Target Prioritisation: 40K List Evolution

Hello dear Venturers! Another week of hobby antics is over and that means it's time for another post.  I visited First Founding on Friday evening for the next game in my one-on-one Frostgrave campaign (where Acecerak and the Ragged Court made out like bandits, thanks for asking.)

A lot of the club talk among the 40K fraternity has been around the new FAQ and it's impact on people's lists. Combined with the publication of the Octoberfest Missions and the announcement that the FAQ beta rules will be in effect, I thought it would be timely to discuss possible impacts on my  list selection.

Kill It All With Plasma!

The FAQs are freely available elsewhere on the interweb, as well as many, many posts/videos covering the changes in forensic detail. I'll just pick out a few which really stand out to me.

First up are the changes to Tactical Reserves (Deep Strike) and associated Stratagems. In essence, units placed in Tactical Reserve cannot be deployed on the table on Turn 1. This has a minor impact on my Dark Eldar given I like to use Screaming Jets to hide my Ravagers from possible incoming fire Turn 1. I'll have to rely on old fashioned methods of protecting the gun boats so this isn't a huge loss.

These rules have a much more profound effect on the Carcharodons Astra. Strike from the Shadows has been changed so that units deploy on the table, and get a free 9" move prior to turn 1. This has advantages in that it means Striking units don't count as reserves, but removes a lot of the freedom the Sharks previously enjoyed. The Aggressors could find themselves seriously out of position! I need to think through this impact (and play test it) to really understand if any changes are needed to my list. That's probably worthy of a post all of it's own.

The FAQ also removed the ability of flying units to ignore opposing models, etc. in the charge phase. This will impact the Shark's Jump Pack Veterans and their ability to get stuck in! All in all the Carcharodons Astra are the most impacted of my armies; I'm not too surprised given I'd built the list to make the most of Turn 1 Deep Strike and charges.

The FAQ has another rule which seeks to mitigate the impact of Turn 1 alpha strikes; the Prepared Positions stratagem. This allows the player going second on the first turn to give cover to every unit for 2 CP.  I quite like this as a rule and it will be interesting to see how effective it actually is.

My Imperial Guard will benefit from it (2+ save tanks sounds good to me), and my Dark Eldar can negate it with their Flayed Skull obsession should my opponent choose to use it (although I will make him aware of their ability pre-game).

One of the most anticipated changes was the nerfing of Command Point farming. Previously Warlord Traits and Relics allowed forces to potentially gain a large number of CP over a game; now a player is limited to gaining one CP per battle round.  I don't rely on this trick (my forces either don't have access to the CP farming tools, or don't rely on massive amounts of CP) so the personal impact is limited, but I can see other players having to significantly restructure their armies, much like my poor Sharks.

So in summary, bar the Carcharodons Astra, most of my current army lists have got away pretty lightly! I'll have to revisit this when Chapter Approved and the point changes are available in a month or so though.

Let's move onto the Mayhem Missions.

 

There's a real mix here: 

• Game 1 is Maelstrom Cards plus Base Swap
• Game 2 is pure progressive scoring
• Game 3 is traditional end of game objective scoring with bonus scoring for Troops
• Game 4 is triple Relic with bonus scoring for Troops

Observant readers will also notice there is no First Blood secondary.

One 40K school of thought is "Win by Tabling your Opponent". I've never really subscribed to this methodology; I prefer "Play to the Mission" since that makes each game more interesting and unique (and you can still do well even if your opponent is trying to kill you and failing in the mission parameters).

The usual Nurgle Daemon suspects will do well with this format; even with objectives being well spaced out, the annoying little Nurglings will still infiltrate onto them.

I'm considering two factions for Octoberfest:

Tank Heavy Imperial Guard. I've run this list with a Knight for support and whilst it is a lot of fun, it will really struggle to score points in this format, particularly on hard to reach Objectives.  I would need to drop the Knight to add an Infantry Battalion for ObSec and numbers; I'll likely use the Tallarn Regimental Doctrine as it's got some excellent infantry mobility tricks as well as being good for vehicles.  I'll likely add more of these guys:

Incoming!

Kabal of the Sand Viper (Dark Eldar). The Evil Space Pixies have been my go to tournament force for recent events and they are a lot of fun to play. I'm considering adding a small Wych Cult detachment to run alongside the Kabalites; they are really fast (good in a race to the Relics!) and have some sneaky tricks which could counter anyone getting to a Relic first!

Yes Hellions. Yes I'm serious. OK, not that serious.

 So still a lot of list deliberating to do, but that's half the fun of 40K; I'll let you know what I've finally chosen soon. As always, thanks for reading!