Lol, we all knew it was coming. Escalation is a turning point in 40k gaming. Up until now, we have seen players spend hours building lists, read through thousands of tactic articles, test lists until they have mastered it's play, and, most importantly, built a reputation as competent generals. Well.....those days are over.....officially.
Unofficially, most tournaments will simply ban Super Heavies. Not all, but the majority will. I'll be interested to see how GW handles it at their tournaments. I've just read through all the rules and here are my impressions.
Firstly, having +1 to seize means nothing. Most Super Heavy Generals will be taking Coteaz to force you to re-roll that 5+, or to gain a better seize themselves. The additional secondaries make it a bit fairer, b
Secondly, Dark Eldar are back! Having access to the Revenant means a lot. As an Eldar/DE player, I am loving it. Okay, so it costs a lot of points.....but seriously.....that doesn't mean anything when it just walks around destroying everything.
As for the rest of the Xenos, Tau have it the worst. Tyranids is a decent option, so is a Stompa. Necrons are beastly. Spicerack will be doing a complete breakdown of all the Baneblade Variants available to us.
The funny thing about Super Heavies, is that, armies who include Telepathy psykers, Puppet Master can be used against them. Be'lakor is particularly hilarious as he is guaranteed to have it. So, some seriously hardcore armies will have a Super Heavy, PLUS some form of Puppet Master. Guard + Chaos will be good for this. Those games will be pretty amusing. Super Heavy blows half your army to pieces, will Puppetting your stuff, whilst you're doing the same!
I would argue that in a battle of lists that both include Super Heavies, the Eldar/DE have a serious advantage. Dropping four Destroyer Large Blasts (that can be Guided.................) means the enemy Super Heavy is dead turn 1. That can mean both a whole heap of additional VP's on your first shooting phase.....ridiculous. However, In games of Super Heavy vs standard list, I think some of the Baneblade variants have a better cost/use. Especially since the Hellhammer can bring A LOT of shooting for, relative to Orks, Eldar and Chaos, relatively cheap. Necrons to.
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One last thing, I can't see why independent T/O's won't open up the rest of the available super heavies. Squiggoths, Cobras etc. They are no less OP than their "legal" brothers, so why not. Obviously not an Emperor class Titan though....