1500pts Dark Angels v Chaos Daemons - New Codex Battle!

Morning folks.

Monday night myself and Sanguinius took part in a battle of the new Codexes between my Dark Angels and his Daemons of Slaanesh. We both had new books we wanted to try out and out of curiosity, to see how bad things were with the Daemon Warpstorm tables.

So, the lists stacked up something like this:

Dark Angels

• Belial (sword and storm bolter)
• Librarian (Terminator armour, Psyker lvl 2)
• 1 Deathwing Dread (Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer, Drop Pod)
• 5 Deathwing Termis (3 Storm Bolter and Fist, 1 Assault Cannon and Fist, 1 Storm Bolter and Sword)
• 5 Deathwing Termis (3 Storm Bolter and Fist, 1 Assault Cannon and Fist, 1 Storm Bolter and Sword)
• 10 Tactical Marines (Plasma Cannon, Plasma Gun, Vet Sarge with Plasma Pistol)
• 5 Ravenwing Bikers (2 Plasma Guns, Vet Sarge)
• 1 Ravenwing Land Speeder (Typhoon Missile, Hull Multi Melta)
• 1 Ravenwing Land Speeder (Typhoon Missile, Hull Multi Melta)

 Slaanesh Daemons

• Keeper of Secrets
• 3 Squads of 10 Daemonettes
• 2 Squads of 15 Seekers (was it 15?)
• 3 Squads of 4 Fiends
• Slaanesh Chariot-thing.
• (Probably some more stuff too that I've forgotten)

The mission was to claim Daemonic elements of unknown power (the Scouring) setting up the battlefield in Dawn of War. In a twist, we played Scouring where we didn't reveal the points of each objective until after the game had been decided.

I kept my Deathwing units off the table, hoping they could get a bit further across the board or drop in and get to objectives that were a bit further way. But, being the complete and utter fool I am, completely forgot about Scout moves on the Ravenwing bikers and then also forgot to decide what turn my Deathwing were showing up, so I rolled 1-3 turn 1, 4 - 6 turn 2 and they were destined for turn 2.

As for the Daemons and this dreaded "There's so much stuff to roll for!" whine that's being going around. Considering it was the very first time we've used the Codex, it took all of 5 minutes. Each Sergeant in the Daemonette and Seeker squads had a lesser gift, the Chariot driver had a gift too and the Keeper of Secrets took one. All in all, few minutes rolling and writing down, then done. It only took that long because we couldn't remember what certain weapons and special rulesdid when rolled for (lash of slaanesh).

Turn 1 went to the Daemons, being an objectives game I fancied going second. Big mistake. Daemon horde blitzed over the table thanks to the Daemon of Slaanesh rule, which meant they were all up in my face to deal with on Turn 1.

First Warpstorm roll was the Nurgle one, which as there were no Daemons of Nurgle in the Daemon army, meant only I was affected. Roll for each unit, on a 6 they take a S4 blast hit. Only thing that got hit was a Land Speeder, and wouldn't you know it, rolled a 6 again for a glancing hit.

In my turn, my Drop Pod and Dreadnaught came down near the Slaanesh home objective, managed to flame 2 of them away, but the rest became pretty angry. Land Speeder shooting was pretty ineffective, but the bikes and Tactical squad managed to chip away at the Fiends nearby.

Turn 2 for the Daemons and they were into assault. All the reserves showed up thanks to Instruments in the units, and they all dropped within range of the Keeper of Secrets with his Warlord trait teleport homer thing he rolled for. That meant that pretty much the entire Slaanesh force was heading towards my Tac Marines and Ravenwing Bikes.

Warpstorm time and this time it was the one where a random Daemon character is determined and then has to take a Daemonic Instability test on 3D6. One of the Seeker sergeants bit the dust as a result.

Then the rest of the force went after my Ravenwing Bikes, a unit of fiends and the Chariot chasing them down, 1 made it through to fight in the next round. My Landspeeders and Dread got glanced to death pretty quick from a load of Rending hits.

Turn 2 for the Dark Angels and Belial shows up with his Deathwing bodyguard, hoping to harass the back objective where my Dreadnaught was battered. The Librarian and his Deathwing head over on the right flank to deal with some fiends and Daemon-free objectives over there.

Split fire and Vengeful strike was pretty cool to use here,  along with Malediction from the Librarian (although I completely forgot it later on). But I didn't manage to do any real damage.

Turn 3 for the Daemons and the Seekers and Keeper of Secrets turned to deal with the new threat of Belial and his Deathwing. The Fiends on the far side of the battlefield went hunting down the Librarian and his Deathwing instead, which is where the new Daemonic lack of Eternal Warrior and new Instability came into effect.

Warpstorm this time brought about -1 Invulnerable saves for the Daemons, which was pretty handy for me.

As far as assault goes, Belial's unit got whittled down a ton, but Belial remained standing, ready for another round. A few Daemonettes and Seekers got killed, but the entirity of the Terminators were wiped out.

In the other Assault, my Librarian had cast Malediction on the Fiends who charged in, I completely forgot but it didn't make much difference. I think I lost a Terminator, but in reply the power fists battered the entire Fiend unit.

Turn 4 for the Daemons and it was pretty much consolidate towards objectives. Belial still had a Daemon circle around him so no one else was getting in. The Librarian and his terminators were safe on the flank.

Warpstorm time and this time it was the "choose a random enemy Psyker..." which meant my Librarian, as the only Psyker, failed his 3D6 LD test by rolling a 15. Then he was replaced by a Slaanesh herald which buggered off near an objective to become a denial unit.

Assault time and Belial offered a challenge out to the units, no takers, which meant he then got swamped by the remaining Daemonettes, falling down to 1 wound.

Turn 4 for the Dark Angels and not much to do, other than try and capture the objective with the Librarian-less Terminator unit, by sweeping the newly spawned Herald off it.

Belial was finally pulled down by the weight of Daemons around him failing pretty much all of his Inv saves from the rending.

//----------//

We ended it on Turn 4 as I didn't have much left that could do anything, and with all the faffing around between 2 new Codexes, we'd over-ran on time.

It finished about 10 - 4 to the Slaanesh Daemons who had multiple objectives, Slay the Warlord, First Blood and Linebreaker, whereas I managed to cap the 4pt objective.

All in all, the new Daemons are really fun to use, Slaanesh stuff is EXTREMELY fast and Rending is icing on the cake the fact that pretty much any wounds through me are ignoring my armour saves is nasty. Combine it with Psychic powers, not having to stand around waiting the turn after you deep strike in anymore (since you can deploy on the board) and they're really cool.

Warpstorm wasn't as horrendous as it was made out to be - although losing my Librarian to a random roll was a bit meh, but oh well... And it does really help if you go Mono-God as you can roll results that don't affect you but can still affect an opponent.

As for the Dark Angels, if I had remembered half the special rules and brought them on when I was supposed to, I probably would have done better (lets face it, it can't have gotten much worse?) but that's new Codex syndrome for you. Give it 3 or 4 games and I'll be alright.

Deathwing now are lovely. Split fire really helps with some situations, as does Vengeful strike (twin linking on landing). I'm thinking I may swap some of the Storm Bolters for Storm Shields at the front however, just to start taking wounds on.

My Librarian didn't get much chance to do anything with his powers so I can't really comment on it. Whatever spell he had where the enemy unit cast on it has to re-roll 6s to hit and to wound, would have really helped to stop the amount of Rending getting through.

All in all, a really good game v two new Codexes and I'm excited to see a grudge match with my Khorne Daemons v Slaanesh Daemons to have two of us go head to head with Hatred on the go.

Bye for now!

The Death of "All Reserve" Lists in 6th Edition

Morning folks.


I was thinking about this one after buying the new Dark Angels codex last week and a conversation about it on Monday night. Then on the drive into work whilst trying to think what to do with my Dark Angels, I thought about doing this blog write-up.

For a while, I didn't realise this rules change was even in 6th until I mentioned it in passing about Deathwing and then checked the rulebook.

Changes to reserves in 6th edition were as follows (bear with me if some are wrong, doing this from memory):

• Always a 3+ to show up.
• Only 50% of your units can go into reserve.
• If you have no models on the table, you lose.

So. Those few little changes there make a big change to a few armies that relied on heavy Reserve and Deep-striking choices during 5th edition. I can think of a few examples that have got the shaft now...

• Deathwing Dark Angels
• Descent of Angels Blood Angels forces
• Outflanking / Spore reserve Tyranids
• Duke Sliscus' low orbit raid Dark Eldar
• All Drop Pod Space Marine armies
• And probably more I can't think of...

Personally, I used to really enjoy playing full reserve lists, especially my Deathwing. It meant I could mitigate the slow speed of foot slogging Terminators and could have a pure Deathwing list - no tactical marines, no Ravenwing, etc.

It also meant I could pin-point my strikes around the battlefield dependant on the other player's choices - Can you imagine Belial saying to his Deathwing terminators "Hey, Octavius and Romulus squads... Do you mind standing over here and watching this ruin whilst we Teleport in from somewhere else?". Key to the in-game story, I always felt my Deathwing were a precision strike force, now, only half the army feels like that.

To me, it's like I now have to pay a babysitting points tax and have units start on the board simply for the sake of having them there.

Now...Why was the change to reserves made? Simple...

Firstly, to get more models on the table earlier on, rather than having your 500pt HQ and bodyguard show up on turn 5 and not get to do much.

In addition to this, it's bad game design to have any player with Zero models on the table at any point, hence the "you lose if you have none" rules. I've played some games in older editions where players units came in 1 at a time, that unit got shot / assaulted / killed and next turn 1 more rolls on. Sewer Rats stratagem in Cities of Death springs to mind.

Secondly, my personal view, is to avoid less of the "Alpha Strike" gubbins where Player A would set up entire army, player B would drop a few inches away from them, massacre half an army in a turn, then we play the rest of the game.

On top of this, we have the change to how the reserves arrive. They've gone from being a decreasing dice roll depending on the turn they show up, to now being a 3+ every turn. Combine this with the fact EVERY army now has access to a +1 reserve roll modifier (Aegis with comms relay).

This would mean that there's a pretty decent chance you'd be facing the entire opponents army in Turn 2 teleporting down in front of your face, probably shoot a LOT and then the game doesn't feel fun and reactive. It feels like a sucker punch.

Don't get me wrong... I understand completely why these changes are there. I just think it shafts a lot of the playstyle and options of some armies.

I now feel like I'll have to spend points on Scouts, Tactical Marines or Ravenwing to start off on the board so that I can use my Deathwing properly. And I'll never get to use a full Deathwing list without having to sit 2 or 3 Terminator units in my deployment zone.

So... What does this all mean?

It now means you'll need "home guard" elements if you want to play these sort of lists.

• Deathwing require Tac Marines, Scouts, Ravenwing to be on the field or more Terminators to start deployed on foot.
• Tyranids can't go too heavy on the Spores or Outflankers.
• Blood Angels can't go all deep-striking Jump packs. Again, they'll either need ground troops or to deploy the Jump packs on the ground.
• Duke Sliscus' Dark Eldar will have to start half of them on the ground, which means half as many targets for the enemy to shoot at.
• And so on...

Or failing that, you'll need some cheap way of getting around it. Like a tac squad and a Rhino being 2 units for the 50% count, therefore giving you 2 Deathwing that can go into reserve. Although I'm not sure whether Ded. Transports are included on unit count for this.

To me, Terminators aren't the sort of troops I want sitting at the back of the board with a set of 24" guns and the odd heavy weapon. I want these guys right in the face of the enemy providing immediate threat to units.

Deal with it!

As with most stuff in 6th edition, it's just things you need to accomodate for now with these rules changes. It's just unfortunate that these "pure" lists then need help from other units or to hinder themselves by sacrificing their mobility options to deploy on foot.

My old 5th edition Deathwing list looked like this:

• Belial
• Terminator unit with Hammers / Claws and Cyclone missile.
• Terminator unit with Hammers / Claws and Cyclone missile.
• Terminator unit with Hammers / Claws, Apothecary and Deathwing Banner
• Terminator unit with Storm Bolters and Assault cannon.
• Terminator unit with Storm Bolters and Assault cannon.
• Deathwing Dreadnaught in Pod
• Deathwing Dreadnaught in Pod
• Land Speeder with Multi Melta
• Land Speeder with Multi Melta

Out of that list, the only thing I'd be happy with deploying at the start of the game would be the Speeders. The Dread is pretty useless without the Pod so they could make way for some Ravenwing bikers and Tactical marines.

Again, it's just changes that we have to work around in 6th Edition and once I get the Deathwing on the table, I'm sure they'll be fine. Just less "Deathwing" and more "Terminator-heavy Dark Angels".

//--------------------//
UPDATE:
As I say when I wrote this, I was doing it from memory. Apparently units that have to start in reserve (Drop Pods, Spores, Daemons) all ignore this. So it's still an issue for Deathwing and Duke Sliscus lists since they have the option... but it still doesn't answer the question of Marines.

And according to the rulebook units and their dedicated transports are treated as a single unit for this.

On top of that, Independent Characters count as a single unit, regardless of whether or not they're attached to a unit. So for Belial and 2 units of Terminators, you need to have 3 units starting on the board.
//--------------------//
Cheers,
SB.

P.S. If I've got anything wrong then please let me know. I've not looked at the 6th edition reserve stuff in extreme detail and don't have the rulebook with me whilst I write this up... It's just whatever spews from my brain on the drive into work.

Post-Game: Dark Eldar v 6th Ed Chaos Marines

Morning folks,

Last night I brought out my Dark Eldar again to see if their victory against the Tau the other week was a complete fluke - and mostly because it meant I didn't have to write a new list or pack models up.

I played against Angryman's Chaos army to give the new codex a try, so he'd not had too long to put a list together. So... we squared off with the following lists (ish - give or take a few upgrades I can't remember):

Dark Eldar:

- Archon (Shadowfield, Soul Trap, Huskblade) [Warlord: +1 to Charge Rolls]
- Haemonculis (Hex-Rifle, Shattershard)
- 8 Wracks
- 9 Incubi (Klaivex, Onslaught)
- Raider (Dark Lance, Torment Grenade Launcher, Night Shields, Aeither Sails)
- 10 Warriors (Sybarite w/ Agoniser, Splinter Cannon, Blaster)
- Raider (Dark Lance, Torment Grenade Launcher, Night Shields, Aeither Sails)
- 10 Scourges (2 Haywire Blasters, 1 Splinter Cannon, Solarite w/ Venom Blade)
- 3 Beastmasters (1 Agoniser, 10 Khymarae, 1 Clawed Fiend)
- Ravager (3 Dark Lances, Night Shields)

 
Chaos Space Marines:

- Daemon Prince (Khorne? Winged. Got +1 Strength on his Boon roll before game) [Warlord: Enemies within 12" use lowest LD]
- Daemon Prince (Khorne? Winged. Got +1 BS on his Boon roll before game)
- 15 Chaos Marines (1 Plasma, 1 Melta, Champion, Icon of Wrath?)
- 20 Chaos Marines (1 Plasma, 1 Melta, Champion, Icon of Wrath?
- 5 Chaos Terminators
- Defiler
- Vindicator

We played "Big Guns Never Tire" with 3 objectives and the diagonal deployment and I chose to deploy and go first.

We also rolled so that Night Fighting was present on Turn 1.

Turn 1 - Dark Eldar

So, first turn for the Dark Eldar I tried to get my guns just on 36" to mean I could fire, but any return fire and I'd be getting +2 cover save (meaning 2+ on my very obscured Incubi raider) and combined with Night Shields try and minimise fire back.

I kept my Scourges in reserve to deep strike in, hoping they'd be of some use later and also to minimise the fact there wasn't a lot of cover.

I ploughed the Beastmaster unit forward to behind the big central building, kept the Raiders obscured but moved them and the Ravager up to 35"ish so they could hope for some cheeky lance shots.

I think I managed to wound a flying Daemon Prince but that was about it.

Turn 1 - Chaos Marines

Both the Daemon Princes flew directly towards the Dark Eldar meaning I'd still need 6s to hit the following turn.

The 2 Chaos Marine blob units budged forward (or at least, tried to. They both rolled really low on difficult terrain) as did the Defiler.

The Vindicator attempted to fire at one of the Raiders, but thanks to my lovely, lovely Night Shields, was out of range.

The Defiler then cast it's gaze upon the other Raider with my Incubi unit in. But fortunately for me, I was behind cover and Shrouded so I passed the cover save.

Turn 2 - Dark Eldar

Turn 2 for the Dark Eldar and no sign of the Scourge reinforcements.

I moved the Incubi Raider up it's full distance and flat out to try and head towards the backfield objective.

The 2 Daemon Princes were still up in the air so they took the brunt of fire as they were the closest and biggest threats. But I didn't manage to do much to them at all.

I chipped a Hull Point off the Defiler using some cheeky lance fire.

Then I assaulted a Chaos Marine unit with my Beastmasters, lost the resulting combat (partly for going at I1 for charging through difficult) and then ran back towards my edge.

Turn 2 - Chaos Marines

Turn 2 for Chaos and the Terminator unit showed up from reserve, ready to deep strike onto the table. Trying to land close to my Wrack unit holding an objective. However, a really unlucky scatter landed them on top of their own Daemon Prince and Angryman rolled a 1 for the Deep Strike mishap. Goodbye Mr Terminators!

The 2 Daemon princes chose to land and go after a Ravager and a Raider (Warriors) each, and the Marine squad that defeated the beastmasters chased down the final Raider (Incubi).

Between shooting and assault, the Ravager was destroyed along with the Warrior's raider meaning they piled out on the other side of some cover to the Daemon Prince - ready to return fire.

The Chaos marines failed to destroy the Incubi raider between all their attacks - although thinking back about it, I'm sure if they could have used Krak grenades rather than going at S4 (albeit with 1 less attack).

Also, the Defiler with it's "It Will Not Die" rule got one of it's lost Hull Points back.

Turn 3 - Dark Eldar

In turn 3, the Scourges showed up and performed a pin point landing just outside the Chaos objective building and the Beastmasters regrouped ready to fight on.

The Incubi hopped out of their Raider ready to face down the Marines outside, as the Raider itself made a "tactical retreat" away from everyon, but still in Lance range.

The Kabalite Warriors hopped into terrain, ready to deal with the Daemon Prince that was on their doorstep and the Wracks shifted themselves about to deal with a fresh-from-Ravager-Killing Daemon Prince.

Shooting time and the Scourges managed, after about 40 shots, to kill 1 lowly Chaos Marine in the building. Pitiful...

The Kabalite Warriors however managed to fare much better and took 3 wounds off the Daemon Prince nearby. Lastly, my Haemonculus failed for the third time in a row to hit with his Hexrifle. Abysmal.

Onwards to assault and the Beastmasters declared a charge on the nearby Chaos Marine squad, took the overwatch fire and then got into charge. The Incubi and Archon decided to leave the hulking Daemon Prince and take some frustration out on the Chaos Marines too - charging in.

The Chaos Marine champion then issued a challenge to the Dark Eldar elite swordsmen and the Archon. The Dark Eldar noble scoffed at the thought of fighting such a lowly opponent and sent the Incubi Klaivex forwards instead.

In the resulting assault, the Dark Eldar lost 2 Khymarae and in return killed about 6 or 7 Chaos Marines, meaning they needed snake eyes to pass. Which they failed and were hacked down by the Incubi.

The Chaos Champion was cut down by the Klaivex combining his Demi-klaives.

Turn 3 - Chaos Marines

In retaliation, the Chaos Marines unleashed a torrent of fire on the Scourges from the Chaos Marine unit in the building and a Vindicator, wipining the Scourges out of existence, with not a single save being passed.

The Defiler then turned it's attention on the Incubi unit and the Daemon Princes prepared to charge their respective targets - a Kabalite warrior unit and the unit of Wracks with Haemonculis.

Assault 1 - Daemon Prince on Kabalite Warriors. I think this was the first and only time my Overwatch has ever done anything, killing the Daemon Prince off thanks to a torrent of Splinter weapon fire.

Assault 2 - The Defiler on the Incubi and Archon. That unit had nothing that could deal with the Defiler for a turn, so I thought to myself "I'll pile the wounds on the Archon, he's got a 2+ invulnerable save, he'll be fine!" and lowe and behold... first dice rolled... a 1. Archon and 2 Incubi insta-killed. The Incubi then chose to fail their morale test, as per "Our Weapons Are Useless!" and flee.

Assault 3 - Daemon Prince on Wracks. This was a mega nulled combat with I don't think either side causing a wound thanks to FNP on the Wracks and the Prince's Armour. However, what it did do, was cause the Wracks to pile in 3" and down a level taking the top 3 of the unit away from the objective.

Then I had to finish the game there due to the time...

Result

Chaos 4
(1 Objective, 1 Heavy Support Killed, 1 Warlord Killed, 1 Linebreaker)

Dark Eldar 2
(1 First Blood, 1 Warlord Killed)

All in all, was a good enjoyable game of 6th ed. I got my first taste of how hard it can be to hit Flyers / Flying Monsters and more practice with my Dark Eldar is always good. I think if I can add a decent anti-flyer solution to the force, I've got a nice enough list for me to stick with.

Stuff I Forgot:

Now, like usual there's some stuff I forgot during the game, either from rustiness or lack of familiarity with 6th ed.

1. Forgot to give my Pain Token to the Incubi and Beastmasters after they killed the Marines. Would have helped some shooting I took in Turn 3, but oh well.

2. It was a bit pointless letting my Archon take the Defiler wounds. If I'd drawn combat, I would have been locked in. I should have accepted the 3 Incubi casualties and then failed my Morale.

3. Beasts, even though they ignore difficult terrain for movement and charging, still are Initiative 1 when they go through it. Meaning they don't get to make use of the Dark Eldar high initiative. This combined with Overwatch meant I lost most of my Khymarae before doing anything.

4. REMEMBER TO PUT THE BLOODY DARK ELDAR FAQ IN MY BAG. For the second week running, I brought the Chaos Daemon FAQ.

Cheers,
SB.

6th Edition - First Games Thoughts

Morning folks,

We've been a bit without a blog and in the time since my last one, I've played a few of my first games of 6th edition.

Whilst I've not played enough games to pass true judgement on 6th edition (plenty of other people have on their blogs) I thought I'd get some of my feelings towards the edition into words...

1. Lots of faffing.
Now, this is always going to happen with a new edition. Lots of unfamiliarity, lots of new / changed things to memorise and also, lots of things to read and re-read to avoid playing incorrect rules or rules how they were played in 5th edition.

I've read the book a fair bit, read a lot of thoughts and rules commentaries on blogs and then find myself spending half my gaming time on a Monday night turning backwards and forwards in the rulebook, going from the rules for Beasts, to the rules for Difficult Terrain, back to Beasts to compare wording and look for clarification.

All this combined with the necessary hefty FAQs released, means my games are spent with my nose in the book, rather than rolling dice.

2. Pre-Measuring.
This is a minor one, and one I thought was just my mentality, but when I pull the tape measure out to check a distance or see if I'm in range to fire a weapon - I feel like I'm cheating.

Part of the fun I had in 40k was becoming a good eye for range guessing and judgement. However, I have found it to be really helpful at times and stop the issue of moving somewhere (like a Raider out in the open) and then finding yourself an inch short.

3. Heavy focus on Shooting
I don't want to come across as a negative "the sky is falling!" type, but I think my Slugga Boyz days are numbered, probably the same with Hormagaunts and other such fodder Assault units. People will argue they are, people will argue they aren't - that's your own opinion.

Part of this comes from Overwatch (come to that in a minute) and the other part I think comes from certain circumstances such as Cover dropping to a 5+ in the majority and emphasis on Flyers, that these units can do nothing to.

It seems to me that this edition is geared towards shootier armies, with dedicated assault units, as opposed to armies that rely heavily on assault. I can only imagine what sort of pasting my Daemons of Khorne will take when I bring them out.

Maybe when I play using my Orks or Khorne Daemons I'll see it's not so bad - I doubt it - but maybe?

4. Overwatch
This seems like a Marmite rule to me, some people really love it and others absolutely hate it. Admittedly, you'll always hit on a 6 which limits the hits you'll take, but there'll always be that above average roll of the dice.

So far, there's not been TONS of casualties come from Overwatch fire. Usually 1 a time, but I think the mechanic itself needs to be prepared for rather than shooting any unit charging you, all the time.

One idea me and Sanguinius talked about was you having to forgoe shooting and declare you are Overwatching. If this wasn't fair enough, then by forgoing shooting you get to fire at full BS.

All in all, I don't mind Overwatch that much when I'm using certain armies, but I find allowing a unit to shoot twice (albeit as BS1) still favours the unit being charged, rather than the charger.

I dread to think what would have happened if I'd charged a unit of Broadsides on Monday night, with their twin-linked shots and other shenanigans. Whereas in previous editions, charging them would have been a good option to tie them up.

5. Mobility
To me, 6th edition has a LOT more mobility around the board.

In 3rd, 4th and 5th editions, the fact you couldn't move any of the unit if you wanted to fire a heavy weapon was killer. Now the fact you can move other guys, but declare your Heavy Bolter team to be standing still.

And this combined with the fact most heavy weapons can move and fire at Snap Shot means you get away from the 2 gunline setup that plagued past editions, with people too scared to move a squad because then the heavy weapon couldn't fire.

On top of this, I think all missions have the "Line Breaker" objective, which favours mobility as well.

6. Random Charge
Another marmite thing that goes back to the pre-measuring point. I liked the feeling of gauging a charge distance just right and getting into base contact.

Nowadays though, nothing is certain though and all it takes is a bad dice roll to scupper your plans. Which again, makes me think that the game is weighted more towards shooting. You always know your guns range, but your assault range is anywhere between 2" and 12".

On the flip side though, you can increase and even double your charge distance from 5th edition. Which is pretty cool, especially when you manage to pull it off!

7. Flyers and Flying Monstrous Creatures
I've barely given these a thought in my first games. Each time I try and read those pages in the rulebook I just think to myself that they've overly complicated.

Different flight modes, moving on and off the board, etc. etc. As well as keeping track of all the usual vehicle or MC rules attached to them. If I get to play a few balanced games with them (i.e. No 6 Necron Croissant list of doom) then maybe my opinion will change.

At the moment though, I find myself actively avoiding these rules and choosing armies that don't have access to them, or that I don't own the models for - like my Squats and Dark Eldar (no flyer models)

Seems like this new edition is geared towards these though, as they're all shiney, new and people want / are expected to buy them. So there's no avoiding them in short.

8. Psychic Powers
Here's something I was really interested in to begin with as I loved the Magic stuff in Fantasy. For the time being though, I've not used an army with a Psyker, or never got around to using the psychic power for him.

But the opinion of people is that new psychic powers are "Devstating". Which makes me think about leaving my Orks, and other armies with no Psykers or psychic defence, on the shelf for a while.

I'll be giving my Dark Angles a bash with some psychic powers, as their Codex ones are terrible (until they get the new codex) and when I eventually get around to my Eldar I'll give them a try there too.

Similarly to Flyers though, I find myself going cross-eyed reading the Psychic section. The words go into my brain, then straight back out.

9.Allies
This is a contentious subject before the release of the rulebook. Lots of people were kicking off about it (and still are), but I think it's the best thing for the game until such a time when all the Codexes are FAQed, updated or WD updated to have a flyer, anti-air unit or weapons and either a Psyker or an Anti-Psyker.

I'm on the fence again with this one...

First off, I love the idea of allies from a modelling and painting point of view. It lets me add very small collections of models to paint up and ally into my forces. For example, I'm wanting to add a squad of Firewarriors and a Tau HQ onto my painting backlog. And then it'll probably spiral into adding a unit of Battlesuits, then a unit of Pathfinders, then I might as well add in a squad of Broadsides yeah? And then I fancied adding some of the cooler Grey Knight units into my Guard - HQ, squad of Termies, a small GK squad, Dreadknight and Storm Raven.

See how quickly it spirals into me going from spending £20 to £120?

My counter to it though, is if someone says to me "I'm taking Eldar to tournament X" and then shows up with an Eldar army, supported by Dark Eldar flyer, Lady Malys and whatever else, I feel a bit meh about it.

My major gripe though is when it becomes a massive Cheese-off with what you can get away with in the allies, such as Grey Knights and Necrons? Gimme a break.

I can remember a time when the entire Internet was up in arms over a Blood Angel / Necron team up in a half page bit of fluff, but they're more than happy to let that unholy alliance continue.

Maybe it's just me stuck in my ways though?

10. Game Size and Length
The final point on my first commentary on the tour of 6th edition is about the game size itself.

In past editions, 2000 points has been the top end of what I was willing to play (Apocalypse excluded) and could, at a push, get 2k game done on a club night in a decent amount of time.

In this edition however, 2000 points seems a big stretch to fit into a 2 hour 30 time limit at a tournament, as has been mentioned from people's experiences at the first of the 6th ed tournaments. And also, to fit this comfortably into a game at the club that doesn't end after Midnight.

I've enjoyed my 2 games at 1500 points and think that's the optimum points level for a decent game that doesn't last until Tuesday morning. 1500 also limits the amount of Allies that can be taken (or at least, limits the amount of points spent in your primary force) in my opinion.

There'll still be tournaments and players pushing for bigger games than that ("I want to get these toys into my list and 1500 just isn't enough!!!" etc.).

The amount of new special rules, rolling, initiative step movements, checks, objective rolls, pre-measuring, umming and aahing over decisions, checking rules for Fortifications, how far did that Flyer move? etc. all mean for a slower, but more detailed game.

Conclusion
So that turned out to be a bit more wordy than I was expecting... It was only supposed to be a quick blog but it's turned into War and Peace.

Anyway, that's my thoughts on 6th edition so far. I am enjoying it a lot, but the best way I've heard it described is "6th Edition is a new game that GW lets you use your old toys for". If you think of it that way it eases things a bit.

But I'm sure the more I play, the more I'll get into it and lose my 5th edition mentality.

SB

The Road to Britcon

It's time for another "The Road to" article series (they give me a reason to post). This time it is the annual Britcon tournament which we (MAWS) regularly attends, I haven't been for about 3 years now and am itching to get back there. Britcon was my first tournament that I attended and it was a great laugh and we have always had a good time each year, this year there will be a lot less competitiveness as the ETC is at a similar time and a lot of the British team attend Britcon so hopefully I can pick up a place.

Britcon is a 3 day event in mid august with 6 games, it was originally planned to be a farewell 5th edition tournament but has been changed to a welcome 6th. From the rules pack it looks like we won't be playing the Relic scenario (but this could be an early typo), and it will now be a 1999pt tournament rather than 2000pts.

Well I will be playing my first practice game on Monday and will be taking my Necrons running something a little like this:

HQ

Zahndrehk. 185

Destroyer Lord. 125
Septermal weave. 15
Mindshackle scarab. 20
160

Royal court. 95
Harbinger of the storm w/ ether crystal

Harbinger of destruction w/ solar pulse


Elites

Triarch Stalker. 150

Troops

15 warriors. 195
Night Scythe. 100
295

15 warriors. 195

6 immortals. 102
W/ tesla

6 immortals. 102
W/ tesla

Fast attack

3 wraiths. 105
2 whip coils. 20
125

3 heavy Destroyers. 180

5 Destroyers. 200

Heavy

Monolith. 200

That should be 1989 leaving me with 10 points spare.

The Destroyer Lord will be with the Wraiths in reserve to pop through the Monolith, Zahndrehk will be with one unit of 15 warriors giving out Special Rules and taking them away. The two Crypteks will be with the Immortals just hovering around and taking pot shots.

So, what do you think? So far I have had good results with this list in 5th and a win in 6th with a 2100pt version. I take Zahndrehk as he is 5pts more than a standard overlord with the same equipment but gets so much more. I will always take the Destroyers and Monolith as they are some of my favourite Necron units. The Stalker adds so much to the army and has become a big threat to some of my local group because of its ability to make my army twin linked. I have also found units of 15 warriors are much more reliable than 10 but a unit of 2o is just a points waste, 15 are around long enough, and cheap enough to just sit around taking pot shots.

So comments welcome, will write up my first battle report after tomorrow night!