Review/Drinking Game: Warhams 40k 7Ed: Send Help

[maglag]

If they were serious about buffing CSM, half the formations wouldn't be demanding warpsmiths, which basically suck as commanders with T 4 that lack an invulnerable save by default while costing 100+ points base. You are right, GW has a surplus of those to sell because nobody was buying them.

Which reminds me, why do you keep suggesting chosen in the formations when you could be grabbing chaos termies? At least the chaos termies can deep strike to combi-melta something important and then draw fire.

Also how about a "First grunt blood" rule to replace "First Blood", whereas the first player who scores a kill with a grunt unit gets a VP?

Slay the Warlord could be fluffed in that there's no special glory in your super elite/heavy/fast attack ganking the enemy commander (the historians never record that time when lord orderius got melted by 4 lascannons to the face), but your basic mooks doing it is great for bragging rights.

[Koumei]

Which reminds me, why do you keep suggesting chosen in the formations when you could be grabbing chaos termies? At least the chaos termies can deep strike to combi-melta something important and then draw fire.

True, Terminators allow for Termicide or simply "Hi, I have Objective Secured and T 45 (lol Nurgle) with 2+/5++, suck a dick" (or I suppose 2+/4++ with Tzeentch). But Chosen are pretty good for customising and kitting them out to fill the specific role you want - I tend to use them as a benchmark for what the "Elite unit that is a normal unit but better" should look like. A mixture of the two is probably for the best, but definitely no Possessed.

[maglag]

You know there is one thing that Chaos does better and cheaper than loyalist scum right now, and that is psyker spam with the Cyclopia Cabal from the Black Legion supplement update that allows you to take sorcerers in bundles with an extra power. And chaos sorcerers are cheaper than librarian scum for the same ML while also being able to upgrade up to ML 3.

Sadly the best use for that is just allying with Kayos daemons to produce all the warp charges and make the ultimate magic psyker army.

Which reminds me Tau aren't top tier anymore since grav weapons came out and murderized all the riptides. Kayos (daemons) is the 4th top tier army to watch out for right now, because magic is still pretty imba, and with a bit of luck your enemy's main psyker head will autoexplode while spawning you a new psyker.

[sendaz]

Help is on the way?

http://www.pointandclickbait.com/2016/0 ... overlords/

[Koumei]

This seems very fitting with their current trend of offering the licence to anyone they can see.

[OgreBattle]

Platinum Games has been on an 80's nostalgia game roll with Transformers and Ninja Turtles, and right now they're doing Nier for Square-Enix.

I figure it's only a matter of time we get the best 40k vidyagame ever from Platinum, if the looming failure of scalebound doesn't make them go under.

[maglag]

So the "new" chaos powers are copy-paste from the loyalist scum recent supplements, just with different names.

Chaos sorcerors are now all Marisa Kirisame expies. I approve.

[Koumei]

So, Codex: Genestealer Cults was announced for later this month. It was a given they'd be released, given they already have those "released as a board game" minis with rules. The video for them shows a vehicle that looks a bit like a Taurox on wheels, so it's probably a generic Armoured Car. Probably from early-days art, back when literally every vehicle was straight from Mad Max. I don't know if that was "In British fiction" or just actually a thing that was happening in the world.

There's also talk of The Limo coming back, which should at least be good for a laugh, if nothing else. No word on if there will be any other new minis - it might be one vehicle kit (possibly dual-purpose) and then all the current things they have. Presumably with the rules letting your Broodlord/Patriarch be customised but you still only have the available minis, but hey, if they actually do them as multi-part kits with assembly options, that's awesome. And if they can take their "Infiltrate right up in front of you for guaranteed turn 1 charge unless you go first and focus-fire on them" Genestealers in broods of 10 or so rather than 2 models, that can actually do a really useful thing.

[Voss]

So, Codex: Genestealer Cults was announced for later this month. It was a given they'd be released

It was actually what people thought would happen first, when they announced the concept of army supplements at the start of 6th edition.

That they haven't actually bothered until after bashing extra holes into everything so they could thoroughly fuck everything they've ever created is just sad.

I'm still holding out hope for Age of Smegma:40k edition, just so I can once again experience the joy of watching a once-successful company set itself on fire.

[Koumei]

Yeah, that was such a massive failure that I'd kind of enjoy watching it happen again.

As for 6Ed Mini Supplements, when they introduced the whole Allies thing where you have small Allied Detachments, that really did seem ideal for it. I was hoping we'd see mini-dexes for Genestealer Cults (now in 7), Ad-Mech (now in 7), Harlequins (now in 7), Chaos Cults (not appearing), Arbites (not appearing), Deathwatch (now in 7), Kroot Mercs (not appearing), Freebootaz (not appearing), there were so many options.

I'll take late over never, I suppose.

[Voss]

Yeah, that was such a massive failure that I'd kind of enjoy watching it happen again.

As for 6Ed Mini Supplements, when they introduced the whole Allies thing where you have small Allied Detachments, that really did seem ideal for it. I was hoping we'd see mini-dexes for Genestealer Cults (now in 7), Ad-Mech (now in 7), Harlequins (now in 7), Chaos Cults (not appearing), Arbites (not appearing), Deathwatch (now in 7), Kroot Mercs (not appearing), Freebootaz (not appearing), there were so many options.

I'll take late over never, I suppose.

Eh. In this case, late and never seem... synonymous. GW died a painful death in at least a 50 mile radius of these parts. I guess there might be activity around their old North American HQ where people could still wander in, but most of this region went to X-wing and a smattering of warmachine, and stores doubled down on CCGs and shrank their miniatures section. Several put all their GW shit on sale and reduced their stock to the bare minimum allowed under GW's bizarre retail agreements while they contemplated keeping them at all.


Even had some spillover on to other wargames, at least at the store I was playing at, as several of the miniature tables (which were set higher for standing around) just vanished for more card & boardgame tables. Including all of the ones that were 4x6 for warhammer.

It wasn't much of a shock, honestly, as I hadn't yet met a game store owner that wasn't somewhere between annoyed and livid with GW.

[Koumei]

So here's what the Cult gets:
-An upgrade sprue for Chimerae, Lemon Ruskis, Sentinels, and Imperial Guard infantry - the vehicles are in their bookdex, the infantry appear to just be "convert some IG into neophytes" or "You can take them as Battle Brothers" or something.
-The Patriarch, Magus and Primus, no word on whether they're packed together and it's 100% the sprue from the boxed game, or if they've rearranged the sprue to make three separate clampacks there - and if the latter, if they'll have more options.
-Acolyte Iconward - quite possibly some kind of standard bearer.
-Hybrid Neophytes: 10 models in the box, and they're totally equipped like militant insurgents: shotguns and AK-47s. Leader has options in the box for a Chainsword, Power Pick, Power Maul, Bolt Pistol, Auto-Pistol and Web Pistol*, no idea on others that might be there. There are also a few special/heavy weapons in the box: Heavy Stubber, Flamer, Webber*, Mining Laser, Seismic Cannon*. Apparently the rules are "up to two in the unit", and I'm going to assume they include one of each so you can't double-flame without converting. There's also an icon someone can carry.
-Hybrid Metamorphs: box of 5, 3 arms, rending claw and a pistol (autopistols and hand flamers are shown, possibly enough they can ALL take the hand flamers, also an icon which seems to take up a "gun hand") and a melee weapon (shown: scything talons, extra rending claws, metamorph whip* (like a lash whip), bigger claw), leader has 4 arms.
-Same box can be used to make Acolyte Hybrids: so some can have autopistol and CCW and rending claw, or carry a bunch of explosive charges, but there are a bunch of big two-handed melee weapons: heavy rock saw*, heavy rock cutter*, heavy rock drill*. And the leader is shown with a bonesword and lashwhip and 2 rending claws.
-Aberrants are still listed, as per the boxed game. The big guys with heavy melee weapons. Probably still mono-pose which is a bit sad.
-Purestrain Genestealers are still listed, as per the boxed game.
-There is no limo, there's a dual-kit that makes a Goliath Truck and Goliath Rockgrinder. 3 12 12 10 with 3 Hull Points, they are both transports. Truck clearly has a Heavy Stubber and Twin Auto Cannon, and the rules are leaked for the Rockgrinder: Heavy Stubber, Heavy Mining Laser*, Drilldozer*. That one can hold six models and while it's not Open-Topped, all models can fire from it and the entire rear platform is one large Access Point, like an Open-Top. It also ignores Immobilised, Shaken and Stunned on a 4+ (still loses the Hull Point) and can take a cache of demo charges*, and swap the heavy laser for a Heavy Seismic Cannon* or Clearance Incinerator*.

The Drilldozer itself looks pretty awesome.

Needless to say, they get the decurion thing going, and apparently "infiltrate up super close and get a turn 1 charge" is just a thing they have.

*Rules for these aren't out yet.

[Koumei]

So, even more info is leaked...

The Iconward is indeed a clampack for a single dood with a standard

It looks like the other HQ units are indeed "one sprue with all 3, plus 2 mini-stealer familiars"

Upgrade sprue has 14 heads (1 with a rebreather, 1 tank commander), 6 icons to put on tanks and stuff, and a bunch of ammo pouches and daggers with icons on them

So some units (apparently everything that is not a vehicle) will have the Cult Ambush rule. When they deploy or arrive from Reserves, roll 1d6. On a 1 you wander on from your own table edge, like a regular crappy guy arriving from Reserves. On a 2, you Outflank normally (yes, this means you roll 3 times to come on - 1 Reserves, 1 for Cult Ambush, 1 for Table Edge). On a 3, you appear anywhere that is either 9" or more from any enemy, or 6" or more from any enemy but not in LoS from any foes. So basically Infiltrate. On a 4, you just set up anywhere that is 6+ inches from enemies, like a better Infiltrate. On a 5, you do the better Infiltrate then also shoot, even though it's not the Shooting Phase (and you can still shoot in the Shooting Phase). If you have no guns, you can instead Run in the Move Phase. Shooting can't cause Morale checks, but it is Pinning. On a 6, you arrive anywhere that is at least THREE inches from enemies, and you can Assault on that turn.

Similarly, everything that is not a vehicle can, instead of moving in the move phase, disappear into the shadows, being placed in ongoing reserves so you can then redeploy next turn using the above rules. They can't be within 6" of an enemy model when using it, and can't use it on the same turn they arrive from Reserves/Ongoing, and can't do it when in a vehicle.

So all those big melee weapons are S x2 AP 2 Two-Handed and Unwieldy.
-Rock Cutter: any model suffering 1 or more Unsaved Wounds must pass a Toughness Test (per Wound) or suffer Instant Death.
-Rock Drill: 6 to Wound causes Instant Death.
-Rock Saw: Armourbane. So it's an Eviscerator.

Seismic Cannon: up to 12" it's S 8 AP 3 Heavy 2, 12-24" it's S 5 AP 4 Heavy 4. Either way it has the Resonance rule: a 6 to Wound or Penetrate is AP 1.

Purestrain Stealers get +1 Attack and a 5+ Invulnerable Save - might only be in close combat? Can take Scything Talons.

Patriarch has a 12" Fearless aura, can take Biomancy + Telepathy + Brood Powers.

Iconward has a 12" bubble of Furious Charge and 6+ Feel no Pain (or +1 to existing).

Warlord Traits: Stealth; 12" bubble of Counter-Attack; Warlord's Unit gets Move Through Cover and basically have Frag Grenades in assault; It Will Not Die (Warlord); entire detachment uses the Warlord's Leadership; Warlord's unit chooses the result instead of rolling when using Cult Ambush.

Broodmind Powers are kind of average for the most part: a small debuff to enemy units, a handy "run up and assault" booster, a S 5 AP 3 Blast, a small boost to an ally unit, something that is basically Mind War, "make an enemy unit shoot their allies", and then the ability to summon units of Acolytes, Metamorphs, Hybrids, Abberants and Genestealers, with any upgrades allowed. That last one is awesome, but is Warp Charge 2-3 and you're not exactly loaded with Psykers.

Goliath Truck holds 10 people and instead of having the "sort of open-topped but not" rule, it actually IS open-topped. Can't carry Stealers or Patriarch.

Decurion benefits are re-roll Warlord Trait, everyone has Infiltrate (except vehicles), anyone who already had it is Shrouded in first turn, +1 to Reserves, enemy is -1 Reserves, and every time a unit returns from Reserves (Cult Ambush and Return to Shadows), they regain 1d6 slain models. Haxx.

There's a detachment for 2x neophytes in chimerae, a Leman Russ and 1-2 (squadrons of?) sentinels. They all gain Outflank and the Sentinels gain Cult Ambush.

There's a detachment for a Patriarch and 20 Genestealers. You then roll on a RANDOM TABLE and get either Flesh Hooks, a 4+ Armour Save, Toxin Sacs, Rage, Preferred Enemy, or "choose from the above".

So there are only a few weapons remaining unknown, and of course actual unit statlines and prices of everything and so on. But a lot of the info has been leaked. Well done, Internet, I salute you.

[OgreBattle]

How nice of GW to give ork players a new vehicle for looting, comes with deff rollas too.

Stats for various units, psychic powers, and weapons up:

http://natfka.blogspot.co.za/2016/09/de ... cults.html

Rock Drill: x2S 2h unwieldly can trade all attacks for s10 ap1 hit
Rock Saw: x2S 2h unwieldly armorbane
Rock Cutter: x2S 2h unwieldly unsaved wounds cause toughness test if failed remove model from play

Seismic cannon:
0-12" 8 3 heavy 2, resonance (resonance: A 6 to Wound or Pen is resolved at AP 1.)
12-24" 5 4 heavy 4, resonance

Their genestealers also have a 5++ sv cuz they dodge good, GW promo video says they differ in stats cuz the vanguard genestealers are superior in genetic material than the regular tyranid swarm ones.

[maglag]

Sisters of Silence and Adeptus Custodes stats released for free!

30K bolter bitches have a whooping I5, fearless and a bunch of special rules to screw up psykers that get too close, including re-rolling all to-hit against any units with psykers plus getting precision shots against such targets. However still only S3/T3. At 15 points each not too expensive. Can swap bolts for +1S weapons AP2 unwieldly swords that let them use their excellent initiative. Did I mention they get two attacks base? But without transport options or any other special rules, they have no way to get close enough to use them. Also their anti-psyker rules means you can't buff them up so they'll probably end up being a priority target.

Custodes follow the fluff bit of "as spech merines are to humies, custodes are to spech merines". Aka most of their stats are 5s (only I4 though), two wounds+eternal warrior, 3 attacks base, come with artificer armor and the guardian spears that can block attacks. 4 attacks per dude S6 with AP2 at I4 on the charge, pretty choppy. Fearless and can derp strike, just for an extra +10 points over regular termies. No invulnerable save by default, but for another 10 points you can swap their spear for storm shield and a power sword with two bolters tied up. Does that mean they fire as twin-linked? Nope, assault 2 at half range but can fire overwatch at BS2. Or just swap the spear for sword+knife combo for +1 attack free at the cost of the extra 1 S. And AP2. And block. Maybe a couple shields and the rest spears.

For 30 points you can get a standard for the custodes to project a Fearless bubble that also grants them another +1 attack.

So Sisters of Silence (SoS?) pretty good at killing grey knights, which I guess is the reason why they were declared heretic and erased. Custodes look like they would work really well with guard armies, granting a though choppy melee unit that keeps your normal humies from running away.

Also remember the time when at-initiative AP2 was supposed to be rare and special? Because nowadays they just seem to throw it out around like candy.

[Koumei]

30K bolter bitches have a whooping I5, fearless and a bunch of special rules to screw up psykers that get too close, including re-rolling all to-hit against any units with psykers plus getting precision shots against such targets. However still only S3/T3. At 15 points each not too expensive. Can swap bolts for +1S weapons AP2 unwieldly swords that let them use their excellent initiative. Did I mention they get two attacks base?

They're basically Aspect Warriors, with the Aspect of "kill psykers". So they're great against Grey Knights, Librarius Conclave formations in Space Marines, and the forces of Tzeentch and Slaanesh. Whilst also being decent against one type of infantry in one way (either generic "bolters to shred infantry with 5+ or 6+ saves" or the close combat deal to outfight non-specialist Space Marines on a model-for-model basis and very nearly on a point-for-point basis, as long as they don't charge through cover). But they are not used for killing particularly elite or heavy/resilient foes, including any vehicle whatsoever.

But without transport options or any other special rules, they have no way to get close enough to use them.

Seeing as you can't just take them on their own outside of Unbound, you're automatically taking them in a weird Formation/Detachment thing alongside your other Imperial forces. So you're either putting them in a Space Marine Drop Pod (until that FAQ thing becomes official against the will of all players), or in an Immolator with a Canoness (they now have Frag Grenades), or a Chimera (after booting the guardsmen out of it). Or hell, they could ride an allied Valkyrie or Land Raider (preferably the Crusader/Redeemer for the frag launchers).

No invulnerable save by default

This makes them the ultimate grav-bait if they don't do the swap. That said, I imagine quite a few will in fact do that. But it makes them even more expensive. I find it harder to justify taking them normally, as you can't spend just a few points. But if you attach your Space Marine Champion Dude to them and chuck them in a Land Raider that you were going to take anyway, they can wreck a lot of face and achieve something useful.

which I guess is the reason why they were declared heretic and erased.

Except they weren't, and you should probably just stop trying to explain fluff and lore to people because you're always wrong. They guard the Emperor and basically never leave Holy Terra (indeed they all stay in Nottingham apparently) and the assumption is that if you're fielding them in 40k, it's against an enemy force that threatens Holy Terra itself. Back in the day they had other things to do and could be seen all over the place (in small numbers), but their disappearance was not some kind of "They are the heretics", it was the writers more or less forgetting about them their being recalled to guard the Emperor's Throne as their primary role. Meanwhile when psykers need killing elsewhere, the Imperium of 40k has the Ordo Hereticus and the Culexus Assassins. And specific units from Grey Knights and Space Wolves.

Custodes look like they would work really well with guard armies, granting a though choppy melee unit that keeps your normal humies from running away.

Possibly. It's weird taking a really fucking expensive unit (and one that suddenly makes your enemy go "Finally, a target that justifies the price of these plasma guns!" as opposed to "Great, MORE T 3 W 1 Sv 5+ assholes that cost a couple of points each, so glad I wasted all that money on powerful weapons") that is used to boost a bunch of really cheap units (as in, those units combined might cost less than the Custodes). But it does mean keeping them in the fight, having a mixture of weapons of your own (between the lasgun swarms and the close combat Custodes and the special weapon squads running melta guns) and of course having some layers of bubblewrap for the Custodes: if the enemy tries to charge them with either a massive cultist tarpit or something that will rip their armour up and kill them, you instead have them smack into a blob of (now fearless!) Guardsmen.

So that is a thing you could do, I guess.

Also remember the time when at-initiative AP2 was supposed to be rare and special? Because nowadays they just seem to throw it out around like candy.

Maybe they realised that people still aren't taking Harlequin Jetbikes, Succubi and Incubi so it isn't the magic they thought it was. Or maybe it's just plain old codex creep. Or maybe they remembered that you can shoot someone with a Melta Gun or Lascannon or Plasma Gun for AP 1 or 2 and Initiative doesn't even come into it (indeed you shoot them before they punch you even on their turn), with only one of the above having a chance of exploding and killing the wielder. Or maybe they've just been hitting the gin extra hard and going with whatever idea hits them. That's the most cynical view so I'll go with that.

[Stahlseele]

@Koumei
I thought the Custodes were the Empires personal kinda sorta legion and Palace Guard and the Bolter Bitches were the loophole in the rule that the ecclesiarchy can not have men under arms and were used widely around the universe?
Err, i think i got something mixed up there with Bolter Bitches and Silentiums.
Aren't those like all pariah anti psyker mutants that do not exist to anything warp born? O.o
They are hated even by normal people because they just feel wrong.
And you would NOT want them anywhere NEAR your most important psyker in the whole fucking universe right?
You basically want them chained to people like Magnus, Ahriman etc. right? Or point them at a great unclean one and tell them to do what papa nurgle tells them to do and go give him a big old hug?

[maglag]

But without transport options or any other special rules, they have no way to get close enough to use them.

Seeing as you can't just take them on their own outside of Unbound, you're automatically taking them in a weird Formation/Detachment thing alongside your other Imperial forces. So you're either putting them in a Space Marine Drop Pod (until that FAQ thing becomes official against the will of all players), or in an Immolator with a Canoness (they now have Frag Grenades), or a Chimera (after booting the guardsmen out of it). Or hell, they could ride an allied Valkyrie or Land Raider (preferably the Crusader/Redeemer for the frag launchers).

If it's not a dedicated transport, they can't start the game already inside it, which will slow them down significantly.

which I guess is the reason why they were declared heretic and erased.

Except they weren't, and you should probably just stop trying to explain fluff and lore to people because you're always wrong. They guard the Emperor and basically never leave Holy Terra (indeed they all stay in Nottingham apparently) and the assumption is that if you're fielding them in 40k, it's against an enemy force that threatens Holy Terra itself. Back in the day they had other things to do and could be seen all over the place (in small numbers), but their disappearance was not some kind of "They are the heretics", it was the writers more or less forgetting about them their being recalled to guard the Emperor's Throne as their primary role. Meanwhile when psykers need killing elsewhere, the Imperium of 40k has the Ordo Hereticus and the Culexus Assassins. And specific units from Grey Knights and Space Wolves.

"The Sisters of Silence were an all-female Imperial order of Witch Hunters. They were active during the time of the Great Crusade in the early 31st Millennium, and their purpose was to hunt and kill rogue human psykers whose activities presented a terrible danger to the people of the newborn Imperium of Man. Also known as the Silent Sisterhood and the Witchseekers, they were the militant arm of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica and were referred to internally within the records of the Adeptus Terra as the Departmento Investigates. The ultimate fate of the Sisters of Silence is not found in Imperial records, and no references to their continued existence in the era of the 41st Millennium exists. It is believed that they were either destroyed long ago or were ultimately folded into the organisation of the Imperial Inquisition."

"The eventual fate of the Sisters of Silence is unknown. By M32, only a single force of fifty Sisters on the world of Nadiries were discovered, and these stated that the Imperium had discarded them out of mistrust following the Heresy. Despite being fiercely loyal to the Emperor and Primarchs, this last bastion of the Sisterhood expressed disdain for the modern Imperium, stating they would rather see it burn than be of aid. "

Please tell me more of how wrong I am and how your personal fanfiction about SoS now being posted as protectors of the golden toilet is the correct one, despite your dream version managing to ignore both wikis, the adeptus custodes fluff and the sisters of battle fluff simultaneously.

But I still forgive you, because the 40K lore is pretty messed up.

Custodes look like they would work really well with guard armies, granting a though choppy melee unit that keeps your normal humies from running away.

Possibly. It's weird taking a really fucking expensive unit (and one that suddenly makes your enemy go "Finally, a target that justifies the price of these plasma guns!" as opposed to "Great, MORE T 3 W 1 Sv 5+ assholes that cost a couple of points each, so glad I wasted all that money on powerful weapons") that is used to boost a bunch of really cheap units (as in, those units combined might cost less than the Custodes). But it does mean keeping them in the fight, having a mixture of weapons of your own (between the lasgun swarms and the close combat Custodes and the special weapon squads running melta guns) and of course having some layers of bubblewrap for the Custodes: if the enemy tries to charge them with either a massive cultist tarpit or something that will rip their armour up and kill them, you instead have them smack into a blob of (now fearless!) Guardsmen.

So that is a thing you could do, I guess.

If you're guard, you're fielding (lots of) tanks, so there would never be a lack of targets for plasma/melta. And something nasty will be deepstriking behind you since drop pods are all the rage, so custodes can always counter-charge that.

Also remember the time when at-initiative AP2 was supposed to be rare and special? Because nowadays they just seem to throw it out around like candy.

Maybe they realised that people still aren't taking Harlequin Jetbikes, Succubi and Incubi so it isn't the magic they thought it was. Or maybe it's just plain old codex creep. Or maybe they remembered that you can shoot someone with a Melta Gun or Lascannon or Plasma Gun for AP 1 or 2 and Initiative doesn't even come into it (indeed you shoot them before they punch you even on their turn), with only one of the above having a chance of exploding and killing the wielder. Or maybe they've just been hitting the gin extra hard and going with whatever idea hits them. That's the most cynical view so I'll go with that.

I vote for single power creep.

[Koumei]

If it's not a dedicated transport, they can't start the game already inside it, which will slow them down significantly.

Hence the comment about FAQs. The majority of people who have the option to ignore FAQs (ie "not at some official tournament") do precisely that, seeing as you don't gain anything from following that ruling, and you lose Eldar-Dark Eldar alliances (in favour of pure Craftworld Eldar tjeese), Adepta Sororitas armies (as currently the way you use them is you ally them with Space Marines and put Dominion Squads in Drop Pods), and certain Chaos-Combined armies where your Bloodletters and Plaguebearers are actually going to get anywhere on time.

But yes, if the FAQ is being followed, then you can't start them in Derp Pods (and thus can't put them in pods ever) and for any other vehicle you have to waste a turn climbing in.

The ultimate fate of the Sisters of Silence is not found in Imperial records, and no references to their continued existence in the era of the 41st Millennium exists. It is believed that they were either destroyed long ago or were ultimately folded into the organisation of the Imperial Inquisition."
...
The eventual fate of the Sisters of Silence is unknown.
only a single force of fifty Sisters on the world of Nadiries were discovered
...
mistrust following the Heresy.

Even the wikis are basically going "Look, we don't know and neither does anyone in the canon", with one group found and saying the Imperium didn't trust them. Which for the record is different from being branded heretics, that difference being roughly 300 degrees Celcius.

As for where I got my information, however, I am very quickly beginning to feel that either it's the first I read on the matter ages ago on a forum somewhere so my brain just filed it in the "facts" category, or I'm mis-remembering stuff. Though if they're not housed with the Custodes and deployed alongside them and all, it's kind of weird to just chuck both of them into the same release. I look forward to reading a scan of the book and finding out how they've justified it all.

But I'll offer an apology there. You can redeem it for any one (1) statement, valid until the end of November 2016. Terms and conditions apply.

@Stahlseelse: Bolter Bitches are the Sisters of Battle (Adepta Sororitas), which are indeed the loophole in the rules. But the Sisters of Silence are totally different (as far as organisations go. Thematically they're similar and the former could be seen as a 40k analogue of the latter). The Silentiums are indeed all pariahs, and I could see four reasons for housing them in the chambers of Big E:
1. To suppress his own power deliberately, due to his concern that his psykic presence will otherwise just erupt out and eat everyone and make him a Chaos God.
2. As above, except this was a decision made after the Heresy, on his behalf by the High Lords of Terra and so on.
3. As number 2 except the actual reason is possibly more depressing for the Imperium: by erecting a null zone, nobody can peer in and locate any psykers, so nobody will be able to see the absence of Emperor-sized beacons that you'd expect a living Emperor to produce. They're hiding the fact that he's dead.
4. To station around the edges to provide protection against psykers and daemons. What with him being a massive Warp Entity (and thus Warp Beacon), they kind of want to make their own Shadow In The Warp to stop a constant influx of Daily Bloodthirsters.

[OgreBattle]

Maybe they realised that people still aren't taking Harlequin Jetbikes, Succubi and Incubi

Those three have some combination of price/durability, delivery, or assault-into-cover issues.

Custodes seem like a magnet for heavy firepower

[Koumei]

So, GeeDub have responded to people asking how the fuck they actually field these in anything other than Unbound, and the answer is "You don't".

Basically, they released it just as a standalone game and also as a thing for Horse Heresy, but they also happened to write up 40k rules on a lark. Um, okay.

Yeah, you either have to do a houserule agreement or play Unbound, giving up your Objective Secured, Free Razorbacks/Rhinos/Drop Pods, Librarius Conclaves and so on.

Also you can't field either in Kill Teams because Custard has a 2+ save (disqualified) and SoS (there will be a prize of zero value for the first person to come up with a derpy name for them!) are in a tricky position: they max out at 180 points for the unit (and that's ignoring that you need two boxes of them and don't want to give every model a flamer) so fall short of 200 on their own. They are an Elite slot so you can't just take two units of 6 with leader upgrades or mix some flamers in or whatever (Killteams has 0-1 Elite choices). And you can't take a unit of them plus a unit of Astra Militarum Veterans or whatever because you have to draw your entire team from the same codex or supplement.

Sadface - both units would be great for iconic "small elite fancy group vs a horde" things.

And the reason for both forces being in the same box is 100% a HH thing and has nothing to do with 40k, and the Custodes aren't seen outside of Terra and the Silencia generally aren't seen at all for over nine thousand years.

[OgreBattle]

That restricted way of fielding them seems like it would hurt sales.

Going on a tangent, what would be the ideal release schedule for GW or a similar miniatures game. Tying releases to yearly campaigns? Marines every other release?

[Koumei]

I'd go with seasonal/annual campaigns, ideally moving the story forward but even if you don't do that and just tell complete individual self-contained stories that's something.

I'd also suggest sitting down and saying "Right, the following are all of the main bookdex armies we support". Then at the start of an edition, you release the bookdexes and a couple of kits (like 1 HQ, 1 Troops dual-kit, 1 Vehicle dual-kit) for everything - along with rules for small skirmishes and stuff. After that, every month you release more stuff for everyone until everyone has their full stuff - and yes, in the meantime people are playing small skirmish games, or using proxies (which the stores have been told to honour), or using stuff from previous editions - not every unit needs a new plastic box every edition. But the codex will be there, updated, and written in line with all the others as a group project. Every month can have 3-4 new boxes or clampacks, and probably divided amongst the factions.

And then you start releasing surprises like new mini-dexes and special terrain and "available for everyone" fortification items.

[Voss]

'Moving the story forward' is actually a terrible plan, because then you have to deal with that, and cope with the changes that should carry over to the game, bullshit plot armor for anyone saddled with a name and all sorts of consequences, that may causes changes in the product line (or should cause changes, but refuse to actually do so)

A better approach is to present the setting, and then do little stories that flesh out the flavor of war in that setting, but with relatively inconsequential people and narratives that might shape a battle, but not the course of the setting. Individual self contained stories are flatly better for a wargame (or RPG), because then you're not trampling all over any concept the players have that their games are relevant, and that their army isn't going to expire. GW's few attempts at far reaching campaigns results were complete disasters that had to be retconned, revised or just changed so that shit wasn't ruined, and the affairs pissed off the player base immensely. (Storm of Chaos and the Eye of Terror campaign)

Going on a tangent, what would be the ideal release schedule for GW or a similar miniatures game. Tying releases to yearly campaigns? Marines every other release?

This is actually an absurdly hard question, one that most companies fail at.
What makes the most players happy is a staggered mix release. GW used to do that long ago (and it was really random), and abandoned it, as they found that for many years most of the time a book release with a pile of miniatures is what really drove sales.

These days, they seem back to lol!random when it comes to releases, as I think they've found that supporting the wargames is actually a terrible plan, and one-off 'limited time' shenanigans bullshit is much more profitable.

Especially since they've interpreted 'last chance' as a sales gimmick, that they can reproduce infinitely and bring shit back for a limited time at ridiculous prices, as they did with some old imperial guard metals just recently.

[Koumei]

They are now asking (via a facebook page or something) what people would like to see brought back for a limited time from Space Marines or Chaos. Apparently the people of 4chon are talking about finding something that looks really fucking stupid (alternatively, daemonettes with nipples, or Doom Rider) and rigging the results to make sure their choice gets in and GW "have" to release something that looks awful (or has nipples). Or Doom Rider.