"The Wretched Alien Mind Cannot Be Measured By Any Human Standard."
Today we're going to talk about Fast Attack. (Yes, I'm dancing around the Troops section ;p)
This shouldn't take long as there were only three choices from the Fast Attack section that I've ever used. Baal Predators, Land Speeders and Vanguard Veterans.
Quickly though, I do want to mention the bikes. I think, with the exception of the Attack Bike, people are overrating their toughness being 5 all the time. It doesn't really change much for 1 wound models. Yeah, it's a bit better for BA as they can get 'Feel No Pain' against Lascannons and Missile Launchers now. But that's about it. I still wouldn't really consider using any of them outside of the attack bikes, which are looking kinda good now. Though I am considering mounting some HQ's on bikes for that nice toughness bonus. :)
Okay, so I'll start with the Vanguard Veterans.
I never really used these guys very much as they get pretty pricey pretty quick. That said they do seem to have gained a few bonuses with the advent of 6th. Obviously, they gained the Hammer of Wrath attacks (though not on the turn you deepstrike) but in my experience so far it's not that great. Now don't get me wrong, any bonus is nice, but standard HoW attacks just don't seem to do much. I think where these guys really made some gains is in the fact that they are one of a very small group of units which can assault the turn they arrive from reserves. Now granted that's only if they deepstrike, but still... I still think that if you kit them out with too much they become just too points prohibitive to include in an army, but I'm now toying with the idea of a dedicated parking lot/monstrous creature hunter squad. 5 guys with jump packs, 4 with melta bombs and upgrade the sergeants power weapon to a fist. 195 points and can either multi-assault a few vehicles at once with the melta bombs or go gung ho against something like a tervigon. I wouldn't send them in against a MC with tons of attacks but if they only have a small amount of swings or if already sufficiently weakened it might be worth it.
Anyway, I think if you found them valuable in 5th then they should be equally viable in 6th if not slightly more so. Still not really a great choice though.
I think Land Speeders gained and lost some things in 6th. I think the Melta/Flamer is just a waste of points now that vehicles are WS0 or WS1 in combat. Combine this with only 2 hull points and getting these guys close just guarantees their doom. However, the Typhoon, which is what I have, seem to have gained some. Being able to fire both the Heavy Bolter and fire Krak Missiles whilst moving 12" is very nice. No longer do we need to choose between the two. Also gaining the 5+ jink save against shooting is a nice little bonus. Every skimmer now has Flickerfields! ;) Well, maybe not, but pretty close. The fact that these guys can hang out in back will often see them ignored for bigger threats. And if your opponent chooses to focus on them instead of the bigger threats, well, good. Of course it should go without saying that you should avoid bolter range like the plague with these guys!
Last up we'll look at the Baal Predator.
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Like other vehicles they gained and lost with the inclusion of Hull Points. Overall I think there is a bit of a gain. Sure, vehicles will probably tend to be more likely to be destroyed throughout the course of a game, but they will remain more effective until they do. Baal's having AV13 in the front will help with this. Especially if we see a shift in the meta away from melta to plasma guns. I'm already seeing some of this in my local area but YMMV. Like other Fast vehicles they gained in the pure firepower department when moving and the fact that Weapon Destroyed results are now random helps a lot. If you buy the sponsons you only have a 33.3% chance of losing the Assault Cannon/Flamestorm cannon. Not too shabby. They lost the ability to pop smoke in the scout move, but that was really kind of gimmicky anyway.
Overall I think the Fast Attack section may have seen a slight uptick, but it was always the least useful section of the Force org for us. I think that still holds true.