Points updates

 It's been a slow start to the year for blogging, mostly as a few DIY projects have taken priority. The replacement windows were finally delivered and installed for our conservatory and the upstairs hall floor has decided to finally give up, so the only thing stopping the kids putting there foot through the floor is the carpet. As a result the conservatory renovation and hall floor replacement have taken the front spots for occupying my time and hobby activities have had to take the back foot some what. 

Anyway following on from previous post, where I talked about the new Arks of Omen detachment, I'm moving on to the points updates and new guard codex changes. In this I'm just going to focus on my overall points changes, as well as mention some changes to my guard lists but I'll go in to them in more details in a separate post later and I will also do a break down of the units once I get myself a codex in the coming days! 

We'll start with a look at the old points, pre update;

You can ignore the kill team list randomly in the middle, that's only there to remind me of what teams I've built as proxies. Most of these lists will remain the same, with only points changes taken in to account, the guard lists however have had a complete reshuffle, including the removal of entire detachments in some cases! This does make it hard to do a straight comparison in these cases but overall you can see that the total points have changed, from 6274 to 6550 but this includes 390 points of models I've yet to buy.

Edit: Eagle Knights is actually 1570points

So, overall there are points drops across the board, I don't think that one of the armies has gone up in points. Some of the drops have been substantial, well over 200 points in some cases. The guard points are very hard to compare as there have been so many changes from the old to the new codex that some of the armies bare little resemblance to the old versions! I do like the fact that the points have dropped by I won't be buying anything extra from any of the armies to take advantage of the points drops, I'll be sticking with my plan to buy just the field ordnance battery and a couple of vehicles for the Eagle Knights.  

Arks of Omen detachment

 With the release of the latest GW mission pack and rules update book, Arks of Omen: Abaddon, we have been given a new detachment, the imaginatively names Arks of Omen Detachment. Now, the detachments used in 40k have been something of an annoyance to me for quite a while, ever since they changed over the way command points were linked to the detachments at the beginning of 9th. Before this there was an incentive to try and maximise you army size, for example with my guard armies it payed to push some sentinels in for fast attack options to get a brigade detachment and the extra CP it brought, even though I didn't want them. Or with marines taking those extra tactical squads to boost you to a battalion detachment. Yes there was a certain level of min-maxing in some armies but overall I liked the system, possibly because I could bring 24 CP to the table, against the majority of my opponents 10 or so. I even remember one 500 point tournament where I was bringing 14 CP to all my opponents 3 CP! 

Anyway, with the changes there was very little point in taking anything other that battalion unless you wanted more fast attack or heavy support. The other three detachments were also pretty useless, as they cost CP with no way of getting anything back for your warlord. I was not a fan of this change at the time and I'm still not a fan, even if I've got use to it. 

The old \ current detachments

With Arks of Omen however, we have received a completely new detachment, which sort of combines all the options in to one, doesn't cost any CP and still gives you plenty of options to choose from. It also enables some more fluffy lists as well, such as Eldar jet bikes and Dark Angels Ravenwing and Deathwing lists. 

The new detachment

The new detachment offers lots of choice as well. Looking at all the optional slots, you can take up to 9 troops, 3 elites plus 3 more elite character slots and 3 from each of HQ, Fast attack, heavy support, lord of war and fortifications, plus 2 flyers. That is a lot of options, especially when you add in the compulsory choices. It gives you more options than any of the old detachment types, apart from the brigade detachment but then it also has far less compulsory choices which more than makes up for it. This detachment is also significantly better than any of the other older detachments, such as outrider, vanguard and spearhead, as it doesn't cost CP and has less restrictions of unit selections. Overall I think that this is a good detachment and I think I can put all my armies across to this detachment without to much bother, although I don't know if I will actually ever play an Arks of Omen game. 

The real question is whether this is going to be the formula for 10th edition or just a one off for the end of 9th edition campaign books. I sort of hope that it's going to be the setup for 10th, as it simplifies the whole detachment system and does away with the whole CP cost nonsense but only time will tell.

2023 resolutions

So as we move in to 2023, it is time to set some new resolutions. It's getting harder to set resolutions every year as I complete them every year. There are still a few bit and pieces that I can put on the list, a couple are new options and some are ones that have been on lists many many years ago.

So here is my list for 2023;

1) update Dagr Ormr scions.

With the new codex release, I have been forced to add some additional troops to the units to make them codex compliant. Getting these done and sorted is first on the list and is currently underway.

2) New guard models

Again with the new codex, comes some new models. I plan on getting some Field Ordinance Batteries and rough riders but not much else. If I go for Kasrkins, I'll probably get a box of troops from Wargames Atlantic.

3) Eagle Knights first born

Going back a bit in time here, but with completing all my armies, or at lead complete until any updates needed with the new codex, I have dug out my first born marine armies and I plan on finishing them off. So first up are the Eagle Knights, which are actually fairly complete. I will need to go through it and see what's what theses days as I have nicked a couple of models out for kill teams and the like but on the whole they are pretty complete with the majority of models already painted. I don't think that this will take a significant amount of time to compete.

4) Dark Guardians first born

Again, this has been pulled out of state to get painted, however, this army is very much just primer with little to no actually painted models. This is going to take a significant amount of time to paint up, although being black primed and black based, I can go straight in to details. This will be the lowest priority on the list this year, so may end up spilling over into next year as well.

5) No new models

Simple one really, I don't plan on buying any new models apart from those mention above. I have a feeling I may receive a few for my birthday this year, as it's a "big" one bit I won't buy any new models. 

6) lore update

This is one I really need to do as the lore hasn't been updated for a couple of years despite there being a few changes to models and armies. I need to sit down and bring everything back into line with each other. The trouble is this will take a bit of time to do and I rarely get time to actually sit down at the computer and write, mostly just snatching a few minutes here and there over a cuppa or at one of the kids clubs to write.

7) play some games

I have tried this in the past and failed, mostly through my own lack of effort but I will try again. I want to play at least 12 2000 point games this year and hopefully some smaller ones as well. 

So there it is, mostly it's just going back and finishing my old marine forces and updating a few bits to the new guard codex, which all sounds simple but we shall see. I hope to be able to get at least half of these completed by the end of the year.