new units, rules, in apoc 2nd edition

so i just got my new 2nd Edition apocalypse book today, and noticed some new goodies for the space marines:
4 types of the new contemptor dreadnought;

Standard elite choice model, 175pts, can take all the normal dread weapons, or be 2 fists, plus a few extra weapons such as a 6-shot assault cannon, and a heavy 5" blast conversion beamer, and can swap the inbuilt stormbolters on the fists for a graviton gun, or an 18" assault 2 plasma blaster.

Blood angels elite choice contemptor, 175pts, gets blood talon option, frag cannon, the 6-shot assault cannon, and their magna-grapple. this guy also has the red thirst rule as well.

space wolves elite dread, 185pts, gets 3 unique dark sagas, must choose 1, each comes with a perk and drawback.

the Mortis-pattern, HEAVY CHOICE dread, 155pts, this guy's for vanilla, dark angels, and black templars. he's the only one that doesnt get Fleet, but if he didnt move that turn, his guns count as AA Mount for shooting at flyers. he can take heavy bolters, multimeltas, autocannons, plasmacannons, lascannons, AND wear a cyclone missile launcher on top of his 2 gun-arms. given the stats and cost, i expect this guy will be the popular variant to run.

all of these are FA13 SA 12 RA 11, STR 7, they all have an invul save of 5+ to shooting attacks and explosions, and a 6+ invul in melee, and when they explode on the damage chart, you have to add +1" to the blast radius.

siege dreadnoughts are now a little better, being able to replace their flamestorm cannon into a multi-melta for free. yep, its a flamestorm cannon to start with; that same cannon on the side of a land raider redeemer. this guy's 120pts.

and the dreadnought drop pods you all fear and wet yourselves over have gone up from 50 to 65pts, is only a dedicated transport for dreads in APOC games, otherwise you buy it as a fast attack slot and it has to have a dread of any type, including contemptors, inside it before the game begins. it still is an assault vehicle, allowing dreads to assault the turn they come in, but now they have to pass a dangerous terrain test first before they can assault. i'd say that's a pretty good nerf to the design that it should stop any and all complaints of these things being used in normal games and tournies.

I managed to acquire a contemptor real cheap off ebay the other day to join my Deathwing!

Super assault cannon, fist w/plasmablaster, and cyclone launcher to make a giant super-terminator model! Let's ignore the fact he will cost almost as much as a raider.

I was looking at the mortis variant as well, and considering dual ACs and cyclone. Note the mortis ones are BS 5. That's just mean.

Yes....I want one.

I do not care if the cost is greater, I only have two dreads to play with ATM. I like the new variants. I am hoping that 6th ed will bring more forge world stuff into play.

well, if you read the entire introduction pages in the IA books, the last couple all state that from now on, you're supposed to treat all IA units that have the warhammer 40'000 stamp on their page as normal codex units.

for those not aware, FW is now using a legend system using 3 stamps on all the unit pages. the three are:
Apocalypse; this will have the adeptus mechanicus symbol with "apocalypse" written across it.
Apocalypse Formation; this will have a cog with 3 dark angel's devastator symbols arranged in a triangle inside the cog, and say "apocalypse formation" on it.
40k unit; this will have the Aquila with "warhammer 40,000" written across it.

you'll find one of those three stamps on every page now to tell you instantly what kind of game that model's used for. their official ruling on the 40k units they make is you consider them 'official', but that your opponent may not be familiar with them as theyre not in the standard codex. (probably assuming all players know all the default codexs, but most here seem to just say "what's that, whats its stats" and are fine with that; who bothers memorizing all enemy models in all codexs. apart from beau. crazy texan. )

but on the topic of new marine stuff, yea, i would love to buy a couple of the relic contemptor bodies and make one for melee, and the other a mortis pattern. or probably mag both so i can hot-swap weapons for either a pair with arms, or pair of mortis.

Like the new 3 part icon system....

Wasn't aware I memorized all the codexes... in fact several I haven't played against yet and probably couldn't tell you a single unit. (Tau, pretty unfamiliar w/ Crons. but the base statline is pretty consistant.) I just get all the codexes for reference.

giant thread about this over at linky

I approve of this! In fact I hope FW gives us some kind of PDF info thingie letting us know what other units in their other books are valid for 40k play. Anything that lets players field more awesome models is a good thing in my mind.

I WANT a tomb-stalker in my Necron list. It fits in perfectly with the playstyle I think I'm going with.

"it is best to make sure they are happy..."

WTF is that? Can you use them all the time or not? Games Workshop pisses me off so much with this wishy-washy BS. If they would just say, "these are all allowed, no matter what" then there would be no question. But now people (say people running leagues or tournaments, or interested players) who don't have this book will have to get a copy and read all of the relevant entries to make sure they are "happy". As per any other forgeworld model they're great in fun games and I would have no problem fighting them in league games, but there's no way I would allow them in tournaments or even playoff games.