5/22/13

Gearing Up For Eldar Part 2

Yesterday I gave you my reactions to some of the models coming out. Today I'd like to touch on some of the rules leaks gleaned from the Battle Report in this upcoming White Dwarf. There's a lot of info here taken from an encounter with Necrons and a lot of it looks good. As before my thoughts are in red.
Pulled from here. My compliments to the OP.


Guy on dakka claims to have seen the battle rep in the new WD:

- From what I saw all the non Wraith infantry have the run/shoot shoot/run ability (the rule was called Battle something). Avengers definitely do (from the report) and Rangers definitely do (from tiny printed profile in the WD) as well. Not sure if its just for Shuriken weapons (Rangers do have Pistols I guess). 
  • I'm still trying to wrap the tactical implications of this rule. I like it simply because it makes Eldar a mobile army again, even on foot. I wonder if it influences CC units at all, will Banshees be able to charge after running perhaps? I'd like it to work that way, otherwise it only benefits the shooting units.
- It looks likes all Eldar have the 'Ancient Foe' special rule, no idea what this does but I suspect its something like Hatred Daemons of Slaneesh (don't think it was Necron related as the report was against Crons) since all Eldar appear to have it (including the Wraith units). 
  • He had no idea what this does. Neither do I. Necrons make the most sense, or Daemons, but with no mention of it coming into play in the battle report I guess we'll have to wait and see on this one.
- There are 14 Eldar specific psychic powers from 2 different charts, Runes of Battle and Runes of Fate. However it looks like several of the powers are 2 in 1, i.e they have a buff mode and a debuff mode, so there are actually HEAPS of powers. I.e the Primaris for Battle is Conceal/Reveal (as a single card/roll etc), Conceal gives you Shrouded and Reveal removes Shrouded from an enemy. The 1 on the Battle Chart was Destructor/Renew(?), Destructor being the same as before with Soul Blaze added and Renew allowing you to restore a wound to a friendy model within range (18" I think). Primaris for Runes of Fate was Guide, which is now 24" range but is otherwise the exact same as before. Very surprising to see this as aside from the range it is far worse than the Divination Primaris (although I guess you could take both and effectively Guide two units). The 1 on the Fate Chart was a terrible Focuses Witchfire power. Fortune and Doom are still options (the Farseer in the report had them) and appear to have the same effects. 
  • I'm super excited here. We're looking at 28 possible psychic powers. Does a Farseer take a single roll for each level of psychic mastery and thus get 2 powers for 1? Also Warlocks use this table to I'm pretty excited to see that. Are these powers in addition to those in the core book? I'd like to thing so. 
- The Avatar has Fleet. Also one of the psychic powers increases your movement speed/charge range somehow 
  • I have never really run the Avatar all that often. I do like the notion of it having fleet and even better the idea of a psychic power that improves speed. The implications of this power combined with the Battle Focus ability is pretty amazing. Don't mind me I'm just going to move this foot unit halfway across the table in one turn, don't worry about it.
- The Wraithknight is insanely huge, it is literally twice the height of a Wraithlord, and the sword option it can take is basically the size of a Wraithlord as well. It can take up to 2 Suncannons, which are S6 AP2 Heavy 3 Small Blast or up to 2 Wraithlances(?) which are presumably the heavy anti tank option. Sword replaces one of the big guns I think (they are arm mounted like the Titans). This is in addition to the two shoulder mounted heavy weapons (I saw Scatters and Starcannons, so presumably the normal range of heavy weapons are available) 
  • A newer image leaked shows the Wraithknight with it's massive sword and also an arm shield device like the Wraithblades. This could be an anti infantry monster targeting Terminators with a vengeance since it can mount 2 Starcannons and 2 of these Suncannons. I really need some rules on the sword before I can make a verdict, but it'd have to be better than the current Wraithlord's close combat ability to impress me with something to handle hordes of infantry.
- Wraithguard and Wraithblades look good, think scaled down Wraithlords. They looked a bit bigger than the old ones, but I think it was partly just the added range of motion in the poses on 40mm bases (similar to the old 25mm base Terminators vs the newer 40mm base ones, they are bigger but the better poses help as well). Wraithguard can now get either Wraithcannons (which from the fluff descriptions seemed to still be single shot and very powerful) or D Scythes which were described as a multi shot weapon but it could still Pen vehicles on a 6. Wraithblades are only 1A base (sadly) but looked like they could go either 2 CCW(no idea on stats of their weapons, but they appeared to have sword/axe options) or 1 CCW + Shield gen arm. 
  • Pending any changes you still should be able to deliver these guys into battle via a Wave Serpent and while Banshees can't handle that sort of insertion method, I'd imagine a group of 5 T6 3+ armor guys could, especially if those shields give them an invuln save. Let's hope for assault ramps.
- Wraithguard are definitely S5 T6, Lord is almost certainly not T6 (a full unit of Destroyers shot one in the report and did nothing, which suggests T8 or some other equivalent buff). No idea on the stats for the Knight. 
  • If the Wraithlord is T8, I'd imagine the Wraithknight is as well. Could be toughness 9 or 10, but I don't want to hear from non Eldar players at that point. I'm guess it's T8 with around 6 Wounds and a sweet armor save. 
- It looks like Aspect Warriors have the same base profile, include Exarches with Ld9 
  • Not surprised here. I don't expect many units to have changed profiles. I've never subscribed to the notion that all Eldar should have there BS and WS improved. Guardian BS 3 is plenty fine when you consider that the trained soldiers of the Tau and Imperial Guard share a similar skill level and my Craftworld just handed this guy a Shuriken Catapult after he finished his dream cycle on the Path of the Dreamer (Read Gav Thorpe's Path of series, it's good.)
- Reapers have Slow and Purposeful 
  • I recall reading in the fluff about how the armor of a Dark Reaper works and wondering why they couldn't move and shoot. This has made my day. Now my question is this, do they also have Battle Focus? I hope so because even though they can move now they are going to be leagues behind the rest of my army.
- Rangers have WS4. They also have a character (not sure if he is upgrade or HQ) who has a 120" range Sniper Rifle.
  • Rumors indicate that Illic Nightspear is a unit upgrade. Seems like a cool enough cat. Why Rangers are getting WS4 is beyond me unless, as I've thought for some time, that they will have some weapon options. Consider the idea that every Craftworld outcast is given a sniper rifle and a duster. It's a little silly, surely some of these guys have walked the Path of the Warrior before becoming outcasts, maybe they know a thing or two about swords and shuriken catapults. Maybe you could run a unit like the Rangers in Dawn of War 2, one has a Sniper Rifle the rest have swords. It will totally be combat effective I assure you.

- One of the fliers has 2 Heavy D Scythes on the wings and a psychic based main gun. The other has 2 Bright Lances and a Pulse Laser.
  • We know, based on pictures that the Hemlock has the 2 Heavy D Scythes and the psychic based main gun and the Crimson Hunter has 2 Bright Lances and a Pulse Laser. I speculate them to be AV10 with 3 Hull Points and some weird Eldar gizmo that gives them Shrouded. That, of course, is drawn from my experience with Forgeworld's interpretations of Eldar flyers. It could just be AV 12 and call it a day. Either way I'm really hoping to be able to be able to take them in squadrons. Imperial Guard gets Vendetta squadrons after all.

- Saw stats for what looked like special weapons for characters, might have been for Special Characters as well since the 120" range sniper was in there. One weapon was +2S, AP- Melee, Rending, Fleshbane, Instant Death. Another was +1S AP3, Soul Blaze, and if you killed anything with Soul Blaze then every unit within 6" of that unit would become effected by Soul Blaze as well. There was also a one use only piece of wargear, which you could use when the character died. On a 2+ you place a S4 AP3 template over the character, hitting both friend and foe, but if you cause at least 1 wound then the character stands back up with 1 wound. Last one I saw was an item which gave the user Fearless, Shrouded, Stealth and re-roll cover saves but they lose the IC rule, which gives people a way to make a Solitare (the name was something to do with the Laughing God).
  • Without knowing who can take these are what they actually are I can't say much. I know the 120" Range Sniper rifle goes to Illic. Some cool items in there, but again without knowing more I really can't comment on them.
From Kirby:

BatRep army list:
Avatar of Khaine
Farseer w/Spear, Mastery Level 3 (choose three powers)
Warlock w/Mastery Level 1 (choose one power) and by choose I mean rolled for

5x Dragons w/Wave Serpent (twin-linked starcannons)
5x Wraithblades

10x DA w/Exarch, Powerweapon Shimmershield
10x DA w/Exarch, Powerweapon Shimmershield, Wave serpent (twin-linked brightlances)
6x Jetbikes w/2x Shuriken Cannons

Hemlock Wraithfighter
Crimson Hunter w/Exarch

Wraithlord w/Brightlance Ghostglaive
Wraithknight w/suncannon, shattershield, 2x scatter lasers

About 2000 pts
Guide is friendly unit now - 24" range.
Conceal/reveal - psyker gains shrouded; enemy unit within 18" loses stealth + shrouded.
Descructor/Renewal (Battle)
S5 AP4 template + soulblaze which causes more soulblaze
18" regeneration of a wound
Jetbikes are Troops. Wraithguard I think are Troops with Spiritseer. 
  • I'm seeing three HQs. Does this mean a Farseer still lets you take X amount of warlocks? A early rumor mentioned Farseers being able to form a brotherhood of psykers maybe they work in tandum like that. I'd like to read the BatRep to see where that Warlock ended up. I wonder if they are like Wolf Guard and you can put them in various units. 
  • I see the Jetbikes are still troops and I like that. Wraithblades are Elite as I'd expect.
  • The Crimson Hunter w/Exarch is what interests me here. Again with my squadron theory, I can see them like Broadsides. One can be taken, but you can add two more. One gets a sergeant upgrade. In Eldar fluff it could still just be a single fighter as an Exarch is just one who is trapped on a particular path of war. 
  • The Wraithknight is in the Heavy slot, competing with the Wraithlord as I feared. Ghostglaive is hopefully something cooler than a Wraithsword and I see that the Wraithknight shield is called a Shattershield. What I also see is that you can take two guns, 1 gun and a sword, or 1 gun and a shield, or sword and shield. Seems like it has a fair amount of options.
  • Finally Conceal grants Shrouded! Conceal covers a unit in psychic mist, I've always wondered why being in psychic mist in the woods wasn't better than either situation individually. This opens up so many avenues of play and makes me enjoy the power immensely. I also like that each power has an inverse effect against your enemy. I'd likely use the buffs more as you can avoid deny the witch and most other psychic defenses that way, but some of these abilities are too good to ignore. I also like Destructor is more than just a heavy flamer. 
 In all I like what I'm seeing and can't wait to see more. I intend on picking up the White Dwarf when it drops and perhaps that will give me more info on the subject. Until then I'll keep an eye on the rumors and regurgitate anything exciting here.

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