New Rules, Old Codexes

When the new rules came out, I had just finished painting enough Thousand Sons to host an army, and a rather, inconceivably awesome armada it was. I had converted Rhinos to look amazing, I had decorated terminators and defilers with headdresses, I had found appropriatly crazy spawn...

And then I lost for about 6 months straight. I've moved on. I tried Orks, which admittedly makes me the worst player imaginable because I lost with them. My defense is that I didn't play them for long enough until I moved on. I've met with failure, likewise, with Necron, and have had some success with Eldar. I have felt in no position to offer advice, but here it is anyways.

The new rules are entirely unforgiving. You simply can't pick up an old codex and make your army any fool way you want. At one time, grinding out a point or two here and there gave you a slight advantage. This is simply no longer the case. If you are playing the necron and you are buying anything but phalanxes (monolith/lord/20 warriors), you are wasting points that will end up costing you the game. Thousand Sons are simply cost inneffective and an army of them cannot win. CANNOT.

Now, obviously, someone may play badly, but equally matched, rolling well, you simply paid twice as much for your army than you should have. Invulnerable saves aren't worth it except on guys with powerfists and lightening claws. Moreover, you pay for that force weapon and it can't kill anything anymore.

What's more, I find that cheat armies can stand up in the new rules with greater impunity. Feel No Pain means that you should always play Nurgle if you play Chaos. If you aren't, you aren't doing the math. Deathwing terminators as troops choices make them win, and win big, because you can't get them off an objective across a board.

Now, the good points. The truth is the newer armies are a hell of a lot more powerful than the previous editions which means that the game becomes more interesting. Cheat armies from the previous edition are as good as the normal armies for the new edition.

Lastly, and I think this is the most important thing--game play in the new edition is much better. Tactics really matter more than they did before, and mobility is key, even more than 3+ invulnerable saves. I think the Eldar and Dark Eldar are very good armies right now, but that means that they're evenly matched with the Marines--making it a good battle.

So, the problem is that you have to wait for your codex, but the good news is that, as it stands right now, once the new rules make you even with everyone else, the battles offer far more options for scoring a win.

My two cents anyways. When are they making the Necron Codex anyways?