This would be a Psychic Awakening for sure! Taking inspiration from AoS, how would 40k look if they switched phases of the game and added endless spells?
Age of Sigmar’s game shakes up the normal turn order from 40k. With the hero phase beginning first, all the Wizards cast their spells. But what would 40k look like if the phases of the game were the same way?
Okay So What If Psychic Powers Came Before Moving in 40k?
Digging a bit deeper, it’s safe to say that based on the psychic powers in 40k, it would be a totally different beast from Age of Sigmar. For the most part, spells in AoS are damage-focused spells or movement trick-spells. However, in 40k, while there are a few nice damage dealers, the best psychic powers are buffs.
For example,
- Thousand Sons have a nifty -1 to hit power, a +1 invuln power, etc.
- Blood Angels have a +D3 attack and +3″ charge power, 12″ move and FLY power, +1 attack to an entire unit power, 5++ invuln to a unit, etc.
- Phobos Marines have an entire discipline almost solely bent on giving Phobos-armored Marines a tactical edge with rerolling hits, becoming untargettable, and even advancing 3D6″.
- Orks have a +1 attack to an entire unit
The list can keep going on but you get the idea.
40k is a game where psychic powers tend to buff units well beyond what you would normally get for their points-worth. With that said, how would 40k look if Librarians and Sorcerers had to do all their buffs before anyone moved?
The Psychic phase could be a lot more devastating. With a normal deny range of 24″, Psykers could start the game well out of the threat range of an enemy trying to Deny. Magnus and Mephiston alike could become souped-up killing machines, THEN move and charge. As beefed-up units would obviously eventually meet on the table, so would the psychic battle.
However, certain psychic powers would also be reigned back a bit. With some powers like Smite targetting the closest visible unit, Psykers wouldn’t be able to move next to the unit they want to hit before casting. This would mean they would have to think a turn ahead at what they will want to Smite and position themselves accordingly.
All in all, the first turn would be an easy buff-off. However, what comes after would be a mind game of positioning units properly. But if you’re Necrons or Tau, you guys wouldn’t care!
Endless Psychic Powers
In Age of Sigmar, some spells have their own models. You have to pay the points for them in AoS, which may or may not transition into 40k. With that said, it would be easy to say that a Psyker can manifest a Warp entity to crawl around on the table dishing out mortal wounds left and right until a Psyker dissipates it.
For the Imperium, a Golden orb might be perfect to show the Emperor’s psychic presence being made manifest. For Daemons, a twisted two-armed dark entity would be great. And for something like Aeldari, maybe a “Hand of Ynnead” might pick up units and squeeze the life out of them. These are just simple thoughts to show that it wouldn’t be hard to fit these things into the fluff.
In the same way, factions that don’t have Psykers could go in the angle of prayers. Just like Khorne’s version of Endless Spells in AoS, they take the form of “Judgements” brought forth by a Priest.
All in all, we’ve seen Age of Sigmar serve as a testing platform for 40k models from time to time and it’s not outside the realm of possibility for 40k to adopt some of the things going on in the medieval fantasy game. How would you like endless psychic powers to come to the game? Would you prefer the psychic phase to be done first before models move?
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About the Author: Wesley Floyd
