I'M BACK - Dark Eldar is coming!

My new favorite meme that I found on the internet.

I'M BACK BOYS, now that the previews are coming in for Dark Eldar, we finally get to see what the new book is offering.

In the next couple of days and weeks, I'll be filling up this blog with my thoughts on the new Dark Eldar and what they bring to the table for 8th.  I'm tired of playing Aeldari and Ynnari soup, and if I can make a pure DE list work (or with minimal CW support), I'll think about bringing them to SoCal Open this year.

Trust me, I'm still under the firm belief that the best kind of lists for the Dark Eldar will not be a pure DE list.  It will actually have a minimal support Farseer Skyrunner and possibly some Hemlocks just so we have the air cover, the Mindshock Pods, and some beautiful Doom shenanigans to up our damage potential.  Remember, while we're the most militant of all Eldar and favor death and destruction above all things, we are still complete shit when it comes to psychic defense and doing consistent damage.

Tomorrow, I'll post a longer article about all the "flavors" of the book that we're seeing already.  Kabals and Coven have already been spoiled, but I'll be writing tomorrow that will cover both of those plus the new Wych Cults.  Hopefully, they will be worth my while because I have 50 of those suckers.

For past and future readers, if you forgot what this blog is about, I'm primarily a Kabal player who believes in overwhelming firepower with a purely mechanized list.  Yes, I'm completely upright right now seeing what the Kabal of the Flayed Skull offers.

Just a super quick update

One of my favorite pieces of art, ever.

Oh wow, I haven't posted in a crazy long time.  Well, you know what?  Real life happens (work's been busy!) and I've been off playing other games that are not of the table-top variety.  I started getting back into World of Warships with my clan and I've only recently played 40K again after the world's longest hiatus.  We played a 4K vs. 4K game where I was 2v1 with my Dark Eldar/Eldar vs. Tyranids/Blood Angels.  Not the most fluffy game, but I was able to put virtually everything I owned on the table.  It was a crazy bloodbath and that kinda got me thinking about the game again.

I think I really enjoy 40K 8th as a casual game, but not really as a competitive game for some reason.  I'm excited to see what they have in store for Dark Eldar, and I promise that the blog will get more activity once they come out.  I've pretty much stopped the ridiculous Ynarri stuff, even though that was one of the main reasons why I bought a bunch of Wraithguard D-Scythes, but after some soul-searching, I've decided to step away from full-blown Ynnari to something more tame.  I think for more casual games, this is perfectly acceptable as I really enjoy the look of Eldar fighters and I've been pretty happy with my choices so far.

One of the other armies that I'm thinking about adding is Harlequins, but I'm reluctant again because they don't have a new book and they seem really janky.  Not janky as in they're bad, but they're really expensive for a few models that might not have the staying power to really have a larger impact on the battlefield.  This is especially the case that everyone and their mother can just fall back out of combat and leave them in the open to get shot.  That feelsbadman.

Anyways, here's my current go-to for a standard 2K army list:

1999 // 7 CP
Aeldari Battalion - 3 CP

HQ:
Farseer Skyrunner = 135
Doom, Guide

Warlock = 35
Protect/Jinx

TROOP:
5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
Venom = 80
130

5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
Venom = 80
130

5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
Venom = 80
130

ELITE:
5x Wraithguard, D-Scythes = 225
Wave Serpent, VEngines, Stones, 3x SC = 154
379

HEAVY:
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155

+++

Alaitoc Air Wing - 1 CP

Hemlock Wraithfighter, Stones = 210
Jinx

Hemlock Wraithfighter, Stones = 210
Jinx

Crimson Hunter Ex, 2x Bright Lance = 175

How many of you out there are just playing for fun vs. being in the competitive circuit?  I've played a few ITC games at my local shop once 8th came out, but I didn't really get the urge to go back.  I do like the social aspect of the game more and I'm definitely more casual now than ever before.

Oh, and in case you guys didn't see, BFG Armada II was announced a few weeks back.  I don't know man, as much as I'm a hardcore 40K fan, BFG addict and RTS fanatic, I can't get around how shitty Tindalos is as a developer and company.  They pretty much trashed the balance in the first game and pretty much left it to die.  Definitely didn't get good vibes with them, especially when you look at all their previous projects and games that they shipped and left to rot.  That's just not cool man.  Regardless, I'll probably end up playing the game, mainly because they've announced they'll have all 12 factions available at game launch.  It'll probably be terribly balanced and really shitty, but it's BFG and that's a must-have for me.

Sorry for the lack of updates everyone, stay in there.  I'll be back once Dark Eldar gets their new book!  Oh, and one more thing:  Happy New Year!

Ynnari: Deploying against first-turn charge

School's in session again!

There's a good amount of first-turn charge armies out there that can pretty much guarantee a kill any of your units once they get it off.  I don't think this is quite good for the game, and why they made Drop Pods and other similar units pin-point accurate is beyond me.  Regardless, it's always good to keep your head clear, see the threat for what it is and develop a counter-strategy so you can stop this kind of nonsense.

Luckily, I play an army that has a lot of thin little space-boats that can come together like Legos if I need them to.  So next time, before Swarmlord sends 20x Genestealers into your face, deploy in a manner that eliminates the possibility of your units getting charged.  Unless you're taking a huge lot of Razorwing flocks to clutter the field as fodder, your next best option is flyers.

How?  By using flyers' rules and their fat bases to bubble-wrap your army in a way that will minimize the amount of damage that can be inflicted by funneling the opponent.  Think 300, the Battle of Thermopylae, the Hot Gates, or if you want to be more imaginative with 40K examples, you've called for Broken Arrow on top of your surrounded units.  Now that you have Aeldari air superiority forming a corridor of firepower to stop the enemy in his tracks.  This does not work against flying units that can just assault you, but that's life.

Here's how it works in the rules:

• Your opponent has to be 9" away from you when he drops in with his units.
• Their units have to be more than 1" away from your units before they charge.
• Airborne says that units cannot assault you unless they have the Fly rule.
• Flyer bases are fat, so you can extend the charge range needed for your opponent.
• You space out your flyers enough so nothing can get in, and if your army needs more space, make room so only a few small base models can fit through, and only in a straight line.

Examples below where I have 4 flyers and set up by the table edge behind me.  Another example shows a corner deployment because I have fewer flyers and bigger units.  The ~3" line is just a rough example of the distance you can put out to enable single-line infantry-sized models to get in.

Middle of the board deployment.

Corner deployment with a fatty Wave Serpent.

Basically, if you see someone trying the first-turn charge cheese, you deploy like this.  Depending on the size of your army, and how many flyers you have, the easier it will be to deploy against such shenanigans.  In short, any faction can do this if they have enough flyers or units with the Airborne special rule.

It doesn't look pretty, but it gets the job done.  God damn you GW for writing such ass rules in the first place.

Ynnari: Tournament results and new list

The Doomseer returns.

Alright boys, I got back from my tournament and it was freaking crazy man.  It was a 2K ITC tournament with 3 rounds of pure cancer, and a side of 911.  Yeah man, the last round, a fight broke out, threats were made and the cops were called.  I mean, who the hell gets into a fight over game rules in a game with little plastic men.  That's just ridiculous.

The list I went into the tournament was with this tried and true list:

1999
Ynnari Battalion - 6 CP

HQ:
Farseer, Singing Spear = 120
Doom, Fortune

Warlock, = 37
Conceal/Reveal

TROOP:
5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
Venom, Splinter = 80
130

5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
Venom, Splinter = 80
130

5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
Venom, Splinter = 80
130

ELITE:
5x Wraithguard, D-Scythes = 225
Wave Serpent, VEngines, Stones, 3x Shuriken = 163
388

5x Wraithguard, D-Scythes = 225
Wave Serpent, VEngines, Stones, 3x Shuriken = 163
388

FLYER:
Hemlock Wraithfighter = 211
Conceal/Reveal

HEAVY:
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155

Overall, very solid list and I would everyone stood out pretty evenly.  There was not a unit here that I would say underperformed, except for maybe the Warriors holding the Blasters because they didn't do anything effectual in any round of the tournament.  They either missed, didn't wound, or my opponent saved, so lol.

Onto the games themselves, my first round was against some bullshit level list with Magnus, a LoC, Changeling, a bunch of Burning Chariots, and a bunch of Horrors and Flamers.  The dude had like 12 Command Points and near-infinite Smites with -1 to hit one everything near the Changeling, and Magnus himself is just king of bullshit.  I mean, the entire army threw out Mortal Wounds everywhere, but Magnus throws out 2D6 himself on a 10+ with T7, 18W, 3+/4++ and re-roll 1s and a S16 -4 AP 3 damage weapon.  Nevermind try to cast with my list when he can cast and deny 3x a phase with a +2 modifier.  No really though, it was absolutely insane.  I ended up losing the game to what seemed like an endless flock of Tz Daemons that didn't die, and the match-up felt like it was pretty big mismatch.  All that high-S AP fire doesn't count for much if nothing dies.  Feeslbadman.

Oh, one more thing:  If you see someone playing GW Tz dice (which my first opponent was), you should probably call TO and have him change dice.  Not only was my first opponent speed-rolling, but he was playing with these abominations and I literally couldn't read his dice.  I couldn't see if he made hits, passed saves, or even how he tracked wounds as clearly as I would like.  My goal in the tournament was to see what was out there and to test out the meta, but having to play this kind of bullshittery was enough to get me triggered.  I eventually complained to the TO after the game, but just as a forewarning for those going to tournaments, please let your opponents know before the game starts.

Good job GW, dipshits.

Next two rounds were complete shitshows too, but in my favor.  The second round I faced up with another Ynnari player, but ended up seizing on him and 1-turning his Wraithknight before systematically erasing his army off the board.  He ended up calling it at the end of Turn 2.  Round 3 ended with my opponent getting first turn, blowing up one of my Wave Serpents with some crazy flying Storm Eagle Assault Gunship.  On my turn I shot down the stupid bird and he fired for little effect with his remaining Stormraven, while I managed to down it in another round of shooting.  On my opponent's turn, he charged Mephiston into some D-Scythes, they killed his ass and then Soulbursted into his Librarian Dreadnought and it was GG from there.

Here's what I realized by the end of the day:

• This is a tournament, people take some beardy ass shit and that's expected.  For example, my friend Adam showed up with 4x Wave Serpents filled with D-Scythes, Wraithblades and Wraithcannons, and 2x Hemlocks.  He did pretty well in the tournament as well, but there was also 6 Storm Talon list with Girlyman bubble, multiple Knights, Stormswords and other kinds of filth.  You need to mentally prepare for stuff like this.
• Alpha Strikes are vitally important in this game I feel.  I think making that huge initial impact that can leave your opponents' reeling, and potentially taking out that one crucial unit is what's going to define the meta for a while.  While MCs and multi-wound single models are strong, being able to kill those models quickly and efficiently is going to be stronger.
• I'm not really feeling the bubble-wrap mechanics too much.  Stuff like Girlyman giving units re-roll Hits and Wounds around him, Azrael's 4++ bubble and re-roll hits, and even Dante skipping around the battlefield powering up his Stormravens.  Just feels really strong, with little risk involved, and dead easy to execute.

Look at this Tz stack!

With that said, let's try something else.  While I really liked the list that I played today, it was also really balanced.  Maybe too balanced and possibly not enough killy in the first round of the game.  I have a lot of points sitting inside transports not contributing to the battle itself.  So what should we do about that?

2000
Spearhead/Air Wing - 5 CP

HQ:
Farseer Skyrunner, Singing Spear = 168
Doom, Fortune

TROOP:
10x Warriors, Blaster, Dark Lance = 105
Raider, Dark Lance = 115
220

10x Warriors, Blaster, Dark Lance = 105
Raider, Dark Lance = 115
220

ELITE:
5x Trueborn, 4x Blaster = 115
Venom, Splinter = 80
195

FLYER:
Hemlock Wraithfighter = 211
Conceal/Reveal

Hemlock Wraithfighter = 211
Conceal/Reveal

Razorwing, 2x Dark Lance = 155
Razorwing, 2x Dark Lance = 155

HEAVY:
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155

Yeah, that's right:  17 Dark Lances that open up with possible Doom on the first turn, before I run some Hemlocks down their throat with possible Smites.  I still have enough Poison to throw around, and I even have a little Blasterborn in a Venom to help with the shooting.  This is a much better Alpa Strike list and the Doom from the Farseer does amazing stuff.  Once you use Doom, you really can't go back.

Ynnari: Dark Eldar is back on the table

Let's go hunting.

Let's rewind a bit and go back to my roots.  What does a primarily Dark Eldar force look like with a splash of a Farseer mixed in there for Doom and Fortune?  Well, it looks something like this!  Hell, I even have a backstory behind this list of mine:

The Ynnari Farseer Johanna travels far and wide through secret webway locations to recruit warriors to her cause.  She stops by Commoragh and meets the Larry the Archon.  They join forces and set out among the stars for the glory of the Reborn!  They eventually fall in love.. +++END TRANSMISSION+++

RP mode over, here we go!

2000
Ynnari Battalion - 6 CP, 9 drops

HQ:
Archon, Agonizer, Blaster = 73

Farseer = 113
Doom, Fortune

TROOP:
5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
Raider, Dark Lance = 115
215

5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
Raider, Dark Lance = 115
215

ELITE:
5x Wraithguard, D-Scythes = 225
Wave Serpent, VEngines, 3x Shuriken = 153
378

5x Trueborn, 4x Blaster = 115
Raider, Dark Lance, Shock Prow = 116
231

FLYER:
Razorwing, 2x Dark Lance = 155
Razorwing, 2x Dark Lance = 155

HEAVY:
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155

The difference between this list and the other one is that I have a crap ton of heavy weaponry and darklight that will make a lot of players flinch.  This one sports an opening salvo of 16 Dark Lances followed by 9 additional Blasters.  Sure, I only have a single Wave Serpent now carrying the Farseer and the Wraithguard, but the biggest difference is that I'm able to trade a lot more firepower in this list at longer range vs. the shorter-range reliance that is the WG/WS combo.

What do you guys think?  Have I done the Dark Eldar justice?  I think we're going to roll with this on for a bit.  A tournament is coming up very soon (this Saturday, 2K ITC), and I'm still debating on which list I'm going to bring.  Either way, I think it's going to be crazy fun because the meta is wide-open and there's going to be tons of awesome experimentation.  What list do you guys think I should bring on Saturday?  This one, or the previous list that I've been having success with.

LOL FW: Eldar Scorpion

TOP KEK.

To sum up:
Eldar Scorpion, BS2+, moves 14" with Fly at full health, 26 wounds, 3+/5++ to save, T8
Distort Fields so advancing anything over 17" gives you 4++, can take Eldar vehicle upgrades, fully loaded with Bright lance and all upgrades is 705.

You star engines, be at -1 to hit with 4++ T8 and 3+ AS when you feel like.
You shoot 4d6 S12 AP-4 3D shots and 6s to wound turns into 2d6 damage at 60" hitting on 2s.

LMFAO FW

Ynnari: Balancing out the faction

8th Ed. is here! There's no going back.

On release day, I took my Ynnari out for a spin vs. some filthy Necrons just to try out this new list that I've been working on.  It was my opponent's first 8th Ed. game, and the results were pretty skewed in my favor.

Before I dive into the list itself, I want to preface it a bit by talking about why I take the things I do when constructing an army.  When I look at an army like Dark Eldar and compare them to Eldar, or even the Harlequins, there are certain strengths and weaknesses that stand out to me like a sore thumb.  For Dark Eldar, the first thing I look at is the fact that they can take an unholy amount of heavy weaponry for a very low cost.  Their speed advantage over the other Eldar factions are not really apparent, especially when Eldar vehicles have Star Engines and Harlequins have Blur of Colour.  The one thing that really separates Dark Eldar out from everyone else in the faction is their ability to take a lot of high-strength, AP weapons that deal D3/D6 wounds.  For me, this is a dream because I've always built my Kabal to focus on ranged firepower and there's no better edition than now to spam out some darklight.  You know what else stands out for the Dark Eldar?  Their poisoned weapons.  For opponents facing Dark Eldar poison for the first time, they will be in utter and complete shock as mighty T8 creatures crumble to the weight of forced armor saves.

When it comes to the Eldar, the biggest thing for me as a firepower player is their D-weapons.  This means that most of their wraith constructs are fair game because of the amount of firepower they're able to deliver to the battlefield.  When most of the D-weapons are sporting S10 AP-4 dealing anywhere between 1-D6 wounds, this is a great asset to the Dark Eldar player when he's looking to expand on his ranged arsenal.  This firepower, however, comes at a cost.  The cost is not only tied into more expensive transport options such as the Wave Serpent due to their improved durability, but also from the fact that Wraith models themselves are often quite expensive.  A unit of 5-man Wraithguard with D-Scythes for example is 225 points.  That's a lot of points to pay for 5 models, especially when they can be afflicted by bad morale, blown-up transports or other shenanigans that just pulls models.  With that said, the one big difference between Dark Eldar and Eldar heavy weaponry is that some Eldar weaponry can auto-hit, or can be drastically improved via Guide and Doom with the help of their Farseers.  Lastly, the top things off, the Eldar have Shuriken Cannons that fulfill the unique role of delivering plentiful, mid-strength attacks that can potentially rend.  This compliments Dark Eldar very well because they can bring the high-end lances and poison, while Eldar can bring in the mid-level fire support combined with some really nasty D-weapons.

Well, what about Harlequins?  For me, they don't really have an definitive role in the way I'm currently playing the game.  I'm not very CC-oriented at all and I'm depending a lot on my ranged firepower to keep me in the game.  This, of course, is all subject to change as I play more games, especially against more CC-oriented armies that have a lot of bodies.  For the time being, I'm going to focus a lot of my Ynnari into doing massive amounts of damage from ranged at all range-bands.

So what do you get when you combine the best of Dark Eldar and Eldar together?  You get a shooting force unlike anything you've seen in the game so far.  You have a lot of cost-effective, long-ranged firepower in the form of Dark Lances through 155-point Ravagers, you have mid-ranged S6 shooting from 3x Shuriken Cannons from the Wave Serpents, and once you start getting close, that's when the real pain starts happening.  Wraithguard with D-Scythes will absolutely maul anything they get into range to shoot.  With auto-hitting D-weapons that can continue to deliver pain through the shooting phase, Soulburst triggers or even Overwatch, you have some of the most insane, guaranteed damage in the game.  Even T8 creatures have to fear the DE and Eldar mix because of the presence of rending Shurikens or massed poisoned shots.  All this together is what makes the Ynnari a truly impressive force to behold on the battlefield.

With that said, here is the list I rolled out with on Saturday:

Updated: 6/22/17

1999
Ynnari Battalion - 6 CP, 9 drops

HQ:
Farseer, Singing Spear = 120
Doom, Guide

Warlock, = 37
Conceal/Reveal

TROOP:
5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
Venom, Splinter = 80
130

5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
Venom, Splinter = 80
130

5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
Venom, Splinter = 80
130

ELITE:
5x Wraithguard, D-Scythes = 225
Wave Serpent, VSEngines, 3x Shuriken = 163
388

5x Wraithguard, D-Scythes = 225
Wave Serpent, VSEngines, 3x Shuriken = 163
388

FLYER:
Hemlock Wraithfighter = 211
Conceal/Reveal

HEAVY:
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155

So far, really enjoying it.  It seems to be a very nicely balanced list that has all the proper tools to deal with a large number of threats.  How competitive this list will be still requires some rigorous testing, but it should be a nice list to bring on game nights.

On a side-note, I know how disappointing this might be for a lot of my long-time readers of my Dark Eldar blog, thinking that I've turned my back on the DE as a whole.  To explain myself a little better:  Once the Ynnari came out, I've pretty much decided that's the faction I wanted to play.  They are what the combined might of the Eldar race should be in the first place, something reminiscent of the Eldar before the great Fall.  The pure power and majesty of the Aeldari when everyone puts aside their squabbles is unparalleled.  Once the new codices come out for every faction, I'm sure they're going to add a few changes here and there that will be interesting.  However, none can refute that the Eldar have been reunited once more should take their rightful place in the stars.  First, we gotta kill that son of a bitch Slaanesh.