On January 26th, 2021, the dankness began to rise. Games Workshop started their daily previews of the new Dark Angels Supplementary Codex hyping up the community for the pre-orders this weekend. This article leads off a daily series of far too early, way too overhyped, and off the cuff first impressions of these Dark Angels preview articles on Warhammer Community from me, Bailey, the resident Dark Angels player on the Dank Lists Wargaming team. Today’s Warhammer Community article covered spells, relics, stratagems, and a new half of the super doctrine.
I always felt that Space Marine psychic powers live an underrated life. Many people believe that if you want to play with magic, you play fantasy games and that science fiction should remain the exclusive domain for robots, laser guns, and laser swords. The two previewed interromancy spells from today's preview will change that thought process immediately. Mind wipe allows a Dark Angels player to turn off a single aura ability on an enemy unit from 18” away on a 7+ on 2 dice. You want that -1 to hit bubble on Darkshrouds, to keep the example in chapter, then hit it with Mind Wipe. Now before you start hungrily eyeing Death Guard Contagion powers, I received dark intelligence that the Death Guard codex explicitly mentions that Contagions can not be interacted with by powers such as Mind Wipe.
Alongside Mind Wipe, Engulfing Fear allows a Dark Angels player to give -1 leadership to a unit, turn off their objective secure, and if the psychic test surpasses the unit’s leadership then the unit fails any action they are performing at the time. I love how this spell interacts with non-traditional mechanics. In the past, spells tend to affect a unit’s characteristics or stop them from shooting, fighting, or moving. Being able to turn off objective secure with a spell means you don’t need 2 command points and a Reiver Lieutenant to do the same thing. You also don’t have to be within 3” to use it as the range of the spell is 24”. Both of these spells will look good on a Phobos Librarian. I enjoy the flexibility of Phobos units because they can deploy outside the deployment zone and then be placed back in strategic reserve once the game starts for 1 command point.
Considering that there are usually 6 spells in a discipline, I look forward to seeing what the other 4 are. Mind Wipe got a complete makeover from 8th where it permanently reduced enemy characteristics. This means that even if you see certain names carry over from 8th edition to 9th edition, do note that they may work differently.
If it's not a complete rework of a rule, expect minor tweaks such as with the relic Heavenfall Blade which now contains a line of text that allows the Talonmaster to take it despite being a vehicle. Some more extensive tweaking occured to the Mace of Redemption where it now does mortal wounds of a 4+ to wound instead of offering rerolls to wound. Unlike in 8th, this special ability doesn't only trigger on Fallen units but Heretic Astartes in general. If we see things that previously only triggered off of Fallen units broaden to include all Heretic Astartes then some previously underutilized rules will become more prominent. Compared to the Benediction of Fury in the core Space Marine codex, I think the Mace fills more of a meta-based option instead of an auto-include but with the update to Death Guard I expect plenty of Heretic Astartes on the tabletop for my chaplain to smash into repentance.
Unlike the Mace of Redemption, the stratagem Intractable comes back into the playbook with only the slight addition of how it interacts with the new Inner Circle rules from the Index that dropped with the core Space Marine codex. Dark Angels units will once again fall back and shoot but will they want to? We will get to that shortly.
It's not all about the return of an old friend in the stratagem division. A new stratagem revealed in this preview called Line Unbreakable limits the number of models that can fight your Infantry to those that are in direct engagement range, 1”, and not the extended ½” within a ½” second rank rule from the Core rulebook. Couple this with Inner Circle terminators, and suddenly your mangs will no longer die easily to a horde of Tyranids or Orks. Just don't expect them to ever fall back from the horde.
Not being able to fall back from the horde won’t necessarily bother you though. For non-Deathwing units, there is now a new half to the super doctrine called Fire Discipline that allows a unit to shoot their rapid fire and assault weapons on 5s or higher into the unit you are engaged with and even if they are engaged with another friendly unit while in the Tactical Doctrine. Remember that as long as you don’t move outside of pile-ins and consolidations, the chapter tactic grants you a +1 to hit so these duders are hitting on 4+ unless the chapter tactic gets a rework. The Warhammer Community post said there is more to come so we must wait patiently to see the other half of the super doctrine. Personally, I've enjoyed the super doctrine as it stands, extending the range of all shooting weapons in the Devastator Doctrine, and I'd hate to see it go.
After just one preview article, Dark Angels saw the return of some old rules, some renovated old rules, and some refreshing new rules. I am excited to see already that this won’t be a copy and paste from the 8th edition codex. Nothing appears sacred from change whether it be the super doctrine to the Interromancy discipline.
Luckily, all the changes and new additions won’t remain secret much longer. Till tomorrow, this is Bailey reminding you that if your lists start to tank, it’s time to get dank!
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