

So Kirbs, as well as some of our readers, have asked me to do a do-over on my article reviewing the major units from Forge World as well as their potential impact on a tournament. Some of that stuff hasn’t changed a lot, but some other things have, so it seems worth doing. For purposes of this review I’m going to assume that Str D weapons and Lords of War will be banned from your local tournament, but that everything else (dataslates, Stronghold, allies, etc) are entirely available and with no special rules changes.



Chapter Tactic: Red Hunters, Mantis Warriors (Badab War update pdf)

Danger level: limited

Both of these offer some fairly strong options for a Chapter Tactic, but of course they come with a consequent cost in not getting access to one of the other Tactics. Red Hunters, which can give 2-3 units (including Dreadnoughts) access to a special rule for a turn, is very flexible and can help enable a strong shooting-based SM army that otherwise might not make such an appearance. Mantis Warriors get a bit of an odd result since most of their bonuses are actually really mediocre, but they get two hidden gems: access to Divination on their Librarians and rerolling their Seize attempts, both of which can be huge. Though cheap Inquisitors make Divination less important, the ability to take a 65/90pt Librarian to fill your HQ slot is really nice.

Mortis/Contemptor Mortis Dreadnought (Forge World site [Mortis], IA: Aeronautica [Contemptor])

Danger level: limited

The Mortis Dread is only available to Dark Angels, but the two are otherwise similar in function. Coming in significantly cheaper the regular Mortis is an excellent AA platform for a pretty reasonable price- it’s a bit of a toss-up whether the Lascannons or Autocannons are better, but I would lean towards the latter. The Mortis Contemptor is more widely available to the loyalist armies, but is a lot more expensive; it gets pretty similar overall armaments, but has AV13 and a 5++ against most things. The up-top Cyclone Missile adds a lot to its general shootiness, so it’s probably worthwhile. Autocannons or Assault Cannons seem the way to go, though the latter is as unreliable as ever despite the extra shots they get (though they do mesh well with the versatility of the Cyclone.) Remember that you have to stand still in order to get Skyfire/Interceptor- this means that the 24″ on the Kheres ACs is a lot more limiting. Overall not a game-breaker, but one of a number of units that will discourage airplanes.

Ahazra Redth (Badab War update pdf)

Danger level: greatly reduced

He’s still a pretty good guy, but no longer anything like the powerhouse from before. His unique power is roughly comparable to the other Divination stuff you could get, so that’s a wash; the real question is whether his improved statline and gear are worth it compared to a regular Libby. Still worth thinking about.

Hyperios Missile Platform (IA: Aeronautica, ???)

Danger level: airplanes go home

At 35pts each for independent Missile Launchers, these would be pretty okay even if they didn’t have much else- Skyfire/Intercept is the icing on the cake. Squads of up to three help insure they can do their job and while they’re a bit more fragile than regular artillery, they also never fail morale and run away. They come in the FA slot, which normally gets used for Stormtalons to do the same thing (or, in the case of SW/DA/BA, gets left empty because it’s shit), but they are a pretty easy replacement. BS3 is fine because you’re twin-linked AND can reroll misses against flyers- thanks, Forge World! Seriously, though, there’s no real excuse not to be taking at least one unit of these.

Sabre Defense Platform (IA1: 2nd Edition)

Danger level: goddamnit Forge World

So they’re scoring artillery. That’s pretty big. They take up the Heavy Weapon Squad slots, which are irrelevant. They’re cheap (42 for Autocannon, 52 for Lascannon.) They can Scout for whatever reason. Did I mention they are cheap, scoring, T7 anti-air heavy weapons? Because that is sort of a big deal. Sabres can be pretty devastating to any kind of aircraft- and even other targets if no aircraft are around- and since they are greatly tougher than their counterparts (four T7 wounds vs two T3 ones) they are more likely to survive to do their job, whether it be kill a tank or score an objective or both. Especially because they fit so well into the IG allies plan, being part of a platoon and all, they will make a lot of appearances and ruin a lot of flyers’ days.

Heavy Quad Launcher (IA1: 2nd Edition)

Danger level: moderate

The Quad Launcher (i.e. Thudd Gun) is basically a Thunderfire Cannon with a worse crew, more wounds, and half the price. You don’t get the option for all different kinds of fancy ammo, but S5 AP5 is just fine at the end of the day, especially when you’re raining down such ridiculous numbers of shots. While small blasts may not be exciting (you’ll usually get 1-2 models), eight or twelve of them gets a lot more scary, so long as you can land that first hit, and even light tanks will start to worry with that number of blasts laid down. Extra super great when pummeling anything that was forced to clump up, such as disembarks or assaulters. As with other artillery, however, the main advantage lies in resilience- if you buy a full unit, you can fail ten saves before ever removing a relevant model, morale checks aside. The only real limiter on the Thudd Gun is that it comes in the HS slot, which has extensive competition from the rest of the book.

Vulture (IA1: 2nd Edition, IA: Aeronautica)

Danger level: big gulp full o’ dice

With a pretty similar statline to the Vendetta, the Vulture starts off in a good place. It loses its transport capacity, which is very unfortunate, and swaps the nose Multilaser for a Heavy Bolter, but gains two very good special rules: Strafing Run and Vector Dancer. The former means that its shots against ground targets will almost always hit and Pinning is a nice little bonus; the latter gives it unparalleled maneuverabilty. The ability to get rear armor on tanks/flyers, stay on the field continuously the whole game, and avoid exposing its own AV10 should not be underestimated, as these can all be real weaknesses of a normal flyer. Its most common setup will be TL Punisher Cannon, which is S5 with twenty shots for 155pts- not quite a steal, but chews up most infantry and can give most vehicles a bad day by virtue of hitting rear armor. Also possible is the quad Multiple Rocket Pods build, which ends up the same price with four S4 large blasts; I think I prefer the versatility and reliability of the Punisher, however. I’m not sure if it’s exactly stronger than the Vendetta is, but it certainly a very useful tool.

Manticore with Manticore Missiles (IA1: 2nd Edition)

Danger level: quick, make a good unit better and cheaper

So yeah, the regular Manticore has been a staple for a long time now- S10 ordnance in multiples is a nice thing. It’s a powerful and versatile unit that can threaten basically anything in the game as needed. Forge World saw that unit and thought “You know what? Why don’t we shave 15pts off the cost, let you take it in squadrons, and make the blast EVEN BIGGER with AP2?” A 7″ blast is roughly double the total area of a 5″ blast, meaning that the FW Manticore gets as much average area covered as a regular Manti, doesn’t have to worry about template-flipping nonsense or rolling 1s for all its missiles, and punches through armor as well as getting a bonus on the damage table. Oh, I guess it’s only S9 now- boo hoo. It’s still an absolutely ridiculous unit that can clean out whole sections of the enemy army in a heartbeat.

Repressor (Forge World site)

Danger level: still not a real codex

A dedicated transport for SoB units, the Repressor is a bit pricey at 75pts, but 13/11/10 is a huge boost and it comes with both multiple fire points and a Heavy Flamer up top. Having one of these crammed in your face first turn full of Dominions can be a bit annoying to deal with, but sadly the rest of the army just can’t carry the weight. It does at least move Sisters up a notch towards the realm of useability outside of tournaments, however.

Charnel Scarabs (IA 12)

Danger level: murders things, dies to S6

Trading their Entropic for Shred and Rending, but at an extra 5pts per base, Charnel Scarabs are terrifying to most anything with a toughness value due to huge numbers of attacks that kill on 6s and get to retry for more of them; they still manage to do pretty alright against vehicles, too. However, with abundant S6+ Ignores Cover weapons (not to mention blasts and templates), they are in little danger of overrunning the meta.

Canoptek Acanthrites (IA 12)

Danger level: “fixed” with a meaningless change.

Wraiths are a pretty good unit. Acanthrites are Wraiths, except instead of a 3++ and W2, they are 3+, Stealth, T5, and W3. Might make you sad if someone lands a Demolisher Cannon on your head (unless you’ve got cover, because then you’re 3+ against it anyways), but otherwise gonna be a LOT tougher. Also they get Entropic and a S6 Meltagun in the bargain, making them still quite dangerous in melee but also much more dangerous at range. When they finally got fully-official rules in IA12, Forge World had noticed how overwhelmingly better than Wraiths they are and had responded by increasing their price by 5pts, bringing them up to 50pts/model. You can still field two units of these led by a Destroyer Lord or two for an entirely reasonable number of points and ruin someone’s day pretty hard.

Sentry Pylons (IA 12)

Danger level: on the Terrorist Watch List

One of the units I don’t have enough experience with to be sure of quite yet, but that certainly has possibilities. The Gauss and Heat Ray version aren’t really a problem (though two S10 Melta shots is pretty amusing), but it’s the Focused Death Ray that raises flags. At 160pts, you get a Death Ray that nets two hits for every model it crosses and fires 24″ out- and, due to the firing rules of the weapon, squads of them aren’t required to aim at the same unit. While competing with Annihilation Barges and their middling survivability (T7 3+ W3) are certainly downsides, it wouldn’t be hard for one to laser an important unit or three off the table upon arriving. Remember that as Immobile units, if you hold them in reserve they are “forced” to Deep Strike, making the upgrade for it useless. Derp, I guess they aren’t immobile.

Mekboy Junka/Big Trakk (IA8 update pdf)

Danger level: Orks are not a competitive army

I’m grouping these two together since they are so similar- the Junka is 65pts for AV11 with three Skorchas and a Deffrolla (comes in the EL slot or as a dedicated for your HQ), the Trakk is 70pts for AV12 with two Skorchas and a Deffrolla and can come in squadrons. The attractiveness of both is cheap Deffrollas in multiples that also happen to be transports; probably the Junka is preferred to preserve HS slots for Battlewagons. Junkas can also buy a S6 AP3 template, but you probably wouldn’t bother.

XV107 R’varna (Forge World site)

Danger level: WARNING WILL ROBINSON, WARNING, MY ARMS ARE FLAILING

This is the prime offender right here- it’s a Riptide with two main guns (rather than main/secondary) that can both doublefire with Nova Charge and one higher Toughness, Wound, and Invuln. It loses Jump status, but really so what? With the ability to spam out AP3 large blasts it almost doesn’t matter- then add in the fact that its blasts cause extra hits to bigger units, most especially bikes, vehicles, and MCs and you have a unit that murder basically anything short of 2+ armor. While it is certainly expensive with its full suite of upgrades, a R’varna with appropriate support (Markerlights, Divination buffs, Support Commander) will basically evaporate one unit per turn and sometimes more. Don’t forget you can attach an Ethereal or Farseer (non-bike) to one to make them essentially immune to Grav weapons. A lot of people like to point out that it can’t hurt flyers, but you know what? In a codex with BS5 Tank Hunting Quad Guns and Skyray Missile Puke, I don’t really consider that an issue.

Barracuda (IA3: 2nd Edition)

Danger level: better than a bad thing

The Barracuda is everything the Razor/Sun Shark should have been. It’s about as fragile as them (lower stats, but +1 to Jink), is significantly cheaper, and comes with a much more useful main armament as well as BS4 and options for upgrades to get a bunch of Seekers and such. It’s a pretty solid and balanced little airplane that doesn’t make the game awful. Who know?

XV81/84 Battlesuit (IA3: 2nd Edition)

Danger level: might be useful

Essentially like the XV08-2 Iridium suit, these are Signature System upgrades that you can take to give a model some extra fanciness… and yes, you can potentially take all three on the same model if you’re goofy. One gives you a Smart Missile System, the other a Networked Markerlight. The former is simply a very good gun, whereas the latter is not hugely powerful but is extremely rare in the codex, so it’s worth thinking about. Both of them restrict you to having no more than two other weapons, but don’t actually take any of your hardpoints.

Nightwing Interceptor (IA: Aeronautica)

Danger level: a darn good plane

While being in FA puts it in strong contention with Warp Spiders and several other units (including the Hornet, below), the Nightwing brings enough to the table to be worth considering very carefully. Although it’s as fragile as a vehicle can be, the combination of Shrouded and Agile means it has 2+ cover when it Jinks and 5+ no matter what. It also comes with a strong armament, with two Lances and two Shuriken Cannons putting quite a lot of high-strength hits onto most things, and Vector Dancer makes sure it can fire at what it wants to. At 145pts, it makes a very reasonable interceptor as well as ground-attack craft, although you can expect it to be making Snap Shots most of the time.

Hornet (IA: Apocalypse 2nd Edition)

Danger level: very cheap firepower

The Hornet doesn’t have anything outstanding about it on the surface- it’s AV11, Fast, only two HP, and can Scout. If it moves Flat Out, you can still try for 6s with its guns, a cute little bonus. What makes it really shine is the fact that it can upgrade its normal two guns to Pulse Lasers for a mere 5pts each- which means that for for a mere 80pts, you can have four S8 AP2 shots scooting around the battlefield, at BS4 no less. Combined with the horde of other skimmer tanks Eldar can field, it can be a very scary proposition.

So, what’s our big conclusions from all this? IG and Tau make out like bandits, getting some incredibly powerful new units. SM and Eldar do quite well. Most everyone else can go sit in a garbage can, because their options are pretty much universally useless or not enough to shore up the problems with the book. If you thought you were tired of Taudar and Guardsmen being led by a single Space Marine before, just wait until folks in your area get to playing with Forge World!