Eldar Guardians Will they be Worth Playing

[Sainhann]

Now we have talked about the new Eldar Wraithknight and the cost of the new rebox Dire Avengers.

But what about the Eldar Guardians?

I have seen that there is suppose to be some new "Rending" type rule for the Shuriken Catapults so that on any "6" there is no armor save.

But will they get a range increase? Not likely I believe.

Because if they still have only a 12 inch range they will still have the worst Infantry weapon in the game.

Dire Avengers got a 6" increase back in 5th Edition for one reason - no one was using them because having 6-10 Eldar with a 12 inch range weapon was not a unit you wanted on the table.

So they got a range increase in for their weapons. Guardians didn't and they sucked and very few gamers actually used them & if they did it was only to have that heavy weapon platform.

GW nerfed the Shuriken Catapult many, many years ago because it was a Marine killer. It was strength 4 and had a -2 armor save and Marines were dying in droves.

So what did GW do they cut the range in half to just 12 inches gave the Marines a 3+ save while it only was an AP 5 weapon. So Marines were now safe from it.

Oh and at the same time they changed the movement to 6 inches and assault was another 6 inches. Results Guardians disappeared from nearly every single Eldar army and Eldar players went over to Mech Eldar.

Because their once powerful Guardian & Aspect armies became useless.

So will Guardians be a viable Troop choice or will they continue to be crap?

I am thinking that they will still not be worth taking, due to them having a crap weapon and with the Force Composition Chart putting a limit on just how many troops choices you can have in your army (max of 6).

[Kamin_Majere]

I still take them. They are good for Long range (with the support platform) and good at mopping up things once they get to your lines (at least greatly weakened things like single wounds nid monsters or 3 strong tact squads)

But even though i love my guardians I cant put more than a single squad (two in an extreme case) in any army list i make.

While i have my doubts about the baby rending (why couldnt they just have given us shred) the move shoot move will make them better and if their points drop by 1-2 points that will help, but dont expect to see guardian mobs taking over any times soon. 2nd edition had us as one of the top armies in the game, and since then we have slowly been eroded away into near oblivion. 6th edition looks to be trying to change that, but dont expect guardians walking around with storm bolters anymore. The change over to AP vs AM and fixed vs variable movement has effectively killed dreams like that

This isnt fact, but a good impression i'm getting from everything that has been happening in 6th

[chicop76]

If doom is still out there and they can rend it will make them a really good unit.

Shred or Rend is good either way. Shred is good for anti-horde and rend is good anti- hard to kill normally.

They probablly have shred since you do not want guardians taking out 400 point toughness 9 wingd monsters. The shred reminds me of the last edition termagaunts. The rerolling on 4s within 12" was devestating and that was with only one shot instead of 2.

I would say serpent hoping guardians would be nice to use again or the huge line of guardians forming a line like in the old days.

[MrBo]

via BoLS 5-13-2013
Word has reached us of two divergent schools of though for the latest codex shuriken family, and the jury is still out on which one was ultimately selected. Both are highly divergent from the short-ranged 12" S:4 AP:5 Assault 2 weapon we have now (oh those poor, poor Guardians). Here we go folks:

OPTION A: The Bane of Flesh

Shuriken Pistol 12" S:4 AP5 Pistol, (Fleshbane or Shred)
Shuriken Catapult 18" S:4 AP5 Assault 2, (Fleshbane or Shred)
Dire Avenger Shuriken Catapult 24" S:4 AP:5 Assault 2, (Fleshbane or Shred)
Shuriken Cannon 24" S:6 AP:5 Assault 3, (Fleshbane or Shred)
Shuriken Shreiker Cannon 24" S:6 AP:5 Assault 3, (Fleshbane or Shred), Poison(4+), Pinning

OPTION B: The Rain of Shuriken

Shuriken Pistol 12" S:4 AP5 Pistol
Shuriken Catapult 18" S:4 AP5 Salvo2/4
Dire Avenger Shuriken Catapult 24" S:4 AP:5 Salvo 2/4
Shuriken Cannon 24" S:6 AP:5 Salvo 3/6


i think they will do just fine =)

[chicop76]

Bane of flesh would be good. The rain would be a bit more difficult to benefit the guardians. I think if you can sprinkle endurance on a squad than rain would be boss.

[deinol]

The most likely of those is the 18" Shred version. Everything else seems a bit much.

[Saunders]

I don't believe either of those.

The later rumors since WD appeared have suggested the quasi-rend rule is what we will get for shurikens.

[Power Klawz]

I'm guessing 6 inch range increase and ignores armor on a wound roll of 6. Combined with move shoot move guardians are probably going to be amazing. I see terminator lists crying buckets of invulnerable tears.

[MrBo]

even without all the extra goodies, the range increase would be nice, and both rumor lists seem to confirm at least that much, still taking it with a grain of salt tho

[Kamin_Majere]

According to the ibook glossary (taken from someone that preordered it and has the ibook preview) the guardian catapult is only getting the bladestorm rule (the 6 to wound auto wounds and counts as AP2)

There will be no range increase, just bladestorm and 6 points per model. So while cheap and chipper the guardian is still quite useless.