Curiosity killed the...Vectored Engine!

Nick speaking,

I have been playing Eldar for a while now, and right from the begining, I have always geared my Grav Tanks up with Spirit Stones, Star Engines, Holo-Fields and Vectored Engines. I knew that popular believe was that Vectored Engines were a waste of points, and that I could buy another basic Fire Prism for the points I spent, but I just couldn't bring myself to drop them, and here are the reasons why...

The way I saw it, if I was going to spend all those points on a tank to make it last for as long as possible, in order for it to use it's movement and Star Engines to contest or Capture end game, then Vectored Engines would fall into that catagory nicely? After all, once I have moved fast, the last thing I want is to be immobilised and wrecked, and then to lose the game! I might as well pay the extra points and have them 'fully loaded'...

Game after game, I watched my tanks zooming across the board to capture objectives. Knowing that sixes were needed to hit me, then the protectin of the Holo-Fields, and if you do manage to wreck me, I will still be there with my Vectored Engines to contest. The trouble was, those Vectored Engines have never been used, I have never been immobalised after moving fast! This got me thinking that maybe I was wrong about Vectored Engines, so out of curiosity I started to experiment...

It all started when I played a casual four way game with my buddies, I thought it would be fun to get as many tanks down on the table as I could for the 750pts! Taking the tanks bare boned, I managed to get a list which included two Fire Prisms, one Falcon, two Wave Serpents with Dire Avengers and and a Farseer. It was at this point that I started to consider the things I really do need to have on my tanks, and the things I don't!

Needless to say, Vectored Engines were out! and my curiousity litarally did kill them off, well, in a way! Actually, I do still take Vectored Engines on certain tanks, like my Howling Banshee tank, where I know it is going to be moving fast to get the girls into position to assault, but generally, I don't waste the points on them anymore.

Vectored Engines have been an experience for me, and I have learnt that it is best to have something bare boned first, and see what upgrades are needed as you play, rather than take something fully loaded and not realise you are wasting points on things you don't really need, or at least, not very often!