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I am planning to collect a new Eldar army, and have written up my first 2000 pt list I want to collect and build up to.
(note: although having played lots of Eldar in my past, I currently only own about 10 Jetbikes, 1 Guardian squad, and a handful of Warlocks/farseers I'm converting to jetbikes), & the metal bits to a Fire Prism, loving the old school)

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Eldar Army
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Points Name Upgrades

173 - Farseer - Eldar Jetbike, Singing Spear, Runes of Warding, Spirit Stones, Fortune, Guide
325 - 6 Warlocks - Eldar Jetbikes, 3 w/Destructor, 1 w/Singing Spear & Embolden, 1 w/Singing Spear & Enhance, 1 w/Singing Spear

205 - Guard. Jetbikes - 6 Guardian Jetbikes, 4 with Twinlinked Shuriken Catapults, 2 with Shuriken Cannons
1 Warlock on jetbike, Embolden, Singing Spear
205 - Guard. Jetbikes - 6 Guardian Jetbikes, 4 with Twinlinked Shuriken Catapults, 2 with Shuriken Cannons
1 Warlock on jetbike, Embolden, Singing Spear

110 - 10 Guardians - Bright Lance
110 - 10 Guardians - Bright Lance

210 - 3 War Walkers - x2 Eldar Missile Launchers
160 - Fire Prism - Holo Field, Spirit Stones
175 - Falcon - 2 Shuriken Cannons, Holo Field, Spirit Stones

80 - 5 Fire Dragons - x5 Fusion Guns

225 3 Vipers Eldar Missile Launcher, Shuriken cannon
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total points value : 1978 pts

I want to play a mixed force like this, I had an eldar army for years and really enjoy using different skimmers, war walkers, etc for all the heavy weapons they bring to the board. I am a little tired of playing an overload of aspect warriors, though I may still have a soft spot for dire avengers or banshees :-). I am new to using jetbikes, though, and wanna play a jetbike seer council, but NOT depend on it entirely like having 1 or 2 full seer councils (while still utilizing it as the annoying, multi-purpose unit it is).

Other than general advice & Ideas, a few specific questions.

1) Keep the Vipers together, to get a free spiritstones upgrade, or separate, for individual targeting?

2) Any suggestions on balancing out jetbike units, guardian or Seer Council

3) I didn't use the remaining 22 points because I was considering how to fill out the list. I could just add one Guardian Jetbike to the list to make it come out square at 2000, but I'm also considering Giving the Falcon a Brightlance, and losing both Shuriken cannon upgrades it carries, and maybe squeezing in one more upgrade on the Farseers/Warlocks.

4)Any blaring holes of armies, situations I don't have answers for - what will destroy this list?

You are always better off keeping vehicles separate rather than squadroning them. If they aren't firing they aren't worth much, and considering we are talking about a AV10 Open Topped vehicle the vast majority of the time as soon as they get hit by any kind of real anti tank weapon they just die, so there is no point making things easier by allowing Immobilise results to kill as well. Keeping them separate also maximises your damage output, since you can hit more targets and will never waste shots.

6 really isn't big enough for a JetCouncil, with no power weapons you are completely relying on the number of wounds you can dump on something and for this you need as many guys as possible. On a similar note with only 6 guys as soon as you take casualties your damage output quickly drops to a point that you don't really threaten anything. Imo even ignoring all the inbuild flaws of the unit, 8 is the minimum size you would want to run a Council. With the changes to Witnessing/Warding/Shadow in the Warp you absolutely have to take Witnessing if you are running a Council now. The unit rapidly falls over if you don't cast Fortune (ignoring the fact that Librarians etc can stop it anyway or Null Zone you to cancel it out) so pay the points to ensure you don't fail it.

10 Guardians really won't do much, particularly with a Bright Lance. With BS3 you get at max 3 hits per game. If you really want to take Guardians give them a Scatter Laser so they might actually hit something, at most an EML (since its cheaper than a Bright Lance and is more flexible).

Dragons should be in a Serpent, they should absolutely NEVER be in a Falcon. A Falcon is a backfield gunboat, you put a 5 man unit of Avengers in there and you get one of the most reliable scoring units in the game. Even with Holos they don't like Meltaguns, just keep them at the back and they become a nightmare to kill (to the point that most of the time people don't even bother shooting them). Serpents on the other hand are perfectly suited to moving into the midfield since they have defences against Meltaguns and are cheaper/more expendable as well.

Heaps of stuff will destroy this list. Anything with Psychic defence will stop Fortune and take apart your Council, worst case is Null Zone since they can block Fortune then force you to re-roll saves as well. Armies with plenty of anti infantry, notably Venom Spam and Psybolt Razor GK lists will shoot all your Bikes (including the Council with Fortune up) off the board. Decent assault armies will chase down your Bikes and generally take you apart, the only thing with some assault punch is the Council, and that's not going to tarpit decent assault units like TH/SS Terminators or Thunderwolves for an entire game (particularly if they focus everything they can on the Seer to drop Fortune asap). JetCouncils are 'rock' armies and there isn't much you can do to change that, you will smash Parking lots and armies which don't bring the right tools apart, but there are just as many if not more armies which counter you comprehensively.

I would drop the Guardians, the Holos from the Prism and a Vyper and pick up 5 Avengers to ride in the Falcon (probably boost its weapon to a EML as well), a Serpent for the Dragons and use the rest of your points to boost the JetCouncil (add more scoring units if you have points left).

Ok, I revised the list, using suggestions from Powerguy, and came up with this list, at a cool 2000 pts flat:

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***2000 Pts Eldar***
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173 - Farseer - Eldar Jetbike, Singing Spear, Runes of Warding, Spirit Stones, Fortune, Guide

482 - 9 Warlocks, all on Jetbikes -
4 with Witchblades, Destructor
1 With Witchblade, Embolden
1 with Singing Spear, Embolden
1 With Singing Spear, Enhance
2 with Singing Spears

205 - Guardian Jetbikes - 6 Guardian Jetbikes, 4 with Twinlinked Shuriken Catapults, 2 with Shuriken Cannons
1 Warlock on jetbike, Embolden, Singing Spear
205 - Guardian Jetbikes - 6 Guardian Jetbikes, 4 with Twinlinked Shuriken Catapults, 2 with Shuriken Cannons
1 Warlock on jetbike, Embolden, Singing Spear

60 - 5 Dire Avengers

210 - 3 War Walkers - x2 Eldar Missile Launchers
125 - Fire Prism - Spirit Stones
180 - Falcon - Eldar Missile Launcher, Holo Field, Spirit Stones

80 - 5 Fire Dragons - x5 Fusion Guns
130 - Wave Serpent - Twin Linked Eldar Missile Launcher

75 - Viper with Eldar Missile Launcher, Shuriken cannon
75 - Viper with Eldar Missile Launcher, Shuriken cannon

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My thoughts on the suggested revisions:

You are always better off keeping vehicles separate rather than squadroning them. If they aren't firing they aren't worth much, and considering we are talking about a AV10 Open Topped vehicle the vast majority of the time as soon as they get hit by any kind of real anti tank weapon they just die, so there is no point making things easier by allowing Immobilise results to kill as well. Keeping them separate also maximises your damage output, since you can hit more targets and will never waste shots.

Yes, that makes a lot of sense now that I think about it. They're more of a nuisance to target if individual, and can sneak around and support whichever grav tank/jetbike squadron they want to accompany, which is their purpose. By making higher priority targets, maybe not dying?

With the changes to Witnessing/Warding/Shadow in the Warp you absolutely have to take Witnessing if you are running a Council now.

Is it really necessary when I have 2 Warlocks with Embolden? Since Embolden allows any member of the Warlocks squad to reroll Leadership Tests, and a Psychic Test is a regular Leadership Test, that seems reliable enough, though perhaps playtesting will prove otherwise. It is true that Fortune is necessary to get off to keep the unit the super-tank that it is.

10 Guardians really won't do much, particularly with a Bright Lance. With BS3 you get at max 3 hits per game. If you really want to take Guardians give them a Scatter Laser so they might actually hit something, at most an EML (since its cheaper than a Bright Lance and is more flexible).

I have a love/hate relationship with Guardians, I found when I ran 4+ Guardian Squads, some numbering 20, I liked having 1 or 2 10 man squads for the mere purpose of toting a heavy weapon to hope for a lucky shot, and hide on an objective. It does seem that they are very unlikely to both survive, or hit reliably, from my past experience, though. I was worried about anti-tank, and wanted more

Dragons should be in a Serpent, they should absolutely NEVER be in a Falcon.

Ha, that's always been something I've done for years. Granted, I have yet to come up with balanced, winning Eldar lists at 2000 pts, so I'm sure I have much to learn on the wily ways of the Eldar. I always liked the aspect of a "free transport" for a unit that is essentially that extra answer for when you need 5 melta guns. You don't need much more than that to reliably kill an average tank, though perhaps an Exarch with crack shot would be needed with all the cover vehicles tend to see.

Heaps of stuff will destroy this list.

Hmm, maybe, hopefully I strengthened it a little. It may be that my concept isn't the most solid, but I expect it to be fun to play anyways. I may have to consider how much Psychic defense is out there, though.



Overall, I like the mix of vehicles and speed this army brings. It brings decent ranged Firepower, between the Prism and 6 Eldar Missile launchers/Shuriken Cannons. It also brings models that I feel are fun to use (skimmers, fast jetbikes, walkers, etc), and make for an engaging game. But, the Jetbike Seer Council really is the crux of this list. It must function in perfect unison with the rest of my army properly supporting it, or my list won't put a dent in my opponent. It seems like half of the game will be excellent tactics and battlefield choices, moreso than other lists. Then my question to ask myself is how to answer other armies "power" units ... Tarpitting is boring.

So the above statement that you must have more than 6 walocks is both right and wrong. In my last tournament I fielded 5 with an Autarch and they brought back their points (and more) and were the target of almost all the shooting. But mainly I used them as a tarpit who surprised me by making the opponent fail a lot of armor saves. Even so he didn't kill a single one, and that's how most of my games go with them. Tagging them up to 9 will make it very interesting! And give them a lot more killing power

I was reading a very well thought out , helpful article on Eldar tactica here http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/402275.page, and he suggested a ratio of at most 1 Singing Spear to 3 Witchblade Warlocks in a Jetseer Council, as they need more CC attacks to have the necessary impact in assault. The possibility of cracking open a transport and assaulting it's contents afterward with 1 unit sounds quite enjoyable as well . I saw Fritz's Eldar tactics on Youtube, he played a 2 Seer Council list, with 1 squad having 10 Spears, and one squad with all Witchblades, with 5 Destructor powers, but that's a whole other ball of wax.

I almost wonder if splitting a 10 man squad into two 5 man squads, 1 with Destructor powers, 1 with Singing Spears, would balance out different roles, with allowing for room for other models in the army. Maybe something to experiment with.

I like having the 1 squad with a mix, to provide a shooty side mixed in with CC, with the Farseer either Guiding a tank or War Walkers, or Guiding his own squad, to gain re-rolls to hit with the spear throws, and also re-rolling to wound the Destructor powers. It still seems like having a balanced list with a mix is the most tactically viable option for my list, so I can have an answer for most individual units in this one list. Five range 12 TL Lascannons (essentially) should be more than reliable at multiple damage results on vehicles. I have seen Destructor spam just kill even Terminators from overload of saves, plus monstrous creatures can be easily overtaken with overload of wounds from Witchblades. Units with Feel No Pain will suck, though, and
5
I haven't used Guardian Jetbikes for like 8 years, I'm wondering how they'll play. I'm also considering if running two larger squads would be more valuable than say, breaking them down in to 2 more scoring units. Though, I don't want to lose them to falling back, and the extra Warlocks would be too expensive to field with points. I'm guessing simply drawing fire from them with other units and not relying on the Jetbikes themselves to carry much weight, beyond annoying vehicle sniping/staying back 24 inches to provide support fire, screened with Vipers or the Seer Council.