So far I've played 3 games, 1 against Guard, 1 against Necrons and 1 against Grey Knights.
I used Dark Eldar in all three games so this post is going to be half 6th ed thoughts, half DE musings with plenty of rambling along the way.
Dark Eldar have undergone some fairly major changes, some good, some bad.
Lets start with the general changes then I'll go through a few units.
Feel no Pain and Cover changes mean that are units are by and large more fragile than they were before. This is offset by the general increase in our offensive output.
Dark Lances and Blasters are ap2 so now get +1 on the damage table. The inclusion of hull points means your anti tank is now fairly reliable and heat lances are out of the park good.
Hull points also mean our tanks can't be taken down by a lucky glance.
2 glancing hits will be the death of your venoms though and in the latter 2 games I found I was playing them alot further back than I was in 5th ed. The the changes to rapid fire ranges this wasn't to much of a problem but the blaster in with the warriors wasn't seeing much use. 16/17 poison shots into something 24" away was interesting though. I think these guys may end up being replaced with wracks.
The wracks have a higher toughness and come with a pain token so can survive life outside of a vehicle, a necessity if I want these squads to be claiming objectives.
Reaver Jetbikes have just gotten better. The changes to turbo boost has increased their speed by a third though they can't bladevane units in the movement phase anymore, which while being situational is something I'll miss. The other side of this is I found myself using the reavers as mobile cover quite often during games.
If there was no viable target for the reavers I'd turboboost them in front of my vehicles as the last act of my shooting phase. 2 Reavers can get a ravenger/venom/raider a 4+ cover save fairly easily.
The Baron led Hellions are still awesome. The reduction in cover saves and feel no pain have hurt a little bit but the rules for hitting vehicles in combat/hull points have made them a great anti tank unit.
All of my previous reservations about beast packs have disappeared and the changes to cover mean the 4++ of the kymere is more valuable. They may make it back into my regular lists but more play testing is required I think.
Seeing as we've covered most of the DE fast attack choices I'll put in my 2 cents about Scourges now.
The main thing I can see myself using them for is a haywire blaster delivery system. They can take 2 for every 5 guys for a decent points cost. The ability to put 2 glancing hits on something with relative ease is quite a potent ability in this edition. Unfortunately they have to compete with alot of good units for their slot.
Whyches got a bit shafted by snap fire but not to badly. An FAQ stating they get their dodge save against this would solve alot of their problems. Strangely with the changes to the vehicle and walker rules Whyches with haywire grenades are now premier dread hunters. Agonizors may be getting swapped out for venom blades and phantasms (defensive grenades now give you stealth if you charge within 8").
Warriors are still pretty decent. Not sure what to say on them really. I've ran a unit of 20 with 2 splinter cannons and a blaster with the Duke and I've really enjoyed it. If the meta shifts to more infantry based armies he might just stay.
I've tried a talos with twin linked haywire blasters and chain snares and to be honest he's been a bit of a let down. He may shine in a more defensive roll but like scourges competes with other great choices in his slot.
Which brings me on to the Ravenger. These guys are even better now, they can still move 12" and fire everything and don't need the flicker field due to the jink rule. I have considered swapping the flicker fields out for night shields but like alot of things in this post I'll have to give it some play testing.
I haven't considered the void raven or razorwing yet so I'm not going to comment on either one though the flier rules open up some interesting possibilities.
I'm not to sure on the new rules yet. There's things I like and things I don't (wheres my full DoA list!!!) but I always said I'd wait until 8 weeks after the first 6th ed codex and that's what I plan to do.
That being said the 40k part of my life has got all sorts of additional competition from Malifaux and Warmahordes (more posts on that to come) so where as I probably wont give up entirely I can see myself scaling back my 40k expenditure/time.
Hope this made for interesting reading, as all ways the above is only my 2 cents. I'll go back and review some HQ choices after a few more games.
Stay classy
Sir#67
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