When and how to Challenge (6th ed 40k Challenge Tactica)

 40K, Rules, Tactics  11 Responses »
Sep 112012
 

 

From a reader (yes, I have a reader….one, at least):

Prometheus,
 
I was wondering if I could get your opinion on something new to 6th edition that I have been running into a lot.  Challenges.  It appears that every single close combat can be host to a Michael Jackson “Bad” knife fight if one or the other players issues the challenge.  If you happen to be in a situation whereby your “character” will be hopelessly slaughtered, your only option is to deny the challenge and thus you loose your characters attacks.  I’m not so sure I like this as the game seems to lose its feel of a battlefield and instead seems to feel like a bunch of gang fights whereby the leaders butcher eachother while everyone else pipe-fights.  I may be mildly biased by having almost all of my justicars be hopelessly walked on by vastly superior characters, so I admit, I’m a little bitter.  but it seems like a stupid mechanic that will get most squad leaders killed early and change the dynamic of close combat dramatically in ways that dont make sense (EG- My justicar had to accept an challenge from a wraithlord or I would lose my only chance to damage it with the demon hammer, but was crushed to death anyway before I could even swing.  Or, a friend was hampered by a lowly guard sergeant because the sarg “nobly” challenged his brood lord to one on one combat…  a combat where the BL most likely would have made huge piles of death happen to the whole squad, but instead could only kill the sarg?  And why would a BL even know what a sarg said?
 
Maybe I am missing something, and if I am, please forgive my ignorance, 
 
But it should would be nice to hear your thoughts on the concept & what you believe would be the best way for grey knights to kit their justicars to make the most of these challenges.
 
Thanks,
Mike

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 Posted by Prometheus at 8:00 am  Tagged with: , , ,

New 6th Ed 40k FAQs!!!!!!!

 40K, FAQ  Comments Off
Sep 072012
 

Haven’t had time to go through them much, but here you go:

 

Main page: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=1000018&pIndex=1&aId=3400019&multiPageMode=true&start=2

Main Rulebook FAQ: http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1490286a_40K_Rulebook_v1.pdf

Grey Knights FAQ: http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1490286a_40K_Rulebook_v1.pdf

 

You know how you know GW hates you?  Most of these FAQs have edit dates from July.

 Posted by Prometheus at 11:43 am  Tagged with: , ,

The “Allies Tax” and Internal Codex Force Multipliers, or, the Cost to Take Allies in 6th ed.

 40K  4 Responses »
Aug 302012
 

 

Allies have been on my mind a lot, mostly becuase, like most experienced 40k players I have more than one army (Tau, GK, and a dash of silver marines for the old daemonhunters ally rules, FYI) and there are obvious advantages to it.  It’s one of my favorite things about 6th ed, btw, as it breaths new life into old armies, and it gives people like me that have mostly complete armies an excuse to buy “just a few” of some new army….which will probably segue into an entire army at some point.  (which of course is GW’s plan, but I forgive them their mercantile intent driving rules this time; it’s just too fun)

This has been mostly a GK blog so far, but truth be told most of my time has been spent thinking about Tau….they have new viability with the change to rapid fire more general vehicle changes (massed str 5 is a vehicle killer now).  However, unlike GK, which are pretty well self contained, Tau almost need allies because their weaknesses are so profound (assault and anti-psychic, lack of flyers).

I think we can assume for the sake of argument that ALL armies have something that potential partners will want; even Black Templars have cheap 5 man las/plas squads, terminators with tank hunting cyclone launchers (and a double dose too), and 20 point cheaper typhoon land speeders.

But there’s a cost here: obviously we have to buy 1 HQ and 1 Troop, and just obviously, not all HQs are created equal.  HQs are usually not nearly as “points efficient” as regular troops — one of the main mistakes new players tend to make is over-tooled-up, bloated HQs– but most provide a decent “punch” that let you enforce local dominance in a small section of the field.  Troops can vary everywhere from fastastic, as capable as the elites of other armies, to near wastes of points that people have always felt forced to take.  We’re going to call these mandatory HQs and troops the “Tax”, which will be low when things are either cheap or super effective, or high when they’re useless.

There’s a second, more subtle factor going on that is probably under appreciated, though.  Internal synergies and force multipliers, ways in which the army is meant to support itself.  A good example would be Tau markerlights.  These are pure force multipliers, and they obviously work better if you have a certain mass of Tau to utilize them properly.  So, you’re unlikely to get much use out of markerlights in a small ally force, and conversely, by adding allies into a Tau army you’re creating some portion of your force that can’t use them.  Less obvious internal synergies include things such as SW Wolf Guard and BA priests (both of which require an Elites slot) and Necron courts (which are a free slot, but still need units to put them in).

These are just things to keep in mind when adding allies into your list…..it’s fun and exciting but you are usually paying a premium to do so.  It’s good to understand what that cost is and make sure it’s worth it.

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 Posted by Prometheus at 9:00 am  Tagged with: , , ,

On the use and care of Stormravens in 6th Edition (tactica)

 40K, List Building, Tactics, Unit review  2 Responses »
Aug 222012
 

Note: I’m writing this from a GK pov, but a lot of it is applicable to Blood Angels as well.

Ah, the flying land raider.  Using a Stormraven was pretty simple in 5th edition, at least for Grey Knight players.  Blood Angels sometimes got tricked into using it as a gun boat, because of their fancy schmancy Bloodstrike missiles, but it’s use to GK players was very clear: Deliver Termiantors and maybe a psychic dreadnought to your opponents face.

I basically used my Stormraven like a really expensive drop pod in 5th edition.  I’d load in Draigo and either some paladins or purifiers (later it was purifiers, because I decided I need the fearless in case of tank shock) and just ran the thing straight at the enemy first turn.  24″, get a 4+ cover save (librarians and shrouding were popular to make it 3+, but I had neither the points nor the room) and melta some poor tank, just because I could.  That usually failed to hit or pen for whatever perverse reason despite the demands of statistics, but who cared?  Draigo was now on the enemy door step.

Then, always, the enemy would fire basically their entire army at it.  They had to, because if it didn’t go down, draigo was going to get to charge whatever he wanted, the SR was going to go nuts shooting, and it would be pretty much an auto-win for me.  Since I was often fighting fellow GK, I’d really look forward to shooting the mindstrikes, but that rarely ever happened.

Stormravens are tough, even in 5th ed, but most of the time, they’d be able to bring it down.  (how many shots does it take to get to the center of a SR?  ”most of whatever you got”, honest assessment at the time.)

That was fine, though, because 1) It usually took a full turn of shooting to do that.  2) Draigo and friends, again, is on your doorstep.  They’d just climb out of the wreckage, and murder everything within arms-reach.  Turn 2 charge.

Now, keep in mind, that was easily a 700-800 pt investment in that one Stormraven, 200 pts of which usually got blown up on the way in.  But still, totally worth it.

 

Soooo……..flyers are awesome in 6th, and the SR is a Flyer.  The Stormraven was good in 5th, so it must be total broken-sauce in 6th, right?   Uh……..yes and no.  The truth is trying use my SR in 6th has left me a little conflicted and confused.

Firstly, let’s be clear, it is a flyer, and flyers are gross.  If your opponent doesn’t have appropriate counter measures (which are hard to come by, absent their own flyers, at the moment) you’re going to run rough shod all over them.

But how are you going to use it?  How are you going to use those 205-260 points to further your goals in winning the game?

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 Posted by Prometheus at 12:52 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

The Problem with Psychic Disciplines and Rulebook powers in 6th Edition 40k

 40K  Comments Off
Aug 172012
 

 

So everybody having fun with your new psychic powers out of the main 6th ed rulebook?  They’re fun, right?  You got them basically for free, and they’re shiny, new, interesting, and fun to try out. Fun is important.  This is a game, and we play it for fun, so if that’s your only concern, this in’t really the article for you.  If you’re the kind of player who plays orks because you get to roll on lots of tables, roll big handfuls of dice, and shout “waagh!!!!!!!!” at least once a game, then the basic rulebook powers are exactly what you’re looking for. The real problem is that from a competitive standpoint, they suck.  They A) mostly aren’t very good (with the exception Divination) B) aren’t even vaguely balanced (as illustrated by everyone talking about Divination). I’m going to start with some facts, some stats, some major points of discussion, and then go into more depth from there. We”ll go into this in more detail later, but to start the conversation off, the main problems with the powers are:

  1. Randomness, far more random than for spell lores in Warhammer Fantasy.  Most 40K psykers only have 1 or 2 powers, while fantasy wizards can have anywhere from 1-4.  Additionally, fantasy wizards get to choose whenever they roll the same power twice — 40k psykers just have to roll again.  Games Workshop, as a company, clearly does not appreciate how un-fun randomness is for many players.
  2. Multiple points of failure:  First you have to roll to cast it, then often to hit, there’s a deny the witch roll, and often additional defenses beyond that (Grey Knights, Eldar, Space Wolves, and Tyranids. Necrons have a small defense you’re unlikely to see.  SW can layer 3 different types of defenses, if you read the rules liberally!  Great rules writing again, GW!).
  3. Utter lack of balance.  Some powers are great nearly all the time.  Some are awful.  Many are great, but only in specific situations.  Which you have absolutely no chance to plan for, because you will at best only get the power you want 50% of the time!  Disciplines that have a good Primaris Power (the only really good one is for Divination) are clearly favored over the others.
  4. Warp Charge and Psyker Mastery Levels.  The vast majority of psykers in the game are Level 1.  It’s all fine and good to formalize the process for determining how many powers (including force weapons) you can cast a turn, but Warp Charge 2 powers are distributed among the disciplines in a very haphazard way.  There are four warp charge 2 powers (two of which suck) but two disciplines don’t get any and one gets two (and those are the only good ones).  If you decided you needed a “second level” of powers, wouldn’t it make sense to make sure that each discipline got one each?  They seem to have been randomly judged and assigned levels by completely different person after they were written.
  5. Wild inconsistency in how you defend against spells.  Is there anyone who thinks rune weapons remaining the same while psychic hoods were drastically nerfed wasn’t an oversight?  I doubt many people begrudge Tyranids their Shadow of the Warp, but while it certainly makes sense for Eldar to have powerful and sophisticated anti-psyker methods, doesn’t everyone agree the “whole board” is a bit much?
  6. Primaris Powers.  Or rather, the fact that because selecting powers is random, and cannot be planned for, a discipline’s worth is primarily determined by how good the Primaris Power is.

Some basic stats that are important for a discussion of psykers and psychic powers in 40K:

  • A normal psyker has a 1/18th chance of suffering a perils of the warp.  (1/36 of double 1′s, 1/36 of double 6′s =2/36=1/18)  This is, just to give you a feeling, the same odds that a marine will kill himself with one shot of plasma. (1/6*1/3=1/18)

 

  • Chance of passing Leadership 10 (i.e., successfully casting your power, to start) is 91%.  This is the leadership of basically all psykers that are worth talking about.
  • Chance to pass ld 9 is 82.7%.  Aside from primaris psykers for IG, there are barely any psykers with ld 9.  Grey Knight Justicars are (and the squads are often ld 8) but that’s a little outside this discussion.  (Ooo!  Dark Angel Librarians.  Which are clearly a relic.  Does anybody take those?  Didn’t think so.)
  • Chance to pass Ld 8 is 71.7%.  This really only comes up for weird things like henchmen psykers (which are stupid cheap for what they do, so few complain) and GK techmarine.

 

  • Chance to hit Ld 5 is 27.5%.  Bonus pts for figuring out why that matters.  (it’s what you need to pick the model you want with a focused witchfire)  Basically we’re talking about double the normal chance of a precision shot, that’s it.

 

There are, just so you know, exactly three kinds of powers. No, not witchfire’s, blessings, novas, et al..  The three types of powers you need to worry about are Buffs, debuffs, and Damage.

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 Posted by Prometheus at 4:16 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

6th ed and Grey Knights part 3: A unit by unit analysis and Tactica

 40K  Comments Off
Jul 242012
 

 

So, continuting my series from last week (Parts One and Two) I wanted to continute the discussion of how 6th edition affects Grey Knights.  On to Fast Attack!

 

Stormraven

Upsides of 6th:

  • Flyers are broken (at the moment), didjya hear?  Seriously, it’s messed up, but there is almost nothing more important than how many Flyers you can bring in 6th edition
  • The Stormraven is quite tough for a flyer.
  • It has a lot of guns, and can be given a fair bit of variety to it’s guns\
  • It is also a transport, with an assault ramp no less
  • If you’re worried about it crashing with your dudes inside, they can always jump out the back

Downsides of 6th:

  • It’s quite expensive, the most expensive flyer by far.
  • Using it as a transport is much harder in this edition
  • Dual Gunship/Transport function means you are wasting some of it’s capacity now.

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 Posted by Prometheus at 4:46 pm  Tagged with: , , , , ,

6th edition 40k, and how it affects Grey Knights: A unit by unit analysis and Tactica

 40K  4 Responses »
Jul 182012
 

So……6th edition.  I thought I’d make my first post, in just about a year, with it, but I wanted the time to digest some of what is coming out of it. I have lots of thing to say about 6th edition itself, but I wanted to discuss the effects on various GK units more, merely because that is so high at the top of my mind.  I think there’s no where else to start but the top.

Generally:  Grey Knights were generally considered at the top of the heap at the close of 5th.  Personally, I think Necrons were probably right up there with them, but I think this fact was in general underappreciated–mostly due to Necrons needing a fair bit of finesse and synergy between units, while GK units tend to be a lot more general purpose, self-sufficient, and of course they’re marines (they didn’t use to be, dammit!) which makes them a fair bit  fail-proof. Well, that’s gone now, at least to a degree.  Which is good!  Grey Knights certainly got their boosts in 6th, but so did most other codexes, some to a far larger degree than GK.  Again, I say this is good.  I’m sure there are some power gamers out there who want their “I win” button (it was never really there) but personally, I get tired of people assuming I’m beating them just because I brought Grey Knights.  I think most players are similar.

General Upsides of 6th for GK:

  • Psychic powers are far more important now, and Grey Knights have a ton of psykers, and possibly the  most powerful on average, in the game.  Only a few models can switch out their power for basic rule book powers, but it’s still more than most armies get.
  • Massive nerf to psychic hoods means that GK will get their powers off far more often. Most of our native powers are buffs, meaning Deny The Witch and Psychic Hoods are inapplicable.
  • Conversely, we’re now one of the best psychic defended armies in the game.  Because of how Deny The Witch works, a GK unit (not henchmen) will almost always get a 5+ save against powers, very often 4+ (if they include a Psychic Mastery level 2 IC, which is going to happen a lot), and this is on top of The Aegis. That’s pretty powerful, and unlikely to change through FAQs or new codexes (which you should expect with Space Wolves and Eldar, eventually)
  • Generally speaking infantry Dakka is much more important, and Grey Knights, particularly Strike Squads, are really good at Dakka.
General Downsides of 6th for GK:
  • Fortitude is much weaker now.  This is part of the general nerf to vehicles, but we had really good vehicles, and Fortitude was a little broken.  Still, the change hurts us more than some others.
  • You no longer win the shooting match quite as definitively with rapid firers like Tac Squads, as they can at least hit you at the same range, and are much cheaper.
So, that sounds like a much larger upside to downside, but keep in mind almost everyone else got a similar list.  Much was given in 6th, very little (besides vehicles was taken away).
So let’s look at it unit by unit, shall we?  We’ll start with Troops.
 Posted by Prometheus at 6:03 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , ,
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