Ive talked about a few of my favorite and least favorite sections of the 7th edition 40k. I thought I would get down to Vehicles, which ranks pretty high on the list of new 40k rules.
Ive always been a fan of vehicles in games. I think its fair to say, that its vehicles and tanks to why I like the game over any fantasy style games. The idea of blowing up a vehicle, exploding it on the tabletop, or mowing down infantry with them is just awesome.
Its because of that, that I own a very large Dark Eldar Raider force, Far too many Imperial Guard vehicles, and a large number of razorback and dreadnoughts for 40k. Yea, its something like this..... 10 razorbacks, 10 chimeras, 9 artillery tanks, 6 dreadnoughts, 10 eldar tanks, 8 Raiders two venoms another dozen or two other miscellaneous tanks. So you can see that I have some investment into vehicles and rather enjoy fielding them, even through the wasteland of 6th edition tanks.
I feel that the 7th edition rules have really brought tanks and vehicles back into the game, and on par with the huge surge of monstrous creatures that we saw in 6th.
Vehicle Damage Charts
The vehicle damage charts are just awesome now, and unless you are taking dedicated anti-tank weapons, your not going to single shot kill one anymore. In that line of thinking, I think that a krak missile needs to be re-looked at, and perhaps reduced in AP value to 2. Its meant to be anti-tank, and it no longer really fills that role well anymore.
Another cool thing to look at is the venerable dreadnought. Now a beast of you can't kill me in cover anymore. Make that a Grey Knight Dread, and suddenly you have dreads that are extremely powerful on the tabletop. Definitely a favorite.
Hull points.
Yes they are still there, but 7th edition has opened up a little to who can repair your vehicles. It worth while to note that its not too difficult to repair hull points of valuable tanks anymore. So your Land Raiders now become something valuable, and perhaps since many editions worth their points. There are a few tricks to repairing lots multiple hull points efficiently, but thats not what we are discussing today.
Objectives
Another huge advantage of vehicles now, is that we are now scoring with them. A troop dedicated transport, which could again be a land raider in some armies, becomes extremely valuable, and dangerous on the tabletop. Scoring breathes new life into them, as vehicles like eldar tanks, can swoop in from far distant corners to hold objectives.
Jink
I have already talked about the jink rules fixing a long needed gap in 40k gameplay when not going first. This ruling is something I have wanted to see since way back in 3rd edition.
Power Field Generators
The new FAQ's recently got rid of the must be outside a vehicles to project the Dark Angel Power Field Generators 4+ invul. While this may not hold as the FAQ's continue to get updated, its a huge advantage and reason to take Dark Angels into your lists, and spread the 4+ invuls to your other tanks nearby. In fact they become a ton of fun with techmarines also able to repair the vehicles as well.
New Trends
While we have not yet had a 7th edition codex release yet, the Astra Militarum codex release increased the point cost of chimeras. This bucked the trend of point costs being reduced on vehicles that we have seen over the last few editions. While this may not end up being a trend, with all the new benefits of vehicles, it would not be surprising to see this happening.
Once again Treadheads everywhere will be bringing mechanized forces to the tabletop again, as they now have become a fast and efficient way to move around to the board to quickly grab and hold objectives on the field.
