Having looked extensively into the rumours concerning the immenent release of 40k 6th edition I have many concerns.
If it is going to be like fantasy 8th edition, and a lot of what is coming out suggests it is, then I think I will be less than enthusiastic about getting into it.
With this in mind, I have been looking into Infinity the game. For those who are not aware of this game, it is a sci fi game, using small amounts of models [usually tops out at 10 per side] which is quite similar to Necromunda in appearance, although the rules system is completely different.
For a considerably lower entrance cost, given all the rules and units rules are completely free to download and small numbers of models it looks to be an interesting game. I have already ordered a full and large selection of the Nomad faction which I hope to be putting photos up of at some stage.
If anyone is interested, information can be found http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/
Friday 18 May 2012
Friday 4 May 2012
Thoughts on Warhammer 40000 6th edition
I know 6th edition isn't out yet, but it is a virtual certainty that it will be coming out in the near future. All of the clues point towards a Summer release, with the Autumn of Fliers due after it, which gives a good clue that fliers may be due after it.
Interestingly, it seems that other far more popular blog websites than mine are collecting rumours. It seems the fake 6th ed rules that were found a few months ago may have been a working document. That means it is probable that the new book has at least some of the rules mentioned in it.
What seems to be a certainty is that the psychic phase is to be altered. The reason I say this is because of the change of wording in the Grey Knights book, to having Psychic (1) or (2) which wouldn't be needed if it wasn't changing. Necrons not having psykers being released also makes sense, as they will be easier to write with 6th in mind without having these rules to take into account. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Tau being released before or around the same time as 6th hits, because they too don't have psykers.
There are also rumblings that vehicles will get a kind of wounds system. This could be interesting, as vehicle balance is not great at the moment, hence the huge amounts of mech armies around. It would probably be simpler for everyone if all vehicles were just monstrous creatures but I can't see that happening.
Interestingly, it seems that other far more popular blog websites than mine are collecting rumours. It seems the fake 6th ed rules that were found a few months ago may have been a working document. That means it is probable that the new book has at least some of the rules mentioned in it.
What seems to be a certainty is that the psychic phase is to be altered. The reason I say this is because of the change of wording in the Grey Knights book, to having Psychic (1) or (2) which wouldn't be needed if it wasn't changing. Necrons not having psykers being released also makes sense, as they will be easier to write with 6th in mind without having these rules to take into account. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Tau being released before or around the same time as 6th hits, because they too don't have psykers.
There are also rumblings that vehicles will get a kind of wounds system. This could be interesting, as vehicle balance is not great at the moment, hence the huge amounts of mech armies around. It would probably be simpler for everyone if all vehicles were just monstrous creatures but I can't see that happening.
Thursday 3 May 2012
Assaulting 101
Taking a break from all the Tyranid Codex review pages I have written recently to look at a key area of the game; Assaulting.
I think there is a common misconception as to what a good assault unit does. A good unit DOES NOT win in the turn it charges into combat. This is very bad.
Now you may be thinking why am I saying this. Surely a unit which can kill pretty much anything on the charge, such as a full squad of Paladins with master crafted weapons, is a great unit. In a lot of ways you would be correct. But not all.
In an ideal world you want to leave a couple of enemies left. This is to stop the enemy offloading a bunch of high powered anti infantry weapons into you. Melta and plasma weapons enmass will cut through your super expensive Paladin unit before you can say help. By staying in combat, you force them to come into hand to hand to fight you. This is where you are strongest, so it is a win win situation.
Once you kill the enemy in their turn, feel free to consolidate then charge into something else in your turn.
The only real problem with this is that you need to be able to kill the enemy in their turn even if they charge you, so it is a fine balance between the two.
I think there is a common misconception as to what a good assault unit does. A good unit DOES NOT win in the turn it charges into combat. This is very bad.
Now you may be thinking why am I saying this. Surely a unit which can kill pretty much anything on the charge, such as a full squad of Paladins with master crafted weapons, is a great unit. In a lot of ways you would be correct. But not all.
In an ideal world you want to leave a couple of enemies left. This is to stop the enemy offloading a bunch of high powered anti infantry weapons into you. Melta and plasma weapons enmass will cut through your super expensive Paladin unit before you can say help. By staying in combat, you force them to come into hand to hand to fight you. This is where you are strongest, so it is a win win situation.
Once you kill the enemy in their turn, feel free to consolidate then charge into something else in your turn.
The only real problem with this is that you need to be able to kill the enemy in their turn even if they charge you, so it is a fine balance between the two.
Tuesday 1 May 2012
Tyranid Codex review Part 4
Tyranid Codex review Part 4: Elites Part 2
Part 4 is the conclusion of the elite choices.
Zoanthrope
This is a synapse creature, with psychic powers designed to hunt marines and tanks. So far, so good. It has a marine like stat line, but with lower ballistic skill and initative and maximum leadership. In terms of equipment it comes with a 5+ save and claws, so nothing especially useful here. However much like other psykers its true value comes from its powers.
In terms of biomorphs, it comes with Psyker, Synapse, Shadow in the Warp and Warp Field. As Warp Field is the only one not covered earlier, it is the only one I will go into any detail on now. Essentially this gives the Zoanthrope a 3++ save, which is as good as a Storm shield. Nothing to complain about here, although volume of small arms fire is still a worry due to the lowish toughness.
It has two psychic powers built in for free. The first is Warp Blast, a marine killing gun with the same strength and AP as a Eldar Reaper Launcher and a small blast. Has the same range as a bolter too. Being move and fire like everything else in the book, its pretty decent. The second power is Warp Lance, a maximum strength single shot AP 1 Lance shot. Quite probably the most lethal lance in the game, and comparable in terms of penetration as a melta weapon. Shorter range than the Blast, this is the primary reason for including Zoanthropes
This also has access to a Mycetic Spore for deep striking. This could come in handy due to the relative short range of the powers on the Zoanthrope, and you can take 1 to 3 in a brood.
Conclusion:
This is a serious competitor for the Elite slot anti tank, along side the Hive Guard. Unlike the Hive Guard, the Zoanthrope can cause serious damage to marines and heavier tanks, but at the expense of volume of fire, toughness and indirect fire abilities. It also has to pass a psychic test, which can be an issue against some defences which can cancel powers out.
The Doom of Malan'tai
Doom is an unusual creature, unlike pretty much everything else in the game. Its stats are not all that impressive, with it resembling a marine in most ways, except better wounds, attacks and leadership. This is not good for a model that costs more than 5 marines.
I think it is a special character Zoanthrope though this isn't made explicit in the rules. It has the same claws, 5+ save and 3++ Warpfield, along with Psyker, Shadow in the Warp but oddly isn't Synapse. It also gets the Cataclysm psychic power, which is a bolter ranged shooting attack, which hits at the strength of the number of wounds it has left, which could be a lot depending on events in the game (see below) This is a large blast and AP1, so quite probably very fatal for most things stood underneath, even at its basic strength. The downside is you take d3 wounds, with no saves of any kind, before gaining wounds back when this power is cast, so try not to use it when you have less than 3 wounds left, or you could see it killing itself.
Spirit Leech makes every non vehicle unit in 6 inches take leadership tests on 3d6. For every point they fail by they suffer a wound with no save allowed. This is pretty decent, and against lone characters could be fatal. Obviously most expensive things have good leadership, but 10 is the highest you can have, and 10.5 is the average on 3d6 so this should kill a couple of models per turn.
In combination with Spirit Leech is Absorb life. For every wound Doom inflicts, it adds one to the creatures total wounds. This works in tandem with Psychic Strength which matches the strength to the total wounds. I have to wonder why these two rules are separate, they could easily be covered by the one single rule, but its hardly the end of the world that they dont.
This also has access to a Mycetic spore, it could help get into range to use its power, but there are better units to use the spore on
Conclusion:
A relatively random, possibly completely lethal, special character. You need to be careful early on to ensure it doesn't die, picking on units clumped together. With the very good AP of the power, it can demolish units of pretty much anything. Just be wary about spending wounds if there isn't at least four wounds left on the model, or it could die. Avoid close combat like the plague, just use its power to shoot at the enemy units from range.
Pyrovore
This should be a short entry. This unit is terrible. Really, really terrible. Getting that out of the way, in the interest of objectivity I will look at why I think this is the case. You pay nearly as many points as for a hive guard, but you have below average weapon skill and ballistic skill, terrible initative followed by only two wounds, a 4+ save and marine strength and toughness. This is incredibly easy to kill.
Its special rules are as follows. Flamespurt is a heavy flamer, not even a good one like a hellhound, just a regular heavy flamer. So you need to be on top of enemy units with a unit which is utterly terrible in close combat. Acid Maw gives it ignoring armour save abilities in close combat, but as mentioned, it has one attack, terrible initiative and low weaponskill, it is highly unlikely to ever get to use this. Volatile means it explodes 50% of the time should it die. This is fairly likely to happen but unfortunatly more likely to happen when near your own troops than in combat with the enemy. Acid blood means if it is wounded in combat the enemy might take wounds, but it only has two, its not realistically going to win you the combat, you are still going to be dead. You can if you should desire buy 1 to 3 of these and put them in a spore.
Conclusion:
Don't use this please. It really is bad. Its only use is an expensive suicide unit, which is likely to go off amongst your own troops.
Ymgarl Genestealers
These are a special unit of elite Genestealers. Less of an assault force than their more common cousins, these are a specialist unit designed to wipe out small support units and characters hanging around at the back.
So the main question is what do you get over regular Genestealers, which are troops and not in the ultra competitive elite slot. You are paying nearly 50% more points per model for these and on stats only get +1 armour save, taking them to 4+. So you best get some value from the equipment and special rules, or these are a no starter.
They come with rending claws as weapons, with no options for Scything Talons, Adrenal Glands or Toxin Sacks. So far, so bad. No option to take a Broodlord either.
They have Fleet, Move through Cover and Brood Telepathy as the regular Genestealers do. Brood Telepathy is pretty good as it means the unit doesn't need to take any tests for Instinctive behaviour if out of synapse range.
So what you are paying for must be covered in the two special rules they have, which normal Genestealers don't. Lets look at them. First up Dormant. This ability means you nominate a piece of terrain and then write it down after both sides have deployed. The unit are in reserve, but when they arrive they are placed in it, don't scatter and can move and assault normally. This is a massive ability as you can put them in a building with enemy heavy weapons etc and they won't have a chance to defend themselves from your charge. Being Genestealers they are more than capable of wiping out most units they charge. Unit size is 5 to 10, which is fine, you probably only want a small unit as you have to deploy within the boundaries of the terrain you have chosen.
Dormant works nicely along side their second ability, Alter Form. In every assault phase they can pick either +1 Strength, +1 Attacks or +1 Toughness. There is a trick to this that any long time Wood Elf player will be familiar with. What you need to do is choose the ability which will most likely result in you winning in your opponents turn, allowing you to move and assault again in your next turn with no danger of being shot. If the enemy only have a handful of devastators, you should choose +1 toughness to limit how many kills you inflict. If however you are charged, and you need to win, you should choose +1 attack. Strictly speaking +1 strength is worse than the other two as you are relying on rending to kill power armour rather than slightly easier to wound rolls.
Conclusion:
This is a unit which competes with the Lictor, more than Genestealers. Its abilities are very similar to the Lictor, being about to appear and cause havoc. The difference being that Genestealers have far more offensive output and can charge on the turn they appear. Of the two, I would be more tempted to field these Ymgarl Genestealers simply because they don't rely on surviving a whole turn of firepower before being able to charge.
Overall Elites Choice Conclusion:
The elites choices are basically split into two camps. There are the anti tank Zoanthropes and Hive Guard, and the utility units which covers everything else. To make a competitive army, you will want at least two slots with the anti tank options. It doesn't matter which you pick really. You can then take one of the other units in your third slot, or indeed another of the anti tank ones if you should wish. You can probably drop one anti tank if you have a Tyrannofex with a Rupture cannon, but I would never drop both. As long as you avoid taking the Pyrovore, the other choices are okay support elements, it really depends on what style of play you want to do. A large gaunt horde charging across the table might want Venomthropes, but a more specialised army could get more out of a Lictor style disruption unit.
Zoanthrope
This is a synapse creature, with psychic powers designed to hunt marines and tanks. So far, so good. It has a marine like stat line, but with lower ballistic skill and initative and maximum leadership. In terms of equipment it comes with a 5+ save and claws, so nothing especially useful here. However much like other psykers its true value comes from its powers.
In terms of biomorphs, it comes with Psyker, Synapse, Shadow in the Warp and Warp Field. As Warp Field is the only one not covered earlier, it is the only one I will go into any detail on now. Essentially this gives the Zoanthrope a 3++ save, which is as good as a Storm shield. Nothing to complain about here, although volume of small arms fire is still a worry due to the lowish toughness.
It has two psychic powers built in for free. The first is Warp Blast, a marine killing gun with the same strength and AP as a Eldar Reaper Launcher and a small blast. Has the same range as a bolter too. Being move and fire like everything else in the book, its pretty decent. The second power is Warp Lance, a maximum strength single shot AP 1 Lance shot. Quite probably the most lethal lance in the game, and comparable in terms of penetration as a melta weapon. Shorter range than the Blast, this is the primary reason for including Zoanthropes
This also has access to a Mycetic Spore for deep striking. This could come in handy due to the relative short range of the powers on the Zoanthrope, and you can take 1 to 3 in a brood.
Conclusion:
This is a serious competitor for the Elite slot anti tank, along side the Hive Guard. Unlike the Hive Guard, the Zoanthrope can cause serious damage to marines and heavier tanks, but at the expense of volume of fire, toughness and indirect fire abilities. It also has to pass a psychic test, which can be an issue against some defences which can cancel powers out.
The Doom of Malan'tai
Doom is an unusual creature, unlike pretty much everything else in the game. Its stats are not all that impressive, with it resembling a marine in most ways, except better wounds, attacks and leadership. This is not good for a model that costs more than 5 marines.
I think it is a special character Zoanthrope though this isn't made explicit in the rules. It has the same claws, 5+ save and 3++ Warpfield, along with Psyker, Shadow in the Warp but oddly isn't Synapse. It also gets the Cataclysm psychic power, which is a bolter ranged shooting attack, which hits at the strength of the number of wounds it has left, which could be a lot depending on events in the game (see below) This is a large blast and AP1, so quite probably very fatal for most things stood underneath, even at its basic strength. The downside is you take d3 wounds, with no saves of any kind, before gaining wounds back when this power is cast, so try not to use it when you have less than 3 wounds left, or you could see it killing itself.
Spirit Leech makes every non vehicle unit in 6 inches take leadership tests on 3d6. For every point they fail by they suffer a wound with no save allowed. This is pretty decent, and against lone characters could be fatal. Obviously most expensive things have good leadership, but 10 is the highest you can have, and 10.5 is the average on 3d6 so this should kill a couple of models per turn.
In combination with Spirit Leech is Absorb life. For every wound Doom inflicts, it adds one to the creatures total wounds. This works in tandem with Psychic Strength which matches the strength to the total wounds. I have to wonder why these two rules are separate, they could easily be covered by the one single rule, but its hardly the end of the world that they dont.
This also has access to a Mycetic spore, it could help get into range to use its power, but there are better units to use the spore on
Conclusion:
A relatively random, possibly completely lethal, special character. You need to be careful early on to ensure it doesn't die, picking on units clumped together. With the very good AP of the power, it can demolish units of pretty much anything. Just be wary about spending wounds if there isn't at least four wounds left on the model, or it could die. Avoid close combat like the plague, just use its power to shoot at the enemy units from range.
Pyrovore
This should be a short entry. This unit is terrible. Really, really terrible. Getting that out of the way, in the interest of objectivity I will look at why I think this is the case. You pay nearly as many points as for a hive guard, but you have below average weapon skill and ballistic skill, terrible initative followed by only two wounds, a 4+ save and marine strength and toughness. This is incredibly easy to kill.
Its special rules are as follows. Flamespurt is a heavy flamer, not even a good one like a hellhound, just a regular heavy flamer. So you need to be on top of enemy units with a unit which is utterly terrible in close combat. Acid Maw gives it ignoring armour save abilities in close combat, but as mentioned, it has one attack, terrible initiative and low weaponskill, it is highly unlikely to ever get to use this. Volatile means it explodes 50% of the time should it die. This is fairly likely to happen but unfortunatly more likely to happen when near your own troops than in combat with the enemy. Acid blood means if it is wounded in combat the enemy might take wounds, but it only has two, its not realistically going to win you the combat, you are still going to be dead. You can if you should desire buy 1 to 3 of these and put them in a spore.
Conclusion:
Don't use this please. It really is bad. Its only use is an expensive suicide unit, which is likely to go off amongst your own troops.
Ymgarl Genestealers
These are a special unit of elite Genestealers. Less of an assault force than their more common cousins, these are a specialist unit designed to wipe out small support units and characters hanging around at the back.
So the main question is what do you get over regular Genestealers, which are troops and not in the ultra competitive elite slot. You are paying nearly 50% more points per model for these and on stats only get +1 armour save, taking them to 4+. So you best get some value from the equipment and special rules, or these are a no starter.
They come with rending claws as weapons, with no options for Scything Talons, Adrenal Glands or Toxin Sacks. So far, so bad. No option to take a Broodlord either.
They have Fleet, Move through Cover and Brood Telepathy as the regular Genestealers do. Brood Telepathy is pretty good as it means the unit doesn't need to take any tests for Instinctive behaviour if out of synapse range.
So what you are paying for must be covered in the two special rules they have, which normal Genestealers don't. Lets look at them. First up Dormant. This ability means you nominate a piece of terrain and then write it down after both sides have deployed. The unit are in reserve, but when they arrive they are placed in it, don't scatter and can move and assault normally. This is a massive ability as you can put them in a building with enemy heavy weapons etc and they won't have a chance to defend themselves from your charge. Being Genestealers they are more than capable of wiping out most units they charge. Unit size is 5 to 10, which is fine, you probably only want a small unit as you have to deploy within the boundaries of the terrain you have chosen.
Dormant works nicely along side their second ability, Alter Form. In every assault phase they can pick either +1 Strength, +1 Attacks or +1 Toughness. There is a trick to this that any long time Wood Elf player will be familiar with. What you need to do is choose the ability which will most likely result in you winning in your opponents turn, allowing you to move and assault again in your next turn with no danger of being shot. If the enemy only have a handful of devastators, you should choose +1 toughness to limit how many kills you inflict. If however you are charged, and you need to win, you should choose +1 attack. Strictly speaking +1 strength is worse than the other two as you are relying on rending to kill power armour rather than slightly easier to wound rolls.
Conclusion:
This is a unit which competes with the Lictor, more than Genestealers. Its abilities are very similar to the Lictor, being about to appear and cause havoc. The difference being that Genestealers have far more offensive output and can charge on the turn they appear. Of the two, I would be more tempted to field these Ymgarl Genestealers simply because they don't rely on surviving a whole turn of firepower before being able to charge.
Overall Elites Choice Conclusion:
The elites choices are basically split into two camps. There are the anti tank Zoanthropes and Hive Guard, and the utility units which covers everything else. To make a competitive army, you will want at least two slots with the anti tank options. It doesn't matter which you pick really. You can then take one of the other units in your third slot, or indeed another of the anti tank ones if you should wish. You can probably drop one anti tank if you have a Tyrannofex with a Rupture cannon, but I would never drop both. As long as you avoid taking the Pyrovore, the other choices are okay support elements, it really depends on what style of play you want to do. A large gaunt horde charging across the table might want Venomthropes, but a more specialised army could get more out of a Lictor style disruption unit.
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