The Craftworld famed for its Rangers would most likely see Pathfinders available without Illic, perhaps moved to Elite. This would allow you to field up to 90 Snipers, dominating the field with your infiltrators.
Biel - Tan
I'd like to see the previously rumoured Autarch paths in this one, along with the option of using other aspects as your compulsory troops, to better represent the Swordwind. Maybe a limit on the use of Ghost Warriors, as the fluff more dictates an Aspect army.
Ulthwé
Seer councils seem like a must, perhaps the option to upgrade your warlocks to farseers? If it's true they'll add more units in supplements, I'd personally like to see a sort of personal Vyper with a Seer as a passenger, to add some variety, although jet bikes are probably better. Black Guardians should also get full rules, instead of being represented by normal Guardians. They're a standing army, they should be trained better than normal Guardians
Saim - Hann
To make this successful, new Jetbike and Vyper kits are a must, along with new Shining Spears. It would be nice to see rules for fielding a clan leader or something, that gave a boost to nearby Jetbikes.
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Anyway, that all from me. What would you folks like/ expect to see in Craftworld Supplements, assuming they arrive?
My guesses on my two favourites:
ReplyDeleteSaim-Hann: bikes and vypers gain outflank. Maybe scout.
Ulthwe: new psychic power. Black guardians gain a USR.
GW missed the mark on how the Vyper could be reimagined. Something akin to the way Space Marine Attack Bikes function would have been nice - although they would have had to shift to a T5 W2 profile in order to fit. I can see Saim Hann getting the Wild Rider profile akin to the Corsair Jetbikes (with CC ability, possibly inc Power Weapon options, but not Lances).
ReplyDeleteUlthwe's Seer Council should definitely be considered again (a unit of up to 5 Farseers, not just the Warlock accompaniment). Webway portals are critical for Black Guardians to work properly and Assault should definitely be possible on the turn they arrive - its not about making them like Dire Avengers, but giving them that capabilty to strike where needed (without the Serpent spam). New powers for the Ulthwe Seers would be needed, heightened more than the norm (since they're the ultimate practitioners amongst the Eldar).
Alaitoc, i'd love to see a "fade" rule come into effect for the Pathfinders, where, when engaged in CC (a successful Assault), they can be re-deployed (beginning of the Eldar players turn - with some limitations) a certain amount of times (perhaps D3 rolled at the start of the game). Their reserves rolls should be more managable, with War Walkers/Vypers/Hornets/etc able to appear from various table edges in a more coordinated fashion.
Beil Tann, as mentioned, definitely need a means to shuffle the FOC, within reason. Even a rule allowing Pheonix Lords to make their aspect a Troop choice would be nice. Synergy units would be great, for example (from complimentary FOC slots - Elite + Fast Attack); Warp Spiders and Striking Scorpions. Perhaps using the Striking Scorpions as a homing beacon, allowing the Warp Spiders to Deep Strike at any time from reserves on a 3+ (bonuses for Autarchs would apply), allowing the Spiders to drop in, shoot the bejesus out of a unit just before the Scorpions Assault. Similarly, any hammer/anvil combination of other Aspect units with small bonuses that encourage synergy use - really showing the true play style of the respective Craftworld.
I like the idea if synergy within the army. It would give a much more Eldar feel to the play style. However, I think we are limited by the fact that I think more if the craft worlds will be released as data slates, not full supplements. So you could take a saim Han detachment in your force without requiring a HQ. 2+ bike squads and 1-3 Vyper squads, all with outflank would be my guess.
DeleteThere was a supplement in 2000 with rules for all the major craftworlds btw. 14 years ago, quite awhile ago, should be the reason why nobody remembers it.
ReplyDeleteI'll summarise the rules for each craftworld briefly:
Biel-Tan:
Scorpions, dark reapers, banshees, dragons became troops. Rangers, vypers, both type of guardians all became elites.
New unit: Court of the young King: Avatar + 3-5 exarchs coming from: scorpions, dire avengers, dragon, banshee
Ulthwe:
Black Guardians: same cost, shooty with BS 4, cc with WS 4
Seer council: 2 farseers, 3 warlocks minimum, 3 warlocks in the sqaud minimum . Could be upgraded to 5 farseers max, unlimited amount of warlocks, who would usually go to lead other squads.
New warlock power: enhance, would need a test to perform, would cost 5 pts, effect: would double the range of the farseers power. (only one farseer, 1 power)
There was an Eye of Terror campaign one summer, this supplement also had Black guardians, as well some variation to the council with an Avatar + warlocks (3-5)
They would also have access to the wwp dark eldar had access to, exactly the same one, same rules.
Alaitoc:
Loads of rangers
New upgrade: Pathfinders: 3-5 unit size, better rangers, better stealth, better snipers 4+ to hit would be AP1 shots, could move through any terrain even unreachable. HAd some sort of almost fearless veteran rule, a lot of the leadership tests would be passed auto, but not all, almost all.
This unit was an upgrade in the previous eldar codex, now it disappeared again, possibly for as Alaitoc supplement. At this point if was only Alaitoc, became available for all eldar, then disappeared again
restrictions to guardian, jetbikes & vyper units depending on how many rangers and pathfinders you had
sabotage:
you'd roll an equal amount of dices to the number of rangers + pathfinders squads on a sabotage chart. Some results were ok, some pretty nasty, the 6 roll would allow the unit to fire at ANY enemy unit without any range or LOS restrictions (shots would happen before the battle)
Saim-Hann
The leaders would be Wild Riders, some type of knights riding jetbikes.
New HQ: a Wild Rider Patriarch. Less good autarch, some ok stats, 2 attacks, cc weapon, option to upgrade to power weapon, jetbike, guns could be upgraded to a shuriken cannon.
Retinue (optional) :Wild Rider knights: same as jetbikes but with a cc weapon, same gun options. extra option: banner for 35 pts, would allow them to reroll attacks in cc.
All jetbikes, vypers, falcons, wave serpents, fire prism would get the skilled rider upgrade.
Also FOC would be changed to 6 fast attack choices, 3 troops. Jetbikes were still Fast Attack back then.
BTW the craftworld Mymeara doesn't have GW supplement but it does have extra rules in its Imperial Armour released by Forgeworld.
We've also been hearing a lot more from the smaller craftworlds.
Something mentioned in fluff too, worthy of mention, some craftworlds apparently had their own Aspect warriors, Mymeara is such a kind of unofficial example. They also said that some not all aspect warriors were available on all craftworlds, though this wasn't confirmed for a 100%.
There were a lot of issues with that book sadly - more the point, crazy abuse ensued. Saim Hann wasn't all that sought after except for converters because Jetbikes were still crazy priced (both cost/points). Beil Tan had issues because idiots spammed Dark Reapers (filling all six troop slots with them), Alaitoc players took six ranger units and three path finders and just tore the field up with the ranger disruption table etc etc. Iyanden was ok as were the Ulthwe. An even more interesting release was the Ulthwe Strike Force from the Eye of Terror campaign book - it allowed a very rapid strike force, however inhibited a lot of what you could take, on the premise that tanks couldn't fit through the webway portals. It did have an unusual yet playable flavour to it though.
ReplyDeleteAnything that happens would have to be small, yet more than the sum of all parts. With Eldar, it has always been about Synergy, which is something that most don't understand (they know the term, just not how to realise it in the battle plan). A little guidance in the form of some light Craftworld rules would certainly go a long way to giving them an identity (preferably something that ISN'T then replicated for Space Marines).