Craftworld Problems, or How I would adjust the Codex

So, rumours are abound that a new Eldar codex is on the horizon, and with a lot of product vanishing from the website, I'm kind of expecting something to happen.

To be the first 6th Edition Codex to be updated makes some sense, the Harlequins have their own codex now so need to be removed like what happened with the Dark Brethren, and also, Eldar are a Psychic heavy race, and at the moment, their rules in the new Psychic phase are scruffy and their punch lightweight. But here are a few thoughts on what I would change.



Psychic: I mentioned this above, but the Eldar need to have a redesign around the new psychic phase. This was made obvious when I played Grey Knights and they just out muscled me to the point that I just couldn't do anything about them. A race with such a strong psychic presence needs to be punching around the same weight as the Grey Knights without outright copying the rules.

         

 Also, we need to look at the Psychic powers, and I am looking at Death Mission for one, that power is garbage. I have never seen it used so it should be redesigned or replaced. Some other oddities like "Restrain", why would you stop a unit from running if it is within 18" of you? That's danger close as it is.

If the rumours are true, I can see this being the main reason that the book is being redone first as it doesn't make sense any more.

Hemlock Wraithfighter: This unit is slowly getting into my good books, but it can be so much more. It's default power of Terrify is just no good any more. It used to remove the Fearless rule (which annoyingly did nothing against Marines because of the unholy ATSKNF), but now it is -1 to Leadership. It still makes the other units have fear now, but because it doesn't remove fearless, it's useless. Psychic Focus giving it Psychic Shriek started to help, and for that reason, if it was to have one power again, it should be this. I would also rewrite the Mindshock Pod to -2 Leadership rather than re rolling failed leadership tests, then, it would be the monster that is described in the fluff.

Falcon: In my opinion, the worst unit in the book. I feel that it is the bottom of the pile in the packed Heavy Support section, you wouldn't pick it over the other options, and you wouldn't pick it as a transport as the Wave Serpent is better. However, I think it is an easy fix. Make it a dedicated transport, possibly for the Aspect Warriors only, and make it an Assault Vehicle. It is then useful and offers a solution to other problems.

Howling Banshees: Toughness 3 units, slogging it across the board, with no invulnerable save and can be neutered by standing behind a bush. What they need to be is Harlequins, but that is also what they won't be. The design team needs to look at the fluff that describes them, and then figure out how they can design the rules to make that happen, at the moment, they are the bottom of the pile Aspect Warriors.

Wave Serpent: OK, I'll get it out into the open, I don't think they are as broken as people make them out to be. Yes, they put out a lot of shots, but they don't ignore armour, so I have never seen them take swathes of units off the board. I think the problem is, most people forget they have two modes, because leaving the shield up is not a great investment, so it is always being shot. I think the fix is to make leaving the shield up more enticing. What if it gave a Quantum Shielding type effect? If the shield is up, you gain +1 armour to front and side, and if you take a penetrating hit, you lose the shield, both defensive and offensive? At the moment, reducing a pen to a glance on a 2+ is only good from single shot weapons like a lascannon or the such, but because they are so offensively dangerous, I find they get glanced to death more often than not.

Also, Scatter Lasers may be a little too good, maybe only give target lock if you hit on a 5+ or 6, or give target lock to pulse lasers only? I think an issue that never gets mentioned is that they are very mono-build, and if a unit is like that it is, in a sense, broken. Let's make other options viable so that we have to build our transports for a purpose, rather than the cookie cutter build it is at the moment.

Wraithknight: OK, it needs fixing, but again, I'm looking at this from a different view. Nerfing the Strength and Toughness is out of the question, as this would have knock on effects for the Wraithlord and Wraithguard and nerf them to uselessness (lets face it, the whole point of them is that they are tough), what we need to do is look at their loadout points value. As it is, I would probably say Double Wraithcannon is too cheap, and the Ghostglaive is too expensive. At standard loadout, a Wraithknight is 240points, but if you choose to go with the blades, with double starcannon it is 300 points. I would say the points need to be swapped around, or the very least, have the Knight base 240 with no weapons, and then you have to pay for equipment. The Ghostglaive is designed for the Wraithlord, as the knight can make no use of it's +1 strength, and it is AP2 anyway, so you are paying for mastercrafted and a 5+ gimmicky invul. The base knight will be hitting at S10 AP2 anyway, and has better ranged weapons so whats the points? I would like to see the glaive equipped knight gain +1WS, I would even accept that at the expense of Master Crafted.

I can't comment on the Suncannon as I have never used it, but as with the Wave Serpent, when people go with the same loadout all the time, we have a problem.

Pathfinders: Rangers are fine as a budget troop choice, but I don't see the allure of Pathfinders. In the previous codex, the 5+ upgrade was taken without question, from 19 to 24 ppm wasn't as big of a deal as 12 to 25 ppm added with the fact that you have to take Illic too. Speaking of Illic, i'd like to see him either have a bit more punch or a drop in points value, but at the moment, i'm not convinced.

Well, those are my thoughts about the situation, if you are an Eldar player or have fought against them, do you agree or disagree?