Three Choices for Eldar

[Sainhann]

Here are three units that I thinks Eldar players should consider.

One is for Fast Attack and the other two are for Heavy Support.

First the Fast Attack;

Squadron of Vypers armed with two Shuriken Cannons, The total cost for this unit is 180 points and can provide a unit that is not only fast but can pack a total of 18 str 6 shots. So a bit of fire power as well.

Plus you have several ways to use it. Keep it in reserve and after your opponent brings on their flyers you bring these in and get on the flyers rear if possible or if not the flank.

Or, if you take a Seer Council on bikes or Guardians on bikes put these in with them getting some cover saves.

The first Heavy Support is a Squadron of War Walkers armed with two Scatter Lasers. This unit cost is also 180 points and will provide you with 24 str 6 shots. Get it in some cover and you got yourselves a good firepower unit.

The second Heavy Support is a Shadow Weaver Support Platform section. The unit costs only 90 points and has a nice 48" range. So you got a unit that can fire three Blast templates that each have str 6.

I will need to check to see if this unit can fire indirect since that will give you a very good unit that can target quite a bit of the table.

So total point cost if you take all three units is 450 points. But for these points you get 42 str 6 shots and three str 6 blast templates.

[Dalleron]

Guaridan jetbikes are a troop choice. So they don't right away compare to bike seer council or vyper.

The biggest problem with vypers, aside from average BS, is that they are open topped. If they weren't, they'd be much better. Which leads into War Walkers. Same armour, but not opened topped. And war walkers have scout, so can outflank. Even with shuriken cannons, they outstrip vypers.

I haven't got an opinion on support platforms, as I've never used them. But I would imagine that the other ones are better due to their respective rules.

[Aramel]

Both D-Cannons and Shadow Weavers are G weapons, which has been FAQed to mean barrage. So yes, they can fire indirectly (they are also shown as Barrage in the Rulebook Index). Vypers would be pretty horrible against flyers, as you would need 6s to hit. For 100pts a quad-gun is a far better option.

However, the new rules allow one vyper to flat out while the rest do not, so you can have one vyper in front shield the others with a 4+ save, so they do have some survivability. War- walkers are probably as good or better than before with their great fire power. At least now you can hide them behind your serpents or terrain to get a cover save. I have yet to use them myself though.

[Sainhann]

Guaridan jetbikes are a troop choice. So they don't right away compare to bike seer council or vyper.

The biggest problem with vypers, aside from average BS, is that they are open topped. If they weren't, they'd be much better. Which leads into War Walkers. Same armour, but not opened topped. And war walkers have scout, so can outflank. Even with shuriken cannons, they outstrip vypers.

I haven't got an opinion on support platforms, as I've never used them. But I would imagine that the other ones are better due to their respective rules.

Yes Vypers armor is not that great but get some jetbikes around them and you got a cover save.

Plus yes against flyers you will need 6's to hit and yes you are using Guardian BS so 4+ for any thing else. But you are rolling 18 dice and each of those are str 6 AP 5.

So against most infantry targets you will be wounding on 2+ and against anything that is toughness 3 that means instant death.

It is a cheaper unit and with the new Hull Point system they actually got a bit better. Plus if your opponent is shooting at them they are not shooting at something else. They do get a jink save which can be very useful and should cut down the damage somewhat.

As for the Shadow Weavers they are also a very cheap unit that can be place somewhere out of sight and just go indirect. Plus for Eldar they give something that most of the units do not have, range to hit something.

Plus as a blast template it should ignore cover saves. So if you are facing an opponent who is sitting behind a Aegis wall. Drop this until them. Plus they are str 6 so can destroy light vehicles.

Yes D-Cannons wound on 2+ but they have only half the range.

Until we get the newest version of the Codex which is still many months away, Eldar players need to consider other options since if they think that the Old Mech Eldar will still work they should not be surprise when they lose their Falcons and Wave Serpents.

6th Edition will be more about firepower and all three of these units provide just that.

They can also be good against Terminators and their 2+ save.

Because the best way to deal with hard to kill things is to pour a ton of shots into them. Otherwise make them dance. They will end up rolling 1's.

[fuzzbuket]

the pair of vypers is INSANLEY fragile. and frankly a trio of scatter laser WW's are both more shooty AND survivable! (longer range and higher body count)

as above 3 war walkers is better than 2. pair them up with a farseer and youve got one of the nastiest shooting units in the game.

i prefer big squads of warp spiders as opposed to weapon platforms. mainly due to the fact that support platforms are NOT survivable and are very easy targets. (although a nice big screen of storm guardians could be a good thing here)

but with eldar its good to see new things :D I for one think warp spiders (in big squads, i might run 20 :P) are going to be great in 6th. super mobile infantry that can jump away after shooting (avoid getting shot back) AND can mince infantry? AND light tanks?! AND are not shabby in CC?!

ill take 2 thankyou.

[Sainhann]

Actually if you use that Squadron of Vypers for what it is meant to do.

I.E. get on a flank and draw attention away from things that are far more fragile. True they are only armor 10 but they do get their 5+ jink save which can be a life saver.

Plus the whole unit has a total of 6 hull points.

Yes, there will be times when in one round of shooting you will be unlucky and lose all three of them. But usually it will take several rounds of shooting.

Yes, any str 4 weapon will just need a six to get a glance on it but they would need to hit first and then roll that six. Then you get your jink save.

But us them out on a flank and have them in reserve this can be a very strong unit. Plus 18 str 6 shots at AP 5 will give you a large amount of firepower that can destroy other light vehicles and infantry units.

Against most infantry being able to wound on 2+ is huge.

Plus you have that unit of War Walkers that is also drawing your opponent's attention.

The other thing that I do like about the Vypers are that they can get across the tabletop in one turn of movement.