Incubi Aspect Warriors! Here we go!

I don't know how I didn't see this for myself earlier. A user over at 40konline mentioned using Incubi in place of Banshees using the ally rules.
40k Online

Now I don't intend to replace my Banshees with Incubi but incorporate them fluffwise into my army as a Biel Tan only aspect. I can even take Drazhar (A total of 8 Phoenix Lords wooo! Yea they suck but something else to paint and play with is always good).

To take allies I'll need to take a troops choice. Simple enough - converted warriors. I'm thinking of calling them "Thorn Guardians". Currently Im thinking simply Guardians with a weapon swap and possibly painting their colours inverted to my normal guardians. I'm not sure if I'll run them using a Dark/Brightlance on a weapon platform or if I'll have him holding it like the DEldar Warriors do. I don't want to run weapons other than the Lance as giving the Thorn Guardians splinter weapons is pushing it enough as it is.

Onto the Incubi. I think the only work that needs to be done is greenstuff the crack in the spirit stones upon their breast.

Drazhar. Such a dated model. Do I want to convert my own?

Raider conversion. This bit will be the hardest I think. How to make a Raider look like an open topped Wave Serpent? Maybe something like an elongated Venom/Vyper? I'll have to go hunt background sources to see what kind of images I can find. Very excited.

Edit: This conversion of Drazhar is awesome! Look at possibly emulating this.

The Dark City Forums

Twin Linked 2012 this weekend!

So Twin Linked 2012 is coming up and whilst Im really really excited, I'm not very hopeful. Firstly my partner Tristan is notoriously unreliable, now with his new girlfriend and a new apartment he's moving into in the coming weeks I'm certain he's going to ditch me and not even have the curtsy of telling me. Secondly his attitude is really bad. He has a good mind for the game I call him my apprentice when introducing him to other 40k players but this weekend he's going to "do what I say and roll the dice when I tell him". What a joke, had I known sooner I wouldv'e posted on the WargamerAU forums looking for a random partner.

Originally I asked my rival Chris if he wanted to go, being the best player I know but he has no interest in doubles matches so I asked Wade, even though he cheats every chance he gets he wins often (... wait maybe it's the cheating?). With 3 months warning he didn't even consider it just said "no, working". Now it turns out he's coming to watch. *sigh* So we (mostly I) built Tristan's army from the small Imperial Guard force that belongs to Scott, could just scrape together 1000pts, whilst there is a lot of fire power it's all in squishy heavy weapons teams so I designed my force in mind with having a few offensive elements (Warp Hunter, Dark Reapers)whilst providing big juicy distractions (Avatar and Wraithlord) to hopefully draw fire away from said heavy weapons teams.



Here's what I'll be using as my objective markers.



Some close ups





And because Im in love with them a pic of my Scorpion and Cobra. Still not entirely finished.

New Jain Zar

My original Jain Zar model looked quite dated compared to the Phoenix Lords that followed her and so several months ago I bought a new model off ebay for cheap. I had started painting her up with various Reaper bone paints (6 shades of bone + mixes) and she just wasn't turning out so I gave up and let her sit in my drawer for a while.

Well after reading Void Stalker I just had to get back into painting her and last night I finished her off, ripped the previous model off the base and attached the new one in her place and this is the result.

I'm pretty happy how she turned out, she looks a lot more weathered than any of my other Eldar who are all spotless and a bit cartoon looking.

Here is her previous look.



Now I'll just have to bring Karandras up to the quality of the rest of the Phoenix Lords, but Im not really sure where to start with him.

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.