Rules lawyering for 6th - Taking RAW to the max

6th ed has been out for a short while now and already there has been some face-palming moments with "loop holes" by taking words literally as they are written. And these arguments are correct in their points of view although all sense of logic says wtf!

Here is 3 examples.

The first one that came to my attention is the Dire Avenger exarch power "Bladestorm", the key wording in the rule says "may not fire in the subsequent shooting phase". Thus it is entirely legal to bladestorm in your own turn, then if you get charged in your opponent's next turn you can bladestorm again as it isn't the subsequent shooting phase.

The next one that came to my attention is via Stelek at YTTH:

Main Rulebook, Page 45:

“Bike and Jetbike riders benefit from the
protection offered by their bike, which
increases their Toughness characteristic
by 1. If the Bike or Jetbike is part of the
model’s standard wargear, this bonus is
already included on its profile.”

While one can argue that Eldar Jetbikes are not defined for Warlocks or Farseers, the rules have been upgraded to define Eldar Jetbikes (aka Guardian Jetbikes) so these apply. Note that Shining Spears are not Eldar Jetbikes (read the unit entry, they have jetbikes…nice fail still going on years later, thankfully, no one uses them so who cares, and this does NOT apply to them because the bike IS included in their standard wargear).

Eldar FAQ:

“These have twin-linked shuriken catapults;
they increase their rider’s Toughness by 1
and confer a 3+ armor save to the rider.
Finally, they change the rider’s unit type to Eldar Jetbike.”

Hmmm. Regular Guardian Jetbikes remain T4.

However, since Eldar Jetbikes are not part of my model’s normal wargear on the farseer or warlock, I get both bonuses.

This means Warlock squads on bikes are T5, as is my Farseer on a bike.

Finally I heard this during a batrep from Frontline Gaming. To shoot a flying MC you can only fire Snap Shots unless you have Skyfire. Assume the MC gets hit and wounded they now must take a "Grounded Test" where they have a chance to fall out of the sky and become "Grounded" (not the use of capital letter). It then details the Grounded rule which explains how it moves in subsequent movement phases, losing jink and may be assaulted, the rules make no mention of losing "Swooping" or "Hard to hit" Thus by RAW you may still only fire Snap Shots at it unless you have Skyfire... whilst it's on the ground.

All these arguments are correct even if common sense tells you otherwise.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

So I've only had one game of 6th edition and that was a practice for a doubles tournament, but times have changed and my main list needs to make its next evolutionary step. So here's what Im thinking so far.

Farseer
Doom
Guide
Spirit Stones
Runes of Warding

Farseer
E.Storm
Mind War
Guide
Spirit Stones
Runes of Warding

Fire Dragons x 6

Wave Serpent
TL Shuriken Cannon
Shuriken Cannon

Fire Dragons x 6

Wave Serpent
TL Shuriken Cannon
Shuriken Cannon

Dire Avengers x 10
Exarch
Bladestorm
Dual Catapults

Wave Serpent
TL Shuriken Cannon
Shuriken Cannon

Dire Avengers x 10
Exarch
Bladestorm
Dual Catapults

Wave Serpent
TL Shuriken Cannon
Shuriken Cannon

Dire Avengers x 10
Exarch
Bladestorm
Dual Catapults

Wave Serpent
TL Shuriken Cannon
Shuriken Cannon

Hornet
Pulse Laser x 2

Hornet
Pulse Laser x 2

Warp Spiders x 5
Exarch
Dual Spinners
Withdraw

Warp Hunter

TOTAL 2000

So it's spammy but what's the point of not running optimal builds? Speaking of optimal I would like to upgrade all my Avenger exarchs with Defend and PW/SS but not really sure where I'll get the points from, I could drop the chin cannon's off all my Serpents but that is a big loss of fire power for something I'm not sure will be that useful. I also would like to take a nightwing but that'd require dropping something very large to afford.

So I'll try this list out and see how it goes, see how effective vehicles are. My theory is after a while people will stop taking so many vehicles, and anti tank weapons will drop in number thus armour saturation will be a viable tactic (or is it strategy in this case?) still.

Unit break down after initial 6th ed read

This is how I see things after reading the rule book, this is all just theory from reading the rules I’m not going to comment on vehicles as I’d like to test them out in play first.

Avatar – I think this guy will do okay

Pro: Fear, it’s in writing he ignores flamestorm cannons, smash attack, Hammer of Wrath, challenges? (Say you’re fighting TH/SS termies you challenge the serg, either he buggers off or you don’t have to fight the other average joe’s at the same time), Warlord trait

Con: Random charge range (Like scorpions this will generally help more than hinder I just don’t like randomness)

Farseers

Pros: Best psychic defence in game, improves Deny the Witch to squads they are in, Warlord trait. I’ll be running 2 Farseers (RoWarding still stacks and there’s no range nerf) one using codex powers the other Divination. Doom + Misfortune = big lols!

Cons: Witchblade nerf

Autarch

Pros: Warlord trait, Hammer of Wrath if taking wings/WJG/JB, Precision shot

Cons: Can’t think of much.

Warlocks

Pro: Bonus to Deny the Witch

Con: Witchblade nerf

Scorpions

Pros: … can throw plasma grenades?

Cons: Overwatch, Random charge range (admittedly their charge range has the potential to be a lot higher, it’s not like the fleet nerf but anything random is bad IMO) Disordered charge, Cover generally lower, Wound allocation (think shooting casualties when advancing), Challenges mean Claw Exarchs may die before being able to attack or be useless.

Fire Dragons

Pro: Fusion guns still own

Con: Melta bombs are unwieldy – this hurts for when you’re assaulted by dreadnaughts

Wraithguard

Pro: Fearless is buffed, Overwatch

Con:

Banshees

Pro: Challenges (Exarchs go Sergeant head hunting) CC wound allocation may prevent retaliatory attacks?

Cons: Overwatch, fleet nerf, random charge range, disordered charge, power weapon nerf, cover generally lower, shooting wound allocation

Harlequins

Pros: Rending AP still good, CC wound allocation may prevent retaliatory attacks? Shadowseer improves Deny the Witch

cons: VoT nerf, Overwatch, fleet nerf, random charge range, disordered charge, power weapon nerf (troupe master), cover generally lower, shooting wound allocation

Avengers

Pro: Overwatch, Shooting wound allocation (keeping assault units out of range) cover saves generally lower means more killy vs orks etc

cons: (if you’re one to use them as an assault unit add in all the cons banshee’s have)

Rangers

Pro: Precision shot, overwatch, cover saves generally lower means more killy

con: Nothing?

Guardian

Pro: Squads w/ a warlock have improved Deny the Witch, overwatch, Cover saves generally lower, heavy weapons able to remove hull points when glances used to be kinda useless

Con: Lower cover saves for yourself?

I don’t use Storm Guardians so got no real comments

GJB

Pro: Jink, Hammer of Wrath, wanna race? Seeya in 48”! Shuriken cannons remove hull points, Warlock improves Deny the Witch

Con: I don’t play Saim Hann I don’t have enough jetbikes! witchblade nerf, Random Assault movement (generally will be higher but I don’t like random)

Shining Spears (I think these guys get the most buffs)

Pro: Jink, Hammer of Wrath, ludicrous speed, Skilled Rider

Con: power weapon nerf

Warp Spiders

Pro: Hammer of wrath, Deep Striking is safer, hull point shredders, overwatch

Con: power weapon nerf (I’m clutching for something)

Swooping Hawks

Pro: Hammer of wrath, Deep Strike is safer, can throw various grenades, shreds hull points with haywire, overwatch

con: fleet nerf, power weapon nerf (this is clutching more than with the spiders, but I do fleet with my hawks often)

Shadow Spectres

Pro: overwatch, cover generally lower, may be able to rip off hull points well?

con: Random Assault movement (generally will be higher but I don’t like random)

Support weapons: I skipped these rules I don’t like artillery

Reapers: move and snap shot, overwatch, cover is generally lower

con: Can’t overwatch the tempest launcher

Wraithlord

Pro: Easier to gain cover, Fear, Smash, Hammer of wrath, Overwatch/Wall of Death

Cons: Krak grenades/melta bombs

Did I miss anything? Overall I'm not liking close combat for my Eldar (my Wych Cult is crying on the shelf) however I think shooting is where it's at and that's how I'll be rewriting my lists.

6th ed – the rumours and what they mean for your army.

There’s several things that are apparently coming out that make me unhappy about 6th ed. premeasuring, random charge ranges, random psychic powers, random terrain (mysterious forests), the random movement jetpacks move in their assault phase. The dice make the game random where it should do the rest of these things are just shit. Despite this I can’t stop feeling excited, it may be a let-down, it may be a fun new game. So I started thinking what will be good and bad about my armies based on these rumours, it seems apparent to my armies at least that close combat has been nerfed and shooting has been buffed.
First up thinking about my wych cult as this is a very basic army without many variables to playstyle. And I think it’s going to take a swift knee to the vulva for the following reasons.
* FNP is 17% less effective.
* The average charge range under 5th when assaulting out of a raider is 23.5” (12” raider move, 2” deployment 3.5” fleet, 6” charge) under 6th edition this drops to 13” (6” vehicle move, 7” charge).
*Snap shot at my charging wyches
* Agonisers AP3
* IC challenges (no T3 character wants to fight the Emperor’s finest, that’s what the shardnet wych is for).
* No charge bonus for multi-assaulting
* In shooting, casualties are taken from the front meaning Im further away from CC
* Cover dropped to 5+
So how does my army benefit?
* Dark Eldar night vision completely sees through the darkness
* Haywire grenades can be thrown and en mass can really mess vehicles up!
* AP 2 (dark lances) gain +1 dmg on the vehicle dmg table.
* Fast skimmers I believe are faster
See a trend? Assault nerfed, shooting buffed.

 
So how do these rumours affect my CWE? As my CWE are a much more dynamic force I’ll have to look at each unit individually.
Farseer: As long as I can still BUY powers from my codex I think 6th will be a buff for this guy. I think lots of armies will take Eldar as allies just to get Runes of Warding, everyone’s going to be wanting to use the new powers and blowing peoples brains out via RoWarding is just funny. Also the Ghosthelm will be the ONLY item that prevents a wound from Perils (no more invul saves). I think I’ll be taking 2 farseers, one using Doom/Fortune from codex the other taking the Divination school as there is some pretty brutal combos with those two. (not to mention 2 RoWarding on the table).
divination
primary target unit rerolls failed hits - Eldar guide power now for everyone!
psycher and unit gain counter attack and get full BS for overwatch
target unit gain 4++
target unit must reroll passed armor saves - Inverse Fortune? Could be good!
psycher and unit ignore cover - Good against dug in units...or fast vehicles
psyker rerolls failed failed hits, wounds and armor saves - And Eldar fortune+
psyker roll 3 dicechoose the result you want when rolling for reserves, outflank and mysterious terrain - WINNING!
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?t=22709
Imagine combining the 4th power in that list with doom. I get to re-roll failed wounds and you have to re-roll successful saves. Somebody pinch me!

Howling Banshees: These girls suffer the same way wyches do but have less redeeming qualities.
* Average charge out of a vehicle under 5th 11.5” (2” deploy, 3.5” fleet, 6” charge) under 6th it will drop to 7” (average of 2D6 charge).
* Power weapons AP3
* Snap fire
* No charge bonus for multi-assaulting
* In shooting, casualties are taken from the front meaning Im further away from CC
* Cover dropped to 5+

Dire Avengers: These guys see a few buffs
* Able to snap fire
* In shooting, casualties are taken from the front meaning Im further away from CC
* Cover dropped to 5+ (it hurts my DA’s as well but generally I have more small arms shooting orks etc than there is Ap4 weapons shooting my Avengers.. I hope.).
* Random charge length see’s units falling short to assault me
*Pre-measuring gives me guarantee on the two things I want my Dire Avengers doing and that is moving and shooting

Fire Dragons: same benefits the Dire Avengers receive in addition AP1 weapons gain +2 on the damage table.

Wave Serpent: I am still on the fence with how vehicles will operate in 6th. Currently I never anticipate my Serpents being able to shoot due to being stunned so often, if they do that’s just a bonus. So here is the pro’s and con’s as I see it.
Pro: Able to fire 2 weapons at normal ballistic skill when moving 12” – Time to bring back those chin cannons!
Move a total of 30” when going flat out instead of 24”
Glancing hits don’t prevent the vehicle from shooting
“jink” save?

Cons: Every serpent, every game, every turn seems to be shaken but they can see out the entire game this way. Hull points mean 3 glances and they’re down.
Only able to move 6” and deploy – what a jip!
Regardless of how fast I move only 3’s to hit me in CC…

Warp Hunter: Most the same as the Serpent however something more prominent is +5 cover save vs ap2 large blast!

Hornets: Same as above

So what are my thoughts for my CWE? The Banshees are going to live in their box in favour of more dakka, everything else should be fairly ok.

So Im writing this at 3am. I hope it makes sense.

I just keep plodding away.

So with the change of my apoc game from Space Wolves to Orks I changed my list up slightly. Dropping the Shadow Sect of Karandras (I think I'll need my Scorpions defending my front lines instead of attacking the orks back lines) and I picked up another squad of guardians, and I upgraded some vehicle weaponry. Here is my 10k pt force currently. Bad quality pictures as always!








I am rather unsure how I will go in this game, I know for sure I don't have the ability to tackle several hundred orks. Thankfully Paul tends towards Speed Freaks so there will be less bodies and more vehicles around which I can deal with. Anthony tends towards randomness, so high potential if things go his way. It'll be interesting.







Depending on the setup, I think I will run a similar deployment as I had planned for the previous game. Avatar, Reapers + Maugan Ra, Dire Avengers, 1 squad of guardians defending my home objective. 2 squads of guardians, wraithguard + lord guarding the other one. Scorpions lurking between the two. With my aspect assault wave I'll assault their weaker objective. The prestige may come in early to assist them. My rapid response force will come in late, as I suspect Paul may be running 2 warbosses on bikes, coming in behind my lines along with Snikrot. I suspect there might be 1-2 baneblade equivalents (skullhamma fortress?). I'll send the Cloudstrike squad loaded with dragons into them and with my super heavies focus big threats. The nightspinner will have a field day if there's any uge mobs :p I really lack strength 6 guns =\

The big let down and a conversion idea.

Well little blog once again you've been neglected. The apoc game was all planned out, had everything packed, bought extra food, had the venue arranged. Wade decides to stay up all night, sleep all day then sell us a bullshit lie. So I've been really perturbed about wargaming as a whole lately from this.

Thankfully some other friends who seem more keen might be jumping in to take his place instead.

So a part from this let down, I participated in my first real big tournament. I ended up coming 14/62 with 2 minor wins, 1 major win, a draw and a minor loss. I'll make a post more about this later.

So onto the conversion, it's not all that original but with bits readily available off Ebay it might make a nice alternative. The conversion will be of a Swooping Hawk.

Wings: Scourge Wings
Head: Scourge Head
Body: As the scourges lack spirit stones I'm thinking Dire Avenger, I'll need to see how compatible the wings/back is to the Dire avenger chest
Arms: Dire Avenger
Gun: Corsair lasblaster
Legs: This one is tricky, the scourges have really nice legs but their taloned feet and sharp edges give it a strong evil feeling instead of pretty CWE. Thus probably be Dire Avenger of guardian legs, with knee reposes.
Swooping Hawk Grenade Pack: The little guardian targeters.

Updates

It's been some time since I last posted anything. The Apoc project is still going strong. Here is a comment I made 2nd of Jan

Items that still need painting:
HQ - Jetbike Autarch, Irillyth, Warlocks Wave Serpent.

Elites: 2 Scorpion Exarchs 4 Scorpions, Wraithguard, one warlock, 1 fire dragon.

Troops: 4 rangers, touch ups on guardians, weapon platforms, all 9 jetbikes.

Fast: 4 Warp Spiders, 3 Swooping Hawks, Vypers scatter lasers, Shadow Spectre Exarch, both Hornets

Heavy: Repaint wraithlord (might do this last as it's already painted just badly), 1 Falcon, touch ups on another, Warp Hunter, Night Spinner.

Super Heavy: Both the Cobra and the Scorpion.

So lets see what I still need to do here
Jetbike Autarch, 1 scorpion exarch, 1 scorpion, warlock, fire dragon, fire dragon exarch, started GJB and guardian weapon platforms, 4 warp spiders, 3 hawks, vyper scatter lasers, wraithlord.

So this means I have finished: Irillyth, wave serpent, 5 wraithguard, 4 rangers, spectres exarch, 2 hornets, warp hunter, night spinner, falcon, cobra and scorpion.

Sadly the apoc game has been put back till the 9th of May which means I may be able to finish some other things in the mean time. Over all 13 models that are primed and 11 base coated remaining is pretty good for a 10,000pt army =D

My focus now however is Battle in the Vines. It's only two weeks away. My normal list has been modified to include hornets in place of fire prisms and a warp hunter in place of Dire Avenger exarchs. I've managed to have two test games so far and the list has done well. I've been reading other armies that will be coming including a 20 kill point space wolves list (I hope it's not spammed up bullshit like Wades) and a white scars army which will be an interesting match!