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Martes, Abril 19, 2016
A quick update and more BFG: Armada!

A quick update and more BFG: Armada!

At least they got the aesthetics right.

Just to let you folks know, that I've been playing BFG: Armada a ton in the last month or so.  I've become a pretty solid player of all the factions, and I've been giving a lot of balance-related feedback.  Of course, there's always going to be some haters out there, but I want to take a brief moment to post on top-down feedback.

First, let me direct you to the topic at hand.  You don't need to read the entire thing, but I'll post my response below here:

Imperator5 wrote:
I do not think top to down balancing is a good idea actually, even if I agree with Hero about pulsars.

Games have to appeal to more than one segment of the population. If new players are not presented with a game they can play without reading up for weeks on elite forums and watching replays, they will just not play it at all.

My response:
This is exactly the kind of mentality that I completely, and utterly disagree with. Let me educate you why, in all sincerity.

It's not about a game's appeal man, it's about what your actual focus is. Balance, when done correctly, is done precisely and target specific gameplay-related issues.

The casual playerbase will not and does not notice balance when it is done correctly. There is simply too many other things they care about, because MP is not their primary focus and the reason they purchased the game. They care about playing the game for its aesthetics, the sound, the lore, the SP experience, the building the empire, the fun of just gaming with friends, and the immersion of being in gigantic space ships in the 40K universe with Tac Cog on. These are your painters, your hobbyists, your casual once a month playgroupers, and your campaign-driven 40K leaguers. These are the majority of your playerbase, but they are not focused on the delicacies of how multiplayer PvP plays out. This is not why they purchased the game, nor is that their reason to continue playing the game.

The competitive playerbase is the group that cares about the things that the casual player does not. They care about the balance, the numbers, the how much DPS is this ship doing vs. that ship, the viable strategies, the tactics, all the skills and abilities and how all these things equate to one thing: How they can justify the effort they are putting in the game, and if they are being rewarded for their efforts. They focus on the intricacies of gameplay, in a multiplayer environment, in player vs. player, because they are competitive in nature and focus on this very narrow and niche gaming perspective. When balance goes awry and when player unrewarded efforts and frustrations become painfully apparent, they leave the game, and the online community suffers. Their reason to play is no longer being rewarded.

The one thing that most people think, such as GW for example, and where amateur and indie companies fail, is that they think the two camps bleed and fight against each other. This is a very common fallacy. The competitive player simply does not focus on the same things the casual player focuses on, and it is not why they purchased the game, nor do they share the same reasons for playing the game. So other successful gaming companies started thinking from this exact perspective (EA, Ensemble, Relic, Blizzard..etc), and why they went to great lengths to consul with the best players of their games to collect feedback and balance suggestions from these players, to address their game to provide a better online, PvP, multiplayer experience. They understand the value of concurrency, that it wasn't just their goal to sell you the game, but to keep you there so you can continue to Twitch (like I am now), and to provide not only brand/company loyalty, but as a form of free marketing for their future products.

Simply put, it NEVER hurts to balance the game from the top-down. The two main crowds are not effected by either change! If the Pulsars all of a sudden turn into blue rainbows like from DoW vs. the purple-lavender ones we have now, do you think the competitive player will really care? Likewise, if the Pulsar damage was increased by 5s cooldown and their damage was reduced by 5 per, do you think the casual player will even notice?

Therefore, top-down balance is exactly what you need to make the best game possible. That is, of course, if you even care about the online aspect at all. If you didn't care, you wouldn't waste the development resources to make all these features in the first place. If you have already built a community around the fans and the immersion of giant 40K spaceships, that is great. But please Tindalos, do not fall in the camp that neglects the competitive player because it will, destroy your other playerbase.

+++

As you can see here, this is the same kind of attitude I have with GW, and why things like the Skull Cannon, Wraithknight and other ridiculous crap gets added to the game.  I don't think GW can tell the difference between what kind of feedback is given.  Oh well, at least I get to play BFG on a computer finally!

If you guys haven't caught me yet, you can see me playing on my Twitch channel.  They just added the Eldar to the game and they're freaking bonkers.  Not what I wanted to see personally, but the devs are hopefully going to work out the kinks.  Since I started the stream, I'm up to 400 followers now!
Ipinaskil ni sa 6:42 AM 0 (mga) komento
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Martes, Marso 15, 2016
Been playing a ton of BFG lately

Been playing a ton of BFG lately

Beta is nice and all, but where the F are my Eldar?!

What can I say?  I've played over 30 hours of the game already and the beta came out last Thursday.  I won't write out a full review, but let's just say that I think the game is absolutely fantastic, minus the fact that I crash 9/10 times when trying to play multiplayer.  Yes, it's really that bad, the multiplayer in the game is extremely unstable.  Solo skirmish however, is completely fine.  This leads me to believe that there's something dreadfully wrong with the netcode.  Whatever it is, they better figure this shit out quick because the game comes out in 2 weeks.

The only downside with the game for me right now is that when ships die in multiplayer, they go under cooldown, meaning you can't use them again.  It's something like 2 games for a destroyed ship and 1 day for a heavily damaged one.  Then afterwards, another turn where you don't get crew exp, and sometimes your ship even gets lost in the warp so it can be delayed up to 3 games.  I think this mechanic is dreadfully stupid for multiplayer, but a very cool and fluffy mechanic for single-player.

Check out some of my gameplay videoes here.  I updated my Twitch channel is it's all Eldared out:
https://www.twitch.tv/lkhero

And of course, some cool highlights:
Let the galaxy burn!
One battleship vs. 3 cruisers
Exploring the AI and teaching how to play

Make sure to follow me on Twitch!  This is probably the only game I'll be playing for quite some time.
Ipinaskil ni sa 2:52 PM 0 (mga) komento
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Huwebes, Enero 21, 2016
DE: Dreaming about Dark Eldar design

DE: Dreaming about Dark Eldar design

It's been a long time my friend.

Now bear with me folks.  This might be a tough pill to swallow, but honest to God I haven't touched my DE for almost a year now.  In fact, I haven't done much 40K in general.  This isn't because I don't like the game, or the setting, it's just because I have been doing other hobbies and time is finite.  The complete and utter destruction of WHFB also made me deeply depressed from a hobby perspective.

I think every time I look at someone else's homebrew, or want to put on my designer hat on, I know that I'll be disappointed that no matter what down the road.  GW will just disappoint again.  Not to sound completely down, but it's been that way for the 14 or so years I've played this army and it's not going to change.  As a more positive spin on things, seeing CW Eldar and Corsairs in 7th actually give me quite a bit of hope for Dark Eldar in the next book.  There is quite a bit of changes in there in terms of prices and new mechanics that makes me think the next DE book might turn out OK.

The biggest, and I mean absolute biggest riddle, is that GW can't really solve how to convey the notion that DE is supposed to be lightning fast (when there's tons of armies that move as fast), hit extremely hard (they don't really hit that hard), and die to a swift breeze (this they got right) onto the table-top.  I went to bed thinking about this last night and thought about something I might try for fun.  Keep in mind that I do have quite a bit of professional design experience, so I thought why not, what's the harm of thinking about this a little bit more?

Too bad that most of the thinking hit me at 1am in the morning while I'm lying in bed, thinking about where my DE army actually is.  As in physically, it's somewhere in the garage.  About an hour later, I decided that if I was going to do anything I was going to start from the beginning.  I wanted to capture the glass cannon army that DE actually is without changing any of the units just yet.  For me, the first couple of rules that an army book presents sets the tone for the rest of the book.  That's why the first three must define the overall character, feel and justification for having such an army in the first place.

Three special rules, that's all I'm going to talk about for now.  I want it to be consistent with GW design, but at the same time, clearly define what Dark Eldar is supposed to resemble on the table top.  This is the biggest challenge that GW has, and continuously over the  years, I have yet to see them capture this to my liking.  These three special rules are supposed to represent what the Dark Eldar are from a fantasy perspective.  By that, I mean how you envision the army in your imagination while closing your eyes, and the difficult part of this is how would you actually write rules for it on the tabletop.  These rules would represent how the army is supposed to fight, how it behaves, and how it interacts with the other army across the table.  Truth be told:  This upcoming part is a total out of body experience.  I need you to imagine what I'm seeing in my head on your minis table.  Hopefully, the next couple of hastily written paragraphs will get you there.

The first of these rules is: Power from Pain

The fantasy:  Dark Eldar are tyrannical, ruthless killers who literally feed on the souls of their victims.  As Phil Kelly presented in the 5th Ed. book, they literally become imbued with supernatural might and resilience, eventually turning into uncontrollable killing machines.  As the carnage intensifies, so does the Dark Eldar's barbarity and vitality.

The design: Battle in this game is waged through game turns.  It not only represents the flow of time, but the course the battle as well.  The GW design team has already showcased that with a chart in the current book.  I've decided to keep the current system while increasing the effects on the first and last turn.  My reasoning for this is that the game starts on Turn 1, where the bullets start flying and men start dying.  This should already be a very arousing time for most Dark City inhabitants.

T1 - FNP (6+)
T2 - FNP
T3 - FNP, Furious Charge
T4 - FNP, Furious Charge, Fearless,
T5 - FNP, Furious Charge, Fearless, Rage
T6 - FNP (4+), Furious Charge, Fearless, Rage

The second army USR is: Aerial Assault (Name WIP)

The fantasy:  The Dark Eldar value speed above all else.  They are extremely fast, opportunistic and unfair to the lesser species in the galaxy.  Dark Eldar will strike fast, strike hard, and strike from the most unseen places to inflict the maximum amount of terror and death before the harvest can begin.

The design: Vehicles can shoot one more weapon than normally allowed before or after moving flat out.  Essentially, this allows the army to always move and shoot; solving the Ravager issue completely while subtly increasing the overall power of the entire army.  All of a sudden you can DS to fire for full, flat out and shoot at the same time, giving you maximum value out of a single Lance on a Raider, or attacking from an angle that would be impossible from any other race.  This increases the value of all of our heavy weapons without actually buffing them directly.  This is purposely designed this way so that Dark Eldar will never have to trade offense with defense.

The last USR is: Soul Harvest (name WIP)

The fantasy: Dark Eldar are unlike any of their Eldar brethen in terms of battlefield tactics.  CW Eldar are disciplined and flexible, Corsairs are selfish and aloof, and Dark Eldar are a mix of these traits.  The forces of the Dark Eldar desire pain and suffering from their foes above all else, and whatever means to that end is tactically appropriate.

The design: Battle Focus but with a catch:  You can run-shoot, or shoot-run, but you have to move closer to the enemy.  This plays off the bloodthirsty nature that is Dark Eldar design.  It mixes design elements of CW Eldar and Corsairs to make something meaningful for Dark Eldar.  This ability plays nicely for bringing your close combat elements closer to the enemy, as well as allowing your Rapid Fire weapons to do the most work.  The design purposely benefits both the close-ranged nature of the army, as well as the various close-combat components of the army book.

So there you have it.

It's missing the technical jargon that will form the three into actual rules, but this is where I would start.  This would make me pretty happy as a player of the army as it fulfills my criteria in having the glass cannon army transition appropriately from fantasy to table-top.  I think it would also all of the current archetypes of the army very happy, since it will benefit Kabal/Haemonculi and mixed army players equally.

UPDATE! 1/22/16
Follow the thread here.

OK.  Here's what I have as my first run-through with the Codex tonight.  Keep in mind that this is designed to play with my PfP, Aerial Assault and Soul Harvest army-wide USRs.

Once again, those rules are:
Power from Pain:
T1 - FNP (6+)
T2 - FNP
T3 - FNP, Furious Charge
T4 - FNP, Furious Charge, Fearless,
T5 - FNP, Furious Charge, Fearless, Rage
T6 - FNP (4+), Furious Charge, Fearless, Rage

Aerial Assault (UPDATED) - DE units may fire even after moving Flat Out.  In addition, they treat vehicles moving Flat Out as Cruising Speed, and moving at Cruising Speed as Combat Speed.  This allows the Ravager to move 12" and shoot all three lances, or a Raider to flat out and then shoot a lance, or a unit of Warriors from the inside shoot with full effect after the Raider moves 12".

Soul Harvest (UPDATED) - DE units can Run and then Shoot, and/or Run and then Assault.  This increases the threat range of virtually all Dark Eldar units.

If the unit is not mentioned or called out in some way in the changelog, then it remained the same.  The + represents additions whereas the arrows represent change.

General:
>Combat Drugs aligned with Eldar Corsairs
>Disallow Court to be taken without the Archon.

Armory:
Agonizer: Decereased to 20 pts
Blaster: Decreased to 10 pts
Dark Lance: Decreased to 15 pts
Webway Portal: Changed to IA11 2015, Decreased to 25 pts
Shadowfield: Decreased to 25 pts
Agonizer: Decreased to 20 pts
Blast Pistol: Decreased to 10 pts
Huskblade: +Rending
Archite Glaive: Double-handed, +2S, Single-handed, +1S
Venom Blade: +Lethal Dose
Implosion Missile: +Instant Death
Necrotoxin: +Pinning
Ossefactor: Assault D3
Phantom Grenade Launcher: +Offensive/Defensive grenades
Void Lance: S9 AP2 Lance --> S9 AP1 Lance
Void Mine: S9 AP2 Lance --> Strength D
Cruicible of Malediction: Psykers immediately suffer a Perils instead of S6
Night Shields: A vehicle with Night Shields has the Stealth special rule.  Enemy units beyond 24" counts the vehicle as Shrouded instead.

Archon:
Increased to 70 pts
+Clone Field
+Labynthine Cunning: The Dark Eldar player can re-roll the dice when they attempt to Seize the Initaitive, determine if the Night Fighting rules are in effect, and when they make Reserve Rolls.
+Hellion Skyboard: +10 pts
+Reaver Jetbike: +15 pts

Succubus:
Increased to 80 pts
+Rending
+Quicksilver Dodge: Fight sub-phase --> Assault Phase
+Hellion Skyboard: +10 pts
+Reaver Jetbike: +15 pts

Lelith:
Decreased to 140 pts
+Rending
A League Apart: Re-rolls all hits and wounds

Wyches:
+Rending
Bloodbride: WS4 --> WS5
Dodge: Fight sub-phase --> Assault Phase

Incubi:
54 pts, 18ppm

Mandrakes:
36 pts, 12ppm

Raider:
Decreased to 50 pts
Replace Dark Lance: Free

Venom:
Decreased to 50 pts

Reavers:
May include up to 9 --> 6 additional Reavers (9 total)
Every three --> Every model may replace

Hellions:
Decreased to 60 pts, 12ppm

Razorwing:
+Strafing Run
+Vector Dancer
Replace Dark Lances: Free

Talos:
Wounds: 3 --> 4

Cronos:
Wounds: 3 --> 4

Ravager:
Unit Composition: 1-3
Replace Dark Lances: Free
+Special Rule: Shadow Hunters
If a Ravager squadron contains three models, all mdoels in the squadron gain the Tank Hunters special rule.

Voidraven Bomber:
+Strafing Run
+Vector Dancer
+Special Rule: Chasing Shadows
The opposing player cannot use the Interceptor special rule when the Voidraven Bomber enters the battlefield.

I have not touched the majority of these garbage Artefacts of Cruelty yet, as most books tend to suck pretty bad so it's consistent.

Overall, there are some very minor point adjustments (to align them with CWE and Corsairs), but just more teeth throughout the entire army.  I've basically taken the DE design direction that GW have already set out, but just made the army more lethal while increasing their threat range, presence and devilry (Rending and Instant Death).

The "big" changes:
>More prominent heavy weapons and AP2 throughout the entire army
>Every Archon now has Labyrinthine Cunning, so let that soak in for a second
>PGL to give back Offensive and Defensive Grenades on top of Soulfright
>Void Lance is now S9 AP1, Void Mine is now Strength D
>A few new special rules added for Voidraven Bomber, Ravagers and the Archon
>Wyches now do Rending, Bloodbrides WS5, Dodge in Assault Phase
>Reavers can now be upgraded with heavy weapons on every model, unit comp changed
>Night Shields have Stealth, but provide Shrouded if enemy is more than 24" away

I plan on showing off some formations tomorrow, but a taste of what to come is a re-vamped Realspace Raiders formation (not detachment).  This formation will allow you to play the army exactly as you imagine it does in the fluff.
Ipinaskil ni sa 7:47 AM 0 (mga) komento
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Martes, Hulyo 7, 2015
Just bought into Warhammer 40K: Conquest

Just bought into Warhammer 40K: Conquest

I'm so excited, I just can't hide it!

I made the leap yesterday and placed an order for 3x core sets and all of the existing warpacks (6 of them).  This should mean that I'll have at least 3x of every card and 6x of every core set card.  I've done a lot of research into the game lately and it looks like serious fun to play.  My plan is to get my local gaming group into the game and start up something that can add to the local meta.  I believe there's already a playgroup that goes to the local tournaments around here, so I'll hopefully add onto that with a few players.

The biggest drawback right now is I only have 2 playsets (6x cards total, 3x is the playset) of some really popular cards.  I'm talking about Rogue Trader, Void Pirate and Promotion.  While some decks don't have those because they have their own ridiculously good cards, a lot of other decks do because they lack those options.  I mean, that's OK for now since I can just move those cards around from the decks I plan to build, but once more players think about playing seriously, they'll have to buy their own 2x starer sets and whatever else.

Right now, I plan on building the following decks:
Eldorath/DE
Baharroth/Tau
Kith/Eldar
Zarathur/Ork
Cato/Tau
Ragnar/AM
Aunshi/Eldar

One of the best things about this game has to be the fact that I can swap some cards around and all of a sudden, I have a new deck.  Throw a few things around from Eldorath and replace some warlord specific cards here and there and I have a Baharroth deck.  Do the same with Cato and you have a Ragnar deck.  All of these guys play radically different and that's what I love about the game system thus far.  Sure, I don't like seeing Rogue Traders and Void Pirates everywhere, but that's only because the game is still relatively new and there's no faction specific cards out for them yet.  Hopefully with the upcoming deluxe expansion we'll see some replacements.

Have any of you guys gotten into this game?  It looks incredible.  Some of the new art too, absolutely incredible.  For 150 bucks, I have every army in the game, all of which are competitive because the rules are well-written and there's direct tournament support.  Wow.
Ipinaskil ni sa 3:03 AM 0 (mga) komento
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Biyernes, Hunyo 26, 2015
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada gameplay analysis

Battlefleet Gothic: Armada gameplay analysis

Super excited to play this game!

Check this out guys, here's the latest gameplay on Battlefleet Gothic: Armada.  I must have watched the video a hundred times, but I only did it because I'm really interested in seeing how this company is going to translate this vaulted table-top into a computer game.  Oh, one more minor video here, but you have to squint really hard to see anything.  Just listen in for the most part.

Here's a brief analysis from what I can see from a gameplay perspective:

  • It looks like some special orders translates seemingly into RTS.  For example, it looks like All Ahead Full! is just a boost to speed at the expense of firing weapons maybe.  Or maybe it's just a minor decrease to weapons such as +25% speed for -25% rate of fire.  Likewise, Brace for Impact! might be a +25% damage reduction for -25% damage.
  • The stats of the ship look pretty straight forward when translated onto an RTS platform.  Shields just look like a raw value that acts like an overheal, so its essentially extra health until shields go down.  Once shields go down, the damage is then applied to the ship's hull, which acts as health points.  When this value reaches 0, the ship explodes.  We're unsure if there's going to be different factors in play here when the ship explodes.  Does it have a chance to Warp Drive Implosion when the ship goes down?   We don't know.
  • To expand on this a little further, it looks like there is going to be battle damage when damage is being applied to the ship.  The designers themselves said that there are going to be ways to damage weapon components and that immediately reminds me of Homeworld.  If players are able to disable a ship's engines to make them slower or completely crippled, then that can add huge dimensions to gameplay because of all the things you can do to an enemy ship.  You can clearly see chunks of the ship flying off as it takes heavy damage, but I'm unsure if these pieces continue to do damage to other ships that bump into them.
  • Speaking of bumping into stuff, I don't think I see any Blast marker mechanics from the gameplay videoes so far.  Blast might have a side-effect to show that a ship is taking damage in general and that it moves slower once in combat, but that's all just guess work right now.
  • From what I've seen from the combat system, it seems like most of the attacks are hitting the enemy ship when they're being fired with the exception of a few things like Torpedoes.  I think this means that they're making the torps fire like skillshots from a MOBA, and having them go on cooldown after being fired, which makes a fair amount of sense.  The big thing here to note is that if most of the attacks are hitting, but not all of them, then that means there's a hit modifier right?  If that's the case, then that makes Eldar Holo-fields really easy to do.  Attacks will simply miss more against ships utilizing Holo-fields, which is both consistent with the fluff and translates easily into the engine.  Whether or not this is actually good for gameplay is another issue.  If something like hit chance is in the game, what about criticals?  What if the RNG gods are cruel and you lose a Void Stalker based on bad RNG?  Surely that's bound to happen to everyone once in a while, but as long as its done tastefully and not consistently frustrating then it's OK.
  • Right now, we are unsure how the damage formula for the ships are.  I'm assuming that ship weapons systems are doing set damage values every X amount of seconds (multiplied by hit chance) vs. Y amount of health using Z% of damage reduction due to armor.  This means that the damage system is a very easy to understand DPS vs. damage reduction formula being used with Torpedoes every 60 seconds or until the Reload Order is being used or something.
  • Speaking of Orders, I'm not sure if there's going to be all the Orders in BFG, but there will be some well-known ones.  I think I saw All Ahead Full and Brace for Impact, but I don't know if any others exist.  From what I can see from the UI, it looks like every ship, or at least the important capital ships will have special abilities that maybe the captain will do.  For example, you might be able to select certain abilties on your captain as he levels up, and he will be able to apply that to any ship that he rides in.
  • Going off of that, it seems that you will be able to upgrade various parts of the ship as you progress in the game.  The designers specifically mentioned that you will be able upgrade nearly everything, from the weapons to the officers, to the engines, you know it.  I'm curious to see if this is only going to be a single-player mechanic, or is it going to be in multiplayer as well where you can purchase more worthwhile upgrades, but it will add a cost to your ship.
  • Before we go any further on this, I just wanted to say that no information has been released about how fighters/bombers are going to work.  Right now, we can only assume that there will be turret/defense interactions and fighters/bombers will be treated as mini units that can be launched from their carriers from a special action.  Once they unload, or fight, or what have you, they might need to reload back at their carriers before a Reload action is called so they can be sent out again.  This is all guesswork, but that's what I would do in an RTS game so why not?
  • This leads me to my last part of this brief analysis, and that's the cost association with the ships.  Since I only really care about multiplayer, it looks like you'll be able to set a game up with a certain amount of points kind of like Total War, and then buy ships as long as you have enough points.  After that, you start the game, deploy in a line, setup whatever formation you want and go to town.  Makes sense, and looks really straight forward.

Needless to say, I'm really excited about the game.  Just by looking at this brief gameplay video, it looks like the developers over there know what they're doing.  I feel a little better now.
Ipinaskil ni sa 7:31 AM 0 (mga) komento
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Sabado, Abril 18, 2015
LOL Eldar, is this real?

LOL Eldar, is this real?

D everywhere.

Have you read all the Eldar rumors?  Good, because they are no longer rumors.

http://bloodofkittens.com/blog/2015/04/17/rumor-it-eldar-craftworld-codex-about/

I'm on Warseer right now following the guy with the book.

This game has just jumped the shark, really.  I don't think I want to commit any more funds into this game for a while.  Thanks for the good times though.
Ipinaskil ni sa 2:34 AM 0 (mga) komento
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Sabado, Marso 14, 2015
DE: Army lists and playstyles

DE: Army lists and playstyles

I'd shit myself too if I was that Guardsman on the left.

The Dark Eldar book has been out for a good long time now and I think we can examine what kind playstyles DE players have been adhering to.  While there's going go be a certain degree of overlap and a lot of unit mixing, for the most part we're looking at 3 distinct modes of play.

What are those modes?

Overwhelming Force
Most commonly found in the Realspace Raiders detachment (RSR) with tons of little units running around.  Unmanned Raiders/Venoms, 3x Heatlance Reavers with Caltrops, scattered elements of Warriors in Venoms/Raiders for core choices, and either Ravagers or Scourges for anti-tank support.  This type of play is hyper-aggressive since you'll see tons of jetbikes on the table, and with Skilled Rider, Jinks and assaults, the S6 Rending HoW hits can cause serious issues for enemy armor on the other side of the table.  With so many units to shoot at, which ones do you prioritize?  Surely the fast moving assault units right?  But what about the other units sporting lances and poison that are blasting away at my army?  The real strength of these type of lists come from overwhelming the opponent in every way, shape and form.  You overwhelm them with target priority, perceived threat, and the fact that each unit killed is not a huge loss in the grand scheme of things.

The downside to this kind of play is that you have limited durability and no centralized firepower.  You need every bit that you can squeeze out of your list to maximize its damage potential and if you lose too many pieces (because your stuff is fragile) too quickly, then things start to come apart quickly.  It can quickly snowball out of control.  One of the main limitations are also in the form of Reaver Jetbikes.  S6 Rending HoW is great, a Heat Lance can be great, but what if you're fighting large objects with good armor saves and simply don't care because they have the wounds to shrug it off?  What about FMCs that have been plaguing the meta and other units of extreme durability?  This forces the whole unstoppable force vs. immovable object scenario but in this particular case, the unstoppable force is also quite fragile.

Extreme Durability
The Haemonculus boys know what I'm talking about here.  You will see a lot of meat on the table with high toughness, multiple wounds, FNP and other ridiculous shenanigans that screams: Are you really playing Dark Eldar?  I've always viewed the Haemonculi style of play to be completely opposite to what Dark Eldar is typically aiming to achieve and that's exactly what happens here.  You run the Coven formations here with Grostesqurie, Dark Artisan and other Grot-based deathstars and you play mainly for mission objectives.  While most Dark Eldar armies lose effectiveness over time, meat mountains excel at attrition and playing mission objectives because most armies these days are not prepared for it.  You will not break, you are not easily assaulted, and it's extremely difficult to remove you from a point you're determined to stay on.  When you factor in the fact that you still have powerful shooting solutions in the form of lances and poison, you have a very solid army that can dish out damage and hold objectives at the same time.  This is a rarity in the Dark Eldar army.

So what is the downside really?  It really does seem like the best of both worlds right?  The problem with really meaty units that run Grots/Talos/Chronos is that they're slow.  They can take a lot of damage before they go down, but they take forever to transverse the battlefield and most of the time, cannot bring their full damage potential to bear.  You need maneuverability in order to deliver side shots or take advantage of opportune targets, and most of the Coven's expensive units simply don't have that.  They have to rely on other DE components to fill that void and once those options are expended, they have to play the objective game close to home or they lose.  They do not have the options to get across the battlefield and secure multiple points in the later parts of the game.

Supreme Firepower
Most of the lists that I build fit in this category.  The goal of this style of army is to just put an enormous amount of firepower down range in the form of poison and lances.  When your enemies close in, that's when your firepower increases dramatically because you're able to fully utilize your gunboats, blasters and splinter racks to skyrocket your damage output.  The design of the list is really quite simple:  Take a lot of poison and lance shooting and put everyone in vehicles to keep everything mechanized.  This allows you to move around the battlefield and pour out damage from all directions.  One of the greatest boons of this army is that everything is open-top.  This means that all your shooting platforms can Jink while the units inside can fire to full effect.  You will also be able to greatly conserve the amount of firepower you put out since the damage will be done in surgical doses.  An example of this would be popping a transport with a Raider while the warriors inside unload on the passengers.  Likewise, a blaster from a leftover warrior squad will still be able to pop a Land Raider so you can dedicate your Ravagers elsewhere.  Since the damage throughout the army is distributed quite evenly, the cheapest unit you field still has the potential to destroy the mightiest vehicle.  That's what makes this army truly terrifying:  It's fully mechanized, moves around the battlefield with ease, and puts out a ridiculous amount of firepower at all range bands.

Despite the huge amount of firepower this army puts out, it's still susceptible to a number of weaknesses.  There are absolutely no melee components in this army so its very vulnerable to being assaulted from sources that can't be easily killed via shooting.  If someone gets close to the boats, it's almost a sure thing it's going to get punched out of the air.  Outside of the transports that keep the warriors afloat, the entire army is wearing T3 5+ and highly vulnerable to vehicles exploding.  There is absolutely no durability to this army outside the transports.  For this reason, this list design epitomizes the meaning of glass cannon because while it hits really hard, it has no staying power.  It either wins really big, or slowly gets destroyed.  If you can't kill something by shooting it, you most likely won't have any other answers.
Ipinaskil ni sa 9:06 AM 0 (mga) komento
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Biyernes, Marso 13, 2015
DE: Maximizing that firepower

DE: Maximizing that firepower

When life throws you lemons.. wait for it..

As most of you know, I run a very shooty version of Kabal-only Dark Eldar and have been playing roughly the same for years.  Just recently, I made some revisions to my pure Dark Eldar army and I'm pretty satisfied with the results.  I cut down the total number of Venoms to 2 since I only really need them to drop an Quad-gun in one round of shooting, or to put pressure on minor units hanging out in cover.  I never really liked taking too many Venoms because I'm a lance-heavy player at heart.  They're just such a better weapon in most cases despite what other people think of them.

The key changes to the list comes mainly in the form of re-distributing points.  I dropped my WWP Archon for more firepower on the table and greater perceived threat overall.  This allowed me to fit in another Trueborn unit with some minor points adjustments while greatly increasing my overall number of Dark Lances.  The extra unit also gives me two pseudo Ravagers and often times people get confused which one to concentrate on.  Hint: You're probably closer to the Trueborn Raiders and they don't care if I Jink.

So what do we have now?  We have this masterpiece of deathly delight:

1850
DE CAD*

HQ:
Llama = 10

TROOP:
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance = 115
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance = 115
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance = 115
10x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/SR = 170
10x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/SR = 170
10x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/SR = 170

ELITE:
5x Trueborn, 3x Blaster, Venom SC = 165
5x Trueborn, 3x Blaster, Venom SC = 165

FAST:
Razorwing, Lances = 140
Razorwing, Lances = 140

HEAVY:
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125

Firepower Analysis:
  • Opening salvo sees 24 Poison shots and 15 Dark Lances from 36-48".
  • Secondary salvo within 18" Blaster range brings my total number of lances to a ridiculous 31 if both Razorwings decide to come on.  The Razorwings also gives me 8 S6 AP5 large blasts to take care of enemy infantry, or some airborne lances to force some FMC jinks/grounding tests.  At this range, the Warriors inside the vehicles can also add their firepower, for 27 twin-linked Poison shots with the help of Splinter Racks.  Otherwise, we add a few more Poison shots from the Trueborn and smaller unit of Warriors.
  • Tertiary salvo within Rapid Fire gets pretty ridiculous because 3 full gunboats with Splinter Racks puts out 54 twin-linked shots by themselves.  By this point in the game, if 31 lances and all that Poison can't kill the opposing army, then we have bigger problems to worry about.

The fact that this list can bring 31 lances makes my Archon heart smile like you wouldn't believe.  Another option was to drop one of the Trueborn units for another Razorwing, but I don't like the idea of keeping too much firepower off the table and relying on lucky rolls to bring them in.  This is why almost all my lists tend to look really similar.

..shoot more Dark Lances!
Ipinaskil ni sa 1:40 PM 0 (mga) komento
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Huwebes, Marso 12, 2015
40K: Designing a rules package

40K: Designing a rules package

Let's do this thing.

Updated: 3/12/15
Now looking for ways to break Imperial Guard! (or AM)

Can everyone access this?
https://drive.google.com/drive/#folders/0B7_TofINQVJafmRjQTI2SkFTaTRZREo2eHVHRjFBUXUwMFV1R3VYWkVoeUh2TUhiQzNfbkE

Hey guys,

I want to reach out to you on a community project.  Are you familiar with how ETC is done for Warhammer Fantasy? It's a very intuitive rules packet that aims to promote game balance while still allowing players to take powerful options in their book.

I've been developing something similar for 40K (geared for 1v1, championship format), in the attempt to get better quality games in instead of playing the rock-paper-scissors style of play in tournaments. I am already in touch with several community leaders with large connections to the competitive blogosphere and I would like to turn this rules package into something that's designed for the competitive gamer. I have already reached out to Reece from Frontline Gaming, Kirby from 3++, Larry on BoLS, and several contacts managing Adepticon and east coast majors that I have been involved in in the past.

You might not know my gaming history, but I've been playing GW games for 14 years. I have a ton of competitive tourney experience, including competing in majors on the east coast, and now work in the computer game industry. I'm a competitive RTS player, ex-pro CS player, former balance designer (for said RTS games), and enjoy doing multiplayer balance-related projects on the side.

Just some food for thought before you begin on this journey with me. The design goals for this document is as follows:
  • You can still take the good stuff, but in moderation.
  • We're out to limit powerful armies and combos, but not outright ban them.
  • The idea here is to promote equality among all armies in the game.

You might think this is impossible to do because 40K has a billion supplements, data sheets, formations and whatnot, but this is a fallacy.  Warhammer 40K might be more expansive than WHFB, but it is not more complex.  Its rules are much simpler, the units are more streamlined, the combos are more defined, and most importantly, is less random.  I think we should give it a shot, I know I need all the help I can get because there's just so much out there!

Anyways, this project is supposed to be something fun, as well as challenging and I would like to get your input. Let me know what you think, and please, break it as much as you can. This is just a preliminary draft to showcase what the rules package is designed to do.  Maybe at the end of this all, this won't be a competitive rules package and will be instead, a fairplay one.
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Martes, Marso 10, 2015
DE: Trying out the Solatire

DE: Trying out the Solatire

I'm just too cool for school.

Even though the Solitare is not the most cost-effective unit in the codex, he's by far the coolest.  Let's take a look at his stats really quick and see what he has to offer to the battle.

First thing's first, the guy is 145 points so he's not really cheap nor expendable.  For the same amount of points, you can buy yourself 2x Starweavers which is 4 HP worth of AV10 that comes with 12 S6 Shuriken Cannon shots.  That's probably the best direct comparison because you'll see in the list below, that's exactly where I'm cutting points from.

The second thing to note is his beastly ass combat stats, minus the fact he's still a T3 3W model with only a 3++ save.  He's WS9 S3/4 on the charge due to Furious Charge, I10 and 6 attacks base.  Since he's packing both Caress and Kiss, he technically has 8 attacks on the charge.  Once a game, he can Blitz for 12 attacks on the charge and move D6xTurn Number worth of movement.  This might not seem like much, but he can potentially move up to 24" on Turn 4 to punch someone off an objective, or he can move 4" because you rolled like ass.  Personally, I'm not banking on the movement too much since his 12" natural move is enough to get the job done in most cases.  Most of the time, you really want to Blitz for the extra attacks since Harlequin's Caress can do some serious work if you roll enough 6s.

For those folks that don't know what caress and kiss does, it's really quite simple.  Caress is basically old school Rending where if you roll a 6 to Hit, you automatically wound at AP2 and against vehicles, causes a Glancing Hit.  Kiss is a separate attack made by the Harlequin in which it's automatically resolved at S6 AP2 with a chance for Instant Death on a 6 to Wound, but first you gotta hit.  Overall not all that bad, but the crux of the problem here is that he's going to be very dice dependent if he really wants to take down 2+ armor save targets.  That's why you probably shouldn't throw him into anything too tough, especially since if the opponent rolls hot and forces enough wounds onto you, you're going to die.  I would stick to killing Lictors or making Devastator teams cry.

As for upgrades, I would keep this dude dirt cheap, either stock or running with a solo Haywire Grenade.  Ideally, he never wants to engage vehicles and would rather hunt smaller prey, but occasionally you might need to force that extra hull point damage through and the Solitare can do that if he has Haywires.  This brings him to an even 150, still a little expensive for what he can do on the table but I'll take it anyway.

So how do you run him exactly?  I would definitely consider the standard Masque detachment or The Heroes' Path formation.  Masque's Rising Crescendo makes it so you can Run and Charge in the same turn, which increases the overall threat range of your assault by a significant margin (especially when you have Fleet re-rolls).  The Heroes' Path formation gives your Solitare Infiltrate (important), Stealth and Shrouded, but the downside is that you have to take the Shadowseer and Deathjester as well, essentially paying 120 tax if you only want the Solitare.  You can view this as either an offensive buff for your solo assassin, or a defensive buff for more survivability.  Either way, if he gets caught in the open, he's going to die to any decent shooting so it doesn't really matter.

I would play him very, very carefully and use him primarily as a defensive striker.  Use every single line of sight blocker as you can and keep him out of sight until he's ready to strike.  Since he can ignore all forms of terrain, you really have to use that to your advantage since he's a man-sized model and incredibly easy to hide.  He also has Deep Strike so it might be worth keeping him in reserve and running out of line of sight the turn he comes down, but that's also really risky.  Play with his 22.5" threat range under Rising Crescendo and punish anything that gets too close as a melee threat.  Hopefully whatever you assault will be WS4 or under, thus needing 5s to hit your dude and drastically reduce the amount of wounds he'll be taking in return.  The less saves he has to roll the better the chances he's going to live and fight another day.

They see my rollin', they hatin'..

Alright, now here's the list I plan on messing around with:

1850
Darkquin Duck

DE CAD*
HQ:
Llama = 10

TROOP:
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider, Lance = 115
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider, Lance = 115
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider, Lance = 115
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider, Lance = 115

FAST:
Razorwing, Lances = 140
Razorwing, Lances = 140

HEAVY:
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125

Masque Detachment*
TROOP:
5x Troupe, Starweaver = 165
5x Troupe = 95
5x Troupe = 95

FAST:
Starweaver = 70
Starweaver = 70

ELITE:
Solitare, Haywire = 150

HEAVY:
Voidreaver, Prismatic = 80

I start off the game by throwing lances, but now I understand that my overall firepower is less because I have the Solitare in the army.  No worries, I still win based on style points and I have great confidence that I'm going to caress and kiss my opponent's army to death.
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Lunes, Marso 9, 2015
DE: Solving the Harlequin problem

DE: Solving the Harlequin problem

I bet that stings a little.

For the last couple of days, I've been thinking pretty hard on how to best capitalize the Harlequin book.  If you guys read my last review, you'll know that I don't think the Harlequin book is good enough to be super competitive.  Don't get me wrong when I say super competitive, I just don't think it can hang out on top with the rest of the crap we're seeing in the tournament scene right now.  What lists are those specifically?  Let's take a quick gander..

  • Adamantium Lance - Trio Imperial Knights
  • Tyranid FMC - 5x Dakka Flyrants
  • Chaos Flying Circus - Flying Demon Princes with Biomancy
  • Mechdar - Wave Serpent spam with or without Wraithknights
  • IG Leafblowers - Standard IG carpark with or without allies
  • Tau Leafblowers - Riptides, Broadsides behind ADL
  • Deathstars - Draigo with Centurians, WWP Fortune Wraithguard
  • Tyranid Assassins - Built to overwhelm Serpent spam
  • Eldar Lynx - Designed to destroy Invisibility Deathstars with Pulsars (ITC ruling)
  • Necron Decurion - They don't die, you die instead

That pretty much sums up the super competitive meta right now, and let's just say that poor Dark Eldar and Harlequins will not be joining those ranks any time soon.  Harlies might be able to add a few things to the Eldar Deathstar with their Shadowseer, but I don't think they have anything to make a big impact meta-wise in terms of raw combat effectiveness.  The big daddy of the codex is definitely the Solatire, and he's just a T3 3W model that's completely dependent on CC to make his points back.  While the Starweaver is a pretty solid buy at 70 points, the 24" Shuriken Cannon is just not reliable enough to keep a AV10 open-top vehicle safe throughout the course of a competitive game.  I mean, if the Venom can't survive on the table for more than a couple of turns dodging through buildings and shooting from cover thanks to its 36" cannons, what makes you think a shorter-range clown mobile is going to fare better?

The only thing we can do right now is maximize on what the Harlequin codex does well, and that's spamming a ton of S6 shooting.  When we look at the Starweaver, it's only 5 points more than the Venom but adds a ton more battlefield application despite its rather subpar range.  Keep in mind what I said before about the competitiveness that is Dark Eldar and Harlequins in general.  At best, I see these armies fighting in the competitive mid-tier because the army itself does not have the sustain needed to carry through a longer game.  So what does that mean exactly?  It means that if you're playing an optimized DE list and you're a seasoned general yourself, you will do well as long as you're not being matched up with top-tier tourney lists.  Everything else should be fair game as long as you're facing powerful elements, but in moderation.

Looking at the Dark Eldar/Harlequin mix, you can clearly see one major flaw here:  You're complementing your glass hammer tactics with even more glass hammer.  So I guess in that sense, you've upgraded yourself from wine glasses to stained glass.  The major shift in playstyle for the experienced Dark Eldar player will be this:  S6 over Poison, 24" and not 36".  You trade a much more powerful shooting solution for less range, which directly means that you're going to be more exposed when you shoot.  This also means that battlefield terrain needs to be favorable, or else its going to be a bigger turkey shoot than what you're normally used to.

So what does an optimized list look like?  Well, I'm hoping it looks something like this:

1850
Dark Harlequins

DE CAD*

HQ:
Llama = 10

TROOP:
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider/AS, Lance = 120
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider/AS, Lance = 120
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider/AS, Lance = 120
5x Warriors, Blaster (in Starweaver) = 55
5x Warriors, Blaster (in Starweaver) = 55

FAST:
Razorwing, Lances = 140
Razorwing, Lances = 140

HEAVY:
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125

Masque Detachment*

TROOP:
5x Troupe, Starweaver = 165
5x Troupe, Starweaver = 165
5x Troupe, Starweaver = 165

FAST:
Starweaver = 70
Starweaver = 70

HEAVY:
Voidreaver, Prismatic = 80

The idea behind this list is to shoot a lot of S6 while keeping as many lances in the army as possible.  Just like the rest of my DE lists, I focus on shooting and rely heavily on range band and firepower analysis.  Study the range of your weapons, look at the power that each of those weapons put out, and they lay it all on paper so you can see just how much firepower you truly have.

A typical analysis looks like this:
At full strength, the opening volley looks like 12 Dark Lances from 36" and 33 S6 Shuriken Cannon shots from 24".  If you extend (move forward), the maximum threat range is 48" and 36" respectfully. Should the enemy not close, and you don't want to expose your Starweavers, you're basically playing with 12 lances.  If you close with the enemy, you will add +5 Blasters at 18" from the Starweavers and Raiders, and if both of your Razorwings fly in, you will potentially have +4 more lances.  Throughout all of this, the Voidreaver will be putting out 3 S6 shots and more likely a S7 AP2 lance as well, but once again, the range will be limited to 24".  As your units die, so does the maximum firepower that your army can produce, so you'll see your max lance count drop from 21 to god knows how many depending on what is killed.  It's important you make a mental note of exactly how many lances you lose and from what range so you can better prepare battlefield tactics and make changes on the fly.  Each Starweaver killed for example, will cost you 6 S6 shots, so this is super important you know what kind of condition your army will be in as you move past the turns.

When you compare this to a similar DE list running Venoms, the biggest difference is obviously the the range and the Poison.  Vs. T4 and greater, you're going to be forcing a consistent ~4 wounds from much greater range.  This is one of the strongest attributes that Venoms have, especially when you consider the fact that they're dirt cheap, even with 5 guys inside totting a Blaster.  Unfortunately, the Venom is also a very polarizing unit:  It does absolutely nothing vs. vehicles so they're completely dead points if things are armored.  This is where the Starweaver comes in, especially against the AV11 range.  AV12 is still very much a stretch and AV13 is out of the question of course.  When you look at the matchups from the top-tier competitive lists, you'll see that Starweavers over Venoms will do better vs. all mech-related matchups minus 3x Imperial Knights, but will be slightly weaker vs. FMC spam.  The math here points in favor of the Venom for the raw amount of wounds it can inflict, but lucky 6s for AP2 can seriously hamper a Flyrant's plans in a hurry.  After you study the matchups a little more closely, you'll see that you'll do better vs. some armies, but a lot worse vs. others (such as range problems vs. Tau, and T8 Wraithknights).

While I don't think the power will change too drastically for DE/Harlies, I know that it will change the playstyle and dynamic of the army.  You will suddenly be able to threaten vehicles you normally wouldn't be able to hurt, and inflict AP2 wounds out of the blue, the latter being rare and thus, unpredictable.  At least you can sleep at night knowing that the Solatire finally has a use, and that's to punch Deathleaper and his Lictors in the face.
Ipinaskil ni sa 12:09 PM 0 (mga) komento
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Sabado, Marso 7, 2015
Codex Review: Harlequins

Codex Review: Harlequins

Beauty and death.

Alright guys, it's finally here.  Sorry it took so long for me to get my hands on the codex and by now, most of you have read your reviews from somewhere else.  No worries, hopefully this post will give you guys another perspective from a more competitive point of view.

Before I start, I just wanted to say that this is my favorite codex to date in terms of art.  It's absolutely beautiful, and most of the art in here I have never seen before.  If you're a fan of Eldar or Harlequins or maybe even art in general, I would pick this up just to keep it on the shelf.  While the fluff is pretty cool as well, there's nothing to date that matches the level of art presented in this book.  It's really just that cool.

OK, now that the sappy stuff is out of the way, let's talk about the book and what it offers.  First and foremost, I will say immediately that the book is not really competitive.  It has some strong, competitive options, but the formations and detachments presented limits the book's capability by a lot.  Let's explore this further.

Units

Troupe - These guys are expensive no matter how you slice it.  They're close combat experts and sport a healthy number of attacks on the charge with Furious Charge, but they're still T3 5++.  By now, we've accepted the fact that stats like those get you nowhere in a competitive environment.  This is further compounded by the fact that if you want to take some of the fancier toys like Neuro Disruptors or Fusion Pistols, you're going to adding a ton of points to an already expensive unit.  Math puts these guys at roughly 19ppm for the 4 players and the Troupe Master, while every additional CC option makes them even more expensive.  Unfortunately, this is the crux of the problem with the codex; you're spending 95 points for a min squad of these guys and they're pretty much mandatory all around.  When you consider that they're 95 points for 6 wounds, it almost makes me want to take a full unit of Wyches.  At least then I'll know that not all of them will die to a blown-up transport.  The only plus side is that they can take Starweavers are dedicated transports, but more on that later.

Death Jester - For 60 points, you get an IC that acts as another Shuriken Cannon at BS5.  On top of that, they have Precision Shots and a special rule that allows them to kill a model, force a Morale check at -2, and have the poor guys run towards anywhere you like.  While this is really cool, you're still banking on a leadership test for the cool results.  The main reason I would take this guy is for the BS5 Shuriken Cannon, that is really important because you can buy multiples of these guys, attach them to the 5-man units of Troupes, and have them ride in a Starweaver because their capacity is 6.  This makes the unit really shooty, but also really expensive.  Just know that this guy dies to a swift breeze and even in cover, he's still going to die to Ignore Cover.  For perspective sakes, the Starweaver is an AV10 vehicle that shoots double the amount of S6 and costs 10 points more.

Shadowseer - Next on the list is the Shadowseer.  You're pretty much only taking these guys for two reasons:  If you're comfortable being out of a transport (WWP Wraithguard deathstar anyone?) to cast most of his spells, or if you're looking to do some leadership shenanigans with Dark Eldar/Eldar.  I won't get into it too much here, but by now you guys have probably seen all kinds of posts on the interwebs about their perceived power.  Let me tell you one thing:  This is a trap.  You first need the Shadowseer, and then buy an extra level to bring him up to Mastery Level 2, and then need to roll the right powers, and then bring him close enough to the enemy, and then pass the psychic test..etc, you get the point.   This is what I like to call the "stars align"  scenario and that's just way too many variables to plan a strategy around.  There is a lot of points being invested here and I think that's a huge trap for a lot of players.  If you want to maximize on the codex, you will do better ignoring these guys entirely and just go for more shooting.  After all, Eldar should be shooting from their vehicles because that's what they're good at.

Solitare - The big daddy of the codex and you can only take one in the army because he's unique.  What you truly need to understand here is that he's 145 points for a T3 model with 3 wounds.  Sure, he has Eternal Warrior and a 3++ save, but I really want the 145 points, T3, 3 wounds thing to sink in real deep.  He has some pretty cool rules such as his 12" move without giving a shit, 8 attacks on the charge and Blitz, but he's really just a dedicated CC unit that cannot join units and can be lit up by shooting.  This is a really shooty-heavy edition and everything on the battlefield poses a threat for a Solitare.  My best advice to you is that if you want a cool unit to play with, take this guy and use every line of sight blocker you can to navigate the battlefield until you have a good target to charge.  While the caress and kiss might sound cool, just know that you're still looking for hot dice to get any real damage out of him because he's still S3 base/4 on the charge.  That's just not impressive at all.

Skyweaver - At 50ppm and comes standard in a unit of 2, these guys are not bad.  They still have Eldar Jetbike movement and have a natural armor of 4+ and 2W a piece, but the fact that they come with Shuriken Cannons is what you take them for.  You threaten 36" a turn and a unit of 3 (which is the number I recommend) puts out 9 S6 shots a turn with a possibility of AP2.  Ideally, you can pop out of cover, deliver a hail of fire and then get back into cover.  Hopefully with Mirage Launchers, you can keep some of these guys alive long enough to do some damage on the battlefield.  With regular Harlequin stats, you can also give them Zephyrglaives for close combat, but I would keep them with Star Bolas because 12" S6 AP2 Blast is a very scary tool against some armies.  Sure, you can only use them once, but you'll see a lot of dead MEQ if you use these properly.

Starweaver - My favorite thing in the entire book.  They're basically the same thing as a Venom except they come with 2 Shuriken Cannons and Mirage Launchers.  The Open-topped and 6-model capacity is huge because this allows Death Jesters to join them for another BS5 Shuriken Cannon, potentially putting out 9 S6 shots a turn from a single firing platform.  Keep in mind that you can take these guys by themselves, and for 70 points, they're simply great to have in your list because multiple S6 shots gives you a lot of battlefield application.  Best of all, both of its guns are forward-facing.

Voidweaver - Not my cup of tea mainly because it looks utterly stupid.  I would immediately drop the Haywire and look at the Prismatic Cannon because I think it has greater battlefield application.  S7 AP2 Lance is not all that bad, but the S5 AP3 Blast a very attractive option at punishing clumped MEQ.  Even the S3 AP4 Large Blast can be pretty good too against GEQ mainly because of the AP4, and at 80 points with the suggested loadout, I can't say it's a bad unit.  The aft Shuriken Cannon can shoot at another target, but I really feel like it's wasted because of the positioning.  To make matters even more complex, you can take these guys in squadrons of 3, but I wouldn't buy more than 1 because of the negatives I pointed out above.  It has no transport capacity either.

Alright, so I said the units overall weren't so bad, so what am I complaining about exactly?  Well, for one, I see the mandatory Troupes as a tax for the rest of the good stuff.  At 95 per unit, they're not exactly cheap, especially when you consider Dire Avengers are only 65.  Skyweavers jetbikes are Fast Attack and so are the Starweavers which poses a big problem for me because I needed them to be troops.  The typical detachment wants 3 Troops, 2 Fast and 1 Heavy which means you have to spend at least 285 points on Troupes which I would rather not.  However, you can buy Starweavers as dedicated transports for the chaff Troupes so you have 165 points for 5 T3 5++ dudes inside a S6 shooting solution with 2 HP.  For perspective sakes, a unit of 5 Warriors with a Blaster inside a dual Splinter Cannon Venom is 120 points.  Different strokes for different folks, but I want you guys to realize what you're paying for here.

In terms of raw competitiveness, I see the Starweaver, Skyweaver and Deathjester as the winners of this book.  Everything else falls behind sadly with the Shadowseer and Troupe tax in dead last.

Style and grace.

Formations

The biggest limitation in this book is its creative freedom when it comes to list building.  Since you're forced to either take the fixed Masque detachment or some of the multiple formations in this book, you're basically shit out of luck when it comes to building a competitive list.  While you can do something like Unbound, I think most competitive lists want the flexibility of having Objsec for more tactical use.  The lack of an HQ also means that you cannot take these guys as allies since they don't follow the regular allies chart, and you're looking at a hefty points investment if you follow even the most simplistic of formations.  In fact, I wouldn't even look at bulking up the detachment and immediately focus on the formations because they provide some decent options out there.

Out of all the formations here, a few of them caught my eye.  The default Masque detachment is not bad, but the mandatory troop choices are what really kills it for me.  Ideally, I would want 3x Troupes inside Starweavers, 2 additional Starweavers, and a mandatory stupid Voidweaver.  That brings me up to 715 points for the lot, and I have 7 additional Elite slots to buy Deathjesters for all of them if I want.  Let's pretend I'm insane and buy Deathjesters for every Starweaver, and all of a sudden I have 1015 points of Harlequins on the field.  What does this do?  Well, it puts out 48 S6 shots a turn, 15 of which are BS5 and can shoot at separate targets that can potentially force an exposed army to run out of cover and into the Voidweaver's S5 AP3 blast.  Pretty exciting right?  Yes and no.  Yes in the fact that the firepower is respectable, but for the same amount of points spent at 715, you can take the same amount of points in Wave Serpents with an Autarch.  Are the two really comparable? Absolutely, because this is a game about points and that's the one variable you can truly control (list design).

The next ones that stick out to me is The Serpent's Brood and The Heroes' Path.  When I look at Serpent's Brood, I see everything that I think is competitive lumped up onto one formation.  You have the mandatory Troupe tax, but you have 3 Starweavers, a Voidweaver and 2 units of Skyweavers.  If you take 3x Jetbikes, you're looking at 875 with the suggested config and a Prismatic Cannon.  Not the cheapest of the lot, but you get the Skyweavers for additional shots and Eldar Jetbike movement.  Frankly, I would still go with the Starweaver spam in the Masque detachment as long as you keep things cheap.

Lastly, we have the Heroes' Path.  So you have the Death Jester, Shadowseer and Solitaire, but they can't join units, cannot join other characters, but gain Infiltrate, Shrouded and Stealth.  This is what you take on top of the Masque detachment, giving you a Solitare with Infiltrate, Shrouded and Stealth to increase his survivability while he makes his way to exposed enemy units.  The Deathjester needs to go into one of the empty Starweavers before he dies from Ignore Cover, and the poor Shadowseer needs to be kept back, kept cheap, and hopefully you can roll something good on Telepathy.  Why Telepathy?  You will at least be able to Witchfire from a Starweaver instead of having a useless Primaris because he can't join units.  Plus, Telepathy just has better support spells since the ones you really want (Shrouding, Invis) are both Blessings.  Remember, stay away from the leadership bombing bullshit.  It's a points trap, especially when you consider that the formation itself is already 265 points at its base.

Just for perspective, you know what I think 265 points for 3 guys can buy you instead?  Maybe +4 Venoms/Raiders in a RSR detachment, 2 Ravagers, 2 Razorwings, another full stock gunboat + more with blasters, 2 half-stock gunboats with blasters, a gunboat plus a WWP Archon, a Wraithknight, a unit of Fire Dragons in a WS, an almost full squad of Dire Avengers in WS, the list goes on and on.  While some of you might be getting irritated by my constant comparisons, I think it's much needed when it comes to competitive choices.

Poise and precision.

Conclusion

When it comes to synergy, you have to consider the points investment that you're going to commit to the army.  If you take the suggested Masque detachment, you're paying 715 points (3 Troupes in Starweavers, 2 empty Starweavers, 1 Voidweaver) for 33 S6 Shrukien Cannon shots from 6 AV10 Open-top vehicles with 2 HP a piece.  The Harlequins themselves are not really going to do anything except for hiding in cover, out of line of sight and play the scoring game.  Not being a normal force org means you can't load up on Starweavers and you're limited with how many you can take for Troop and Fast choices.

Like I said previously, the lack of list flexiblity is what's limiting this codex, not the actual units themselves.  Well, the Troupe tax is frustrating, but 165 points for 6 S6 shots is not bad.  It's just not as good as a unit of Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent with Scatter Laser for 185.  If both units inside are considered tax, you're still spending money on a more accurate shooting platform, with greater damage, much more durability, and tactical flexibility due to Ignore Cover.  Before you commit to this codex, and especially if you're looking to pair either Harlequins or Eldar to your Dark Eldar, I think the choice for better allies is painfully obvious.

So that's what I mean when I say the book is not really competitive.  There are just better options out there with all things considered, especially if you're looking to ally Harlequins with Eldar or Dark Eldar.  Dark Eldar would rather have Eldar allies because of reliable psychic and shooting, and Eldar would rather have more of its own units because it has the capacity to do so.  That makes the Harlequin codex the red-headed stepchild of the 3 Eldar choices sadly.

Play for the fluff, stay for the art, but keep these guys away from the tournament scene because there's better options out there.
Ipinaskil ni sa 5:34 AM 0 (mga) komento
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Biyernes, Pebrero 27, 2015
DE: A response to the spoiler army

DE: A response to the spoiler army

School's back in session.

Hey guys, I'm going to write a response to a post that I saw on The Dark City about the problems people have with the Dark Eldar codex.

Yes, as most of you know, I'm not a fan of the current book either.  Sure, it might not be the most powerful book out there, but what I really didn't like about it.  I was largely disappointed by the seemingly forced player options that pollute the entire book, and I felt that the book was largely uninspired and bland.  When people read one of my reviews on any given army book, one of the things I notice is that people think all too much on whether or not it will be competitive.  Yes, competition is hugely important to me and I want the book to be successful, but that's not why I look at book and shake my head.  As a player, I want to be able to take multiple choices that promote my options on the table-top.  The only way I'm going to feel good about this is if the points I'm investing in said unit is well-spent.  That's how you achieve value in a dice-game based around point restrictions.  You cannot change the outcome of poor dice rolls, but you can choose what kind of army you can make to mitigate your chances on losing.

So where does Dark Eldar fall compared to the other books?  That's a tough question because there's no number out there to describe them.  Dark Eldar, as some of the boys over at Frontline Gaming say, is a "spoiler army".  It's one of those armies that do so incredibly well against certain matchups because of their innate army design.  What are we talking about exactly?  Well, our ability to take long-ranged poisoned shooting attacks, and our ability to spam out a high value of lance attacks at seemingly dirt cheap.  With the 7th Ed. book, the only thing that the book did was make those things better (although at a few nerfs in other areas).  For the most part, you can now Venomspam to your heart's content, and with multiple CADs, you can now bring more lances than you ever need through the employment of multiple sets of Ravagers.  I didn't mention this before, but maybe that's one of the reasons GW decided to double nerf them both in points and with the loss of Aerial Assault?  Nah, that would be giving them too much credit.  Let's just say for now that some of the things in the book got invalidated (such as almost all CC, in an already shooting-dominant meta), and some things just got easier to spam.  Why else would empty Venoms be so readily available in the RSR detachment?

Now that we know what a spoiler army does, why isn't that a lance-heavy or poison heavy army do well in tournaments?  For one, over-exaggerated strengths come with great weaknesses.  Just like in any army that someone designs for a tournament, he plays for the mission package and all possible matchups that he will commonly face.  It just happens that the US have one of the most diverse metagames there is, mostly piloted by experienced generals.  Due to Dark Eldar's inherent strengths and tendencies to mass-produce cost-effective units, DE generals tend to build polarizing lists and rely on the dice gods for pairings.  This is largely because the more balanced approach is just not strong enough to face most adversaries on the table-top.

What does this mean exactly?  Well.. let's look at some Eldar builds for a second for matchup purposes.  Let's say you enter the 1850 event in the LVO with a lance-heavy DE build.  It should do OK vs. a WS/Dual WK build, but the effectiveness will drop dramatically depending on how many Wave Serpents he has.  To make things more complicated, if he's running a psyker-heavy build and you didn't splice in psychic yourself, Telepathy might throw the entire matchup into a deciding loss.  Now take the Venom-heavy build for Dark Eldar.  What does it do vs. WS/dual WK?  Kill the two WKs maybe and play the scenario or auto-lose.  Against a purely Mechdar list, you have about a 1% chance at winning vs. a competent player because Venoms are completely dead weight.  The vast majority of points spent will be target practice, which is one of the reasons DE players hate drawing Mech IG too.  They put out 4x the shots you do and pen you on the same amount you pen their stuff, but for half the points.  Sounds bad?  Is bad.  Anyways, let's say the if you pull a FMC Demons or Tyranid list with the Venom list, all of a sudden you're jumping for joy because that sings to the strengths of your army.  With a lance-heavy list, you may not do as well, but it's still possible to win the game if you play correctly.  In a big tournament like LVO where hundreds of people will be looking for that big win, it's eventually up to you to knock out that Tyranid FMC list so they don't face it later.  Likewise, you will be hoping you draw that and not the IG carpark.

This is why I say that Dark Eldar is difficult to place in a tournament setting.  If you min-max your lists as hard as I do, you will discover that too many lances or too many poison will cause extreme shifts in polarity; making certain matchups almost unwinnable.  I like having a fighting chance regardless of matchup, which is why I'm willing to take less Venoms for more lances because I feel that's where my army wants to be.  I can rely on gunboat re-rolls for shorter-range poison since it's more accurate, but at the same time, it's highly vulnerable to explosions, in which case MSU Venoms makes a better use of points.  More on balance later.

I'll say this right now, I don't think Dark Eldar can compete as a primary army in an arena as fierce as LVO.  Why?  Because we just don't have the tools or sustain to play in that type of arena.  We excel at damage, but as mentioned several times above, we shift too hard in either polarity.  It also doesn't help that I can count on one hand how many tournament-viable units we have from our book, but when people ask me about my Eldar, I can go on for hours.  This isn't any of our faults per se, but running DE as a primary army in a major event will have its consequences.  The first of these will be power polarity and designating yourself as a "spoiler" army, or trying for a more balanced approach and being outclassed by other armies.  Out of these two pretty sad options, players tend to look away and explore the third, more logical option (because the goal in tournaments is to win).  That third option is unlocked through the allies chart.  There's no hiding the fact that Eldar allies makes your list stronger; especially when the DE book can provide the poison/FMC protection while Eldar supplies the durability, anti-armor and other meta-specific counters (more answers exist in the Eldar book).  While both armies can put enemy armor to shame, Eldar can do it with longer-lasting units, and that's what you need in a good game between two experienced generals who can fully exploit eachother's weaknesses.

Do I agree that Dark Eldar is a "spoiler" army?  Yes I do.  It's their very design intent to be like that and it's largely due to the poison mechanic.  I personally don't like it because I think it forces us down that pre-determined spoiler path, but I also don't mind it because someone has to put Tyranid FMC spam in their place.  However, I will say that I'm not done with my Dark Eldar just yet.  My most recent pure DE list at 1850 puts out a healthy amount of poison and lance shots and it only gets worse the closer my opponents get.  For how to use this kind of pure DE list, read about it here.  I've really been enjoying it quite a lot, although I'm about to change it up big time vs. the Necron powerhouse players that's been plaguing my area.  That's when I bring out the Double CAD Lynx.

LVO Update:
Results from LVO, out of 256 some participants, the biggest major this year so far for 40K.
  • Highest placing DE is Rank 29, scored 45 battle points, running Dark Eldar with Eldar allies.
  • 2 people ran double CAD Dark Eldar, placing 101 and 165.
  • 6 people rank Dark Eldar/Eldar total
  • 2 people ran pure DE, came in 193 and 218.
  • There were only 2 Eldar players who took DE as secondary, one placing Rank 15, and he did so by just taking the WWP (shocker) + throwaway.
  • There were 30 Eldar players at the event.
  • There were only 10 Dark Eldar players at the event.  Only 2 placed in the top 100 (29 and 81).

Can't I'm surprised, none in the least.
Ipinaskil ni sa 1:16 PM 0 (mga) komento
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Huwebes, Pebrero 26, 2015
DE: Double CAD Lynx

DE: Double CAD Lynx

Time to serve up some Eldar justice.

Hey fellas, I've decided to make a list to combat the emerging Necron threat that's been plaguing my area. Have you guys seen the new book?  Some of their core mechanics seem absolutely bonkers.  Why is it that they never die and can re-roll to get up so many times?

I'm only building with the elements that I have available to me since I don't feel like buying additional models to make it happen.  The only thing I'm going to be custom building is that Farseer on Jetbike.  I need to get some of those new Harlequins masks man!

1850
15 KP

CAD #1
HQ:
Farseer, Jetbike, Spear, Mantle = 160

TROOP:
5x Dire Avengers, Holo/Scatter/SC = 210
5x Dire Avengers, Holo/Scatter/SC = 210

FAST:
Nightwing = 145

LOW:
Lynx, Scatter = 430

CAD #2
HQ:
Archon, Blaster, Haywire = 80

TROOP:
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS = 120
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS = 120

HEAVY:
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125

The Dark Eldar are there to supply the additional Lances while the Lynx + Telepathy Seer does the heavy lifting in the list.  With the Scatter Laser, I can make my Pulsar Twin-Linked for some serious 2x Strength D 5" templates of doom.

I'm not sure how this will play out since it's using MSU mechanics but with one big centralized target to deal the majority of the damage.  Someone brought up that I should think about a Skyshield Landing Pad for a 4++, but that defeats the notion that I'll be moving around everywhere with the Lynx and the Jetseer.

Thoughts? I'm very curious.
Ipinaskil ni sa 7:14 AM 0 (mga) komento
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Martes, Pebrero 24, 2015
BFG: Working on something big

BFG: Working on something big

40K lore and spaceships.. so good!

Hey guys, not much from me in the last couple of days and I can explain.  You probably know that I've been doing a lot of WHFB with my Skaven and Vampire Counts, but you probably don't know that I'm working on something on the side as well.  I've decided to bring back a game that I hold most dear but haven't gotten around to playing for quite some time.  That game is Battlefleet Gothic and I'm proud to say that I'm working on a houserules package for it.

What does this mean exactly?  It means that I'm doing a re-write.  Not a re-write in the sense that it's going to be a completely different game, but a re-write for this prehistoric game that will make it fresh, fast, modern, and exciting to play.  For now, I'm simply calling it BFG2.0.

Let me tell you right now what my design goals are with this pet-project of mine:
  • Modernize the old ruleset to match the current 40K system
  • Improve game speed and fluidity by cutting dated design
  • Introduce alternating player turns for more interactive gameplay
  • Utilize visual gaming aids to better track board status
  • Increase design space for future additions and game balance

No randomized leadership, no goofy random movement, no gunnery chart (gasp!), just simple, easy to understand rules that will maintain the strategic depth that is BFG.  Add in a few new things like Admiral Traits and a few balance alterations and you have yourself a pretty solid game.  Currently, I'm working on the Chaos fleet and I would like to get at least 4 factions in the game before I go public.  Right now I have Imperial, Chaos, Eldar and Orks (matching the upcoming video game).

I am definitely looking for playtesters for those of you who are interested!  Just drop me an E-mail and when I'm ready for the next phase, I'll let you guys know.
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