Welcome back ladettes and fiends. You came to this blog to
find out more about how Grey Knight Grandmaster Mordrak, and his ghostly bodyguard, fare in this brand spanking new 6th edition of Warhammer
40K, didn’t you?
Of course you did.
For Mordrak the cursed Knight of Mortain and his spectral
crew, this new iteration of 40K has definitely brought brand new challenges but
also opportunities. The game has evolved, and therefore so have practically
every unit imaginable in 40k. As I’m a real Ghostwing fanatic, I thought I’d
take my time and review the unit as a whole while me and the Wednesday NightGaming Crew are familiarising ourselves with the new ruleset.
To reiterate: What is it about Mordrak that makes him so
special? Let me refresh your memory.
For starters the extra 25 points from a vanilla Grandmaster
you get one with an extra Wound and Attack with a Master-crafted Daemonhammer
thrown in, and the ability to spawn ablative wounds in the form of Free (Ghost)
Terminators. Also First to the Fray
allows an automatic no-scatter Deep Strike on the GK player’s 1st
turn, perfect for using Mordrak and his unit for an anchor to entrench Draigo,
a Librarian, a Techmarine, or an other IC for deploy-anywhere funtimes (in lieu
of Drop Pod options for the Grey Knights, first to the fray along with servo
skulls & homers are the only ways to mitigate deepstriking risks). The
downside is Mordrak’s unit lacks shootydakka psycannons so one has to rely on Daemonhammers for vehicle-busting, and if Mordrak were
ever to be killed the unit goes poof!
Now, onwards to my review, where I make note of the major
changes, both good and bad, and non-changes, that could impact the way a
Ghostwing army can be played now.
Disclaimer: I have only gotten in a couple of practice runs
with 6th edition and have not played a full-on Ghostwing army with
the new rules yet, so this review remains theoretical based on analysis,
comparisons and assumptions of mine, you’ve been warned! Also this 'list' of pros / cons are by no means exhaustive, so readers are more than welcome to contribute any further thoughts.
WHAT HAS NOT
CHANGED IN 6th EDITION?
1. MOVEMENT/ DEPLOYMENT
Deepstriking:
As a lot of the movement rules remain the same (6” move, 2D6
move through difficult cover, etc) Still cannot assault after Deepstriking.
Armour:
Terminator armour still relentless, bulky, no sweeping
advance, etc as before.
2. SHOOTING / ASSAULT
Weapons:
Dakka dakka still good, as before. Fire away dem Assault 2
Stormbolters!
Grenades:
Assault grenades (frag) still allow terminators to ignore
the Initiative 1 penalty when assaulting through Difficult Terrain.
3. SPECIAL RULES
Psychic Powers:
Brotherhood of Psykers remains unclarified, as ATSKNF
replaced as per rulebook as indicated in FAQ release, but yet no mention in FAQ
of following rulebook’s definition instead of codex (which makes mention of
Justicar / Knight of Flame, but not an infantry character which Mordrak is).
Obviously, RAI, Mordrak is the Ghost Knight Justicar and any Hammerhand psychic
tests are based off him, but I’ve also seen arguments saying Mordrak and his
Ghost Knights should be able to get pull off Hammerhands twice (one for Mordrak
himself, the other for Ghost Knights), which is patently ridiculous.
THE NEW ADVANTAGES IN
6th EDITION
1. MOVEMENT/ DEPLOYMENT
Terrain:
Dangerous Terrain now not-so dangerous. Deepstrike away into
Difficult/Dangerous Terrain as you now get to use your armour save (previously
it was invulnerable only). This to me is the biggest change which opens up a
lot more tactical use. Combo it with the Ghost Knight’s Stealth (+1 to cover
save) you are certainly afforded an entrenched 2+ armour unit in good cover on
their first turn due to the precision deep strike. Hooray for this great
improvement!
Terrain charts have been re-written. Interestingly area
terrain (like a blast crater) is now a standard 5+, but allows a fantastic 3+
cover save if gone-to-ground. Great for entrenching Mordrak and his Ghosts into
a crater, and when the inevitable plasma pie plates come knocking you just go
to ground and dig in deep, especially good to create a stranglehold on an
objective and use Stealth for an overall 2+ cover save against AP1 / 2 / Plasma & Demolisher Pie plates. If anyone tries to
assault you, get back up for Overwatch fire!
Reserves:
As all in-reserve units come in on a 3+, Mordrak gets to
manipulate the reserve rolls with his Psychic Communion ability making a
devastating improvement on a Deepstrike-reliant army (of course, I’m assuming
you’d deploy Mordrak first, then use his abilities to get other Terminator /
Strike Squad / Interceptor / DreadKnight units onto the field.
Battlements:
Mordrak
can now deepstrike direct onto an unoccupied battlement, suffering NO difficult
/ dangerous terrain tests to boot. This is a major plus and a canny opponent
would do well to rectify this by making sure that any buildings or
fortifications with a sufficiently large battlement area is occupied at all
times.
Deepstriking direct unto a battlement would give the unit a
3+ cover save, and in the next turn they can either occupy the building itself
or access the ground direct if there happens to be a ladder nearby (do check
before doing this!).
2. SHOOTING / ASSAULT
Shooting:
Mordrak also gets Precision Shots (on a 6+ to hit), and Precision Strikes in
combat (which is a fine combo with his Re-roll to hit on his master-crafted
daemonhammer).
You can now throw a single frag grenade in lieu of one model
shooting (the rest get to shoot as normal).
Overwatch:
Overwatch (snap shots hitting on 6+) fire when assaulted,
which is always possibility after deepstriking. Blast away with those
Stormbolters!
You can also *possibly* chuck a krak grenade in Overwatch
shooting, while more dakka in Overwatch anyways.
*LOOPHOLE ALERT* Upon reading the rulebook there is this particular quirk to the Overwatch
rules. If you declare a charge at an enemy unit, after they Overwatch fire at
you and IF they actually land a hit, one always gets to Go to Ground the
charging unit to effectively *cancel* the charge. Combo this with area terrain
and Stealth you get a mighty 2+ cover save and an opportunity to play
*chicken-charge* where one minute you’re charging, and oh wait the next minute
you’re not and you’ll be staying put anyway.
Armour:
Mordrak and his Ghost Knights retain their 2+ armour save,
which is now stronger due to the de-buff to power swords (now AP3). Also if
you’re playing full-on Ghostwing, all Terminators are pretty buff pretty, which
is all-good for lovers of tactical dreadnought armour.
Cover Saves:
Cover is now more beneficial on a per-model basis. If it’s
25% obscured, they get the requisite cover save (5+ for area terrain, 4+ for
most things, 3+ for fortifications).
Invulnerable Saves:
Mordrak is type Infantry (Character), thus is allowed a 4+
Look Out Sir! Save. Pity it’s not a 2+. Still, watch out for AP1 / AP2!
Weapons:
Nemesis swords , halberds, glaives are specifically AP3 being unusual force
weapons and retain their codex bonuses. Win! Vs. 3+ armour save marines. Especially since you'll be hitting first, what with all them halberds your ghosts will be carrying innit?
Daemonhammers are still Thunderhammers, which means they are
AP2, specialist weapon, unwieldy and concussive. AP2 weapons now add a +1
modifier on the Vehicle Damage Chart (yahoo!) .
Vehicles:
Vehicles can now be hit and glanced to death more
effectively (auto-hits when still, 3+ when moving any speed be it combat,
cruising, or flat out!, and against walkers it’s a WS comparison), so
deepstrike to the rear of rhinos and/or other transports and pew pew ping ping
away with Stormbolters, glancing on 6’s. Or use them krak grenades, if you’re
not already Hammerhanding your dudes.
3. SPECIAL RULES
Morale:
ATSKNF and new Morale Regrouping rules means no more being
escorted off the board when you are unlucky and fail a Morale Test (1 in 6
chance of failing). That’s happened to me before but No More! (Plus ATSKNF can
allow a 3” regroup move in addition to normal moves, shooting and assault).
Psychic Powers:
6+ Deny the Witch save against Psychic powers, therefore
a 5+ save as Mordrak is Psychic Mastery
Level 1. Also don’t forget we still have the Aegis, (-1 to enemy Ld during
Psychic test) which helps.
Similarly as most of GK powers are buffs, enemy’s Deny the
Witch and Psychic Hood are now inapplicable
(as *almost* all Psychic Hoods have now been nerfed, no longer a 24”
range anti-psyker ability). Hammerhand away!
Still a fun combo with a Librarian to use Warp Rift on
vehicles, or apply Sanctuary to make Mordrak even more secure when
counter-assaulted (as charging through Difficult Terrain is now 3D6 but choose
the lowest!)
Warlord:
Mordrak would have access to the Warlord leadership traits. Immovable Object on
the personality traits is an interesting one, allowing Mordrak & his Ghosts
to be a scoring unit. Note: By extreme RAW of Mordrak's Grand Strategy, while his unit of Ghost Knights can't be made scoring, one can infer that there's nothing stopping Mordrak to be made scoring. In any case, Immovable Object makes the whole unit scoring.
THE NEW DISADVANTAGES
IN 6th EDITION
1. MOVEMENT/ DEPLOYMENT
Reserves:
An-all deepstrike in-reserve army is no longer viable, as if
in any end of game turn (Note: NOT player turn, thankfully!) there are none of your units on the table (and at least
50% of units not being in reserve being there to begin with at the start of the
game) you lose automatically.
Battlements:
Do note that while teleporting into a battlement, should the
building below it be occupied Mordrak runs the risk of being assaulted the very
next turn (no overwatch allowed in this instance), or suffer a devastating
grenade assault the turn after though I must point out the rulebook is not
clear at this point if a unit on a battlement gains a 3+ cover save while being
‘assaulted’ with grenades, when they would do if shot at normally.
Also when trying to ‘disembark’ from a battlement you have 3
options, the first being going through the building itself (presumably
unoccupied, or there’s a friendly unit letting you past) or down an access
ladder or hatch (which you have to agree with your opponent before play).
Otherwise, it’s a leap off the building and taking a dreaded ‘Impact Test’, in
which armour saves are NOT allowed to be taken (much like the old Dangerous
Terrain tests). In addition, there is a -1 modifier for each 3” distance
fallen. Yikes.
2. SHOOTING / ASSAULT
Shooting:
Precision fire and strikes can pick out and snipe
Mordrak, potentially wiping out your entire Ghost Knight unit with a lucky S8
hit, and LOS! Only works on a 4+ as he’s not an Independent Character. Watch
out for enemy character wargear such as powerklaws, fists, hammers, melta-pistols,
etc.
Also watch out for lucky barrage shots (or Barrage Sniping
as it’s now called). While template and blast weapons are used as per previous
edition to determine hits, wound allocation are as per the new edition e.g.
closest model dies first, this differs for barrage blasts, where wounds are to
be allocated as per proximity from the blast centre, so a lucky S10 Instant
Death Hit! Result on Mordrak and an unlucky save roll can result on elimination
of the entire unit.
Challenges:
In the previous edition of 40k, while in combat Independent characters can be singled out and allocated a tonnage of wounds. Not so anymore in 6th edition where wounds can be allocated by the controlling player of said models if they are all in 'closest promity', as opposed to shooting where they are randomly distributed when models are 'equal proximity', otherwise nearest first.
Now, Mordrak can also be picked out and challenged in
combat like any other character. Previously in 5th edition he was a
mere ‘upgrade’ that wasn't even Independent.
In this new age of combat, Mordrak is likely to be challenged by other
Powerfist sergeant’s, and likely both SPLAT! Each other, and then it’s bye-bye
to the whole unit. If you think this too risky, don’t take the challenge and let the
sword-bearing Ghost Knights (2+ save, 4+ invulnerable) soak up such wounds.
Also if you play your unit positioning right (and positioning is key) you
should be able to use Halberd Ghosts to take out such threats anyway.
Also, if in a challenge, it’s probably better to accept it
with a Librarian with a 2+ invulnerable stave first in Mordrak’s stead (or
better yet, Draigo!) , or use the Glorious Intervention rules to swap
characters in a challenge if Mordrak gets
pretty close to biting the dust.
Long story short, I think it’s too risky for Mordrak to be
challenging other characters in combat what with the plethora of powerfists and
the like littering the battlefields of the 41st millennium.
Weapons:
Nemesis swords , halberds, glaives are now AP3, debuff against termies and other
2+ armour saves.
For Ap2 shenanigans, take Daemonhammers then! (You were
going to take some anyway and not just rely on Mordrak to crack vehicles,
weren’t you?) But then again, you were always going to avoid getting into
combat with TH/SS Termies anyway, weren’t you?
Note: Daemonhammers are still thunderhammers but the
Concussive USR has now been debuffed to now longer auto-shake the crew of a
vehicle in combat when penetrating/glancing. Boo!
Charging:
Random 2D6 assault charge range. Deepstrike
Mordrak up close and personal then move and assault the next turn! Overall
though close combat is a more dangerous affair now, with random charge distance
and Overwatch fire.
3. SPECIAL RULES
Psychic Powers:
Perils of the Warp is now unsaveable be
prepared for Mordrak to lose a wound when he fails it (again 1 in 6 chance of
failing).
*Note 01* I've been re-reading the rules, it turns out that while you can't take a save of any kind, it can be argued RAW 'Feel No Pain' is not a save of any kind, and therefore in a unit of Paladins with an apothecary, one should get a 5+ FNP roll against Perils. Great for Draigo, Paladins and attached Librarians, no change for Mordrak however.
*Note 02* I've also discovered upon more in-depth reading of the rules that both a double-1 and a double-6 on your psychic test is a failure, and one takes a wound automatically with no save. In the previous ed. if you rolled double-1 the power still goes off regardless. In this new edition this has been removed.
*Note 01* I've been re-reading the rules, it turns out that while you can't take a save of any kind, it can be argued RAW 'Feel No Pain' is not a save of any kind, and therefore in a unit of Paladins with an apothecary, one should get a 5+ FNP roll against Perils. Great for Draigo, Paladins and attached Librarians, no change for Mordrak however.
*Note 02* I've also discovered upon more in-depth reading of the rules that both a double-1 and a double-6 on your psychic test is a failure, and one takes a wound automatically with no save. In the previous ed. if you rolled double-1 the power still goes off regardless. In this new edition this has been removed.
No access to the new BRB psychic powers as per FAQ ruling
(Librarian + Inquisitors only).
MY THOUGHTS?
Fundamentally, I feel that despite the new edition, Mordrak
and his Ghostwing remain a fun, fluffy, viable, first-strike deepstrike-style
army. In fact, one can even argue that the major changes to terrain and
buildings (particularly battlements) open up new avenues of play for Mordrak,
new tactics, an inevitably new challenges.
For me, the changes to dangerous terrain rules, the overall
nerf to Psychic Hoods no longer being able to affect Hammerhands, and the fact
that vehicles have been debuffed are a major boon to the Ghostwing. Conversely,
overwatch, random charges, challenges and other character sniping possibilities
are dangerous, but not just for Ghostwing alone (all armies will suffer from
these).
Sure, I’ve heard it been argued that Mordrak was
uncompetitive in 5th edition and remains so in 6th. Sure,
you can buy a normal vanilla Grandmaster and combo it with servo skulls and
fancy grenades, yadda yadda. Sure, I’ve been told Draigowing, Crowe + Purifier
+ Psyrazorspam (last edition) was more competitive. Sure, I know from
experience that Mordrak’s style of play can be a bit one-trick-pony, easily
anticipated and dealt with by a cunning opponent.
But you know what? I love Mordrak. I love his fluff, and I
love how his style of play fits in with my fluff expectation of how a Grey
Knight army *should* work the way they strike first and strike hard, wrongfooting an unready opponent.
I also love how the certainty of First to the Fray is
coupled with the expected/unexpected random power of generating ablative wounds
in form of further Ghost Knights, much in the same way I LOVE Stern, and that
one day I plan to have both Stern and Mordrak in the same army list. Time will
tell.
Conjecture aside, I’m looking forward to my first outing
with Ghostwing which I’ll report on in due course.
Thanks for reading, and would love to hear any thoughts/ideas!
Thanks for reading, and would love to hear any thoughts/ideas!