Now I know I said I wouldn't review the whole codex, and I don't for a minute think I will get time to look at everything. However what I will do is have a brief look at certain units and even add some maths to make everything more fun!
Bloodletters
First up, Khornes troop choice. Bloodletters took a battering, losing a point in toughness and attacks. Their leadership, much like every other Daemon unit is the same as basic guardsmen and champions don't add a bonus to it. So far, so bad. Like other daemons they all became much cheaper.
Name one other book where you get a ws5, furious charging, s4 power sword armed troops choice for a very reasonable amount of points?
You can't because they don't exist. This is essentially all you are buying.
Bloodletters have the poorest defensive stats, on par with Daemonettes, with guardsman toughness and the daemon rule providing all the defense of a wet paper towel. They are however dirt cheap. A full unit, with the Banner of blood to help charges, is only 235 for 20 models and all the upgrades. It is probably worth finding a few points for an etherblade for the unit champion, so he can at least hit things at ap2.
10 basic bloodletters vs 10 marines
Charging bloodletters kill 8.978 marines! Not bad for a unit worth just over half the points...
10 basic bloodletters vs 10 terminators
Charging bloodletters kill 1.526 terminators. Not great.
10 basic bloodletters vs 10 guardsmen
Charging bloodletters kill 11.112 guardsmen.
The numbers prove the theory. Bloodletters are very good vs power armour. Elsewhere they are not very cost effective. Just imagine Bloodletters are dirt cheap howling banshees. They are virtually identical in application.
Daemonettes
The only other combat infantry in the troops section are Slaaneshs Daemonettes. These suffered far less of a battering, losing only an attack and an initiative. They are still initaitve 5 and have all the bonuses of being a daemon of slaanesh. Coming in at a point under that of bloodletters, they are faster than them, equally fragile, with less strength.
However they do have rending, so this helps somewhat and they can therefore tackle terminators which Bloodletters will struggle with. As before, you probably want an Etherblade on the champion, ideally paying for a greater one, to improve the models strength. The banner is quite nice, but daemonettes already have better WS and initaitve than anyone they are likely to fight, so I can't see it being used over much. A full command unit of 20 with the banner comes in at a very reasonable 215 points.
Due to rending, this table is somewhat more confusing!
10 basic daemonettes vs 10 marines
Charging daemonettes rend 3.32 marines and kill 1.105 for a total of 3.425 dead marines
10 basic daemonettes vs 10 terminators
Charging daemonettes rend 2.22 terminators and kill 0.553 for a total of 2.773 dead terminators
10 basic daemonettes vs 10 guardsmen
Charging daemonettes rend 3.35 guardsmen and kill 5.561 guardsmen for a total of 8.911 dead guardsmen.
These numbers surprise me quite a lot when compared to Bloodletters, which are miles better at killing marines, as expected, but I thought daemonettes would be better at killing guardsmen. It seems the low strength of daemonettes really hurts them in this respect. They are however nearly twice as good at killing terminators, and with rending they can damage most vehicles.
Pink Horrors
I have to confess, I have read quite a lot of varied reviews on this unit. Some reviewers think this unit is universally terrible, some think it is still quite good. I am in the later camp. For the same price as daemonettes you get more or less a humans profile, with +3 leadership for casting psychic powers. Sure they lost their shooting attacks and their 4+ invulnerable save, but you know what, none of that matters.
Who wouldn't want to get a 10 wound psyker, who scores for less than 100 points? This is what Pink Horrors bring. Forget that they are no longer a shooting unit, that is the past. This is the now. I recommend always taking the Primaris power, and try to get into the 16-20 model range. This will give you an impressive 4d6 s5 shots spell. Attach a Herald with the right locus, and this becomes 4d6 s6 shots, combined with Divination spells and indeed his own Primaris power, the unit can throw out a tremendous amount of shooting. I think the Herald is near mandatory for this unit, which bumps the price up, but it is a very capable unit. You really do want the banner upgrade, as it allows a decent amount of hits on overwatch, something you otherwise can't do.
As before, I will run the numbers for 10 basic horrors, but this time, casting spells. In all cases I will assume they have 7 shots, as this is the statistical average of 2d6. However, as the power improves by 50% for just adding 10% to the cost of the unit, I really can't see many players using just 10 models. The cost of this unit is identical to that of the Daemonettes.
10 basic pink horrors vs 10 marines
Spell casting pink horrors kill 1.87 marines.
10 basic pink horrors vs 10 terminators
Spell casting pink horrors kill 0.940 terminators.
10 basic pink horrors vs 10 guardsmen
Spell casting pink horrors kill 2.905 guardsmen.
Please note a successful deny the witch will negate the horrors ability completely. Certain armies will have better psychic defenses than others, eg Tyranids, Space wolves and Eldar, so be warned. The numbers are not massively impressive here, however they can guard an objective and still shoot. Something the next unit in the list can't do.
Oh and warpflame. This is pretty bad as special rules go. I think it will get an errata at some point to clarify it.
Plaguebearers.
The only non t3 unit in troops, they also have shrouding. No more toughness 5 and feel no pain, although an attached herald can bring feel no pain back if you want. Personally I think this unit functions best running bare bones and guarding objectives while in cover.
You are not going to kill hordes of things with plaguebearers. Please understand this. However they do have the ability to always glance a vehicle on a 6, so they can make reasonable anti dreadnought units if the need arises.
Stick them in a ruin for a 2+ cover save on an objective. This is all this unit should be used for, however here are the combat numbers.
10 basic plaguebearers vs 10 marines
Charging plaguebearers kill 2.25 marines
10 basic plaguebearers vs 10 terminators
Charging plaguebearers kill 1.125 terminators.
10 basic plaguebearers vs 10 guardsmen
Charging plaguebearers kill 5.561 guardsmen.
The numbers really are not that good. But remember, you bought these to survive being shot at, so lets look at some numbers for this.
10 marine boltgun shots vs lesser daemons in the open.
Daemonettes/Bloodletters lose 3.007 wounds
Pink Horrors lose 2.758 wounds
Plaguebearers lose 2.245 wounds
10 marine boltgun shots vs lesser daemons in a ruin/aegis line
Daemonettes/Bloodletters/Pink Horrors lose 2.245 wounds
Plaguebearers lose 0.536 wounds
So the lesson learned here is that you want your Plaguebearers in ruins! That is pretty much all there is to them.
Nurglings
Last, but hopefully not least are Nurglings. With a pile of attacks and wounds, they cost 50% more per base than Bloodletters, but a unit of 3, the minimum size is less than 50 points. Nothing wrong with that. I have scoured the rulebook, and I can't find anything in the rules that prevents swarms from scoring in 6th edition. With a small unit footprint and 4 wounds per base, they could provide an alternative roadblock and cheap scoring unit to plaguebearers. Interestingly they also have the ability to infiltrate, so deploy them in cover for a more than respectable 2 or 3+ cover save!
Running the numbers is a bit more complicated. For the purpose of this, I will assume you bought 6 bases as this makes the unit the same price as 10 daemonettes/horrors/plaguebearers.
6 basic nurglings vs 10 marines
Charging nurglings kill 1.64 marines
10 basic nurglings vs 10 terminators
Charging nurglings kill 0.817 terminators.
10 basic nurglings vs 10 guardsmen
Charging nurglings kill 6.25 guardsmen.
Again, you are buying them for survivability. In the open they take the same number of wounds as daemonettes and bloodletters, so 3.007 wounds lost vs 10 bolters. However in cover they get nearly all the advantages of being a plaguebearer, except the toughness. So in cover they only lose 0.7631 wounds.
Conclusion
Pretty much all these lesser daemons are useful. You just need to pick the right tool for the job. Hopefully these numbers will be of some use to gamers.
Friday 15 March 2013
Monday 11 March 2013
How to land a Daemon bomb in 6th
Having read the latest codex daemons book several times, something has struck me. How exactly do you land your daemon models from deep striking.
Now I know this is by no means something you have to do in 6th, as daemons are capable of deploying normally like everyone else. However you are likely to want to get your daemonettes and bloodletters to the enemy unscathed as much as possible, so you want a unit capable of planting an Icon.
Having looked at the various options, it seems there are three main candidates fulfilling the basic criteria of being fast and capable of bringing an Icon. Lets take a look at them.
Blood crushers
How the mighty have fallen. This used to be the premier assault unit in the daemon book, until the errata took its teeth and the new codex kicked it while it was down. From a strictly combat perspective this unit is not great. However, we are looking at it from the perspective of shoving an icon down the enemies throat as quickly as possible.
First notice, the unit is now cavalry, not infantry. This improves its movement considerably, allowing it to move fairly rapidly towards the enemy 12+d6 inches on turn one. It is still toughness 4 with 3 wounds and has the standard daemon invunerable save. No sign of the power armour of yester year. Three models and a banner will set you back around 150 points if you get a champion with an etherblade. You might as well.
Not a great choice, but they will allow other khorne units to deep strike without scattering.
Plague Drones
I have to admit, when I first read the unit, I couldn't see past using them as a Tau Battlesuit style jump forwards, shoot two grenades a pop then retreat type unit. However, the role of deep strike delivery actually suits it very well. Toughness 5, three wounds, shrouded and an invulnerable save all contribute to being the toughest of the three units. They pay a premium on their Icon, but you will want this. Chances are you also want a champion with an ether blade as before, to give the unit some teeth.
On turn one this unit can move a considerable distance. 12+shooting+2d6. The only real downside is that you don't really want to drop Plaguebeare units off close to the enemy, and those you might drop, like Beasts and Nurglings should probably already be deployed to attract fire away from your delivery units. Like above, this unit is around 150 points and is considerably faster, tougher and move maneuverable than Blood crushers, but nowhere near as capable of combat. It is therefore likely your units will scatter still, even with the Icon being held by them.
Seekers
The cheapest of the bunch. For the low cost of 70 points, you get a very rapid moving, very low toughness icon delivery system. To make this fair though, I will compare roughly 150 points of these against the other two. So you can get 11 of these, plus an Icon for just under 150 points. As these have rending, and are not especially tough, there is no point in buying a champion or an etherblade. You get 11 wounds at toughness 3 and the standard save. So by far the easiest to kill, even with more wounds. Each wound also removes a model, reducing its combat effectiveness.
On the plus side, they move like lightning due to being slaanesh daemons. Move 12+6+d6 on turn 1 is outstanding. They also work well with Daemonettes, Fiends and Chariots all of which are not very resilient and want to arrive unscathed. You also have the option of taking two units of five, both with Icons for a mere 140 points. The only reason I can think of not to do this, is that it eats into your fast attack slots, and fast attack for Daemons are vastly improved, and probably better than Elites and indeed Heavy Support now.
Tzeench
For some reason, Tzeench gets no units that can move fast and carry an Icon. Neither Flamers or Screamers have the option. Which is a shame really. On the plus side, Pink horrors want to stay far and away from the enemy.
Conclusion
The three options are fairly competitive, in that none of them is substantially better than the rest. Bloodcrushers are the slowest, fairly dangerous in combat, but lightly armoured. Plague Drones are the toughest, and most flexible, but also are expensive, poor in combat and only have short range shooting. Seekers are the fastest and weakest, but slaanesh has the largest amount of low toughness assault troops.
Now I know this is by no means something you have to do in 6th, as daemons are capable of deploying normally like everyone else. However you are likely to want to get your daemonettes and bloodletters to the enemy unscathed as much as possible, so you want a unit capable of planting an Icon.
Having looked at the various options, it seems there are three main candidates fulfilling the basic criteria of being fast and capable of bringing an Icon. Lets take a look at them.
Blood crushers
How the mighty have fallen. This used to be the premier assault unit in the daemon book, until the errata took its teeth and the new codex kicked it while it was down. From a strictly combat perspective this unit is not great. However, we are looking at it from the perspective of shoving an icon down the enemies throat as quickly as possible.
First notice, the unit is now cavalry, not infantry. This improves its movement considerably, allowing it to move fairly rapidly towards the enemy 12+d6 inches on turn one. It is still toughness 4 with 3 wounds and has the standard daemon invunerable save. No sign of the power armour of yester year. Three models and a banner will set you back around 150 points if you get a champion with an etherblade. You might as well.
Not a great choice, but they will allow other khorne units to deep strike without scattering.
Plague Drones
I have to admit, when I first read the unit, I couldn't see past using them as a Tau Battlesuit style jump forwards, shoot two grenades a pop then retreat type unit. However, the role of deep strike delivery actually suits it very well. Toughness 5, three wounds, shrouded and an invulnerable save all contribute to being the toughest of the three units. They pay a premium on their Icon, but you will want this. Chances are you also want a champion with an ether blade as before, to give the unit some teeth.
On turn one this unit can move a considerable distance. 12+shooting+2d6. The only real downside is that you don't really want to drop Plaguebeare units off close to the enemy, and those you might drop, like Beasts and Nurglings should probably already be deployed to attract fire away from your delivery units. Like above, this unit is around 150 points and is considerably faster, tougher and move maneuverable than Blood crushers, but nowhere near as capable of combat. It is therefore likely your units will scatter still, even with the Icon being held by them.
Seekers
The cheapest of the bunch. For the low cost of 70 points, you get a very rapid moving, very low toughness icon delivery system. To make this fair though, I will compare roughly 150 points of these against the other two. So you can get 11 of these, plus an Icon for just under 150 points. As these have rending, and are not especially tough, there is no point in buying a champion or an etherblade. You get 11 wounds at toughness 3 and the standard save. So by far the easiest to kill, even with more wounds. Each wound also removes a model, reducing its combat effectiveness.
On the plus side, they move like lightning due to being slaanesh daemons. Move 12+6+d6 on turn 1 is outstanding. They also work well with Daemonettes, Fiends and Chariots all of which are not very resilient and want to arrive unscathed. You also have the option of taking two units of five, both with Icons for a mere 140 points. The only reason I can think of not to do this, is that it eats into your fast attack slots, and fast attack for Daemons are vastly improved, and probably better than Elites and indeed Heavy Support now.
Tzeench
For some reason, Tzeench gets no units that can move fast and carry an Icon. Neither Flamers or Screamers have the option. Which is a shame really. On the plus side, Pink horrors want to stay far and away from the enemy.
Conclusion
The three options are fairly competitive, in that none of them is substantially better than the rest. Bloodcrushers are the slowest, fairly dangerous in combat, but lightly armoured. Plague Drones are the toughest, and most flexible, but also are expensive, poor in combat and only have short range shooting. Seekers are the fastest and weakest, but slaanesh has the largest amount of low toughness assault troops.
Tuesday 5 March 2013
Codex Daemons first impression
I have not posted in a good while, been distracted with other things.
However I do have a brand spanking new copy of Codex Daemons that I had a
brief look through.
I am not going to say I will write a full codex review, since I am unlikely to finish it. However I will go through important changes and other bits I have picked up.
Firstly, no more daemonic assault. The army deploys conventionally, but every unit appears to have deep strike. Icons work as before, but as your army can deploy on the table, this is far more effective. Substantially cheaper too. Musicians, previously all but worthless allow other units to deep strike in without rolling if the unit with the musician passes the test. Pretty handy if you have a greater daemon in reserve.
Psychic powers are back. Most of the daemonic HQ choices, and Tzeench in general gets spell casters. Different lores to Chaos marines, but obviously similar theme. Horrors have brotherhood of sorcerers special rule and can get to have three warp charge with a big enough squad. This replaces their shooting.
Flamers were nerfed badly. Flamers now ap4 and have no real ability vs tanks. No surprise here. Bloodcrushers lose their 3+ save, replacing it with a 6+ and they are no cheaper. They are now cavalry though. All bloodletters remain ap3 in combat.
Screamers oddly seem to have kept their overpowered abilities from the white dwarf write up.
All lesser daemons are dirt cheap. All the four main types are ten points or under a model. Statistically they are worse than before, but due to price cuts, I don't think that is a big deal.
Heralds are four to a HQ slot. They can buy loci's which upgrade their attached unit.
All unnamed HQs can buy daemonic gifts. Three levels, costing a variety of points. You then get to roll on a chart to determine what you have, but can default to a weapon.
No Keeper of Secrets special character. Masque got nerfed. No real love for Slaanesh with one special character. Nurgle has two, Khorne and Tzeench three. Tallyman got nerfed. Fateweaver got changed substantially. Tzeench characters get access to Diviniation, which is great.
Greater daemons become greater. Biggest change is they all seem to have an additional wound, but worse saves than before. Daemons get their abilities the same as in Codex Chaos. They are mostly cheaper, with better upgrades. Leadership maxes out at 9.
Daemonic Instability is very random. Same as it used to be to an extent, though a double 1 heals dead models and a double 6 kills the unit out right.
There is also a random chart you roll on per shooting phase. It can hit your own units, but if you take one god exclusively you minimize these risks. Otherwise it is fairly balanced by shafting you, and hurting the enemy.
Plague drones are jump jet cavalry. A totally unique unit in the game at the moment.
I am not going to say I will write a full codex review, since I am unlikely to finish it. However I will go through important changes and other bits I have picked up.
Firstly, no more daemonic assault. The army deploys conventionally, but every unit appears to have deep strike. Icons work as before, but as your army can deploy on the table, this is far more effective. Substantially cheaper too. Musicians, previously all but worthless allow other units to deep strike in without rolling if the unit with the musician passes the test. Pretty handy if you have a greater daemon in reserve.
Psychic powers are back. Most of the daemonic HQ choices, and Tzeench in general gets spell casters. Different lores to Chaos marines, but obviously similar theme. Horrors have brotherhood of sorcerers special rule and can get to have three warp charge with a big enough squad. This replaces their shooting.
Flamers were nerfed badly. Flamers now ap4 and have no real ability vs tanks. No surprise here. Bloodcrushers lose their 3+ save, replacing it with a 6+ and they are no cheaper. They are now cavalry though. All bloodletters remain ap3 in combat.
Screamers oddly seem to have kept their overpowered abilities from the white dwarf write up.
All lesser daemons are dirt cheap. All the four main types are ten points or under a model. Statistically they are worse than before, but due to price cuts, I don't think that is a big deal.
Heralds are four to a HQ slot. They can buy loci's which upgrade their attached unit.
All unnamed HQs can buy daemonic gifts. Three levels, costing a variety of points. You then get to roll on a chart to determine what you have, but can default to a weapon.
No Keeper of Secrets special character. Masque got nerfed. No real love for Slaanesh with one special character. Nurgle has two, Khorne and Tzeench three. Tallyman got nerfed. Fateweaver got changed substantially. Tzeench characters get access to Diviniation, which is great.
Greater daemons become greater. Biggest change is they all seem to have an additional wound, but worse saves than before. Daemons get their abilities the same as in Codex Chaos. They are mostly cheaper, with better upgrades. Leadership maxes out at 9.
Daemonic Instability is very random. Same as it used to be to an extent, though a double 1 heals dead models and a double 6 kills the unit out right.
There is also a random chart you roll on per shooting phase. It can hit your own units, but if you take one god exclusively you minimize these risks. Otherwise it is fairly balanced by shafting you, and hurting the enemy.
Plague drones are jump jet cavalry. A totally unique unit in the game at the moment.
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