Grand Cathay just got a quick little Warhammer: The Old World FAQ and it’s brought another nerf with it.
Hot the heels of the release of The Breaching of the Great Bastion and the January FAQ, we’ve got yet another FAQ out. This was a quick and dirty FAQ just for Cathay and fixes a couple of things. I’m not sure why they couldn’t have timed this drop for the 14th when the book came out. Dropping it on random day feels strange. Not to mention it came out in some of the non-English versions a couple of days ago. But anyway here we are, so lets take a quick look at what changed.
Celestial Dragon Guard Changes
The first change is to the Supreme Matriarch of Nan-Gau rule. This is the rule that lets you upgrade units to Celestial Dragon Guard and the only change here is to up the points cost from 1 pt per model to 2 pts per model. It’s not a huge change and I don’t think it will effect the top of the meta all that much, since Miao Ying isn’t played a ton at top level. Even with big units its really only going to cost you around 20-50 pts in an army anyway.
However given that the upgrade does give you +1 WS, +1 LD and a 6+ Ward Save, +1 pt per model was very very cheap. I think going up to +2 pts a model is more fair for what you get, and this brings it more inline with other upgrades. So while I don’t think its going to have a huge impact, I think this is a pretty fair change.
Sky Lantern Nerf
This is likely the biggest change in the FAQ. Effectively this removes the option for the Strategist to take the Sky Lantern as a mount. The effect of this is to remove the cheaper character option for taking a Sky Lantern. In addition since Magistrates are 0-1 per 1000 pts and share that slot with Shugengan Lords, Gate Masters and Supreme Astromancers its now a real choice to take a Lantern in Characters. It also means that even if you aren’t playing with any special comp outside of the Match Play Guide, you can’t take more than 5 Lanterns, where before 7-8 was technically possible.
And look, I’m not really that sad about more Lantern nerfs. Some people might say its overkill, and it could be right, but I don’t think anyone is going to shed tears for Lanterns. On the other hand I think it does leave Strategists without any real place in the army. They already didn’t really do all that much and don’t have amazing rules. They can just kind of act as some item caddies, but I just don’t think they are super great or that most armies have a reason to take them.
Alignment
The last change (or two) aren’t really changes. They are just confirming that the changes to the Elemental Winds and the Grand Army composition in Breaching of the Great Bastion do in fact completely replace the versions in the original Grand Cathay Arcane Journal. There were some people claiming that technically the Elemental Winds change wouldn’t apply to Jade Fleet since it didn’t reference the new book. Quite obviously this wasn’t the case, and this just confirms that it does replace it. It also does provide the updated rules/lists for those who don’t want to buy the new book. All in all not really a chance but nice to have available.
Let us know what you think of the new FAQ, down in the comments!
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Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers Warhammer: The Old World, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe mourned over loss of WFB for its entire hiatus, but has been reborn like a gaming phoenix with Warhammer: The Old World.
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