Sunday, July 2, 2017

8th edition games

Antaries returns.
The drop of 8th edition brought out the Craftworld Antaries. It had been about 2 years since I had played the Eldar in a game. I figured a new edition of the game would be a good time for them to return.

There are several radically different changes GW has made to the game. For the first time since 3rd edition, the stats of units have changed a lot. Armor values gone, different movement rates, no templates, there are a bunch of changes to the game.

I've played 3 games so far, in the first, I really struggled with the new rules. I made plenty of game mistakes. I took the Craftworld Elder out for a spin against Derling's marines.


Both of us were 8th edition virgins so a 60 power game took us about 5 hours to play. That said, it's going to take practice to have a grasp on the new unit stats. Derling took the game, it was close but I made too many tactical errors to overcome.

3 Penitent engines prove too much for the Avatar.
My second game was a 2v2. Derling's marines teamed up with Christine's Ministorum to face Boroth's Chaos marines and my Eldar. In this game our forces were overwhelmed and defeated in sound fashion. The highlight of the game for me was to see a squad of 10 Guardian defenders take out a 5 man Primaris Marine squad in close combat.

Defenders handle themselves well.
My third game saw the Antaries take on forces of the Inquisition. Ben brought his army over to Joe's were we tangled while Joe and Steve played on the next table over. I used the same army list that I used in the 4 player game (still at 60 power) and this time it fared much better as we called the game after 4 turns with a solid Eldar victory.

The Avatar proves it is a strong play for the Eldar.
There is a lot to like about 8th edition. I like the armor save modifiers instead of an AP value, the Psychic phase is much more streamlined, the Battle forged rules make it easy to construct an army. I'm happy 7th edition formations are gone. 8th edition seems much less restrictive.

But there are things I think need improvement. the terrain and cover rules, no more fire archs, for flyers especially, and I miss templates.

Of course, I'll gave it more games to really get a feel for these new rules.