Sneak Peek at New Drukhari Codex

Imagine a "free buffet" drug system (or "serve yourself") where wyches can pump themselves drugs with increasing chance of death. It could be written as "at the end of the turn, in the morale phase, the unit will automatically take a combat attrition test, with a -1 modifier on the roll for each drug taken."

I’m not a fan of rules just for the sakes of making something better. It has to make sense. I’m not sure in the middle of a fight with a space marine the wyches will have time to check their make-up let alone decide which drug is best to take.

I think the drugs are fine but I would change them so that you can pick any drug for any unit rather than have to go through them all to pick the same again. It’s kinda dumb that we are forced to pick a list based on the drugs rather than pick drugs based on the list.

Dark Elf Dave wrote:

I’m not a fan of rules just for the sakes of making something better. It has to make sense. I’m not sure in the middle of a fight with a space marine the wyches will have time to check their make-up let alone decide which drug is best to take.

I think the drugs are fine but I would change them so that you can pick any drug for any unit rather than have to go through them all to pick the same again. It’s kinda dumb that we are forced to pick a list based on the drugs rather than pick drugs based on the list.

I absolutely agree. In fact, I wouldn't mind if Combat Drugs were removed entirely as a rule and we get a statline buff instead. +1S to all Cult models would be a good addition and a nice glass-hammer counterpart to the thoughness of the Covens.

Of course, this doesn't help Reavers, but they can just increase their movement or something else.

I don't like gimmicky rules and Combat Drugs were never that great as a rule in any codex. I would prefer something reliable that doesn't require you to mangle your list.

In addition to a general statline buff, I wouldn't mind at all if combat drugs turned into something like a character upgrade that gives a version of the Harlequin's Blitz. +2D6 to Move and +2 attacks for a turn would be pretty nice as an option.

Soulless Samurai wrote:

Drugs giving a stronger boost in exchange for potentially wounding the user whenever they're injected would be fun.

I'm really not a fan of the current system. Having near enough every model with a different drug is just something I find a pain to remember, especially when half of them are so niche as to hardly be worth bothering with. It just seems pointlessly finickity.

So much this.

I really dislike having to keep track of drugs and I don't understand what would be particularly hazardous about allowing players to apply them where they make the most sense.

Some rumours starting to float around. Apply salt liberally.

Pros:

Streamlined Coven/Cult rules in combined detachments.
Some good relics.
Balanced points.

Cons:

No customisable Archons.
Succubus relegated to the now standard "lieutenant".

hekatrixxy wrote:

No customisable Archons.
Succubus relegated to the now standard "lieutenant".

Always has been

hekatrixxy wrote:

No customisable Archons.

Welp, if this is true it looks like I'm out until at least 10th edition.

Not being customisable is not the same as not being good.

Where are these rumors coming from?

Devilogical wrote:

Always has been

(Though not in 3.5! (where she was just a better Archon))

I saw them posted on the Drukhari FB group from someone else, who said they saw them on reddit/twitter. As I said, apply salt liberally.

hekatrixxy wrote:

Not being customisable is not the same as not being good.

You'll forgive me if I'm disinclined to bet that a unit will be good, if the guiding design philosophy is 'NPC factions don't deserve options'.

But at the very least, even if the Archon is mechanically solid (doubtful), he's almost guaranteed to be boring. Even more so when you have to take duplicates of the sod.

"This is Archon Tyberius. As the supreme leader of the Kabal of the Crimson Tears, he is equipped with nothing but the best wargear available - a Shadowfield, Huskblade and Splinter Pistol."

"Then we have his Dracon Visreth (who is also technically an Archon for some reason). To represent his status as lieutenant, Visreth is equipped with lesser wargear - a Shadowfield, Huskblade and Splinter Pistol."

"Finally, we have Dracon Kyrech (who is, for reasons as yet unknown to science, yet another Archon). Dracon Kyrech is not a commander at all, and instead acts as an assassin for Tyberius - slipping away to carve apart the enemy commander and so cut the head from the enemy army. To represent his completely different role, Kyrech is equipped with a Shadowfield, Huskblade and Splinter Pistol."

Boy, what fantastic opportunities we are afforded by a complete lack of options.

I'm assuming that just means they won't get a Pivotal Role equivalent. I'll be astounded if they lose all wargear options, and at the very least they'll continue to have access to relics and warlord traits.

Predicting the Archon will suck with weapon options is like predicting the Venom will have the "fly" rule... not that big of a stretch.

Some other predictions just like that one... (going way out on a limb here)
Reavers will not be worth the points they cost
Some other unit will fill a role in the army better than what Hellions are supposed to.
Hellions will cost too much and be too easy to kill for the points
Mandrakes amazing "pop out from the shadows" will STILL somehow be 9" away from enemy units, the same as a bunch of heavily clad terminators dropping from the sky with a noise like thunder.
Warriors will get 2 attacks, but will usually die well before they can use them if the enemy gets close.
Wyches will STILL, after all these years... STILL not have the 4++ against pistol shots in hand to hand.
Lelith will have a crap ton of attacks, but really low strength making her the equivalent of 3 wyches at 3x the cost.

NOW for a real prediction.
this is just a gut feeling I have, based on how GW seems to be trying to get rid of the confusing stuff in 40k.

Combat Drugs will be a set effect. Something like +1A and +1 Str or +2" to a charge and +1 str on the charge...
I don't think we will be picking and choosing anymore.

hekatrixxy wrote:

Some rumours starting to float around. Apply salt liberally.

Pros:

Streamlined Coven/Cult rules in combined detachments.
Some good relics.
Balanced points.

Cons:

No customisable Archons.
Succubus relegated to the now standard "lieutenant".

For leaks, the info is weird. How did the person who leaked it know that the Succubus is the lieutenant. Did she lose a wound or what made them believe they are the lieutenant?
To say the points are balanced you need to know both the points and the units, so why is there no additional info about any stat or weapon? What makes the artefacts good?
Sounds more like a troll.

I really hope the rumors aren't true... I don't want just good relics I want good everything we are supposed to be the race that makes every other race fear the darkness ... but instead we feel more like someone running around with a scary clown mask on carrying a foam sword, jumping out of bushes and yelling at people "fear me"

Archon_91 wrote:

we feel more like someone running around with a scary clown mask on carrying a foam sword, jumping out of bushes and yelling at people "fear me"

This made me laugh. I can really relate to this feeling

Splinter Rifles and Pistols strength 2 (plus presumably poison 4+), no AP.
Shredders up to 18” range.
Dark Lance goes up to D3+3 damage, but Blaster and Blast Pistol don’t.
Agoniser to -3 AP.

Nice buffs.

Looks like the PGL is no longer a weapon.

hekatrixxy wrote:

Looks at Splinter Rifle

Cries

So, the rifle went from wounding everything on 4+ except vehicles (6+) to...wounding everything on 4+ except vehicles (6+). And still 'rapid' (lol) fire 1.

I’m not sure what the value of having strength 2 on the splinter weapons is unless there are some special rules that key off of them that we don’t know yet.

hekatrixxy wrote:

I’m not sure what the value of having strength 2 on the splinter weapons is unless there are some special rules that key off of them that we don’t know yet.

My point exactly. Unless there's some T1 non-vehicles out there or T3 vehicles, having S2 is precisely the same as the old Poison rule was against all targets.

Our supposedly 'shooty' troop choice requires 3 Kabalite Warriors to take out a single Tau Fire Warrior when in optimal firing range. If they somehow manage to get into close combat with the Fire Warriors, even with our new awesome (lol) extra attack, we still need 3 Kabs to take out a single Fire Warrior.

I know we've not yet seen the full rules but there is going to have to be something absolutely unbelievably good to make our poor warriors viable.

It will be interesting to see how it all comes together once everything is revealed.

hekatrixxy wrote:

If this is accurate this is quite disappointing.

I really felt all poison needed at least some AP to bring it up to speed with the increased durability of the other factions.
The change to dark lances and shredders is really nice, no complaints there (a more reliable number of shredder shots might have been good but no biggy).
I'm not happy blasters didn't see the same love that dark lances did but then again the points drop means they are still strong for what you pay.
I'm a little disappointed that they didn't get some kind of combat knife (especially as they are modelled with one), that would have made them actually able to kill weak chaff in combat much better.

Overall I'm most sad about the splinter weapons. GW said they'd be buffing almost all our weapons to give us what we need be deadly again but to not touch the weapon we take the most seems very odd. With this profile, it is very hard to justify why kabalites cost so much more than a guardsman.
Obviously, my opinion will be contingent on the synergies in the codex so still withholding final judgement.

In the lore, we are a faction that doesn't care about taking and holding ground. We are supposed to come to inflict pain and take slaves. If we are once again pushed into trying to win on points by using only our manoeuvrability to take and hold ground but can't actually threaten much I'll be a sad panda.