Monday 11 June 2012

Thoughts on 6th Edition

Ok so GW has put a teaser trailer on their website for what is obviously 6th Edition 40k pre-orders, slated for the 23rd of June. Hardly a huge surprise, but pre-orders are a little earlier than i expected, placing its release probably on the 30th, so can't complain there.

So with 19 days until a new era of 40k dawns, a pressing question has arisen in my head: What army do I play in 6th ed?

Obviously I don't know what the rules changes are or how they'll affect my various armies, but i though I'd share my thoughts on each of them with you.

1. Pre- Heresy Thousand Sons

I've been pondering what codex to use for these guys for quite a while and I keep going back and forth between two possibilities, Space Marines or Grey Knights. Both offer some fun possibilities in army building, and each having their merits in representing the Psyker-heavy Thousand Sons.

If i go the Space Marine route, I'd load up on Tigerius, a second Librarian and a load of Sternguard Squads, with their special ammunition representing their powers at work, whereas with Grey Knights I'd have access to an entire army with Psychic powers, plus a load of fancy toys to boot.

Thing is Grey Knights are pure cheese, there's no two ways about it. Mainly it's the way their powers and abilities stack, coupled with the way they can rearrange the FOC, offsetting their expensive elites choices like Purifiers with the dirt-cheap henchmen troops under Coteaz. I feel dirty playing them, so so far I've been playing my Thousand Sons under the SM codex with quite a bit of success. Thing is it doesn't feel like I'm playing with Psykers, just a lot of marines using fancy guns, but then the cheese factor of Grey Knights has kept me playing them as they are.

However, there is a huge chance that GK's will get hit hard with the nerf bat under 6th ed, much like Deamons of Chaos did under 8th Ed Fantasy, so if that happens i'm quite likely to make the switch to the Knights of Titan representing my Sons of Magnus. Codex: Grey Knights has so many fun options that I can work into a pre-heresy list and if they've been thoroughly de-cheesed then I would be quite happy to play as them. I suppose I'll have to wait till the end of the month to get my answer on this one

2. Deathwing

This is a very interesting army to think about in 6th ed, mainly due to the fact that a lot of the rumoured changes benefit them greatly.

 If rumours of power weapons becoming AP 3 are true then my Deathwing will get a massive boost in survivability, which coupled with the reduction in the quality of covers saves in the game and the fact that DA are pretty much confirmed in the starter box, which means they've got a new codex on the way makes them very tempting to use as my main army.

There's also the fact that I already have all the models I need for them, minus Azrael and a Contemptor Dreadnought, making them extremely tempting. I think they may become my secondary 6th editon army, rather than my main one though

3. Chaos Space Marines

This is another army I've played for years, although it's been pretty much shelved since the 4th edition codex. Their latest book, then the 5th edition rulebook, pretty much destroyed the effectiveness of my warband, due to my love of all-infantry builds, which under a mech-based 5th ed enviroment, really didn't fare well.

It's pretty obvious that 6th ed will reduce the need for mech. GW's already got our money out of us for transports, so now they're probably going to re-focus the game so that both an infantry-based and mech build can work equally well, so players start buying up infantry boxes again. This can only be good news for my warband, as it means that my 15-strong squads of CSM, supported by Raptors will see the light of the battlefield again.

 Even if this doesn't happen with the release of 6th ed, there's a new book on the horizon for Chaos too and whether it turns out to be Legions or not (the jury's still out in the rumour mill on this one), it will be written to take full advantage of the changes in 6th Edition, so with that in mind, my beloved Golden Knights are going to be dusted off, given a spruce up and made ready to face the brave new world of 6th Edition gaming as my main army.

4. Space Wolves

These are even more interesting as they play rather well under 5th edition. In fact, they're my main army currently.

 Whilst I avoid Long Fang-spam and Loganwing, my Wolves are fairly mech-based, with a pair of Razorbacks, Dreadnoughts and Vindicators supporting my Grey Hunters and Rune Priests. Whilst 6th ed may well limit the effectiveness of my list, This is nothing but a cause for celebration for me.

As i said earlier I despise mech. The Sons of Russ are not meant to do battle from metal boxes, they are meant to get in the enemy's face and punch it repeatedly before burying a frost axe in their neck. I only play a mech-based list because I'm part of a 40k League at the moment and the only way I can avoid being tabled by turn 3 every game is to mech up in response to my opponent.

I actually have a foot-based list written up for my Space Wolves which I've been building up for casual games which hopefully I'll be able to field in a fairly competitive manner with the edition change.
 I'm looking forward to hopefully being able to finally ditch my Razorbacks and Vindicators and replace them with fun things like Wolf Lords, Thunderwolves, Blood Claws and Swiftclaw Bikers. Also if the rumoured challenge rules come about then my Wolf Lord will be in his element, bellowing challenges to enemy commanders whenever possible and having the guts and abilities to normally come out on top.

I'm not going to retire them completely with the edition change, i think, but they are going to get some well-deserved downtime, becoming my tertiary army, mainly wheeled out for the league or the occassional game, DA and Chaos are going to take priority though.


So there you have it, my thoughts on the new edition. Whilst it's not the most comprehensive and verges on the edge of decipherable ramblings, it does give you an insight into what's going through my head in the countdown to 6th edition's release. 19 days and counting....

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