Welcome back to Snazzgunz! Today I’m going to tackle 3 more Universal Special Rules. Each of these rules today is well-known for their massive power to affect the game. One of these rules is a little obscure, another can be found in almost every army, and another has gained more and more popularity since its redux into the 3rd Edition rulebook, where it has gone nigh unchanged in the way that it works.
The first I’m going to tell you about is the mainstay of the Space Wolves Space Marine Chapter. This Universal Special Rule has recently been somewhat downgraded in the most recent edition of the rules, with one of its biggest strengths now being relegated to the entirety of the game – Counter-Charge.
Counter-Charge used to be everything you wanted out of the Space Wolves. The Space pups were feared and respected for it. The Space Wolves were a close combat army with no real weaknesses against other close combat armies. It didn’t matter whether you charged them, or they charged you, they always had max-attacks. In fact, if anything, it was scarier to charge them, as squad-coherency rules meant that they would almost always get everyone into combat.
Before 5th Edition, when you charged an enemy squad, they were stuck like they last moved. So if the squad was spread-out and you charged them on their side, you’d face a hugely reduced number of attacks back against you than if you charged head-on. Not so with the Space Wolves, who’d get to charge you back.
However, now that every army does this, the only benefit you get from Counter-Charge is the “mere” +1 Attacks for charging. This is still very powerful, but now is less threatening than it used to be.
Counter-Charge currently is only available to scant smattering of units in the game, most-notably Space Wolves. However, since becoming a Universal Special Rule, you’ll start noticing this ability creeping its way into other armies as well (having already gotten into the Tyranid Codex, and I believe Blood Angels codex, but I might be mistaken).
When playing with units that have Counter-Charge, carefully determine where the unit will receive maximum benefit. Remember, it’s an ability that’s dependant on your opponent charging you. The best place to be with a unit with counter-charge is in cover, as to maximize the attacks back. Set up situations where your opponent is in a bad position either way. If they go to charge you, they’re charging through cover and you get to attack first with your whole squad. If they decide not to charge you, they’ll leave themselves open to being hit where they’re weakest.
When playing against units with Counter-Charge, remember the impact that charging through cover will have. Charging a counter-charge unit with 2 units is a good way to minimize the impact of counter-charge. Counter-Charge is at its best when it gets used to maximum effect every time, so throwing in your units piece-meal means that they’ll get to maximize how much damage they do.
Also, try whittling down their squad’s numbers. The larger the squad is, the greater the bonus from the counter-charge. If you can reduce a squad by 3 models before charging, that’s at least 6 attacks you don’t have to deal with (possibly 9 attacks).
The next special rule I’ll be covering today has been gaining lots of popularity, to the point that most armies in Warhammer 40,000 now have access to at least 1 unit that grants this most powerful of special rules; Feel No Pain.
Feel No Pain grants any infantry model a half-chance to survive most attacks. Although it can’t stave off the strongest attacks like an Invulnerable save can, it works like how many people feel Invulnerable saves should work. First you get to save, then you get to Feel No Pain – in effect, giving you a second save. What’s even better is that this second save can be taken against most attacks, even ones with a High-AP value.
Effectively, Feel No Pain turns any Warhammer model into James Bond's arch-henchman, Jaws - they can ignore wounds that would often be fatal to most mortals. This means the answer to “Jimbo! You’ve just been shot three times in the heart! Are you alright?” could be “Just dandy, thank you very much!” (or, continuing with Jaws, "Urgh").
Often Feel No Pain is granted upon a unit due to the presence of a special model in the unit, like a Mad Dok or an Apothecary. However, due to the way shooting and close combat works, you will rarely be able to assign damage to those individuals.
In most cases, if you can give a unit Feel No Pain, it will be beneficial to do so. If they have this special rule, they can wade into massive firefights against basic troops and come out the other side no worse for wear. Remember, if you have Feel No Pain because of an additional model to the unit, maximize on the number of models in the squad. The more models you have, the cheaper the per-model cost of the Feel No Pain! (50 points spread amongst 5 models is 10 points per model, 50 points spread amongst 10 models is 5 points per model – a massive discount!)
Both for when using Feel No Pain or when fighting against it, you MUST remember how to get around it! Effectively, it works just like the Necron’s We’ll Be Back special rule. If you wound the model with an attack that instant-kills (strength double toughness) or that ignores armour saves (no from AP value, but from being something like a Power Weapon), then they won’t receive the bonus roll. That means if your unit has Feel No Pain, avoid opponents with power weapons, and use the squad to sweep through enemy Troops.
If, however, you’re fighting against this unit, the best weapons to use are high-powered ranged attacks. Chances are the Feel No Pain unit is a close-combat beast anyways, and you’d need your own close combat beast to fight them off. No where is this more apparent than when dealing with a squad of Nobz. Nobz, having 2 wound each, get double-duty out of Feel No Pain! Getting into close combat with them is already a bad idea. You almost must deal with Nobz by shooting them with high-powered weapons. A nice big fat piece of Ordnance is probably the best way to go, but throwing Missiles and Lascannons at them wouldn’t hurt either.
Finally, this brings us to the last Universal Special Rule I want to cover today. This one is massively popular with Games Workshop right now – and for good reason! It’s something that’s very flavourful that really fits the logic of the game – Run’s older brother, Fleet.
Run is a great type of special movement, and is wholly based off of Fleet. Instead of shooting, an infantry unit (including
I have a theory as to how Run was created, and it goes like this:
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Andy Chambers writes to Gav Thorpe:
“Hey Gavy,
I was just winging my way along piloting the creative for Starcraft 2, when I felt I should take pity on you and throw you a bone. Remember that whole “Fleet” rule we started to give to everything back in 3rd and 4th edition? Well, next time you make a new edition, why not give Fleet to every unit?
Wishing you well,
- Andy “Coolio” Chambers”
Gav, his face painted red from being upset (and envious) at Andy, couldn’t help but feel that Andy was right. Fleet was a great special rule that allowed close combat units to get in faster with the enemy, and didn’t break the game. It also allowed shooters to move quickly to better set up. Giving every unit Fleet started to seem like a natural thing to do.
Gav walked in to Games Workshop Head Office in
5th Edition had its start, and that was Fleet. But a problem was starting to show up.
Fickle as he is, Andy Chambers had laced the amazing suggestion with a double-edged poisoned sword. If Fleet were to be given to every unit, it would destroy two things that players held dear.
First, it would allow every close combat army to get into close combat way too fast. It was okay for some units to get in that fast, but not all of them. But if they didn’t allow for such an all-encompassing rule, a massive overhauling and editing of unit-entries would have to occur to either give every sane unit Fleet, or give every insane unit something that prevented Fleet. Neither seemed the best option.
Secondly, giving almost every unit Fleet would take away the specialness of every unit that already had Fleet. The flavour of Fleet was something that was entrenched in the Eldar, and had also starting making some deep roots in the Tyranids as well. Giving everything Fleet meant that Eldar and Tyranids would need something that made them even faster than other armies – and that kind of speed would be too difficult to balance.
Gav was about ready to throw the whole thing out the door. Dark Eldar would get their new codex, and the Inquisitional forces would again get an overhaul. So many armies could get updated again that they could stretch out 4th edition like they did 3rd, and any new bright ideas could again be implemented with a “4.5 edition” article in White Dwarf, despite the confusion that brought upon those without a subscription.
Just then, Jervis Johnson broke through the door like a mighty Dwarf swinging a battle axe. He cried from the top of his lungs, “AND SO IT WAS SAID – MOST CAN RUN, BUT ONLY FEW CAN FLEET!”
This great announcement nearly broke the building in two, and seismologists halfway around the world in
Now it was clear. Every infantry model could Run, but units that had Fleet would still have something over the models with run. It was instantly apparent what it had to be. Gav said allowed, “Units that Run can’t assault, unless they’re Fleet”. In this way, units with Fleet stayed exactly as they were. Other benefits could be given later if it was deemed necessary, but the core was there. If a unit were to Run, then that would be all it did. They wouldn’t be fast enough to still charge afterwards, but they didn’t just stand around doing nothing either. A unit with Fleet though, just like before, was faster. They could Run, but they could still charge after that run!
And so 5th edition was back on track! Gav Thorpe had shown up Andy Chambers by taking his poisoned suggestion, and then turning it into aqua vitae!
The end.
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Fleet is a great rule to have, and when you can reach an opponent 18” away from you in 1 turn, it can have a huge impact on the game. When using it, just remember to not rely on it. Fleet is a random roll, so you could move 6” or you could move 1”. Just remember not to use it in a way that leaves you out in the open. On average you’ll make it 3.5”, so only assume it will work if all you need is an extra 3 inches out of it.
When working against Fleet, just remember how it modifies the way movement works. Your opponents may look far away now, but that distance can be closed extremely quickly. Keep the distance in mind. If they would need 6” to get to you, then you’re likely safe, but still probably too close. Let you opponent forget how far away their fleeted units are from the rest of their army, and let them chase you a bit, stretching themselves out. It’s far easier to deal with units piece-meal than it is to deal with them all at once.
That’s it for today! Next week I’ll FINALLY cover some of those Dirty Tactics you’ve been waiting for!
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