Monday, November 26, 2012

40K Eldar in 6th Edition

I am curious as to how people are feeling about Eldar in 6th Edition.  The models have always been some of the coolest there are if you like the fuffy elf thing (and I do).  Unlike some 4th Edition Codex's, it still wins tournaments in the right hands!

6th Edition changed a LOT.  As a very shooty army, the Eldar benefitted from those changes.  Unlike Tau, which have a built in inability to fight fisticuffs, the Eldar actually can do so fairly well.  It is no wonder that many people find the Eldar a lot easier to use than Tau if they like that type of army.

Below I have included a few notes on the Eldar and what I have seen of them.  Please add your own observations to the comments!

HQ
Avatar:  The fearless bubble is a bigger deal now and the Avatar is already a fantastic threat.  That bubble means so much to an army like Eldar, especially when playing Guardian Heavy.  The Wailing Doom is more terrifying, Avatar immunities really stand out in the new meta and its hella hard to take down.  For the price, it really is tough to argue with its stature amongst 40K HQ's.

Troops:
Precision shot (see my previous blog on that) has made the already good Pathfinders into very popular units as allies as well.  They have more punching power and range than their Guardian buddies; and they can take a beatting better.  Pathfinders have really risen from their position as the unit that "if you have the points left at the end" you'll take them.  The new Psyker powers make these scary.  Eldar players will find it a mistake to overload on them.  Still, 10 of them is a great investment.

The Eldar Jetbikes have also become a really fine choice as allies.  Their range and firepower is nice, but its their speed and what it can do for an army later in the game that propels them to a new and much more appreciated status.  The unit is solid in every way that matters.

Elites:
Wraithguard were a popular "flavor" pick for some armies but I really dont think they were as good in 5th Edition.  In 6th Edition, where they are speedier and more able to benefit from psykers and characters, these sometime liabilities are now very powerful.  Their toughness and the addition of a 2+ armor character really makes them about as scary as they always should have been.  They can blast anything in the game to smithereens and still charge, they no longer need a transport and you can take them in larger numbers with confidence and if you take 10, as most know, they are now eligible to be a Troops choice.  Of all the Elites, these ones really shine a lot more and present a serious problem for the enemy indeed.

Heavy Support: 
Barrages are now more terrifying and the Night Spinner which was a "kinda cool" option, but hardly worth investing in other than for cool points but now it seems really good!  Sniping with Barrages is nice and slowing units down has taken on way more importance than it used to, making even a near hit highly valuable to the Eldar forces.

In fact that same reason has really upgraded my thoughts about both the Tempest Launcher and the D-Cannons.  Here again, these units were always quite valuable, but to see their efficacy now is to marvel.  In particular the D-Cannon is a devastating defensive weapon.  Though hampered by range, it's potential is frightening to any unit in 40K.  The sniping aspect, here again, just adds to the craziness.

Fast Attack:  Reliability in the role the unit has is the key word. 
This is still the weaker part of the codex, and Warp Spiders are still kings within its fold, and none of the reasons for that seemed to have changed.

However, I have to say that the Swooping Hawks are way more interesting with reserves always on a 3+.  That reduces the "tax" for using them well to just one Autarch and as anti-tank goes, they are very good at their job and able to get to the artillery batteries that can be so burdensome.  While the unit still suffers its main downside (SLIGHTLY overcost'd in nearly everyones opinion), no unit in the army can do it quite as reliably.  With Biomancy, you have the potential to make these units into a much stronger choice as well, reducing enemy toughness scores and if you have doom to go with it...  Even their blasters can matter.

I doubt seriously that most will take the Swooping Hawks, but they have grown synergistically in usefulness and of course are fairly aesthetically pleasing anyways.

In General:
The Eldar don't seem to have gotten weaker on any fronts.  The Howling Banshees got worse due to defensive fire but other than them, there really isn't a unit you can point to that suffered terribly.

2 comments:

  1. It may interest you to know that when a unit is put in reserves from the table it enters ongoing reserves, which means it comes in automatically. The hawks do exactly this so it seems that they come in automatically ever turn after the first if you skyleap them on that first turn.

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  2. Yes, you are correct. However, if you are going first and the game ends, they end up off the table and therefore destroyed.

    It is very cool though. It means an Autarch can turn those Hawks into a seriously awesome unit if all you need them to do is drop their Grenade 5 times and shoot some random stuff while they are at it.

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