Eldar HQ Review: or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the E-Bomb (part 2)

I present here an overview of the new Eldar Codex HQs, as filtered through my Phoenix Lord helmet visor.  I will try to keep this (relatively) brief.

I don't know who's Ra this is, but it's AWESOME.

For me, it's all about the HQs in 40K.  I love the characters, the personalities, the superheroes.  I generally build a list based on who my HQs are, no matter the army.  They flavor the whole thing -- well, I have core units I almost always use in each army, but the true character of the force comes from the HQ choices.  So here's my personal take on what we have...

Seers:  I know the Seers are the most popular HQs with most Eldar players (though not usually with me).  With the new Runes of battle dual-powers the Eldar come into actually being the most powerful psychics in the galaxy.  And the Farseer gets mastery 3 for only 100pts, which is awesome. I also like the new Farseer powers -- or should I say, the old ones.  Some of them (like death mission) harken back to the very first farseers of the early 90s, which is cool.  Now, I have heard some players griping that, "Oh, Eldar took a big blow cuz we can't pick fortune anymore, we have to roll it."  My resoonse is, "Tough $#!^."  So you don't get your guarenteed cheat anymore.  I personally like the random powers, it adds a fun and uncontrolled element to the game.  The farseers Runes of Witnessing and Warding have become much less potent and are now one-use expended, which is good for balance but I did like them better before. 

We now have 3 seer HQ options, the Farseer, Spiritseer, and the Warlocks.  The Farseer I don't need to say much about.  The Spiritseer is pretty much wraith-oriented, which will make a lot of folks happy, as he makes wraithguard/swords troops and gives them a markerlight-type ability. He is also a mastery 2 warlock using the same Runes of Battle discipline and a 2 wound model, which is nice (though I don't expect to use one much personally). 

The Warlocks have become just about what I hoped they would. They are a non-slot HQ choice you can always take and they work similar to SW Wolf Guard -- you can make a council unit of 1-10 models, branch off one at a time to lead guardian units (troops, bikers, and heavy wpn teams), and keep the rest to form their own unit.  I was hoping they'd go so far as Indepenedent Characters like the Blood Angel medic so they could join about anyone, but no such luck.  I personally will be having one join my Windrider Bikes and have a Warlocke Triad unit who stick together and help others in the battle.  (I've dnoe that once now and I held them back too much to be of any real use).  So I'm kind of excited about the Warlock changes.

And of course Eldrad.  He finally lives up to the ultimate psyker title too.  Mastery 4 and he can regenerate warp charge points while he's casting on a 5+ roll.  He's going to be even more popular than before.

Illic Nightspear:  This guy is a cool, badass type ninja sniper.  Very cool character but...  I don't think I'll be giving up a precious HQ spot for him.  (I might once just to try him out.)  I'm a bit disappointed that taking him is the only way to upgrade rangers to pathfinders, but if you do so they can deepstrike right up next to Nightspear, who can infiltrate without limitations, like they're all crawling out of the bush at just the right spot. I just wish he were a ranger upgrade character rather than an HQ. If you just want to run allies, though, him with some pathfinders would make a cool add-on unit of Outcast snipers.

Autarchs: Pretty much unchanged from the last edition.  What I like about them is the Autarch is basically a "make your own hero kit," which is fun. 

Yriel is also pretty much the same, though he has 4 wounds now (not sure why...  Maybe they just figured some Eldar character should as many other codexes have a W4 hero?).  I hever used him much but as Autarchs go he's pretty cool.  Fluff-wise though I'd prefer to think of his large blast melee attack as a ninja-like whirlwind of spearwork rather than some lame eye-piece energy blast...

Avatar:  The Avatar got monstrously badass, as he should be.  Stat increases: WS10, BS10, I10, A5, and W5!  I was shocked to see 5 wounds.  I was a little disppointed to see his S6 and T6 remain the same as any generic monstrous creature -- seems to me a giant of living molten metal should be T7...  I also think I10 is a bit much for such a big guy, but I ain't complaining. I like that the Doom that Wails gives him AP1 attacks, thus the SWORD has more value than just having a shooting attack.  I also like that he can be given warrior powers -- they are, after all, HIS aspect warriors.  He also saw an understandable increase in point cost.

Phoenix Lords:  My fave HQ choices (and I know I'm in the minority there).  I won't try to address each one, but in general they all got better!  I was afraid they'd suffer from their unpopularity but nope, they actually got cooler.  Stats stayed the same, I think, and they retained their Eternal Warrior.  Two main disappointments were the lack of changes as reagrds to invuln saves and disciples.  Paying 200+ pts for an HQ with no invuln is kind of a ripoff, though save 2+ has more weight in 6th ed than it did in 5th.  And no one (other than the Spiritseer) makes their units into Troops -- would have been nice for Disciples to become "makes his/her unit Troops," or at least a scoring unit.  I say "unit" cuz the spam potential might have been ridiculous if the whole aspect became troops.  They each got more warrior powers to make them more the legends they should be and even the Hawk Lord got cool in this version (and actually does have an invuln).  I'm also happy to see they didn't add new Lords, just stuck with the originals (I'm an aspect warrior purist, btw). I'm excited to try each one out, though my faves will always be Karadras, Maugan Ra, and Asurmen (who MUST be your warlord if you take him and gets D3 warlord traits, which is super cool as he is THE original aspect warrior).

I might also note that some folks are coming up with all kinds of creative (and sneaky) ways to combine Independent Characters with different units to produce super-units.  If that's your thing then good for you, enjoy that.  There's nothing technically wrong with it.  I, however, as I said, am an Aspect Warrior Purist (and snob).  While combining Nightspear or a Seer with your Reapers or Scorpions might make then super-killy, it pollutes the purity of the kill.  My aspects will only ever be lead by their Phoenix Lord--they're too proud for anything else.

If you've managed to read through this whole thing, CONGRATS!

So those are my abridged thoughts on the new HQs, filtered through my personal preferences and play style.  What doYOU think???

Black Phoenix: Dark Warp Spiders

At long last I (may) have finished my squad of homemade "dark" warp spiders!

I say "may" because my original vision was/is to have warp vanes on their backs, using the DE trophy racks, as seen here and here.  I bought a finecast box of Incubi with the intent of using their racks for that purpose... and man that $#!^ is terrible!  My first encounter with "Failcast" and it lives up to that name.  There are so many tabs and extra crap on them, and when I tried to clean up the first one it ripped in half!  *sigh*  I'm trying not to go into an anti-GW cheap selfish bastards tirade here...  So lets move on with the Spiders instead.

So anyway, I went for a cooler, more Spider-man-esque look.  I'm very disappointed that the new Eldar release didn't include updating the old warp spider models which are of the very first design.  They really don't do it for me--big lumps of static ying-yangs.  So I made my own.  These guys are mostly Scourge bits with Reaver heads.  The spider-crawling chick has Hellion legs and the one running headlong into trouble has Wych legs.  In retrospect I should have made another crouching figure but...  oh well.  Gotta save some torso parts for my Scourges/Dark Swooping Hawks.  (I'm not likely to field more than 5 spiders anyway.)

On each back is the warp-jumping apparatus, six small reality-rending pods that give them somewhat of a spidery look.  I was really leaning on the big warp vanes sticking off their backs for even more spider-esque-itude but am so discouraged by the Failcast incident I don't know if I'll bother.  For their death spinners I used DE shredders, which are weapons of the same general breed.

My Exarch I wanted to REALLY be a dark spider freak, so I gave him four arms!  Under the new codex I'll be equipping him with the Spinnerete Rifle (represented by the Scourge haywire blaster).  His spiderweb is a wych shardnet and he has a powerblade on the other arm.  Melding four arms onto his tiny torso actually wasn't as hard as I expected it to be.  I first attached the arms that had to link together (gun) on kind of low, then filed the tops flat and the fit on the upper arms, filling the gaps with a pinpoint worth of greenstuff.  His head is a cool wych head with scars carved into his own face.  I was tempted to use the biker dome head with ponytail, but this one has so much more personality.

Color-wise...  I'm expecting to paint them all black with red highlights and red glass on their helmets, plus try to make a red glow on their warp gadgets.  Weapons will be silvery.  Should be slick if I can pull it off well enough.

In battle they were expert assassins.  I have played them once under the new rules (brief battle report forth-coming) and they did their job well.  They dropped in via deepstrike, shot the hell out of a small squad of chaos marines, killing all but one and wounding his Chaos Lord, and then bounced out of reach the same turn.  That was the pattern, jumping in to kill with S6 AP1 shots, then jumping out.  (Hardly seemed fair sometimes.) While the Exarch can be equipped for combat, I think that'd be a mistake.  I've tried it in the past and it generally doesn't turn out so good.  He's just not built for it, and with this kind of maneuverability, there's little chance of him getting charged.  My exarch had the spinnerete rifle and warrior powers of Fast Shot and Marksman's Eye (tho I completely forgot the latter the whole game). And as my report will reflect, I had one get needlessly lost in the warp when I rolled double-ones for a jump.  My opponent had no pity for me (nor should he -- all that moving should have SOME risk).

But three of these brave aspect warriors returned to the Black Phoenix Craftworld to revel in their freaky glory!  Though some say we are tainted, the Black Phoenix will rise again!

Eldar Codex Review: or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the E-Bomb (part 1)

I was very pessimistic.  We've been waiting for a a new Eldar codex for a long long time and knowing that most players these days favor wraiths, seers, and flyers, and those being the only rumors we heard about, I was thinking my Path of the Eldar was doomed to near extinction.  Then yesterday I stopped at a local hobby/comic shop just to leaf through the book and see for myself... And those tricksy Eldar sucked me in!  I bought the damn expensive book but never looked back.

Almost all of my fears and pessimism were relieved at finally getting my hands on it.  I feared my aspect warriors and beloved Phoenix Lords were about to get snubbed in favor of the crowd-pleasing spam units, but I was happily wrong!  I'm now very excited to get back to my Eldar force and see what i can do.  (So much for the Rise of Chaos I had planned...  Though I oscillate like a fan, I'll be back to Chaos by next week.)

General impressions (good):  The fast raider/corsair feel of the Eldar I was hoping for has come alive for me.  I like that they are more mobile (partially due to 6th ed rules revisions, not just the codex) and can be played even more like the fast and agile sneaks they are.  I love that some of the old aspect powers you used to have to pay for now come standard for the most part, AS THEY SHOULD BE.  Scorpions are stealthy by nature, Hawks can deepstrike without scatter and Skyleap at will, Lancers (shining spears) can outflank now, Avengers have counter-attack (though I'll miss their Defend and Bladestorm powers), etc.  The Phoenix Lords also got a big boost (for the most part).  Avatars are super-monsters now, AS THEY SHOULD BE, though they took a proportional points cost hike too.  Warlocks ALMOST became what I'd hoped as they are now like Wolf Guard in that they are a non-slot HQ unit that can be distributed to lead guardian-based units.  Eldar's rep as the most psychic race is better founded too.  Cool return to the original Warrior powers and Psychic powers of 1991 (still got my White Dwarf with the orginal aspect warroiors and craftworld eldar that evolved into today's species -- do you???)  LOTS of great stuff, too much to cover here. 

And yes, the new Wraith stuff is pretty cool, and the Flyers, though I've never been much into either, so...

General impressions (bad):  My Phoenix Lords still don't get an invuln save (except for 2 of them).  Wave sperents are still our only transport and no cheaper than before (maybe more expensive!).  Pathfinders are out of reach unless you spend an HQ slot on the super-ranger (who is super cool but not sure he's that cool -- would be better as a ranger upgrade character).  Would liked to have seen a more extensive Harlequin revision (especially a Solitaire -- I suppose you could make an Autarch and and give him unique artifacts but it certainly would not be Harlie enough, though I may put a Farseer on a bike and call him a Harlie "Air Dancer" or something).  No HQ units that make Troops -- at the very least a Phoenix Lord attached to his aspect should make that a Troop unit!  The rumor we heard about Autarch paths and making troops turned out false.  And very disappointed that there wasn't more original art in the book!  They just colored in old pics for the most part, which looks nice but C'MON!  Almost every shot in the Chaos book is new!  Give us more lovely Eldar art!

But really, not that much bad stuff for me to say.  I'm really impressed and surprised at how this turned out.  And I'm so excited I am planning to do a blog run on each org chart category and unit with brief comments on my take of each.  Stand by for Eldar overload...!

Sirens of Slaanesh

Today I finally sat myself down and got some guys put together.  After borrowing J's Dark Eldar and playing to a very exciting draw against his Wolves (no really, that's not sarcasm, it was an exciting draw), I was definitely in a DE mood, but I'm also very into my new Chaos revival right now so...  I compromised and built my Sirens of Slaanesh! (a.k.a. Chaos Noise Marines.)

My philosophy here was to have a squad of models that look more Slaaneshi-- sleek and quick and sensual --and these Dark Eldar warrior builds meet those reqs way better than a bunch of bulky metal noise marines with crappy weapon designs.  These Sirens are much more rock and roll and their splinter rifles look alien enough to be strange sonic weapons.  The rifles are light weight but still two-handed, thus implying the new "salvo" weapon type.  They wear (mostly) complete armor, justifying a good armor save, and notice their faces...  Hellion heads with fang-faced toothy masks.  My Sirens wear gruesome voice amplifiers to go along with their harmonic weaponry. 

The squad champion I wanted to stand out with a more S&M looking mask and flirtatious belly showing (wych parts).  Her combat weapon is also wychy and she has a sonic blaster cocked at the ready as well with a doomsiren on her back (doubling as a proper DE phantasm grenade launcher when she needs to work as a DE Warrior character, making her razorflail an agonizer too).  Chances are, as the Siren champ, I'll field her with a sonic blaster, bolt pistol, and close combat weapon.  If I feel like spending an extra 15 points on her I'll give her either a power weapon or doomsiren, but not both.  (Probably the doomsiren.)

This little lady is wielding the blast master (splinter cannon) and for her I chose the head with hair covering one eye -- don't need two when you're spraying that kind of sonic payload around!

Also notice how there are six pictures...?  Hail the Prince of Excess!!!  

RA REVISED: my Maugan Ra make-over

In preparation for the new Eldar Codex and in imagining what fate might befall the new Phoenix Lords, I decided to spruce up my Ra, who is probably my favorite of the PLs (Asurmen and Karandras being my other two, though I pretty much like them all).  It seems to me every Eldar player does something different than I do -- I'm a big aspect warrior guy and I prefer using Phoenix Lords to Farseers.  Most Eldar players I see use a lot of guardians, wraith-types, and tanks with Farseers leading...  Boring.  C'mon, live a little!  Get some variety in there!  (But that's just my opinion.)

Anyway, the paint job I had on Ra before I liked, but I wanted it to pop a little more.  So the main additions I made here were just highlights.  I wanted a little more red between the ribs and more highlights on the bones.  So that's what I've done.  My bone coloring was pretty rotten flesh-like before, and I still haven't gone pure white.  I mixed equal parts of white and flesh tone for what I consider to be a nice bone color.  By the time I was done I repainted or touched up just about everything on the model, including the big executioner blade. I wanted a red glow for it too but couldn't get that to come out, so it's the only pure white thing about him.  And what could be purer than Death's unbiased blade, after all?

As for the new codex rules on the Phoenix Lords, I can only speculate.  So I will.

I've heard "most" of the PLs have been stripped of their Eternal Warrior status.  It seems like 6th Ed is thinning out that immortal crowd quite a bit.  Not even Daemon Princes are eternal warriors anymore, which is a disservice to their nature.  But I'm guessing that maybe Asurmen is the only EW left among the PLs (due to his Battle Fate rule). 

I'm hoping the PLs all get an Invuln save now (what other 200 pt HQ choice doesn't?  none, just the poor downtrodden Eldar...).  So I'm guessing Ra's save is now 2+/5++.  He used to have Acute Senses in the 5th ed sense, which meant he could reroll Night Fighting range, and now means he can reroll to Outflank.  So when they changed what Acute Senses is and GW put out the new 6th ed codex changes, did they logically change Ra's ability to Night Vision?  No, of course not.  So as it stands, Ra could be sneakier if he had outflank, but he doesn't, so... Acute Senses don't help him none.  So what I'm saying is, I expect Nightvision at the least.  I'd like to see him and his Reapers get Skyfire as needed, and I'm hoping the Executioner blades will be S+2 AP2 but still not Unwieldy due to their huge but agile-Eldar nature.  I'd also like to see the Maugatar be a little more killy than your typical shuriken cannon. (Was this more rant than prediction...?)

And I'll stop there.  I could rewrite the whole damn codex myself but I don't need to do that again (click here to see my other suggestions).  Suffice to say that my Ra has had a minor face lift and is readying to take to the battlefield once again.