6th Edition – Breaking the Mould

6^th Edition – Breaking the Mould

Hello everyone today I’m gunna have a swift blog about the conservative nature of many a gamer. Let me explain…

As you may have read I’m a avid Dark Eldar Player. When 6^th edition hit I couldn’t wait to plough into them again and do new things with my existing army. Problem was all the armies I was taking were in all intents are purposes the same as my previous attempt….. very similar to my 5^th edition army.

Now this is a bit ridiculous if you think about it. The sweeping changes of 6^th HAD to change the way my army worked. The absolute battering transports received and hellions. But my army was identical save for the hellions being replaced by the beastmaster unit.

It was only really after a few games had gone by that I started thinking…. Well this really doesn’t do anything anymore.

The recent realisation played against one of my regular opponents Luke and his necrons. In the four games we’ve played my wych’s hekatrix did nothing. That’s 60 points wasted on pointless upgrades. This may not seem like a lot to people but the role of the wych changed and I refused to see it to cling onto my 5^th edition ideas. Same with a haemonculus. Do I need to spend 65 points to turns wracks into troops when I can get a unit of wychs with the ultimate tank busting weapon?

For the same points I can either have 2 units of wychs with haywire or 2 units of 3 wracks and a haemonculus. The pain token doesn’t really effect the beast unit and I have no other infantry units in dire need of it.

Now were talking small points here. Let’s boost the scale. Necrons. For me 2 Overlords were my HQ. That in itself shaped the army. The first lists I saw for necrons had these in as well, the new shiny chariot rules ringing in my head. However s time has gone on other choices seem to appeal more. Storm Lord comes to mind.

I guess the point of my argument is this. Change is hard but the hardest change is the small tweaks to units that has occurred unseen. Yes it’s obvious that a hydra isn’t as good anymore but taking plsma guns instead of melta is probably something that is less obvious. Grey Hunters aren’t as good due to the breaking of transports, however the reduction of every other anti psyker and the option of prescience something maybe less obvious, would make a rune priest one of the best HQ characters out there.

Food for thought. Are there any automatic choices you’ve carried forward from 5^th that you’ve just blindly carried on with? Perhaps it’s time for you then to review every little option you’ve taken and ask yourself… is this still worth it?

My regular Dark Eldar Blog Will be back on Monday

Much Love!