First hand experiences of 6th?

[SotonShades]

Righto! The fables tome is at last out. GW stores across the globe are filled with happy (or groaning) gamers, rattling dice and rustling pages. Even a giggley, "squee"-ing manageress in the case of my FLGS!

After months (years?) of rumours we finally have our hands on 6th Ed. and can get stuck in with a few games. I didn't even get chance to open the book other than to smell the newness before I was asked to take the honour of the first in store game. A simple 1000 point affair, Codex Space Marines vs. Codex Space Marines; Flyers and Skimmers vs. Massed Dreadnoughts, so an interesting mix.

Our game was frought with flicking back and forth searching for rules and making sure we were doing things 'the new way'. Inevitably, we realised we had done a few things wrong in previous turns, the game was massively slowed down (not the fault of the rules though, just us trying to understand) and we spent a good portion of our time answering questions from curious on-lookers and inquisitive staff who were trying to leach our on-table experience to help teach others.

So what did I discover? Well, the armies handled much as we expected them too. Despite more readilly availible cover saves for them, the vehicles were much more fragile than they had been. My Venerable Dreadnoughts were not the unstoppable behemoths they had once been (although my captain stubbornly refused to take wounds... again, nothign to do with the rules mechanics, simply a lot of lucky saves) and my Rhinos and my opponant's Land Speeders were quickly dealt with.

A noticabley higher number of shots were fired by both of us. Always being able to get shots off to 24" with Rapid Fire weapon's feels much more dangerous and not simple taking a vehicle out of action with a single glance stunning it really does make them feel like a very valid threat until they are destroyed, despite their fragility. Wound Allocation seemed complicated as we were reading it, but quickly became very intuitive. Hiding squad Sergeants at the back didn't really happen much, though I did lose my only Powerfist because I left him exposed. Holding them in the middle of a squad actually felt fairly reasonable (knowing roughly how many wounds we were likely to take) and didn't detract from the feel of the game at all.

As for combat... I'm afraid I can't say. Other than my Captain slicing two immobilised Land Speeders, each with a single Hull Point remaining after before the less than 2" charge, we didn't actually get any. Not because shooting was that effective, just that neither of us had overly combaty armies and didn't deploy to take the fight to the enemy.


So most importantly, my first impressions? Well, without having read the book first, it was a trial. A lot of page hunting and having to double back to correct myself from doing things like we had in 5th. But the actual rules seemed to play well. Once we get our collective heads around the changes, I think it will be every bit as fun as 5th, if not more so. Will it address the imbalances between the Codicies? I can't really say. Some of them yes, some of them I would expect to increase the dividing gulf, at least until the next round of Army Lists and new rules come out.


What are other people's actual experiences of gaming under 6th Ed? I don't want to hear what people think might happen having read the rules, or based on the rumours and "facts" we've read over the last few days.

Oh, and by the way... I won ;)

[DarkLink]

Flyers are stupid good. In order to hurt a flyer (unless you have a magical ability to roll a ton of 6's), you must bring your own flyer or take a fortification. Period. No other options. Meanwhile, Storm Ravens can fly around with impunity hammering everything with all their weapons. Good think I have a Raven, even if I never used it in 5th.

No other complaints. I got multiple 10" charges in my first game, Hammer of Wrath is an awesome bonus for my Interceptors, the buff to Reserves and Deepstrike means I'll start using it more, and the vehicles dropped like flies thanks to hull points. Backfield fire support vehicles will still be good, and it will still be worth taking some vehicles, but no one is ever going to try and pull razorback spam crap again. A squad of GKs with psybolt ammo can now easily waste a Rhino in a single turn of shooting.


Wound allocation is also a very nice improvement. Simply roll dice and remove whatever models are closest. Much faster, much more smooth. You'll just learn to have to place your models in a different order now. Though I do think the 'multiple saves' allocation rules are clunky still.

[SotonShades]

Well, one of the mysterious Objectives gives you Skyfire if you control it (yes I know, 1 in 6 chance, if you happen to be in the right place at the right time...) and from the looks of it, several other weapons/unit options will be getting it come the next round of Codicies (I'm guessing they haven't made it into the FAQs, though I haven't had time to look).

That said, I faced off against 2 Stormtalons. I got them both down to single hull points. and took off their assault cannons without any Skyfire weapons. In fact, past turn 2 when the first of them arrived, I only had 2 weapon's that could hurt them. Same as when shooting terminators; only a 1 in 6 chance of takign them down (because of hits or saves) so mass your firepower on to them. They can be devastating, so do your damnedest. You only need to get a few glances to wreck them.

[Corvus-Master-of-The-4th]

SotonShades, I had a marvelous time playing 6th with my Grey Knight Librarian... Happily my army of terminators ironically didn't seem as OP as perviously, especially as I only just managed to beat down 3 Obliterators with Paladins :D.

EDIT: so far effectively I havent seen many things to my disliking, it'll never be perfect but it feels more "fun" :)

[Mr Mystery]

Well, I break my duck in a little under an hour.

2,000 points, Necrons taking on Chaos (likely with Allies).

Opponent and I have agreed to go all out on this one, so I may be facing CSM, Guard AND Daemons (if he takes two FoC, he can have two allies). I've knocked up a list using a good variety of units, and I'm very much looking forward to getting properly to grips with the new edition!

[Redwulfe]

Got my first game in yesterday, and hope to get another game in today. All in all I really like the new edition, I think that added a decent amount of complexity to the existing ruleset and changed some of the things that didn't work to build on what they had, making the game stronger as a whole. I felt vehicles in 5th where a tad overwhelming but with the new hull points they have came down to a good level of power. Vehicle bring good fire power to the table but at the same time are easier to destroy. For example I had my vindicator glanced to death by bolt pistols. I was saddened by its loss but happy to see that vehicles will not dominate the table anymore.

Flyers where really strong though but I did notice that due to there speed and lake of maneuverability I had to be very carefully not to lose shots by over flying my opponents force. I also noticed that when facing flyer on flyer the strategies became a bit more in depth on when and where you should come on.


Model positioning is now very important, which I think is great. It keeps you on your toes at times but I think it will become like second nature after a few games. My opponent did employ some new tricks to get at my heavy weapons, like jumping over my squad to fire directly into my lasscannon. Also I really like the ability to only have to move certain models and be able to still fire my heavies as if they didn't move.

All in all, I really am liking what I'm seeing.

Red

[Mr Mystery]

Okay that was cool! Fliers were awesome, and the change to rapid fire was fun.

However, I think my Lychguard will be hoofing it from now on, with a snooty unit going in the Nightscythe. Gives me a very swift shoots unit. Zoom, deploy, Dakka. Next turn, back inside, zoom. Brilliant for seizing far off objectives to boot!

Overall infantry have become much improved. Granted my guys are amongst the best in the game, but the extra range, and no shoot or manouvre trade off has really brought them into the battle. There are far fewer safe areas on the board, and the inevitable firefight around turn 2 to 3 is a blast (literally!).

Assault armies now face a real struggle. Behind us are the days of assault determining the game!

[SotonShades]

Assault armies now face a real struggle. Behind us are the days of assault determining the game!

I fully agree that the balance of power has shifted in the favour of shooting, but I still think it will be decisive assaults that swing a game one way or another, especially once people start using fortifications in conjunction with the mysterious objectives/terrain (3+ Cover in certain woods? My Orks like this very much...)

This is especially true as you can't just shoot a unit under 50% and make it run. Hell, so long as there is at least a single model alive, there is a chance they can come back to claim an objective. A decent chance if it is a model that is running away with an Independent Character.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

I won my first game too, my Wraiths were lackluster though... :/

[Mr Mystery]

I fully agree that the balance of power has shifted in the favour of shooting, but I still think it will be decisive assaults that swing a game one way or another, especially once people start using fortifications in conjunction with the mysterious objectives/terrain (3+ Cover in certain woods? My Orks like this very much...)

This is especially true as you can't just shoot a unit under 50% and make it run. Hell, so long as there is at least a single model alive, there is a chance they can come back to claim an objective. A decent chance if it is a model that is running away with an Independent Character.

Agreed. Combined arms is definitely the most dependable suit these days. I'd even go so far as to say spam armies have had their day in the sun. Sure they can still dish out the pain, but they'll have to work harder for it.

[Melon-neko]

We played 4 games this weekend. Neither me nor my opponent play what the internet would consider competitive armies, so I won't try and say whats good or bad. I'm more interested in whats fun and interesting. So I will just make some notes on how things played =) (what i remember being interesting or fun)

In our first game, neither of us liked the wound allocation rules but by our 4th game they were becoming pretty second nature.

First game was Necrons vs Exodites.
In a seer council brick, taking random divination powers is probably not the best idea, fortune is just better imo. Also, it is an all character unit, so lookout sir argh tricks are kinda silly. also, also, they aren't insta killed by s6 and 7 anymore.
Eldar jet bikes can move 48 inches in one turn! (this got all my shining spears killed though because i zoomed too close to necrons =( )
Night scythes became amazing, being able to deploy a unit 36" in on the turn they come in from reserves. I expect doom scythes will be pretty scary as well, being able to zoom on 36 inches and death ray armies.
Eldar have very little that can kill 2+ in h2h, but i've always relied on shuriken catapults and doom anyway.
wraithlords are characters and can except challenges!
charging necrons is scary, especially if they took a lightning field
witchblades aren't as good at killing vehicles anymore, but i think hitting on 3's instead of 6's usually should offset that.
2d6 charge for wraithlords is pretty fun =)

second game was blood angels vs world eaters
feel no pain is, imo, better than before. While it may only be on a 5+ now, the ability to save any wound that isn't instant death was quite good (especially when fighting blood letters)
a challenge between a chaplain and a lord with lightning claws can go on forever >.>
sternguard can overwatch with hellfire rounds =3
dreadnaughts go down waaaay easier in h2h now, with grenades hitting on normal ws instead of 6's and meltabombs being ap 1 armourbane
jump infantry can move with their jump packs in the movement phase OR assault phase, not both.
originally the bloodangles were an all reserve drop pod army. That is not possible anymore which i like. I thought it was pretty stupid to keep an entire army in reserve. (especially when no reserves came on the second turn either cus of low rolls >.>)

third game was dark eldar vs orks
overwatch makes wyches quite sad
I dislike flyers. Mine don't seem to want to come on until the 4th turn and they are hard to line up to do much with. Flyers that can turn into skimmers I think will be great and necron flyers have turrets. DE flyers have
fixed weaponry in the front
reavers are even faster now =)
loota's can move and shoot with out much reduction in accuracy.
battle wagons can get 4 big shoota's and shoot all of them after going 12" inches =D
flash gits ignore cover which is neat. they are still kind of expensive though
mega nobs are actually really cool now imo. Hitting vehicles on 3+. most ap2 weapons are unwieldy so they will at least hit simultaneously with them. slow and purposeful doesn't make you move as if in difficult terrain anymore either
passengers can overwatch when their ride is charged. Warriors staying in their raider was pretty nice. There is also less a chance that it explodes and hurts them (plus they can snap fire if it moves 12".)
i still have a hard time killing vehicles with darklances ^_^

last game was an inquisitor army (IG with inquisitor and henchmen allies) vs Death guard
You declare overwatch as soon as a unit declares a charge, so if you decide not to use and the first charger makes it into combat, you cannot choose to overwatch against a unit that chargers them later that turn. I rolled double 6's with a charge (which is what i needed to make it in so he didn't bother to overwatch, trying to save the shots for the unit that would definitely make it in)
using a primaris psyker as your warlord and putting a commisar in the unit is a bad idea =(
I really like teh vehicle rules. I think it will be best to player IG with platoons to screen your tanks, since they go down easily in h2h, but 14 armor is still durable enough to shooting
penal legion knife fighters vs terminators! (they lost, but killed 3 or so terminators, so i consider it a win =D)
Coteaz is also not a match for typhus >.>
Don't drive landraiders too close to chainfists, they hit on 3's now >.<
40 man ig blob with all the sergeants wielding power axes are pretty effective

[Kawauso]

originally the bloodangles were an all reserve drop pod army. That is not possible anymore which i like. I thought it was pretty stupid to keep an entire army in reserve. (especially when no reserves came on the second turn either cus of low rolls >.>)


Still don't have a rulebook, but I was under the impression units that are required to start in reserve (Drop Pods, flyers, etc...) were exempt from the 'no more than half your army in reserve' rule?

Otherwise, thanks for the points of interest from your games. :) Good to know.

[Melon-neko]

Still don't have a rulebook, but I was under the impression units that are required to start in reserve (Drop Pods, flyers, etc...) were exempt from the 'no more than half your army in reserve' rule?

Otherwise, thanks for the points of interest from your games. :) Good to know.

this is true. I Meant deep strike army. It has drop pods, but also has jump troops and setting up one or two troops to get killed while the others were in reserve didn't seem like a good idea

You can keep half your units in reserve (units that must start in reserve don't count). However, IC's count whether or not they've joined a unit

So actually, if you got all drop pod units and only 1 IC i guess you could keep everything in reserve. But if you take two IC's then one of them would have to deploy on the ground