Craftworld Eldar in 9th edition

[Karhedron]

So, we are starting to see some proper rumours about how 9th edition will shape up. While it is still vague, I thought it might be worth collating the current crop of rumours and seeing how we might shape up under 9th edition. Let's keep the speculation light-hearted since these are only rumours and nothing is guaranteed. I am pretty sure that whatever happens, we will still find ways to be competitive.

 

Here are the current list of rumours derived from last weekend's webcast:

 

1. More starting CPs (less soup specifically mentioned). CPs are now based on the size of the battle rather than on army composition.

 

2. You can spend CPs to unlock more detachments from other armies + the usual stuff

 

3. Tanks can fire in h2h (presented as answer to Gretchin bogging them down)

 

4. Crusades are narrative rules (sounds like kill team advancement rules,but more complex and far reaching)

 

5. Blast is a new type of weapon,good at blowing up mass infantry. Weapons with the "Blast" characteristic will get maxmimum shots when shooting at units over a certain size (rumoured to be 11+ models). So for instance a frag missile fired at a large unit will get 6 shots rather than D6.

 

6. De-streamlining terrain rules since they feel they went overboard. New rules have models and terrains interacting better with regard to LoS and cover

 

7. New rules to better manage interactions between infantry and flyers . Also new rules for strafing runs (including the fact they can get off the table without exploding at table's edge)

 

8. You can field in reserve stuff you couldn't before to protect it from fire by spending CPs.

[Karhedron]

1. More CPs sound good on paper since we are a pretty stratagem-hungry army. Also, our mediocre Troops units made running dual-battalions or Brigades tricky. I will cautiously welcome this change.

 

2. Soup is still on the menu but now it costs you CPs. Seems fair to me depending on how it works in practice.

 

3. Probably pretty irrelevant to us since all our vehicles can FLY and also we rarely have enough infantry to use that trick against other races. One version of this rumour says Monsters are also affected. If true, this will be a real boost for Wraithlords who can now swing in combat as well as unloading their firepower.

 

4. Entirely dependent on the type of games you play and not the army.

 

5. Again probably a cautious welcome. We have enough weapons that will probably fall into this category to gain some mileage from it (Fire Prisms, Night Spinners etc) while not having many units that will be affected by incoming fire. Guardian webway bombs may be a little more fragile but not much else.

 

6. Probably a benefit for us as our tanks tend to stick out on those flying bases. We should find it easier to make use of cover in 9th.

 

7. Not a big deal for the Crimson Hunter as that can happily hug our board edge all day if it wants to. Hemlocks might benefit from straffing runs (whatever these turn out to be).

 

8. An alternative to using the webway. Probably not a big deal but Farseers with Forwarned will become even more important to keep enemy Reserves in check.

[Prot]

From what I gathered I think Flyers are changing in some way. There was reference to doing a run, and then coming back and not getting 'trapped' like flyers can now with angle issues. 

 

I don't know what that means for Eldar. I only have one of each flyer so I'm holding off until I understand more. I even pondered them going back to leaving the table.

 

Also they've changed Overwatch to some degree. I heard them say that on a Twitch cast. So it's very vague but that could really change things too. I mean Banshees could hang in the balance since they are nearly useless. They could get better, or non existent. We just don't know what they changed... is it volume of shots? IE: you can't overwatch on 5 figs or less? Or is it space? IE: you can't overwatch on something within 6" of a charge?  No clue yet.

 

Shooting in CC is just so vague as well. We know a "tank" can shoot while something is within an inch, but we don't know 1) is there a penalty? 2) do your targets become restricted (IE: you can't shoot at what's within 1"?)

 

But having so much Fly should still prove valuable. Especially with what I anticipate the big game changer to be is Terrain. 

 

The point about Tanks and MC's getting a boost could be very cool for Wraith units that fit that criteria.

 

I am looking very forward to the Crusade narrative as well. (For all my armies really.) It'll be a nice break from competitive. And I miss the immersion the game -used- to have in previous editions. 

[Captain Coolpants]

I've never been competitive with my Eldar. So always been heavy on things like wraithlords.

 

Aaaalways get bogged down or shot before doing anything.

 

So the possibility of having a wraithlord in combat, with dual shuriken cannons with dual wrist flamers and sword sounds pretty funny!

 

Still won't stop them being shot off the board before combat, but will definitely change the common tactic of just throwing some guardsmen or something at them.

 

 

 

Im assuming there will be some restrictions with these shooting in combat rules though. Probably 1 weapon or all weapons as snap fires or something.

Otherwise the above wraithlord is possibly making like 21 total attacks total.

[Prot]

Yea I second that idea... I think the Wraithknight is one of the best examples of sleek modern/ancient tech on the battlefield, but even today it pays for its sins of the past (ruleswise) so I would love to see these units have a significant role in many lists.

[ThePenitentOne]

From what I gathered I think Flyers are changing in some way. There was reference to doing a run, and then coming back and not getting 'trapped' like flyers can now with angle issues. 

 

I don't know what that means for Eldar. I only have one of each flyer so I'm holding off until I understand more. I even pondered them going back to leaving the table.

 

Also they've changed Overwatch to some degree. I heard them say that on a Twitch cast. So it's very vague but that could really change things too. I mean Banshees could hang in the balance since they are nearly useless. They could get better, or non existent. We just don't know what they changed... is it volume of shots? IE: you can't overwatch on 5 figs or less? Or is it space? IE: you can't overwatch on something within 6" of a charge?  No clue yet.

 

Shooting in CC is just so vague as well. We know a "tank" can shoot while something is within an inch, but we don't know 1) is there a penalty? 2) do your targets become restricted (IE: you can't shoot at what's within 1"?)

 

But having so much Fly should still prove valuable. Especially with what I anticipate the big game changer to be is Terrain. 

 

The point about Tanks and MC's getting a boost could be very cool for Wraith units that fit that criteria.

 

I am looking very forward to the Crusade narrative as well. (For all my armies really.) It'll be a nice break from competitive. And I miss the immersion the game -used- to have in previous editions. 

I saw the video where he mentioned overwatch; in the same breath, he mentioned previous editions where you could only overwatch if your unit did not move during its turn, so I think that might be the change.

 

Another change to reserves is that you can use CP to bring them on from other board edges, which could be nasty on Banshees with their big wicked threat range and ability to avoid overwatch.