8th edition

I've been rather quiet on the recent daily 8th edition updates. I wanted to see how they came together before posting rather than doing a day to day review. But I'm sure you have all been keeping up to date on them anyway so I'm just going to share my thoughts,


I'm excited for 8th. I wouldn't have made such a sweeping change to the game mechanics especially considering that so many 40K players didn't want the system to go the same way as Age of Sigmar. But most of what has been posted am I pleased about and a few minor niggles that have had me sitting on the fence for a bit.


In general I am happy with the new rules and extremely pleased that at last vehicles may become a lot more survivable rather than be a temporary expensive gun box before exploding. Immediately that is a big yay from me. I'm hoping that what Games Workshop have said about everything being balanced and usable is true. At present there are plenty of units in each codex that never get a look in and few players seem to take named unique HQ's as the generic ones are better mechanically. I'm hoping that GW will fix that and everything gets a decent spot in the limelight.


The new detachments also got me very excited. 14 new detachments! I've always said that the game needs more generic detachments rather than being stuck with the Combined-Arms Detachment and the seige attacker/defender ones from Stronghold Assault. At last we may be truly able to make the list format we want rather than being forced into a HQ plus Troops and then everything else. Although it was interesting to note that the three detachments previews none of them had a slot for Lords of War.


What didn't sit well with me... Summoning (such as it is) has gone the way of Age of Sigmar. In other words rather than just let you try and summon, you have to waste points to bring in what you want. I hate that in AoS and I don't like it here. I don't do it any more in 40K anyway but that's not the point.
More importantly, they have taken the Age of Sigmar alternating unit combat rule which is something that ruins AoS for me. It should be pick a combat and all units fight simultaneously. The AoS way of doing things is not tactical at all and quite frankly just screws over one player or the other.


No system is ever going to please everyone. It's a shame that a couple of my local players are considering dropping the game because of the changes. I can see why they feel that way but I can't see that the changes are going to ruin the game. Even with the elements that we don't like we should be trying to embrace the new direction and see where it takes us in the months ahead.


Right now though, I just wish Games Workshop would just drop the free PDF rules so we can read them for ourselves and get into the new mindset ready for the 8th edition codexes/battle tomes.

Conquest Basic Faction Overview

I've been playing Conquest on and off for a few weeks now. Losing mostly, but that's because my opponents have bought more than one starter and at the moment I can't afford to do so. Even so I am finding it a very entertaining game although I wish I could get my head around exactly what I need to do with each faction to win. This is my thoughts on the factions available right now.

Space Marines.
I love Space Marines in 40K and always have so I have been trying to get these to work more than any other faction. On paper they seem quite strong and the area effect mechanic that some have is really good. Some units seem a little over costed though but I have that issue with most of FFG's card games.
Space Marines seem to be the faction to go all out on securing the three planets first and foremost. Hard hitting enough to snatch one early on and force your opponent to catch up.

Astra Millitarum Imperial Guard.
Sorry, not calling them Astra Millitarum. They are the Imperial Guard. At first glance this faction looks good but in truth they seem weak in actual play. So much so that I've used them as allies in my Space Marine deck because I don't think they'll work as the primary for now.
Lots of cheap-ish units that allow you to deploy over multiple planets thus allowing you the chance to secure resources before trying to snatch planets from your opponent.

Eldar.
As in the war game the Eldar faction is a little too good though not broken. A mix of handy units though low in wounds as it should be. Eldar seem more driven to wasting your war lord than winning through planets which I find irksome. If I remember right they are also the only faction that can easily return cards from the discard which gives them a big advantage.
Eldar are able to go straight for the Planet win or play the long game gathering resources. My experience is that they tend to just go for your war lord and win that way though. Boring.

Dark Eldar.
I haven't played this faction yet but have played against it many times. This faction isn't very strong at the moment but it can be very infuriating. They exhaust (tap) units and reduce attack values until your forces are worthless. As I say, it makes playing against them just frustrating and boring to play against. They do work well as an ally for the Eldar making them even worse.
I'm sure exactly how Dark Eldar should be played. I am guessing they go for the long game or the war lord kill same as the craftworld Eldar.

Orks.
The Ork faction is an odd one. By looks of it your units should get themselves wounded and then run roughshod over everything your opponent has. My experience is that they get to do it once and then get killed off meaning that you have to play things in waves almost. At the moment I am more likely to play them as allies to Chaos or the Imperial Guard.
Orks are like Space Marines in that they are probably best played to snatch the first planet as quickly as possible and force your opponent to catch up.

Chaos.
Chaos seems to be to be the strongest faction in the game right now. A mix of very hard units and some extremely powerful combos involving daemons should see them smash through any non-Chaos opponent. They are another faction that I really don't want to play against until I can get some more cards or another starter. It may well be that if my regular foes were using one starter that Chaos might not be so bad.
The Chaos faction seems to have the ability to go for the first planet win, capture resources and focus on the enemy war lord making it difficult to handle them.

Tau.
I quite like Tau from playing them in a couple games. They seem comparable to Space Marines but with more shooting and less area effect cards. They really need a second starter though to get the important cards. I've seen them played with some effect as allies to Eldar and Space Marines so maybe for now that is the way to play them.
Tau look like they are better at securing resources first and foremost before trying to grab planets. With enough resources they should be able to plonk down their big units and annoying cards and win.

Now to wait for the first set of expansions and the arrival of the Necrons and Tyranids.

Codex : Space Marines review

I've played a fair few games under this new codex and finally I feel that I have a reasonable handle on it now. This here is my review. I'm not going to worry about the fluff as I think I can assume we all know it.

The Adeptus Astartes special rules.
The Combat Squads special rule is still in and I still find it a weak option. Don't do it. I hear arguments that it lets a squad hold two objectives rather than one, and that is worth doing it. I disagree. All this does is allow your small squad to die easier to shooting and assault as your opponent will have weight of dice. It just means your squad will die quicker and sooner. Combat Squad, don't do it.

The Warlord Traits seem fairly average. Only Angel of Death stands out as being really worth it. None of them are bad options but personally I would rather stick to those from the core rulebook than use these.

A new twist introduced in this book are the chapter tactics. Much like the special characters of the last book this codex gives you new abilities based upon your chapter or it's founding chapter. Some are better than others. The Ultramarines CT have never come up in one of my games (my marines are UM successors) so pointless but free. Iron Hands on the other hand is awesome, and I am very tempted to change my primary to an IH and use my UM successors as allies.

Allies I heard you say? Yep. You can ally two space marine chapters providing they have different chapter tactics. I like this a lot.

Chapter Relics are a bit of a joke in this book. They are either too expensive and will never see use or they have a drawback that means they won't ever see use. Allow me to point you to The Burning Blade. The BB is a +3 str, AP 2 melee weapon with blind and incandescent. Looks good so far, but incandescent means that when used in melee there is a chance that the model carrying it takes a S4 AP2 hit. So, I can have a basically a +3st relic blade but it hurts me on a roll of a 1? That can stay in the book. I don't see me use any of these.

HQ: Special Characters.
The special characters are quite nice but for the most part I still think they are over costed when compared to a generic HQ option. The main exception to that is Tigurius who is a real monster with his Master Psyker ability pretty much guaranteeing his choice of psychic powers before a game.

Special characters are now tied to their chapter or founding chapter so you won't find Tigurius in a Salamanders or White Scars list, for example. I like this as it does help make sure that chapters are fielded with more fluff.

HQ:
Chapter masters and captains are good options. I prefer the captain at the moment over the master personally. Still no terminator bodyguards though which is disappointing. They used to have these a long time ago and I would like to see them return.

The Librarian has become a firm favourite under this codex. I don't like that we don't get the divination discipline. I'd happily swap out biomancy which I don't think is in keeping with space marines anyway.

Chaplains seem ok though I've never been a big fan of them. Only played one once under this codex and he did ok. I'd rather stick to a captain or librarian now though.

The Master of the Forge is still in and seems to be the same as in the previous codex. Only tried a couple times and will probably keep for odd occasions rather than be a common addition.

Troops.
The Tactical squad is still the main stay of the space marines and with the addition of grav weapons have become a little better in my eyes. Still no chainsword as standard or as an option which what I am still waiting for. Come on GW, these guys need these to be worthwhile in close combat!

Scouts are still handy and I think an addition of a squad is worth while in every game. Cheaper than they were is a bonus. Scouts are the only option where I think combat squading isn't such a bad idea but only to offer sniper support in different corners of the table.

If you are playing as Black Templars then you have the option of taking a Crusader Squad, which is basically your old troop choice from when they had a codex. I don't see the point since you can now take a regular tactical squad which as far as I can see is better than this.

Dedicated Transports.
The Rhino... AKA automatic "first blood" VP to your opponent. I really want to use these but they are so easy to crump that you are just giving your opponent a free VP. Tough call.

The Razorback has gone up in points when pretty much everything else in the book dropped points. I've heard it suggested that it was because tournament players spammed them but that is no reason to make them more expensive. GW, you want people buying your models right?

Drop Pod's are the choice where I have a love/hate relationship. I can't deny how good they are on paper and when other people play them but for me they seem a waste of time. You need to spam them it seems to make it worth while.

The Land Speeder Storm has now become a dedicated transport option for scout squads. Nice idea but I don't rate them.

Elites.
Vanguard Veterans have been brought over to the Elites sections with a slight points dip. I like them but I find I want to field other options more. If playing a really high point game then these guys come into their own. I really want to field a full squad with jump packs, grav-pistols and storm shields and have them waltz through the enemy.

Sternguard are still too expensive in my opinion. They need to be brought down in line with tactical squads. It seems, much like with the HQs, that points have been added to their cost to represent the corner of the FoC they come from. I don't like that.

Dreadnoughts are another option I want to like but get destroyed far too easily. I still hold to the idea that they should be monstrous creatures just like wraithlords and dreadknights. At least Venerable has dropped enough points that it is worth considering.

Ironclad Dreadnoughts...don't know. Never felt right using them last codex when there are terminators which can do the job.

Legion of the Damned. I still like these guys but they are another unit which are expensive and thus I look elsewhere. Not to say they haven't done well.

The basic Terminator squad... I am trying to reuse these and I do like them but they just die far too easily usually to small arms fire. For the points you pay I want them to last a lot longer and get a chance to do their job.

Assault Terminators are still my favourite Elites option even with the unnecessary points increase to thunder hammers and storm shields. Thumbs up.

The Assault Centurions are a new unit and quite frankly I think they are utterly pointless. When you have assault terminators why on earth do you need these? No invulnerable and can't really fit in any vehicles due to being very bulky. Don't bother.

Fast Attack.
Assault Squads, I like them but I want them as a troops choice not a fast attack. Blood Angels them as troops so why not the rest of us?

Land Speeders are an option I don't see used very often any more. I certainly haven't field them since mid-5th edition. I think with the addition of flyer's to 6th edition that these units have been left on the shelf.

The Stormtalon has finally made the proper codex. I am a fan of this unit but only when loaded up as an anti-infantry aircraft.

Bike, Assault Bike and Scout Bikes are options I really want to get around to using again. So far bikes haven't done me well and they keep driving off the table edge.

Heavy Support.
I still find Devastator Squads too expensive. I like them but there are other options that I think warrant more attention from other slots of the FoC. Having these is a boost to the Black Templars as they can now take them where as before they didn't really have much option for a heavy weapon squad.

Another new unit is the Centurion Devastators. I really want to like these but they don't play as well as I hoped they would. They really need an invulnerable save, even just a 6+ as well. I need to try them out a few more times.

The Thunderfire Cannon is an option I really want to try. I didn't under 5th because I couldn't put the awful metal model together without lacerating my fingers. Now we have a resin version I may well give it a go as it is a great option.

The usual HS options of Predator, Whirlwind, and Vindicator are still here. Every so often I do dig these out and give them a try but they just don't survive long enough. It is a real complaint for me that vehicles don't survive long enough any more.

The Hunter and the Stalker are new anti-air units. On paper I don't think they are great. Although 70 and 75 points respectively, they just aren't as good as the Aegis Defence Line with quad autocannon. I'd take that any day over these two.

The three Land Raider variants are still in and are the only vehicle options I think in this book have any chance of surviving a battle. The Redeemer is still my favoured choice out of the three.

Lastly, we have the Stormraven finally in the proper codex. Another big thumbs up though I have yet to build and use mine. I did proxy one or two games and was pleased with it.

----

My overall thoughts are that we have a better codex than last time but only because the points reductions allow for the possibility of an extra squad or two that we didn't have last time. That is a good boost. But I am still going to grumble though because we are still lacking reasonable close combat (tactical squads *need* chainswords as standard), and we don't have any means of delivering long range firepower (the Eldar Wraithknight screws us in this regard). I still think every other army out there out manoeuvres, out shoots and out assaults us. The codex still feels like a beginners book. Get new players into the game, let them see how crap the book is and then they spend their money on other "better" armies.

At least it is better than what we space marine players have had previously.

Chaos Daemons Codex review

I'm not sure what to make of the new codex for the daemons. The last one was quite easy to gauge and plan lists around. This time I think it isn't quite so easy, which is both good and bad, plus I'm sure part of it is not being a daemons player myself.

First off, I couldn't get into the background fluff section of the book. It doesn't read as well as the prior two codexes. I found it a real slog and quite frankly not very interesting. Plus, it still doesn't explain how the supposed "physical" locations like Slaanesh's palace or the Skull Throne exist in a dimension of pure thought and emotion. Games Workshop could do with giving that a better explaination otherwise I want to see ships crash into them.

Anyway, let us get to the meat of the book.

Deep Strike has become an optional tool for the army now. It was a pain in the last codex but a fair balance for how good that book was. Now I can see other than a few options this army is going to be a footslogging horde much like the Tyranids are.

Daemonic Instability has returned. Now it works like morale tests after the assault phase except that you could easily lose a lot of models depending who you have just been fighting. Lesser daemons don't have a great leadership for this so you are relying on winning close combat.

A Warp Storm table has been added to the game too which gets rolled on the Daemons' players turn. It feels like a random element too far in a game already filled to overflowing in random elements. Half are good and half are bad but this is an element that I don't feel should have been added, even as some kind of balancing factor.

Next up for me are the psychic powers. Thankfully these are psychic now not sorcery, so you can get a Deny the Witch roll. The disciplines of plague and excess are not bad. However I feel that no one will take the discipline of change for the most part because of the Warpflame special rule. All the discipline of change powers (and Flamers of Tzeentch) have this and it wrecks the powers. If the unit hit by the Warpflame survives the unit makes a Toughness test. Fail and you lose more models with no save. Pass and the Tzeentch daemons have just given you a 6+ FNP for the rest of the game, or +1 to it if you already had it. I just can't see many people playing that.

On to the options...

HQ's.There are still three special characters for greater daemons; Skarbrand, Kairos and Ku'gath. Why isn't there a Slaanesh one? Don't know but I feel there should be one. Skarbrand and Ku'gath seem fair though at their points you won't want them in typical size games (1500-1750pts). As for Kairos, he seems way overcosted and I can't see where his points really come from. Plus I was dissapointed that his fluffy "runs away when wounded" rule has gone. That was part and parcel of the character and seems wrong to see it go.
The generic greater daemons seem fine though does a Bloodthirster really need I9? It's all rage, not speed and finesse like a Keeper of Secrets.
The daemon princes are identical stat and pointswise to their CSM counterparts, though the options are more limited, plus they have the daemonic instability rule.

The Heralds seem fine and reasonably pointed but I feel Skulltaker and Epidemius are the real winners here. You won't want Tzeentch because of warpflame and I don't think the Slaanesh options are strong enough. Nurgle on the other hand seem to have become a very viable option.

Troops.
Lesser daemons have had a reduction in strength and toughness to make them more balanced and fair. I approve of this. Shame that some still have issues good and bad.
* Bloodletters are still the primary choice because GW let them keep their AP3 hellblades. AP4/5 I might have said were ok, but I still don't like power weapons as standard on a troop choice.
* Pink Horrors may see use but again using warpflame makes me think you won't unless they are spammed as the primary troop option.
* Plaguebearers have moved up in my mind as a good troop option. Space marine toughness means that they can still be used to bog units down but they won't be too tough to handle.
* Nurglings... not convinced.
* Daemonettes are very much a waste now, but then they were last time too. Strength 3 rending isn't worth it and yet I keep seeing people suggest these as the means of handling terminators and 2+ save models. Khorne and Nurgle have won the troops section in my mind.

Elites.
* Bloodcrushers are the only elite option I think is viable. They are a reasonable choice.
*Flamers at least have lost AP3 which is a blessing. They didn't need that and it was overpowered. Everyone took Flamers. They also have warpflame making them less desirable.
* Beasts of Nurgle and Fiends of Slaanesh are really meh. I really don't see the point to these outside of a fluffy single god list.
Overall I think the elites section is uninteresting other than the bloodcrushers.

Fast Attack.
* Fleshounds are a nice option if you know you are up against low armour units and/or against psychic heavy lists like Eldar.
* Screamers are still a nuisence. They should really be killed if they destroy a vehicle. But that is a bias to be fair.
* Plague Drones are the new toy for this section and I really like these. Nurgle wins out again with some jet pack cavalry.
* Chaos Furies... nothing special but now they can take marks of a chaos god. I thought the point of furies was that they are the forms of chaos worshippers who didn't choose a specific god to follow?
* Seekers again seem like a naff choice on paper. Never seen these played under 40K and still don't expect to.
* Hellflayer of Slaanesh... a big old chariot pulled by Seekers. Doesn't really fit the 40K universe in my mind (see later) but fair enough. Will have to see what these are like if anyone plays one locally.
Nurgle wins the FA section too by looks of it.

Heavy Support.
* Soul Grinders are now a must IMO, as the only option in the codex that has Skyfire options. With the amount of flyers these days daemon players will have to use up a slot for this.
* Skullcannon / Blood Throne. I really dislike these. Not because of what they do because (a) the models are hideous, and (b) these belong in Warhammer Fantasy. It doesn't fit the science fiction game. Daemons are not about tanks but horde. As it stand though, the Skullcannon looks like a nice unit on paper though I fully expect one these on the table to take a shedload of fire from turn 1.
* Seeker Chariot / Exalted Chariot. Don't rate these, not when you have soul grinders and the skull cannon.

My final thoughts are that this is a very odd codex now. In areas it seems more balanced and fair but in others I wonder what the designers were thinking (looking at warpflame here mainly), and why add Fantasy style things in rather than something new in the lines of the soul grinder.
This is still going to be a tough codex to deal with but not nearly as horrid as its predecessor was.

Death From The Skies review

Dark Angels codex review

Grey Knight codex review

Codex comparrisons - part 3

Sisters of Battle.
All I can say about this army list is that it desperately needs a proper codex and not a white dwarf article. At the moment it is woefully lacking in everything. They don't have enough options for vehicles, no flyers and not enough options for their infantry choices. Under 6th they should probably be put away until GW give them a proper book.

Space Marines.
The Space Marines have gained something this time around! Yay! Moving and firing a heavy weapon, being able to overwatch and the host of new psychic disciples have bumped up their playability now. Their tanks are more survivable under the hull point system though you do have to adapt your thoughts to rhinos and realise that they are there to get you half way up the table now. If they survive then yay. Obviously this applies to the other space marine codex as well but I included it here because it is a boost for this codex. Since 6th I have had much more luck and won more games than I ever did under 5th. The changes have been good for them. Tactical squads still need close combat weapons or the option to take them though.

Space Wolves.
This army was a nightmare under 5th and have got worse under 6th. Although the new edition has made the right move and favours shooting over combat, Space Wolves are still IMO the best close combat army in the game. It's for this reason that they are the commonest ally I see taken by other players.
They get so many options for weapon load outs that they can almost cherry pick like Eldar do. Their rune priests can deny the witch in an area on a 4+ which is just crazy. Long Fangs can split fire with heavy weapons which is a huge bonus.
I think 6th edition has done this codex very well.

Tau Empire.
Under 5th the Tau army has always been a one trick pony - they sit back and shoot with scary accuracy. Close combat screwed them severly and that was an opponents saving grace. 6th edition has changed that. The codex still desperately needs an update but can now hold it's own a lot more. Overwatch has helped stem the assault problems and they can pick vehicles apart a lot better. Much like with Space Wolves, I fully expect the Tau to end up relegated to the ally detachment until they get a new book.

Tyranids.
Under 5th the Tyranids were yet another nightmare to deal with. They don't have good shooting so they became crazy good at close combat, as you would expect. However I feel that they were made too good. The current codex did a nice job of toning them down and bringing them to an equal level with everyone else. The problem, once again, is that some units have become obsolete. Genestealers won't see use under 6th and why take carnifexes when trygons are a better option?
Overwatch has been a balancing factor for other armies but if you get into close combat with tyranids you can just count your unit as a speed bump.
Tyranids are still a really tough army to play against and have come through 6th edition in  a good way. As with many codexes, it will just take players time to work out what does and doesn't work any more. Like the hive, they'll have to adapt.

Codex comparrisons - part 2

Eldar.
The Eldar codex has always been a tough one to beat. Excellent shooty and some good assault based units. However, it has been impression (and that of many locally at the club) that if the Eldar player knows which codex he is up against next he should never lose because the Eldar codex is perfect for cherry picking exactly what you need. There are some units that are pointless, guardians and swooping hawks - I'm looking at you. Dire avengers are far far better option that guardians and warp spiders are a better choice than the hawks.
Under 6th I think that they are still very good but Eldar players are grumbling that they now have no anti-terminator weapons anymore and that banshees are now pointless. I disagree. Unless you are facing Dark Angels or Space Wolves you won't see that many terminators. Scorpions and banshees can still tear through regular troops with power armour or worse.

Grey Knights.
When this codex came out all you could hear about was how overpowered and cheesy they were. What people weren't realising was that this is very much an elite army meaning that they are expensive and you can't take everything. This is their balance. Anyone playing against them just needs to do their best to avoid close combat with them and gun them down with massed firepower, same as you would any power armour type opponent.
6th edition has made them better in close combat and given them some more useful options. For instance, until 6th I never saw anyone take the GK Librarian. Now they get a lot more play. The new edition has forced GK players to adapt a lot more than any other army has needed to I think.

Imperial Guard.
Under 5th this army was massed firepower and tanks. Under 6th it has become more mass firepower, less tanks and a lot more heavy weapons. The IG codex irks me at times because of the sheer number of shots that it can put out which can whittle down even a full power armoured army. It feels overbalanced and that seems to have been made worse by 6th somehow.
The biggest shift has definately been that vehicle heavy lists have been pushed to the back as they'll take so many shots that they'll fall apart under the hull point rules. The army is very much now a footslogging or stand and shoot infantry army with some limited heavy tank support. Overall the codex got worse in some areas, better in others and so basically stayed the same.

Necrons.
My thoughts on the Necron codex has been that it is a nice codex but isn't anywhere near as powerful as people want to make out. It does now have some good options but really it felt fair compared to everyone else. The only truely stupid additions was entropic strike, an ability that should have been rethought into a different mechanic.
Under 6th edition Necrons remaind balanced and are quite easy to defeat. This only changes when they take allies to cover their shortfalls. Much like dark eldar, this is what they need to do to remain competative IMO.

Orks.
I'm honestly not sure what to say about the Ork codex as I rarely played against it under 5th and I have had no chance to do so under 6th. The only thing that really comes to mind about the army under 6th is overwatch. When overwatching their ballistic skill doesn't change all that much so it's just like any shooting. Plus, burnaboyz when using their weapons as heavy flamers auto hit d3 hits per weapon. I can fully see certain weapon options and bikers being made more use of under 6th edition.

Codex comparrisons - part 1.

So, KhorneGuy suggested that I put forward my thoughts on how each codex was under 5th and now 6th. Not a bad idea so here goes. Bear in mind as always that this is a casual players point of view not a competative one.

Black Templars.
I have only played against the black templars once under 5th and that was right near the beginning of that edition. Still learning the changes between 4th and 5th my vanilla marines were defeated (though to be fair, my opponent was and still is a lot better than me).
Under 5th Black Templars were not too bad but I think they suffered the same problems that the vanilla codex did and that was that compared to everyone else they were too expensive and fewer options. The only thing going for them was land raider crusaders as dedicated transports thus allowing them to hold objectives with a scoring unit inside. They could also have close combat weapons in troop options which was a step up from the vanilla codex.
Under 6th I think they are now underpowered as they don't really gain the benefits that the vanilla marines got from the new edition and they lost the ability to hide in their land raiders on top of objectives. This codex really needs an update, though to be fair I think they should be dropped and just brought into the vanilla dex. I don't see that they bring anything new to the table.

Blood Angels.
A horrible tough army to beat under 5th and even worse now under 6th. Depending on the player I really don't enjoy many games against this codex ( *cough* my nephew *cough* ). There are far too many twinky options that just make them far far too killy. Under 5th furisos dreadnoughts in drop pods or carried under a stormraven were the bane of my marines. At least under 6th if I can't hurt it I can at least run away and try to let something else have a go.
I think Blood Angels have done rather well out of the new edition. The combat rules favour them and as an army built for close combat they do well out of it. With power armout it is still tough to drop them with overwatch.

Chaos Daemons.
When this codex first came out it was horribly broken and twinky, and it remained that way throughout 5th edition. The only time Chaos Daemons seemed to lose a game was when the player wasn't focused or when he was up against a much more canny opponent. Khorne themed lists were a must for the most part because they had power weapons on their bloodletter troops (why? *shakes fist*). Now they have lost a lot of that focus under 6th as power weapons can't drop terminators and everyone is afraid of terminators. The codex does need an update but I feel GW will just make them stupidly powerful again when they do.

Chaos Marines.
Under 5th CSM players grumbled like all hell about how weak this codex was. I think they were smoking something because while not very fluffy, this army was extremely powerful. Ten to twenty man squads with the close combat weapon and pistol bonus attacks already overpowered the pathetic space marine tactical squads. Daemon princes were far too powerful and two was a common deployment. Obliterators too. But in balance they had units such as bikers, raptors and havocs that no one ever took.
As the first codex of 6th I think we have a good idea where GW are taking codexes for this edition, and this time we have a nice balanced codex. The cost of units seems fair and nothing stood out as being too good. This probably means that CSM players will still grumble. As the new codex has only been out for a few weeks at this point I think it will be a while before we get a real idea of how this army now plays.

Dark Angels.
There are really only two ways to play Dark Angels, either terminators as troops or bikes as troops. No one ever plays the bike list. With terminators being the run to list for the codex now what with changes to power weapons under 6th I think this is all we will see until they get a new codex. The army suffers in only one regard right now in my opinion and that is the lack of a flyer and rumours seem keen to say that they won't get one in the new book.
Despite the lack these days of something unique to call their own I think the Dark Angel codex is still very viable, tough and fun to play.

Dark Eldar.
Dark Eldar were pants until they got their 5th edition codex and then they became a nice balanced army. They had strong points; good in close combat, decent initiative and excellent long range heavy weapons. However I feel that 6th edition has screwed them royally. Their vehicles are more fragile than ever as small arms fire can just glance them to destruction and overwatch has blunted their close combat prowess. These days I feel that the only real way for Dark Eldar to win is if they take allies to shore up their weaknesses. Shame as the codex under 5th had a nice feel to it.

To be continued...

6th ed CSM codex review

Chaos Codex

My copy of the new Chaos Marine codex arrived this morning. I need to give it a proper read but even just flicking through I am very impressed. Look for a proper review later this week after I've read it (and my cold has gone).

Thoughts on plasma weapons?

Imperial Armour

Apocalypse Review

Imperial Guard codex review

6th ed thoughts continued

My review of 6th ed

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Tau Codex Review

Codex: Eldar review