I thought to go through the smallest command choices in each faction and discuss a little bit about them.
The Wolf Command LAV
Compared to a wolverine it has two extra DP, an extra armour and have a pretty descent gun. At 60 points I think it is quite ok. I like this best of the new tiny commanders. IT suffers a bit of the escalation that happens in a aging system - all weapons need to be special in some way. It is not enough to give them a Wolverine gun with an extra shot and an alternate firing mode. It needs three shots strafe and Indirect just for special rules' sake. It is bit much. You will notice on all commanders that I wanted a lighter version of each basic unit as a commander for smaller battles and I would have been fine with same armour as a wolverine, two DP, 2 shots E8 penetrative and alternate 2 shots E7 AA0. In total this unit comes at 75 points with the transport and I think thinking in terms of "double wolverine" would have been enough.
It is hard to discuss any UCM transport without mentioning the lack of firepower there. No missile anymore on ravens and condors really hurts them a lot. At the same time the Scourge comes with the best anti-tank gun in the game. A pretty strange decision to me. Still, the transport is cheap and with the free commander I think it can be worth it many times. I rate this commander 5/5 (since there are 5 of them). Of the new commanders I think this is the best of them.
Despot Suppression walker
Att 55 points the Despot clicks in several things I wanted from the commanders. Two DP. Armour 15 (as a Stalker) and with a couple of sensible guns (for a ground anti-tank). The weakness comes in in their special rules. -1 action can be horribly effective and the addition of stopping the enemy from using scan tokes instead meaning very little. Again I think that just making it a heavier version of a Stalker would have been enough.Special rules for anything below 100 points is a bit much. If so it should have been more specific for any squad it walk with. Right now it walks alone and I think it should have just been an upgrade to a squad of beetles. Still I judge it at 4/5 of the new commanders. It is a cool model and besides it strange special rules fits into the army well.
Proteus mobile command post
For a 75 point flying commander it is fairly cheap since you don't have to have a dropship nor double models. It can also take a lot of AA before crumbling. It takes in average 9 Rapiers or 14 Kukri or 5 Reapers to take it down. That is quite a lot. In comparison it takes 5 Rapiers/ 5 Kukris/ 4 Reapers to take down a 190points+ UCM Phoenix. That is a pretty hefty difference for a unit at minimum half the points.
With no gun it only have special rules to use. +2 to be hit within 6" of this model is pretty nasty. Especially with the stacking. It also can make it harder for other units to hit if it lands. This fits into Dropzone 2's way of thinking that Aircrafts should land now and then but overall I think the unit is a bit to powerful with it's ability to survive. It should be 2+ to hit other units within 6" and only armour 11. Or it can be at 2+ to be hit as wel but then only armour 10. It does feel fine for it do have 3DP for me though.
I rate this command at 1/5. It's ability to soak fire is a bit extreme for me. It is also the fact that a Hera or a Zeus is at 80 points.
Daimyo Battlesuit
This is a cool addition though I am not sure about the implementation. Again I would just have wanted it to be together with some Braves or an upgrade to another Brave squad.
For it's 65 points you get DP 4, armour 9 and Passive save of 5+. But the nasty thing is it's special rules where it can instead of damaging enemy infantry can teleport them outside of the building. Any side. That. Is. Nasty. To be clear you can basically stop the opponent from searching for at least a turn. Automatically as you enter the building.
I would have preferred it to at least be a single roll for hit to use it. At something like 4+.
The other specialrule is that it may teleport off the table instead of moving which fits much much more into the model. It can thus relocate much easier to other areas.
I think I would have preferred to make it a bit more deadly in Close quarter and instead have it like an assault unit. Thus the relocation ability would have made much more sense. Now the point is to automatically remove opponents from the building which is a bit boring. If Shaltari can teleport anything safely during a combat - why are we playing the game? (Check this video just to see my point in a more funny perspective How it should have ended Star Trek into Darkness).
Still I like the infantry commander-style but it is slightly to powerful in it's special rules. 2/5.
Hydra relay hovercraft
As an idea I like this. It fits into The Resistance but there are some things that really bits me: I have always hated the fact that high tech Shaltari and Scourge have slower skimmers than The Resistance. It is a logical leap that I have a huge problem with. Had their Skimmers been made out of papers then perhaps I would have understood but also they would need a Move or fire of max 3" because there is no way that the personal can be that experienced with the machinery nor that they have been able to conserve the equipment so well over the years.
So for 70 points you get a 3DP, armour 13 skimmer with evasive 1 (because as we all see it is really really nimble) and resilient because as everyone know armour is crap - you need an inflatable bag to really stop anti-tank weaponry.
The gun is by far not over-the-top though. The Hydra can make it easier to hit other units within LOS. Small ability but not over the top. Still you have the fact that a special rule was needed. I think it would have been much better to ignore the Standard Circe (make Hannibals standard instead) and just make it a single model with two alternate weaponry.
Also it should have been small enough to perfectly fit into a Kraken and have it's movement halfed.
I think this is the unit that have the most potential to become really cool but instead it was a little to much. Still it fits into The Resistance army. 3/5.
So what would I have done?
As all angry men on the internet I am of course all seeing and absolut in my opinion (as long as we assume that everything on the internet is true - else you should just build your own opinion and ignore mine as you wish) but I would have overall wanted a lighter version of the commanders:
Wolverine HQ: 2DP. Double the Wolverine gun with alternate AA version. Scout also. Must take Wolverine-bodyguards. Somewhere around 40 points.
Stalker HQ: Pretty close. Skip the special rules with the exception that it helps Stalkers or Beetles in the same squad like reroll a miss per turn or give evasive 1 - something small. Make it a upgrade to a Stalker/Beetle. Cost including Stalker basic cost: 50points.
Flying PHR command: Armour 11 and only +1 to hit units within 6". Give it a humble gun instead or a AA gun (som kind of discharge 6") Down to 50 or 40 points.
Brave HQ: Make it more "fight-y". Skip the horrendously strong special rule of throwing enemy infantry out of the building. Make it a fast relocating infantry squad that only need one gate to enter a new building. Increase it's fighting prowess a little bit. Points is pretty good at 65 points if it is an upgrade for Firstborns (50+15 points).
Resistance skimmer HQ: Fit it onto a Kraken. 3 DP but not Resilient. M/F 5" and make the anti tank gun the standard choice and skip the special rules. Make the missile options AA instead. The cost should be going down to something like 50 points+Kraken.
Overall the models are really nice - as always. I just think that they went a little away from the simple formula of "slightly different is enough" and instead went with the "special rules, special rules, special rules - hoooooooo!". I also think they could have gone and either made it just an upgrade to a standard unit or a scout unit. I kind of like the scout idea - a small force with a scout commander leading a head. But it overall feels they wanted something new to the army instead of a sensible smaller variation of things already existing. One thing that is easy to forget is that all these units also get a free LVL 1 commander. Only 4" in command range but with scouts it really adds up. I do like the fact that command choices can have a free Lvl 1 commander. But the more I look at the commanders I wonder a couple of things:
1. Why are some command units not command anymore (Zeus)? There is no reason not to have them as a command choice.
2. Why are not the commander a special rule and instead we should remember a symbol that we compare to the rulebook and then go back to the unit cards to make a list if not using the army list builder? "Commander" should be a special rule mentioned on the unit. Same ting with "Scout".
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