Imperial Armour 1: SE

The Conqueror got bumped back to an Autocannon small blast, the SalamAnder Command is largely the same but can reduce enemy cover saves instead of its previous ability. The Rapier and Sabers didn't change.

The Hades got hit...*very* hard. It was controversial before, powerful but very prone to whiffing. Now it's weapon has been reduced in strength (fine really) but the "blast" aspect is now "small" and only counts for what units it hits, as it gets 1 hit on any vehicle/building and only D3 hits against anything else (regardless of how many the blast is touching), because instead of having a special attack it performs a Ram with some special rules.That would all be fine, whatever, but the big thing is that it no longer displaces units, and, if it fails to kill its target it... mishaps with a huge penalty on the mishap chart, and whatever happens to the drill also happens to the follow-up unit. On top of that it is now an Elites choice with an attached Vets squad that has fewer options (and is no longer scoring due to being an Elites unit).

Now, it got cheaper, but it's really got no purpose or use being so dangerous to itself and the follow up unit when used to attack an enemy unit on entry, and is rather expensive as a Deep Strike enabler for a non-scoring watered down Veteran or very expensive Engineer unit.


The Centaur now takes up FA slots in a codex: IG army

The Heavy Mortar lost the Accurate Bombardment special rule.

The destroyer tank hunter got the same gun as the Rapier (so basically a TL lascannon with the Ordnance but no blast rule) that has a longer range. Still very expensive for what it does, though a bit better than some previous incarnations.

Quad Launcher lost the "Slow Fire" rule as well, I'm wondering if those just didn't get copy-pasted correctly.

The Centaur lost its "Hull Mounted" special rule.   They're now no longer a dedicated transport, they're a squadron FA unit except for DKoK armies. They lost their ability to mount a weapon from the squad as well.

I also found a mistake (I think) regarding the Hades Drill. The cost they printed is the Drill + the veteran squad together. It then states that I can replace the assault squad for a DKOK engineer squad for an additional XX points....where XX = the cost of the entire Engineer squad. In other words, if I was take this literally, then the DKOK will have to pay for cost for the Drill + the Veteran squad + the Engineer squad that replaces it! I think its a misprint IMO.
 

I emailed FW about my questions and they responded with this:

1. The standard Heavy Mortar does not have the 'Accurate Bombardment' special rule but this may re-appear for the DKK Specific version when we update their army list.
2. The 'Hull Mounted Weapon' option was removed from the Centaur as the model is not supplied with such a weapon.
3. The Hades Drill is not available separately from the squad it comes with, so the point cost for both normal IG and DKK is accurate as stated in the book.

Can anyone tell me if the Quad Launchers are still Elite slots?

Heavy Support now except for DKoK Siege Regiment lists.

no, but they did integrate them in as an option in the unit profile (with a reduced points cost vs. Storm Eagles from the IG codex), allowing you to choose Storm Eagle, Sky Eagle, or ccore Missiles, essentially clarifying their status (i.e. that the option to use the Manticore missile was not effectively removed by the IG codex).

Sure thing, but my recollection from IA:A was that only the two newer missile types were included (Storm Eagle and Sky Eagle), but that Manticore Missiles were essentially made "rules obsolete" (though now returned in IA:A2nd).

The Manticore is also still allowed to take its old Manticore Missiles too, which is a 7" blast despite the vehicle being marked for use in regular games of 40K. To my knowledge that makes it the only thing approved for regular games that uses the 7" blast. I think FW needs to be emailed about that one personally. 

The Vanquisher used to be great. 2d6+8 Armour Pen, 96" range, Co-Axial weapon to make it super-consistent at short-range, and it could fire regular HE rounds when it wasn't killing tanks.

Hades, generally the same. Additional rules for ram attacks with bonus invuln save during ramming (pretty nasty)

Heavy mortar is now the just the griffon. No additional shells

Thudd gun has the shell shock rule with penalties to pinning tests

- Atlas and Engineseer now are Elite Choices
- Team them up and the engineseer gets a re-roll to his repairs
- Leman Russ troop options are divided into 2 - Siege tank squadron includes Thunderer, Demolisher, Executioner and Punisher. All other variants form part of the battle tank squadron
- Destroyers are elites
- Armoured Fist Veterans Troop Choice is a 5 man veteran squad in a centaur

Vet squad can be increased to 10 men and must take a chimera if they do so

Also, all sabre platforms have skyfire and interceptor rules

Yep, autocannon turrets in same price as before

Another thing I've noticed is the manticore can be upgrade with sky eagle rockets - Has Skyfire and heat seaker special rule that allows them to re-roll misses

Ace crew skills are gone.

The armoured fist veteran squad is identical to the codex entry

Haven't really gone through the characters yet, but they appear similar from what I remember. A few tweaks to bring them in line with the new special rules (ie Grizmunds Leman Russ comes with artificer hull for a bonus hull point)

The ammo are pure upgrades for the armoured company list only and are only available to "character" tanks and not line tanks (basically, the HQ and commissar tanks only). No other special vanquisher ammo

Oh and engineseers are characters that come with a Trojan transporter. Can take up to 5 servitors (pretty much the codex entry)

Valdor is similar, it gets ordnance d3 and the concussive special rule

A few of the super heavies have been changed slightly, some of their weapons have been tweaked to make use of usr's.

The orders are vehicle only (armoured fist hq can issue codex orders. The vehicle orders are concentrated fire (re-roll bonuses), erratic manoeuvres (harder to hit) and full speed ahead.

Just spotted that the heavy support heavy weapon teams can take flakk missiles.

The only difference I can tell about the Tauros squadron from IAA 2nd edition is that they removed the option to take a Homing Beacon and added Hull Points to the entry (2).

The Centaur and Tauros are both only 2HP and the Centaur now takes a Fast Attack slot instead of being a transport option for non DKoK armies.

Is the hydra the same as ever? I was hoping for interceptor, with a price hike to compensate.
No sky fire. But it does have an auto targeting rule: ignores cover save or bonuses for supersonic or jink rules.




About Hades
I was expecting *some* changes, but expect their presence on tables to be pretty much extirpated by this book, their chance of mishap when used against vehicles ranged from just over 50% against AV10 targets to over 70% against AV14 targets and suffer a -2 on mishap charts now and take their follow-up infantry unit
(now a watered down Vets unit that's an Elites choice not a Troop) with them if they mishap.



Its also now S8 instead of S10, but still AP1 and Melta, but now its only a 3" small blast too.

It gained a 4+ invulnerable save against damage inflicted while its making a ram attack, though.

The last cost for the drill was 50 points on its own. A base vet squad cost 70 points.

Now its 100 points for the Drill and 10 guys base.

Sure you can't pimp out the vet squad the way you could before, but the overall cost has gone down for the Drill.

And yes, the rules are for both Krieg and standard codex IG forces (they have a description for both army lists). 





They likewise for some reason decided the Centaur needed to take a Fast Attack slot, and that the Coaxial rule for Vanquisher heavy stubbers was just too good, and removed the "accurate bombardment" rule from Heavy Mortars. LR Conquerors are back to S7 AP4 small blast guns. Hydra Platforms lots Interceptor and got nerfed from being T7 3+sv W2 artillery units to AV10 HP2 immobile vehicle units.

Aside from Trojans and Atlas's getting a minor irrelevant special rule each and the Rapier Laser Destroyer going from awful-to-almost-mediocre, everything largely stayed the same or got worse. I'm rather suprised given the size, cost, and scale of the book. 


HQ:
Company Command Tank (1 Leman Russ - no demolisher or punisher options)
Amoured Fist Command Squad
Salamander Reconnaissance Commander
Cpt Obadiah Schfeer
General Grizmund

Elites:
Commissar Tank
Destroyer Tank Hunter Squadron (1-3 tanks)
Atlas Recovery Tank
Armoured Fist Storm Trooper Squad
0-2 Tech Priest Engineseers (takes no slot up and can be given a trojan support vehicle as a transport)

Troops:
Battle Tank Squad - 1-3 Leman Russ Tanks (excludes Demolisher, Punisher and Executioner)
Siege Tank Squad - 1-3 Leman Russ Tanks(Thunderer, Demolisher, Punisher and Executioner)
Armoured Fist Squad
Armoured Fist Veterans (Chimera or Centaur options)

Fast Attack:
Scout Sentinel Squadron
Armoured Sentinel Squadron
0-1 Gunship support (1-3 of either/or Vendettas or Vultures)
Tauros Strike Squadron (1-3 of either variant)
Salamander Recon Squadron (1-3)
Hellhound Squadron (1-3 of any of the current 3 variants)

Heavy Support:
Hydra Battery (1-3)
Ordnance battery (1-3 basilisk or medusa)
Griffon Battery (1-5)
Colossus Bombard Battery (1-3 no Trojan upgrade option anymore)
Armoured Fist Heavy Weapons Squad (3 teams in a chimera)
Armoured Fist Cyclops Demo Squad (2 cyclops and 2 guardsman in a chimera)
Imperial Navy Air Support (1 of either a thunderbolt, lightning or avenger)


Some of the list upgrades and rules are tasty:
Co-axial weapon for vanquisher only available as an upgrade in the armoured company list
New Armoured Company Orders
New Upgrades (inc a mine plough for aggressive tank shocks and artificer hull which grants an extra hull point!)
Special Ammo:
The standard Leman Russ can upgrade to the infernus shell which amongst other things gives ignore cover rule
Augur shells upgrade for conqueror - gives get's hot and cratering special rules (cratering - a 4+ chance on each glance or pen of permanently reducing targets hit facing armour value)
Vanquishers get beast hunter shells - grants Instant Death special rule
Includes new Warlord Traits for armoured battle group