Escalation and Stronghold Assault are coming out for pre-orders on Nov 30th and being released on December 7th. Since its been three weeks here on this site since we were first discussing it, I figured we would take a look at what we know.
So what does this mean for our game? It means War in the 41st century is about to feel and look much like what we read about in the books, and in our imaginations. Machines of Destruction marching forward to collide with impenetrable fortifications is about to become part of our game.
These releases were first reported on here on Faeit 212 and then a day or so later confirmed by Best_Pone on Warseer.
October 31st
via an anonymous source on Faeit 212
New Surprise Releases for December: Game Expansions for 40k
There are going to be two new expansions for Warhammer 40k in December, both pointed directly at getting new options into your standard 40k games. New Fortifications and Super-Heavy options will become available to play without playing Apocalypse, focusing instead on regular games of 40k.
Stronghold Assault
*40k expansion for regular games of 40k
*Rules for 17 Fortifications like the Wall of Martyrs Imperial Defense Line and the Macro-Cannon Aquila Strongpoint
*Some Contain Several Fortifications that can be Taken as a Group that take up one Fortification Slot
*Upgrades for Fortifications and New Rules for Buildings
Escalation
*40k expansion for regular games of 40k
*Full Rules for 16 Lords of War in a 96page Hardback Release
*Adds a new "Lord's of War" slot to every armies Foc
*Allows certain Super-Heavy units to be fielded in standard 40k games
*Destroyer Weapons
*Some of the New Lords of War
Tyranid Harridan
Eldar Revenant Titan for Eldar and Dark Eldar
Super Heavy Tanks for the Imperial Guard (several)
Khorne Lord of Skulls
Thunderhawk Gunship
November 6th
via an anonymous source on Faeit 212
Escalation and the Lords of War
Escalation gives each army access to at least one Lord of War that are for 'regular' 40k games. There appears to be a difference from Apocalypse and regular 40k games, but the exact rules for them I do not know. Any Lords of War though are expensive in points, and I have been told that the Khorne Lord of Skulls matches the point value found in apocalypse, sitting at 888pts.
There are only certain units that are in escalation, so no others are allowed for regular 40k games. There are only 16 listed in the new book. As to the point level of the games, there is mention of 1500 or 2000pt games. Here are the known models that can be used for regular games in Escalation.
Imperial Guard-Baneblade or Shadowsword
Chaos Space Marines-Khorne Lord of Skulls
Space Marines: Thunderhawk
Tyranids: Harridan
Eldar and Dark Eldar: Revenant Titan
Necrons: Necron Obelisk
Ork: Stompa
November 6th
via an anonymous source on Faeit 212
Stronghold Assault and Its Fortifications
Stronghold Assault adds a lot of Fortifications into regular games of 40k, and it appears most of the new ones are from the Wall of Martyrs sets. There are 17 new datasheets for fortifications.
Wall of Martyrs Imperial Defense Line is two sets of trenches for 80pts that only take up one fortifications slot, while a Wall of Martyrs Imperial Defense Emplacement is a single trench for 40pts. So there are lots of new options, that include multiple fortifications and brings them into a single foc slot.
Here are some of the new fortifications options
Wall of Martyrs Imperial Defense Emplacement
Wall of Martyrs Imperial Defense Line
Macro Cannon Aquila Strongpoint
Skyshield Landing Pad (can be upgraded to start a flyer on it)
Imperial Strongpoint (two bastions and an aegis defense line)
Imperial Defense Network (defense line, defense emplacement, imperial bunker, and a pair of vengeance weapon batteries) Can add quad-autocannons to the bunker
There are three new Seige War missions also included in the release