New Eldar?

[manrogue]

Well just read this on BoLS and thought i'd share (normally wouldn't as 90% of the articles are clickbait to start flame wars lol) as off Reecius who runs a few of the big USA tournaments, so his thoughts may be in line with UK tourny scene.

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2015/04/r...eldar.html

Hey everyone, Reecius here from Frontline Gaming to share our first experiences and impressions with the new Eldar book. It is, as expected, hyper powered. But is it as bad as the interwebz tries to make it seem? Well, when we opened the book we did not implode and drop into an alternate pocket dimension, nor did we set on fire so it isn’t as bad as the net says. But, it is ultra powerful. I feel quite comfortable saying that this is the most powerful book 40k has ever seen, in any edition of the game.

Eldar First Thoughts

While many of the changes in the book are awesome such as the nerf to Wave Serpents, and (some, Warp Spiders…holy crap!) of the buffs to Aspect Warriors. The new Crimson Hunter is boss (and their formation is bananas and will dominate the skies in many games), and while criminally under-priced, the Wraithknight isn’t game breaking IMO, so long as you limit games to a single LoW. If you allow more than 1 of them, I think it could get pretty loopy, pretty fast.

The downsides though, are pretty gnarly. D weapons are the big attention grabber as they are so devastating. We know a majority of folks that participate in our events don’t really care for ranged D weapons in organized play but here we are with them all over the dex. So, we decided to try it out as it lays to see how bad it was or was not. The single shot weapons have been mildly impactful in our games so far, mostly because all of our games our Wraithknight can’t hit the broadside of a barn and the Wraithguard were deployed very badly in our first game with them and didn’t really get to shoot! The D-Scythe Wraihgguard with a WWP though, wow. They get you, POW!, right in the kisser! They kill damn near anything with very few to no variables to interfere with the plan. Just devastatingly brutal in our games so far and in my mind, will alter the meta. Anyone that relies on high value, single model units, will be wearing a bad sad face if they catch the D from this unit combo. I think it is reasonable to expect most communities to tone the ranged D weapons down a bit if they use them at all, in order to make the game more enjoyable for both players. If you do want to use D weapons uncensored, so to speak, just be sure that both players know what to expect from the game. You certainly don’t want to ambush anyone with it as they may have a really crummy game.

But the real kicker so far for me, has been them dang Scat Packs! (Eldar Jet Bikes with Scatter Lasers). Those are, IMO, the best unit in the game at present. The damage output, mobility, utility, and ObSec status are just bonkers. A 4-5 man unit is the sweet-spot, and has an incredibly disproportionate impact on the game vs. it’s incredibly low cost. This, IMO, really is problematic for game balance and needs to be looked at closely. A unit that costs less than 10 Space Marines that can put out nealry as much hurt as 2 Flyrants (which cost 3.5 times as much as a single unit of 5 Scat Bikes) is pretty clearly an issue. YMMV, of course, but so far in the half dozen games we’ve played they have been devastating, apart from 1 where 3 for 3 ran off the table, lol, but that is going to happen extremely rarely and Eldar have quite a few ways to grant Fearless or leadership buffs to mitigate this.

Lastly, the Seer Council went Captain Insano! Already an uber obnoxious unit, now it is better than it was. Holy smokes, Batman, that unit is devastating! They get powers off just about as reliably as with the old Leadership tests (harness on 3+), are crazy mobile, hit hard and have some incredible psychic powers. Really a powerhouse unit and one that will cause a lot of hurtness in the butt. Mine included!