A few months ago I posed about a military themed ccg kick-starter. I backed it, but unfortunately it didn't collect enough funds to be successful. It's back now in a slightly altered form. They changed the concept from a CCG to a living card game to keep up with the times. $40 gets you the whole set of cards in 4 pre-built decks.
Check it out here
Monday, August 6, 2012
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
You know it be true
All of a sudden I'm overcome with the urge to build a Dark Eldar Army...again.
Does this mean I've given in to my anger? Fallen to the DarkSide?
Does this mean I've given in to my anger? Fallen to the DarkSide?
Some More 6th Edition Eldar Angst
I've been pounding my head against a wall trying to come up with a good 6th edition Eldar list. It's hard. It was already pretty hard in 5th. Eldar are overpriced by at least 20%, the good units all fight for the same FOC slots, and 80% of the rules are unchanged from 1999. While 6th gave a boost to certain aspects of the army, it also hurt some others pretty badly.
You already had to squeeze every ounce of efficiency out of the codex to stay competitive in 5th. We could argue the validity of footdar versus mechdar, but either way many of the units in the codex where still untouchable. Barring Firedragons, most everything else in the codex was situationally good at best. There where a couple of nice gimmicks you could run like Eldrad+Phoenix Lord+Wraithgaurd. Unfortunately these could be trumped in competitive environments, and they are expensive points sinks.
The changes to how units in transports score(or not score more appropriately) and wound allocation have gutted a lot of the tactics that allowed Eldar to stay somewhat competitive. Eldar just can't grab and hold objectives like they used to. You have to get out and try to survive, and if you payed the points for a Wave Serpent, you certainly didn't have the points to spend on putting a survivable unit inside. I also found at least a dozen rules that make no sense or are redundant/pointless/useless/dumb in 6th(though Tau have it worse in that area).
There are still some gems. Karandaras and a few of the other Phoenix Lords got a nice boost. Wave Serpents weathered the addition of hull points better than some other vehicles. They may even be over-costed by only 15% now. Twin-linked strength 6 is about as good as you can get for anti-air in a codex without it's own fliers or sky fire. Now that Warp Spiders can tear up vehicles, Eldar have a fast attack unit worth taking. Guardian Jetbikes are nice too, but I can't brink myself to buy the old 2nd ED models for 15 bucks a pop when I know that there's a master already done for a new kit(Jes Goodwin redesigned the Eldar jetbike as a precursor to re-designing the Dark Eldar ones). And with GW's black hole of a marketing strategy, a new kit could be as little as two weeks out and I wouldn't know it.
There's also some changes that look like buffs, but turn out to not be so useful in the long run. The Psychic power change is one of them. Eldar need fortune, and the analog to it in the divination table only effects the psyker and not the squad. So you need a cheepo Farseer to cast Fortune, and another one to roll up the fancy new powers. Now you're locked out of taking anymore HQ choices; one of the slots in the codex that has an abundance of useful choices.
You may also think that Ranger/Pathfinders got a huge boost with the focus fire and cover changes. They are better, but not better enough to account for their 19/24 point cost. You can't afford to invest that many points into a unit in an Elder unit unless it's going to be able to wreck face, and these guys will not wreck any face. You'll also love it when some 6 point guard model with a flamer walks up and makes your 240 point investment disappear in one shot.
Allies could potentially save Eldar, but allies tend to put an efficiency hit on the army that takes them. And allies are hard to make work at the lower points levels. 2 FOC might help too, but you usually run out of points before you can get enough spam into the list to make it worth it. Plus double FOC is dumb.
Eldar need a new codex in a bad way. I know they're xenos, and xenos armies are never quite as good as Imperial. I don't expect GK or SW good. I just want to at least get within visual range of competitive. Tau are't great, but I can make them work with good play and an efficient list. Most of the Tau codex entries can be made to work. They only have a few absolute stinkers(Vespids, Etherial). Oh, if Eldar only had it so good.
You already had to squeeze every ounce of efficiency out of the codex to stay competitive in 5th. We could argue the validity of footdar versus mechdar, but either way many of the units in the codex where still untouchable. Barring Firedragons, most everything else in the codex was situationally good at best. There where a couple of nice gimmicks you could run like Eldrad+Phoenix Lord+Wraithgaurd. Unfortunately these could be trumped in competitive environments, and they are expensive points sinks.
The changes to how units in transports score(or not score more appropriately) and wound allocation have gutted a lot of the tactics that allowed Eldar to stay somewhat competitive. Eldar just can't grab and hold objectives like they used to. You have to get out and try to survive, and if you payed the points for a Wave Serpent, you certainly didn't have the points to spend on putting a survivable unit inside. I also found at least a dozen rules that make no sense or are redundant/pointless/useless/dumb in 6th(though Tau have it worse in that area).
There are still some gems. Karandaras and a few of the other Phoenix Lords got a nice boost. Wave Serpents weathered the addition of hull points better than some other vehicles. They may even be over-costed by only 15% now. Twin-linked strength 6 is about as good as you can get for anti-air in a codex without it's own fliers or sky fire. Now that Warp Spiders can tear up vehicles, Eldar have a fast attack unit worth taking. Guardian Jetbikes are nice too, but I can't brink myself to buy the old 2nd ED models for 15 bucks a pop when I know that there's a master already done for a new kit(Jes Goodwin redesigned the Eldar jetbike as a precursor to re-designing the Dark Eldar ones). And with GW's black hole of a marketing strategy, a new kit could be as little as two weeks out and I wouldn't know it.
There's also some changes that look like buffs, but turn out to not be so useful in the long run. The Psychic power change is one of them. Eldar need fortune, and the analog to it in the divination table only effects the psyker and not the squad. So you need a cheepo Farseer to cast Fortune, and another one to roll up the fancy new powers. Now you're locked out of taking anymore HQ choices; one of the slots in the codex that has an abundance of useful choices.
You may also think that Ranger/Pathfinders got a huge boost with the focus fire and cover changes. They are better, but not better enough to account for their 19/24 point cost. You can't afford to invest that many points into a unit in an Elder unit unless it's going to be able to wreck face, and these guys will not wreck any face. You'll also love it when some 6 point guard model with a flamer walks up and makes your 240 point investment disappear in one shot.
Allies could potentially save Eldar, but allies tend to put an efficiency hit on the army that takes them. And allies are hard to make work at the lower points levels. 2 FOC might help too, but you usually run out of points before you can get enough spam into the list to make it worth it. Plus double FOC is dumb.
Eldar need a new codex in a bad way. I know they're xenos, and xenos armies are never quite as good as Imperial. I don't expect GK or SW good. I just want to at least get within visual range of competitive. Tau are't great, but I can make them work with good play and an efficient list. Most of the Tau codex entries can be made to work. They only have a few absolute stinkers(Vespids, Etherial). Oh, if Eldar only had it so good.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Hull Point Math Updates
There was a slight error in my calculations for the survivability of the Wave Serpent. I entered 4/5 instead of 4/6 for getting past the jink save. I've updated that graph and added two new ones for trying to get kills against Chimera and Vindicator front armor.
Hull Points by the Numbers
Hull Points by the Numbers
Thursday, July 19, 2012
6th Edition Hull Points By the Numbers
EDIT: I had a slight error in my calculations for the wave serpent. I updated the graph with the improved calculations. The Wave Serpent turns out to be slightly more survivable in this edition than the last. As a bonus I also added graphs for armor 12 and 13 vehicles.
I was thinking the other day about how bad the 6th edition vehicle damage changes hurt my poor Wave Serpents. Unfortunately the addition of hull points to the probability calculations takes you from Stats 101 to Stats 102. The application of Excel and a few binomial calculations later, I think I've got some equations to compare 5th and 6th edition vehicle survivability.
I wish I retained more knowledge from my college statistics course, but I'm pretty sure the numbers are close enough for Govt' work.
All the calculations here are based on the chances of getting a vehicle kill with 5 hits. I had to state the probabilities this way to account for the cumulative effects of hull-point attrition.
First up is the Wave Serpent. These number account for both the energy fields and jink save.
I was thinking the other day about how bad the 6th edition vehicle damage changes hurt my poor Wave Serpents. Unfortunately the addition of hull points to the probability calculations takes you from Stats 101 to Stats 102. The application of Excel and a few binomial calculations later, I think I've got some equations to compare 5th and 6th edition vehicle survivability.
I wish I retained more knowledge from my college statistics course, but I'm pretty sure the numbers are close enough for Govt' work.
All the calculations here are based on the chances of getting a vehicle kill with 5 hits. I had to state the probabilities this way to account for the cumulative effects of hull-point attrition.
First up is the Wave Serpent. These number account for both the energy fields and jink save.
Probability to Kill a Wave Serpent in 5 Hits
As you can see the wave serpent maintains fairly close survivability between 5th and 6th. Eldar's situation may be less dire than I assumed.
I then decided to take a look at the Rhino and Land Raider to see how they both fared in 6th.
Probability to Kill a Rhino in 5 Hits
Probability to kill Chimera From the Front in 5 Hits
Probability to kill a Vindicator From the Front in 5 Hits
Probability to Kill a Land Raider in 5 Hits
You'll notice that the rhino lost a significant amount of survivability in this edition while Land Raiders stayed about the same.
Overall, you may notice that the curve for damage potential for the major strength/ap combos in the game got a lot smother. Melta doesn't present as significant a jump in combat effectiveness against armor as it used to. In fact against lighter armor, a Lascannon becomes a good choice. It looses only a little effectiveness for a major range advantage. Melta still remains the go-to weapon for dealing with AV14.
You should also consider that glances don't effect your ability to move and shoot anymore. Outright kills are usually less likely for most weapons, so most kills will be by hull points. While vehicles may die faster, they will in general be more useful while they are alive.
I worked up one more chart for you guys to look at.
Probability of Kill as Number of Hits Increases(St 7 vs Armor 11)
We've gained a much steeper curve in terms of measuring the effect of weight of fire. What this means is that that putting a few extra guns on a target will get you better results more quickly. To get an 80% chance of a kill you need about half as many guns in 6th to do the job.
Friday, July 13, 2012
CaulynDarr's Unifying Theory of Game Company Evolution
Given x time where x approaches infinity, all game companies will also approach one of two states. The first state is bankruptcy. The second condition is a state of existence indistinguishable from Games-Workshop.
I get a certain schadenfreude whenever a game company implements a new business practice that at one point or another was used as a reason to like them over GW. I got it when Privateer started their own magazine and hobby line. I got it when Privateer started going plastic/resin. I had it when Apple switched to Intel processors and abandoned RISK architecture(OK, not a miniature company, but same type of situation). I'm having it now that Battlefront is disallowing non Battlefront miniatures at official events.
These things don't make either Privateer or Battlefront bad companies(or Apple). They make business decision that are in their best interest, just like everyone else. I just like deflating fan boys who think some company has their best interest at heart. All companies want all your money. Deal with it.
Monday, July 9, 2012
6th Edition 3 Games In
I got a few games of six edition over the weekend. I won two and lost one. My initial 6th edition Marine list turned out to be light on troops, but I think I can make it better.
I have to say I really like the Storm Talon. It's a fairly versatile gun platform. The 360 degree arc on the Assault Cannon gives it more movement and firing options than most of the other fliers that have exclusively hull mounted guns. Though these are the halcyon days before people adjust their armies to really deal with fliers. Talons do have trouble cracking the armor of the bigger armor 12 fliers. But that could just be my epic bad dice leading me to hit with my typhoon missile launchers only one out of every six shots. All-in-All, it is a pretty balanced unit, and I don't see me running marine lists without one or two.
I had fun with the new psychic powers. I rolled up Hallucination in my first game and got a Strike Squad to hit itself in the face with it's own force weapons. Psychic Shriek also turned out to be equally fun, nearly wiping out a unit of Trukk Boyz. I was trying the powers with an Epistolary, but I don't think the upgrade is really necessarily. I never seemed to get two powers that would actually work well cast on the same turn. The effects of the Warp Charge 2 powers also don't seem to really justify the 50 point cost of the upgrade compared to what the Warp Charge 1 powers do. For Eldar, I'd probably take the upgrade to Mastery Level 2. It's only 20 points there, and Divination is loaded with enough Warp Charge 1 buffs to make 2 powers a turn useful.
I played a list with some Tau allies, and while I liked having a pair of Broadsides in my Marine army, I think overall it degrades the efficiency of the list. Basically I was bringing along 500 points of Tau to get those Broadsides. With the points I spent on the Firewarriors and Suits, I could of brought along more Tac squads and Devastators. I could run the mandatory troops and HQ for the detachment at bare minimum, but that would even be less efficient. They would be dead weight in the army, and I'd still end up paying essentially 250 points for those two Broadsides.
If you're not careful your allies can really negativity affect efficiency of your list. This goes especially for imperial codexes. Any allied unit needs to be the prime choices from their codex or covering a weak spot in your own list.
I'm still playing around with what I want to do with my lists. My Eldar are still in limbo. I'm sort of intrigued by weapons platforms. Unfortunately, everything is still just too expensive. For everything Eldar can do, just about every newer codex can do better for 20% less points(I'll stop complaining about Eldar for now). I think I can sit on both my Tau and Eldar until we see if August is going to bring another wave of fliers. For my marines, I'm thinking about seeing what I can do with Vindicators and foot Terminators in this edition.
I have to say I really like the Storm Talon. It's a fairly versatile gun platform. The 360 degree arc on the Assault Cannon gives it more movement and firing options than most of the other fliers that have exclusively hull mounted guns. Though these are the halcyon days before people adjust their armies to really deal with fliers. Talons do have trouble cracking the armor of the bigger armor 12 fliers. But that could just be my epic bad dice leading me to hit with my typhoon missile launchers only one out of every six shots. All-in-All, it is a pretty balanced unit, and I don't see me running marine lists without one or two.
I had fun with the new psychic powers. I rolled up Hallucination in my first game and got a Strike Squad to hit itself in the face with it's own force weapons. Psychic Shriek also turned out to be equally fun, nearly wiping out a unit of Trukk Boyz. I was trying the powers with an Epistolary, but I don't think the upgrade is really necessarily. I never seemed to get two powers that would actually work well cast on the same turn. The effects of the Warp Charge 2 powers also don't seem to really justify the 50 point cost of the upgrade compared to what the Warp Charge 1 powers do. For Eldar, I'd probably take the upgrade to Mastery Level 2. It's only 20 points there, and Divination is loaded with enough Warp Charge 1 buffs to make 2 powers a turn useful.
I played a list with some Tau allies, and while I liked having a pair of Broadsides in my Marine army, I think overall it degrades the efficiency of the list. Basically I was bringing along 500 points of Tau to get those Broadsides. With the points I spent on the Firewarriors and Suits, I could of brought along more Tac squads and Devastators. I could run the mandatory troops and HQ for the detachment at bare minimum, but that would even be less efficient. They would be dead weight in the army, and I'd still end up paying essentially 250 points for those two Broadsides.
If you're not careful your allies can really negativity affect efficiency of your list. This goes especially for imperial codexes. Any allied unit needs to be the prime choices from their codex or covering a weak spot in your own list.
I'm still playing around with what I want to do with my lists. My Eldar are still in limbo. I'm sort of intrigued by weapons platforms. Unfortunately, everything is still just too expensive. For everything Eldar can do, just about every newer codex can do better for 20% less points(I'll stop complaining about Eldar for now). I think I can sit on both my Tau and Eldar until we see if August is going to bring another wave of fliers. For my marines, I'm thinking about seeing what I can do with Vindicators and foot Terminators in this edition.
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