Remember Remember the 6th of November

So the Dark Eldar are now available for advanced order.  The initial offering is the Archon, Lelith Hesperax, Warriror squad, Wych squad ( mmmm new plastics), Incubi squad, Reaver Jetbike Squadren and the Raider.  I am pretty pleased with the pricing actually.  $25 bucks for the new warriror and wych squads and $33 for the Raider.  I don't know about you guys, but my FLGS sells GW products on a discount.  This means I can do a very feasible army pretty cheaply as far as GW stuff goes. I can spend $200 bucks and have some new hotness.  I think this is what may happen.  I really want to look at the codex.  It is clocking in at $29 bucks to thats a little on the high side.
So I am really excited.  Once I have the codex in my hot little hands I will start my analysis and army development.
Apparently Lelith is WS 9 and Gets an additional attack for each point of WS above her opponent.  Cobine this with 4 attacks that ignore armor and you get a lethal lady that kills whole squads.  The new Urien Rakarth is also previewed as well as the new helions, Mandrakes and Ravager.

 WTF is all I have to say.  Mr. Rakarth is demented beyond all belief.

 This new mandrake is one of the best models to date in my opinion.  It just looks so freakin evil.  I will feild these guys even if they suck just because the models are so nice.

 New helion looks ok.  Way better than the original, but not awsome.

 New Ravager is lookin pimp.  I really like the side pods look.










A little edit and update.  I pilfered this from The Dark Eldar Kabal

Archon 60 points base huskblade 35 points soultrap is about 20.
Basic warriors are 9 points and Raiders are 60 base.
Incubi are 22 points each
Vect 240 (dais +200)
Lelith 170
ancient haemonculus 80 normal one is like 65
ravager 105-120 I think
I'll post other stuff people want too, just ask.

[Grotesques]
they are WS4 BS1 S5 T5 W3 A3 ????? 6+ sv
they have feel no pain (like all other haemonculi stuff ie. the heamonculi, urien, wracks, and grotesques.) They take up 2 spaces in a transport (like Ogryn) they have to take a Ld test if an IC isn't accompanying them, and if they fail they inflict 2D6 attacks on nearby units before all dying.

[Scourges]
they have wings meaning they are JUMPPACK not jetpack

EDIT: like ACTUAL WINGS made for them by haemonculi for a lot of money. ther get surgery and fly up ato the eyries at the top of the city and act as couriers and are very rich (well paid job) and they can buy cool weapons eg splinter cannons, darklances, heat lance(?), and copme with splinter carbines standard. (very good rate of fire.)

cant remember mandrake points. about 25 I think. they shoot S4 AP4 Assault 2 fire attacks. they have stealth and infiltrate. scary.

Lelith is WS9 BS 7? S3 T3 W3 I7/8 A4 Ld 9/10 sv6+
she has a 4++ inv against shooting (she dodges bullets lol) and a 3++ inv. in CC. Her hair counts as a shardnet and impaler (reduce ememy attacks by 1) and her knives are power weapons. she is very killy.

[Heat lances]
they are 12"? S6 Ap 1/2 Melta lances
they can be taken by a reaver arena champion as well, and it is a heavy weapon for warriors and the trueborn.

[Venom]
it has a TL splinter rifle and can upgrade to a splinter cannon. It can take some of the DE vehicle upgrades

RE: the DE flyers. they are classed as skimmers. the ? fighter and the voidraven bomber. the bomber has 2 TL darklances and can drop a S8 template on units it flies over. (scatters only D6") the fliers can purchase up to four missiles of any of the following types and may be a mix of them. there are neurotoxin ones, imploding ones, soul stealing ones or something, and good old fashioned explosives.

Some Urien fluff: his presence is a great honour for the kabals/cults that accompany him on raids. He has died many times, but he regenerates. It is now to the point where he likes to try interesting ways of dying. But for some reason, each time he regenerates, he keeps bits of his old body - that's why he has like 5 spines and 7+ arms. He is one crazy bastard. The haemonculi built a big fancy tower out of living tissue and it is like an academy. They have even trained Fabius Bile there (Urien was interested in his experiments). He can make the small constructs troops, and he can give grotesques S6 instead of their usual S5 for 5 points each. He regenerates one wound a turn but cannot exceed the max.

Some excerpts from a conversation with two friends who have seen the codex:
Drazhar?

Phoenix lord statline incl 2+ sv and EW, the demiklaves (i think) and he can move to a different spot in combat as long as he stays in B2B with opponents. other stuff too.

Drugs?
3D6 pick the highest for running,
+1 S
+1 WS
can't remember this one
probably re-rolls is one
+1 free pain token
meaning most of the army gets feel no pain lol
1 roll for entire army.

if so, I'd love some hekatrix with max hydra gauntlets that wound on 2+

Yeah, that's precisely why you won't be able to. XD
Actually, nix what I said about the huskblade/soultrap before. All you need is that Poison retinue member and it's stupidly good.

(FYI there is a retinue member for the archon that gives the whole unit 2+ poisoned attacks... combine with huskblade and other power weapons for maximum lulz...)

[Archon]
He can take different numbers of 4 different types of guards. ie. he can take some of one type and a few of another etc. (I would recommend keeping it down to 10 members so they can ride in the archon's pimpin' raider)
one is a big bug - 3 wound tank monster, one is a 4 armed shooty guard, one is a general cc one, and another is a retinue member that grants the entire retinue poison 2+ CC attacks.



I will be detailing Maugan Ra on Thursday in the next Installment of The Phoenix Court of Khaine.


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

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

A small Price to Pay For The Smiting of Ones Enemies: Store Campaign

So we had the latest game in our campaign series at good old Evolution Games this past week. It was a 1500 point pitched battle where I had to defend an objective from being destroyed. I squared off once again with the judge who also had an objective I had to take for bonus points. I had played this same scenario the previous day against one of the regular players who has just recently switched to Eldar. The battle did not go well for him as the Archon and his Kabal unleashed the full fury on their craftworld cousins. The Archon left the privilege of Eldrad Ulthrans death to Drazzar the Master of Blades. Needless to say he made some mistakes and needs to work on his basics.

Th Judge brought the heat in the form of Chaplin Stonewall leading a squad of thunder hammer wielding terminators in a land raider crusader, Captain Lysander leading a Stern guard squad in a drop pod, a maxed out squad of scouts with sniper rifles, Sgt Bad ass and his sunshine kids, scout squad, in a Land speeder storm and of course Venerable brother Overkill.

Things started out ok. I had two warrior squads and the Archons squad sweep up with the two Ravagers swooping in on the right flank. The Talos moved up in between. There were no real casualties as The Judges weapons were not hot yet. Turn two saw the arrival of Lysander and his Stern Guard veterans lit up the Talos with inferno rounds. The Talos lost 2 wounds. The Archon and warriors advanced while the third warrior squad acting as rear guard swung around to fire on Lysander and the Stern guard. The Ravagers unleashed disintegrator fire killing all but 2 Stern Guard and Lysander. The second Ravager lit up Brother Overkill and Chaplin Stonewall and his terminators advanced and disembarked form the Land Raider. They then charged the two raiders before them destroying one. He Talos had died in the previous turn to Lysander but not before killing the remaining Stern Guard. The scouts fired on anything and everything they could. Brother Overkill destroyed the Archons Raider and forced him to move by foot to engage Chaplin Stonewall. Basically turn three I knew I was going to loose as Lysander smacked my objective with his Thunder Hammer and the ran off chuckling to himself. SO with the objective lost I just went for blood and vengeance. The warriors remaining after the destruction of their transports opened up with a fusillade of splinter fire and killed 3 terminators. The Ravagers poured fire into Brother Overkill but the wiley venerable dreadnought would not die. In fact he basically could not shoot for two turns and that was about it. As the Archon face palmed the ineptitude of his warriors, Chaplin Stonewall did what he does best, tactical retreat. The Archon then saw a way to vent his frustration. Captain Lysander came into view on a hill. Drazzar and 4 Incubi charged the infamous Imperial Fist captain and with a sweep of his Punisher now alive with power cut down the captain with unrestrained fury. Sgt Bad ass overcome with the death of his captain charged the Archon. He seemed to forget he did not have an invulnerably save. He and his scouts were dealt with like the flies that they were. One Nemesis down two to go. Chaplin Stonewall had redeployed a small distance away to deal with the ravagers. The scouts had managed to snipe one and the thunder hammers of Stonewalls terminators did in the other. By a miracle the Archons consolidation move from the previous round and his normal movement put him in range to charge the Chaplin. It did not look like it by eye and we measured it three times. Finally the Chaplin who mocked the Archon and stole victory away from him was right in front of him. The two squads clashed and the remaining terminators were cut down. Stonewall was saved by his rosarius but was cut down. The Archon roared in triumph as he pulled his Punisher from the broken form of Chaplin Stonewall. Two down one to go.

Sadly this is when I realized the Archon, Drazzar and two Incubi were all that was left of my army. I guess the killing frenzy kind of blinded me for a second. The Archons Shadow field finally gave out at this point to and he succumbed to sniper fire as did the Incubi. So Brother Overkill survived and he held true to his name and blasted Drazzar with a lascannon. I got tabled in turn 7. I did kill two out of three of the Archons nemesis though.

The next Game is a 4000 point per side Apocalypse battle. The Archon has recruited 2 Chaos war bands and has made a pact with the powers of chaos the send their warp spawned kin to the battle field. The Dark Mechanicus will be supplying a Titan blessed by Khorne to wipe the Archons enemies from existence. Most anyways. There must be some left alive for the arenas and ministrations of the haemonculi back in Commorragh.

Next time more battle reports and the next installment of the Phoenix Court of Khaine series.

Until then......

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

The Phoenix Court of Khaine pt 1: Asurman

He is the right hand of Asuryan. He is the the oldest and first amongst the Phoenix Lords. He is Asurman the Phoenix Lord of the Dire Avengers.

As you know Dire Avengers are probably my second favorite Aspect warrior temple. Asurman is a good all around HQ choice. Phoenix lords have a nice stat line, usually have all the associated Exarch powers plus an additional power. They are eternal warriors and have a 2+ save. Asurman has a 4+ invulnerably save which is a big thing as none of the other Phoenix Lords have an invulnerably save. I find this rather annoying but you learn to deal with it. Since Phoenix lords are fearless and make any squad they join of their aspect fearless, Asurman can really bolster a squad of Dire Avengers. A fearless troop unit is pretty nice when holding an objective.

Wargear wise Asurman has nothing to fancy. It seems fourth edition really killed weapons reflecting the fluff. There is a lot of counts as that is a bit lackluster for the points you pay in some cases. Asurmans' vambraces count as an Avenger shuriken catapult that is assault 4. His Dire Sword is still just a Dire Sword, albeit one that allows you to re-roll misses. The Phoenix Lord stat line is nice so you do get to have a very exceptional character. His BS of 7 gives Asurman a re-roll of 5+ for shooting. Clocking in at 230 points though is a little excessive in my opinion. There are a couple of different Phoenix Lords that are much better that are much cheaper. With HQ slots at a premium Asurman is not one I would take unless I was running a rather hefty force of Dire Avengers. 5 attacks on the charge in close combat with a 2 handed power weapon is nice with the ability to re-roll misses but, I hardly ever voluntarily charge my Dire Avengers into combat. They usually get charged. Dire Swords are also lackluster as is pretty easy to pass leadership tests anymore especially if you are a space marine.

All in all I would not use Asurman unless I was doing a theme list. He is to expensive and really just not worth blowing an HQ slot and 230 points. He will make a single squad of Dire Avengers very deadly as they hold the line. I generally still include an Exarch in squads with Phoenix Lords. I would definitely do this with Asurman as I would want a second power weapon and a Shimmer Shield in the squad for the 5+ invulnerably in close combat. You don't have to give the Exarch powers of course. It would be nice if you could take Phoenix lords as a squad upgrade that did not take up an HQ slot. Like Lemartes or one of the other dozen Imperial players get.

Kind of an unenthusiastic start I know. Honestly Asurman is not the best Phoenix lord. He is a mediocre choice for lots of points.

SO next time we will talk about a Phoenix Lord that is worth the points. The Bringer of Death. The harbinger of doom. Maugan Ra the Phoenix Lord of the Dark Reapers. I also have a battle report for the latest round of the store campaign. The Judge and I went head to head again. I lost, but managed to get some payback. So that battle report is in the pipe for later.

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

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

More U.K Games Day Goodness

Well I thought I would tempt your taste buds with some of the concept models for IA 11 which should drop some time in second or third quarter 2011.  Besides the Phantom Titan we will be seeing a new Aspect shrine and some new tanks and vehicles.

 This new tank called the Lynx looks to be a lighter version of the scorpion with a fixed Pulsar.  Should be interesting.

 Of course the Phantom Titan needs no introduction.  I am curious to see what this bad boy is armed with.  It is sporting a close combat weapon so I am wondering if he will be packing a distortion cannon or pulsar.  I am hoping we have multiple weapon options.

 This is called a Hornet and looks to be a new tank sporting some bright lances or possibly pulse cannons

So here we see the new Aspect warrior temple the Shadow Specters.  Looks as if they are jump infantry of some sort sporting some heavy weapons.  Bright lances or some are speculating mini prism cannons.








So there ya go kids wet your whistle on these tidbits. I am really looking forward to this book.  I better start saving as it looks like Forge world may own my soul this summer.

until then.......



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

October 5th the pillaging begins

Well we have confirmation the Dark Eldar will be up for pre Order October 5th.  and oh my god do they look sexy.

Here we have the big man on campus.  The Archon.  I think anyways. This is a very nice upgrade to past Archons.  Very sinister looking.  This whole line is really nice and I know why I will be poor in November.

 This lovely lady has to be a Wych.  Looks a lot like Lelith actually.  Very very nice model.  I really can't wait to see what the rest of the wyches look like.

 I like these new raiders, but I am not a fan of the sail.  They are going to be a pain to store and transport in my opinion.  They are much more baroque looking though.  I can't wait to get my hands on one.

 These new bikes are so much better looking than the old ones.  They are much more evil looking.  They are not as cramped looking.  There was a lot of clutter going on with the original versions.

 These new Incubi are dead sexy.  They look like some hell spawned version of a Striking Scorpion.  I really like the Direction Jes Goodwin went with these guys.  I kinda like the old punishers though.  The swords are an interesting change.

 The new warriors are one of the many plastic kits coming out and I really like the new look. They are not excessively Spiky. They really do look more like Guardians now.  To me anyways.

I am only guessing as I did not really look real hard, but I think this is either a new wych or a new mandrake.  Either way it looks very mean and I like it.












So there ya go.  Some new model previews strait from Games Day U.K.  Next time I will be covering the first Phoenix Lord Asurman in my new series.  The Seven Deadly Venoms.


Until then......

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

Flow Like Water: List Development

List development for Adepticon continues. I have version three of my list and I have gotten three good games in with it. The guys at Evolution games are a good bunch to play with. Austin and his Chaos Marines have played the list twice. He has played version two and version three. Papa Nurgle played me with his loathsome plague infested horde last night against version 3. 2 victories and 2 ties. So far in the lists development. Papa Nurgle and Old school Terminators nids have tied me and I have defeated the forces of the traitor legions twice. I think I need to see if the local Warboss's want to throw down this coming week. One advantage to playing at Evolution Games is we have a pretty esoteric mix of armies and players. We actually don't have the horde of space marines you would expect to find. I have determined I need to face off against some orks and Blood Angels as well as some Space wolves.

Playing a lot of games versus all the different armies is key in developing a tournament style list. You have certain perceptions about how a list is going to do before you use it. These perceptions mean nothing until you play the list. The more opponents you play the more you learn about its strengths and weaknesses. You must expose the weaknesses so they are not a surprise in the middle of a game.

You can deal with a deficiency in a couple different ways.

• You adjust your list to fully of partially compensate for the weakness. For example, you have trouble dealing with lots of tanks. You can swap weapons on your Wave serpents to bright lances. You can add a unit of fire dragons. Basically a minor tweak. You drop a unit or some options to add a unit. I like to do this with my lists as long as they have a solid foundation.
• You totally rebuild the list from the ground up making sure you cover all your bases. This means you start with a solid core and a specific goal. This means you make the list to take objectives and or kill units. The units you use must work as one towards this goal and provide mutual overlapping support. I know its like beating a dead horse but you cannot play an Eldar army like a space marine army. Your units are specialized and must work in conjunction with the others. For objectives I look at it as all the other units are there to protect the troops units and engage the enemy forces as to support the taking and holding of objectives even at the cost of the unit. Granted you don't want to needlessly sacrifice units, but you have to play aggressively and throw caution to the wind. Make your opponent completely forget about the objectives.

If a list performed poorly you must determine why it performed poorly. This is the part most players fail at. They cannot identify why a list failed. People will play a list they believe to be infallible and invincible only to see it utterly destroyed. I see people online posting lists and saying how invincible they are. One man's gold is another man’s garbage. Just because it works well for one person does not mean it will fit the playing style you use. Farseer Re-roll’s over at Dark Future Games and I both play Eldar. We have very different playing styles though. He uses lots of Pathfinders and Warp Spiders. He also uses 2 regular Farseers that are rather minimalistic. I use Eldrad Ulthran quite a bit and one huge seer council. I also like to use Swooping hawks and hordes of Guardians. I also use the Avatar quite a bit. So our approach to the same situations is different.

Basically what I am trying to say is play what feels right and realize when something is not working. Even if you think its an awesome unit, if it does not work with the rest of the list drop it, or build a list that works with it. The later can be very risky though as you generally end up with a very specialized list. A great man was quoted as saying

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

Bruce Lee was referring to Martial Arts training during his time. There is truth in the statement though. You must be adaptable. Eldar armies must flow. Then they can Crash into the enemy like a great wave.

Next time we begin the Seven Deadly Venom’s series. The Avatar of Khaine and the Phoenix Lords.

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

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

Something Evil This Way Comes: DE Rumors

SO that dark ones will be in attendance at Games Day in the U.K. I am eagerly awaiting pictures of the new models. Jes Goodwin is the master behind the new models and I look forward to his new take on the dark kin.

I have to say from all the rumors floating around I may give my craft worlders a vacation for a month or two. November is the drop date with pre order probably in October. Basically everything has been redesigned so expect a couple waves of new releases.

If the Splinter weapons have been changed to

All poisons are 4+

Splinter Rifle 24" SX, AP5, Rapid Fire, Poisoned.

Splinter Carbine 18" SX, AP5, Assault 3, Poisoned.

Splinter Cannon 36" SX, AP5, Assault 4, or Heavy 6 Poisoned.

Splinter Pods are an under slung weapon for the Hellions, essentially similar to the carbine.

And its a semi big if, GW likes to do tweaks to throw people off at the last minute, but Codexes would be going to print very soon if not already done.

I have also been hearing about a possibly new vehicle called a slaughterer. I know Old School and I discussed this a bit and it could be a new Ravager or a replacement for the Ravager. He had pointed to a rumor saying the Ravager could be as big as a viper in its new incarnation. That would be interesting.

Thanks to Bigred at BOLS as well for the blurry sneak peak pic that has been leaked. They look so spiky and evil. I can't wait to see the rest.  Apologies about the pic being on its side.  I don't know HTML and I don't know how to rotate it.

So what do you guys think? What have you heard? I spend little time on the forums anymore. Chime in.

Next time A sneak peak at my Adepticon list. I also have been thinking about doing a series called 7 Deadly Venom’s: The Phoenix court of Khaine. I realized I covered Aspect Warriors, but did not delve into the phoenix lords or the Avatar yet. SO a new series is born.

Until then.......

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