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@Polonius: I was thinking my review might compare it to my wishlist from a while ago, along with what I own vs what I'll buy vs what I'll convert.

Tactically, about the only things that interest me are:
- the meta-unit impact of Squadrons
- solving the mobility problem (thanks to Robin)
The rest seems to be about the same, or worse.

onlainari wrote:It's impossible to improve the format. You have to look at one place for rules and another place for points. The Tau codex was an attempt at putting it all in one place and it sucked.

Good one! You almost had me going for a minute there but-

Wait, you're serious?



The format now is:
Unit section - Fluff, some rules, some wargear
Wargear section - some wargear, except for what's in the fluff section
Army list - all the points, some of the rules

First off all the rules should be named clearly and consistantly, none of this 'Never Give up Never surrender' crap. Just make it 'know no fear' (which is basically what it is) and call it that. Or better yet, stubborn or fearless.
Second off keep the fluff with the fluff and the rules and points together and all the wargear in one place.
Third off keep stuff in some sort of order.

I thought the 3.5 and 4th edition codexes were easy to follow but since the Eldar book they've just been annoying. And I'm a 10 year+ vet of these games. I can't imagine what a novice does to learn this. Heck I tried to teach someone but it was a pain since every unit had some special rule to recall.

LunaHound wrote:

sentinels too expensive , chimera can do everything and do it cheaper.
(well minus the plasma cannon , AC and ML) but for the same bs3 i would stick to hwt

Hmm, you've got a point. I can get a multilas on an AV12 walker or for about the same points I can get a ML, HB, AV12, transport 12 and move 12" a turn.

Shame, they're such sweet models.

Nice, blog, quite entertaining. I think you've captured the general sentiment of the majority of IG players. Mulling over my copy I had much the same thoughts.

For sentinels I'm starting to think that they've just slipped because better options are around. Maybe next time they should just make them all have the higher armor.

I think alot of the point cost issues in the book are coming from GW's insistence of having point costs rounded to 5 and 10 pt increments, with very few exceptions. Example, ML worth maybe 6 or 7 relative to the AC, the few points to cover the cost of the extra versatility instead of the solid 5pt jump. Is this game being so distilled for kids, that we can't be expected to add 7 and 5.

30pts for carapace, it seems a bit harsh.

I've only skimmed mine, so hopefully I'll get a chance to do some number crunching tonight.

aka_mythos wrote:30pts for carapace, it seems a bit harsh.

I've only skimmed mine, so hopefully I'll get a chance to do some number crunching tonight.

It appears to me that GW is now valuing BS4 in Sv4+ Carapace in IG the same as Power Armour, and ignoring the rest of the SM statline. It's about the only way to explain the Command Squads and Storms.

Kyoto, did you miss that you can take a special character to make one Vet unit infiltrating? So, whoever's not playing Catachan Devils only could be satisfied with it.

Not being able to field airborne Ogryns makes me still sad...

You know what, there are a few things I don't like about the new Guard codex, but on the whole, I am really pleased with it.

There are just SO many ways to build a list now, which is the way all of the Dexes should be. This way a player can buy gak tons of models, and make lots of fun, themed, powerful builds.

I am already saving my pennies to get some new forgeworld tanks and some of the other new stuff coming out.

Some of the power builds that are jumping out at me are really great. I think the IG will be a spoiler in tournies as they can counter the big dogs right now really well.

I want another snack break moment!

onlainari wrote:It's impossible to improve the format. You have to look at one place for rules and another place for points. The Tau codex was an attempt at putting it all in one place and it sucked.

The 4th Edition Marine, Black Templar, Tau and Tyranid Codices are the best laid out Codices that they have done. The current system is pointlessly clunky, needlessly complex and generally harder to use. In the new Guard 'Dex there are 31 entries in the Vehicle Armoury section, of which only 8 have rules in that section. Why even bother having a consolidated armoury if 75% of what's in there just tells you to look elsewhere in the book?

Exactly. What would be wrong with some redundancy in rules? Sure, put the rules in the unit entry. And also put them in the armoury. It would make using the codex to play games muuuuuch easier.

Are Conscripts really that useless? I was considering fielding a large unit of cultists in my Traitor Guard.

Anung Un Rama wrote:Are Conscripts really that useless? I was considering fielding a large unit of cultists in my Traitor Guard.

Well I could be wrong but my feeling is yes. You 'save' a point on each guardsman but get WS2, BS2 and no special/heavies.

I'd rather take 5 squads, blob them, and have 5 flamers and 5 sgts with power weapons and maybe a Commissar Lord to keep their leadership up.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:
That would make sense. Oh and isn’t Hellstrike the name of the rocket they mount on Predator drones?

Hellfire is the missile mounted on the Predator drones, and among other U.S. Army vehicles.

Anung Un Rama wrote:Kyoto, did you miss that you can take a special character to make one Vet unit infiltrating? So, whoever's not playing Catachan Devils only could be satisfied with it.

Not being able to field airborne Ogryns makes me still sad...

Why yes, I did miss that. Do you know why? Because Sgt-Gov Jessie the Body Ventura has the special rule 'catachan devils' and I had to flip back 30 pages to find out what the heck that means.

Again, not only do we have an 80s film reference (which I don't mind, it even made me chuckle) but we have a universal special rule that's been given a new cool name. It's just bad rules writing and bad layout. These are basic skills in writing games and I am shocked GW continues to make these amateur mistakes.

Well not shocked... what's the other word? Unshocked? because they do this ALL THE TIME.

Can I just say, I absolutely love the layout of the new army books. I can write up a list quickly with pen and paper, rather than firing up Army Builder.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:but we have a universal special rule that's been given a new cool name.

Where do we have a USR being given a new name?

I see:

Catachan Devils: Harker and his squad have the Infiltrate, Stealth and Move Through Cover universal special rules. - Codex: Arbitrary, Page 62

That's not giving anything a new name.

Hasn't this army book format mostly been the norm of Fantasy books for a long time now? If it works for fantasy then why not for 40k? Granted, some pages and entries are redundant.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

Kid_Kyoto wrote:but we have a universal special rule that's been given a new cool name.

Where do we have a USR being given a new name?

I see:

Catachan Devils: Harker and his squad have the Infiltrate, Stealth and Move Through Cover universal special rules. - Codex: Arbitrary, Page 62

That's not giving anything a new name.

Yes it is. It's taking 3 universal rules and giving them a new, meaningless, name that you have to look up 30 pages earlier.

So they can save space in the army list section maybe

H.B.M.C. wrote:

onlainari wrote:It's impossible to improve the format. You have to look at one place for rules and another place for points. The Tau codex was an attempt at putting it all in one place and it sucked.

The 4th Edition Marine, Black Templar, Tau and Tyranid Codices are the best laid out Codices that they have done.

Agreed, I especially like the Tau Empire codex layout. I found it kinda irritating flipping back and forth between the list and the armory, but that's still much better than the crap they went with for the newer codices. I like having an illustration with a fluff snippet and points costs/rules all in the same place.

Re: Redundant USR Repackaging. They did the same thing with Harlequins.

I think its funny how often these three, Infiltrate, Stealth and Move Through Cover, are given out together... almost makes you wonder if it'd just be easier to make them all one USR.

Especially if they just called it "move through cover" (Looks at Tyranids)

I agree on the silliness of the new layout. I prefer my old WH and DH codexes to the new ork and marine codexes. It would make so much sense to follow the previous marine 'dex with it's nice, all inclusive fluff section, then the wargear, then the unit costs and all.

I do like that they have all the options for a unit in the unit's entry in the list, as opposed to one giant one size fits all armory, but as HBMC said, having a wargear section where 75% of the rules entries are merely a direction to another page is just stupid. They need to fire their layout folks.

Also, they need to add pictures of all the guns & gubbins, which was the whole point of the Wargear section in the first place!

Redbeard wrote:The Deathstrike. Where, I call my friend, ask if he's playing 40k at his house, and then tell him I launched one and his guys need to take saves...

Hehe

Kid_Kyoto wrote:Oh and isn’t Hellstrike the name of the rocket they mount on Predator drones?

I thought that, too, and then I remembered, the AH-64 Apache, the A-10 Thunderbolt, and the Michael Jackson Predator are all armed with the Hellfire anti-tank missiles..But the ADHD-64 Apache fires missile all over the place until it sees a squirrel and it's fascinated for a second, then it rushes off on it's bicycle.

Please note that Straken does not have an S6 power weapon, but a S6 Chainfist that strikes at normal initiative, hurr durr. Ballsy.