Email in: Eldar help

Hello,
I've created this follow on list after I read some of your blogs and using that info I came up with the following multi stage list ranging from 1500 > 1750 > 2000

Id also like to say thanks for any feedback
Farseer - Doom 80

6xDire Avengers - Exarch - Duel Catapult and Bladestorm 104
6xDire Avengers - Exarch - Duel Catapult and Bladestorm 104
4xJetbikes - Shuriken Cannon 98
10xHowling Banshee's - Exarch - Executioner and Acrobatic 187
8xFire Dragons - Exarch - Dragon Breath Flamer and Crack Shot 145
8xFire Dragons - Exarch - Dragon Breath Flamer and Crack Shot 145

Falcon - Shuriken Cannon 120
Falcon - Shuriken Cannon 120

Wave Serpent - Twin Linked Brightlances, Shuriken Cannon and Spirit Stones 155
Wave Serpent - Twin Linked Shuriken Cannons, Shuriken Cannon and Spirit Stones 120
Wave Serpent - Twin Linked Shuriken Cannons, Shuriken Cannon and Spirit Stones 120
1499

For 1750
Yriel 155
 4xJetbikes - Shuriken Cannon 98
1751

For 2k
Fire Prism - Holo Field and Spirit Stones
Add Holo Fields and Spirit Stones to the Falcons
2001

or

10xSwooping Hawks - Exarch - Sunrifle and Intercept
1993

or

10xWarp Spiders - Exarch - Powerblades and Additional Deathspinner
1997

or

Something else in fitting with the idea

If You had this list and had to get that 1 point off what would you do?

Thanks for reading

Regards
Graeme


Reply out:

First of all, thanks for reading my blog! Hope you enjoy your stay at chez Iggy! I'm working on some more tactica articles and i'll be adding them soon. So watch this space!

Now on to the good stuff...

Starting with your HQ: At 1500 it's best to leave Yriel at home, however awesome he is in cc. Better to take a cheap Autarch to free up points elsewhere. I usually buy a fusion gun and nothing else at all.
The whole point is avail of Master Strategist, keeping everything in reserve, and when it's turn 2, you can apply +1 to your Reserve roll and coolly arrive en masse, instead of trickling in bit-by-bit. Eldar are easily torn apart by piecemeal.
I'm sure you've heard of this tactic somewhere on the web. Referred to as Reserves Denial - it's one of the most effective tactics the Eldar posses. This will literally deny your opponent a whole turn at taking out your expensive Eldar units. It effectively takes a whole turn out of the equation, minimising the damage you take considerably.
Of course this means your opponent will have a whole turn to get his units into favourable positions, but that's where your speed comes in, which we'll talk about later...

Your farseer needs Runes of Warding. Hands down, it is the best Wargear option in the game for anti-psychic defense. For 15 points, you have the ability to shut down psyhic powers, increasing the enemy psyker's chance of suffering a wound in the process. Great against units like Rune Priests who lack invulnerable saves. The range is infinite as well - think about that for a moment. As long as your Farseer is on the board, you're good to go.

Now, if you're using Dire Avengers to make Falcons scoring, you'd normally take 5 Dire Avengers, not 6, and certainly not with an exarch - the idea is to take the minimum required choice as your main scoring option. Drop the exarch completely - not worth it unless you're taking larger units of 8+. That will save you 88 points to spend on other goodies.

If you're going with Banshees, you'll need strong close support. Banshees are great at wiping out small combat squads, but those large marine squads need softening up before you commit to an assault, otherwise it's generally suicide. I generally find that a large unit of DA with Bladestorm does the trick, but you can use other options like Vypers, and jetbikes that can get close and thin those numbers for you, then charge in and mop them up with the banshees. Doom is your friend. Rinse, repeat.

Your jetbike squads need some work. The greatest weakness they have is a low ld of 8. This means that it's relatively easy for them to fail morale checks, and soon you'll have them fleeing 3d6 toward your table edge. How do you get around this? There are two ways - one: add a warlock with Embolden, or two: take larger units. You should be running at least 6 jetbikes to tackle the ld issue. That way, you can take a casualty and not worry too much.
Once this weakness is dealt with, you can start concentrating on its strengths. Use them to harass enemy transports with shuriken cannons, using their speed to hit rear armour. I've lost count of how many Rhinos have bit the dirt to my Jetbikes. Turn 5, turboboost to claim those objectives.

Sadly, these days in 5th Ed, there isn't much place for units like Swooping Hawks. Fantastic models, but sup-par on the tabletop. Better off left at home looking pretty until they're fixed in a future dex!

Warpspiders can be useful in 5th edition but the change to glancing hits on vehicles, combined with 'ap -' means they can't be counted on for tankhunting like the good 'ole days. As Thud has mentioned here on Warseer, they're really best at finishing off half-dead units. Take at least 8 to maximise their effectiveness, and if you're taking powerblades to cater for assault, you'll need Withdraw as well. Spiders are pants in cc, but if you can kill one or two marines with no armor saves, and retreat in the enemy's assault phase, you're good to go.

Finally, there are three things to consider when building an Eldar army. This is something i've adopted from Fritz over at wayofsaimhann, and it shapes every single list I build. Here they are as follows:

Long Range Support
---------------------
Be they Wraithlords, or Falcons, Warwalkers or Fire Prisms, you need something that can support your the body of your force. I favour Falcons and Fire Prisms for this role, but if you're taking Wraithlords, you'll need at least 2, and kit them out with a Brightlance, Missile Launcher and 2flamers. Not being vehicles means no crew shaken/stunned to worry about too.
Warwalkers are fragile enough as it is, so you should steer clear of options like starcannons and missile launchers. Keep them cheap and go for something like Scatter lasers. Str 6 spam ftw!
Your Long Range Support will hang back in the first few turns, targetting whatever poses the greatest threat to your force before switching to the next biggest threat, and so on.


Fast units
----------
One of our greatest assets as Eldar is our speed - so always keep this in mind as an Eldar player. Remember you can cover the majority of the board with fast skimmers and jetbikes. If you're in a pinch, you can redeploy to relative safety in an instant. Eldar speed enables you to get where you need to be, when you need it.


Durability
----------
Eldar are naturally very squishy, with T3 all round for our aspects and troops. Sadly, even the likes of Scorpions are toast when it comes to rapidfire. Fear not!
Get those units into Waveserpents and kit them out with spirit stones. Now your opponent has to get past perhaps the most resilient vehicle in the game for those juicy contents - not an easy task.
With holo-fields, spirit stones and cover saves, they'll buy you time to put your plans into motion.
Other options for your durable element might include a Fortuned Seer council on bikes, or Wraith wall. The essence is the same: Force your opponent to deal with your tough units, while your core units deal the damage and secure those objectives, all the while backed-up by your Long Range Support.

And as soon as Turn 5 begins, and hopefully you've opted to go second - kick things into gear, tankshock those marines from objectives and contest, then park your scoring units in place to win the game! Annihilation, hopefully you've dealt enough damage to cripple your opponent, now it's time to get outta there!

Hope that helps!

=Iggy=