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The new missions allow to create a new version of Serpent rush that was viable in the 3rd ed.

Useful builts are 6 Harlies or 6 Fire Dragons in Falcons, or other aspect warriors in Serpents.

In the deployment mode "Dawn Of War", the skimmers can come on round 1 guaranteed. Very nice way to limit firing chances.

Two Autarchs as HQ can ensure that the reserves come on 2+.
Put all your army as aspect warriors in serpents, and put them all in reserves.
The whole army will show up on round 2, including the autarchs embarked into transports with squads, and be able to zoom across the board without ever having been exposed to enemy fire.
The opponent will get at most one round to shoot at them before he's tied up in cc.
Thats a ton of cc tooled aspect warriors, and probably more armor than he is able to deal with.
The best thing is that the skimmers can arrive at a flank so that incoming fire is minimized and maximum damage is incurred.

Why can they come on along a flank? They don't have scout or infilitrate, or am I missing something?

Agreed, but Waveserpents are expensive. I am not sure how many I would be able to use in the rush.

@Lormax: He's not saying they come in along a flank, just that they zoom out 24" from your side. I think when he says that they come in "at a flank" he's imagining a sort of refused flank, where the opponent hasn't bricked up, but is spread out in a long line, and you can overload one side.

That said one round is enough shooting to take out many Eldar tanks now that they can be penned, and Eldar CC took some hits with 5th edition's combat simplification. In particular, how would you deal with an enemy who just bricked up and put one unit strung along the outside? You can't consolidate into new units.

I don't think the new Eldar lists will include many Wave Serpents, in particular having them carry assault troops strikes me as the wrong way to do it. I echo Darrian in this, if I was making an Eldar list I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have Wave Serpents.

Yeah, I meant zoom down at a flank, the weak flank of the opponent, if she has one.
All skimmers will get 4+ cover saves and fortuned tanks are even more reliable.
This resembles the old Biel Tan swindword attack.

Serpent rush from reserves sounds good. Here are some random thoughts:

- Yriel. He benefits from a transport and his template o death got even better with everyone countercharging.

- Aspects in Serpents seem to be better then Aspects in Falcons. I expect a lot of Landraiders in 5th, which leads to Meltaguns which Falcons dont like so much. Combat resolution and the Harlequine nerf favours big close combt units who need Serpents too.

- With three free heavy support slots, one might go Prisms to keep the Skimmer theme. War Walkers on the other hand seem to benefit even more from serpent-distraction and reserve-protection.

Finally entering from reserves propably is only neccessary when going second. Deploying first one might risk the 1in6 chance to lose the initiative.

Raider wrote:War Walkers on the other hand seem to benefit even more from serpent-distraction and reserve-protection.

Oooh, now thats a simply splendid idea.

Perhaps three to four serpents might be enough for the distraction.

We need a maniacal laughter emorkon here.

Eldrad instead of one of the Autarachs would be nice to fortune 2 of the tanks but that would hurt your reserves roll. But as Raider said reserves are only needed when going second.

Some Wave Serpents can outflank, specifically Striking Scorpions with the Stealth ability. It allows dedicated transports to flank. Downside (if you call it that) is the Scorpions need to come in inside the Serpent.

The two Autarch idea is something I've been working with and utelizing 9 War Walkers. However, the Serpent rush also seems worthwhile.

I can truly see the future of Eldar armies starting completely off the table.

In Dawn of War, you get two troops units - transports are separate for that, so you can have ONE squad in a transport or two squads, or two transports.

Also in Dawn of War, why put them in reserves? It says you get to deploy two troops, and you can put some units in reserves, but anything not in reserves can just march onto the board turn 1. No need tor Autarchs [well, except for the other scenarios].

@ Spellbound - that sounds attractive, but I was under the impression that units not deployed as the allowed 2 troops [and one hq?] ARE reserves, not in some pergatory between on-table and in reserves. The clause saying you can choose to put units in reserve applies to the troops and hq on table - you don't have to deploy them. But if its not on the table, its either dead, or in reserves of some kind, right? Correct me if I'm wrong, because that would be pretty sweet, I just donn't think it works like that.

I think its FOC troop choices in dawn of war, if im not totally misstaken(dont have the book with me here).

Also, the things not starting on the table starts by moving onto the table in the first round, they are not placed in reserves.

Another point considering Serpent rush is that CSM or SM (new codex) troops will only have access to a lascannon/missile launcher if maxed out. This might reduce the number of ranged weapons able to take down a Serpent.

@ Kallbrand - thats great, but can you pull up a page reference for me please?

I'm pretty sure the 2 troops on table are FOC troops, not a squad OR its transport. Thats usually how it works at least

Page 93.

Ohhh, good find. We misplayed that rule a couple weeks back. Also, very good example laid out by GW in the book.

Good catch on the transport Dawn of War rule, I'll have to keep that in mind.

Yeah, it says you can choose to put things in reserves, and anything not in reserves moves on from turn 1.

This is so that you can have scouts, deepstrikers, etc. come in later. Or if for some reason you wanted battle tanks or something to wait and come in later, too. Like some fragile guardian squad you brought just to take objectives, waiting until turn 3 or 4 to march onto the board and move to take things after the battle had already been engaged up front, so that they didn't get picked off by the enemy at the start.

What I like is the tactical flexibility that gives you a fast army, and it keeps the opponent guessing.
With fast units you can overwhelm a weak flank.
You can deploy the squads to minimize incoming fire.

Imagine last round: Serpent tank shocks an enemy unit forcing its retreat or step aside from a mission objective.

Sounds like an interesting idea. I guess I'll have to get to painting up some serpents.

Just for even more grins... add Star Engines.

wuestenfux wrote:Imagine last round: Serpent tank shocks an enemy unit forcing its retreat or step aside from a mission objective.

In my last game I had a Fire Prism which had lost its prism cannon, tank shock a csm squad off an objective at the end of turn 5 (my team only had 1 objective at the time) The CSMs ran, not just moved out of the way, but broke and ran. Unfortunately, they rallied 1 inch from the edge. but it was definitely the best move of the game. (the enemy ork player had to devote his troops-nob squad to destroy the tank and reclaim the objective, giving me time to redeploy and grab 2 objectives on my side of the board.

A combination of Walkers, Pathfinders and Scorpions would allow you to deploy after your opponent, even if going first, and allow your whole army to outflank.

Its true, but i don't know how much value I would put in pathfinders coming in with a scout move on turn 2..You could infiltrate them though, and screw up your opponents battle plan.

One problem with outflank though, is that the more units you have the more likely your force gets split in half when they come in from the sides.

tankshocking units with waveserpents has always been a good idea. 5th ed, however, makes it a little trickier. In 5th, you do not know when they game will end so when do you tankshock the unit? If you do it on 5, you have a 33% of the game ending with you on the objective and your plan succeeding but a 66% of the unit now assaulting your serpent and making the attacks against his rear armor 10. If you decide to wait til 6, then there is a 33% chance that you will not a have a turn 6 and your opponent will hold the objective.

Durandal wrote:A combination of Walkers, Pathfinders and Scorpions would allow you to deploy after your opponent, even if going first, and allow your whole army to outflank.

A Serpent rush army can be held fully in reserve. Then with the help of an Autarch, the units show up on 3+ in round 2. In the meanwhile, the enemy already had two shooting rounds, lol.
If some enemy unit shows up close to your deployment zone, it is definitely dead. Otherwise, the Serpents move full speed, 24'' or 36''. The enemy has one round of shooting. Then the killing begins...