Dark Eldar in 6th - Reaver Jetbikes

Having played a fair few games in 6th edition now (and most of them with my Dark Eldar). I'm pretty pleased with the way they've turned out. Some things are crappy sure but on the whole I think they got better. The most noticable case of this is with Reavers, allow me to explain why they're my new favourite thing in 6th.

One thing I've only recently realised is that provided they move the reavers now have a permanent 4+ cover save thanks to a combination of Jink and Skilled Rider. As I've previously mentioned this is boosted to 3+ when Turbo Boosting. Having used their Bladevanes a lot in the new edition I find the 12" then 36" move to be pretty brutal. The problem with Bladevanes in 5th was that it nearly always left your Reavers exposed. The 12" positioning move means you can get a better angle and keep your distance. In later turns the move allows you to zip along the back of your opponents line and then turbo-boost back to the safety of your deployment zone.

As in 5th, I find it difficult to get these guys a pain token sometimes. Larger squads can put out a lot more bladevane attacks which means a better chance of wiping out a squad for that pain token. However, another use of that 12" positioning move is to attempt to "snipe". With wound allocation from the closest model to their start position you can now get round the back of units and pick off models that were trying to hide at the rear. Doing this to an independent character is a good way of getting them a pain token and keeping them alive in the subsequent turn. It takes a bit of practice and planning but the advantage is that it gives your opponent a lot to think about when deploying and moving his units.

Now potentially you could give them some Cluster Caltrops to boost their effectiveness when sweeping but frankly they're just too expensive. It's very easy to get your reavers into a tight spot and then that's 40 extra points down the pan on a 6-man unit. On the other hand, I think it's reasonable to give the squad a couple of heat lances. If you find yourself near a vehicle you can usually make a mess of it with the lances then charge the occupants. Reavers aren't stunning in combat mind you with only a 5+ save (plus FNP perhaps) but they do get a reasonable number of attacks and with decent combat drugs (or Furious Charge from pain) they can make short work of T3 units and maybe smaller MEQ units.

Of course, most of the time you're better keeping them turbo-boosting as long as possible. Later on the game they can either be contesting objectives. In the late turns they can use their move/boost to bladevane controlling units whilst still staying in range to contest. In the Scouring mission they can also score of course.

If nothing else they're a unit that is constantly in your opponent's face that he'll find it difficult to ignore. Bear in mind though that early on in the game they might be the only unit that he can shoot (especially in Night Fighting) so it's sometimes wiser to keep them back.

With out a doubt their main weakness is to template weapons. Even the humble flamer can wipe out a squad with lucky rolls. Against some armies it's pretty easy to keep them clear of flamers but some builds are packed with them. Let's face it though, the entire DE army is vulnerable to template weapons so this should hardly come as a shock. In general the reavers' incredible speed should mean you can keep them at a distance as long as possible. With pre-measuring it should be easy to keep them above 18" away and therefore clear of rapid firing and templates.

My standard load-out for these guys is a straightforward 6-man unit with 2 lances coming in at 156pts. It's pretty easy to get a couple of these in 1750/1850 point lists. They can then either take a flank each (minimising the fire on a squad) or stick together to double sweep units for maximum effect.

Since I'm hopefully taking my Dark Eldar to the doubles in early September I'm going to try and get the reavers fully painted for it.

News about Blog Wars 4 incl. Change of Date

I'm sorry this has been a long time coming but what with post grad work, interviews and getting in as much 6th edition as possible I'm only just getting round to it.

The first and most important thing to say is that Blog Wars 4 will NOT be on October 14th as previously advertised. Unfortunately a good friend of mine has decided to have his stag do that weekend (inconsiderate I know) and therefore I won't be getting back until later on the Sunday. I'm extremely sorry if this causes anyone any inconvenience since I know some of you have to reserve your tournament days with the wife etc early on! I'm currently trying to get in touch with Maelstrom to reschedule and my preference would be either  3rd or 4th November (depending upon availability). As soon as Tim gets back to me I'll post it up on here so people can plan. At that point I'll also release tickets.

The rest of this post will outline the plans for Blog Wars 4. I'm trying to include as much 6th edition stuff as possible. There's a lot to cover so this will be a long post, please bear with me. The BW4 page will be updated to reflect all this. If anyone has strong objections or otherwise suggestions for improvements then by all means get in touch.

Ticket Price and Prizes
Unfortunately Maelstrom has increased the cost of catering ever so slightly and it now comes in at £8 per person. As I've previously mentioned I'm going to be restructuring the prize system so that there are more prizes available and less incentive to just bring a WAAC list and take the top prize. Here's what I propose:

1st Place: £25 Maelstrom Voucher
2nd Place: £15 Maelstrom Voucher
3rd Place: £10 Maelstrom Voucher 
Last Place: £5 Maelstrom Voucher & Wooden Spoon
Best Painted Army: £15 Maelstrom Voucher 
Best Painted Special Character: £10 Maelstrom Voucher 

Bear in mind we'll be getting a 15% discount in the shop (or potentially more if they have an offer on) so, for example, the first prize is actually £29.41. I think these are still pretty reasonable prizes. I appreciate it's a big drop from the previous prize structure but with more spare cash to give out either spot or door prizes I think it'll make more people happy. With this structure the ticket price can remain at £15 (which has to be a good thing) and if we get 20 people to attend that's a total prize pot of £140 (after food) and therefore £60 left over for spot/door prizes. Obviously every extra person over the 20 mark gives us another £7 onto that fund and again I'd like to try and run a raffle.

I'd really like to know what you guys think on this as I'm open to suggestions for improving it.

The Scenarios
By November, 6th edition will have been out around 4 months. Whilst for most of us this means we'll be pretty used to it I appreciate that some people don't game as much as I do. Therefore I think the scenarios need to be pretty straight forward to make it easier for people who are still trying to learn the rules. Here's what I'm planning for the missions.

Game 1 - Vanguard deployment (diagonal) with the Crusade mission (5 objectives) (#1 in the rulebook)
In this mission the Special Character counts as scoring

Game 2 - Hammer & Anvil deployment (end to end) with Relic mission (#6 in the rulebook)
In this mission the Special Character counts as scoring


Game 3 - Dawn of War deployment (6th ed, side to side) wth Purge the Alien mission (#2 in the rulebook)
In this mission the Special Character is worth +1VP e.g. if he's the Warlord he's worth 3VP.


I had several more complicated ideas for how the SCs would work but I think it's better to keep things simple to avoid confusion. I appreciate a roll of "6" on the Personal Traits chart makes a Warlord scoring anyway but if that's the result then people can re-roll it.

This means we'll play all three deployment types from the rulebook giving people a chance to learn them. The missions are chosen because they don't benefit a particular army too much. Big Guns Never Tire and the Scouring are great but it forces people to take more FA and HS choices. The Emperor's Will is just C&C from 5th and frankly isn't very exciting.

I'll put up a link to the official scenario descriptions on the BW4 page as soon as I can.

Mission Special Rules
As stated in the mission descriptions, each mission has Primary Objectives and Secondary Objective. All of these will be in effect but as ever I'll also be taking down VPs (5th edition style) to minimise clashes. The scoring structure will be the same as at BW3 with "degree of victory" based tournament points.

Each mission has Night Fighting, Mysterious Objectives and Reserves as described in the rulebook. I know some tournaments aren't doing the Mysterious Objectives but personally I think they're part of 6th so they should be in and they only affect the first game anyway.

Terrain
There's been some debate online about whether TOs, such as myself, should allow players to deploy terrain as in the rulebook. For the first Blog Wars of 6th edition the TERRAIN WILL BE FIXED. This is for two reasons, a) it prevents people from arguing over placement and b) it prevents damage to Maelstrom's scenery. This is still allowed for by the rulebook as "Narrative Terrain" instead of "Alternating Terrain" deployment.

However, unlike other tournaments I plan on classifying the terrain beforehand. This will mean that there are no debates about if this is a building or a ruin or whatever. I'll use common sense though, if it looks like a barricade that's what it'll be. Each table will have it's own terrain guide to classify the terrain and how it should be played. There will be some Mysterious Terrain and I expect people to play it that way. It's part of 6th edition so get used to it! I appreciate that some people will find this a bit restrictive but ultimately it saves time and gets games going quicker.

In addition, something that worked well at Summer Skirmish was the Archeotech Horde rule that Tim had us play. Basically all ruins have the chance to roll on the Archeotech Artefacts table. The first time a player triggers the terrain i.e. move within 2" of it you roll a D6. If the score is "1" then you roll 2D6 and consult the Archeotech chart.

Again I'd like to know what people think of these things.

Army Selection
I don't know about you guys but I'm finding that games of 6th edition are actually a fair bit quicker than 5th once you get the hang of it. Not having to faff about assigning wounds is probably the main reason. However, starting a game takes a little longer thanks to the Warlord Traits and random Psychic stuff. Therefore I'm going to increase the points limit to 1,850 which should still be easy to finish in the 2.5 hour slots and allow a little more room for those more expensive SCs. As with the previous 3 tournaments, you must take at least one Special Character in your army (though this doesn't have to be an HQ).

With regards to the new units, both flyers and fortifications may be taken in every army. I'm sure you've found as we have that neither is as all conquering as people thought at first. The reason for allowing forts is because for some armies that's their only access to Skyfire weaponry. Now I'm tempted to say that only Defense Lines and Bastions are allowed but I think if you really want to bring a Fortress of Redemption and pay out around 250pts for it then by all means go for it. However, the following restriction applies, no fortification can be placed within 6" of any table edge. This prevents people from using their FoR to cut off one corner of the board. On tables where there isn't room to place a fort, existing terrain from within the player's deployment zone can be removed to make space. This must be put back as close to it's original position at the end of the game though.

I appreciate that forts are meant to be placed before other terrain but I think this will make game setup take too long. If anyone has a solution then I'm all ears.

Against my better judgement I think Allies should be allowed. I'm not a fan of them as I think they allow people to pick and choose to much but they're part of 6th so I suppose I should get use to it. Your Warlord must come from the Primary Detachment though as must the SC acting as "Commander".

6th Edition Rules Queries
Now is the time to ask me for rulings about any ambiguous rules in the 6th edition book. I understand that there'll be new FAQs pretty soon and obviously any changes they make will be in effect at BW4. However, if you want to know if unit "x" is allowed or how unit "y" now functions then please get in touch now rather than having to sort it on the day.

Similarly, if you want to clarify what counts as an SC or if your models are acceptable in terms of "counts as" then let me know asap.

Conclusion
I'm hoping that Blog Wars 4 will be just as much fun as the first three were. There's no reason it shouldn't be and I hope with the new prize structure people will be less likely to bring something nasty just to take first prize (looking at you Humphris!). Now, obviously I'm aware it's still a tournament so people want to win but hopefully players will still enter into the spirit and bring something themed around an SC.

The aim with Blog Wars 4 is to incorporate as much 6th edition stuff as possible to find out what does and doesn't work. It's very easy to say "fortifications shouldn't be allowed" but until they've been tested on the tournament scene I don't think a proper decision can be made. Blog Wars 5 will therefore hopefully be better for having tested so many 6th edition things in BW4.

Summer Skirmish 2012 Tournament Report

For those of you who don't know, the Summer Skirmish is run by Tim King from the Scottish ETC team who's now the Events Manager at Maelstrom. Last year's event was a great laugh and a totally different experience from the rest of the tournament scene. This is largely down to the fact that over 1.5 days you play 13 games!! That might sound a lot but not when you consider it's 500pt combat patrols. I took DE to last year's event and learnt a lot. This year was no exception and I took the following:

500pts of Dark Eldar
10 Kabalite Warriors (Blaster, Splinter Cannon, Sybarite)
8 Reavers (2 Heat Lances)
Razorwing Jetfighter (4 Shatterfield Missiles, Splinter Cannon)

Now I'm not going to pretend this is an amazing list but it is fun! Basically I wanted to bring a flyer along to see how they fared and because some armies there simply couldn't deal with them. The reavers are fantastic in 6th edition and the kabalites are frankly only there because you have to take 1 troop!

The format is pretty simple. Players are randomly assigned to pools of 4 and play all three opponents. Players are then ranked and play in another group of 4. On the Sunday we then play another 3 games followed by a battle to determine the ultimate standings e.g. playing off for 3rd/4th place. All games are Pitched Battle (now Dawn of War) and based on 5th edition style VPs. Simple stuff, kill more of your opponents guys than he kills of yours!

Game One - Craig (Space Marines)
The first game was against a straightforward marine list containing a tactical squad with plasma cannon, 10-man devastator squad with missiles and a squad of scouts with a heavy bolter. I managed to get first turn but unfortunately Craig "Seized" and my reavers were quickly thinned out in number. I still blasted them forward in my turn but they were then in a poor position and got shot to pieces. The kabalites basically sat in cover having a few shots at the devs but slowly losing numbers due to the weight of fire.

At this point the razorwing showed up landing two pie plates on the devs and hitting with the dark lances. This killed 4 of them and was enough to make them flee the table. The scouts were gunned down in the next turn and suddenly it was looking bad for my opponent. The tactical squad couldn't hurt the razorwing so I hid the kabalites, giving me the win. 315 v 243 VPs.

Game Two - Chris Swaine (Wolves)

Sadly in this game my flier didn't show up until turn 4! However when it did it killed off an entire grey hunter pack with rune priest (with help from the Kabalites). Late on the reavers tried to bladevane the long fangs with the last two guys passing 6 saves to survive. However, the long fangs tried to charge the reavers and lost a model to overwatch resulting in them running from the board! The flyer helped finish off a smaller pack of grey hunters and then with the final shot of the game managed to kill the rhino too. Two wins then. 500 v 100 VPs

Game Three - Dave (Wolves)
The kabalites managed to gun down the lone wolf early on for a pain token but were then fragged to death by the long fangs despite their FNP and cover. The flyer was decidedly underwhelming in this game as it came on and only killed a couple of marines. The reavers who'd turbo-boosted into position in turn 1 managed to kill a few marines with bladevanes. Sadly they then lost a couple of their number to the grey hunters and failed their morale test. They were quick to regroup though and went on to help the flyer kill off more grey hunters. With the flyer forced to fly off the board in the next turn the reavers were forced to hide to prevent me being tabled thanks to the new rules for reserves in 6th. Luckily the rune priest killed himself trying to use living lightning on them (having already suffered a wound) and I passed their cover saves. The last remaining grey hunter was finished off by the flyer and we finished for lunch with me sitting pretty on 3/3 wins 350 vs 237 and onto the top tables.

Game Four - Scott (DE)
In one of the quickest games of 40K I've ever played Scott's 3 venoms and ravager went first and spent two turns gunning down all the reavers and kabalites and preventing me from even rolling to see if my flyer arrived! Tabling me in about 10 minutes 0 vs 500 VPs. Can't say I thought it would end any other way though!

Game Five - Chris (Necrons)
This was a very straightforward necron list consisting of 6 wraiths and 10 warriors in a ghost ark. Having previously scoffed at ghost arks in 5th edition I have to say the thing was ridiculous. Now obviously I don't think it was a good call to allow AV13 Necron vehicles at this points level (other races were limited to 34 total AV across FSR) but still with 4 HP and all that gauss they're pretty good now.

The reavers attempted to inflict heavy casualties to the wraiths to distract them from assaulting the kabalites but sadly didn't do enough and died to the revenge charge. The kabalites were eventually gunned down by the ghost ark and it's occupants and with my razorwing's dark lances missing completely I was left running from the ark without being able to hover to get a shot on it, narrowly surviving with 1HP left! 125 vs 412 VPs.

Game Six - Tom (IG)
I was relieved when I got first turn against the volume of fire that Tom's army could throw at me. I was less happy to see him roll a 6 to Seize! The reavers were pinned by mortars and the kabalites lost 3 of their number. The blaster kabalite was able to stun the chimera and strip a hull point but in the following turn another 5 kabalites died. The reavers swept over the guard but sadly landed behind the chimera full off flamer vets and you can imaging the results! With Tom's vendetta having arrived in turn 2 I was pleased when my razorwing showed up, right up until it missed with both dark lances! This was the start of some awful luck which saw me lose the razorwing to the vendetta with help from some jammy autocannons. The kabalites were swiftly dispatched and I was now 3 wins and 3 losses having been tabled 143 vs 500 and back down to mid-table mediocrity where I belong!

Saturday Evening Doubles

With less numbers than Tim wanted (such a shame when it's a great event), Tim decided to run a mini doubles tournament with random pairings. I was pretty pleased to see I'd been paired with Graham White with his guard and their vendetta and hydra. Sadly in our first game against wolves/necrons we didn't get my razorwing until turn 3 and the vendetta until turn 4 after my whole army had already died! 

We then played orks/IG controlled by Tim on his own (to make up numbers) and cruised to a fairly straightforward victory that was largely down to Tim throwing the list together last minute with the models available in the shop! It also helped that my razorwing came on and downed both his hydra and chimera with some well placed large blasts on side armour!

Although we won the final game we'd have done better if the vendetta hadn't taken so long to deal with that pesky ghost ark. Graham scored 3 hits when it first arrived but failed to even glance with any of the shots! Still we put in a good showing despite spending most of the games with 300 points less on the table than our opponents until our flyers showed up!

Game 7 - Graham White (IG)
On Sunday morning my doubles partner turned on me and with his vendetta and hydra I knew how it was going to end! It didn't help that he took first turn either! The reavers hid behind a building whilst the kabalites took some casualties. The reavers killed off 6 guardsmen with their bladevanes but the IG held their nerve. The kabalites were in scenery that required them to pass an Ld test to shoot or attempt to move out of it. Sadly their rolled a double 6 and couldn't shoot for that turn!

The reavers lost 6 of their 8 (including the heat lances) and their nerve broke. The flyer came on and again missed a vendetta (they're bloody big enough!). The kabalites finished off all but one guardsman from the footslogging squad who proceeded to run from the board. The hydra stripped 2 HP from the razorwing which responded by taking 2 HP from the chimera but despite hitting with both missiles on side armour it couldn't score a third and final HP to wreck it. The hydra made it pay by blowing it out of the sky and the vendetta and guardsmen from the chimera mopped up the rest of my army leaving me tabled 143 vs 500.

Game 8 - Graham Sanders (Eldar)

It wouldn't be a proper tournament if I didn't play Graham Sanders from Claws and Fists/Rogue Trader blogs. Graham was sporting Eldar featuring 5 pathfinders, 5 dark reapers and a wave serpent with fire dragons. Using those broken C&F dice he managed to seize first turn but to my joy we ended up with Night Fighting in the first turn boosting my kabalites' cover save and keeping all but 1 of them from dying. Sadly the pathfinders had a 2+ cover save and my reavers/kabalites could only kill one of them too. The reavers lost half their number but still went after the dark reapers. I decided to try to charge them but fell short and lost one to overwatch resulting in me losing my nerve and running! The razorwing faired better though coming on and blowing up the wave serpent with it's dark lances and the kabalites were quick to kill off the fire dragons inside. The reavers didn't regroup and were lucky to stay on the board.

The flyer finished off the dark reapers before making a sharp turn to stay on the board! The reavers eventually regrouped in time to charge the pathfinders and finish them off with Hammer of Wrath attacks. 500 vs 100.

Game 9 - Andy Lane (SM)

Another Claws and Fists guy and good mate, Andy had brought Space Marines. Things didn't start well with Andy Seizing (with those broken C&F dice) and when he found himself in an iceblood lake my reavers could only kill a single sternguard vet with their bladevanes before being gunned down. The kabalites were heavily thinned out and when my flyer failed to show up on turn 2 I feared I was in for a tabling! Luckily for me the remaining 3 kabalites were disgustingly lucky. The thunderfire cannon operated by a guardsman (penalty for bringing a 2+ save techmarine against the rules) missed the mark with most of it's shots and only killed a single warrior. The remaining two went to ground to save them from the tactical squad and somehow the Sybarite held on long enough to give me a turn 3 and a chance to get my flyer on!

The flyer wasn't spectacular though and failed to kill off the thunderfire before being forced to make sharp turns to stay on the board. Luckily Andy didn't manage to do anything to it so it prevented me being tabled even though it couldn't get an angle to do anything. 98-325.

Game 10 - Graham Sanders (Eldar)
Having joked that I was normally near the bottom playing Graham by the end of a tournament I was pleased to see history repeating itself. The game wasn't all that disimilar to our first encounter. The flyer came on and immobilised the wave serpent and blew off it's turret meaning I could ignore it. The troops died quickly to successive bladevanes and shooting/assaults from the kabalites but not before taking half the reavers to repeat the 500 vs 100 scoreline!

Conclusion
I finished pretty much exactly where I expected to with that list, slightly below mid table! I knew that some armies simply couldn't deal with the flyer but when 175/500 points is off the board for a couple of turns you're really helping your opponent not to mention 4'x4' doesn't give you much space to maneouvre a flyer! However, it did put in some spectacular performances (and some less so) and I can see me using it in my larger Dark Eldar armies, particularly in the early days of very little skyfire!

Reavers are simply awesome. Their bladevanes are even better now with the 12" positioning move and then 36" turbo-boost in the shooting phase. They can cover a massive chunk of the board. Add in the 3++ save when they do so and ignoring Dangerous Terrain thanks to Skilled Rider and they're excellent. Yes they're still weak to flamers but if you can get them a pain token they become pretty resilient. In some games I should've made more use of their heat lances but this makes them very vulnerable and they're normally better to be turbo-boosting to stay alive, particularly in 500pt games! Again the small board was an issue as they couldn't get far enough away from the target unit to keep them safe from reprisals. They're still going to feature heavily in my lists though. The main thing to take away from this weekend was the finesse required to use them effectively. It's tempting to bladevane something asap but sometimes it's better to do a positioning turbo-boost in turn 1 and wait until your opponent is a bit more spread out before striking in turn 2.

The kabalites were decent but a little too static. Some armies had to come towards me which meant they did well but they can't really afford to break cover so end up sitting there hoping something will come closer whilst popping off 6 splinter cannon shots. Rapid Fire changes have certainly made them better but I think I've been too quick to write off wyches.

All in all it was a brilliant weekend and the small numbers made it a really friendly atmosphere. I'm surprised more people didn't turn up (there were 32 last time compared to 14 this weekend) because it's a fantastic even and presents a great opportunity to test out army ideas and 6th edition rules in a zero pressure environment. Hopefully next year's event will be more popular!