The second Aspect Warrior I am reviewing are Warp Spiders.
Ill start with this. Warp Spiders are insanely fast. Absolutely incredibly fast. I don't think there is a unit of infantry in the game with this speed.
Lets look at the nuts and bolts of this claim.
They can deep strike
Move 6 because they are jump jet infantry in the movement phase
Run/shoot or shoot/run a further d6 inches rerolled.
The either move 2d6 as jump jet infantry or 6+2d6 with a warp jump in the assault phase.
In theory they can move a whopping 30 inches in a turn. The best any other infantry unit can move is 18.
Armour wise, they come with heavy aspect armour, which is the best available for Aspect warriors.
They keep their guns from 4th edition but have a slight tweak. Mono-filament rule makes them kind of rending, and against low initiative, or indeed no initiative opponents their guns gain a point in strength.
So basically they got better.
Now the exarch can get a twin spinner or a spinneret rifle. I think the rifle is the best bet here. Its got a better range than before, indeed its quite decent range for such a low AP gun on a Unit champion. He is probably a better buy than the hawk exarch, because he adds quite a lot of value to the unit. Power blades are nice, but not really needed, but they may possibly get you out of a pickle.
These along with Swooping Hawks and Shining spears are vying for the most improved Aspect Warriors in this edition. All three of these fast attack choices are good.
Saturday 22 June 2013
Friday 21 June 2013
Eldar codex review: Swooping Hawks
Now I have to say, at first read, I was fairly disappointed by Swooping Hawks. They didn't seem all that good.
The reality is blindingly different.
For a cost of three points more than a Dire Avenger you trade in your Avenger catapult for an assault 3 Lasgun. While this is not massively impressive, the numbers back this up as being as effective against anything up to toughness four as a storm bolter, and better if their armour saves are worse than power armour.
The unit arrives by deep strike and does not scatter. It throws a grenade with the same stats as a plasma missile with either a small or large blast depending on squad size.
It can also skyleap as before, allowing it to do this multiple times per battle.
Hawks also have haywire grenades and plasma grenades, meaning they can assault dreadnoughts better than any other unit in the eldar book. While plasma grenades are not great, they are better to have than not.
I am unsure just how useful the Exarch will be to the squad, but he can add some harrassment value if he has one of the two upgraded guns. One makes the three shot gun s5 and the other gives it blind.
As with other eldar units, you gain increased speed with battle focus allowing this unit to dance about at extreme ranges if needs be, and the wings along with skyleap allow full redeployment of the unit to where it is needed.
A very flexible unit in a codex full of units which only do one thing well. I think Swooping Hawks have gone from a terrible unit in 4th edition to a top unit in 6th. Their only real competition comes from Warp Spiders who do a similar thing, and will be reviewed by me another day.
For anyone following my blog, you will notice a trend that the Eldar are appearing to be better and better as I get better understanding on just how they work.
The reality is blindingly different.
For a cost of three points more than a Dire Avenger you trade in your Avenger catapult for an assault 3 Lasgun. While this is not massively impressive, the numbers back this up as being as effective against anything up to toughness four as a storm bolter, and better if their armour saves are worse than power armour.
The unit arrives by deep strike and does not scatter. It throws a grenade with the same stats as a plasma missile with either a small or large blast depending on squad size.
It can also skyleap as before, allowing it to do this multiple times per battle.
Hawks also have haywire grenades and plasma grenades, meaning they can assault dreadnoughts better than any other unit in the eldar book. While plasma grenades are not great, they are better to have than not.
I am unsure just how useful the Exarch will be to the squad, but he can add some harrassment value if he has one of the two upgraded guns. One makes the three shot gun s5 and the other gives it blind.
As with other eldar units, you gain increased speed with battle focus allowing this unit to dance about at extreme ranges if needs be, and the wings along with skyleap allow full redeployment of the unit to where it is needed.
A very flexible unit in a codex full of units which only do one thing well. I think Swooping Hawks have gone from a terrible unit in 4th edition to a top unit in 6th. Their only real competition comes from Warp Spiders who do a similar thing, and will be reviewed by me another day.
For anyone following my blog, you will notice a trend that the Eldar are appearing to be better and better as I get better understanding on just how they work.
Monday 17 June 2013
Xwing Miniatures game rules confusion
One of the problems with being a long time GW player, over eighteen years and counting, is that certain rules become ingrained into your mind as being true, regardless of what game you are playing.
One of these, which is applicable pretty much across the board is "you can't reroll a reroll". It has so long been in GW games of every type that I have played, when I play another game it can take some effort to get my head around it!
The situation came to light yesterday when we were trying to work out what the gunner card did. It seems that combined with Han Solo you can end up with up to four rerolls if I am reading the cards correctly.
That is Han shoots, then rerolls using his ability if he needs to. If this fails, the gunner shoots, then Han uses his reroll if needs be. Three rerolls on one action!
The other issue is what counts as a hit. Because we were so used to GW games, when a hit or critical hit symbol appeared on the dice we assumed that he couldnt use his reroll because he had hit. But in reality he hadn't hit until damage is actually inflicted on the enemy ship.
So Han gets to use the Gunner card if the target manages to dodge. Not bad, not bad at all
One of these, which is applicable pretty much across the board is "you can't reroll a reroll". It has so long been in GW games of every type that I have played, when I play another game it can take some effort to get my head around it!
The situation came to light yesterday when we were trying to work out what the gunner card did. It seems that combined with Han Solo you can end up with up to four rerolls if I am reading the cards correctly.
That is Han shoots, then rerolls using his ability if he needs to. If this fails, the gunner shoots, then Han uses his reroll if needs be. Three rerolls on one action!
The other issue is what counts as a hit. Because we were so used to GW games, when a hit or critical hit symbol appeared on the dice we assumed that he couldnt use his reroll because he had hit. But in reality he hadn't hit until damage is actually inflicted on the enemy ship.
So Han gets to use the Gunner card if the target manages to dodge. Not bad, not bad at all
Saturday 15 June 2013
GW vs Chapterhouse studios
As someone who studied law for five years and has a law degree, I find the case between Chapterhouse studios and GW to be quite an interesting one.
As this case is still ongoing at the moment, it would be wrong of me to make any further comments. Other sites may contain more information than this one, but I am keeping my opinions to myself until the case is resolved.
As this case is still ongoing at the moment, it would be wrong of me to make any further comments. Other sites may contain more information than this one, but I am keeping my opinions to myself until the case is resolved.
Friday 14 June 2013
X-Wing Miniatures game - First Impressions
This week I seem to be on a bit of a roll actually posting articles for a change. I thought I would take this opportunity to speak about a game which has recently been taking up a lot of my time.
X-Wing is a game system based on Episodes 4,5 and 6 of Star Wars. No sign, as of yet, of any of the Prequel films getting any releases.
As a game system it is relatively straight forwards to learn, but by the looks of things, very complicated to master. I have played something between 5 and 10 games, mostly as Imperials and it has been generally very good fun.
The models come pre-painted, but there is nothing to stop you repainting the ones you get. The actual detail on the models is a lot better than is actually painted in a lot of cases. There is also not a great deal of consistency in the paint jobs on the same models.
A typical list is around 100 points. This will be something between 2 and 5 ships for rebels and between 3 and 8 for imperials. I don't think it is possible to field more than that amount of ships in a standard game. So although the prices are quite high for individual models [£12 for the smaller ones and about £22 for Falcon and Slave 1] the overall cost of playing is quite low.
The starter comes with all the bits you need to use the three ships you get. Which are two Ties and an Xwing. You get about half the special character cards for these two units in this box, so you will still need to purchase another xwing and another tie fighter to have them all. Each seperate ship pack comes with all the tokens it needs and the other upgrade cards seem to be distributed between the packs.
I have not as of yet found anywhere that actually lists which cards come in which packs. Which is annoying.
As a general rule, Imperial ships, up to now at least, tend to be faster and cheaper, but weaker, and rebel ships tend to be tougher with better offense and more upgrade options, but pricier. Reflecting the films.
So far they have released the following ships;
Rebels:
X wing
Y wing
A wing
Millenium Falcon
B wing [wave 3 Autumn]
Mouldy Crow [wave 3 Autumn]
Imperials:
Tie Fighter
Tie Advanced
Tie Interceptor
Slave 1
Tie Bomber [wave 3 Autumn]
Lambda Shuttle [wave 3 Autumn]
There are confirmations that more ships are on the horizon. The inclusion of the Mouldy Crow, which is by all accounts from an Expanded Universe computer game lets me hope for the inclusion of Tie Defenders.
I will try and get some photos up, especially as I am going to attempt to repaint the squad markings. One disadvantage of pre-painted models is that everyones will look the same. I want to make mine more personal.
X-Wing is a game system based on Episodes 4,5 and 6 of Star Wars. No sign, as of yet, of any of the Prequel films getting any releases.
As a game system it is relatively straight forwards to learn, but by the looks of things, very complicated to master. I have played something between 5 and 10 games, mostly as Imperials and it has been generally very good fun.
The models come pre-painted, but there is nothing to stop you repainting the ones you get. The actual detail on the models is a lot better than is actually painted in a lot of cases. There is also not a great deal of consistency in the paint jobs on the same models.
A typical list is around 100 points. This will be something between 2 and 5 ships for rebels and between 3 and 8 for imperials. I don't think it is possible to field more than that amount of ships in a standard game. So although the prices are quite high for individual models [£12 for the smaller ones and about £22 for Falcon and Slave 1] the overall cost of playing is quite low.
The starter comes with all the bits you need to use the three ships you get. Which are two Ties and an Xwing. You get about half the special character cards for these two units in this box, so you will still need to purchase another xwing and another tie fighter to have them all. Each seperate ship pack comes with all the tokens it needs and the other upgrade cards seem to be distributed between the packs.
I have not as of yet found anywhere that actually lists which cards come in which packs. Which is annoying.
As a general rule, Imperial ships, up to now at least, tend to be faster and cheaper, but weaker, and rebel ships tend to be tougher with better offense and more upgrade options, but pricier. Reflecting the films.
So far they have released the following ships;
Rebels:
X wing
Y wing
A wing
Millenium Falcon
B wing [wave 3 Autumn]
Mouldy Crow [wave 3 Autumn]
Imperials:
Tie Fighter
Tie Advanced
Tie Interceptor
Slave 1
Tie Bomber [wave 3 Autumn]
Lambda Shuttle [wave 3 Autumn]
There are confirmations that more ships are on the horizon. The inclusion of the Mouldy Crow, which is by all accounts from an Expanded Universe computer game lets me hope for the inclusion of Tie Defenders.
I will try and get some photos up, especially as I am going to attempt to repaint the squad markings. One disadvantage of pre-painted models is that everyones will look the same. I want to make mine more personal.
Thursday 13 June 2013
Eldar 6th Edition Codex Review: The good units
So far my previous two articles on the Eldar Codex have given it a complete battering. I have read the rules through three or four times now and I think I may be coming round to the idea they are not quite as terrible across the board as I had initially thought.
First of all, there are good units in the codex. That is, out and out, value for money units compared within their own book, and even across the other codexes out there.
Farseers.
These are very good value for their points cost. Come in at the same cost as a Marine captain in the 5th edition book, are level 3 casters with access to Divination, Telepathy and Runes of Fate. You want Runes of Fate, and you might want Divination. I wouldn't personally consider Telepathy a useful use of their time.
They have access to Runes, Ghosthelms etc which are all slightly changed, but not significantly so from what they did previously. Singing Spears seem better. No longer specialist weapons/Two handed so as far as I can tell you have no reason not to find the small amount of points to upgrade. I believe its the same as in the 4th edition book in cost. Still not Force Weapons.
I think one Farseer is nigh on mandatory. The Eldar book needs the buffs they provide to become viable and drag some units to become competitive. In fact there is only one reason I can think, in a standard FOC setting when you wouldn't want to take two.
The reason is the Spiritseer
Spiritseer
A cut price, two wound Farseer. I believe he is a level 2 psyker too with same Lore access as the Farseer. Comes with a witch staff. What you include him for is making Wraithguard and Wraithblades scoring Troops rather than Elites. So good for Iyanden Craftworld armies. If you are including a unit of Wraithguard or Wraithblades, take a long hard look at this character, expecially if you haven't ear marked the second HQ slot. Compared to the other troops choices, Wraith units are very hardy. No longer any requirement for ten either to be scoring.
Jetbikes
These are cheap. I believe they got a price cut of around 5 points and have the same options as before. Tough and fast scoring units with jink to throw in a cover save. Guns are short ranged as ever, but good for winning the movement phase. Expect to see a lot of these. The only real downside is the old model. The same jetbike exists from when I started playing in 1994. I have no idea when it came out, but it was nearly two decades ago.
Shining Spears
Got a huge points reduction. Nearly 20 points a model cheaper, or half price I believe! Same stats as before, but are now reasonably priced. No longer do laser lances seem an over priced piece of tat and the one attack on the stat line doesn't annoy me so much. Come with a whole range of abilities to keep them alive. Skilled Rider is nice on them.
Striking Scorpions
Not the unit as such. I don't like how mandiblasters became far more complicated. As I mentioned in my previous posts, they now function like a permanent Hammer of Wrath attack, rather than giving the model a bonus attack. The effects of this are that the strength of the hit is lower, because it doesn't use the chainsword. but it does automatically hit. I have not run the exact numbers at this time, but I suspect they may actually be more effective now.
No, the main reason for the inclusion of the Striking Scorpions on the good list is this. The Scorpions Claw wargear item for the Exarch. It is simply insanely decent. It gives the same stat bonuses as a regular old powerfist, you know like it used to be in 4th edition, and has a built in Shurican catapult. Now I am not a fan of the new weapon on Guardians and Dire Avengers, but as a backup weapon to the main combat weapons, it is fine.
The truly great part of the claw is that the scorpion exarch can stack with an exarch power, making his fist the same strength as a marine using a powerfirst. However the best bit is it is not a specialist weapon, nor is it unwieldy. This means he hits nearly everything first, and gets a bonus attack from his chainsword, making up for losing a fist attack to the mandiblasters.
Wave Serpent
It has to be said, I didn't see why this was so good. But it turns out the actual "shield" on the tank can be fired, and it seems exceptionally good when combined with laser lock. It may make all of the other eldar tanks redundant given it doesn't take up slots and it also carries the most troops into battle.
First of all, there are good units in the codex. That is, out and out, value for money units compared within their own book, and even across the other codexes out there.
Farseers.
These are very good value for their points cost. Come in at the same cost as a Marine captain in the 5th edition book, are level 3 casters with access to Divination, Telepathy and Runes of Fate. You want Runes of Fate, and you might want Divination. I wouldn't personally consider Telepathy a useful use of their time.
They have access to Runes, Ghosthelms etc which are all slightly changed, but not significantly so from what they did previously. Singing Spears seem better. No longer specialist weapons/Two handed so as far as I can tell you have no reason not to find the small amount of points to upgrade. I believe its the same as in the 4th edition book in cost. Still not Force Weapons.
I think one Farseer is nigh on mandatory. The Eldar book needs the buffs they provide to become viable and drag some units to become competitive. In fact there is only one reason I can think, in a standard FOC setting when you wouldn't want to take two.
The reason is the Spiritseer
Spiritseer
A cut price, two wound Farseer. I believe he is a level 2 psyker too with same Lore access as the Farseer. Comes with a witch staff. What you include him for is making Wraithguard and Wraithblades scoring Troops rather than Elites. So good for Iyanden Craftworld armies. If you are including a unit of Wraithguard or Wraithblades, take a long hard look at this character, expecially if you haven't ear marked the second HQ slot. Compared to the other troops choices, Wraith units are very hardy. No longer any requirement for ten either to be scoring.
Jetbikes
These are cheap. I believe they got a price cut of around 5 points and have the same options as before. Tough and fast scoring units with jink to throw in a cover save. Guns are short ranged as ever, but good for winning the movement phase. Expect to see a lot of these. The only real downside is the old model. The same jetbike exists from when I started playing in 1994. I have no idea when it came out, but it was nearly two decades ago.
Shining Spears
Got a huge points reduction. Nearly 20 points a model cheaper, or half price I believe! Same stats as before, but are now reasonably priced. No longer do laser lances seem an over priced piece of tat and the one attack on the stat line doesn't annoy me so much. Come with a whole range of abilities to keep them alive. Skilled Rider is nice on them.
Striking Scorpions
Not the unit as such. I don't like how mandiblasters became far more complicated. As I mentioned in my previous posts, they now function like a permanent Hammer of Wrath attack, rather than giving the model a bonus attack. The effects of this are that the strength of the hit is lower, because it doesn't use the chainsword. but it does automatically hit. I have not run the exact numbers at this time, but I suspect they may actually be more effective now.
No, the main reason for the inclusion of the Striking Scorpions on the good list is this. The Scorpions Claw wargear item for the Exarch. It is simply insanely decent. It gives the same stat bonuses as a regular old powerfist, you know like it used to be in 4th edition, and has a built in Shurican catapult. Now I am not a fan of the new weapon on Guardians and Dire Avengers, but as a backup weapon to the main combat weapons, it is fine.
The truly great part of the claw is that the scorpion exarch can stack with an exarch power, making his fist the same strength as a marine using a powerfirst. However the best bit is it is not a specialist weapon, nor is it unwieldy. This means he hits nearly everything first, and gets a bonus attack from his chainsword, making up for losing a fist attack to the mandiblasters.
Wave Serpent
It has to be said, I didn't see why this was so good. But it turns out the actual "shield" on the tank can be fired, and it seems exceptionally good when combined with laser lock. It may make all of the other eldar tanks redundant given it doesn't take up slots and it also carries the most troops into battle.
Wednesday 5 June 2013
Eldar 6th edition Codex Review in more detail
I have had a proper read through this now. Here are my thoughts.
Im pretty sure at best the Eldar are the worst 6th ed codex. Perhaps even worse than Chaos marines in terms of useful units.
HQs
Farseer and Spiritseers are the only decent HQs. Pretty much all the special characters are over priced. All the relics are rubbish, beyond some possible uses for the wing thing that allows a super run.
Avatar is over costed and nothing special. Greater daemons without wings are a bad idea. Autarch is kind of okay, nothing spectacular. He will die horribly vs any proper melee Lord. The only real use I can see is give him a jetbike and either a fusion gun or a reaper launcher.
Warlocks I kind of like. Since you get free powers and don't need to pay for them. However you do have to cast them now. On fairly shoddy leadership.
Ancient doom is kind of poor. How many slaanesh armeis are out there? Battle focus is possibly good, possibly average. Its certainly not bad.
The Warlord chart is bad. Absolutely nothing stands out as good. A lot of it is lame.
Troops
Dire Avengers are MORE expensive, despite being worse. No the false rending on the guns is not great. If they had their ability to increase rate of fire as well, then maybe they might be acceptable. I suppose the clue is in the name.
Guardians. Well they got better BS and WS and I think Initiative. They did not get Tau fire warrior better, and they cost the same. However they are less terrible than Dire Avengers and get at least reasonably costed heavy weapons. The combat guardians are still bad.
Jetbikes are good. Cheaper and same as before from what I can tell.
Rangers seem awfully expensive for t3 models with sniper rifles, and cost even more when path finders. Did GW not learn from over pricing Waywatchers? Clearly not.
Wave Serpent is kind of a battle tank and not a transport now. Ive seen suggestions it should be using its shield to attack, but then it will open itself up to dying a lot more. Seems very pricey but I suppose it does now have the improved BS along with all the other guardians.
Elites
Wraithguard. I like. They got cheaper and now have weapon options for something which appear to be d-cannon flamers. Expect to see a lot of these, more so if the Iyanden suppliment is any good.
Wraithknights. "Combat" troops with 1 attack base. For more than chaos terminators. I think not.
Scorpions. I kind of think these got better. Mandiblasters got turned into hammer of wrath that works every round, where as the Scorpions claw is decent expecially with the strength boosting exarch power.
Banshees. Still too low strength to reliably kill power armour. Not as good as scorpions at all. Banshee masks now worse.
Harliquins. A bit odd. Veil of tears is back as it was in the old codex, but you need to cast it. Still expensive. Will die in droves should you fail to cast the spell or the enemy gets to shoot them. Not as good as scorpions.
Fire Dragons. Huge price increase. Improved saves. Still good value in all honesty.
Fast Attack.
Wow, finally got to a slot where there is competition for slots!
Swooping Hawks. Became better, and cheaper. Still have haywire grenades, fly and their guns are slightly better.
Warpspiders. I think they also became better. Against tanks their guns are better. The only real downside is most units can now "jump" away with the shoot/run option so their own gimmick is not so good.
Shining spears. Became considerably cheaper. I think otherwise they are the same. A very decent unit now.
Vyper. I think they are too expensive for how fragile they are. They can however use the laser lock rule, but since their other weapon isn't very good, I don't see many of these being used, especially given the other fast attack options are good.
New aircraft. I know one isn't in fast attack slot, but I am including them here for completion. Both are the lowest armour in the game going and will die. Too expensive by half. The Crimson hunter Exarch has perhaps something going for him, but hes really quite expensive. The Wraithfighter thing, I really just dislike. Terrify power is nothing special.
Heavy Support.
Dark Reapers. I quite like them. They are slow and purposeful and can have krak missiles. In some absurd fashion they are unable to take skyfire missiles, unlike marine and chaos marine devastators. Reaper exarch will need a mortgage to buy his gear and skills as per the last edition.
Warwalkers. I like. Powerfield makes them a bit tougher, and they can get some mileage from the laser lock.
Falcon. Probably the worst battle tank now. Out classed by the Wave serpent that doesn't take up a slot.
Fire Prism. Its pretty good, but pricey for a one gun tank. Due to deaths from glancing, rather than penetrating hits, the prism cannon will likely survive with its gun in tact. A solid choice.
Wraithlord. Still good. Can now take two heavy weapons without having to twin link them. Honestly I think this is better than the Wraithknight.
Wraithknight. Stupidly expensive jumpjet monster. Has high toughness, the same as Wraithlords, but will need to sacrifice one of its two big guns for a shield for a much needed if quite poor invulnerable save. Oddly you can't choose a mix of weapons, you have three combinations and that is all you can pick from. Can take two identical shoulder heavy weapons. Wants to take scatter lasers, so you can use laser lock on the main gun you have left with the shield.
Night spinner. Became worse I think. I don't really like it. Just take a fire prism.
Support platforms. Still good. D-cannon is expensive, but possibly very scary. All D-weapons are very decent.
Im pretty sure at best the Eldar are the worst 6th ed codex. Perhaps even worse than Chaos marines in terms of useful units.
HQs
Farseer and Spiritseers are the only decent HQs. Pretty much all the special characters are over priced. All the relics are rubbish, beyond some possible uses for the wing thing that allows a super run.
Avatar is over costed and nothing special. Greater daemons without wings are a bad idea. Autarch is kind of okay, nothing spectacular. He will die horribly vs any proper melee Lord. The only real use I can see is give him a jetbike and either a fusion gun or a reaper launcher.
Warlocks I kind of like. Since you get free powers and don't need to pay for them. However you do have to cast them now. On fairly shoddy leadership.
Ancient doom is kind of poor. How many slaanesh armeis are out there? Battle focus is possibly good, possibly average. Its certainly not bad.
The Warlord chart is bad. Absolutely nothing stands out as good. A lot of it is lame.
Troops
Dire Avengers are MORE expensive, despite being worse. No the false rending on the guns is not great. If they had their ability to increase rate of fire as well, then maybe they might be acceptable. I suppose the clue is in the name.
Guardians. Well they got better BS and WS and I think Initiative. They did not get Tau fire warrior better, and they cost the same. However they are less terrible than Dire Avengers and get at least reasonably costed heavy weapons. The combat guardians are still bad.
Jetbikes are good. Cheaper and same as before from what I can tell.
Rangers seem awfully expensive for t3 models with sniper rifles, and cost even more when path finders. Did GW not learn from over pricing Waywatchers? Clearly not.
Wave Serpent is kind of a battle tank and not a transport now. Ive seen suggestions it should be using its shield to attack, but then it will open itself up to dying a lot more. Seems very pricey but I suppose it does now have the improved BS along with all the other guardians.
Elites
Wraithguard. I like. They got cheaper and now have weapon options for something which appear to be d-cannon flamers. Expect to see a lot of these, more so if the Iyanden suppliment is any good.
Wraithknights. "Combat" troops with 1 attack base. For more than chaos terminators. I think not.
Scorpions. I kind of think these got better. Mandiblasters got turned into hammer of wrath that works every round, where as the Scorpions claw is decent expecially with the strength boosting exarch power.
Banshees. Still too low strength to reliably kill power armour. Not as good as scorpions at all. Banshee masks now worse.
Harliquins. A bit odd. Veil of tears is back as it was in the old codex, but you need to cast it. Still expensive. Will die in droves should you fail to cast the spell or the enemy gets to shoot them. Not as good as scorpions.
Fire Dragons. Huge price increase. Improved saves. Still good value in all honesty.
Fast Attack.
Wow, finally got to a slot where there is competition for slots!
Swooping Hawks. Became better, and cheaper. Still have haywire grenades, fly and their guns are slightly better.
Warpspiders. I think they also became better. Against tanks their guns are better. The only real downside is most units can now "jump" away with the shoot/run option so their own gimmick is not so good.
Shining spears. Became considerably cheaper. I think otherwise they are the same. A very decent unit now.
Vyper. I think they are too expensive for how fragile they are. They can however use the laser lock rule, but since their other weapon isn't very good, I don't see many of these being used, especially given the other fast attack options are good.
New aircraft. I know one isn't in fast attack slot, but I am including them here for completion. Both are the lowest armour in the game going and will die. Too expensive by half. The Crimson hunter Exarch has perhaps something going for him, but hes really quite expensive. The Wraithfighter thing, I really just dislike. Terrify power is nothing special.
Heavy Support.
Dark Reapers. I quite like them. They are slow and purposeful and can have krak missiles. In some absurd fashion they are unable to take skyfire missiles, unlike marine and chaos marine devastators. Reaper exarch will need a mortgage to buy his gear and skills as per the last edition.
Warwalkers. I like. Powerfield makes them a bit tougher, and they can get some mileage from the laser lock.
Falcon. Probably the worst battle tank now. Out classed by the Wave serpent that doesn't take up a slot.
Fire Prism. Its pretty good, but pricey for a one gun tank. Due to deaths from glancing, rather than penetrating hits, the prism cannon will likely survive with its gun in tact. A solid choice.
Wraithlord. Still good. Can now take two heavy weapons without having to twin link them. Honestly I think this is better than the Wraithknight.
Wraithknight. Stupidly expensive jumpjet monster. Has high toughness, the same as Wraithlords, but will need to sacrifice one of its two big guns for a shield for a much needed if quite poor invulnerable save. Oddly you can't choose a mix of weapons, you have three combinations and that is all you can pick from. Can take two identical shoulder heavy weapons. Wants to take scatter lasers, so you can use laser lock on the main gun you have left with the shield.
Night spinner. Became worse I think. I don't really like it. Just take a fire prism.
Support platforms. Still good. D-cannon is expensive, but possibly very scary. All D-weapons are very decent.
Tuesday 4 June 2013
Eldar 6th Edition Codex Review first impressions
I have the new Eldar codex. If I had to pick one word to describe it, I would say, disappointed.
Now, lets start with the good. Farseers and the new Spirit Seers are both solid choices. The Runes of Fate lore is very similar to the old Eldar spells from the 4th edition book, but with two new powers.
Warlocks are now very similar to Royal Courts. You buy them as one unit, and split them off. Some debate exists on whether you generate spells before or after splitting them up. There is also an absurdity where a jetbike warlock splitting off counts as being an infantry unit. I expect that to be errataed.
Swooping hawks became better. Their guns became marginely better and they became a bit cheaper. In fact, most of the improved units, are improved by virtue of being cheaper. Shining Spears, Guardian Jetbikes and Wraithguard also feature in this section.
All shurikan weapons got a kind of false rending. Guardians got a boost on WS and BS. Still got pistol ranged rifles. Not sold. Their heavy weapons became cheaper though and they can take more than one in a unit.
They have some nifty run/shoot or shoot/run option available to most of the living eldar units. Time will tell if this is a gimmick, game breaking, or more probably something in between. I suppose its kind of like having the jetpack rule, but better. Will need some games to decide if I like this. Dark Reapers can even use this.
Dark reapers can have the option for krak like missiles, but no skyfire, unless I misread something. Huge opportunity lost.
Exarches have similar upgrades and maybe better powers than before. Again, its something that will need to be played.
Scorpions claw is not a powerfist and doesnt strike last. With the exarch being able to up his strength on exarch powers, he will be quite good.
Eldrad can run and is the same toughness. Thats something I guess.
I think that is about it for improvements.
Downsides, where do I begin?
Avatar, is a whole bunch more expensive, gains a wound, reduces his invulnerable save to the daemons standard. Oh and he can buy options.
Phoenix Lords. Terribly over priced. Pretty much across the board. They are all the wrong side of 200 points.
Guardians. Yes they are better. No they are still not very good. Same price as Tau fire warriors despite being considerably worse.
Guardian defenders. An even worse unit than they used to be. Can for some unusual reason take two with power swords, but no champion.
Dire avengers are more expensive, probably due to the false rending ability. They may be possibly acceptable, but they are only one point cheaper than a dark angel tactical marine.
Banshees are utterly lame. Mask has been nerfed into a slaanesh like reduce the enemy initiative ability.
Mandi blasters are now basically the same as hammer of wrath in every round. Not as good as before.
Reaper exarch lost his ultimate killing ability with the tempest launcher and crack shot, unless I am missing something.
Fire dragons went up in points, by a fair amount and gained slightly better saves.
Thats it for now. Please find the other articles written on this subject below;
6th Edition Eldar in more Detail
6th Edition Eldar the good units
6th Edition Eldar Swooping Hawks
6th Edition Eldar Warp Spiders
6th Edition Eldar Shining Spears
6th Edition Eldar Avatar
Can Howling Banshees be competative?
To Exarch or not?
Now, lets start with the good. Farseers and the new Spirit Seers are both solid choices. The Runes of Fate lore is very similar to the old Eldar spells from the 4th edition book, but with two new powers.
Warlocks are now very similar to Royal Courts. You buy them as one unit, and split them off. Some debate exists on whether you generate spells before or after splitting them up. There is also an absurdity where a jetbike warlock splitting off counts as being an infantry unit. I expect that to be errataed.
Swooping hawks became better. Their guns became marginely better and they became a bit cheaper. In fact, most of the improved units, are improved by virtue of being cheaper. Shining Spears, Guardian Jetbikes and Wraithguard also feature in this section.
All shurikan weapons got a kind of false rending. Guardians got a boost on WS and BS. Still got pistol ranged rifles. Not sold. Their heavy weapons became cheaper though and they can take more than one in a unit.
They have some nifty run/shoot or shoot/run option available to most of the living eldar units. Time will tell if this is a gimmick, game breaking, or more probably something in between. I suppose its kind of like having the jetpack rule, but better. Will need some games to decide if I like this. Dark Reapers can even use this.
Dark reapers can have the option for krak like missiles, but no skyfire, unless I misread something. Huge opportunity lost.
Exarches have similar upgrades and maybe better powers than before. Again, its something that will need to be played.
Scorpions claw is not a powerfist and doesnt strike last. With the exarch being able to up his strength on exarch powers, he will be quite good.
Eldrad can run and is the same toughness. Thats something I guess.
I think that is about it for improvements.
Downsides, where do I begin?
Avatar, is a whole bunch more expensive, gains a wound, reduces his invulnerable save to the daemons standard. Oh and he can buy options.
Phoenix Lords. Terribly over priced. Pretty much across the board. They are all the wrong side of 200 points.
Guardians. Yes they are better. No they are still not very good. Same price as Tau fire warriors despite being considerably worse.
Guardian defenders. An even worse unit than they used to be. Can for some unusual reason take two with power swords, but no champion.
Dire avengers are more expensive, probably due to the false rending ability. They may be possibly acceptable, but they are only one point cheaper than a dark angel tactical marine.
Banshees are utterly lame. Mask has been nerfed into a slaanesh like reduce the enemy initiative ability.
Mandi blasters are now basically the same as hammer of wrath in every round. Not as good as before.
Reaper exarch lost his ultimate killing ability with the tempest launcher and crack shot, unless I am missing something.
Fire dragons went up in points, by a fair amount and gained slightly better saves.
Thats it for now. Please find the other articles written on this subject below;
6th Edition Eldar in more Detail
6th Edition Eldar the good units
6th Edition Eldar Swooping Hawks
6th Edition Eldar Warp Spiders
6th Edition Eldar Shining Spears
6th Edition Eldar Avatar
Can Howling Banshees be competative?
To Exarch or not?
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