7th Edition Video Battle Report Ulthwe Vs Grey Knights

I picked up the new edition on Saturday and got my first game in on Sunday.

At the time I edited the report FAQs were not yet released and after playing I assumed warlocks would probably not have access to Santic, and that's why it's noted in the video.  Now that the FAQ has come out they do indeed have access to it.

Some thoughts on 7th:

The mission was Deadlocked int he Maelstrom of War scenarios.  I really liked the cards aspect and felt that each turn they forced me to reassess the position of my units at the start of the turn and re-prioritize what objectives I was attempting to accomplish.  In this game I held my units back in order to accomplish objectives, rather than simply press my advantage and try to just table my opponent.  I would suggest allowing the missions to be secret in all scenarios as that ratcheted up the cat and mouse aspect of the game.  For instance I successfully baited my opponent off of an objective with Warp Spiders in order to get the points for having at least twice as many objectives as my opponent.

The psychic phase was interesting and fun, and in a 2000 pt game with a large number of psykers, having never played with the psychic phase before, the whole game took us 3 hours to play.

In regards to the Daemon Summoning, I actually don't think the *free additional units* from conjuring is that big a deal.  The mechanic existed with Necron Canoptyk spiders and Tyranid Tervigons and it really wasn't that big a deal, so I don't foresee it being an issue for long.

Changes I really like:

Psychic Focus, The revised Challenge System, Making pretty much everything scoring, D-str weapons, swooping FMCs cannot score and cannot charge the turn they switch from swooping to gliding - they have to suffer a round of shooting just like everyone else.  Vector Strike softened against ground units.

Changes that I don't like:

removing pinning to sniper rifles, smash reduced to a single attack. The proliferation of 2++ with rerolls - more on that later.

Changes that didn't happen, but I would have liked to have seen:

I would have liked to see charging through difficult terrain only drop initiative by 3.  I think that would have kept units that live and die based on striking first because they lack toughness able to use their speed to get in combat and strike first.

In regards to the 2++ rerollable:

GW has now opened up more ways to achieve the 2++ rerollable (Storm Shield TH termies + Sanctify psychic power + Priest or Eldrad + Santic + Fortune or Daemons + Cursed Earth or Forewarning + Grimoire, etc).  This can now be seen as nothing but clear intent to create Lord of War equivalent units for players that don't want to get a Lord of War.  That said, in Maelstrom of War missions those death stars aren't what win you the game.  They also, clearly, want to have D-Str increase because  it's your best chance at punching through that level of save.

Reviewing the Eldar Dex, and seeing how Death Mission can essentially be called "suicide" now (if you roll 1 or 2 on the D3 at the initial casting you're statistically generally going to die before your next turn because the psychic phase now means you're rolling 8 times before you get to cast again.  I, therefore, people consider these house rules:

Laser Lock: only twin links weapons fired at the same unit that was hit by the scatter laser.

WraithKnight: Gargantuan Creature (not Jump GC).  Close Combat Weapon is D Str for the Wraithknight.

Death Mission: Remove restriction from casting other powers caveat.  Remove Auto-casualty at the end of game caveat. Either change roll to a 4+ the end of each Player Turn or simply keep it at the end of each phase, but make the roll a 3+.

Serpent Shield: If damaged by Weapon Destroyed result it may no longer be fired off, but it still functions as a shield.