Imperial Armour Compendium - Marine Super-heavy Flyers

Battle Brothers, though few in number (we have some more in the queue), on the blog you are in attendance representing your Chapter.  Thus now we come upon your time in the Imperial Armour Compendium just released from Forge World. 

Today we’re reviewing the classic tried and true Thunderhawk and its predecessor, the Sokar Pattern Stormbird.

Stats

Like the Titans, the starting BS 2+ is gone from the top bracket.  It’s safe to say at this point that BS 2+ is reserved for the absolute cream of the crop now, something that has affected even the mighty Leviathan Dreadnought.  Both flyers have now gone to T8 but have picked up the all-important armour save of 2+.  Like with the Titans this isn’t a major deal as it only really helps S8-S18 weapons, but the boosted armor is a great benefit.  No updated wounds value, so you’re still somewhat squishy.

There were some reductions in the number of attacks these flyers get, but it’s overall a good change.  The maximum number of attacks has been reduced, but in the later stages these two flyers instead gain a set number of attacks that exceeds what they used to get on average with the random roll.

Thunderhawks lost their 5++ in this update while the Sokar Stormbird picks up void shields of the same number and quality as the Warhound Titan.

Image Source: Forge World

Overall, it’s not a lot of bad for either of these flyers to absorb, especially in light of the gain of the 2+ armour.  The biggest change is that the flyers can now carry a mix of BOTH Firstborn and Primaris, and Primaris no longer chew up double slots in comparison.

While the changes trend towards the nerf for these flyers it is offset by absolutely massive improvements to their points and Power Levels.  The Thunderhawk dropped 41 percent and 47 percent respectively, while the Stormbird sheds 50 percent and 57 percent respectively.  This far outweighs the losses they suffered.

Weapons

There’s nothing special to talk about with the Stormbird’s weapons since its load out is comprised of things familiar to all Marine players.  However, the Hellstrike Missile Battery takes the place of the old missiles and has a very nice boosted profile that doesn’t suffer penalties to shooting at the ground and ignores the -1 of the flyers while doing extra damage to AIRCRAFT.

The Thunderhawk’s turbo-laser actually lost blast but picked up a point of armour penetration for its troubles, making it a dedicated flyer killer.  However, the change to the Thunderhawk Heavy Cannon is glorious.  It picks up the blast trait and, while the damage does lose a point off of its maximum , it is now guaranteed three damage with the potential for a little extra, finally making this weapon usable.

Final Thoughts

Like the Knights, the Marine super-heavy flyers got tweaks that brought them in line for balance.  While not as tough they are more durable now due to their new saves.  Their weapons have been improved while their astronomical points and power costs have been heavily toned down.  Overall, a win here for these venerable war machines.

Imperial Armour Compendium - Knights

Welcome, Scions, as we continue our coverage of the new Imperial Armour Compendium coming out soon from Forge World.  Having hit the Titans of the Imperium of Makind and the forces of Chaos, followed by the Eldar, we’re going to a smaller chassis of war engine today: the Knights.

We’ll get an easy one out of the way first.  Imperial Knights and Chaos Knights are exactly the same in profile, weapon stats, and options.  No god dedications, no inspirational attributes, nothing different but the relevant keywords.  With that said, we’ll look at the Knights in general and point out things of particular note.

Stats

The first thing that jumps out is that the wounds counts have not changed from 8^th edition and are very much in line with the standard GW Knights (which are in the 24-28 wound range depending on class).  We can take this as a sign that Knights won’t be receiving any kind of wounds boost when their new codex drops since the Imperial Armour Knights stayed at their current levels.

In terms of the general stat line, nothing has really changed on these guys other than some small tweaks (like the Cerastus chassis losing a single wound).  As far as your Forge World Knights go, it’s almost completely business as usual.

However, it would seem that the changes to points and Power Levels were somewhat mixed.  A few Knights received a minor drop while many remained the same.  A few, notably in the Cerastus chassis (but not all), increased but not to a large degree like we saw in the later days of 8^th edition or when 9^th first came out.

Weapons

We’re going to rifle through these really quickly and hit on the high points since there are so many weapons:

• The Asterius Volkite Culverin loses its AP and has changes to how it deals extra wounds.
• Lancer and Castigator weapons remain unchanged.
• Acherons gain a new profile for their chainfist, able to keep the original attack profile or use a sweep like the Armiger Warglaives.
• Hekaton Siege Claws also gained the new Smash profile while the Crush profile retains the previous edition’s stats, while the Atrapos does the same with Focus and Sweep modes, respectively, on the Atrapos Lascutter.  We’re sensing a theme here for the melee options.
• Helios Defence Missiles on the Porphyrion now suffer a penalty against non-aircraft but gain the bonus against them.  Interestingly, the Ironstorm Missile Pod profile is missing.
• Titanic Feet as an attack profile seem to have been removed.

Final Thoughts

Realistically, all the Knights got were minor tweaks.  Those Knights with melee options generally happened to get a second profile designed to help them deal with hordes while most ranged weapons were left untouched.  Coupled with the lack of changes to almost all stats and a rollercoaster of changes to points and Power Level, this really does feel like nothing more than a rebalance for them.  However, Knights are powerful in smaller games and so we didn’t expect to see anything earth-shattering here.

Imperial Armour Compendium - Aeldari Titans

Welcome back, scions of the Craftworlds, as we review the Aeldari Titans: the Revenant and Phantom.  Our coverage of the Imperial Armour Compendium continues with your elegant, sleek, and deadly engines of war.

With Imperium and Chaos Titans it felt like a lot of changes and powerful buffs were given to the units, though not all of it went their way.  Unfortunately, at early glance it does not look like the same can be said of your Titans.  Strap in, attune your spirit stones, and let’s dive in.

Distortion Field

Your equivalent of a sort to void shields, that which keeps you alive.  Unlike your Imperium/Chaos counterparts you do not lose this save over time!  What’s more, your decaying save (based on movement) is now a permanent 4++ against ranged attacks.  That’s an extremely nifty bonus since now you’re guaranteed what was your maximum save in the previous rules and you aren’t forced to constantly move into awkward spots or give up tactical advantage to keep your precious save.  Further, since it’s not longer move based, the reduced movement from damage taken means you no longer suffer a forced decay bracket of sort to this save.

Wounds and Stats

We’ll start with the Phantom Titan which lost 4” off its maximum movement and lost the BS2+ in its top bracket.  Your S and T values are the same and your Sv. remains unchanged.  However, unlike your Imperium/Chaos counterparts, you did NOT gain any new wounds here.  In short, no buffs and a pair of nerfs.

The Revenant is in the same boat.  It lost 2” off the maximum movement and its BS2+ in the early stages.  Like the Phantom, there are no changes to S, T, Sv., or wounds.  That’s a serious bummer.  However, unlike the Phantom, the Revenant’s WS has improved by one point.

For taking a good handful of nerfs and receiving only a single buff, there is solace in that the points and Power Level for the Revenant were reduced by 25 percent.  However, the Phantom Titan increased its Power Level by 20 percent while points increased by 25 percent.  The Phantom really is the clear loser here.

Keywords, Abilities, Etc.

The Eldar Titans retain Ancient Doom, meaning your Titans will rip through Slaanesh units with abandon.  Steersman Prime on the Phantom is gone, meaning your re-rolls have gone away.  And Unstoppable Wraith-Titan has been replaced with War Engine for the Phantom and a combination of Revenant Jump Pack and Titanic for the Revenant; this allows the two Titans to continue to charge after falling back.

The <CONCLAVE> keyword has been replaced with the <CRAFTWORLD> keyword, which allow the Eldar Titans to take advantage of the powerful Craftworld attributes that are in the various GW publications, a very welcome change for Eldar Titan owners.

Weapons

We’re going to run through these pretty quickly.  Unlike Imperium/Chaos Titan weapons that have many profiles, we can take a quick focus on yours.

• Cloudburst Missile Launchers picked up range and blast but sacrificed their random damage and lost potential max.
• Revenant Pulsars gained a flat 6 attacks and lost random damage to become something that even Terminators and Heavy Intercessors will fear.
• D-Bombards picked up better minimum shots and keep their potential maximum shots while giving up their potential maximum damage but gaining the ability to melt most dreadnoughts with a single hit.
• Phantom Pulsars take the place of the Dire Pulsar and give up one point of maximum damage to become a flat D 5.
• Voidstorm Missile Launchers get a HUGE range boost, keep their profile, and are not penalized for shooting against flyers.

Final Thoughts

There is a serious mixed bag here.  Overall, it feels like the Eldar got hit with a stick this time around.  No stat changes that help these Titans (other than the Revenant’s WS boost) and a lack of new wounds makes them easy prey compared to the Imperium/Chaos counterparts.  There are some weapon changes that look like nerfs at first blush but bring a lot of consistency to damage dealing, as well as a few other buffs, so weaponry may be the Eldar’s biggest gain.  And of course, you now have the Craftworlds keyword (a huge boon) and your Distortion Fields are a permanent 4++.  It’s very hard to call this a win for the Eldar and it may be a bigger hit than many of the children of Asuryan are okay with.  Let us know your thoughts below.

Imperial Armour Compendium - Chaos Titans

Welcome back our fellow Princeps, as we continue the coverage of the new Imperial Armour Compendium.  Our sincerest apologies that there was a couple of days’ break between articles but there were some things that came up, preventing us from continuing our reviews.  Let’s proceed with the dark mirror of the Titans fielded by the Imperium, the Heretic Titan Legions.

So, what’s different?  This isn’t an exaggeration, but feel free to read our initial article.  We really aren’t joking; we’ve already covered your changes in an unexpected way.  Your Titans are EXACTLY the same profiles as the Imperium Titans and you have the <HERETIC TITAN LEGION> keyword instead and don’t gain access to the Secutarii as a result.  You also have the TITANICUS TRAITORIS keyword instead of ADEPTUS TITANICUS.

God Alignments?

There was a time that Chaos Titans could be dedicated to a specific Chaos diety, with Nurgle and Khorne usually being chosen due to the extreme durability or sheer damage-dealing, respectively.  Sadly, the god alignments have still not returned to Chaos Titans in 9^th.

Image source: Forge World, Horus Heresy Black Books

Is There Anything Different Compared to the Imperium?

No.  Your profiles are exactly the same as the Imperium Titans and it’s literally just those keyword swaps.  You also lost the BS2+, your T values changed, but at least your weapon profiles have gotten better and your wounds counts spiked.  You also got the same reduction in Power Level and points.

Additional Thoughts

This is probably the most of a downer of an article that TOC is ever going to do and that’s not because we hate Chaos Titans, but because this new book has made Chaos a carbon copy of the Imperium (or vice versa, depending on where you stand).  To that end, we figured we’d address a few more things in depth to help clarify some things that have been floating around the internet lately or that we haven’t previously covered.

Icon of Imperial Might and its Chaos Equivalent are gone.  You now get “Battle Titan” or “War Engine,” respectively.  These rules allow your Titan to Fall Back and then charge in that same turn if it’s eligible to do so.  You can also ignore other models when you move, advance, or fall back so long as it’s not another Titanic model you’re moving over.  No ‘gaunts will be holding up your movement.

Void shields have been a very interesting subject dominating the discussion right now.  Our initial review, as per our usual, did not go into great detail since it’s not our style to just give a full rule.  However, we’ll expand upon it a little bit more here.  Each Titan class gets x number of shields, such as Warhounds getting two (2) and Warlords getting eight (8).  Each of those void shields has three (3) shield points that reduce each time the Titan takes damage.  These, in a way, serve as ablative wounds but are not actually wounds.  Further, these shield points rely on damage, not wounds, and every three (3) damage pops the shield, with excess damage being lost.  Your new void shields also don’t stop Mortal Wounds like the old version.  This is very much like the Titanicus system.  Non-lost shields are restored each Command Phase, but once you hit zero shield points on an individual void shield it is lost for the remainder of the battle and it does not regenerate. 

We wish there was more to offer on the Chaos Titans and more options that they had available to them to pair with since they can’t take Secutarii but this is their current setup.  As we said in the previous article, there is hope that maybe White Dwarf will do an Index: Heretic Titan Legions later that may add Legion Traits or offer new rules and stratagems to pair with these chaotic lords of the battlefield.  Next up: Eldar.

Imperial Armour Compendium - Imperial Titans

Welcome, Princeps, to the beginning of our coverage of the new Imperial Armour Compendium that recently came up for pre-order.  We’ve been blessed to receive a preview copy to show you guys some of the upcoming stuff for your Titans in 9^th edition Warhammer 40,000.  Now, let’s dive in with the bread and butter of our experience, the Titans!  We’ll start with the Imperium Titans and work through Chaos Titans, Eldar, and Tyranids little by little.  At the end we’ll give you a review of the overall book.

“Two brand new factions for the first time in print” was indeed not what it implied.  In truth, these two factions (Chaos and Imperial Titans) had already received rules in the previous Index books from 8^th edition.  However, these factions have received the treatment of the Games Workshop studio to create the rules giving a lot more consistency with the overall game.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t get the major disappointment out of the way first.  There are no Titan Legion traits/tactics.  So, for those hoping to get some extra flavour to your Legio Astorum, Legio Ignatum, and the like, we don’t get that.  Maybe we’ll be fortunate that an Index Titan Legions or something will come out at a later time in White Dwarf.

Originally the thought had been to compare old stats to the new in depth, but we’re just going to dive right in and only call out major changes when they are truly worth it.

The Points and Power

In the “golden days of yore” (depending on your perspective) before the current style of 40k stats it was widely considered that Titans were very undercosted.  Under the new system they have felt vastly overcosted and there were further increases when the current edition dropped.  This book adjusts Titan points again and this time we feel they are much better.  We’ll go into more detail shortly, but here are the rough changes to the Titans.

• Warhounds – You still aren’t taking these guys to any ITC tournaments; no points cost or power level changes.
• Reavers – Shedding a quarter of your points cost and power level, the first of the Battle Titans looks considerably better and definitely sets itself up as the “cheap” Battle Titan that can still do a lot of damage.
• Warbringers – We finally get 40k rules in the new edition with all of the weapons. The weird half points, half stats are gone, too. However, this Titan didn’t come out on the best end of the stick. The power level drop wasn’t spectacular either.
• Warlords – A drop of nearly a fifth in points is quite the bonus for this Titan. The power level drop, which doesn’t even amount to a tenth, not so much.

The Stat Changes

What one hand giveth, the other taketh away, right? Yes…and no.  While most of the stat changes we’re about to list here do seem bad and seem to justify why the points came down, you’ll find that these changes are greatly offset, especially once we look at the massive jump in wounds, the NEW void shield rules, and your weapon buffs.

• Double digit stats for your engine (not the weapons) are gone.
• Warlords at S16 and T16 are no longer there and the same can be said for the other Battle Titans with their high S and T values. This does make your nigh-on-invincible God-Engines squisher to higher strength weapons but only a tad so when you think about it. The real loser here was the Warlord, but all Titans are at least S and T 8 at the minimum now.
• 2. BS2+ is gone now.
• Okay, that hurts. The super accurate initial fire of the Titans was something that made them absolutely deadly in the early turns.
• Your 3+ armor has been replaced by 2+!
• If you run a Warlord this isn’t a big change but any of the “lesser” Titans are now shaking with glee. However, the Warlord’s wounds jump is astronomical, probably in part due to the fact its armor save couldn’t get better than it already was.
• Macro
• Either you loved this rule or hated it. If you loved it, you’re going to be angry. If you hated it, you’re very happy since now it’s gone and has not been replaced by anything as yet we can see.
• Wound Brackets
• There are fewer wound brackets now and they are MUCH more generous on the decay table. Further, your void shields aren’t tied to them!

Wounds and Void Shields

Okay, so those stat changes made you easier to scratch in terms of toughness.  However, your shiny new 2+ armor save is great and if you’re a Warlord your wounds jump is insane to make up for the “stayed the same armor”.  We’ve mentioned the wounds a few times now, so what has the new book given us to offset the toughness nerf:

• Warhound - An increase of 43 percent in wounds; coupled with the new 2+ armor this increases the durability of the Warhound to the point it’s a scrapper that can take a few hits now.
• Reaver - Only picking up a sixth of the wounds is not a great jump but it’s definitely helpful, especially because of that new armor save.
• Warbringer – A 54 percent increase in wounds on top of the 2+ armor save makes this siege beast a huge winner in new wounds.
• Warlord – Adding nearly three-quarters of your old wound count clearly takes the cake. As far as we know, this is the first TRIPLE DIGIT wound model in the game. Durable, much?

We won’t lie, void shields in 8^th edition were a mess.  Initially the save was great but once the wounds started coming off and the decay kicked in your void shields were effectively garbage and nothing more than whispered prayers.  Now, void shields always work on a 5++, using your 2+ armor when it works better, and essentially offer you ablative wounds against shooting attacks.  Did we mention they regenerate until the shield is lost?  

The new void shields are MUCH better and will prove a tougher nut to crack before they can get to your new boosted-wound Titans.  Now the changes to the stats make a lot more sense and these changes to wounds and void shields more than make up for reduced toughness.  Further, with Macro gone, Titan vs Titan is no longer just point and delete, and choosing the firing order of your weapons just became even more important.

Weapons

So, there is ONE really bad thing that happened to Titans weapons.  If they don’t have a model for it, it’s not in the book.  Ouch.  We’re going to hope that if they add missing Titan weapons from previous editions that we at least get them in the 40k app as GW has mentioned before.  Oddly, for some reason the Warlord’s Macro Gatling Blaster is missing, which we think is an interesting error of omission (or at least we hope so).

Overall, there aren’t many changes to weapons.  All Macro weapons have gone to Heavy but this won’t be a problem for Titans since they ignore the movement penalty.  While there are some changes, we won’t detail them here but it’s safe to say that other than the reduced AP on the Vulcan Mega Bolter that any changes to weapons ended up being positive for damage output, number of shots, or other stats.

Final Thoughts

Titans got much better!  Yes, some of the stat changes hurt, but overall the vast increase in wounds, upgraded armor save, better weapons, and brand new void shield rules make Titans an absolute threat that may well justify their new points cost.  It’s safe to say that now it will take an overwhelming amount of firepower to kill a Titan and that their weapons will cause plenty of fear on the tabletop.  Long live the kings.