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| This is my other personal art pick. Thousand Sons are just awesome. |
*Insert Clarksonic simile here.*
"These new rules do this and this and thi....POWER!!"
And now, the follow up. Units. And a little note on Wargear.
HQ
Chaos Lord: The new baseline for the Chaos Lord and Sorceror proves that even despotic overlords shop at Poundland from time to time. Finally, GMW has taken a leaf out of Burger King's book and let us have our HQs our way. No longer are things like Invulnerable Saves shoved on willy-nilly to jack up the points costs, we're just given a basic figure which we can torture and upgrade however much we like.
Top Bryss is right, sort of. The main issue with the old Lord's costing was that the Daemon Prince, 20 points higher, was far more cost-efficient. This one now has a use as a cheap utility HQ for the purchase of Cult Troops, or to make units Fearless. They've also increased in potential Toughness, with non-Tzeentch Lords actually able to access a 4+ Invulnerable Save. As for Tzeentch Lords, they become challenge tanks, which is nice considering you're forced into them a lot. As ever though, they are defined by their wargear, so we'll need to come back to them.
Sorceror: How much for Mastery 3? Somewhere, an Epistolary is weeping...
I see this one becoming HQ of choice very quickly. Interestingly, you may now give up your Force Weapon if for some reason you really want a power fist or something. This means he can pretty much do anything the Lord can except he's slightly more naff in combat (unless you go the Biomancy route and get lucky) and he gets Psyker. Unfortunately, there are NO pre-set powers (I suppose you could argue Primaris covers this), so unless you want him to be shooting lots, his real role is pretty random.
Daemon Prince: This is your supercar HQ. Choose from Sunset Red, Ocean Blue, Lime Green or Exotic Pink, buy some expensive optional extras, and away you go. Well, if you have wings, anyway. Otherwise you're a bit slow and only T5.
I really don't know why the only way to have an Undivided Prince is through Dark Apotheosis. You can give him artefacts for mad combat potential (either the Axe, which has no real drawback on this guy, or the Mace for lols), or make him Psychic, but he's slightly worse than the Sorceror due to forced God-Power. Still, at least he's now distinct from the Daemons one and will perform a different battlefield role. Sort of disappointed that he doesn't get real Marks.
Warpsmith: Evil clone for the sake of evil clone?
Perhaps. Admittedly, he doesn't get a Conversion Beamer so isn't quite as cloney. A bit of a letdown, as all he really does is make one little piece of terrain slighly worse. And he doesn't even get Evil Servo-Arms...
Dark Apostle: The thing that I don't get about this one is the 'May take Veterans of Long War for free' thing. That's not an option, that's like saying 'Right, here's your choice, eat this delicious bun, or...not eat it.'
I don't get that either. Just put it in the baseline, no-one will care. This guy takes the 'Be Fearless' aspect of the Chaos Lord and runs with it. That said, his Demagogue rule is a bit laughable considering the cost of buying +1Ld on all units isn't too high.
Wargear
With this edition comes the return of the Pile O'Gear list. Your standard Champions can only buy weapons, which seem fairly costed, with the exception of the Plasma Pistol which should really be at least 12. Terminator Weapons are a bit awkward, as the Termie Champion pays more despite not getting any extra mileage out of them.
Special Issue Gear, yep, fine, no weirdness going on here. Rewards also seem normal. Steeds are really expensive, but the only two I see as overcosted are the Disc and Palanquin, and then only slightly. The Juggernaut is excellent for what it gives, seeing as it's no slower than a normal horse. Marks are normal, nothing to see here.
Aah, now we get to the expensive stuff. Let's one-by-one these.
Dimensional Key: Easy enough to activate, shame that by the time you do chances are the Deep Strike thing is worthless, with maybe one unit left to use it. It's an assault deterrant, although it won't work too well on anything in range when it's activated. That said, the most important thing is that it stops people running away. Yes, this is Chaotic Quicksand, and your Lord/Prince is the antlion. Could be worth it.
Genuine Flamer Used By Kharn, only £50 on eBay: Sorry, but this really is the 40k equivalent of the bones of saints/memorabilia. Lethal memorabilia, but memorabilia nonetheless. That said, it's Torrent so could be useful. The real question is whether +12" range and AP3 are worth 25 points when you're still only S4. Maybe on a Bike...
Axe of BlinKILLKILLKILL: Hilarious on Princes, fairly efficient on Lords. One minor oversight though. What the holy hell is the point of it giving Rage if you NEED the Mark of Khorne, which ALREADY GIVES YOU RAGE? Do multiple Rages stack? Does fusing two Rages together make Ragey Rage? Chaos Lord's Rage is building!
Aah, sorry, the spirit of the axe must have taken me. I suspect the real point is to give Princes Rage. In which case, this is more cost-efficient in the hands of the more expensive model. Wait, hold on, the Axe specifically states you need a MARK. So, technically Princes can't have one. Riddle me that.
The Murder Sword: It's really, really situational. And not even a Daemon Weapon. Not one of the better ones.
The Black Mace: I don't know if it's too great on a Lord, since it's designed to bounce harmlessly off of the armour of the Hated Loyalist Enemy(tm), but apparently being a Prince makes it AP2. Which makes it fairly decent. So long as this isn't FAQ'd. Shame about the 200+ points aforementioned Prince now sets you back.
Scrolls of Magnus: Roll up, roll up, spin the wheel, get a new power. Sometimes it'll be worth it, sometimes not. It gets more worth it the higher your Mastery Level. But that also brings you up to Epistolary levels. Plus there's the 1/3 chance of taking an AP1 hit, necesitating an Invulnerable Save. Which costs even more. Sigh...
Next time, Troops or something. Signing off...