going back to eldar in 6th edition - 1750 points

[ErictheGreen]

40K Army: Eldar

Ok, so I played Eldar all the way through 3rd, 4th and a little while in 5th. I switched to deathwing because I wanted something different and my saim hann army got punked by psychic hoods because it centred around a seer council doing a lot of heavy lifting. without fortune it was...not so good.

So with 6th edition in mind, I want to re-start my space elf fix. But I have a problem - the troops are god awful and i don't want to use wave serpants. so some help would be appreciated.

I want to run the following;
farseer - fortune, jetbike, runes of screw you, singing spear - 133
warlocks - 5, jetbikes, embolden, enhance, 2 destructors, 2 spears - 271

I will use 2 of these units. fortune and 30 inch turbo boost 1st turn makes them a threat to vehicles, they can overwatch destructor and they are incredibly survivable. i can afford to lose the second set of runes.

Warp spiders - 6, exarch, powerblades dual spinners - 159

Currently I have 2 of these units. they put out 14 S6 shots each and will be my light vehicle hunters, as well as side armour on heavies like leman russes.

Here's where I hit a brick wall. I have 624 points left and I need scoring units. I would love a squad of scorpions. yes, assault is not great in 6th but the danger of the council getting bogged down by mobs of orcs, guardsman blobs etc. when i'm expecting them to do some heavy lifting. but points are at a premium. spiders can fit that role in a pinch (hammer of wrath and the powerblades)

small Guardian jetbike squads are easy to hide in 6th ed terrain and can get a shurican cannon for 76 points. but they're very fragile. would it be a mistake just to take 6 squads, hold some in reserve and use shoot n scoot tactics until i need objectives contesting? it relies on the council and spiders doing some heavy damage.

With the council and spiders being a nuisance there's a temptation to run at least 1 dire avenger sqaud to push into midfield and put out small arms fire from there. crucially though, they can't kill vehicles and the jetbikes can.

rangers are great for sitting on objectives and plinking out fire, so a couple of them wouldn't go amiss.

So here's wat I have so far;
farseer - fortune, jetbike, runes of screw you, singing spear - 133
warlocks - 5, jetbikes, embolden, enhance, 2 destructors, 2 spears - 271
farseer - fortune, jetbike, runes of screw you, singing spear - 133
warlocks - 5, jetbikes, embolden, enhance, 2 destructors, 2 spears - 271

rangers - 5 - 95
Jetbike squad - 3, shurican cannon - 76
Dire Avengers - 10, exarch, dual cats, bladestorm - 152
Dire Avengers - 10, exarch, dual cats, defend - 152

scorpions - 9, exarch, claw, infiltrate, move through cover - 196

Warp spiders - 6, exarch, powerblades dual spinners - 159
Warp spiders - 6, exarch, powerblades dual spinners - 159

1776. need to trim 26 points. now, i'm not looking for the most competitive list, but i'm looking for something that can cover my bases.

[Bartali]

But I have a problem - the troops are god awful...

That's your problem right there
Pathfinders and Guardian Jetbikes seem the best of a dire bunch, with expensive DA squads being the worst. Have never liked Councils either - too many points for what ends up being a tarpit unit, with it hardly ever holding up a unit that's more expensive than it. Yay ! I've tarpitted a Marine MSU squad
Sixth is all about having numerous troops that can survive outside metal boxes. If Eldar troops weren't so bad, I'd be telling you to drop the council and invest more in troops

Probably not helping much am i ?

[Spring heeled Jack]

Wow Bartali, Im guessing you dont play Eldar too much, that or you've had the worst experiences. So sorry either case.

Ok Ericthegreen

Heres what you do.
Heavies and fast can both be scoring in this edition if the game is right. So you got spiders and they could be scoring one problem down.

Another problem, you've spent 76 points on a 3 man squad...this is no good. With Jetbikes go all the way or go home. A single 3 man squad is easily killed can be too much of a threat to anything.

Rangers over pathfinders is never a choice Any great Eldar player would make. So take pathfinders make them a squad of 10 and find out why they are the best snipers in the game. In 6th snipers that roll a 6 to hit can have any model they choose to take the save, and a roll of a 5-6 to hit for a Eldar sniper becomes a AP1 shot!

Dire Avengers are great, but one thing You should change is this, Your Exarch that has Defend should have a Power Weapon and a Shimmershield to help with that. Its 10 more points for the ENTIRE UNIT to have a 5++

I dont Like your units of 6 or 9, These seem like your trying to do too much and dont have the points so you shave off members making the squad under preform.

I feel That a Full Squad is the Best squad.

So I get the Feeling that at your LGS there is alot of Space Marines with Landraiders or IG with Leman's yes?
If so Why not take Fire Dragons?
two squads 160 pts each for 10 dudes all with Melta guns.

Codex Eldar can be very expensive, but only when you really dont know what your doing or where you should be going. It has always been the Best most competitive and most fun codex Ive ever seen. T3 can be weak, But if you worry too much on the number and not on the Tactics then your going to screw yourself on points each and Every time.

Hope this helps.

[Bartali]

Wow Bartali, Im guessing you dont play Eldar too much, that or you've had the worst experiences. So sorry either case.

No, just a realist.

[Russell's teapot]

If troops are the issue, then surely allies are your get out of jail card?

[Waxdollninja]

If ur already running 2 bike councils why not run with the jetbike theme take a bigger squad of bikes. Otherwise ditch them and buff the rangers up.

You run a very different army to me -all shooty- i'd love a bike council list but time money investment its not happening anytime soon. My feeling is our heavy support choices all remain very good and they score in some scenarios therefore its insanity not to take at least 1. I'd also be concerned as i cant really see any ap2 av14 killers other than ur spears and i'd be scared of not being able to deal with the terminators assault cannoning the DA's to death.

Personally i'd drop 1 squad either spiders or scorpions. Im not a fan of spiders, in third or fourth edition i used to think they were effective can openers and the warpspider exarch was a hth combat god but recently they've been choking for me. Maybe thats just my dice and they suit the high mobility of ur army as i can see them opening cans and the council cleaning the contents but.... The other options the Scorpions who imo are not that great now either, the claw will be challenged out effectively limiting him to dieing for the team vs any IC's or if hes lucky killing a Sergent, if hes challenged by an ic he will likely die before he gets the claw hit in therefore if your keeping them imo make the most of our high intiative reconsider the claw, chainsabres might be the way to go now to force more saves.

Imo 2d cannons with the change increase the size of the bikes or rangers. You could go 3 cannons but 2 is enough to kill deep striking terminators or dent advancing squads, they don't always succeed every turn but direct hit results are spectacular. Guide is excellent to give a 2nd chance for a direct hit but again might not suit ur mobile farseers. I park them in ruins for cover save with rangers above them and a troop such as your DA's downstairs and close by to encourage people to move towards them and inside their relatively short range. Generally this bait ends up with deepstrikers or drop pods coming for them early in the game, only to discovers that t7 w3 artillery pieces with a 4+ cover save will survive a round of shooting and then i can clear the contents my combined fire the following turn. Dcannons can also kill Av13-14, although it requires luck, which is otherwise going eat the DA's if the more mobile elements are chasing around the other end of the board.

Alternatively Dark reapers with a tempest launcher and fastshot if you expect foot marines are great, wont hurt tanks though.

[Spring heeled Jack]

No, just a realist.

Sounds like a pessimist to me.

[bountylord]

I very much agreee with Bartali that eldar did gain some buffs as well as nerfs in 6th edition primarily vehicles taking a decline in effectiveness which doesn't effect your list. I have been using a full 11 man council for the last few games and have had great success. I also included 3 squads of 5 pathfinders to drop those individual enemies with Powerfists, or rockets or anything that could hurt the council the most. Back them up with your two squads of warp spiders and we are now around 1360 pts. Right now we short on scoring so a squad of 6 bikes could be useful as eldar jetbikes are great this edition 48 inch full out yes please! Shuricannon or any high s6 fire is even better now two. Expect lots of vehicles getting glanced to death from behind with the bikes and spiders. The number one base we are missing is against flyers. They're horrible to take down with our lack of skyfire so you could include an aegis defense line with a quad gun for 100 pts and place a squad of pathfinders inside of it for there 2+ like normal. Now its kinda cheesy but you could put eldrad in and buff up the pathfinder squad. He is INCREDIBLE in 6th with his ignores armour and mastery level 3/ 4 powers from disciplines. I especially enjoyed getting the puppeteer spell and watching the enemy destroy his own forces with his own guns. Finally the last real unite that got a significant buff are harlequins who now appear to be the only worthwhile assault troops in the eldar codex. 2+ cover and rending make them a sight to see. (also the FAQ removed a fluff section instead of their previous shadowseer bonus so if you want to be a rules lawyer he technically still has super nightfighting. Just to keep in mind, and hope this helps

[bobafett_h]

I'd upgrade the Rangers to Pathfinders and make it a bigger squad of 8 to 10 models. Drop one squad of Dire Avengers. I would personally keep the Bladestorm one. Drop the second Warp Spider squad and increase the first one to 10 models. 3 man Jetbike squads are not as bad as some people say, but 6 man squads with two Cannons are definitely better if you can fit them in. The list does need at least one Heavy Support choice. War Walkers would probably be good, but I'd probably just take a Fire Prism or Falcon.