I'm so Excited

I don't think I am the only one who was a little bored with 5th edition. Bored with Grey Knights being awesome, bored with having a comprehensive understanding of the rules, bored with Dark Lances that can't kill anything...you get the picture.

I am excited now though.

With two games of 6th edition under my belt, both played with my Dark Eldar, I feel confident saying that this edition has a lot to offer. Allies, better psychic powers, forgeworld, hull points. The list goes on. 

Every army seems fresh and new, and I can't wait to play each and every one of them. As a result I have kicked my hobbying into high gear.

Hobby Progress

This Farseer needed an arm:

A little green stuff, and one finecast Fire Dragon Exarch arm, and he's well on his way. 

Fliers are so in:

 Corsair Scourges:

  Shadow Specters make great Solarites and haywire gunners.

Also in the works: more Warriors/Guardians, Dire Avenger/Trueborn, and Reaver jetbikes. Having feet on the ground is essential in 6th if you want to win objective missions, so I'm going to be experimenting with a variety of Warrior builds. Jetbikes became tougher, and harder to hit, so they will likely be taking their place amongst the corsairs as well.

6th Edition, Lists, and Beyond

6th edition makes it possible for my Dark Eldar Codex Corsairs to feel a bit more like Eldar.

In 5th I was playing a diverse list that generally included a Huskblade/Soultrap Archon, three Wych squads, two blasterborn Venom squads, three five-man Warrior squads each in a Venom, and packing a blaster, and three ravagers. It was a pretty well balanced 5th edition list, but had some trouble with armor, especially when it came to Grey Knights. 

The new edition has changed things up: my Wyches and Incubi are no longer the fantastic close combat units they once were. Agonizers, Klaives, and Huskblades were taken down a notch (along with everyone's power weapons). Wyches don't like 5+ cover and feel no pain. All the tweaks to the new edition seem like they are going to makes up for this shift though. Hell, hull points make up for it.  Shooting is king now, and Dark Eldar do it well, even better with a little help from their Craftworld cousins. 

I played an iteration of the above list for my first two games: same Archon, two units of Wyches, two blasterborn squads, four Warrior/Venom squads, two Ravagers, and a Razorwing. Everything worked pretty well. I can glance armor to bits with haywire and dark lances, Warriors and Trueborn can contribute more now that they are able to snap-fire out of cruising Venoms, and Razorwings are impossible to hit from the ground. All is right with the world.

So what's next you ask? Duke Sliscus will likely become a regular in my Warrior/Trueborn heavy lists. Eldrad or a Farseer may also be coming along for the ride. Big units of Guardians or Dire Avengers on foot seem like they might work well for holding objectives, especially with the E-man to keep them alive. Instead of Wyches I may field Reaver Jetbikes and Scourges. Both are maneuverable, and have shooting that is effective against armor and troops.

Things have changed for Dark Eldar, but I have options now. Interestingly my lists are starting to look more like the concept I had when I first picked up the codex: a swarm of fast and deadly units that fill the air with torrents of splinter and darklight death. Close combat is great for epic heroes and their monstrous foes, but pirates want to shoot you in the face and steal your wallet. That pretty much sums up the theme that will be directing the future development of my army.

More to come

An article on Adepticon, the NOVA Open, and tournaments in 6th edition is on the horizon. Stay tuned!