We Have Such Things To Show You: Dark Eldar First Impressions

I have no spent two days pouring over the new Dark Eldar codex. I have to say it is quite and upgrade. Its hard to see, especially for newer players, how far 40K has really come. There is a stark contrast between the 10+ year old Dark Eldar codex and the new one. The feel is completely different. As you read the fluff you start to see the big picture of how the Eldar interact with each other and the other races. The Dark Eldar have matured. The Sheer ruthlessness of their society is portrayed as it should be. I like the direction GW has taken making things less comical. Even the orks have been toned down a bit. I digress though, I am a big fan of fluff in a codex. It adds so much depth.

My first impression of the codex is very good. The army still has some what the same play style. It is a very fast hard hitting force that can do major hurt in an alpha strike situation. It is also just as fragile as it was before. In fact some units have gotten more fragile. Reavers only have a 5+ save. This though is offset buy the fact they can turbo boost 36 inches and still attack a unit thanks to their blade vanes and caltrop cluster pods. Combat drugs have been simplified and honestly any roll on the table will yield a good upgrade to the squad. A lot of the wargear has carried over and has been brought fully into 5^th edition. Rules have been simplified and clarified and in some cases changed so the gear is more effective. Case in point the Crucible of Malediction , one of my favorite pieces of wargear, now affects every psyker within 3d6” of the bearer.

There is a varied mix of special characters that are quite nice. Although this further supports my stance we are retuning to “hero hammer” the character have a lot of character. Asdrubal Vect now is the most expensive IC in the game clocking in at 440 points with the Dais of destruction. I also am a big fan of Arhra I mean Drahzar. I don't think its coincidence he has the exact same rules and stat line as the Phoenix Lords. Also unlike Asurman I would pay 230 points for him.

I really like the poison weapons as well. My favorite being the shard carbine. Scourges have them stock and Kabalite Trueborns can take them as an upgrade, 18” range with poison 4+ assault 3, yes please. One big theme I also am a fan of is the amount of insta kill as well as weapons that just remove models from the game. There is also quite a few weapons that force wound characteristic tests. These are quite devastating to units as several use blast templates and large blast templates.

I am unhappy about one thing. My worst choice for a heavy support choice is a Talos. That said the new Talos is an excellent choice.

The list is set up so you can run a mixed army, a strict Kabalite army, a wych army and a heamonculus themed army. There are just so many options.

Sadly Farseer Re-rolls and I could not drum up any willing prey this weekend to test out some lists. We also decided playing Dark Eldar versus Dark Eldar would be counter productive. I will be using the new codex Wednesday though in our campaign game. The Judge and I are squaring off again this time bringing lots of help. Thats right the debut of Dark Eldar on the field at Evolution Games my be in a big Apocalypse game. Details later this week. Also as I delve into the codex more impressions. We also have the next installment of the Phoenix Court of Khaine coming detailing Fuegan.

Also Keep an eye out at Dark Future Games for the video review of the new DE codex I sat in on with Farseer Re-rolls, Lord Solar Steve, Death Bringer and Vogrin.  

Until then..............

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

Product Review: Chapter House Studios Farseer and Warlocks on Jetbikes

Finally they have arrived. I am very excited that I have finally received my Farseer and Warlocks on Jet bikes conversion kits from Chapter House Studios. I have to say I am very pleased by the kits and it was worth the wait. I bought one Farseer and four Warlocks. This is what held up my order as the warlocks were out of stock when I placed my order. Chapter House Studios is a two man operation and have proved extremely popular so be patient if your order takes a little while. They are cranking the models out as fast as possible. But I digress

The Farseer kit provides two choices of body, male or female, and a choice of weapons, either singing spear or witch blade. They also have these nifty shield generators you mount on the side of the jet bikes cowl. It makes the model really stand out. All you need to provide is a jet bike to mount them on. I went hunting on eBay for a good deal on bikes.  I found quite a few deals for 3 or more so finding bikes should not prove hard if you want to do this project on the cheap. The kits themselves are gorgeous. They have a lot of detail and fit together very nicely. One word of warning though. If you have not worked with resin before you should brush up on the subject. Resin can be a harsh mistress. I like the kind of resin they are using for the kits though. It has more give than the stuff from Forgeworld. I did not have the problems I had with my Titan. My experience has taught me that Forgeworld resin is brittle and pretty unforgiving. The Chapter House figures did not give me any problems though.

The kits run about $15.00 each so about the cost of a GW independent character. It is defiantly worth the price. The figure is detailed and looks great, even despite my meager painting skills. Chapter House has many great conversion kits for other armies as well. I know Old School Terminator is a fan of their Salamanders Chaplin. Check them out at their website.

I am very pleased I can now bring a Seer Council in quick for some dooming then getting out of harms way. I will have a battle report with the new Bike council very soon.

Until then.................

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

Product review: New Fire Prism / Night Spinner kit

Games Workshop has released spearhead now. This is one of the few free expansions they have done in their history. Granted to play a spearhead game you need tanks. So Really it is a good marketing ploy. The new kits recently released give us the Maticore / deathstrike launcher and new Leman Russ kit for the Imperial Guard and a new Fire Prism for the Eldar which also makes the tank which will be the topic for this article. The Night Spinner.

The Night spinner is armed with Twin Linked Doom Reaver cannons. With a 12”-72” range this gives the Eldar some nice Artillery that is mobile. Strength 6 than is also rending with a large blast template is also very nice. The fact that the target counts as moving through difficult and dangerous terrain the next time they move is a big perk. Now I know this is going to come up. Does this literally mean the next time a unit moves or does it mean the next turn. Granted it impedes movement either way but, if it is as the rules literally say this is pretty powerful. Once I use this baby in a couple battles I will give a full review on it.

The Kit itself is an improvement. The new turret is nice and very sleek looking. The Fire Prism has more of a menacing look to it now. The sprues come with all the vehicle upgrades on it now, which is very nice. It will be interesting to see how often you can find this new sprue for sale separately, as the rest of the kit is the standard falcon. It would be nice to be able to upgrade my old Fire Prisms and keep the old turrets for some Eldar fortress terrain projects.

I do have some complaints though about the fitment of some of the parts. The new rear door leaves a rather wide gap at the bottom where it meets the hull. This is also present on the lower hull up near the cockpit. Other than this it is a nice kit and the parts fit nicely.

You are going to have to be careful with the assembly of the turret. I recommend using as little Glue as possible and assembling a majority of the moving parts separate first and allowing them to dry before final assembly of the turret. My guns will not move due to my haste, not to mention an almost empty glue bottle with a bad tip exploding onto the model. If doing the fire prism you are going to want to use plastic glue for the cannon assembly after it has been primed and painted. This will prevent fogging of the crystal pieces.

I didn't think I was going to like the new Fire Prism design but as I look at the kit and some more pictures I think it is an improvement or at very least something different. The lines and how the turret flows is nice. The Night Spinner is very nice looking. It adds more area and edges for highlighting. The profile also looks very streamlined. I may have to see if I can convert some Falcons using the new turret design. If you can't tell I do really like the new turret. I also really like the fact they put all the vehicle upgrades on the sprue. I am going to be on the hunt on Ebay and such for the new sprues.

As it stands The tank is in primer and I will be painting it this week for combat duty. I will also be testing 1750 point lists using it for the GW Store Tournament round 2 coming up on the 19^th.

So I like the new kit it would be worth picking up one or two or finding the new sprue to retro fit your existing tanks.

Later in the week We will see part three of the series on aspect warriors. This week we will be covering Dark Reapers.

Until then....

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