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Thoughts on Eldar Units -
[ NB this was written with the 3rd edition
rules in mind ]
HQ
| Avatar |
The awoken embodiment of Kaela Mensha Kaine the
bloody handed Eldar God of war, as powerful as a
Bloodthirster as imposing as a c'tan and as tough as a
titanium coated reinforced concrete brick, well
actually the Avatar is non of these things, he ain't
that big he ain't that tough and he ain't going to win
a fight whining about the time 'she who thirsts got
lucky with a low blow'. Essentially a cheap (80points)
daemon this HQ choice is quite affective in close
combat with an impressive WS and enough wounds to feel
comfortable, unfortunately it will take the entire
game to get him there since he can move the amazingly
fast 6" a turn without the ability to hitch a
lift or run a bit quicker, which might be ok if it
wasn't for the armour save, yes it's invulnerable but
it's so low as to mock you. Once in CC he is a monster
I've had him lock down two full tactical squads for
three turns, I've also had him blown apart in one turn
from Ratling sniper shooting and this is his weakness
he dies at range and for most of the game he is at
range. On the plus side he does inspire fearlessness
in those minions who accompany him on his wander
across the board, now this offers two options, either
you shield him with guardians or use the the even more
scary Wraithlord/Avatar combo, which is nice and lasts
a good while in fact. Oh he's armed with the Wailing
Doom a sword which does bugger all as he is a
monstrous creature. |
| Farseer |
An ancient Eldar who has become trapped in the Path
of the Seer, gifted with psychic powers and the
ability to tap into the strings of time to predict
future events and how they will play out on the field
of battle, well that's the corporate spiel anyway.
As it stands you are generally forced to take one, in
in my experience he either ends up in two roles, the
mucho points stand at the back firebase protector or
the second wave Mindwaring tank basher (my current
choice), there are other options too I suppose I think
it comes down to two things, who you are playing and
how you play. Stats wise he is a pleasant improvement
being T4 and having lots of wounds what you do notice
is the lovely Rune armour save and the staggering lack
of attacks he/she has (for some reason I have been
assuming my current Farseer is a woman (I say current,
I only think of them as dead when they die from
'perils of the warp', she is Farseer No3 if anyone is
interested). Now unlike your basic Marine Captain you
can't have your Farseer strolling down the middle of
the battlefield and attacking anything he fancies,
they are (un)surprisingly fragile, well since Dysartes
starting taking Daemonhunter/Grey Knight allies to the
picnic, suddenly the inv save ain't so hot. On the
weapons front you can give him either a sharp stick /
witch blade / singing spear & pistol, depending on
how you want to use him, CCW&pistol is the
cheapest but the singing spear is more useful like the
witch blade it wounds on a 2+ and counts as S9 against
vehicles which is nice, it's always nice to take a
dreadnought down in CC with an old man with a spear,
and it can surprise your opponent too. In addition to
pointy sticks they have access to all the shiny
baubles in the Eldar armoury, these include: Jetbikes;
expensive but useful range increaser and providing a
3+ armour save and toughness increase, which will add
to the survivability as well as allowing you to get to
the rear of vehicles. Ghosthelm; when I have a few
points to spare I take one or if you are going to be
doing a lot of casting it is a useful addition to
warding off those pesky daemons, also useful if you
are fighting Chaos, best combined with Runes of
Witnessing. Runes of Witnessing; with a high
leadership this is only that useful if you plan to
cast two powers a turn, if taken best combined with a
Ghosthelm for that added protection. Runes of Warding;
short ranged and a bit rubbish, have never taken it
and I probably never will. Sprit Stones; the
opportunity to cast two powers a turn could
potentially be very useful (and often is) though it is
monstrously expensive costing you virtually another
Farseer, still depending on the situation it can be
very useful. And finally to those powers which
we all love, but must be used carefully and if I may
say it subtlety: Eldritch Storm; The Farseer makes
some pretty lights in the sky and has a disco under
the flashy lights, it's a pitiful power and
ludicrously expensive, the only real use is the
mandatory pinning test it imposes or if you are very
lucky it'll spin a vehicle to show you its rear
armour, oh and it's a pie plate. Fortune; The ability
to make any unit have the opportunity to re-roll any
armour save invulnerable or not, used to great effect
on a seer council. I need not say it, but this power
is incredibly useful and can save you from visceral
sprayage, best used on troops with a low chance of
surviving, or you know are going to get a pummeling.
Guide; Another well used power, generally used for
those crucial shots you need to count, (not that I
have ever guided nine Starcannons...), basically it is
the ability to re-roll any to hit shots that miss, in
short it is sweet, but expensive. Mindwar;
Currently my favourite power (Killed Midget's Shas
"insert special name here" in one go to my
amusement) in short it is the ability to fry anyone's
brain within 18" be it that plasma gunner who is
a bit too close or the enemy commander, I love it, and
it's cheap. |
| Warlock |
A bodyguard for the Farseer, who is allowed to
wander off in the heat of battle, (there's something
wrong with the Eldar mindset methinks) to help out
Guardians or Wraithguard, well they probably need the
help. Warlocks are Eldar who follow the path of the
Seer, but who have also followed the path of a warrior
aspect allowing them to develop and use Psychic powers
in battle, they don't have the greatest stat line in
the universe, but it should not be underestimated,
they only have one wound so be careful with them. They
have access to singing spears and witch blades which
is nice given that it allows them the ability to wound
anything or take down any tank, they also have the
ability to create the minor powers: Conceal,
Destructor, Embolden & Enhance which they don't
have to test for. Conceal used to be expensive and
pretty much useless, until the arrival of all these
''avoids invulnerable save weapons" then suddenly
your Farseer has bugger all protection, if used do so
on a seer council (when facing daemon hunters) or on a
huge squad of guardians otherwise to expensive for my
tastes. Destructor is essentially a heavy flamer which
is nice if you ever get into a position to use it.
Embolden makes you troops erm... emboldened allowing
moral re-rolls. Enhance would be sweet if you could
have warlocks with aspect squads, but still a plus to
WS and Initiative is a bonus to and storm squad,
giving black guardians a WS of five! Best used as a
support for your Farseer (against quick or deep
striking troops) or with storm guardians to give them
an extra kick. |
ELITES
| Warp Spiders |
Are one of those strange odd ball choices that
typifies the Eldar army list, they have some great
attributes and some rubbish ones. Firstly they
are fast, they move like a unhindered jump pack and
can then move 2D6 in the assault phase if you so wish,
which is very helpful in getting them around. They
have the standard aspect stats plus a nice 3+ armour
save, the downside to this unit is it's weapon a S6
rapid fire 12" weapon which is odd as it
effectively punishes you for moving, which is the
whole reason you want to take the unit. As for
the tactical uses they are best used on light infantry
with poor armour saves since they will wound most
things on a 2+, or against light or the rear armour of
vehicles as they will be able to glance things,
alternatively they could be used to secure table
quarters or objectives. The Exarch has some with some
interesting options available, the ability to gain
powerblades is nice when on the charge, Surprise
assault is a little too expensive for my tastes, but
the squad gain and extra attack on the charge which is
always welcome (and it's very likely they will be
doing the charging) withdraw is a good option as it
allows you to break off combat in the opponents turn
then in your turn fire into them and charge them,
which will no doubt do some serious damage. |
| Striking
Scorpions |
Are close combat aspect warriors that excel at what
they do, which is to chop up enemy infantry.
They have impressive weapon skill and initiative and
have a much needed strength bonus as well as a Marines
armour save, they also have some nice equipment, the
mandiblaster which basically allows you to make an
extra attack in every round of close combat, and are
armed with a chainsword and Shuriken pistol.
They can be fitted with grenades for that extra
assault through cover leveler or with haywire grenades
so they can take down or stop most armour, even a
monolith! Like all things Eldar they do have
their weaknesses, because of their heavy armour they
can't fleet of foot so they are slow and vulnerable to
enemy fire therefore they should be transported in a
Wave Serpent for maximum effectiveness. Unlike most
Eldar troops these guys can get away with being
swamped, as they can munch through low armoured troops
like there is no tomorrow, even giving space Marines a
run for their money. The Exarch can also be
given what is basically a power fist and with the new
assault rules he is sure to last till the very end, he
can also allow them to infiltrate where the mission
allows it. In 40K in 40mins these are an
invaluable option. |
| Howling
Banshees |
They scream and beat up marines, but there is more
to Banshee's than this. The most commonly used
Aspect at a guess, but it not hard to see why, a fully
tooled up Banshee squad can easy kill a full tactical
squad on the charge, they come with a Shuriken
pistol and a power sword, they also come with low
strength and a 4+ armour save so watch out for heavy
bolters. In fact the best way to utilise these
troops and ensure their safety is to transport them in
a Wave Serpent, which means you can move 12" get
out, fleet of foot and assault without having to make
any pesky saves. Like all Eldar they are fragile
and go down to numbers, sustained fire and counter
assaults avoid low cost troops such as guardsmen, but
don't go for tough troops either as they will have
trouble wounding them, and what you don't want to do
is have them bogged down in combat, as their banshee
mask will be wasted. You can upgrade one of
these ladies to an Exarch, the obvious addition is to
give her an executioner, as this gives her a much
welcome strength boost. Finally remember to take
a full squad of ten as six generally don't make that
much of a difference and can be worn down easily, also
don't discount the pistol, against Orks and Guardsmen
it is statistically better to fire the pistol than to
use the sword, something which can slip the mind of
even the greatest Farseer in the heat of battle. |
| Fire Dragons |
A solid core choice to any Eldar list, this aspect
specialises in taking out heavy armour. They
have the standard aspect stats so they will hit a good
deal of the time, and like all eldar they are armed
with a stupidly short ranged gun which is
"cough" inferior "cough" to its
imperial counterpart (I feel dirty saying that).
Being serious, Fire Dragons come equipped with melta
bombs and fusion guns, melta bombs are deadly to any
tank (ok not the monolith) though remember skimmers
are always hit on a six and if the tank moves you
require a four or more, the fusion gun is a strength
six weapon with short range and 'melta' weapon
properties under 6". Now a short range in a
small squad they are very good at blowing things up
though generally aiming to get armour 13/14 is a bit
of a gamble probability wise (in my experience) what
they do excel at is killing tough well armoured
troops, the obvious example being terminators as that
AP1 is just to sweet to waste on low cost enemy
troops. Like all aspect warriors they are easy
dispatched with sustained fire or overwhelming
numbers, so I would recommend transporting them in
either a Falcon (as six is all you generally need) or
in a Wave Serpent, ideally kitting out the vehicle so
it is survivable and complements the tank hunter role.
The Exarch upgrade is probably worth it, as the
firepike affectively increases the range and gives you
a 9" S8 +2D6 weapon which hits on a 2+, and I
don't need to tell you that's good. Depending on
whether you want your Exarch to aid in a CC role or
guarantee a tank kill you can give them burning
fist or tank hunter, but that does seriously inflate
the price of the model. |
| Wraithguard |
Wraithguard are on odd unit, one that has beautiful
models and is clearly Eldar, but it is very tricky to
pin down what exactly their role on the battlefield
should be. They are strong, tough won't run away and
are more than capable of firing in a straight line as
well as a being good in hand to hand bonce bashing, on
a negative they need a warlock to stop them gazing at
the pretty lights and are a very expensive points
wise. Using them against a large units of troops would
be a waste, using them against Terminators and they
will get munched, so what to do? Well it's best not to
waste those lovely wraithcannon even though they have
a short range they can tear the toughest tank to bits
and can instant kill the toughest character, so
therein is the best way to use them; having a warlock
with either conceal or enhance, get them close to any
large tank, HQ character or big monster and watch them
get sucked into oblivion. Providing you can afford to
buy them that is. |
TROOPS
| Rangers |
Those who follow the path of the outcast and are
called back to defend their home in times of need,
essentially a sniper the Ranger is horrendously
expensive points wise, but has an array of interesting
abilities which mean they can turn a game at a
critical moment if used correctly. Firstly they
can infiltrate which is nice for pushing back
deployment zones and move through terrain unhindered,
best though is their chameleon cloaks which give them
a 1+ increase in any cover save they have, hence they
are best placed in cover or wooded areas with a good
field of view. The long rifle is nice as it hits on a
2+ and wounds on a 4+ which is good for taking down
big critters like c'tan or carnifax's and has that AP1
thing of you hit on a six (never happens). The
question is how to use them, probably in a squads of
three and by aiming to delay by pinning rather than
expecting them to kill huge swaths of the enemy, to
illustrate; how many times has the game swung because
of a well placed charge rips though your line? Well
what if you could delay that charge so instead of a
horrible slaughter the enemy just stand there waiting
to be shot at close range (crickey even a shuriken cat
would be in range), so you see pinning can be most
useful. Never get them in CC though as they have the
stats of a guardian and will be too far away for you
to bail them out. |
|
Guardian
Storm Squads
|
After the EOT campaign GW finally produced some
models for Storm squads and they are quite nice if not
fiscally draining, which is a pity because I would buy
more if they cost less, the problem being with Storm
Guardians is that they fit one of two roles.
With average stats and armed only with a close combat
weapon and pistol you do need a lot of them to make a
noticeable impact on the game, this is improved though
with a Warlock with enhance, effectively speeding up
the unit and increasing their weapon skill, which
would be brutal if you can afford 20 of them (I'd
leave the flamers at home with TAR). The second
less expensive option is to go tank hunting with them,
take two fusion guns and arm the squad with the
wonderfully effective haywire grenades, and of course
having a warlock with a singing spear joining them and
suddenly that small Guardian squad which no one was
paying attention too has made a mess of your opponents
heavy armour. As ever with Eldar they are
fragile, having weak saves and being vulnerable to
counterassaults, best to use them as a complement to
your main thrust. |
| Guardian
Defender Squads |
The mainstay of most armies, Guardian Defender
squads are a militia drawn from their respective
Craftworlds in times of need, in many respects their
abilities reflect this, they can shoot as well as a
guardsmen and have much the same ability in close
combat, so don't. They wear mesh armour which
provides a reasonable save and, when you start with a
large number of them they don't tend to run away, and
when they do run, hopefully it will be towards the
enemy using the ever useful FOF. Each Guardian
comes armed with the much maligned Shuriken Catapult
which has the same abilities as a Bolter, only being
an 12" assault weapon (so they are armed with
Tommy guns whilst every one else is taking rifles)
which is a bit of a problem as it means your poor
Guardians are in assault range which is not exactly
the best place for them to be. Defender squads
are generally used in three ways, firstly as meat
shields for your more valuable battle winning units ,
and I can see the logic with this, buy screening your
Dark Reapers with six Guardians they will effectively
last another turn and can't be targeted.
Secondly as huge mob like swarms of 20 odd which march
across the field or stand about at base camp, their
ultimate aim being to absorb damage and apply mass
Shuriken when the opportunity arises and withstand the
assault allowing you to counterassault. Finally the
minimalist seven Guardians and a Starcannon option,
which is very common and quite affective.
Personally I've never seen Eldar as either expendable
or a horde army, and I am also very happy when they
are underestimated on the table top, if I have 15
screaming Orks running at my lines 20 Guardians and a
helpful (and opportune) Guide from a nearby Farseer
will kill all of them dead, no questions asked, they
work wonders against Guardsmen too (one of the few
units they can get into CC with and survive). I
never leave the shed without two generous squads with
Starcannons (if you do take a heavy weapon, it is best
to go for a multi shot one as there is little point
paying 50 points for a Bright lance that misses half
the time). |
| Dire Avengers |
Supposedly the most common aspect of all (when was
the last time you saw them?), they follow the aspect
of the noble warrior and are masters of the Shuriken
catapult, which would be nice if it had a range
farther than I can throw Dysartes. What do you
get for your 12 point investment, well erm some
guardians with bigger helmets and a loin cloth which
interestingly gives them a 4+ save, if Orks ever find
that a sarong and a bristled helmet makes you live
longer the universe is doomed. Seriously though, what
you do get is a nice basic troop choice with a higher
BS/WS they are a bit quicker and apparently run away
less, well on paper anyway, the let down is the gun,
yes it's great if you are facing Guard/Orks or any
other T3 troop, (interestingly I once killed Midget's
Commander Farsight, or what ever he's called from one
round of DA shooting, he was left a bit speechless, I
believe his words were 'they can't kill him' I think
my response was something along the lines of 'they
just did' ), so against certain opponents they are
fine, fun and a good choice, it's just against 3+ save
tin cans they generally get smeared across the sand a
lot. Best used in conjunction with something, I prefer
to use them to soften up and support a CC aspect and
ward off any counter assault that might be coming
their way. Some people seam to use them as an
Exarch delivery system, since he can be given a myriad
of (expensive) powers, but remember he ain't that
strong and most leaders seam to be fearless these days
anyway so the Diresword's effectiveness is somewhat
limited, and given the trial assault rules some of the
powers are less useful anyway. |
| Wave Serpent |
Not strictly a troops choice but it does carry them
into battle, it is also IMO the best troop transport
in the game (if we ignore large silver Necron blocks).
Firstly it is a skimmer and a fast one at that, I'm
always in two minds weather to move it 24" or
12" (and getting a shot in) during the first
turn, that former is strategically the better option.
Secondly it is relatively well armoured, being a
skimmer is benefits from the 'skimmers go fast, no
penetration if moved' thing which is very nice plus it
has the most wonderful energy field which turns all
weapons over S8 into S8 when shooting at the front.
They are shockingly hard to kill, Dysartes has poured
an entire round of IG heavy weapons into the front of
one of these babies with barely a scratch to show for
it (though I think that was mainly due to bad dice
rolling), don't get too blas� they are not
invincible, whist it's probably survive 3 Lascannon
shots, it's go down to 6 Autocannon shots, which is
why it is useful to do that old Eldar trick of moving
things behind cover and blocking line of sight.
One the weapons front it boils down to three choices:
Starcannon's ~ soften up the marines before your CC
unit gets out ; Brightlances ~ blow up the tank before
your CC unit gets out; Missile launchers ~ blow
up tanks or soften up troops before your CC unit gets
out. Currently I favour the Missile launchers as
I find them slightly more tactically flexible plus
they have an AP4 blast which is nice against Tau, and
the twin linked ability makes them quite likely to hit
so a (usually expensive) one shot weapon is worth it,
it just depends on your style and who you are playing.
As to upgrades, sadly you can't give it a holofield,
but a spirit stone may be advisable as it can keep you
moving/shooting adding to it's durability. All in all
a thoroughly decent vehicle, pity it's about �30 from
forgeworld with thankfully (it's been 5 years) a
plastic kit being available soon... |
FAST ATTACK
| Jetbikes |
The Eldar Jebike miniatures are some of the nicest
in the Eldar range, I particularly like the look of
the Shuriken cannon variant. In general they have your
usual guardian stats, but because of the bike they now
have T4 and a 3+ save, can move 12" a turn then a
further six in the assault phase (useful for getting
out of assault range as your Shuriken catapults are
12", and giving them that whole 'hit and run'
feel) and have twin linked weapons meaning they can
hit, and for every three you have in a unit you can
upgrade one to a Shuriken cannon, on this alone I
would use them in every game. They are ideal for
supporting any Waveserpent born attack, or getting
round the flanks to take out any heavy weapon crews,
even trying to get a lucky kill at the lightly
armoured rear of certain vehicles, as they have
wonderful manoeuvrability. Sadly you will hardly
see them on the table tops and for one reason, the
price 35 point each so as a minimum you have to take
three which will cost you 105 points for that price
you could take nine guardians with a Starcannon, if
you upgrade one of them to a Shuriken cannon then you
are paying the same price as for two Vypers with
Starcannons, at these prices you would have to be
insane to taken them. If you are crazy enough to
take them, what ever you do don't get them stuck in CC
it ain't worth it. |
| Shining Spears |
As with Guardian Jetbikes Shining spears are some
very nice models, which when well painted are a sight
to behold, they are better shots which is a bit
unnecessary as they are still armed with catapults
they are a bit better at the old close combat as their
laser lances make them S5 which is nice, for lots of
points you can upgrade to an Exarch and the only
reason to do this would be to give your Exarch an
invulnerable save or Brightlance, so for 3 bikes, one
being an Exarch with a Brightlance will cost you just
under 200 points, yes that's right the same price of
three Vypers with Starcannons, and which do you think
is going to make a bigger impact and last for
longer... Rubbish don't take them, ever! |
| Vypers |
The Vyper Jetbike is one of the most Eldar'esq
options to you and I would strongly advise that you
take one or two to every engagement, initially the
armour ten all round and open topped qualities of this
vehicle may scare you, but trust me they are great,
the trick is not to let your opponent work that out.
Whilst one paper they have the survivability of a pork
pie in front of Dysartes, it should be remembered that
they are skimmers so as a rule they must be moved
6" a turn and suddenly no more rolls on the
penetration tables, it should also be remembered that
they are essentially weapons platforms to be used in a
support role and they are expendable. On the armament
front they have the bog standard BS of a guardian so
Brightlances and Rocket Launchers aren't going to hit
that often, therfore scatter lasers and Starcannons
are the best bet, personally I go with Starcannons,
I'm never very good at rolling high (or above 2 for
that matter) for scatter laser shots, plus the
Starcannon is more versatile in my opinion. This
leaves you with a Vyper that can fulfill two roles;
light tank hunter and heavy armoured troop splatter.
For light tank killing use the Vyper's maneuverability
to get into favorable firing lines, i.e. the more
vulnerable 10/11 sides (shooting a dred in the back is
well recommended) or to root out those enemy vehicles
behind cover (whirlwinds / basilisks). In their
other role they should be used along with your main
advance to soften up, or take out any immediate threat
to your attacking units, alternatively you could go HQ
hunting. To maximise their potential I would
recommend always hugging terrain to block possible
lines of sight, starting the game behind cover (hull
down) also helps I find, and always being 24"
away from the enemy (come-on they can be taken down by
bolter fire). As a final function they can secure
table quarters which is very useful as they can zip
along way across the board in the last turn. Now
before you ask they do have access to all that
standard Eldar vehicle upgrades, I wouldn't recommend
it, keep them cheap and expendable, the more points
you invest in them the less you have for your main
force, remember they are used to 'support'. |
| Swooping Hawks |
Every one knows they Eldar rule the skies, it's when
they start messing about on the ground that the
trouble begins, Hawks bring death from the sky and
they have some interesting equipment to do this; they
have wings, which are very pretty and work like a jump
pack, but also allow deep strike whenever you like
regardless of the mission, they have funky grenades
which make a big mess of guardsmen (I must confess
that half the time I take them for the large AP5
template, mainly because I managed to cover three
squads of guard with it once, which amused me greatly)
and a rather odd 24" 2 shot Lasblaster, which is
very useful, (move 12" fire 24" hmm that's a
36"...). Ignoring the Exarch for a minute I like
to take five of these guys, as they are useful for
dropping behind enemy lines and taking out any heavy's
or Dysartes' mortars (which he tends to keep behind
terrain, but also away from any support) that might be
otherwise inaccessible they can also be used to charge
and stop any unit firing for a turn of two which is
nice. What they are not though are combat monsters the
Lasblaster is only S3 and they have the usual Aspect
stats so they ain't big on the marine killing either,
I prefer to think of them as a well timed surgical
strike unit, I only tend to bring them into play in
turns three and four anyway, which can be useful for
securing board quarters at the last minute. As usual
they have the option of having an Exarch leader, with
the option of making him (possibly) an unstoppable CC
killing machine, the massively expensive sustained
assault option allows him to make additional attacks
for every successful hit in CC, in theory this can
mean killing every model in the enemy unit, this ain't
that likely though, he is only as strong as your
average Eldar, still it could be enough to swing the
balance in your favour. |
HEAVY SUPPORT
| Falcon |
I must confess I don't particularly like the Falcon,
whilst I would argue that it is one of the best
looking models GW produce, I have never come to find
it particularly affective on the battlefield.
Stats wise it is a medium tank with the ever useful
skimmer attributes so you need not worry about being
taken down in CC (it needs a 6 to be hit) or having my
nasty penetrating hits down the bird (skimmer moves
6" a turn). As for weaponry is comes with
twin linked shuriken catapults which you can upgrade,
but never should, it also comes with a pulse laser
which offers you D3 strength eight shots which is of
some comfort but isn't exactly going to down a
Monolith or Landraider, and is best used against light
vehicles or big gribblies. You also have to
choose a second turret weapon Scatterlasers come with
the model and are relatively cheap, Brightlances and
missile launchers will always miss so the always
dependable Starcannon can come to the rescue here too.
As nice as this all sounds it's let down by the bloody
awful ballistic skill of three, so half the time you
will miss, or in my case the entire game (hence my
general resentment). The redeeming feature of
the vehicle is it's ability to transport small six man
squads around, which whenever I use one is what it
inevitably gets used for, and it is quite good at it,
since it is able to deliver a small surgical strike,
fire dragons are well suited to this role. As
too upgrades I would recommend the ever useful spirit
stones, which will keep your tank moving and firing a
good deal of the time, and the terrific holofield
which forces your opponent to roll two dice on the
results table and use the lowest, when combined with
spirit stones this can make your tank nearly
indestructible. It's all a bit pricey for my
taste which is why I prefer the humble Wave serpent |
| Fire Prism |
Built on the template of the falcon this variant is
literally a one trick pony, it supports a large Prism
Cannon, which I have always thought looks a little
odd. Erm what can I say, in reality you are
paying 115points for a Lascannon which can shoot a
long way (which is not necessarily a good thing unless
you play on large boards) and is on a medium armoured
skimmer, stick it at the back of your line with a
clear firing lane and watch it miss a lot due to low
WS and you can forget about the blast template it's no
big deal, unless someone brings lots of obliterators
to the party. As I may have hinted it's a bit
rubbish, and the obvious solution to this is to stick
a Farseer with guide next to it, so now we have
created a 200 point one trick pony, and if you can
find a use for this in a 1000point game please write
in and tell me. As a final note I wouldn't bother with
vehicle upgrades as it should be out of any other
heavy weapons range anyway. |
| Wraithlord |
Everyone's favourite example of cheese, shut up it's
going up in cost and you HAVE to take a heavy weapon
it was in the FAQ. Strangely they have been
phased out of my lists of late, which is odd since I
just bought one. Well what do we get for our points,
lets see the toughest thing in the Eldar list, the
strongest thing in the Eldar list, the most reliable
thing in the Eldar list... you get the idea. To all
essential purposes it is the Eldar equivalent of a
dreadnought, but instead of thick armour plates it's
constructed from the always reliable wraithbone, it
can survive multiple heavy weapon hits without being
affected unlike it's marine counterpart. The
most amusing quality for most people is the fact that
Marines can't hurt in in close combat since you need
S5 to wound it, so as soon as you get it into close
combat with a tactical squad there is bugger all then
can do about it until they run away and as it hits at
S10 not a lot is going to get up after they get hit.
They have a standard marine save though so they ain't
invulnerable and are somewhat fragile when sniper
rifles and weapons that ignore toughness are wafted in
their direction, on the plus side they do scare the
pants off your opponent and they will probably throw
every weapon they have in its direction which is good
as they will ignore the rest of your army. So it
comes down to usage, there are several schools of
thought on this issue there is; the take three charge
um down the centre with a guardian meat shield option
(which also coincides with the number of friends you
have decreasing proportionally to how often you use
this tactic), there is the taunt your opponent into a
dread vs dread face off (which ensures its
survivability as it will survive till then and will
win) this depends on your opponent, though Dysartes
and I generally like to see how interesting one on one
fights pan out. Finally there is the use them as
a distraction so your plan gets carries out option,
which is what I used to do and on the plus side they
won't run away. To quickly mention the heavy
weapon options if you want to keep it CC go cheap, if
you want to benefit from the extra BS I'd go with a
Bright lance as the chances of hitting with them are
greatly improved. |
| War Walker |
Used as light scouting vehicles, these wraithbone
constructs are distinctly Eldar in design and ability,
they are quite expensive, odd to look at, are very
fragile and have the ability to lay down some of the
heaviest support in the Eldar arsenal. Ideally
they should be used on flanks or at the rear hopefully
behind some form of cover to benefit from the hull
down rule, as what they aren't is tough, they are on
open toped walker with armour ten all round, in short
they can go down to bolter fire (so you might wanted
to keep them 18" from anything anyway remotely
scary), whirlwinds are especially deadly as they gain
lots of horrible ordinance advantages, and the force
field they have is a joke, good on a wave serpent, bad
on a war walker (that said you now have a 1 in 6
chance of a Lascannon having no effect, but they
shouldn't be firing at war walkers anyway). They are
armed with two heavy weapons, ranging from the cheap
shuriken cannon to everyone's favorite Starcannon, now
on GW's models they have a tendency to have a bright
lance/scatter laser combo, this is stupid, as it
affectively wastes one weapon a turn, the best option
is to have both weapons the same. The next rule
is that war walkers battle winning potential is
increased with numbers, i.e. use two or three, whilst
a little over-kill three Warwalkers with nine
Starcannons can kill anything, especially when
combined with a nearby Farseer with guide. In
short I like them, massive amounts of fire power,
lovely models and the ability to be blown away like
blossom on the wind, Eldar to the core. |
| Support Weapon
Battery |
Some of the more odd Eldar weapons in the game; the
D-cannon the Vibro-cannon and the Shadow weaver.
Essentially they hang around at the back and make a
mess of things (for more in-depth analysis consult the
Weapons article), visually they a quite nice
models and the ability to take them in batteries 1-3
could be rewarding they are fairly survivable if they
are behind cover or are 'shielded'.
Interestingly I and others found the pricing for them
in the codex a bit confusing so it was 'clarified' in
the FAQ which to my mind, started saying one thing and
ended with the other, in short the 20points is for
both guardians and then you add the weapon i.e. a
D-cannon costs 50points. |
| Dark Reapers |
Dark Reapers are possibly the most reliable and
effective anti marine troops in the entire 40K
universe. I could end the description there, but
there is more too them than that; they have all the
usual aspect warrior stats, so they won't run away and
can fire at things and hit them with a high rate of
success, what makes reapers special is a the weapon
they carry. The Reaper launcher seams to have
been designed with one thing in mind, kill marines,
it's a S5 weapon with AP3 so lets see, if you have a
squad of five Reapers, they fire their ten reaper
launcher shots at a marine squad and on average they
will kill around five of them, which is conveniently
the same number you find in those pesky devastator
squads. Now you can have a handy Farseer with
Guide nearby, which usually increases the amount you
kill to about seven. The problem for these guys
is that your opponent also knows what they are capable
of so they will seek to destroy them, thankfully
thanks to their range you can put them at the back of
your lines hopefully behind some form of cover and
probably screen them with a small five man Guardian
squad to block line of site, this will not stop a
whirlwind of course and these very cheap little
tank'ets are your worse nightmare (for any aspect
squad really) as they have a large ordinance template
which is AP4 and will make horribly expensive mess
which brings me to my second point. Reapers are not
cheap at 37points per model you really need to make
them pay for themselves by inflicting serious damage
on your opponents expensive (and threatening) squads
which can be tricky, or use them to help you attain
mission specific goals which is where careful
deployment of these guys really pays off. As
with all aspect squads you can upgrade one of them to
an Exarch, allowing you to 'upgrade' their weapon to a
Shuriken cannon (never) or a Missile launcher which
can be useful and or use the Crack shot (very useful
in cityfight) or Fast shot (two plasma missile shots
can make a mess of anything), but these are quite
expensive upgrades for a one wound model. |
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