Cela ient de portent suite à l'opening de Warhammer World.
Enjoy.
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SM Codex (pre-production, but looks close to final, with all artwork in colour, etc). The codex is released on 30th Oct, with the Command Squad box and the new Attack Bike. I think the Army Box is released the same day, and judging by the photo of the box cover, it includes 20 tac marines, 20 assault marines, some scouts, a razorback, and the command squad. And a limited edition vet, who has a plume on his helmet (presumably for dusting the cobwebs on the ceiling of the razorback). There might be some bikes as well.
Things I noticed in the codex...
Librarians get about 7 powers. I think Smite (renamed to something else) is free, the rest cost points.
Jump troops cost 22pts basic
Terminators cost 40pts basic
Dreadnoughts only get 4 weapon options. Plasma cannons aren't a standard option anymore.
Whirlwinds get 2 types of ordnance - current rules, plus a minefield laying missile.
I didn't read all the traits stuff, but one that caught my eye was that Dev squads can be Elite as well as Heavy, but if they are Elite, they have to buy either Tank Hunters or Infiltrate.
There were examples of "notable chapters" and the traits that they have (similar to the IG notable regiments in the IG codex). I don't think that included DA, BA or SW, but did include Salamanders, BT, Raven Guard, Imperial Fists etc.
Each trait modifies the army list, and gives an advantage and a disadvantage (didn't read this fully, so I might be wrong on how it works)
The Shield with built-in Bolter weapon everyone's been on about is ONLY for Chapter Champion. It's not going to be a weapon available to squads or ICs.
There is a very cool new Champion model, which means the Emperors Champion will get resculpted as well
There is a photo of the Ravenguard captain Shrike. Very nice. Paired Lightning Claws with jump pack. His arms are raised in a sort of crucified pose (or maybe he's a scarecrow )
The command sprues are very funky. There are all the combi-weapons, and a storm bolter. A powerfist, melta, plasmagun, flamer, and a lightning claw (left hand, I think).
A banner, a load of shoulder pads including a Deathwatch one. Iron Halo, lots of scrolls, seals etc. I did like the belt attachments - one is very much like the roman centurion belts, with 4/5 strips hanging over the groin. Little badges etc as well, like terminator medals and such. Bits of apothecaries.
The new command squad is superb. It's all metallic, with a couple of separate arms so there's a bit of poseability. I fell in love with the power-armoured vet with the lightning claws.
There were two versions of the Wave Serpent, and two of the Whirlwind (different missiles in the launcher). The Whirlwind is due out end of November.
We didn't *cough* see any artwork of the Tyranids due out in April. We were told everything is waaay cool and gorgeous, but we're not allowed to see any of it. We were allowed to be told that the carnifex has something like 80 pieces on the sprue (quote: "our sculptors are mad"). The genestealer sprue makes 4 stealers, and contains 60 parts.
We also didn't see some decent pictures of the new Terminators. Twice. We weren't told that they will be on 40mm bases. Nosiree, we weren't told that.
Battle For Macragge - the clip-together models look rather good. Ok, so you can't model them how you like, but they're good quality miniatures. they also want to sell them in toy shops, hence, no glue included or needed.
The A5 rulebook is the first 90 pages of the main rulebook - the exact same rules, and the little potted profiles of each race (the DE only get half a page of fluff as far as I can tell, but at least they're still there).
The starter book is, as Mr C put it "Dick and Jane". Laid out even simpler than the LotR Battles with Miniatures magazines were.
And no, the A5 book will not be sold separately. They want us to buy the hardback
The SM megaforce isn't due out till Aug 05 according to the slideshow.
The v4 codex FAQs are going on the web today/tomorrow. I got a printout of all of them.
Main points for me...
SW Codex: Stormcaller will still be useable if you charge, and you still count as in cover (the TAR wording seemed to nerf this) - the FAQ doesn't explicitly state this, but it mentions that if you charge, you go first, no matter what grenades your victims have (unless they're in cover, in which case everyone is at I10 I guess).
Necrons: Monolith's living metal ignores all bonus penetration modifiers. Including the +1 for Tank Hunters, and extra Str attacks from Talos.
When it's immobilised, any CC hits will be automatic, just like any other immobilised vehicle.
DE codex: Indicates that wych weapons halve the WS of your opponent when you hit them, as well as when they hit you. The original wording gave the strong impression that it was only when the enemy hit the wyches (which didn't usually make a lot of difference... WS3 or WS4 halved still hit wyches on a 4+, but WS5 went from 3+ to 4+), but now Wyches will be able to hit anyone with WS < 8 on a 3+.
One thing I checked with Andy: combi-bolters are rapid-fire so wouldn't usually be able to shoot then assault, but if you fire both barrels, it's Assault 2. So you can charge after shooting with it (well, once a game, anyway)
If you cause more wounds than there are models in a unit, you get to choose ONE model to allocate a (saveable) wound to, and make a saving throw. You can't allocate an armour-penetrating hit to him - the victim can still choose which models die to AP hits.
Then you roll all the other saving throw dice. (which usually means there's 2 chances to kill the specified model, as he's included in the mass dice throw as well).
According to the latest WD articles, Necron destroyers will get the turbo boost, and will have an invul save if they use it.
The sweeping advance rule is as follows:
Test morale. If fail, both sides roll I+D6. If combat loser doesn't get the highest result, he's massacred. So a draw on the I roll is a massacre as well (this is different to what the preview PDF said).