Fliers, Forge World and the local group...

So, the Eldar Nightwing Interceptor in IA 11 can be taken by Codes: Eldar as a Fast Attack option via the FAQ from Forgeworld...  The Phoenix Bomber is a Heavy, and not so sure it will be as good.  145 points for the Nightwing with 2 Shuriken Cannons and 2 Bright Lances...  Yes, Armor 10 all around, and the Holo fields are not so impressive now, but by an odd coincidence, 4 weapons that can all be fired by the 6th ed flier rules...  Against another flier, 8 shots at BS 4 seem like if I can line up and get the first shot off, I might well be able to achieve air superiority quickly and easily...

So, wondering how close this will be to the version in the fliers book or the next Eldar codex whenever it does come out...  But in any case, iff the IA stuff becomes legal, then we have a few options...

New toy from 40K Giveaway...

Well, he's primered up...  Mephiston will be painted up in the Fleshtearer's colors...  So, per usual but with more black trim and shoulder pads...

Just starting there of course, and as you can see the hobby table is still quite full...  Though, cleaning the basement a bit, and I am planning on expanding my hobby area a bit and clean it up quite a bit...  Never used the Vampire Lord, but with the move to 2000 points, Seth and Mephiston might make a really good team...

One of the other things I found:

:-)  LAW tube, just another random souvenir from the Army...  It will go up on my "Klingon Wall" with a lot of my other collected weapons...

First game of 6th ed Eldar for me...

Things went pretty much the way I thought they would...    Swooping hawks are still overpriced crap, Spiders are decent flankers...  Pathfinders are OK, but will not win any battles on their own.  I simply did not bring enough high STR shooting.  Flanked my War Walkers, should have just marched them behind the Wraithguard block to get Guide from Eldrad...  24 Str 6 shots with BS 3 (guided) might have done a LOT better.  Also, got sidetracked trying to take and hold objectives...  Should have simply marched my Wraithguard block and War Walkers right up the field...  I do think next time I bring a Wraith Lord...  Against DE they just die, but most other things will have a difficult choice with the WG and WL right near each other.

In terms of what next?  I think we start to field 2000 point forces, it does seem the level we are heading to.  Also, I strongly suspect that the Forge World things will be "street legal" for 40K games VERY soon.  With the new rules and new FAQ's, it does seem to be moving in that direction.  I am REALLY looking forward to converting one of my many ancient Wraith Lords (Yes, they are "Eldar Dreadnoughts", a few of the Vampire class ones) to be a Wraith Seer...  The WG backed by a Farseer and Wraith Seer (giving the WG say, "Feel No Pain" and decreasing cover saves...  Yes, please) seems to be a hugely powerful block...  Not unstoppable, but damn close...  And still lots of points left for the high Str shooting I think we need to play the current game...

So, Troops?  Dire Avengers I guess come back in a Wave Serpent...  To get dropped off on an objective and have the Light Tank do it's thing until it dies to the 3 glance rule...  A small unit or two of my Pathfinders as well...  Getting precision AP 1 shots is "neat", and since so far I've only been putting those shots into fearless units or taking the long shot to try and glance a vehicle, I suspect it will become MUCH better in the longer run.  Haven't bothered with Guardians...  "Eh" seems to be the best I can say about them.  10 man min squads of crap, overpriced troops mean they simply do not stand up well in the current environment just to have "Troops" sitting in the backfield...  Yea, they have Fleet and Assault weapons so I can rush them to their deaths in close combat after an ineffective round of shooting...  No thanks, just doesn't seem to fit the background of a dying race to have ineffective suicide troops...  Back in 3rd ed when I could bring 5 man squads with a heavy weapon, they hit the field for me a LOT, now?  Not so much...

Fast Attack, if Forge World comes into mainstream, then the Hornets are AWESOME, and will get proxied in...  I do think they might become fliers in the current edition...  Eldar getting some sort of interceptor to match the Marine one would be really nice...  Spiders are staying, and...  Well, that's really about it...  IA 11 had some amazing Eldar stuff, Shadow Specters and the like...  The Corsairs are another amazing list, maybe they'll be part of the next Eldar codex :-)...  Especially nice for me because my RT era Eldar ARE old Eldar Raiders/Corsairs and painted up like that...  we'll see I guess...  Looking forward to the 145 or so point Nightwing fighters...

More 6th ed stuff...

Mkay, got a bit more reading in...  And the more I see, the more I think the time of the Dreadnoughts and other vehicles dominating the game is past...  With grenades hitting on a straight WS roll, and normal vehicles having WS 1 if they move, 0 if not...  Even DNs get hit basically on a 4+, so Krak, Melta and Haywire grenades hit a LOT...  OK, the Krak are not nearly so much a threat, but even Guardsmen these days can hurt most DNs...  Any normal vehicles getting caught by Infantry are simply going to be wrecked I think.  Needing fliers or Infantry screens seems the way things are now...

Eldar are looking pretty good in general.  Or at least something I can work with.  Eldrad is still so much better than the regular Farseers, but I guess I'll eventually use a normal Seer, if only to try the new powers.  MOST of the book is still crap (OK, this is all just my opinion, YMMV) being written for a game 2 editions ago...  And the new rules REALLY hurt some of it.  Help some, the Ranger/Pathfinders seem like they'll do fine.  Warp Spiders are now better than they were in 5th, and since they were a staple for me there, guessing they will continue to be so for me.  Support Weapons look like they will be REALLY good.

Now the other side...  Scorpions are now completely useless for what I used them for in the past (flanking and hitting the backfield), Dark Reapers with the Str 5 weapon simply doesn't cut it as AA/AT, so despite AP 3 it really is just expensive and useless.  Especially compared to say Long Fangs...  I WANT to make them work, but I really am not seeing it.

Somewhere in the middle for me are the Swooping Hawks, Banshees and Wraithlord.  Cover saves for the Lord, he is a Character so can challenge, etc...  Banshees, I'll give them another shot with Fleet, Doom, etc...  We'll see :-)

Support weapons... Maybe?

So, now they are T 7, 2 wound "creatures" rather than the weakest possible vehicle...  Hmmm...  And the D-Cannons I have from back in the RT days...  Seems like it might be a good way to throw down some "I don't care" class shooting...  Blast, so no AA fire...  That will continue to be a problem for the Eldar I think.  But in any case for 100 points I can have a unit of 2 D Cannons behind my Ghost Warriors (Wraith Guard, but better than half of the unit IS made up of ancient Ghost Warriors)...  I think they will be my AAA should any get close enough.  Guide will be used here and on my War Walkers since I'm looking for 6's...  I like the Wraithcannon here just because 2/3 of the time it rips away a Hull point, and 1/3 have a decent chance to just kill the flier...  Scatter Lasers, just the sheer weight of shooting.  I'll see how much Str 6 shooting I can bring out...

Vibro Cannons....  Hmmm, since they auto hit and auto glance, barring FAQ, seems like they will just hit, same for Blood Lance and other powers like that....  Can you tell I am trying hard trying to figure out a way to deal with the fliers, especially the dual Storm Raven and multiple Vendetta/Valkyrie lists?  Just not 100% sure I can do it with what I have and the rules as I understand them at this point...

Getting a feel for the new rules, but there are some that just kind of make my head hurt.  No more than 50% Reserves, but Fliers do not count against this?  Well, mostly lacking fliers, I don't get anything there...  Sucks for several of my armies though, making them mostly unplayable.  At least in the form I am used to them being played at least.  We'll see, but I am guessing it will not work out well.

The other big one is no assault out of reserves.  Now this just makes certain things like my Wolf Scouts and Scorpions almost completely useless...  Wolf Scouts can jump out, maybe be shot by Interceptors or other odd rules, get their one shot off, then stand there and get shot off the board.  Scorpions are WAY worse off...  Pistols, and "Oh, look, we're here to die"...  So, completely useless.  Really disappointing for me as they were always some of my favorite units, now unplayable in the Scorpions case, Wolf Scouts are far worse off than they were as just suicide shooters...  So, maybe there will be a change via FAQ or new book for the Eldar...

One Fu@king Grenade?

You can now throw grenades in 40K...  But only one/unit?  Ouch, my head hurts...  With an 8" range, I guess I'm having a hard time believing that it would be broken, but what would I know :-)...  So much for my Swooping Hawks actually being useful as vehicle hunters...  Now, in close combat, they will wreck just about any vehicle I think just due to the number of glances they can produce at I5...  Guessing they will be my backfield defense for both turns they live...  Though I have to wonder if they will live, but the Wraithguard block out there should draw a lot of fire...

First 6th ed game in, moving on...

Well, got in my first game...  Played a Drop BA force against a REALLY well organized GK force...  In the words of CPL Hicks "We Came, We Saw, We got our Asses Kicked"...  Did not catch the only 50% can be reserved part...  So, my DoA army is really DOA.  Used to be I'd just deploy Scouts with a beacon, Drop Pods with beacons and let the rest drop in...  Now, I cannot do this at all.  So, my army was pretty sub par to start.  Fliers are obnoxious if you do not have them yourself, or some good AAA to knock them down...  My Fleshtearers do not.  Faced off against 2 heavy fliers like that, you NEED something to take them down, throwing a few random shots looking for a series of 6's is simply not going to stop them in time.  Not with them able to "zoom" around 18"-36", firing 4 weapons at full BS (5 with PotMS), knowing they are in general only hit on 6's in return...  Pretty safe all around for them at least.

So, a bit disappointing for my first run through...  But not THAT bad.  Lots of little things that we no doubt did wrong, and that will get worked out over time...  Seems pretty decent all around, with just a few annoyances.

Moving to Eldar for next week...  Simpler I think and with the new way to kill vehicles being glance them a lot, Eldar are set as the kings of Str 6 shooting I think...  The old Warp Spiders who were pretty "bad" in 5th will I think be decent, for now at least...  Gone is the "AP - penalty", and since most vehicles now die to 3 glances...  Well, if you are looking for the "I killed the vehicle" for the result, this will work I think.  Guiding a big unit might even serve as field expedient AA...  Though a guided squadron of War Walkers is looking pretty good right now...  25% cover to get a cover save, immobile no longer kills members, 24 shots at Str 6/turn?  Um, can I put then near Eldrad and Guide them?  Straight averages say I should get 18 Str 6 hits/turn at ground targets...  Might even get 6-7 hits when playing AAA shooting at fliers...  Still not good against an AV 12 flyer really, but might be the best I have for a while.

WRT psychics, I think keeping Eldrad will be the way to go.  3 powers/turn, I have access to them all...  Not sure if there is still a restriction about one shooting psy power/turn...  Might be amusing if not with Mind War sniping targets...  But in any case, Pathfinders are going to be weird with their rifles getting AP 1 for 5+ to hit and AP 2 for 6 to wound...  Oh, and on the 6 to hit they choose their target for the AP 1 shot...  So, foot armies might be in trouble...  "Look Out Sir" rolls for characters giving a 4+ save I guess if I snipe characters, but heavy weapons, etc.?  Yeah, that will be harder...  I also kind of wonder if Haywire grenades are one of the "can be thrown" types (Edit, YES, they are one that can be thrown)...  My ancient Hawks might be able to hit the field if they can just drop in, throw a few grenades and virtually guarantee destroying a Land Raider or the like...  Then hopefully leap away :-)...  Who knows, they might work until people realize what I am doing with them...  And if I am reading the FAQ correctly, the Warlock "honor guard" is a separate unit, so I could get them too...  So maybe jet biking or maybe just walking...

Dunno, but pretty sure it's Eldar next week as I can fit them more easily into my bike's luggage :-)