Saturday, June 22, 2013

Game One With The Eldar

Well I have gotten one game in so far with the new codex. I know, I know....one game. Its been rough since
the release. I had to move the same weekend and I am now 45 minutes from my FLGS. Hell I am at least 40 minutes from any FLGS at the moment. The game was a very good learning experience and the old synapses are firing on overdrive. I have been plotting since the defeat of Spellduckwrong and my forces at the hands of Shawn and Dreadbeards Tau. Their force was what I like to call the” I have a fever...and the only cure is more marker lights” cadre. I digress though.


So I got to try out the Wraithknight. I should really say though that I got to put the Wraithknight on the table and watch it get lit up, literally, and then blasted by every piece of kroot sniper gear and heavy ordnance the Tau could throw at it. I will have to say it did take the whole army unloading for one shooting phase to take out the big guy. With that toughness and that many wounds with a Suncannon I can't blame them. In the next few games I am going to reserve the big guy if I am forced to go second. Holding him back or even deep striking him into the rear of the enemy seems prudent. I know I would be kind of panicked if a T 8, STR 10, 6 wound beasty with 3 plasma templates to place dropped into my backyard. I guess I am going to have to play it a lot as I am still convinced that the Suncannon / scatter shield configuration is the best one. Also going to deep strike if I have to go second. The unit is just to expensive to loose right off the bat. You almost want to play it very reserved and protected, but it seems to me you cant do that and have it be effective. Picking your targets is going to be very very important with the Wraithknight if you want to earn his points back in a game.

There are three things that really stuck out though. I also noticed the same three things while watching Spellduckwrong play tonight at the shop. By stuck out, I mean that they really are literal game changers . They affect how you play and are things that really enhance the armies effectiveness in my opinion. Those three things being, battle focus, pseudo rending weapons and ballistic skill 4. Yes there are many changes and unit buffs that also add, but I really think these three are the big ones.

I like battle focus. Shooting and running or running then shooting amps up the armies mobility, which was really lacking when compared to the Dark Kins new book. Foot armies are so much more viable now in terms of moving your forces and getting them into optimal position for taking objectives and destroying units. I had a unit of Dire Avengers tear up Tau in a close range fire fight thanks to the ability. I could move out into the open while in a building, shoot and then run down back out of line of sight. Two units of Fire Warriors and a Crisis Team had to be dedicated to rooting out my unit. My Warp Spiders also were moving like crazy harassing units in the back field. I plan on much experimenting with Battle focus. Its trixie.

Having an army that is entirely BS 4 is very nice. Upping the Guardians is especially nice. I once again have my Black Guardians. Its worth it taking Wave Serpents geared for Tank Hunting. In fact points wise, as I pointed out last time, its cheaper. Heavy spots are at a premium so being able to take Serpents and leave the heavy spots open for long range artillery is very handy. BS 4 is also pretty deadly when you combine it with the changes to the weaponry. Better weapons are now hitting more often and getting their special abilities to actually matter.

Special abilities like the Pseudo rending of shuriken weaponry. Its pretty nice with Dire Avengers, but really comes into its own with Guardians. Be it Storm Guardians, Guardian Defenders, Jet bikes or even the crews of the Vauls Wrath Batteries. I run Guardians in bricks of 15 to 20. 30 to 40 basically rending shots at BS 4 is pretty scary. The really scary thing about the whole thing though is that when you actually think about it, the basic sidearm of the Eldar army is rending. Everybody and their brother has a shuriken pistol. Our dedicated assault units have a 1-2 punch again. Striking scorpions have the 3 stage assault now. Shoot, Mandiblast them and then the main assault. Power armored units and their equivalents have to think hard about assaulting and getting into close range with Eldar infantry units now.


So far I am loving the codex. Sadly I have been moving once again and working. I have a 40 minute commute now and I have not been able to get in the games I want to. I am hoping this will change soon though and I can full explore all the thoughts and Ideas I have been having. I have a list ready to roll. I call it “fun with monfiliment”. More on that next time.



Until then....





Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!

9 comments:

  1. The BS4 is huge. Eldar have always had a pretty good amount of shots. I used to call it "withering fire" because you were just dumping as many garbage wounds into the enemy as you could and made them roll dice. Now however, the rate of fire stayed the same, but more are naturally hitting, and a sixth of the wounds are ignoring armor. That is huge. The fact that a Guardian blob can walk up to a badass monstrous creature or a Terminators squad and just cut the to ribbons is amazing. The Eldar have teeth again,

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  2. I got my first game in this evening as well and picked up on the same three things. Battle focus is amazing and gives a lot of tactical flexibility. It almost felt like cheating, as I was easily able to close the distance and make the most of my otherwise short range weapons. If I wasn't doing that then I was able to enter an open area, shoot my target, then duck back in cover and avoid harm. It's a real cool ability.

    Ballistic skill 4 took some getting used to. I kept wanting to pick up those threes.

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    1. I got used to BS4 pretty fast. What I can never remember, however, is that Guardians and Dire Avengers have grenades again. I have yet to remember to throw one.

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    2. I got use to the BS 4 playing Dark Eldar for a bit so it felt like that, but with a better quality of shooting. I found the splinter weapons pretty lackluster against targets that were T3

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  3. Completely agree about the Battle Focus. Warp Spiders are ridiculous while using it. First turn side or rear armour is deadly vs vehicles.

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    1. And the best part is, they're so fast that once they get in there it's hard to keep them out of your rear and side armor.

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  4. Cough spelled my name wrong Sean not Shawn :P

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