Reading 6th Edition - Fluff... & Other!

Nick speaking,

There is a very large junk of the book dedicated to the 41st Millennium Fluff (history), running from page 134 to 303. That's 169 pages of reading about the 40k universe and armies! Personally, I won't be reading this section of the book, I don't mind a bit of fluff for my armies, but I really don't have enough interest to read this amount. I know there are many people who love this side of the hobby, and that is fine, it's just not for me.

With that said, I would be very happy to of had the option to buy the book without the fluff. Maybe a soft back version at the same price as a Codex, nice and easy to carry around without breaking your army from the weight! Would GW really suffer that much if they did this? To be honest, if they made a version like this, I would have bought both books anyway, the big one for my collection and the small one as a kick around book.

After the fluff pages, there are some hobby pages, called the Warhammer 40k Experience. Here, you can learn all about how to 'collect', how to use 'tools', how to assemble, and how to paint your minis with all the items that GW can sell you. Then there are a few pages on Warhammer World and the Thrones of Skulls competition, ending with a few pages showing off some Golden Demon painted models.

Next, there is a section called Battles, which is dedicated to recreating battles fought in the dark millennium. Here, you are encouraged to start making up your own missions and mission special rules, with five interesting example mission listed. After that, you will be able to read all about the expansion books available, like Cities of Death and Planetstrike.

Lastly, there are a few pages on creating your own Campaigns, and then a few more fluff pages that lead you onto the Appendix and Reference pages. These final pages, just like the rest of the book, are very well laid out and have a lot of easy to find, useful information and rule summaries. Overall, it's a massive thumbs up from me for the book and the direction it has gone with the game. I think The Wonders of Warhammer 40k, have just got a lot more fun.

Well, that's it for this series of posts. I hope you have enjoyed 'Reading 6th Edition' with me. I am hoping that I will remember the rules a bit easier from writing them all down! I know I for one, will be using my own posts for references in the future, and hope that they will be useful to you too. I will finish off this series with my all time favourite picture from the new book...

Previous Posts:
6th Edition Rule Book Unboxing
Reading 6th Edition - The first few pages
Reading 6th Edition - The movement phase
Reading 6th Edition - The shooting phase
Reading 6th Edition - The assault phase
Reading 6th Edition - Universal Special Rules
Reading 6th Edition - Independent Character
Reading 6th Edition - Unit types
Reading 6th Edition - Weapons 
Reading 6th Edition - Characters & Challenges
Reading 6th Edition - Psykers
Reading 6th Edition - Vehicle basics
Reading 6th Edition - Vehicle types
Reading 6th Edition - Terrain
Reading 6th Edition - Your army & Allies
Reading 6th Edition - Missions
Reading 6th Edition - Psychic disciplines

Read more ...

Reading 6th Edition - Psychic disciplines

Nick speaking,

There are five Psychic Power Disciplines that Psykers are able to Generate powers from. Armies are limited to which disciplines they can use, if any at all. The five Disciplines are, Biomancy, Divination, Pyromancy, Telekinesis and Telepathy. Within each Psychic Discipline are six powers, which are randomly chosen, with the quantity equal to your Mastery level of your Psyker. If you have two or more disciplines to choose from, you are able to mix your random powers from any of the Disciplines you can take.

The powers in each Discipline all have different abilities, as you would expect, with most of them being pretty useful. Each discipline also has a Primaris Power, which is a fixed power that you are able to swap your randomly generated power for, if you should so wish. You can only do this once, per Discipline, but it does at least let you drop any power you roll that you think might not be useful to you. As we discussed in the Psykers post, each power takes up a certain amount of Warp Charge when you use it.

If a Psyker rolls the same power twice, you must re-roll until you roll a different power, although it is possible for two different Psykers to have the same power in one army. I will let you pick the bones out of whatever Psychic Disciplines and Powers are available to your armies, but personally, I think I will wait until I have a good few games under my belt before I start to experiment. I am still not convinced that swapping fixed powers, that you know how to use, like Doom and Fortune, for some randomly generated powers that are going to be different each game, but I have to say, I am liking the Divination powers...

The Psychic powers themselves are categorised to make it easy to know when the power actually happens. The categories are known as, Blessing (start of the movement phase and friendly models gain), Witchfire (shooting attack), Focussed Witchfire (Shooting attack that hits individual models), Beam (shooting attack using a line), Malediction (start of the movement phase, weakens your enemy with no line of sight needed, even in if in close combat) and Nova (Shooting attack that automatically hits all enemy units, even in if in close combat). Obviously, most of the powers listed will only last for that turn and not the whole game, unless you re-cast the power... 

Biomancy

Primaris Power: Smite
Witchfire, Warp Charge 1
12" S4 AP2 A4

1 - Iron Arm
Blessing, Warp Charge 1
Psyker gains +D3 Strength and Toughness and gains Eternal Warrior

2 - Enfeeble
Malediction, Warp Charge 1
Enemy unit within 24", -1 Strength and Toughness and treat all terrain as difficult

3 - Endurance
Blessing, Warp Charge 1
One friendly unit within 24" gains Feel no Pain, It will not Die and Relentless

4 - Life Leech
Witchfire, Warp Charge 1
12" S6 AP2 A2

5 - Warp Speed
Blessing, Warp Charge 1
Psyker gain +D3 to Initiative and Attacks, and gains the Fleet Special rule

6 - Haemorrhage
Focussed Witchfire, Warp Charge 1
12" Toughness test, no armour or cover saves allowed, if dead, randomly select another model within 2" (Friend or foe), if that one is slain, continue the process until the test is saved

Divination

Primaris Power: Prescience
Blessing, Warp Charge 1
12" target unit can re-roll all failed to hit rolls

1 - Foreboding
Blessing, Warp Charge 1
Psyker and unit has Counter Assault and shoot Overwatch at normal ballistic skill

2 - Forewarning
Blessing, Warp Charge 1
12" target unit has 4++ save

3 - Misfortune
Malediction, Warp Charge 1
24" one enemy unit re-rolls all successful saves

4 - Perfect Timing
Blessing, Warp Charge 1
Psyker and units weapons ignore cover special rule

5 - Precognition
Blessing, Warp Charge 1
The Psyker can re-roll all failed to hit and wound rolls, as well as saves

6 - Scrier's Gaze
Blessing, Warp Charge 1
Roll three dice and chose the result you want when rolling for reserves, Outflank and Mysterious terrain

Pyromancy

Primaris Power: Flame Breath
Witchfire, Warp Charge 1
Template S5 AP4 A1 Soul Blaze

Soul Blaze:
If the unit suffers one or more unsaved wound, at the end of each turn roll a D6, On a three or less the flames die out, on a four or more the flames continue. The unit takes D3 S4 AP5 hits. The wounds are allocated by the controlling player and cover saves are not allowed

1 - Fiery Form
Blessing, Warp Charge 1
Psyker gains 4++ save and +2 strength, his close combat attacks are Soul Blaze

2 - Fire Shield
Blessing, Warp Charge 1
One friendly unit has a 4+ cover save from shooting attacks, plus a form of Hammer and Wrath

3 - Inferno
Witchfire, Warp Charge 1
24" S4 AP5 A1, Soul Blaze, Blast, Ignores cover

4 - Spontaneous Combustion
Focussed Witchfire, Warp Charge 1
18" target model suffers a wound with no armour or cover saves allowed, if dead, has an extra Blast attack

5 - Sunburst
Nova, Warp Charge 1
6" S4 AP5 Assault 2D6, Blind, Ignores cover

Blind:
Any unit hit by a blind weapon must take an initiative test, if failed, all models in the unit are reduced to weapon skill and ballistic kill one

6 - Molten Beam
Beam, Warp Charge 1
12" S8 AP1 A1, Melta

Telekinesis

Primaris Power: Assail
Beam, Warp Charge 1
18" S6 AP- A1, Strikedown

Strikedown:
Any model that suffers one or more unsaved wounds or passes one or more saving throws from this attack. They will half their Initiative and move as if in difficult terrain. Vehicles and monstrous Creature are immune

1 - Crush
Focussed Witchfire, Warp Charge 1
18" 2D6, target receives a hit equal to result rolled, if more than ten rolled auto wound or penetrating hit

2 - Gate of Infinity
Blessing, Warp Charge 1
Psyker and unit can move via deep strike up to 24"

3 - Objuration Mechanticum
Malediction, Warp Charge 1
24" one target unit must re-roll to hit ans wound rolls of a six, vehicles are hit with a Strength 1 Haywire hit

4 - Shockwave
Nova, Warp Charge 1
12" S3 AP- Assault D6, Pinning

5 - Telekine Dome
Blessing, Warp Charge 1
12" friendly unit has a 5++ against shooting attacks, every save is deflected back to any unengaged unit with 6"

6 - Vortex of Doom
Witchfire, Warp Charge 1
12" S10 AP1 H1, Blast which will hurt the Psyker also if he fails his Psychic test.

Telepathy

Primaris Power: Psychic Shriek
Witchfire, Warp Charge 1
12" Roll 3D6 and subtract targets leadership, a number of wounds are received equal to the result with no armour or cover saves allowed

1 - Dominate
Malediction, Warp Charge 1
24" One unit must pass a leadership test each time it moves, shoots, runs or assaults or they do nothing

2 - Mental Fortitude
Blessing, Warp Charge 1
24" One friendly unit that is falling back automatically regroups and gains the fearless special rule

3 - Puppet Master
Focussed Witchfire, Warp Charge 1
24" The target shoots at one of it's own forces, but not into his own unit

4 - Terrify
Malediction, Warp Charge 1
24" Loses the Fearless Special rule if it has it, and treats all enemy units as having the Fear Special rule

5 - Invisibility
Blessing, Warp Charge 2
24" Friendly unit has Shrouded and Stealth Special rule. if the unit charges, enemy cannot make use of Counter Assault and are at Weapon Skill one

6 - Hallucination
Malediction, Warp Charge 2
24" One enemy unit suffers one of the following hallucinations...

1-2 - Bugs! I hate bugs!
Unit is pinned unless they ignore it or are locked in close combat

3-4 - Ermmm?
The unit cannot shoot, run declare charges or strike blows in close combat

5-6 - You! You're a Traitor!
Every model inflicts a single hit on his own unit, resolved at that models own strengths, but using the strength bonuses, AP values and special rules of their most powerful close combat weapons if they have any

Lastly in this series, fluff... and other!

Previous Posts:
6th Edition Rule Book Unboxing
Reading 6th Edition - The first few pages
Reading 6th Edition - The movement phase
Reading 6th Edition - The shooting phase
Reading 6th Edition - The assault phase
Reading 6th Edition - Universal Special Rules
Reading 6th Edition - Independent Character
Reading 6th Edition - Unit types
Reading 6th Edition - Weapons 
Reading 6th Edition - Characters & Challenges
Reading 6th Edition - Psykers
Reading 6th Edition - Vehicle basics
Reading 6th Edition - Vehicle types
Reading 6th Edition - Terrain
Reading 6th Edition - Your army & Allies
Reading 6th Edition - Missions

Read more ...

Reading 6th Edition - Missions

Nick speaking,

Right, let's get onto actually fighting a 40k battle, and the first thing is secrecy, which is interesting to me as my buddies and I will very often play without knowing what is in each others army, before we deploy. The only thing that you have to declare, are which units are embarked in transport, assuming people are still going to be using transports! There is nothing about looking at each others army list before a game, but You HAVE to let your opponent see your army list after a game, and only during a game if both players agree.

There are six new missions and three new deployment maps. The order in which a game is set up is a bit different than it was before. First you have to roll for one of the six missions, I will have a look at the missions later in the post. Next you roll for the type of deployment, in all three deployments the table is divided into two halves, either long ways (Dawn of War), short ways (Hammer and Anvil) or diagonal (Vanguard Strike), and all three have you deploying at least 24" away from each other. It is at this stage that players choose which of the halves they will be deploying in. Next you set up any Fortifications that have been purchased in your own half and then it's time to set up the terrain.

There are two ways of setting up the terrain from then on, either in a narrative fashion that both players agree to, or as Alternating terrain. To place Alternating terrain, roll a D3 for each 2'x2' section (usually six) and make a note of how many pieces can be placed in that square. Then starting with the player that chose table halves, place one piece of terrain each, alternating until all the table sectionshave their allocated, or until you have no terrain left Both players can choose to stop placing terrain whenever they want, but the other player can continue if they so wish. Shuffling the terrain after it's all down is permitted if you want the terrain to look aesthetically pleasing.

Unless stated otherwise, the player who chose the table halves will also place the first objective, which is the next stage. Objectives have the same limitations that they always have, except they can go within 6" of the table edges. The last thing to do before you start deploying your army is determine what 'Traits' your Warlords have. Which we covered in this previous post.

Deploying armies is done with the usual roll off to see who is going first or second, with Infiltrators and Scouts deploying at the end. As before, the player who deployed first takes the first turn, unless the initiative is seized on a roll of a six. All six standard missions, known as 'Eternal Warrior' missions, use random game turns exactly the same as in 5th Edition.

Victory Conditions

The player with the most Victory Points will win any one of the new six mission. There are various ways to earn Victory Points in the different missions, and these victory conditions are split down into 'Primary' and 'Secondary' objectives. Primary objectives in some missions are the same as the old Kill Points were, but most of them are about capturing objective markers which have different values in different missions.

Secondary objectives are a way to gain extra points for doing certain things during the game. One VP for killing the first unit, One for killing your enemies Warlord and one for having a valid unit in you opponents deployment zone. these are known as 'Slay the Warlord', 'First Blood' and 'Linebreaker'.

Controlling Objectives

Controlling objectives are done the same as in the previous edition, either capturing it with a 'Scoring' unit within 3", or contesting it with a 'Denial' unit the same as before. The big difference here, is that a unit is only able to control one objective at a time! There also have been some changes to what constitutes a scoring and denial unit.

Scoring unit:
Unless stated in the mission, Troops are the only Scoring units in an army, although there are some exceptions when units of Troops are not Scoring. A vehicle, a unit currently embarked on a transport vehicle, a unit occupying a building, a unit with the Swarms special rule or a special rule that says it cannot score and a unit that is currently falling back, are all unable to Score any objective.

Denial units:
All units including troops can Deny an objective if they are within 3" of with the following exceptions. A vehicle, a unit currently embarked on a transport vehicle, a unit occupying a building, a unit with the Swarms special rule or a special rule that says it cannot deny and a unit that is currently falling back, are all unable to Deny an objective. 

Mission Special Rules

Night Fighting

It's all change for Night Fighting and not only that, Night Fighting is in all the missions, well, as long as you remember to roll for it! You will be fighting your battles in the dark on turn one if a 4+ is rolled before deployment. If Night Fight does not happen on turn one, you have to start rolling for it again on turn five onwards to see if it gets dark, on a 4+ it becomes activated for the rest of the game.

When the Night Fight rules are in play, any unit over 36" from the targeting unit cannot be picked out. Units between 24"-36" away are treated as having the 'Shrouded' Special Rule and units 12"-24" away are treated as having the 'Stealth' Special Rule. Targets less than 12" are shot as normal. The only exception is with Scatter shots, who are able to hit units over 36" away if they happen to scatter on them, but of course, they will still be 'Shrouded'.

Reserves

You can now only reserve up to half you army, rounded up. The only exception to this, are units that have to reserve do not count toward the half. A unit and it's dedicated transport count as one, when working out the reserved quantities, but an Independent Characters joined to a unit will count as two, even though you only roll one die to see when the unit comes from reserve.

Reserve rolls are also different now, coming in on a 3+ turn two, a 3+ turn three and automatically on turn four. Your still able to have any reserve bonuses, but a one is always a fail to come out roll. Then we come to the BIG change, unless stated otherwise, a unit that comes from reserve is unable to charge the turn it arrives! As usual it cannot use any abilities that are done at the beginning of the movement phase either.

It's worth noting here, if your army has no units on the table at the end of any game turn, you will automatically lose, regardless if you still have reserves!

Ongoing Reserves

If a unit (Flyer) enters reserve part way through a game, it will always enter play the following turn at the same speed that it left the table. If the game ends when it is in reserve, it is classed as destroyed for any Victory Points purposes.

Mystery Objectives

Some missions use Mystery objectives, theses objectives never disappear of move, but have a selection of different mysteries. Once a model is within 3" of an objective you roll to see what affect it has, although any unit activates the objective, only one scoring unit that is closest to it can benefit from it, if it has any advantages. The mysteries are...

1 - Sabotaged!
At the end of every turn, centre a large blast marker over the objective, and resolve any hits at S4 AP-

2 - Nothing of Note!
Rolling a two does nothing

3 - Skyfire Nexus!
As the name suggests, the controlling unit has the Skyfire Special Rule each time they shoot.

4 - Targeting Relay!
The controlling unit can re-roll any failed to hit rolls of a one when shooting.

5 - Scatterfield!
The controlling models gain a +1 to any cover saves, accumulative with any Stealth and Shrouding.

6 - Grav Wave Generator!
Any unit attempting to charge the controlling unit halves their charge distance.

The missions

1 - CRUSADE
Primary - D3+2 Objectives
Secondary - Slay Warlord, First Blood and Linebeaker
Special Rules - Night Fight, Mystery Objectives and Reserves

2 -PURGE THE ALIEN
Primary - Victory Points (Kill Points)
Secondary - Slay Warlord, First Blood and Linebeaker
Special Rules - Night Fight and Reserves

3 - BIG GUNS NEVER DIE
Primary - D3+2 Objectives plus one Victory Point for each Heavy Support destroyed
Secondary - Slay Warlord, First Blood and Linebeaker
Special Rules - Night Fight, Mystery Objectives, Reserves and Heavy Metal

'Heavy Metal'
Your Heavy Support units are Scoring as well as your Troop choices, even if they are Vehicles, as long as they are not Immobilised.

4 - THE SCOURING
Primary - 6 Objectives, with random Victory Point values, plus one Victory Point for each Fast Attack destroyed
Secondary - Slay Warlord, First Blood and Linebeaker
Special Rules - Night Fight, Mystery Objectives, Reserves and Fast Recon

Fast Recon:
Your Fast attack units are Scoring as well as your Troop choices, even if they are Vehicles, as long as they are not Immobilised.

5 - THE EMPEROR'S WILL
Primary - 2 Objectives (Capture and Control)
Secondary - Slay Warlord, First Blood and Linebeaker
Special Rules - Night Fight, Mystery Objectives and Reserves

6 - THE RELIC
Primary - 1 Objectives that your models can pick up
Secondary - Slay Warlord, First Blood and Linebeaker
Special Rules - Night Fight, Reserves and The Relic (extensive rules for moving The Relic)

Previous Posts:
6th Edition Rule Book Unboxing
Reading 6th Edition - The first few pages
Reading 6th Edition - The movement phase
Reading 6th Edition - The shooting phase
Reading 6th Edition - The assault phase
Reading 6th Edition - Universal Special Rules
Reading 6th Edition - Independent Character
Reading 6th Edition - Unit types
Reading 6th Edition - Weapons 
Reading 6th Edition - Characters & Challenges
Reading 6th Edition - Psykers
Reading 6th Edition - Vehicle basics
Reading 6th Edition - Vehicle types
Reading 6th Edition - Terrain
Reading 6th Edition - Your army & Allies

That's it, 131 pages of rules done! Next is to skip to page 418 to have a look at psychic disciplines...

Read more ...

Reading 6th Edition - Your army & Allies

Nick speaking,

Isn't it interesting how quickly you get used to something! I had a look at the old 5th Edition book just a minute ago, and boy does it look old, it looks like it was a 3rd Edition book or something? Just goes to show how great the layout and ease of reading 6th Edition is, as I come to the Choosing your Army section...

Choosing your army is very much like it used to be, but there are a few things of note. The Force organisation chart now has a 'Primary Detachment', exactly the same as we always had, plus an 'Allied Detachment', which we will come to in a bit. There is also an optional, single 'Fortification' choice. There are four Fortifications listed, and they are the current GW terrain pieces such as a Skyshield Landing Pad and Imperial Baston. All four pieces have there own points values and Special Rules listed, other Fortifications are going to be released in White Dwarf or on the GW website in the future.

In games over 1999 points, you are able to take two Primary Detachments, also unlocking another Allied Detachment, but not another Fortification. However, taking two Detachments still does not make it possible to take more than one 'Unique' Character.

The Warlord

One HQ from your army has to be chosen from your army to be your Warlord, and to gain an additional ability. The Warlord has to be your HQ choice with the highest Leadership, if you have more than one in your army, you are able the select which one it is. As you would expect, an Allied HQ choice is unable to be your Warlord! There are then three types of 'Trait' categories that you can give them, and each category has six different traits that are randomly selected. The 'Trait' categories are, 'Command', affecting an area around your Warlord, 'Personal', combat skills that influence them and their unit, and 'Strategic', which affect your entire army with tricks and gambits.

Allies

If you wish, you are able to choose Allies for your army. You are only able to choose Allies from one Allied Codex in any one list, even if you are using two Primary and Allied detachments. An allied detachment has a compulsory selection of one HQ and one Troops for each detachment taken. You are then able to take another Troops, one Fast and one Heavy choice. Obviously, there are some limitation to which armies can Alliance. Some cannot alliance at all, like Tyranids, whilst others can alliance, but at different levels of confidence. These different Alliances range from 'battle Brothers' to 'Desperate Allies', and have their own Special rules listed.

Personally, my four armies don't seem to form alliances very well. Nids can't do it at all, Necrons and Eldar can't do it, and Necron and Space Wolves are only Desperate Allies. The best my armies can do is Eldar and Space Space Wolves, and that is only as Desperate Alliance. Of course, I could buy a few models from an army I don't already own, hang on, now I am thinking about starting a new army? Well done GW, your plan to introduce me to a new army and spend more money is working!!

Previous Posts:
6th Edition Rule Book Unboxing
Reading 6th Edition - The first few pages
Reading 6th Edition - The movement phase
Reading 6th Edition - The shooting phase
Reading 6th Edition - The assault phase
Reading 6th Edition - Universal Special Rules
Reading 6th Edition - Independent Character
Reading 6th Edition - Unit types
Reading 6th Edition - Weapons 
Reading 6th Edition - Characters & Challenges
Reading 6th Edition - Psykers
Reading 6th Edition - Vehicle basics
Reading 6th Edition - Vehicle types
Reading 6th Edition - Terrain

Next up, missions...

Read more ...

Reading 6th Edition - Terrain

Nick speaking,

The terrain section of the book is actually quite large, taking up twenty pages of the book. I am not going to go over everything here, but I do want have a look at some areas of note. The terrain section really does continue the theme of fun that the rest of the book has, giving you lost of options and fun things to try out. I am pretty sure most of it will never be used, but it is there if you want to spice up some of your old terrain you have been using for years...

First, there is a new type of terrain called 'Lethal', it sort of sits between 'Dangerous' and 'Impassable'. Things like lava, acid and the like count as Lethal. It basically follows the same rules as Impassible, but you can never end your move in it, if you do, the model is removed! I like this ideas, and I plan on making a small piece of Lethal terrain for my Necron terrain set.

Next is 'Area' terrain, which uses the Difficult terrain rules, and offers a 5+ cover save as standard. Models in Area terrain that 'Go to Ground' receive a +2 to their cover save instead of +1. They also receive a cover save in Area terrain whether they are 25% obscured or not. There is a small section that notes some terrain types will have random effects, called 'Mysterious' terrain, only finding out what type of terrain it is when a unit enters it.

There are three pages dedicated to buildings (intact), including a Building damage table. They cover rules like Building armour charts, Building sizes, leaping of roofs with 'impact tests' and fire points for buildings and Bunkers, which is great as my buddy has bunkers, but it's been a long time since we have used them. This section also covers Battlements for the terrain GW sells.

Next are ruins, and as I have Cities of Death terrain, is very interesting to me. The basic rules are again, pretty much the same, there is a new 'Jump down' rule so you can get down a building quickly, but you will have to take an 'Impact test', which is slightly worse than a Dangerous terrain test, depending on how far you jumped.

There is a whole page dedicated to Forests, jungles and woods as well as another page dedicated to rivers, lakes and pools. All of these pieces count as 'Mysterious' terrain and have some random terrain abilities listed. Looks like fun as my buddies and I have forests, rivers and lakes that we use already anyway.

'Battlefield Debris' is next and here we can find special rules for things like Defence Lines, Ammo Dumps, Gun Emplacements and all the other bits of terrain GW sell. The best thing here though, are barricades and Walls! Barricades offer a 4+ cover save to any models. So all terrain is not going to be 5+ as we first thought, we have ruin building and barricades in most of our terrain boxes which both grant a 4+ cover save.

There is a page for 'Archeotech Artifacts', Impassible pieces of Artifacts that have up to twelve random results such as, Booby traps, Holy relic and Alien Corpses. Lastly, there are the 'Unique' terrain rules, for 'Spiker'Plants' and 'Psionic Shield Generators'. It is also indicated that there is going to be some extra 'Data Sheets' for 'Unique' terrain, released in the White Dwarf magazines. It's woth noting that there are no specific rules for roads, so I assume they are just counted as open terrain.

So that's it for terrain, and there's a lot of fun stuff there if you want to add a bit more flavour to your 40k games.

Previous Posts:
6th Edition Rule Book Unboxing
Reading 6th Edition - The first few pages
Reading 6th Edition - The movement phase
Reading 6th Edition - The shooting phase
Reading 6th Edition - The assault phase
Reading 6th Edition - Universal Special Rules
Reading 6th Edition - Independent Character
Reading 6th Edition - Unit types
Reading 6th Edition - Weapons 
Reading 6th Edition - Characters & Challenges
Reading 6th Edition - Psykers
Reading 6th Edition - Vehicle basics
Reading 6th Edition - Vehicle types

Next up, your army and allies...

Read more ...

Reading 6th Edition - Vehicle types

Nick speaking,

Following on from my Previous post Vehicle basics, where we looked at the rules that are common for all Vehicles. Let's now have a look at the Vehicle type rules...

Vehicle Squadrons
The first change is for when moving Flat out, is is possible for some vehicles to move flat out and not the others in a Squadron, but they still have to keep their 4" unit coherency. All hits are resolved one at a time on the closest model until it is 'Wrecked' or 'Destroyed', the same as when shooting at infantry units. If one of the models in the Squadron is immobilised, the other models are able to abandon it by moving out of coherency. The immobilised model is then treated as a separate unit from then on.

Transports
There is a lot of stuff here that is the same as it was, including for 'Dedicated Transport', but there are a few different things as well. It is noted that models embarked on a Vehicle are classed as 'Fearless' whilst they are embarked. The big change though, is disembarking! A unit is able to disembark when a Transport does not move more than 6". The models can then disembark within 6" of the access points keeping coherency. The transport cannot move if it has already moved, but can move normally if it was stationary. Either way though, you are unable to perform a 'Tank Shock' or 'Ram' that turn. OK, we then move onto the biggest change of all, disembarked units are only able to shoot (counting as having moved) or run, BUT they are not able to assault, even if the transport stayed stationary! Wow! I was really looking forward to painting my Howling Banshee's and getting them on the table, but what is the point now?

Assaulting Transports:
Passengers in a transport that is being assaulted, can use fire points to perform 'Overwatch'

Effects on Passengers are now as follows...

Crew Shaken:
Can only make 'Snap shots' in the following shooting phase.

Crew Stunned:
Cannot shoot in the following shooting phase.

Wrecked:
Disembark 3" and 'Pinning' test

Explodes:
Same as the rules were before, but it indicates the model owning player can allocate any wounds to any models he/she wishes.
 

Flyers

Ariel Support:
Flyers must begin the game in reserve

Measuring and other models:
Measure from the vehicles hull and guns as usual, ignoring the base. The base is only used for when it's being assaulted, along with the hull, or when you are embarking and disembarking. Other models are able to go underneath a Flyer, as long as they are 1" away from it's base (unless assaulting).

Zoom:
Flyers can usually only make a special kind of move, called Zoom, although some can 'Hover'. Zooming has a movement of Combat Speed 18" and a Cruising Speed of 36". A Flyer needs to keep its speed up to stay in the air, so it can never Zoom less than 18". If it is forced to, it will Wreck itself automatically! When Zooming you have to move in a straight line, only being able to pivot on the spot ninety degrees before you move. Zooming Flyers always ignore all terrain checks and are unable to embark and disembark when they are zooming. They also cannot, or cannot be 'Tank Shocked' and Ramed'. A Flyer can move at 'Combat' and 'Cruising' speeds and still fire up to four shots the same turn at their normal ballistic skill.

Zooming Flyers can only be hit with weapons that can shoot 'Snap shots' unless the model or firer has the 'Skyfire' Special Rule.

Skyfire:
Models with the 'Skyfire' Special rule or a weapon with the Special Rule, uses its normal ballistic skill when shooting at Flyers, Flying MC and Skimmers. Unless it also has the 'Interceptor' Special Rule, it can only fire at other targets using 'Snap Shot'.

Interceptor:
At the end of the enemy movement phase, a model with the Interceptor Special Rule may fire at any one unit that is in range and has line of sight after it has deep striked. The weapon that shot cannot be shot again in the next turn, but a different one can be. A weapon with the 'Skyfire' and 'Interceptor' Special Rules can fire at any unit at its normal ballistic skill, unless shooting 'Snap shots'. A Zooming Flyer that is hit may 'Evade' before the penetration roll is made. Evading grants you the 'Jinks' Special Rule, but you can only fire 'Snap shots' the following turn.

A Zooming model that moves 'Flat Out' must move forward in a staight line between 12"-24". They can never be assaulted. If a Zooming Flyer ends up going off the table edge it goes into ongoing reserve and must re-enter at zooming speed even if it can 'Hover'.

'Hover'
A Flyer that is of the 'Hover' type can choose to Hover instead of Zooming. Declare if you are Hovering or Zooming before you move, Hovering Flyers are treated as a fast skimmer which we will come to in a bit.

You use the following exceptions for immobilised, Wrecked and Explodes results, when applying the damage chart to a Flyer...

Locked Velocity:
If a Flyer is immobilised, its velocity is locked and it can only move at the same speed it was moving when it was immobilised. It also cannot 'Evade' or move 'Flat Out'
Now FAQ'd to say they can only move 36" when locked

Crash and Burn:
If a Flyer is 'Wrecked' or 'Explodes', centre a large blast marker over the Flyer and scatter it 2D6". Any model under the blast suffers a S6 AP- hit, and the Flyer is removed. If the Flyer is a transport Flyer, the hits are resolved at S10 with no armour saves allowed. Surviving models are placed within 3" of the final position of the large Blast marker.

Flyer Special Rules...

Skyfire:
A Flyer may choose all its weapon to have the 'Skyfire' Special rule at the start of each of its shooting phases.

Missiles:
A Flyer with missiles can shoot two of them each turn even though they are once use only. However, the missile shots count toward the number of shots fired.

Bombs and Bombing runs:
A Flyer with bombs can drop up to one bomb in the movement phase, this is called a bombing run. Dropping a bomb in the movement phase counts as firing one of your weapons in the shooting phase, but your other weapons can shoot at a different target. To drop a bomb you have to be moving at Zooming speed, centre the large blast over a single model that the Flyer moved over and Scatter it D6", any models under the blast are hit at the bombs specific profile. A Flyer that makes a bombing run is unable to move Flat out in the shooting phase

Chariots

Chariots are personal war machines for high ranked Characters, like an Overlord in a Command Barge.

Moving:
A chariot moves the same as their vehicle type, but if it is a skimmer, the rider can make a Sweep attack.

Sweep Attack:
Pick one unengaged enemy unit the Chariot moved over and roll a D6 equal to the number of attacks the rider has. The attacks hit on a 3+ if it moved a Combat Speed, and a 4+ if it moved at Cruising Speed. Each hit is resolved with the weapon and bonuses of the riders melee weapon. Vehicles are always hit on the side armour and any sixes rolled have the 'Precision Strikes' Special Rule. There are no cover saves allowed against sweep attacks even for vehicles.

Shots at a Chariot can never hit the rider itself and and are always resolved against the Chariot itself. If a Chariot did not move Flat Out, it may declare an assault using it's hull and base for ranges. The rider is classed as being in base contact with any model engaged and can strike and be stuck in the assault. The rider will get a +1 to his armour save when in close combat from a Chariot, but the Chariot and rider will not be locked in combat, and the rider can not perform or accept any challenges. The crew of a Chariot are always ignored.

Chariot Special Rules...

The Rider is fearless whilst embarked on a Chariot and the Chariot itself has the 'Hammer and Wrath' Special Rule, however, its Hammer and Wraith attacks are D6 attacks rather than one, resolved at S6 AP-, unless otherwise stated.

Open-Topped


The open-topped rules have not changed, you still add plus one to the vehicle damage charge and they have the new 'Assault Vehicle' Special rule, allowing them to assault after disembarking. 

Heavy Vehicles

Heavy vehicles can never move faster than combat speed and can never move Flat Out. They are always counted as remaining stationary when working out how they shoot.

Fast Vehicles

Fast Vehicles can move up to 12" when moving Flat Out. Fast Vehicles can shoot all their weapons at normal ballistic skill if they move at Combat Speed, and two weapons if they move at Cruising Speed with any other weapons shooting at 'Snap Shots'

Skimmers

If a Skimmer is also 'Fast' it may move up to 18" when moving 'Flat Out'. Skimmers have the 'Jinks' Special Rule.

Walkers

I don't actually own a dreadnought and rarely get my War Walkers out (although that may change now). So to be honest I am not amazingly familiar with Walker rules. As far as I can tell, they are pretty much the same as they were, except Walkers are now able to fire 'Overwatch' if they are assaulted.

Tanks

Tanks are still able to 'Tank Shock' and 'Ram', the rules again are pretty much as they were before for both, except in clarifies that a unit already falling back will automatically fail a tank shock test. and a Tank coming in from reserve is also able to perform a tank shock, as long as you declare it before it moves on. A Tank that has performed a Tank Shock is unable to move Flat Out the same turn, and units cannot embark or disembark the same turn either. This also means, if a tank embarked or disembarks a unit before it moves, it cannot perform a tank shock. Death or Glory looks to be the same as it was, as do Ramming rules. 'Jinks' Vehicles are able to get a cover save against hits caused by Ramming, and Ramming has the same restrictions as Tank Shocking.

Vehicle Upgrades

All the vehicle upgrades like Dozer Blades, Extra Armour, Searchlights, and Hunter-Killer Missiles are the same as they were. Smoke Launchers now offer a 5+ cover save with the same rules as it was before.

Previous Posts:
6th Edition Rule Book Unboxing
Reading 6th Edition - The first few pages
Reading 6th Edition - The movement phase
Reading 6th Edition - The shooting phase
Reading 6th Edition - The assault phase
Reading 6th Edition - Universal Special Rules
Reading 6th Edition - Independent Character
Reading 6th Edition - Unit types
Reading 6th Edition - Weapons 
Reading 6th Edition - Characters & Challenges
Reading 6th Edition - Psykers
Reading 6th Edition - Vehicle basics

Next up, Terrain...

Read more ...

Reading 6th Edition - Vehicle basics

Nick speaking,

I am starting to get an idea about what this new edition is all about now, I have to admit, when I originally heard that the new assault range was going to be up to 12", albeit random, I had a feeling the new book was going to be all about the assault, but it is pretty obvious from what I have read so far, 6th Edition is all about Shooting, Shooting seems to be King! So let's have a look at how good our vehicles are going to be at shooting, and how they are going to survive any incoming shots...

First are the usual set of standard vehicle rules that all 40k vehicles have in common. Vehicle Characteristics are the same as they were before, but now we have 'Hull Points' as well. Hull Points (HP) for all the vehicles are listed in the Appendix II on page 410. I won't list them all, but the ones of note to my armies are, Landraider 4HP, Rhino/Razorback 3HP, Drop Pod 3HP, Landspeeder 2HP, Monolith, Ghost Ark and Doomsday Ark 4HP, all other Necron vehicles have 3HP. All Eldar vehicles have 3HP except Vypers and Warwalker which are 2HP. An Ork battlewagon has 4HP, a Killakan and Wartrukk have 2HP, all other Ork vehicles have 3HP. A Chaos Damon Soul Grinder has 4HP and Tau vehicles have 3HP except for the Piranha, which is 2HP.

There are the usual types of vehicles we already know and a few additional ones, including Chariots, Flyers, and Hover. As usual these types can be combined so you can use both sets of rules. There are no changes to measuring, pivoting and terrain tests. The line of sight and shooting arc rules now come with pretty coloured pictures, but look to be the same as they were before, and the old 'Roads' rule has now disappeared...

The first real differences, are Shooting with vehicles. Stationary Vehicles can shoot everything as it was before, but when moving at Combat Speed (6"), you are now able to shoot a single weapon at your normal ballistic skill, and all other weapons as 'Snap shots'. If you move as Cruising Speed (12"), you can fire all your guns, but as 'Snap shots'. Obviously, guns that cannot fire Snap shots are unable to shoot. Ordnance weapons can be shot even if you move, and if you do move and shoot an Ordnance weapon, you are able to shoot any other guns as 'Snap shots' also.

Moving Flat Out:
A vehicle can elect to move 'Flat Out' instead of firing in the shooting phase. This move is up to 6" and triggers Dangerous Terrain tests as normal. You cannot tank shock the same turn you plan to move flat out.

Shooting at Vehicles:
The facing armour picture is now in colour, but there is no change to shooting vehicles except blast weapons no longer use half strength if the hole is not under the vehicle, if it touches the hull it hits at full strength!

Resolving Glancing hits:
For every Glancing hit scored you reduce the vehicles Hull Points by one, when it has no HP left, it becomes a 'Wreck'. Wrecked Vehicles become a piece of terrain conferring a 5+ cover save, counting as difficult and dangerous terrain.

Resolving Penetrating hits:
For every Penetrating hit scored you reduce the vehicles Hull Points by one. You then roll on the Vehicle damage table to see what other damage is done for each penetrating hit. All hits will also have to be rolled on the table even if the Vehicles HP are reduced to zero and it is Wrecked, as it still may explode.

1-2  - Crew Shaken
Same as before but weapons that are able to, can still 'Snap shot'

3     - Stunned
Same as before but weapons that are able to, can still 'Snap shot', and Zooming Vehicles can still move 18" without turning.
 
4    - Weapon Destroyed
Same as before, but the weapon that is destroyed is Randomly Chosen!

5    - Immobilised
Same as before but any additional immobilised results reduce Hull Points

6    - Explodes
Same as before

Chart modifiers:
At the bottom of the chart is listed two AP modifiers, AP2 is plus one to the chart and AP1 is plus two to the chart. No are other modifiers are listed here, but don't get too excited, later in book, the Open-topped rules state that there is a plus one penalty to the chart for being open-toppped. There are no longer any modifiers for AP-, which explains what Necron Tesla is all about, let's see, no chart modifiers anymore and any sixes to hit (Overwatch!) grants two addition hits!

Obscured Targets:
The 50% rule has now changed to a 25% rule, making it much easier to get a cover save for your vehicles, of course cover is now only 5+ on most pieces of terrain, but there is still a +1 to cover saves when you cannot see the facing of the vehicle you are shooting at. Models that can see individual facings resolve their shots separately.

Assaulting a Vehicle:
A unit cannot assault a vehicle unless it can damage it, and a vehicle that is being assaulted cannot use 'Overwatch'. All vehicles are treated as being weapon skill one, if they moved the previous turn, otherwise they are weapon skill zero. So auto hits if you didn't move and 3+ to hit for normal WS4 dudes to hit, even if you moved fast. Any vehicle that have a weapon skill in it's profile uses that instead, and all hits against vehicles are resolved against its rear armour as usual.

Vehicle results now have rules for counting towards combat resolution results. Glancing hits count as one wound and Penetrating hits count as two wounds....

Previous Posts:
6th Edition Rule Book Unboxing
Reading 6th Edition - The first few pages
Reading 6th Edition - The movement phase
Reading 6th Edition - The shooting phase
Reading 6th Edition - The assault phase
Reading 6th Edition - Universal Special Rules
Reading 6th Edition - Independent Character
Reading 6th Edition - Unit types
Reading 6th Edition - Weapons 
Reading 6th Edition - Characters & Challenges
Reading 6th Edition - Psykers

Next up, vehicle types...

Read more ...

Reading 6th Edition - Psykers

Nick speaking,

Right, now onto Psykers, and this is the page that the built in book mark is on when you first get the book, very interesting! Psykers now have different levels from 1-4 or very rarely, even more. A Psykers Mastery level is usually one, unless it states otherwise in their Codex entry. In an older Codex the level is worked out by how many powers they can use. Psykers that do not need 'Warp Charge' to use their powers, like an Eldar Shadowseer, have a Psyker Mastery level of zero...

Warp Charge:
Each Mastery level grants the Psyker a single Warp Charge per turn. Each turn a Psyker will automatically genrerate Warp Charges equal to their level, just make a note or use a counter to keep track of how many Warp Charges you use, any unused Warp Charges are lost at the end of the turn. This is just a way to keep track of the powers you have used, and it is worth noting that some powers can use more than one Warp Charge.

When using a Warp Charge to manifest a Psychic power, and the power requires a target, unless otherwise stated, the Psyker must have line of sight to this target. This means embarked Psykers can only target themselves and there unit or the transport they are in. Likewise, a Psyker outside a transport cannot target a unit inside a transport...

Psychic tests are done exactly as before, except when you have a Perils of the Warp wound, the wound is taken with no saves of any kind allowed. Interesting wording for Eldar, their Farseers Ghosthelm ability just prevent the Perils of the Warp attack from happening on a roll of 3+, it is not an actual save of a wound, so I assume it still works? There is nothing in the new FAQ that clarifies that though.

'Deny the Witch'
If a Psychic power is generated and used on a target, the target is able to attempt to Deny the Witch. Roll a D6, on a result of a six the power is nullified. If you have one or more Psykers in the target unit the pass result can be improved. If a target psyker has a Mastery level equal or less than the attacker, you pass the roll on a 5+, if the target Psyker has a Mastery level higher than the attacker, you pass the roll on a 4+.

'Psychic Hood'
A model with a Psychic hood is able to help a friendly unit when being targeted with a Psychic attack. He is able to do a 'Deny the Witch' roll for any model or unit within 6" of himself, regardless if he is joined with that unit or not.

There are many types of powers that determine when a power is used and what condition it needs to work. If a power does not have a type, it will be clearly expressed in its entry. Here are the categories listed and a very basic description of them...

Blessing:
Powers that are done at the start of the movement phase. They grant extra abilities to the Psykers allies, such as character boosts and abilities, even if they are locked in combat.

Conjuration:
Powers that are done at the start of the movement phase. They allow a specific number of units to be conjured on the battlefield via deep strike.

Malediction:
Powers that are done at the start of the movement phase. They have the ability to target a unit to reduce the unit's abilities, even if they are locked in combat.

Witchfire:
Powers that are done during shooting phase. Also known as Psychic shooting attacks, some of these attacks will be listed with a sub-type category with different restriction...

'Beam'
Drawing a 1mm thick line the same as a Space Wolves Jaws of the Wolf power.

'Focused Witchfire'
The same as Witchfire, but you are able to target a single model in a unit.

'Maelstrom'
A power that automatically targets and hits any friendly and enemy units that are in range.

'Nova'
A power that automatically targets and hits any enemy units that are in range.

The new Psychic Discipline rules are right at the back of the book, so we will come to them in a future post.

Previous Posts:
6th Edition Rule Book Unboxing
Reading 6th Edition - The first few pages
Reading 6th Edition - The movement phase
Reading 6th Edition - The shooting phase
Reading 6th Edition - The assault phase
Reading 6th Edition - Universal Special Rules
Reading 6th Edition - Independent Character
Reading 6th Edition - Unit types
Reading 6th Edition - Weapons 
Reading 6th Edition - Characters & Challenges

Next up, vehicles...

Read more ...

Reading 6th Edition - Weapons

Nick speaking,

Right, now let's have a look at weapons and any changes, and once again, any Special Rules that I do not list what they can do here, can be found in my previous posts listed at the bottom. The first thing that is new are weapons with a profile range of  '-', are melee weapons. If a weapons strength is classed as 'User', it uses the wielders strength value, after any bonuses. Standard 'Close combat weapons' have no AP value. If a model has no specific melee weapon, it's classed as having one CCW. Pistols can be used as a close CCW as above, ignoring it's pistol profile. If a model has more than one shooting or Melee weapon, it can only shoot/attack with one weapon, you cannot mix and match what weapons you use. Two or more melee weapons grants a +1 attack.

There is a new Gunslinger rule that lets models with two pistols fire both guns. Rapid Fire weapons can now move and shoot one shot up to its maximum range, and there is a new 'Salvo' weapon, which is basically larger Rapid Fire weapons that use a similar rule to the old Rapid Fire rules, where if you move you cannot shoot at the longer range.

Template weapons can fire 'Overwatch', even though they cannot fire 'Snap shot'! You do not need to use the template, as it will automatically inflict D3 hits on the charging unit resolved at its normal strength and AP. Template weapons ignore the 'Focus fire' rule and resolve their hits and wounds etc. as normal...

There is then a two page list of the most common (or notorious) ranged weapons in the 40k universe. This is where you can find out what new abilities your weapons have...

Quad-guns have 'Interceptor' and 'Skyfire'
Icarus Lascannon have 'Interceptor' and 'Skyfire'
Flakk Misiles have 'Skyfire'
Sniper Weapon rolls to hit of a six, have 'Precision Strikes'

Precision Strikes:
Wounds from these attacks are allocated to any model of your choice, but Characters can still use the 'Look out, Sir' Special Rule

Tank Hunters:
If a unit contains at least one model with this rule, you are able to re-roll failed armour penetrating rolls against vehicles (both shooting and assault), and can choose to re-roll glancing hits, but must accept the second roll.

Lastly, there is a three page list of the Melee weapons in the 40k universe, where you can find their Special rules listed as well...

Chainfists are AP2 and have 'Armourbane', 'Specialist weapon' and 'Unwieldly'
Chainsword is AP-
Eviscerator is AP2 and have 'Armourbane', 'Two handed' and 'Unwieldly'
Heavy Chainsword is AP5 and is 'Two handed'
Dreadnought CCW is AP2
Force Sword is AP3 and has 'Force'
Force Axe is AP2 and has 'Force' and 'Unwieldly'
Force Staff is AP4 and has 'Force' and 'Concussive'
Lightning Claws are AP3 and have 'Shred' and 'Specialist weapon'
Power Klaws are AP2 and have 'Specialist weapon' and 'Unwieldly'
Power Fists are AP2 and have 'Specialist weapon' and 'Unwieldly'
Power Sword is AP3
Power Axe is AP2 and 'Unwieldly'
Power Maul is AP4 and 'Concussive'
Power Lance is AP3/4 depending if it charges or not
Rending Weapons are AP2 (shooting and assault)
Thunder Hammers are AP2 and have 'Specialist weapon', 'Unwieldly' and 'Concussive'
Witchblades are AP- and have 'Armourbane' and 'Fleshbane'
Unusual Power Weapons with unique rules are AP3

Armoubane:
Roll 2d6 for armour penetration

Specialist weapons:
No +1 attack unless you have two of the same weapon

Unwieldly:
Fights at initiative one unless it is a Monstrous Creature or Walker

Force:
Same rules as the old Force weapon rules, and cannot be saved by 'Deny the Witch'

Concussive:
Models who take any unsaved wounds from this weapon are reduced to initiative one until the end of the following assault phase.

Shred:
Re-rolls failed to wound rolls in close combat and shooting

Fleshbane:
Always wounds on 2+ in close combat and shooting, and has no effect on vehicles

Lastly in this section are Grenades. Some grenades can be used against vehicles and Monstrous Creatures, except grenades that do not have a profile and use a special rule instead. There has also been a few changes/additions...

Assault Grenades:
Works the same in assault, but one model can choose to throw a granade if it has one instead of shooting at 8" S3 AP- A1, Blast

Plasma Granades:
Works the same in assault, but one model can choose to throw a grenades if it has one instead of shooting at 8" S4 AP4 A1, Blast. They can also be used against Vehicles and Monstrous Creatures in the assault phase at S4 AP4.

Defensive Grenades:
Works the same in assault, but the unit gains the 'Stealth' Special Rule as long as they are within 8" of the unit firing at them and they have not gone to ground.

Haywire Grenades:
One model can choose to throw a grenades if it has one instead of shooting at 8" S2 AP- A1, 'Haywire'. In assault against Vehicles they are S2 'Haywire'

Haywire:
When a weapon of this type hits a vehicle, roll a D6 for armour penatration
1     - No effect
2-5  - Glancing hit
6     - Penatrating hit

Krak Grenades:
One model can choose to throw a grenades if it has one instead of shooting at 8" S6 AP4 A1. They can also be used against Vehicles and Monstrous Creatures in the assault phase at S6 AP4.

Melta Bombs:
Can be used when assaulting Vehicles and Monstrous Creatures at S8 AP1 and have 'Armourbane' and 'Unweildly'

Previous Posts:
6th Edition Rule Book Unboxing
Reading 6th Edition - The first few pages
Reading 6th Edition - The movement phase
Reading 6th Edition - The shooting phase
Reading 6th Edition - The assault phase
Reading 6th Edition - Universal Special Rules
Reading 6th Edition - Independent Character
Reading 6th Edition - Unit types

Next up, Characters and Challenges...

Read more ...

Reading 6th Edition - Unit types

Nick speaking,

Ok, time to look at unit types, and from this section onwards, I will start to talk about the additional Special Rules that I did not mention in my previous post. These rules will include brand new or renamed rules, and rules that we know but have changed. Any Special Rule that I list, but do not explain what it is, means that I have already talked about it in my Universal Special Rules post.

Bikes and Jetbikes

These units are unable to go to ground or be pinned. They gain +1 to their toughness characteristic, but now the increase in the models toughness does affect its toughness for Instant Death purposes. They are not slowed by difficult terrain the same as before, but will have to take a dangerous terrain test if they assault a unit behind a barricade or Aegis defence line. They can move 12" as before, but turbo-boosting is now done in the shooting phase, which will mean you can now Fortune your Eldar Jetbike and still be able to turbo-boost! A bike can turbo-boost 12" and a Jetbike 24", in addition to that, an Eldar/Dark Eldar Jetbike is able to turbo-boost 36". If they do not turbo-boost, they may move in the assault phase 2D6" even if they don't assault. Bikes and Jetbikes have the Hammer of Wrath, Jinks and Relentless Special Rules...

Hammer of Wrath:
If in base contact after charging, you can make an additional attack that hits automatically, at the models unmodified strength at AP-. This is done at initiative ten and does not give an extra pile in move at that initiative step.

Jinks:
If the unit moves in the movement phase, it gaines a 5+ cover save. If it moves flat out or turbo-boosts, it gaines a 4+ cover save.

Jump Units

Once per turn you may use your Jump packs in either the movement or assault phase. If you move as Jump in the assault phase you are able to re-roll your charge distance dice which is 2d6", and will gain the Hammer and Wrath Special Rule as above. Jump infantry have a new re-named rule called Bulky, which means they count as two models when embarking on a vehicle. They can also choose to Deep Strike. The Deep strike rules are almost the same, but the Mishap table results are different...

1     - Terrible accident
2-3  - Misplaced
4-6  - Delayed

Jet Packs

Jet packs can move as normal or activate their jetpacks. They also have a thrust mode that lets them move 2D6" in the assault phase even if they are not assaulting. They have the Bulky, Deep Strike and relentless Special Rules.

Monstrous Creatures

Monstrous Creatures can still shoot two of their weapons at the same unit if they wish. They now have the Fear, Smash, Move Through Cover and Relentless Special Rules...

Fear:
At the start of each Fight Sub-phase, a unit in base contact with one model with the Fear rule has to take a fear test (Leadership Test). If they fail, they are at weapon skill one for the remainder of that Fight Sub-phase. Fear does not effect  'And they shall know no fear' or 'Fearless' models. Also, having the Fear Special Rule does not make you immune to fear yourself.

Smash:
All attacks except any 'Hammer and Wrath' attacks are AP2, unless they are already AP1. You are able to choose a Smash attack, which means you half the number of attacks, but double your strength (to a max of ten). This attack also lets you choose to re-roll the armour penetration roll against vehicles, but you must accept the second roll.

Flying Monstrous Creatures

Flying MC must declare if they are Sweeping or Gliding when they move. If they are deployed on the table they starting in glide mode. If you reserve them you can declare either one when they arrive. Gliding MC move like Jump MC. Swooping MC must move between 12"-24". You may pivot your model and then move it in a straight line and it does not take dangerous terrain tests. If they run, they continue forward in a straight line 2D6". Swooping MC cannot charge or be charged. Both Gliding and Sweeping flights will let you shoot two of their weapons if you don't run, and can shoot all round like other non-vehicle models.

A Swooping MC is hard to hit and can only be hit like 'Snap Shot', unless you have the 'Skyfire' Special Rule. Templates, Blast and Large blasts cannot hit Swooping models. If a Swooping model leaves the board via a board edge by choice or not, it is said to be leaving combat airspace. If this happens it will then go into 'Ongoing Reserve' and is unable to change it's flight mode.

A Swooping model may 'Dive' after an enemy model has rolled to hit and wound it. Before you roll your saving throws, declare that you will Dive. You will then gain the 'Jinks' Special Rule until the end of its next turn, however, it can only shoot 'Snap shots' until the end of it's next turn!

If a Swooping model takes one or more hits from a units shooting attacks, it must take a grounded test immediately after the hits have been resolved. Roll a D6, on a 3+ the model is fine, on a 1-2 it comes crashing down to the ground. It will suffer a single strength nine hit with no armour or cover saves allowed, and becomes grounded. A grounded model can be charged in the following assault phase and loses the 'Jinks' Special Rule, if it had it. It is able to move normally the next turn and will regain the 'Jinks' Special Rule if it Dives again later in the game.

Flying monstrous creatures gain the Fear, Hammer and Wrath, Move Through Cover, Relentless, Smash and Vectored Strike Special Rules...

Vectored Strike:
When Swooping, at the end of the movement phase, nominate one enemy unit the model has moves over that turn, even Flyers. The unit takes D3+1 hits, resolved at the attackers unmodified strength at AP3. Resolve hits against vehicles side armour. This attack counts as already shooting one weapon when it comes to the shooting phase, but if you want to shoot a second weapon, you can shoot at a different target

Skyfire:
Models with the 'Skyfire' Special rule or a weapon with the Special Rule, uses its normal ballistic skill when shooting at Flyers, Flying MC and Skimmers. Unless it also has the 'Interceptor' Special Rule, it can only fire at other targets using 'Snap Shot'

Interceptor:
At the end of the enemy movement phase, a model with the Interceptor Special Rule may fire at any one unit that is in range and has line of sight after it has deep striked. The weapon that shot cannot be shot again in the next turn, but a different one can be. A weapon with the 'Skyfire' and 'Interceptor' Special Rules can fire at any unit at its normal ballistic skill, unless shooting 'Snap shots'

Ongoing Reserve:
If a model such as a Flyer enters reserve part way through a game it will re-enter play at the start of the next owning players turn, but otherwise uses the normal reserve rules. If it is still in reserve when the game ends, victory points are awarded as if it was destroyed.

Beasts

Beasts now move 12" and are not slowed by difficult terrain, even on the charge. They have the 'Fleet' and 'Move Through Cover' Special Rules.

Cavalry

Cavalry move the same as Beasts, they are not slowed by terrain, BUT they count it as dangerous. They have the 'Fleet' and 'Hammer and Wrath' Special rules.

That's everything except for Artillery, which I am going to skip as I have never had a reason to use the rule.

Previous Posts:
6th Edition Rule Book Unboxing
Reading 6th Edition - The first few pages
Reading 6th Edition - The movement phase
Reading 6th Edition - The shooting phase
Reading 6th Edition - The assault phase
Reading 6th Edition - Universal Special Rules
Reading 6th Edition - Independent Character

Next up, weapons...

Read more ...

6th Edition FAQ's Now Up!

Nick speaking,

New 6th Edition Codex FAQ's are now up on the GW site!

Read more ...

Reading 6th Edition - Independent Characters

Nick speaking,

So what is going to happen to our precious Independent Characters now? Well, lets find out! The joining and leaving unit rules have been shortened and made easier to read. The 2" rule still applies and it all looks the same as it did before, but now what? 'While the IC is part of a unit, he counts as part of the unit for all rules purposes, though he still follows the rules for Characters'...

Look out, sir:
Allows you to pass the the 'Look out, Sir' rule on a 2+ instead of a 4+

(This rule allows a Character to allocate one of the wounds it has to take onto another model in the unit within 6", before you can do this though, you have to roll a dice, on a 1-3 you can't, and on a 4+ you can)

Heroic Morale:
If the unit he is with is under 25%, you are able test as if you had 25%.

(the 'Regrouping' rule is now different! You are now able to regroup if at least 25% of the unit is alive, and it has a chance to pass the test on a double one if it's under 25%. If successful, you can regroup 3")

Ongoing effects:
It is now confirmed that unless stated otherwise, if the Character leaves a unit that has gained or been harmed by an effect (such as fortune), he will take that effect with him, when he leaves. He will not however gain the effect, if he joins the unit after the effect has been gain or bestowed.

There is no sign of any Retinue rules! Next up, unit types...

Previous Posts:
6th Edition Rule Book Unboxing
Reading 6th Edition - The first few pages
Reading 6th Edition - The movement phase
Reading 6th Edition - The shooting phase
Reading 6th Edition - The assault phase
Reading 6th Edition - Universal Special Rules

Read more ...

Reading 6th Edition - Universal Special Rules

Nick speaking,

Well, actually there are no longer universal special rules, but next in the book after the assault phase, are the 'Special Rules'. I think it is very fair to say at this point, this new rule book is incredibly well done, loads of reference page numbers, and a large index page for pretty much everything. Also nice to see the main rule points highlighted in bold writing. The Special Rules section is no exception to this, it includes pretty much all of the special rules that are needed right through the book, all in one place and listed in alphabetical order. That works out at twelve whole pages of special rules! In this post though, I want to focus on the old USR that we are all used to and see how much they have changed...

Acute Senses:
If a unit with at least one model with this rule enters the table from a random board edge (flanking). The unit can re-roll the board edge dice. There is no extra rolling for Night Fight as Night Fight now has a totally difference rule, which we will look at later on.

And they shall know no fear:
Almost the same as it was and are also immune to the new 'Fear' rule. Fail a Fear test and you will be at weapon skill one in close combat.

Counter Attack:
Same as before, but only one model in the unit has to have the rule to take the test. Every model with the rule in the unit then gets +1 attack

Eternal Warrior:
No change

Fearless:
Fearless models automatically pass pinning, fear, morale and regrouping tests. They are unable to go to ground or choose to leave a combat with the 'Our weapons are useless' rule. Interesting to note that fearless models no longer have to take extra wounds when losing an assault, as the 'No Retreat' rule has gone.

Feel no Pain:
The FNP roll is now on a 5+ unless your rule has a number in brackets afterwards. It is now only bypassed by wounds that cause instant death.

Fleet:
May re-roll one or more dice when rolling to 'Run' or 'Charge', they can no longer assault after they run.

Furious Charge:
Plus one to strength, but not to initiative.

Hit and Run:
Looks like it is the same as it was

Move Through Cover:
3D6 and take the highest as it was, and automatically passed dangerous terrain tests. It has no effect on the 'Charge range' roll when assaulting.

Night Vision:
A unit with at least one model with Night Vision ignores the effects of Night Fight.

Outflank:
Almost the same with the exception for 'Ongoing Reserves' such as a Flyers leaving the battlefield.

Preferred Enemy:
If your specific rule does not say a specific enemy, you are able to re-roll any ones to to hit and wound, in both the shooting and assault phase. Only one model has to have the rule for the unit to benefit from it.

Rage:
Rage just grants you two attacks on the charge (hello Death Company, see you on the tables)

Relentless:
Looks like no change

Scout:
The main thing here is that you are no longer able to Scout and then Assault the first turn.

Skilled Rider:
Automatically passes dangerous terrain test and has a plus one to the new Jinks special rule (5+/4+ cover save if you move certain distances for units with the Jinks rule)

Slow and Purposeful:
Can move and shoot heavy weapons, but cannot run, Turboboost, move flat out, perform sweeping advances or overwatch.

Stealth:
No change, but it does say you get always get a 6+ cover save in the open

Stubborn:
Same as before, but if you are also fearless, you use the fearless rules instead.

Swarms:
They still take two wounds when hit by blast weapons, but no longer gain the Stealth special rule. Instead they now ignore difficult terrain.

Tank Hunters:
May re-roll failed armour penetration rolls against vehicles (shooting and assault), and can choose to re-roll Glancing hits to try and get a penetrating hit instead, but must accept the second roll.

It's interesting to see that 'Turboboost' is missing from this section, but it can be found in the bike rules later in the book.

Previous Posts:
6th Edition Rule Book Unboxing
Reading 6th Edition - The first few pages
Reading 6th Edition - The movement phase
Reading 6th Edition - The shooting phase
Reading 6th Edition - The assault phase

Next up, Independent Characters... 

Read more ...