Following on from yesterday’s look at updated Blood Angels and Dark Angels rules, today’s preview has three more Chapters under the spotlight – the Space Wolves, Black Templars, and Deathwatch. Let’s see what they’ll be doing when the upcoming Codex: Space Marines comes out.
Space Wolves
There’s a lot to get through today, so we’re going to make like Phobos-armoured marines and move 33% faster than before. Space Wolves get most of the same boosts as general Space Marine units, such as the extra point of Toughness on many datasheets – including Bjorn the Fell-handed – and have some unit abilities tweaked to work better with the new Space Marine paradigm.
Grey Hunters, for instance, have re-learned how to work in 5-man teams.
GREY HUNTERS
M | T | SV | W | LD | OC |
7" | 5 | 3+ | 2 | 6+ | 3 |
ABILITIES
Cunning Hunters: In the Fight phase, if this unit is within range of an objective, this unit’s melee attacks:
Have +1 S.
Have +1 AP.
Old Greymanes: In the Declare Battle Formations step,
you can split this unit into two units, each containing as equal a number of models as possible (when splitting a unit in this way, make a note of which models form each of the two new units).
Grey Hunters must be taken in a squad of 10 as before, but now you can split them up into two 5-man units before deployment. This can help you cover much more ground and will give Space Wolves armies an edge in action-heavy missions.
Detachment-wise, the Space Wolves see Saga of the Beastslayer and Saga of the Great Wolf come back with minor tweaks – at 1DP and 2DP respectively – while the Champions of Fenris detachment takes a far more aggressive stance and replaces all three of its Stratagems with new, more deadly options.
CHAMPION’S GUIDANCE (1CP)
CHAMPIONS OF FENRIS STRATAGEM
A paragon of Fenrisian savagery, this champion guides his warriors with confidence and precision.
WHEN: Fight phase, when a friendly ADEPTUS ASTARTES CHARACTER unit is selected to fight.
TARGET: That ADEPTUS ASTARTES CHARACTER unit.
EFFECT: Your unit’s melee attacks can re-roll hit rolls of 1 and wound rolls of 1.
HEROIC RESOLVE (2CP)
CHAMPIONS OF FENRIS STRATAGEM
This warrior’s indomitable fortitude is the stuff of legend, galvanizing his pack to remain standing before an avalanche of incoming attacks.
WHEN: Your opponent’s Shooting phase or the Fight phase, when an enemy unit targets a friendly ADEPTUS ASTARTES CHARACTER unit.
TARGET: That ADEPTUS ASTARTES CHARACTER unit.
EFFECT: Attacks that target your unit have -1 D until that enemy unit has attacked.
Otherwise, the units you know and love are still fighting fit after these changes, and you can combine the detachments here with any from the Space Marines Codex.
Black Templars
The Black Templars have much more of a mix-up with their rules, as the three detachments they get in this update – Fist of the God-Emperor, Vow-sworn Crusaders, and Marshal’s Household – are all either changed or new. While the army previously had their own army rule in place of Oath of Moment, now they adhere to the new Combat Doctrines rule while the swearing of Templar Vows has been moved to the Vow-sworn Crusaders detachment.
DETACHMENT RULES
TEMPLAR VOWS
On the eve of battle, the Black Templars gather to be led in prayer and contemplation by their champions. United in their hatred of the foe, they swear a mighty vow to uphold in the battle ahead.
At the start of the first battle round, you can select one Vow listed below. That Vow is active for friendly ADEPTUS ASTARTES units until the end of the battle.
ABHOR THE WITCH, DESTROY THE WITCH
This unit’s melee attacks that target a PSYKER unit:
Have [PRECISION].
Have [LANCE].
ACCEPT ANY CHALLENGE, NO MATTER THE ODDS
Friendly melee attacks that target a unit with a T greater than this unit’s S have +1 to wound rolls.
UPHOLD THE HONOUR OF THE EMPEROR
Friendly INFANTRY units have:
At the end of your Movement phase, if this unit is controlling an objective, that objective is secured.
When this unit is selected to make an advance move, that advance move does not prevent this unit from being eligible to start an action.
Restrictions: Your army can include BLACK TEMPLARS units, but it cannot include any ADEPTUS ASTARTES units drawn from any other Chapter.
As it costs only 2DP, Vow-sworn Crusaders fits nicely with plenty of the 1DP detachments kicking around in the new Codex, so if you want to Accept Any Challenge, No Matter the Odds and double down on close combat carnage with the Assault Brethren, you can.
Getting access to the Assault Doctrine’s ability to advance and charge is great news for the Emperor’s Champion, whose slimmed-down Sigismund’s Heir ability now gives a lovely +1 to charge rolls and doesn’t require them to end up engaged with a Character. Black Templars fans may lament the loss of the ability to give him Devastating Wounds once per battle, but don’t worry – it’s just baked right into the Black Sword’s Strike profile now.
EMPEROR’S CHAMPION
MELEE WEAPONS | RANGE | A | WS | S | AP | D |
Black Sword - Strike [ANTI-CHARACTER 5+, DEVASTATING WOUNDS, PRECISION] | Melee | 6 | 2+ | 8 | -3 | 3 |
Black Sword - Sweep | Melee | 10 | 2+ | 6 | -2 | 1 |
ABILITIES
Armour of Faith: Attacks allocated to this model have -1 D.
Sigismund's Heir: This unit has +1 to charge rolls.
The new Fist of the God-Emperor detachment, meanwhile, takes the part of the old Vindication Task Force ability that lets Crusader Squads make surge moves towards objectives and pairs it with stratagems and enhancements that directly boost the Black Templars’ iconic infantry squad. Giving big squads the Righteous Fervour upgrade will make them excellent objective-holders as they power towards the centre of the battlefield, safe in the knowledge that a few dead Neophytes only makes them get to their target quicker.
ENHANCEMENTS
RIGHTEOUS FERVOUR [UPGRADE]
With their zealous hatred stoked red-hot by furious sermons and inflammatory prayers, Companions of Vehemence are filled with a wrathful vigour. Only the deaths of the God-Emperor’s enemies can assuage their fury, and they will let nothing delay them from unleashing it.
CRUSADER SQUAD unit only. This unit can re-roll Advance rolls.
Deathwatch
Finally, the Deathwatch get an update to their classic 3DP Black Spear Task Force detachment that ties their Mission Tactics to Combat Doctrines and gently upgrades a few of their stratagems, but the real party piece is the new 1DP Deathwatch Support detachment that uses the same detachment rule as the Black Spear Task Force, but allows a 500 point force of Deathwatch to be taken in any Space Marines army.
DETACHMENT RULES
MISSION TACTICS
Thousands of years of collated strategic data and hard-won combat experience have provided the Deathwatch with the ultimate battlefield tactics to combat almost any foe.
FUROR TACTICS
When the enemy horde grows close, the Deathwatch will be tasked with the decimation of their core. Aiming not for clinical kills but for maximum destruction over a wide area, they tear the heart from the enemy army.
MALLEUS TACTICS
When the giants of war lumber forth, the Deathwatch will adopt Malleus tactics. Even the largest behemoth has a weak point, and the archives of the Deathwatch number them all.
PURGATUS TACTICS
By adopting Purgatus tactics, the Deathwatch focus their deadly ire upon the commanders of the enemy host, assassinating them one after another with pitiless head shots and killing thrusts of the blade.
Friendly KILL TEAM units with this ability have the following abilities:
Furor Tactics: If the devastator doctrine is active for your unit, your unit’s attacks have [SUSTAINED HITS 1].
Malleus Tactics: If the tactical doctrine is active for your unit, your unit’s attacks have [LETHAL HITS].
Purgatus Tactics: If the assault doctrine is active for your unit, your unit’s attacks that target an enemy unit within 9" of this unit have [PRECISION].
If you’ve ever wanted a team of elite veterans to hunt xenos prey while the rest of your army fights on the front line, this is the best way to do it. You can even give your best squad the ability to Deep Strike with the classic Beacon Angelis enhancement – provided they have a Character leading them – so if all you want is a single scary Kill Team ruining your opponent’s back line, you can do it.
All of these new rules will go live on the Warhammer 40,000 app when Codex: Space Marines releases, and with pre-orders happening this very weekend, you won’t have long to wait.
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