Retro Review: Wraithlord

Bonjour Readers , firstly a quick apology , posting a little late this week I finally replaced my three year old disintegrating mekboy phone, with a new Samsung galaxy OMG tech porn S


So yeah I was playing with media file converters and android games (quake III) when I shudda been blogging, I'm sure you will forgive me, lets just say this thing introduces its l33t cock to the iPhone 4's fashion whore a**


On with the Party


Ok when I first re started my Eldar army a couple of years ago I got two Wraithlords as I really like the kits I even spent some time making them more awsome /dynamic.There then followed some months of playing with them as I experimented and nailed down other parts of the list/army.


Sadly in 5th they blow like a broke hooker  something I will be doing to pay for DE, other people will try and sell you them as good, its a crock of shit and they should be sent for immediate scrotal/familial reprocessing. Seemingly even though they are comparable to dreadnoughts in most respects they are worse in almost every way now.

They are fragile , yes fragile......I seem to have more trouble killing rhinos and landspeeders, as soon as mine even slightly become a threat it seems that most 5th armies can hose them off the table in short order, generally they seem easier to remove than most vehicles, fart in their general direction and they collapse. The amount of high str high ap weps and powerfists around these days just makes them a mockery wave to uncle Mephiston guys.  I have also played vs them as well = Lollerskates.

Amongst the many things I tried to wring some value from them I tried hiding sniperlords in cover with fortuneseer babysitter, that makes them hard to kill and is also a terribly inefficient use of points/fortune. this also leads us to address their another big failing, ranged firepower. The 'dakka' lord is popular, I'm not sure why,at best you are looking @ 2 str8 shots @ bs4, given the amount of cover and free smoke available for all and sundry plus the 5th vehicle chart, you are generally lucky if this achieves much, you could blow all your h support slots on three with Bl and EML and that'll run you in the region of 450 points, for 6 str8 shots ?! that is ludicrously low output  especially given most armies can get similar or better output for less points and far less FoC slots. Not to mention the build involves bright  Aids lances ........ which if you have been following my deranged scribbling thus far you will be familiar with the bitter loathing I have those.

You would not pay ferrari money for a ford , so why would you pay Uber deathlaZer prices for a glorified short ranged missile launcher ? given the price /range/versatility of the EML it is actually the superior weapon (even though it is still over priced)

And there is MoAR bad Ju Ju , they are Sloooow. like a pregnant sick whale. if you are running a close combat flavour lord and you roll DoW....... proceed to facepalm.

whereas marine dreads can at least be more mobile and bring their own cover (drop pod) and can be bought in droves from different slots.

Also they are pretty suck in cc and are prone to being tarpitted, if the enemy unit contains a powerfist (likely) it is purely a matter of time about a pint

2 attacks is fucking shit,but its ok, you can purchase the ability to re roll them ..... joy

Ba dreads just got a long slow blowjob from Matt Ward, now they have the ability to shred units in a single round of combat,fly etc etc apparently they now make a splendid cup of tea I have personally seen one go through 30 boyz in one go ... twice.

Its like I'm sat near to a guy in a restaurant, he's wearing a golden gimp mask, we both order similar dishes at a similar price bracket from the menu , the waiter brings him out something mouthwatering and sizzling causing me to drool, when my meal turns up 20 mins later , its a lukewarm turd with something that looks ominously like a bright lance poking out of it......

Finally and just to make extra sure it has no place in a serious competitive list they gave it wraithsight , yup its unreliable too, unless you want to dedicate MoAr points in the shape of a farseer to babysit them, and you can bet your life the time you decide to risk it because you need your farseer/warlock somewhere else or your found to be just outta range, watch the ones flow ;o)

And finally unlike warwalkers if you buy a second gun the same as the first it becomes TL for the same price, making it 80 points EIGHTY for a single TL BL. Just....don't....do..... IT !

Ok I think that covers the Poop lords failings Ill try to expand on some positive uses and things to consider.

Most importantly and possibly the most remarkable thing about the lord is his massive str of 10 and the fact that he is also an MC means he hits harder than anything in the game, str 10 with 2d6 is truly epic at armour penetration, the re-rolls to hit from the wraithsword make him surprisingly good at even smashing down vehicles that moved (if he ever gets in range)

Also if you get lucky, non Eternal characters sometimes fail their invun save so its worth dropping some str10 on their heads if you get a chance

I cant really cant think of anything else good about them , 2 flamers is nice ...... nice model *clutches at straws*

Weapon fits

My personal fave and the fit I use with my SpaZe CloWnz Build is  three with nothing but 2 flamers and wraithsword, no frills and cheap ,if spare points are going about I'll get em a shuriken cannon. as they will almost always run spending any more points on weps is pointless, if you use all three as a 'unit' they are pretty good , 6 flamers in a concentrated space, chuck in doom ...... also nine re-roll to hit str 10 MC attacks, can smash face in cc (even moving vehicles are in deep shit), you can move around the models so the less injured ones give cover to the weakened ones.

The sniperlord is a dakkalord with EML and BL, for long ranged AT fire suppression some people swear by it, can't say I'm a fan.

Dakkalord = scatter laser + shuriken cannon , gives you 7 bs 4 str6 shots , word to the wise is you may notice you should be packing quite a few serpents these days, your str 6 spam should be well covered and if not I would be buying walkers for that, not lords.

Tactical Lord = Another build that is ok , flexible Bs 4 EML missile launcher for more ranged support and 2x flamers + wraithsword to allow him to support local  scoring units in a counter assault / deterrant role when not shooting shtuff/camping an obj.

5th Evoloution

Hmm

As with marines there should be two flavours , a normal wlord and an 'ancient' or somesuch (possibly exarch) with improved stats.

I see these guys benefiting greatly from the presence of a bonesinger (who can join them ?), getting possibly fnp and/or regenerate.

Should be available in 'units' of  1-3 with one being upgradeable to an ancient maybe make them available as elites for an Iyanden army.

Make them fleet. Im all for keeping wraithsight but the rule needs re-working.

Holofields give a 5+ invun save and + 1 to cover saves ( the wing things on the back are holo's ? I'm sure the old fluffblither on the phantom said its wings were the holo generators)

The wrist weps/options stay the same , wraithswords can also be bought as a pair giving + 1 attack

heavy weps get fixed and reduced in cost and pairs are no longer TL.

have a true heavy version that only takes one wep each but can mount support weps so D-cannons in my pants, vibrocannons and spinners and possibly pulsars.


And thats how Sorrow C's it ....

Back next week hopefully with some hobby updates, Scheming DE schemes and of course Retroing The Grim Reapers

Hobby Crisis !!!

Ok , the DE have landed and any semblance of dignity has been flung into the nearest woodchipper. Even worse like a sign from god (Jes) The DE advanced orders should arrive at my house on my birthday , Im not going to argue when fate stipulated that me and lilith are meant to be together .....

Was unphased by the green looking ones but this ......

And this :

Might give you some Idea what will be coming off my brush in the near future ;o)

Apparently forgeworld has done a new aspect which has a flying pack and a mini prism cannon , sounds weird .....

I will be continuing work on the 1750 Mechdar to completion and also will continue the Retro review articles/tactica.

The DE are now a more relevant army for 5th and It's my turn god damn it !! til the next marine book ......

Up next is the Wraithlord Retro for this week.

Warlocks, Done and dusted !!

And for your viewing pleasure and critique.

Long story short , I had a load of warlocks from trades and long term the 1750 tourney army is getting fleshed out with a proper seer council @ 2.5k so I had 3 of the same model and another pair of duplicates.

I figured using multiples of the same model that are not just basic troopers would be a bit pants and I wanted to give em a bit moAr character.

First one thinks he is a samurai, has a head swap and a bit of greenstuff work. I know I have posted him before but he seemed to be missing something , so finished him up with a nice collar to match the rest of the warlocks.




Number two is a destructorlock he is made of a bunch of bits and pieces and some greenstuff work.With some careful cutting I managed to save his helmet , which you might spot hanging from his belt.




Before anyone asks , the avenger pendant hanging from the hilt is because he served on the path of the warror prior to becoming shinobi ..... ;o)

last one , just because I have always wanted to do one actually thrusting, is a Lock with a singing spear.

The first two Are going to lead two units of stormies and the spear dude will be joining the council eventually.

I Have managed to make significant progress with assembly this week, as I  fully cleaned up and assembled and magnetized a MkII Serpent and a MkII Falcon.

 Im going to aim to do the last two Serpents asap which means the whole army will be assembled, then there will be much spraying of black.....

Retro Review: Eldar War Walkers

Hello and welcome to this weeks rant.

I would have posted this mid week but My new 'task for avoiding painting' took over. So no painting and a late Retro, but some rather spanky warlock conversions have been completed.......

Normally I would climb onto the fluffmobile and tear em a new one , however the war walker fluff is largely ok.

In-fact war walkers are not currently a bad choice I find little to complain about in the stats. The only thing that might be nice is to give em stealth (fields),that would be nice and tie them closer to the fluff.

War walkers suffer from two problems that are in-fact flaws with the book design, One, Eldar heavy weps are shit for their price and need a big time overhaul and two, everything seems to have been built and costed with the assumption it will have access to guide /fortune/doom all the time (AAAARGH). I am going to struggle to really criticize the walkers very much as they are one of the better remaining choices in the book, bear in mind though that at the competitive level walkers are more often than not nudged out by prisms and falcons, so I guess that highlights another failing in that they should really be available in fast attack. I'm not convinced they should be in HS at all ......

Ok into the meaty goodness. Warwalkers are cheap @ 30 points and pay ok prices for the majority of the TWO heavy weps they can mount. I often find in some lists you can fill up spare points with maybe a pair of twin Scannon Walker, 80 points for two bringing 12 str6 shots makes it hard to argue with the cost effectiveness.

Weapons


  Ninety nine percent of the time you will equip your walkers to fill a specific ranged support niche and just double up the weapon that best fits that role. I prefer to have two of any one given weapon on a walker so Im going to discuss the weps here assuming you are using a pair of the same.

Shuriken cannons: These are pure win , not because shuriken cannons are particularly good but because they are filthy cheap for what you get, 6 str 6 shots for 40 points is nice , a unit of these provides cheap torrent and of course benefits from the mandatory doom/guide combo, they can threaten light armour or as they are so cheap , send em outflanking and pour str6 into somethings side/rear armour (preds/chims)
this can really mess with your opponents plans, having them running around in his backfield can take heat of your tanks  as he is likely to prioritize killing them, One of the few things thats spammable in the book if you bought the full nine allowed you would have 54 str 6 shots for 360 points !!!

Scatter lasers: At large these seem to be the firm favorite for an extra 10 points (each) a scatter laser brings an extra shot over the Scannons and a range boost , personally I dont find them to be worth fully 20 points a model more than the above setup but it is very good , 24 str6 shots @ 36" is good and the additional shots make them a little more reliable on armour, the extra range when utilised correctly can make the Walkers more survivable and obviously AGAIN guide/doom are great if you have casts going spare or you really want to hose the living shit out of something. 180 points for 3 is still cost effective.

Starcannon: Gw Gimped the living shit out of this and also saw fit to over price it. Now, apart from the extra range it is just an inferior plasma gun ,The lack of shots coupled with the lower Bs on the walkers  and the retarded cost ,generally makes this a bad choice, though I suppose if you are playing Nids and BA alot and are happy to babysit the unit with a guide/doom seer, 3 walkers tooled out with these might just prove entertaining for you ...... @ 240 points for three I would suggest leaving them well alone until someone at GW realizes Eldar energy/plasma/Fusion weps are supposed to represent that given technology perfected.

EML: Personally I like this for the flexibility it offers @ 20 points a pop It just about makes itself useful in some builds , again the farseer babysitter is needed to justify the cost .......
6 guided EML's is pretty nifty vs the transport spam thats rife these days , good for smashing MC's and Anything with FNP too, the ability to spam a bunch of str 4 ap 4 templates is also great in terms of flexibility , with doom *sigh* they can generate alot of saves even on meq and should put nice big holes in certain opponents , dont forget multiple pinning tests too ;o)

Shite Lance : For those that even tried this mounded steaming pile of baboon feces ,for the love of god take a drill to your scrotum, its for the good of humanity, really, people are stupid enough without you spawning and adding to the problem.....

So all in all not bad really with most of the weps having some application, to be honest though I run a mech list atm and I'm not convinced they have a place in it, especially as I need more hulls to spam so they always get edged out by 2 prisms. I often wonder what a list built to 'abuse' str 6 spam would do .


5th Evoloution

Again little to add here

would move em to fast attack give them stealth/camo/holo or something and fix eldar heavy wep stat/prices, possibly an option for improved accuracy.

Here are some initial thoughts on how I feel Eldar H weps should go, I would drop the prices a little also

Shuriken Cannon, = same but now rends

scatter laser = same but ap4 and heavy 5

Star cannon = r 36   s6 ap 2 hvy 2 blast

Bright lance = range 36 str 9 ap 1 , lance (price stays same)


Okies next week we have the Wraithlord fun fun fun up, which should prove to be a suitably spittle flecked and bitter 'review'

between now and then I hope to get some model work done and posted ;o)

*click*

Storm Guardian Destructorlock

Well I managed to Acquire some mangled second hand Stormies which I have been rebuilding and converting. I have to do a major emergency scrounge for the old Eldar CCwep sprues and arms as GW seems to think that selling a unit that requires ten men minimum in the book in sets of 8 is clever *facepalm*

This warlock was another trade and as this resulted with me having 3-4 of the same warlock model I decided to strip him then rebuild him better ,stronger and faster than before.....

In other news I have recieved my Serpent MKII kits and built and sprayed two of them so there will be some MoAr tanks.

Back soon with more painting updates and this weeks retro review, the  War Walker.

M.

Retro Review: The Failcon Grav Tank

Greetings and welcome to another retro rant review.

As promised on yesterdays primer, this week I'm going to cover the Falcon.

Ok First Impressions of this tank would make me think it should function as a gunboat /MBT, although it can fill the former adequately the latter is a complete misconception, A hammerhead/ russ this aint, more like the bastard offspring of a predator+ razor with fast skimmer rules tacked on

Falcons did not feature in my armies for a long time due to them not doing what I want/expect them to do throwing down 200 points on a tank I expect heaps of dead things to rub my hands together over (I was...disappointed)

 Now my mech armies will  likely always feature at least one if I can find the quantity of points required.

So lets look at the blither in the book with snowmobile in a suitably tight wearing space elf shade of fuchsia.

It claims the Fail-con bear with me is 'the' primary Battle-tank of the Eldar ? and also that it is a dreaded sight to the enemies of the eldar  yeah ? maybe turn 5 on an objective. It is .


It has a twin role on the battlefield MBT!? as it has a small passenger compartment to carry a small squad of fighters to the battlefront some really expensive T3 fighters in a squad size too small to be effectual into the jaws of death / assault/ melta range, sounds like a plan, if you have a date with a 70 virgins ....  or rescue a beleaguered unit ie, 'run away' when resistance proves too fierce  A tactic our gallic cousins across the channel have been perfecting for centuries and now a staple in the repertoire of most Eldar commanders .


It carries a lethal assortment of heavy weaponry Oh lol , did you really write that ? the pulsar is 'ok' everything else does not compare favorably with its imperial equivalent especially with cost and accuracy as factors. Eldar heavy weps give me special nerd rage. and advanced targeters that allow it to fire devestating salvos whilst on the move. 1 BS 3 wep @ 12" or a kinda limp wristed volley if it only moves 6", My bullsh*t detector hit 11 for a second there. as with all Eldar tanks, the Falcon is held aloft by powerful anti-grav motors  that allow it limited flight. Indeed, many Falcon pilots specialise in flying hidden within the clouds only to dive from the skies, pulse lasers and shuriken weapons spitting death into the ranks of the enemy. non Apococrap rules please ?


So you can probably tell GW failed to design a set of rules that makes the tank work as described above, however Its still a damn fine choice for reasons I will discuss shortly.

Usual fast skimmer stuff applies to the falcon. Initial observations for me, the first thing that raises an eyebrow is the BS, for a super advanced 115 point (naked) grav tank with "advanced targeters" this is pretty shabby coupled with the fact that the weapons available are all a bit expensive and generally meh,  having lost shots on the pulsar and starcannon, less shots plus poop BS = Fail).

While we are on the subject Its worth discussing the weps here, just want to get one thing out the way , the falcon is never going to kill much, ever . If you want something killy, buy a prism, the falcon genuinely sits in the Jack of all trades master of none camp oddly enough I do not think any of the weapons save maybe the BL are a 'bad' choice.

Pulse laser: Compares directly to an imperial auto cannon and as such is superior (as it should be) but available in pitiful quantities. Good range good str  and good Ap and 2 shots, sounds good does it not ? Sadly however its not enough shots to compensate for the cruddy bs , its not enough shots to threaten troops and its not very reliable on armour 12 or above, in fact against armour (tanks) I think it compares directly (on average) with a single ML armed marine, great stuff for a mbt main weapon im sure you will agree ....... I think if it had just one more shot or 1 higher str or lance or a combination of some/all of those it would be bang on.

Shuriken cannons: , the upgrade on the chin is more or less a must unless you are really tight on points, if you are going ultra cheap taking one as your secondary weapon is not a terrible choice as its cheap and multiple shots means you might hit something.

Scatter laser: A popular Choice due to the range, relative cost effectiveness and multiple shots, with a scatter, chingun and pulsar you are looking at 9 shots !! just don't expect many casualties on anything with an armour save , however due to the volume of shots this can work as a light transport buster.

Star cannon: I personally like this it has good range str and ap and means the tank is throwing out  4 ap 2 shots per turn @ 36" and beyond, with 5 str 6 shots and 2 str8 it should still make an adequate light armour killer with FNP being on the rise this may come back into popularity.

EML: A good choice on the falcon as it gives you another str 8 shot out at 48" which means this falcon can now be a reasonable hunter of light armour at long range with 3 str 8 shots, the EML offer some good flexibility too as against meq you fire the pulsar, krak and the shuricannon and aginst geq or relatively unarmoured spammy opponents you can give em the plasma ap 4 pinning goodness, cannon and pulsar. I also like the fact you can move twelve and choose to fire either the pulsar or shuricannon and still pop off a plasma missile as its str 4. If your army features multiple EML's you can force multiple pinning checks too ;o)

Bright lance: My personal opinion on this hunk of shit is to never take it ever on anything... at most of the targets you are going to end up shooting at, this is effectively just a short ranged missile launcher for approximately double the cost of a higher bs marine equivalent . If it was str 9 and on a bs 4 platform it would actually be better than a lascannon (as it should be) currently its worse and more expensive and often less accurate. Were I an an Eldar I would be scavenging lascannons from the battlefield to replace my BL's with especially the TL ones :oP

On a falcon though I suppose there are some pro's to putting it on, it is after all another str8 shot with ap 2, so it sits well next to the pulsar, however you just paid 30 points to make your falcons pulsar work how it should have in the first place. go book yourself in for chemical castration. I suppose at a stretch you could use this version to try and hunt medium armour , the lance will hit once in a while.....

So we have established that it lacks much punch , infact the ease of cover saves and mass of fnp/inv stuff kicking around now I would say the falcon is probably at its least killy since rules for it were first published, despite this the falcon is still a good choice and after discussing the upgrades I will elaborate on the beating heart of the Falcon in 5th.

Vectored engines: Pointless unless you are planning on landing in DT at the end of a flat out move on an already expensive tank, its best to avoid additional cost unless you have something specific in mind.

Star engines: Eldar skimmers are fast as is and you should be able to keep the falcon outside of melta range (unless some BA cocksucker lands 4 melta guns next to it , bugger all you can do about that) or 24 ish inches of that objective..... so you can save some points here as I dont think they are really required, they are useful tho and if you have something specific in mind then don't count em out, but if you can live without em save yourself 15 points.

Holo's: Poxy 4th ed rules gave us holo's that make a tank tougher including in h2h (wtf ?!) rather than shifty and tricksy and difficult to shoot at, like a holo field should. Even still, if you are going to buy holos for anything let it be a Falcon, these coupled with having 3 weps and its natural agility are what makes the Falcon remain a viable choice  in spite of its failings. the bloody thing just wont die !!? These are expensive as hell and AP 1 weps now screw with it, so play carefully and try to keep out of melta range, you can use melta proof serpents to block enemies getting within 6" if needs be. with cover or flat out and maybe if you want to make extra sure fortune, these are the secret ingredient that makes falcons golden in 5th.

Spirit stones: If you take Holo's definitely consider these as you are going to see quite a few more stunned results than normal, you want to keep the falcon mobile at all costs, immob results are just bad ju ju :o(

Ok Allow me to Expand a little, it cant shoot very well and it cant carry enough troops and to carry them anywhere useful it will often likely expose itself to its worst enemy,  melta, however, it can carry a nice cheap SCORING unit of 5 avengers , referred to as DAVU or dire avengers upgrade which makes the tank itself scoring while they are safely within.

An idea is to pop Eldrad in too as the falcon can hover behind the main front line of serpents giving out fortune and dooming stuff, claiming cover for itself and sniping targets, heres the kicker , if you can keep it alive and most importantly mobile and 24 ish inches from an objective, you swoop in and take it on turn 5. This is obviously better if you have taken 2nd turn as its now yours and there is a good chance bubby across the table is not going to get much more than another turn to kick you off it . Good luck killing the falcon and its contents including Eldrad in one turn in the late stages of the game, at very least I would say you now have a guaranteed contested objective , however if you are good with the old tank shocks you can shock a unit right off an objective and win in the 11th hour.

However as much as this tactic is very effective its just not how I feel an MBT should work even though  the falcon wins you games the design is still fail in relation to what it should be, Using the davu tactic actually makes me feel like a bad person sometimes and a few players I know refuse to use it. To be fair it does have a dirty/French feel to it.

Im at a stage with my Eldar now where compared to 5th ed books I really feel the pain and each new book steals a little more from us. The BA book is a prime example and with the impending release of Deamonhunters set to put the nail in the coffin of seer councils I think we need to be practical and use every last tool at our disposal.

 The DAVU falcon is too good to pass up at the moment to the point where it almost epitomizes the style of play Eldar are forced into at the moment, Cheese eating surrender monkey style ie run away lots, avid direct conflict hope enough stuff survives til the end then grab or for KP's avoid damage as much as possible while stealing as many easy KP's as possible its boring and frankly leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

But to make that taste go away, remember.......

DAVU falcons WIN you games .

5th Evolution


I love the Falcon , favorite tank in the game in terms of history and what it should be, it makes me sad its a Citroen now.


Eldar skimmers as a whole need an update to make them compete and tie in with existing precedents in 5th

I would move to give them all star engines as standard, and the ability to buy BS4 (maybe Star eagle aspect pilots for a squadron with one in three an exarch, can you say psychically fused/one with the tank, it IS his exarch suit.

In fact I had some great ideas for star Eagle pilots giving them special abilities with tank shocking and ramming etc.

I covered the direction I would like to see Holo's go in last week.

I think spirit stones (not available to all tanks but buyable upgrade on others) should work like machine spirit as spirit stones would make the vehicle sentient such as to be almost identical,  allowing an extra wep to be fired.

So now just like the storm raven skimmers will be able to fire a sensible amount of guns on the move, as none of them sport ordinance I do not think it is OP as it cannot be worse than a flat out TL plas cannon ?!?!? not to mention a decent falcon setup costs nearly as much as a storm raven. coupled with star engines this would allow you to move ,shoot 1 wep and then move again with the engines, bringing back the pop up attack, however less powerful now as only one gun can be fired and TLOS makes it hard to actually escape retaliation, will make fighting with Eldar more like a ballet than ever ;o)

Wraithbone reinforcement:(new) reduces stunned to shaken

Vectored engines can stay as is but to compensate for the stupid back hatches also allow you to pivot before and after a unit embarks disembarks.

Also as Eldar hulls are psychically receptive due to the nature of the technology seers should be able to freely cast into and out of them

Falcon Grav Tank come in squadrons of 1-3 models per hvy support slot, one unit per army can be upgraded to Star Eagles (separate entry)

Cost ????  Front   Side    Rear     BS

Falcon         12       12       10        3

Tank, Fast, Eldar Skimmer*

Transport, single unit of infantry up to 6 models, 0 fire points

Access points 1 (rear access ramp)

Pulse laser  Range 48    S8    AP1   pulse weapon*

Special rules.

Spirit of Faolchu: (Is that a pokemon ? Fail-a-chu ?): each turn if immob roll a d6 on a 6 the tank has repaired itself  each Bonesinger within 6" will add + to the roll.

Advanced targeting: each turn the falcon may chose one of the following. it may make ONE of its weapons TL or ignore cover.

The other Eldar heavy weapons will be available as usual , however I will be doing a whole article just on them and will come back and update this when they are done.

May buy all of the available upgrades ,So spirit stones,vectored engines, Holo field, Wraithbone reinforcement also one unit per army can be upgraded to Star Eagles (seperate entry)

*pulse weapons roll an extra dice to hit after each successful roll to hit up to a max of 3 hits , TL only allows re roll of first missed shot.

Well thats all for now folks, I may do the heavy weps Retro next week so I can complete this post properly.

Rant off

 *click*

No monkeys were harmed in the making of this blog

Primer

Currently I am working on a few things, after some head to head tuition with Kirby and talks /study with various minds  my mech list is seeing some tweaks. This is likely to be the last of such tweaks.

Im also playing with a clown theme list at the moment on vassal which is heaps of fun ,especially when you have been flogging the mech monkey for a while.

This primer is to let you know that this weeks Retro review is under way. I have had little feedback on the first so going ahead with a second article on the assumption no news is good news.

Also some random bits of good news in the world of Sorrowshard.

Maugan Ra took first place in the Ammobunkers monthly contest this month, have also had several people ask if its a GD entry.


In painting news I have attempted to start on the second prism, however my spraying skills mangled it again and am having to spend hours layering watered Chaos black onto it to fix :o(

Also managed to win our local 400pt CP mini tourney with a footdar list despite my claims that footdar blow and were crippled due to tourney restrictions (only because tourney restrictions meant I could not take wave-serpents)

And finally the bog has been updated with its own chat panel , 'The infinity Circuit' maybe speak to some of you soon ;o)

Retro review up in the next 2 days,stay tuned

M.

Retro Review: The Fire Prism

Ok As promised I'm going to pick up here as I have some time and no fishies are biting on Vassal for 400pt com pat training.

The Eldar codex tries to sell you the prism as some kind of ultra advanced awesome tank hunter par excellence and in 4th maybe it was getting there..... dunno I kinda missed 4th due to it sucking.

Its the only long ranged str 9 or more available in the book, 5th means we need this and could infact do with some MoAr,( I'm in danger of going off on a side rant about the epic failure that is the bright lance.)

In theory str 9 should really help with the ever increasing occurrence of av 11-12 spam the main advantage of the prism over the other s9 in the book is that it can be applied from extreme rage right from the start of the game, in its current incarnation the Eldar book will NEVER compete with 5th edition books for long ranged str 8-9-10 AT so we have to use Alpha strike,and the extreme range and the mobility of the prism to hopefully start shaking/stunning/killing enemy armour from the get go. Sadly due to the vagaries of scatter dice weapons it is an extremely bi-polar weapon system (for me at least) I have won three games and only had 2 misses over a combined total of maybe 12-15 turns and then for the subsequent five games had it fail at everything due to a combination of missing/sucking and cover saves. Maybe its my meta around here but cover saves just seem to be on everything and it makes me EMO when my prisms bounce constantly :o(

Its also the only way to get a reasonable accurate long ranged str 10 ap 1 in the book and this as well as the str 6 ap3 linked (with doom) 'has' given me some great moments. however these great moments only make the seeming randomness of its accuracy more painful when it fails you. Largely this is because the opportunity to hit a bunched up squad with no cover does not come along often as smart opponents will keep at least somewhat spread out/in cover while the prisms are functional. also bear in mind if you will, that you have to use 2 thirds of your available HS slots and cough up a landraider (painful yes ?) to get this in a 5th ed book you could buy three for one slot.

Considering the options available to other races/books this is actually a shit deal and most of the time I find myself trying to get lucky with the straight 2 str 9 shots as I may be able to get two targets or more ID ap 2 hits on one unit. even with Tl it veers from pinpoint accurate to special olympics shot-put from one game to the next. Most competitive gamers Hate this kind of inconsistency and seeming randomness, sometimes I wonder if my prisms are having synchronized periods as they do share the same box...  So you are not going to see many prisms at a tourney atm.

I honestly both love and hate mine, I love them for everything they should be and the occasional glimmer of hope they give, but hate them for what they actually are as they often fail me when I need them the most, worst example that springs to mind was cooking 6 fire dragons instead of the unit of Sternguard about to let rip on them.... Nerd rage would be an understatement.

For arguments sake if we Exclude D-cannons for reasons I intend to discuss at a future point, they are the only high str low AP templates available to the army and as such have been pure gold (when they hit....) vs various marine armies and especially the FNP spam cropping up, it is possible to get about 8 models under the 3" blast however some games a single wep dest result or just failure to hit anything turns them into a flying TL shuriken cat/cannon which will also loose you the ability to get those linked shots, 230 points better spent elsewhere ?, but they always seem to perform better as anti infantry weapons so I'm going to call designfail here.

In fact thinking about it, its flexible whilst not being particularly great at either AT or AI, to make it vaguely good you have to drop trou and prepare to recieve prison style for the second tank, 2 slots and 230 points is too much for one good gun, end of story. I  use mine purely because there is nothing else really. :'o(

PRO's

1. Another skimmer hull in a skimmer spam force , also some opponents fear them for some reason and will spend shooting trying to stop them firing which takes pressure of your serpents.

2. Individually they are quite cheap but possibly over costed for something that performs the same as a plasma cannon most of the time

3.Da Only source of high strength long ranged AT/anti Meq/things with multi wounds @t4

4. Should be useful in any game as offers duality and several fire options.

5. Only source of reasonable str/ap blast in the book and the TL str 6 AP3 can be very situationally useful, coupled with doom on Meq = fertilizer

6. Huge threat radius and 'potential' damage does influence how your opponent will move his units

7.Fast enough to be considered for emergency tank shocks/objective contention

CONS

1. GW

2. I find them fragile you have to coddle them ,stick at extreme range if possible and hug cover, if you have seer powers going spare consider fortune ...

3.Bright lance's (not in any specific relation to prisms , just throwing it out there .....)

4.Two tanks (cost of points ,slots and models ) to make one reasonable functioning one.

5. Capricious accuracy

6. Wep destroyed really PISSES me off

7. less effective as a tank killer than it is at killing little menz, EPIC writer fail and dont give me any BS about it being designed for fourth it was outclassed as an armour hunter then too.....

8. Not Clearly or remarkably good for either AT or AI

I have used two for a while and generally anything approaching successful use involves using any means to get them as far away from the opponent as possible preferably with cover from as much stuff as possible and a bead on your chosen target/s.  I even tried guiding and fortuning them , but really is a waste of a farseer as even when they hit 2 shots or 1 shot per turn is never going to do much, the farseer is best used where his powers will benefit the most, however if he is in range, has a spare cast and you have sufficient cover, fortune has proved handy.

However if you are playing your Mechdar well your opponent should be shooting at the more pressing Targets you have given him right ?

Almost ever other game the first shot that hits a prism is wep destroyed, dice really do have a twisted sense of humour and feed on my pain. However this has lead to some epic tank shocks and rams, and even occasionally a nice bit of last minute contention, I like to try and make my jet propelled catapult as annoying as possible. and lastly your flying catapult can be used as a meat shield for stuff be that giving cover or blocking assaults, just worth considering.

Upgrades.


Holo Field - TOO MANY POINTS, if the prism was actually really good and could be counted on then I might go for it but given that it just increases the chances of a wep destroyed or stunned whilst pushing its cost (or the cost of two) to stratospheric heights you may as well spend those points elsewhere. I also have a massive issue with the mechanics for Holo fields but Ill save that for another day the abridged version = holos should make targets harder to see/hit, not tougher. I will most definitely expand on this in a future article.

Stones - Ten points , if its going spare its worth considering as mobility is a large part of the prism's/eldar defence also good if you are unlucky enough to get assaulted as often stunned results just mean the following turn you get bumraped by a bucket of autohits with stones you may get the opportunity to bug out. not essential but certainly not a waste.

Star engines - personally ..... just no, however I suppose if you plan on using it as a suprise late game contester I suppose it could be ok , 15 points is alot for something you don't really want to use for 5 turns of the game.

Vectored Engines: pointless utterly pointless , you should not really ever have to flat out , if you do I find it highly unlikely it will be more than once per game.

Shuriken Cannon - Ideally you wont ever be close enough to use this, but the modern game is highly mobile and 10 points for a bs 4 cannon is nize. It does also help to turn the pain of the inevitable wep destroyed results down from eleven to around eight or nine. Go hunt some side/rear armour. be really annoying ram some shit and also the extra gun does mean it is slightly more survivable. Again not essential but possibly for me the only upgrade I would take on a regular basis.

5th Edition Evolution 


Prisms Should always have been useful in their own right, there are many instances of this syndrome in the eldar book again to be discussed later as I don't wish to make this post any longer.

I'm going to put these rules out there. Its just how I see what they should be and how I feel they should fit into the codex/work. People are very welcome to critique them, as often it is difficult to be objective about your own work.

Fire Prism 0-1 squadron

1-3 models, heavy support @ 130 pts each

Front    Side    Rear   BS
  12        12       10      4

Type: Fast Skimmer

Prism Cannon

Focussed shot:  Range 60   S9  AP1  H1 Lance

Linked fire (2)  Range 60  S10 AP1 TL,H1 lance

Linked fire (3) Range 72   S10 AP1 TL, Pulse, Lance ,

Dispersed shot Range 48    S6  AP3  Precision blast

Linked fire (2) Range 48    S7  AP2 TL,large blast

Linked fire (3)Range  48    S8  AP2 TL,7" blast

*Cannot be fired if moved over 12"

Upgrades: Shuriken cannon  Holo's , spirit stones, Crystal Targeting matrix

Holo Field  Effects based on  movement speed/environment. +35 points

0-6 with no cover = no effect

0-6 in cover/obscured + 1 from camo

6-12 not obscured/covered  = 5+ cover

12-24 upgrades flat out to 3+ cover

24-36  (star engines) Save becomes Inv


Crystal targeting matrix: 20-25 pts ? (thats 60-75 over a squadron ?) unique prism upgrade.

Any rolls of a 5+ to hit made by prisms equipped with these ignore cover saves, when linked with other prisms the score is adjusted by -1 for each additional prism so 4+ and 3+ respectively



Notes:

In fifth I see / hope for some kind of alteration being made to allow Eldar skimmers to fire 2 weps @ 6 - 12 and possibly even one when flat out to bring them up to equal with marine stuff. Eldar skimmers are supposed to be far ahead of Imperials in terms of tech so having them equal with marines seems at very least fair It would be great if a pseudo pop up/out attacks were possible as TLOS will make it hard to disappear completely , maybe if you use star engines instead of one weapon allowing you to still fire one depending on how far you moved before ?

Precision blast: I will briefly explain here. Traditionally Eldar weapons are far more accurate than other equivalents, look at gothic for example. I don't see a race like the Eldar building such indiscriminate weapons as the lesser races especially when they have more or less perfected their technologies. What this means is very few large blasts available but the blasts they do have are very accurate.

Precision blast works something like this: Roll to hit on the statted BS of the firer, if that misses roll a scatter dice as usual with 2d6 subtract your bs as usual for blast weps, if a hit is rolled on the scatter go in the direction of the small pointer on the hit symbol.

Pulse Weapon: Pretty much as you would expect each successful roll to hit allows you to attempt to hit again up to a maximum of 3 hits , if TL you only get to re-roll the first dice. 


On the triple linked prisms, rather than being up to three distinct 'shots' I see it as a longer duratiion beam boring into and energizing the target. (seen bab 5 lazahs ?)  in game terms the effects would be identical to multiple hits so ......


Holos: Now work how they should and make a vehicle hard to hit based on the vehicle movement although Holos are known to have camouflage effects when in cover of some kind

Eldar vehicles are semi alive and made of wraithbone and have been wondering if a self repair rule on Eldar vehicles (immob) like the rhino would be cool/fluffy especially if it was boosted by the proximity of a Bonesinger, I have a lot of ideas for bonesingers and will be very disappointed if they do not make it into the next book. so many ideas......

My intention with the prism here is to make them actually worth taking as a single tank, so they can do their job solo. but that hopefully the rewards from linking are good enough that you will have to make a definite choice over more single shots at multiple targets or Roflstomping one (with any luck) bear in mind all three tanks have to be up and running with working main guns to actually get the evil shots of doom off.

Next Week up for Dissection,discussion and reconstructive surgery, The Falcon Grav Tank.

M.