The new Codex: Eldar
Posted: 2006-10-23 04:50pm
Not sure whether this belongs in G+C, if so, please move.
Having recently seen the preview for the Eldar codex, I decided to waste some time that I really don't have by posting some dissertations on the changes. Keep in mind that this is from memory, so it may not be perfectly accurate. Tally ho:
The Layout
The statistics and special rules are all together with the background material essays. The army list itself is very much a summary list: a different look than what has been the rule for third and fourth editions till now.
More importantly, there are no more Craftworld-specific lists: one list fits all. How this is accomplished will be seen in due course...
HQ
The Avatar of the Bloody Handed God.
Has "come of age". Price raised from 80 points to 155 points. This is a change I aprove of: previously the Avatar was used by various less than honourable players as a sort of "poor man's general", to be deployed when too few points were available for a properly souped-up Farseer. No more. Instead he becomes more powerful:
In line with the Greater Daemons of Chaos, the Avatar gains a 4+ invunreable save (up from 5+) and, like the Bloodthirster, a 3+ armour save also. This increases his survivability no end - no longer will he be contemptuously be shot to ribbons before reaching close combat.
Moreover, the Avatar gains an extra point of Initiative, and and extra attack (to I:6 A:4 from I:5 A:3 previously). The Wailing Doom is now able to fire a Meltagun type blast at BS:5. Finally, the Avatar himself takes no damage from melta weapons or flamers now.
When I wrote down a "wish list" for the new codex (which was foolishly never sent anywhere), I put that the Avatar should have Strength:8 and a 4+ invunreable instead of any other stats change since that would make him precisely neck to neck against the Keeper of Secrets; moreover, the Wraithlord tended to make him look like a bit of a wuss. But all in all, the new changes cannot be complained about, only nit-picked.
Bottom line: Good change.
The Farseers
They have Toughness 3 now (instead of Toughness 4), which means that they suffer instant death from Perils of the Warp. However, the Ghosthelm confers a 3+ special save against Perils of the Warp instead of a 4+ special save. For all that, they are still a lot more vunreable.
Incidentally, they always come with a Witchblade and Ghosthelm now, just like the Librarians always come with a Psychic Hood and Force-weapon. Their cost is raised to 55 points, up from 40, though with the aforementioned pieces of kit, they would have cost 60 points.
The useless crap known as Runes of Warding are now no longer useless at all. Previously, Runes of Warding allowed a Farseer to force enemy psykers to roll 3d6 for psychic tests, and discard the lowest die - IF the Farseer was within 6" of the enemy psyker or the target. Now its 3d6 added together, and regardless of range. Moreover, any two of the three dice can cause a backfire.
EDIT: I had misremembered this bit here: its not any two dice that can cause a backfire, but any result of 12 or higher on the three dice. Near as I can reckon, that's about a 37.5% chance. Ouch.
Warlock retinues must be taken in squads of 3-10 now, rather than 1-5. More significantly, Warlocks that join Guardian and Wraithguard squads are no longer detached from the retinue, but are simply taken as upgrades for the relevant units. Thus you can boost your Guardians without leaving your Farseer poorly defended. They cost 25 points, the Witchblade is mandatory (previously, they cost 11 points, the witchblade was optional at +15 points).
The Farseer and Warlock powers are pretty much identical to what they were before. But in addition to the old list there is a new Farseer power: Doom. You Doom an enemy unit to allow any failed to-wound rolls against it to be re-rolled. Damned if I remember the range, though.
Bottom Line: They are vunreable to instant death from their bloody job now. Granted, if Inquisitor Lords can be instakilled by Perils of the Warp, why should Farseers be any different? Because they have managed to become thousands of years old, that's why! Bah. If the Ghosthelm did not provide any saves against Perils of the Warp but made is so that only one wound was suffered, I'd not object. I know that statistically that would be similar (3+ save fails 1/3 of the time, the Farseer has 3 wounds), but its the principle of the thing...
Other than this quibble, no objections.
Autarch.
The new kid on the block: the Autarch is a millitary commander who, fluff states, has trodden the path of each of the Aspects and turned aside from each one to gain a wide range of experience in kickassery. He has a Weaponskill, Ballistic Skill and Initiative of 6, Strength, Toughness, Wounds and Attacks of 3, Leadership 10. In other words, a Dark Eldar Lord with -1 initiative and +1 Leadership.
He has a 4+ invunreable save from a personal force field, and a 3+ armour save. Moreover, he can buy sundry items of Aspect and Exarch kit, such as a jetbike, warp jump pack, swooping hawk wings, banshee mask, mandiblaster, executioner blade, etc.
Most importantly, he allows units to add +1 to their reserve rolls and the army has a Strategy rating of 4. All this for the very low cost of 70 points.
Incidentally, the Autarch allows Biel-Tan-type "Swordwind" hosts to field a "pure" Aspect force complete with a HQ selection without those pesky, cautious Farseers from making a presence, and without having to include the expensive Avatar.
Bottom Line: Very nice. A mite too cheap compared with the strategic advantages he provides.
Special Characters.
These include the Phoenix Lords who now have Weaponskill 7, as well as Prince Yriel of Iyanden (an Autarch with a power weapon that wounds on a 2+) and Eldrad Ulthran ("Aren't you dead?" - "I got better") .
Actually, the latter two can be used for a "generic" hero of the Eldar, the names are mostly for the fluff. And incidentally, no, Eldrad has not gotten better, since he is spoken of in the past tense and with a comment to the effect that he now "exemplifies the meaning of sacrifice", etc etc.
EDIT #2: The Phoenix Lords also have four attacks on their profiles now.
Bottom Line: Special Characters are now standard list units. Ouch. But then, that's the way the wind is blowing.
ELITES
Fire Dragons
We come to the first "broken" unit in the list. Can't have an Eldar Codex without at least one of these, eh?
First off, the Fire Dragons now have full Strength 8 meltaguns. No problem with that: I always thought it silly that the highly advanced Eldar would be the only ones in the Galaxy to have nerfed meltas. Moreover, the reasons for nerfing them was ostensibly because they were too flexibe. But even with S:6 guns, they excelled at close range firefights with enemy infantry especially since they only cost 17 points each (and could have large 5-10 man units), while heavy tanks with ceramic armour, Necron monoliths, etc shrugged off their shots. This meant that they were not really optimized for their supposed role. No more: they have strength 8 guns now, and can hurt any vehicle something fierce.
But: THEY ONLY COST 16 POINTS EACH!
That's right, they now cost LESS than they did before. I would have popped them up to 20 points, personally, to make them less attractive as a line troop type. Ahem: HOLY CRAP, 16 POINTS!!
The Exarch no longer has access to the "burning fist" power. This means that they won't be as powerful in assault (for those of you that don't know, that meant a power weapon equivalent with re-rolls to wound in close combat. I.e. a lightning claw equivalent). Instead, he gets "crack shot" as per the Dark Reapers (ignore cover saves, and re-roll to wound rolls from shooting). Moreover, he can now buy either a heavy flamer or the firepike, which remains a 18" range meltagun.
The Exarch costs +12 points over the basic trooper. Incidentally, so do all Exarchs now. The "Tank Hunter" Exarch power now gives the entire squad the Universal Special Rule of that name. Pretty logical, since they are supposed to be just that. Moreover, this follows a new pattern, with the Exarch power giving a special rule to the entire squad more often than not. Well and good, but HOLY CRAP, ONLY 16 POINTS!!!
Bottom Line: Way too cheap.
Harlequins
While we are on the topic of "broken" stuff, let's get these over with.
The Craftworld codex now includes Harlequins. They only cost 18 points, which is where I take issue, since they also have the same stat line and close combat weapons as they did before (except with Ballistic Skill 4), and their special rules are quite similar to what they were before:
Harlequin . 18 points . WS:5 BS:4 S:3 T:3 W:1 I:6 A:2 Ld:9.
As for special rules: they still have flip belts (ignore difficult terrain), and gain the Hit and Run Universal rule. The Flip belts used to allow them to also fall back and advance 3d6", iirc (going by memory) but the former of these is replaced by the Hit and Run, the latter is redundant under the new core rules. They no longer reduce the Leadership of their enemies by -1, but have the Furious Charge rule. The Harlequin's Kiss is now simply a Rending close combat weapon that costs +4 points per model (you can provide any number of models with them).
They don't have the 4+ cover save nor do they halve the WS of the enemy, but have a 5+ Invunreable save instead. A lot simpler, and more resilient against flamers (less against other ranged weapons, though). The Halving of WS meant that enemies used to hit them on a 5+ rather than a 4+ and they used to have no armour save at all, so in close combat its not that much different. They hit most people on a 3+ anyway.
Each unit can include a Troupe leader, a Shadowseer, and a Death Jester. These are nerfed relative to what they were before: they have the stat line of the Harlequin regulars. The Shrieker cannon is a shuriken cannon that causes pinning, no special blast marker rule.
The "Veil of Tears" psychic power is treated as a Warlock power in terms of game mechanics. Enemies must roll to see the unit as per the Night Fighting rules.
The Troupe Leader gets three attacks on his profile.
There is no Great Harlequin nor a Solitaire. But I guess you Harlequin players can field an Autarch and some Phoenix Lord or other and claim that these represent the heavyweights, then max out your Elites with "regular" Harlequins. As for all the old kit, such as Harlequin bikers, the Venom transport, and special wargear like the domino field et al. no sign of it. Perhaps in some expansion, then again, perhaps not.
Bottom Line: Too cheap. You'll be worrying about trying NOT to wipe out the enemy so as not to be targeted by enemy shooting in their following turn.
Wraithguard
These guys really needed a makeover, and boy did they get one.
As previously mentioned, the Warlocks are upgrades for the units, they are not detached from the Farseer's retinue.
The Wraithguard now have Toughness 6 (rather than Toughness 5). Bolter wielding people beware, you'll need heavy weapons.
The wraithcannons inflict wounds on a 2+ and inflict instant death on a 6; against vehicles they inflict glancing hits on a 3-4 and a penetrating hit on a 5-6. Previously, they wounded on a 4+ and instant death on a 6, with a glancing hit on a 4, penetrating hit on a 5-6.
In other words, they can now be used agains large numbers of low Toughness opponents as "line troops". To that end, they can be taken either as Elites or as Troops if their squads number 10 models. Pretty expensive, but nonetheless, the Iyanden army list is now redundant.
By the way, they still cost 35 points.
Bottom Line: A much needed boost.
Howling Banshees
Pretty much as before. One of the Exarch's powers now give the "Counter Attack" special rule, instead of allowing the Exarch to reposition herself in contact with any opponent. The other, War Shout used to reduce the enemy by one points of Weaponskill unless they passed a Ld test as the Banshees charged, now it reduces the enemy down to Weaponskill 1 if they fail their test (this means they will hit the Banshees on a 5+ rather than a 4+ during the first round).
The special Exarch weapons are the good old Executioner, "Mirrorblades" which are a power weapon that adds +2 to attacks (i.e. the old power blades, exept that they are not added to existing weapons), and a "Triskele".
The Triskele is an ancient Celtic symbol, which is appropriate enough, and its function is similar to the old Web of Skulls, which was available to the Swooping Hawks before (and which was - and is - also wielded in souped-up form by Jain Zar, the Howling Banshee Phoenix Lord). The difference is that it is now S:3 AP:2 Assault:3 instead of the arcane S:4 AP:5, keep rolling to hit until you miss or score 4 hits. I seem to recall that it has a reduced range also (12" rather than 24"), but take that with a pinch of salt. Its still treated as a power weapon in assault, BTW.
Bottom Line: OK.
Striking Scorpions
Very much like before, though somewhat nerfed. The most important nerf is that they don't have access to haywire grenades anymore, iirc. Alas, if I remember this correctly, this would reduce their utility considerably.
They can buy Infiltrate and Move Through Cover; but the Exarch no longer gains the option to boost his Strength with the Crushing Blow Exarch power.
The Strength 4 is now explained as being due to their chainswords rather than the mandiblasters. While this is logical, it does mean that the Exarch only goes up to Strength 6 with the Scorpion's Claw, rather than Strength 8. The Scorpion's Claw has a built in shuriken catapult, though.
The Biting Blade no longer allows you to keep rolling to wound until you fail to do so for each hit (which was, frankly, outrageous), but it adds +1 to Strength as a regular Scorpion chainsword, and each hit scored adds a further +1. Thus, if he scores three hits, he has Strength 7.
I seem to recall a third weapon option, but damned if I remember what it was. Oh, well.
It provides a +1 attack bonus, and re-rolls to hit and to wound rolls.
Bottom Line: OK. Too bad about the haywire grenades.
Warp Spiders
Have been moved to the Fast Attack section. Hallelujah. More on them later.
TROOPS
Dire Avengers
I give these pride of place among the Troops units since they are now "come of age" as their Avatar is. First and foremost, their weapons now have an 18" effective range, up from 12", with the same cost per trooper as before (12 points). Thus they can participate in mid-ranged firefights rather than just short ranged "they are right on top of us" ones.
Moreover, they can take grenades now, so they aren't totally useless against anything but infantry.
ACTUALLY, no they can't. I cannot imagine what possessed me to write this nonsense, persumably it was wishful thinking, my somehow mixing together the Swooping Hawks and Dire Avenger upgrades in my mind, combined with a bad salami for lunch or something. Thus, they still suck compared to vehicles, and despite the 18" range they now enjoy, greedy bastard that I am, I would have liked to see more. Still, they are my unit of choice instead of the Guardians.
They cannot take special weapons, the Exarch cannot take a shuriken cannon as many (including myself) had hoped. Nonetheless, they aren't shortchanged:
The Exarch can take a power sword and "shimmershield", which means that the unit gains a 5+ invunreable save in assault (what I would have liked to see the Banshees gain, but oh, well).
The Exarch can take a Diresword and shuriken pistol. The Diresword is the same overpriced crap as before.
Finally, the Exarchs powers are Defend (ALL close combat opponents don't get bonus attacks from extra weapons, rather than ONE opponent in base contact with the Exarch being at -1 attack) and "Bladestorm" which allows the whole unit to add +1 to the number of shots they can fire, though next shooting phase must be spent reloading.
Its better than this actually. All close combat opponents directing their attacks against the Dire Avengers are at -1 attack to a minimum of one attack. So things like Flayed Ones won't get their two attacks despite not technically being defined as having extra weapons, and justifying their extra attacks this way.
All in all, a worthy upgrade. And one that was very much needed. I do beleive that we will see more Dire Avengers in Eldar armies now, I certainly know that I'll be fielding them.
Bottom Line: A much needed boost. Still is, despite my quibble above.
Rangers
Same as before, except that they don't get a 6+ cover save in the open. I.e. they use the Stealth Universal Special Rule instead. Price is still 19 points.
They can now be upgraded to Pathfinders at +5 points, which gives them +2 to cover saves rather than +1 (still only when in cover), and allows them to count as having AP:1 on a to hit roll of 5+ rather than on a 6. In addition, they have the Scouts Universal Special Rule.
These Pathfinders are similar to the ones in the Alaitoc list in Codex: Craftworld Eldar, though less potent (those ones got AP:1 on a 4+). However, this makes the Alaitoc list redundant, just like all the other Craftworld specific lists. The enemies of Alaitoc will no doubt rejoice in learning that the Ranger Disruption Table is no more.
Bottom Line: OK.
Guardians
Similar to what they were, same stats and weapons and all. No armour upgrade, alas. Moreover, they have a 12" range on their Shuriken catapults, in contrast to the Dire Avengers. This leads me to suspect that they will take the back benches in the forseeable future, which frankly is all well and good. These are militia to be used in extremis, after all - even if the Aspects are much to few to deal with all situations, the Guardians are not deployed if it can be helped. As to whether they are no longer competitive with the Dire Avengers, to the extent that the list is not balanced, that remains to be seen.
Differences are the following.
The Storm Squads are not a seperate entry: just an option to replace the shuriken catapults with shuriken pistols and close combat weapons. The 0-2 flamers and fusion guns now cost +6 points each rather than +3 points and +4 points respectively, though granted, the fusion guns are more powerful than before. The Storm Squads cannot take haywire grenades anymore.
In fact, no Guardians can take grenades at all.
Exactly as for the Wraithguard, the Warlock is a simple upgrade, not a detached model from the Farseers retinue. So there is no reason not to include one, other than to be stingy (though I had mentioned it before, it bears mentioning again).
The units must be large: 10-20 models each. No micro units just to fill up your Troops choices so you can cheese on the Elites! Good change, that.
The heavy weapon platform must be included, though you don't pay for the extra crewmen; the platform's crew is two of the squaddies. Thus, the cost for the platform is rather cheaper overall. The shuriken cannon is a LOT cheaper. It used to cost 35 points for both crewmen and gun (i.e. 19 or 20 points for the gun), now the gun alone costs only 5 points(!) I can only imagine that this is because no-one used the Shuriken cannon before and that it is now obligatory to take a heavy weapon. Incidentally, contrary to rumors, the Shuriken cannon is NOT a Rending weapon, it's dirt cheap instead. Elsewhere, the Shuriken cannon costs 10 points, though (rather than 20 points as before).
Moreover, Guardians may now take their heavy weapons aboard Wave Serpents and they may Fleet Foot with them. This is certainly the most important of all the changes, and may help to redress the 12" range thing.
I'll mention the other heavy weapons now, since this seems like a good place:
The Starcannon is only Heavy:2 as rumors had it. Oh, well. It was abusive anyway, and no one used anything else.
The Scatter Laser is Heavy:4 rather than Heavy:D6. In other words, no longer unpredictable but potentially devastating, but reliable and potentially devastating. Less Krork, more Eldar: good change.
The Eldar Missile Launcher is unchanged.
The Brightlance is unchanged.
And that's that.
Bottom Line: Sensible changes, overall. Still a horde-type unit if used in the front lines, though, and with the Dire Avengers up to speed, all the more reason to take them only when neccesary. Or possibly they can shine as a purely support-type unit, which makes rather more sense.
Guardian Jetbikes
Shock, surprise! The Jetbikes are Troops now.
Shock, surprise! They cost only 22 points, rather than 35 points.
They can have 5-12 models per squadron (rather than 3-10), and the Shuriken Cannons (still only one per three) cost only +10 points rather than +20.
This may not be so shocking if you consider the Black Book (i.e. the 3rd edition rulebook) where Jetbikes cost 25 points each; Gav Thorpe raised them to 35 points when he wrote the previous incarnation of the Eldar Codex, and gave them the "may always move 6" in the assault phase" special rule that Tau players now know and love for their battlesuits.
This special move has been made redundant due to the new "Turbo Boost" rules in the 4th edition rulebook. So we're back down to 25 points. Space Marine bikes have gotten a 3 point rebate to encourage more bike use, so it seems that the Eldar have followed suit.
Moreover, this makes the Saim Hann list redundant. Instead of a Wild Rider Cheftain, you can now field an Autarch on a jetbike and call him a cheiftain - he even has better stats. As for the Kindred: take a Guardian Jetbike squadron and include a Warlock with Enhance to boost WS to 4 and Initiative to 5, like the Kindred used to have.
What's this? The Kindred had two attacks on their profiles? Well, you can't have everything, now can you?
Bottom Line: A much needed rebate.
Wave Serpent
Can't remember any changes here.
Bottom Line: Same old girl. If I recall correctly.
FAST ATTACK
Warp Spiders
Now then: these blokes are Fast Attack. Why am I happy about that? Here's why:
Firstly, it is now possible to buy a full Swordwind army with all the Aspects represented. This is because there are three aspects in the Elites section and three in the Fast Attack section, which is the limit of what is permitted in a Standard Mission. No special Biel Tan list needed (and in any case, that list allowed FEWER Aspects overall, since there you could no longer take Aspects of some kind or other as Elites as well as Troops. Ridiculous).
Second: they have jump packs, i.e. a special piece of wargear that relates to movement (like the Swooping Hawks and Shining Spears, and unlike the three aspects in the Elites section). So there is that philosophical point to consider also.
The Deathspinners are now an Assault:2 weapon, rather than Rapid Fire. The silliness of putting a rapid fire weapon on a jump pack in the third edition cannot be overstated, though I'm not going to rant about that here: its water under the bridge in any case with the new edition. Now it is possible to fire to full effect with rapid fire weapons even on the move, but GW has descided to give them the Assault:2 job anyway, so now they can fire and charge into assault as well. Better than allowing the enemy to do so, I guess, and who in their right minds would want to stay in a firefight with the Warp Spiders? In any case, they still can take that second 2d6" jump in the assault phase, and this still causes a casualty on the squad if they roll a double. They don't have to go the full distance anymore, though, so the risk of ending their move in impassable terrain and being destroyed is no more.
The Exarch can now provide the squad with a Deep Strike - rather odd as their jump packs are supposed to be short ranged, but perhaps they have a powerup at the base or something. The other power - Withdraw - is unchanged, i.e. they have the Hit and Run Universal Special Rule. Unless I'm much mistaken, that's where this particular Universal Special Rule originally came from.
The Exarch's second deathspinner now gives it Assault:4. Pretty nasty stuff. Alternatively, the Exarch can take an Assault:1 version of the weapon with AP:1.
The powerblades are still there: a power weapon with a +1 attack bonus. (The Exarch never did have a pistol, so the fact that this is a cumulative bonus was a non-issue, as it is now. The Banshee's version has been replaced with the Mirrorblades, in any case, to avoid confusion).
Bottom Line: Good change.
Swooping Hawks
These guys used to be the "Aquaman" of the Aspect Warriors - and that's no joke. The following changes have brought them up to speed:
They now have haywire grenades as a part of their basic kit. Hallelujah! Lasblasters are AP:5 rather than AP:6 - Imperial Guard and Dark Eldar beware.
The Exarch now has the option to buy the "Skyleap" power instead of that silly ability to assault a further d6" (as long as he remains in coherency, yeah right). Skyleap allows the unit to be removed from the table and placed in reserve - even if they were in close combat - and then Deep Strike when they become available. Not quite as good as the Necron Portal, since they need to pass a reserves roll to return, but nonetheless, not bad at all - moreso since their Swooping Hawk grenade pack is no longer a one use weapon this way (it is a S:4 AP:5 large blast marker that is used against any enemy on the table when they Deep Strike).
The other Exarch power, Sustained Assault is no more (it allowed the Exarch to keep rolling to hit until he missed), but then that was a manifestation of the "Exarch Delivery System" syndrome and will not be missed. Neither can the Exarch take a power sword or a Web of Skulls - the latter is now the Howling Banshee Triskele. The Hawks are not a lacklustre assasult unit, they are a mobile fire support unit, pure and simple. Instead of the Sustained Assault ability, the Exarch can now take the "Intercept" power, that means that in assault, the unit hit skimmers on a 4+ rather than a 6, and remember that they have haywire grenades. Necrons and Tau beware.
As for Exarch weapons: the Hawk's Talon is Strength 5, iirc (as opposed to S:4), though it is still an Assault:3, 24" range Lasblaster in other respects. The other weapon the Exarch can take is a SIX shot lasblaster that causes PINNING (!!!) It is called a "sunrifle", apparently.
All in all: Aquaman no more.
Bottom Line: A much needed boost.
Shining Spears
Fucking wierdoes. I have some problems with people pretending to be medieval knights on a futuristic battlefield - and coming from a Warhammer 40000 player that may seem like an ironic statement, but, for goodness sakes, there are limits.
Anyhow: these guys used to be overpriced and useless. Now they are down from a staggering 50 points to 35 points each, and instead of having weapons that are Strength 5 and provide +2 attacks on the charge rather than +1, they now are Strength 6 power weapons on the charge that also can be used as guns with the following profile:
Laserlance . R:6" S:6 AP:4 Assault:1 . Lance.
In other words, they can cause damage even to the mighty Land Raider. They can gain the Hit and Run and Expert Riders skills from judicious expenditures on Exarch Powers. The latter was also present before; the former was not - it replaces "Evade" which made the Exarch's save invunreable.
The Exarch can take a "star lance" which is a laser lance with Strength 8 in all cases. I.e. Strength 8 power weapon on the charge and a Range:6" Strength:8 AP:4 Assault:1 Lance weapon. Christ on a jetbike.
Incidentally, these can be used as Kindred with the "counts as" rule and suitable conversions for people of a Saim Hann dispostion. That's the kindest thing I can say about them, they never caught my fancy. Still don't: what horrid models.
Bottom Line: Wow. Strength 6 power weapons and Lances. Wow. Only 35 points. Butt ugly models though. And medieval knights schtick. Whatever.
Vypers
35 points each, down from 50. Not much else to say.
Shit, that's a typo. 45 points. Must have missed it when I was editing in red earlier.
.
Bottom Line: Now, that's cheap. Perhaps a mite too cheap, but time will tell.
HEAVY SUPPORT
Heavy Weapon Battery
The unit is not really different, except it is now Artillery, appropriately enough. Some of the weapons are somewhat changed too:
Distort Cannon: now uses the same rules as the Wraithcannon for all that are hit by its blast marker. I.e. it is somewhat nerfed (it was S:10 AP:2 before).
Vibrocannon: I seem to recall that the rules stated that you must place the marker within 24" rather than within 24" AND line of sight: in any case you can now potentially hit multiple units since enemy units don't block line of sight for the purposes of shooting unless they are vehicles.
For those that don't remember, any unit that straddles the line between a gun model in the battery and the marker (if the to-hit roll was successful) takes d6 Strength 4 hits with armour saves permitted. Each additional gun in the unit adds +1 to the strength of these hits, and damage from Vibrocannons force Pinning tests to be taken.
Shadow Weaver: Actually, I forgot to check. (oops) I suspect that they are much the same as before.
Bottom Line: OK.
Dark Reapers
They now have a 3+ armour save. Hallelujah!! They were unable to fleet foot before anyway, and there was nothing for them to gain from wearing that 4+ armour. Moreover the days of using the Guardian militia as meat shields are thankfully over.
Their cost is reduced to 35 points per model.
There may have been a couple of other changes, but regardless of what they were, they cannot undo the great benefit these changes have wrought. Although the War Walkers are still going to overshadow them due to their ability to move and shoot, methinks.
The thing I failed to remember from before was that the Exarch no longer has the Eldar missile launcher or shuriken cannon option. Instead, he gets a 36" Guess range weapon with Strength:4 AP:3 Heavy:2 Blast. I.e. they can cause damage from out of sight, though they can no longer harm vehicles. If it comes to that, I'd rather take D-Cannons, frankly.
Embarrasing to edit and make a mistake in the edit. The only excuse I have for this is that I read their entry in the background and not the army list, which contains all of the options. The prior entry contains all the special rules. There had to be a drawback to the new format, and I have apparently run afoul of it. Anyway: the Dark Reaper Exarch can in fact still take a Shuriken cannon or an Eldar missile launcher. So that's all right.
Bottom Line: A much needed armour save boost.
War Walkers
Accursed Mecha scum. Anyway, I'll cover them. They no longer have the idiotically useless Energy Field. Instead they have an armoured crew compartment that means that they are no longer open-topped. The weapons are pretty much as they were before. See the Guardian entry for details.
Bottom Line: Damn mecha scum.
Wraithlord
Accursed mecha scum. Anyway, they have been nerfed, and thank goodness for that. They now cost 90 points rather than 75 points, and have 2 attacks on their profile rather than 3. This means that they no longer overshadow the Avatar in assault (though he still could use that Strength boost, but oh, well).
They are Monstrous creatures rather than being armed with dreadnaught close combat weapons. They can take a heavy weapon on their shoulder as before, and MUST take a heavy weapon in one arm: this can be a "wraithblade" which allows them to re-roll their attack rolls. I.e. they are more shooty and less close combatty.
Bottom Line: Damn mecha scum.
Falcon
On to the tanks! The Falcon's pulse laser is more predictable than before: Heavy:2 instead of Heavy:d3. Same philosophy as the Scatter Laser, in fact. It is not a Lance though: the fluff states that it gains range and rate of fire in return for less penetrative power. Whatever: it can still take a secondary weapon.
It is still only BS:3 alas, and cannot be upgraded. As it is, its simply more logical to use the Wave Serpent instead and not use up a Heavy Support choice.
Bottom Line: A Ballistic Skill upgrade option would have been nice. The Wave Serpent still has more utility for less opportunity cost.
Fire Prism
The BS is now 4. Hallelujah. At least they may actually accomplish something now as opposed to being a colossal waste of points. I remember battles where they spent the entire game not hitting or not penetrating the armour of their targets; the end result being that it ended up not being used anymore.
The prism cannon can also fire a dispersed blast now, which gives it the large blast template at Strength 5 AP:4. In other words, the utility of the Fire Prism has just gone up considerably.
Moreover, if you decide to spend two Heavy Support slots on these, the two Fire Prisms can combine their beams in the manner of the ghostbusters (or the constituent beams to the Superlaser, more optimistically - no, not really). This means that the shot becomes twin-linked, and both Strength and AP go up by +1 - in other words the shot is either of the following:
R:60" S:10 AP:1 Heavy:1 Blast OR
R:60" S:6 AP:3 Heavy:1 Large Blast.
Nasty, though the Tau get a S:10 AP:1 shot with only ONE tank (mutter mutter). Oh, well. At least the Necrons will now have more cause for concern. BTW, you can only use two Fire Prisms in this way, not three or more. Just FYI. Also, both tanks must have a line of sight to the target.
Bottom Line: A much needed boost. Still, the damn Tau get a S:10 AP:1 shot with ONE tank (mutter mutter). No, don't worry, I'm not being serious with this muttering.
On vehicle upgrades, since I forgot these before:
The Holofield requires the opponent to roll two dice for damage and select the lower of the two dice. I.e. same as before.
The Vectored Engines allow a forced landing if the vehicle is immobilised, even if it moved more than 6". Incidentally, it is usually more expensive than the other vehicle upgrades.
Star Engines always allow a 12" extra move, rather than 2d6".
Spirit Stones are effectively the same as "extra armour" now. I.e. they count Crew Stunned as Crew Shaken instead. More predictable this way, since before, they allowed a vehicle to ignore Crew Shaken on a 4+, and to Count Crew Stunned as Crew Shaken on a 4-5 and ignore it on a 6.
Scythes are no more. Whatever. I Never used them.
THE CRYSTAL TARGETING MATRIX IS NO MORE.
Bottom Line: The significant change is in allcaps.
Edit number two. Because memorizing a new Codex long enough to get from the store to the computer with no errors is not my forte, apparently.
And there you have it. Covered the whole list. And now, I have wasted the whole evening instead of getting some work done, damn slacker that I am.
EDIT: some silly typos.
Having recently seen the preview for the Eldar codex, I decided to waste some time that I really don't have by posting some dissertations on the changes. Keep in mind that this is from memory, so it may not be perfectly accurate. Tally ho:
The Layout
The statistics and special rules are all together with the background material essays. The army list itself is very much a summary list: a different look than what has been the rule for third and fourth editions till now.
More importantly, there are no more Craftworld-specific lists: one list fits all. How this is accomplished will be seen in due course...
HQ
The Avatar of the Bloody Handed God.
Has "come of age". Price raised from 80 points to 155 points. This is a change I aprove of: previously the Avatar was used by various less than honourable players as a sort of "poor man's general", to be deployed when too few points were available for a properly souped-up Farseer. No more. Instead he becomes more powerful:
In line with the Greater Daemons of Chaos, the Avatar gains a 4+ invunreable save (up from 5+) and, like the Bloodthirster, a 3+ armour save also. This increases his survivability no end - no longer will he be contemptuously be shot to ribbons before reaching close combat.
Moreover, the Avatar gains an extra point of Initiative, and and extra attack (to I:6 A:4 from I:5 A:3 previously). The Wailing Doom is now able to fire a Meltagun type blast at BS:5. Finally, the Avatar himself takes no damage from melta weapons or flamers now.
When I wrote down a "wish list" for the new codex (which was foolishly never sent anywhere), I put that the Avatar should have Strength:8 and a 4+ invunreable instead of any other stats change since that would make him precisely neck to neck against the Keeper of Secrets; moreover, the Wraithlord tended to make him look like a bit of a wuss. But all in all, the new changes cannot be complained about, only nit-picked.
Bottom line: Good change.
The Farseers
They have Toughness 3 now (instead of Toughness 4), which means that they suffer instant death from Perils of the Warp. However, the Ghosthelm confers a 3+ special save against Perils of the Warp instead of a 4+ special save. For all that, they are still a lot more vunreable.
Incidentally, they always come with a Witchblade and Ghosthelm now, just like the Librarians always come with a Psychic Hood and Force-weapon. Their cost is raised to 55 points, up from 40, though with the aforementioned pieces of kit, they would have cost 60 points.
The useless crap known as Runes of Warding are now no longer useless at all. Previously, Runes of Warding allowed a Farseer to force enemy psykers to roll 3d6 for psychic tests, and discard the lowest die - IF the Farseer was within 6" of the enemy psyker or the target. Now its 3d6 added together, and regardless of range. Moreover, any two of the three dice can cause a backfire.
EDIT: I had misremembered this bit here: its not any two dice that can cause a backfire, but any result of 12 or higher on the three dice. Near as I can reckon, that's about a 37.5% chance. Ouch.
Warlock retinues must be taken in squads of 3-10 now, rather than 1-5. More significantly, Warlocks that join Guardian and Wraithguard squads are no longer detached from the retinue, but are simply taken as upgrades for the relevant units. Thus you can boost your Guardians without leaving your Farseer poorly defended. They cost 25 points, the Witchblade is mandatory (previously, they cost 11 points, the witchblade was optional at +15 points).
The Farseer and Warlock powers are pretty much identical to what they were before. But in addition to the old list there is a new Farseer power: Doom. You Doom an enemy unit to allow any failed to-wound rolls against it to be re-rolled. Damned if I remember the range, though.
Bottom Line: They are vunreable to instant death from their bloody job now. Granted, if Inquisitor Lords can be instakilled by Perils of the Warp, why should Farseers be any different? Because they have managed to become thousands of years old, that's why! Bah. If the Ghosthelm did not provide any saves against Perils of the Warp but made is so that only one wound was suffered, I'd not object. I know that statistically that would be similar (3+ save fails 1/3 of the time, the Farseer has 3 wounds), but its the principle of the thing...
Other than this quibble, no objections.
Autarch.
The new kid on the block: the Autarch is a millitary commander who, fluff states, has trodden the path of each of the Aspects and turned aside from each one to gain a wide range of experience in kickassery. He has a Weaponskill, Ballistic Skill and Initiative of 6, Strength, Toughness, Wounds and Attacks of 3, Leadership 10. In other words, a Dark Eldar Lord with -1 initiative and +1 Leadership.
He has a 4+ invunreable save from a personal force field, and a 3+ armour save. Moreover, he can buy sundry items of Aspect and Exarch kit, such as a jetbike, warp jump pack, swooping hawk wings, banshee mask, mandiblaster, executioner blade, etc.
Most importantly, he allows units to add +1 to their reserve rolls and the army has a Strategy rating of 4. All this for the very low cost of 70 points.
Incidentally, the Autarch allows Biel-Tan-type "Swordwind" hosts to field a "pure" Aspect force complete with a HQ selection without those pesky, cautious Farseers from making a presence, and without having to include the expensive Avatar.
Bottom Line: Very nice. A mite too cheap compared with the strategic advantages he provides.
Special Characters.
These include the Phoenix Lords who now have Weaponskill 7, as well as Prince Yriel of Iyanden (an Autarch with a power weapon that wounds on a 2+) and Eldrad Ulthran ("Aren't you dead?" - "I got better") .
Actually, the latter two can be used for a "generic" hero of the Eldar, the names are mostly for the fluff. And incidentally, no, Eldrad has not gotten better, since he is spoken of in the past tense and with a comment to the effect that he now "exemplifies the meaning of sacrifice", etc etc.
EDIT #2: The Phoenix Lords also have four attacks on their profiles now.
Bottom Line: Special Characters are now standard list units. Ouch. But then, that's the way the wind is blowing.
ELITES
Fire Dragons
We come to the first "broken" unit in the list. Can't have an Eldar Codex without at least one of these, eh?
First off, the Fire Dragons now have full Strength 8 meltaguns. No problem with that: I always thought it silly that the highly advanced Eldar would be the only ones in the Galaxy to have nerfed meltas. Moreover, the reasons for nerfing them was ostensibly because they were too flexibe. But even with S:6 guns, they excelled at close range firefights with enemy infantry especially since they only cost 17 points each (and could have large 5-10 man units), while heavy tanks with ceramic armour, Necron monoliths, etc shrugged off their shots. This meant that they were not really optimized for their supposed role. No more: they have strength 8 guns now, and can hurt any vehicle something fierce.
But: THEY ONLY COST 16 POINTS EACH!
That's right, they now cost LESS than they did before. I would have popped them up to 20 points, personally, to make them less attractive as a line troop type. Ahem: HOLY CRAP, 16 POINTS!!
The Exarch no longer has access to the "burning fist" power. This means that they won't be as powerful in assault (for those of you that don't know, that meant a power weapon equivalent with re-rolls to wound in close combat. I.e. a lightning claw equivalent). Instead, he gets "crack shot" as per the Dark Reapers (ignore cover saves, and re-roll to wound rolls from shooting). Moreover, he can now buy either a heavy flamer or the firepike, which remains a 18" range meltagun.
The Exarch costs +12 points over the basic trooper. Incidentally, so do all Exarchs now. The "Tank Hunter" Exarch power now gives the entire squad the Universal Special Rule of that name. Pretty logical, since they are supposed to be just that. Moreover, this follows a new pattern, with the Exarch power giving a special rule to the entire squad more often than not. Well and good, but HOLY CRAP, ONLY 16 POINTS!!!
Bottom Line: Way too cheap.
Harlequins
While we are on the topic of "broken" stuff, let's get these over with.
The Craftworld codex now includes Harlequins. They only cost 18 points, which is where I take issue, since they also have the same stat line and close combat weapons as they did before (except with Ballistic Skill 4), and their special rules are quite similar to what they were before:
Harlequin . 18 points . WS:5 BS:4 S:3 T:3 W:1 I:6 A:2 Ld:9.
As for special rules: they still have flip belts (ignore difficult terrain), and gain the Hit and Run Universal rule. The Flip belts used to allow them to also fall back and advance 3d6", iirc (going by memory) but the former of these is replaced by the Hit and Run, the latter is redundant under the new core rules. They no longer reduce the Leadership of their enemies by -1, but have the Furious Charge rule. The Harlequin's Kiss is now simply a Rending close combat weapon that costs +4 points per model (you can provide any number of models with them).
They don't have the 4+ cover save nor do they halve the WS of the enemy, but have a 5+ Invunreable save instead. A lot simpler, and more resilient against flamers (less against other ranged weapons, though). The Halving of WS meant that enemies used to hit them on a 5+ rather than a 4+ and they used to have no armour save at all, so in close combat its not that much different. They hit most people on a 3+ anyway.
Each unit can include a Troupe leader, a Shadowseer, and a Death Jester. These are nerfed relative to what they were before: they have the stat line of the Harlequin regulars. The Shrieker cannon is a shuriken cannon that causes pinning, no special blast marker rule.
The "Veil of Tears" psychic power is treated as a Warlock power in terms of game mechanics. Enemies must roll to see the unit as per the Night Fighting rules.
The Troupe Leader gets three attacks on his profile.
There is no Great Harlequin nor a Solitaire. But I guess you Harlequin players can field an Autarch and some Phoenix Lord or other and claim that these represent the heavyweights, then max out your Elites with "regular" Harlequins. As for all the old kit, such as Harlequin bikers, the Venom transport, and special wargear like the domino field et al. no sign of it. Perhaps in some expansion, then again, perhaps not.
Bottom Line: Too cheap. You'll be worrying about trying NOT to wipe out the enemy so as not to be targeted by enemy shooting in their following turn.
Wraithguard
These guys really needed a makeover, and boy did they get one.
As previously mentioned, the Warlocks are upgrades for the units, they are not detached from the Farseer's retinue.
The Wraithguard now have Toughness 6 (rather than Toughness 5). Bolter wielding people beware, you'll need heavy weapons.
The wraithcannons inflict wounds on a 2+ and inflict instant death on a 6; against vehicles they inflict glancing hits on a 3-4 and a penetrating hit on a 5-6. Previously, they wounded on a 4+ and instant death on a 6, with a glancing hit on a 4, penetrating hit on a 5-6.
In other words, they can now be used agains large numbers of low Toughness opponents as "line troops". To that end, they can be taken either as Elites or as Troops if their squads number 10 models. Pretty expensive, but nonetheless, the Iyanden army list is now redundant.
By the way, they still cost 35 points.
Bottom Line: A much needed boost.
Howling Banshees
Pretty much as before. One of the Exarch's powers now give the "Counter Attack" special rule, instead of allowing the Exarch to reposition herself in contact with any opponent. The other, War Shout used to reduce the enemy by one points of Weaponskill unless they passed a Ld test as the Banshees charged, now it reduces the enemy down to Weaponskill 1 if they fail their test (this means they will hit the Banshees on a 5+ rather than a 4+ during the first round).
The special Exarch weapons are the good old Executioner, "Mirrorblades" which are a power weapon that adds +2 to attacks (i.e. the old power blades, exept that they are not added to existing weapons), and a "Triskele".
The Triskele is an ancient Celtic symbol, which is appropriate enough, and its function is similar to the old Web of Skulls, which was available to the Swooping Hawks before (and which was - and is - also wielded in souped-up form by Jain Zar, the Howling Banshee Phoenix Lord). The difference is that it is now S:3 AP:2 Assault:3 instead of the arcane S:4 AP:5, keep rolling to hit until you miss or score 4 hits. I seem to recall that it has a reduced range also (12" rather than 24"), but take that with a pinch of salt. Its still treated as a power weapon in assault, BTW.
Bottom Line: OK.
Striking Scorpions
Very much like before, though somewhat nerfed. The most important nerf is that they don't have access to haywire grenades anymore, iirc. Alas, if I remember this correctly, this would reduce their utility considerably.
They can buy Infiltrate and Move Through Cover; but the Exarch no longer gains the option to boost his Strength with the Crushing Blow Exarch power.
The Strength 4 is now explained as being due to their chainswords rather than the mandiblasters. While this is logical, it does mean that the Exarch only goes up to Strength 6 with the Scorpion's Claw, rather than Strength 8. The Scorpion's Claw has a built in shuriken catapult, though.
The Biting Blade no longer allows you to keep rolling to wound until you fail to do so for each hit (which was, frankly, outrageous), but it adds +1 to Strength as a regular Scorpion chainsword, and each hit scored adds a further +1. Thus, if he scores three hits, he has Strength 7.
I seem to recall a third weapon option, but damned if I remember what it was. Oh, well.
It provides a +1 attack bonus, and re-rolls to hit and to wound rolls.
Bottom Line: OK. Too bad about the haywire grenades.
Warp Spiders
Have been moved to the Fast Attack section. Hallelujah. More on them later.
TROOPS
Dire Avengers
I give these pride of place among the Troops units since they are now "come of age" as their Avatar is. First and foremost, their weapons now have an 18" effective range, up from 12", with the same cost per trooper as before (12 points). Thus they can participate in mid-ranged firefights rather than just short ranged "they are right on top of us" ones.
Moreover, they can take grenades now, so they aren't totally useless against anything but infantry.
ACTUALLY, no they can't. I cannot imagine what possessed me to write this nonsense, persumably it was wishful thinking, my somehow mixing together the Swooping Hawks and Dire Avenger upgrades in my mind, combined with a bad salami for lunch or something. Thus, they still suck compared to vehicles, and despite the 18" range they now enjoy, greedy bastard that I am, I would have liked to see more. Still, they are my unit of choice instead of the Guardians.
They cannot take special weapons, the Exarch cannot take a shuriken cannon as many (including myself) had hoped. Nonetheless, they aren't shortchanged:
The Exarch can take a power sword and "shimmershield", which means that the unit gains a 5+ invunreable save in assault (what I would have liked to see the Banshees gain, but oh, well).
The Exarch can take a Diresword and shuriken pistol. The Diresword is the same overpriced crap as before.
Finally, the Exarchs powers are Defend (ALL close combat opponents don't get bonus attacks from extra weapons, rather than ONE opponent in base contact with the Exarch being at -1 attack) and "Bladestorm" which allows the whole unit to add +1 to the number of shots they can fire, though next shooting phase must be spent reloading.
Its better than this actually. All close combat opponents directing their attacks against the Dire Avengers are at -1 attack to a minimum of one attack. So things like Flayed Ones won't get their two attacks despite not technically being defined as having extra weapons, and justifying their extra attacks this way.
All in all, a worthy upgrade. And one that was very much needed. I do beleive that we will see more Dire Avengers in Eldar armies now, I certainly know that I'll be fielding them.
Bottom Line: A much needed boost. Still is, despite my quibble above.
Rangers
Same as before, except that they don't get a 6+ cover save in the open. I.e. they use the Stealth Universal Special Rule instead. Price is still 19 points.
They can now be upgraded to Pathfinders at +5 points, which gives them +2 to cover saves rather than +1 (still only when in cover), and allows them to count as having AP:1 on a to hit roll of 5+ rather than on a 6. In addition, they have the Scouts Universal Special Rule.
These Pathfinders are similar to the ones in the Alaitoc list in Codex: Craftworld Eldar, though less potent (those ones got AP:1 on a 4+). However, this makes the Alaitoc list redundant, just like all the other Craftworld specific lists. The enemies of Alaitoc will no doubt rejoice in learning that the Ranger Disruption Table is no more.
Bottom Line: OK.
Guardians
Similar to what they were, same stats and weapons and all. No armour upgrade, alas. Moreover, they have a 12" range on their Shuriken catapults, in contrast to the Dire Avengers. This leads me to suspect that they will take the back benches in the forseeable future, which frankly is all well and good. These are militia to be used in extremis, after all - even if the Aspects are much to few to deal with all situations, the Guardians are not deployed if it can be helped. As to whether they are no longer competitive with the Dire Avengers, to the extent that the list is not balanced, that remains to be seen.
Differences are the following.
The Storm Squads are not a seperate entry: just an option to replace the shuriken catapults with shuriken pistols and close combat weapons. The 0-2 flamers and fusion guns now cost +6 points each rather than +3 points and +4 points respectively, though granted, the fusion guns are more powerful than before. The Storm Squads cannot take haywire grenades anymore.
In fact, no Guardians can take grenades at all.
Exactly as for the Wraithguard, the Warlock is a simple upgrade, not a detached model from the Farseers retinue. So there is no reason not to include one, other than to be stingy (though I had mentioned it before, it bears mentioning again).
The units must be large: 10-20 models each. No micro units just to fill up your Troops choices so you can cheese on the Elites! Good change, that.
The heavy weapon platform must be included, though you don't pay for the extra crewmen; the platform's crew is two of the squaddies. Thus, the cost for the platform is rather cheaper overall. The shuriken cannon is a LOT cheaper. It used to cost 35 points for both crewmen and gun (i.e. 19 or 20 points for the gun), now the gun alone costs only 5 points(!) I can only imagine that this is because no-one used the Shuriken cannon before and that it is now obligatory to take a heavy weapon. Incidentally, contrary to rumors, the Shuriken cannon is NOT a Rending weapon, it's dirt cheap instead. Elsewhere, the Shuriken cannon costs 10 points, though (rather than 20 points as before).
Moreover, Guardians may now take their heavy weapons aboard Wave Serpents and they may Fleet Foot with them. This is certainly the most important of all the changes, and may help to redress the 12" range thing.
I'll mention the other heavy weapons now, since this seems like a good place:
The Starcannon is only Heavy:2 as rumors had it. Oh, well. It was abusive anyway, and no one used anything else.
The Scatter Laser is Heavy:4 rather than Heavy:D6. In other words, no longer unpredictable but potentially devastating, but reliable and potentially devastating. Less Krork, more Eldar: good change.
The Eldar Missile Launcher is unchanged.
The Brightlance is unchanged.
And that's that.
Bottom Line: Sensible changes, overall. Still a horde-type unit if used in the front lines, though, and with the Dire Avengers up to speed, all the more reason to take them only when neccesary. Or possibly they can shine as a purely support-type unit, which makes rather more sense.
Guardian Jetbikes
Shock, surprise! The Jetbikes are Troops now.
Shock, surprise! They cost only 22 points, rather than 35 points.
They can have 5-12 models per squadron (rather than 3-10), and the Shuriken Cannons (still only one per three) cost only +10 points rather than +20.
This may not be so shocking if you consider the Black Book (i.e. the 3rd edition rulebook) where Jetbikes cost 25 points each; Gav Thorpe raised them to 35 points when he wrote the previous incarnation of the Eldar Codex, and gave them the "may always move 6" in the assault phase" special rule that Tau players now know and love for their battlesuits.
This special move has been made redundant due to the new "Turbo Boost" rules in the 4th edition rulebook. So we're back down to 25 points. Space Marine bikes have gotten a 3 point rebate to encourage more bike use, so it seems that the Eldar have followed suit.
Moreover, this makes the Saim Hann list redundant. Instead of a Wild Rider Cheftain, you can now field an Autarch on a jetbike and call him a cheiftain - he even has better stats. As for the Kindred: take a Guardian Jetbike squadron and include a Warlock with Enhance to boost WS to 4 and Initiative to 5, like the Kindred used to have.
What's this? The Kindred had two attacks on their profiles? Well, you can't have everything, now can you?
Bottom Line: A much needed rebate.
Wave Serpent
Can't remember any changes here.
Bottom Line: Same old girl. If I recall correctly.
FAST ATTACK
Warp Spiders
Now then: these blokes are Fast Attack. Why am I happy about that? Here's why:
Firstly, it is now possible to buy a full Swordwind army with all the Aspects represented. This is because there are three aspects in the Elites section and three in the Fast Attack section, which is the limit of what is permitted in a Standard Mission. No special Biel Tan list needed (and in any case, that list allowed FEWER Aspects overall, since there you could no longer take Aspects of some kind or other as Elites as well as Troops. Ridiculous).
Second: they have jump packs, i.e. a special piece of wargear that relates to movement (like the Swooping Hawks and Shining Spears, and unlike the three aspects in the Elites section). So there is that philosophical point to consider also.
The Deathspinners are now an Assault:2 weapon, rather than Rapid Fire. The silliness of putting a rapid fire weapon on a jump pack in the third edition cannot be overstated, though I'm not going to rant about that here: its water under the bridge in any case with the new edition. Now it is possible to fire to full effect with rapid fire weapons even on the move, but GW has descided to give them the Assault:2 job anyway, so now they can fire and charge into assault as well. Better than allowing the enemy to do so, I guess, and who in their right minds would want to stay in a firefight with the Warp Spiders? In any case, they still can take that second 2d6" jump in the assault phase, and this still causes a casualty on the squad if they roll a double. They don't have to go the full distance anymore, though, so the risk of ending their move in impassable terrain and being destroyed is no more.
The Exarch can now provide the squad with a Deep Strike - rather odd as their jump packs are supposed to be short ranged, but perhaps they have a powerup at the base or something. The other power - Withdraw - is unchanged, i.e. they have the Hit and Run Universal Special Rule. Unless I'm much mistaken, that's where this particular Universal Special Rule originally came from.
The Exarch's second deathspinner now gives it Assault:4. Pretty nasty stuff. Alternatively, the Exarch can take an Assault:1 version of the weapon with AP:1.
The powerblades are still there: a power weapon with a +1 attack bonus. (The Exarch never did have a pistol, so the fact that this is a cumulative bonus was a non-issue, as it is now. The Banshee's version has been replaced with the Mirrorblades, in any case, to avoid confusion).
Bottom Line: Good change.
Swooping Hawks
These guys used to be the "Aquaman" of the Aspect Warriors - and that's no joke. The following changes have brought them up to speed:
They now have haywire grenades as a part of their basic kit. Hallelujah! Lasblasters are AP:5 rather than AP:6 - Imperial Guard and Dark Eldar beware.
The Exarch now has the option to buy the "Skyleap" power instead of that silly ability to assault a further d6" (as long as he remains in coherency, yeah right). Skyleap allows the unit to be removed from the table and placed in reserve - even if they were in close combat - and then Deep Strike when they become available. Not quite as good as the Necron Portal, since they need to pass a reserves roll to return, but nonetheless, not bad at all - moreso since their Swooping Hawk grenade pack is no longer a one use weapon this way (it is a S:4 AP:5 large blast marker that is used against any enemy on the table when they Deep Strike).
The other Exarch power, Sustained Assault is no more (it allowed the Exarch to keep rolling to hit until he missed), but then that was a manifestation of the "Exarch Delivery System" syndrome and will not be missed. Neither can the Exarch take a power sword or a Web of Skulls - the latter is now the Howling Banshee Triskele. The Hawks are not a lacklustre assasult unit, they are a mobile fire support unit, pure and simple. Instead of the Sustained Assault ability, the Exarch can now take the "Intercept" power, that means that in assault, the unit hit skimmers on a 4+ rather than a 6, and remember that they have haywire grenades. Necrons and Tau beware.
As for Exarch weapons: the Hawk's Talon is Strength 5, iirc (as opposed to S:4), though it is still an Assault:3, 24" range Lasblaster in other respects. The other weapon the Exarch can take is a SIX shot lasblaster that causes PINNING (!!!) It is called a "sunrifle", apparently.
All in all: Aquaman no more.
Bottom Line: A much needed boost.
Shining Spears
Fucking wierdoes. I have some problems with people pretending to be medieval knights on a futuristic battlefield - and coming from a Warhammer 40000 player that may seem like an ironic statement, but, for goodness sakes, there are limits.
Anyhow: these guys used to be overpriced and useless. Now they are down from a staggering 50 points to 35 points each, and instead of having weapons that are Strength 5 and provide +2 attacks on the charge rather than +1, they now are Strength 6 power weapons on the charge that also can be used as guns with the following profile:
Laserlance . R:6" S:6 AP:4 Assault:1 . Lance.
In other words, they can cause damage even to the mighty Land Raider. They can gain the Hit and Run and Expert Riders skills from judicious expenditures on Exarch Powers. The latter was also present before; the former was not - it replaces "Evade" which made the Exarch's save invunreable.
The Exarch can take a "star lance" which is a laser lance with Strength 8 in all cases. I.e. Strength 8 power weapon on the charge and a Range:6" Strength:8 AP:4 Assault:1 Lance weapon. Christ on a jetbike.
Incidentally, these can be used as Kindred with the "counts as" rule and suitable conversions for people of a Saim Hann dispostion. That's the kindest thing I can say about them, they never caught my fancy. Still don't: what horrid models.
Bottom Line: Wow. Strength 6 power weapons and Lances. Wow. Only 35 points. Butt ugly models though. And medieval knights schtick. Whatever.
Vypers
35 points each, down from 50. Not much else to say.
Shit, that's a typo. 45 points. Must have missed it when I was editing in red earlier.
.Bottom Line: Now, that's cheap. Perhaps a mite too cheap, but time will tell.
HEAVY SUPPORT
Heavy Weapon Battery
The unit is not really different, except it is now Artillery, appropriately enough. Some of the weapons are somewhat changed too:
Distort Cannon: now uses the same rules as the Wraithcannon for all that are hit by its blast marker. I.e. it is somewhat nerfed (it was S:10 AP:2 before).
Vibrocannon: I seem to recall that the rules stated that you must place the marker within 24" rather than within 24" AND line of sight: in any case you can now potentially hit multiple units since enemy units don't block line of sight for the purposes of shooting unless they are vehicles.
For those that don't remember, any unit that straddles the line between a gun model in the battery and the marker (if the to-hit roll was successful) takes d6 Strength 4 hits with armour saves permitted. Each additional gun in the unit adds +1 to the strength of these hits, and damage from Vibrocannons force Pinning tests to be taken.
Shadow Weaver: Actually, I forgot to check. (oops) I suspect that they are much the same as before.
Bottom Line: OK.
Dark Reapers
They now have a 3+ armour save. Hallelujah!! They were unable to fleet foot before anyway, and there was nothing for them to gain from wearing that 4+ armour. Moreover the days of using the Guardian militia as meat shields are thankfully over.
Their cost is reduced to 35 points per model.
There may have been a couple of other changes, but regardless of what they were, they cannot undo the great benefit these changes have wrought. Although the War Walkers are still going to overshadow them due to their ability to move and shoot, methinks.
The thing I failed to remember from before was that the Exarch no longer has the Eldar missile launcher or shuriken cannon option. Instead, he gets a 36" Guess range weapon with Strength:4 AP:3 Heavy:2 Blast. I.e. they can cause damage from out of sight, though they can no longer harm vehicles. If it comes to that, I'd rather take D-Cannons, frankly.
Embarrasing to edit and make a mistake in the edit. The only excuse I have for this is that I read their entry in the background and not the army list, which contains all of the options. The prior entry contains all the special rules. There had to be a drawback to the new format, and I have apparently run afoul of it. Anyway: the Dark Reaper Exarch can in fact still take a Shuriken cannon or an Eldar missile launcher. So that's all right.
Bottom Line: A much needed armour save boost.
War Walkers
Accursed Mecha scum. Anyway, I'll cover them. They no longer have the idiotically useless Energy Field. Instead they have an armoured crew compartment that means that they are no longer open-topped. The weapons are pretty much as they were before. See the Guardian entry for details.
Bottom Line: Damn mecha scum.
Wraithlord
Accursed mecha scum. Anyway, they have been nerfed, and thank goodness for that. They now cost 90 points rather than 75 points, and have 2 attacks on their profile rather than 3. This means that they no longer overshadow the Avatar in assault (though he still could use that Strength boost, but oh, well).
They are Monstrous creatures rather than being armed with dreadnaught close combat weapons. They can take a heavy weapon on their shoulder as before, and MUST take a heavy weapon in one arm: this can be a "wraithblade" which allows them to re-roll their attack rolls. I.e. they are more shooty and less close combatty.
Bottom Line: Damn mecha scum.
Falcon
On to the tanks! The Falcon's pulse laser is more predictable than before: Heavy:2 instead of Heavy:d3. Same philosophy as the Scatter Laser, in fact. It is not a Lance though: the fluff states that it gains range and rate of fire in return for less penetrative power. Whatever: it can still take a secondary weapon.
It is still only BS:3 alas, and cannot be upgraded. As it is, its simply more logical to use the Wave Serpent instead and not use up a Heavy Support choice.
Bottom Line: A Ballistic Skill upgrade option would have been nice. The Wave Serpent still has more utility for less opportunity cost.
Fire Prism
The BS is now 4. Hallelujah. At least they may actually accomplish something now as opposed to being a colossal waste of points. I remember battles where they spent the entire game not hitting or not penetrating the armour of their targets; the end result being that it ended up not being used anymore.
The prism cannon can also fire a dispersed blast now, which gives it the large blast template at Strength 5 AP:4. In other words, the utility of the Fire Prism has just gone up considerably.
Moreover, if you decide to spend two Heavy Support slots on these, the two Fire Prisms can combine their beams in the manner of the ghostbusters (or the constituent beams to the Superlaser, more optimistically - no, not really). This means that the shot becomes twin-linked, and both Strength and AP go up by +1 - in other words the shot is either of the following:
R:60" S:10 AP:1 Heavy:1 Blast OR
R:60" S:6 AP:3 Heavy:1 Large Blast.
Nasty, though the Tau get a S:10 AP:1 shot with only ONE tank (mutter mutter). Oh, well. At least the Necrons will now have more cause for concern. BTW, you can only use two Fire Prisms in this way, not three or more. Just FYI. Also, both tanks must have a line of sight to the target.
Bottom Line: A much needed boost. Still, the damn Tau get a S:10 AP:1 shot with ONE tank (mutter mutter). No, don't worry, I'm not being serious with this muttering.
On vehicle upgrades, since I forgot these before:
The Holofield requires the opponent to roll two dice for damage and select the lower of the two dice. I.e. same as before.
The Vectored Engines allow a forced landing if the vehicle is immobilised, even if it moved more than 6". Incidentally, it is usually more expensive than the other vehicle upgrades.
Star Engines always allow a 12" extra move, rather than 2d6".
Spirit Stones are effectively the same as "extra armour" now. I.e. they count Crew Stunned as Crew Shaken instead. More predictable this way, since before, they allowed a vehicle to ignore Crew Shaken on a 4+, and to Count Crew Stunned as Crew Shaken on a 4-5 and ignore it on a 6.
Scythes are no more. Whatever. I Never used them.
THE CRYSTAL TARGETING MATRIX IS NO MORE.
Bottom Line: The significant change is in allcaps.
Edit number two. Because memorizing a new Codex long enough to get from the store to the computer with no errors is not my forte, apparently.
And there you have it. Covered the whole list. And now, I have wasted the whole evening instead of getting some work done, damn slacker that I am.
EDIT: some silly typos.
Anyway, the issue with the Dark Reapers is that they are a static unit as I mentioned previously.