Warhammer Day 2023

EDIT: This is almost a full week late!  This week has sucked for many reasons, but I still can't believe it took me that long to get one blog post done!

I know I'm late on this one, but I crashed right after watching it.  I noted my reactions down, but I'm going to file this under "Not So Live Blog."  My attempt to revive this blog is off to a fantastic start!

Which makes it only slight worse than this set of Warhammer Day reveals!

I won't bury the lead hear.  GW put a lot of marketing and hype into the 40th Anniversary of Warhammer.  But I feel they definitely overhyped this.  It's not that there weren't any big reveals, but nothing on the scale of Leviathan.  I wonder if they were originally intending to announce Leviathan at Warhammer Day, but then things got changed to keep their summer launch cycle.  I've started having more than a few suspicions and question regarding that release.

One issue is with the need to make sure there are regular news and announcements.  I feel things that maybe should have been a part of something like Warhammer Day ended up preempting it.  Leviathan may be the obvious one, being delivered at Adepticon instead of a GW event, but both new seasons of WarCry and Underworlds were announced less than a month prior.  As a result, there was really only one big reveal for this 40th Anniversary blowout and I feel like it's half missing.

And it sucks, because what was revealed was great!

But enough preamble, let's see what was unveiled!

WARHAMMER 40,000

With all the major news for 40K happening this past summer, we're now into our standard Codex and miniature release cycle.  For Warhammer Day, it was Necrons and AdMech!

Necrons

The greatest military mind the galaxy has ever seen returns!  Imotekh the Stormlord is back and free from Finecast resin!  This new model looks fantastic!  While Immotekh isn't currently a very potent model, there are plenty of ways that could change with Codex Necrons.

Speaking of which, we got some teases as to what the new Detachments will be, including a Stratagem and Enhancement.  In addition to a Canoptek detachment and a Destroyer Detachment, we got a direct reveal for the Hypercrypt Legion.

The Hypercrypt Legion is all about movement shenanigans, using teleportation and gate technology to get your legions into position.  They demonstrated this with Hyperphasic recall, which lets you take a wounded Necron unit and move it to a Monolith.  It's 2CP, but there are lots of evil things you can do with this.  Your opponent always wants to make sure they destroy your units, and with some Necron bricks that can definitely take a few units worth of shooting.  Removing a group of Necron warriors out of the line of fire, only to then Reanimate them could be a frustrating trick.  It'll be even crueler if you have the tools to then send them back into the fight.

Next we have the Destroyer themed Eternal Madness.  As long as this isn't too expensive, this is another winner.  Fight on Death is a powerful ability.  Just the threat that a Destroyer Lord could be taking a unit with him will make opponents think twice.

All and all, some fun previews for the Undying Legions.

Adeptus Mechanicus

I'm just gonna start by putting this right here.

This model is so crazy and I am so here for it!  Eddie with Warhammer Preview described it as being "a little bit Marmite."  I'm sure a lot of people are going to think this goes too far, but I think it's perfect.  The Sydonian Skatros will also be a cheap Lone Operative, so it will definitely be a useful addition to nearly any AdMech army.

AdMech will of course also be getting some new Detachments with their Codex, which are much needed.  In addition to Detachments themed around Tech-Priests and Cybernetica, we have the Skitarii Hunter Cohort.  

Unfortunately, the second part of this Detachment rule will rarely matter in game.  But the first part will increase the durability of your Skitarrii and Ironstriders, the first of whom have already gotten a nice durability buff.  Providing the Stratagems and Enhancements are good, I'd probably always take this over the Rad-Cohort.

And speaking of Stratagems . . .

Binharic Offence is 2CP to give two of your Skitarii units an additional pip of AP against one chosen enemy unit.  This is huge!  AP is at a premium in 10th Edition, and anything that improves it is more than welcome.  All and all a great start to the Hunter Cohort.

With that, we move away from mainline 40K.  Though we're not quite done with important reveals for my favorite game just yet . . .

AGE OF SIGMAR

And again, I'm gonna just put this here.

Do I really need to say anything?

I never dived particularly deep into AoS.  I've read the Daughters of Khaine Battle Tomes for 2nd and 3rd Edition, plus Morathi, and I've read the 3rd Edition book.  I also used to follow Warhammer Weekly pretty faithfully, but haven't caught any episodes since shortly before the reveal of 10th.  I like the game, though there are a few bug bears I have with it (one of which has snuck into 40K.)  But the models are just amazing!  The writers and artists for this game have just done fantastic work creating a familiar fantasy setting that is still very much its own beast.

Just amazing!

These miniatures are part of the ongoing narrative arc, Dawnbringers.  And here is where I have to reveal some of my ignorance.  How long has AoS had Armies of Renown?  I know they have Warscroll Battalions, but are these new to the current campaign?

Regardless, I am here for both of these miniatures!  Alarielle is still my favorite plastic miniature, possibly my favorite GW miniature period, and I'm going to eventually want Belthanos to go with her.

KILL TEAM

After teasing us before the reveal of Belthanos by accidentally starting the wrong video, we got the reveal of the next Kill Team season and our first two Kill Teams.  There's two big pieces of news here, while not a lot of actual detail about the new season.

The big reveal is that the first new Kill Team set will include the new Striking Scorpions.  I was just talking to a friend the other day about the fact that Aeldari still needs to finish their range refresh.  There's no sign of Uncle K yet, but this is still great news.

The second big reveal is this season of Kill Team will not be sold with huge terrain sets.  GW isn't giving up on Killzones, but they'll be available separately now for all of us that already have a huge assortment of Kill Team terrain.  Hopefully, this means the Kill Team box sets will be much more affordable, especially for anyone that wants to get their hands on either the new Scouts or the new Striking Scorpions.

On a side note, I never blogged about how confusing the whole Scouts thing was.  They removed Scouts to Legends, then released new ones.  Why not just update the Datasheet in the Codex?  I thought Scouts going to Legends was weird to begin with . . .

What was surprisingly missing from the reveal is anything regarding what this new Season is about.  The Gallowdark has fallen to this ocean world and now various factions have pursued it there.  That's about it.  We know the first Killzone will be set on a derrick in the middle of a hostile ocean.  They even mentioned that the waters with be deadly, with a joke about SPEHSS PAHRAHNAHS!  But there was no real mention of any overarching story or theme for this season.

THE OLD WORLD

At last we come to it - what could be considered the big reveal of this Warhammer Day.

The Kingdom of Bretonia!

And if you've been following GW reveals, you know why that's a bit underwhelming.  We already know Bretonia is coming for Old World and will be one of the first armies we get.  Still, let's start with the good stuff.

Again, just looks at it!  The new Lord on Pegasus looks amazing, as does the alternate kit for a Baron on Pegasus.  There's a lot of incredible detail, personality, and life in this new miniature.  And we can see that in all the new miniatures.

But that's where the cool stuff stops.  The new Kingdom of Betonia set is bringing some new models, but the bulk of it looks to be returning models from classic Warhammer.  And as you can see . . .

Some of them just don't hold up well next to the new miniatures.  While it's great that you can still use your old miniatures to play, one of the pains of having a game shut down is the loss of new and updated sculpts.  I know there are plenty of classic Warhammer fans that were hoping for more.

The next bugbear to tackle is the Forge World kits.  For various reasons, GW often uses Forge World to support their "Boxed Games."  Despite originally being a mainline game, I think we all suspected that when The Old World released it would be supplemented by Forge World.  But it looks like it's going to be a lot of kits.  Anything new not coming out in the launch box appears to be Forge World, including that Handmaiden above.  My guess is that anything that was a pewter kit will also be Forge World, since that's one of the reason GW still uses resin.  We already know the Field Trebuchet will be returning as a Forge World kit.  All and all, there doesn't appear to be anywhere near the plastic support for The Old World that The Horus Heresy got.

Finally there's the fact we're still getting drip-fed the previews, even though it's Warhammer Day.  I don't understand why they couldn't just give us some more substantial reveals.  We know basically every kit we're getting for Bretonia in the launch box, but we don't have the reveal of the launch box.  While we're pretty sure who their opponent will be, they haven't official revealed them, let alone new miniatures.  Finally we know that The Old World will release in "early" 2024, but nothing more solid than that.

Though, to be fair, that last one is consistent with GW marketing and their seeming refusal to give us launch dates until they're almost on us.  Doesn't anyone in their marketing team understand the concept of saving up for things?

All and all, this reveal is taking away from the impact a final Old World reveal could have.  It's weird because GW can be so good at maintaining hype through previews and teasers.  Maybe they're hoping that when they announce the second faction and drop its new miniatures, it will make up for it.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Like I said, I feel for the 40th Anniversary of Warhammer, this Warhammer Day preview is just lacking.  It needed something to help make it a celebration of these great games and this great hobby.  Hell!  As I'm finishing this there have been more products added to the Warhammer Day celebration.  The best one wasn't even revealed during this Preview - a reprint of the original Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader.  I don't understand how they could build up so much hype and momentum for the 40th, only to let it hit so lightly.

The new miniatures are still awesome, especially for AOS, and I'm still glad to see The Old World returning.  But as companies before them have learned the hard way, if you're going to build a ton of hype, you need to have a payoff for it.

Let's Talk About Oath of Moment

I've been meaning to start this back up again, and with Warhammer Day and the release of the Space Marine Codex tomorrow, this seems like a good time.  I'm still struggling with my health, and I'm still trying to put as much time and energy as I can into my big project, but this hiatus has gone on long enough.  Plus I made a new Tumblr and it's time that got some love.

So let's talk about Oath of Moment.

When Oath was first unveiled in the previews leading up to 10th Edition, there was more than a little gnashing of teeth from the community.  GW had claimed they wanted the game to be less lethal and have fewer re-rolls.  But then they dropped Oath of Moment giving Space Marines full re-rolls to hit and wound.  More astute players weren't as phased by the unveiling, seeing the limits behind the rule and room to play around it.  But many people couldn't see past the apparent power on display.

As things have been, Oath has definitely been powerful.  It essentially lets the Space Marine player delete one unit off the board each turn.  It's particularly powerful when combined with Indirect Fire platforms such as Desolators and Whirlwinds.  But Space Marines have plenty of ways to get around the board and secure good firing angles.  So unless a player is really reaching they'll almost certainly kill their Oath target.

But while I think you'd be hard pressed to call Oath of Moment a weak rule, or even say that Space Marines lack good rules period, none of this made the faction overpowered.  Space Marines kicked off 10th Edition pretty close to a 50% win rate and only fell from there.  While they never approached the kind of levels that armies like Votann and Death Guard suffered, they struggled to hang with the more potent armies in the game.

Now unlike those other armies, this was almost certainly a pure points issue.  Space Marines definitely have rules, of which Oath of Moment is only one.  But this does seem to suggest that Oath of Moment really wasn't overpowered.

So why did GW change it?

If you somehow haven't heard, do I have a spoiler for the Codex release tomorrow!

Oath of Moment is no longer granting re-rolls to Wound against your chosen target.  This may be the most significant single nerf a faction has ever received.  Losing the re-rolls to Wound is definitely losing the better half of Oath of Moment.  Space Marines normally hit on 3s.  So while re-rolling Hits is definitely a buff, Space Marines still hit decently well without it.  But in a world where Plasma and Melta are wounding big targets on 5s, re-rolling Wounds is huge.  Add in abilities like Dev Wounds, and it becomes really big.

Chances are that well built Space Marine lists will still be able to eliminate their Oath target each turn, but harder targets are now going to take a lot more work.  This also shifts weapon priorities in Space Marine lists.  Combi-weapons have suddenly dropped in value while weapons with Lethal Hits or Twin-linked really matter.

Do you hear that?  That's the sound of thousands of players snapping off arms and guns.

Unlike other rules changes, GW has been pretty quiet about this one.  Because of this, we can only really guess why they decided the rule needed to be nerfed.  While I know there are some people seeing nefarious intentions here, I'm pretty sure the goal is to make the game easier to balance.

When GW is writing rules for units or deciding what their points value will be, they need to take Army and Detachment Rules into account.  The more powerful these rules are, the harder the unit is to balance.  We can see this illustrated plainly with Aeldari, the faction that arguably has the best rules in the game.

Even before we get to the new rules in the new Codex, Space Marines already have two good sets of rules.  Not only is Oath of Moment a good rule, but so are Combat Doctrines.  So when balancing Space Marine units, GW has to add in these rules.

But to make matters worse, both of these rules spike a Space Marine unit's power.  If the rules were bonuses that applied consistently, the design team could just lump them in with what the unit can do.  But not only does Oath of Moment apply to a single enemy unit each turn, each Combat Doctrine is also only once per game.  So when balancing something like the new Jump Intercessors, they have to not just consider what the unit can do on a turn by turn basis, but also what happens the turn they have Assault Doctrine and an Oath target.

By removing the re-roll Wounds, it becomes much easier to balance Space Marines.  Now their units will still spike occasionally, but it won't be as huge a spike.  This also helps internal balance as well.  Units that GW wanted to make good at killing certain targets with re-roll Wounds now matter more.  Why take a unit that gets re-roll Wounds against Monster and Vehicles when you're probably going to get it from Oath of Moment?  Now that unit has a definitive purpose in the army.

But let's not sugar coat it.

Regardless of why GW made the decision to nerf Space Marines, this is still a nerf and they're going to feel it.  There are some interesting rules to play with coming in the new Codex, though Gladius is probably still going to be the Detachment to beat.  But none of these rules are going to make up for the change to Oath of Moment.

Space Marines have gotten further points changes, and there are some significant buffs, but they weren't looking like an A Tier army after the last balanced pass.  While it remains to be seen just how bad this is going to be, I feel like Space Marine players have a bumpy road ahead of them.