Old vs New comparison

This is one of my favorite bits of Eldar artwork, and i am glad it survived to the new codex.

First up I am going to compare the Saim-Hann part of my army.


NOTE: I am not going to take into account the new Battle Focus and Bladestorm (I will mention this at the Dire Avengers) for each unit, as this are used by most units in the codex, you can just add extra awesome to the new codex units.

I am also not going to mention Ancient Doom, as again this affects a lot of units, and unlike the other 2 rules this seems to be more of a fluff addition (which I like) rather than a game changing one.  Unless of course you are facing a Daemons of Chaos army that is entirely She who thirsts.

This includes my jetbikes and all of my tanks, It does not include aspect warriors as they are in my Altansar list.  So I guess you could call this my guardian list.

HQ

Farseer on a jetbike

From the old codex to the new he has increased by just 5 points.  (that's based on giving the old codex Farseer the cheapest power from the list).  What we get now for nearly the same price? A mastery level 3 psyker with access to runes of battle, divination AND telepathy.  You could say that I am happy with this, but honestly? I'm ecstatic!  We finally get a proper Eldar Farseer who is as potent on the battlefield as I feel they should be.

TROOPS

As my Eldar expand more jetbikes will appear, I want to run at least 20 of them in this list eventually.

Windrider jetbike squad

I use 2 squads of these with 5 riders in each at the moment, each squad has one shuriken cannon.

These squads are now coming in at 25 points cheaper than the old book.  Considering just how good a guardians stat line is now I was very surprised to see them go down in price (I haven't compared them to other codex's bike infantry, I am just doing like for like with the Eldar books).

I think these have to get the award for my choice of best improved unit.  Troops on jetbikes that can cover such a vast distance (watch out for these in capture the relic games) and put out such a vast amount of fire that is twin linked.  That's 8 rounds from the jetbikes and 3 rounds from the upgraded one with the cannon, hitting on 3's with re-rolls! (and AP2 on 6's to wound)

Seems like a good all round unit, great on its own, but imagine the carnage with a Farseer on jetbike accompanying them!  They have lost the upgrade that allowed you to add a warlock to the squad, but with the updated warlock HQ that's still possible, so no real change there.

Guardian Defender Squads

In my all guardian list I use 3 squads of 12 guardians mounted in wave serpents.  The wave serpents are equipped with twin linked bright lances for tank hunting.  These again work out a fraction cheaper (3 points) in the new book.

Again my reaction was similar to that of the jetbikes, the stat line has gone up and the price has gone down!  The guardians in this list are primarily to back up the jetbikes, follow them forward inside the transports and sit on objectives.  For tough units with there new BS 4 12, 24 or 36 of these guys firing shuriken catapults should make a mess of most things they come across, but remembering to stay in cover as they are still T3 and 5+ armor.

On a side note with the wave serpents now being upgraded to BS4 I think they will become a very useful unit. I remember, even with them being twin linked, the last time they took to the field they barely hit anything.  This time around they are as accurate as they are supposed to be (being one of the oldest, most advanced races and whatnot).

FAST ATTACK
This is a section of my wild rider host that needs improving, as soon as I can expect to see 1-3 of the new fighters appear here

Vyper Squad
I have always like the model for the Vyper, and even though they are flimsy as these paper skimmers can be, I still love them.

I use 2 (with a third on its way) equipped with bright lances as separate squads so they can operate independently, usually 1 backing up each of my jetbike squads. Again they are now cheaper, again they now stand a better chance to hit what they are shooting at.  And don't forget about that twin linked shuriken catapult, who knows you may end up surprising someone with that slim chance of AP2.

HEAVY SUPPORT

Fire Prism
I have 2 fire prisms that like nothing more to cause havoc among the enemies ranks.  Thanks to the upgrades and the direct fire option (how does a direct energy weapon scatter?) I think my main tank killers will be enjoying themselves on the field.

These are the only thing in this list to go up in price, but 10 points to get access to that lovely S9 AP1 Lance shot? yeah I am OK with that, especially when you take into account that 10 points also covers the cost of the new BS, so not only are you gaining a new fire mode, the chances to hit are much better.

They have lost the combined fire option, but with the new fire options I don't see this as a downside, more of a "now you can blow up 2 things a turn rather than combining fire to blow up 1 thing" kinda thing.

Summary:
New price for this army list? 1359pts
Old cost? 1418

So in total there is only 59 points in it (in favor of the new codex), but that difference in price is just the tip of the iceberg, when you see just how much better the new list is over the old one, this is the codex the Eldar needed to bring them back into contention as the most awesome army in 40k.

Stay tuned for the next part.  My Altansar list is all aspect warriors, I cant wait to see how they fare in this new book.

New Codex!

Right, I've decided to be a bit more responsible in my miniature purchases at the moment, and thus as I sell off some old models that money is going directly towards new Eldar.

As it stands I have sold £50 of stuff, so that allowed me to get a new shiny codex!

I am just in the middle of working out the points cost of my combined Eldar in the old book, then going to do the same with the new one and see whats changed points wise.

Shoould have the lkist and my reaction up in the next few hours.

Fight club Part 4

Right, a slight change of plans to fight club this week.

As requested by a friend of mine (Shout out to rabid) a long time ago, we are going to pit two of the most bitter enemies against each other and see who comes out on top.

First up:

The old man of Armageddon himself, Commissar Yarrick

Vs.

 (Not to scale) His green arch foe, Ghazghkull Thraka


Round 1

Due to both fighters weapons being unwieldy they both attack at I1.

2 Hits from Yarrick turns into inflicting 1 wound on the ork warboss, who hits back causing 3 hits but only 1 wound! Due to Yarrick's force field that allocated wound was re-rolled and incredibly produced a 1, no wounds for Yarrick!

Round 2

Yarrick once again turns his 3 attacks into 1 wound bringing the warboss down to half health.  Today is not Ghazghkull's day as from his 4 attacks on 1 lands, but this time even with Yarrick's re-roll he causes a wound.

Round 3

A poor round from the commissar, managing not to land a single blow on the greenskin who responds by ripping him in half with his power claw.

Final result:

Ghazghull ends up on 2 wounds, with Yarrick lying dead at his feet.

For a while it looked like Yarrick would be able to go toe to toe with his nemesis, but alas it was not to be the case.

As I work

Today there will be a few updates, as I have a friend round painting his Tau, so the day is getting dedicated to building/painting.

I am still working on my shadow Specters and they will be finished by the close of the day, but at the moment I am constructing a squad of Dark Eldar Hellions.  These are the start of a small allies force for my Eldar.  It will mainly be Hellions (I think if I take Baron whatshisname as the HQ Hellions become troops).

All pictures of my Dire Avengers as they get ever closer to completion will be added.

Due to my freind bringing his airbrush round, expect pictures ofmost of my unpainted eldar primed and coated in at least one colour.

Also A Tau on Eldar 40K Fight club will be added later.

Stay tuned.

Week 1 update

Update time!

Well this week I have started on 2 units and got 1 transport finished.

Of the units I started I have begun to paint a 10 man unit of Dire Avengers and a 7 man Shadow Specters squad (including Phoenix Lord).

The Specters I always imagined being ghostly in appearance and floating menacingly around the battlefield.  The old GW LOTR army of the dead always came into mind, so I set out to make them appear as ghostly illusions.

This is pretty much the second coat of paint they had had, base-coated gray then heavily washed with black and then green washes.

Next up with these guys I think is to bring out the detail with some nice contrasting colours.

(At the time of the photo I was still applying the green wash to the weapons)

All my Eldar will be using snow themed bases which at the moment is a mix of the citadel texture paint and woodland scenics soft flake snow.

Which i am quite happy with for now.

The dire avengers still need a lot of work, but I manged to get the main amour colour to the tone I wanted and started on the helmets and crests.

I cant remember what colour blue was used to base coat these as it was so long ago, but it has been toned down with 2-3 blue washes which i think after highlighting will look very dark and almost sinister, compared to the normally brighter blue Avengers, which fits in with the feel I am trying to get across with my Altansar army.

Now for the wave serpent, this is the first of three transports for my army.  I was stuck for a while deciding which craftworld it would be painted up for.  The aspect warriors and wraith units are from my Altansar, with the tanks, bikers war walkers etc being from my Saim Hann.

In the end i decided on a compromise, the deep red of Altansar with the black marking from the Saim Hann.

As you can see the pictures are getting better as I get sued to this whole blog thing, stay tuned for the next update, and the next 40k fight club!

Rematch!

Lelith Hesperax Vs. Jain Zar
Round 2
(The battle of the scary Eldar close combat ladies take 2)

This is now Jain Zar's change to use her new shiny 6th ED rules to her advantage and wipe the floor with the Dark Eldar upstart Lelith.

Re-Introducing:

 Jain Zar

Last times victor, Lelith

Now last time Jain Zar got destroyed in just over 1 round of combat, how will she fair with a new 6th ED stat line and rule set.

Let the rematch begin!

Round 1
Jain Zar  rolls against Lelith for disarming strike and succeeds 5 vs 4, so Lelith's shardnet and impaler count as just a ccw for the first combat turn.

Lelith goes first with her mental Initiative of 9

7 attacks in total! (4 base plus 1 extra for the 2nd ccw and 2 for the difference in her and Jain Zar's WS), and manages to score all 7 hits! and that converts into 3 wounds!

Jain Zar has once again been slayed by the Queen of close combat! In one turn no less.

Summary
Well that was short and sweet, kind of what you would expect a fight between these two to be like, over in the blink of an eye.

It looks like the banshees should be following Lelith into battle along side the Wyches, even with a 6th edition re-boot Jain Zar got minced.  No Invun save really hindered her in combat :(

Now just for arguments sake, I am going to re-try the first round of combat with Jain Zar assaulting, getting to use her mask and see if that would make any difference.

First off disarming strike, and it works.

Round 1
Then the Mask of Jain Zar knocks Lelith's WS and I down to 4, so Jain Zar hits first for 6 attacks (4 base, +1 for the extra ccw, +1 for charging) and due to Lelith's weakened WS Jain Zar scored 5 hits, converting them into 2 wounds, and with her re-roll that becomes 4.

With her 3+ Invun Lelith only manages to save 1, so she takes 3 wounds.

Summary

So, in summary, whoever charges into combat first out of these two ladies will slaughter the other in one round of bloody combat.

But i think with her all round awesomeness (not relying on the one doing the charging against most targets) Lelith is still the combat queen!

Can anyone stop this close combat queen?

Your guess is as good as mine, but we shall see in the future (This isn't turning into a 'what does it take to kill Lelith' competition, though I bet that would be interesting to find out).

40K Fight Club Part 2

This was the second fight done in my fight club series, so Jain Zar is using the 4th ED rules, as soon as I get my hands of a 6th ED Eldar codex this is getting re-done!

Are there any 40k heroes (or villains) you would like to see go at it?

Let me know, and I will see what I can do :)

Lelith Hesperax Vs. Jain Zar
(The battle of the scary Eldar close combat ladies)

 Jain Zar is just plain scary

 

Lelith has a scary stat line

Round 1 BEGIN!

Lelith goes first with a devastating seven attacks, all hit but due to her low Strength no wounds were caused.

Jain Zar is hampered by Lelith's Shardnet and goes down to only three attacks, but that could be all she needs.

Alas only one hit due to Lelith's incredibly high WS but it does not wound.

 What I thought was going to be a rather one sided fight suddenly got a lot more interesting!

Round 2 BEGIN!

Lelith scores five hits and converts that into three wounds! Jain Zar goes down! Looks like she will be waiting for another Banshee to take up the mantle of phoenix lord.

Final Result:

Lelith 3 Wounds remaining

Jain Zar 0 Wounds remaining

That fight was over lightning quick and very nearly in Lelith's first round of combat, Jain Zar with her 4th Edition Stat line and rules never really stood a chance.  Methinks the phoenix lords need serious changes for 6th! An invun save wouldn't have gone amiss.

 Lelith is truly a close combat monster! expect to see her fight again soon!