Dire Avengers Kill Teams for SWA

[Ioldanach]

I've tweaked the official Craftworld Eldar Kill Teams rules. The only real change was to the special operatives:

(click the thumbnail for a full size version)

First, as you can see by the links in my signature, I figured that the Asuryani probably have more than one type of kill team that they might send on missions. While the Dire Avengers are probably one of the go-to teams, there may be times that other skills are necessary, or when Dire Avengers aren't available. Since the official kill team focuses on the Dire Avengers, I figured that it might be tweaked just a tiny bit. I've basically re-named the kill team to better capture its focus.

The big change was to the special operatives. Aside from the surprise in potency, the autarch seemed okay. However, neither the wraithblade nor wraithguard seemed appropriate from a lore perspective. The ghost warriors suffer from wraithsight - disconnection from reality. They only operate well under the guidance of spiritseers. Now it might be argued that the types that might accompany Dire Avengers on secret missions are above average, but that still doesn't seem quite right. So I replaced them with other exarchs. My intent there was to give some balance/specialism. The Dire Avengers are decent generalists, better at shooting than assault. The autarch brings some definite assault oomph. I figured that Dire Avengers might find use for a combat specialist. When choosing between the Striking Scorpions and the Howling Banshees, I figured that the athletic Howling Banshees were more generally applicable than the sneaky Striking Scorpions, so the Howling Banshees got the nod. On the other end of the spectrum, shooting was between the Fire Dragons, Dark Reapers, and those guys from Mymeara whose names I can't remember. Shadow War: Armageddon doesn't have a lot of flying types, and the Dire Avengers already have access to a flyer via the autarch (who comes with Swooping Hawk wings). Fire Dragons are great when they're up close, but the Dark Reapers are good generalist shooters, so they got the nod.

If you want to see the rules for the weapons/wargear, check out the Howling Banshees Kill Team link in my signature.

Aside from those changes and some small things (like changing "Eldar" to "Aeldari"), everything else stayed the same as the official kill team. You can see that in the larger version of the rulebook, and it used to be online (though it looks like GW has killed all SWA stuff on their website).

[Brother Tyler]

Why is the Dark Reaper Exarch the only one that has the Ancient Doom rule? You should probably drop that rule from this fighter (in all of the kill teams where he appears as a special operative).

 

I should have caught this next part earlier when you posted the Howling Banshees Kill Team rules, but I must have been sleeping. With the Acrobatic rule, the Howling Banshees are fast fast fast. They have their normal move, the Acrobatic move, and the Battle Focus move. That's probably a bit much. I would remove the Acrobatic rule and simply increase their Movement score (Dark Eldar Wyches have an M of 6", which seems appropriate). This suggestion also applies to the Howling Banshees Kill Team, as well as anywhere that the Howling Banshee Exarch appears as a special operative.

[Ioldanach]

Why is the Dark Reaper Exarch the only one that has the Ancient Doom rule? You should probably drop that rule from this fighter (in all of the kill teams where he appears as a special operative).

I guess that since the official rules set the standard and neither the Dire Avenger exarch nore the autarch have the rule, the other characters will follow suit (i.e., I'll drop it from the Dark Reaper exarch).

 

I should have caught this next part earlier when you posted the Howling Banshees Kill Team rules, but I must have been sleeping. With the Acrobatic rule, the Howling Banshees are fast fast fast. They have their normal move, the Acrobatic move, and the Battle Focus move. That's probably a bit much. I would remove the Acrobatic rule and simply increase their Movement score (Dark Eldar Wyches have an M of 6", which seems appropriate). This suggestion also applies to the Howling Banshees Kill Team, as well as anywhere that the Howling Banshee Exarch appears as a special operative.

In defense of the status quo, that's how it worked in 7th edition. However, point taken. Under the current rules, the Howling Banshees are faster than harlequins and wyches, and that's definitely too fast. I'll increase their M to 6".

 

Should the Acrobatic rule be translated into something else? With the increased M, the Banshee mask, and Battle Focus, I don't think anything is really necessary (and I can't think of anything).

[Ioldanach]

I made the changes above. Due to the lack of further response, I've finalized the rules for download. You can see the file here.