Would run faster than this.
Hopefully, in 6th edition, you'd be absolutely right. This month on Fresh Coast 40K, we are going to be looking ahead and asking all nine of our regular bloggers, "What do you want to see out of 6th edition?" We've broken this month down into four topics; Movement, Shooting, Assault, and everything else. Each week our members will discuss our hopes and dreams for this summer's rumored big release, as well as what they hope to see from their respective Codexes. As I was assigned to lead this project, I figured it would only be logical for me to start with the phase my Eldar see as the most crucial to victory; the Movement Phase.
WAAAAY back in the days of Rogue Trader and 2nd edition, Every model had an additional characteristic; Movement. Infantry had specific movement rates that were representative of their actual, "real life" speed. Eldar, in general, could move much further in a turn than a Space Marine, and rightfully so! My feeling is that later editions were simplified for a younger, newer wargaming audience, and eliminating the Movement characteristic was a simple solution. Fleet is cool, but I still need to rely a lot on luck to take advantage of it. I should be able to reliably use my army's natural ability to move more quickly than my oponent's as well as take advantage of the fact that he is unable to close with me as quickly as I can with him. Eldar would be more focused on hit-and-run tactics. Marines would become much more of a stand and shoot force (making the Bolter a better weapon wouldn't hurt here either).
Vehicles should also be included here. There should be no way that a Vindicator has the same straight ahead speed as a Rhino! Nobody should be able to keep up with a Wave Serpent or a DE Raider. Eldar Jet Bikes do get that extra move, but they still should be faster outright than this guy!
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By reintroducing the Movement characteristic to the game, GW can more accurately represent the preternatural grace and speed of a Harlequin Troope Master, the leaping and bounding gait of a Hormagaunt, and the steady, thundering steps of a Terminator. Eldar would once again become the masters of the last turn objective grab and leave the stinking Mon Keigh in the dust! Assault movement also needs to be based upon the Movement stat as well. This would give the "speedy" armies a definite advantage in the Assault phase as well. After all, IMHO, it works pretty well here...
As for my hopes for a new Eldar Codex, I know one is in the works, but the longer they wait, the more my pointy-eared warriors look like Tau! Here are a few things that I'd like to see in the next Codex.
1. Wave Serpents should be Assault Vehicles. The Eldar are a highly mobile, close shooting, and assault based army. Not having transports that Banshees or Harlequins can assault out of doesn't make sense for a "fast" army.
2. Phoenix Lords, Wraithlords, and Wraithguard need Invulnerable saves. If your average Marine Captain gets a 4++ from an Iron Halo, why cant a Phoenix Lord, an ancient, godlike, immortal warrior have one as well? Wraithlords and Wraithguard should get a 5++ like Terminators. They are basically robots. Their high toughness is great, but Power Weapons can wreck them too easily. I wouldn't mind paying more for them either.
3. Phoenix Lords should unlock their Aspect Warriors as Troops or at least make them scoring units. I LOVE this trend in Codex construction. Yes, the Aspects need to work together to be effective, but I'm not a power gamer. I want to field nothing but Striking Scorpions with Karandras at the helm!
4. Give me the rest of the Phoenix Lords. Shining Spears and Warp Spiders aren't the most popular Aspects, but I am a completist.
5. PLEASE REDESIGN THE JET BIKE MODELS! The Dark Eldar jet bikes are so sweet looking, I am on the verge of buying a ton of them and making them less evil looking. The current Eldar bikes are very useful, but they are 3rd edition models. They look frighteningly out of place in 5th edition.
Stay tuned for more.
Great idea to bring back the movement value. If you watch Ultramarines: The Movie, the preeminent source of 40k knowledge, those marines aren't moving at a 6" per turn pace. 4" at best.
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to see the charge move put into movement instead of a separate assault phase. I can't tell if this would help or hurt my tyranids. I suppose it would hurt since I couldn't blow up a Rhino then assault the contents.
I thought about the 'MECH PROBLEM' for about 2 hours on Saturday during a drive. I think a lot of people think tanks are too easy to kill, so perhaps rhinos could be AV 12. However, I think tanks move much too fast - if you see the videos of ww2 tanks they didn't nearly move twice the speed of a person unless they were going down open steppes in t60s. Make vehicle movement 6" or 8".
I would also make moving through cover a little different, but perhaps I'll wait to opine on the next article.
Have you seen the M-1 Abrahms move? It's capable of sustaining speed of 60mph. That's pretty fast for an MBT.
DeleteYeah, most of the tanks in 40k are modeled more after WW1 tanks than Abrams. Wikipedia says:
DeleteM1A2:
Road 56 km/h (35 mph)
Off-road: 40 km/h (25 mph)
Not sure if they'd go 25 mph even if they're under fire.
As for the Eldar, rather than seeing Wave Serpents as assault (though that would be OK too) I'd instead expect them to get Venoms instead, with shuricannons instead of splintercannons.
ReplyDeleteRather than just the Phoenix Lords unlocking an aspect, I'd also like to see Autarchs that can unlock a single aspect, either by paying a cost or by choosing an appropriate wargear item/combo (ie spider pack gets you warp spiders as troops, reaper launcher gets you Dark Reapers, etc.)
I like the Autarch idea. It would make them worth taking!
DeleteWell, a "new" jetbike was spotted back in 2007, but it just never hit the shelves (if you haven't seen it, pics can be found here: http://www.40kforums.com/vb/showthread.php/29465-New-Eldar-Jetbikes). Since the current one has been around since the days of 2nd edition, I'm sure it'll get revamped with the next 'dex.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Phoenix Lords should get invulnerable saves (practically speaking, this would likely best be addressed by just giving the "INDEPENDENT CHARACTER" rule a base 5++ invulnerable save). I disagree that wraithlords need an invulnerable save though (unless they also get a nerf to toughness) as I think they're too hard to kill already. The idea of unlocking troops based upon HQ choice is fantastic, and I would also love to see return of craftworld rules somehow.
["INDEPENDENT CHARACTER" rule a base 5++ invulnerable save] I really like this idea. It'd have to be modified a bit for Tyranids since many HQs are MCs but I like this idea quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see the vehicle damage rules changed a bit: I think damage should be cumulative. Nothing irritates me more than penetrating a vehicle's armor and then "shake" and "stun" the crew several times over. I know this game isn't designed to make sense, but common! If something is strong enough to penetrate a tank's armor and knock out it's crew, it should leave a mark. Besides, I've tried knocking out a knocked out person and it didn't work...
ReplyDeleteIn the supposed leaked version, there was an element of this, with "hull breach" - multiple results of anything start stacking to next result.
DeleteI would be up for giving Rhino's armour 12 in the front. Assault vehicles for Eldar would be just plain nasty. Banshees with their I7 assaulting out of vehicles would be just so sick an wrong. Grey Knights with their I6 Halberds who are supposed to be the cream of the Imperial crop already die to them. Terminators shouldn't be as fast as Harlequins, but Terminators shine in close combat, without an assault vehicle it is already hard enough to get them into assault, without slowing them down by reducing their movement. A 5 man termie squad will be whitled down to small arms fire before they can actually get into assault.
ReplyDeleteTerminators would have to resort to their original method of deployment, which hardly anyone uses; Deep Strike. It is very under used, in my opinion.
DeleteIt is to unreliable, nothing quite like having your 400+ point squad of heavy infantry misshap. They are also slowed down greatly by it. You can get a round of shooting if you are within 24, but if you deep strike in close you are subjecting yourself to massed enemy fire and being assaulted. An other than Lightning Claw Terminators they will always go last in combat.
DeleteAlso I would like to see in the future a vehicle capable of transporting a full 10 man Terminator squad. An maybe to offset slowing down the heavier units and giving things like Harlequins increased movement you could cook up a vehicle that costs less than 200+ points that marines could assault out of.
ReplyDeleteONLY if the vehicle is sized correctly! Right now NONE of the Space Marine vehicles are sized to hold more than 3 models, most of the new Xenos vehicles (huge) are sized to hold the appropriate models. Example: The Necron Ghost Ark has 10 Necron Warriors modeled in it.
DeleteA Land raider sized to carry 10+ Terminators should be represented by a Baneblade sized vehicle!!
A Rhino is currently sized to hold just 3 Marines models, plus a driver and a co-pilot. If they force Xenos to have appropriately sized models, make the Space Marine models enlarged to the appropriate size.
End rant...