Unit Reviews: Imperial Armor Aeronautica

I had been relatively impressed with the Badab War 1&2 releases as well as Doom of Mymeara- while not without their flaws (such as the Siege and Tyrant lists), they were a real notch up in terms of rules-writing for Forge World, offering a lot of pretty decent options to players looking to do something unique with their armies without being either over- or underpowered in most cases; it seemed that FW was trending upwards in their understanding of the game and attempts to make their products balanced and usable for everyone. Unfortunately Imperial Armor Aeronautica basically wrecks that trend. Its units vary widely from incredibly broken ("Hi, I'm a flyer with a 2+ cover save!") to utterly worthless (110pts for a twin-linked Burst Cannon and a Markerlight.)

If that were the worst of it, though, it would simply be another early-type Forge World book. However, this time around it really seems that FW simply doesn't know what any of the rules do.

Tyranids in 6th Part 4: Cut to the Quick (Fast Attack)

Fast Attack is a slot that went from being usable, if not exactly impressive, to being excellent. You can't call it the best in the codex because Elites still has your tank-hunters, but it's an excellent place to find (surprise, surprise) fast assault units to keep the enemy busy. Unfortunately, that's only true for the top couple of units in the slot- from there is goes downhill VERY quickly, bottoming out with some of the worst units in the codex (though admittedly still better than the poor, benighted Pyrovore.)

Against the Double-FoC

I don't like having two Force Organization Charts available. That's the long and the short of it. I don't think it's necessary and I don't think it's good for the game nor for the players. It makes list-writing choices less interesting, it puts a major monetary constraint on list-building for one particular format, and it magnifies many of the problems that 6E already has to deal with to the point of breaking the game.

Tyranids in 6E Part 3: The Best of the Best of the Best of the Best

(The Cleopatra Story.)
Alright, apologies on the delay in the series- a combination of work, laziness, and RL responsibilities kept it half-finished for quite a while, but I'm finally getting back into the swing of writing a bit here, so the rest of the series shouldn't take nearly so long.

So Elites; it's your best slot. It's always had the strongest competition in the Tyrant codex and that competition has usually been dominated, Micheal Phelps-style, by Hive Guard. 6E has a lot of people experimenting with dropping them in favor of other units now that mech is supposedly dead, but I would be skeptical of such claims- tanks are very much alive and kicking these days and the fundamental facets of the game haven't really changed any, so the same concerns that drove certain inclusions are still there. However, some units did make some major gains with the new rules, so it's worth going over what they can do these days.

Tyranids in 6E Part 2: Head and Body

Welcome to part two of my Tyranid 6E review; I'll be going through the meatiest of the FoC slots (HQ and TR) this time around and seeing what kind of army we can assemble out of things these days; unlike my old 5E review I won't be going over the unit options in quite so much detail for a number of reasons, but mainly because, with a lot more experience with the book I think I can make more solid judgements about which ones are potentially relevant and which are largely chaff. That isn't to say anything I don't mention here is awful, but it probably isn't something most armies are going to worry about.

This review isn't designed to be exhaustive- we haven't even seen the first of the 6E codices, which could greatly change things, nor do we really know how flyers are going to affect the tourney scene or if there will be ways to deal with them. However, I think the concepts within will, at the least, build a strong launching-off point for getting started with 6E list-writing, so that's something.

Tyranids in 6th Part 1: Something Different, Something Changed

So Tyranids and Sixth Edition. A lot of people are very vehement about all sorts of things on the subject; some think that 'Nids are completely screwed, others think it will be a godsend. Some think all-flyers are the way to go, others insist that this is the new dawn of the Tyranid Warrior. Some think that the army stays exactly like it was. Some of them seem to think that we are now living in Bizarro World and that bringing fifty models to the table makes you a horde army.

Most of these people are idiots. I don't claim not to be an idiot, but I am at least an idiot who is going to explain his idiocy out for you in detail so you can decide for yourself exactly why it is I'm dumb and wrong about things and clearly you have the better answer.

Bugs on the Brain: Tyranid Psychic Powers in 6E

Though the Imperial armies in many cases got access to better disciplines (as Divination is absolutely fantastic), Tyranids are the unparalleled kings of psykers currently, being able to bring them in their HQ, EL, and TR slots and in great numbers; in theory, a single FoC can contain seventeen different psykers.

However, not all powers are created equal, and for Tyranids especially many of them can end up being unusable or mediocre. For that reason, it's important to look at the various Tyranid psykers as well as the psychic powers available to them and figure out what choices you'll be making.

Daern's Instant Fortress

Many people in 40K are wondering "Are my shields prepared to face the power of this fully-functional battlestation?" Which is to say, what is up with fortifications and does my army need them/can my army handle them? Obviously this is going to vary from one fortification to another, but the truth is that they aren't particularly game-breaking and many of the "strategies" that are being recommended with them ("Buy two Fortresses and use them to block off your deployment zone!") are downright idiotic.

Fortifications are specialized tools that let you trade a non-insignificant number of points for some survivability and specialized firepower. Some armies can benefit from these things, others not so much so- so let's take a look at what they each do and what they offer us.

6th Edition AAC (Actually Asked Questions)

When Games Workshop releases a list of Frequently Asked Questions, most of them are... not really "frequently asked." In fact, a lot of them are things that probably no one had ever considered before in their lives. The last six months or so have been better in that regard, but the FAQs are still often characterized by entries such as:

Q: IF I HAD A DERDNOT AND IT WAS ON THE EDGE BUT I WANTED IT TO BE AND A LASERCANE HITS BUT ITS TOO TUFF AND HE WAS ETERNUL WARRIOR AM I STILL ALLOWD TO UES FEEL NO PAIN?!?!!!?
A: No, Termagants are not allowed to claim objectives while within Synapse range. The Hive Mind doesn't care about anything except feeding!

In light of this I've put together an list of questions that actual human beings might have about the rules of the game, specifically ones that are not answered by the current rules of the game or FAQs. (Obviously there are still a lot of misunderstood rules as well, but those don't need an FAQ, those just needa read through the rulebook.) If anyone else can come up with others, feel free to post them here; likewise, if you think one of these has a definitive answer- as opposed to a particular interpretation that doesn't have an absolute rules backing- feel free to argue it in the thread below.

Making Friends in 6E

So, you want to bring some allies along and... hold on just a second.

TYRANIDS, GET THE F*** OUT RIGHT NOW. NOBODY LIKES YOU. GO AWAY AND GO TO HELL AND DIE IN A STINKY DITCH. YOU HAVE NO FRIENDS AND NEVER WILL AND ALSO YOU AREN'T ALLOWED TO PLAY WITH OUR TOYS MOM SAID SO.

Okay, there we go. So, you want to bring some allies along and are wondering what to do; do you take special character and try something gimmicky? Is it about psychic defense? Which army do you ally with? Are Desperate Allies ever worth it? Etc. The sheer scope of allies (every codex in print) makes trying to figure out what you want rather tricky, not to mention considering if you even want them- in most cases it is not a small investment.

So let's go over some of the possibilities and see who has what, who wants what, and what sort of things we can be doing with them.

6E: First Thoughts on Changes

Sixth Edition is different. However, in many ways, it's also very much the same, but it's those niggling details that are going to catch you and trip you up. Because of that, I'm using this post as both a listing of all the changes from 5E that I saw on my first read through the book as well as a running commentary on things.

It's not intended to be an evaluation of anything or any kind of "this is good, this is bad" assessment- it's still way too early for that. Whatever opinions I may voice here are tentative; there's a good chance that many of them will shift a lot before the month is out.

If you see something you think I missed that is important, feel free to bring it up- discussion on this subject is good. I don't doubt there are things that slipped by my attention and chances are I'm going to read the book three or five more times before I have any kind of good grasp on it.

6E Musings: Cover, Rapid Fire, and Snap Shots

This isn't going to be anything really flashy. I'm not trying to explain the intricacies of the new edition to you yet because I don't know them and neither does anyone else. Anyone who makes predictions about most anything regarding 6E right now is an effing idiot, you understand? We still haven't even seen the whole rulebook yet, We haven't seen the FAQs. We don't know how this is going to go.

That said, here are how I think a couple of factors (out of hundreds) are going to influence the game. The first part of seeing the whole is seeing the parts.

5th Edition: A Retrospective

It's been a hell of a ride, hasn't it?

The game has changed a LOT since 5E came out; some of it was things GW did differently, others were things that changed around them. So let's all take a stroll back through memory lane and see how we got to where we are now.

Evaluating "Bad" Units: Dreadknight

Alright, we're going to start this one off with a disclaimer again because the point was brought up in the comments of the last article: this series isn't about atrocious, unusable units like Legion of the Damned; it's about the "bad" units that don't see a lot of play because they fall through the cracks in a codex, being either a bit too expensive, a bit too narrow, or simply just a bad fit for what the book does. In some cases you can use them in quite good armies; in most others you will be able to bring them to the table and enjoy a degree of success with them, but they will always be a little shabbier than you might like. I'll be talking about the hows and whys of these units and just what puts them in the position they end up in.

Turn Zero: the Most Important Turn

A lot of people in the game have, at various points, complained about some turns being super-important. For example, complaints about turn one alpha strikes are pretty common now with Razorspam and have also gotten hate in the past over Leafblower, etc. There is also a recurring theme of the game being all about the final turn rush to contest objectives with tank shocks, etc, with all the maneuvering, etc, of earlier turns being nothing but a setup for that last one. However, I don't think either of those are the most important turn, even my thoughts on the validity of those complaints aside, because there is a much more critical point of decisions.

That point is turn zero, the choices you make before the game starts. Whether or not to take first turn and where to deploy are of critical importance and a poor or even merely mediocre choice there can spell the end of a what would otherwise have been a fairly even matchup before it begins.

Review of the New WD Flyer Rules

With the rules for the new flyers (fliers? flyers? damn ambiguous spellings) circulating around, I figured it was time to take a look at their numbers in a bit more detail and give an assessment of them. I don't think any of them (save the Necrons) are gonna be winning any prizes anytime soon, but especially considering most of them are Orks that isn't exactly surprising. So let's dig in and see what we can figure out about them.

(And remember, kids, this isn't the place to complain about how little you like them visually, etc. We already have a thread for that- this one is just for rules.)

Evaluating Bad Units: Assault Cannon Razorbacks

Welcome to the second wonderful installment of our little series here. This time around we're going to talk about a more unusual choice in the list of sub-par options: the Razorback with twin-linked Assault Cannon.

"But that's not a bad unit!" some of you are undoubtedly rising from your chairs to shout. And you're right- when fielded by Blood Angels, where it benefits from aggressive mobility, or Grey Knights, where it gets upgraded stats, immunity to suppression and support from other mid-range forces, it's quite good. But when Space Marines or Space Wolves field them, it is decidedly underwhelming.

Army Comparison: Orks vs. Tyranids

Continuing the request for Army Comparisons (yes, I'll be getting to some of the other popular ones as well) we have Orks vs Tyranids. Both of them are nominally horde armies (but don't really play that way because hordes are kinda awful in 5E) with a good combination of shooting and assault potential. Orks can bring Battlewagons and other armor to the table, while Tyranids will usually be leaning heavily on their T6 critters to even the field for them. Neither side has a clear advantage over the other's primary strategy, so in most cases it ends up being a pretty brutal slugfest no matter who ends up winning- which, from a fluff view, is hardly inappropriate.

3++ and 6: How It is Gonna Be

So it's probably no news to any of you that the new edition of the game is rolling up on us pretty quick here, and a lot of folks are nervous. Rumors are flying around, everything is changing, dogs and cats are living together; it's mass hysteria.

So what should we be expecting to see out of the new edition? What are we here at 3++ gonna do about it? Should there be panicking involved? Will competitive play be ended forever? And what about Roger, the mysterious man from Lorelei's past? What is his significance?

Relax, brah; we've got you covered. The sky isn't falling and even if it is, it just means that those stupid clouds won't ruin your day anymore.

Beating the Army: Coteaz

Something I'm sure you've all been eagerly awaiting, the last installment of the GK versions of Beating the Army.

Let's not beat around the bush: Coteaz is fantastic. For a mere 100pts, you not only get a selection of some of the best psychic powers in the GK book (Santuary, Hammerhand- really, you're only missing Shrouding and Might), a Daemonhammer, rerolls on Seize the Initiative, Deep Strike defense (since you probably won't have many Strike Squads around) and oh yeah, he also gives you super-flexible troop options.

100pts? Seriously? Yeah, Coteaz is a beast.

He is still, however, only a single model, and the army he enables is good, but certainly not without its weaknesses. So let's dive right in and take a look at them.