Games Workshop - Warhammer 40,000 - Arks Of Omen: The Lion (HB)

Product Information

Access Junction Primus is a straightforward objective securing mission that provides a maximum of 15 points per turn for controlling objectives and up to 45 points at the end of the battle depending on how much of the enemy army was destroyed. Unlike every other mission this one allows you to score points in the first turn, and does not have an exception for the player who goes second. It’s also got a long firing line in the middle of the board that makes it a little more of a head-to-head brawl than the other missions.

A lot. This is going to be one of the biggest shake-ups we’ve seen all Edition, with major changes to army design, significant shifts in how strong various factions are, and (hopefully) fewer serious outlier units dominating the meta (though a risk that some Marine builds might take that crown). Our rough feeling at a glance is that things break down as follows – this isn’t necessarily where armies end up in a tier list, but in terms of impact from these changes this is where we’re at: Warhammer Community previewed the first three Arks of Omen books. The second Arks of Omen book is titled Angron and is due in ‘Winter’. The third is Vashtorr and is expected early Spring with the as yet titled Xenos book due late Spring. Freeblades on the march – with no CP cost for taking them, expect to see a lot of Hunters of Beasts Helverins alongside Custodes and Adepta Sororitas. Edge of Silence • War Zone Charadon ( Act I • Act II) • War Zone Octarius ( Book I • Book II) • War Zone Nachmund ( Vigilus Alone • Rift War) • Crusade ( Beyond the Veil • Plague Purge • Amidst the Ashes • Containment • Catastrophe • Wars of Faith) • Arks of Omen ( Abaddon • Angron • Vashtorr • Farsight • The Lion)

Boarding Actions

On the stratagem side of things, there’s some really strong stuff here. Blade-Borne Infectors lets a unit score 2 hits for every unmodified 6 rolled to hit, and Cloud of Flies gives a unit of BUBONIC ASTARTES cover for the turn. There are a few returning stratagems as well, but the star here is Rain of Blights : it’s just reskinned Blight Bombardment from the Codex, but it turns out that that’s a pretty damn good effect. On balance, Daemons will have fewer enhancements available to them than a similarly-aligned Chaos Marines force, but the extra flexibility they can squeeze out of their god-agnostic strats probably makes up for it. You’ll be just as well-equipped to squeeze every last bit of mileage out of your units’ strengths while simultaneously adapting to evolving situations. All in all, a very cool little set of rules. Necrons

This detachment also comes at no CP cost, so you’ll always end this process with 6CP to spend on Requisitions, and you can use these on the Warlord Trait and Relic stratagems (returning from Nephilim) or the new Heroic Support stratagem, which can be used once to bypass a one-per-detachment restriction – great news if you want to take multiple Hive Tyrants or Tau Commanders at a lower cost than putting in an additional Patrol used to run you. Finally, which Faction you select for your Arks of Omen detachment determines which set of Faction Secondaries you get access to, even if you choose to include an Allied Detachment. This is particularly good news for Ynnari, because a Ynnari detachment containing Harlequin or Drukhari models still explicitly counts as an Asuryani detachment, finally putting to bed the ambiguity over whether they get access to the Asuryani secondaries. Rob: I think Sunshark bombers probably still have play with this change, since the chances you’d put them in reserves anyways were pretty high, but they may also just get pushed out by triple riptide lists. Armour Of Contempt No more troop tax – if you don’t want to take any Troops, you don’t have to! This is great for factions where the Troop options are a bit mediocre, especially ones where the HQ or Elites slot was particularly valuable. Arks does create some other incentives to include Troops though, so you may still want to take some. More command points to play with – factions that frequently used double Patrols or Patrol/Outrider (etc.) pay a far lower price to do so, and have more CP to spend on upgrades or early-game stratagems. Beanith: My best guess is the Angron book will contain the Faction-specific content and rules for Chaos Marines, Space Marines & Imperium; Vashtorr will cover Chaos Daemons, Admech and probably have the Necrons shoehorned in somehow. The 4th book is unnamed but ‘will be a distinctly xenos affair’, which I assume is code for it will be some horrific Xenos mashed burrito.

What New Rules Are In Arks of Omen Vashtorr?

Want to open a door, but don’t feel like going near it? The Cogitator Override Node has you covered. This sleek little universal remote control lets your Tech Priest open or close hatchways from 9” away, and even lets you throw your model’s Strength into it if your opponent tries to hold it shut. If you’ve brought a Skitarii Marshal, he can have the Skull of Komodus tag along with him, allowing him to hand out full to-hit rerolls to a Skitarii Core unit within 6”. Neat!