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Hey All,

With the whole run concept coming in 5th and the ability of Fleet of foot to be able to assault after a run, I was wondering if it's possible to have an all aspect army, a good old Biel tan swordwind army?? I am looking at 1500pts here to try and cram in all the aspects?? What would such an army look like and so forth??

Right now I am thinking along the following lines...

Avatar
8 Striking scorpions exarch w/Claw and Shadow strike
6 Fire Dragons
10 Howling Banshees exarch w/Executioner

2x10 Dire Avengers exarch w/2xShuriken Catapults, Bladestorm

3xShining Spears
8xWarp Spiders exarch w/Death spinners and powerblades
8xSwooping Hawks

5xDark Reapers

So far I think this is darn near 1500pts, I think it comes to around 1427pts give or take?

So with the rough list above what units NEED exarchs and what should they be given, and what units maybe could be paired down a bit to add more?? I was thinking about dropping the Dark reapers down a bit to squeeze in another unit??

Any and all advice is much appreciated! I can use all the help I can get!

Thanks,
Chappy P!

Biel Tan craftworld specialises in all aspect or aspect heavy armies. It is not in the least unusual to see all aspect armies from that craftworld. You have problems with mobility though, generally you can have transports nad tanks and still be 'all aspect'. Its much nastier that way too.

I'd lose 2 spiders and 2 hawks.

If the Dragons are hoofing it (bad idea) I'd up them to 8 or 10.

Then I'd move this from Tactics to the Army List section where it belongs

I've not been very impressed with Warp Spiders myself. They don't necessarily do Bad per se, but they seem to really have to work hard at being Good.

I do love Fire Dragons. They're pretty cheap so you should afford to get more as was said if they're running. You might also consider getting an Exarch with a Fire Pike to extend their range. Crack Shot would be also be nice to let you ignore the 4+ cover saves a bunch of tanks could have in 5th.

I would personally take more Scorpions than Banshees as well. Scorpions being able to run now really makes up for their lack of speed that they suffered from in comparison to their feminine comrades.

Hey Thanks for the replies! Does anyone know how I can move this to the army list page? My original intent was to see if it was viable, but then I thought I should put in a rough list for people to see my way of thinking, which feels rather friend right now!!

anyway, can the mod's move this or should I start a new thread over on the army list page??

Thanks,
Chappy P!

Chaplain Pallantide wrote:Avatar

I generally find farseers to be more useful than the avatar unless you are running a guardian horde. In this case, you are running nothing but leadership 9 aspect warriors, so the avatar may not be the best option for you. Just something to think about.

8 Striking scorpions exarch w/Claw and Shadow strike

Looks good. Run will really help them out

6 Fire Dragons

These guys require a transport. There is just no way they will live long enough to do anything without one. Either give them a wave serpent or buy a falcon for them to ride in, but putting them on foot is a death sentence. Or at the very best, it guarantees they will never get into a range to be useful against anything they are good at killing.

10 Howling Banshees exarch w/Executioner

If your army had fewer models, I would chastise you for not giving these girls a transport, but with this many bodies on the ground, the foot banshees stand a decent chance. Just make sure they are getting cover saves all the time (either from real cover or from dire avengers standing in front of them).

2x10 Dire Avengers exarch w/2xShuriken Catapults, Bladestorm

If these guys are the front runners of your army they should be able to soak up enough fire (or just provide cover for your other units) to ensure the rest of the army gets where they need to be.

3xShining Spears

3 spears are not enough to really accomplish anything useful. I would ditch them for something else.

8xWarp Spiders exarch w/Death spinners and powerblades

I've never been fond of warp spiders (well not since 2nd edition ended at least). They are really fast and have high strength shooting, but no ap. They are rather tough by eldar standards due to 3+ armor though so if they work for you, by all means keep them. If you find that they are not quite living up to their point cost then you may want to ditch them for something else (like a falcon for your fire dragons)

8xSwooping Hawks

Are you serious? Swooping hawks are of the sisters repentia of the eldar. These guys are really expensive for a unit that really doesn't do anything very well. They are fast and can move around real well, but the problem is with their rather junky guns, they tend to not do anything once they get where they are going. If you can catch some termagents or imperial guardsmen outside of cover, then you can do a number on them, but there isn't much in the way of other targets that hawks are good against. Its a shame too, they have such cool models.

5xDark Reapers

If you can squeeze in the points, an exarch with crack shot and a tempest launcher is hell on wheels. Nothing like lobbing 2 templates a round that are ap3 and ignore cover saves. The only draw back of it is that the tempest launcher only has a 36" range while the rest of the squad has 48. In either case, the reapers will be a great asset to your army, particularly since no other unit you have will be doing any killing on turn 1.

So with the rough list above what units NEED exarchs and what should they be given...

The hand to hand units require exarchs (particularly the scorpions). They add a lot of punch for not too many extra points. The dire avengers also require exarchs to get blade storm, which gives them a huge boost of burst damage. Fire dragon exarchs are a waste of points, so skip them. Swooping hawk exarchs are also not really worth having since all they do is tempt you to put your hawks into places where they are going to get killed. Dark reaper exarchs are good but not required. If you are not going to spend the points to get them all they toys they need (crack shot and tempest launcher) then its best to save the points and skip the exarch all together. Never give a reaper exarch a missile launcher, it tempts you to waste a squad that is uber at killing troops by shooting at tanks. I haven't really explored the options for shining spear or warp spider exarchs, so I don't think I'm in a good position to offer advice on those two.

Hope this helps.

If were looking at HQ units you might also want to consider an Autarch instead of the Avatar. Equip him acording to what you'd like him to do and stick him with a complimentary squad