Yes, this post has taken a little while, however, since I opened the book to Fuegan's page to get some really deep impressions down, I have really been getting excited. I have always had a soft spot for one thing in particular in 40k. Hammer Units. With my Orks I ran 2 10 man squads of Nobz with Ghaz in one and a big ass Warboss in the other. With my Necrons I wanted to try a wave of Metal made up of enormous Warrior squads (that idea sucked). Even now with my Chaos Marines, I am running 2 squads with 35 attacks on the charge plus Daemon Weapons.
Fuegan awakened an avalanche of hammer possibilities, but more on that later. What does he actually do?
Friday, 28 June 2013
Monday, 24 June 2013
Eldar Analysis - Avatar of Khaine
The Avatar of Khaine was the first unit that I really ever loved for its awesomeness. The last Eldar Codex was the first one that I actually properly started getting into and after getting some Guardians and the Battleforce the Avatar was next, and whilst everything around him died he was a bedrock on which I could rely to kick the crap out of stuff.
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Eldar Analysis - Karandras
After taking a quick break to work at a Pub/Bar/Restaurant on Father's day and to attend a tournament, it's time to get back to regular scheduling. The layout for posts over the next few days will be the Avatar tomorrow, followed by the 3 remaining Pheonix Lords, before delving into the Independant Characters and the epicly long posts that they entail. Today though, we move on to probably the most talked about of the Pheonix Lords at the minute. Karandras.
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
Cry of the Wind Tournament Report - Game 3
As a one day tournament, we were into the last game, and there were 4 players left that could still win it. A Chaos Marine Nurgle player, with some Heldrakes. A Tau player with some Space Marine Allies, a Wraithwing player, slash, AV13 wall. And me. To be honest none of those match ups sounded terrible to me. The Heldrake player didn't have 3 of them so I was confident that I could deal with them (watch the YouTube battle reports a few posts back). I've been practicing against a lot of Tau, so I wasn't too afraid of them, and then the Wraithwing isn't a terrible match up for my army, although the AV13 may cause me a problem.
We were still playing Swiss system, so with me currently sat in second place it meant that I was playing the Wraithwing. The mission was Kill Points with Dawn of War Deployment (I would have preferred to have a Hammer and Anvil mission but it's fine).
We were still playing Swiss system, so with me currently sat in second place it meant that I was playing the Wraithwing. The mission was Kill Points with Dawn of War Deployment (I would have preferred to have a Hammer and Anvil mission but it's fine).
Monday, 17 June 2013
Cry of the Wind Tournament Report - Game 2
I spent the lunch break eating burritos with the friend that I went to the tournament with. He had just faced the Dark Eldar list that I really didn't want to face. The guy who was running it thought that facing my army wouldn't be as clear cut as I thought it would be, however I remember the last time I faced this kind of army, when I first met Nathan at Battlefield Birmingham (I was tabled turn 4). All the Dark Eldar player would have to do would be to kill my Long Fangs then sit at 36" range sipping tea and shooting things. In addition, we had both scored 9 points in our previous game, so I knew that a showdown was highly likely.
Luckily however, we were joint for 2nd place at the time, meaning that one of us would have to fight it out against a Wraithwing army on table 1. This meant that I would not be facing Dark Eldar this round. Instead, Space Wolves with Allies. Almost a mirror match, Vanguard Strike deployment, the Emperor's Will mission.
Luckily however, we were joint for 2nd place at the time, meaning that one of us would have to fight it out against a Wraithwing army on table 1. This meant that I would not be facing Dark Eldar this round. Instead, Space Wolves with Allies. Almost a mirror match, Vanguard Strike deployment, the Emperor's Will mission.
Sunday, 16 June 2013
Cry of the Wind Tournament Report - Game 1
There may have been a lack of posting over the last couple of days. The reason for this is that I attended a tournament yesterday, and went with a friend, so I spent the previous evening prepping and making sure everything was ready to go. Plus I was at the club getting some last minute practice in.
The tournament in question was the Cry of the Wind event at the Outpost in Sheffield, a gaming store with a good gaming space upstairs where they hold tournaments. Kind of like a mini-Maelstrom. The tournament itself was a 20 player event, at 1,750pts with pre-determined missions. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't get onto their website the evening before so had no real idea what I was doing. I was taking a variation of my GT list, I was a little more fluffy the last time I went which cost me when I actually discovered what everyone else was running so this time I went for hardcore. The list was as follows:
The tournament in question was the Cry of the Wind event at the Outpost in Sheffield, a gaming store with a good gaming space upstairs where they hold tournaments. Kind of like a mini-Maelstrom. The tournament itself was a 20 player event, at 1,750pts with pre-determined missions. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't get onto their website the evening before so had no real idea what I was doing. I was taking a variation of my GT list, I was a little more fluffy the last time I went which cost me when I actually discovered what everyone else was running so this time I went for hardcore. The list was as follows:
Friday, 14 June 2013
Eldar Analysis - Jain Zar
Special character number 5 please. A quick point before getting started though. After the 3rd Pheonix Lord I'm going to shuffle things up a bit and do the Avatar. This is because I realise that the Pheonix Lords aren't exactly the most interesting Special Characters in the game. I like them because I really like their back story (especially Maugan Ra, that guy is a boss), but they're not seen too often on the tabletop and so I'll sneak the Avatar in mid-way through. But on to Jain Zar.
In the last edition Jain Zar was the Pheonix Lord that I ran the most. Often I would struggle for HQ slots because I liked the Eldrad/Avatar combo but she was cheap and boy did she pack a punch. (Picture incoming).
In the new edition, she's gone up in points a little to make a nice round 200. She keeps the Pheonix Lord statline, identical to the one that Asurmen has, and so all that there really is to seperate her is Wargear and Special Rules. Oh is that all.
Special Rules first, as that really is where the least action is happening. As with Asurmen, she gets the Eldar special rules of Battle Focus and Ancient Doom, and the Pheonix Lord rules of Eternal Warrior, Fleet and Fearless. Of course she's also an Independent Character.
So what makes Jain Zar special. Well, first off she has an addition special rule entitled Acrobatic. It only works when she's by herself or in a unit of Banshees, however what it does is increase her and her unit's run move by 3", not bad. This can then be tied in with her Warlord Trait. It's not the best Warlord Trait in the book, however on Jain Zar it's not bad, as it increases her and her unit's (non exclusive) run move by a further inch. This means that in a unit consisting solely of Banshees she can run between 5 and 10", pretty quick, making for an 11"-16" movement per turn, add in their fleet and you're looking more to the 16" end.
Finally, she has her wargear. All of it is geared towards making her a close combat beast. First off you have her, 'Silent Death', which is both a Ranged Weapon and a close combat weapon. At range it's a S-user (4) AP2 Assault 4 Weapon fired at the BS of a Pheonix Lord. It's only 12" but it's still pretty deadly. In melee, you're probably never going to be using it as it's just a normal Strength AP2 close combat weapon (just!). This is because there's a better weapon on the table.
This is her Blade of Destruction, unfortunately it's no longer S7 (aw), and it follows the exact same profile as the Silent Death in close combat, however, it comes with the Shred special rule, somewhat negating that S4 a little bit more. Plus, because you have 2 close combat weapons you're basically getting 5 attacks base.
In addition, Jain Zar comes with a Mask. What this does is effectively what Fiends do in the Daemons Codex. On the turn that she charges all enemy models in the combat have their WS and I reduced by 5. Ouch. Again, this couples nicely with one of her Exarch powers, Disarming strike.
Disarming Strike somewhat negates her lack of an Invulnerable save. Power Fist? No problem. What it essentially is is a roll off, and if you draw that roll off or better you turn an opposing weapon into a regular close combat weapon for the phase. There is also a modifier for having higher weapon skill. Now as if Jain Zar wasn't going to be getting that modifier anyway with her enormous WS, she definitely is now if she charged.
We aren't quite at the bottom of the bag of tricks just yet however, as she also causes Fear.
So, is Jain Zar worth it? Again I think she's pointed pretty well. She definitely fulfills the role of close combat character better than Asurmen and for less points, although Asurmen may be better for monstrous creatures and multi wound models. Overall however I think she's going to struggle. Banshees still suffer from the lack of an assault vehicle, as they still have no real way to get into close combat.
They are much quicker, but still a little susceptible to being shot down. With Jain Zar in the squad, maybe you can change that by taking some of the wounds on her 2+ save. I think that if you're desperate to take Banshees then she's really worth a look, as she also provides some much needed AP2 power to the squad. However, it's still not, 'competitive' and unfortunately I'm not sure she'll be seen too often I'm afraid.
On a quick note to finish, it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to make a post for tomorrow, however there may be one up in the evening so be sure to check out for that. This is because I'm attending the Cry of the Wind tournament at the Sheffield Outpost.
In the last edition Jain Zar was the Pheonix Lord that I ran the most. Often I would struggle for HQ slots because I liked the Eldrad/Avatar combo but she was cheap and boy did she pack a punch. (Picture incoming).
In the new edition, she's gone up in points a little to make a nice round 200. She keeps the Pheonix Lord statline, identical to the one that Asurmen has, and so all that there really is to seperate her is Wargear and Special Rules. Oh is that all.
Special Rules first, as that really is where the least action is happening. As with Asurmen, she gets the Eldar special rules of Battle Focus and Ancient Doom, and the Pheonix Lord rules of Eternal Warrior, Fleet and Fearless. Of course she's also an Independent Character.
So what makes Jain Zar special. Well, first off she has an addition special rule entitled Acrobatic. It only works when she's by herself or in a unit of Banshees, however what it does is increase her and her unit's run move by 3", not bad. This can then be tied in with her Warlord Trait. It's not the best Warlord Trait in the book, however on Jain Zar it's not bad, as it increases her and her unit's (non exclusive) run move by a further inch. This means that in a unit consisting solely of Banshees she can run between 5 and 10", pretty quick, making for an 11"-16" movement per turn, add in their fleet and you're looking more to the 16" end.
Finally, she has her wargear. All of it is geared towards making her a close combat beast. First off you have her, 'Silent Death', which is both a Ranged Weapon and a close combat weapon. At range it's a S-user (4) AP2 Assault 4 Weapon fired at the BS of a Pheonix Lord. It's only 12" but it's still pretty deadly. In melee, you're probably never going to be using it as it's just a normal Strength AP2 close combat weapon (just!). This is because there's a better weapon on the table.
This is her Blade of Destruction, unfortunately it's no longer S7 (aw), and it follows the exact same profile as the Silent Death in close combat, however, it comes with the Shred special rule, somewhat negating that S4 a little bit more. Plus, because you have 2 close combat weapons you're basically getting 5 attacks base.
In addition, Jain Zar comes with a Mask. What this does is effectively what Fiends do in the Daemons Codex. On the turn that she charges all enemy models in the combat have their WS and I reduced by 5. Ouch. Again, this couples nicely with one of her Exarch powers, Disarming strike.
Disarming Strike somewhat negates her lack of an Invulnerable save. Power Fist? No problem. What it essentially is is a roll off, and if you draw that roll off or better you turn an opposing weapon into a regular close combat weapon for the phase. There is also a modifier for having higher weapon skill. Now as if Jain Zar wasn't going to be getting that modifier anyway with her enormous WS, she definitely is now if she charged.
We aren't quite at the bottom of the bag of tricks just yet however, as she also causes Fear.
So, is Jain Zar worth it? Again I think she's pointed pretty well. She definitely fulfills the role of close combat character better than Asurmen and for less points, although Asurmen may be better for monstrous creatures and multi wound models. Overall however I think she's going to struggle. Banshees still suffer from the lack of an assault vehicle, as they still have no real way to get into close combat.
They are much quicker, but still a little susceptible to being shot down. With Jain Zar in the squad, maybe you can change that by taking some of the wounds on her 2+ save. I think that if you're desperate to take Banshees then she's really worth a look, as she also provides some much needed AP2 power to the squad. However, it's still not, 'competitive' and unfortunately I'm not sure she'll be seen too often I'm afraid.
On a quick note to finish, it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to make a post for tomorrow, however there may be one up in the evening so be sure to check out for that. This is because I'm attending the Cry of the Wind tournament at the Sheffield Outpost.
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