Eldar 1850 - Actual List

[ElectricPaladin]

This is the actual Eldar list that I plan to bring to my FLGS next week. I know I've posted a lot of lists, and some of them have gotten commentary, but this is the one I'm actually going to use... unless you explain why I shouldn't. So, if you don't want me to embarrass myself, now's the time to lend a hand.

1850 Eldar

HQ
• Farseer w/Jetbike, Runes of Warding, Spirit Stones, Singing Spear, 2 Powers

Elites
• 5 Striking Scorpions, Exarch w/Claw, Infiltrate
° Waveserpent w/Missile Launchers, Shuriken Cannon

Troops
• 10 Dire Avengers, Exarch w/Double Catapaults, Bladestorm
° Waveserpent w/Shuriken Cannons, Shuriken Cannon
• 10 Dire Avengers, Exarch w/Double Catapaults, Bladestorm
° Waveserpent w/Shuriken Cannons, Shuriken Cannon
• 5 Guardian Jetbikes, 1 Shuriken Cannon
• 10 Rangers

Fast Attack
• 10 Warp Spiders, Exarch w/Dual Deathspinners & Powerblades, Hit-and-Run

Heavy Support
• Falcon w/Bright Lance, Shuriken Cannon
• 3 War Walkers, 2 w/Dual Scatter Lasers, 1 w/Dual Missile Launchers

The battle plan is this: I can either outflank or infiltrate the scorpions and their waveserpent, which gives me a chance to send some eldar missiles into the side armor of any pesky vehicles, as well as delivering a fairly tasty melee unit to disrupt any enemy shooting I don't want to deal with. I can do likewise with outflanking war walkers. The jetseer hangs out with the jet guardians, but their job is really to be cheap ablative wounds to protect the jetseer while he casts Divination powers on the war walkers. Everything else is pretty self-explanatory.

I think it's a decent list... what do you think?

[DWest]

-The Claw on the Scorpion Exarch may not be the most useful, with all the firepower you're better Dooming any 2+ armor and hosing it down, and it's only Str 6 anyway (remember their Str 4 base comes from the special Scorpion chainsword)

-Second I might suggest spreading the walker missile launchers out; do 2 w/ 1 scatter, 1 ML, just so if you lose one you don't lose all your missiles.

Overall, looks pretty solid, if a little light on tank killers.

[SaganGree]

Elites
• 5 Striking Scorpions, Exarch w/Claw, Infiltrate
° Waveserpent w/Missile Launchers, Shuriken Cannon


I think it's a decent list... what do you think?

If you have the models I would drop the scorpions as they won't have much to do, even in the back field, as they have neither the numbers or the flexibility to be that effective, and go for 3 more war walkers with EMLs... or more SLs and upgrade the WS to have TLSL, the extra range is Worth the points.

Also, I would split the Warp Spiders into 2 Units and Drop the exarch... If your Warp Spiders are in combat they are already dead. Use the extra points for more Bikes. (Yes I know your DA's are also scoring... but I've had too many WS blow up and kill more than half the squad and/or run away that I don't hold much confidence in the Unit any more)

Lastly, do NOT drop your powers for divination as your most powerful tool is Fortune, especially on Bikes. Remember, they are your scoring unit and will NEED to be supported to be able to hold objectives later in the game.

You have a deceptively squishy army because nothing can stand on its own, but with these changes I think you can help mitigate that some. But as was said, I think you are going to have a terrible time in you face a Land Raider but thus is the Joy of Eldar atm. Good Luck either way!

[ElectricPaladin]

The other possibility, if I want more anti-tank/land raider killing, is that I could shift some points around, drop the scorpions entirely, and include the following unit instead:

• 10 Guardians, Bright Lance Platform, Warlock w/Conceal
° Wave Serpent w/Bright Lances, Shuriken Cannon

This unit pretty much just drives up and camps in a ruin or something - if necessary, they can sit in the open and hope the warlock's save can protect them - and spends the rest of the game sniping at vehicles.

I'm also thinking about dropping the guardian bikes for a jetseer council. I can proxy my three shining spears for three warlocks on jetbikes with singing spears and destructor, embolden, and enhance, respectively. Possibly a little more survivable than the guardian bikes, and I don't really need another scoring unit.

What do you think?

[Xenith]

The other possibility...

• 10 Guardians, Bright Lance Platform, Warlock w/Conceal
° Wave Serpent w/Bright Lances, Shuriken Cannon

This unit pretty much just drives up and camps in a ruin or something - if necessary, they can sit in the open and hope the warlock's save can protect them - and spends the rest of the game sniping at vehicles.

With all due respect, this is a terrible, terrible idea.

A unit of guardians there solely to try and get vehicles with a single, expensive BS3 shot each turn? BS3 and glancing (AV12+) on a 4+ give that unit 75% chance to do nothing to a vehicle each turn, and that's before you even factor in cover etc.

This 150 is point unit of guardians will be outshone at tank killing by an 80pt unit of dragons.

If you want a mini dragons tank hunter, go storm guardians, 2x fusion, spear.

The only good heavy weapons for guardians are shuricannons (cheap+lots of shots), scatters (cheapish, lots of shots, long range) EML (Long range, plasma template can still hit regardless of BS).

You need, need need a reliable way of opening AV14 at range. With this in mind, I'd switch the WS weapons on the avengers for bright lances.

A good rule of thumb for eldar (that I use) is give anti tank troops a transport with anti troop weapons, and anti infantry troops a transport with anti tank weapons. Then they can support each other effectively.

[DrLove42]

I have to agree. A lance is incredibly expensive, far too much so in fact. And putting it on a BS3 unit is a waste.

Lances are only worth their extraordinary points cost in 2 places;
Serpents (Twin Linked!)
Wraithlords (BS4, Super durable)

Also you've jsut written "2 powers" ont he Farseer. Either you're planning on trading them in for rulebook powers (in which case buy the cheapest 2 from the codex, trade them in for Divination and get the stock reroll hits with one) or get doom and fortune.

My personal advice would be drop the Missile Walker and the Scorpions + Transport. Buy a Wraithlord with a Lance and a Missile. (Heavy weapons, durable, stompy in combat (one of the only natural S10 guys) and gives the enemies big guns another target to split to). Left over points to get a small Pathfinders unit. Maybe even lose the guardians (if they're home defence the pathfinders will live longer and do longer damage)

[Xenith]

-buy the cheapest 2 from the codex, trade them in for Divination and get the stock reroll hits with one) or get doom and fortune.
-drop the Missile Walker and the Scorpions + Transport.
-Buy a Wraithlord with a Lance and a Missile.
-Left over points to get a small Pathfinders unit.
-Maybe even lose the guardians (if they're home defence the pathfinders will live longer and do longer damage)

Solid advice. Id say possibly split the 10 man rangers into 2x5man pathfinders. You're less likely to lose them all to a flamer hit that way, as well as more scoring.

The Falcon is apparently doing nothing in your list (nothing to transport). It used to be good as a transport, but now holofields are pointless, the serpent is much better. There are also better ways of getting S8 shots on the table for less points (your falcon is what, 160pts? That's 2x EML war walkers, or another wraithlord.

[ElectricPaladin]

Well, sadly, I don't have a wraithlord. Trust me, it's the top of my list. Up there with fire dragons.

What about dropping the falcon, using the points to make a jetseer council for my farseer to hang out with, and putting those bright lances on the infiltrating/outflanking scorpions and their transport? I've still got a fair amount of S8 shooting (missiles from the war walkers, twin-linked bright lance on the scorpions), but no otherwise useless Guardians.

[noahwood]

My experience with Eldar has taught me that they are meant to be played as they are designed. By that I mean that every unit has a purpose, and it is best to put them to that purpose. The greatest strength of our army is the massive amount of S6 firepower we can put out. A few quick points:

You spoke a lot about having an EML here, or a brightlance there...pinning your hopes on a long chain of dice rolls is only good if you really are a Farseer weaving the strands of fate, but if you can pull that off you should be in Vegas, not playing 40k. Seriously, S4, S6 and melta guns are everywhere, and you are doing yourself and the Eldar a disservice if you aren't throwing buckets of dice each turn!

Guardians specialize in taking casualties. If you are looking for a unit for your Farseer to hang out with, look no further. Throw Embolden on the Warlock, and you get to reroll failed psychic tests. They can hang out in the backfield, support your War Walkers/Falcon with Guide, and score your home base objective.

People are always passing up the Falcon, but I happen to love it. Do I run them? No because I love Wraithlords and War Walkers more... The key to success with a Falcon (as with most things in our army) is to output the maximum number if shots. I recommend a scatter laser with underslung shuriken cannon. This can reliably hunt light armor and infantry alike(guide for even more fun).

I love warp spiders. I like to deepstrike a small unit behind an enemy tank, proceed to pour S6 into armor 10 and warp away afterwards. If they survive to harass something else, all the better. I think a big squad with withdraw can work, but I just found a lot of utility in running the tiny squad.

I run harlequins as my "rock" unit that slams into whatever has made it through no man's land and my withering mass of fire. I can see you using scorpions in a similar role since that seems to be what you own. Your scorpions shouldn't take a transport (if you really want to run them). Because of the changes to assaulting from reserve and assaulting after disembarking, these guys probably wouldn't get into combat until turn 4 at the earliest if you outflank. Infiltrating on foot can work for a speedbump/tarpit, but you will get shot up pretty badly for at least a turn, so you might want a few more guys in that squad.

Definitely pick up some fire dragons. You cannot deny their utility!

Keep those jetbikes cheap (no cannon) and in reserve! Have them boost onto an objective late game.

Consider taking defend on your dire avengers. I no longer use blamestorm because I would rather get shots off as often as possible. When I do run an exarch, I like defend as you can help the survivability of your CC units if you charge in with them. Otherwise they can make a great tarpit.

Rangers are neat, but expensive. If you want someone to camp an objective on your side of the table, Guardians do it better for less. That said, who doesn't love a sniper rifle with 3 chances to be AP1/2?

If this was rambling and incoherent I would like to blame my phone for making it prohibitively difficult to proofread what I've written, so I'm afraid this is what you get. Cheers!