I've been thinking long and hard, and Vassaling long and hard, and doing anything else I can as long and hard as I can (I do love a bad double entendre!)...trying to decide between three choices for the army I want to commit to building and playing in 6th.
My choices? Dark Eldar, Daemons, or Orks!
Longtime readers know I've loved my Dark Eldar for several years now, well before the "new" codex came out. I even did half-way decent with them at the first Warstore Weekend (damn you for that draw, Jeff Omundson! I tease...it was a great game!) several years ago, and continuing to do well with them until I sort of lost steam in 40k this spring at Conflict!
But longertime readers may remember my first forays in to competitive 40k was with foot-slogging Orks with lots of tricks and distractions: Shadowklan!
And even longertime readers know that I'm a Chaos and Daemon fan from way back...my first army was Chaos back in the early 90s, when Daemons and their more mortal followers existed hand-in-hand on the tabletop like the happy chums they should be! With 6e, I saw a chance to use my beloved Daemon models in a new, fun, and exciting way that's worked really well including earning an invite to Feast of Blades (which I haven't actually gotten, by the way...)
So here I have three armies that I love, that I think are reasonably competitive, and a long, hard choice to make...
So in no particular order, what builds am I considering?
For Dark Eldar, I think the most competitive thing I can put together with what I have is a tweak to my Baron-led Reaver-heavy list adding in The Farseer Tax:
Baron Sathonyx
Farseer - Jetbike, Runes of Warding, 1 Divination power, Singing Spear
3 Trueborn - Venom, Blasters
3 Trueborn - Venom, Blasters
5 Warriors - Venom, Blaster
5 Warriors - Venom, Blaster
5 Warriors - Venom, Blaster
16 Hellions
3 Guardian Jetbikes
6 Reaver Jetbikes - 2 Heat Lances
6 Reaver Jetbikes - 2 Heat Lances
6 Reaver Jetbikes - 2 Heat Lances
and the Ubiquitous 3 Ravagers
This is very similar to the list I'd been running, trading in the Haemonculus and Wracks (which provided FNP and FC to the Hellions out of the box) for the Farseer (awesome Psy defense, and Prescience is no joke) and some gimpy Jetbikes.
I think this list is moderately competitive, I feel it's only really hard matchups are strong Mech IG and super-shooty GK. Sadly, those are two matchups I expect to see a lot of.
The Daemon list I used a few weeks ago is not horrible, and feel it matches up pretty well against shooty armies, even the mighty GK. The "Flying Circus" is not particularly killy, but it is pretty resilient, if, and this is the tricky part, I can get all the FMC swooping around Fateweaver.
Fateweaver
Lord of Change
3 Flamers
3 Flamers
3 Flamers
5 Horrors - Changeling
5 Horrors
5 Horrors
5 Horrors
6 Screamers
6 Screamers
5 Screamers
Daemon Prince - Wings, Mark of Tzeentch, Bolt of Tzeentch, Daemonic Gaze
Daemon Prince - Wings, Mark of Tzeentch, Bolt of Tzeentch, Daemonic Gaze
Gaze isn't my favorite, I'd probably consider dropping a Screamer and replacing Gaze with Breath. I love the concept of only being hit on 6s, then having a rerollable 4+ Invulnerable Save. If folks waste their time shooting at them, the Screamers and Flamers will eat them, and the Horrors are going unmolested. If they shoot at Horrors, the Screamers and FMC will eat them. Bad Choices, as is my motto.
I think if I get the first drop I want (all four MC and 2 Screamers), while the Horrors stay safely in reserve, and Flamers come in to clean up, I think this is a rock-hard list that I'd happily play against anyone.
Unfortunately, in a third of my games that won't happen. Moreover, in true Ordo Ineptus fashion, I will invariably scatter in to the worst possible locations. On those bad-drop games, I end up struggling to achieve a critical mass as my troops are shot off the table and I play catch-up and contest the rest of the game. Frustrating, not much fun, and not how I want to play. Still, I've pulled off a win against a solid GK player with exactly that situation, in no small part due to the high point value of the FMC able to win table quarters with ease.
So, overall, a quirky random list that CAN be very overpowering, but also CAN be completely ripped apart before it gets to do anything.
That brings me to Orks, my beloved Shadowklan! As an aside, I'm enough of a geek that I actually was involved in a Role-Playing group in an MMO (Dark Age of Camelot) that played the roll of evil little Kobolds...we ran around demanding tribute from people in our own language (which they invariably did not understand) then killed them when they did not give tribute, or sang, danced, and praised them if they did actually pay up...even the tiniest amount. This was some of my favorite MMO times, and I've proudly used their name for my Ork horde!
I used to run Nobs in a Trukk + Nob Bikers, several big Boy units, Snikrot, some scouting Buzzsaw Koptas, with a Biker Warboss to lead them all. This was very successful, as it had enough 'distraction' units that had to be dealt with that invariably something "got through" and caused havoc. I placed reasonably well in one of the first Battle for Salvation tournaments with this, but frankly I got tired of deploying, moving, then picking up all those damned models every game.
Still, I think 6e has only done favors to this style of army. Replacing the Trukk Nobs and Snikrot & his boyz with Lootas gives a solid force that seems to be pretty capable against any archetype I can think of:
Warboss - Warbike, Cybork Body, Attack Squig, Power Klaw, Kombi-Skorcha
10 Lootas
10 Lootas
10 Lootas
Aegis Defensive Line
7 Nob Bikers - Painboy, Cybork Bodies, Waaagh! Banner, 4 Power Klaws, 4 Kombi-Skorcha
29 Shoota Boyz - Nob with Powerklaw
29 Shoota Boyz - Nob with Powerklaw
29 Shoota Boyz - Nob with Powerklaw
11 Gretchin + Runtherd
10 Gretchin + Runtherd
Deffkopta - Buzzsaw
Deffkopta - Buzzsaw
This list has a lot of things I like: The Nob Bikers are extremely resilient (like the good old days!) thanks to their high T, good save/FNP, and LOS! fun. They hit hard, with both shooting and melee. The Gretchin walk on from reserve to claim objectives, freeing the big Boy mobz to go forward and do stuff. The Deffkoptas threaten vehicles, forcing the enemy to dedicate firepower at stupid little 60pt models. The Lootas (and this is my favorite part...) are at 10 models, so NOT fearless. This allows them to Go To Ground behind the Aegis for a 2+ save while still making Snapshots...particularly at enemy Fliers! Thanks for that idea, Keith!
The only bad matchup I've run in to is T6 spam Nids (interestingly, Nids have always been a problem for me with Orks: mental block, I guess). Folks that load up for anti-vehicle will be shooting melta at Boyz, which amuses me.
One thing about my Orky playstyle...I'm very anal about spreading out. I try to spread the full 2", giving me maximum protection from incoming Blast fire. If I do it right, Large Blasts and Templates only get 4 boyz...small Blasts get just 1. Is it a monstrous pain in the ass? Yeah, and it slows the game down, but it's outright required to be successful...can't be lazy, must protect the boyz!
Then there's the part I don't like: Deploying, Moving, and picking up 150 models! But, Keith gave me an idea there too...movement trays! He had some sheet metal trays decorated to look orky, with magnets in the Ork bases. This let him spread out fluidly while still being able to deploy and move in a rapid fashion. Wonderful!
So, which will it be?
I've done a fair amount of Vassal testing, and while all three lists seemed to do fairly well, I think the Orky one has the fewest bad matchups, so Shadowklan it is!
I've got some tweaking to do (converting Choppas to Shootas!), and have to paint about 40 guys, and make up movement trays, and I'm good to go! I'll start this in earnest this weekend, hopefully that Labor Day off will give me some painting time!
Any input greatly appreciated!
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