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| Beautiful ain't it... (GD 2006) |
Here are another couple of units from the codex rewrite Eldar Guardian Jetbikes (seemed the next logical progression after I had done Guardian garden varieties) and Eldar Rangers. - I hope you like them and agree with the changes that have been made. But first another speel about writing slowly ;).
With regards to changing the things that people have commented on (too many special weapons for Guardian Storms, them being I5 not being able to MSU guardians), I have noted your criticisms down and will be posting beta (ie. community and TKE approved) unit entries in a big bundle after I have reached the end of the Force Organisation Category, (will be doing per category to make it a tad easier to organise) linked together as a giant pdf with a proper title and everything(TM).
When finished, all of these approved beta-sections will be e-stitched together like a proper codex, and downloadable as a phat block for playtesting purposes (if there is anyone who wants to actually do it hahaha). I am actually writing this monstrosity pretty much unit by unit, so anyone wanting a quick peek in before anyone else, I am sorry to say, you won't be getting one until it's all finished and playable - no sense trying to slot in redesigned units with those that aren't - Aspect Warriors for one thing are changing a fair bit, so it'd be silly to play some with the new rules whilst others lag behind (someone pointed out to me that Aspects are now slower than the alpha-rules Guardians... lol).
Now, where were we?
Guardian Jetbikes
Let's take a quick step back for a moment. Dark Eldar jetbikes are amazing:
They can chop things up by flying over them,
Kill tanks quite easily (I <3 Heat Lances),
*Really* annoy people with objective claiming,
Look awesome (Those models are sweeeeet)
*and*
Whoa.
Sweet shit, those models are terrible (not the paintjob....)- its a what..? ~20 year old sculpt?
I envy the DE for their sweet new flying blade-like hover bikes. I can only wait for the day that Jes gets the go ahead to mass produce this baby:
Well,
These guys are really just fine as they sit in the current codex, being just a tad overpriced for how they perform - which they do adequately, considering they are faux-marines with jump packs who get to move 24" when they feel like it.
One of the improvements I wanted to make across the whole 'dex was to give access to Haywires to units that currently had little-to-no chance of harming vehicles - mainly guardians etc - to alleviate the whole "Tarnation, them boxes be annoyin' me" situation. (in other places, you won't need it, or they'll be rending...) Hence, GJBs getting a haywire grenade option.
No, Guardian Jetbikes won't be getting a melta or flamer option - they aren't marine bikes. That's not how we roll here - They are discretely different to their spiky counterparts (or plastron covered religious loons). Besides, when you get that many shuriken weapons firing at you, you'd better take some cover especially if they can become...
"It's not ready! Shhhh!"
....sorry.
Without further ado, I present to you the Alpha Guardian Jetbikes rules.
Codex Entry
Rangers
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| From Geek it Up |
As every good schoolboy knows, Eldar have multiple giant spaceships called 'craftworlds' that they inhabit, and not all of them use Aspect Warriors or Guardians in such high numbers to protect their interests, instead opting for sneaky snipers shooting things from far away across the battlefield. Yes fluffmonkey, Alaitoc relies very heavily on these babies to do their troopyness and possess elite versions of these hideaway snipers called Pathfinders. Pathfinders are in my opinion too powerful fluffwise (and new ability-wise) to be a troops choice, so we'll push them to Elites for the time being unless anyone moans. Okay?
My primary complaint with rangers was that if you hit them with a flamer, they instantly vapourised - yes just a measly flamer. A little 5pt gun can wipe my very expensive squad, very quickly. So sad. :(
Therefore, the first change that I made was a slight increase in survivability - they get 4+ armour save rather than their 5+ meaning that yes, Heavy Flamers'll ruin your day. They don't walk any kind of path, you'd think they want to ensure their survivability a little bit with their emotions running riot and the like.
Also, something that TKE mentioned made me think. These guys pretty much live in trees their whole lives - they've gotta be hard to budge even with close combat assaults. Not in combat mind you but to get to them. Hence, the addition of Tanglefoot (Still need a name guys and gals!) grenades (remember these guys?).
With those changes, they are okay, but still a bit lacking in one respect. They suck against tanksies and transports.
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| They just saw a Rhino. |
I don't want to punish anyone for taking these things by people shelling out points for them but then finding they can't kill razorbacks etceteraaarrrh. Yes, they shouldn't be that great vs tanks, but they should be able to scratch them right?
Bearing that in mind, and thinking that these guys are quite fluffily accurate, I changed long rifles to firing like snipers, but rolling 2D6 pick the highest penetration. This means that yes, they will only be able to glance on a 6, but the minimum after that rollable will be 11. This makes them an adequate threat. However, to prevent them from blowing tanks up with a single shot, I changed the AP1 shot rule, making all anti-tank firing counting as AP- - something to balance the two dice thing.
One final thing that was added was the possibility to give them haywire grenades for +2pts per model, much like Storm Guardians - making them dangerous to tanks parked near board edges if outflanking in (sneaky sneaky) and giving them some use vs AV14.
Without further ado:
Codex Entry
So.... whaddya think?
9 comments:
Elite slot is already crowded in the eldar codex. Will either need to switch another aspect warrior to troops to compensate for the ranger/pathfinders filling up other slots already otherwise they will not be better then the actual aspect warriors... or should not be.
AP - on Sniper shots to give 2d6 and just take the highest is not good IMO.
Remember AP - = -1 on the damage chart sooo even on a glance you are at -3... so a follow up roll of a 6 still is just a 3 (weapon destroyed)
Anything less then a 6 can almost be ignored by extra armor upgrades on vehicles and ignored by many others.
If you added Both 2d6 and kept them both for AP. That would help but having (AP -) will still suck when we have other units that are soo much better at tank hunting, and taking the same FoC position especially if moved to Elite.
Wraithguard/Fire Dragons > Will still be superior to Pathfinders for taking down heavy infantry/tanks as that is their Core Design.
Snipers are supposed to be anti infantry, That is why they have long range, can have AP1 on good roles, and pinning, while always wounding on a 4+. There is a reason for this design.
The Guardian Jetbikes are cool. Adding a Haywire grenade is awesome.
-I would restrict it like the Shuriken Cannon that 1 in every 3 can take one > again full units with them.. that are not aspect warriors are too powerful. Should be reserved for Hawks, and add them to Warp Spiders.
Having some with and some without grenades is a modelling nightmare, nevermind anything else.
If in doubt, make it simpler.
this is my issue with the jetbikes- currently they are only a viable option because you can take 6, grab 2 cannons, and zoom down the flanks and pop some S6 shots in side and rear armour before zooming off again
in your proposed unit, i now take 5 jetbikes and get a single cannon which can (at best) glance a tank once (if even, BS3 and S4 does not a killer make). You have made them exclusively light infantry killers, which just doesnt work in this mech/MEQ-heavy game
for me, i would either give them something like a "shrieker cannon", with the current shuriken cannon stats. its the only reason i can see people will take them...short of giving them fusion gun options #yespleasefromasaimhannplayer
and 1 cannon in every 3 just makes sense. y have an option for 12 jetbikes if its 1 in 5?
rangers are fine, like them muchly. Although no need for AP-, they arent going to be blowing up vehicles any time soon lol
In the fluff Guardian jetbikers are described as used for recon and as outflanking the enemy.
What'd you think about giving them Scouts?
As regards the rangers, the AP1 on a to Hit roll of a 6 looks to me like a remnant of the 4th edition rending rules. How about just using the current rending rules? They become AP2 on a to Wound roll of a 6.They're already superior to most other sniper weapons because they're normally AP4.
Just an idea.
What I am at odds with, is the survivability increase you've given them. Yes, dying so easily to flamers sucks, but in my opinion that's how they're supposed to be: their cover save is their strength. Deprive them of that and they die. Giving them 4+ armour because you don't like them dying to flamers, sounds like giving marines 2+ armour because you don't like them dying to missiles.
They're rangers, stealthy light infantry. They should have light armour. Let them depend on their cover for survival.
Scouts would be a nice touch on the bikes, but they would still be scouting bikes that excel at killing light infantry....
...and not much else. If they could outflank with S6 weaponry however- sign me up
Agree on the rangers being kept at 5+ cover save. If someone brings flamers to the party then you laugh and tank shock their ass for not bringing melta instead
How about the option to attach a Vyper to a jetbike unit, ala Ravenwing?
The AP1 for the Rangers is the rules for Sniper rifles period. It's nothing to do with rending from previous editions as it is the current rules in the base rule book of Sniper rifles, Also against Vehicles they count as Rending and Str 3 already by the base rule book.
Pathfinders however get the AP1 and other benefits from a role of 5+ not just 6.
SO there should be no modification for this as it is the same rules for All snipers in the game, except for pathfinder 5+.
No reason to make them less effective then any other sniper that isn't more powerful.
Ehm... the normal sniper rule only makes a weapon rending and pinning. Rending confers AP2 on a roll of 6 to Wound. There is no AP1 involved, nor does anything happen on a 6 to Hit.
The 6 to Hit is a legacy of 4th edition, although I don't know whether AP1 was part of the rending rule back then.
Any way, turning to the normal rending rule would make these sniper rifles simpler and you wouldn't lose much. Against troops AP2 and AP1 are all the same, and against vehicles the AP1 is lost any way. The only loss in effectiveness is that effects on a 6 to Wound is worse than effect on a 6 to Hit, but that's in line with the current edition.
And with all that Elder sniper rifles would still be superior to normal sniper rifles, since they have AP4 against troops and are effectively ordnance weapons against vehicles.
As regards Pathfinders when they come up, they can always rend on a 5+.
@Araith
Vypers should be like attack bikes (with standard statline rather than vehicle stats) anyway in my opinion
make them T6 but instant death vs S8+ weapons, would make them more survivable against small arms fire but taken out by a krak missle easily still
take them in squadrons, as well as one as an upgrade to a jetbike squad
but that is a totally different codex entry altogether....
agree with you on the needle sniper rifles too
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