Kabals, Cults and Covens

I'll be pretty sad if they do that. DE are not quite the same as Scions in that the Scions are 1 unit out of the entire dex where as our Kabal, Cult, and Coven effectively cut our force into thirds. Not having regiment rules on scions means 1 or 2 units in your force won't have a bonus whereas if you do a mixed force for DE you could only be benefitting 1/3 of your army. If GW did this they'd just incentivize DE players to only list build using 1/3 of the dex which doesn't sound like fun at all.

TheBaconPope wrote:

I feel like they might take the route of the Militarium Tempestus from the Guard Codex. You can include stormtroopers in your army without penalty, but you don't gain any of their bonuses unless tye detachment is entirely composed of them.

I think we'll be able to choose a Kabal, Cult, or Coven, and reap the benefits of that regardless of what else you choose, but only your selected Kabal, Cult, or Coven will benefit

Yeah this is what I was hoping for too, being able to pick the 'main' body of your force and if you want to take additional detachments and the benefits they bring it will cost you command points.

inevitable_faith wrote:

I'll be pretty sad if they do that. DE are not quite the same as Scions in that the Scions are 1 unit out of the entire dex where as our Kabal, Cult, and Coven effectively cut our force into thirds. Not having regiment rules on scions means 1 or 2 units in your force won't have a bonus whereas if you do a mixed force for DE you could only be benefitting 1/3 of your army. If GW did this they'd just incentivize DE players to only list build using 1/3 of the dex which doesn't sound like fun at all.

Ideally the benefits for playing with 3 detachments will not be too much of a hinderence vs playing a single detachment with only benefits on a single branch of units. Hopefully our HQ will get some buffs too so they become less of a point tax.

This kind of play would make it feel like 3 different armies with different goals and objectives uniting to carry out a raid, which I would argue is more fluffly. Or alternatively a single army with hired mercinaries borrowing from other cults groups etc.

Quote :

Or alternatively a single army with hired mercinaries borrowing from other cults groups etc.

On that note, how do you think they'll handle the purely mercenary units (Incubi, Mandrakes, and Scourges) will be handled in the codex?

What i think is going to happen : you build your army around the Drukhari keyword, but your faction doctrine gives bonuses to Kabal OR Coven OR Cult, unless maybe if you split them around multiple detachments.

Scourges/Mandrakes/Incubi are going to be recruited through the Drukhari Keyword, but will probably not be affected by faction doctrines (but they will probably have some unit specific stratagems).

TheBaconPope wrote:

On that note, how do you think they'll handle the purely mercenary units (Incubi, Mandrakes, and Scourges) will be handled in the codex?

My guess would be that those are stock units that wouldn't benefit from doctrines or keywords. I think they will just have a set style and way to use them to the most effect.

It makes sense from a fluff perspective, as these groups are responsible for their own training and equipment outside of the control of the Kabal, cult or coven which hires them.

Playing a single detachment that only allows one set of bonuses to apply doesn't seem very fluffy to me as it'd be odd that some models lose their bonuses if they're not the "main" force. For example I take a Kabal of the Black Heart force as my primary and throw in some Wyches from the Cult of Strife to help out but because they're just "tagalongs and mercenaries" they lose the bonus that would normally apply to that cult if they were the primary. Allowing one of each subfaction in a single detachment still feels like the fluffiest way to run the force in my opinion and won't hamstring you on command points. I suppose however we will still have to wait and see what we get whenever our dex is released, if I'm betting on anything I feel you're theory on what we get is going to be more correct Vindicavi.

Likewise I totally agree with you that Mandrakes and Incubi will just be what's stated on their dataslate and won't benefit from any special rules otherwise. To balance them GW just has to make them capable of standing out as a useful unit that doesn't need to rely on special regiment-like rules to be effective. Shouldn't be too hard for GW to accomplish that I think.