My first two games of 6th

Hi everyone. I finally played my first two games of 6th edition today, and (if anyone's interested) here's how it went. The first one was against Ultramarines. They were static and shooty, but I was mobile and more shooty, and it was night time. They never had a chance. First impression: wow! Dark Eldar rule now!

The second one was against Salamanders space marines, and it went very differently. Second impression: boy, do we suck now! The mission was 'Big Guns Never Tire". It was also at night, but they came in with drop pods, teleporting terminators, and rhinos going flat out, so they were usually shooting from 18" or even 12" or less. I took horrible casualties.

Luckily he got greedy with killing. By Turn 4 I had about 2 squads of 6 terminators each (one with Vulgar He'stan), one assault squad plus librarian, two drop pods and one rhino surrounding me in my own deployment zone. So I said 'The hell with this!' and I took my last two raiders (one with wyches, one with warriors and the Duke) flat out over their heads with Aethersails unfurled. They had all gone too deep into my deployment zone to catch me. On Turn 5 the Kabalites shot up the single tactical squad they had left behind on the objective in the middle. 6 marines survived, but my warriors still denied the objective. And the wyches claimed the objective on the Salamander's own deployment zone. So one objective (worth 3 points) plus Linebreaker (worth 1 point) for me, First Blood (1 point), Linebreaker (almost his entire army, but still 1 point) and one Heavy Support kill for him. Agatha wins 4 - 3, yay!

What I think I've learned?

1. 'Hammer and Anvil' deployment ought to be called 'Rock and a Hard Place'. It doesn't matter how fast you are when there is nowhere to go!

2. Wyches actually worked out fine. Having the first pain token for FNP was super important. The Dreadnought with two twin-linked heavy flamers definitely hurt, but hey, he paid for it. Also, throwing plasma grenades is fun. Remember that they all have them, so have the wych with the shardnet, razorflails, or hydra gauntlets throw the grenade, and let the other ones shoot their pistols. That's probably obvious, but it came as a big revelation to me.

3. That being said, they days of assaulting on the first turn are gone, I think. They have to wait for their moment. In the meantime, they can still shoot. Would you be better off shooting with kabalite warriors? Maybe... until they get close. Then you're glad they're wyches.

4. Some of the Warlord Traits are rubbish. I got 'Princeps of Deceit', but I deployed second. What good was it?

5. Reaver jetbikes rock. This question came up: When you run over enemies with your bladevanes, how do you assign the wounds?

6. Charging a Raider full of kabalite warriors isn't as easy as they think! Splinter Racks definitely help there too.

7. Don't get too caught up in who's killing who and forget what you're supposed to be doing.

That's about all I can think of right now.

For 5 it would be as if they shot from where they began their movement, that's how cover is worked out so it makes sense wounds are allocated that way as well.

i would agree with pingualoty on that. just find the closest model from the point they orginated the pass, then pull models from there back.( and picture heads and limbs flying through the air as you do so, preferably with an evil grin on your face and a bit of maniacal laughter when you are done... )

So wait ...

#6 - if they charge your raider, you can shoot out with the warriors?

I don't have my rulebook handy but this just doesn't sound right >.>

lonekthx wrote:

So wait ...

#6 - if they charge your raider, you can shoot out with the warriors?

I don't have my rulebook handy but this just doesn't sound right >.>

Believe it. On page 80 it says 'If a Transport vehicle is assaulted, an embarked unit can fire Overwatch at the attackers out of its fire points.' But the raider is open-topped, so...

Open topped just means the entire vehicle is a firepoint. So while Marines can have two guys fire overwatch from a Rhino, we can have all 10 Warriors.

It's been my experience with 6th edition so far that Reavers have gotten much better. They're still expensive for their effectiveness, they still die quickly to mass firepower, and they really need that first pain token to hope to survive all the returning fire, but they make for an amazing distraction (especially if they survive their first bladevaning), they're much faster, and now they have a 1-in-6 chance of being scoring, to boot.

Seriously, I find the lengths my opponents will go to take out my Reavers to be astounding, especially since it's sometimes enough for me to get my Raiders into assault range.

I cannot wait to take out my reavers in my Sathonyx list for the first time. At the end of DE Turn 1, they're looking at a 2+ cover save out in the open, and a subsequent 3+ cover save out in the open . With the firepower they can unleash, that move in the assault phase, and up to 4 attacks per on the charge...

I think they might even be worth their 22 points this time around.

The only problem with that, Roc, is that the Baron isn't fast enough to keep up with the Reavers. In fact, no unit other than our flyers is fast enough to keep up with our Reavers (which is fitting, since Razorwing and Voidraven pilots were once Reaver pilots).

Reaver Jetbikes are not an assault unit. They are a harrassment unit. Generally speaking, the best way to use them is to bladevane enemy units while going at full throttle, only stopping to JSJ when they've managed to isolate a single unit that they're likely to take down without fear of retribution. Thus, they make for an excellent distraction unit, as dismounted infantry are vulnerable to their attacks, and a pack of 6-8 of them with a pair of Caltrops can pretty reliably force a Morale check on small non-Terminator units like Marine combat squads or pick off single-model non-vehicle units. Since your opponent will either know what these guys can do if left alone, or won't know what these guys can do, your Reavers will likely jump to the top (or nearly) of your opponent's target priority list, leaving the rest of your force relatively unmolested.

It gets even better when said Reavers survive all that firepower thrown at them. Just watch out for flamers.

If this were last edition, I would agree with you whole-heartedly. I have been a major fan of reaver jetbikes since I got my first set at the advent of 3rd edition and have seen their roles change a few times now. However, I think their best use in 6th is a first turn blade-vaning, followed by move, shoot, move (and when the opportunity arises) a move, shoot, assault (perhaps with some vehicle popping flexibility).

A squad of 9, given 3 heat lances is looking at 12 TL splinter shots, plus the 3 HL. I believe that's averaging somewhere around 5 MEQ per turn dead by round of shooting. On the assault, you're looking at I step 6 attacks (coupled with their movement give them a great ability to engage who they wish the first turn), and just under 40 attacks (another 3 MEQ dead, not taking into account the wonderfulness of combat drugs). So with a combat drug, an IC, or a little bit of luck, they could take out an isolated tac-squad (or equivalent) by themselves.

Now, couple this with jink on all movement, skilled rider, and possibly stealth (sathonyx) you now have a 3+ cover save in the open, and 2+ if you get back into cover (using sathonyx as a clever fulcrum).

I would not start the two units together, but start sathonyx a ways across the board, so that they can join up turn 2 or 3, depending (turbo-boost out, turbo-boost over, joined at end of movement turn 1 -or- turbo-boost diagonally, join at end of movement t1).

With the exception of flamers, they are now more potent and equally survivable in this case when not turbo-boosting. (Previously, not turbo-boosting them was a death sentence). As such, I think their role has either changed, or been given some additional flexibility.

Note that Skilled Rider only adds plus one to your jink save, not your cover save. And jink only grants a 5+ cover save so the only way I see to get the 2+ save is using sathonyx with turbo boost in which case you don't need any form of cover.

Aye, you're right. For some reason I was thinking of jumping around a fortification (3+ cover), but honestly its a moot point. You'll get that 3+ most any of the time, and the 2+ if the baron joins up after a turbo-boost (or you do some nifty position for a short bladevane in the late game). That's MEQ survivability (T4 3+), with at least the possibility of a 2+ in certain situations.