As you all are undoubtedly already aware, pre-orders of Book 8: Malevolence, have been delivered to a certain lucky few souls. There are some screenshots of rules and characters floating around. We won’t be sharing any images or copyrighted material out of respect for Forgeworld and their work.
This will be a quick analysis of the White Scars material we’ve seen so far as well as the new Consul Types.
White Scars:
So far we’ve seen the rules for Jaghatai Khan and one WS unique unit, the Falcon’s Claws. There aren’t many surprises with the Khan’s rules. He’s got two separate profiles for whether or not he’s mounted on his bike. The bike confers +1 toughness but costs him -1 Initiative(He’s still I7 on the bike with Duelist’s Edge so that’s not much of a hindrance). He confers Scout to all the units with LE White Scars and Hit & Run to any unit he joins. Also if held in reserve, the player may write down what turn and board edge he comes in from without rolling anything. What was surprising to me is he’s got a 3++ in the Assault Phase, even against Overwatch. It’s a really nice way to reflect just how fast of a warrior he is.
What really blew me away were the rules for the Falcon’s Claws. These guys are basically melee centered Recon Marines. They come standard with a pair of lightning claws but can swap them out for a power weapon/bolt pistol for free. They come stock with Cameleoline and Recon Armor and have Hatred(Characters). What’s crazy is in addition to Infiltrate, they also get to make an 18in Scout move, but must stay 12in away from any enemy model. Imagine taking several squads of these guys, which isn’t hard to do given that even a kitted out squad is only around 200 pts. Their Scout move almost amounts to a second Deployment Phase, one it’s nearly impossible to plan against. This unit has got to be one of the most satisfying instances of fluff coming alive on the table in the whole of 30K. It’s been a hobby plan of mine for a while to make a force based on the Sagyar Mazan. I’ve toyed with list ideas ever since Book 6 came out but I’ve never found something that really reflected the suicidal courage of those guys until now. I truly hope they get models at some point as I’m sure we’ll be seeing plenty of them used on the tabletop.
Consuls:
- Warmonger Consul- He’s your Praetor-lite character. He confers Deep Strike to any unit he joins and has an Iron Halo and Digital Lasers. He’s expensive at 45 pts, but extremely useful for assault centered armies.
- Armistos Consul- He gives boosts to a single heavy support squad carrying Heavy Bolters or Volkite Culverins. He confers Master Crafted to the unit and may take one such heavy weapon himself. Stick this guy in a Bunker with an Ammo Dump and a full Volkite squad; that’s 44 twin-linked shots!!!.
- Mortificator Consul- Think of this guy as a Praevian for dreadnoughts. He may join a unit of up to 5 Contemptor dreadnoughts that forms a unit with him and must move and assault as a squad. He also gives them the dreadnought version of Feel No Pain. For those who were disappointed with the Fury of the Ancients ROW, this guy is a better edition to it.
- Nullificator and Esoterist Consuls- So a lot of the specifics for these guys aren’t readily apparent without access to the wider updates about Demons and the Imperium’s response. That said, each of these guys can be a ML1 psyker, with the Esoterist being able to purchase a second ML. The Nullificator represents both sides reacting to the emergence of demons and moving to counter the threat they posed. The Esoterist is a librarian who, without anyone’s permission, is studying demons in the attempt to banish, or harness them.
We’ll put up more as time allows and information trickles in. As always, thanks for your time.
