1st 8th ed game done...

So I got to play my first game of 8th ed today... 1850 points.

Aeldari vs Imperium

I was running Craftworld Eldar combined with Harlequins in a Battalion with a Lord of War Wraith Knight while my opponent had Astra Militarum with a Vindicare in a Battalion with a Lord of War Knight Paladin.

Rough Lists
Aeldari
Farseer, Illic Nightspear, Shadowseer, Solitaire, 2x5 Dire Avengers, 5 Rangers, 8 Harlequins, 2 Skyweavers, 2 Wave Serpents, Dual Wraith cannon Wraith Knight

Imperium
Pask in punisher, Yarrick, Vindicare, 20 conscripts, 2x5 scions, 2 wyverns, manticore, 2 hell hounds, 6 bullgryn, Knight Paladin

Mission & Deployment
We rolled Kill Points and decided to roll deployment getting number 5 - the arrow head style deployment.

I won the roll for choosing sides.

Things started to get interesting from here... We both had 12 units to deploy - meaning he would 100% be going first as he would deploy his army before I finished... then we looked at transports and discovered that you deploy the transport AND its contents at the same time. This mean that I would go first as I would deploy the farseer and both avenger squads out of order and thus be finished first!

I wont go into great detail about the game - and yes, I lost. I do have a bunch of learning from this game though...

Lets start with the missions themselves and deployment.
• Reserves are not a thing. You can’t place units into reserve as you please – they have to have a rule allowing it.
• Following on from this – flyers start on the table as none of them seem to have a rule starting them in reserves
• Deploying transports can drastically change who gets to go first – as you declare who is embarked when you deploy the transport – thus taking at least 1 more choice out of your deployable units. Characters being a separate unit only helps this.

Terrain
• Most things are not getting a cover save if they are not infantry. Nearly every piece of terrain rules specifies infantry and on top of that specifies entirely on or within. Terrain saves are actually quite hard to get. Hills specify you get nothing from them!

Movement
• The different move rates are a big deal – especially for vehicles
• Advancing in the move phase makes you take that gamble early
• Fall back is a huge game changer – potentially stopping enemy units firing in future turns even if you have little chance of harming them is a big deal…but see overwatch for the flip side

Psychic Phase
• Smite is a great power to have on hand and it’s basically free damage
• The powers are far from reliable to cast
• Perils hurts!

Shooting
• Splitting fire is not going to be a huge big deal most of the time for anything but specialist weapons.
• Models with multiple weapons can shoot all of them (except pistols) so things like techmarines with multiple weapons and a thunderfire cannon are hugely better at shooting
• Wounding things like vehicles is much harder – typically 3+ is your best result

Charge phase
• Basically the same as 7th save for a unit being able to overwatch more than once if its unengaged and enemy fail charges as well as not having to charge a unit you shot at!

Fight
• Getting the charge is massive
• Interrupting the charge attackers with command point abilities is a big deal as well
• You can split your attacks between weapons if you so choose and between enemy units as well
• Consolidate is now towards the nearest enemy model!

Morale
• Losing a model or 2 from most units won’t be a big deal as you will likely auto pass the test
• Its by model so multi wound stuff is very hard to get fail a morale test

Lastly, while this game took ages to play as we were constantly looking things up, I can say it was a great FUN game to play! I have unit break down initial thoughts as well but I will put them in the next post

So... unit feedback...

Farseer - an ok model on foot, nothing to flash. Its a shame he has no buff to cast powers as it means that the success rate is only 50% for his powers. In general I think if you are going to take multiple casters you want 3 farseers with a mix of the powers so you get at least 2 bites at the cherry per power - its just to unreliable. * edit - you can only attempt each power once! That's a big fail for multiple casters!*

Illic Nightspear - god I was pleased to see him nearly halve in points AND get better on the table... but he still underwhelmed me. Ok for his cost but the vindicare is better for roughly the same cost.

Shadowseer - again, his lack of reliable casting hurts. He is a great buff model though and his -1 aura is actually very good as its a modifier to the roll of the dice, not to the S of the attack. By this I mean S7 wounds on 2+. A modifier of -1S would still see S6 wound on 2+. The auro though modifies the dice so S7 only wounds on 3+ - its a neat buff and one that actually helped a lot more than I expected.

Solitaire - lower price? Check. Good stats? Check. Weapon options? Nope. He was ok being honest. Blitz is more reliable now with a minimum 14" move and with his high volume of attacks, the ability to split attacks with both weapons and extra wounds and so on, he might even be worth his cost. The fact he is harder to target is great as well.

2x5 Dire Avengers - what they have always been. Nothing really to say here

5 Rangers - better but not awesome. The mortal wound is cute when it works. Still squishy.

8 Harlequins - Several things to say here. Rising Crescendo is amazing. Its brilliant when combined with flip belts to leave combat as you see fit, move over what ever you like and then shoot and charge as you see fit. The 4++ helps a great deal as well. What hurts is not getting to charge. If they get charged by anything remotely good in combat you will fold just like before. The weapon options are also an interesting place now - personally I think the Kiss is the winner. Its the most expensive but it wounds on 4+/5+ most of the time, the -2 is a solid modifier and the D3 damage is fantastic.

2 Skyweavers - stick to the shuriken cannon I think - the haywire is cute but not great and the fact its heavy rather than assault hurts the mobility of them as well.

2 Wave Serpents - I ran them as you would have in 7th - dual scatter laser and shuriken cannon. The -1 for heavy weapons means the scatter laser was only ok... I can genuinely see a place for the dual shuriken cannon turret now. The serpent shield was great for keeping them alive and the mortal wounds once per game attack is a great little bonus when you need it late game. Vehicles live so much longer now!

Dual Wraith cannon Wraith Knight - I was thoroughly underwhelmed with this unit. The S10 main guns only wounding on 3+ against just about every vehicle makes them much less reliable and begs for psychic support to make them worth using. I actually think the Sun cannon is the go to weapon with the 2d6 shots with a decent modifier and d3 damage. It wounds on 5+ worst case against everything as well right now. 24 wounds takes some killing but now that las guns, heavy bolters, heavy stubbers and so on can hurt you, you will take a wound here and there no question. Perhaps the best surprise was Titanic feet! turning your 4 attacks into 12 with user S, -2 save and d3 damage is a fantastic way to chip wounds of vehicles if you don't have the sword!

I wont go through the Imperial stuff in that detail but suffice to say....

Wyverns remain great
Knight Paladin is better than the Wraith Knight based on the game we had
Hell hounds are perhaps one of the single most improved models in the IG arsenal!

Why are Hellhounds improved?

Damn...perhaps I´ll build my death korp flamer army >.<

Excellent writeup Massaen. Thank you.

Awesome! Thanks so much and interesting insights! Keep em coming

very informative. thanks.

Good read, I'm glad to hear that Quinn's are still pretty good.