Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Eldar in 6th

Obviously this is jumping the gun, but I'm tired of forcing Excel to do something it doesn't want to.  So figured I'd take a shot at looking at Eldar based off the rumors I've seen.  As an eldar player I can't say I'm particular happy.  Eldar getting hit with some significant nerfs and only gaining a couple items.  That being said I expect to see a lot more eldar on the table or more specifically, Eldrad and a unit of rangers in other armies. 

Pros:
  •   Rangers get to choose the targets for their AP1 shots
  •   Hull points make killing Armour 12 vehicles fairly easy.  We have a plethora of S6 weapons that can glance them easily alot.  A unit of guided walkers will kill a a12 vehicle in 1 round
  •   Some rumors seem to imply you can snapfire while turboboosting vehicles, depending on timing this could be useful.
  •   Allies (sort of).  A couple units of Grey hunters could really improve our durability, hydras could help with enemy plans, a rerolling showfield archon could provide a solid punch.  However I think eldar will tend to be called upon as allies more than being the main force.
  •   Warp spiders improve.  They now get 3 attacks on the charge thanks to the impact hits.
  •   Howling Banshees can be S4 if you can find enough of the old models with axes.  Their mask ignores the unwieldy rule in round 1.
  •   You can shoot and gain the extra movement from fleet.
  •   Jink save for vehicles (and bikes?)  
  •   Wraithlords gan give up 1 attack to have a S20 smash attack  (guessing capped at 10 so really only affects the avatar)
  •   Meltaguns get +2 AP (do fire dragons need it?)


Cons:
  •   Hull points make holofields worthless.
  •   Everyone (almost) can get runes of warding
  •   We lose our speed advantage, fleet goes from D6 extra to rerolling a D6.  Not sure the math but this an inch or two difference.
  •   Everyone gets 6+ save vs doom
  •   Jink save not as good as turbosave
  •   3+ to hit vehicles in combat regardless of speed moved
  •   Everyone else can throw grenedes (ok we can to but few units have grenedes)
  •   Everyone gains move and fire rapid fire full distance
  •   Cover saves reduced to 5+
  •   Overwatch hurts our assaulting units as they are only T3
  •   Everyone else gets access to a bunch of new psychic powers
  •   Flyers, unless you play with Forgeworld we have no anti-aircraft weapons
  •   Power weapons are AP 3, so the only things that punch threw termintor armour are fire dragons and scorpion claws
Clearly this mostly speculation at this point but what do see in the Eldar's future?

Friday, June 22, 2012

Drop pod


Apparently cutting two tendons and a nerve in your hand makes painting a little harder (typing too).  Who knew?  That being said I've been able to make some progress on my mantis warriors.  The drop pod shows my current limitations fairly well.  I'm able to paint the rough details but adding stylized elements such as army/unit markings is nearly impossible when you can't hold the model.  At some point I'll go back and add that but for now this is about as far as I can take it.  I'm fairly happy with the results.  I didn't have access to wife's camera last night so no WIP pictures but my first tactical squad is nearing "completion" as well.  Here is a link to the closed drop pod.