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Hi, it's me again.

I played a small 3 game tourney this weekend and faced a Chaos Player in my last game.

I run down his list for you:

Deamon prince with nurgle mark
2 units of Plague Marines (2x plasma and 1x plasma, 1x melta) one with Rhino
1 Unit of Thousand sons with sorcerer with bolt of change iirc + Rhino
1 Unit of Havocs with 2x Lascannons and 2x Heavy Bolters and icon of nurgle
1 Defiler with battlecannon

My list:

avatar
Farseer (fortune,guide)
10 Dire avengers with defending and bladestorming shimmershield exarch
10 Dire avengers with bladestorming shuriken exarch
3 Jetbikes with Shurikencannon and destructor warlock
5 Pathfinders
5 Dark Reapers with fast shot missle launcher exarch
1 Wraithlord with brightlance and missle launcher
1 Falcon with shurikencannon, scatter laser and fire dragons on board (holofield, spirit stones)

He parked his guys in front of the looting counters and waited for me and there was no wayfor me to kill these ultra tough plague marines. They shrugged off bladestorm after bladestorm and even my dark reapers had trouble killing any of them.

In the end I achieved a minor win, but the toughness of these troops gave me  serious headaches.

So, I ask you, with this list, what are the best things to counter his dedicated marines?

Greets and thanks
Schepp himself

Feel no pain doesn't work against close combat attacks that allow no save. Eldar have some of the best HtH units in the game for this (harlies, banshees, shining spears, avatar) and you're not using any of them in your army.

Your army is over-specialized for shooting. Eldar armies need lots of different units with different capabilities to take on all comers successfully.

Exactly on the mark. In fact, a squad of Banshees 10-strong in a Serpent, or 6-and-a-kitted-exarch in a Falcon, could cause that list some pain. If you don't have the transport vehicles, get infiltraiting scorpions with a power-claw exarch and/or a squad of shining spears led by an Autarch. The Thousand Sons and the Havocs will be open to slaughter.

-Adso

Oh, and one other thing I noticed. You already have a Wraithlord -- do you have some Guard and/or more Lords? I've found WLords to be wonderfully effective close combat shortstops. Two Lords charging in can even give a Nurgle Terminator squad pause. Second, do you have an Avatar? I've never used one despite playing Eldar a while, but if you want some alternative muscle, he might be the ticket.

-Adso

I'm thinking of playing a mechanised Plague Marine horde myself led by Kharn for anti-skimmer and a lash DP. Actually banshees aren't too hot against plagues because of blight grenades and S3 vs T5.

Agreed. Doom and executioner helps a bit, but harlies or spears are better in this specific matchup.

Well, as everyone said, you assault the Plague Marines. Also Dark Reapers should still kill a lot of them..sure half will stay up, but you should kill enough to take them below scoring after a turn or two.

Ironicly, Dire Avengers are great against Thousand Sons. In 3rd edition, Thousand Sons hated high strength, high AP weaponry because they nullified their 2 wounds. In 4th edition, they are very resiliant to high strength, high AP weaponry, but can be taken down by a mass of small arms fire.

You _did_ win.

editted:  It's true that swapping in some Harlies could go a long way.  I was trying to point out you have a very effective list.

Posted By BrotherAdso on 09/25/2007 4:50 PM
Second, do you have an Avatar?

It's the first thing in his list.

It's somewhat reassuring that I need some Banshees in my list because I wanted to implement those anyways.

He wasn't stupid after all, I think he realized that my dark reapers would be the biggest threat for his infantry and smashed a big battlecannon plate down on them killing 3 of them. After that I saw no other alternative to slug towards his two plague marine squads in cover with my avatar+ Dire avengers.

But thanks for the info, I will tweak my army list a it and then try some variants out.

Greets
Schepp himself

P.S. yes, i did win, but It always bothers me if I face something I don't seem to know how to handle it...

Ha, the new codex makes for some whacky lists fluff-wise. Khorne + Slaanesh = BFFs

- Salvage

You migh also want to try some additional long range fire power like war walkers. That or you can use the guide / fortune farseer on the reapers to keep them safe and make them more effective.

I plan to use Shining spears when their new models come out.
To the shooting aspect:
I dislike harlequins and prefer Banshees or Scorpions, but will surely use the banshees somedays.
I was thinking about swapping the Falcon with kit and kids for another squad of reapers (i love these guys) and maybe squeeze a banshee squad in for counter assault. Any comments on that?

I'm a bit angry that when you tool you farseer in a way that he is flexible, he gets overly expensive and you could just take eldrad instead... grmbl! But that was just a side ramble.

Greets
Schepp himself

P.S. the battlecannon pie of his defiler hit me in turn one, so sadly no fortune on the reapers. The defiler died in my turn, though.

That's a great idea Schepp.

I personally make use of a list with an Avatar, Wraithlord, Eldrad, and two units of Dark Reapers, usually with 8 Banshees plus mirrorsword exarch lurking around the back lines.

It's the toughest non-mechanized Eldar list I've seen yet. Between the Fortune/Guide on the Dark Reapers, or the possibility of dual fortune on the big beasties, this list would have crushed your opponent.

One of the most important aspects of the new Eldar codex is making sure you have enough long-range firepower.

Eldrad is key. He's such a force multiplier, I have trouble not putting him in every list I write. He is key because of his ability to throw the offhand Doom or Mind War around, as well as the more useful Fortune and Guide. Not to mention avoiding giving over 100 free VPs to your opponent from an unlucky psychic test... **roll eyes**

Banshees can actually do quite well against T5 (and even T6) opponents with the use of Doom. Re-Rolled 6's always ends up being more 6s than your opponent thought...