The big FAQ is up in its beta version!

As the title says, the big FAQ is up in its beta version! You can check the beta FAQ here in the Warhammer 40,000 FAQ website and download a PDF of it.

Just to let you guys know, we have finalized matched play rules for the Smite nerf. Yup, Smite nerf is in effect, so suck it. What does it mean? It means you've to add 1 to the warp charge value of Smite for each subsequent time you use it. In concrete terms, my first Primaris Psyker will cast Smite on a warp charge value of 5, but my 2nd will need a combined roll of 6 or more to pull it off, and my 3rd will need a 7th. Fortunately, you can still cast an infinite number of Smites because they can never go above an 11. In other words, your 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th psykers can still cast Smite, and all of them (plus subsequent ones) will need an 11 to pass their psychic test. Another good news is that even if they do roll an 11, they still deal D6 mortal wounds. Well...you've to be really lucky, though.

"But what about armies built around Smite?!" Yes, I can hear the crying and whining now, especially from Grey Knights and Thosuand Sons players (I'm a Thousand Sons player and I'm not whining about it, hmph). Fortunately for us, we have the Brotherhood of Psykers or Brotherhood of Sorcerers rule, which exempts us from the cumulative Smite tax. The bad news is that your Pink Horrors don't seem to have the same thing. Maybe they'll add Brotherhood of Daemons for Pink Horrors and other Horrors - I mean, Wyrdvane Psykers have the Brotherhood of Psykers rule as well, so I suspect they're exempt from the Smite tax as well! No...wait, they don't?! What the hell!? They had their Brotherhood of Psykers rule removed in 8th edition?! Ah...that sucks. I'm not sure how this rule will work for units such as Horrors, Wyrdvane Psykers or Astropaths, who can only cast Smite on a D6, but I suspect they will get Brotherhood of Psykers or equivalent rule to make up for it (Grey Knights and Thousand Sons got it, so it's not a stretch).

Except that they don't...so whatever. Poor Horrors, Wyrdvane Psykers and Astropaths...

Targeting rule still works for Characters with less than 10 wounds. So you can't shoot at them if they are the nearest target and visible.

Anyway, we have new beta rules! First is Tactical Reserves. They've made it more clear now that the half of your army that's on the table and not in reserves must be at least half the total power level of your army. Not just half the total number of your units. It's both. You must have at least half the total number of your units set up on the table and the power level of your units on the table must be at least half the entire power level of your army! So...yeah. Furthermore, if you want to Deep Strike within 9" of your opponents right in their deployment zone, you've to wait until the 2nd turn...because you can only Deep Strike your units in your own deployment zone if you're bringing them from reserve in the first turn. Holy cow, this changes the way a lot of Deep Strike, Alpha Strike armies are playing now. My Militarum Tempestus Scions are one thing, but this means Crisis Suits and Crisis Commanders won't be showing up and blowing up my Shadowsword or Imperial Knights in the first turn. Phew! And no more Terminators Deep Striking in my backline to mess up my tanks...at least in the first turn!

Another even more interesting beta rule is...NO MORE SOUP! Yup, you heard that right. Soup detachments will no longer exist in Matched Play! Not that I care because I never use soup detachments - I would much rather ally Imperial Detachments so that I can keep my Regimental Doctrines and Knight Household rules and Forge World dogma (starting to regret giving away my Adeptus Mechanicus army...). But this means no more soup detachments where Roboute Guilliman, Celestine and a bunch of Assassins are running around together. Well, before I get ahead of myself, I should state that Detachments must share a keyword and that keyword cannot be Imperium, Chaos, Tyranids, Aeldari or Ynnari. So no more soup detachments. Ah, speaking of which, there are units such as Legion of the Damned, the Assassins and Sisters of Silence that cannot be put in Imperial detachments this way...but fear not! They have new special rules allowing you to run them in Vanguard Detachments without any HQ units. Fortunately, if you do so, then you don't get any Detachment bonus Command Points (so you get 0 instead of 1 if you play 3 Assassins). But you must have an Imperium Warlord.

About Ynnari, you might go WTF!? How do we play Ynnari now!? Fortunately, they clarified it - yes, you can! You can include any Craftworld, Drukhari and Harlequins detachment in your Ynnari army PROVIDED you don't include Haemonculus Coven units, named characters such as Urien Rakarth and Drazhar, and Mandrakes and the Avatar of Khaine. The catch is that you must have Yvraine, the Visarch or the Yncarne as the Warlord of your army. And you have to take each Aeldari detachment separately (no mixing of Craftworld, Drukhari or Harlequin, you have to take all 3 detachments separately). They also lose Power From Pain, Battle Focus, Ancient Doom, Rising Crescendo, and they don't get Craftworld Attributes, Masque Forms or Drukhari Obsessions. BUT they can use relics, Stratagems and Warlord Traits (huh? But I thought Yvraine, the Visarch and Yncarne have their own Warlord Traits!) from any of the Craftworld, Drukhari or Harlequins codexes (not Craftworld or Coven specific, of course).

Battalion detachment benefits have been bumped up to 5 instead of 3, and Brigade detachment benefits are now 12 instead of 9. HOLY TERRA! If they do this, they should bump up the Drukhari raider thing from 4 to 6 and 8 to 10 or something. Otherwise it would be unfair. Oh, and the Tide of Traitors Stratagem from Chaos Space Marines can only be used once per battle (once per game). Sucks to be a heretic, eh? It's your fault for turning your back on the light of the Emperor. The Word of the Phoenix psychic power under Ynnari has been changed to warp charge value of 8. Additionally, abilities that ignores wounds now do not stack, such as Disgustingly Resilient and Feel No Pain/Tenacious Survivor. So no more cheating and rolling twice to ignore wounds!

Oh, and a WTF thing that counter spam. We're no longer allowed to spam units - such as elites or whatever. That means no more taking 6 Leman Russ tanks in 2000-point games in a full Spearhead Detachment, or spamming 6 units of Dark Reapers. Basically, you're only allowed to take a unit a limited number of times in your army, depending on the points.

So you can only take 2 unit per army for up to 1,000 point games, and 1,001-2,000 point games allow you to take only 3 units from the same datasheet per army. 2,001-3,000 only nets you 4 units of the same datasheet per army. Note, this does not apply to units with the Troops or Dedicated Transport battlefield role or units that cost reinforcement points (looking at you, Chaos Daemons). By the way, doesn't the tactical reserves nerf make Summoning (Chaos Daemons) a lot more viable since you usually will only summon on the 2nd turn and beyond when your Character isn't moving? Cool! Anyway, the thing is that it'll affect people who love spamming the same units like Dark Reapers. To put it in more concrete terms, I can only bring 3 Leman Russ tank squadrons for my Spearhead Detachment, and a Tank Commander (so 9 Leman Russ tanks plus the Tank Commander, which I can bring up to 2 in a single Detachment, but the Tank Commander is thankfully in a different datasheet, so potentially 11 Leman Russ tanks). It also prevents spamming Crisis Commanders (so you don't bring 5 Crisis Commanders or 5 Exalted Sorcerers or whatever with the Supreme Command Detachment). Huh, doesn't seem to affect Imperial Knights since they're all different datasheets, but obviously I can't bring 4 Knight Wardens per 2,000 points (and that will be boring and dumb). But obviously you can bring more than 3 Troops because Troops are Troops, and you need to spam Troops. Heh. If you know what I mean. It'll be dumb if I can't bring 6 squads of infantry Guardsmen or 6 squads of Kasrkins/Stormtroopers. I mean Militarum Tempestus Scions.

Anyway, that's all I have for now. Oh, right. Commissars are now 15 points. I'm not kidding. Thanks to the nerf, they are now 15 points. And a Lord Commissar is 30 points. Holy Terra!? What?! That's a freaking budget HQ that allows me to run a guy with a power weapon and excellent BS and WS and an invulnerable save for just 30 points!? Sly Marbo is 65 points too. Death Korps Commissar is now 15 points too, and the Death Korps Death Rider Commissar is 35 points for the horse. Heh. Anything else...? Well, I'm not interested in the other factions so I don't care (no points adjustments for Imperial Knights, Adeptus Mechanicus or Thousand Sons).

I'll let you know when I get more news. For the Emperor!