40k 7th Edition - first game

Instead of a full review of the new rules, which I'm still reading, here is a quick summary of our first game we played on release day afternoon.

We only had one copy of the books between us, as the digital versions did not go up until later in the day, which was a bit frustrating. I can see that the physical release was the priority for GW, but pressing Download on the Black Library site and then repeatedly seeing Preorder was disappointing, especially with no indication as to exactly when the electronic version would be available. At least I have the epub now.

For our game my marines were teamed with Aaron's Eldar against Matt's SM and Pete's guard. At 600pts per player the game took about twice as long as usual, as we wanted to check each rule as we played.

We were keen to try the Maelstrom of War missions with the tactical objectives. With the 6 numbered objectives in play and relatively small game, my initial thought was that the game would be static with everyone camping objectives. However, with the 3 objectives you draw being scored per turn and cards changing as they are scored or useless ones discarded, there are no automatic points just for holding any objectives, even at the end of the game. As 18 of the 36 cards require you to take a particular numbered objective, you can end of only being able to score by controlling your opponent's objectives.  Matt had 4 drop pods in his list and 2 of them came down in scoring distance of 2 of our objectives. As even dedicated transports for troops count as super-scoring units, these proved to be a real pain.  Mobile troops therefore also are really useful when you need a different objective. My bike squad helped us get back in the game late on, but not enough to beat Pete and Matt.

There is certainly a bit of accounting involved keeping track of the points, which can rack up quickly, especially if you are able to score multiple cards simultaneously, some of which are D3 or even D3+3.

With 4 psykers on the board, we were hoping for exciting psychic phases, but poor rolls, useless powers and psykers being killed for objectives meant that we will have to wait and see on this.

My obligatory Stormtalon killed a couple of units before dying to Pete's Hydra. The changes to Jink are interesting. It is now a 4+ cover save, but must be declared before rolls to hit are made. Other vehicles have also gained jink, but everything can now only snap shot the turn after jinking. The Stormtalon has also lost Pinning from the Strafing Run rule, as have snipers. I will have to re-think my 600 pt shooty list, which had used the talon with snipers.

The new challenges with tactical objectives made for an interesting game, in which units were forced to move around across the board. I recommend giving the Maelstrom of War missions a try and I certainly want to work out some new lists for these games.

We wanted to try the unbound army rules too, but again we ran out of time, so we are looking forward to seeing how they work in a future game.