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.

Warhammer 40,000 - Necron Index

Initial impressions of Necrons had some fans a bit worried.  Reanimation protocols had been changed again, and this new version looked to be the weakest ever.  However, the reports from players and events are starting to come in, and it looks like Necrons are more implacable than ever before.  They may be the most durable army in 10th Edition, the unstoppable legion of immortal warriors Necron players have always wanted.  Let's finally take a look into what they have available.

STRATAGEMS

We've already seen both of the Necron Army rules from the Faction Focus.  Now we get to assemble those with the rest of their abilities.

Protocol of the Eternal Guardian - 1CP

Well that's definitely going to help them be durable!  Each Necron Character can just be resurrected once per game for 1CP.  No re-roll or conditions, just put the character back outside of Engagement range with half of its wounds left.  This can be done any phase, so you can setup the Character in your Command Phase and then heal them with Reanimation Protocols.  Crazy good!

Protocol of the Hungry Void - 1CP

+1 Strength for any Necron unit in melee isn't anything to right home about, but an additional pip of AP if that unit is being lead by a Character is very nice.  AP is at a premium, so if you can get this on some good units you can get a lot of damage done.

Protocol of the Conquering Tyrant - 1CP

Again, you'll almost always want to use this on a unit with a Character, though this one at least still might have use on other units.  Re-rolling wounds is a powerful ability, especially if any units have good access to DEV WOUNDS.

Protocol of the Undying Legions - 1CP

One of the powerful things about older versions of Reanimation Protocols was that it often occurred soon after a unit took damage.  This strat lets you bring back some of that old power, with another bonus if the unit has a Character.

Protocol of the Vengeful Stars - 1CP

Oh wow!  A shoot back ability with a kicker!  I really like the theming on this one, and can easily imagine a Necron commander casually ordering their unit to fire back on the enemy as they expose themselves.  IGNORES COVER is really good now, so this Strat will almost certainly see use.

Protocol of the Sudden Storm - 1CP

Necrons are one of the slower armies.  So giving some of them the ability to Advance and Shoot and re-rolling the Advance roll is a nice bonus.

These are all very good strats.  Of them, I think the one you'll probably use the least is the previously revealed Hungry Void.  But I definitely hope Necrons have good CP regen, because you'll want to use these all frequently.

ENHANCEMENTS

Veil of Darkness - 20 pts

Teleporting a unit at the end of your opponent's turn is a very powerful ability.  You're going to want to take this!

The Sovereign Coronal (Aura) - 30 pts

This feels a bit pricey, but so many of this Detachment's rules key off of being lead by a Character.  And this is definitely cheaper than purchasing a Character for every single unit.

Hypermaterial Ablator - 25 pts

Stealth is nice, but it's so easy to get Cover in 10th Edition.  This is probably going to stay back at the Tomb World.

Sempiternal Weave - 10 pts

Okay, I know Characters in 10th Edition don't have a lot of wounds to make the best use of FNP.  But this still feel like a bargain, and you want to keep your Characters alive.  Take it!

I think we've got two really good Enhancements here, with a third you might want to use to get the most out of the Detachment.  Not too bad!

DATASHEETS

Imotekh the Stormlord - 105 pts

Oh wow!  He's T5!  That's really not a bad profile for a 105 pts character and the Staff of the Destroyer looks plenty mean.  He also looks like your primary source of extra CP and has a once per game mortal wounds bomb.  He feel pretty auto-include.

Orikan the Diviner - 80 pts

The main reason you're taking this unique Cryptek is for that 4+ Invuln on his unit.  But his Finest Hour ability is also really good!  It also looks like Crypteks can be a second character in a unit, so that makes him a very good pick.

Anrakyr the Traveler - 95 pts

How is he cheaper than Imotekh?  Anrakyr honestly looks like a beast, even if you know you're going to constantly roll 1s for his tachyon arrow.  His ability to cripple enemy Vehicles is very nice.  His only drawback is he can only lead Immortals.  So if they're not all that good, you won't be able to make good use out of him.

Vargard Obyron - 85 pts

Interesting!  You're almost always going to want to take Obyron with Zahndrekh.  He's a pretty good melee Character assassin, and Fights First is fantastic.

Illuminor Szeras - 220 pts

Szeras is expensive, and his defensive profile isn't very good for his cost.  Fortunately, you should be able to stop it from ever coming up.  He gets Lone Op when near other Necrons, and you'll be keeping him near at least one unit.  With eldritch lance having a 36" range and some decent ability to punish anything in melee that wanders close enough to shoot, he can do everything he needs to without ever putting himself at risk.  And his Aura is simply incredible, even if it only affects Battleline.

Necron Epic Heroes are no joke!

Nemesor Zahndrekh - 85 pts

All of the abilities on Zahndrekh's Transient Madness are good to have, though you'll always want to get DEV WOUNDS.  He also gets a Vect, which is very nice.  He's definitely worth taking.

Trazyn the Infinite - 75 pts

Our first potential miss is everyone's favorite history buff.  His defensive profile honestly isn't bad for his cost, and the fact he can use other characters as extra lives or a teleport is great.  However his combat profile is lacking, and while sticky objectives is good, Necrons shouldn't have any issues with board control.

Royal Warden - 40 pts

40 pts!  How is this only 40 pts?  Buy!

Skorpekh Lord - 115 pts

This is pretty good!  If Skorpekhs are good, and you decide you want to take them, you should probably take this too.

Lokhust Lord - 85 pts

Oo!  The Lokhust Lord grants their unit Crits on 5s!  If they've got good USRs to take advantage of this, then that's pretty potent.  I've said my piece about finishing blow abilities.

Lord - 65 pts

The generic Necron Lord looks okay.  Additional movement is always nice, especially on such a slow army.  But why make it so that you can use strats on Battle-shocked units when the Royal Warden can just end Battle-shock?

Catacomb Command Barge - 150 pts

Okay, I like the Command Barge way more than the generic Necron Lord.  It's definitely shootable, and that's always going to be a problem.  But it's got some nice durability, and it definitely makes your basic troops a pain to deal with.

Overlord - 85 pts

For 20 pts more than the generic Necron Lord, you get a huge durability buff, the ability to take a voidscythe, and the Captain ability.  I think Necron Lords are going to be collecting dust for a bit.

Technomancer - 60 pts

This is an interesting piece of tech.  You can either join them to a unit, granting the old school Reanimation Protocols for a 5+ FNP, and have them buff your Canoptek units, or you can make them a Lone Operative and have them play objective games while still getting to heal your models.  Either way, they're worth the 60 pts.

Psychomancer - 50 pts

Wow!  That is such a good weapon for such a crappy combat profile!  Necrons haven't played much with Battle-shock yet, so this is a tool that might be welcome.  Battle-shock is turning out to not be the most impactful thing, but it's still an annoying debuff you can inflict.  And 50 pts seems about right.

Chronomancer - 50 pts

There's that much need mobility boost!  This is fantastic!  Buy!

Plasmancer - 55 pts

That's a slightly better profile for a weapon like that, but hitting on 4s still stings.  Still, scoring crits on 5s is fantastic.  But the real draw here is Living Lightning.  Abilities like this are normally once per game, but the Plasmancer gets it in their Shooting phase.  Even with mortals on 6s, that's still fantastic!  Buy!

Necron Warriors - 120 pts for 10 models (12 pts per model)

And the shoe finally drops.  Necron Warriors are 12 pts per model.  Necron characters are great, but they can only attach to at most three units.  Right now we're 0 and 1.

Immortals - 70 pts for 5 models (14 pts per model)

Alright!  That's more like it!  For 2 pts more per model, Immortals are much tougher and have way better shooting.  They're probably still only fine, but this is a much smaller tax to pay to bring your characters.

Canoptek Reanimator - 95 pts

This is a lot to pay for 6 T6 wounds with some mediocre shooting.  But that aura is great!  The 4+ FNP definitely helps.  It'll be tough with how tall they are, but if you can find a good hiding spot they'll greatly increase your army's durability.

Hexmark Destroyer - 70 pts

It'll be tricky making use of this models Lone Operative ability, but it'll definitely be worth it.  While its Pistols are only Dmg 1, you can put out so many shots it's kind of crazy.  And worse comes to worse, you use it to score objectives.

Lychguard - 95 pts for 5 models (19 pts per model)

I'm calling these fine too.  So while none of the Necron units you can put your characters in are really standout, you do have options.  These can even make a credible melee threat with the right Characters.

Deathmarks - 65 pts for 5 models (13 pts per model)

Wow, we're just gonna shame Warriors now.  These are actually really good!  Especially with all the rumors of GSC running amok, their ability is absolutely fantastic!

Flayed Ones - 70 pts for 5 models (14 pts per model)

I don't like their ability very much, but that is a lot of attacks they can put out.  They're really slow though, so I'm pretty sure these aren't going to find a home in many lists.

Cryptothralls - 40 pts for 2 models (20 pts per model)

These seem overpriced, but if I understand the rule correctly I think they grant the whole unit a 3+ Fight on Death.  That's a mean ability to give your Bodyguards.

Skorpekh Destroyers - 110 pts for 3 models (~36.67 pts per model)

These have a great combat profile, and a once per game DEV WOUND ability.  I think these are probably on the edge of fine at that cost.  You're definitely only taking these if you're taking a Skorpekh Lord.

Triarch Stalker - 125 pts

I think this is great!  It's got a good profile for its cost and three interesting weapon options.  I think I really like the particle shredder, though the heat ray is also good.  But the main reason you're taking these is to mark targets and get rid of Cover.

C'tan Shard of the Deceiver - 265 pts

This feels a bit pricy to me, especially since the timing on redeploys seems to be undesirable.  But he's probably going to snipe a character every time he gets in range.  I feel you're going to struggle to get your points back with him though.

C'tan Shard of the Nightbringer - 255 pts

This is better in my opinion.  I feel like The Nighbringer is still going to be an excellent, tough, melee threat.

C'tan Shard of the Void Dragon - 270 pts

Nice, they fixed the WS on the spear!  Vehicles are a thing in this edition, and the Void Dragon is still great at dealing with them.  I think this is good.

Transcendent C'tan - 280 pts

What, why?  Why is this the most expensive C'tan?  Yeah it can teleport and blast things with its gun, but that's the only trick it has.  It's not bad, I just don't know why this is the expensive one.

Canoptek Spyders - 75 pts per model

I don't think Psychic attacks are really going to be that big of a deal in this edition, though Gloom Prism is nice when you run into your odd KSons or Grey Knights player.  So you're mostly taking this to make your vehicles tougher and your Scarabs more annoying.

Canoptek Scarab Swarms - 40 pts for 3 models (~13.33 pts per model)

Hah!  The Scarab Swarms have LETHAL HITS!  That's fantastic!  These honestly still look like they'll be a great screening and harassment unit.

Ophydian Destroyers - 110 pts for 3 models (~36.67 pts per model)

Hey!  Tunneling Horrors is our thing!  

Jokes aside, you lose quite a bit of durability and striking power for the movement shenanigans.  Skorpekhs were right on the edge and really only work because you can take a Skorpekh lord.  Still, Necrons can use the mobility.

Tomb Blades - 80 pts for 3 models (~26.67 pts per model)

Yeah, Necrons are definitely being charged a premium for mobility.  You get to be the slow, inevitable end, but if you step out of that lane you get hit hard for it.  I'd still say these aren't bad.

Triarch Praetorians - 135 pts for 5 models (27 pts per model)

Oh wow!  And here I was lamenting the cost of the Tomb Blades!  These are garbage!

Canoptek Wraiths - 110 pts for 3 models (~36.67 pts per model)

I think I like these more than Ophydians.  If you're looking for a fast melee unit, I think this is where you go.  (Edit: Until I notice the 4s to hit below.)

Annihilation Barge - 115 pts

This one gets that weird splash damage rule.  Honestly I think this is pretty good.  I'd definitely take the gauss cannon to give it some ability to shoot at harder targets.

Doomsday Ark - 185 pts

Huh!  This is a tricky one.  On the one hand, it can put out some absolutely devastating shots with its doomsday cannon, especially if you can find a good firing lane for it.  On the other, it's pretty fragile.  At least it has a 4+ Invuln to help keep it alive.

Lokhust Destroyers - 30 pts per model

Wow, we are just all over the place with this Index!

These seem pretty solid.  No muss no fuss, just plenty of mobile firepower.

Lokhust Heavy Destroyers - 45 pts per model

Another hmm.  The re-roll wounds against its chosen target is nice, but what I really want is re-roll Hits on those gauss destructors.  Still these seem pretty good.

Canoptek Doomstalker - 125 pts

Oh these are good!  These are so good!  Buy buy buy!

Ghost Ark - 125 pts

Again, we're seeing Necron mobility charged a bit of a premium, but at least this is a good platform.  I wish it could carry two characters though.

Doom Scythe - 225 pts

Okay, this thing is really expensive, but I think it's worth it.  That's just a ton of damage this can put out.  I imagine you'll be splitting fire a lot to get the benefit against Infantry, but that's honestly just gravy.

Night Scythe - 145 pts

What!  You spent this entire index charging a premium for Necrons to be able to move more than 5", and now you give us this?  Why are you ever taking a Ghost Ark?

Obelisk - 325 pts

Nope!  You're still leaving Obelisks at home!

Tesseract Vault - 425 pts

That's a lot of DEV WOUND this can potentially do.  I'm still not sure it's worth taking, though.  For 425 pts, you're basically shooting with one good gun each turn.  This might make a good distraction carnifex, but I think if one of these is on the table you kind of just ignore it.

Monolith - 385 pts

This, on the other hand, looks really good.  Not only is it a tough body with decent shooting, but it's got that wonderful mobility trick.  Looks like we still get to keep playing with our Monoliths.

The Silent King - 470 pts

Okay!  Szarekh is still awesome!  Not only does he put out a ton of firepower, destroy things in melee, (Why does he have a generic close combat weapon?  I think someone forgot to remove a copy paste.) and end battle-shocked, but he's got an amazing commander ability!  Obviously, re-roll Hits and Wounds of 1 is good and pairs great with a lot of Necron high damage weaponry.  But the real winner here is Bringer of Unity.  So many debuffs, including the OC penalty on Battle-shock, are characteristic modifiers.  He's basically a 6" aura of "I don't care," for many rules in this game.  That includes his INDIRECT FIRE too!  Hail to the king!

Convergence of Dominion - 225 pts

Hah!  No.  GW is still having trouble figuring out Fortifications I see!

Canoptek Tomb Stalker - 130 pts

At first I thought this wasn't bad, then I noticed it hits on 4s.  I think I missed that on the Wraiths, so that honestly pulls them out of running for a melee threat.  Pass.

Canoptek Tomb Sentinel - 115 pts

This isn't bad though.  As a ranged piece, it's much easier to keep this in effective range of a Technomancer with a Control Node.  And getting Armour of Contempt when it's on an objective will greatly increase its durability.

Canoptek Acanthrites - 85 pts for 3 models (~28.33 per model)

Okay, these may be pricy, but they can potentially mark some units for death.  Not only do their shots do appreciable damage, but they grant your army improved AP against one target they hit.  The problem is getting that hit.  Three shots hitting on 4s is not very reliable.

Tesseract Ark - 130 pts

This isn't bad, I just wish it had a more impactful rule.

Seraptek Heavy Construct - 540 pts

It's tough, once we get to titan scale miniatures I always start to have more trouble pricing them.  I just have so much less experience with the really big stuff.  I think I like it though.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Necrons are good!  This is definitely a solid army with a lot of real power behind it.  I'm a little sad to see Warriors over-costed, but there's just a lot of power in this Index.  Obviously, mobility is an issue for them and they don't have the best access to good melee.  But it just feels like there are so many ways to rain death on your opponent that Necron players will be spoiled for choice.  They also have some of the best morale in the game, with multiple ways to deal with Battle-shock.  I think Necron players will be really happy with this Index.