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 Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Friday, 22 May 2015
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.
Wednesday, 1 April 2015
Destiny - Warlock
So this is my first class specific review on Destiny. My main character for the majority of the game, the warlock is the balanced class in my experience.
The warlock currently comes in two flavours. Voidwalker and Sunsinger.
When you start the game, until you get a character to level 15, you can only use a Voidwalker.
Voidwalker
Pros: This is a strong solo class with some decent grenades in Axion bolts and vortex grenades, and its super is absolutely lethal with a lot more customisation to it than other classes supers. I personally prefer having huge blasts with vortex so it remains in play for a lot longer, but others prefer lance which fires it straight forwards or shatter which gives you three smaller blasts. A strong choice in pvp where the big blasts can wipe out entire teams of enemies. As a warlock, your grenades don't harm you, so you can throw them around without too much worry.
Cons: In terms of defence, and overall game play, this class just seems lacking compared to the Sunsinger. With no ability to get an overshield, you can get healing via energy drain, but it doesn't seem very practical in the higher end missions. Like all of the initial classes, this class doesn't really contribute a great deal to team play in the nightfall or raids so you rarely see them at the top level.
Sunsinger
Pros: This class is all about two things. Being able to self ressurect and control choke points with grenades. The super allows you to chuck a bucket load of grenades in a short period of time which can be really handy. Coming back to life helps no end with the raids, and nightfalls where dying is often fatal. This class is an insurance policy to ensure you complete the harder missions.
Cons: The super lacks punch. In pvp you need to use tactics to make the most of this class, but it is considerably easier to switch out to Void walker. In lower end missions where you are a couple of levels or higher than the mission, or on general patrols, then this class just feels lacking compared to the Voidwalker. There are a lot less combinations available to max out a particular build style compared to Voidwalkers too. Essentially you pick one of the three (all pretty good) grenades, and ensure you can resurect. The rest doesn't really do much to determine your play style compared to the quite drastic changes that the Voidwalker can do with his.
Conclusion
For me, it is all about the Sunsinger. Actually completing missions is more important to me than being the main man in damage dealing. The Sunsinger trades the ability to do a huge explosion for being better balanced overall. The voidwalker however is a very fun class to play and would suit someone who is more aggressively minded in their play style and assuming the other players in their party can cover the lack of a Sunsinger then it is good to go. In overall terms, both of the Warlock classes seem to be fairly similar. Certainly closer together than the two Titans and Hunters appear to be.
The warlock currently comes in two flavours. Voidwalker and Sunsinger.
When you start the game, until you get a character to level 15, you can only use a Voidwalker.
Voidwalker
Pros: This is a strong solo class with some decent grenades in Axion bolts and vortex grenades, and its super is absolutely lethal with a lot more customisation to it than other classes supers. I personally prefer having huge blasts with vortex so it remains in play for a lot longer, but others prefer lance which fires it straight forwards or shatter which gives you three smaller blasts. A strong choice in pvp where the big blasts can wipe out entire teams of enemies. As a warlock, your grenades don't harm you, so you can throw them around without too much worry.
Cons: In terms of defence, and overall game play, this class just seems lacking compared to the Sunsinger. With no ability to get an overshield, you can get healing via energy drain, but it doesn't seem very practical in the higher end missions. Like all of the initial classes, this class doesn't really contribute a great deal to team play in the nightfall or raids so you rarely see them at the top level.
Sunsinger
Pros: This class is all about two things. Being able to self ressurect and control choke points with grenades. The super allows you to chuck a bucket load of grenades in a short period of time which can be really handy. Coming back to life helps no end with the raids, and nightfalls where dying is often fatal. This class is an insurance policy to ensure you complete the harder missions.
Cons: The super lacks punch. In pvp you need to use tactics to make the most of this class, but it is considerably easier to switch out to Void walker. In lower end missions where you are a couple of levels or higher than the mission, or on general patrols, then this class just feels lacking compared to the Voidwalker. There are a lot less combinations available to max out a particular build style compared to Voidwalkers too. Essentially you pick one of the three (all pretty good) grenades, and ensure you can resurect. The rest doesn't really do much to determine your play style compared to the quite drastic changes that the Voidwalker can do with his.
Conclusion
For me, it is all about the Sunsinger. Actually completing missions is more important to me than being the main man in damage dealing. The Sunsinger trades the ability to do a huge explosion for being better balanced overall. The voidwalker however is a very fun class to play and would suit someone who is more aggressively minded in their play style and assuming the other players in their party can cover the lack of a Sunsinger then it is good to go. In overall terms, both of the Warlock classes seem to be fairly similar. Certainly closer together than the two Titans and Hunters appear to be.
Tuesday, 15 July 2014
7th Edition. Is it really 6.5?
So after a fairly long hiatus, I have finally got around to looking at the 7th edition rules.
I have to say, I am not really impressed. For a rough estimate, I would suggest around 95% of the core rules and around 99% of special and weapon rules have stayed the same. For the price of the books I expected more.
Which brings me to the books. There is a big rule book, a background book and a sort of painting book.
The painting book has mostly big photos of models with no real explanation on how they were painted. There is a heavy emphasis on Ultramarines and not much on other factions and something that may possibly be classed as tactics, but it really doesn't come across that way in reading it. I could quite happily have never seen this book, never mind paid actual money for it. If it had shown a few more gamers armies, or shown how to do some of the painted models, or painting methods, then I would have been much more impressed.
The background book is a rehash of what has been said in previous publications. I couldn't actually see anything new in this whole book. While I am sure it is of some value to new gamers, to someone who has been playing for near twenty years, its not very much use to me. The specific sections on different factions is covered in much better details in their own codexes.
Now those books have been dealt with, back to the rules. The rules are really just 6th edition with a couple of changes. This isn't a bad thing as 6th was a solid set of rules.
Big changes, as far as I can tell are as follows;
Psychic phase. It looks like initially a small nerf in the volume of powers cast, although certain armies will see a boost I think. Its quite similar to the old fashioned dice pools for casting from fantasy. Its early to say for sure, but focused witchfires actually look usable now, which is a nice change. There doesn't appear to be an upper limit on how many dice you use to cast either. This means you can throw all your dice at a spell you really want. I also like how you get the primaris power for free if you pick all your powers from the same deck. Overall this is an improvement.
Shooting phase. There has been a fairly interesting change. You now roll all the weapons of one type, then resolve the effects before rolling the next set. This will slow games down, but provides a tactical choice to the game in trying to stack melta hits on characters when the fodder is hosed down in front of him with lesser weapons. I like this.
Charge ranges: Has stayed the same, but with small changes. Now difficult terrain reduces the charge by a set distance. Makes it a bit more predictable. I think this is good too.
Vehicle damage: It is now no longer possible to blow up a vehicle in one hit with an Ap3 or worse weapon. This makes vehicles across the board tougher and thus more desirable. Except oddly landraiders, and other 14 all round vehicles, which were virtually impervious to these lower damage weapons in the first place. I am unsure how much of an effect this will have, except armour 10 vehicles become considerably tougher.
Lords of war are now included in the Force Organisation Chart.
New missions are far more dynamic, allowing armies built around speed and reaction to do well, where as static armies may struggle.
Overall my impressions are that 7th is a positive step forwards. I can't think of any changes that have been for the worse, but it does strike me as more 6.5 than a new version of the rules.
I have to say, I am not really impressed. For a rough estimate, I would suggest around 95% of the core rules and around 99% of special and weapon rules have stayed the same. For the price of the books I expected more.
Which brings me to the books. There is a big rule book, a background book and a sort of painting book.
The painting book has mostly big photos of models with no real explanation on how they were painted. There is a heavy emphasis on Ultramarines and not much on other factions and something that may possibly be classed as tactics, but it really doesn't come across that way in reading it. I could quite happily have never seen this book, never mind paid actual money for it. If it had shown a few more gamers armies, or shown how to do some of the painted models, or painting methods, then I would have been much more impressed.
The background book is a rehash of what has been said in previous publications. I couldn't actually see anything new in this whole book. While I am sure it is of some value to new gamers, to someone who has been playing for near twenty years, its not very much use to me. The specific sections on different factions is covered in much better details in their own codexes.
Now those books have been dealt with, back to the rules. The rules are really just 6th edition with a couple of changes. This isn't a bad thing as 6th was a solid set of rules.
Big changes, as far as I can tell are as follows;
Psychic phase. It looks like initially a small nerf in the volume of powers cast, although certain armies will see a boost I think. Its quite similar to the old fashioned dice pools for casting from fantasy. Its early to say for sure, but focused witchfires actually look usable now, which is a nice change. There doesn't appear to be an upper limit on how many dice you use to cast either. This means you can throw all your dice at a spell you really want. I also like how you get the primaris power for free if you pick all your powers from the same deck. Overall this is an improvement.
Shooting phase. There has been a fairly interesting change. You now roll all the weapons of one type, then resolve the effects before rolling the next set. This will slow games down, but provides a tactical choice to the game in trying to stack melta hits on characters when the fodder is hosed down in front of him with lesser weapons. I like this.
Charge ranges: Has stayed the same, but with small changes. Now difficult terrain reduces the charge by a set distance. Makes it a bit more predictable. I think this is good too.
Vehicle damage: It is now no longer possible to blow up a vehicle in one hit with an Ap3 or worse weapon. This makes vehicles across the board tougher and thus more desirable. Except oddly landraiders, and other 14 all round vehicles, which were virtually impervious to these lower damage weapons in the first place. I am unsure how much of an effect this will have, except armour 10 vehicles become considerably tougher.
Lords of war are now included in the Force Organisation Chart.
New missions are far more dynamic, allowing armies built around speed and reaction to do well, where as static armies may struggle.
Overall my impressions are that 7th is a positive step forwards. I can't think of any changes that have been for the worse, but it does strike me as more 6.5 than a new version of the rules.
Saturday, 1 February 2014
New Tyranids, a brief look at the new codex
There has been a lot of hate on the Internet about the new book. But some crucial points have either been missed or brushed under the carpet.
A lot of units have a sizable points reduction. Anywhere between 20 and 25% in some cases. Their statistics mostly remain the same.
They now also gain a bonus attack from two sets of melee weapons. Something they never used to have.
For me, most of the book is usable with a couple of exceptions. The Tyranid Prime is massively over priced now, and I think everyone could see Tervigons being hit by the nerf bat. Lictors, previously the worst unit are slightly improved now having infiltrate. The Deathleaper is a really good unit.
Boneswords being AP 3 didn't surprise me. It doesn't affect MCs but warriors suffer. But were you really expecting them to go up against terminators? I didn't think so.
Daemons got similar points drops and they had reductions in statistics. Their book is very usable and I really see no reason to not think the Tyranid one will be too.
Also, the Tyrant gets very cheap wings. Expect to see ALL flying tyrants unless someone stumps up the points for Swarmlord and Tyrant guard.
A lot of units have a sizable points reduction. Anywhere between 20 and 25% in some cases. Their statistics mostly remain the same.
They now also gain a bonus attack from two sets of melee weapons. Something they never used to have.
For me, most of the book is usable with a couple of exceptions. The Tyranid Prime is massively over priced now, and I think everyone could see Tervigons being hit by the nerf bat. Lictors, previously the worst unit are slightly improved now having infiltrate. The Deathleaper is a really good unit.
Boneswords being AP 3 didn't surprise me. It doesn't affect MCs but warriors suffer. But were you really expecting them to go up against terminators? I didn't think so.
Daemons got similar points drops and they had reductions in statistics. Their book is very usable and I really see no reason to not think the Tyranid one will be too.
Also, the Tyrant gets very cheap wings. Expect to see ALL flying tyrants unless someone stumps up the points for Swarmlord and Tyrant guard.
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!
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.
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.
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