Army Review- Codex FAQs, Super Special Extended Cut, Directors Cut Volume 3


The final FAQs for the Warhammer 40,000 codices have been released! Prepare your comments about how your favourite army or army play style has been completely invalidated before you even read it to save time! For more reviews, analyses and battle reports, check out the Tactics Corner.

These army review articles are intended as tongue in cheek looks at the current game of 40k. No digs at any particular players or playstyles are intended, it’s all just a bit of fun.


Astra Militarum


Various – Psykers

Any model with the Psyker or Brotherhood of Psykers special rule may generate powers from the Daemonology discipline in addition to the others listed in their Army List Entries. The Regimental Commissar will shoot the psyker in the head if he fails a Perils of the Warp roll in case he risks turning into a Daemon, but has no problem with the psyker summoning hordes of the things to the battlefield.

Q: Should the Hydra have the Interceptor special rule?

A: No. Just because it is a tank designed to intercept enemy flyers doesn’t mean it should be able to intercept enemy flyers.

Q: Can you add Ministorum Priests, Primaris Psykers and Enginseers to Formations?

A: No. How many times do we have to say that if it is not in the formation, it doesn’t get to go in the formation?!?


Q: Can you clear up Ordnance and Heavy vehicles? Leman Russ owners have been wondering about this for some time.

A: Yes, the Leman Russ is as bad as you think. Why are you taking vehicles anyway, haven’t you heard of Grav?

Also, we just gave you that formation with 300+ guardsmen, what more do you want?


Blood Angels

Q: The Vanguard Veteran Squads in Codex: Blood Angels and Codex: Space Marines both have the Heroic Intervention special rule, but the rule differs. Antor Delassio – the Blood Angels Deathwatch Space Marine listed in White Dwarf – again has the Heroic Intervention rule, but uses the Codex: Space Marines version. Has that rule been changed to include the re-rolling of charge dice in all books?

A: No, the rule remains as worded in Codex: Blood Angels. Those of you expecting consistency obviously haven’t been playing this game that long.


Chaos Daemons

Q: Can a Daemon’s invulnerable save be improved to better than 2+ (through the effect of psychic powers and other abilities which improve invulnerable saves)?

A: Yes, you can make completely unkillable units. Your opponent will have a great game and will love you for it!

Q: Nurglings have defensive grenades through the Daemon of Nurgle special rule, but you can only use grenades instead of another shooting weapon. As Nurglings have no shooting weapons, does this mean that they cannot throw their grenades?

A: No. One base of Nurglings in a unit can throw a defensive grenade in their Shooting phase (though it’s best not to think too hard about precisely what it is they’re throwing). Poo. They are throwing Poo.




Page 124 – Warp Spiders, Special Rules, Flickerjump Change the first sentence to read:

‘Once per turn, when a unit comprised entirely of models with this special rule is chosen as the target of a shooting attack, it can immediately make a Warp Jump (pg 154), moving 2D6″ instead of 6+2D6″, so long as it is not Falling Back or charging. For some reason, Eldar opponents were not enjoying unlimited Flickerjumps in a single turn. Weird.’

Q: Can the Autarch’s The Path of Command special rule be used if the Autarch is in Reserve?

A: Yes. Normally these sorts of abilities require the model to be on the table, but Eldar are just better than you. So there.


Dark Angels

Q: Can I have a Company Master on a bike?

A: Yes. His name is Sammael. He has rules and everything.

Q: Can Cypher be fielded with a Dark Angels Detachment?

A: The Dark Angels have spent the last 10,000 years desperately hunting for Cypher to stop him from his nefarious purpose and to prevent the downfall of their Chapter. They will gladly sacrifice ally and enemy alike to try and capture Cypher and the Fallen. But sure, they will fight together no problem. With such a complete disregard for the background of the race, you just want to put him in your Deathstar, don’t you?

Q: In the Ravenwing Strike Force, if I take a Flyer, does the whole Detachment have to start in Reserves, or can I start with all my Bikers on the board and leave the Flyers in Reserve?

A: If your Ravenwing Strike Force includes a Flyer, e.g. a Nephilim Jetfighter (which must be set up in Reserve), the whole Strike Force must be set up in Reserve, as described in the Strike as One rule. We know this is disappointing, as the Ravenwing Flyers are super awesome and we know you take them in every game.

Q: With the Deathwing Strike Force, how do you avoid automatically losing on turn 1, as you can’t Deep Strike until turn 2?

A: You can’t. If you are planning to take an entire army of Terminators, then we are just saving you from yourself.


Dark Eldar

Seriously? People still play Dark Eldar?!? Haven’t you read the codex? You do know that Raiders can’t take Wraithguard any more, don’t you?



Q: Can a Veteran be equipped with both a Deathwatch shotgun and a boltgun? This seems possible since they can take items from both the Ranged Weapons and Special Weapons list.

A: No. This isn’t Warhammer 40,000: Doom edition, you can’t run around armed with a Bolter, Shotgun, Missile Launcher, Bolt Pistol and Chainsword on a single model!


Genestealer Cults

Q: As a Space Marine player, the new Genestealer Cults “Cult Ambush” special rule was forcing me to employ actual tactics, as well as forcing me to consider taking Flamers, rather than just defaulting to Grav guns. What are you going to do about this?

A: Servo Skulls now stop the Cult Ambush rule. We are very sorry for the interruption to service and will endeavour to stop it occurring again. As a special bonus, Grav Cannons now wound all Genestealer Cults units on a 2+. However, this only applies to the brand new Centurion kit. Oh, and you have to buy three.

Q: As a Genestealer Cults player, my shiny new and very expensive army (seriously?!? $8 per model!) is now rendered pretty useless in competitive games. How about some love for me?

A: While you were initially a very popular release, you are still significantly outsold by Space Marines. Sorry, we need to look after number 1 here.


Imperial Knights

Q: Weapons on Walkers are listed as being fixed forward, and the rules for Super-heavy Walkers say that they follow the shooting rules for Walkers. Does this mean that all weapons on an Imperial Knight are limited to the 45° front arc, even including their arms which can physically move much more than 45°, and their carapace weapon which can physically rotate 360°?

A: Imperial Knights have a firing arc of 4.6° on either side of the arm. Don’t worry, you’ll be casting Phase Form on it every turn anyway, so it won’t make any difference.



In order to save time, use this handy guide: If the question would result in a bonus to the Ork army, the answer is no. If the question would be detrimental to the Ork army, the answer is yes.


Space Marines

Q: Since the wording of the Graviton rule completely bypasses glancing and penetrating hits, which are when vehicle saves are taken, can a vehicle use any saves against Graviton weapons?

A: A vehicle hit by a weapon with the Graviton rule can take any invulnerable or cover saves that it has. Nice try, but Grav weapons are already powerful enough!

Q: Do Graviton weapons ignore cover when shooting at vehicles?

A: No. But you’ll have the Hunter’s Eye anyway.

Q: Can Black Templars use Crusader Squads instead of Tactical Squads in Formations?

A: No. Why would you possibly be taking Black Templars?!? Have you not read the White Scars Chapter Tactics?

Q: Certain models may replace one weapon with one Chapter Relic. Can a model then replace a second weapon (or that relic) with another Chapter Relic, and so on?

A: For the 300th time! A single model may only be armed with one Chapter Relic.

Q: Are Drop Pod doors ignored for game purposes once deployed?

A: Yes. Surprisingly, some people were upset at the prospect of a Drop Pod dominating a 12” circle on the battlefield. It’s not that big a deal. I mean, who takes more than 1 or 2 Drop Pods in an army anyway?


Q: Are passengers allowed to disembark from a Zooming Stormraven?

A: Yes, using the Skies of Fury rule. You know, using the specific rule in their specific datasheets that is specifically designed for this situation and is specified in said rule.

Q: Can a unit that disembarks from a Stormraven using the Skies of Fury rule charge on the turn they disembark, if it isn’t the turn they came from Reserves?

A: No. The Skies of Fury rule states that ‘Models that disembark using the Skies of Fury special rule cannot charge on the turn they do so’. Do you even read the rules before you ask these questions?



Apparently, Tyranids are still a thing. We honestly thought that the army had been discontinued. Anyway, we assume that everything is fine with them and that they don’t have any FAQs, need an updated codex or anything like that.


So there we have it. The main rulebook FAQs and Codex FAQs have now all been answered. As such, everything should be perfect with 40k and you shouldn’t need to bother us for another 10 years or so. We will use that time to come up with new names for all your armies that you will absolutely hate and never use anyway.




About Michael Corr


19 Responses to “Army Review- Codex FAQs, Super Special Extended Cut, Directors Cut Volume 3”

  1. Fleetofclaw February 27, 2017 5:49 pm #

    The Tyranid section is particularly depressing. And funny.

  2. punchymango February 27, 2017 6:48 pm #

    It’s funny because its true.

  3. PrimoFederalist February 27, 2017 9:10 pm #

    This question made me remember I have an Imperial Guard army in my closet that I completely forgot existed for several months:


    • abusepuppy February 28, 2017 6:29 am #

      It’s extra-damning because the Russ _used_ to have a rule that got around the problem, and then they went out of their way to remove it and assure people that yes, the most iconic IG tank is awful now and that was exactly how they meant the rules to work.

  4. Threllen February 28, 2017 6:36 am #


    No, but have no fear. You can always load up your screamer squad with a 2+ re-rollable invulnerable save. Because who doesn’t love multi-wound models with a 35/36 chance to make a save that you can’t get rid of except with D weapons!

    • Reecius
      Reecius February 28, 2017 8:05 am #

      Especially when you add in Invisibility and FnP! w00t!

      • Threllen February 28, 2017 8:12 am #

        And the new Wrath of Magnus locus that gives the herald’s unit It Will Not Die. Just in case you actually happen to suffer a wound through all of your silliness!

  5. Happy_Inquisitor February 28, 2017 11:15 am #


    Oh but then we realized that this was holding back Wraithguard – so just put the word Ynnari at the top of your list and it’s all good again. Plus to make up for all that lost time when your Wraithguard were not killing enough stuff – if you kill stuff now they get to soulburst to kill double the amount of stuff.

    • Threllen February 28, 2017 11:40 am #

      Hey, at least they made Archons more important, too!

      Now you can just deep strike your squad of Wraith Guard within 7″ of anything you want without any chance to scatter. And they’ll get to double-blow stuff up guaranteed!

      Best part is you don’t need to take any of those silly inefficient Dark Eldar units as a tax. Just fill everything else in with Eldar!

  6. Matt March 1, 2017 9:18 am #

    So…..explain to me how Genestealer cult are worthless in competitive play? Servo skulls only prevent cult ambush on turn 1 (and they have to take an inquisitor)….and 1 character from the Gathering Storm series prevents them from doing infiltrating. Unless every imperial player is paying 150 points just to prevent Genestealer Cult ambush, I’m just not buying it. If folks think that you got to roll for every unit, see the results, then place them, then shame on you for not following normal deep strike rules and such.

    • Threllen March 1, 2017 9:37 am #

      “shame on you for not following normal deep strike rules and such.”

      Well according to the BRB “you must first roll for all Reserves, and then move any arriving reserves…”

      So shame on you for not following normal rules I guess? Because most people were interpreting the GSC worked exactly like “normal deep strike” works. Which is to say you roll for everything first and then deploy it.

      • Matt March 1, 2017 5:20 pm #

        Wrong choice of words I guess for mentioning deep strike….still doesn’t answer the servo skull or special inquisitor point though. Even rolling for each unit and placing it accordingly doesn’t ruin the whole strategy just makes you have to think and plan accordingly a little more.

        • Threllen March 1, 2017 7:51 pm #

          The problem is, the FAQ ruling that you have to roll for one unit, place it, and then move onto the next removes the “think and plan accordingly.” Because it’s pretty hard to plan accordingly when you have no idea what’s coming.

          As an example, when I play deep strike heavy armies I often vastly change my strategy based on how many units I get in. Key unit doesn’t get in? Maybe I’ll deep strike the rest a bit further away and play it safe. Or I’ll just hit a smaller flank rather than the broader army.

          If, like GSC, I had to roll for each unit individually and deep strike it in at that time – I’d just have to blindly put my unit down and hope for the best with the rest of the rolls.

          Does it make them completely useless? No, but it makes them play with a lot less information.

          I do agree that servo skulls are sometimes a bit of a strawman argument considering they don’t seem to make it into a ton of lists but whenever they counter a strategy people are like “this is so useless because servo skulls!”

          Granted, this was a tongue-in-cheek article so Michael wasn’t really being serious by calling them useless. Just making fun of the fact they got some nerfs in the FAQ.

          • abusepuppy March 2, 2017 6:42 am

            Except that DS armies _do_ have to work like GSC do- you choose one unit to Deep Strike, place it, roll for scatter, and then move on to the next one very much like a GSC army does. You know how many units will be arriving on the table, sure- but so does a GSC army.

            I don’t think the ruling is at all unfair. Rolling everything in one huge batch is actually really confusing, because then you have to track which of the thirty units rolled what result and place them all. Does it make the army weaker? Sure, a bit, but since the 3+ results on the table all achieve similar things in terms of where you can place units, your strategy should be fairly safe in terms of knowing what you can put down.

          • Threllen March 2, 2017 10:20 am

            With most reserves, though – I know the most important thing which is whether they are coming in or not. Sure, when it comes to deep strike if I play things too dangerously I can screw myself. But at least I know what I’m starting with.

            GSC players don’t. They just know all these guys are coming in in some form or other but have no knowledge of exactly how they can deploy them until they roll off 1 by 1.

            I do get the confusion aspect which is probably why they made the ruling in the first place. But a dice cube with 36 dice costs about $10. Buy one and then just leave the roll right next to the guy. That’s a simple enough fix.

    • Lou M Bachenheimer March 2, 2017 5:17 am #

      It’s not 150pts. An inquisitorial Detachment with an Inquisitor and three Servo skulls is only 34 points. Also, GSC was the preeminent counter to Eldar, but now they can spend 34 points to nullify an entire codex.

      • Matt March 3, 2017 10:44 am #

        Servoskulls prevent cult ambush during deployment, but don’t affect cult ambush afterwards per the FAQ. I haven’t seen an FAQ for the 150 inquisitor chick from Gathering Storm 1, but I’ll be curious to see how it interacts.

  7. GeekmasterK March 1, 2017 10:44 am #

    I find this “director’s cut” insulting! Is this the “Mat Ward Special Edition?!” Han shot first, dammit! Y U GO RETCON EVERYTHING!!!!

    /sarcasm 😛

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