Spearhead formations are online.

[eldargal]

Spearhead formations are now downloadable from GW Astronomican.

[DrLove42]

*Cackles slightly maniacally*

Spearhead just improved a lot in my eyes, look forward to playing it

4 Wraithlords in the monstrous creature spearhead, suddenly able to fleet and still fire their weapons, as well as counterattack and furious charge? Ouch!

Fireprisms raining from the sky in deep strike, causing pinning and always hitting side armour in that turn?

3 Vypers or shining spears squads turboboosting to get the cover save and still being able to fire their weapons?

Really looking forward to playing this now :D

[MC Tic Tac]

*Cackles slightly maniacally*

Spearhead just improved a lot in my eyes, look forward to playing it

4 Wraithlords in the monstrous creature spearhead, suddenly able to fleet and still fire their weapons, as well as counterattack and furious charge? Ouch!

Fireprisms raining from the sky in deep strike, causing pinning and always hitting side armour in that turn?

3 Vypers or shining spears squads turboboosting to get the cover save and still being able to fire their weapons?

Really looking forward to playing this now :D

Or in my eyes:

Tank Hunter Leman Russes

Flanking Land Raiders filled with Terminator Goodness,

SUPER HEAVYS!!!!!!!

[eldargal]

Agreed, if this doesn't stop the whining nothing will, if I didn't already have the WD I'd be going out to get one now.

[DrLove42]

TBH do you even need WD for this? Other than the change to the FOC everything is in the pdf off GW...

Also they released the data sheets a few days earlier than the original of the 1st June. Anyone think thats them trying to calm all the people complaining.

Theres going to be some sickening combos out of these data sheets.

Feel sorry for Nids, they get done over a little bit....with the excpetion of the fact they can take 18 Carnifaxes and give them all fleet, furious charge and counter-attack.

[UltramarineFan]

Hehe, infiltrating dreadnoughts. I like the sound of this a lot.

[Kahoolin]

This is cool. I like the mass attack spearhead. Now my men can go over the top WWI style.

[DrLove42]

Mass attack in the hands of a guardsmen would be scary...considering it lets you take 6 slots for free. And each slot is a platoon command squad, regular guardsmen, heavy weapons and conscripts...each slot can be roughly 150 men. And in spearhead you can take 12 troops choices with this data sheet. Think about the sheer volume of men that is....

But using that and mech assault you can (theoretically if you had infinite money and a large enough game) field 165 wraithguard in a single game. Legally. Now that is mental

In 7500 game, field 165 wraithguard, accompanying warlocks and wave serpents are per the mech assault data sheet, and 6 wraithlords. Proper ghost army!

[MadCowCrazy]

Meh, you all fail to see the power of my Sisters of Battle fielding 9! Exorcists tanks :D Mouahahahahaaa

[whitestar333]

Where's the Tyranid Gargantuan Creature love? Sure, Imperial forces can take a titan but NoooOOOOOoooo I can't take a Heirophant. That would just be cheesy.

I hate GW.

/not really
//just a little sad

[whitestar333]

I took it upon myself to modify the Super Heavy Spearhead to come up with one for Gargantuan Creatures and I figured I'd share it with everyone in case they wanted to use it:

Type: Gargantuan Spearhead
Points Cost: Cost of the unit
Spearhead Units: One Gargantuan creature chosen from any Apocalypse datasheet
Note that you need the Apocalypse Expansion book in order to use this spearhead.
Special Rules:
Gargantuan Creature: See the rules for Gargantuan Creatures in the Apocalypse rule book.
Large Target: Unless the Gargantuan Creature is held in reserve, it will suffer D3 wounds (with armor saves allowed) before the battle starts. This represents enemy weapon strikes on the Gargantuan Creature before the main battle begins. The damage is resolved on the first game turn.

I wasn't sure about allowed armor saves or not for the Large Target rule. I was thinking of making it one automatic wound without any saves at all, or D3 without armor, but my rationale for the armor saves allowed is that one penetrating hit on a super-heavy vehicle might end up doing nothing at all. Realistically, what is one penetrating hit going to do to a Titan? What do you think?

[HsojVvad]

No Link? I don't know where to look for it.

[DrLove42]

No Link? I don't know where to look for it.

Look on the button for the Astronomicon on the site. Its in the top bar, least it is on the UK version


I wasn't sure about allowed armor saves or not for the Large Target rule. I was thinking of making it one automatic wound without any saves at all, or D3 without armor, but my rationale for the armor saves allowed is that one penetrating hit on a super-heavy vehicle might end up doing nothing at all. Realistically, what is one penetrating hit going to do to a Titan? What do you think?

No armour saves allowed. seeing as most gargantuan creatures have a 2 or 3+ save it'd be unfair. You get d3 attacks against a biotitan with its 2+/3+ with regen and thats nothing. A single penetrating hit might do nothing, but it might also take out a baneblade before it gets to fire. D3 wounds with an armour save is far more likely to do nothing.

Personally i think being able to take superheavies heavily outbalences it.

[Gotthammer]

"JUST THE START
The spearheads in this book are by no means
exhaustive, and we plan to publish more in White
Dwarf magazine and on our website."


Looks like someone didn't edit the draft expansion book properly before they made it into a WD article...

[Melissia]

Infiltrating Penitent Engines?

[whitestar333]

It's HIGHLY unlikely you'll take out a super heavy with one penetrating hit. Sure, you might cause a structure point or blow off one of the [many] weapons on it, but you're just as likely to just shake or stun it (in which case, primary weapons get a 4+ save anyway). Yes, this might do something against a baneblade, but what about a reaver titan? Similarly, there are other gargantuan creatures out there (Squiggoths, and Heirodules, to name two) besides the Heirophant where D3 wounds will proportionately cause more damage.

That said, I think D3 wounds with no save is better to balance things out. I still stand by my previous statement that a penetrating hit against a superheavy is unlikely to be terribly significant.

[Gotthammer]

I wasn't sure about allowed armor saves or not for the Large Target rule. I was thinking of making it one automatic wound without any saves at all, or D3 without armor, but my rationale for the armor saves allowed is that one penetrating hit on a super-heavy vehicle might end up doing nothing at all. Realistically, what is one penetrating hit going to do to a Titan? What do you think?

I think D3 wounds with a 5+ save against them would be pretty even - a wounded GC still fights at full strength while any damage to a SH severely hampers its performance.

And I've lost 5 structure points off my Reaver to a single pen hit so it can happen.

[DrLove42]

Yes a single is unlikely. But it does happen as mentioned above. I've seen a warlord titan (thats 9 structures points) lose 6 of those and 3 of its primary weapons to 2 penetrating hit.

I think the saying a single penetrating against a baneblade is more lenient that D3 unsaveables, as Gotthammer said a GC still fights the same on 1 wound, or 9. And most GC rely on close combat so can only kill one thing a turn, whereas a baneblade can theoretically easily kill 4 tanks a turn (Battlecannon, demolisher, 2 lascannons...i'm not even counting the heavy bolters).

Either make it D3 with a reduced armour save (5 or 6) to match the current superheavy, or make the superheavy D3 strength 10 hits...i dunno. I'm not that good at this balencing stuff!

[Brass Scorpion]

Spearhead formations sound like a lot of Apocalypse type fun to me. I've written a brief article for the main BoLS site about it, though it's up to Bigred when it gets published so not sure when you'll see it.

[Lerra]

I'm really excited about this expansion. It allows a lot of sup-optimal builds and older codices to have some new tricks. I have a kroot-heavy Tau list that I play for fun, casual games. It is terribly bad against armor (masses of S4 kroot do not kill a lot of tanks), but with the Mass Attack spearhead, all of those kroot gain grenades, and it becomes a more balanced list.

This seems like a huge boon to people with outdated codices, especially. I hope the rules prove to be balanced enough for local tournament play.

[Herald of Nurgle]

I took it upon myself to modify the Super Heavy Spearhead to come up with one for Gargantuan Creatures and I figured I'd share it with everyone in case they wanted to use it:

Type: Gargantuan Spearhead
Points Cost: Cost of the unit
Spearhead Units: One Gargantuan creature chosen from any Apocalypse datasheet
Note that you need the Apocalypse Expansion book in order to use this spearhead.
Special Rules:
Gargantuan Creature: See the rules for Gargantuan Creatures in the Apocalypse rule book.
Large Target: Unless the Gargantuan Creature is held in reserve, it will suffer D3 wounds (with armor saves allowed) before the battle starts. This represents enemy weapon strikes on the Gargantuan Creature before the main battle begins. The damage is resolved on the first game turn.

I wasn't sure about allowed armor saves or not for the Large Target rule. I was thinking of making it one automatic wound without any saves at all, or D3 without armor, but my rationale for the armor saves allowed is that one penetrating hit on a super-heavy vehicle might end up doing nothing at all. Realistically, what is one penetrating hit going to do to a Titan? What do you think?

I'd change the Large Target to...
They're Targetting Us!: An army including Gargantuan Spearhead must set them up before any other units - friend or foe - are deployed, and may not Infiltrate. If both players control Gargantuan Creatures, roll off to decide who deploys theirs first.
Crippling Fire: A Gargantuan Creature is almost always a high priority target for the opponent. Before the first turn begins, but after deployment ends, a single enemy unit may conduct a single turn of shooting at the Gargantuan Spearhead. If the Spearhead survives, then they may choose to fire back at that unit. If either shoots, then they lose the benefits of cover for the first turn and may not Go to Ground (voluntarily)

[gwensdad]

I may have noticed something nasty. If a squadron=a unit, and those spearheads are defined as being made of 3 units, then I can have 9 Leman Russ tanks in 1 spearhead? Expensive but...

[DarkLink]

I'm thinking infiltrating GK Dreads (with 3+ cover saves), tank hunting lascannon Land Raiders, and outflanking Stormtroopers and Sisters with meltaguns:D.

[Melissia]

I don't think spearhead units are squadrons. Recursive squadrons is kinda stupid.


Think about it this way-- if the Spearhead units are squadrons, I could technically heve an armored spearhead, which contains a tank hunter spearhead, an archaeotech spearhead, and some other spearhead for tanks, and EACH OF THEM HAS THREE SQUADRONS THEMSELVES.


This is... blarghl?

[Nabterayl]

I may have noticed something nasty. If a squadron=a unit, and those spearheads are defined as being made of 3 units, then I can have 9 Leman Russ tanks in 1 spearhead? Expensive but...
Yes, that is correct. The meaning of "unit" is unchanged. There is nothing at all wrong with an Armoured Spearhead that consists of three Leman Russ tank squadrons, each of which consists of three Leman Russ tanks - any more than there is anything wrong with a Mass Attack Spearhead that consists of six infantry platoons, each of which consists of one command squad, five infantry squads, five heavy weapons squads, two special weapons squads and one conscript squad.

By corollary, and as Melissia notes, spearheads are not themselves units. An Armoured Spearhead can consist of three Leman Russ tank squadrons, each of which consists of three Leman Russ tanks - but it plays as three Leman Russ tank squadrons, not as a single squadron of nine tanks.

[DarkLink]

Yeah, I just noticed that.

That pretty much completely screws daemonhunters, as there's no way you can get enough Heavy Support slots to fit more than one, maybe two spearheads in. In fact, I don't see how anyone can fit any significant number of units into any game. Transports taken as part of a spearhead suddenly count as Heavy Support, and most other units that benifit from spearhead are Heavy (other than the fast skimmer and the troop spearhead).

So unless you already have access to Heavy Support squadrons, how can you have enough slots for everything?

The online rules don't have any sort of modified force org chart to fix this. Does the WD have one?

[gwensdad]

The online rules don't have any sort of modified force org chart to fix this. Does the WD have one?

Yes, the WD has a modified chart. I'd post but I think it might be against forum policy.

[Herald of Nurgle]

Yes, the WD has a modified chart. I'd post but I think it might be against forum policy.
It isn't against forum policy - nay, the forum thrives on such releases!

[DarkLink]

Yes, the WD has a modified chart. I'd post but I think it might be against forum policy.

Actually posting it directly might be, but you can give a run-down of it.

[gwensdad]

Actually posting it directly might be, but you can give a run-down of it.

Rundown: No FOC minimums, only maximums.
Can only have 1 of each type of spearhead.

(vague enough but gives enough info?)

[Melissia]

That's the gist of it I think.

[gwensdad]

I don't think spearhead units are squadrons. Recursive squadrons is kinda stupid.


Think about it this way-- if the Spearhead units are squadrons, I could technically heve an armored spearhead, which contains a tank hunter spearhead, an archaeotech spearhead, and some other spearhead for tanks, and EACH OF THEM HAS THREE SQUADRONS THEMSELVES.


This is... blarghl?

not exactly what I was saying. I was thinking:
Armoured Spearhead
Unit 1
Leman Russ
Leman Russ
Leman Russ
Unit 2
Leman Russ
Leman Russ
Leman Russ
Unit 3
Leman Russ
Leman Russ
Leman Russ

Tank Hunter Spearhead

Unit 1
Leman Russ
Leman Russ
Leman Russ
Unit 2
Leman Russ
Leman Russ
Leman Russ
Unit 3
Leman Russ
Leman Russ
Leman Russ

Your example only made me think of this (because I was bored)
http://memegenerator.net/Yo-dawg/ImageMacro/1212017/Yo-dawg-I-put-a-spearhead-in-your-spearhead-so-you-can-spearhead-while-you-spearhead.jpg

(sorry in advance, but that's where my brain is)

[Melissia]

Ugh, please remove that crap image. It's stretching the page way too much.


Your imagination is far too limited. Try this!

Armored Spearhead
-- 3x LRBT (or variants)
-- 3x LRBT (or variants)
-- 3x LRBT (or variants)
Archaeotech Spearhead
-- 3x LRBT (or variants)
-- 3x LRBT (or variants)
-- 3x LRBT (or variants)
Tank Hunters Spearhead
-- 3x LRBT (or variants)
-- 3x LRBT (or variants)
-- 3x LRBT (or variants)

OH yeah, twenty seven leman russ tanks in a single list. And it doesn't require an HQ choice and two troops choices to be legal.

[gwensdad]

Ugh, please remove that crap image. It's stretching the page way too much.


Tried to resize. doesn't seem to be working, but the info for the image is there, for-whatever.



Your imagination is far too limited. Try this!

OH yeah, twenty seven leman russ tanks in a single list. And it doesn't require an HQ choice and two troops choices to be legal.

Well, for Leman Russ, we could take them in...
Tank Hunter Spearhead
Armoured Spearhead
Ambush Spearhead
Crusher Spearhead
Archeotech Spearhead

for 45 Leman Russ MBT (or variants)

And then for fun
Outrider Spearhead
3XLRBT
3XLRBT
3XBaslisk (leader)

to bring it to 51 Leman Russ (or variants)

(8000 pt game minimum, but what the heck)

[Melissia]

No, I think Spearhead units take up one heavy support slot each.

[the_puritan]

Hey, about the Skyfall Spearhead...
this may seem like nitpicking, but this doesn't explicity allow vehicles to shoot the turn they deepstrike.

...just sayin'.
:p

[gwensdad]

No, I think Spearhead units take up one heavy support slot each.

I didn't think spearheads took up any slots. They're kind of outside a "normal" FOC. The only exception I've seen is dedicated transports counting as heavies (from the online rules)

[warpcrafter]

Now I can finally use all six of my battlewagons, along with a battlefortress and a couple of infiltrating deff dreads. Perhaps I should get some warbikers to serve as flank-guards. That would be three squads in the FOC, and another three in the spearhead. That would be 72 Orks on bikes!!!

[Uncle Nutsy]

Let's go completely nuts with these formations, shall we? :)

skyfall spearhead:
3x ion cannon hammerheads

seek and destroy spearhead:
15 piranhas with fusion blasters

tank hunter spearhead:
3x railgun hammerheads

ambush spearhead:
3x railgun hammerheads

coupled with 3x railgun hammerheads and 15 tx42 piranhas with missilepods in the regular FOC.


I don't really know the points value of all this but i'm pretty sure the opponents' mouth would simply drop once he sees this kind of a blitzkrieg coming at him.




this may seem like nitpicking, but this doesn't explicity allow vehicles to shoot the turn they deepstrike.

P. 95 in the BRB "deepstrike": units can fire as normal.

[DarkLink]

P. 95 in the BRB "deepstrike": units can fire as normal.

Except vehicle count as moving at cruising speed, which severely limits the amount of weapons a vehicle can fire.

[Nabterayl]

No, I think Spearhead units take up one heavy support slot each.
Gwensdad is correct. Spearheads are a separate FoC slot, and there is no limitation on how many you can take other than that no player can take a spearhead twice (e.g., both players could field an Armoured Spearhead, but one player cannot field two Armoured Spearheads).

[Uncle Nutsy]

Except vehicle count as moving at cruising speed, which severely limits the amount of weapons a vehicle can fire.

That's where upgrades come in handy, such as a multitracker for a hammerhead.

[DarkLink]

That's where upgrades come in handy, such as a multitracker for a hammerhead.

That's still only one offensive weapon. Not too impressive for something like a falcon, which can potentially put out 2 Str 8 and 7 Str 6 shots when moving at combat speed, but not cruising. It makes the whole "hitting side armor" and all that much less useful.

[Grey2321]

True, but then keep in mind the Spearhead rule which gives pretty much everything in a SH Formation PotMS, so Fast Skimmers can fire 2 guns at separate things when they deep strike.

[Uncle Nutsy]

2 str 8 hits on side armor is nothing to sneeze at. even shooting at a vehicle that has AV13, you can reasonably roll a pen and then a boom.

[DarkLink]

True, but then keep in mind the Spearhead rule which gives pretty much everything in a SH Formation PotMS, so Fast Skimmers can fire 2 guns at separate things when they deep strike.

Oh, hey, that does work. I though it was only for combat speed, for some reason.

[Uncle Nutsy]

meaning stuff like a hammerhead can fire both secondary guns and primary guns. no need for target locks. :)

[Brass Scorpion]

I think Spearhead units take up one heavy support slot each.I see this comment repeatedly here and elsewhere. I have a copy of the Spearhead rules and it's not correct.

[Nabterayl]

meaning stuff like a hammerhead can fire both secondary guns and primary guns. no need for target locks. :)
Meaning it can fire secondary gun and primary gun. A Hammerhead with a railgun and twin burst cannons has three weapons, none of which are defensive, so the target lock is still necessary if you want to move and fire everything.

[Uncle Nutsy]

right, okay. I figured 'system' meant 'one'.