Introduction
Hey all, thanks for reading my review. A short prelude to start with. I am a tournament player born and bred and am therefore looking at the book in a competitive context. I will try and discuss units in all aspects but that is my personal background.
In this tremendous wall of text, you will have to suffer my opinion, fear not if your looking for sneaky rule previews because your too lazy to buy the book yet there are some there. I've been reminded at how difficult it is to write a review without listing point values and have done my best to keep them as abstract as possible as is fitting with forum rules. If this is not acceptable I’ll be happy to take what's in out. Equally, links will be added later but until formatting is finished just ctrl-f to what you want ;).
"I seem to be having this tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle. As soon as I reach some kind of definite policy about what is my kind of music and my kind of restaurant and my kind of overdraft, people start blowing up my kind of planet and throwing me out of their kind of spaceships!" - The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Radio Shows
I guess what I’m trying to say is there’s a lot of notes which reflect my own preference to how I play the game, if this is different to how you play the game, call me a moron as a reply and skip to the next entry!.
However, I must applaud GW as I believe that recent books have been marked with nearly all entries making the cut as competitive in a sense. I give, for example the new Tau codex where, in my personal opinion, every unit except for the flyers was a valid option in its own right. The days where codex’s like Space Wolves dominated with two units, grey hunters and long fangs and an army would be four units of one and three units of the other are over. I personally feel this leads to the healthiest metagame Warhammer 40k has had since I have been playing and really the fact that you can turn up to a tournament and see almost anything deployed against you is amazing!
Editor: shut up and get onto the review
Okay, I will be grading entries on efficiency, I will also comment on my view of their use in competitive play.
Highly Competitive: these are units which are so point efficient for what they do its silly, take for example the Dark Eldar Venom, for less than 70points it fires 12 poisoned shots at BS4/ 36inch range.
Competitive: a good buy for what they are. E.g. Dark Angel Tactical Marine, cheaper than other marines a nice set of rules, you’d not feel urged to take 6 units of them, but they’re efficient for what you’re getting.
Standard Priced: the generic price, a good example being 5pts for a flamer, 10 for a melta, 15 for a plasma gun.
Inefficient: over-priced, not necessarily bad, but too many points for what you get. E.g. Codex Space Marine lascannons for Devastators, there’s nothing wrong with lascannons on Devs but armies like DA who get them for 20pts laugh at Codex SM who are paying 35pts per gun…
I am not going to do it in traditional order, HQ, troops etc. Rather because of the synergy between units I will try and group them together, so Phoenix princes with their respective aspect warrior, this means I can try and avoid stealing my own entries thunder! On this note, I really liked that in the Blood Angel Codex they had the special character librarian next to the librarian entry etc. I personally would have put the phoenix lords next to their respective aspect warrior in the order of entries in the descriptive section on a nice double page, to save flicking between pages, but enough bickering from me.
HQ
Farseers
Eldrad Ulthran
Makes a comeback as the farseer special character, he has kept an identical profile with a slight point reduction.
Now, he has kept his ability to redeploy units and has remained a lvl 4 psyker. However, the big change is he can no-longer cast the same power twice. However, his staff now allows him to regain a warp charge point on a 5+ every spell he casts. Now this sounds great, but then you remember he’s lvl 4, so he has 4 powers. What this actually allows you is to cast 2pt powers and all your lvl 1 powers. You would cast your level one power first trying to trigger the extra point and then cast your level 2. It’s not a bad ability and he has kept his 3++ save and full set of farseer wargear.
Like the farseer, he gets access to divination, telepathy and runes of fate (which has most of the old elder powers in)
His warlord trait is a 12 inch stealth bubble once per game, amazingly good sure but I don’t think it’s very synergetic for the army, your unlikely to be playing a gunline. If you were in a guard codex then sure but elder are unlikely to be cooped together but it’s not a bad ability to be sure.
I am going to go out on a limb here and say I can’t see this guy seeing play. Simply because for his points you could take 2 Farseers who are level 3 each. Okay he can cast subsidised powers and move your units around in deployment in half your games. Those gimmicky abilities are not worth over70pts. Then you have to take runes of warding and witnessing for 25pts more that you have to take. He ends up over double the standard farseer.
In a death star does the ability to cast invisibility and 3 other powers make a difference? Do you need the 4th warp point? In my opinion, no. Sorry Eldrad other armies would kill to have you!
INEFFICIENT
Farseer
Okay, you’re the same point as a codex space marine librarian, your warp level 3. He comes with a 4++ and BS5 which is great for psykers if you’re using shooting powers. He has 3 wounds too, poor librarian, the only thing the Farseer doesn’t have on you is 3+ armour or Strength or Toughness 4.
You have access to divination and runes of fate, meaning you can take the two signature powers for two guides. You even have a 3rd power to cast as well!
I’m going to say it now, but all characters who have access to the jetbike get it for 15pts which I feel is a steal for T4, 3+ armour and jet moves.
Runes of warding have been majorly nerfed, runes of witnessing are too expensive for a one use item.
I would take him barebones, or on a jetbike and he is if my comparison with the standard librarian doesn’t illustrate it enough, ridiculously good!
HIGHLY COMPETITIVE
Prince Yriel
The special character Autarch has similar stats with an extra attack and initiative. He loses the haywire grenades, but keeps the 3+ 4++ saves. His warlord traits okay, a one use bubble that rerolls to wound. It’s not like Huron Blackhearts in that you’d take him for the trait but it’s a nice boost.
Special equipment wise, he comes with the spear of twilight which is an ap3, flesh bane and armour bane weapon at ap3, but even with fleshbane his strength of three hurts. It is also cursed and so forces Yriel to reroll all saves of a 6 in combat. (sad face).
His eye of wrath allows his to place a large blast at str 6, ap 3 over his head instead of attacking normally. This is pretty strong as it will kill whole units; sadly it means Yriel cannot be in a unit himself without killing them too. Equally, when he first charges he won’t hit all of them as they won’t pile in until after he’s set it off, so you’ll find yourself standing in combat hoping to set it off next turn. He’s cool and if your opponent regularly runs hordes of assault marines then sure, give him a whirl but sadly in a competitive scene for his points I don’t think so.
INEFFICIENT
Autarch
Comes with a 4++, haywire grenades, 3+ armour and a pistol he’s pretty well equipped to start with. And he has an awful lot of choice in what he wants to be equipped with. Stat wise he hasn’t changed and has a pretty strong profile. He gives a bonus or penalty (your choice ) to your reserves.
I’m not going to go through all the equipement choices but they are all really cheap and he can take an option from all aspects. The only option above 15points is the reaper launcher, I’d be tempted to try out the old reaper launcher on a jetbike for a relentless bs6 marine killer. If you want combat he can be given banshee masks etc.
He can take items from the remnants of glory, there are some flash if expensive abilities in here.
All in all, I can’t not like the humble Autarch, not particularly exciting compared to the psykers or avatar, but an honest captain at a competitive price.
COMPETITIVE
Avatar of Khaine
Stat wise, has had a boost to his WS and Wounds, Initiative and Attacks. I like that he has a massive cock because when you smash having an odd number attacks is always better as its rounded up! He gets the battle focus rule which means he can run and fire his melta weapon which is cool.
He has gone up in points and with the deamon rule lost a point of his invulnerable save (sad face).
Interestingly he can purchase exarch powers, most of which are buffs to strength, his precision strikes etc. The difference in strength between 6-7 is slight and I can’t see it being taken but its not too expensive. The only one I can see getting bought is fast shot which enables him to fire his melta weapon twice for not many points again.
I have to add, he can take disarming strike which means in a challenge he can disarm his opponents, with his ws of 10 its going to trigger 66% of the time and could really make a difference in a fight with Lysander etc. that said its not cheap and he’s almost 200pts naked.
He keeps his fearless bubble, but it only applies to Eldar.
A competitive monstrous creature in the HQ slot, I can’t see him being used in every army but certainly wouldn’t mock someone who took him.
COMPETITIVE
Illic Nightspear
The special character ranger, he’s a sniper and he’s a bloody good one giving the vindicare a run for his money. He’s similar points to a vindicare, but is a HQ compared to elite. With the elite in GK’s relatively uncrowded compared to the crowded fierce competition of farseers I’d say Illic’s slightly worse of, but onto his abilities.
His main ability is that he automatically gets precision shots. He can pay 13 points per ranger to upgrade them to pathfinders giving them the automatic precision shot and shrouding. Due to how cheap new rangers are, I’d rather just take another ranger but it’s a neat option. He has split fire due to his warlord trait and shrouding, so he’s not a bad shout just for sitting in a stationary unit giving shrouding, and still doing his own thing.
Due to being a distort weapon, his sniper rifle instant deaths on a 6 and is ap2, sadly IC’s can look out sir, but he can reliably kill special weapons with impunity .
He has preferred enemy necrons which is cool, I believe it’s the first unit to do so and adds flavour to the game! He also can act as a beacon for outflanking pathfinders, which allows them to deepstrike to him. A cool rule, but I can hardly see it being used.
Overall, I think he’s good at what he does, he’s not a no-brainer but a vindicare assassin in your HQ slots no bad thing. It should be noted that he doesn't have the same level of anti-vehicle potential as a vindicare, though he still penetrates all vehicles on a 6.
STANDARD PRICED
Asurmen
All phoenix lords have kept their rock hard profile with no changed. They've also kept eternal warrior! Equally, they seem to have lost their Cannot join non their aspect rule, meaning they could be a great source of special rules to confer to units.
Asurmen, lord of the dire avengers comes with D3 eldar warlord traits which is neat. I hasten to add that one of them allows you re-roll 1’s on your save, giving you a rerollable 2+ save. You don’t get to choose however, but with d3 goes at it you’ve got good chances. He’s got a 4++ ontop of his 2+ armour.
However, he is rather underwhelming after that, he has a twin-linked shuriken catapult, so with his BS7 he’s going to get 2 hits! But they’re not going to do a great deal, in combat he’s str 5 with an ap2 mastercrafted sword, with the potential to instant death. Okay he’s a pretty good combatant in an assault but for his points you are nearing Abaddon territory and despite having some of the hallmarks, eternal warrior and a good weapon he is not in the same league.
INEFFICIENT
Jain Zar
Princess of the Howling Banshees’ she starts badly with a pants warlord trait (+1 to run moves). I immediately notice she has fear as well, talk about pants rules. I must add that banshees can add 3 to their run moves, so she in total adds 4 so they’re going to be fast. The problem of banshee’s has always been HOW DO YOU GET THEM INTO COMBAT, has this problem been solved? My answer- sort of. With such a fast run move they’ll be able to charge turn 2.. so running them across the board is AN option. Is it a good option, well she can stand at the front and take hits with her 2+ and no invulnerable save.
In a sense I don’t blame GW for not giving banshee’s assault transports but they are still going to suffer from the same problems. Jain does give them a measure of survivability but at a high price of points.
In combat, she deducts 5 ws from the enemy as well as the 5 initiative that the standard banshee mask deducts. This means that nearly enemy unit will be hitting the elder unit on 5’s. This is a great rule but only works when you get the charge. That said, the fact that it wears off after a turn isn’t likely to be a problem as not much will last a turn being shredded by banshees.
She’s got an Ap2 weapon with Shred (Thumbs up) and has an ap2 shooting attack with 4 shots at her bs7, again (Thumbs up).
Summing up, I think she’s pretty good, she’s again pricy but she does bring a lot in the way of her mask and killing ability. She also adds survivability to howling banshee’s and makes their delivery system mechanic (if I can call running madly forwards that) slightly better. An elegant design for a troubled unit.
STANDARD PRICE
Baharroth
The swooping hawk prince, being unusual in that he’s a rare 2+ save jump infantry model, what does he bring to the table!
He’s a prince that has a blind attack on everyone within 6 when he deepstrikes. This in conjunction with his not scattering is pretty good as you can place yourself perfectly to hit most units and can target low Initiative units. Current metagame marines have been driven out by heldrakes so more low initiative units are seeing play, maybe.
His warlord trait is the running one, which with battle focus is okay, it will come up every game, every turn even! So it will always be used, just won’t do a great deal. He gives hit and run, so he could potentially save your unit. His melee weapon is a ap 3 sword with blind. Sadly, I don’ t really feel he makes the most of his hawk abilities (which as explained are useful because they can suicidally do their job for less than a hundred points). He is almost double this (sad face) but he is one of the cheaper of the phoenix lords. That said, he doesn’t really make the most of his phoenix lord status being only par in combat, though he does have a 4++.
If he conferred his non scattering to allied units or even non hawk units, I think he’d see play. Sadly though, I can’t see him doing much that a unit of hawks could or a ‘arder character would.
INEFFICIENT
Fuegen
The Fire Dragon boss, he comes with a fire pike which is an 18inch range melta. It feels slightly shortchanged that the standard melta in the last 40k codex is the prized weapon of the fire dragon lord but enough.
He gets 2 shots with his 18inch range melta, they’re going to hit, he doesn’t have tank hunter. He’s quite hard in combat with phoenix lord stats, +1 strength and an armour bane ap1 melee weapon. He also has split fire. I’ll be honest, I don’t see the point of this guy as I can take for his points exactly 10 normal dragons for 5x the firepower. I have no doubt that when you add up costs of all his abilities he comes out quite well, but I think it’s a good example of diminishing returns on efficiency and sometimes a bs4 melta is good enough.
You’d never run him in a fire dragons unit, but if you wanted a strong combat character to add some tank busting potential to a unit then he might be your man. In fairness to him, he can fire at a different unit, so you could put him in a unit which fires on one unit you then fire his 2 melta shots at something else, it’s got the range, it’s got the reliability to hit and he’s a tough cookie in combat. He’s got a nice niche which he does quite well, but I can’t imagine people paying well over 200 points for it.
INEFFICIENT (but only just)
Troops
Rangers
Rangers have had a massive price break of 7 points! They’ve also got ws4 rather than 3. Other than that their weapons and stats have stayed the same.
They have kept stealth, move through cover and infiltrate and gained battle focus. It’s a bit useless for them as heavy weapons prevent you firing and running. But it’s a free addition so hey. These guys rock, they’ve done nothing but gain and are only a few points more than rattling’s for considerably more.
I have to add, with GW introducing more and more monstrous creatures, Wraithknight and Riptides etc. the addition to snipers into any army is a good move as they ignore the high toughness of such creatures. In the current metagame and for these prices they are the closest thing to a must have in the Eldar codex.
HIGHLY COMPETITIVE
Dire Avengers
Dire Avengers
Again, no stat change but a slight increase in points. They however are the poster boys for battle focus, being able to run and shoot in a turn, and shuriken weapons got better. They now have a pseudo rending (being ap2 on a 6 to wound). They also have 18inch range which is a huge jump from guardians catapults which is range 12.
The shimmerfield however, now gives a 5++ generically and not just in combat , this gives them a 4+ 3++, though the exarch loses his gun to do so. This is a strong boost, but I must note that the Avengers have lost bladestorm (the old ability to fire more shots).
Overall, their an interesting and fun unit. They get a lot of rules to play with, from sometimes ap2 guns to running and moving, to a solid invulnerable save. They’re a bit pricy but for what you get they’re not bad at all. It’s hard to standard price a unit this heavily unique but I’m going to do so anyway as I feel they bring a lot, but nothing overwhelming which leads to a fair but elegant unit design.
STANDARD PRICE
Elites
Howling Banshees
With a slight point decrease they are now the same points as a standard Ultramarine. They get quite a lot for your points, the 4+ save isn’t bad and running them towards the enemy with their +3 is a valid option, as it holds against bolters! They have pistols and power swords and the exarch has the option for several weapons. I think the executioner is needed in the unit as a source of an AP2 weapon, it also adds 2 to your strength. This means that the unit won’t get stopped by one HQ in terminator armour taking all your ap3 attacks for the team. Equally, with I6 and strength 5 she’s got a good chance of killing a 2 wound char before they get to strike in a challenge.
If I was to use these girls I’d try and keep them as cheap as possible, the slight point break with their increase in speed makes them playable. Higher risk, higher gain than a tactical squad but now they have ‘a delivery system’ that’s not get out of your expensive transport dither for a turn and hope to charge next turn, which if nothing else is clumsy, they might have a place.
STANDARD PRICE
Fast Attack
Swooping Hawks
Now, cheeky confession Swooping Hawks were the unit I waited most eagerly to find out what they did. Simply because I wanted to know how GW were going to make people want to take them, they simply didn’t have a battle field role, they were just generally lame. Has that changed…
Right, hawks have kept their haywire grenades and have had a fairly large price break. Equally, their skyleap ability has changed slightly to prevent them yo-yoing the turn they come in. Their gun has got an extra shot, so 3 shots each but str 3, same range and ap.
Their grenade pack attack has changed slightly in that it now ignores cover and is ap4. It’s a bit fiddly in that it’s a large blast if you have x models in the unit and you must fire at the same target as you grenaded (if possible). It has a range of 24 inches and if your hawks cannot see the target your free to fire at someone else as you can’t physically shoot the grenaded unit.
This brings me onto the coolest thing about them, they don’t scatter! Assuming they are pure hawks NO YOU CANNOT ALLY BAHARROTH TO GIVE YOUR RIPTIDE NO SCATTER WHEN HE DEEPSTRIKES!! This non scattering ability means you can deliberately stop yourself being able to see the target of your grenade pack which is neat. The main reason for this is so you can use your anti infantry grenade on infantry then haywire a vehicle.
So they’re going to come down, hit a unit with their grenade packs, and lob a haywire grenade at a a tank. They will always be within 6 of the targeted tank as they don’t scatter. If a careless Guard player leaves a russ unescorted at the back corner of the board the hawks could come down take a hullpoint of it and then charge next turn taking of the rest with assaulted haywire. They also have battle focus which is cool, if a bit useless when you come down as you don’t scatter but it means you can spread out to avoid taking blasts.
I would probably run these guys as a unit of 6 (minimum for large blast grenade pack) and still less than a hundred points. They’ll seriously threaten a tank and force them to leave battle tanks with escorts.
Equally in the modern game, most armies will leave a cheap unit of cultist equivelents behind an aegis or carefully hidden on a backward objective. 6 of these boys will come down perfectly placed to see them and be on the wrong side of the aegis. They will put a large blast that ignores cover at ap4 killing a third-half of the unit and then put 18 str 3 shots into them. The lasblaster is even ap5. You can come down nearest to the sergeant to drive their leadership down. You’ve got a good chance of sniping the sergeant and killing the whole unit if not most of it and forcing a weakened leadership test. Maths: 18 shots, 12 hits, 6 dead cultists, no cover save as you’ll be behind the aegis with them… grenade pack can easily kill 4 and will do well vs scouts too being ap 4 ignores cover.
The utility of these guys is huge, a 6 man unit at less than a hundred points gives you a good objective clearer or a tank threatened. These are niche rolls sure, but one that is useful enough in most games that I can see these boys seeing play as unlike the dragons they’re cheap enough that if their niche doesn’t come up you’re not too upset. Finally, if you yo-yo them repeatedly they can give you a guaranteed turn 5 objective contester as they can safely deepstrike within 3 (assuming your opponent doesn’t spread out to prevent this).
Enough, I feel ashamed that I have managed to write so much about hawks but so be it!!
COMPETITIVE
Fire Dragons
Now this is an interesting entry. My problem historically with dragons was I didn’t think a unit of melta guns was needed. How many meltaguns does it take to kill a rhino, 2? 3? Certainly not 5-10. Now if you’re killing a land raider then sure that many is useful but not every game will your opponent have something worth shooting that many meltaguns at. The useful thing of 2 meltaguns in your 10 man marine squad was utility, they could rapidfire bolters at infantry or pop a tank but you werent’ so invested in either that you felt you were wasting the other. I certainly play to keep as many units in cover as possible so a unit of meltaguns depending on what I’m playing is either going to be terrifying if I’m invested heavily in heavy armour or laughable.
I don’t like units that are so heavily reliant on what your opponent brings and eldar have a lot of choices over their anti-tank with the presence of heavy wraith cannons etc. EDITOR: SHUT UP AND TALK ABOUT RULES NO ONE CARES. Okay, okay…
They got a heavy point rise, but gained a 3+ armour save, does this make them walkable? Maybe… Their equipement load out hasn’t changed but they have no way of taking tank hunters, I do think they could use battle focus well though, to run and then fire their meltaguns giving them a pretty good range boost. They also have meltabombs which is funny if they charge a monstrous creature!
A marine with a meltagun is 25 points these guys are less, but you have to take a unit of em. Okay, they’re pretty good at what they do, I really rate battle focus on these boys but as explained I don’t like what it is they do and that reflects their score.
STANDARD PRICE
10. Striking Scorpions
Karandras
The most generic of the phoenix lords he comes with the same stats, but brings a number of special rules including, stealth, infiltrate and move through cover. He brings the reroll to wound bubble warlord trait and has a str 6 extra auto hitting attack.
In combat however, he is seriously harsh. He has an extra attack from two combat weapons and his scorpions claw doubles his strength (to 8) and hits at ap2 at his full initiative. In conjunction with his phoenix lord profile and eternal warrior, he’s a serious combat threat. He has monster hunter too which means he’s going to be tearing monstrous creatures apart! The only con to this guy is his serious price tag, highest of all the lords and his lack of an invulnerable save. Though I like that he brings serious utility as well as being a harsh beatstick.
COMPETITIVE
Striking Scorpions
Scorpions have slightly increased in points, but for it have gained infiltrate and move through cover as standard without needing to take an exarch. They have also gained stealth which could previously only be gained by taking Karandras.
The scorpions claw is slightly less scary on the exarch (being only strength 6), and is a hefty chunk of points but is still a strong option as a high strength, iniative 6 ap2 weapon! The exarchs got a good chance of taking minor HQ’s in a challenge, vs. sergeants it shouldn’t be a contest.
Mandiblasters now inflict an automatic strength 3 hit, rather than giving a bonus attack. In most ways a nerf, though not having to roll to hit is useful. They’re strength 4 in combat with an ap of 6, its nice to have an ap of 5 or 6 and not feel like I’m paying through the nose for it.
If I compare these guys to assault marines, infiltrate is on par with jump infantry, they’re both likely to get a turn 2 charge. They’re both strength 4, with 2 attacks each, but the scorpions get extra str 3 hits and initiative 5 + a initiative 6 power fist. Shuriken pistols also have pseudo rending which is neat. The assault marine has toughness 4, movement of 12 and special weapons for shooting. I know ones fast attack and scorpions are elite but I think it’s a relatively good comparison. Scorpions are slightly cheaper than Codex SM: Assault marines.
I like scorpions, a good honest and relatively resilient designated assault unit with an honest USR base. If only they scored (Sad face).
COMPETITIVE
11. Dark Reapers
Maugan Ra
The last of the phoenix princes, the Harvester of Souls himself, leader of the feared Reapers!
Okay, what are reapers good at, slaughtering marines! So this guy will be awesome at it!! Umm yeah about that.
He comes with a gun that’s got 4 shots, with his bs of 7 your likely to get 4 hits! Str 6! A nice wounding marines on 2’s and ap5… err… typo? Seemingly not… This guy I have to say I feels a bit confused about what he’s supposed to be doing. His gun rends, woot so one of those 4 hits might do something, you could fire his str 6 shots at a transport maybe? On the bright side he can split fire, so you can fire him somewhat lamely at a transport while the rest of your unit fires at something else. He brings night vision and is str 6 ap3 in combat as he wacks them with his gun! Great… he precision shots on a 5+ but then is unlikely to do anything with his precision rending shots. If you want rending precision shots take rangers kids.
He does have relentless which means he can run and fire his heavy weapon, I believe being the only kid to be able to do so. I don’t think he confers this to a unit of reapers however. This ability seems woefully overcosted considering his heavy weapon is pants.
He does bring hatred chaos deamons though and I have to say I really get the feeling that the characters are off fighting on other sides of the galaxy with the different preferred enemies cropping up!
INEFFICIENT bordering on confused
Dark Reapers
Cool, so they got a sizable point break and stayed the same stat wise. They picked up slow and purposeful along the way, which means they can now move and shoot. Sadly they don’t get to run and shoot, but they’re not going to complain as they’ve become way more mobile than before.
As standard reapers come with Starswarm missiles which are the same as before, premium anti marine death (smiley face). However, they have the option to take starshot missiles as well, which gives them pinning krak missiles. It’s not cheap at 8 points a model but does give you a lot of utility and they’ll be very good at multiple targets.
The exarch can take flakk missiles but without access to split fire I can’t see a use for. He can however take night vision cheaply which I’d advise as night fighting severely weakens the anti-infantry power of these boys, cover saves being the hard counter to low ap guns. The exarch can also take the tempest launcher for the same ap3 2 shot barrage as he had before. He can stack this with fast shot too for 3 shots.
All in all, reapers have picked up a lot of options, got cheaper though they get expensive if you take lots of options and still excel at their role. The only bad point I can make is that with marine armies in general being driven into the cold by heldrakes these guys might find themselves shooting at cheaper troops, which said they’re never going to be bad at slaughtering infantry!
COMPETITIVE
12. Wave Serpent Chassis Vehicles
Wave Serpent
Right, the wave serpent, it’s a pretty formidable battle tank and accessible to pretty much all infantry units. It actually got more expensive, but got a big boost to his combat ability. I should say now that all vehicles have gained BS4 which eldar players will be relieved about. Also the weapon upgrades are much cheaper. A Wave Serpent with twinlinked star-cannon is actually 5 points cheaper than it was before. The second shuriken cannon is upgraded to form the heavy weapon so still ends with 2 weapons + the serpent shield.
Same armour 12, 12, 10 skimmer profile that can transport 12 chaps as before. It’s also picked up an extra shuriken cannon along the way as well as the catapult that can be upgraded to a cannon as it had before. Shuriken Cannons have stayed the same in profile with 24 inch range, str 6, 3 shots but picked up pseudo rending.
For 15 points you can take holo-fields which improves your cover save which stacks with your jinx save.
Oh I suppose I should mention the Serpent Shield, any penetrating hits to the front or side can be turned into a glancing hit on a 2+. Seems fair, the days of sighing over eldar vehicles refusing to die are back, they’re going to be hullpointed eventually but with a 4++ cover and no instant death results its going to take an age. If your of the mind, you can also sacrifice your shield to utilise it as a gun (60 inch range, d6+1 shots, str 7 and ignores cover). I can see this being useful end game to push troops going to ground of objectives and is a generally nice option to have.
To summarise, a wave serpent with shuriken cannon and a starcannon are putting out 3 str 6 shots with pseudo rending and 2 str 6 ap2 shots. It’s a strong all-rounder, 5 str 6 shots can be turned on infantry, heavy infantry with a good amount of ap2 in there or even light vehicles.
They have the option to take bright lances at a cheap price, my only issue with this is its’ lack of synergy with the shuriken cannons.
To be honest the only thing this tank struggles with is being a transport IT’S A BATTLE TANK! With no fire ports and battle focus across the board for infantry, unless you want them safe, they’re not really much use in having your guys in them. They’re not cheap but mech eldar could well be back.
HIGHLY COMPETITIVE
Falcon
It’s increased by ten points and picked up BS 4 for it. Like the wave serpent it’s developed a free shuriken cannon as well as its previous armament (almost like a theme).
Overall however, it has got cheaper as the weapon systems have universally decreased in price.
It’s not bad at what it does, but it’s main problem is the wave serpent is a dedicated transport and in my opinion is a better battle tank. Okay it has a pulse laser on the Serpent but it loses on the silly good Serpent field and other than that they’re almost identical, but ones a heavy support choice ones a dedicated transport. I’ll give it a good rating as it’s really not bad but I can’t see them seeing much play.
Imagine a super chimera in the heavy support codex of Imperial Guard, okay its got a hull mounted lascannon and it’s not a bad bit of kit, are you going to waste a heavy support choice on it when you can take the normal chimera on every infantry unit in your army? No. Same thing.
COMPETITIVE
Fire Prism
Like the Falcon it’s picked up a ten point hike, but unlike the others already had BS4 and hasn’t got a free cannon. Well your not that upset because target synergy between a cannon (short range) and prism cannon (silly long range) is poor anyway.
Okay, its lost the ability to concert fire but has slightly improved weapon modes. It’s large blast version has gone down to ap3 from 4, a big jump. No barrage so cover saves still exist but ap 3 large blasts for a relatively cheap price are nothing to be sneezed at. It’s focused mode has turned into a reduced str version of the same losing 2 points of strength to become a safe plasma cannon. It makes up for this however by gaining a str 9 ap1 lance which with a range of 60 is a pretty scary tank hunter.
I do like utility of choice and with a cheap price tag, good synergy with a wall of armour 12 and a mode of weapons for everything I can seriously see these being a key part of mech eldar.
HIGHLY COMPETITIVE
Nightspinner
An old favourite from the white dwarf, its’ lost its movement crippling ability to gain a completely new set of weapons. Its cannon is monofilament meaning like warp spiders it gains a strength vs low initiative and has pseudo rending.
Mode one: a large blast, str 7 barrage large blast, a good source of anti-cover a rending large blast is okay. When was the last time you saw a heavy psycannonn on a dreadknight? There are better ways to ignore cover in the codex.
Mode two though is a str 7 ap 6 torrent flamer. I like torrents and with a high strength it’s pretty cool, but with an ap of 6 rending doesn’t really redeem it. A torrent needs to be atleast ap 5 to be able to clear hordes, it can mess up orks but doesn’t really scare guardsman (power blob being so good) or Termigaunts (cos Tervigons rock). I like its concept but can’t see it seeing play competitively.
INEFFICIENT
13. Guardians
Guardians
So these chaps have gone up by a slight amount, considering they were overpriced before what s up there!! Ooo they seem to be ballistic 4 and weapon skill 4 too, that’s useful. They’re heavy weapons are pretty pricy but have got a tax break from before. The heavy weapons are relentless meaning you can use battle focus with them.
They get the new pseudo-rending shurikens and with bs4 they’re going to be pretty mean with them. That said, they’re only range 12, I think the way around this is again battle focus, giving them a average 16 inch range which is much better! On their own they’re not dreadful but quite pricy, but with the synergy of a warlock council member I think they could be quite good. Nearly all the abilities add something.
I don’t think they’re going to break the metagame, but a unit of 20 with a warlock is quite fun! I think the key to using them is going to be battle focus. Though having default primaris shrouding with a warlock isn’t bad either.
STANDARD PRICE
Storm Guardians
These are the combat guardians, with ws4 an initiative 5 they’re starting well. Of note their synergy with warlock powers is much greater benefitting from possible ws5 or strength 4. They get an extra attack on the guardians and can take special weapons at standard prices and you can have two hidden power swords thrown in. I think I’d rather charge with a blob of normal guardians having shurikened than get the extra attacks in combat from pistols, after all the extra shots give you the chance to rend. That said these chaps work well with warlocks and make for a pretty nifty unit.
STANDARD PRICE
Windrider Jetbike Squad
Guardian jetbkes, at 66pts for 3 before they were one of the most amazing late game objective grabbers. Now they’ve got better in nearly every way. They’ve received a pretty substantial price break which is pretty impressive, they’ve got better ballistic skill, they’re guns have got rending and have generally improved universally!
Add in that you can have warlocks join them as well, I don’t think they’re going to add too much. Stat boost s are better on larger units but I can hardly penalise them for having an extra option they don’t have to use. Did I mention how cheap jetbikes are on characters?
Scrap what I said about rangers, these guys are a must have for eldar armies, sorry it’s an objective based game, take 3 keep them in a reserve. Yes that’s a teeny bit more than 50pts.
I’ll be honest I didn’t see how they could take one of the best niche units at objective grabbers and then improve them in every way…
RIDICULOUSLY COMPETITIVE
Vauls Wrath Support Battery
Okay if anyone ever calls them that in a game I’ll be surprised! Right they are relentless weapon platforms with battle focus so can run around and fire heavy weapons. They’re comparative points to heavy weapon teams but count as artillery so come with T7 and 2wounds with a 3+ save. I note that the artillery rules require crew to be alive to be able to move so they’ll slow down once crippled. Equally, I can’t see them benefiting from being able to reposition too much as they have access to barrage weapons which don’t need line of sight.
Anyway, your standard armament is monofilament (remember warp spiders) and is a str 6 barrage blast. Comparing it to the night spinner for similarish points do you prefer 3 small blasts or one large blasts? Hardly terrible and for less than a hundred points you can sit there barraging an aegis defence line which is often useful. Your tough enough to be difficult to shift too.
For free you can swap the monofilament based shadow weaver for a vibo cannon! This weapon has a single shot str 7 ap4 profile. However for each additional hit achieved you increase the profile of the weapon by 1. So it would become str 8, ap 3 and then str 9 ap2. Note that all hits still count and so you’d get 2 str 8 hits or 3 str 9 hits. Pretty nify and a potentially good tank hunter. That said, my problem with it is that your capped at 3 of them meaning you cannot get higher than strength 9. On average your going to get 2 str 8 hits from a full unit which isn’t bad but you don’t get the ap2 for +1 to damage vehicles. Admittedly you can add a farseer to the equation who if they have a spare guide or prescience can make them pretty reliable at getting the 3 str 9 ap 2 hits. For less than a hundred points for the 3 they’re not at all bad, though they get worse quickly as they die.
Finally, you can take for a major points increase you get a D-cannon. An impressive profile of str 10, ap2 instant death on 6’s but only 24 inch range. Oh it’s a blast with barrage too. Hmm, not a bad bit of kit here and dropping 3 str 10 ap 2 barrages on your opponent will certainly get noticed. Will battle focus outweigh the 24 inch range – that said they’re certainly unique , how often do you see artillery running towards your lines! I can see a unit of 3 of these messing with your opponent though as they try and stay out of range and having to work out the implications of them being able to move 6+d6 (with a reroll) before firing. Which gives them a pseudo range of 31inches from their starting position.
Overall, I have to say I like them and I think they can do well at filling gaps, whether you need anti-tank or anti cover.
COMPETITIVE
14. Harlequins
Harlequins
Everyone loves clowns, so stats wise, they’re the same. Equipment wise, they’re the same, special rules, same, point cost, same. Okay? They’ve got the FAQ version of veil of tears right? Err no, so Games Workshop having gone to the effort of FAQing the Eldar version, then the Dark Eldar version and then changing them to the same has now decided to bring back the old old night fighting version of Veil of Tears. OKAAAAAAAAAAY I’m not going to complain, nor am I going to try and understand GW’s thought processes. Anyway, if this blessing is up the average range of weapons firing at them is 14inches YAY. Only change, is it has to be cast manually and is not automatically cast anymore.
The shrieker cannons stayed the same, as did hallucigenic grenades etc. yeah you get the point. Kisses stayed the same points and ability!
Okay as far as I can tell, with the exception of having to cast veil of tears they’re the same unit!
They cannot take a transport. (still)
STANDARD PRICE
Mantle of the Laughing God / Solitaire
The only remnant of glory (special item) that I’m going to talk about independently, just because I can then write Solitaire on the page below harlequins.
In exchange for losing IC, the character gets hit and run, shrouded, stealth and rerolls cover saves . It’s not cheap, but it’s pretty good at what it does. Now what does it do? It keeps your HQ alive to do his thing.
So a combat autarch with this? I think as a default he needs a jetbike. It gives him T4 to stop him being instant deathed no save versus heldrakes, and jinx + stealth + shrouded give you a 2+ rerollable just for moving.
My problem is, you have this super unkillable HQ running around, but what’s he actually going to do?? You can’t really make him that hard in combat, (he can’t take the scorpions claw) only the chainsword. Your best bet is a laser lance which makes him pretty killy on the charge. But I can see him getting charged by near enough anything, at which point he becomes as hard as 3 Marines.
As a keep my farseer safe its better, again bike is almost mandatory. That said, you’d normally just put him in a blob and hope for the best. Not a bad little piece of kit though, no way to abuse it immediately obvious though.
STANDARD PRICE
15. Warp Spiders
One of the best units in the old codex, how did the re-write favour them? Pretty well it turns out!
Right, stat wise they’ve stayed the same with a significant price break too. They’ve been given hit and run for free and battle focus means they can deepstrike down, then spread out as well as pounding a unit. With their short range of 12 it also allows you to get back in range if you scatter massively away.
Their jet packs can now be used as safe normal jet packs, or you can add 6 to the roll but risk the warp, you lose a bloke if you roll a double.
Their shooting attacks are still str 6, but against initiative 3 or less are strength 7! Useful vs monstrous creatures. They also get pseudo rending…
So a recap, they deepstrike down, run to a better firing position, put 20 str 6 (7) pseudo rending shots into your unit, then jet pack or warp jet pack away for a total of 2d6+6 inches + deepstriking. Wow that’s fast. All 10 for less than 200 points. Wough that’s pretty mean.
In the meantime they’re going to not mind being charged too much, as they can overwatch, then they’re ws4 with 3+ saves they’re not going to lose to many and then hit and run away with I5. I don’t think you need an exarch though he doesn’t add much.
I can hardly take one of the old best units in the old codex, give it a ton of improvements and give it anything other than:
HIGHLY COMPETITIVE
16. Shining Spears
My beloved Spears, please be good please be good.
Well, they’ve had 10 points shaved of them, that’s a good start. They’ve kept the same stats and picked up outflank for free. They also get the old skilled rider exarch ability for free, which gives them a 4+ jinx which is pretty useful. They can buy hit and run as an exarch ability which miffs me slightly, why can’t they get it for free like the silly good spiders. But I can’t complain.
Laser lances are now ap3, but kept the same shooting range and strength. They’ve also picked up lance, which means they can glance all vehicles on a 6 atleast. Not particularly helpful but okay it’s free and flavorful. In combat they’re str 6 ap weapons on the charge, slightly better than the generic power lance from the book. Again they have lance in melee, meaning they can again charge landraiders and glance them on 6’s!! Most other vehicles have a rear armour of lower than 12.
Well, in summary they’re okay. They’re not bad at what they do, but what they do is pretty silly. They can outflank and shoot up marines out of cover, they’re quite resilient with a 3+, 4++ jinx and they hit mildly hard. Factor in a major price break they are now quite good at their niche. Will they see play, unlikely. When you compare them to warp spiders and swooping hawks which I’ve written essays on today in the same slot and I haven’t even made it to the flyers, the Fast Attack Slots not a good place to be. Sorry Shining Spears, its not your fault, but your going to join the ranks of the Sentinel, not bad but in the FA slot with vendettas. I guess it’s a step up from chilling on the shelf with the possessed.
STANDARD PRICE
17. Flyers
Crimson Hunter
Okay, this flyer comes with armour 10, 10, 10 and 3 HP. It’s not cheap at nearing heldrake price. It does however come with a hefty set of guns. With 2 bright lances and a pulse laser it’s got more high strength guns than a vendetta. Now seems a good time to mention that it has a special rule allowing it to reroll pen results vs. flyers. Woooooah, so it can shoot 4 str 8 guns and reroll results at flyers.
It also has vector dancer which allows it to get into rear armours easily and you have an usurper to the vendetta for best air superiority fighter in the game. It’s going to kill any flyer and most ground targets it shoots at.
If you really want, it can take for a sizable chunk of points on a already expensive flyer a exarch pilot taking it to BS5. This gives it precision shot and access to a few other abilities.
It is a glass cannon flyer and is very very good at it. The problem is, it cannot take the protective vehicle gear and is going to have to dive vs. any intercept hits, cough cough quad gun. Unlike the Heldrake and Vendetta which are armour 12 and can reliably shrug of quad guns this flyer is made of paper and has no such luxury.
I like it, it’s very good at what it does but I don’t know if it will live long enough to do it and at tis’ price range that’s not good enough. I really ponder when labelling it, okay I can’t really ask GW to make a flyer as cheap as the vendetta with that kind of armament again. However, I can’t really warrant giving a standard price label to something so expensive which is rarely going to fire. I guess you could take an autarch to -1 to reserves, keep it off the board until you’ve neutralised their anti-air and guaranteeing it gets the jump on whatever flyers its hunting but that’s scratching at straws. Sorry Crimson Hunter you’re awesome cool and all but
INEFFICIENT
Hemlock Wraithfighter
So same defensive profile as above and I’m fearing a similar outcome. It is a psychic flyer, okay that’s cool it automatically gets terrify. Not an amazing power but by all means not dreadful- I do wonder how many points I’m paying for that! Terrify has some synergy with its mindshock pods which force any successful morale tests to be rerolled. So it comes on, then forces a leadership test, then forces it to be rerolled if successful. Okay that’s neat, but sadly most things are ld 9-10 in 40k (in fantasy this ability would be devastating) but in 40k less so. The chances of failing ld 10 with two tests is still slim.
Additionally though it comes with 2 heavy D-scythes, terrify being a malediction you can cast it at a different target to your d-scythes which is useful! Heavy D-Sythes, str 4 blasts at ap2 which can instant death things on a 6 to wound. Ap2 blast sounds okay, wait when was the last time you saw a plasma cannon used? Yeah, the presence of cover and being able to spread out kinda kills blast weapons.
This flyer whilst interesting is less dangerous than the crimson hunter with the same drawbacks. Though I will add that having vector dancer on it is nice synergy because it has to get close with all of its weapons and vector dancer lets it stay on the board. (Even if it can be shot down by bolters).
INEFFICIENT
18. Light vehicles
Vyper Squadron
Right, it’s very similar to a venom in most ways. Similar point range, BS4, armour 10, 2 HP. It comes with a cannon and a catapult, the catapult can be upgraded to a cannon for the same points as the venoms equivalent.
The differences though are that the Vyper is a squadron coming in 1-3’s but isn’t a transport. Secondly, it can replace its main cannon withan assortment of heavy weaponry. A starcannon is cheap ap2 str 6 anti infantry shooting which doesn’t sacrifice synergy with the shuriken cannon /catapult that it would be paired with. They’re a source of missiles or bright lances if you want them, but I’d personally be tempted with scatter lasers.
Now scatter lasers are the same profile as before, but have the added rule if they hit atleast once then all other weapons fired by that unit are twinlinked. I hasten to add that of the two starting weapons you replace the twin linked cannon and are left with a twin linked catapult that I’d recommend is always upgraded to a cannon. The synergy between the two is great, 7 str 6 shots, 3 of which can be rerolled to hit and rends (vs infantry) for near 70pts. For just over 210 points your units putting out 21 str 6 hits, for an average of 16 str 6 hits. My only gripe is the difference in range between the two weapons, one being 24 one 36. But that’s not a major issue on a fast vehicle.
They can get a 4+ jinx if you really want but for a squadron that’s nearly 50 points I wouldn’t bother.
I don’t think they’re going to be the new venom spam but I think they will be used and can fill a lot of rolls at a moderate price.
For 200 points I can get in the same slot, approximately 10 warp spiders who are getting 14 str 6 rending hits, vypers for the same get 8 rending hits and 12 non rending also strength 6. The warp spiders are much tougher in their 3+ save but both are very fast. I can see both units seeing play. Their squishy nature and no ability to outflank or get the drop on the opponent is why I rate them lower than the spiders. Keeping them in normal reserve can be played around due to the relatively short range of the cannons.
COMPETITIVE
War Walkers
The glass cannons of the heavy support section, they kept Scouts, picked up fleet along the way. Gained BS 4 and Battle focus and then doubled in points. WHAT say that again, doubled in points. Okay, before I close the page let’s have a look at them properly.
In relative terms they now start with 2 heavy weapons, two shuriken cannons, if you were to take these two previously that’s’ 10 pts, so a relative increase of 50% not 100%. Okay that better, equally every weapon option got significantly cheaper. So in relative terms once you’ve bought your two guns they’re only slightly more expensive. Starcannons are quite expensive relatively and I’d suggest taking them elsewhere where they are much cheaper but with still strong synergy with shuriken cannons that share the same strength.
On a more interesting note, they have fleet of foot, relentless (being walkers) and battle focus. This means that your warwalkers are going to be daring around madly. You can play the walk out of cover, shoot, then run back, out of line of sight game. With fleet your rerolling your run moves, that’s pretty cool.
Right, so the dual scatter laser walker has increased by 10 points in total, that’s not a bad trade for BS4 and battle focus shenanigans. Dual Shuriken Cannon Walkers have increased by 20pts less good. I wasn’t aware than anyone ever took any other kind of war walker but if they did then a similar price increase should be expected, except for bright lances which are now way cheaper!
Overall, I think they’ll fight with Vypers for a roll, they’re both very fast with similar armaments and points. I said I’d like to see Vypers with a reserve mechanic which Walkers have in the form of outflank. I think which you take will come down to which slot you value lower and they get a similar score.
COMPETITIVE
19, Wraith Constructs
Spiritseer
The wraithguard seer, slightly weaker profile to the farseer but a good chunk of points less. The main differences are a wound less and ld 9. That said, they have access to runes of battle which as said are primarily stat buffs or maladictions.
The main reason you’d take these though is that they make wraithguard/wraithblades troops. It should be noted that it doesn’t specify that this is restricted to a primary detachment. So you can ally in troop wraith guard if you want.
Probably the most impressive of their powers is they can improve or decrease the armour save of their own or an enemy unit by 1. With mastery level 2 they’ve got a 1/3 chance of getting that power. Did someone say 2+ save Wraithguard? That said they cannot get Fortune so you’d need a farseer to have it rerollable!
I’d be tempted to run one in a striking scorpion unit to really take advantage of runes of battle but they’re pretty good in whatever unit you stick them in and are very cheap for what they do. They are relatively restricted in wargear however.
COMPETITIVE
Wraithguard
Right wraithguard have got a relatively small but welcome price break. They’ve kept the same stats and lost wraith sight.
Their guns have changed a bit, they’ve lost the auto glance on a 3+ but picked up strength 10 so that’s not going to change too much. Still range 12. It still inflicts instant death on a 6 not that I can see that making much difference, it being a strength 10 gun. Pretty similar to before, I can see them seeing play as troops with a spirit seer. I think that anyone prepared to invest in that many points would want to take a seer to make them troops as whats an extra premium once you’ve spent that much.
They’re not going to die easily, toughness 6 with a 3+ save, though you can only fit 6 in a wave serpent.
COMPETITIVE
Wraithblades
Same profile as the wraithguard, they have a choice of two combat armaments instead of the humble wraith cannon.
Both are pretty nifty, you can either have the two ghost swords 2 attacks at str 6 with ap3 or one ghost axe attack str 7 ap 2 attack at iniative 1. They’re initiative 4 so your losing a decent initiative but with the axe you get a force field. The force field is a generic 4++ save making them ridiculously tough cookies. With T6 and a 3+ 4++ they’re going to be monsters to kill in combat. That said with 1 attack each they can be easily swarmed and just held up indefinitely.
200points gets you a unit of 6 chaps who are strength and toughness 6 with ap3 weapons and two attacks or the axe/shield version. As troops they’re pretty strong and like the wraithguard think they’ll see play with spirit seers.
Perhaps an army utilising both varieties could utilise the eldars abundance of anti-light infantry to prevent hordes tying up their precious wraith constructs.
Wraithlord
Okay, he’s lost two points of strength but got rid of that pesky wraith sight. However, he has taken a significant price rise. Bright lances and starcannons are cheaper but other weapons have got more expensive. His points have in all likelihood gone up and all he’s gained for it is his independence from psyker babysitting.
If I’m honest it’s not like the eldar community were sitting there going if only they didn’t have wraith sight I’d run a ton of these. As a weapons battery they’re okay being relentless but don’t get battle focus.
I can’t see these boys seeing play… if they see scarce play now they’re hardly going to now the eldar codex is stuffed full of really cool new options. Heavy weapons are so abundant throughout the army it’s not like you need them to carry them.
He is character though so does get precision strike and can challenge making him okay in combats as he can crush powerfists before they get to strike.
COMPETITIVE
Wraithknight
Ahh the Wraith Knight, poster boy of the release. Well he’s Toughness 8 with 6 wounds, that’s a pretty good start. He has standard monstrous creature stats elsewhere and is strength 10 without stomping. He’s roughly the point cost of two naked wraithlords and roughly as tough as two.
He comes with two heavy wraith cannons, these are 36 inch versions of the wraith cannon. Not so far you can sit in a corner and take out what you please but long enough. He does come as a jump monstrous creature though so with his movement 12 he can cover 48 inches of the board.
He’s got a few options, you can take him as a combat beast with a 5++ save and a reroll to hit in melee. He gives up both his guns and takes a price increase for this however. This sadly is a rubbish option, he’s still rock hard in combat without a solitary reroll and a 5++. Why give up his guns for a slight increase when his guns are so powerful and don’t prevent him doing just fine in combat. You can take shoulder guns to replace his lost weapons but these are the same standard weapons available everywhere else and don’t really warrant the ridiculous price tag when you could just keep your starting guns and still be pretty mean in assault.
The second option is to specialise for anti-infantry, by swopping his guns for a 3 shot ap2 str 6 blast weapon and the shield he becomes quite hard for infantry to deal with. This is however a lot of points. You can take a second or third weapon from the shoulder to compliment this, if you wish you could take a scatter laser to reroll your blasts to hit rolls which makes him quite reliable. This is however near 300 points which is way too much.
Remember that he can only fire two guns so I’d avoid taking the shoulder mounted weapons in any case if you’re keeping the wraith cannons. My preferred wraithknight would be naked as he comes.While you don’t get the scatter lasers to twin link the two cannons I can always bring in a farseer to twin link them if I need a tank dead. With a movement of 12 and solid stats he’s a pretty good allrounder and can deter would be assaulters while still pounding away with strength 10 guns.
Current metagame thought, with the nerf to runes of warding Tzeentch flying circus may be a prominent challenger. The wraithknight is a strong answer to such as if you can ground them, he’ll instant death them with his str 10 guns and in an assault it’s not really a contest.
A final thought is he’s initiative 5 which with the exception of the foremost deamons is way above most monstrous creature and is quite useful.
VERY COMPETITIVE
20, Conclusion
Right, having written more than was in my dissertation I am going to conclude that I have absolutely no idea what the new modern eldar army is going to look like! I suspect that at its worst the opponent will get very bored as the eldar player takes 3x as long to do everything, as they'll be rerolling a ton of stuff, and moving, running and shooting etc. It will for exactly this reason be a really cool army to play as nothing in it is boring. Every unit has special rules that while not overpowering makes them feel special and I believe it will make for a very fluid and elegant army (almost like eldar). I would add that Tau vs Eldar would be a very confusing game as they both do so much in the eldar players turn, with the amount of intercept and snap fire! I can imagine the Eldar turn 2 taking forever!!
I will add that I feel I have been harsh and labelled many fine units as Standard Price or Inefficient. They're all really cool and a lot of design work has gone into nearly everything. However, I set out to separate the competitive units from the less, I did that. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see any units in the book played.
I think Mech Eldar could be powerful but so could any other combination of units from them. They have access to reliable anti tank in about three different ways melta/distorn/haywire and have a decent amount of anti infantry. With strong troops they should be able to score easily too. All in all they're no catagories immediately jumping out as a weakness. The only concern I might have is anti air, whilst they have arguably the most powerful interceptor in the game I'd struggle to justify its inclusion in a competitive list - simply because if they have a quadgun in their list your easily 200pts down.
Thankyou for reading my mad musings and I'd be delighted to read others takes on the new entries. I apologise for grammatical inconsistencies it is written in a less serious style, I'm asking myself questions and brainstorming ideas outloud. As such its to an extent ad hoc. I will be re-reading again soon to clean up any blatant abuses of the English Language.
My 2000 Cents,
The Real Cute Hydra
