So under the old codex my Nurgle list was just tripe! It was almost impossible to win with unless you spammed the broken units, whilst the other gods all had ways to shut down other armies. Now each army seems to have a viable choice in each section of the codex.
Things I like:
- The cost reduction in all the troops to 10 or 9 is a great idea,
I know it smacks of GW pushing more models (a theme that runs through the rules) but it has really opened up the oppertunity to create different types of Daemon lists. You can go all horde or you can max out on the crazy elite units and smash an opponent. Obviously this has been reflected in the abilities of the units (Plaguebearers at T4 without FNP was quite a surpirise?).
- Simplification of the upgrades for the units makes creating a list really quick as you only have to choose between the level of Chaos Gift you choose ( more about these later).
- New units seem well designed at what they do. I don't like the background or look of some but they all have ways to be countered which is the sign of good unit design (yes I'm looking at at you Helldrake! ).
- Each Gods psykers have limited to access to the different powers from the rule book meaning that they all behave differently on the table. Only the Daemon Princes break this and I'm ok with this as they ahve been dramatically reduced in ability so I don't think they will be overly used.
- Heralds are now essential for making your troops choices any good at their job. Whilst this may seem like a draw back, due to the reduction in cost of troops and the fact that no one used Heralds unless you were playing a mono Slaanesh army it opens up the use of previously useless unit. I like this type of games design as I feel like there aren't any truely awful units in this codex any more.
Things that make me go hmm:
- My main gripe is one that has been getting worse with every release since 6th edition was released and that is the amount of tables in the game. Not only do you have a crazy Warpstorm table to keep track of and roll extra dice for but each of the gifts tables needs to be tracked. I'm not adverse to randomness (it's a dice game, it's all about managing randomness) but it's the keeping track of it all during the game I can't abide. I'm just lucky I can make laser cut tokens, how other people are going to keep track is beyond me as each unit has access to the gifts meaning you conceivably have 8 or more units all needing tracking.
- The art work! Whilst the layout, borders and cover are amazing John Blanche's work has been used for each unit entry and I just cannot stand it. I know some people dig it but it just makes me sad to see it in such a well designed product. I guess it's cheaper as he has already done the work but I'd just pay someone better suck up the cost.
- I'm going to have to give it a few games but I'm not very enthusiastic about the Instability rule for two reasons. Firstly leadership values are low to make the rule work which then makes psychic powers less reliable and T'zeench no has to pass a test for all it's powers. Secondly, they have chucked in a rule that can either negate the entire round of combat or remove the whole unit (rolling double 1 or 6 respectively). It just seems too much on top of all the other random stuff.
So I'll be looking to put in an order with Forge World for some Plague Toads to use as Beasts in April and will be painting up the whole army by the end of the month. That's going to mean I will hopefully updating the blog alot of the next two months.
Over all a good book that makes me excited to get my army together. It looks like it's good to be bad after all!
Things that make me go hmm:
- My main gripe is one that has been getting worse with every release since 6th edition was released and that is the amount of tables in the game. Not only do you have a crazy Warpstorm table to keep track of and roll extra dice for but each of the gifts tables needs to be tracked. I'm not adverse to randomness (it's a dice game, it's all about managing randomness) but it's the keeping track of it all during the game I can't abide. I'm just lucky I can make laser cut tokens, how other people are going to keep track is beyond me as each unit has access to the gifts meaning you conceivably have 8 or more units all needing tracking.
- The art work! Whilst the layout, borders and cover are amazing John Blanche's work has been used for each unit entry and I just cannot stand it. I know some people dig it but it just makes me sad to see it in such a well designed product. I guess it's cheaper as he has already done the work but I'd just pay someone better suck up the cost.
- I'm going to have to give it a few games but I'm not very enthusiastic about the Instability rule for two reasons. Firstly leadership values are low to make the rule work which then makes psychic powers less reliable and T'zeench no has to pass a test for all it's powers. Secondly, they have chucked in a rule that can either negate the entire round of combat or remove the whole unit (rolling double 1 or 6 respectively). It just seems too much on top of all the other random stuff.
So I'll be looking to put in an order with Forge World for some Plague Toads to use as Beasts in April and will be painting up the whole army by the end of the month. That's going to mean I will hopefully updating the blog alot of the next two months.
Over all a good book that makes me excited to get my army together. It looks like it's good to be bad after all!
Id be v curious to get a few games in against the new book.
ReplyDeleteThe loss of eternal warrior seems like a massive nerf for mono-slaanesh.
(im quite pleased about that, bloody fiends!)
Also the greater daemons are down to a 5+ Inv safe now too so over all the army is a lot more vulnerable but with more targets you'll have less shots at each unit.
ReplyDeleteor the same number of shots at each unit, just more units that need shooting at after :D
DeleteAre you planning on picking up any plague drones?
If yes, are you building them with or without the riders?
I quite like the insects themselves, but cant really think of any use id have for them.
I will indeed be getting a unit of three drones as well as three Plague Toads from Forgeworld as beasts. Unfortunately I don't think they'll fit in my case any more so there will have to be some changes to my storage solutions.
Delete