Looks GW has a fix in mind for the “unplayable” new 40k rules for Valerian & Aleya, the latest Talons of the Emperor in Psychic Awakening.
Warhammer Community made their first official rules preview on the Talons of the Emperor characters releasing alongside their new Black library book. However, if you’ve been keeping up with the latest in the hobby world, you know we’ve already seen a clear contradiction of rules on the datasheet, essentially making them unplayable for current Matched Play games.
While that may be the case, for now, they’ve just hinted that something lies ahead for Psychic Awakening…
New Models Valerian and Aleya Datasheet SPOTTED
An Adeptus Custode and a Sister of Silence have banded together in one of the latest novels from the Black Library. To celebrate the book, GW also revealed the models for them earlier on. But they’re also going to be fieldable in 40k and even come with matched play points.
Coming from GAINAX01 on Reddit, we’ve got a full look at the datasheet.
So there are a couple of things to point out about this rules sheet. These two characters come as a unit so you have to field them both if you want to use one. They both have named weapons which slap about as hard as you’d expect a Custodes/ SoS character to slap in melee. On top of that, they both come with a few unique rules to set them apart.
- Valerian: Let’s you reroll 1’s for other Custodes and has a 5++ invuln (which is all pretty standard issue). However, the Golden Laurels gives you a nice little power spike once per game giving you a free reroll on the hit, wound, or damage.
- Aleya: Aleya is obviously squishier than the Custode, but she can mess up a Psyker’s day. The fact that she can’t be targetted by Psychic power is also really nice. And she’s just another way to debuff Psykers with your other SoS force.
The “Unplayable” Part
Up until now, all of these stats seem pretty dope. Except there’s a major discrepancy that we’re seeing in the keywords and points. For starters, Valerian and Aleya have their own keyword bracket and the ONLY keyword they share is the IMPERIUM keyword.
If you remember the FAQ that shut down hardcore soup lists at the start of 8th, you can’t just have the only keyword as Imperium anymore.
Of course, with the way that the keywording works, this unit is technically unfieldable. However, even if it were usable on the tabletop, the egregious points cost would turn players away as well.
Note that is says Points per MODEL: 188. Seeing that there are two models in the unit, that comes out to a whopping 376 pts for a T5 model and a T3 model. For 376 pts you could basically be bringing a Knight.
GW Hints At Playable Valerain & Aleya 40k Rules
In the latest rules teaser for the two characters (Which we’re actually able to see more details on the unit from the pic above), they also gave us a little hint at what lies ahead.
If you’re up to speed with all the latest rules developments in Chapter Approved 2019, you’ll notice that, by only having the Imperium Faction Keyword on their combined datasheet, Valerian and Aleya cannot currently join an Adeptus Custodes Detachment without the latter losing their Battle-forged bonus. However, you need not worry, for it won’t be long before both factions will be able to fight as one once more, when the Talons of the Emperor join the epic battles of the Psychic Awakening…
In short, we know Custodes and Sisters of Silence are joining forces and will be a part of Psychic Awakening.
What Could it Mean for the Army?
Right away, we can see the faction getting better overall. With Troops choices in Custodes armies being notoriously expensive and limited, (and more limited for the Sisters of Silence), combining these two factions will help everybody out. Of course, Custodes had a bit of a helping hand when Sagittarum made it from the Heavy Support slot to the Troops and offered a bit more of a threat bubble than that of the spearmen. However, at the end of the day, they’re still an expensive Troops choice.
If/when these two armies get meshed together as a result of Psychic Awakening, here’s to hoping that we will see some kind of cheaper Sisters of Silence Troop choice become the new CP battery.
Would you like to see Sisters of Silence meshed with the Adeptus Custodes? Will the main use of Sisters of Silence in a Custodes force be cheap bodies?
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About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
