1850 Eldar Balanced Force

[Power Klawz]

First thoughts after recently getting my hands on the new dex. Envisioning this as a Biel-Tan warhost with a good helping of aspect warriors. Might toss out the guardians and one of the warlocks in favor of more Avengers in a serpent.

HQ

[113] Autarch w/ warp jump generator, reaper launcher and scorpion chainsword

[130] Farseer w/ runes of witnessing and jetbike

[90] Warlock council w/ 2 warlocks, 1 jetbike and 1 singing spear

TROOPS

[220] 20 Guardian defenders w/ 2 starcannons

[130] 10 Dire Avengers
[130] Wave Serpent w/ starcannon and shuriken cannon (Dedicate transport for Avengers)

[153] 9 Windrider Jetbikes

ELITES

[132] 6 Fire Dragons

FAST ATTACK

[225] 10 Warp Spiders w/ exarch, spinneret rifle and fast shot

[160] Crimson Hunter

HEAVY SUPPORT

[222] 5 Dark Reapers w/ 4 starshot missiles, exarch, eldar missile launcher, flakk missiles and fast shot

[145] Falcon w/ twin linked bright lances and shuriken cannon

FINAL TOTAL: 1850

The idea is to keep the large guardian squad with one warlock in reserves for a late game objective grab, deep strike the autarch and his spiders as soon as possible to remove anti air threats or light vehicles/anything nasty in that order. Hold the Crimson hunter until anti air has been neutralized and enemy flyers have arrived if possible, use it to clear out air threats, then take out armor, then kill everything else.

Dragons in the falcon go make something disappear around turn 2, this could also be anti air emplacements. Basically I want the skies clear at all costs for my single flyer to wreak havoc. As far as anti armor goes I've got plenty of both the short ranged and long ranged variety with reapers and dragons, then everything else gets dealt with by shuriken spam. Mob the farseer up with the jetbike squad and have them tag along with the avengers to go grab a far objective early, deep striking autarch and spiders arrive shortly after and help out.

Problems I foresee: if they enemy spams flyers (ie: more than 2) I might not be able to handle it. Cron air is stupid and I refuse to make a list around it so whatever, you win if you've got 9 flyers I guess. Horde armies could be rough and would require a shift in strategy, basically pour fire into one flank at a time and work my way towards the middle. MEQ and other elite armies are what this list is basically made for, so I just need to maneuver smartly and make the correct target priority decisions.

[davel]

You have a lot of units in reserve. There is a risk that you could be tabled before reserves come on. The large unit of guardians with warlock and 2 star cannons is a bit of an investment to leave off the table for the last turn. I would of thought a small unit of un upgraded bikes would perform better in that roll.

Dave l

[Power Klawz]

I guess it depends on the enemy, If I'm facing a gunline with a high rate of fire that could potentially kill me off in a turn of good shooting I'd probably set up the guardians in cover to start and save the bikes in reserves. I am mainly thinking about MEQ armies in my description above, like a tactical squad marching across the field to grab an objective in my deployment area taking a few casualties along the way, a fresh 20 strong guardian unit is going to decimate basically anything that can grab objectives. Against IG or tau it would probably be better to camp them on an objective at first and try to kill my way down a single flank with everything else.

Against gunlines (IG, tau, some marine lists) Deploy everything except Spiders and autarch. Speed with transports and bikes to where I can put more firepower on them than they can on me due to static nature of gunlines and greater maneuverability of my troops. Possibly march guardians behind the rest of the army to bat clean up, possibly leave them in cover to draw fire and/or threaten encroachment into my deployment area. Deep strike spiders and autarch to remove pie plates and/or anti air, flyer comes in and wrecks any remaining armor.

Against horde assault (orks, 'nids, daemons) Keep guardians in reserves, prioritize thinning hordes with anti infantry firepower, high strength goes against monstrous creatures or tough units like nobz, juggernauts etc. Get flyer on quick to kill MCs, run away from everything as best as possible while giving hordes a face full of awesome. Dismantle one large unit at a time then move on. Can't afford to sacrifice a unit by letting it eat a charge, but spiders might be able to pull of a hit and run scenario when there's a mismatch.

Against Elite Shooty: (some eldar and dark eldar lists, Marines, 'Crons) Basically out shoot them. Unless its another eldar or Dark eldar list you'll be faster, stick and move, shuck and jive, watch as by the time your enemies punch lands he's missing most of his fingers.

Against Elite Assault (CSM, some daemons, some eldar and dark eldar, blood angels) You're just as fast as they are but you've got the advantage since you're just trying to stay away from them while they're reliant on random charge distance to get to you, and they have to eat some pretty scary overwatch everytime they try. Focus fire on the fastest elements first, kite the rest of the army around by the nose and laugh as those 20 guardians wipe Deathwing knights and Death company off the map.