Thursday, May 23, 2013

And yet another Eldar codex update!


Some more Eldar rumors have come out, this time the source is an alleged info sheet sent to GW stores...Apply salt as needed but they definitely give us food for thought and seem reasonable.



This set comes from a "Raziel" who posted this info on 4chan and reposted on Dakka. A full quote is below, along with my commentary:

"greetings guys. i got a information sheet in my hands that all GW stores have been send to. 

it contains "reasons to buy the new eldar releases" 

the points are : 
Codex Eldar : 
- craftworld ships will be introduced 
- new special rules for many eldar units. old nemesis (slaanesh) and battle trance (running and shooting) 
-multiple exarch abilitys, options and equipment 

Moar fluff on craftworld ships is cool and updates on special rules and abilities are sure to be well received. The rules we have seen sofar seem very fluffy and nice...For example being able to move, run and shoot Shuriken weapons that apparently ignore armor on to-wound rolls of 6. Here's to seeing what the codex has in store for us and I am very excited!


Wraithknight:


Wraithknight (heavy support 240 points) 
-Strong Profile (s10 T8 W6 AS 3+, Jumppack 
- 2 heavy phantom lasers (23" S10 AP 2 instant death on wound rolls of 6) 
- alternative equipment possible - for example close combat weapons with a 5+ invul and blind special rule or a S6 5" Blast with ap 2. with 5+ invul and blind special rule. 

Love it or hate it, this is what the Wraithknight is looking like ATM. I personally think it's a good set of rules... 


Cover shouldn't be an issue in 6th:
-First of all, only 25% of the model needs to be obscured to get cover (so a wraithlord blocking part of the leg will suffice) or if any part of the base is touching area terrain, it gets cover (check the BRB, it's silly). Therefore, you will either be routinely getting a 3+ armor save or a 5+ cover save most all of the time if you play the model right.

Stats seem balanced:
-As mentioned above, S10, T8, W6 with a 3+ Armor Save and we still are not sure on its number of attacks. It is essentially twice as survivable as a Wraithlord given the 6 wounds and that means you are likely to stick around longer to get some good shooting off and boy are the weapons potent (see below). 

-Consider the fact that you can heal wounds from Warlock powers and it becomes a great target for Fortune, you really are looking at a potentially unshiftable bulwark.  Just watch out for a lot of sniper/poisoned weapons!

It seems quite mobile:
-Jumppack infantry means it moves fast (12") and can deepstrike! It would have been cooler if it was jetpack but this is still nice. Sometimes you just wish you could get your wraithlords to a certain place, either to get in combat or to engage certain units and now that shouldn't be as much of an issue.

Weapons options seem nifty:
-This model will be a great place to supplement any deficiency in your army. You can have ranged Anti-Tank/AP2 weapons, Anti-Horde control or even some Close Combat power which is something Eldar have always needed/wanted on a single platform and I can see this as being an Eldar equivalent to the Tau Crisis Suit where whatever your specific need is, this model can fill it and hopefully do it well.

-Having 2 S10 AP2 weapons is pretty serious firepower, especially if they are on top of the shoulder weapons. Ranged S10 weapons are usually pretty rare for Eldar so this is a nice addition.
-The S6 AP2 blasts are also pretty welcome as some people love their "Plasma Cannon" style weapons. 

Ultimately, the Wraithknight seems to be a combination of a Fire Prism, Wraithlord and Warp Spider. I can definitely see a unique potential for this model and plan on having at least one.

Flyers:
Somach Phantomhunter (may be spelled wrongly my pic is a bit blurry there) (fast attack 185 points) 
-psyker with the terrify psychic power 
- 2 blast weapons with ap 2 
- enemy units within 12" have to reroll succesful ld tests. 

This is our bomber and while it seems quite expensive, it also seems to be designed at messing with enemy Ld and infantry formations in a very unique way...I immediately see a ton of utility for this model as well!


Predecons terrorize:
-The bomber obviously counts as a Psyker as it can cast the Terrify power which is HUGE. The biggest hurdle to any weapon that affects enemy Ld or causes pinning/morale is the Fearless rule and Terrify takes care of that (as Terrify essentially takes Fearless away from the target unit). Now you can cast Terrify on anything that would otherwise be Fearless (like Tyranids in Synapse, 30 strong Ork Mobs, Draigo Paladin unit) and then pepper it with anything that causes pinning or Ld tests and not have to worry about those special rules being useless (like our Sniper/EML weapons). 
-The Blast weapons are AP2 so you are not limited to using this as anti-horde or even anti-infantry if the S is good enough on the weapons.
-Last but not least, units within 12" must re-roll successful Ld tests...This is also HUGE because this includes psychic tests (as psychic tests are Ld tests)! This makes units failing any of those pinning or psychic tests much more likely and I can see a huge utility for this model.

crimson hunters (fast attack 160 points) 
- aspect warriors with strong exarch upgrades 
- may reroll armor pen rolls against flyers 
-vector dancer 

This definitely seems to be the premier anti-flyer flyer based on the above.... 

Effective anti air:
-For starters, it appears that it can be taken in squadrons so this is our Vendetta equivalent (barring AV12)
-Exarch upgrade is BS5 (presumably) so hitting on 2+ is crazy effective
-Effectively have tank-hunter against flyers so you are now even more likely to erase flyers. Very good chance that once you shoot at a flyer, it will be dead.
-Vector Dancer makes sure these Flyers will see a lot of air time and hardly miss a turn of shooting at something on the ground potentially getting rear armor on an enemy flyer.


Wraithguard:

wraithguard /wraithblades (elite 160 points 5 models): 
- strong profile with S5 T 6 as 3+ 
-wraithblades got 2 close combat weapons with ap 3 and +1 S or can get a 4+ invul with a single ap 2 weapon 
-runeseer can mark targets, every wraith unit can reroll missed to hit rolls of 1 against marked targets. 
-if you select a runeseer as HQ, they become troops 

Cheaper:
-The Wraithguard end up being around 32 points base if they are 5 for 160 points and who knows what gear they come with base?

Same great profile and some new options:
-Still St T6 with a 3+ save and as their CC weapons increase S, they can be pretty nasty against anything with a T value or even most vehicles.
-Can fulfill anti-tank, anti-infantry or CC roles and hopefully quite effectively

Can still be troops:
-Taking a Spiritseer for HQ will unlock Wraithguard as troops so now you can take min units and "save points" by not having to take max squads as troops.
-Spiritseer gives wraith units essentially a mini guide/preferred enemy against a certain unit so that increases utility of your Wraith units.
-I really wonder what master level these guys can be and if they can get access to Fate (Farseer) powers for some Fortune or what?

Ultimately, I am up in the air with how these units will work out because Fortune is what made Wraithguard work previously.

Altioc Special Character

ilic nightspear (hq 140 points): 
-alaitoc charactermodel that allows ranger units the pathfinder upgrade. 
- has 9 special rules - one of them allows ranger units to infiltrate without the range restrictions to enemy units. 
bs 9 48" Sx ap 2 instant death on wound rolls of 6 

So this is the way to get pathfinders apparently? This model seems to have a killer Sniper Rifle (maybe our version of the Vindicare?) and give our Pathfinders quite the ability to get in the enemy face..If they
want to be there even remains to be seen based on their rules. Either way, this seems to be the way to unlock an Altaioc army.

Misc other rumors:

other new releases for eldar : phantomseer, runeprophet and cards for psychic powers.:
- 3 different kinds of psykers (seer council, phantomseer, runeprophet)
-divination, telepathy and 2 own psychic disciplines: runes of battle and runes of fate (for rune prophet and runeseer)
- runes of battle have always 2 effects, for example granting shrouded or taking shrouded off the enemy unit.
-runes of fate : 4 warpcharges, 2 powers, very strong and offensive

that is all that is posted on the letter the GW stores had been send too. hope it gives some insight."




Well, there you have it, more rumors on our new stuff and it's looking good! Still a lot of questions but the more I hear, the more I like.

10 comments:

  1. An interesting read, thanks for sharing :)

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  2. You don't have any problems with Nightspear being the new special character?

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    1. There may be more special characters, just without specific models. I think the BA codex had something like that?

      Either way, I'm still waiting on the new codex to see what is exactly in there. I do hope there are more chars, tho!

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  3. I don't know why, but it never occurred to me that the flier could be a squadron. Three may be going overboard, but I can see running two.

    The part I'm really on the fense about is how characters may be what's needed to unlock units, so to speak. Taking a Spiritseer and it only makes Wraithguard troops doesn't sound too bad, but I've also heard it takes a type of character to make Eldar Jetbikes a troops choice as they were moved into the Fast Attack slot. For me to run what I currently run, I'd have to run those two particular ICs and I'm not overly fond of having to shoehorn characters like that.

    Other than the above, so far, I'm pretty excited to see the direction they are taking the Eldar.

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    1. According to the battle report, GJB are still troops so no worries about having to unlock them there.

      As far as the Spiritseer unlocking Wraithguard, well, now we can take min squads and "save" points that way as units of 5 T6 dudes is pretty hardcore (unless the min size is still 3).

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  4. I can see some great combos for spiders and cc Wraithguard or leapfrogging multiple units of Wraithguard. Really liking the stats on the if true. Any word on the difference between the two guns for Wraithguard?

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  5. Comparing the FW fliers and this one, I still like the FW nose better. But there's no bomber version of the FW. I'm leaning towards the psycher version myself...

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  6. There is no word on what the D weapons do or even their CC weapons (other than one is AP3 and other AP2). I imagine the Wraithcannon is prob very similar or improved slightly to glance on a 2-4 rather than 3-4. D-Scythe weapon is perhaps a rapid fire one/multiple shot assault one or could even be a blast/template weapon, not sure. Apparently the Heavy D-Scythe is a blast?

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  7. Wraithknight-stats seem balanced? At toughness 8, 6 wounds and a 3+ for only 240 points? Wow! There isn't much that will bother this thing in most player's armies.
    If thing is in the codex look for the hate for Helldrakes to shift to this thing.

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  8. Ian, a lot of people like to pour on the hate for the Wraithlord's T8 and consequently now the Wraitknight's alleged T8 6 wounds but what is the big deal?

    (1) Most weapons that can or will hurt a Wraithknight will most likely ignore its armor (Lascannons, Missile Launchers, Rending Assault Cannons, Ordance like Battle/Demolisher/Basalisk).

    (2) Poison and Sniper weapons will eat this thing alive which many armies have easy access to.

    (3) Grenades can be used against it in close combat so many infantry units with grenades access CAN hurt it.

    Ultimately, if Wraithknights becomes prevalent in your meta, it would be smart to have some way of dealing with them and really, any anti-tank can double as anti-wraith. Name one army you think won't be able to deal with the Wraithknight and I'll show you how they can! =)

    It might not be the most fun to play against for certain armies, but it isn't a HellDrake!

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