Choosing an Army Q&A
by Jervis Johnson & Andy Chambers
IncludesCommand Structure/CompositionImperial GuardSpace MarinesOrksEldarChaos, andTyranids
Q: How many "Supreme Commander" detachment may you take?
a) One, except for Trynids who are limited by the over-all size of their army as to the total number
b) As many as you want, except for ‘Nids who are limited by the over-all size of their army as to the total number.
c) Some other number.
A: a)
Q: Many units, especially commanders, may be "upgraded" to become units of a different type. Often, this new unit type has many stats that are inferior to those of the original unit. (Eg. Eldar Harlequin units can be "upgraded" to Jetbike units. A Harlequin has an assualt value of 4, whereas a Jetbike has an assault value of only 2.) When making such an upgrade, do you:
a) Take the higher of each stat
b) Use only the stats of the new units (plus the special abilites noted on the force list for the new unit).
A: b)
Q: Under the command structure for Chaos War Engines and Imperial Titans it is possible to buy multiple scout titans, yet no chain of command is specified. Does this mean that
a) War Engines without a chain of command can enter the board at separate locations, essentially as separate detachments.
b) War Engines without a chain of command must enter the board as a single detachment, but may separate and ignore the 30cm unit coherency rule.
c) War Engines should have a chain of command. Choose one unit to be HQ, and proceed as normal.
A: c)
Q: The Battles Book tells us which armies may ally with each other, but give us no guidance as to how we should determine the overall strategy rating of the allied force when they do so. This can get especially complicated when various combinations of Marines/Imperial Guard/Eldar fight together. Are there any simple formulae that can be recomended for determining an allied strategy rating?
A: Use the lowest strategy rating. (Note that ‘Imperial Armies’ work out their strategy rating using the rules in the battle book, then compare it to other allies to see who has the lowest.)
Q: The Battles Book tells us that Orks may ally with Chaos. However, Orks are allowed to replace their initiative counters in the cup before the Assault Phase, while Chaos is not. What happens when these two armies ally, as it is the joint force that is drawing initiative counters?
a) They do not replace initiative counters
b) They do replace initiative counters
c) They only replace initiative counters if the Orks make up over 50% of the army.
d) Something else.
A: a)
Q: The rules seem to have been written with the general idea that a detatchment has only one HQ unit at a time, with units lower on the command chain taking over as their superiors are killed. The Imperial Guard infantry, however, seems to have an unusual command structure in that you are required to purchase three command units, and pay the 25 pt. surcharge for each, in order to field a full strength detatchment. Does this purchase grant the Guard infantry three simultaneous command units, and thus perhaps allow them to spread out a little more and take better advantage of cover, or is only one of these units at a time considered to be the detatchement HQ?
a) All three units are simultaneously considered an HQ unit. All Guard units within the detatchment are considered in command so long as they are within 30 cm. of at least one of these units.
b) Only one of these three units at a time is considered the HQ unit for the purposes of judging which detatchment units are within command.
A: Nominate one of the HQs to be the command HQ at the start of the battle. This HQ is used until (or if…) destroyed, then one of the other HQs takes over as the next in the chain of command.
Q:Rough Riders are not mentioned as having the Assault ability in the charts within the Imperial Guard section of the armies book (p. 15), or in the Imperial Guard Summary Chart on p. 30. They are shown in both these places as having only the Cavalry ability. In the detatchment chart on p. 33, hoever, Rough Riders are shown as having both the Assault and Cavalry abilities. Can you confirm that p. 33 is correct, and that Rough Riders should have the assault ability?
A: Page 33 is correct, Rough Riders should have the assault ability.
Q: In the Imperial Guard infantry detatchment sheet (Armies Book, p. 33), Rough Rider units are listed in the Main Force section but not the Support Force section. The notes state: "Rough Riders may only be chosen as main force squads if the detatchment includes at least one Rough Rider Command squad, otherwise they are chosen as support units." If, however, the detatchment does include a Rough Rider Command squad, may Rough Rider squads still be purchased as support units?
a) Yes. You may always choose them as support units.
b) No, they may only be chosen as support units if you do not have the requisite commander.
A: a)
Q: As the rules are written, Rough Rider HQs are excluded from being able to take a Captain or, more importantly, a Psyker. Is this correct? It seems strange to exclude from a dedicated close-combat force a unit whose primary purpose is to give +1 to the roll in a close-combat or firefight.
A: Yes, its correct.
Q: On p. 33 of the armies book, the Imperial Guard squad is listed with a cost of +6 pts. to "Include a Commisar (Hero) in one unit." Should be this line be taken to mean that a Commisar may be included within both units for 12 pts, or may *only* one unit include a Commisar?
A: Only one unit may include the Commissar.
Q: List members find it odd that the stats and cost of the Imperial Guard Colonel and the Imperial Guard Commisar-General are identical. The only difference seems to be that the Colonel unit may include a psyker, whereas the Commisar-General stand may not. Should there be any other differences between these two units? The Commisar-General currently seems redundant.
A: You’ve missed out the most important difference – a Commissar-General just looks much cooler than a boring old IG Colonel, especial as the former gets the chance to ride around in a jet-black Leman Russ! In other words, we’ve included options in the army lists for aesthetic reasons, rather than just game reasons.
Q: What was the rationale behind making Terminators marines with a save, as opposed to marines with hero status (particularly as ork nobz now outclass terminators in close combat)?
A: We felt it better reflected their abilities (Terminators are primarily shooters, Ork Nobs primarily assault troops). Also Terminators just aren’t as good in close combat as Space Marine Assault squads, while Nobz are amongst the most effective assault troops in the Ork army. As a house rule, allowing players to upgrade Terminators to assault troops would be fine, but converting the miniatures to show the Thunder Hammers etc might be rather fiddly!
Q: How many stands of terminators can a land raider or rhino carry? The rules list them as transport (2), therefore 2 units, even of terminators (as there are no special exceptions for them). However, in Warhammer 40k there is only enough room for 5 models of terminators in either.
A: Strictly by the rules, two stands can be carried. As a house rule for those willing to put up with the extra complexity, only allow one stand, as per [Warhammer] 40K.
Q: List members are still having trouble figuring out how to buy commanders for their armies. For each of the forces below, please indicate whether any and or all of the options are legal to purchase as the detatchment’s original commander.
Lots of people have asked me this question in lots of different ways, but basically I think the issues come down to whether you can purchase any unit as a commander for +25 for the marines, and do the Eldar have to add 25 points to their Farseers if they want to use them as HQ units or is this already figured in?
I can understand the confusion, and it has to be said that the army book could have been clearer on this subject. The problem seem to have come about because late in playtesting we decided to allow any units to be HQs (so that players didn’t *have* to field Captains, etc), and althoug the army lists were changed, not all of the examples were updated. This is one of the major problem with writing rules, because at the time of writing you don’t have one rulebook, you have a whole bunch of computer files on several different computers. Making sure that every single file gets updated is a complete nightmare, and things like this always seem to slip through (though you should see the number of errors we *do* catch).
But I digress (sp?); on to the specific questions:
Marine Detatchements:
a)Any marine unit at +25 points to the basic cost
b)Captain at 25 points
c)Captain at 25+25=50 points
d)Librarian at 35 points
e)Librarian at 35+25=60 points
A: a) [Editor’s Comment: Which includes c and e]
Q: Orks seem to be the only army with a chain of command that does not end in "any other unit." Is this a typo, or are Ork detatchments intended to fall out-of-command more easily than other armies? Note that an Ork Warband will be out-of-command if reduced to only Battlewagons, Buggies, and Gretchin [Not that I could ever envision Gretchin or Squigoths taking charge of anything! -Ed.] while a Kult of Speed will be out of command even if it has Ork Boyz left.
a) The Ork Chain(s) of command should end in "any other unit."
b) The Ork Chain(s) of command is correct.
c) The Ork Chain(s) of command is mostly correct, but needs a little tweaking… (please specify)
A: b)
Q: The stats for the Mega-Gargant’s Kruz Missles says that it has 2x Kruz missles, and that only one may be fired per turn. Should this be taken to mean that each Kruz missles is a one-shot weapon, as is the Vortex Missle?
A: Yes, Kruz missiles are one-shot weapons
Q: The rules state that Flak units may roll 1 die for each of their points of Firepower when firing at fliers, and score a hit if they roll equal to the flyer’s armour or more. The Eldar Fire Prism, however, has one anti-tank shot rather than a Fire-Power rating. While it certainly rolls one die when shooting at flyers, players are unsure if it should score a hit if it rolls 4 or above (as Anti-Tank) or if it scores armour value or above (as 1 Super Heavy Weapon = 1 FirePower). Which is the case?
A: The Fire Prism hits on a 4+
Q: List members are still having trouble figuring out how to buy commanders for their armies. For each of the forces below, please indicate whether any and or all of the options are legal to purchase as the detatchment’s original commander.
Lots of people have asked me this question in lots of different ways, but basically I think the issues come down to whether you can purchase any unit as a commander for +25 for the marines, and do the Eldar have to add 25 points to their Farseers if they want to use them as HQ units or is this already figured in?
I can understand the confusion, and it has to be said that the army book could have been clearer on this subject. The problem seem to have come about because late in playtesting we decided to allow any units to be HQs (so that players didn’t *have* to field Captains, etc), and althoug the army lists were changed, not all of the examples were updated. This is one of the major problem with writing rules, because at the time of writing you don’t have one rulebook, you have a whole bunch of computer files on several different computers. Making sure that every single file gets updated is a complete nightmare, and things like this always seem to slip through (though you should see the number of errors we *do* catch).
But I digress (sp?); on to the specific questions:
Eldar Detatchments
a)Any unit at +25 points
b)Farseer at 50 points
c)Farseer at 50+25=75 points
A: a) – the Farseer should cost 75 points
Q: Was the Eldar Farseer used as a detatchment HQ designed to cost 75 points, or was this price an unforseen consequence of last minute changes in the structure of the army lists? He seems to cost only 50 points when purchases as a supreme commander.
A: Inititially all Eldar War Hosts were led by a Farseer that cost 50 points (you had no choice, you had to take him). In the end, however, we decided this was a bit silly as there simply aren’t that many Farseers around, so we made using a Farseer an option at a cost of 50 points. (We know that nearly all 40K Eldar armies are led by a Farseer – we hope to be able to remedy this at some point in the future…) Then we found that at 50 points all detachments ended up being led by a Farseer anyway, so we added in the +25 point mark-up. On the other hand using a Farseer as a Supreme Commander seemed highly appropriate, so we left him at 50 points in this case.
(Hope that makes sense!)
Q: The rules for Eldar Exarchs are also causing confusion. Can they only be added to basic Aspect Warrior stands, confering the assault skill, or can they be added to a stand of Swooping Hawks? What is the effect of adding an Exarch to a Dark Reaper squad? Is the unit’s range 15cm or 45cm, assault value 3 (4 divided by 2, plus 1; or 4 plus 1 divided by 2), firepower 2?
A: The following is likely to be the _revised_ answer we give in WD211:
Add the following to the end of the Assault Special Ability description: "If combined with the heavy weapon ability, change the range to 45cm and add +1 firepower, but halve the unit’s assault value before adding +1."
Q: An Eldar pulsar fires 1d6 AT shots. For the purposes of placing blast markers, does this count as 1 or 1d6 Super Heavy Weapons?
A: It counts as 1 Super Heavy Weapon
Q: List members are still having trouble figuring out how to buy commanders for their armies. For each of the forces below, please indicate whether any and or all of the options are legal to purchase as the detatchment’s original commander.
Lots of people have asked me this question in lots of different ways, but basically I think the issues come down to whether you can purchase any unit as a commander for +25 for the marines, and do the Eldar have to add 25 points to their Farseers if they want to use them as HQ units or is this already figured in?
I can understand the confusion, and it has to be said that the army book could have been clearer on this subject. The problem seem to have come about because late in playtesting we decided to allow any units to be HQs (so that players didn’t *have* to field Captains, etc), and althoug the army lists were changed, not all of the examples were updated. This is one of the major problem with writing rules, because at the time of writing you don’t have one rulebook, you have a whole bunch of computer files on several different computers. Making sure that every single file gets updated is a complete nightmare, and things like this always seem to slip through (though you should see the number of errors we *do* catch).
But I digress (sp?); on to the specific questions:
Chaos Marine Detatchments
a) any unit at +25 to basic cost
b) Chaos Lord HQ at 25 points
c) Chaos Lord HQ at 25+25=50 points
d) Sorceror HQ at 35 points
e) Sorceror HQ at 35+25=60 points
A: a) [Editor’s Comment: which, again, includes c and e]
Q: On p. 90 of the armies book, the Chaos cultist detachment is listed as being able to purchase a support weapon battery of 1 to 3 units. What are these weapons? Are they the same as the Imperial support weapons?
A: Wooops! Good question, and one that got past us. They are the same as the Imperial support weapons.
Q: Nurgle Daemon engines have two different prices listed for them in conflicting places. In one place they are listed as 31 points, and in another as 45 points. Which is correct?
A: The right value is 31 points. We’re coming up on the first reprint now and we will be fixing the most tricky problems there.(Source: Andy Chambers)
Q: The Slaanesh Questor titan seems much more useful than the Subjugator, yet it is the Subjugator that costs more. Is it possible that these two scout titans have their costs reversed in the Armies book?
A: No – the Subjugator has a Titan CC weapon
Q: There has been some concern about the abilities of Tyranid bio-titans, given that they have no shields or special saving throw. Part of the background information says that the Tyranid titans have regeneration. Is this:
a) Some special, otherwise undocumented feature;
b)A reference to the ability of all war engines to repair damaged systems.
A: The ability of Tyranid Bio-Titans to regenerate is represented by their high armour value and number of wounds.