First game of 6th

[Primarch]

Well, I played my first game of 6th edition today, with my Chaos Marines with Daemonic allies going up against Ikeda-san's Eldar. At 1500 points, it was a struggle to get any allies, but I managed to get a squad of Pink Horrors and a Herald of Tzeentch wedged into the list.

Overall, the game played pretty much the same as 5th ed, but with a dozen minor changes. We played a mission called the Scouring which involves 6 objectives being placed on the table. However, not all the objectives are worth the same amount and you dont find out until after deployment what they are worth. The game was played short edge to short edge, with a 24" no-man's land in the middle. This was all pretty cool. We didn't bother with the rules for random terrain, but we did use the special objectives rules, which seemed pretty superfluous to the actual game, but didn't cause any major upsets.
The Warlord special rule was likewise not a big game changer, but I could see how it might be in specific situations.
The way vehicles work has changed quite a bit, I killed a squadron of 3 Warwalkers with nothing but glancing hits, whilst Ikeda-san got a penetrating hit on my Predator, but only succeeded in killing a twin linked bolter.
Wound allocation wasn't too big a problem, though at times it was tricky to determine which model was the closest. Mixed save units slowed the game down a bit (Phoenix Lord 2+, Exarch 3+ and Aspect Warriors 4+ in one unit for example), but in single save units, made no real difference overall.
The changes to the assault phase were noticeable. My Berserkers failed a 6" charge and took casualties from snap fire, which I wasn't too happy about . When Ikeda-san charged my Herald he actually lost 2 guardians to snap fire, though he still butchered the daemon in melee. At one stage Asurmen charged a group of Havocs strung out in a line and killed those nearest to him. When I made my pile in move I couldn't attack, so I lost the combat. I dont honestly think I would have won it even if I had gotten into range though and it did allow me to shoot Asurmen to pieces the next turn.

The game ended with Ikeda-san losing, but having come home and checked through my Eldar codex, I think his army list was short by at least 300 points.....

Anyway, it looks like the changes in the new edition will take some getting used to, but it should still be just as much fun to play as 5th.

[kojibear]

Thanks for the report Primarch Appreciate the updates!

I will look forward to getting a game in when I get back from my trip to Spain and Finland. Might pop into the Helsinki GW and see how much a rule book is.

As for the game, it seems that vehicles will go down to lots of small calibre firepower. Hmm...seems logical in some cases, but I think they should have capped it in some way? I don't know. I actually don't have many vehicles but I can see players with mech heavy armies being a little un happy if going against massed hordes of those necron warrior guns for example.

Could you go over the 'pile in' rule again? Why couldn't you get into combat with Asurman?

Thanks again for the great report

[Primarch]

...As for the game, it seems that vehicles will go down to lots of small calibre firepower...
...Could you go over the 'pile in' rule again? Why couldn't you get into combat with Asurman?

Whilst Necrons will wreck vehicles, they have always been able to wreck vehicles, thats not a new trick. Bolters won't do much to vehicles unless they are AV10, and even then you will need a lot to wreck one. (I shot 3 war walkers with 15 bolters, an autocannon, 2 heavy bolters and a lascannon for 2 turns to kill all 3 through glancing hits). The changes mean that vehicles will probably die faster, but you get more use out of them in the meantime as glancing hits no longer damage weapons or stun the crew.

When Asurmen charged my Havocs, they were strung out in a line, each about 2" from the next.
e.g.
H H H H<<<A
Asurmen killed the two closest Havocs
H H x xA
My Havocs moved to pile in.
>>>H>>H A
But they couldnt get close enough to strike and as there were no models in base to base with Asurmen, I didn't get to fight.

Bear in mind that these were 15 point marines with Heavy Weapons fighting a 230 point character with loads of attacks, a power weapon and a bunch of special rules. I had a very low chance of causing any wounds at all. Losing the combat was the best thing that could have happened as it allowed me to unload into Asurmen the next turn and eventually kill him.

[jus]

Congrulations on your first win for 6th! Did you find pre measuring to be a good edition to the game? Kind of sucked that your berserkers didn't make it into combat.

[Primarch]

Congrulations on your first win for 6th! Did you find pre measuring to be a good edition to the game? Kind of sucked that your berserkers didn't make it into combat.

I actually forgot to premeasure a couple of times and ended up missing a shot by an inch or so. I don't hate it, but I don't think it adds much to the game, especially as they have now made charges random.
Before you knew how far you could move, but not how far you needed to.
Now you know how far you should move, but not how far you will.

[me_in_japan]

Before you knew how far you could move, but not how far you needed to.
Now you know how far you should move, but not how far you will.

i.e.

Before you had to judge it carefully
Now you have to be lucky

Before the better player won
Now the lucky player wins*

I'll take my own judgement over luck any day.

*Ok, granted the whole game doesn't swing on one duff charge roll, but the general weighting of the game towards luck over judgement doesn't sit well with me.

[Tenorikuma]

I don't think anyone would disagree that rolling dice adds luck to the game, but I'm not sure that skill at eyeballing distances is something that should affect the outcome of the game more than luck. Naturally, people with more experience than me at eyeballing distances will disagree.

[Admiral-Badruck]

@Mij i hitnk you are missing the point...Here is a great game you can play that takes all the guessing and dice rolling out of the picture.

And it even plays faster
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzrap8Vtyq8

[The Other Dave]

I don't think anyone would disagree that rolling dice adds luck to the game, but I'm not sure that skill at eyeballing distances is something that should affect the outcome of the game more than luck. Naturally, people with more experience than me at eyeballing distances will disagree.

Yeah, I agree with this. It's true that the skill of "able to accurately eyeball distances" is traditionally* an important part of the "good toy soldier generalship" skillset (even if only in GW games), but I'd never try and argue that it's an intrinsically valuable skill for wargaming.

On the other hand, "being able to deal with adversity and the fog of war," which is really the reason we use dice at all when it comes right down to it, arguably has something to do with the "war" part of wargaming. Sometimes your dudes do not do exactly what you want them to do, that's a fact of life in the real world and in our little simulations.

*Insert the video of Topol singing here too, if you like. Tradition!

[me_in_japan]

@all - yeah, I know. I'm just grouching - feel free to ignore me