QUESTIONS FOR THE ¡§EMAIL Q&A¡¨ SENT
TO GAVIN THORPE FOR THE NECRO 2007
1) Are there currently plans to produce a new Chaos Dwarf army book and if so will they be an autonomous army as before or fall under the Chaos umbrella (like Beasts, Mortals & Deamons)?
GAV
¡¥Plans¡¦ is too strong a word, but there¡¦s definitely a desire (and a sense of duty) that we will get back to them one day. They would be a complete army in their own regard.
2) Are there currently plans to produce anything for the Demiurg for Warhammer
40k?
Gav
No, is the short answer (short, geddit?).
3) What were the games designers thinking when they gave falcons the ability to have extra armor so all hits are always glancing, unless you can shoot them on turn 1 before they move and have a fair chance of killing them?
GAV
They were thinking that Falcons are Armour 12 so anything with S6 and above can potentially destroy them 1/3 of the time even with a glancing hit. Perhaps players should try less lascannon-like weapons for the job, and more multilasers and assault cannons.
And is there an chance the unbalanced rule may be altered in the future?
The only time rules would change would be in a new Codex: Eldar, which obviously won¡¦t be for many years yet.
4) Do Eldar / Dark Eldar jetbikes or skyboards nullify the "Fleet of foot" rule?
GAV
Yes, although wait for the
FAQ (which will be coming honest!) for that to become official.
5) Tentative
40K Codex release schedule for 2008..?
Something green and then some other books. ļ
6) Are you a big fan of Harry Potter? (yea I know, but someone asked¡K
lol)
GAV
Never met him ;-)
7) Does taking a Steam Tank down to half wounds net you half
VP's for that model, or do you have to kill it outright to gain any
VP's whatsoever? Is it a warmachine or a unit?
GAV
Warhammer, P102: ¡§Models that fight on their own and not in units¡K are worth half their points value in
VPs if reduced to half their starting number of wounds or less.¡¨ That¡¦s crystal clear. Sorry, that was a bit of a waste of a question.
<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START 8) -->
<!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> Any and ALL details he is in liberty give us concerning the upcoming chaos codex for
40k? That's all I wish for when I go to sleep at night...Praying to the dark gods...
GAV
The main shift has been to bring in the Chaos Renedages of the last ten thousand years rather than focus solely on the Traitor Legions and the events of the Horus Heresy. There is one army list, pretty flexible with the ¡¥cult¡¦ Marines such as Plague Marines and Berzerkers as Troops, so theming is still viable. Marks (represented by unit Icons) are available to a much wider selection of units. On the whole the aim was ¡¥freedom not rules¡¦. It¡¦s Chaos, for crying out loud, it shouldn¡¦t be a mess of overlapping structures and restrictions!
Many of the more fiddly options have been removed as specific rules, allowing players to exercise their imagination in creating cool models and paint schemes rather than worrying whether that ¡¥spiky bit¡¦ on their Lord¡¦s helmet would cost them 5 points. In all, the viewpoint has been wound back so players are making decisions about their army on a more macro-scale, thinking about the mix of units and vehicles rather than inconsequential modeling details on individual members of their squads.
Daemons are ¡¥generic¡¦, and are broken into Summoned Greater Daemons and Summoned Daemons. They have one profile for each type and can be considered almost like a spell effect. Codex: Chaos Daemons will be released several months after Codex: Chaos Space Marines for those who love their Chaos Daemons and want to field Daemonic Legions armies.
The army list represents a ¡¥typical¡¦ Chaos Space Marines army with a mix of Marks and Gods, although players still have plenty of options to theme if they desire. It was felt that to do proper justice to the ¡¥cult¡¦ armies (i.e. Khorne armies, etc) requires a specific Codex in its own right ¡V Codex: World Eaters, for example, just like Codex: Dark Angels for the loyalists. There¡¦s immense scope for really cool models, background and games within these armies and to reduce them to a relatively few options (not well represented by the miniatures range) and a page of background is bordering on the criminal. Why not have 20+ pages of history for Khornate warbands from and a full army list of cool Khornate-themed stuff like different types of Berzerkers squads to choose from? Now, there¡¦s no scheduled releases of this type yet, but by approaching Codex: Chaos Space Marines in the way we have, we have the option to do so without creating contradictions and confusion.
Also we¡¦ve included lots of Colour schemes and background to inspire people on the painting side of the hobby, including over two dozen new colour schemes for various warbands. I¡¦m really pleased with it. I think it¡¦s now possible to choose a Chaos army without succumbing to the madness of the warp, and the idea of creating your own warband is now as strong as the urge for loyalist players to create their own Chapters. The idea was to give that back to the players and allow them to decide what they want in their army and how it looks ¡V freedom not rules!
9) When will a new Space Orks codex arrive? The last one was 1999. It looks so lonely on the shelf next to all the new ones.
GAV
Yes, it is really showing its age. As my earlier answer indicated, the new Waaagh! will begin early next year and it¡¦s gonna be big.
10) How do you classify Monsterous characters? Base size? Can they be affected by spells that target monsters? (IE: Beast Cowers)
GAV
A Monster is, generally, a model that is fielded on its own or as a mount, has multiple wounds and has a 40mm square or larger base. The only exceptions are Hydras and Salamanders, which come with handlers but are monsters. Ogres, Minotaurs, etc are infantry. We are currently looking at publishing an update of the ¡¥base size¡¦ chart on the web or in
WD, with added categorization on infantry/ cavalry/ monsters, etc
a. THIS IS PART OF THE ABOVE QUESTION¡K. Does the Rune of the True Beast affect monstrous characters? (i.e. treeman ancients, greater daemons, shaggoth champs)?
GAV
No, they are characters. Note that, for example, this means a Shaggoth is affected, while a Shaggoth Champion isn¡¦t. A character ¡¥monster¡¦ is assumed to have the strength of mind and willpower to resist these sorts of things, while most monsters are more mindless and instinctual.
b. THIS IS THE 40MM SIZE QUESTION OF THE SAME ABOVE¡K Does wolf hunts or beast cowers effect ogres/minotaurs/40mm base models?
GAV
No, they are infantry as they come in units of more than one model (or can do, in the case of Maneaters).
11) If I cast the new warrior priest prayer that lets the model reroll hit and wounds on a wizard, would the wizard be able to reroll wound rolls on spells? EX. fireball, conflag, comet...
GAV
As written, it affects all rolls to hit and wound (so would also affects an Engineer¡¦s ranged attacks, etc).
12) Does -1 attack magic items/abilites such as blooddragon blademaster or cursed shield of mousillon effect attacks made by tomb kings righetous smiting?
GAV
Yes.
13) Does the spell wolf hunts effect ancients/shaggoth champs/greater demons?
GAV
No, they are characters not monsters (see earlier.
14) Luthor Huss has special rules with no description on what they do, ...misprint?
GAV
Yes, the summary in the army list is incorrect ¡V summaries always manage to creep something like this in¡K
15) If a stone thrower or flame template covers a stegadon, does all the crew get hit?
GAV
Warhammer, p61: ¡§If a monsters has two or more riders¡K then randomize any hits among the two riders¡¨. Only one Skink is hit.
16) Do any + to hit modifiers or weapons that always hit on 2s, banners that always hit on 3s, or tress of isloude like items effect wood elf annoyance of netlings? Or is it just a roll off each time to sees which magic is better?
GAV
Irresistible force versus immovable object, roll each time.
17) Can negative spell effects stack? For example can I cast doom and darkness on a unit twice for -6 leadership? Would the -1 to hit, wound, and save spell from metal be stackable?
GAV
No, they are not cumulative unless the spell specifies otherwise. If a spell makes a unit -3
Ld, the unit is -3 Leadership, the second spell has the same effect.
1<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START 8) -->
<!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> With the release of the new books there is no longer Dogs of war as a rare choice listed. Can these new book armies no longer take advantage of dogs of war or do you go by the regiment of renown entries?
GAV
The rules for including
DOW are in the
DOW army list and Regiments of Renown rules. We felt it better to remove the direct tie with the army books, as a) it wasn¡¦t true, some
DOW could be taken as Specials or characters, and b) if we do get around to updating the
DOW book we don¡¦t want to be tied to any particular system.
19) If I have a dark emmissary or truthsayer in my non
dow army, can he join my units? For example: could he join a unit of chaos warriors in a mortal hordes of chaos list?
GAV
Er, why wouldn¡¦t they be able to?
20) When do they expect to release a drop pod model, and will chaos get dread claw drop pods int their codex or always deepstrike termis?
GAV
There¡¦s no plan for a drop pod model in the next few months, and we thought about adding them to Chaos Space Marines bur decided against it this time around ¡V the loyalists need a few things to mark them out as an army! There¡¦s nothing particularly wrong with collecting an army of ¡¥recently turned¡¦ renegades and using the Codex: Space Marines as a basis for your Choas Space Marine models, as long as your opponent is sure what they are facing. Of course, you wouldn¡¦t get Icons or Daemons or any of the cool Chaos stuff.
21) There is a rumor about High Elves in the new book either striking first all the time, or always striking in initiatvie order whether charging or charged. Is this true, and is this going to be a new ALL ELF rule or just a High Elf thing?
GAV
Any High Elves specific rules are for the high Elves, to represent not only their natural skills, but also their training and discipline when fighting together.
22) My question has to do with the interaction of pistols and hand weapons in close combat. The pistol description says that a pistol used in close combat counts as a hand weapon and that a brace of pistols counts as a pair of hand weapons. It is simple enough, but the 'Fighting with a weapon in each hand' section explains that any combination of hand weapons allows you to benefit from the extra attack. As (virtually) all models come with a hand weapon, a player could combine it with a single pistol in order to get an extra attack. Is this intended? The pistol rules seem to indicate that you need two pistols to get an extra attack, but the extra hand weapon rules state otherwise. Do we need one pistol or a brace of pistols to benefit from a weapon in each hand?
GAV
You need a brace of pistols to get the extra attack ¡V like lightning claws in
40K.
23) Does the moonstone allow you to teleport from wood to wood at the end of YOUR OWN movement phase, or at the end of ANY movement phase?
GAV
Your own.
24) THIS IS A MUCH NEEDED QUESTION APPARENTLY FOR THE ¡§WARHAMMER ROCKERS¡¨ Who made the brilliant decision to start the Citadel record label and inflict the rock band Bolt Thrower upon the world?
GAV
To be honest, I think Bolt Thrower would have been inflicted upon the world with or without Warhammer Records. The project was led by Andy Jones, something of a guitarist himself, who also brought us the Troll Games and Warhammer Quest and now runs EMD, the licensing division that includes Black Library, computer games tie-ins and all that.
THANK YOU GAV FOR TAKING THE TIME OUT
TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FOR THE GUYS, I REALLY DO APPRECIATE
IT GAV
My pleasure, shame I couldn¡¦t make the trip over. I look forward to meeting up if you can get over this side of the pond. Take care, have fun, and roll plenty of sixes (except for morale checks)!
