which strikes at his 5th initiative step. An alternative to Draigo in games, where Lords of War are forbidden. Quite plain and uninteresting character.
There is a bonus for the whole Grey Knights faction. Everyone knows that they are aimed to fight Daemons. To make them feel more comfortable with the others they’ve created a rule «Daemonic Adversariies» - this makes enemy’s warlord a Daemon with 3++, 1 ML, Fleshbane, Armourbane and Smash. Also, he can take 2ML for 25 pts and make all his psykers Daemons too. Access to Malefic Daemonology is included. Besides, at the start of any psyhic phase he rolls a D6 and adds the current turn’s number – there’s a table with the results.
The results mostly buff Adversaries’ army – bonuses to invuln, auto (!) summoning, or Daemon special rule for the whole army. There are also 3 results which strike every unit on the battlefield, and you won’t get the coolest results before the 4th turn. You also won’t get them ever if you are bad at rolling 6s. And what does the Grey Knights player get? Nothing. He just should be glad that he fights Daemons and all his bonuses work against them. But they are not ultimately effective against normal Daemons – how about the powerful army itself with the daemonic bonuses? And the main point – both players should agree to use this option. So – you won’t see it at any serious tournament. Another funny bonus.
Also, there’s a formation for Gray Knights – Librarian, 2 Paladin and 2 Terminator squads. A whole bunch of psykers with halberds and hammers in termoarmour. Bonuses are kind of useful – if there’re 3 or more of these units on the battlefield, you add 1 to all (!) Deny the Witch rolls. And if one of them casts Banishement, it’s count like all of them have done it. Also useful, but only if you play against Daemons (or their Adversaries, right?) However, if you count the total cost of this formation and compare it with the equivalents from other factions, it gets a bit sad. You still can take Sisters of Silence for a small cost and stop the enemy from casting spells at all. And so it goes.
At this moment, it’s all not really interesting. Maybe, the primarch, his return has been long awaited, will show some cool stuff? He will. His rules are quite shocking. Monstrous creature with T6, 2+, 3++, FnP, who revives on 4+ with D3 wounds. Well… it might be one of the most tenacious creatures in the Warhammer universe. He strikes 6 attacks at the 6th initiative step… with the blade of the Emperor himself. Sure, it’s 10th str (which becomes D with any 6 to hit), Armorbane, Soulblaze, Concussive… And you can substitute his attacks with the number of models 1 around him, which is quite a lot, considering his big base. And if it’s not enough, his bolter shoots 3 times with Str 6 AP2. Also, Guilliman knows all the Command traits and grants Ultramarines an additional doctrine (You’ve been waiting for it, right?)
Try to guess, how much is for this monster. No, you didn’t. Just.. 350 pts. Almost immortal killer, buffing all the army around, for the same price as one Daemon prince, who can easily die from one successful attack. However, there’s one issue. He moves 6 inches. Always. No other chance. No transport, no deepstrike, no joining units. Well, he runs one inch faster for one of his traits and has Fleet (if you thought that there’re not enough special rules) Anyway, there’s a long way for him. But if he comes…
Also, there’s a formation which can make him even more durable. Captain Sicarius, Honor guards squad and 4 squads of veterans in any combination. They can make look out sir attempts when in 3 inches from the primarch, nevertheless, they can’t join him. And they can’t take transports as well. Just imagine this cohort, marching forward with shields in front and some shooting from behind. Majestic! But not really effective and too expensive.
The second primarch is really strong. Maybe, too much. In fact, it would be better, if he was a bit weaker but more mobile. He needs to have a special roster for him, just like Magnus, nevertheless he fits almost any size of the army. He is likely to be shot down if left alone, walking through the battlefield. So, you need to create some additional threats for the enemy – with the Skyhammer formation, for example. Comparing with Magnus, Guilliman can be effective on his own – he doesn’t need additional warp charges and doesn’t depend on random numbers. However, if these two fight each other, Magnus is more likely to win – for his magic, of course.
So, there’re no more interesting rules. Special Ultramarines detachment is the same as Gladius strike force, but with Guilliman and his formation and the other additional doctrine (YES!) instead of free transport. Triumvirate rules are also useless – re-rolling one saving throw per turn and Stubborn for the whole army. Nothing so effective to make you use 240 pts Voldus or situational Cypher. I think this book will definitely bring Guilliman on our tables (but not for everyone) and the Fallen formation – just because they look nice. In the view of the rules it’s the most plane and uninteresting part of the campaign. Let’s hope, that the further ones will bring us something far more special.