So the new codex comes out and there have been very few changes to the heavy weapons in the Eldar codex. Or have there?
In the last edition, the Scatter Laser was king. With laser lock the others rarely got a look in. However times change, laser lock has been resigned to the bin of history and so everyone gets to have another chance. In this article I will compare the Scatter Laser (SL) with both the Shuriken Cannon (ShC) and the Starcannon (StC).
The reason for this article is that I read somewhere on a popular blog that there is no point in using starcannons because they are flat our inferior to scatter lasers still. I am not so sure that is the case, so lets run the numbers shall we? I will take several basic statlines and compare the damage each weapon does against them. We will use GEQ, MEQ and finally TEQs.
GEQ - Toughness 3 5+ saves
SL 4 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, saves on 5s. 1.49 kills
ShC 3 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, no saves (bladestorm irrelevant here) 1.66 kills
StC 2 shots, hit on 2s, wound on 2s, no saves. 1.11 kills.
In a surprise to me at least, the Shuiken Cannon comes out on top here. Saving one in three wounds really hurts the Scatter lasers damage output. It will likely only get worse from here on out for the previous king.
MEQ - T4 3+ saves
SL 4 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, saves on 3s. 0.73 kills
ShC 3 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, saves on 3s (bladestorm kicks in) 0.64 kills
StC 2 shots, hit on 2s, wound on 2s, no saves. 1.11 kills
So unless my maths is wrong, the Starcannon is the best performer here. Against the most common, popular models in the game. Now obviously cover saves do matter, but that will only reduce the Starcannon to 0.74, still leaving it the strongest performer here.
TEQ - T4 2+/5++
SL 4 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, saves on 2s. 0.37 kills
ShC 3 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, saves on 2s (bladestorm kicks in) 0.46 kills
StC 2 shots, hit on 2s, wound on 2s, saves on 5++. 0.74 kills
As the armour improves, the Scatter laser really loses out. The only time the scatter laser may be the optimal weapon is against a target with an armour save of 6+ or worse. Outside of orks, I don't think there are a great many of those around.
Showing posts with label Eldar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eldar. Show all posts
Friday, 22 May 2015
Wednesday, 20 May 2015
7th Edition Eldar - Combining lethal formations
One particular combination I have found in the new Eldar codex is just plain lethal.
You take an Aspect host. This can be any three aspect warrior units and they all gain bonus ws or bs. This is really strong.
You can also take an Engines of Vaul formation, of three Falcons.
Combine these two together and you can create this;
6 Fire Dragons, inc exarch
6 Fire Dragons, inc exarch
6 Fire Dragons, inc exarch
3 Falcons
Put them together and you get a unit that deep strikes without scattering, delivering a massive amount of melta guns with pin point accuracy. Not many players would thank you for this.
You take an Aspect host. This can be any three aspect warrior units and they all gain bonus ws or bs. This is really strong.
You can also take an Engines of Vaul formation, of three Falcons.
Combine these two together and you can create this;
6 Fire Dragons, inc exarch
6 Fire Dragons, inc exarch
6 Fire Dragons, inc exarch
3 Falcons
Put them together and you get a unit that deep strikes without scattering, delivering a massive amount of melta guns with pin point accuracy. Not many players would thank you for this.
Thursday, 30 April 2015
7th Edition Eldar - Howling Banshees
I am not going to write a full codex review, or even cover most of the units, it only seems like five minutes ago I was doing that for 6th edition.
Howling Banshees have had a significant boost.
They now move an additional 3 inches while running or charging. Now running is okay I guess, but the boost to charging is tremendous.
They also now also ignore penalties to initiative while charging into cover. The exarch also prevents any overwatch being fired.
They have gone from being the worst unit in the codex, to pretty good now. Still struggle to wound anything really tough though and will bounce off anything with a 2+ save.
Howling Banshees have had a significant boost.
They now move an additional 3 inches while running or charging. Now running is okay I guess, but the boost to charging is tremendous.
They also now also ignore penalties to initiative while charging into cover. The exarch also prevents any overwatch being fired.
They have gone from being the worst unit in the codex, to pretty good now. Still struggle to wound anything really tough though and will bounce off anything with a 2+ save.
Wednesday, 29 April 2015
7th Edition Eldar - First Impressions - The internet panics
7th Edition Eldar - First impressions
Before I start, I will admit I play eldar. I have for twenty years, so I have seen quite few codexes come and go.
I have seen a lot of panic on the internet about how broken things are in this new book. But this essentially boils down to two things. Spamming list entries and tourney play. I do neither, so I personally don't like to be tarred with that brush.
Games Workshop has said MANY times that their game is not designed with competitive play in mind. It is beer and pretzels type gaming. You may disagree with this all you like, but that is the fact.
There are, as far as I can tell only a small number of issues which people have with the eldar book.
Number 1. Scatter bikers. Every single jetbike can now take either a shuricannon or a scatter laser. I have to admit, this seems a no brainer. There is a lot of fear about people spamming these, but it is fairly expensive to do, with the specialised FOC chart in the new book. In casual play, taking a squad or two and limiting heavy weapons is more than fine. You probably want some ablative wounds anyway, as if ap3 ignore cover weapons come your way, then the squads going to lose a lot of models. New good rules for new models, has been a thing for quite a while now.
Number 2. Wraithknight. Hes now a jump gargantuan creature armed with two D guns. He is also pretty cheap in terms of points.
Number 3. Ranged D guns on pretty much all wraith units. I don't personally see the big deal here, most of these were s10 before, and never seemed all that great with them being a single shot, short ranged and no blast. The D-flamers got a buff, but they can't instant death and suffer a penalty on the D chart.
Apart from that, there have been debuffs. Serpents shields been nerfed quite heavily, although I think we all expected that. Exarchs lost a lot of customisation options, as did the Avatar.
I dont think the Autarch is any better. Certainly I wont be taking one.
Guardians are a bit naff still. And unless you spam scatter bikers, you are taking some.
Free flak missiles as well as two wounds on the exarchs are welcome.
Before I start, I will admit I play eldar. I have for twenty years, so I have seen quite few codexes come and go.
I have seen a lot of panic on the internet about how broken things are in this new book. But this essentially boils down to two things. Spamming list entries and tourney play. I do neither, so I personally don't like to be tarred with that brush.
Games Workshop has said MANY times that their game is not designed with competitive play in mind. It is beer and pretzels type gaming. You may disagree with this all you like, but that is the fact.
There are, as far as I can tell only a small number of issues which people have with the eldar book.
Number 1. Scatter bikers. Every single jetbike can now take either a shuricannon or a scatter laser. I have to admit, this seems a no brainer. There is a lot of fear about people spamming these, but it is fairly expensive to do, with the specialised FOC chart in the new book. In casual play, taking a squad or two and limiting heavy weapons is more than fine. You probably want some ablative wounds anyway, as if ap3 ignore cover weapons come your way, then the squads going to lose a lot of models. New good rules for new models, has been a thing for quite a while now.
Number 2. Wraithknight. Hes now a jump gargantuan creature armed with two D guns. He is also pretty cheap in terms of points.
Number 3. Ranged D guns on pretty much all wraith units. I don't personally see the big deal here, most of these were s10 before, and never seemed all that great with them being a single shot, short ranged and no blast. The D-flamers got a buff, but they can't instant death and suffer a penalty on the D chart.
Apart from that, there have been debuffs. Serpents shields been nerfed quite heavily, although I think we all expected that. Exarchs lost a lot of customisation options, as did the Avatar.
I dont think the Autarch is any better. Certainly I wont be taking one.
Guardians are a bit naff still. And unless you spam scatter bikers, you are taking some.
Free flak missiles as well as two wounds on the exarchs are welcome.
Tuesday, 28 January 2014
Wraithknight thoughts
So my attention has recently been turned towards the Eldar Wraithknight. One of my gaming group is consistently telling me I need to buy one. With the considerable price tag attached to this unit in both money and points, you need to ask and answer yourself a number of questions first.
1. Do my armies have 240-300+ points spare for a large monster with just two guns?
2. Will it synergise with my existing Eldar force?
3. Is it really better than taking two Wraithlords or Fire Prisms who cost half as much?
The first question is very important. How cruicial to the running of your army is having one or more of these creatures? I play a fairly wraith heavy eldar army and I have no spare points, never mind slots for this to take part.
Its firepower, while on the face of it impressive, is really not. If you think about it, the Wraithcannons are just a pair of longer ranged Wraithguard guns. So it has the firepower of two Wraithguard. Fielding this naked is the most points efficient, but should only be done if you really need two more long ranged anti tank guns. I am fairly certain Fireprisms work out a lot better choices, because they can fire blasts as well as a powerful lance shot from their main gun. Absolutely noone ever looks at the standard Landraider and goes "Wow, two twinlinked lascannons, thats a very powerful battle tank". They buy it for its dual nature as a heavily armoured transport with guns. This version of Wraithknight has roughly the same firepower, although it isn't twinlinked, nor can it fire any shoulder weapons, and can't transport either.
I would ignore the Sword/Shield entirely. Paying extra points, lose both my guns, gain a shield and a single rerolled miss in close combat. Really? I think not. I think this is the only chassis that would ever use both staggeringly over priced shoulder mounts though.
The third option, Suncannon/shield initially looks pretty viable. You get more or less 3 plasmacannon shots, without gets hot and at s6 not s7. So far so good. But the price is an eye wateringly high, when you buy the nigh on compulsary scatter laser. You also lose anti tank for a bunch of anti infantry shots. This is horribly inefficient compared to the Fire prism also. Do you really need more anti infantry fire? Eldar are full of them! Also, two Wraithlords with paired starcannons would throw down 8 shots between them, and can also have the sword.
Next up you need to check if it will synergise. It is a very unusual unit. It has very little firepower and its combat ability, while strong vs s3 or s4 units, it will fold like a soggy cardboard box in combat against something like Thunder Hammer terminators or anything armed with poison. It is reasonably tough against shooting, but even kitted out with a force field, its better to keep in cover than rely on that. Otherwise you could find a mere 6 krak missiles ending your day prematurely.
Thirdly you need to consider if other units can do its job better. First to consider is the Wraithlord. It is half as much and comes with half as many wounds. It doesn't however come with built in heavy weapons, so you will need to purchase them. Wraithlords are characters, so can challenge characters, unlike the wraith knight. Wraithlords are also considerably smaller and easier to hide in cover. Wraithknights are faster due to jump jets and can in theory deep strike, provided you want to risk it mishapping. It can't however be in two places at once, and its firepower is pretty much worse than a pair of Wraithlords who can have flamers and swords without penalty.
That is all well and good, but they seem to come out much the same as a pair of Wriathlords really. I think I would prefer two models over one big one, especially given theres not all that much difference between a brightlance and a wraithcannon, but each to their own.
No the biggest problem is the Fire Prism. This tank, for a lot less points, even with the compulsory holofields works out at least a hundred points cheaper and is faster, tough, and can engage both tanks and infantry with ease on the same chassis.
My conclusion from this piece is that the Wraithknight is not an ultra competitive choice. It may be in some builds, specifically Taudar or Eldau or wraithwing lists, that fielding three of them works out just fine for you. My issue is that their armour save is not all that ultra fantastic considering most weapons being aimed at it will bypass it entirely, and invulnerable saves are not brilliant on the two chassis which can have them. I mean how often do non stormshield terminators fail their saves? A lot!
1. Do my armies have 240-300+ points spare for a large monster with just two guns?
2. Will it synergise with my existing Eldar force?
3. Is it really better than taking two Wraithlords or Fire Prisms who cost half as much?
The first question is very important. How cruicial to the running of your army is having one or more of these creatures? I play a fairly wraith heavy eldar army and I have no spare points, never mind slots for this to take part.
Its firepower, while on the face of it impressive, is really not. If you think about it, the Wraithcannons are just a pair of longer ranged Wraithguard guns. So it has the firepower of two Wraithguard. Fielding this naked is the most points efficient, but should only be done if you really need two more long ranged anti tank guns. I am fairly certain Fireprisms work out a lot better choices, because they can fire blasts as well as a powerful lance shot from their main gun. Absolutely noone ever looks at the standard Landraider and goes "Wow, two twinlinked lascannons, thats a very powerful battle tank". They buy it for its dual nature as a heavily armoured transport with guns. This version of Wraithknight has roughly the same firepower, although it isn't twinlinked, nor can it fire any shoulder weapons, and can't transport either.
I would ignore the Sword/Shield entirely. Paying extra points, lose both my guns, gain a shield and a single rerolled miss in close combat. Really? I think not. I think this is the only chassis that would ever use both staggeringly over priced shoulder mounts though.
The third option, Suncannon/shield initially looks pretty viable. You get more or less 3 plasmacannon shots, without gets hot and at s6 not s7. So far so good. But the price is an eye wateringly high, when you buy the nigh on compulsary scatter laser. You also lose anti tank for a bunch of anti infantry shots. This is horribly inefficient compared to the Fire prism also. Do you really need more anti infantry fire? Eldar are full of them! Also, two Wraithlords with paired starcannons would throw down 8 shots between them, and can also have the sword.
Next up you need to check if it will synergise. It is a very unusual unit. It has very little firepower and its combat ability, while strong vs s3 or s4 units, it will fold like a soggy cardboard box in combat against something like Thunder Hammer terminators or anything armed with poison. It is reasonably tough against shooting, but even kitted out with a force field, its better to keep in cover than rely on that. Otherwise you could find a mere 6 krak missiles ending your day prematurely.
Thirdly you need to consider if other units can do its job better. First to consider is the Wraithlord. It is half as much and comes with half as many wounds. It doesn't however come with built in heavy weapons, so you will need to purchase them. Wraithlords are characters, so can challenge characters, unlike the wraith knight. Wraithlords are also considerably smaller and easier to hide in cover. Wraithknights are faster due to jump jets and can in theory deep strike, provided you want to risk it mishapping. It can't however be in two places at once, and its firepower is pretty much worse than a pair of Wraithlords who can have flamers and swords without penalty.
That is all well and good, but they seem to come out much the same as a pair of Wriathlords really. I think I would prefer two models over one big one, especially given theres not all that much difference between a brightlance and a wraithcannon, but each to their own.
No the biggest problem is the Fire Prism. This tank, for a lot less points, even with the compulsory holofields works out at least a hundred points cheaper and is faster, tough, and can engage both tanks and infantry with ease on the same chassis.
My conclusion from this piece is that the Wraithknight is not an ultra competitive choice. It may be in some builds, specifically Taudar or Eldau or wraithwing lists, that fielding three of them works out just fine for you. My issue is that their armour save is not all that ultra fantastic considering most weapons being aimed at it will bypass it entirely, and invulnerable saves are not brilliant on the two chassis which can have them. I mean how often do non stormshield terminators fail their saves? A lot!
Monday, 27 January 2014
Asurman and Dire Avengers. Why my opinion has changed
Anyone reading this blog for a long time will no doubt be laughing at the amount of backtracks I have made on actually using units, as opposed to just reading about them. This is another such article.
Despite much trepidation I have been using both Dire Avengers, and Asurman in my lists. Both seem over priced for what they do, yet in using them, I have won more games.
In football management terms, sometimes you can have a player in your team, who doesn't appear to do a great deal, but his inclusion means you have more wins, so you keep including him without knowing why.
This is the case with my Dire Avengers. Everything about them screams over priced to me. Yet they consistently do a job and do it well. Perhaps its because I don't waste points on Exarchs and just field units of 8 normal warriors. At the moment I don't really know, but I am endeavouring to find out.
Asurman on the other hand is solid as a rock. This is the reason he is my Warlord. He has worse shooting than half the other Phoenix Lords, and worse combat than pretty much all of the Phoenix lords, but is one of the most expensive.
The key to using him is to understand his Warlord trait ability. D3 Warlord traits. What you are hoping to roll is number 4. This allows him to reroll his armour save. A 2+ rerollable save, with eternal warrior and a 4++ invulnerable save rerolling 1s is insanely strong. Small arms fire will bounce off him 35/36 times he is wounded which makes killing him virtually impossible outside of ap2 fire.
Stand at the front of the unit he is in, and tank everything. You can look out sir any Ap2 hits and even if you fail, you are eternal warrior so its not the end of the world if a railgun hits you in the face. In the event you don't get the Warlord trait you want, you can always hope you get Fortune. You do have a farseer right?
His shooting attacks are pretty lame. A pair of catapults making them twinlinked isn't really all that, considering his high bs of 7 would have made it kind of twinlinked anyway.
Get him into combat however and he shines. His special Diresword makes him S5 AP2 striking on initative with a boat load of attacks. He can and will carve through anything without a decent save, and if they have poor leadership, he will do an even more damage when they fail their leadership tests. This special ability even bypasses eternal warrior!
Despite much trepidation I have been using both Dire Avengers, and Asurman in my lists. Both seem over priced for what they do, yet in using them, I have won more games.
In football management terms, sometimes you can have a player in your team, who doesn't appear to do a great deal, but his inclusion means you have more wins, so you keep including him without knowing why.
This is the case with my Dire Avengers. Everything about them screams over priced to me. Yet they consistently do a job and do it well. Perhaps its because I don't waste points on Exarchs and just field units of 8 normal warriors. At the moment I don't really know, but I am endeavouring to find out.
Asurman on the other hand is solid as a rock. This is the reason he is my Warlord. He has worse shooting than half the other Phoenix Lords, and worse combat than pretty much all of the Phoenix lords, but is one of the most expensive.
The key to using him is to understand his Warlord trait ability. D3 Warlord traits. What you are hoping to roll is number 4. This allows him to reroll his armour save. A 2+ rerollable save, with eternal warrior and a 4++ invulnerable save rerolling 1s is insanely strong. Small arms fire will bounce off him 35/36 times he is wounded which makes killing him virtually impossible outside of ap2 fire.
Stand at the front of the unit he is in, and tank everything. You can look out sir any Ap2 hits and even if you fail, you are eternal warrior so its not the end of the world if a railgun hits you in the face. In the event you don't get the Warlord trait you want, you can always hope you get Fortune. You do have a farseer right?
His shooting attacks are pretty lame. A pair of catapults making them twinlinked isn't really all that, considering his high bs of 7 would have made it kind of twinlinked anyway.
Get him into combat however and he shines. His special Diresword makes him S5 AP2 striking on initative with a boat load of attacks. He can and will carve through anything without a decent save, and if they have poor leadership, he will do an even more damage when they fail their leadership tests. This special ability even bypasses eternal warrior!
Friday, 27 September 2013
To Exarch or not
The question is, should you take an Exarch in your aspect warriors?
This is actually more of a difficult question than it seems. Not all Aspect warriors benefit as much from their Exarch as others.
The key is to look at the skills the bring along in the form of warrior powers. Some Exarchs are nailed on essential in even a 5 man squad, while others are only useful in bigger units. Remember Exarchs are your Sgts and Special weapons guys rolled into 1.
In my opinion Striking Scorpions, Howling Banshees and Shining Spears should always, always include an exarch, even in minimum sized squads. The reason for this is that Exarchs have strictly superior weapons and statistics to their squad, and the cost to upgrade them is more than reasonable considering you get better WS and BS as well as access to much more powerful close combat weapons. Always take Scorpions Claw, Executioner and Star Lances.
Swooping Hawks really don't get much mileage out of their Exarch. Their special guns really are not all that great, and neither are their abilities. I suppose you can attempt to blind someone, but I would rather just field 6 for the large blast and leave it there.
Warp Spiders maybe want an Exarch, but only if you want to use him with the Spinneret Rifle and maybe Power Blades. Against certain armies he turns the unit into a reasonable melee threat.
Crimson Hunters should always be Exarchs. Better BS, can snipe characters, weapon options. All very worthwhile.
Fire Dragons it depends. I always take one with a Firepike with fast shot, as his damage output is greater than two normal dragons this way. The Heavy Flamer wastes his exceptional BS to give some decent anti infantry firepower, but I suppose he can man a quad gun or something. That said, the unit doing its primary objective of wasting tanks, don't actually need an Exarch.
Dark Reapers. Again it depends, as a small squad of three is quite lethal vs marines and the Exarch pays all kinds of extortionate taxes on his upgrades. But the Exarch adds flexibility. With my favourite heavy weapon in the entire game in the Tempest Launcher, I always include him. Fast shot is a must.
Dire Avengers. Leaving the worst until last. Their Exarch varies between being completely pointless and quite decent. I would only ever include him if you have already got a full sized squad of Avengers, and then I would always give him the Power Weapon and Shimmer Shield combo to boost the entire unit. He really doesn't have the statistics to go around assassinating multiple wound characters with a Diresword, a twin linked catapult is laughable compared to what it was in 4th edition and sword and pistol really doesn't make the squad a valid combat threat.
Now you might be wondering why I say the power blade option on the Warp Spider Exarch is a good idea, but the power weapon pistol combo on the Dire Avenger isn't. The reason is the Warp spider keeps his considerably decent gun, and doesn't have a pistol. He is also more liable to survive combat due to his better speed, and has hit and run.
This is actually more of a difficult question than it seems. Not all Aspect warriors benefit as much from their Exarch as others.
The key is to look at the skills the bring along in the form of warrior powers. Some Exarchs are nailed on essential in even a 5 man squad, while others are only useful in bigger units. Remember Exarchs are your Sgts and Special weapons guys rolled into 1.
In my opinion Striking Scorpions, Howling Banshees and Shining Spears should always, always include an exarch, even in minimum sized squads. The reason for this is that Exarchs have strictly superior weapons and statistics to their squad, and the cost to upgrade them is more than reasonable considering you get better WS and BS as well as access to much more powerful close combat weapons. Always take Scorpions Claw, Executioner and Star Lances.
Swooping Hawks really don't get much mileage out of their Exarch. Their special guns really are not all that great, and neither are their abilities. I suppose you can attempt to blind someone, but I would rather just field 6 for the large blast and leave it there.
Warp Spiders maybe want an Exarch, but only if you want to use him with the Spinneret Rifle and maybe Power Blades. Against certain armies he turns the unit into a reasonable melee threat.
Crimson Hunters should always be Exarchs. Better BS, can snipe characters, weapon options. All very worthwhile.
Fire Dragons it depends. I always take one with a Firepike with fast shot, as his damage output is greater than two normal dragons this way. The Heavy Flamer wastes his exceptional BS to give some decent anti infantry firepower, but I suppose he can man a quad gun or something. That said, the unit doing its primary objective of wasting tanks, don't actually need an Exarch.
Dark Reapers. Again it depends, as a small squad of three is quite lethal vs marines and the Exarch pays all kinds of extortionate taxes on his upgrades. But the Exarch adds flexibility. With my favourite heavy weapon in the entire game in the Tempest Launcher, I always include him. Fast shot is a must.
Dire Avengers. Leaving the worst until last. Their Exarch varies between being completely pointless and quite decent. I would only ever include him if you have already got a full sized squad of Avengers, and then I would always give him the Power Weapon and Shimmer Shield combo to boost the entire unit. He really doesn't have the statistics to go around assassinating multiple wound characters with a Diresword, a twin linked catapult is laughable compared to what it was in 4th edition and sword and pistol really doesn't make the squad a valid combat threat.
Now you might be wondering why I say the power blade option on the Warp Spider Exarch is a good idea, but the power weapon pistol combo on the Dire Avenger isn't. The reason is the Warp spider keeps his considerably decent gun, and doesn't have a pistol. He is also more liable to survive combat due to his better speed, and has hit and run.
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Howling Banshees, can they be competitive in an Eldar list?
Howling Banshees. Can they be a competitive choice in an Eldar list?
They are the unit which has virtually no love in the new book. This article is going to compare them to units they compete against, within their own codex. Specifically Striking Scorpions and Wraithblades. All third units occupy the Elites slot, with Wraithblades having the ability to move into troops with a Spirit Seer. Origonally I had included harlequins in this but they pretty much came last on everything.
For the sake of simplicity, we will take a ten man unit of each aspect and 5 wraithblades since they are quite similar on points.
10 Howling banshees
5 Wraithblades
10 Striking scorpions
These will be tested against MEQs, tau firewarriors and GEQs. We are only including the melee ability of these units, not their shooting ability. The reason being that all the units except Wraithblades have exactly the same BS and pistol weapon making this point redundant.
Fighting vs 10 GEQs
So, one of the more common match ups is against space marines.
Eldar Charge
Guardsmen stand and shoot. They kill on average;
0.835 Banshees
0.184 Wraithblades
0.551 Scorpions
So Banshees are bottom for taking damage. Lets assume that they all make it into combat though.
All of the eldar units strike before the guardsmen. Banshee mask therefore contributes nothing to this combat.
Banshees kill 10.05 guardsmen leaving none to strike back.
Wraithblades kill 8.34 guardsmen leaving two to strike back.
Scorpions kill 3.35 with mandiblasters, and 9.023 with normal attacks, leaving none to strike back.
They all mop up guardsmen with ease, except the wraithblades. Taking points into consideration, Banshees are cheaper than the other two, but kill 10 models all the same. Banshees may win this round.
Fighting vs Firewarriors
This may be seen as quite an unusual choice of unit, but tau are increasingly common in games and fire warriors are perhaps the most points efficient troops choice in the entire game. While pre 6th edition many players had never seen a tau army, they are everywhere like a bad smell these days.
Eldar charge
Tau Firewarriors stand and shoot. They kill on average;
2.78 Banshees!
0.363 Wraithblades
0.92 Scorpions
That is really, really bad for Banshees. Nearly 3 die on average charging just ten fire warriors. Assuming some kind of miracle, and everyong makes it into combat, this is what happens.
Banshees kill 10.5 Firewarriors, leaving none to strike back.
Wraithblades kill 8.34 Firewarriors, leaving two to strike back.
Scorpions kill 2.5 with mandiblasters, and 6.734 leaving one to strike back.
Banshees out perform scorpions here. Power swords make short work of the reasonably good tau armour, where scorpions struggle somewhat. Wraithblades are consistent but don't kill a lot. Still I expect them to wade through the remaining tau in the second turn with no losses.
Finally we will look at Fighting vs Marines
Still the most common unit type on the table, we need to consider how effective each type of eldar is against the humble tactical space marine.
Eldar charge
Marines stand and shoot. They kill on average;
1.19 Banshees
0.184 Wraithblades
0.746 Scorpions
Again, the Banshees do badly here taking more damage. Their lower armour is really hurting them. Assuming they all make it over to combat, again, highly unlikely and we will run the numbers.
Banshees kill 4.95 marines, before the marines swing. Not good for a unit designed to kill marines.
Wraithblades kill 6.225 marines before they swing. They are super consistent vs any unit.
Scorpions kill 2.21 with mandiblasters and 2.475 with attacks.
None of them kill ten marines.
Conclusion.
Which is best? Well in all honesty there is not much to pick between Scorpions and Wraithblades. Banshees die far too easily to be considered. If I had taken their deaths into account on the maths, they would have come consistently bottom, and that is without factoring in any turns of shooting they may suffer on the way in.
They are the unit which has virtually no love in the new book. This article is going to compare them to units they compete against, within their own codex. Specifically Striking Scorpions and Wraithblades. All third units occupy the Elites slot, with Wraithblades having the ability to move into troops with a Spirit Seer. Origonally I had included harlequins in this but they pretty much came last on everything.
For the sake of simplicity, we will take a ten man unit of each aspect and 5 wraithblades since they are quite similar on points.
10 Howling banshees
5 Wraithblades
10 Striking scorpions
These will be tested against MEQs, tau firewarriors and GEQs. We are only including the melee ability of these units, not their shooting ability. The reason being that all the units except Wraithblades have exactly the same BS and pistol weapon making this point redundant.
Fighting vs 10 GEQs
So, one of the more common match ups is against space marines.
Eldar Charge
Guardsmen stand and shoot. They kill on average;
0.835 Banshees
0.184 Wraithblades
0.551 Scorpions
So Banshees are bottom for taking damage. Lets assume that they all make it into combat though.
All of the eldar units strike before the guardsmen. Banshee mask therefore contributes nothing to this combat.
Banshees kill 10.05 guardsmen leaving none to strike back.
Wraithblades kill 8.34 guardsmen leaving two to strike back.
Scorpions kill 3.35 with mandiblasters, and 9.023 with normal attacks, leaving none to strike back.
They all mop up guardsmen with ease, except the wraithblades. Taking points into consideration, Banshees are cheaper than the other two, but kill 10 models all the same. Banshees may win this round.
Fighting vs Firewarriors
This may be seen as quite an unusual choice of unit, but tau are increasingly common in games and fire warriors are perhaps the most points efficient troops choice in the entire game. While pre 6th edition many players had never seen a tau army, they are everywhere like a bad smell these days.
Eldar charge
Tau Firewarriors stand and shoot. They kill on average;
2.78 Banshees!
0.363 Wraithblades
0.92 Scorpions
That is really, really bad for Banshees. Nearly 3 die on average charging just ten fire warriors. Assuming some kind of miracle, and everyong makes it into combat, this is what happens.
Banshees kill 10.5 Firewarriors, leaving none to strike back.
Wraithblades kill 8.34 Firewarriors, leaving two to strike back.
Scorpions kill 2.5 with mandiblasters, and 6.734 leaving one to strike back.
Banshees out perform scorpions here. Power swords make short work of the reasonably good tau armour, where scorpions struggle somewhat. Wraithblades are consistent but don't kill a lot. Still I expect them to wade through the remaining tau in the second turn with no losses.
Finally we will look at Fighting vs Marines
Still the most common unit type on the table, we need to consider how effective each type of eldar is against the humble tactical space marine.
Eldar charge
Marines stand and shoot. They kill on average;
1.19 Banshees
0.184 Wraithblades
0.746 Scorpions
Again, the Banshees do badly here taking more damage. Their lower armour is really hurting them. Assuming they all make it over to combat, again, highly unlikely and we will run the numbers.
Banshees kill 4.95 marines, before the marines swing. Not good for a unit designed to kill marines.
Wraithblades kill 6.225 marines before they swing. They are super consistent vs any unit.
Scorpions kill 2.21 with mandiblasters and 2.475 with attacks.
None of them kill ten marines.
Conclusion.
Which is best? Well in all honesty there is not much to pick between Scorpions and Wraithblades. Banshees die far too easily to be considered. If I had taken their deaths into account on the maths, they would have come consistently bottom, and that is without factoring in any turns of shooting they may suffer on the way in.
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
Eldar Codex Review: The Avatar
The first none aspect warrior unit I am reviewing is the Eldar Avatar.
Anyone familiar with Avatars knows it traditionally comes with certain rules. You know, Molten Body, Wailing Doom, Daemon etc.
Predictably, it still comes with these. No sign of the "Court of the Young king" unit that I saw posted on various rumours websites. Perhaps these will come out with a Biel Tan expansion.
So what changes does it have over a 4th edition Avatar. I am sure this is why you are all here.
Well it has a good stat line. Four stats hit 10, and I bet you can guess which ones they are! It lost a point of invulnerable save and gained a wound, which is exactly in line with what Chaos Greater Daemons have in terms of protection.
It is very similar to a Bloodthirster, but considerably cheaper. However it can't fly. It does however have Battle Focus and a fearless bubble making it an ideal focal point for assault based armies.
You can interestingly buy it Exarch powers. I think Fast Shot is a good buy here to fire Wailing Doom twice. For the second power you will maybe find a few different combinations working. Monster Hunter and Disarming Strike could be plain nasty! Crushing Blow looks fairly pointless on an Avatar to me.
The only real kicker with the Avatar is it seems to have gone up in points by around 33% for a base model. When you start factoring in upgrades in Exarch Powers it is approaching Land Raider and Bloodthirster costs.
Anyone familiar with Avatars knows it traditionally comes with certain rules. You know, Molten Body, Wailing Doom, Daemon etc.
Predictably, it still comes with these. No sign of the "Court of the Young king" unit that I saw posted on various rumours websites. Perhaps these will come out with a Biel Tan expansion.
So what changes does it have over a 4th edition Avatar. I am sure this is why you are all here.
Well it has a good stat line. Four stats hit 10, and I bet you can guess which ones they are! It lost a point of invulnerable save and gained a wound, which is exactly in line with what Chaos Greater Daemons have in terms of protection.
It is very similar to a Bloodthirster, but considerably cheaper. However it can't fly. It does however have Battle Focus and a fearless bubble making it an ideal focal point for assault based armies.
You can interestingly buy it Exarch powers. I think Fast Shot is a good buy here to fire Wailing Doom twice. For the second power you will maybe find a few different combinations working. Monster Hunter and Disarming Strike could be plain nasty! Crushing Blow looks fairly pointless on an Avatar to me.
The only real kicker with the Avatar is it seems to have gone up in points by around 33% for a base model. When you start factoring in upgrades in Exarch Powers it is approaching Land Raider and Bloodthirster costs.
Monday, 1 July 2013
Eldar Codex Review: Shining Spears
The third of the fast attack aspect warriors I am reviewing are Shining Spears.
As I mentioned in other articles, they have dropped quite a few points. Perhaps not as many as I had initially claimed, but they are around 60% of their previous points cost. They also do not seem to have changed at all in their abilities.
You may around 7 points a model on top of a jetbike and you get an aspect warrior with the same gun, same save, and same BS as a guardian. So far, nothing impressive.
You also get the laser lance and skilled rider. Skilled rider improves your units cover save, which is always a good thing.
Laser lances are as far as I can tell exactly the same as before. They are good on a charge against anything not in terminator armour. They are pretty dire should they not get to charge or get stuck in combat. They can still shoot.
So you want an Exarch. He wants hit and run. He might even want a Star Lance, which turns him into a credible anti tank threat and should make short work of most walkers in close combat with it.
Oddly in the Iyanden expansion, it mentions there is a Phoenix lord of the Shining Spears, but that hes gone missing. I am a bit disappointed that none of the "new" aspects, such as Spears, Spiders and Crimson Hunters get a Phoenix Lord.
As I mentioned in other articles, they have dropped quite a few points. Perhaps not as many as I had initially claimed, but they are around 60% of their previous points cost. They also do not seem to have changed at all in their abilities.
You may around 7 points a model on top of a jetbike and you get an aspect warrior with the same gun, same save, and same BS as a guardian. So far, nothing impressive.
You also get the laser lance and skilled rider. Skilled rider improves your units cover save, which is always a good thing.
Laser lances are as far as I can tell exactly the same as before. They are good on a charge against anything not in terminator armour. They are pretty dire should they not get to charge or get stuck in combat. They can still shoot.
So you want an Exarch. He wants hit and run. He might even want a Star Lance, which turns him into a credible anti tank threat and should make short work of most walkers in close combat with it.
Oddly in the Iyanden expansion, it mentions there is a Phoenix lord of the Shining Spears, but that hes gone missing. I am a bit disappointed that none of the "new" aspects, such as Spears, Spiders and Crimson Hunters get a Phoenix Lord.
Saturday, 22 June 2013
Eldar Codex Review: Warp Spiders
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.
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.
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.
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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