Marine player looking for tips to battle eldar

[VinceBlack]

Im a marine player looking for tips to deal with eldar. I have played a good deal of games, mainly against Chaos, Nids, and Imperial Guard. I faced my friends new eldar army and had no idea what to expect, I suppose I should have researched them a bit, needless to say the beatdown was horrible.

He fielded:
10 Wraithguard with an farseer
2 Wraithlords with brightlance and Missle Launchers
1 Avatar
6 firedragons in a transport with missles
10 howling banchees in transport with missles
10 Dark Reapers with a warlock I believe.

I didn't expect that many toughness 6 models or how good his transports are Also the fortune/doom hurt me quite a bit. Any good suggestions or tactics that have worked for you?

[keithsilva]

Dark Reapers cant have warlocks, only guadains and farseers and wraithguards, and they cannot deattach unless the farseer dies or all the guardains die, so if he did he was cheating you. You might mean farseer with reapers and warlock with wraithguard. Also ther isnt enough troops there should be two, unless you mean 10 wraithguard and warlock upgraded, for troop then he would need one. What did you field on your side?

[Rangerrob]

Wow, this is almost my exact Eldar defender planetstrike build.

Simple rule with Eldar...If they have Swords shoot them, if the don't have swords, charge them. Eldar are specialized and do one thing well, so work that to your advantage. Combat their shooters and shoot their assaulty types.

Those Wraithguard are one of my favorite units, but in hand to hand with marines they are just meh.

Wraithlords are always a pain...sniper rifles help with that. Think of the sniper rifle as a cheap LasCannon against Wraithlords. Wraithlords don't like the power fist much either...but it will cost yah a couple marines if you assault these things.

Hope this helps.

Oh yeah and reapers have a 3-5 unit size...he can't have a unit of 10.

[VinceBlack]

Dark Reapers cant have warlocks, only guadains and farseers and wraithguards, and they cannot deattach unless the farseer dies or all the guardains die, so if he did he was cheating you. You might mean farseer with reapers and warlock with wraithguard. Also ther isnt enough troops there should be two, unless you mean 10 wraithguard and warlock upgraded, for troop then he would need one. What did you field on your side?

Im sure he wasn't cheating, I am just not remembering correctly.

Thanks for the advice, keep it coming.

[kire]

my buddy plays elder so i fight them all the time. let me tell you how i counter each of those units

banshees/ dragons in a transport these 2 units have the same 2 weaknesses. they both need to be close and they both have armor 4+. you need to take out the transports asap to kill there mobility after that move away from he crash and shoot you can rip them apart with heavy bolters but normal bolters will do.

dark reapers are a pain for space marines i keep everyone in rhinos or cover till there taken care of best thing with these is to deepstrike terminators or a dreadnought something they cant handle and then assault them. you cant assault the turn thay drop so place them between the reapers and your army to get cover also remember that unit will have cost him 350-400 points depending on upgrades don't be afraid if you lose a terminator squad killing it you still doubled your return

wraith guard die to missile dev squads and vindicator. remember he cant put them in a transport if he wants them as a troop so they will be footslogging. they have a 12" range so just stay away and whittle them down as they come. the alternative is to use a assault squad cleverly and get the wraith guard to move with in 18" so you can assault them. it will be a protracted combat but you will keep his 350 point unit tied up for around 250 as the sergeants power fist whittles away at them. of these i like the dev squad best as they can fire at the wave serpents first turn and hen switch to the wraith guard

with the wraith lords the name of the game is assault cannons due to there high toughness your only wounding on a 6 anyways so all wounds will be rending. another option is stern guard with hellfire rounds while this will cause a lot of wounds it still gets a save there not bad but i think in this instance there too many points for the effect. however this is made up for by there ability to mop up banshees/ dragons after you down there serpent using kraken rounds

i have never fought an avatar i can tell you how i would face one but id rather let someone with first hand experience give you there opinion

one final thing the list you put up only had 1 troop choice and no HQ if you don't remember so be it but if you could let us know it would be helpful

best of luck next game purge the Xenos in the name of the Emperor

[Dingareth]

Sternguard laugh at Wraithlords and Avatars. A single volley sould be more than enough to bring down an unwounded Wraithlord, wounds on 2+!

[keithsilva]

no probelm. I play bith eldar and space marines, so i know the strengths and weakness. Now dealing with an avatar you can go two ways, shot it woth alot of high strength, AP2 weapons, make him roll 4+ instead of 3+. If you assult him, try and use thunder hammers, with lighting claws, thunder hammer will cause him to attack last, if you hit, wound and he falls a 4+. You just need to amke it to the next round to kill him.

Wraithgurad, just use anything that will do through there armor. If you assult have power weapons, claws or, power fist, that will take care of them quick. If you can kill the warlock or farseer near them so each on has to do a wraithsight rule.

Waveserpents are tricky, but pick one at a time. Remember that if we moved, and they pop out they can not assult, and if you notice he is setting up his banchess for an assult move that squad away into cover, then run, make him pop them out and try to get to you, and hope he rolls low for moving through cover, and fleet. Dont charge unless you have to. When the dragons pop out, they will more then like destroy the tank he is after, but they will be out in the open after that, just nuke them, keep a sqaud close by, make him either attack he squad are tank.

Wraithlords hate lascannons, shot them with ap2 weapons, or shoht the farseer or warlock make him to wraithsight, then charge with powerfist you should take it out quick.

Dark Reapers are tuff but are killable, I use Sternguard in a droppod deep strike next to them, and fire ap3 bolters at them, that should take care of them. Try take them out first, with ap2 weapons, they will be the biggest headache you will have.

Hope this helps;)

[Chumbalaya]

Take vehicles, watch him cry.

Only 1 unit of FDs and no other anti-tank (sorry, 3 EMLs and a bright lance might annoy something, but that's it) means that once you pop the FDs it's GG.

Wraithguard are crapola because they cost as much as a Terminator for nowhere near the awesomeness.

TH/SS Termies in LRC (2 if you want to be mean), Tacs in Rhinos, Dakka Preds, TLAC Dreads. Blow apart his few transports and smash his face in with Termies.

[Duke]

Lots of good tips so far.

I have 25000 points of Eldar and almost as much Marines, so I know a bit about them.


Wraithguard: the best way to combat them cheaply is to throw a combat squad with a power fist at them, watch them melt! DON'T SHOOT THEM

Wraithlordsand Avatar: First a few words of wisdom, DON'T TREAT WL's LIKE VEHICLES! treat them like a Daemon Prince and shoot them with heavy bolters (Like from razorbacks). But the best way to chop down WL's and Avatars is Sternguard (As has been mentioned)

Dark Reapers with Farseer: Since you are Marines these are a nightmare, especially if he brings the tempest launcher, the best way to combat them is to stay in your Rhinos and give him a drive by from the top hatch and then dump and rapid fire him the next turn. DONT GET OUT OF THE TRANSPORT!

Banshees: Simple, same thing as Reapers. These girls hate heavy bolters (again with the razorbacks)

Firedragons: You may have to commit one vehicle to these guys. As a marine player I like running a TL las pred with no sponsons for situations like this, it is cheap and can reach out and touch a Wave Serpent. Once they get out pound them with rapid fire.


General tips VS Eldar:
- Don't bring Meltas, bring plasma. Eldar Holofields deny double pen and they can't hurt the Avatar. Yes plasma is harder to pen with, but youll be better off against the WL and the Wraithguard if you get in a firefight.
- Don't Spam Las Cannons, Spam Heavy Bolters. Holofields make Las Cannons ST 8 instead of 9, Hvy bolters can't pen Wave serpents, but they annihlate the troops inside and that is what counts.

Hope all this helps, if you want specific list ideas let us know. Best of luck

Duke

[VinceBlack]

I appreciate all the wisdom posted. I will definately take these pearls and apply them to my next list.