First game in with the Eldar...

Well, got in a first game with the new Codex...  I played at the 1850 level with the following:

HQ:
Spirit Seer
Illic Nightspear
Warlock Council (2)

Troops:
Guardian Squad (10, Bright Lance)
Guardian Squad (10, Scatter Laser)
Dire Avengers (10, Exarch w/ TLSC)
    Wave Serpent (Bright Lance)
Wraithguard (5)
    Wave Serpent (Scatter Laser)
Ranger Squad

Elite:
Scorpions (10, Exarch w/ Chain sabers, Crushing Blow and Stalker)

Fast Attack:
Swooping Hawks (6, Exarch w/ Sun Rifle)
Warp Spiders (5, Exarch w/TL Spinner, Fast Shot, Marksman)

Heavy Support:
Wraithlord (Ghost Glaive, 2 Bright Lances)
Fire Prism


So, as you can see, a VERY haphazard group of more or less random things I wanted to try...  Some things I realized:

1. ALWAYS remember to use Battle Focus.  There were several times I remembered, and so on turn one I  was able to get a Guardian Squad within 12" range to let loose a hail of fire to kill a bunch of Chaos Marines...  Other times I completely forgot like with the Hawks, leaving them nicely bunched up after their drop in and shooting phase...  And a few times with Spiders I think...   But it is HUGE and something that I will need to get used to as a mechanism.
2. Base Rangers are 60 points.  They lost a lot, and frankly are about as useful as Marine Snipers now.  Which is to say, not really so much.  Relying on 6's on the damage roll makes Nightspear "less useful" as well.  Yes, BS 9 and 48" range so he can hit almost every time and he does place EVERY shot where he wants to, but still needing the 4+ to wound hurts.  Yes, iff he rolls the 6, it is Rending and Distortion, so the target it really, really dead, but...  Too easy to get cover saves and lacking Night Vision, etc. made him fairly useless for me.
3. The Wave Serpents are AWESOME.  I think my standard loadout will be the Scatter Laser though... BS 4, Twin Linked, and I get even one hit, the Shield in offensive mode gets twin linked.  D6+1 Str 7 no cover save shots now twin linked?  Yes Please.  They really did not get tested I think against a dedicated AT force though...  The mere presence of the shield was enough several turns to convince the Chaos player (Max, one of the better players at the Gopher) that there were other targets.  The ability to deploy, run then shoot means that the single hatch at the rear of the vehicle is not as much a problem as I had feared, certainly not for the Dire Avengers and Wraithguard.
4. Thinking that I will be switching several weapon loadouts from their old, traditional ones to something else.  The new "twin linked" option for the DA and WS Exarchs are less useful than I had thought.  Loosing out on the extra shots at BS 5 for the almost guaranteed, but only 2 now meant that I would much rather use other options.  The DA NEED something like the 5++ from the Shimmer Shield, so guessing that model gets deployed for me going forward.  Not so sure for the Spiders, though the always AP 1 Spinneret Rifle and Fast Shot/Marksman (for the 5+ to choose targets) might well be the best option.
5. Going forward I think I will be needing something toit deal with the obnoxious cover save things going on...  Dark Reapers with SnP are looking pretty good with their new special rules, and the Wraithguard with their alternate template weapons might well prove to be an excellent shock/line breaker unit.  Loaded out in a Serpent to deliver them to problem areas and drop in with a bunch of AP 2 flamer attacks.  Only Str 4, but Distort for the quasi rending effect...  And assaulting them would be suicidal with EACH of them getting d3 hits with their weapon...  The Reapers are looking REALLY good, though expensive.  Getting the old Reaper launcher AND the "Krak" missile options (at an additional cost) seems like a no brainer.  And with SnP they can be reserved or transported without losing their ability to shoot.  Exarch will be absolutely silly if I deck him out with say, Fast Shot and the Tempest Launcher...  3 Barrage blast markers at AP 3, no jink saves against ANY of the DR shooting...  So, death to bikes and light skimmers, sucks to be Scouts or even up to Marines behind cover...  And he will Artillery Snipe the hell out of things being able to place the Barrage template over what he wants to kill first with casualties coming from the center of the blast...
6. Wraithlord?  Was OK, but died due to an obnoxious number of 5++ saves being made when he crashed into 2 Obliterators...  The Ghost Glaive for 5 points gave him +1 Str and Master Crafting for a re-roll which did prove useful.  His loadout of 2 Bright Lances was less than optimal though.  I think a Scatter Laser or Star Cannons might be more suited to the local environment at least...
7. Weapon Platforms...  The Bright Lance at 20 points was not bad...  The Scatter Laser was much more of a "Why did I bother?"...  Think the Star Cannon might be one to bring for the AP 2 shooting...  Brings me to:
8. Stat lines...  Holy Crap, I5 everywhere...  Even Guardians get WS/BS 4 and I5...  We go first in HtH.  Won't DO shit for the most part, but at least I am going first, dammit.  Something I think to get used to with the old War Walkers being useful in the previous edition despite the BS 3...  Now with BS 4?  Guessing they will hit the table for me soon as well...  Damn, the Heavy Support slot is full...

So, was mostly a learning game for me, as I was clearly NOT prepared for an 1850 game with the much cheaper options...  I am thinking the Crimson Hunter will be the (current) premier air superiority fighter, so that may well be on the purchase list.  The Wraith Knight?  I do think it is an amazing model aesthetically.  I am just concerned that it is another model like the "Loki" Blood Claw "upgrade" in the Wolves Codex where it looks great and has a bunch of rules that simply do not work in the current edition of the game...  And it is NOT a $20 model, coming in at $115 pre-tax...  

Next week the Dark Reapers awaken from their long slumber of several editions...  Bikes as well likely, not sure what else though...

Eldar Saturday... So, next League

More and more of the book is "in the wild" now...  I have to say that I am liking most of it...  It appears that the old ones penance is finally over for the stupidly overpowered 3rd edition codex...  The range of their Shuriken Catapults is the only major disappointment for me...  Well, that and the lack of a good way to actually use the old Scorpions and Banshees...  No assaulting from Reserve and no Assault Transport, so...

Wraithlords can now take 2 heavy weapons, 2 flamers AND the sword...  So I guess I have some modifications to do...  They lost a few points of Str, but overall, not at all bad I think...  The Wraithguard I am less sure of, but I do NOT need to bring the huge unit of 10 to make them a Troop choice.  Just a HQ Choice, the Spirit Seer.

Comparing the Guardians and Dire Avengers...  Haven't seen the whole DA listing, but 18" rage for their guns vs the 12" on the normal ones...  The new shoot/run or run/shoot thing is a neat idea, but I think the Heavy Weapon the Guardians have might prevent that or be wasted...  I will probably have a mix, and I am liking that the Guardians are NOT looking completely useless...

Looking forward to fielding the Swooping Hawks again, and the Spiders are looking pretty darn good... And depending on the Flier's rules and how the model looks...  Well, looking like another purchase I guess :-)

So, Eldar...

Looking very much like the Eldar are the next codex to be released...  Not sure as GW of course has not officially announced that, but there agree leaked photos from overseas versions of the White Dwarf...  So, another surprise release with no coordinated announcement...  Eh, par for the company.   They are surprised when something released in say, Deutschland can be scanned in and shared with the rest of the world...  Or pictures at least :-) ...  Of course that brings up the Whole part of them (GW) punishing retailers for breaking their sacred "street date" with the WD...  Now, different countries have different dates, their own stores have different dates than outside vendors and of course the subscription bonus was in theory that you would get yours prior to"street date"...  Never worked that way at least decades ago when I was a subscriber, but...  Goes back to my theory that rules must apply equally to all, or they mean nothing.  But then I grew up near Chicago where it was pretty obvious that the rules (laws) were NOT equally applied, it mattered more who you knew and how much power, money or influence you had...  :-)   but back to games...

In any case, getting the book, Dave has my previous order for the as of now not official release :-) ...  The pictures leaked look good...  So guessing if the rules are reasonable, I will get a flier and probably some Wraith Guard...  The Wraith Knights look amazing, but the "rumored" price of $115 +tax is something that I will have to wait and see on...  That much for one model seems pretty high...  I mean the Baneblade and Gargant are that price... Those are bloody huge and of course not really playable in 40k..  This might be the start of the Knight class Titans for 40k, merging apoc with 40k....  No clue myself of course, but it would be fun I think...

The rumors and rule leaks have been good, but honestly I am really hoping for a book I feel like I have more than one viable army out of the book...  It will be interesting to read I guess...  And of course, I posted this on the wrong blog :-)  Could be why I could not later find it...

All quiet on the 40K front?

Seems like there is a LOT less traffic out there, or perhaps I am simply not getting it...  With the demise of Faeit's site, almost no real news or rumors on a regular basis...  And with GW changing the way they are doing business by shutting down all of their competition for online sales, a lot of other people are shifting a lot of their coverage from GW stuff to anything BUT GW games.  Not necessarily a bad thing I guess, to be honest I am thinking VERY seriously about picking up a small Rebel fleet for X-Wing, and the increased coverage is nice for that.  Seeing blogs and stores shut down would it seems make one cautious about posting anything or perhaps simply make one want to avoid GW altogether...  Not really sure which, assuming it is a mix for everyone out there.

Locally, it is looking like a few other games will be starting up or restarting in a few cases...

Warmachine/Hordes: I have 2 big armies still from V1 of the game, so start-up would be minimal, but I'm not convinced that the problems that killed the game for me are really fixed.  OTOH, if a decent sized local group were to get going, I would love to get back into any other game...

Malifaux:  Seems like a really neat game...  The only real problem I have with it is that it seems to be a really "dark" game with all of the sides simply being various flavors of "evil".  I won't play an evil army, or Undead (in general, Eldar Wraiths would I suppose be "Undead", but different I guess being that they volunteer to come back to fight...), so there are really not any choices there that interest me in the least...  Too bad, but I am guessing I am very much a minority as far as that goes for a reason NOT to play...  Oh, and a V2 coming out, so who knows...

Infinity:  Looks neat, I had a big PanO army that I traded for and then traded away...  Still have some of the Adrianna stuff, mostly the Werewolf stuff of course, but would like to snag some more of the Caledonia stuff  as I like the idea of kilted lads wandering about supported by Werewolves and shooting people...  So, maybe.  Almost zero startup cost for the rules, etc...  Just a few more models...  Oh, and a large group of folks to play against...  THAT is what is missing locally...

Flames of War:  Same thing...  I have the new rulebooks, a decent US Airborne force and some tanks to support them, just not seeing a local group actually playing the game...  Might not help that only one of the 2 local stores has not (yet) banished me, but I do not think that really severely limits my options...  So, the lack of local players combined with the last time I really played being V1 (is V3 now) when I used US Artillery to terrifying effect...  Mind, the rules were pretty "familiar" to anyone who actually DID call for fire stuff while they played Army, so I was VERY familiar with the correct application of Artillery and was able to quickly and efficiently dismantle some well built German and Italian forces without any real risk to my own lads...  Guess I left feeling that certain things, US Artillery being one were simply overpowered...  Perhaps realistic, but too powerful in the hands of someone who understood how to actually use them.

X-Wing:  This one looks interesting, and if Dave is able to get them in and on the shelf when I am actually in the store, I'll likely be picking some up...  Was always a big fan of the Y-Wing and B-Wing fighters, so whether or not they are good I'll definitely be playing them...  Guessing a few X-wings are going to be needed too...  I just have zero interest in the Imperial things, so if there is a trade or sale potential I guess I'll go that route...  So right now the only thing keeping me out of that is the need to buy the starter set and feeling like I am stuck with models I will not use just to get the rule book, etc...

And back to 40K:  Eldar are rumored next month...  I have some store credit built up and have reserved a copy, should the Codex actually be released...  Still mind boggling that a major company would hide it's releases until a week before release.  Even from retailers, who it does seem to treat as enemies in a LOT of respects...  And probably why there is a LOT less buzz and talk about the potential re-release of one of the oldest 40K races.  A real shame, but I guess already having a "somewhat large" collection of Eldar minis, they really aren't loosing too many new sales from me should I choose to buy less...  Oh, and I will be buying less.

Got burned I feel on the Dark Angel codex and army.  Really left a somewhat bitter taste for me, so that pretty well cemented my decision to just buy less GW going forward.  Having such a craptastic $50 book with let's call it "lower standards" of editing hit after virtually no information, etc.?  Eh, I didn't buy the Tau when it came out, won't be playing that army.  Will probably see what the Eldar book does before buying more models if any.  As of right now, the game is holding less and less interest for me with the few massively overpowered units/Armies dominating the more competitive scene.  While the local group is NOT super competitive, playing an army like say, the SW with their completely outdated codex means I am severely limited and will get frustrated a lot quicker.  Right now, my Eldar are mostly a "spoiler" army as they completely shut down enemy Psykers but really are not that difficult to beat.  Depends on what changes in the new book I guess...  Lots of potential there, just hoping it doesn't become something like the 3rd edition Codex where the Eldar get punished for the next few editions for having something stupidly overpowered...  Guess it's a wait and see, but one thing for sure, no more "Finecast" anything for me I think.  Who knows, might even get me excited about playing 40K again, but I'm not holding my breath...

So, X-Wing I guess :-)  Worst case I have a few more nice little models for my desk at work...

Free Play, I get to play "Opfor"

An old friend wants to test out a "Tournament" list so I'll be taking as "spoiler" list...

1850 Crimson Fists w/ Eldar allies

Pedro Kantor
Sternguard (10, 4 Combi Plasma, 4 Combi Melta, HF, SGT w/LC/CM Drop Pod)
Sternguard (10, 4 Combi Plasma, 4 Combi Melta, HF, SGT w/LC/CM Drop Pod)
Scout Squad (10, 9 snipers, ML, cloaks)
Scout Squad (10, 9 shotguns, HB)
Thunderfire Cannon

Farseer
Pathfinders (5)
Wraithlord (ML, Scatter Laser)


Still 200 or so points to go...  But potentially 9 scoring units, complete denial of enemy Psyker powers...  REALLY rapid assault.  Easiest way to fill the points would be change the Farseer for Eldrad and bring something like a Land Speeder with MM/HF...  Have to think about it, I think I'd rather play something like a Vindicator...  Have to think about it...

The more I think about it in the long run I think I'll be running either the Storm Raven or a Storm Talon...  Though the changes to the "Escort" rule there make it "less useful" to escort something like say, Scouts...  The Raven or the Talon will be dedicated Air Superiority I think, the Raven really does that fairly well, as long as I am not completely overwhelmed by 5+ fliers...  2-3 it can handle I think...

Tournament Sat...

So, looking like I am playing Eldar this weekend...  The basic part of the army is Wraithguard Maxxed out with the Spirit Seer to make them Troops.  The second Troop is a squad of Pathfinders.  Beyond that...  Well, at least one Wraithlord.  the choice beyond that is either the Wraith Seer from IA 11 or Eldrad.  I am leaning towards Eldrad as it gives complete"magic" control, punishing the enemy for daring to use spells and able to cast three a turn while casting one twice if needed...  Not sure the War Walkers are worth 60 points each these days at AV 10 and 2 hull points...  8 shots at S 6?  Not horrible I guess...  But T8 on the Wraithlord?  Other than the Dark  Eldar Not many armies can easily deal with them...  100-150 points, I tend to use 2 heavy weapons to go with the 2 flamers....  Star 10 MC for the AP 2 makes them a threat to anything in HtH...  Kind of...  2 attacks base, so not killing much..

The FnP on the Wraithguard was amusing...  But ultimately I think not needed.  If I had marched them up the field it might have been, but hiding in cover, not so much...

Still no real answers to fliers and Necrons in general, so thinking we will lose that matchup...

All in all, looking forward to the new book...

Gearing up for the Team Tournament in 2 weeks...

So, I'll be partnered with one of the GK players for the Tournament...  Looking like I'll be bringing my Eldar.  A bit of a surprise how well they are doing within the limits of the Team Environment.  Helpful that a single Farseer can completely shut down the Psychic powers on the other side of the table...  Mind, I was playing Eldrad, so the best wizard in play...  The Wraithguard with Fortune are annoyingly difficult to kill and almost impossible to shift off of an objective...  The War Walkers were OK, a LOT of shots but not a lot of damage really...  Pathfinders were sacrificed.  They probably won us the game by drawing off so much of the other army to deal with the super ninja snipers appearing on a flank...  Wound up not really doing much other than threaten the objective and put a wound on Castellon Crowe...  And I know they wound up lasting a LOT longer than they should have against Necrons and GK...

Major changes?  Putting the 2 real heavy weapons on the Wraithlord, remembering the Monstrous Creature rules...  That thing with the move through cover, dual flame throwers and Str 10 attacks?  Was a beast, killed off an entire Necron squad with attached character in a single turn between flames and assault.  Cleared one of our two objectives and saved the game...

Debating bringing Eldrad or a Wraithseer from IA 11...

Will be getting one of the Cynwall Nova in a trade for the model:

 The Seer with a normal Farseer would provide buffs to my other Wraiths, and is pretty brutal himself.  The Seer can also run with a D-cannon.  That army would also have an Artillery piece, a D-Cannon...  No War Walkers in that list, but just a small number of insanely tough pieces...  T6 Wraithguard with re-roll-able saves and potential FnP?  Good luck prying them off an objective...  Oh, and YOUR cover saves are at -1...

Odd one, how to most people feel about IA units in the 40K games?