The concept for the Barracks articles came to me
when Dysartes was ranting at me to tell him what I was working on before the
next update, in a moment of madness I suggested complement articles to the
Armoury series, and on the spur of the moment I called it 'Barracks', for
some reason the name has stuck and so has the idea. Getting finally to the
point, this article is about having a mildly detailed look at the units available to our
Craftworld chums, including a look at some of the variant units available to
the Craftworld specific lists. (And it was only when I finished that I
realised what a choice there is).
HQ
| Unit | Opinion |
| Avatar | The awoken embodiment of Kaela Mensha Kaine the bloody
handed Eldar God of war, as powerful as a Bloodthirster as imposing as a
c'tan and as tough as a titanium coated reinforced concrete brick, well
actually the Avatar is non of these things, he ain't that big he ain't
that tough and he ain't going to win a fight whining about the time 'she
who thirsts got lucky with a low blow'. Essentially a cheap (80points) daemon
this HQ choice is quite affective in close combat with an impressive WS
and enough wounds to feel comfortable, unfortunately it will take the
entire game to get him there since he can move the amazingly fast
6" a turn without the ability to hitch a lift or run a bit quicker,
which might be ok if it wasn't for the armour save, yes it's invulnerable
but it's so low as to mock you. Once in CC he is a monster I've had him
lock down two full tactical squads for three turns, I've also had him blown
apart in one turn from Ratling sniper shooting and this is his weakness
he dies at range and for most of the game he is at range. On the plus
side he does inspire fearlessness in those minions who accompany him on
his wander across the board, now this offers two options,
either you shield him with guardians or use the the even more scary Wraithlord/Avatar
combo, which is nice and lasts a good while in fact. Oh he's armed with
the Wailing Doom a sword which does bugger all as he is a monstrous
creature. |
| Farseer | An ancient Eldar who has become trapped in
the Path of the Seer, gifted with psychic powers and the ability to tap
into the strings of time to predict future events and how they will play
out on the field of battle, well that's the corporate spiel
anyway. As it stands you are generally forced to take one, in in
my experience he either ends up in two roles, the mucho points stand at
the back firebase protector or the second wave Mindwaring tank basher
(my current choice), there are other options too I suppose I think it
comes down to two things, who you are playing and how you play. Stats
wise he is a pleasant improvement being T4 and having lots of wounds
what you do notice is the lovely Rune armour save and the staggering
lack of attacks he/she has (for some reason I have been assuming my
current Farseer is a woman (I say current, I only think of them as dead
when they die from 'perils of the warp', she is Farseer No3 if anyone is
interested). Now unlike your basic Marine Captain you can't have your
Farseer strolling down the middle of the battlefield and attacking
anything he fancies, they are (un)surprisingly fragile, well since Dysartes
starting taking Daemonhunter/Grey Knight allies to the picnic, suddenly
the inv save ain't so hot. On the weapons front you can give him either
a sharp stick / witch blade / singing spear & pistol, depending on
how you want to use him, CCW&pistol is the cheapest but the singing
spear is more useful like the witch blade it wounds on a 2+ and counts
as S9 against vehicles which is nice, it's always nice to take a dreadnought
down in CC with an old man with a spear, and it can surprise your
opponent too. In addition to pointy sticks they have access to all the shiny
baubles in the Eldar armoury, these include: Jetbikes; expensive but
useful range increaser and providing a 3+ armour save and toughness
increase, which will add to the survivability as well as allowing you to
get to the rear of vehicles. Ghosthelm; when I have a few points to
spare I take one or if you are going to be doing a lot of casting it is
a useful addition to warding off those pesky daemons, also useful if you
are fighting Chaos, best combined with Runes of Witnessing. Runes of
Witnessing; with a high leadership this is only that useful if you plan
to cast two powers a turn, if taken best combined with a Ghosthelm for
that added protection. Runes of Warding; short ranged and a bit rubbish,
have never taken it and I probably never will. Sprit Stones; the
opportunity to cast two powers a turn could potentially be very useful
(and often is) though it is monstrously expensive costing you virtually
another Farseer, still depending on the situation it can be very
useful. And finally to those powers which we all love, but must be
used carefully and if I may say it subtlety: Eldritch Storm; The Farseer
makes some pretty lights in the sky and has a disco under the flashy
lights, it's a pitiful power and ludicrously expensive, the only real
use is the mandatory pinning test it imposes or if you are very lucky
it'll spin a vehicle to show you its rear armour, oh and it's a pie
plate. Fortune; The ability to make any unit have the opportunity to
re-roll any armour save invulnerable or not, used to great effect on a
seer council. I need not say it, but this power is incredibly useful and
can save you from visceral sprayage, best used on troops with a low
chance of surviving, or you know are going to get a pummeling.
Guide; Another well used power, generally used for those crucial shots
you need to count, (not that I have ever guided nine Starcannons...),
basically it is the ability to re-roll any to hit shots that miss, in
short it is sweet, but expensive. Mindwar; Currently my favourite power (Killed Midget's Shas "insert special name here" in one
go to my amusement) in short it is the ability to fry anyone's brain
within 18" be it that plasma gunner who is a bit too close or the
enemy commander, I love it, and it's cheap. |
| Warlock: | A bodyguard for the Farseer, who is allowed to wander off in the heat
of battle, (there's something wrong with the Eldar mindset methinks) to
help out Guardians or Wraithguard, well they probably need the help.
Warlocks are Eldar who follow the path of the Seer, but who have also
followed the path of a warrior aspect allowing them to develop and use Psychic
powers in battle, they don't have the greatest stat line in the
universe, but it should not be underestimated, they only have one wound
so be careful with them. They have access to singing spears and witch blades
which is nice given that it allows them the ability to wound anything or
take down any tank, they also have the ability to create the minor
powers: Conceal, Destructor, Embolden & Enhance which they don't
have to test for. Conceal used to be expensive and pretty much useless,
until the arrival of all these ''avoids invulnerable save weapons"
then suddenly your Farseer has bugger all protection, if used do so on a
seer council (when facing daemon hunters) or on a huge squad of guardians
otherwise to expensive for my tastes. Destructor is essentially a heavy
flamer which is nice if you ever get into a position to use it. Embolden
makes you troops erm... emboldened allowing moral re-rolls. Enhance
would be sweet if you could have warlocks with aspect squads, but still
a plus to WS and Initiative is a bonus to and storm squad, giving black
guardians a WS of five! Best used as a support for your Farseer (against
quick or deep striking troops) or with storm guardians to give them an
extra kick. |
ELITES
| Unit | Opinion |
| Warp Spiders | Are one of those strange odd ball choices
that typifies the Eldar army list, they have some great attributes and
some rubbish ones. Firstly they are fast, they move like a
unhindered jump pack and can then move 2D6 in the assault phase if you
so wish, which is very helpful in getting them around. They have the
standard aspect stats plus a nice 3+ armour save, the downside to this
unit is it's weapon a S6 rapid fire 12" weapon which is odd as it effectively
punishes you for moving, which is the whole reason you want to take the
unit. As for the tactical uses they are best used on light infantry
with poor armour saves since they will wound most things on a 2+, or
against light or the rear armour of vehicles as they will be able to
glance things, alternatively they could be used to secure table quarters
or objectives. The Exarch has some with some interesting options
available, the ability to gain powerblades is nice when on the charge, Surprise
assault is a little too expensive for my tastes, but the squad gain and
extra attack on the charge which is always welcome (and it's very likely
they will be doing the charging) withdraw is a good option as it allows
you to break off combat in the opponents turn then in your turn fire
into them and charge them, which will no doubt do some serious damage. |
| Striking Scorpions | Are close combat aspect warriors
that excel at what they do, which is to chop up enemy infantry.
They have impressive weapon skill and initiative and have a much needed
strength bonus as well as a Marines armour save, they also have some
nice equipment, the mandiblaster which basically allows you to make an
extra attack in every round of close combat, and are armed with a
chainsword and Shuriken pistol. They can be fitted with grenades
for that extra assault through cover leveler or with haywire grenades so
they can take down or stop most armour, even a monolith! Like all
things Eldar they do have their weaknesses, because of their heavy
armour they can't fleet of foot so they are slow and vulnerable to enemy
fire therefore they should be transported in a Wave Serpent for maximum
effectiveness. Unlike most Eldar troops these guys can get away with
being swamped, as they can munch through low armoured troops like there
is no tomorrow, even giving space Marines a run for their money.
The Exarch can also be given what is basically a power fist and with the
new assault rules he is sure to last till the very end, he can also
allow them to infiltrate where the mission allows it. In 40K in
40mins these are an invaluable option. |
| Howling Banshees | They scream and beat up marines, but
there is more to Banshee's than this. The most commonly used
Aspect at a guess, but it not hard to see why, a fully tooled up Banshee
squad can easy kill a full tactical squad on the charge, they come
with a Shuriken pistol and a power sword, they also come with low
strength and a 4+ armour save so watch out for heavy bolters. In
fact the best way to utilise these troops and ensure their safety is to
transport them in a Wave Serpent, which means you can move 12" get
out, fleet of foot and assault without having to make any pesky
saves. Like all Eldar they are fragile and go down to numbers,
sustained fire and counter assaults avoid low cost troops such as
guardsmen, but don't go for tough troops either as they will have
trouble wounding them, and what you don't want to do is have them bogged
down in combat, as their banshee mask will be wasted. You can
upgrade one of these ladies to an Exarch, the obvious addition is to
give her an executioner, as this gives her a much welcome strength
boost. Finally remember to take a full squad of ten as six
generally don't make that much of a difference and can be worn down
easily, also don't discount the pistol, against Orks and Guardsmen it is
statistically better to fire the pistol than to use the sword, something
which can slip the mind of even the greatest Farseer in the heat of
battle. |
| Fire Dragons: | A solid core choice to any Eldar list,
this aspect specialises in taking out heavy armour. They have the
standard aspect stats so they will hit a good deal of the time, and like
all eldar they are armed with a stupidly short ranged gun which is
"cough" inferior "cough" to its imperial counterpart
(I feel dirty saying that). Being serious, Fire Dragons come equipped
with melta bombs and fusion guns, melta bombs are deadly to any tank (ok
not the monolith) though remember skimmers are always hit on a six and
if the tank moves you require a four or more, the fusion gun is a
strength six weapon with short range and 'melta' weapon properties under
6". Now a short range in a small squad they are very good at
blowing things up though generally aiming to get armour 13/14 is a bit
of a gamble probability wise (in my experience) what they do excel at is
killing tough well armoured troops, the obvious example being
terminators as that AP1 is just to sweet to waste on low cost enemy
troops. Like all aspect warriors they are easy dispatched with
sustained fire or overwhelming numbers, so I would recommend
transporting them in either a Falcon (as six is all you generally need)
or in a Wave Serpent, ideally kitting out the vehicle so it is
survivable and complements the tank hunter role. The Exarch
upgrade is probably worth it, as the firepike affectively increases the
range and gives you a 9" S8 +2D6 weapon which hits on a 2+, and I
don't need to tell you that's good. Depending on whether you want
your Exarch to aid in a CC role or guarantee a tank kill you can
give them burning fist or tank hunter, but that does seriously inflate
the price of the model. |
| Wraithguard | Wraithguard are on odd unit, one that has beautiful
models and is clearly Eldar, but it is very tricky to pin down what
exactly their role on the battlefield should be. They are strong, tough
won't run away and are more than capable of firing in a straight line as
well as a being good in hand to hand bonce bashing, on a negative they
need a warlock to stop them gazing at the pretty lights and are a very
expensive points wise. Using them against a large units of troops would
be a waste, using them against Terminators and they will get munched, so
what to do? Well it's best not to waste those lovely wraithcannon even
though they have a short range they can tear the toughest tank to bits
and can instant kill the toughest character, so therein is the best way
to use them; having a warlock with either conceal or enhance, get them
close to any large tank, HQ character or big monster and watch them get
sucked into oblivion. Providing you can afford to buy them that
is. |
TROOPS
| Unit | Opinion |
| Rangers | Those who follow the path of the outcast and
are called back to defend their home in times of need, essentially a sniper
the Ranger is horrendously expensive points wise, but has an array of
interesting abilities which mean they can turn a game at a critical
moment if used correctly. Firstly they can infiltrate which is
nice for pushing back deployment zones and move through terrain
unhindered, best though is their chameleon cloaks which give them a 1+
increase in any cover save they have, hence they are best placed in
cover or wooded areas with a good field of view. The long rifle is nice
as it hits on a 2+ and wounds on a 4+ which is good for taking down big
critters like c'tan or carnifax's and has that AP1 thing of you hit on a
six (never happens). The question is how to use them, probably in
a squads of three and by aiming to delay by pinning rather than
expecting them to kill huge swaths of the enemy, to illustrate; how many
times has the game swung because of a well placed charge rips though
your line? Well what if you could delay that charge so instead of a
horrible slaughter the enemy just stand there waiting to be shot at
close range (crickey even a shuriken cat would be in range), so you see
pinning can be most useful. Never get them in CC though as they have the
stats of a guardian and will be too far away for you to bail them out. |
| Guardian Storm Squads | After the EOT campaign
GW finally produced some models for Storm squads and they are quite nice
if not fiscally draining, which is a pity because I would buy more if
they cost less, the problem being with Storm Guardians is that
they fit one of two roles. With average stats and armed only with
a close combat weapon and pistol you do need a lot of them to make a noticeable
impact on the game, this is improved though with a Warlock with enhance,
effectively speeding up the unit and increasing their weapon skill,
which would be brutal if you can afford 20 of them (I'd leave the
flamers at home with TAR). The second less expensive option is to
go tank hunting with them, take two fusion guns and arm the squad with
the wonderfully effective haywire grenades, and of course having a
warlock with a singing spear joining them and suddenly that small
Guardian squad which no one was paying attention too has made a mess of
your opponents heavy armour. As ever with Eldar they are fragile,
having weak saves and being vulnerable to counterassaults, best to use
them as a complement to your main thrust. |
| Guardian Defender Squads | The mainstay
of most armies, Guardian Defender squads are a militia drawn from their
respective Craftworlds in times of need, in many respects their
abilities reflect this, they can shoot as well as a guardsmen and have
much the same ability in close combat, so don't. They wear mesh
armour which provides a reasonable save and, when you start with a large
number of them they don't tend to run away, and when they do run,
hopefully it will be towards the enemy using the ever useful FOF.
Each Guardian comes armed with the much maligned Shuriken Catapult
which has the same abilities as a Bolter, only being an 12" assault
weapon (so they are armed with Tommy guns whilst every one else is
taking rifles) which is a bit of a problem as it means your poor
Guardians are in assault range which is not exactly the best place for
them to be. Defender squads are generally used in three ways,
firstly as meat shields for your more valuable battle winning units ,
and I can see the logic with this, buy screening your Dark Reapers with
six Guardians they will effectively last another turn and can't be
targeted. Secondly as huge mob like swarms of 20 odd which march
across the field or stand about at base camp, their ultimate aim being
to absorb damage and apply mass Shuriken when the opportunity arises and
withstand the assault allowing you to counterassault. Finally the minimalist
seven Guardians and a Starcannon option, which is very common and quite
affective. Personally I've never seen Eldar as either expendable
or a horde army, and I am also very happy when they are underestimated
on the table top, if I have 15 screaming Orks running at my lines 20
Guardians and a helpful (and opportune) Guide from a nearby Farseer will
kill all of them dead, no questions asked, they work wonders against
Guardsmen too (one of the few units they can get into CC with and
survive). I never leave the shed without two generous squads with
Starcannons (if you do take a heavy weapon, it is best to go for a multi
shot one as there is little point paying 50 points for a Bright lance
that misses half the time). |
| Dire Avengers | Supposedly the most common aspect of all
(when was the last time you saw them?), they follow the aspect of the noble
warrior and are masters of the Shuriken catapult, which would be nice if
it had a range farther than I can throw Dysartes. What do you get
for your 12 point investment, well erm some guardians with bigger helmets
and a loin cloth which interestingly gives them a 4+ save, if Orks ever
find that a sarong and a bristled helmet makes you live longer the
universe is doomed. Seriously though, what you do get is a nice basic
troop choice with a higher BS/WS they are a bit quicker and apparently
run away less, well on paper anyway, the let down is the gun, yes it's
great if you are facing Guard/Orks or any other T3 troop, (interestingly
I once killed Midget's Commander Farsight, or what ever he's called from
one round of DA shooting, he was left a bit speechless, I believe his
words were 'they can't kill him' I think my response was something along
the lines of 'they just did' ), so against certain opponents they are
fine, fun and a good choice, it's just against 3+ save tin cans they
generally get smeared across the sand a lot. Best used in conjunction
with something, I prefer to use them to soften up and support a CC
aspect and ward off any counter assault that might be coming their
way. Some people seam to use them as an Exarch delivery system,
since he can be given a myriad of (expensive) powers, but remember he
ain't that strong and most leaders seam to be fearless these days anyway
so the Diresword's effectiveness is somewhat limited, and given the
trial assault rules some of the powers are less useful anyway. |
| Wave Serpent | Not strictly a troops choice but it does
carry them into battle, it is also IMO the best troop transport in the
game (if we ignore large silver Necron blocks). Firstly it is a
skimmer and a fast one at that, I'm always in two minds weather to move
it 24" or 12" (and getting a shot in) during the first turn,
that former is strategically the better option. Secondly it is relatively
well armoured, being a skimmer is benefits from the 'skimmers go fast,
no penetration if moved' thing which is very nice plus it has the most
wonderful energy field which turns all weapons over S8 into S8 when
shooting at the front. They are shockingly hard to kill, Dysartes has
poured an entire round of IG heavy weapons into the front of one of
these babies with barely a scratch to show for it (though I think that
was mainly due to bad dice rolling), don't get too blasé they
are not invincible, whist it's probably survive 3 Lascannon shots, it's
go down to 6 Autocannon shots, which is why it is useful to do that old
Eldar trick of moving things behind cover and blocking line of
sight. One the weapons front it boils down to three choices:
Starcannon's ~ soften up the marines before your CC unit gets out ;
Brightlances ~ blow up the tank before your CC unit gets out;
Missile launchers ~ blow up tanks or soften up troops before your CC
unit gets out. Currently I favour the Missile launchers as I find
them slightly more tactically flexible plus they have an AP4 blast which
is nice against Tau, and the twin linked ability makes them quite likely
to hit so a (usually expensive) one shot weapon is worth it, it just
depends on your style and who you are playing. As to upgrades,
sadly you can't give it a holofield, but a spirit stone may be advisable
as it can keep you moving/shooting adding to it's durability. All in all
a thoroughly decent vehicle, pity it's about £30 from forgeworld with
thankfully (it's been 5 years) a plastic kit being available soon... |
FAST ATTACK
| Unit | Opinion |
| Jetbikes | The Eldar Jebike miniatures are some of the
nicest in the Eldar range, I particularly like the look of the Shuriken
cannon variant. In general they have your usual guardian stats, but because
of the bike they now have T4 and a 3+ save, can move 12" a turn
then a further six in the assault phase (useful for getting out of assault
range as your Shuriken catapults are 12", and giving them that
whole 'hit and run' feel) and have twin linked weapons meaning they can
hit, and for every three you have in a unit you can upgrade one to a
Shuriken cannon, on this alone I would use them in every game.
They are ideal for supporting any Waveserpent born attack, or getting
round the flanks to take out any heavy weapon crews, even trying to get
a lucky kill at the lightly armoured rear of certain vehicles, as they
have wonderful manoeuvrability. Sadly you will hardly see them on
the table tops and for one reason, the price 35 point each so as a minimum
you have to take three which will cost you 105 points for that price you
could take nine guardians with a Starcannon, if you upgrade one of them
to a Shuriken cannon then you are paying the same price as for two
Vypers with Starcannons, at these prices you would have to be insane to
taken them. If you are crazy enough to take them, what ever you do
don't get them stuck in CC it ain't worth it. |
| Shining Spears | As with Guardian Jetbikes Shining spears
are some very nice models, which when well painted are a sight to
behold, they are better shots which is a bit unnecessary as they are
still armed with catapults they are a bit better at the old close combat
as their laser lances make them S5 which is nice, for lots of points you
can upgrade to an Exarch and the only reason to do this would be to give
your Exarch an invulnerable save or Brightlance, so for 3 bikes, one
being an Exarch with a Brightlance will cost you just under 200 points,
yes that's right the same price of three Vypers with Starcannons, and
which do you think is going to make a bigger impact and last for
longer... Rubbish don't take them, ever! |
| Vypers | The Vyper Jetbike is one of the most
Eldar'esq options to you and I would strongly advise that you take one
or two to every engagement, initially the armour ten all round and open
topped qualities of this vehicle may scare you, but trust me they are
great, the trick is not to let your opponent work that out. Whilst
one paper they have the survivability of a pork pie in front of
Dysartes, it should be remembered that they are skimmers so as a rule
they must be moved 6" a turn and suddenly no more rolls on the penetration
tables, it should also be remembered that they are essentially weapons
platforms to be used in a support role and they are expendable. On the
armament front they have the bog standard BS of a guardian so
Brightlances and Rocket Launchers aren't going to hit that often,
therfore scatter lasers and Starcannons are the best bet, personally I
go with Starcannons, I'm never very good at rolling high (or above 2 for
that matter) for scatter laser shots, plus the Starcannon is more versatile
in my opinion. This leaves you with a Vyper that can fulfill two roles;
light tank hunter and heavy armoured troop splatter. For light tank
killing use the Vyper's maneuverability to get into favorable firing
lines, i.e. the more vulnerable 10/11 sides (shooting a dred in the back
is well recommended) or to root out those enemy vehicles behind cover (whirlwinds
/ basilisks). In their other role they should be used along with
your main advance to soften up, or take out any immediate threat to your
attacking units, alternatively you could go HQ hunting. To maximise
their potential I would recommend always hugging terrain to block
possible lines of sight, starting the game behind cover (hull down) also
helps I find, and always being 24" away from the enemy (come-on
they can be taken down by bolter fire). As a final function they can
secure table quarters which is very useful as they can zip along way across
the board in the last turn. Now before you ask they do have access
to all that standard Eldar vehicle upgrades, I wouldn't recommend it,
keep them cheap and expendable, the more points you invest in them the
less you have for your main force, remember they are used to 'support'. |
| Swooping Hawks | Every one knows they Eldar rule the skies,
it's when they start messing about on the ground that the trouble
begins, Hawks bring death from the sky and they have some interesting
equipment to do this; they have wings, which are very pretty and work
like a jump pack, but also allow deep strike whenever you like
regardless of the mission, they have funky grenades which make a big
mess of guardsmen (I must confess that half the time I take them for the
large AP5 template, mainly because I managed to cover three squads of
guard with it once, which amused me greatly) and a rather odd 24" 2
shot Lasblaster, which is very useful, (move 12" fire 24" hmm
that's a 36"...). Ignoring the Exarch for a minute I like to take
five of these guys, as they are useful for dropping behind enemy lines
and taking out any heavy's or Dysartes' mortars (which he tends to keep
behind terrain, but also away from any support) that might be otherwise inaccessible
they can also be used to charge and stop any unit firing for a turn of
two which is nice. What they are not though are combat monsters the
Lasblaster is only S3 and they have the usual Aspect stats so they ain't
big on the marine killing either, I prefer to think of them as a well
timed surgical strike unit, I only tend to bring them into play in turns
three and four anyway, which can be useful for securing board quarters
at the last minute. As usual they have the option of having an Exarch
leader, with the option of making him (possibly) an unstoppable CC
killing machine, the massively expensive sustained assault option allows
him to make additional attacks for every successful hit in CC, in theory
this can mean killing every model in the enemy unit, this ain't that
likely though, he is only as strong as your average Eldar, still it
could be enough to swing the balance in your favour. |
HEAVY SUPPORT
| Unit | Opinion |
| Falcon | I must confess I don't particularly like the
Falcon, whilst I would argue that it is one of the best looking models
GW produce, I have never come to find it particularly affective on the battlefield.
Stats wise it is a medium tank with the ever useful skimmer attributes
so you need not worry about being taken down in CC (it needs a 6 to be
hit) or having my nasty penetrating hits down the bird (skimmer moves
6" a turn). As for weaponry is comes with twin linked
shuriken catapults which you can upgrade, but never should, it also
comes with a pulse laser which offers you D3 strength eight shots which
is of some comfort but isn't exactly going to down a Monolith or
Landraider, and is best used against light vehicles or big gribblies.
You also have to choose a second turret weapon Scatterlasers come with
the model and are relatively cheap, Brightlances and missile launchers
will always miss so the always dependable Starcannon can come to the
rescue here too. As nice as this all sounds it's let down by the
bloody awful ballistic skill of three, so half the time you will miss,
or in my case the entire game (hence my general resentment). The redeeming
feature of the vehicle is it's ability to transport small six man squads
around, which whenever I use one is what it inevitably gets used for,
and it is quite good at it, since it is able to deliver a small surgical
strike, fire dragons are well suited to this role. As too upgrades
I would recommend the ever useful spirit stones, which will keep your
tank moving and firing a good deal of the time, and the terrific
holofield which forces your opponent to roll two dice on the results
table and use the lowest, when combined with spirit stones this can make
your tank nearly indestructible. It's all a bit pricey for my
taste which is why I prefer the humble Wave serpent |
| Fire Prism | Built on the template of the falcon this variant
is literally a one trick pony, it supports a large Prism Cannon, which I
have always thought looks a little odd. Erm what can I say, in
reality you are paying 115points for a Lascannon which can shoot a long
way (which is not necessarily a good thing unless you play on large
boards) and is on a medium armoured skimmer, stick it at the back of
your line with a clear firing lane and watch it miss a lot due to low WS
and you can forget about the blast template it's no big deal, unless
someone brings lots of obliterators to the party. As I may have
hinted it's a bit rubbish, and the obvious solution to this is to stick
a Farseer with guide next to it, so now we have created a 200 point one
trick pony, and if you can find a use for this in a 1000point game
please write in and tell me. As a final note I wouldn't bother with
vehicle upgrades as it should be out of any other heavy weapons range
anyway. |
| Wraithlord | Everyone's favourite example of cheese, shut
up it's going up in cost and you HAVE to take a heavy weapon it was in
the FAQ. Strangely they have been phased out of my lists of late,
which is odd since I just bought one. Well what do we get for our
points, lets see the toughest thing in the Eldar list, the strongest
thing in the Eldar list, the most reliable thing in the Eldar list...
you get the idea. To all essential purposes it is the Eldar equivalent
of a dreadnought, but instead of thick armour plates it's constructed
from the always reliable wraithbone, it can survive multiple heavy
weapon hits without being affected unlike it's marine counterpart.
The most amusing quality for most people is the fact that Marines can't
hurt in in close combat since you need S5 to wound it, so as soon as you
get it into close combat with a tactical squad there is bugger all then
can do about it until they run away and as it hits at S10 not a lot is
going to get up after they get hit. They have a standard marine
save though so they ain't invulnerable and are somewhat fragile when
sniper rifles and weapons that ignore toughness are wafted in their
direction, on the plus side they do scare the pants off your opponent
and they will probably throw every weapon they have in its direction
which is good as they will ignore the rest of your army. So it
comes down to usage, there are several schools of thought on this issue
there is; the take three charge um down the centre with a guardian meat
shield option (which also coincides with the number of friends you have
decreasing proportionally to how often you use this tactic), there is
the taunt your opponent into a dread vs dread face off (which ensures
its survivability as it will survive till then and will win) this
depends on your opponent, though Dysartes and I generally like to see
how interesting one on one fights pan out. Finally there is the
use them as a distraction so your plan gets carries out option, which is
what I used to do and on the plus side they won't run away. To
quickly mention the heavy weapon options if you want to keep it CC go
cheap, if you want to benefit from the extra BS I'd go with a Bright
lance as the chances of hitting with them are greatly
improved. |
| War Walker | Used as light scouting vehicles, these wraithbone
constructs are distinctly Eldar in design and ability, they are quite
expensive, odd to look at, are very fragile and have the ability to lay
down some of the heaviest support in the Eldar arsenal. Ideally
they should be used on flanks or at the rear hopefully behind some form
of cover to benefit from the hull down rule, as what they aren't is
tough, they are on open toped walker with armour ten all round, in short
they can go down to bolter fire (so you might wanted to keep them
18" from anything anyway remotely scary), whirlwinds are especially
deadly as they gain lots of horrible ordinance advantages, and the force field
they have is a joke, good on a wave serpent, bad on a war
walker (that said you now have a 1 in 6 chance of a Lascannon having no
effect, but they shouldn't be firing at war walkers anyway). They are
armed with two heavy weapons, ranging from the cheap shuriken cannon to everyone's
favorite Starcannon, now on GW's models they have a tendency to have a bright lance/scatter
laser combo, this is stupid, as it affectively wastes one weapon a turn,
the best option is to have both weapons the same. The next rule is
that war walkers battle winning potential is increased with numbers, i.e.
use two or three, whilst a little over-kill three Warwalkers with nine
Starcannons can kill anything, especially when combined with a nearby
Farseer with guide. In short I like them, massive amounts of fire
power, lovely models and the ability to be blown away like blossom on
the wind, Eldar to the core. |
| Support Weapon Battery: | Some of the more odd Eldar
weapons in the game; the D-cannon the Vibro-cannon and the Shadow
weaver. Essentially they hang around at the back and make a mess of
things (for more in-depth analysis consult the Armoury: Eldar article), visually
they a quite nice models and the ability to take them in batteries 1-3
could be rewarding they are fairly survivable if they are behind cover
or are 'shielded'. Interestingly I and others found the pricing
for them in the codex a bit confusing so it was 'clarified' in the FAQ
which to my mind, started saying one thing and ended with the other, in
short the 20points is for both guardians and then you add the weapon i.e.
a D-cannon costs 50points. |
| Dark Reapers | Dark Reapers are possibly the most
reliable and effective anti marine troops in the entire 40K
universe. I could end the description there, but there is more too
them than that; they have all the usual aspect warrior stats, so they
won't run away and can fire at things and hit them with a high rate of
success, what makes reapers special is a the weapon they carry.
The Reaper launcher seams to have been designed with one thing in mind,
kill marines, it's a S5 weapon with AP3 so lets see, if you have a squad
of five Reapers, they fire their ten reaper launcher shots at a marine
squad and on average they will kill around five of them, which is
conveniently the same number you find in those pesky devastator
squads. Now you can have a handy Farseer with Guide nearby, which
usually increases the amount you kill to about seven. The problem
for these guys is that your opponent also knows what they are capable of
so they will seek to destroy them, thankfully thanks to their range you
can put them at the back of your lines hopefully behind some form of
cover and probably screen them with a small five man Guardian squad to
block line of site, this will not stop a whirlwind of course and these
very cheap little tank'ets are your worse nightmare (for any aspect
squad really) as they have a large ordinance template which is AP4 and
will make horribly expensive mess which brings me to my second point.
Reapers are not cheap at 37points per model you really need to make them
pay for themselves by inflicting serious damage on your opponents
expensive (and threatening) squads which can be tricky, or use them to
help you attain mission specific goals which is where careful deployment
of these guys really pays off. As with all aspect squads you can
upgrade one of them to an Exarch, allowing you to 'upgrade' their weapon
to a Shuriken cannon (never) or a Missile launcher which can be useful
and or use the Crack shot (very useful in cityfight) or Fast shot (two
plasma missile shots can make a mess of anything), but these are quite
expensive upgrades for a one wound model. |
Craftworld Variants
| Unit | Opinion |
| Ulthwé: Seer Council | The Seer Council is a rock hard unit which can have up to five
Farseers and unlimited warlocks, with nothing really new apart from the the new warlock power
Augment (doubles any Farseer power range, i.e. 36" Mindwar),
generally speaking it's best to have a few sacrificial warlocks with
Pistols and CC weapons to bite the bullet when you fail your 4+ inv save. Black
Guardians are a nice addition (and very useful in 40K in 40mins)
in short your two compulsory troops have either improved WS or BS. |
| Biel-Tan: The Court of the Young King | is
basically Exarch escorts for your Avatar, it's really as simple as
that. Probably best to go with Scorpions or Banshees as this is a
close combat unit, but the Avatar does stop you using fleet of foot so you are going to be trudging across
the table for a long time, still at least they won't run away. |
| Alaitoc: Pathfinders | are essentially
improved rangers with the same basic profile as a ranger but with a better
cover save, free beginning move and getting AP1 on a 4+ rather than a
six. Most fun is the Ranger disruption table, for every unit of
pathfinders you have you get to roll on this table to see what happens,
which can really mess with your opponents deployment / battle plan. |
| Iyanden: Spiritseers | are improved warlocks
with a better leadership and the ability to guide the dead near them
without having to be part of a that unit. |
| Saim-Hann: Wild Riders | belong to the ruling
family of an Eldar house, Kinsmen are rather pricey, but have improved
leadership, WS and number of attacks. The Wild Rider Chief is a nice
rounded HQ choice and has two wounds, and interestingly is the only thing
in the Eldar list which does. |
|
