We’ve gone back and compiled up all the latest confirmed and rumored changes for Warhammer 40k that are coming to Chapter Approved 2018.
Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably heard about all the wild guesses and rumors orbiting Chapter Approved 2018. For many of us, we’re waiting with fingers crossed hoping Space Marines become playable again. Let’s jump into the key factions that are getting updates and the rumors that are directly tied to them.
Rumors from earlier on have said that Space Marines as a whole were going to go down 5-10%
Remember some of the information in this compilation are RUMORS.
Grey Knights
- Castellan Crowe: 75 pts
- Draigo: 200 pts
- Grey Knight Terminators 26 pts (Base Cost)
- Grey Knights getting Full Smite
Games Workshop actually chimed in and mentioned specifically that Paladins, Purifiers, and Grand Masters in Nemesis Dreadknights were all going down. They just didn’t tell us how much.
Grey Knights not only going down in points but getting full smite may get them over the hump of being playable. They need to have a “special something” that makes them want to be taken. A cheap Batallion of bare bones strike squads may creep into the meta just so people can pull off a potential 5 D3 mortal wounds in the psychic phase.
Custodes
Despite placing in the top 5 for multiple tournaments, there are still some units for Custodes that just cost way too much to make them worth it. Some key units are expected to go down.
- Trajann: 175 pts
- Custodian Wardens: 45 pts (Base Cost)
- Allarus Custodians: 60 pts (Base Cost)
Other Space Marines
Deathwatch and all other Space Marines as a whole rumored to going down 5-10% in points.
- Land Speeder: 50 pts
- Intercessors: 17 pts (Base Cost)
- Land Raider: 200 pts (Base Cost)
- Land Raider Crusader 200 pts (Base Cost)
- Land Raider Redeemer 180 pts (Base Cost)
- Repulsor 185 pts (Base Cost)
- Primaris Captain 78 pts (Base Cost)
- Captain in Gravis Armour 90 pts (Base Cost)
- Terminators 23 pts (Base Cost)
- Drop Pod 63 pts (Base Cost)
- Twin-lascannon 40 pts
- Storm shield (Characters) 12 pts
There’s not been any other mention of Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Ultramarines, etc. getting chapter-specific point reductions other than the named characters going down as well as everything getting a 5-10% decrease.
As for the rumors above, drop pods going down to 63 pts may still not be enough to make them fieldable since they can’t come in turn 2. They will definitely be in a better place than they are now. But we will have to see what gets set in stone when the book hits the shelves.
The Land Raiders definitely need some love. As it sits, Robbie G and a Knight Gallant all cost around the same price as a Land Raider. So you could have a 24 wound Knight with unreal damage output, a Primarch, or a T8 model with four Lascannon shots…See the issue here?
Chaos
- Cultists: 5 pts (Base Cost)
- No change to Abaddon
- Be’Lakor 240
- Scarab Occult Terminators 26 pts (Base Cost)
- Tzaangors 8 pts (Base Cost)
- Great Unclean One 255 pts (Base Cost)
- Lord of Change 245 pts
- Bloodthirsters 265 pts
- Keeper of Secrets 150 pts
- Rubric Marines 16 pts (Base Cost)
- Warpflamer 10 pts
- Thousand Sons also getting Full Smite
Chaos needs about as much adjusting as the Imperium. Cultists are changing due to the meta being run by Cultist blobs longer than people would’ve cared to and Thousand Sons could be getting full smite. Thousand Sons are in a decent spot considering that they have a Primarch but their normal troops still cost too much for what they can achieve. The real breadwinners for Thousand Sons are Ahriman and Magnus.
Other big Daemons like the Great Unclean One are getting a hefty chunk of their points taken out. This needs to happen considering they can be shot at behind all their screens and only have a 5++ save.
Eldar
- Eldrad: 135 pts
- Shining Spears: 21 pts (Base Cost up by 3)
- Wraithknight 300
The biggest change coming to Eldar is going to be the Wraithknight. It’s practically sub-par to a Knight in every way and costs the same (as of right now).
GW mentioned this for the Wraithknight:
For example, the aforementioned Wraithknight has had an enormous reduction in points, now costing a little over 300 points, rather than over 400 before weapons!
Tau
- Farsight: 125 pts
- Crisis Suits: 32 pts (Base Cost)
- Tau Farsight’s the Eight- Will be LOW detachment
The main focus of Tau is going to be on Farsight and his band of merry men. The Eight are going to be put into the game and included as some kind of Lord of War detachment costing around 1,000 pts.
We have no clue what their stats are going to be like or what they’ll be bringing to the table except the kind of suits they’re in.
Necrons
- Tesseract Vault: 555 pts
- Triarch Praetorians are getting a hefty points drop
- Necrons will be getting “Aspiring Overlords”
We don’t know what these Aspiring Overlords will be but it looks like a new rule that the Triarch Praetorians will be bringing to the squad. -Maybe some kind of HQ slot for the unit?
Imperial Knights
Forge World units and specifically the Magera Knight will be dropping in points. (We don’t know how much).
Like the previous edition of Chapter Approved, we’ve also had the chance to look at some Forge World datasheets and tweak points accordingly. One option we’ve had loads of feedback on is the Knight Magaera. Loads of you guys thought this cost a few too many points – and we agree! After some further testing, we’ve dropped its cost to a more appropriate level.
Some small changes coming on the bigger Dominus Class knights, nothing on the smaller ones.
Sisters of Battle Beta Codex
Full codex release potentially set for the Q3 2019 window we have been predicting since Adepticonthat lines up with GW’s admission of an 18 month development time on new codex books.
Starting with Sisters of Battle, we can take a look at a stratagem and an Order of the Sororitas that was dropped as a teaser.
Pretty good when you drop a unit full of flamers that are automatically hit their target, have their range increased to 12″ AND get to shoot again later in the turn.
More and more previews are popping up for Sisters of Battle. It started with rumors, then models, and now art and stratagems!
Sisters concept art from hobby hero Garro!
If you need to squeeze out the last bit of damage on a tank that’s hard to crack, you can use this stratagem and have your flamers and Meltas get +1 to wound. Not too bad for only 1CP. The only stipulation is that there has to be a Bolt weapon in range of the target and everyone has to be shooting at it.
Open Play Character Creation
Chapter Approved 2018 features a new character creation system for open play where you can build your very own legendary heroes. If you’re feeling creative, this year’s edition is going to be great for you.
Players will be able to make their own characters for Open Play games. This is going to bring out the hobby spirit in all of us as players can splice bits together to make their unique character stand out from the crowd.
You may only be able to use your “made from scratch” character in Open Play, but you can always use your model as a sweet converted Captain, Chaplain, etc. in Matched Play.
More Playable Missions
Now that Chapter Approved is right around the corner, Games Workshop gave us a little insight on some of the points changes:
Narrow the Search is one of the missions found inside Chapter Approved. The Objective radius shrinks every turn and Invulnerable saves can’t be taken within 12″ of the markers. Essentially, this will force the players to converge on different points head on and casualties will be massive without any invulnerable saves allowed.
Chapter Approved is focusing more on the Imperium and Chaos factions, but it looks like everyone will be getting some attention. What are your thoughts on the rumors so far? Will you be bringing your Space Marines back out to play? Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group.
About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
Socials: @RealmbrushPainting
About Wesley Floyd: Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He is known for his satirist takes on trending topics and imaginative yet amazingly affordable hobby solutions to painting Warhammer miniatures.
Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4. If you like what he writes and want to contact him or have your tabletop minatures painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
