<![CDATA[Latest posts for the thread "Y-Mod Series 1; The Mandrake"]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/16.page JForum - http://www.jforum.net Y-Mod Series 1; The Mandrake 40k's worst units in the game. These are units that are shunned by almost every player, in almost every version of the game. In Y-Mod, I attempt to "fix" these units in a way that makes them usable to at least a portion of the gaming population, while still not so powerful that tournament lists would use them. Try to assume that the points costs remain the same, or close to the same. I'm also not going to massively change the unit's role, and will try to keep it in the same "space" as before.

On with the show!

Mandrakes

Mandrakes are supposed to be scary. Let that sink in. They're supposed to be SCARY. Like terrifying for your models, and actually pretty difficult to deal with for the players. The fluff states that they are practically invisible, and strike out of no where. Of course, little could be further from the truth. Mandrakes are low-toughness, usually low-save models with a short range attack that... wait for it... has Soulfire. Oooooh! Frightening!

Mandrakes are T3 and have Stealth and Shrouded. In the open they will die about as fast as Firewarriors, and in just about any cover they can shrug off a respectable amount of fire. But as soon as you point something with ignores cover at them, they die. As soon as they get out of cover, they die. 18" range on their Baleblasts isn't very much, and if they get into close combat they die even faster. Which is odd, considering they have S4 and 2 attacks each.

It really does seem like your basic Kabalite Warrior is better than these guys. You get a longer ranged gun that can hurt more targets, and which even get a save some of the time!

The Y-Mod

Mandrake WS;4 - BS;4 - S;4 - T;3 - W;1 - I;5 - A;2 - Ld;8 - Sv;6+
Nightfiend WS;4 - BS;4 - S;4 - T;3 - W;1 - I;5 - A;3 - Ld;9 - Sv;6+

Unit Type: Infantry
Unit Composition: 3 Mandrakes

Weapons:
Baleblast; Each Mandrake may make a shooting attack using the following profile; S4 AP4 Assault 2 Range 18" Darkflame, Soulblaze

Balefists; A Mandrake or Nightfiend's close combat attacks are AP4 with Soulblaze and Darkflame.

Special Rules:
Stealth
Shrouded
Infiltrate
Fear
Invisible During Night; Enemies are reduced to WS1 and BS1 when making attacks against Mandrakes on any turn that night is in effect.
Darkflame: These attacks are at +1 Strength on any turn that Night Fight is in effect..
Nightstalkers (Nightfiend Only); So long as at least one Nightfiend in your army has not been removed as a casualty, you may have Night Fight remain in effect for the 2nd turn of the game, or have Night Fight begin in effect one turn earlier during the game.

Options:
You may upgrade one Mandrake to a Nightfiend.
You may add up to 7 additional Mandrakes to this unit.

The Breakdown:
First off, there was a question of why I am doing these. Answer? For the same reason anyone's posting here - it's fun. Need there be more? I'm sure 90% of what's posted isn't played, but a lot of it is just idea-generation. Now with that out of the way...

This change vastly improves Mandrakes during Turn 1, and actually makes them strong counter-Drop Pod options. Being able to have whole units be invisible during Night is pretty powerful if a Dark Eldar player chooses to go second against these kinds of armies. Being able to stretch that Night effect to turn 2 is also a big deal for the Dark Eldar. Of course, it's also very useful to start Night a turn earlier, making the elimination of the Nightfiend in the turns leading up to that very important.

Ultimately, this makes Mandrakes terrifying during Night, but play effectively the same during the day. I've given them a 6+ save so at least they get something in close combat, and I've made their close combat attacks AP4 as well. But yeah, during Night being able to shoot lots of S5 shots, make S5 close combat attacks, and being nearly impossible to hit back is frightening. Note, flamers will still work against this "invisibility".


Comments/Suggestions
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome! I realize I didn't fix the "isn't fast enough" problem that plagues the Carnifex, but that's an issue with the game as a whole. There's so many units that suffer from this problem that it seems very apparent to me that it's a problem with the game if a unit is only useful if it can move quickly. Until a Y-Mod unit comes up that is described as being somewhat faster than your normal bear, I likely won't be including too many options for increased speed.

If you want to see me "fix" a unit, go ahead and let me know which unit you think needs a Y-Mod!


EDIT: Added Infiltrate, Fear, and put "Darkflame" as a separate rule.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/672728/8307315.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/672728/8307315.page GMT Y-Mod Series 1; The Mandrake
The night interaction is very cool, full of character and very well done.

You need to clean up your weapon statlines a bit. Why does the gun use a special rule to buff strength but the melee weapon not?

Why don't they have Infiltrate or Scout?

The Nightstalker rule is worded exceedingly poorly.

"So long as at least one Nightfiend in your army has not been removed as a casualty," can be interpreted as either 'If you have a Nightfiend' OR 'Only if no Nightfiends have been killed'. This needs to be cleaned up. I also feel like this power is a bit out of scope of a simple unit sergeant. It'd fit better as a piece of wargear or a relic.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/672728/8307341.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/672728/8307341.page GMT Y-Mod Series 1; The Mandrake
The "not fast enough" problem mostly isn't one for DE units that can fit into Raiders, and Mandrakes can, so I can't really complain about that at all.

I would replace "Balefists" with "Baleblades" - the models have swords, dirks, sickles and various other kinds of blade. Possibly the Nightfiend could have a Baleblade that's AP3, functioning as a Power Sword with Darkflame?

Also, in the fluff, they go back and forth on whether Mandrakes are non-Chaos Daemons or not. Personally, I'd rule that they are, at least as much as the Avatar of Khaine is, and give them the Daemon special rule. Now they have a 5+ invulnerable save, which is useful but in no way overpowered, and they have Fear, for those rare occasions where it might possibly matter.

]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/672728/8307449.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/672728/8307449.page GMT Y-Mod Series 1; The Mandrake
raverrn wrote:This is probably the best work I've seen you do. Mandrakes always seemed like a fine choice to me in the newest codex, but so long as we're here:

The night interaction is very cool, full of character and very well done.

You need to clean up your weapon statlines a bit. Why does the gun use a special rule to buff strength but the melee weapon not?

Why don't they have Infiltrate or Scout?

The Nightstalker rule is worded exceedingly poorly.

"So long as at least one Nightfiend in your army has not been removed as a casualty," can be interpreted as either 'If you have a Nightfiend' OR 'Only if no Nightfiends have been killed'. This needs to be cleaned up. I also feel like this power is a bit out of scope of a simple unit sergeant. It'd fit better as a piece of wargear or a relic.


Yeah, I was having a hard time thinking of how to word this, but I really wanted there to be something to change the length of night entirely within the confines of this unit. Giving the Nightfiend an optional wargear item with a limit of one per army to do this makes a lot more sense. Thanks!

jade_angel wrote:This looks pretty good to me, modulo a few nitpicks. I really like the integration with Night Fighting, and being able to make Night Fighting go on longer helps the army as a whole.

The "not fast enough" problem mostly isn't one for DE units that can fit into Raiders, and Mandrakes can, so I can't really complain about that at all.

I would replace "Balefists" with "Baleblades" - the models have swords, dirks, sickles and various other kinds of blade. Possibly the Nightfiend could have a Baleblade that's AP3, functioning as a Power Sword with Darkflame?

Also, in the fluff, they go back and forth on whether Mandrakes are non-Chaos Daemons or not. Personally, I'd rule that they are, at least as much as the Avatar of Khaine is, and give them the Daemon special rule. Now they have a 5+ invulnerable save, which is useful but in no way overpowered, and they have Fear, for those rare occasions where it might possibly matter.




Thanks Jade! I know, it's a weird spot they put them in like that. I've always preferred keeping Dark Eldar out of Chaos and Daemons, but I totally forgot to make these guys cause fear. Thanks for the input!]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/672728/8307568.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/672728/8307568.page GMT Y-Mod Series 1; The Mandrake
That's my biggest peeve with Mandrakes as they are now: there's little reason to take them over any of the four better Elites. However, even as they stand, they still beat out Bloodbrides - those, and maybe Wytches, would make a decent topic for another Y-Mod. (Wytches are situationally useful now, Bloodbrides OTOH are really hard to justify ever.)]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/672728/8307957.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/672728/8307957.page GMT Y-Mod Series 1; The Mandrake http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/672728/8308032.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/672728/8308032.page GMT Y-Mod Series 1; The Mandrake http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/672728/8309191.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/672728/8309191.page GMT Y-Mod Series 1; The Mandrake
 KharnsRightHand wrote:
This is better than your other ones for sure, but I am curious how you can make Night Fight begin a turn earlier if it starts Turn 1 anyway?


Thanks! There are times when a mission will say that Night Fighting comes into effect on Turn 4 and continues each turn thereafter. With an effect similar to this, you could make it Night Fight on Turn 3 instead, and it'd then continue for the rest of the game.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/672728/8309258.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/672728/8309258.page GMT