> The Eldar flak controversy is whether the Fire Prism fires as:
> a) 1 firepower
> b) 1 AT shot
>
> The rules would seem to indicate a), but that seems to make the Fire Prism
> pretty expensive to use as a flak unit. (Then again, Eldar flyers are
> the best in the game. Perhaps they were intentionally given a flak unit
> that you'd rather *not* use special orders for)
>
At 35 points it already IS fairly expensive as a flak unit. The hydra
kicks its butt against everything except THawks and is 7(?) points less.
As to the 'eldar flyers are the best in the game' spiel. Well theyre supposedly
that but lets have a little look.
Nightwings - best stats of any fighter in the game. Closest opponents
are Doomwings , Thunderbolts and Fighta Bomerz. Down side for Nightwings -
theyre 40points as compare to 31 , 30 and 30 for the others. Now going head
to head yes the nightwings will beat an equal number of points worth of
the above fighters (due to their 4 value for ummm dogfighting,initiative ack
I always forget what that value is). However have a thought about the other
job of a fighter - intercepting transports and bombers. Assuming the
detatchment being intercepted has initiative (ok Ill use this term for it) of
2 or less , Nightwings , Thunderbolts and FBz are all exactly the same when
intercepting. In fact the Tbs and FBs are better off as they are cheaper and
thus you can have more of them (and it doesnt hurt so much when the THawks
you didnt hit tear them a new'un). Also with the rule that each flyer can only
shoot at one other - concentrating all your gunnery values in one expensive
fighter doesnt make much sense. Its better to split your shots up (ie 2
cheaper fighters - now THIS is a big advantage of gargoyles - sure youll shred
one with your expensive fighter but his 2 mates will then have a go at you)
than have overkill on one target.
Pheonix Bombers. Not bad but no better than say a Maurauder (which
for 5 points less has the only difference of 1FP) and not much better than
a Harridan (arguably similar again - Harridan has low initiative - but
thats not likely to make a difference against fighters - but shoots back
better. A thunderhawk (*THE* best air unit in the game) has better survivability
and with 8FP for 80pts has almost as much as 6 for 50 with the Pheonix.
Vampires - well Im glad that eldar has a flying transport. Once again
they are inferior to THawks in virtually every respect. Much worse armour (ok
1 point but think what that means) less FP (the same point for point) less
cargo capacity (worse than Thawks point for point) the same initiative and a
lower gunnery value. Ok the Thawk has more eggs in the one basket but its a
bloody tough basket......
Hmmmm the best Flyers - not really - especially not point for point.
Its definately not big enough of a difference to justify the screwing over
of their flak units.Ok unlike a most armies they have a wider choice of flyers
but compare that to a mixed imperial army (heck theyre common enough) -
arguably a better flying force and much better flak - especially if you want
to screw over the Fire Prisms. Heck its bad enough having one dice at 4+
followed by one dice and trying to beat the armour let alone just one dice....
rant rant
JAC
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Allen (The Q&A guy)
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Check out the EPIC and EPIC 40K Q&A Pages at:
> http://work1.utsi.edu:8000/~amccarle/default.html
> If you have questions about EPIC 40K and can't find the answers
> in the rule books, send them to:
> allen_at_...
> They will be passed on to Jervis Johnson and Andy Chambers.
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>
Received on Thu Jan 01 1970 - 00:00:00 UTC