tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1831276194138109948.post2886591749738770750..comments2024-03-28T10:14:58.693+00:00Comments on The Good the Bad and the Insulting: Imperial Agents Part 2 - Special Rules, Units and Relics (Warhammer 40,000 Codex Supplement Review, 7th Edition)Bellariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02652722543111095280noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1831276194138109948.post-11962156591081098632017-01-28T08:11:27.008+00:002017-01-28T08:11:27.008+00:00After using this a bit more, I think I'm kind ...After using this a bit more, I think I'm kind of getting what's going on with this book, including its more bizarre decisions.<br /><br />I think this book was mainly made to fill in the holes some armies had, while giving us both an Inquisition book and a Sisters of Battle book. Many of the units included in other sections (like both the Grey Knights, their Land Raiders and the Deathwatch) it seems to me are there because they're included in the Inquisition list in some way, shape or form (through the Chambers Militant rule, which is funny considering the Inquisition no longer has those) while the Psykers and Enginseer are used to fill holes, and both the Legion of the Damned and Assassins are here because those units make up the entirety of those books.<br /><br />Let's look at this book, removing the units that filled holes, the units that are here because they're the only units/models in their own codices, and without the Sisters or Inquisition. We're left with Grey Knight Interceptors, and that's it (I would argue that the Dreadknight's meant to fill in for lack of Monstrous Creatures). Seriously, one unit (maybe they were meant to offset the Grey Knights only being terminators?), and I can't help but feel this was the mindset behind this book, to build up the Inquisition, add some semblance of their Chambers Militant back in, give us the Sisters, the Assassins and the Legion for everyone, and fill in whatever holes were left over in the various Imperial Armies. <br />If that really was the case, then I'd actually applaud this book as being a step in the right direction, though actually figuring this out was confusing as hell until I'd played a few games and used all of the Inquisition's special rules.grdaathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00722216755745063033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1831276194138109948.post-83421505249295903152017-01-27T18:40:54.980+00:002017-01-27T18:40:54.980+00:00So there was something I didn't notice previou...So there was something I didn't notice previously with this book, specifically the Inquisition army, likely because I was still stuck in the same mindset from the previous Inquisition book, but this army is incredibly broken if you take just a regular Inquisitor as a part of the Inquisitorial Representative, because they always get a Warlord Trait.<br />But you're not limited to just one Inquisitor, so 25 points more gets you another Warlord trait, so does the next 25 points, and the next 25 points. Considering how powerful some traits are (virtually everything on the Strategic chart is worth 25 points, and so is everything on the Command chart) this is a huge boon.<br /><br />Not only that, but the henchmen aren't limited to just a single unit anymore (since that's now a formations), so if you wanted (and hopefully you're not playing a game that rewards unit kill points) you could be the king of MSU spam, considering the Inquisition can flood the board with single-unit 10-35 point models, some of whom can be extremely dangerous such as Jokaero (yes they're BS3, Divination or enough of them can help with that), Inquisitors with conversion beamers (admittedly that one's 60 points if we include the upgrade) and Daemonhosts who roll lucky (though considering how many squads there would be that's less chance and more a guarantee). All of these single models will need a whole squad to devote their firepower to remove since most armies are without split-fire.grdaathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00722216755745063033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1831276194138109948.post-79355133045105367342017-01-15T06:01:43.131+00:002017-01-15T06:01:43.131+00:00So I can safely say that the current implementatio...So I can safely say that the current implementation of the faith system with the Sister's of Battle sucks. I didn't want to say it before, and I didn't like it in the digital codex, but now that it's in an actual book and doesn't seem to be going away I can safely say that I hate it.<br /><br />I can't think of a single good reason why these abilities are limited to one unit, and only once per game. Did their elite units forget how to do any other act of faith? Do they lose faith in their older abilities? If something worked once, why don't they have faith that it'll work again? From a narrative standpoint this doesn't make sense, and from a gameplay standpoint you're paying premium for a unit that might not even be able to use its special ability. You might as well just ally in Space Marines who now completely outperform the Sisters.<br />I wasn't a fan of the faith system in 5th edition, however at least the random faith made them stand out more, could be taken advantage of more, led to more strategic decision making and led to acts of faith being used more, even moreso than in 3rd edition which in turn led to the army feeling unique.<br />The only thing I hated about that system (and honestly it's the main reason I think 3rd edition was better) was how, once again, acts of faith were unique to each unit. There are plenty of times that other acts benefit the unit better, and I can't think of a good reason that the unit wouldn't be able to use them.grdaathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00722216755745063033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1831276194138109948.post-741369544644014262017-01-05T09:28:26.074+00:002017-01-05T09:28:26.074+00:00Once again I can't hate this codex at all, and...Once again I can't hate this codex at all, and I kinda feel that I get where they're coming from with a lot of these units.<br /><br />Starting off with the Telepathica, I get why they're there. It's not necessarily that commanders intentionally throw them into the fight, but if fighting breaks out on Imperial worlds there's simply going to be a lot of Psykers there, and the odds that they'll enter the fight only increases as the days go by. It makes sense to make them available to more armies because they are used by more than the Imperial Guard, even if it's not as regularly. They all also provide at least a few decent buffs (Divination that cheap is really good) and so I can appreciate that regardless of the army.<br /><br />I get the idea of adding in good aircraft for each army, but I agree that they dropped the ball here. Even including Vultures would have been fine, but they didn't.<br /><br />I like the idea of allowing every Imperial army Tech-priests for the same reason as the Telepathica, and I'm sure I can think of a few armies that'll benefit from them. Honestly they're one of the few where I'm fine with the limited selection, same with the Grey Knights and Deathwatch, though as you say limiting the Grey Knights was just weird.<br /><br />Now I do have a number of problems with the Inquisition bit. First of all, the Plasma Syphon says that it works on Tau Plasma Rifles, a.k.a. the Strength 6 AP 2 guns, it does not say it works on Pulse Rifles, although given the recent Tau bullshit while it would be unfair I doubt I'd hate it.<br />I do have to agree that the Inquisition's armoury is surprisingly powerful this edition. I did not expect to see Rad Grenades being back in full force (though I don't consider them as game breaking, but maybe that's because I play Horus Heresy Death Guard and everyone gets them) and honestly I think the upgraded Null Rod is a bit better than the Psychotroke Grenades, as those are one use only. The new Null Rod is AP3 (I'm pretty sure it didn't use to be) and considering how many Psykers there are that have 3+ saves or worse this can be incredibly useful. An Inquisitor armed with this has a worryingly good chance at killing a lot of Tyranid characters (especially since it's not a specialist weapon), and if you get two of them both armed with this you've almost a complete guarantee of killing a Hive Tyrant every round of combat, just make sure there's another character to accept the challenge, 2 Inquisitors and a Priest can bring them down and will cost less to boot, hell they'll cost less than most powerful Psykers period (provided they can catch him, they can kill Ahriman). They can basically do the job of the Culexus, but with less points, more Wounds, and much less versatility/survivability against non-psykers. Spread a few out throughout your army (they're only 50 points for the Inquisitor and the Null Rod) and you don't have to worry about Psykers hurting you at all, since nobody in their squad can be affected by Psychic Powers of any kind.<br /><br />Now for one last thing, there's a number of spelling mishaps here that I couldn't ignore (and I don't like to point them out, after all I make them too), things like calling the Culexus Assassin a Calexus Assassin (multiple times) and having words like ffew. There's more but those're two quick examples.grdaathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00722216755745063033noreply@blogger.com