Tactica- Eldar

[TheRaven]

While I was working on this guide I saw that there was already an Eldar Tactic thread thrown up, however, I noticed that there was still a cry for definitive (As definitive as Eldar get anyway), theoryhammer , this is what you do, kind of guide so here it is!

The best way to describe the Eldar would probably be to compare them to the Air Force. They can hit hard and fast. They will deliver an unparalleled amount of destruction to any location in seconds. Not only that, but they have the right tools for any task. You need some armor taken care of? Call in an A-10 Strike (Fire Dragons), you need some up close and personal dog fighting units? Pull out your heavy air superiority F-14s (Striking Scorpions) or some light air superiority F-16s (Howling Banshees), or maybe you want a nice multipurpose fighter bombers that can shoot and take it in close like an F-15(Dire Avengers). You also have the option of some stealthy jets, the pin-point precision and evasiveness of an F-117(Swooping Hawks) might work well, or you can call in the stealthy, but still deadly B-2 bomber for a heavy barrage of high strength bombs (Warp Spiders). When all else fails nothing can compare to completely leveling the area with a nice B-52 carpet bombing (Dark Reapers). Like the Air Force, when everything is working perfectly and you take care of all the variables you will be unstoppable and have incredibly low casualties. But if you rush in or get sloppy you will get shot up faster than a duck in hunting season.

I do go a lot into theory hammer, some people may not like that but personally I think it’s necessary to fully understand the effectiveness of your units. Just remember, it’s not what you know, but what you can prove!

Now that your mind is on the right track, let’s get started!

HQ

Avatar:

This guy is a beast! A lot of people don’t field him but this is the first edition where he can actually do something in hand to hand. Primarily he can be used to take out vehicles, a S8 AP1 Melta weapon and the monstrous creature close combat bonus will chew up just about anything out there. T6 W4 and a 3+ armor save means that he can take on average (First Theory Craft Alert lol) 108 bolter shots before going down (108*.66 to hit*.16 to wound*.33 to get through armor save=3.99 wounds). I personally would rest easy with him charging down my lines keeping my elder around him fearless. Oh and he’s immune to flamers and Meltas.

Once he gets into close combat he is best used against heavy armor targets like marines. He will kill 2.78 marines on the charge and only take 0.019 wounds for each marine attacking back. So if he charges a unit of 10 marines he will kill 2.78 marines and have a 69% change of taking one down in the shooting phase leaving on average 6.5 marines left who will only cause 0.12 wounds total!(In other words all the marine’s attacks have a 12% of wounding the avatar back). That’s a pretty decent combat win, and 10 marines are usually more expensive than the Avatar so you can see how easy it is to get your points back on him  Even a Terminator close combat squad will have problems with him since they can only hit him on a 5+ and he gets a 4+ invulnerable save!!!

Against horde or swarm armies he’s not as good, since his wounds are going to be comparable just against larger squads with a cheaper point cost for each troop. Try and use him for dred hunting against Orcs or for taking out large Tyranids. Keep him away from Gene Stealers until the rending nerf, even though they also only hit him on a 5+, they still auto wound on a 6 to hit so 30 attacks will get 5 auto-wounds without armor save (Which is ridiculous but hey that’s rending). Your saving grace against rending is the invulnerable save.

Bottom line: Avatar Good! Against MEQ- Avatar Amazing!

Autarch:

What can I say about the Autarch…. Some people love them but I’m not a huge fan. His primary role is going to be using him for that extra strategy rating and +1 roll on reserves. If you’re going with some deep striking warp spiders or swooping hawks then taking one of these guys is usually a must. Especially if you’re doing the whole bombing hawk strategy, you can’t afford to miss a turn with your swooping hawks if possible. If your making a jet bike army then one of guys with a laser lance is usually what people like to take but I don’t deal with jet bike armies that much.
As far as equipment goes you have some options but I wish that games-workshop gave us more. Don’t be fooled, he’s not a close combat monster. Even though you can give him a power weapon, he has no way to augment that oh-so-sad strength of 3. On the charge he will be lucky to kill 2 marines….. not too impressive. What I would like to do is give him the swooping hawk wings, a power weapon just in case and either a fusion gun or a reaper launcher depending on what I think I’ll be facing. Don’t be fooled, shooting is not their primary role, they cost more than a whole squad or fire dragons or dark reapers. They make their points back with their master strategist special rule, just give them something so they’re not completely useless otherwise.

Only give them a warp spider jump pack if you’re actually going to position them in a warp spider unit. Otherwise if you use their ability in the assault phase and roll a double, your Autarch is gone. They are a good way to make the warp spiders a great close combat unit though. Something to think about.

Boottom line: An acquired taste. Very situational but they are a key part of some armies. Easy to use incorrectly.

Farseer:

I saved the best for last. The Farseer is probably the most common HQ choice, and for good reason, they are bloody amazing. Their psychic powers are next to none. The main reason for their psychic dominance is the fact that most of the psychic abilities they use are pretty much always useful. I’ll go in order from my favorite to least favorite:

Doom: Pick an enemy unit within 24’’, re-roll all failed rolls to wound against that unit until the start of the Eldar players next turn. Pretty damn amazing. The 2 things I like about the spell are the unusually long range for an Eldar psychic power and the ability to augment the damage potential of multiple Eldar units at the same time. Probably the most effective way to use this power is against a unit that is about to be charged by some howling banshees, their low strength is their main fault but if you get this off they will massacre just about anything. Also good against high toughness monsters, if you require 6’s to wound then Doom comes very close doubling your damage output. And it doesn’t require line of sight.

Guide: Is my second favorite power. In my opinion the best equipment for a Farseer is a signing spear, spirit stones, guide and doom (And runes of warding sometimes). Guide lets an Eldar unit within 6’’ re-roll misses. Pretty nice but the Farseer has to be right there, which is the spells main drawback. If you take this make sure you place your Farseer carefully. One thing to remember is that the lower the chance to hit the unit has, the more effective guide is. If you’re hitting on a 4+ guide gives you a 50% damage increase. If you’re hitting on a 3+ guide gives you a 33% damage increase and if you hit on a 2+ guide only gives you a 16% damage increase. If you’re playing with a battle line (It happens sometimes) try and put him there. The ultimate guide success is when you get it off on a scatter walker squad, giving you 24 S6 shots with the ability to re-roll misses. On average that will net you 5 dead Space Marines in that one unit’s shooting (Or 15 Orcs). Getting guide and doom off together is also one of the greatest feelings an Eldar player can have

Fortune: One unit within 6’’ can re-roll “Any” saves until the start of your next turn. Pretty nice, but again your Farseer has to be right there to cast it. Of course this is a great ability (Most expensive one too) but I’m not as for it as I am with guide and doom. The big drawback of it is that it doesn’t help against rending. It works great on the HQ choices with the ability to re-roll their 4+ invulnerable save (Keeps that Avatar up a lot longer), and really all you need to do is save the **** of 1 wraith guard or dark reaper and you make your points back, but you probably won’t have him close enough to help your close combat squads and you other rank and file units will probably have their armor penetrated with an AP5 or AP4 weapon barrage. A good ability and many will swear by it, but for me I will almost always prefer to cast guide and doom. One way to get creative and scary is to have a large unit of wraith guard with a conceal warlock and guide/fortune Farseer just plow up the middle. T6, re-rollable 3+ armor and 5+ invulnerable is nasty, it will take about 81 bolter shots just to kill one wraithguard! Just to put that into perspective, 10 marines firing at long range would require more than 8 turns just to kill one wraith guard. I just can’t express enough how impressed I am with that stat. Something for you to think about.

Eldritch Storm: Imperial guard killer, plain and simple. S3, no AP, large blast and pinning pretty much screams “Take me against the Guard!”, oh and it spins vehicles around causing some damage. As if the spell wasn’t anti-guard enough. So yeah, it’s a guard killer. Have I said that yet? Also decent against Tyranid guants and Orcs because of their condensed formations and low LD. Usually it’s too situational for me to take but it’s still not a bad power by any means.

Mind War: In my opinion it’s usually only worth it in low point games where every single model counts. Other than that it’s too situational compared to the pure awesomeness that is Doom/Guide/Fortune. Terrible against Tyranids since the good targets all have LD10, nothing worth targeting in Guard armies, but it has its uses against Orc bosses. Personally I don’t see this as being worth taking when compared to how good the other powers are.

Wow! There you have it, the Farseer psychic powers. Bloody amazing is what they are! At first glance they might not seem amazing, but with everything Eldar, their true greatness shines once you start digging.

As far as equipment goes most people like to tool their Farseer up, and so do I. I think spirit stones are a must to really get your full money’s worth. Runes of witnessing usually aren’t for me since you can get a double 1 easier and you only have a 1 in 12 chance of failing a psyche test anyway. I absolutely love runes of warding though, they effectively shut down enemy psychers making them role 3D6 leadership tests and suffering perils of the warp on anything more than 12. A good way to try and cause some extra wounds on those pesky librarians and their darn psychic hoods. At 3 points a singing spear is a must. Losing an attack in hand to hand isn’t that big of a loss since their attacks didn’t ignore armor saves but it’s the S9 against vehicles that makes it great. You hit on a 2+ and can even penetrate a land raider on a 6 or glance it on a 5! Never leave home without one. Jet bikes are a personal choice, if you like mobility by all means throw him on one, you can get guide and fortune off on more select targets. For me, the ground has always been fine.

Bottom line: In my opinion, one of the best HQ choices in the game. Even if you take one of the other choices, try to include one of these bad boys as well.

Warlocks:

Warlocks individually can be quite impressive. But a whole squad of them will struggle to make up their points. Unfortunately they can only take one power. My personal favorite is conceal, a 5+ cover save is perfect for protecting your precious wraith guard against rending or heavy AP weapons. Unfortunately they can only join wraith guard or guardian squads and I usually don’t put that kind of point value with the guardians. Always put one with your wraith guard and chose conceal if their slugging it out on foot or facing rending attacks, but I kind of like enhance for wave serpent drops because WS5 and I5 means striking first and on 3+ against A LOT! Of key targets (as opposed to striking simultaneously and on 4+). Embolden seems kind of a waste to me but it’s ok from keeping you guardians in position, too many other good choices though, and destructor is basically a heavy flamer… yay 

I haven’t found many good ways to run a 3-10 man warlock squad. However, a group of warlocks all with jet bikes and signing spears is surprisingly effective at tank hunting. Expensive, but effective. Warlock squads are probably most effective against orcs. Give one enhance and maybe a destructor lock or 2 and they can chop up basic orcs with the greatest of ease. They hit on a 3+, wound on a 2+ and the lack of armor penetration isn’t that big of a deal against the low save of orcs. Add a Farseer into the mix and that’s a pretty nice unit against lightly armored and high toughness foes. The only thing is that they cost so many points that you can usually conjure up something more effective for cheaper. Against standard orcs 10 warlocks (No singing spears), with enhance and a successful fortune buff will kill 14 on the charge and have a 4+ re-roll able invulnerable save. Very nice but without any other powers that unit will run you more than 400 points (Well over 500 if you want them in a wave serpent). You can get a lot of striking scorpions or scatter walkers for those kind of points. 9 Scatter walkers can kill 30 orcs a turn in shooting. Don’t get carried away and think they will be great against the Tyranid’s high toughness either, all the choice targets have high armor saves and the little ones will just overwhelm that unit with numbers.

Bottom Line: Nice, but incredibly expensive. Don’t get carried away, buy them with some restraint.

[TheRaven]

Elite

Fire Dragons:

I think these guys are one of the coolest units the Eldar have. Their role is simple, to kill tanks, and in my opinion they are pretty much as good as it comes in the entire game. S8 AP1, Melta, and you’ll probably get 6 shots (Most common size of this unit) at BS4/5! Even if you role snake eyes within 6’ you have an AP score of 11 that always penetrates instead of glancing. Your average score will be 16! The thing with fire dragons though is that most people drop them out of a falcon (A must for getting your dragons where they need to go by the way), shoot up a nice tank, and then watch them get turned into mush the next turn. Granted, they will probably make their points back by taking out just 1 tank but to really get the most out of them you need to think 2 moves ahead and give them support.

Try to clear the area of any major infantry threats within 12’’ so that they can’t be charged, or if there are a lot of guys hanging around try and cut them down so that they won’t have full unit strength to come after your fire dragons. Remember, these guys are squishy! They only have an armor save of 4+. I like to give my falcon a scatter laser and “maybe” a shuriken cannon so that after I drop those fire dragons off I can unload on the nearest infantry threat. If you’re lucky enough to find an entire armor column, just go to town!

I personally think tank hunter is a must for these guys. Since you’re going to be getting so close and personal with all these tanks, the last thing you want is your unit falling back due to a failed leadership test from tank shock, especially when it loses you a table quarter. Many of you are saying ‘Well they have LD9!”, and that is true. But even LD9 fails its leadership test about one out of 5 times, not reliable enough for me. And the tank hunter skill gives your exarch’s fire pike an auto penetrate against just about every rear armor value in the game! (except against those 14 rear armor land raiders and monoliths). I personally like the fire pike because of its 18’’ range. After your fire dragons kill the first tank, what then? I personally think it takes too much time loading them back into the falcon and then dropping them off somewhere else, but hey, it depends on the mission and what kind of danger your guys are in. Ideally when you pop a tank you should be behind the enemy’s lines. You then move 6’’, take aim at any rear armor within 18’’ of your exarch, roll a 2+ to hit, and then watch as you auto penetrate the rear armor (S8+1 tank hunting+1 minimum roll on a D6=10, and AP1 weapons always penetrate). So even after that first tank bust, the next turn you’re still threatening anything within 24’’ of that fire dragon unit.

Believe me, this causes more psychological damage than real damage. Your opponent will feel so violated and useless that he might direct a lot of guys to run back and try and take those fire dragons out, or he might just have his tanks run as far away as they can, even if it means they can’t shoot. Either way that little 131 point unit (6 with tank hunting and fire pike) is disrupting an entire army.

Another less common way of taking fire dragons is a larger group in a wave serpent with star cannons. It will run you a pretty penny (320) but you can turn heavy infantry (Even terminators!) into complete mush. 10 fire dragons with exarch, tank hunting, fire pike and star cannon wave serpent will take out 7 marines when they jump out or 4.66 terminators. Pretty good for an assault 1 weapon. These things absolutely ravage command squads since they’re S8 will auto kill A LOT of things. And if you decide to fit one of those Farseers with guide into that wave serpent it will increase your damage output by 33% (except on the turn they are in the serpent). Just imagine flying over, completely wiping out a 10 man unit of marines, then next turn getting back in the wave serpent and flying off. You will never forget the complete look of shock on your opponent’s face. Last note, I think the dragon flamer is a waste, don’t take it. Why give up your BS5 18’’ range shot? It’s madness. Crack shot isn’t my favorite ability either. It only affects your exarch, and even though you may actually shoot at something behind cover every now and again, re-rolling a 2+ to wound isn’t that special. But it’s only 5 points so if you have nothing else… meh… go for it.

Bottom line: The perfect Eldar unit. Incredibly powerful, but squishy and will get ground into dust if send in haphazardly or unsupported.

Howling Banshees:

Many people believe that this is the ultimate close combat unit for the Eldar (Except for the harlequins), and they may have a point. The battle has been raging for a while on how much better banshees are to striking scorpions. Let’s see what the numbers show us. Banshees, like fire dragons, and a lot of other elder units really do need a transport. For me I take my banshees in a 6 pack with a falcon. Just like fire dragons, find a good target and unload! Forgive me as I state the obvious, but their power weapons make them great against marine armies. Each banshee will kill .5 marines on the charge, or anything with T4 and WS4. Pretty good, 2.5 kills + the exarch, who should almost always be equipped with the executioner. The mirror swords are really only better against T2 enemies, they have the same damage against T3 but the executioner wins out at T4 and above. The triskele is kind of nice but will give you about the same damage as the executioner against T4 but losses its benefit if you ever face something with a T5. For me, I stick with the executioner. One thing about the mirror swords though is that they don’t lose as much damage if they don’t charge compared to the executioners. Going from 3 to 2 attacks is a 33% loss in damage compared to only a 20% loss in damage going from 5 attacks to 4. Usually though, you don’t want your banshees charged lol

The nice thing about banshees is that they pretty much always strike first in the first turn of combat. Very nice. Their other abilities depend on you. War shout is great against orcs or other low leadership armies. Orcs especially because it reduces their naturally high WS4 to 1. And WS1 against WS 4 will hit on a 5+ only. It’s also really good against space marines but only once you take out their bloody commander! LD10 will only fail about 1 in 12 times. Tyranids have LD 10 on all their good targets as well and against guard you should probably use scorpions. If you’re playing marines here’s something to try and pull off. Unload 10 fire dragons from a waver serpent, wipe out a command squad and unload the banshees from a falcon somewhere across the board and charge with war shout. It’s like conducting a symphony when it works. Counter charge is a personal choice. If you like to unload in the middle of a huge mess it’s good to have, especially since your banshees pretty much always strike first. If you like to sneak around and pick off loners it might not be worth it. You need to know your own play style on that one.

I’ll lead into the striking scorpions by giving you the numbers for banshees then we will compare them. Against T4 WS4 (One of the most common stat lines) 6 banshees with an exarch and executioner will kill 3.88 guys on the charge. Add another .5 casualty for every banshee added to the group. They have fleet, low armor save at 4+ but almost always strike first and have really great abilities. Let’s see how those scorpions hold up.

Bottom line: Great hand to hand unit. Lots of special abilities. Needs a transport.

Striking Scorpions:

Since I just gave you the banshee stats I’ll start with the striking scorpion stats. Against our WS4 T4 target 6 scorpions with an exarch (No extra weapons yet, I’ll get to those in a minute) each scorpion will cause 1 wound each with the exarch causing 1.66 wounds for a total of 6.66 wounds. Almost double that of the banshee’s! But as the targets armor save goes up, the striking scorpions wound go down. Against marines that turns into a sad 2.22 wounds. 4+ armor targets 3.33 and 5+ armor targets these guys are the unquestioned kings at 4.44. So it seems quite simple right? Scorpions for 5+ or worse armor saves, banshees for 4+ or better? Not necessarily. Scorpions for 5+ or worse armor save, I would say usually yes. But when you give the exarch a scorpion claw he then gets 5 S6 power weapon attacks on the charge! Causing his wounds to skyrocket to 2.78 without armor saves allowed! Even against space marines the entire unit’s casualty rating jumps to 4.44, which is better than the banshees. The only drawback is that his power claw attack strikes last, so depending on who you’re facing those 2.78 guys you won’t take down until the end may cause some casualties. Against normal marines, probably not, against any I5 or I6 units like genestealers, boy are you going to wish you had those banshee masks. Against lower armor targets I prefer the chain sabers to the claw, re-rolling hits and wounds is great. You get the same results from T4 AS6+ as the scorpion claw for one third the points but you don’t strike last and your ability goes up a lot if the toughness drops to 3 or the target has not armor save.

So what have we learned about this? Striking scorpions and howling banshees each have their own place in the universe. And it’s not as simple as use A against armies 123 and B against armies 456, each one can be more effective against different aspects of each army. Scorpions with a claw dominate normal marines, unless the commander is neutralized then the banshees with war shout have a better chance of mopping up. Striking scorpions are good against Tyranid guants but will get absolutely wasted be genestealers if you give your exarch a scorpion claw (probably even if you don’t because of their I6 and rending). Striking scorpions can infiltrate (Great for saving on transportation costs) but the banshees have fleet of foot and can counter attack if you want. I could probably list 100 situations across all the armies and have the striking scorpions come out on top in 50 and the banshees come out on top in the other 50 with each one having something useful to contribute against every army. In short, there is not winner with scorpions vs. banshees, but I give the scorpions the edge because they look like predators and that’s just plain cool!

Just to round out their skills, I really really like infiltrate and move through cover. Gets them nice and close without making you spend over 100 points for another transport. Their 3+ armor gives them a naturally good survivability rating when prowling on their own compared to the banshee 4+.

Bottom Line: Tough, great against squishy targets with the extra attack and strength point, but not as good against heavily armored guys or anyone that might actually strike first against an aspect warrior (There aren’t many but believe me, they’re out there!). Infiltrate saves you precious points on transportation costs.

Wraith Guard:

Wraith guard are absolute monsters. I can’t tell you enough how much I love them but I still don’t use them much. Even though my write up is going to be incredibly pro wraith guard, keep one thing in mind… Rending. The way rending is right now, and knowing how many people load up on as many rending weapons as they can, it’s hard to feel comfortable with such an expensive unit running around. They are tough as nails with T6 and AS3+, but they’re 35 points and die to rending as easily as an 8 point guardian. With the rending nerf coming soon you can rest easy knowing your precious unit will live a bit longer.

Now just because so many people like to take rending weapons doesn’t mean that you should avoid these guys. To reference a king of the hill episode, Hank was dreaming that he was in a whack-a-mole game and he wouldn’t stick his head out because he was scared he’d get wacked. Then he saw Tom Landry about to go up and said “Don’t go! You’ll get whacked!” to which Tom Landry replied “Not every time, and the times you don’t get whacked it’s kinda nice up there”. Try and keep that mentality with wraith guard. Sometimes your opponent will get a clear shot with some assault cannons or charge you with some genestealers and your expensive unit will turn into mush before your opponent even needs to roll a to-wound die, but the times you can take out those units or keep your wraith guard clear of them are quite enjoyable.

Notice how my main fear is rending and not high strength high AP weapons. The reason for that is because the weapons needed to kill wraith guard with ease (Lascanons, star canons, melta weapons) generally have a low rate of fire and really high points cost, while rending weapons usually have a high rate of fire and relatively low points cost (An assault cannon is only 20 points!). So if your opponent is pumping incredibly expensive weapons into your unit then they are still helping you out in their own way, leaving your vehicles relatively untouched.

Now on to the stats. Where to start? They own vehicles, 5 shots will get 3.33 hits which transfer into 1.11 glancing hits and 1.11 penetrating hits against any armor value. Unlike fire dragons, you don’t need to get them within 6’ to be 100% effective. Against infantry units you’ll get about 2.78 wounds, and that’s against “ANY” infantry. It doesn’t matter the strength or armor save is, these bad boys punch through it all. They even cause instant death on a 6. So don’t use these guys to take out guardians or imperial guard troops, find the biggest badest target you can and unload. Make sure you take a warlock with your unit, what you give the lock is up to you. If you’re worried about shooting , then take conceal. You just need to save 1 wraith guard to make your points back. If you’re feeling like you want them to shoot up something then charge it to finish them off (Good tactic against marines) take enhance, the +1I and +1WS means you’ll hit on 3+ first instead of 4+ simultaneously. Don’t worry about CC, these guys have great stat lines. An enhanced wraith guard will cause almost 12 times (0.3 to 0.027) as many wounds on the charge then he will take against a marine.

How you deliver these units is up to you. You can plow them down the field (If you do I recommend a conceal warlock), and if you have a Farseer with fortune this is a great idea. Or you can put them in a wave serpent and have them take out whatever you want. Personal choice, both serve their purpose depending on the strategy you’re using.

Bottome Line: One of the toughest units in the game. Incredibly expensive, but worth every penny. Only major weakness is rending attacks.

Harlequins:

These units are about as good as it gets in hand to hand. I could sum them up with one line “Best Hand to Hand unit in the game”. Giving them rending is a must. 6 Harlequins on the charge will get 24 attacks, 4 will auto-wound with no armor save and 12 others will most likely hit (Transfering into 6 wounds against T4). Against marines, or even terminators, these guys will eat them up. 6 harlequins (132 points) will take out 6 marines (90 points) or 3.66 terminators (145 points!) just on the charge. Genestealers will cause similar carnage but harlequins have hit and run, furious charge, a 5+ invulnerable save and pistols for a tiny bit of shooting. And you can actually transport them. You can’t give them a wave serpent though, only a falcon, which is why I usually have a squad of 6. If you want, you can take a bigger squad and have them walk it in. If you do though, give them a shadow seer for veil of tears (And the bonus plasma grenades), the enemy will only have an average 14’’ range against your harlequins. Some people take a shadow seer in their falcon unit but it depends on if you can spare 30 points. Usually it’s worth it though. Death jesters are a personal choice, against a low LD army it can help to stop a unit from shooting at you as you walk it in, but I don’t like replacing the hand to hand weapons in my hand to hand squad.

Bottom line: The stats speak for themselves. But I hate the models.

[TheRaven]

Troops

Guardians:

I’ll start with guardians because they are among my least favorite troop choice. They’re cheap, nice and cheap. At only 8 points per model they are about as cheap as it gets for Eldar. Here is where I’m not big on them. They have 12’’ range and armor of 5+, which means in order to get a shot off you have to put yourself in rapid fire and charge range. Let’s crunch some numbers to see how devastating this can be. 10 guardians fire at a unit of 10 marines. Guardians kill 0.83 marines (Lets round up to 1) and the 9 marines rapid fire back and kill 8 Guardians………. Not too impressive. In fact I call that a massacre.

The saving grace for guardians is their weapon platforms. You have to take one so which one you take is up to you. Personally I’m a star cannon fan. A lot of people live and die by scatter lasers, but with all the MEQ armies out there I just feel comfortable with star cannons. Even though a scatter laser is 10 points cheaper the star cannon takes out 2X as many marine equivalent troops. Also I always use the scatter lasers from my weapon platform sprues on my war walkers because they only give you one, so I really don’t have any extra left over. An extra bright lance is always nice too incase you need just a little bit of extra armor penetration. So the best advice for guardians is to keep them back, find a nice defendable position and pound away with your weapon platform. Once your opponent gets close enough to you, you have those decent 12’’ weapons to defend yourself. Just don’t go running into the jaws of the lion.

Assault guardians in my opinion are a bit of a joke. We can probably sit here and come up with some way in which they are good (Charging some imperial guard or…… I don’t know maybe some weak guants) but they suffer from a severe case of “There will always be another unit that can do it better”. Remember 10 guardians costs as much as 5 howling banshees or striking scorpions, and the latter 2 will do a lot better in combat than 10 assault guardians ever would. They’re I4 means that they will be striking simultaneously against a lot of targets instead of before them.

Bottom Line: They serve a purpose, a cheap way of digging into a table quarter and your opponent will probably have to spend more points than they’re worth to get them out. Squishy as a marshmallow. Avoid assault guardians, just avoid them all together.

Dire Avengers:

Ahhhh the cream of the crop as far as troop choices go. They are the ultimate defenders, put 10 of them with all their upgrades in a nice defendable position, there’s barely a unit in the Warhammer 40K universe than can move them.

Dire Avengers cost about 50% more than guardians but are “Infinitely” better than the guardians. They have 18’’ range on their shuriken catapults meaning they don’t have to get into rapid fire or charge range to shoot. They have BS4 and their armor is 4+ meaning they won’t get torn apart by bolters or other AP5 weapons. Their exarch powers are about as good as it gets, they both work well offensively or defensively. Some people say blade storm is a must, I say it depends on the size of the unit. 50% damage increase for 1 turn is pretty nice but assuming 3 full turns of shooting, you get better bang for your buck by adding another guy to your squad, unless you have more than 6 members in your squad already. A squad of 7 or more will probably get its points worth with blade storm. Defend is also amazing if you think your dire avengers are ever going to get into hand to hand; coupled with shimmer shield your squad will get a 5+ invulnerable save in hand to hand and deny the enemy 1 attack for each model attacking you (To a minimum of 1). Ideally, if you can afford it 10 dire avengers with all the 3 upgrades I listed is an incredible unit. Only runs you 177 points.

Now there are 2 main ways of using dire avengers. I’ll start with my favorite. Take your big 10 unit, find the most defendable position on the board, hole up and yell “Bring it on!”. A wave serpent is good for getting these guys into the best spot possible, ideally across enemy lines. That 177 points unit will hold that position at all costs. It’s a good idea to countercharge if you can. Genestealers will tear you apart if they get that extra attack. Sometimes it is a good idea to hold back but assess the situation carefully. The only thing I can see standing a chance (Other than the toughest monstrous creatures) is a 6+ unit of terminators all with lightning claws or the ultra scything talon and extended carapace genestealer unit, and even then it’s close. You’ll start by unloading your blade storm into the unit killing 4.5 genestealers (9 if they don’t have the extended carapace!). You’ll take the charge to them but they will get the first attacks (Or simultaneously with the exarch). The exarch will kill .5 and the genestealers will kill 1.75 with rending (1.166 after shimmer shield save) and 1.75 kills with normal attacks (3 total). Your Dire Avengers attack back with 12 attacks and kill 1 genestealer leaving 7 avengers facing 4 genestealers. That is probably the toughest charge you could possibly face that isn’t incredible lopsided in points (like a 400 points terminator squad). Even though your technically losing the combat, your are losing by such a small margin that both units will be very close to wiping each other out by then end and it will take 3 or 4 turns for the combat to be over (And that’s assuming that all 10 genestealers make it to your dire avengers without taking and other fire). Your LD 9 and superior numbers will keep you in the game. Assault marines, guants, pretty much anything else won’t be able to take you on. Lightning claw terminators are going to tear you apart but most people stagger their terminators with lightning claws and thunder hammers, which is in your best interest. If your wave serpent is still in the area, hopefully you can pick one off with your star cannons before the fight starts.

The other strategy is to move the unit up (In a wave serpent if possible), unload a blade storm, then charge in. Depending on what you’re charging will depend on whether or not defend and shimmer shield are a good buy. If you’re charging normal marines, both are a waste of points since marines only have 1 normal attack. If you’re charging anything with 2 attacks or rending/power weapon attacks, those 2 abilities are worth their weight in gold. Defend is usually good anyway just incase you think you’ll get charged back by anything. What weapon you choice for your exarch depends on who you will be playing and how you’re going to use them. If your using the defend strategy I would go for the shimmer shield (Unless you know your opponent doesn’t have rending or power weapon attacks, then maybe take the 2 shuriken catapults),the power weapon with the shield is nice too. If you’re going to try and charge yourself take the dire sword against high armor save targets (4 power weapon attacks on the charge is nice) or the 2 shuriken catapults against squishies. There are plenty of options, find the one that works best for you. Personally I don’t take the 2 catapults because I think the model looks absolutely awful , but that’s just me.

Bottom line: The ultimate in defensive all purpose units. They can act as static defense or aggressive defense. Probably one of the best ways to spend your troop choices.

Pathfinders:

I saw pathfinders and not rangers because you should almost always take the 5 points upgrade, you get too much extra stuff to not do it. Pathfinders are quite tricky to use (even for Eldar) but are a lot of fun. Knowing what to target is key, monstrous creatures get owned by sniper rifles, and no matter how big or bad a carnifex or hive tyrant is your looking at about 1.5 wounds per turn with 6 pathfinders which would bring him down in 2-3 turns generally making your points back. Against marines or other infantry you’re going to get similar numbers, generally not doing you much good unless they fail their pinning test (Which if there is a marine commander on the board, probably isn’t going to happen). Each army has its best targets, Tyrandis: Hive Tyrants, Carnifex Marines: Devastators, Command Squads Eldar: Wraith Lords, Wraith Guard (Avatars have a nice invulnerable so it might not be worth your while) Imperial Guard: Commanders, Heavy weapon squads. Bottom line, formulate a strategy in your head when you first see what you’re facing. If you can, do a little math in your head before deciding who to fire on.

Placing your unit is just as tricky as shooting them. Find a nice covered position, and place them there. If your opponent out deploys you somehow (Maybe placing his own infiltrating units to counter yours) that scout move will help you out a lot. Another benefit of pathfinders is pure irritation, if you can make up their points in damage they may soak up a lot of fire relieving the stress on the rest of your army. A unit in woods or other 4+ cover save terrain will have a 2+ cover save! It doesn’t get much better than that.

Bottom line: Great unit, devastating if they get shots off at what they want. Takes a lot of thought and tactical planning to use them right. They work good as a part of a large army with lots of threats but if you load up on a bunch of these units your opponent might be able to charge them and start taking a lot of expensive models away from you.

Jet Bikes:

These are a personal choice, I haven’t really gotten into a lot of speedy armies but I can see how these units might be worth it. As far as points and stats go they are basically supper fast marines (Without the ability to shoot at long range) at 22 points a model. T4 3+ armor, assault 2 S4 twin linked weapons, are pretty close to marines (They hit a tiny bit more though because they are twin linked .75 compared to .66 for the marines). You make your points back by learning to guess distances effectively. Eldar jest bikes have a special rule that allows them to move 6’’ in the assault phase (+12 normally). So if you can zoom just inside the 12’’ range, unload, and move 6’’ outside of assault and rapid fire range. The trick with these guys isn’t dealing a lot of damage like other army types or units, it’s keeping your guys alive. If you play it right you can do a pretty good job of keeping your units relatively safe and try and force your opponent to get annoyed and make mistakes.

The ideal jet bike unit size is 4. With 4 jet bikes you would have to take 3 casualties (Essentially all but 1) before your unit can’t take table quarters any more. You want to keep as many units alive so that at the end of the game you can seize as many table quarters as possible. This may seem cheesy, but it’s actually the way speed armies are supposed to be played, you will never win a way of attrition. Your opponent may call this cheese but that’s just because you’re not using that tactics he wants you to use (Which you should never be doing anyways). He can easily adjust to this type of play style and if he doesn’t it’s his own fault.

As far as upgrading your bikes with shuriken cannons, I think it’s a good idea. It gives you at least something to shoot with if you’re outside of 12’’ and the extra strength is pretty nice for only 10 points. I think warlocks are a waste, you really don’t want to be close enough to use destructor, charging is a good way of getting your **** kicked (Making enhance useless), a singing spear is ok for vehicles but your unit has to fire at the same target, making the other bikes almost useless (Unless your shooting at the rear, but in that case 2 or 3 more bikes will give you better results). Conceal is the only decent ability but at 60 points for the lock you might as well buy another 3 jet bikes! Bottom line, kinda nice but for the points they cost just buy more bikes.

Bottom line: Good, but in their own way. Make sure you feel comfortable that you know your army’s role. They are a very important piece of some armies, (Speed armies mostly) but if you don’t understand them properly you may get frustrated. Warning: Patience is needed to use this unit right!

Wave Serpent:

I decided to put the wave serpent here for convenience sake. It’s a good transport, better than most but it is bloody expensive for a unit that can’t take table quarters or transport other units. Rumor is that dedicated transports can transport any unit next edition, making these guys a lot better. As far as upgrades go these guys can’t take holo fields  but that’s ok because their own ability is alright anyway. It basically means that nothing will glance them easier than rolling a 4+, not even melta weapons. Other upgrades are difficult to choice because these guys are really expensive as it is. I think spirit stones are good because they are only 10 points and will save your but against crew stunned rolls (Meaning it can’t move and will probably bite the dust next turn). Star engines can be a part of a good strategy if you need a lot of movement: First turn move 36’’ then unload at the beginning of the next turn before you move so that your unit can charge in right away. The skimmer moving fast rule with your spirit stones and energy shield will give your wave serpent a fighting chance if your opponent unloads his entire arsenal at you. Vector engines are a tough sell for me (They are expensive), your wave serpent is already hard to bring down and as long as your moving fast you have a good chance of shrugging off shots.

Everyone has a different opinion on what weapon you should take. Some people want their wave serpent as cheap as possible and give them a shuriken cannon, some people actually want some firepower and give them one of the other weapons. Bottom line the choice is up to you. I have 2 wave serpent models, one with star cannons and one with bright lances. The great thing about Eldar is that they have all these options, like the wave serpent guns or guardian weapons platforms, so that if you feel your army is missing something you can spend a few points to twink it in just the right way. Oh no I’m low on anti vehicle weapons! Instead of taking a whole fire dragon unit with transport, just buy a bright lance. I don’t have enough high AP weapons! Take some star cannons.

Bottom Line: Fast and resilient. Great transport, expensive though (For a dedicated transport), but it’s the only thing that can transport wraith guard or squads larger than 6, and is more survivable than a non-upgraded falcon for cheaper.

[TheRaven]

Fast Attack

Swooping Haws:

This is where you start to realize that there are just too many good options in the Eldar army. My personal fast attack favorites (And again ones I don’t use often) are the swooping hawks. Or should I say the Swooping Imperial Guard killers. These guys are absolute monsters against the guard. They have 2 main advantages, lots of low strength AP5 shots, and amazing vehicle attacks with their grenades. That makes these guys perfect for guard troops and their tanks. Each hawk will take out .66 T3 AP 5 or worse troops per turn and that goes down to .44 against T4 enemies like orcs. And just incase you were wondering, it’s 0.15 against marines, so yeah…. not so good. Doesn’t sound amazing but their main strength lies in their maneuverability. They can strike from 24’’, can move 12’’ in the movement phase, and can deep strike (Bringing with them a nice large template weapon).

There are 2 ways of using the hawks, either starting them on the field, or deep striking them in. If your deep striking them I would definitely recommend an Autarch (Arrives on turn 2 on 3+ and turn 3 onwards on 2+), this makes them more likely to show up when their needed. I personally prefer to start them on the table unless there is something I absolutely have to drop grenades on (Like a heavy weapon team in an awkward position, or artillery teams like mortars or Eldar support weapons). If you start them on the table you will probably get them into good firing position on turn 1 which means you will get 1, 2 or maybe even 3 extra turns of shooting. I personally think sky leap is a must, the main reason you take it is in case your hawks get caught in hand to hand, you suck up 1 round of combat then leap into the air at the beginning of your next phase saving their arses. You might be able to bait units into chasing you then sky leap if you get cornered or charged. Again, like deep striking, you have to assess the situation to see if leaping is going to be a good idea in any other situation, because when you leap you lose a round of shooting (At least a round, you have a 1 in 6 chance of losing a second round if your rolling 2+ for reserves). So if you feel like 1 turn of shooting and 1 grenade is better than 2 turns of shooting and vehicle hunting, by all means go for it. It’s tough to write tactics for hawks because using them properly requires so much battlefield awareness.

These guys are amazing against vehicles. Take intercept for the meager 5 points and love it! Your haywire grenades are going to penetrate 1/6 of the time and glance 2/3 of the time, no matter what the armor value is. Great against land raiders or other big, bad tanks. If you take this unit against space marine armies, they are pretty much just going to tank hunt, or they can intercept some land speeders (Always fun to fustigate a 3 assault cannon land speeder squad). Their meager weapons won’t do much against anything else in the marine equivalent armies. This is why I don’t take them a lot, because of all the marine like armies I have to play. Unless they take out a land raider, they probably won’t earn their points back. Guard, Tyranids, Orcs are good matches (Eldar guardian armies as well, but you won’t see many of those), even Tau a little bit but space marines and chaos are not the best. Against guard I would actually consider taking 2 units, they are that good.

As far as arming your exarch goes, it’s more clear cut than other exarchs. I think the power weapon is a waste, it makes a terrible hand to hand squad a bad hand to hand squad. And really, why are you charging your hawks into a relatively high AS unit anyway? The 2 ranged weapons are both decent, but I would almost always choose the sun riffle. It out performs the hawks talon against T3, they perform the same against T4, and the talon wins out against the incredible rare T5 (So I guess take it against plague marines?). The difference lies in the pinning, if you’re point pinching and facing a relatively high LD army, you might not want to spend the extra 5 points for the pinning.

Bottom Line: Incredible against squishies, not so good against marine type armies. One of the most enjoyable units to use. Make sure you have a lot of battlefield awareness.

Warp Spiders:

Now here is a unit I use a lot! Nice and quick like the hawks, but they actually do something against marine armies! 2 S6 shots each, ummm umm gotta love it! The range they have is small but their jump packs make up for it. The ideal way to use your warp spiders is to hop them over to a good target, unload a ton of S6 shots (5 with an upgraded exarch will dish out 12 shots) and then in your assault phase jump out of rapid fire/assault range and pray you don’t roll a double. Really though losing a man 1/6 of the time isn’t that bad considering how many guys you’re saving. Just a stat, against T4 or lower targets you will get 7.22 wounds before armor saves, against orcs that is brutal, against marines that will cause more than 2 wounds. I personally am an advocate of the theory that, if you pump enough high strength shots into something, it’s going to die. Force enough armor saves and some are going to fail.

My personal favorite target is devastator or havoc squads, they are sooo expensive and the spiders have the maneuverability to sneak around and mess them up. I usually give my exarch power blades so that he can follow up a good turn of shooting with a charge (4 power attack weapons are a good thing). Jump in, take out 2+ with shooting and finish the unit off in hand to hand (the exacrh will take out one on his own and the rest of the unit will kill .5 devastators, leaving a little less than 1.5 left from a 5 man squad and badly outnumbered). These guys are also decent against vehicles that aren’t land raiders or monoliths because they can sneak around and dish out some nice S6 shots against rear armor 10. Our 5 man sample squad will get 4.33 glancing hits (Only glancing because they are AP – unfortunately), that’s gonna cause some damage.

As far as kiting your squad out goes, I usually give my exarch the extra death spinner and power blades. I’m not a big fan of the spinneret riffle, the extra range is good for that incredibly rare time when you’re between 12’’ and 18’’ at least you get 1 shot off, but it will cause .69 damage to T4, AS 3+ and pinning while the 2 death spinners will cause .925 casualties against the same target. So basically you’re giving up some damage (you’re losing a lot of damage against orcs or other low armor targets), for pinning, I personally don’t think it’s a good idea but some might. The only other benefit is that the 1 shot from the exarch will penetrate instead of glance..yay? Exarch powers come down to personal preference, deep strike might be a good idea, but these guys have jump packs and I personally think that they can get anywhere they need to just as quickly. Withdrawal is nice if you ever get charged and want out, or if you feel risky you can charge a weak unit, get your extra attack in and withdraw at the end of combat (And sometimes pray that you roll 13 or more on the 3D6), but that’s a personal choice. The power though is a bit too expensive for me to take regularly.

Bottom Line: Perfect against Orcs. The maneuverability and sheer amount of high strength shots this unit can shoot out makes them good against most targets. Another incredibly fun unit to use. 3+ armor save is a lot better than the 4+ from the hawks.

Shining Spears:

An interesting unit to use. In my opinion they are perfect against Tau, marines, or other Eldar armies, with all the S6 ap4 attacks they can deal out. They are pretty tough for an elder unit (T4 3+ armor save) but quite expensive as well. Once again, you’re looking at a unit with some serious maneuverability. The way to use these guys is find a nice target, charge it, then withdrawal. A lot of people like to use these guys against marines and that’s a good idea but they also cause a lot of casualties to armor 4+ or worse because of the laser lance. 4 spears with exarch come up and shoot up some marines, now the 4 laser lance shots will kill 0.79 marines while the shuriken catapults will kill 1.21, so despite what your gut is telling you, fire the catapults against the marines (But still use the laser lance against anything with armor of 4+). In hand to hand it gets a bit better, said unit will take out 4.166 marines brining our total up to 5.38, that’s actually pretty impressive. Even though withdrawal is really expensive, I always take it with this unit since your laser lances only work on the charge. So run in, kill between 5-7 models and withdraw 3D6 inches. Not too shabby for a 177 point unit (Hmm that seems to be the magic number here).

Like the other Eldar fast attack choices these guys can be a lot of fun to use and quite annoying if you know your inches. While your moseying on the table up for a charge if you can get your unit within 12’’ of a minor target, unload your catapults into it, than break off and move 6’’ towards your real target in the assault phase so that your opponent can’t rapid fire or charge, you’ll probably here something like “I can’t believe they just did that!”. I already made it clear that withdrawal is a must, skilled rider depends on your comfort level with maneuvering. If you don’t like to skit around terrain but instead just want to plough through a forest take skill rider, all depends on your comfort level. Star lance doesn’t seem worth the points to me. It helps if you want to take out a T5 or higher creature (Might help if you want to charge a Carnifex) but those targets will probably be few and far between.

Bottom Line: Really good hit and run unit. Great choice against marines. Just another Eldar unit that has the potential of frustrating your opponent if you play them well.

Vyper:

Ahhh my precious vypers. I love the models, and these were my favorite as a kid when they first came out, but to me these guys seem like really expensive war walkers with a bit less fire power. If you’re facing an army that will get wrecked by shuriken catapults these guys are great choices, only costs 60 for a vyper armed with 2 of them. That’s twice as much as a similarly armed war walker but these guys have more speed and more survivability. Not to mention the fact that the heavy support section of Eldar has way too many good choices (More on that later). Unfortunately, if you want other weapons then these guys get really expensive. They are good at staying at distance and can zoom around to grab table quarters at the end of a game, but man are these guys expensive!

Some people upgrade them with vehicle upgrades, but these guys are already expensive. By the time you finish decking it out you might as well have bought a falcon with that kind of money. Never the less, there are some armies that can’t live without these guys. All jet bike armies rely on these guys for their support weapons as opposed to war walkers or guardians.

*Note*: If the 5th edition rumors are true than walkers can only fire 2 weapons if they move making the vyper a superior choice in some situations. Also, rumor is that defensive weapons have to be S4 or lower, making the catapults on the vyper another plus.

Bottom Line: Hard to find a place for these guys with their high points cost, but every now and again they fill a nice niche. Don’t go crazy and buy a bunch of decked out vypers, you can buy better things elsewhere. Might get better with the new rules.

[TheRaven]

Heavy Support

War Walkers:

I want to start this section by saying this, you will always want a lot more heavy support than you can have. Eldar have some of the best HS choices in the game and you will always be forced to cut something you really really want.

The first great choice is the war walker squadron. They can unleash more fire power for a single heavy support slot than just about anything else in the warhammer universe. A full war walker squad has 6 heavy weapons! For cheap! A scatter walker squad (The most common war walker type and my favorite) can unleash 24 S6 shots at 36’’ for only 180 points, that’s ridiculous! If you have a farseer close by with guide that makes them that much better. A guided scatter walker squad can kill 15 orcs a turn. You can give them pretty much any weapon you want but since they all have to fire at the same target I usually give them all the same weapon and try and pick a versatile choice. Scatter lasers are generally the most versatile weapon. Star cannon walkers are kind of nice, they can kill 5 marines a turn (At 33% more points than scatter walkers though). A guided star cannon squad can wipe out a 5 man terminator squad in 1 turn though. That’s pretty impressive! Generally I don’t like using shuriken cannons because of the low range and bright lances are expensive and you can only fire at one vehicle at a time. Missile launchers are a good choice against anything that isn’t a marine equivalent army.

Spirit stones are cheap but to me, if your walker gets hit and can’t move next turn he’s in a lot of trouble anyway. Even if he could move the whopping 6’’ he probably won’t get out of trouble. On a final note, don’t underestimate the scouting special rule. Since these guys are heavy support, they will most likely be placed among your first units. So if after deployment is completed, these guys are in a bad spot you can move them to a hopefully safer position. And thank god these guys aren’t open top vehicles!

Bottom Line: Really cheap and can unload unparalleled firepower each turn. The ultimate squad to cast guide on. Still kinda squishy so keep them at a good range. Now I know the war walker sprues only come with one of each weapon meaning that a lot of people are going to give their walkers 2 different weapons. So I usually take an extra weapon from the guardian heavy weapon platform sprue, they are the same weapon models!

Support Weapons:

I’ll put my least favorite heavy support choice here. It’s not that they are bad weapons, it’s just with everything else the Eldar have, you will probably come to these guys last. D-cannons are decent. Really expensive but great against vehicles, terminators, monstrous creatures but they are G24’’…… 24’’…. That’s what gets me. If they were 36’’ I would feel more comfortable but the short range just gets me. Shadow weavers are nice against guard, tyranids or low armor targets like orcs but for me they are just too expensive for what you can get. A blast template usually isn’t big enough for my liking, you may get 1 full and 2 partials or 4 pertials, either way you’ll usually only hit 2 guys. I’d rather take a scatter walker for similar points. Vibro cannons seem to be everyone’s favorite. And for good reason, a battery of 3 will cost less than 100 points, almost always hit (93% of the time) and cause D6 S6 hits to every unit in a straight line. Not to mention the fact that it causes pinning and always glances vehicles. Depending on your opponents deployment this could be quite devastating. Tyranids and orcs usually have their army quite deep so you could hit 3 units if you’re lucky.

Bottom Line: Unless you have some master plan, don’t get anything other than the vibro cannons. Even then, they are usually best deployed against horde armies instead of elite armies.

Wraith Lord:
I love these guys. The models look cool, the stats are good, just a great unit overall. The best thing about a wraith guard is the incredibly rare BS4 when firing heavy weapons. Falcons, war walkers, support weapon platforms, vypers, all have BS3. In addition to the high BS Wraith Lords are also unusually good in their high survivability. T8 (Immune to S4 attacks) and 3 wounds means this guy is sticking around for a while.

There is one main decision to make with your wraith lord. Will he be a shooty wraith lord, a hand to hand wraith lord, or a bit of both? My personal choice is a bit of both. I like to give him a shoulder weapon so that the BS4 doesn’t go do waste and a wraith sword for the extra hand to hand combat bonus and because it looks cool. For the wrist weapon I always give him one of each because he can only shoot 2 weapons so you’ll probably fire his shoulder weapon and then chose the best wrist weapon for the task at hand. What weapons to give him is up to you, know what you’re going up against, but other than that there isn’t really a bad choice. I like the bright lance because of this high BS. 3+ to hit and 4+ to glance/penetrate are some reliable numbers if you ask me. In hand to hand he can rip open tanks with his wraith sword and monstrous creature special rule. **Note** I don’t know if this has been FAQ’d or not so if it has please go easy on me, but to me the wraith lord gets 2D6 for armor penetration. This seems amazing but the rules say that they get 2D6 “Unless they have weapons that augment their strength”, the wraith lords strength is not augmented in any way. I know as an example they use the wraith lord for not getting 2D6, but that’s back when the wraith lord had a lower strength value but its strength was augmented by power fists. To me the rules are clear, but that is unless this has been faq’d or changed, so if it has please go easy on me.**Note End**

Continuing on the HTH notes, this guy will pretty much tear apart any foot unit unless it has power fists (even then it’s hitting on a 4+ and wounding on a 4+) . He has a unit strength of 10 so he pretty much just needs to wade into hand to hand and he’ll probably win, as S4 attacks cannot hurt him (Unless they rend!). Only 2 attacks is kinda rough, which is why I usually give my wraith lord a wraith sword. 2+ to wound without armor save is mighty nice. Sometimes you may want to give him 2 shooting weapons and this is not a bad idea, he can still deal some damage in HTH just try and pick smaller units since you won’t re-roll your misses. If you give him 2 guns (Which looks really cool if you model them right) don’t pick the same weapon since they only count as twin linked and aren’t worth the points. I usually pick a missile launcher because of the versatility (Remember you have to shoot at the same unit), so if I’m facing guard I can use the bright lance and the missile launcher against vehicles but still switch to plasma missiles if I kill all the tanks. Star cannon and scatter laser is really good against marines but the possibilities are endless when choosing 2 guns!

Bottom Line: A very un-eldar unit. High BS and tough as nails. Good at both hand to hand and shooting, and usually both at the same time! Kind of expensive but worth it. Great modeling possibilities.

Dark Reapers:

Marine Killers. Just call them marine killers. Expensive but devastating. Get guide off on them and your sitting pretty. Just with basic weapons 4 dark reapers including exarch will kill 3.78 marines a turn at 48’’ range (You’ll kill your points worth in 2.5 turns). Obviously your opponent will avoid these guys like the plague but you can use that to your advantage. Unfortunately your reapers will be among the first to deploy, but if there is a section of the board that you don’t want your opponent to set up in, just place your reapers with a clear line of sight to it (Definitely good at scaring away devastators since they are so expensive, die just as easily, and don’t have the range to take on a reaper squad). Your opponent can either keep the area clear or suck up some serious casualties.

Knowing how to deck out your exarch is tricky, and really expensive. I’m not big on spending points on an elder missile launcher, simply because if you’re firing a krak missile at a vehicle, the rest of your squad isn’t doing crap with their S5 weapons. Against Tau it’s a bit better because the plasma missiles are pretty good against them especially with crack shot but then it comes down to the fact that your paying 10 more points than a tempest launcher just for the ability to roll to hit instead of going through all that barrage BS (and I don’t mean ballistic skill lol), so my advice is still stay away from the Eldar missile launcher in most cases. Tempest launchers are good (and expensive) but I’m not a huge fan of barrage weapons since your BS5 is useless. The fact that your barrage is heavy 2, or 3 if you dish out the points makes it a bit better.

So after everything I’ve said I usually stick with the standard missile launcher. So what is better crack shot, or fast shot? Let’s crunch the numbers! Against the most common targets, marines, fast shot will translate into 1.66 wounds while crack shot will translate into 1.47, not bad for costing half the points! Against T3 its fast shot 2.08 against crack shots 1.61, ok not as good but still decent. Against T5 it’s 1.25 against 1.25, interesting. So at T3 targets fast shot is a bit better, but as you go up in toughness crack shot comes out as the winner, and against targets in cover, crack shot wins out in pretty much every scenario. So, in my opinion the ideal choice is the standard reaper launcher with crack shot. Unless you’re particular opponent might benefit from the tempest launcher or elder missile launcher, than you’ll probably experience greater luck with fast shot. Tempest launchers are tough to use theory on because the scatter dice is so unpredictable. My advice, 3 shots have a better chance of hitting on target than 2 shots. And with elder missile launchers your wounding on 2+ with kraks anyway and your theoretically doubling up your casualties with the extra plasma template so you’ll probably still benefit from the fast shot. But even as I say this, the barrage rule is only going to help your exarch shoot at models outside of your line of sight and the krak missiles are great against vehicles but again only for your exarch, so if your down to your last man standing and it’s the exarch great! Otherwise meh..

Bottom Line: Massacres marines. Good for scare tactics. In my opinion the most point effective equipment is the standard launcher with crack shot, but if you want to specialize your exarch (Which really only works in a few situations) give him one of the other weapons with fast shot.

Fire Prism:

Oh man these guys are good. The main reason why you will feel that there just isn’t enough heavy support choices. If you take a fire prism take 2, the focused shot is really that good (Unfortunately it does take up 2 heavy support choices). Let’s start with the 2 most obvious advantages, they are relatively cheap for what they can do and they have a BS4! So why is this BS so good? Because it’s used for firing one of the best weapons in the game. The prism cannon has a 60’’ range (Wow!) and can either fire a S9 AP 2 blast shot or S5 AP 4 large blast shot (Sweet!). Against Tau or Tyranids, or a lot of other 4+ armor and medium armored vehicle armies one of these guys is amazing! Against marines though, 2 becomes an absolute monstrosity. They can focus their beam into one twin linked shot (Which will hit 89% of the time) and can fire a S10 AP1 blast that will absolutely fustigate land raiders or predators. Or it can fire a S6 AP3 large blast shot that can take out entire marine squads in 1 shot. Wow! These numbers really speak for themselves I won’t waste time telling you how good they are, you can see it.

As far as strategy goes I usually keep them as far back as possible and move them back and forth along my table edge so that they can still get the skimmer moving fast protection. Other than that just fire away! As far as vehicle upgrades go, choice what you want. You can load up on the holo field and spirit stones but as long as you keep your fire prisms at a distance the extra protection might not be worth the points.

Bottom Line: Absolutely amazing weapon. Almost always recommend taking 2 (A definite must against marines). Wonderful wonderful tanks.


Falcons:
I saved the best for last. This is another unit that you will want to load up on but each one unfortunately takes up a heavy support choice. But you know what, taking 3 would not be a bad tactical decision. They are great main battle tanks and good transport vehicles. Their pulse laser is a great weapon (Think star cannon with S8 and longer range) and is good at both vehicles and heavy troops. For the second weapon I recommend the scatter laser (Most bang for your buck), but some people like shuriken cannon (Cheapest) or star cannon (Good against marines). The bright lance and missile launcher aren’t as good because they count as main weapons, the other 3 are defensive (Until defensive weapons have to be S4 or less which is when plasma missiles are going to be the new favorite, but that’s in the future).

The falcons go from good to amazing (And amazingly expensive) when you start decking them out with vehicle upgrades. Unlike the other vehicles I recommend giving these guys more upgrades because of the precious cargo most of them will be carrying, and the fire power you want to protect. Spirit stones are a must so that your transported units don’t get stuck somewhere they don’t want to be. Holo fields and spirit stones turn the falcon into a close to unkillable tank. Some people call it cheese, but I think that there is a fine line. 3 holo filed/spirit stone falcons all with rending harlequins is cheesy, 1 decked out falcon with precious cargo or multiple cheaper falcons is by no means cheesy and can be dealt with. Falcons didn’t really get any better from last edition, wraith lords just got nerfed. Yes a falcon is hard to take down, but it’s just one unit, and a really expensive unit at that. If you fire lascannon shots at it, you’re going to get frustrated, if you fire auto cannon or high rate of fire shots, eventually it will go down. If you just kind of leave it alone or fire just enough shots to shake the crew, you’ll be able to focus a lot more firepower on the rest of the Eldar army.
Here is why people cry cheese. And please DO NOT TURN THIS THREAD INTO A FALCON DEBATE! We have threads for that. A holo field/spirit stone falcon will always glance when moving fast and force your opponent to roll 2 dice and discard the lowest. Spirit stones means that your falcon will be crew shaken on a 1-3. So, to stop the falcon from firing really only takes one shot (basically turning it into a wandering table quarter grabber that can’t deal damage), to bring it down takes a lot. Her is what the numbers look like, since your moving fast and will get destroyed if your immobilized (unless you spend an obscene amount of points on vector engines, which still immobilizes you and pretty much guarantees your doom next turn), 1/9 glancing hits will destroy the falcon (as opposed to 1/3 without holo fields so this is the main stat people complain about), about 1/7 will take out a gun and the remaining 75% of the shots will cause the falcon to be unable to fire. So a single autocannon, lascannon or assault cannon has a 5% chance of hitting and destroying a falcon, a 7% chance of blowing off a weapon, and a 33% chance of preventing it from firing next turn (These numbers include the chance to hit and glance, once a weapon hits and glances the numbers can be seen in the sentence before this one). Cheese? You decide.

Bottom Line: Great main battle tank. Great transport (Even though it only holds 6 guys). Lots of options to keep your precious cargo safe. There is a fine line between good tactics and cheese and everyone has their own idea of where it is. For me 3 maxed out falcons is cheese, but 1 maxed out or a couple of vanilla falcons can be dealt with.

[TheRaven]

Hope you enjoyed the write up. Please go easy on me if I got somethign wrong. I hope this starts alot of great discusions.

[ThrowN]

No reply yet? Gave it a read through yesterday, posting a comment today

As mentioned in your Prewiev I'm just re-getting into eldar after a long time. My old Biel Than army doesn't work anymore, just like the Ulthwé one I played before that. Played both on local tourneys with quite good results (sadly never first place...)
No real experience in 4th Ed yet, so I'm lurking around on Warseer as I'm building/repainting my army.
I always made use of Guardians with Starcannons, but nowadays I don't like them with only 2 Shots. Couldn't find a satisfying role for them, but you didn't either, so any addition from some people having succes with them would be great.
A deeper thought on Harlequins, especially if used without transport, and the troupe leader woul be welcome as well.
What I'd love to see after this Unitdescription would be a collection of certain playing styles, i.e. a description on how unit combinations (or whole armys) could work together. Not speaking on the 3 falcon army here, its nearly the only one that you'lll find when you search for effective Eldar armys...
I'll try to add something myself as soon as I'm using my Eldar again...Now going to buy some Dire Avangers as I now have a clear picture in mind on how to use them. Great Job on those!

[TheRaven]

Starcannons are a tough choice, being only Heavy 2 now but just as expensive kind of sucks. Really they are only good against Marines or Nidzilla armies. The bottom line is point for points, a scatter laser is better against anything that isn't AS 2+. A star cannon will kill .833 marines while a scatter laser will kill .55 marines, but for points that translates into 0.033 kills per points for the star cannon compared to 0.037 kills per point for the scatter laser.

Against a 2+ armor save without invulnerable the starcannon is worth the points but that's really it. Kind of depressing but the numbers just don't add up anymore If they only cost 20 points, that's a different story. But still points aren't everything, for some strange reason I still take them with my guardians and on my wave serpent. Sometines even though the points aren't always worth it, that extra kill you get could mean the difference between bringing a squad down to less than half or not. So unlike scatter lasers they aren't a just point and shoot weapon, you have to use that tiny bit of extra damage at the perfect monent.

Just to let you know what I'm talking about. A star walker squad will cost 30% more than a scatter walker squad, but the star cannon squad will wipe out a 5 man terminator squad in one turn if guided, where as the scatter walkers will take out 2.5 if guided. Leaving those 2.5 terminators alive is going to cause alot of pain for your amy and to me that extra tiny bit of damage at the right time is worth any amount of points.

[bobthe11th5]

ok, im havin apoc battle soon, 4000 points of eldar (n 2000 sm) gainst alot of crons n chaos. usually no prob, but any1 got any suggestion on how to take down a pylon behind a monlith phalanx?

[bobthe11th5]

o yeah, u kinda skirted over autarch on jetbike 2, that guy is immense, specially with bodyguard of shining spears, owns anything in powerarmour

[Ravariel]

Only one inaccuracy that I saw: Scorpion with power claw is STR 6, not 7. You only get the chainsword STR bump if you're actually using that weapon to attack.

Other than that, excellent rundown.

[TheRaven]

Thanks. Someone pointed the strength thing out to me when I did the preview. I should have cought that lol. I'll make sure I fix it, at least the numbers still work against T4 models.

[NinjaMan]

Wow man, loved the article! This is most definately the single best comprehension of the eldar army Ive ever read. (I personally take Mind War, kinda unpredictable... but eh I play NG in fantasy too lol) But this is going on my fav bar man great job.



Might want to change the 4 wound Wraithlord though.

[Coogaar]

What I'd love to see after this Unitdescription would be a collection of certain playing styles, i.e. a description on how unit combinations (or whole armys) could work together.

Maybe this is what you were looking for, maybe it isn't, but:

My lists have two main components: the core and the flank. The core is made up of less mobile units with a less specialized role, and I would say hardier, but they're not, really. The flank is made up of more mobile units whose job it is to harry and drive at weaknesses.

The goal of the core is to draw his units in, give him something concrete to direct his firing and his advance towards. They're less designed to dish out pain than to be a target that will keep his attention for a bit. Eldar are mobile, yes, but this is not the role of the core. It should maneuver a little, but it's there to provide a target your opponent thinks he can reach (and may very well, it's fine if he does). In this role, I normally slot
+Guardians (low cost, lot of bodies),
+Dire Avengers (can shoot or assault okay, and make an okay tarpit, especially w/ Defend),
+Banshees (normally use them to countercharge whatever hit the Dire Avengers, or head something off on its way in, Fleet = Good),
+Jetbikes (shouldn't these go on flanks, as they're fast? They're too, but they can be used to draw attention, and can use the advance/shoot/fallback to keep pulling the opponent in)
+The Avatar (hardy, good for when he gets there, and makes 'em all Fearless).

The goal of the flank is to get around his edges, pick off his artillery, his vehicles, his heavy weapon teams, or just eliminate squads from the edges. Take advantage of your superior mobility here: it's a necessary part of flanking. They're also used as core support: my list tends to be about 1/3-1/2 core, 1/2 -2/3 flanks, and parts of the flank will invariably end up in a support role rather than a strike role. For Flank, I use
+Warp Spiders (Anti-infantry, anti-light vehicle, they WILL ruin anyone's day, use them either to worry the flanks or eliminate a key threat);
+Falcon + Fire Dragons (go for somewhere undefended, or support them with other flankers; they can be sacrificed to take out a key enemy vehicle; pick off artillery or Crisis Suits);
+Wraithguard + Wave Serpent (They tend to "flank" right down the middle, dropping in the center of his advance or just in front of it, from where their short-range weapons can do a lot of damage, their really high tgh/save keeps them alive, and most people aren't willing to commit the excessive amounts of firepower, or a dedicated assault unit for the next 3 turns, to try and kill them. The other method is to find the heaviest thing he's got bearing down on you and drop these bad boys right in its path, then warp it to death. Remember: these guys are hardy. They can take what's going to come back on them. Also, play these guys up. Make your opponent fear them. Explain what their firepower is capable of, rules-wise. They're a wonderful psych unit).
+Striking Scorpions (Infiltrate ahead of the group. It tends to be less of a "flank" and more of a "distraction", but it can draw off a chunk of the enemy line, as long as you MAKE SURE to deploy in such a way that they are not a shooting target, or if they are, your opponent is given lots of choices. Use them as bait to pull something off from the group on its way to your core, then either crush it with the Scorps, or leap some Flankers in to tear it apart on its way in THEN crush it with the scorps).
+Jetbikes (In their other role. Keep them on the edges; their firepower isn't heavy enough, unlike your other flankers, to do a good job on their own. Use them to mop up, or soften up, units for your other squads).

That got way, WAY longer than I'd planned on . These are not the only units you can use in these roles, just the ones I tend to.
Would Dark Reapers, War Walkers, Rangers/Pathfinders, and Support Platforms make good core? Yes, but these are units the prioritize firepower over numbers or hardiness: useful to have, but not the true goal of the core (although I will sometimes stick one of these, or support platforms, in there to give it that extra oomph).
Would Vipers make good flank? Sure, very mobile, can move and still fire; They'd fulfill the same role as the Jetbikes, finishing or softening, they don't have enough firepower otherwise. Swooping Hawks? See the main post's coverage of them.

[ThrowN]

Yes Croogaar, such battleplans are exactly what I'm searching. I had a quite similar one in mind, when I started to raise the army, as I really don't like the 3 Falcon list.

Some questions:
1. The Core(Avatar, Wraithlord, Farseer):
My troops choices will be here, since I'm not planing any Jetbikes for the flank right now. One unit of 10 Dire Avangers is certain, while the equipement of the Exarch isn't. Defend (+Avatar's fearlessness) for the tarpit element, but which weapons? Bladestorm?
And what else, 10-12 Guardians+Warlock(?)+Scatterlaser any good? As The Raven mentioned above, they die easy, don't hit too good, etc.

2. The Flank (Warpspiders,Firedragons+Falcon, infriltrating Scorpions) I thought of footsloging Harlequins here, since they can advance through terrain, and with a Shadowseer should be unharmed the first 1-2 turns, which I need to build up the pressure on the enemy. Shots of them in the those turns would probably be wasted but help my other flanking units survive, since the enemy will in most cases try to do anything against them. They would fill the gap between the Core and the Flank...Would this work (I'd really like to include them)? Troupe Leader for the reliable powerweapon attack?

[Paulie Walnut]

Dire Avengers: I go for Full Squads including Exarch, Dual-Catapults and Bladestorm. Thats 152 points that can unleash supreme firepower. Personnaly i think u should only pick Defender if you're absolutely certain yous DA's will have to fight in CC (which usually happens only if you are making mistakes).

I think Guardians may be worth their Points. I still like using 1-2 Wraithlords and therefore an upgraded Warlock is a must for me. Since u can only use them in Guardian and Wraithguard Squads, the choice is easy. Conceal should imho only be used in large Squads of 15-20, otherwise you will be better off by buying 2 extra wounds. I also like that heavy flamer template versus some armies. The low cost of the Guardians make sure the Warlock will be able to unleash it once, earning its points back from only one shot at, lets say, Ork Boys.

My usual army at 1500 points is pretty balanced and i use it whenever i play versus some one i dont know. There are some changes versus Marine Equivalents (Scorps out for Banshees plus some extra Starcannons instead of Scatters). Ill try to use that core/flank thing.

Core:
Farseer, Bike, Spiritstones, Doom, Eldritch Storm
10 Dire Avengers, Exarch, Baldestorm, Dual Catapults
12 Guardians, Scatter, upgraded Warlock, Heavy Flamer
6 Pathfinders
1 Wraith Lord, EML, Bright Lance, 2 Flamers

Flank:
1 Falcon, Scatter, Holofield, Spirit Stones
10 Harles, Joker, Jester, 6 Kisses
10 Scorpions, Exarch, P-Fist, "ignore Terrain"
Wave Serpent, EML, ShuriCan, Spirit Stones, Extra-Movement

Sry, i didn't know all the English words for the stuff, but i guess u can figure it out. The Farseer may support both Flank and Core with Doom (Pathfinders, Harles, Scorps, Banshees) or take out large Squads of squishy targets. He also works great versus Ork, using Eldritch Storm on a doomed Squad. The CC Units may support my Core Units should it be necessary. I may also use the Serpent to move my Scorps 36" in Turn 1-2 if there is a worthy target and the start killing his heavy Support or whatever...

The Warithlord is mainly used a Vehicle Killer should it be needed. Sometimes i switch the Lance for another Scatter which is useful with EML as it helps pinning Units. The Falcon is obvious i guess. I use it as a mobile Fire-platform that can transport Pathfinders, should it be needed.

[Coogaar]

Some questions:
1. The Core(Avatar, Wraithlord, Farseer):
My troops choices will be here, since I'm not planing any Jetbikes for the flank right now. One unit of 10 Dire Avangers is certain, while the equipement of the Exarch isn't. Defend (+Avatar's fearlessness) for the tarpit element, but which weapons? Bladestorm?
And what else, 10-12 Guardians+Warlock(?)+Scatterlaser any good? As The Raven mentioned above, they die easy, don't hit too good, etc.

Jetbike mounted Farseer or footslogging Farseer, I use either one here: don't leave home without him. And remember the lovely Independent Character rule: if it's not the nearest model, it CAN'T be targeted, ever. Use this to your advantage w/ an unattached Farseer doing his thing.
I'm a Defend and Diresword/Pistol man myself; Bladestorm wouldn't do you harm, though, as it would allow them to do more of something they're better at, I just feel my Exarch getting too expensive when I do that. Likewise, the power weapon/shimmer shield is no slouch weapon choice. That's really up to personal preference.
I stick Guardians sans Warlock here: yeah, they die easy, yeah, they don't hit well, but they have numbers on their side, which is good for taking a beating (which is part of what you're going for). I don't take the Warlock because he's a lot of points I'd rather have elsewhere; Warlock w/conceal if anything, because you're relying on your Avatar to keep them from running (no need for Embolden).

2. The Flank (Warpspiders,Firedragons+Falcon, infriltrating Scorpions) I thought of footsloging Harlequins here, since they can advance through terrain, and with a Shadowseer should be unharmed the first 1-2 turns, which I need to build up the pressure on the enemy. Shots of them in the those turns would probably be wasted but help my other flanking units survive, since the enemy will in most cases try to do anything against them. They would fill the gap between the Core and the Flank...Would this work (I'd really like to include them)? Troupe Leader for the reliable powerweapon attack?

I've never tried Harlies in this role, but I think they'd be a good addition, give 'em a shot and see how they work for you. They're not as mobile as the other choice, however, ignoring difficult terrain goes a long way to making this up, and they hit like a freight train. They're very frail at the wrong end of a bolter, however, so keep them moving and out of LOS, even if this means they spend another turn out of combat. Also, most enemies are inordinately scared of Harlies: as you said, take the pressure off your other flankers. For "filling in the gap", good choice.

Don't be afraid to let units slip out of their assigned roles. Try to keep them there, but if an opportunity presents itself (without endangering the grand plan), or you see a gaping flaw somewhere in the line, don't be scared to change roles. As Macgyver taught us, a more fluid plan is more likely to succeed.

[grumpy old gamer]

At the mo having a lot of fun with a farseer + 4 wl seer council all on bikes. FS has fortune and guide. The four WL all have devastator. Psychic Flame Hell with re-roll inv. 4+ saves. Pure nasty.
I am considering adding an Autarch fella but he is a new shiny thing to me and I don't so new and shiny and am worried at I will be sub'ing my Avatar for a bit of a lame player.
WraithLords seem to be popular here - I have always preferred 3 Warwalkers with two scatterlasers - the loss of the extra attack on the WL means that now he is only there for the BS 4 two heavies. Which is a real pity becasue the model with the blade looks so good.

[J-man]

Ahh that's what I love about eldar - so many ways to play X-). I used a 10-man wraithguard unit with conceal 'lock and fortuneseer in a game yesterday and 3 solid turns of tau crisis team + broadside shooting killed only 4 of them. They didn't kill a thing in the entire game but when they introduce the 'run' rule in 5th ed these guys will be unstoppable! In fact I might even take a 2nd unit X-)

[Glabro]

Dire Avengers: I go for Full Squads including Exarch, Dual-Catapults and Bladestorm. Thats 152 points that can unleash supreme firepower. Personnaly i think u should only pick Defender if you're absolutely certain yous DA's will have to fight in CC (which usually happens only if you are making mistakes).

Why take Bladestorm if you think you only enter CC after making a mistake?

Well, there's a couple of reasons: you eliminate enemy models early, which is good. Also, if they shoot your avengers in the next turn, the choice is again vindicated.
(This against shooting units.)

Against assault units, Bladestorm will obviously be good. So either way, it should be a nice choice, even if it reduces your shooting survivability, point per point (when comparing against an exarch-less unit.