Death From The Skies - Vindication
Well, it's taken almost four years, but finally GW has listened to me...
Back in August 2012 I posted a blogpost complaining that Air Superiority fighters were useless, given that any and all aircraft could choose to have skyfire. Well, Death from the Skies closes that annoying loophole.
It also closes the loophole of a zooming flyer claiming cover from intervening models or terrain... sorry buddy, your only save now is a jink save, you're technically supposed to be above us, out of reach, unassaultable... so claiming cover by hiding behind a knight is a little bit off. I can just imagine the knight looking at you in frustration, as shots pelt off it's hide from friendly fire, "If only you were low enough for me to cut you in half with this massive chainsword that you are currently flying level with..."
The new flyer rules give each flyer a role. The formations then provide bonuses based on the role for which they are designed. I like this, it makes sense to me. It also makes sense that fighters are better at dogfights (although the dogfight mechanism itself seems a bit rock/paper/scissors and needs space on the side to play) and hopefully this improvement will see fighters actually have a place in army lists. The nimble elder fighters are beautiful models, or at least I believe so... I've seen pictures on the website, but have never seen one in real life. Maybe now I will.
Finally, I also picked up a Wazbomwhatsisfacethingy... Have built it and think it is a beautiful, beastly model. I know it's only a few upgrades onto the old kit, but it works well, and any ork player always likes to get more bitz to play with, as when it comes to ork vehicles the instruction manual is more like guidelines anyway...
Anyway, just wanted to do a quick post to try to get back into the swing of blogging, my early part of the year best intentions got knocked off track by a hospital stay and subsequent recovery time leaving me limited ability to engage in the hobby... unable to sit upright for extended periods of painting, painful to stand at a wargaming table for extended periods... happily starting to get back in the swing of things now, so hopefully further updates won't be too far behind.
Oh, and the GW FAQs, whilst I am pleased that the removal of using allies dedicated transports from deployment will eliminate some of the more beardy things I have seen, it does somewhat scupper my themed sktarii force I had just started to put some paint on... so I bought myself an ork flyer to paint instead to make myself feel better!
Back in August 2012 I posted a blogpost complaining that Air Superiority fighters were useless, given that any and all aircraft could choose to have skyfire. Well, Death from the Skies closes that annoying loophole.
It also closes the loophole of a zooming flyer claiming cover from intervening models or terrain... sorry buddy, your only save now is a jink save, you're technically supposed to be above us, out of reach, unassaultable... so claiming cover by hiding behind a knight is a little bit off. I can just imagine the knight looking at you in frustration, as shots pelt off it's hide from friendly fire, "If only you were low enough for me to cut you in half with this massive chainsword that you are currently flying level with..."
The new flyer rules give each flyer a role. The formations then provide bonuses based on the role for which they are designed. I like this, it makes sense to me. It also makes sense that fighters are better at dogfights (although the dogfight mechanism itself seems a bit rock/paper/scissors and needs space on the side to play) and hopefully this improvement will see fighters actually have a place in army lists. The nimble elder fighters are beautiful models, or at least I believe so... I've seen pictures on the website, but have never seen one in real life. Maybe now I will.
Finally, I also picked up a Wazbomwhatsisfacethingy... Have built it and think it is a beautiful, beastly model. I know it's only a few upgrades onto the old kit, but it works well, and any ork player always likes to get more bitz to play with, as when it comes to ork vehicles the instruction manual is more like guidelines anyway...
Anyway, just wanted to do a quick post to try to get back into the swing of blogging, my early part of the year best intentions got knocked off track by a hospital stay and subsequent recovery time leaving me limited ability to engage in the hobby... unable to sit upright for extended periods of painting, painful to stand at a wargaming table for extended periods... happily starting to get back in the swing of things now, so hopefully further updates won't be too far behind.
Oh, and the GW FAQs, whilst I am pleased that the removal of using allies dedicated transports from deployment will eliminate some of the more beardy things I have seen, it does somewhat scupper my themed sktarii force I had just started to put some paint on... so I bought myself an ork flyer to paint instead to make myself feel better!
I haven't read the book itself, just seen the rumors. I agree a lot of it makes sense, but I always worry about pro of adding "realism" and extra layers vs. con of extra time and complexity.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the concise review of Death from the Skies, I have been debating (internally) with deciding whether or not I should pick it up or not and your review has swung the needle back into the 'yes' category. Oh, and glad to hear your recovery goes well!
ReplyDeleteHappy to be of help, although since writing this post there have been rumours swilling around the dark corners of the internet that 8th edition may not be too far away... In which case, like Stronghold Assault before it, the rules will get rolled into the main book at subsequent release. So I suspect you'll only get a year or so from this book, but at the same time I do think it improves the way flyers interact with the 40k board. Swings and roundabouts really... If it interests you, if you like/use flyers, if you want to get a jump on the likely direction the future will take, then grab a copy. On the other hand, if you and your gaming friends rarely use flyers, it won't kill you to wait till the new edition comes out. As a dedicated ground-pounder, I could tell you all you need to know before a game if I'm bringing aircraft. It can be summarised as "I'm going to mess around with reserve rolls, and then if I fly in formation I get bonuses. I'll explain them as and when they come up..."
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