Goatboy’s 40k Thoughts: So the (Eldar) Sky Isn’t Falling…
I just have to change how I look at things. I know last week I wrote a pretty down article – but the Eldar may be good for the game!
My thoughts were to try and bring some discussion on the book and some of my initial thoughts on it. I still think the book is strong as hell but I do not think it is the end of the 40k tournament world. In fact I just think it will change things in a positive way. With that – lets go through my mental wanderings as I come to grips with being a whiney titty baby.
Positives Thoughts on Eldar
Bye-bye Deamons
The first thing that I think is wonderful about the new book is removing the ability to Summon Daemons. Nothing killed the little bit of Fluff bunny in me then seeing Eldar summon their “ghostly” brothers in the shape of Daemonettes. It just didn’t make any sense and figured with the spell selection the Harlie’s had they would lose it too. Thankfully GW took that tactical gift away from the Eldar. This means that as you kill their units they will lose their ability to score missions. While the Eldar are some of the best casters in the game they now have to make sure they have more then just a few Jetbikes to score the game at the end.
Cya Serpent Shield
The nerf to the Wave Serpent is another bonus as having a unit that is immune to most small arms fire as well as being extremely offensively powerful isn’t very healthy for the game. We might complain about the massed jetbikes all over the place but at least the common bolter will wound those bike jerks while your bolter was doing jack and crap to the Wave riding Serp a Derp. In fact a lot of things that were left to the wayside because of the Serpents will now be a lot better by having the Eldar change to bikes for their offensive output. Wounding a toughness 4 model isn’t hard while penetrating a armor 12 vehicle can be a lot more of a pain in the ass. Especially when you have to get through whatever cover it tries to get via terrain, jinking, or mental spell shenanigans.
Windriders – maybe meh…
This leads me into saying – most likely the Jetbikes are not going to be the end of the world. Sure they can put out a crap ton of shots but if they are playing keep away from you then most likely they are not scoring maelstrom. Remember to place objectives in places that force the Eldar player to over extend. They can’t summon guys to hold it so any biker you kill or squad you remove will severely hamper their ability to win. Mix in leadership 8 and you now have a group of guys you could easily cripple with some well timed Psychic Shrieks or the Harliequin pseudo Shriek X 2. Luckly enough the shriek is also good versus the Wraith Knight so it isn’t a wasted spell. When was the last time you had an issue killing Marines?
Wraithknight – Barks Worse Than He Bites
The Wraith Knight as a LoW and GC is actually an interesting design decision. I don’t like Stomps but 2 single Shot D weapons are not nearly as crazy if your army has been set up to the new meta. Sure your Death Star might get kicked in the teeth a bit but when has anyone said playing Death Star 40k is the best 40k? The weird thing on the Knight is that he actually shoots a lot less then some of the other LoW and is a lot less effective versus massed units or MSU style armies. Sure he will kill the crap out of a single MC/vehicle but when facing 5 scouts he might only kill up to 2. If they are in cover they have to waste rolling 6’s to guarantee those two scouts die. That isn’t very effective for a big GC. I do think running him with a sword will be a lot more interesting as he rushes towards your army ready to hug you in the embrace of death. Putting him as a LoW means that there is only one in a CAD. Most events seem to limit most armies to 1 LoW so I don’t think will have a summer of everyone getting stomped to death. Every army should be prepared to kill an Imperial Knight and those weapons normally do just fine in hurting a Wraith Knight. In fact one of the more common highly brutal weapons just loves to kill a 3+ armor saved GC (Grav guns are gonna make you brown noise all over those spirit stones).
Aspects On the Rise
As I said earlier the Aspect warriors got some major overhauls and have become a heck of a lot cooler. I think this is a great bonus as a lot of people are able to make interesting armies that are not just 30 bikers plus stuff. Heck adding in Harlies gives your guardian blobs some interesting powers and uses the Harlies as a surgical kill unit they were always meant to be. I think every Aspect warrior has its place and most could be used to do their job effectively. Sure if games turn to MSU some of these Aspects might be wasted killing a 5 man unit of crap. Still it is a good bit of design and I approve of their updated abilities. I still feel bad for Fire Dragons as the Wraithguard options just out do everything they have. +3 to vehicle destruction is cool but I would rather just hit them with a death template or some other kind of power beam from a T6 jerk.
How I Learned to Love the D
The dreaded amount of D is actually probably a good thing. Think of how some of the latest good lists have been deadly groups of Death Stars. The short ranged D weapons help keep people honest as investing so much into a unit without throw away bits is not worth it. You will still see the Wolf Stars (saw a nutty one using Loth from the Red Scorpions to always be invisible) as they have options for throw away units within the blob – cyber wolves, fenris wolves, etc but the other stars will have to rethink investing so many points into a single unit that can be devastated by the short ranged D. It might not hit the bottom of a tuna can but it will sure bust out the sides if you know what I mean. Thankfully they changed the Template D’s into a version that while powerful is just not nearly as brutal as we initially read it to be. It fails 1/3rd of the time which is pretty devastating to what is known as a crazy powerful weapon. You will still want to sacrifice a charging unit but it isn’t nearly as deadly as we were worried. Even deep striking them in gets you a few templates and if you planned correctly they should only remove some basic jerks who are bubble wrapping your powerful units.
Are Eldar the New Normal?
This new book could also be the new avenue GW is heading at for some armies. What if D is common and big huge monster kits going to be the norm for any future releases? GW loves to sell you the big kit and having any new player seriously look at spending a 100+ bucks on a huge playable statue is a win in GW’s eyes. I still find the Necron book to be better in some ways as they are extremely durable with a Decurion and designed to win all aspects of the mission. That toughness to remove off the table is extremely scary for a lot of armies. Plus lucky for them their weapons are still able to hurt everything in the Eldar book. I wish the Khorne Daemonkin book had some changes to the basic units but it is still a decent option for a massed assault/board control army. Plus their summoning ability mixes well with the armies interactions and play styles. I am wondering if the new Marine book will continue this upswing of army power by either changing how the units are equiped (massed special weapons ala 30k) or finding someway to make bad units better (terminators). Right now will just have to wait and see.
Are you ready to kneel before you your new Eldar Overlords (until the next codex hits)…
