Warlord Traits
1. Angel of Death: The Warlord and his unit have the Fear special rule.
-If you are playing Imperial Guard or Tau this one might be a decent one to get but for the most part I would hope not to roll a one. Fear causes a unit to take a morale test and if they fail it their weapon skill is reduced to 1. Even against Tau and Guard this is barely useful since you will be hitting on 3's anyway. Pretty useless trait here.
2. The Imperium's Sword: One use only. Declare your warlord is using this ability at the start of one of your assault phases. The warlord and his unit have the furious charge special rule until the end of the turn.
-This sounds like a pretty handy one use boost for a unit. Strength 5 lightning claw terminators or strength 9 thunder hammer terminators can be useful, and your warlord will also be strength 5. Add this rule to some of the relics that greatly boost strength like the Burning Blade which is an AP2 power sword that gives +3 strength which means for one turn your commander is swinging with a power fist at his normal initiative!
3. Storm of Fire: One use only. Declare your warlord is using this ability at the start of one of your shooting phases. For the duration of that phase, a single friendly unit form Codex Space Marine with 12 inches of the Warlord may re-roll any failed to hit rolls.
-If you have a warlord that is sitting in the backfield this could be a great boost to a shooting unit. Use this ability on a thunderfire cannon (I imaging this rule will let you re-roll the scatter dice) or a predator, or even one of the anti-air tanks if you desperately need to take down a flyer. This will really help you inflict some serious damage on a unit that must be taken out that turn.
4. Rites of War: When taking morale tests friendly units from Codex Space Marines withing 12 inches of the warlord use his leadership characteristic instead of their own.
-Yippie? I guess if you are expecting to lose combats and you want your unit to stay in the fight this is nice. I would not want to roll a 4 on this table.
5. Iron Resolve: When determining assault results add one to your total if the warlord is locked in that combat.
-This is like having a free banner that can really change the course of a combat. This breaks ties, increases your chances of passing a morale test if you lose combat, and increases the chances of your opponent failing his if you win the combat.
6. Champion of Humanity: If your warlord causes the enemy warlord to be removed from play as the result of a challenge, he scores d3 extra victory points in addition to the usual amount earned for slaying te warlord in this scenario. Note that killing the enemy warlord as the result of a sweeping advance does not award these extra victory points.
-This is a fantastic trait. For those of us that tend to forget about capturing objectives and just run around the board trying to kill everything this ability can potentially give you 4 victory points if you hunt down the enemy warlord! This trait by itself can alter the way your opponent takes challenges, even if he has a combat beast knowing your warlord can give you so many points if he dies could take that character out of the equation once he has a wound or two on him.
Warlord Thoughts
I like the chances of getting a good trait on this table. You can take a custom character and have a sense of ease knowing that the chances of getting a good trait are in your favor. The special characters already come with one of these so if you really like one of these chances are there is a character that will suit your play style that has the trait. You will just have to accept whatever his chapter tactic is which brings us to...
Chapter Tactics
Ultramarines: The Ultramarines come with three doctrines that can each be used once per game.
Tactical Doctrine- Models in this detachment re-roll all to hit rolls of 1 made in the shooting phase. Tactical marines instead re-roll all failed to hit rolls in the shooting phase.
-For a turn your tactical marines become twin-linked with ALL of their weapons. Las cannons, missiles, bolters, all their fun toys are re-rolling. Either use this turn one to whittle down your opponent a few extra models or wait until you are in rapid fire range for some laughs as you shred models by the handful.
Assault Doctrine- Units in this detachment can re-roll assault range. Assault marines and bikers gain fleet. \
-When you 100% need to make a charge just activate this and you greatly increase your chances of making it.
Devastator Doctrine- Models in this detachment may re-roll to hit with snap shots. Devastators gain relentless unless they have disembarked from a transport in the movement phase.
-If your devastators are out of place turn one fear not, you can now activate this ability, move them, and then fire without having to hit on a 6.
White Scars: Bikes, Bikes, Bikes...BIKES!!!!
Born in the Saddle- Bikers automatically pass dangerous terrain tests, +1 to jink saves, and +1 strength to hammer of wrath attacks.
Fight on the Move- Models in this detachment gain Hit and Run, this does not apply to terminators or Centurions.
-This makes bikes even harder to kill. If they get in a fight that they can't win in a turn just pass your initiative test and charge in again! I used these guys in my last battle report and they were incredible.
Imperial Fists: Meh. Unlike the blindingly bright yellow of their armor their chapter tactics are rather dull.
Bolter Drill- Models with any bolt weapon; pistol, bolter, heavy bolter, storm bolters, and combi bolters re-roll 1's when shooting to hit. This does not apply to Sternguard specil ammo.
Siege Masters- Devastators and Centurion Devs have tank hunters and add 1 to the result when rolling the building damage table.
-This is probably my least favorite chapter tactics. Perhaps it is because I don't play with a lot of shooting units but these seem very lack luster. This one hit me especially hard because my custom army is a successor from the Imperial Fists but I have no interest in using these rules.
Black Templars: The boys in black will be covered in red by the end of the battle.
Accept Any Challenge, No Matter the Odds- Black Templar characters re-roll all failed to hit rolls and gain rending while in a challenge.
Crusaders- Gain Crusader and Adamantium Will special rules, they also gain access to crusader squads.
-I really like these rules. If you get a Templar character that rolls a 6 on the warlord trait suddenly your enemies warlord is running all around the board trying not to get into combat with your crazy killers. The 5+ deny the witch roll is fun as is the extra run dice and d3 to sweeping advance. Very happy to see some assault boosts.
Iron Hands: Iron within, Iron without!...oh wait that's not it.
The Flesh is Weak- Everyone gets a 6+ feel no pain.
Machine Empathy- All vehicles and characters have the It Will not Die special rule. Techmarines and Masters of the Forge gain +1 to their blessing of the Omnissiah rolls.
-These rules are sooooo nice. 6+ feel no pain may not seem like much but it is a lot better than not having it. I like this a lot for characters since you can get a wound back on a 5+ and your tech marines can repair your vehicles easier which is nice if you are running a much list.
Salamanders: These are the guys you see playing with lighters when they are bored, and chasing fire trucks to catch a glimpse of an inferno.
Flamecraft- You may re-roll failed saves caused by flamer weapons. You may also re-roll failed to wound rolls as well as armor penetrating rolls that fail to glance or penetrate from flame based weapons.
Master Artisans- Each character may upgrade one of his weapons to have the master crafted special rule for free.
- Flamecraft is nice, you will certainly be causing a lot more wounds than normal. If Salamaders get Fire Drakes; terminators with flamers all over, in their supplement this rule will be awesome! The artisans rule is amazing. You can master craft your sergeants bolters or combi weapons, or just any freaking weapon! That is just incredible.
Raven Guard: Assault Mar...oh wait they aren't troops.
Strike from the Shadows- Models in this detachment have the scout special rule, they also have stealth on the first turn of the game. Neither of these rules apply to models with the bulky and very bulky special rules.
Winged Deliverance- Jump infantry models may use their jump packs in the movement and assault phase of the same turn. They must also re-roll failed to wound rolls caused by hammer of wrath.
-I found this one to be slightly disappointing. I was expecting really amazing assault marine abilities which the second one gives, but assault marines do not benefit from any of the stealth or scout rules because they are bulky models. If you want this it forces you to take Shrike who can join an assault squad who can then gain stealth and infiltrate. Assault Marines can't become a scoring unit either which I though Raven Guard would get, maybe in their supplement!
Final Thoughts
I am really liking White Scars and Iron Hands chapter tactics. Ultramarines tactics really promotes a balanced build of all types of units to really get the most out of those abilities which will be nice to see on the table. I really hope that these rules promote a lot of different builds and not just one or two super builds. I think that there are so many options between chapter tactics and characters that people will actually factor in their own playing style and biases when deciding what to take. I am sure someone out there has great plans for the Imperial Fists chapter tactics, or really really want's to take Lysander so they will prefer that over White Scars as his primary detachment. Options is the key to this book and it is a very exciting time to wear power armor!
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to leave a comment as to what your favorite chapter tactics are and why. Have an Emperor blessed day!
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