Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Well, I vowed I wasn't going to go, but despite having to work until 4:30am the night before, I still decided to head off to the LA Gamesday with a couple hours of sleep.

I know a lot of what I'm posting below has been covered in various other threads, but I thought I'd just post the things that jumped out at me for anyone else who's interested.

In the Black Library Seminar there was a strong rumor that a direct to DVD 40K CGI movie (involving Space Marines, of course) may or may not be a possibility for a release sometime next year. The official word was that plenty of things still have to happen for this to be a reality but it is a distinct possibility. Also, the word was that the quality would be on par with the cut scene for DOW II. I am quite skeptical of this last rumor since the cost involved in making CGI that good is really prohibitive and I really, really doubt the animation would be that good. Of course I hope to eat those words!

The 'secret' slides in the new product seminar (Jes and Phil asked everyone to turn off their cameras) were of Legion of the Damned Greens and the Scout Landspeeder. The LotD models slide clicked by really quick so I can't give you any feedback on those. The Scout Landspeeder looked like finished plastic, although it didn't have any pilot models (or models of any kind on it). It looked pretty cool (I 'oooohed') but it will be interesting to see if it comes with custom sculpted scouts for the passengers or whether you just throw a couple of your Scout models on the back like an Ork Trukk.

According to Phil, the Ork '2nd wave' will take place after Christmas and will be a fairly big slew of models. In particular he said he was a fan of the new Battlewagon.

The SM drop pod was on hand (as were many other new marine models) and the kit looks and feels really, really solid. If I didn't hate marines I'd totally buy quite a few of 'em.

The SM codex was on-hand and pretty much all the rumors that are collected in other threads are indeed true. I'll mention some of the things that jumped out at me:

Overall, the book is MASSIVE. I know how everyone keeps saying how big it is, but to actually look and hold it you realize this is a BIG book. Much bigger than any of the current codexes by a sizable margin.

All the things I hated most about the old Marine codex are indeed gone. Fury of the Ancients and Fear of the Darkness psychic powers are both gone and none of the new powers strike me as even close to as bad. Many seem cool and useful, but nothing so crazy as a shooting power that goes all the way across the board hitting multiple units even out of LOS. Also gone are Rites of Battle (yay) and the Castellian Minefields for Whirlwinds (double-yay). Also, as expected the SM weapon load-outs have been nerfed ala the BA/DA books so you're not going to be seeing nearly the number of heavy/special weapons across a marine army anymore and of course the removal of vet skills (for the most part) means that some of the sicker combos (tank-hunting HB devastator squads) are finally gone.

Of course, the codex has plenty of crazy new tricks (as has been reported in many threads), but I'll really have to be able to sit down with the codex and look at points costs to figure out which of the new toys are over-the-top great or not so good.

Other stuff:

Storm Shields are now 3+ invulnerable straight-up (not just in CC) which is a pet-peeve of mine (I don't think invulnerables should ever be better than 4+ personally).

Librarians cost 100 points and two of their powers for free but can only cast one per turn unless they upgrade to an epistolary for +50 points (in which case they can cast two). Seems like a fair price to me at first glance.

The Chapter traits that all the special characters have are written in a way that if you take two of these characters in one army you have to pick which chapter trait rule to use (you can't use both). This should calm some people down about the 'combo character' idea. Also, many of the Chapter Trait rules force players to lose the 'combat tactics' special rule (which is a rule that allows space marines to fail morale checks if they want).

Scout Bikes have all sorts of cool upgrades available like homing beacons (which are similar to teleport homers, but I believe for any type of deep strike), booby traps (that allow them to booby trap one piece of area terrain at the start of the game) and grenade launchers (which are rapid fire weapons), but all these upgrades cost a pretty good chunk of points.

Legion of the Damned are an Elites choice so you can take up to three squads of them in your army (and yes they still have a 3+ invulnerable, grrrrr).

The assault veterans can indeed assault on the turn they deep strike, but they can't shoot/run on the turn they land so that means they'll have to risk a pretty close landing in order to do so. Of course that means using homing beacons will be a great combo with this unit.

Overall the codex looks pretty interesting and varied to me. There a lot of different ways it appears like you can play marines now, but the synergy between the Scout units and the rest of the army really makes me think that most players will want to include some of those Scout units in their army. It also makes me think that GW should really do more with the Scout units in other armies to make them less potent offensively but to provide more unique scout flavored special rules that help to spice up gameplay.

I also think that BA/DA players are going to be heavily tempted to use this book simply because of the interesting options available.


Anyway, that's about all I can remember now, if I think of anything else I'll add it later.

Thanks, yak. I assume from the LOTD being "greens" that they are metal. A poster at warseer indicated they were plastic. I'm not used to plastic models having greens.

Any hints at getting the Salamander special character as a model?

dienekes96 wrote:Thanks, yak. I assume from the LOTD being "greens" that they are metal. A poster at warseer indicated they were plastic. I'm not used to plastic models having greens.

Any hints at getting the Salamander special character as a model?

They did say they were metals and that the other special characters will be done when there is room in the release schedule.

yakface wrote:
Well, I vowed I wasn't going to go, but despite having to work until 4:30am the night before, I still decided to head off to the LA Gamesday with a couple hours of sleep.

I know a lot of what I'm posting below has been covered in various other threads, but I thought I'd just post the things that jumped out at me for anyone else who's interested.

In the Black Library Seminar there was a strong rumor that a direct to DVD 40K CGI movie (involving Space Marines, of course) may or may not be a possibility for a release sometime next year. The official word was that plenty of things still have to happen for this to be a reality but it is a distinct possibility. Also, the word was that the quality would be on par with the cut scene for DOW II. I am quite skeptical of this last rumor since the cost involved in making CGI that good is really prohibitive and I really, really doubt the animation would be that good. Of course I hope to eat those words!

Wait, the confirmation was that there MAY or MAY NOT be a direct to DVD 40K CGI movie?

SO, they confirmed that there may not be anything next year?

Anything else confirmed as not happening next year? Chaos Dwarves? Squats? Zoats?

Weird!

jealoussss.

I do not know what I am jealousss of but I am jealousss.

Thanks Yak.

Always good to get GD info from a first hand source.

Thanks Yak - solid and punctual report - just the way I like it.

And some good news too. I am quite excited that they really fixed the Sm codex (worst combos are gone and half a dozen viable ways of playing marines are introduced).

yakface wrote:

The assault veterans can indeed assault on the turn they deep strike, but they can't shoot/run on the turn they land so that means they'll have to risk a pretty close landing in order to do so. Of course that means using homing beacons will be a great combo with this unit.

I assume this is optimistic, but did you happen to note if this restriction about not shooting only applies when they use their heroic intervention and assault when they land or is it a general rule for them. I assume they can still DS normally and shoot/run yes ?

Any other tidbits about the ork releases, like details on the battlewagon? I'm guessing zagstruck will be in that release but have they let slip what else we might see?

Daggermaw wrote:Any other tidbits about the ork releases, like details on the battlewagon? I'm guessing zagstruck will be in that release but have they let slip what else we might see?

I was not there, but listening to the audio recording floating about on the net, the battlewagon will be out soon, and is comparable in size to a land raider, a bit longer, narrower, and not as high. Phil mentioned that you can take six of them with rollers and crush everything on the battlefield, so I would assume that the roller will be on the kit. They talked a bit about the defcopters, and how they would like to do a multi part kit with all the weapon options they mocked up but were not able to include in the new starter set. Claws and nose mounted guns were mentioned, but given the ammount of time it takes to produce and run up enough copies of a plastic kit, I assume that you will not see one for a while.

No mention of plastic Kans or dreads either.

Yuck, that Plastic BW sounds awful :( I was hoping for a plastic version of the FW BW as 80% of ork players have modeled their customs after that size and design.

Trukks get bigger, BW get smaller? A BW smaller than a LR sounds very depressing.

I am curious if regular Scouts can get this Homing Beacon thing, or if regular Scouts can get Teleport Homers back. Any news you may have read on this, Yak?

I would doubt that they can get the new Homing Beacon, since they have those shiny new Scout Bikes to sell this time around, but one can hope.

I was hoping for a plastic version of the FW BW as 80% of ork players have modeled their customs after that size and design.

i hope not, i think the FW BW is a horrible looking model, it looks like a shoe box pushing around a rolling pin, but uglier.

Alpharius wrote:

Wait, the confirmation was that there MAY or MAY NOT be a direct to DVD 40K CGI movie?

SO, they confirmed that there may not be anything next year?

Anything else confirmed as not happening next year? Chaos Dwarves? Squats? Zoats?

Weird!

You know how it goes, they aren't allowed to confirm something yet because any number of hurdles could still arise and cause the project to be cancelled. I think the point was, that if these things don't go wrong we can look forward to such a movie next year, which was (good) news to me.

reds8n wrote:
I assume this is optimistic, but did you happen to note if this restriction about not shooting only applies when they use their heroic intervention and assault when they land or is it a general rule for them. I assume they can still DS normally and shoot/run yes ?

Yeah, they can't run/shoot on the turn they use 'heroic intervention' in order to charge the same turn they deep strike. I'd have to re-read the rule but I'd imagine that if they miss the mark and can't charge you'd be able to shoot/run with them instead.

Daggermaw wrote:Any other tidbits about the ork releases, like details on the battlewagon? I'm guessing zagstruck will be in that release but have they let slip what else we might see?

They didn't really mention what was coming out in the Ork 2nd wave (or when that 2nd wave would be) in the seminar, but out on the show floor Phil was talking more about it. Sadly I didn't ask him any questions about it directly but I heard him talking to others and there will be a fair amount of Ork releases, it will be after Christmas and it will contain the Battlewagon and almost assuredly Zagstruk.

GrimTeef wrote:
I would doubt that they can get the new Homing Beacon, since they have those shiny new Scout Bikes to sell this time around, but one can hope.

Sadly, I didn't take a good enough look at the basic Scout unit besides noticing that their stats are indeed WS/BS 3. I want to say that only the Scout bikers and Landspeeder have the homing beacon but I can't be sure.


Oh, a few more things I remembered:

The Power of the Machine spirit (in the SM Codex) does indeed allow Land Raiders to target two separate enemy units (at full BS4).

Drop Pods now fire at BS4 and the hellfire launcher is a nasty S5 big blast! However it is a pricey upgrade at something like 25 points.

Drop Pods now use the 'Drop Pod Assault' rule in that 1/2 of the Pods (rounding up) now arrive on turn 1 automatically, similar to the Deathwing Assault and the Daemon codex. That rule is positive and negative to me. On the positive, the marine player can now guarantee that he gets the most important Pods he wants in on turn 1. On the negative, coming in on turn 1 means that an all Drop Pod army is more vulnerable to opponents who choose to put their entire army in reserve and then react where the Drop Pods land.

Hey guys, speaking of CGI I remember in WD a few years back there was some screen from a CGI movie based on the bloodquest comics in warhammer monthly, this was about 3 years ago, so giving that a CGI film takes about 3 years, I'd say that the bloodquest movie is starting to come to fruition (also the fact you said space marines kind of hints a bit more)

will dig out the issue and post an issue number plus scan of the page sometime soon

Leigen_Zero wrote:Hey guys, speaking of CGI I remember in WD a few years back there was some screen from a CGI movie based on the bloodquest comics in warhammer monthly, this was about 3 years ago, so giving that a CGI film takes about 3 years, I'd say that the bloodquest movie is starting to come to fruition (also the fact you said space marines kind of hints a bit more)

will dig out the issue and post an issue number plus scan of the page sometime soon

Sorry mate, but Bloodquest is long dead. LONG dead.

The guy making it had some pretty major health issues, on top of his HD being wiped clean once.

He posted the info here sometime in 2003, IIRC.

yakface wrote:Oh, a few more things I remembered:

The Power of the Machine spirit (in the SM Codex) does indeed allow Land Raiders to target two separate enemy units (at full BS4).

Do you recall if each weapon can fire at a separate target (up to 4 targets), or is it done in groups (HB's and SB's at one target, then all of the lascannons at a second target)?

Thanks Yak, that all sounds pretty cool to me. I am excited to see this nex dex! hahah, well, one day, when i get back that is.

Thanks for the info. I agree with your sentiment that scout units in all armies should emphasis their scout flavor and army synergy rather than just being lighter armored troops with different guns. It not as extreme, but I've always liked Tau pathfinders with their markerlights and marker beacon for this reason.

Sounds like someone (Yakface) is ready to start Space Marines!

And where is your Hordes of Chaos news?

Hellfury wrote:

yakface wrote:Oh, a few more things I remembered:

The Power of the Machine spirit (in the SM Codex) does indeed allow Land Raiders to target two separate enemy units (at full BS4).

Do you recall if each weapon can fire at a separate target (up to 4 targets), or is it done in groups (HB's and SB's at one target, then all of the lascannons at a second target)?

The PotMS just allows the Raider to fire one more weapon then it normally would be able to, and that weapon can fire at a different target.

They specifically mention that means the vehicle can therefore fire one weapon when it moves at Cruising Speed and if it gets Shaken/Stunned.

Blackmoor wrote:Sounds like someone (Yakface) is ready to start Space Marines!

If I ever start a (non-thousand sons) Space Marine army (of my own) you can feel free to tar-and-feather me.



I left myself a few outs there, BTW.

Another random thing I just remembered:


Lysander's fluff is now totally changed. He was now captured by Chaos and like tortured for a hundred years or something crazy like that.

He has absolutely no special rules (that I could see) about his first strike Terminator assault anymore. That's all gone (as I think it encroached too much on the Deathwing's territory).

He does give the ability to reinforce a piece of terrain (give one piece of terrain +1 save) like Techmarines do.

any thing on points for the ultra marines special cars.
and are those new special cars the scouts, and the tank ace.



( edit for spelling safari has spelling corrector )

quietus86 wrote:any thing on points for the ultra marien specials ?
and is it tro the sqout ans ace tank is an ultra marien car

I cannot understand what you are saying, I'm sorry.

yakface wrote:He does give the ability to reinforce a piece of terrain (give one piece of terrain +1 save) like Techmarines do.

And he still has Bolter Drill.

Both of these rules make perfect sense for a Terminator Captain with a Thunder Hammer and compeltely justify his 200 point price tag.

BYE

yakface wrote:

Hellfury wrote:

yakface wrote:Oh, a few more things I remembered:

The Power of the Machine spirit (in the SM Codex) does indeed allow Land Raiders to target two separate enemy units (at full BS4).

Do you recall if each weapon can fire at a separate target (up to 4 targets), or is it done in groups (HB's and SB's at one target, then all of the lascannons at a second target)?

The PotMS just allows the Raider to fire one more weapon then it normally would be able to, and that weapon can fire at a different target.

They specifically mention that means the vehicle can therefore fire one weapon when it moves at Cruising Speed and if it gets Shaken/Stunned.

Thanks for the clarification, yak. It sounds like a good change.

yakface wrote:
Another random thing I just remembered:

Lysander's fluff is now totally changed. He was now captured by Chaos and like tortured for a hundred years or something crazy like that.

He has absolutely no special rules (that I could see) about his first strike Terminator assault anymore. That's all gone (as I think it encroached too much on the Deathwing's territory).

He does give the ability to reinforce a piece of terrain (give one piece of terrain +1 save) like Techmarines do.

I feared as much since I didnt ever hear anything concerning those rules in various rumours. It makes me so glad that I just finished my lysanderwing....

But I do understand it however. DW should have gotten that rule to begin with. *shakes head* Damn sight better than the DWA rule.

In typical GW fashion, I am sure that the Black Templars will get that rule now... :S

H.B.M.C. wrote:

yakface wrote:He does give the ability to reinforce a piece of terrain (give one piece of terrain +1 save) like Techmarines do.

And he still has Bolter Drill.

Both of these rules make perfect sense for a Terminator Captain with a Thunder Hammer and compeltely justify his 200 point price tag.

BYE

As a person who just got burnt, yet again, its so sad that I have to laugh to keep from crying.

[edit to add HBMC's quote]

well.. here is to hoping for a faq.. or my blood angels are going to be taking a loooong nap

whats up with a 3+inv.. yeesh. I thought wraiths were bad enough but when its someone with a power wpn or thunderhammer.. assault termies aren't going to be easy to kill to say the least.

with the way its going, I'd rather play my KOS anyway

NaZ

Did anyone ask about Planet Strike?

BYE

Daggermaw wrote:

I was hoping for a plastic version of the FW BW as 80% of ork players have modeled their customs after that size and design.

i hope not, i think the FW BW is a horrible looking model, it looks like a shoe box pushing around a rolling pin, but uglier.

No Joke, in general I don't like any of the Forge World Ork land based vehicles.

The Squiggoth, Great Squiggoth, and Battle Fortress are great models though. So is the grot-rocket, but that in itself isn't really a vehicle. I always envisioned Battle Wagons to look like the Battle Fortresses, except not as large - but i definitely envisioned them as a larger than average vehicle model.

The Ork Fighta Bomma by Forge World is a killer model too, really like it a lot - but the FW stuff is just out of my price range for a single model given the weakness of the dollar.

Besides, any Ork player worth his salt loots like hell and scratch builds like a madman, right? Part of the appeal of Orks for me anyway.

H.B.M.C. wrote:Did anyone ask about Planet Strike?

BYE

What about 40K Might Empires for that matter?