lunes, 16 de marzo de 2020

DE: New FAQ And Updated Lists!

New FAQ and updated lists.

Ho ho ho, a day after I blog about competitive play and Dark Eldar's place in the meta, GW drops a huge FAQ that extends to all armies and changes the way we play the game.

You can find all the good jazz right here, but I'll sum up the main highlights of how this changes the way I build my armies going forward. Funny enough, DE didn't change all that much and it was really those other armies out there that got a big calibration.

Here are the big highlights from the FAQ:

Smite spam is now harder to cast
Character targeting changed so other characters can't block targeting
Battalions and Brigades now generate +5 CPs and +12 CPs!
You only get one kind of Ignore save wounds
Various point changes (increase to CW units and Dark Reapers)
You cannot have more than 3 datasheets in a 2K game except troops and transports
Soups got hit so you can't mix as hard, you just have to read it
Reserves also changed so first turn alphas are not as devastating

There's a lot of changes here the directly affects competitive play, but my favorite change of all is probably the rule of 3. Not being able to spam is really awesome of the game's health. The soup changes also make it so you can't just bring the most powerful units of all different books into a single detachment and that's awesome. The only one I'm not too sure about is the fact that Battalions and Brigades generate so much CP now. While I can understand GW's intention here to fix the more elite armies limited CPs, this benefits everyone. This means that IG CP batteries with their cheap ass Brigades are in season.. even more so than they were before. Lastly, the changes to Reserves alpha striking is not created equal with all the armies out there. Some are much more effective than others, but other armies are made better when these kind of assaults are part of their strategic repertoire.

With that said, the only thing I'm really bummed out about is the fact that the Farseer, Warlock, and Spiritseer went up in price. I was actually in the middle of writing out a list last night, but now that the FAQ has dropped, I'm going to update all the lists I'm using in one go!

Here they are:

Kabal of the Black Rose

1999 // 10 CP

Obsidian Rose Bat +5 CP

HQ:

Archon, Agonizer, Blaster, PGL = 94

TROOP:

10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, SC = 104

+++

Black Heart Spear +1 CP

HQ:

Archon, Agonizer, Blaster = 91

Warlord: Cunning, Living Muse

TROOP:

7x Warriors, Blaster, BP = 69

PARTY BUS:

Raider, Dark Lance = 85

HEAVY:

Ravager, 3x Dissies = 125

+++

Black Heart Wing +1 CP

FLYER:

Razorwing, 2x Dark Lance = 145

>>>

Firepower:

11 Dark Lances at BS3+

9 Dissies at BS3+

9 Blasters at BS3+

3 Blasters at BS2+

3 Razorwing Missiles at BS3+

4 Splinter Cannons at BS3+

40 Splinter Rifles at BS3+

This my pure DE Kabal list combining the range power that is Obsidian Rose with the resilience of Black Heart. I call this my Kabal of the Black Rose and it has been undefeated since the Codex came out. A lot of firepower, a lot of pain.

Alaitoc Black Spear

2000 // 10 CP

Alaitoc Bat +5 CP

HQ:

Farseer Skyrunner = 135

Doom, Mind War

Warlock = 55
Protect/Jinx

TROOP:

5x Rangers = 60

+++

Alaitoc Wing +1 CP

FLYER:

Hemlock Wraithfighter = 210

Jinx

Hemlock Wraithfighter = 210

Jinx

Crimson Hunter Exarch, 2x Bright Lance = 175

+++

Black Heart Spear +1 CP

HQ:

Archon, Huskblade, Blaster = 93

Cunning, Living Muse

TROOP:

10x Warriors, 2x Blasters, SC = 104

Raider, Dark Lance = 85

189

10x Warriors, 2x Blasters, SC = 104

Raider, Dark Lance = 85

189

10x Warriors, 2x Blasters, SC = 104

Raider, Dark Lance = 85

189

HEAVY:

Ravager, 3x Dissies = 125

>>>

Firepower:

9 Disintegrators at BS3+

3 Dark Lances at BS3+

2 Bright Lances at BS2+

1 Pulse Laser at BS2+

6 Blasters at BS3+

1 Blaster at BS2+

3 Splinter Cannons at BS3+

4 Heavy D-Sycthes at Auto

21 Splinter Rifles at BS3+

15 Ranger Long Rifle at BS3+

This is my current DE + CW list and I think it's actually pretty decent. I used it once so far and the combination of Doom/Jinx with DE firepower is just insane. With the loss of so many lances, having the Crimson Hunter in the army actually helps a lot.

Black Skull Strife

2000 // 14 CP

Flayed Skull Bat +5 CP

HQ:

Archon, Agonizer, Blaster = 91

PARTY BOATS:

Raider, Dark Lance = 85

TROOP:

10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, SCannon = 104

FLYER:

Razorwing, 2x Dark Lance = 145

+++

Black Heart Spear +1 CP

HQ:

Archon, Huskblade, Blaster = 93

Warlord: Hatred Eternal, Djin Blade

HEAVY:

Ravager, 3x Dinsintegrator = 125

+++

Strife Bat +5 CP

HQ:

Succubus, Agonizer = 54

Blood Dancer, Whip

Succubus, Agonizer = 54

TROOP:

8x Wyches, Agonizer, Shardnet, BP = 83

5x Wyches, Agonizer, Shardnet = 49

>>>

Firepower:

9 Disintegrators at BS3+

9 Dark Lances at BS3+

6 Blasters at BS3+

3 Blasters at BS2+

2 Razorwing Missiles at BS3+

3 Splinter Cannons at BS3+

25 Splinter Rifles at BS3+

This is my close-combat list with double Bats and a Black Heart Spear. This list gives me some great killy units with my Blood Dancer Succubus and Hatred Eternal Archon. I can also choose to go with more re-rolls with Living Muse and Cunning, but I think I'm going to use this for now because I want to be able to play CC armies occasionally. I still stand by what I said before in previous posts: Cults are our best CP battery (especially now with the Bat CP buffs). Gotta go fast!

domingo, 15 de marzo de 2020

WIP: Lancers

September has been a fairly hopeless month in terms of gaming, painting, and blogging I'm afraid. So, just in case you thought I'd jacked it all in I'll put up some pics of the Austrian lancers I don't seem to be able to finish.

Elite figures and horses with a few mounts from elsewhere (Connoisseur, Alban, Firing Line).

Bases obviously not done yet, still awaiting painting, brushing and grass bits. So far I've just done 32 out of what will be a massive 48 man regt - 8 squadrons of 6 figures. I picked the the third regt as I liked the red Czapka, plus the trumpeters apparently wore white ( though I've had trouble confirming this). Plenty of conversions and head twists, plus a few replacement heads from Firing Line. Lance pennons by GMB. There will be a standard bearer, although I'm not sure if Austrian light cavalry actually carried them in action. All the lances were soldered, and the officers sabres replaced. I also played about with some of the horses, teasing out manes and tails with the soldering iron to give them more movement. In the end, however, I decided life was too short. I might do this again for officers and the odd special, but otherwise.No.

I hope to get these finished this week, I guess I've had a bit of mid-project blues with the old Austrians. It will pass.

I have also decided to give these chaps their own staff officer - seeing as they are such a big unit. I found a lovely Bicorne Uhlan officer, and I've tweaked him a bit- changed his sword arm, added a steel sabre and soldered a "flying" scabard onto him, again to impart a little movement. I'll post him when he is done.

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jueves, 5 de marzo de 2020

DE: Black Heart Might Be The Best Kabal

At first, I was afraid, I was petrified.

That's right folks, you heard it here first. While I was balls deep in Flayed Skull in the beginning of all the rumors and previews, but now I think I might be some kind of Black Heart convert. OK, hear me out, I can justify it I think.

Here is my reasoning:

The 6+++ bonus literally affects everything, from flesh to metal, right from the get-go to the rest of the game. You always have it.
You don't need additional Archon tax to access the best Strategems, Warlord traits and artifacts in the book. Instead of paying Archon tax, you're one step closer to buying a Warrior unit in a Venom.
With the improvement to our weapons, our damage certainly went up for the points. However, one thing remains unchanged and that's our durability. Spirit Stones on everything will help keep our important pieces alive longer so we don't attrition as hard.
The Living Muse artifact makes that one Archon the single biggest damage amplifier in the codex (gives all Black Heart units within 6" of the Warlord re-roll 1s to Wound). It affects every weapon type and is super good, but you have to walk around like a baller.

Just one little note about Writ of the Living Muse: It's a huge damage amplifier but keeping everything that I can within 6" of the damn Archon might be a huge challenge. It also makes that particular HQ a huge pain in everyone's ass and everyone is going to be gunning for him. However, I'll just have to play him well and use all the long-range firepower that I have to really deliver some results in the opening phases of the game. Otherwise, I'm kind of screwed!

Now when I look back at Flayed Skull, I think that the 3" extra move is the single best bonus it provides. The re-roll 1s for Rapid Fire only really kick in with Splinter Rifles and if I'm not taking many Venoms or Warriors double-tapping, I'm not getting the best out of it. The ignore cover part is also really nice since there's always some crap out there like CW Rangers, but I've been thinking back to all the 8th games where cover was game-changing. Can't really think of times where it decided the game if I'm to be honest.

With that being said, I could argue that Agents of Vect and Labyrinthine Cunning was enough to win me over, but the sustained durability of all our units really did it for me. Not paying additional Archon tax means that I can fit in more units and I think my next game will be full Kabal of the Black Heart.

Case in point, I'm going to roll with this in my Weds game this week:

2000 // 7 CP
Black Heart Battalion +3 CP

HQ:
Archon, Agonizer, Blaster = 91
Archon, VB, Blaster = 89

TROOP:
5x Warriors, Blaster = 47
Venom = 65
112

5x Warriors, Blaster = 47
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
132

10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, Dark Lance = 114
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
199

10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, Dark Lance = 114
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
199

10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, Dark Lance = 114
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
199

10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, Dark Lance = 114
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
199

HEAVY:
Ravager, 3x Dinsintegrators = 125
Ravager, 3x Dinsintegrators = 125
Ravager, 3x Dinsintegrators = 125

+++

Black Heart Air Wing +1 CP

FLYER:
Razorwing, 2x Dinsintegrators = 135
Razorwing, 2x Dinsintegrators = 135
Razorwing, 2x Dinsintegrators = 135

>>>

Firepower:
15 Disintegrators at BS3+
9 Dark Lances at BS3+
10 Blasters at BS3+
2 Blasters at BS2+
1 Splinter Cannon at BS3+
44 Splinter Rifles at BS3+
3 Razorwing Missiles at BS3+

If you look at the firepower arrangement of this list compared to the other ones I've poured out over the last couple of days, I think this is the most optimized and most balanced. I got my command Raider where my Archons can go chill and I'm able to fit an extra Venom in there due to the points gained from not having a third detachment. This also allowed me to take 4x full gunboats instead of the previous 3 while still having my 3/3 ratio of Ravagers and Razorwings.

I think tomorrow, I'll talk about shoving Wyches into someone's face at the start of the game because why not. It only costs 160 points for 20 of them and Succubi are much cheaper now!

Summer Internship Opportunity

Please let me know if you are interested:

This is a summer paid internship position.

The intern will be the main Unity developer for an educational program that is being designed. Unity dev skills with C# coding skills are both required. 2D dev experience, mobile development experience, and HTML5 experience would be great, but is not required.

The project will be a mobile and desktop game, built in a 2D environment.