Finally! I have been waiting like a child waiting for the result of the acceptance test from the Druzhina. All in all, it is an OK update. Some clever changes, some that are OK, a few meh and one clear typo. I'll attempt to go through each of the updates as objective as I can (I'm obviously biased). I'll try not to look at updates in the context of whether they make models more powerfull, but more in a context of whether they make sense. I'm so much looking forward to moving models around again. It has been a bit quite waiting for the update.
This is my summary of the quality of the updates. I'll walk through each of them in details below
| Model | Good | OK | Meh | Bad | Really bad |
| Battle Mechanik | ✓ | ||||
| Dire Wolf | ✓ | ||||
| Great Bear | ✓ | ||||
| Kapitan Ekaterina Baranova | ✓ | ||||
| Kapitan Ilari Borisyuk | ✓ | ||||
| Kommander Tatiana Sikora | ✓ | ||||
| Kommander Valerii Savaryn | ✓ | ||||
| Kontroller | ✓ | ||||
| Man-O-War Wrecking Crew | ✓ | ||||
| Mastodon | ✓ | ||||
| Medveditsa | ✓ | ||||
| Mortar Team | ✓ | ||||
| Shock Trooper Gunners | ✓ | ||||
| Shock Trooper Pikemen | ✓ | ||||
| Winter Korps Infantry | ✓ | ||||
| Winter Korps Officer | ✓ |
Summary of updates
Winter Korps Rack (Superiority)
We have lost the ability to put Superiority on the Mastodon. Of course it makes the Mastodon a sad panda. However, it has gained a extra SPD (from 4" to 5"), which does compensate somewhat. On the bright side, we can now cast Iron Flesh on it without feeling we are missing out on something. In isolation this is fine.
Winter Korps Models
Battle Mechanik
The Battle Mechanik has gotten an ARM increase from 15 to 16, which is always nice. It will now only die to POW 11 on the charge or POW 14 being shot at. So, no big change here; fair enough.
There is a very positive thing. Mechaniks now have Tune Up: Tune Up (* Action) - RNG 1. Target friendly Faction Cohort model. If the Cohort model is in range, it immediately stands up and is no longer stationary, continuous effects on the model expire, and it gains Pathfinder for one turn. This is very neat. Until now, it was only Sergeant Sergei Krol who could do that. Having the ability to remove continuous effects and stationary is very nice. The Command Card Put the Fires Out is no longer an auto-include. We also get a Pathfinder on a stick for Cohort models (Like the Winter Korps Officer's Mach for warrior models).
All in all nice update. I like the new Battle Mechanik.
Dire Wolf
So, the Dire Wolf has three updates: Ice Hammer, Scrap Saw, and Long Axe. The Ice Hammer increase one point in cost, so it now has the same cost as the Long Axe (5 points). This ruins my favorite 9 point Dire Wolf (Shield Guard Head, Ice Hammer, and Plow Shield), which increases to 10 points. We now actually have to choose between the Ice Hammer and Long Axe -- and the Long Axe now has Grievous Wounds!
So it is either an Ice Hammer at RNG 1", POW 17 and critical freeze (probability of ~17% and ~42% if boosted), or a Long Axe at RNG 2", POW 16 and critical Grievous Wounds). The Ice Hammer can do a bit more damage, but only at base 9". I think the pendule might swing towards the Long Axe more often than the Ice Hammer.
The Scrap Saw has increased to POW 17 from POW 15, but also increased two points in cost (to 5 points). I am not sure about this. It gives us the possibility to have an OK powerfull melee weapon on the left arm, whilst having a ranged weapon on the right arm. That is obviously nice. But, I think it requires some tinkering to see if it actually does anything for us.
My verdict is OK. I'm going to miss the 9 point Dire Wolf, however.
Great Bear
The Great Bear also has three changes: A change to the Reposition Head, the Deep Freezer and the Heavy Cannon, and the Deep Freezer. Let us start with the easy one: Reposition goes from 2" to 3". This is obviously nice.
The Deep Freezer goes from RNG 12" to 14", which is very nice; It also grants Resistance Cold, which is OK but now game changing. It does also increase from 7 points to 8 in cost; Finally the Heavy Cannon drops 3" in range from 15" to 12"!
The increase in range for the Deep Freezer makes perfect sense. It has never really been in competition with the Heavy Cannon. At RNG 14" it is a real choice. Perhaps even with the same cost as the Heavy Cannon. However, the Heavy Cannon dropping to RNG 12" (this must be a typo). This is generally really bad. I have collected all my complaints in a seperat point on the Heavy Cannon below. Yet, the range drop hurts the Great Bear the most. I can now touch things 16" away (move 4" + 12" shot) and stay 15" away from retaliation (12" shot + 3" Reposition). It sounds impressive, but it is inside a lot of enemy fire.
If we ignore the typo on the Heavy Cannon it is a good update.
Kapitan Ekaterina Baranova
Only minor changes (on the surface) for Baranova. She gains Resistance Cold, which is always nice but...? Her Feat now only imposes a -2" to the range of models shooting ours (from -4"). I guess this is just another Storm Legion coffin nail. She is a good 'caster, at least with the old Mastodon; but not that good. She has to move from being an anti gun line 'caster to a melee 'caster. We seem to have lost our main (only?) denial 'caster.
Well, what to say. Baranova is out of fashion. She got nerfed.
Kapitan Ilari Borisyuk
Boris really needed som help. I'm pretty sure she has only been a mantel piece model, basically since his release. He got Arcane Precision (If this model uses its Normal Movement to aim, it ignores cloud effects when determining LOS and ignores Stealth that activation.) This is really good. It removes the Volkova tax.
Unnatural Darkness got upgraded to Veil of Mists (Place a cloud effect template anywhere completely within the spellcaster's control range. The template does not block friendly Faction models' LOS. While in the template, friendly Faction models gain Pathfinder and can move through obstructions and other models if they have enough movement to move completely past them.) This is a very nice upgrade. Damien is now out of a job and Veil of Mist is just better.
The most prominent upgrade is probably his feat. Where it used to be only Feat attacks by the Battlegroup it is now all ranged attacks by the Battlegroup.
This opens quite a few interesting avenues for a shooting Battlegroup. In particular when Steamforged fixes the typo on the Heavy Cannon. I think Boris has had a very nice update.
Kommander Tatiana Sikora
Tatiana has lost one ATT down to 6. This is fine. I can't remember ever wanting to cast an offensive spell with her. She is just going to upkeep Iron Flesh, Avenging Force, Superiority or Puissance, and perhaps Tactical Supremacy. That is six focus. She would now have been naked if it wasn't for the fact that she also has been upgraded to ARC 7; which is very nice.
None of this changes her play style. She is still quite one dimensional. She has game but not into anything that can shoot. Except mirror matches of course. Until Steamforged fixes the typo on the Heavy Cannon. All in all an OK update.
Kommander Valerii Savaryn
Valerii only received one update. His feat got heavily nerfed. We lost Blessed and Damage Type: Magical on the ranged weapons. I have no idea why. I assume that it is because we have seen a lot of Valerii and Baranova. Thus, they must be sacrificed to the great nerf-god. I would have preferred to rather change them or other 'casters to get more varsity. It is not like Winter Korps was the top dog on the competitive scene. According to the nice podcast Tyrants on the Field, we are at about a 50% win rate in 2024.
All in all, I think this was an unnecessary and bad update.
Kontroller
The Kontroller gained an extra RAT, going up to 6. This is really nice. I'm so happy that one is on my painting table. I have always wanted to get the Kontroller on the table. I have managed only once, and that was because I accidentally selected him rather than Sergei in the app. He has a tremendous spray, yet RAT 5 doesn't really cut it. RAT 6 might just.
He also gained Jack Marshall with the Drive: Shatter (While within 10” of this model, the melee weapons of a warjack under its control gain Shatter. (A weapon with Shatter gains an additional damage die against stationary models.)) This is quite interesting. I think I might have been missing a Jack Marshall. I think it opens up some interesting possibilities. Thanks to the Arkanists we are not as focus starved as we used to be. Nevertheless, everything helps.
It could be fun to live the dream. Having an Avalanche under a Kontroller's control. Proceed to spray something dangerous to make it stationary. Shoot it with a Heavy Cannon from some, now closeby 'jack, to knock it down. Go in with the Avalanche. Fully loaded, that is 4 times POW 17 at 4 dice (for an average of 31 points of damage) and 1 POW 15 (for an average of 29 point of damage). That is 53 points of damage against standard Khador armour. Too bad Colossals can't be made stationary.
This is potentially the best update. Nothing too over the top. Just a small boost to make the spray look promising and a Jack Marshall.
Man-O-War Wrecking Crew
The Battle Saw is now Grievous Wounds. It is pretty nice to have better access to this; in particular since the Savagery Card has gone away. But why not all saws? Although they are still just Man-O-War Crew. The Wrecking is still lacking.
OK update. They could still need som help.
Mastodon
The marvellous Mastodon has really taken a beating. It has lost access to Superiority, which is somewhat compensated with an increase in SPD to 5. It has also been hit by the typo in the Heavy Cannon.
The loss of Superiority is obviously not a good thing. Yet, it is kind of OK. Having MAT 8 is pretty good, and SPD 6 + RNG 15" and 16" ranged weapons is an impressive threat range. One could have wished for MAT 7 in addition to SPD 5. But it is OK.
As with the Great Bear, the update to the Deep Freezer is pretty good. It makes it a real choice: POW 16, RNG 15 and knockdown, or POW 14/8, RNG 14, and critical freeze. Very good update. Unfortunately, the Heavy Cannon is now the worst option.
It changes the role of the Mastodon (and by extension the Great Bear). It looses a complete round of shooting if we keep the Heavy Cannon. It is now needs to be a much more melee oriented 'jack. This really nerfs the Mastodon. With the abondance of high damage output right now, it is a really high investment in a model that struggles to survive front row combat.
The Mastodon was very much defining the Khador way. Big, somewhat robust and with big guns. It seems that we are being pushed more towards a melee army. However, with our low speed, low DEF, and given these two things not a sufficiently high ARM, I think we are kind of in between right now.
This update is actually quite good. Except for they typo, which brings it into very bad update.
Medveditsa
Mother Bear has dropped two points, down to 15. This makes sense. At 17 points, it did not really see any action. There is also a quality of life update, putting the Hand of Vengeance on the right place on the card.
This is a very sensible update.
Mortar Team
The model nobody has ever seen - and for good reason. It has dropped one point to 2. This is a good choice. This solo is now interesting. Having it at an objective, lobbing grenades at the enemy.
Shock Trooper Gunners
Gunners have received and ARM increase of one, up to 16. I'm not sure this does anything good or bad.
Shock Trooper Pikemen
Pikemen has also received and ARM upgrade of one, to 17. An rather unimportant update. It is not really the issue with them. It is speed, in particular in a shooting heavy environment. They still need a solo (I recently did an in depth analysis of them here).
Winter Korps Infantry
What is supposed to be the bread and butter of the Khador army, has received updates to two of the Weapon Attachments: The Auto Cannon and the Rocket Launcher.
The Auto Cannon has lost Lone Gunman and gained CRA (Combined Ranged Attack). It is also now ROF D3 and not D3+1. On the one hand, this is pretty good. It makes for better CRA attacks. We can now do D3 CRA attacks with RAT 14 against large targets (base RAT 5 + 6 from full unit CRA + 1 from Inspiration + 2 from Volume Fire) with a POW of 19 (base 11 + 2 from Volume Fire + 6 from full unit). This is pretty good. On the other hand, it is a complete mystery why it lost and attack.
The Rocket Launcher lost AOE, but gained 2" in range. It also exchanged 'Jack Hunter with Brutal Damage. I would say this is an update...
Winter Korps Officer
Everybody's favourite cheap solo is not so cheap anymore. It is now 3 points. It has lost Stand Your Ground (Set Defence) but gained Combat Coordination (RNG 5. Target friendly Faction warrior model. If the model is in range, during its activation this turn, it can reroll one attack or damage roll, then Combat Coordiantion expires.). This is actually a very good thing. I think we need a reroll more that +2 ARM when receiving a charge.
The saber went from POW 9 to POW 11. Still Weapon Master, though. This is actually a pretty good. The POW 11 is surprisingly much better than POW 9.
Finally, it lost Feign Death. That is perhaps a minor thing. However, I can't conut the times that one of my officers have made a tough roll and then survive thanks to not being shot again.
All in all, OK.
Heavy Cannon Gate
The biggest nerf to the lovely empire is the Heavy Cannon. It used to be RNG 15, POW 16 with Momentum. Obviously a very powerfull gun. It has now been downgraded to RNG 12, still POW 16 and Momentum.
It is clear that the old Heavy Cannon made, in particular the Mastodon a very powerfull beast. Yet, it is also in many ways a defining weapon. It made the Deep Freezer more or less a non-choice. However, with the sensible upgrade to the Deep Freezer (RNG 14, POW 14/8, AOE 3, Critical Freeze), I would argue that the choice is now real.
I can also see that such a powerfull weapon in most other armies will have a shorter range. However, we haven't got access to any extensions, such as Snipe. We are slow (in particular the Mastodon after loss of Superiority). The max range for a Mastodon was 21". Yes, this is really far. But, compared to e.g. Storm Legion, not really. It is now, only 17". Yes, it is in the distance, but not really.
Also, it is not like we are RAT masters. The best RAT a Mastodon can do is 7 when aiming and 5 when not. Boosted, it is hitting DEF 17 or 15 on the average. Elevation, concealment and cover will obviously change these numbers. Our arch enemy will typically be around DEF 16-17 against shooting on their 'jacks (Deflection and Concealment/Elevation). Knockdown is obviously good. But with Empower everywhere the focus cost of standing up again is negligible.
It is even worse for the Great Bear. Typically it will only have one gun. Its range is more or less the same as the Mastodon 18" under Superiority. The Great Bear's Deep Freezer has received the same upgrade. So, again it was a sensible choice (under the old Heavy Cannon rules). It becomes more difficult to argue for the Heavy Cannon now. With the improved Reposition, a Great Bear can be 15" from its target. In a shooting heavy environment this is not a lot.
I think this nerf has puts Winter Korps in a pretty weird place now. We were to a large degree a shooting army. Even though we are quickly falling behind the arch enemy, Storm Legion. Now with this nail in the coffin, I'm pretty sure we are going to loose the gun battle -- hard. Also, since Baranova lost 2" protection on her feat.
Our arch enemy has just received the Maelstrom that displays only RNG 14" guns (and a RNG 12 spray), Stryker also presents a 14" gun. They also have universal access to Snipe, which brings most of their guns to a minimum of 15"; and Deflection adding 2 points to DEF against Shooting. In addition to the new shoot them all 'caster Caine 4, Huxley 1 now has Field Marshall [Reposition 5"]. Oh, and did I mention Storm Vanes? and the list goes on. With our classic Khador DEF of 10 and only (yes, I mean it) ARM 20, we are going to struggle a lot making it to the front lines.
I think a drop to 14" would have made sense. It would still make it a real choice between the Deep Freezer and the Heavy Cannon: "Do you want AOE and Critical Freeze or Knockdown?" This would be sensible.
Another, less sensible option would be to keep a good one on the Great Bear and a bad one on the Mastodon. It is a messy solution. But, if somebody is worried about the Mastodon, only nerfing that would be an option.
I really thing that this is a redo. The Heavy Cannon must be a typo.
Summary
I have walked throug the update for Khador Winter Korps. I'm obviously bias. However, I have tried to as objective as possible. Here is a table summarising my views. I have ignore the changes to Command Cards. But, in general I'll say I'm positive.
| Model | Good | OK | Meh | Bad | Really bad |
| Battle Mechanik | ✓ | ||||
| Dire Wolf | ✓ | ||||
| Great Bear | ✓ | ||||
| Kapitan Ekaterina Baranova | ✓ | ||||
| Kapitan Ilari Borisyuk | ✓ | ||||
| Kommander Tatiana Sikora | ✓ | ||||
| Kommander Valerii Savaryn | ✓ | ||||
| Kontroller | ✓ | ||||
| Man-O-War Wrecking Crew | ✓ | ||||
| Mastodon | ✓ | ||||
| Medveditsa | ✓ | ||||
| Mortar Team | ✓ | ||||
| Shock Trooper Gunners | ✓ | ||||
| Shock Trooper Pikemen | ✓ | ||||
| Winter Korps Infantry | ✓ | ||||
| Winter Korps Officer | ✓ |
Summary of updates
Until next time.
For the Motherland!
For the Motherland!
No comments:
Post a Comment