Style and Substance

Look at that mess.

Ive always been a big fan of picking the toys you like most and trying to make them work.  My first major tournament experiences in 5th edition were with drop pod salamanders.  And since then in the twilight of 5th and all through 6th Ive been a big pusher for close combat based dark eldar.

I brought Drahzar and Incubi to major 5th edition tournaments for gash sakes, and did well.  So when I see online people bashing certain units or declaring carte blanche that things simply could never work, I usually either interject or at least start to think about those responses.  Now not everything in every codex is usable or efficient, there are a couple units that even the best players will struggle to get anything out of, but for a lot of units or characters its about a different list, or a different style to make it work.

The best example for me personally is the title character for this  blog.  Asdrubael Vect, lord of all awesomeness, supreme Archon and baron of baddassary.  He comes in at 240pts, for a t3 character that most people will not touch with a 3 foot pole.  Now for the most part this comes down to how most people play dark eldar, riding in venoms with small squads.  In that style of list there is very clearly no place to take advantage of Vect's skill set.  It wasnt until I spotted this list recently did I see a well integrated vehicle heavy dark eldar list that made use of vect: http://www.frontlinegaming.org/2013/11/16/warhammer-40k-video-battle-report-tyranids-vs-dark-eldar/

The large 20 man guardian unit is used as a bunker with a farseer and vect.  A pivot point that the venoms and ravagers can turn off of.  The size of the unit is important because of the signature ability that Vect has in 6th edition, preferred enemy (everything).  Small units simply dont benefit as much from this buff, nor do they have the staying power to continue to use it as the game of attrition adds up. Large units also allow you to deliver Vect to the midfield where he can begin to use his own personal stat line as a combat beast.

This is similar in many ways to my principles with Vect.  I have a lot of large units in my foot dark eldar list.  Across 6th edition I have used maxed out Wyche units, full beast squads, 20 man warrior squads, and also the 20 man guardian unit that is similar to the above list.  The principle position for Vect in my lists is the large beast squad.  The speed and versatility of the beasts allow me to deliver Vect to the front lines faster then even raiders.  And they make great use of his preferred enemy with their bounty of attacks, their place as a combat unit also maximizes his fearless USR as well.  But the beauty of Vect being an independent character is that he can slide to whatever unit will maximize his abilities from game to game and turn to turn.

Over time Vect has almost morphed into my calling card on the table.  It has become increasingly difficult for me to think of lists that dont include him, because of both his usefulness and also my enjoyment with using him.  My greatest love is handing over my list to an opponent and the first thing out of their mouths being: "Now what does Asssdruballle Vect do?"  It happens a lot let me tell you and has even become a running joke with some friends of mine.  The lord of Commorragh may not be the most well known or popular character in the 40k universe cough... Coteaz... cough.  But he is without a doubt my favorite character and has plenty of substance for my taste.