Nova and 6th Edition, I’m Totally Torn!

Oh I'm not torn on using 6th edition but on my army. As a fair few of you who read here have probably heard by now Nova is going to be the first national level GT event (i.e. over 100 players) to run 6^th edition. Which is awesome! But since I’m playing in the Invitational as well as the Open and have less than 2 months to build, paint, and practice with an army I have to get started pretty much now. Which leads to the point of this post; I’m torn between 3 different armies right now with a sound idea list as I get familiar with the rules for all of them. Oddly, all Xenos J

Now I’ll be building 1,750 and 2k lists so I want an army that performs at both levels. Looking at the 6^th edition rules I think whatever I choose will need to be able to handle, at least, the following things:

-Deathstars (mainly biker nobz as they will have a massive backsurge)

-Terminator (or 2+ save variants)

-Flyers (Necrons, Orks, and Stormravens make this something to watchout for)

-And most 5^th edition style lists that people won’t have managed to tweak yet for 6^th

It’s a pretty tall order so here is what I’m thinking as far as my 2k lists go.

The first is a personal favorite: Tyranids!

Let’s be honest. Everyone who reads this blog by now probably knows I love me some mindless eating machines. It’s a fun, fast army that appeals to both my urge to roll dice and my need to field big units and monsters. I’m looking basically at two different styles of play:

The first wouldn’t include flying Tyrants and would instead focus on the wound allocation shenanigans of Tyranid Primes and Carnifexes. Lots of dual devourers supported by hive guard, tervigons, improved termagants, and gargoyles.

The second would likely include 2 Flying Tyrants since it’d be silly not to saturate but I’d probably hold off on harpies. The rest of the force would likely consist of speedy elements (raveners/gargoyles) supported again by the core of hive guard, tervigons, and gants. Though there is some merit in podding in some Dakkafexes or Deepstriking some Trygons….

Not too much work to get it painted by Nova and not too much new stuff that would need to be built or purchased which is nice. The list with the Fexstar would be able to handle probably both flyers and deathstars and would be pretty solid against most 5^th lists too under the 6^th rules. The second list might be a better all comer but would have some issues against deathstar style lists.

The second is: Orks!

This list is pretty much set in 6^th and ready for playtesting but it’s a foot horde supported by artillery and flyers. Something like this;

Big Mek w/KFF

2x11 Tankbustas

2x30 Boyz w/PK Nob & 3 Rokkits

2x20 Boyz w/PK Nob & 2 Rokkits

15 Grots

3xDakkajet with all upgrades except red paint

3x3 Kannons w/all additional grots

So a pretty solid list. It’s got tons of shots (all the boyz are shoota boyz), lots of st8 shots, 3 flyers for mobility, 3 16 model T7 artillery units, and lots of depth. The only issue being nob biker deathstars really.

This one is probably the most intensive painting and purchasing wise. I have 80 of the 122 boyz built and none of the grots or jets yet. But it’s doable in if I put my nose to the grind stone.

And the final army would be: Eldar!

I know right, I heard your gasp from here. Hear me out though. I think 6^th benefitted them greatly in reducing hood distances, higher mobility, and pre-measuring. I’m thinking of a St6 spam army that looks something like:

Farseer on bike w/guide and both sets of runes

Bike council (as large as I can make it after the following)

3x6 Jetbikes w/2xCannons

2x9 Warp Spiders w/Exarch, Withdraw, Power Blades, dual-deathspinners

3x3 Warwalkers w/2 Scatter Lasers

This gives you a death star of your own that is very, very, resilient and fast. It also provides you with over 100 St6 shots per turn. Premeasuring means you’ll get the most out of your Warp Spiders (no more accidentally stopping to close). It’ll have the ability to knock flyers out of the sky on sheer firepower alone and it’s got resiliency since there will be decent terrain at the Nova.

I would need to build and paint most of this though I do have some of the models already so it wouldn’t be as cost intensive as the orks.

So those are what I’m thinking so far. Let’s here what ye’ol internet has to say J