I have never had the actual first true info on something big (to me anyway), but here I am with absolute closure and an issue that has been doing the rounds since R’Varna’s experimental rules went live.

After a recent thought that under the current ambiguous and open wording of the R’Varna’s experimental rules, and indeed as argued by many others have noted, it was possible that the R’Varna COULD be taken in Farsight Enclave detahcments, and so COULD have the Earth Caste Pilot Array to all but guarantee 4 Pulse Submunition large blasts a turn.

So I thought, “screw it, I’ll e-mail Forgeworld and see if I can get a definitive answer”….

And within maybe 30mins, the FW team responded, and now its absolutely confirmed – NO R’Varnas for Farsight, so NO Earth Caste Pilot Arrays for R’Varnas.

I am glad we have a definite answer, as whilst I am equally for and against the Nova Charge rules for reasons noted in a previous post, the R’Varna would have been crazy OP with the ECPA, but this consistency in new risk/reward style tech rules approach makes it fairer.

Here’s the complete response (I have underlined the core line) :

Hi Jonathan,
Thank you for your email. We’re currently working on a FAQ update concerning which units can and can’t be used with Codex supplements. We have decided that the XV107 R’Varna can not be taken in Farsight Enclave Armies for both background reasons, Farsight would not have access to the experimental Technology, and game balance, as you have seen some pieces of wargear are not suited to the R’Varna and have not been play tested with it. In respect to the Farsight supplement currently:
You can take:
Barracuda
Alternate Hammerhead turrets
Goaded Great Knarlocs
Mounted Great Knarloc Herd
Kroot Knarloc Rider Herd
Heavy gun Drones
Drone Sentry turret
Sensor tower Grid
Tigershark
Orca Drop ship
Manta
You can not take:

Any Battlesuit including the R’varna
Tetra
Tigershark AX-1-0
Remora drone fighter

Some of these are Apocalypse only units and are included for themed Apocalypse Armies.
If there is anything further we can do to assist you, or if you have any queries about the information we have requested or provided, please telephone us.

Regards,

Forge World
So there you have it – R’Varna’s can not be taken in Farsight detachments, and so can never have ECPA. The rest of the details was an added bonus – note that it means no XV9 Hazard suits for Farsight either – you can’t use any FW battlesuits for Farsight detachments.
Not a bad haul for an out of left field long shot.