Jailinth

A relatively small craftworld, the people of Craftworld Jailinth are born to do battle. Highly martial, and with a tradition of excellence in whatever Path they follow, every man and woman is able and willing to pick up weapons as need be.

An ally of Biel-tan, they work to aid them in their support of Exodite home worlds and other tasks central to the good of the Eldar race. Originally relying on the use of Aspect warriors, as their numbers have dwindled they have developed a culture of Battle-Seers, many of whom previously followed the Path of the Warrior. They have also been forced to rely upon the souls of the dead more and more as conflicts have stretched on.

Not necessarily as prescient, nor as in tune with the Infinity Circuit as the more experienced seers and led by the young Battle-Seer Tilithas, the seers of Craftworld Jailinth have proudly and boldly lead their forces to victory again, and again and again.

"Our home, our craftworld, our floating fortress amongst the stars, Craftworld Jailinth is beginning to reel from the numerous setbacks and defeats that stand alongside our daring victories and triumph. Our race is dwindling ever more with the ensuing rush of the centuries, new enemies and old nipping at the scattered remains of our past glory. Even the mighty Eldrad himself -- mightiest amongst us -- fell in a recent campaign, pitted against the most powerful of all our enemies. Our enemies are many. Our numbers are few. We will stand forever."

- Battle-Seer Tilithas, Advisor to Autarchs, Master of the Art of War, Master of the Blade

Full Army Photo

Pictures to come this week, I was bored so wrote up the article.

Unit Photos

Tactics

"No plan survives first contact with the enemy."

– Sun Tzu, Ancient Terra

I employ a combined arms approach that combines resiliency, redundancy, close combat assault and powerful shooting.

1) The game comes down to close combat.

Scorpions are a traditional inclusion, and work well on their own. Their purpose is to assault infantry. Any infantry. If that means assaulting Terminators or Berserkers because they got out-maneuvered, then so be it. Better to get the charging bonus at I5 and pistol shots than to stand around on a flank doing nothing.

Harlies in a Falcon are a counter-charge unit. They work well with the Guardians in the middle. Wait to see what happens, then get out and chomp something.

Dire Avengers are a shock assault unit, as are Guardians. Move towards the enemy, try and get the charge. The Dire Avengers (backed up by an Avatar, a Farseer or an Autarch) assault the most dangerous units. Scatter-lasers in Guardian squads, although I have been leaning towards Brightlances for some extra early game anti-tank that leaves supporting fire free to shoot up infantry.

2) Fire Support

While Eldar fleet, one thing they do not get is Jump Pack Assault Marines. We are maneuverable to a point, but rely on expensive death-trap transports. Shining Spears provide nice assault punch but at a low body count.

Besides our resiliency largely based on redundancy such as holo-field Falcons or Guardian squads, the solution to this problem is fire support. Did you get out-maneuvered by Space Marine Assault Squads, Stealth Suits or deep striking Terminators? Shoot it!

After getting shot up, 7 Dire Avengers aren’t going to scratch 5 terminators and a character but 7 Dire Avengers and an accompanying Guardian squad will wipe out 2 terminators and a character after Swooping Hawks, Fire Prisms, D-Cannons, Vypers and everything else all get their shots off.

Besides Shining Spears (possibly with an Autarch), the one thing missing from the Eldar list is that ~175 point Space Marine HQ with a Jump Pack, master crafted weapon and everything else. Maneuverability, redundancy and shooting mitigate this weakness and bring terror to the enemies of the Eldar.

3) Other units

I used to include Dark Reapers, Fire Dragons, Banshees and Warp Spiders but after many games I find them uninteresting. They were also unpainted and painting them up was equally uninteresting to me. While I love the models I would rather use Fire Prisms over War Walkers although I may get some to use when my Fire Prisms are being used as Falcons or Wave Serpents. I limit myself to two Grav-tanks, more out of self-imposed discipline than anything else. I ran the all Skimmer army for a while and found it eventually dull after a handful of games, as did my opponents. I also like the variety of different units in the display case.

Why I Started This Army and The Future

I was torn between Eldar and Chaos, but found the 3rd ed Chaos book to be confusing so went with Eldar, being attracted by such models as Swooping Hawks and Skimmers. While my first games were against veteran marine players I soon learned the ropes and enjoyed many glorious victories, especially over the hated Blood Angels. After going back to school I have not had much chance to play but am looking forward to some more games in the future.

I will likely start collecting and converting Jetbikes at some point, after I get my gothic themed Guard + everything else army going.

Yes, I love dakka and I equally love talking about myself. :)

Death to the Mon-Keigh!