More playtesting and more finetuning.

With more playtesting, the more I understand the strength and weaknesses of my army than before in 6th edition. With that I will make a rundown of my experiences trying to have a slow evolution of my 5th edition list to 6th edition.

The Units
Archon: I still like the Archon, works well enough. But nonetheless I find that the Archon needs a new bunch of bodyguards to work her magic as the Wyches are unnaturally flimsy now. This also means that perhaps it is time to consider looking at some very unconventional alternatives to my list. Have always wanted to try the Grotesque.....

Baron and Beastmasters: These two must be mentioned together as they are supposed to work in unison with each other. So far in my playtesting, I find that I am having mixed results with them. They are what they are; tough, powerful and able to contest objectives if needed to. My only problem with them is that it is much harder to move them around than initially expected as a result of moderately skilled players would be making firelanes that can rip anyone out in the open. Another issue is the size of their bases actually makes things a little more cumbersome to use despite being much less cumbersome than a gigantic bunch of Hellions. Will have to remedy this problem somehow.

Wyches: They are surprisingly decent even without the Haemonculus, but now I noticed that their role is less of the tarpit assaulter and more of the anti-tank destroyers. From the looks of it, I am assured that wyches are not as important to me in 6th than in 5th. That saying, I always find wyches a very clunky unit to use even in 5th. The main thing still going for them is that they are scoring units, and with more playtesting, I hope to find out if they truly deserve the boot.

Warriors: The 5-man warriors with their transports are still amazing in my games, so there will not be any true changes to them. With the points freed up from not having wyches, I may be able to put in even more warriors than before, especially some of the 10-man gunboat variety to help me more with the scoring aspect of the list.

Trueborn: They kick ass. They work the same as they do in 5th, which is a relief. With overwatch, they are also quite formidable. Keeping them in my lists.

Razorwings: One Razorwing is quite nice, but interestingly the law of Inverse Ninja Strength is in effect for the Razorwings. For one, having more than one flyers can be very powerful during their first entry run, but after that they they have restrictions in their movement arks which needs to be obeyed less they crash. In essence, with two of these things moving around, they actually restrict each other movement and I dare not even think about what happens when 3 of them are flying around the field. But this also brings me to another thought; if that is the case, I could actually benefit more from a Voidraven than a Razorwing. Thus, playtesting with the Voidraven (with razorwing proxies) would be a wise idea to see if the lone Razorwing deserves to be replaced by the Voidraven.

Venoms: Still kicks a lot of ass, even more so in 6th. The weaker hull points is not very important for the Venom as their survival rate is more or less the same as it is in 5th. They will stay in my list.

Raiders: Raiders are also amazing in ferrying my troops around the battlefield. The Dark lance is just a weapon used for targets of opportunity. Survival of these guys have went up a lot, and the nightshields assured me that only the longest-ranged weapons are a threat to the Raiders.

The Plan
So far the plan  is working well enough, but there are some clots and loose ends which requires me to think in many different ways. From the looks of it, I need even faster non-vehicle contesters to truly bring the hurt and help me in the main weakness of my list; lack of contesting units.

With these in mind, I am also thinking about other units that may work well enough in my list (which means more playtesting on my part);

Wracks: They could potentially play a role in my army as they are tougher than the normal file-and-line Dark Eldar troops but that also means that I may have to drop one of the HQs to allow a Haemonculus to make the Wracks a troop choice. Unfortunately for me, that means that my Archon may have to take the boot.

Grotesque: Big and bulky, they now laugh at power weapons and are strong enough to bash people's brains out. May consider using them, but unsure how they could be fitted into my list's synergy.

Hellions: They are a good unit, but a very complicated unit to use as I will have to spend a significant amount of points to make them combat effective (Hellionstar combo). Still under consideration.

Reavers: They are perhaps the units that I find to be the best in plugging out the holes in my list, as they are tough, fast and they can help in both the anti-tank and anti-infantry section of my list. The main thing however is to see what is the magic ratio that I must take for them to be truly effective. That and also seeing what I could take out to fit them in.


Such a headache, but a good one as I will have to adapt or lose out. I have experienced and survived the transition of an edition before, and I can do it again. :P